vintage and contemporary postcards and stamps from around the world


17 March 2024

snakes

this blue racer can only be found on Pelee Island (Lake Erie), which is the most southern point in Canada, but it can also be seen in the US in parts of Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa.  

It is described as a the most graceful and swiftest of Ontario's snakes

 

I am not a collector of snake stamps, but I am a collector of Lunar New Year Stamps, so...

this is one from 2013

and 2001


14 March 2024

paris, texas

street wear for Thursday Postcard Huntfrom a 1977 photograph by Garry Winogrand, Texas

10 March 2024

dawn chorus

It is coming to that time of year when the songbirds arrive and I managed to find four examples singing their little hearts out

Latvia's bird of the year (2023), a nightingale,  and a white throated sparrow

northern cardinal





willow warbler

a different kind of music for Sunday Stamps

click on the bird name to hear a sample of their song.
 

07 March 2024

traditional

a 15th century widow, from Finland


from Japan

and from Kenya





for Thursday Postcard Hunt, some fashionably dressed women ahead of International Women's Day

03 March 2024

glorious

 


from Poland we have a convolvulus arvensis, aka field bindweed, or morning glory,


and a clianthus dampieri aka Sturt's desert pea, found in Australia

29 February 2024

built to last

from Slovakia, St Elizabeth Cathedral, the largest church in Slovakia. Originally built in the 11th C, it was consecrated to St Elizabeth of Hungary around 1240. As might be expected for a building so old, and so important, it has undergone numerous reconstruction phases which wikipedia outlines here

from Thailand, Wat Chaiwatthanaram, the Temple of Long Reign and Glorious Era, It was constructed in 1630 by the king Prasat Thong. The central 35 metre prang (spire) symbolizes the mountain Meru believed to be the core of the universe.

from Norway, an old wooden church known as a stave church. Fewer than 30 of these medieval churches survive, and all are in Norway.




25 February 2024

youth games

 

the shadows accentuate the sense of movement in these youth athletes

some illustrations for Sunday Stamps

22 February 2024

houses

 An Edward Hopper house, alone in a bleak landscape

A bed and breakfast house in Cantabria, Spain
A bed and breakfast house in Ontario, Canada

some houses where you may want to stay for Thursday Postcard Hunt

18 February 2024

dangerous, weird, and beautiful

 


the world's most dangerous bird, a southern cassowary

 

 

followed by the world's most bizarre animal, the duck billed platypus

maybe a trip to sunny Spain would be more up your alley
something blue for Sunday Stamps

15 February 2024

free public libraries

 A Tudor Revival style Carnegie library built in 1904

A Classical Revival style Carnegie library built in 1906. It was praised by the local newspaper for its "tasteful simplicity"

Most Carnegie Libraries have a distinct style with variations, making them immediately identifiable in any small town. Philanthropist Andrew Carnegie would give grants to build a library to almost any town that requested and agreed to conditions.

Vancouver had a Carnegie library but after a couple of moves for newer and bigger locations, in 1995, a Roman Revival* library was built to resemble the current day Colosseum.

*not a real term, I made it up

some free public buildings for Thursday Postcard Hunt

11 February 2024

calligraphy

 

the comic font of NIPPON suits the comic design of this stamp

I'm not sure about this attempt to join the letters of GRENADA

and my favourite country for calligraphy on stamps CZECHOSLOVAKIA
 

 

some fancy writing for Sunday Stamps

09 February 2024

08 February 2024

windmills

 


the Old Mill in Whitstable

below, somewhere in Netherlands

Zaanse Schans holds a special place for me as I lived near there and used to ride my bike through the area.

some windmills from Kent and North Holland for Thursday Postcard Hunt

04 February 2024

sandbar lighthouse

 


The 34' cast iron Pelican Point Lighthouse at Walvis Bay, Namibia.  It sits on a sandbar that keeps growing.  Once located at the edge of the peninsula, it is now 2 km inland.  Beside the lighthouse is a tourist lodge.  When this was built, Namibia was part of South Africa.

a lighthouse for Sunday Stamps

02 February 2024

groundhog day

 

our local groundhog prognosticator is known as Wiarton Willie

01 February 2024

the art of the lighthouse

from Germany
from Finland


from Taiwan


from USA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 from Belarus

 
some illustrated lighthouses from around the world for Thursday Postcard Hunt