Sunday Stamps: 'U' is for uil and uurwerk

This Sunday is the last day of 2017, and the day of Sunday Stamps' letter 'U'. Which is pronounced in Dutch totally different from the English (and German, Spanish) 'U'.

Together with the letter 'i' it becomes 'ui', and the pronouncation of this combination becomes even more weird for non-native speakers.
By the way, the Dutch letters 'u' and 'ui' are words in themselves: 'u' means the formal 'you' (like Usted in Spanish, Sie in German and Vous in French). And an 'ui' is an onion.

I couldn't find stamps about onions, and I wouldn't know how to depict the word 'u', so I choose the words 'uil' and 'uurwerk' for today.

The Uil is a bird which you'll know as an owl.

I received this owl stamp from Taiwan:



And a postcard showing this stamp:



And one owl stamp from Hong Kong:



And I found a personalized stamp showing an owl on the website of Dutch photographer and postcard seller Arnold Voordewind. This owl stamp alas is not available anymore as a stamp, but the postcard is:




As said, this is the last day of the year 2017. Oh, how time flies, don't you think so, too?

The older Dutch word for 'horloge' (watch) / 'klok' (clock) is 'uurwerk', literally: 'hour work', almost like the English word 'clockwork'.
Nowadays we think the 'uurwerk' is the inside of the clock or watch.
John has sent me this beautiful stamp (I love technical things) showing such inside:



And I replied with this Russian stamp sheet which I happened to have found for his clock postcard project:



To prevent the stamp sheet from folding, I had put a folded card around it, showing a painting by Marius van Dokkum:



As you can see, at this moment it is time to watch the time. If you are living east from Europe the New Year already has started at the moment that I am posting this blog. And if you are living west from me, you'll have to have a little more patience. Here in the Netherlands there is only two hours left for the New Year to start. And it is celeberated with 'vuurwerk' (fireworks), which rhymes :-)
So I am happy to show this combination of stamps - and a matching postmark - of vuurwerk together with the uurwerk:




To all of you and your loved ones a Happy, Joyful New Year!
Looking forward to seeing all of you again in 2018!

And don't forget to check Sunday Stamps to find more stamps on the letter 'u'!