Sunday Stamps: B is for Bridge is Brug

Today's theme of Sunday Stamps is the letter 'B'.

Thanks to Eva I received this beautiful stamp, showing a bridge, 'brug' in Dutch.



Which happens to be no bridge at all, do you see that?

See more stamps on the letter 'B' at today's Sunday Stamps.

Sunday Stamps: 'Y' is for ijsbeer, ijs and ijsvogel

This Sunday the theme of Sunday Stamps is the letter Y.

In Dutch we name it 'Griekse IJ', or i-grec, literally 'Greek Y', as it origins from the Greek alphabet's letter Ypsilon or upsilon.
Words in Dutch starting with a 'y' are known internationally, like yak, yoghurt and yoga. Be it that the pronounciatin of the Dutch 'g' in these words is different from the English, Spanish, French and German pronounciation (the Dutch 'g' sounds like the Spanish 'j'). The word 'year' in Dutch is 'jaar', so yearly events and anniversaries won't count for my blog post on the letter of today :-)

Of course I couldn't find stamps on yoghurt, yak, yoga. But in Dutch we can 'cheat' a little, without cheating: when naming the 'Y' in the alphabet we pronounce it like the 'IJ'. The ij is used and pronounced as a vowel, and there are several words starting with this 'ij'.
Like ijs, which means both icecream and ice.

From a Finnish postcrosser I received this snowy and icy stamp. It must be so ijskoud - cold as ice - there, that rivers freeze into ijs:



In the Netherlands there is the ijsvogel, literally 'ice bird', though in English he and she are named 'kingfisher'. Arnold Voordewind, a Dutch phographer, took this beautiful photo and turned it into this stamp:



From FinnBadger I received this wonderful stamp from the United Nations, showing an ijsbeer ('beer' pronounced as 'bear'; the English 'beer' in Dutch is 'bier').
In English this animal is named 'polar bear', though in Dutch it is simply an ijsbeer:



Despite of the name 'ijsbeer' the environment of the ijsbeer is lacking ijs / ice more and more. Climate change, global warming, these facts are a serious thing. And does not only make the ijsberen cry, but also us, humans, in the end will have to face the bad sides of our over-use of natural sources...

This beautiful stamp sheet shows the sad reality and the sadness of the ijsbeer:



I received this wonderful sheet by surprise from Virna from Indonesia - thank you so much!


More stamps on the letter 'Y' (and maybe an other 'IJ'?) you can find at and via Sunday Stamps.

Postcards for the Weekend: Bridges

This weekend's Postcards for the Weekend theme is 'Bridges'.

As some of you know, bridges are one of my favourite themes. They connect people, cities and sometimes even countries. No surprise that I posted several bridge stamps and postcards before.

First I'll take you to Asia, the continent I've never been to myself. Thanks to postcrossing and to instagram friends I 'traveled' virtually to beautiful places, by receiving and enjoying pretty postcards.

This postcard I received from a Postcrosser from China. The back of this card doesn't say where this bridge is located. The sender lives in Wuhan, so maybe this beautiful, quiet looking place might be in this area.



From my instagram friend Jael I received this postcard from Singapore. All attention, of both the artists and us, card watchers, goes to the Merlion, but looking close, you can see a bridge on the right. It's one of the bridges over the Singapore River.



This bridge I drew - as a postcard - for a mail art project in Indonesia. It is the Kahayan bridge in Palangkaraya, Borneo. I chose to draw it because the mail art project was in honour of the 60th anniversary of this Indonesian city.



From Asia to Europe.

In Venice there is a lot of water, and fortunately there are bridges, too. Most famous I think the Bridge of Sighs, but the bridge I received thanks to Rio is a more innocent one:



On the back side she added a matching stamp and postmark, showing a larger bridge from Venice:



From John I received a nice postcard showing maybe one of the most well-known bridges:



I replied by this postcard, which to my surprise was available in a local store, here in the Netherlands:



I don't know if it is a good or bad habit, but at least it made and makes me happy: when visiting familiar cities (among them Nijmegen, the city where I grew up, and Murcia in Spain, which is the home city of my brother, sister-in-law, niece and nephew) I sometimes send postcards to myself. Not that many, so far maybe 7 or so, but to my surprise the majority of the postcards show bridges.

Here you can see two bridges over the Rio Segura in Murcia:



This is the Railway bridge over the river Waal in Nijmegen:



The same bridge you can see in the very back of the photo on bottom on this card:



The two other bridges are the Waalbrug (my favourite bridge as it reminds me of my former 'home'), and a pedestrian bridge, which is new to me.


As a 'dessert' here are some stamps:

A bridge in a winter scene in Finland:



And bridges from Singapore, Hong Kong, Russia and the Netherlands, gathered in one chaincard about this theme:



The stamp bottom left shows a newly built bridge over the forementioined river Waal.

See more bridges at and via this weekend's Postcards for the Weekend!

Postcards for the Weekend: Water

This weekend's theme for Postcards for the Weekend is 'Water in any form'.

A good opportunity to share this postcard, which Eva had sent me from Cádiz. I love bridges on postcards, and there where are bridges, most of the time there's water, of course.
And this multiview card shows a lot of water, in a variety of colours!



How nice to see stamps from the same city:



There is also water on maps. For example around the Wadden isle Texel (postcard sent to Eva),



The stamp I added shows more water around a kind of isle (in fact: a continent, Australia), water on a map:



Salt water from the sea on an illustration by Fiep Westendorp:



Fresh water from the air on this illustration of Kikker (Frog) by Max Velthuijs:



Check Postcards for the Weekend to find more postcards on the theme 'water'!

Postcards for the weekend: "From your home country"

This weekend the 'Postcards for the weekend' theme is about our home countries.

I tend to just link to one blog post from July 2016. Because I thought: isn't home - the 'home country' - the place where your heart is, where your friends are? On that blog post I shared two cards. One sent to an old friend in the city of Nijmegen, the city where I grew up, went to school and university. The other sent to a friend in Amsterdam, the city where I have been born and to which I live close now. Both cities make me feel home. But above all: friends make me feel home. And, also mailboxes make me feel home :-) As these shorten the distance to 'far-away' friends, to mail lovers like you!

Anyhow, I'll show some pictures of my two main 'home' cities, regions, here, too.



This postcard I bought ages ago, I think in the eighties. It shows a part of a shop at the corner of the Van Welderenstraat (a street in the city center of Nijmegen). Our school was close by, so in the breaks we wandered through this city center.
Recently I saw both the fountain pen and the fountain pen shop had disappeared, but a short search on the internet learned that at least the pen shop still exists, it just moved to a larger location in the same street.



The Waalbrug, Bridge over the river Waal, is a landmark. I always love to see it, and to pass under the large bows to enter Nijmegen (via the road, not via the water :-) ).

I even drew it, and put it on a personalized stamp.



In the upper right corner you see a tiny stamp of Schiphol, aka Amsterdam Airport, which is close to my present hometown.

Below you can see a part of a stamp sheet about Nijmegen. In contrary to my present home region in the really flat west of the Netherlands, the city of Nijmegen, and almost all of the east of our country, is hilly. There is a nice view from the Valkhof over this Waalbrug.
The statue pictured shows Marieke van Nimwegen. I never read or heard the complete (medieval) story, but the status also is located in the city center, and I consider a landmark, too.



From Nijmegen 120 kms to the north-west, to Amsterdam:



Below you see the Dam Square. This is located in 'hartje Amsterdam', 'the heart of Amsterdam' = the city center of Amsterdam. You can see two lion statues behind (in real: in front of) the Monument on the Dam.
My late grandmother told me that in 1927, when she was 17 years old, the lion's weren't there yet. Instead there were kiosks. My grandmother wanted to work there, to sell newspapers, but she was one year too young. Finally her father convinced the owner to get her job, and she did very well.
A few years later she got married, which in those days meant she had to stop working outdoors. And a few more years later my mother was born.



Finally I'll show you three map cards.

Funny is that the rivers in real are north from the cities: the Waal is north of Nijmegen, and the IJ is north of Amsterdam. But the old cards show the rivers on bottom of the cities, or the cities on top of the rivers:

Nijmegen (Novio Magum is the name given by the founders, the Romans, over 2000 years ago):



Amsterdam:



And on this larger map card you can see where both cities are located:



Be sure to check this weekend's 'Postcards for the weekend'to see more interesting and dear places!

Sunday Stamps: Western hemisphere

Today's theme for Sunday Stamps is 'Western Hemisphere'. From the physics point of view I always think it hard to distinguish where the 'west' begins and ends, as well as where the 'east' does. North and south is easy, as the earth turns around the north-south axis. But from for example Greenland's point of view, we, the Dutch, are living in the east, and someone from New Zealand might consider India located in the west and the Americas in the east.
So today I think stamps from all directions will be okay :-)

Nevertheless I choose stamps from the 'West', from Dutch point of view and also generally accepted.

The following stamps I received from Dulce from Mexico. It doesn't happen often that I see newspapers being honoured by the Post, but the 100th anniversary of El Universal, last year, was a good opportunity to do so.
Also combs won't be pictured often on stamps. The original comb you can find in the Museo de Arte Popular.



Inside the pretty decorated envelope there was a great stamp, which I posted on instagram.


This stamp sheet I chose, regarding the things said in the first paragraph. It connects north and south, and from the physics point of view it connects east and west, and from generally accepted point of view, both countries mentioned are western. And, an extra: it connects history and present days.



It is from a serie of three stamp sheets, Dutch PostNL issued last year. All sheets contain similar stamps but the selvage is different. The series is from the 'Grenzeloos' ('Borderless') serie and this last year deals with the connection between the Netherlands and Australia.
The theme of this stamp sheet is 'Dutch emigration to Australia'.
The text says, that between 1950 and 1961 about 116,000 Dutch emigrated to Australia, because of misery in their homeland (the Netherlands) and the increasing threat of a Third World War in those years.
Does it sound familiar? I think, if populist leaders would know their own (personal, family's, country's) history they should have a more open, friendly view to everyone who is looking for a better place on this - our - earth. The immigrants in the fifties, sixties, were welcomed (and we forget that our ancestors of earlier centuries, colonial times, forced themselves to be welcomed in the 'new world', with negative impact to the people who were native since ages). So, even though PostNL obviously didn't intend to do, I think a stamp issue like this should plea for a warmhearted world, in which everyone is connected.

I think, besides all mail lovers who already connect, especially the hosts of stamps and postcard links sites have made a good start with it! Like Sunday stamps: see more stamps on the theme 'Western hemisphere' at and via today's Sunday Stamps!

Sunday Stamps: Lakes, rivers: the river Waal

Today's Sunday Stamps theme is 'Lakes, rivers'.

This time I show you just one river, the river Waal (see also here).
I grew up in the city of Nijmegen, and this nice, Roman founded city is located at this river Waal.
Since 20 years I live close to my birth place Amsterdam, which is 120 kilometers north-west of Nijmegen. But every time I'm visiting my old town and when I see this river Waal, its typical 'uiterwaarden' and the bridges, I feel like 'home'. Even though the city has changed, and most of my friends have moved to other places, too.



This is a so-called personalized stamp, which has been issued, via PostNL, by Quinta Buma, photographer from Nijmegen.
She also designed this postcard, on which you see a little more of this river:



The Waal is said to have been founded because of a quarrel between two giants, two brothers.
Long time ago these brothers started to dig a river in Switzerland, the river Rhine. After hundred years of digging they arrived at Lobith, where they got a fight. Each of the brothers went his own way. The younger giant continued digging out what's named the Rhine nowadays, the older brother created the river Waal.

PostNL (then TPG Post) has issued a stamp sheet in honour of Nijmegen in 2005, on which you can see parts of the river Waal, too:



See stamps on lakes and more rivers at/via today's Sunday Stamps post.

Out: to the Netherlands...

... via Hong Kong, Russia and Singapore!
It is part of a chaincard project, of which there are many via instagram.

This time the theme is 'bridges', which means the front side of the card is free, but the participants should add 'bridge' stamps to the back side. As I love bridges, I am happy to participate. This card is mine and will start it's journey across four countries today:



And during the coming weeks to months I'll be waiting for the other participants' postcards, to add Dutch bridge stamps to.

The photo on this postcard has been made by Quinta Buma, she is a wonderful photographer from Nijmegen.
In the background you can see my favourite bridge, the old (and present) 'Waalbrug', bridge over the river Waal.

The stamps show a new, recently opened bridge over the river Waal in Nijmegen (below), named 'De Oversteek' (the crossing), and on top the 'Zouthavenbrug', a pedestrian bridge in the center of Amsterdam.

Out: to the Netherlands

I am a big fan of the animal illustrations by Dutch illustrator Leendert Jan Vis. So when I find cards to buy and an opportunity (receivers) to send them to, I hop happily to the mailbox.
The card above I'm sending to my good old friend and music pal Frank. We used to play in the band named 'Below the Mole' and the two of us wear glasses, so I think this card very suitable.

As I am sending these moles to the city of Nijmegen, I am happy to add a matching stamp. It's a personalized one, showing the bridge over the river Waal, the photo was taken by another dear person from Nijmegen, Dutch photographer Quinta Buma.



The other card will travel to an other Dutch friend. Alas I was a little belated, but the fact that it's a mail turtle and also snails are shown, makes me laugh instead of feeling guilty. I hope this card will raise a smile on her face, too!



As she had sent me penguins before, and she and her husband love animals and like to travel, I thought this stamp matching to add on the envelope to her.

Sunday Stamps: Bridges

Today's Sunday Stamps theme is 'Bridges'. One of my (many) favourite themes on stamps!

Dutch PostNL happens to have issued a bridge stamp sheet last year, which I am happy to share with you here:



See more beautiful bridges at the Sunday Stamps blog and via the links mentioned there.

Sunday Stamps: Bridges

This Sunday Stamps' theme is 'Bridges to anywhere'.

I love bridges. Similar to mail, bridges connect.

Fortunately mail companies all-over the world have issued bridge stamps, and I was the lucky receiver of some of them. Among them this one from Japan:



An other suspension bridge (so to see) is this one in Iceland:



The following Chinese stamp on top shows a covered bridge. I am not sure if the second stamp shows a bridge too, but at least the stamps belong to one serie:



This stamp from Germany seems to be a 'common' one as I received it more than once. Nevertheless the image keeps on being a beauty.
The bridge pictured is an arch bridge, a kind of bridge which is dear to me (I'll show stamps on my favourite - Dutch - bridge an other day). And don't you love the postmark?



From Russia arrived these great bridge stamps:



In the United Kingdom the Royal Mail has issued many bridge stamps. You can see them via the links at the Sunday Stamps post of today.
Here are two from the United Kingdom:





Besides receiving bridge stamps I've also send out.
This pretty bridge reminds of the Amsterdam canals. It has been designed by the late Dutch illustrator and author Sieb Posthuma:



A photo of the Skinny bridge, a movable bridge in Amsterdam, is this one:



The famous painter Vincent van Gogh has painted a similar bridge, after the drawing bridge in Arles, France: