Letter from a dear mail friend

It has been a long time since I posted here. Most of my online time nowadays is captured by instagram.
Today I heard sad news: a dear mail pal, a mail friend to many people, has passed away last weekend. We so much will miss him!
And I realized I never had posted this piece of mail here, of which both John and I, and many (snail)mail lovers with us, thought it is an amazing and funny coincidence.
John started to blog in the early years. As blogger might be more accessible than instagram, I copy my instagram post from 2019 to this blog:

John brought a lot of humour, wisdom, thoughtfulness, post-related postcards (and in my case also cute critters on postcards and stamps) and mail art, into many mailboxes. He will be dearly missed, not only by his dear family who he loved so much, but also by me and many mail friends.
Thank you for all joyful mail you sent to me and to so many people.
May you rest in peace, dear John.

Sunday Stamps: Trees

It's been a long time since I posted stamps for Sunday Stamps. I'm happy to finally share these stamps, matching this Sunday's theme 'Trees' (click to enlarge):

These Dutch stamps have been issued as a serie of 4 sheets containing 10 stamps each and representing the four seasons: spring-, summer-, autumn- and winter trees. They were issued in 2007 when € 0.44 still was sufficient for mail within the Netherlands (since 1-1-2023 it is € 1.01).

The stamps show (in Dutch, English and scientific name):

top rows:
Zaad van noorse esdoorn: norway maple seed (acer platanoides)
Bruine beuk: brown beech (fagus sylvatica atropunicea)
Zwarte els: black alder (alnus glutinosa)
Schietwilg: white willow (salix alba)

bottom rows:
Hollandse linde: common linden / european lime (tilia x vulgaris / tilia x europaea)
Knop van witte paardenkastanje: bud of a horse chestnut (aesculus hippocastanum)
Schors van een plataan: bark of a plane tree (platanus)
Zomereik: common (also pedunculate or European) oak (Quercus robur).

See more tree stamps at and via Sunday stamps!

Black minus red is blue and yellow

Today's Sunday Stamps' theme is 'Dark, colour or theme'. When I saw this theme announced last Sunday, I immediately had an atmospheric, nice dark / sunset stamp in mind. Not knowing what would happen later this week.
Thursday morning, 24 February, a horrible news shook the world. How can one man even think of attacking a country, and then let his bad saddening thoughts come true by letting the army of his country invade the neighbouring country...

Thanks to our stamp hobby on instagram I've learned to know kind and thoughtful people from both countries. While the woman in RU feels guilty and sad and supports the UA people, the UA woman is hiding in shelter due to the bombing...

Both you, dear visitor, and I know how real mail can connect real people in a positive way, and I wished that this agressive president would have been sending postcards and drink tea and make music with the neighbours instead of causing pain and loss by starting a bad, sad war.

Instead of the dark sunset stamp I originally had in mind, I chose two specific bright colours for today. The connection with the theme, dark/black: Painters know that the three primary colours together make black (or at least a dark grey).
So if we pull the red out of this black, the remaining colours form the bright colours of the flag of the country we are supporting in these hard times.
And I chose these stamps (coincidentally from other countries) to have these Blue and Yellow always keep on shining bright.

Last but not least, I dont know if KR Post did issue this yellow umbrella stamp intentionally to support the people in HK, but anyhow I think these people, whose freedom has been taken away by an other mighty country, deserve attention and support, too.

Let us not forget that many other countries have been invaded and even stolen by other countries (also in 'our' past via colonialism) and still today many more people in many countries suffer from war and agression.
Hopefully peace will gain victory all over the world very, very soon.

See more stamps on the theme, supporting Ukraine and peace, at - and in the comments to - today's Sunday Stamps post.

Sunday Stamp: Nella Larsen

It has been a long time since I posted for Sunday Stamps, and I am happy to add a stamp for today's theme: 'N'.

My late mom was named Nelly, and the woman on this stamp is named Nella, so her name is dear :-)
I found some more information about Nella Larsen on the internet, and her career is matching to this Sunday Stamps' theme also: she was both a nurse and a novellist.
I didn't know her books so far. But now that I was searching for more information, I found out that her novel 'Passing', first published in 1929, still is available (and even has been translated into my language, Nederlands / Dutch). As it is about two women from mixed families (which is a dear theme to me) I just ordered it, to read it more than ninety years after Nella has written the book.

Nella's stamp was accompanied by a stamp of an other writer, plus a matching postmark of the Harlem Renaissance movement (many thanks to FinnBadger for these stamps and postmark):

See more stamps on today's theme on and via the comments on today's Sunday Stamps.

Food for thought

Beautiful drawing by Eva and matching stamps, thank you very much!

Lighthouse postmark and physicists

A beautiful postmark and a wise physicist arrived today. Thank you very much, FinnBadger!

Sunday Stamps: F is for Feathers and Fountain pens

Today's Sunday Stamps theme is the letter 'F'.

I found some good old writing tools. The feathers might be hardly used anymore nowadays, in contrary to fountain pens, who have a lot of new fans.











See more stamps showing an object or name starting with an 'F' at today's Sunday Stamps.

Sunday Stamps: E is for Envelope, Erwtjes and Embrace the Earth

Past Sunday's Sunday Stamps theme is/was the letter 'E'. As I was elsewhere, my contribution has a littlE dElay. But here they are:


Envelopes have been pictured on the 2008 Europa stamps (in the year two-thousand-Eight :-) )
For example on this Dutch Europa stamp:



And on the Russian Europa 2008 stamp a modern and classic version of an envelope:



Envelopes behind a modern communication medium (facilitating E-mail!) on the Europa stamp from Azerbeidjan:





Erwtjes, I think a funny Dutch word. It means 'tiny peas' (erwten is the normal plural form of the singular 'erwt'), and I was happily surprised when I saw erwtjes being honoured with a stamp from France:




The erwtjes came on a chaincard themed 'green'. And when thinking of 'green' I think of the Environment, and the need to protect it. So I also was happy to see this stamp on the card. Issued by Turkish Post, a beautiful symbolic way to show the importance of protecting the environment, to embrace the Earth.





See what other 'E' other stamp lovers had in mind on this Sunday at Violet's See it on a Postcard and follow the links in the comments.

Sunday Stamps: D is for Darwin and Dragon

This time the Sunday Stamps' theme is the letter 'D'.
Yesterday I happened to have received a postcrossing postcard from Czech Republic, showing a stamp which matches to the theme:



Charles Darwin, I think he doesn't need any introduction, pictured on a stamp designed by graphic designer Pavel Dvorský.

Darwin was famous by his book 'On the origin of species'. However, despite of the resemblance with the little animal on the Czech stamp, I think no one exactly does know the origin of the following animals:



These stamps were issued in honour of the Year of the Dragon. To two of them some relief has been added, or, as we also say in Dutch, some diepte (depth):



See more stamps showing the letter 'D' on Sunday Stamps!

Sunday Stamps: C is for Chair and Couch

Today's theme for Sunday Stamps is the letter 'C'.

Coincidentally I received a chaincard back home yesterday. The card started its journey on 19 November 2018, and after traveling from the Netherlands to Germany, Hungary, China and Taiwan, it came back full of nice stamps.
As the theme was 'Furnitures', there appeared to be some matching stamps: chairs!



The front side of the card is matching, too! It shows contemporary art by Bill Viola, a video still titled 'Catherine's Room (panel 3)' (2001).



On some of the cards of my chaincard pals I didn't stick the same stamp shown on my card bottom right, but an other stamp from the Children's Stamps 2015 serie, showing a couch:



This time the words in Dutch don't start with a 'C':
chair = stoel
couch = bank (the 'a' pronounced as the 'a' in 'harvest' or 'calm')
coincidentally = toevallig
contemporary art = moderne kunst
card = kaart
chain = ketting
children's stamps = kinderpostzegels

See more stamps on the theme 'the letter C' at today's Sunday Stamps, and don't forget to check the links in the comments to that post!

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: A is for Aletta Jacobs

Today the new Sunday Stamps alphabet is starting, with the letter 'A' of course.

In the previous alphabet my chosen theme was 'Dutch words stamps'. I was wondering what theme to choose now, or if I should maybe show random stamps.
Thanks to Eva's blog post of today I suddenly thought of 'people'.
And the stamp Eva showed, 'American Women' in general, reminded me of a certain Dutch woman who has played an important role: in becoming a university student and a medical doctor in times when women were not supposed to study, in supporting people who had a bad and poor life, and a main role for women in obtaining the right to vote.
Aletta Jacobs I'm talking about. I must confess that I don't have a stamp showing herself, but the stamp I have immediately reminds me of her. The stamp has been issued in honour of the women's right to vote. Maybe Aletta Jacobs shows up on the black and white photo in the upper part of this stamp?



In 1999 the Dutch Post issued a stamp sheet, themed 'highlights of the 20th century'. One of them is this stamp, dedicated to the obtained right to vote. So to see the woman on this stamp is not Aletta Jacobs, but anyhow the stamp is related:



On the internet I found this one and only stamp, a personalized one, showing her portrait:



Since a few years the archives of Aletta Jacobs are considered as world heritage, and in the UNESCO Memory of the World program.


See here what interesting 'A'-stamps other stamp lovers chose for today's Sunday Stamps!

Postcards for the Weekend: Happiness, joy

This Postcards for the Weekend's theme is 'Happiness / Joy'.

This postcard show an object which brings a lot of joy:



As a mail lover you immediately know why :-)

In case of doubt: see what joyful Postcrossing stamps on the back side this postcard returned to me, after having traveled to Malaysia, Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, and back to my country:



A person who brings much joy and happiness, too, is Krtek, or Molletje (Little Mole) as we name him in Dutch. Created by Czech animator Zdeněk Miler, Little Mole shows us how to live happy, with friends and in harmony with nature:



I see DawnTreader has chosen a happy Krtek postcard for this weekend, too, and I think one never will get enough of this friendly and smart mole. The Mole always gets nice solutions to everyday's problems. And even to big problems, as my favourite Little Mole movie proofs (Mole in the city - Molletje in de stad - Krtek ve městě). The Little Mole in the City movie follows the adventures of Krtek and his sidekicks Hedgehog and Rabbit as they head to the city after the forest, their home, has been taken over by industrialization.

Last but not least, there are two women who exactly know how to keep up happiness and joy, even at an elder age. Created by Finnish illustrator Inge Löök, they showed up on this postcard which landed in my mailbox yesterday and which caused a smile from ear to ear on my face, also for the back side.



I received it from Eva, and she suggested matching names for the two. Thanks a lot, Eva! I think I agree with you - be sure that a proper reply will be sent as soon as possible!

See more happy postcards at and via Maria's Postcards for the Weekend!

Sunday Stamps: New Year

This week, on 16 February, the Chinese New Year will start: the year of the Dog.

That means, we'll say goodbye to the Year of the Rooster..
Dutch PostNL issued a stamp sheet on which you can see this change. 'Vaarwel jaar van de Haan' means 'goodbye / farewell to the year of the rooster', and 'welkom jaar van de hond' means 'welcome year of the dog':



Via Instagram I got to know several mail loving people from all over the world. And some of them are starting a so-called 'chaincard' themed 'Year of the Dog'. We are just about to start, so I haven't received any of the stamps yet, but some of them showed the stamps they'll going to use already in the instagram groups, and I like to share the print-screens of these stamp pictures with you!

On alphabetic order:

From Australia / Christmas Island:



From China:





From Indonesia:



From Japan:



From Korea:





From Malaysia:





From Singapore:



From Taiwan:



From Thailand:



On my turn, I'll add the Dutch Year of the Dog stamp to their cards. Dutch PostNL officially will issue this stamp sheet on 16 February, but to my surprise my order arrived already last week :-)



See more stamps of this coming New Year at and via Sunday Stamps.