Sunday Stamps: "R" is for rolstoel, regen and regenboog

Today Sunday Stamps are dedicated to the letter 'R'.

While the Dutch word 'Rolstoel' refers to its function ('rolstoel' literally means 'roll(ing) chair'), the English word refers to its appearance: 'wiel stoel' or 'wheel chair'.

Rolstoelen are good solutions for people who have lost the ability to walk. However, this stamp shows that there still are thresholds to overcome, both literal and figurative (social, administrative, financial, psychological) obstacles, once you become dependent on this mobility equipment:



Despite of the obstacles, people manage to practice sports on high level, for instance wheelchair tennis. Dutch Post has dedicated at least two stamps on rolstoel tennis players.

In 2009 a stamp sheet was issued on the theme 'attention for sports talent'. One of the talented tennis players is Aniek van Koot. Three years after this stamp has been issued, she won silver medals on the London Paralympics, and in 2013 she won the US Open:



In 2012 Dutch PostNL issued a stamp sheet in honour of the 100th anniversary of the Dutch Olympic Committee / Dutch Sports Federation NOC*NSF. One of the stamps from this 10 stamps sheet shows Esther Vergeer, who has been the number one in rolstoeltennis for many years:



From Ukraine I received this pretty stamp, showing a woman in a rolstoel. So to see a robijn (ruby) is handed to her:



And you might have noted it in the previous stamp: there is a regenboog (rainbow)!
Regenbogen appear when there is sun (zon) and regen (rain) at the same time. This combination you can see on these stamps, issued in 2004 for the 150th anniversary of the KNMI, the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute:



In case the legs and feet function but the hands function less, sometimes it is possible to use the feet for manual tasks. This foot painter also pictured a regenboog:




The regenboogvlag - rainbow flag - is know in many countries as a sign of diversity and tolerance.

Canadian Post issued this regenboogvlag stamp, to celebrate the fact that two people who love each other can marry, no matter if they are male or female:



Some regenboog you can also see in the trousers of the man. These two stamps have been issued in 2016 in honour of the Europride, which took place in Amserdam in that year:



I just now realize that there is an other word starting with an 'R' in Dutch and not in English: 'Roze'!
Roze means pink - and 'pink' has a false friend: the Dutch word 'pink' is the fifth / little finger in English! :-)

Find more stamps in words starting with the letter 'R' at today's Sunday stamps!

Sunday stamps: Winter sports

This Sunday Stamps' theme is 'Winter sports'.

In the Netherlands there are no mountains, so it won't be a surprise that I don't have Dutch stamps about skiing.
On my turn I was surprised to receive a postcard from Portugal - not to receive the card itself, as Alvin and I send each other a postcard every now and then, but by the stamp he added to the back side, as I didn't link Portugal with winter sports, until now:



Nevertheless there are several Dutch people who go to mountains to ski in winter, too.
But the typical and most popular Dutch winter sport - which I used to practise in my childhood only - is ice skating.

Dutch Post has issued not one, but as far as I know at least eight stamps linked to this type of sport.

This one is from a definitive stamp sheet. The type of skate is 'Friese (Frisian) doorloper', a skate made out of wood, bound to the shoe, with one iron under it.



For speed skating the 'Noren' ('Norwegians') are more suitable. As you can see on this December stamp issued last year, the iron under this type of skate is longer and straight at the front side:



In contrary to skates used for dancing on ice (figure skating) and for ice hockey.
See this december stamp issued in 2014:



To improve the speed at speed skating, the 'klapschaats' ('clap skate') was invented in 1980 in the Netherlands. The idea already existed in the 19th century, according to a patent application in 1894.
Dutch Post has issued a stamp sheet on Dutch inventions in 2007, one of the stamps is this clap skate stamp:



Now some stamps showing skating people / personalities.
This famous one you will know. The stamp has been issued in 2010 as a December stamp, for the 60th anniversary of Snoopy:



This is a 3D stamp - scanned not as nice as in real as the image 'moves' when you move the stamp. It shows Yvonne van Gennip, a famous Dutch speed skater:



The stamp was issued together with a stamp of Ducth skate legend Ard Schenk. I don't have that one, but you can find it on the internet, see this picture.

Last but not least a stamp issued in honour or Reinier Paping. He won the so-called Elfstedentocht (Eleven cities tour) in 1963, which was a horrible tour at that time:



Each winter all people from Friesland (Fryslan, a province in the north east of the Netherlands) and West-Friesland (a part of the province Noord-Holland in the west of our country) and some other skate lovers, wonder if the winter will be cold enough to skate on natural ice and, more important, for the Elfstedentocht to take place. Most years it wasn't. For the ones who are curious about this 200 kms long tour skate happening, see for example wikipedia about Elfstedentocht and the official Elfstedentocht website.

See more stamps on Winter sports at and via this Sunday's Sunday Stamps!

Sunday stamps: Sporting events

Today's theme of Sunday Stamps is: Sporting events.
Personally spoken, I'm not that much interested in sports, and am hardly watching sporting events on television. The only exceptions are the trainings and matches my kids are attending (I'm getting very enthusiast then), and every now and then sports attract my attention spontaneously in an other way. For instance when it has to do with nice stamps (which pokes up my enthusiasm, too)!

The stamps I want to share with you today are about some - to my opinion - very tough, hard sports.

The Volvo Ocean Race I didn't know until recently, due to this stamp sheet I learned about this sailing event:



The sailors sail around the world in about nine months. Nine months!
In June 2015 they had a pit stop in the Dutch city Den Haag (The Hague). This stamp sheet has been issued for this occasion by the Dutch Post in May 2015.

An other international sporting event which 'touched' the Netherlands for a few days is the famous bicycle race, the Tour de France.
The previous weekend, on 4 July 2015, the Tour started in the Dutch city Utrecht, the cyclists riding individual time trials in the first stage. And exactly one week ago the second stage started, from Utrecht in the center of our country, via the harbour city Rotterdam to Neeltje Jans in the south west of the Netherlands.
The Dutch Post issued a special 'postset' on these two days, existing of three postcards and this stamp sheet:



The Dutch Post has issued a stamp sheet on the Tour de France before. Five years ago, on 4 July 2010, the Tour de France started in Rotterdam, and the Post - then the predecessor of PostNL, TNT Post - issued this stamp sheet, which showed alle stages of the tour in that year, and cyclists!



From summer to winter, from international to a national sporting event, from the south west of the Netherlands to the north east: the Elfstedentocht, the Eleven Cities Tour. It is an ice skating event on natural ice, in the northern province Friesland (Frisia, Fryslân).
The good thing is that it is a real challenge: almost 200 kilometers skating! But the sad thing, at least for the skaters and organizers, is that it depends on the weather if this event will take place.
Every year the Elfstedentocht-fans are hoping for a rigorous winter, for severe frost.
Alas most of the winters in the Netherlands aren't cold enough for a sufficient amount of days. The first Elfstedentocht was in 1909. And the most recent Elfstedentocht was in 1997, so 18 years ago. That was the 15th Elfstedentocht in 106 years!..
On 2 January 2013 the Dutch PostNL issued this stamp sheet, in honour of Reinier Paping, the winner of the harsh (hardest) tour in 1963:



Check Sunday Stamps and the links under that post, to see more stamps on sporting events!

In: from Hong Kong

De Poolse uitgeverij Postallove geeft een bijzondere serie 'GF', 'groeten uit' ansichtkaarten uit. Ik ontdekte deze serie via instagrammers uit onder andere Hong Kong, China en Maleisië, en ik dacht eerst dat deze kaarten uit Oost-Azië kwamen. Maar ze komen dus van dichter bij huis, en zijn ontworpen door de Poolse ontwerpster Ewa Słocińska.

Dankzij Natalie ontving ik deze kaart uit het afgebeelde land zelf, met op de achterkant ook mooie postzegels van een net uitgekomen serie over sport.

The Polish company Postallove has issued a special serie, GF cards, 'greetings from' cards. I discovered this serie thanks to instagram users from Hong Kong, China and Malaysia, so first I thought these cards came from Eastern Asia. But they appear to have been created a little closer to my home, designed by the Polish designer Ewa Słocińska.

Thanks to Natalie I received this GF postcard from the country pictured, and on the back she added stamps from a new Hong Kong stamp serie about sports.

Thank you very much, Natalie!