vrijdag 30 december 2016

Postcards for the weekend: Time, clock

This weekend New Year's Eve will take place. In Dutch we name this evening 'Oudejaarsavond', which means 'Old Year's Eve' :-)

'Time' and clocks have a major role in this time of the year, so I am happy that Maria chose 'Time / Clock' for theme for this weekend's Postcards for the Weekend.

The scenes in the two postcards which I like to share here with you are possible any day of the year.



I've send this one to John, who in 2015 had a mail project on the theme 'clocks'. It shows a painting by Marius van Dokkum. The painting speaks for itself, doesn't it?!
Personally I am a fan of the works of this Dutch painter. I learned to know his works thanks to postcards!
Especially his paintings about 'modern times' cause a big smile on my face, as do the 'couples', and some of his 'nostalgia' works ring bellsof recognition, too. I hope you'll enjoy his art, too!

The following postcard I bought in a museum and I've sent in 2015, too. Alas I forgot the name of the photographer, and I didn't write the name when I scanned it. Anyhow I think it an intriguing and nice picture.



See more postcards on 'time' and/or 'clocks' on and via Maria's Postcards for the Week blog.
Wishing a Happy New Year to all of you and your beloved ones!

woensdag 28 december 2016

In: from Kazachstan



This beautiful postcard I received from Assel from Kazachstan. The illustration has been made by Svetlana Popova.

On the back nice stamps, and I learn to say 'Hello' in more languages.
And do you notice the tulips on the round stamp? My country, the Netherlands, is said to be a land of the tulips. However, tulips don't originate from our low country. Their origin is in.. the mountains of Kazachstan! Via Persia, China, Turkey and Antwerp the first tulip finally reached the Netherlands in the end of the 16th century.



Thank you very much, Assel!

vrijdag 23 december 2016

Postcards for the weekend: December Holidays

This weekend's 'Postcards for the Weekend' theme is 'December Holidays'.

The reason of my crashed computer appeared to be an amount of dust in the desktop's ventilation system. So thanks to our vacuum cleaner I am able to scan and post postcards and stamps again!

The coming period I have some days off from work so I can spend my free time... writing cards! There is a delay in my outgoing season's greetings mail, despite of the fact that my computer didn't function during the past two weeks (by which I should have had more free time), and despite of the important message on the following card (thank you, John!).



The back side of the card shows matching stamps:



What else one can do in the December holidays? When there is snow, one could take a sleigh :



(Although made in Danmark and sent from Spain, I discovered the Fox speaks a nice season's wish in Dutch!.. Thank you, Eva, for the great card and matching stamps!)

One can buy some food and make some music:



Put on your best dress:



And while there still is no snow in the Netherlands, this pretty christmas penguin-in-snow was sent to me from Malaysia (thank you, Shufen):



On the back a nice stamp showing, among others, the Tapir, one of my all-time favourite animals, so it is always a great addition, even to a christmas card.



See more December Holidays postcards at and via this weekend's 'Postcards for the weekend'.

zaterdag 3 december 2016

Postcards for the weekend: Lighthouses

This time the Postcards for the Weekend theme is 'Lighthouses'.

First I have to mention that my computer crashed last week, so I cannot scan and upload new postcards, and don't have access to the postcards and stamps which I uploaded in the past years - I did because lighthouses are favourite theme, too!

So the following postcards I'm posting, thanks to my daughter's laptop, haven't been uploaded now: I picked them from the internet.
The last five I copied from this 'nog meer post' weblog, and the first one from the website of Ravindra, to whom I've sent several lighthouses.

Among them this one, 'Lange Jaap', 'tall Jaap', the lighthouse in the northern part of my province, Noord-Holland, in the city of Den Helder.
I've seen the Lang Jaap from the sea, last year, when I took the boat to the first Wadden Island, Texel.



On his turn Ravindra sent me several postcards from his country, Sri Lanka, among them this lighthouse, named Beruwela:



Ravindra even has a blog dedicated to lighthouses on postcards, and besides that, also one about lighthouses on stamps.


Of course I have to show at least one postcard which Eva has sent me. She is the one who infected me with the 'lighthouse virus' :-)
I had a beautiful one from Spain in mind to share here, but as said, alas I cannot get the analogue postcard in this digital apparatus anymore, at the moment.
This one is a beauty, too. It shows a painting by the famous painter Edward Hopper:



You can see a slightly postal addition in the right upper corner: a postmark.
The next card has received even more postmark ink in front during it's travel, but still is a beautiful one.

It has been sent by John, who has sent me more wonderful lighthouse postcards. This one, also issued as a postage stamp, is the lighthouse at Saint John's point.



Also postcrossers have brightened my day by lighthouse cards.
I'm very happy with this maximum card, showing a lighthouse full of cubes (the first cubed one I had ever seen so far). It is the lighthouse at Casuarina Point WA:



Last but not least, a postcard which made me wonder most. As this lighthouse is located in a country which doesn't have any dirct contact with sea: Switzerland! And the lighthouse is even over 2000 meters above sea level!



See more beautiful postcards and stamps about lughthouses via this link.