Sunday Stamps: 'L' is for lezen, luchtballon and libelle

Today the Sunday Stamps' theme is the letter 'L'.

In Dutch, reading means 'lezen'. Conjugated: ik (I) lees, jij (you) leest, hij of zij (he or she) leest, wij/jullie/zij (we/you/we) lezen.

One can read a book:



Or read from a computer screen:



And how nice it is to read, laying warmly under a blanket:




The 'hot air balloon' in Dutch usually is 'air balloon' only: luchtballon. There are many stamps showing balloons. However, so far I only received this one, from Russia:



Dutch PostNL issued a serie of international stamp sheets on aviation in 2015. Most of them showed airplanes, a few helicopters and there was this stamp in honour of the Montgolfier brothers, the inventors of the luchtballon:



A luchtballon also appears on the selvage of this stamp sheet, in honour of the city of Roermond:




Finally I'd like to share some insect with you. This insect somehow makes us think of helicopters. The English word 'dragonfly' we literally would translate into 'draak vlieg', but we don't. Instead we name the insect 'libelle'. Some thinner species we name 'waterjuffer' (water-young-lady, damselflies), but the order, Odonata in English, in Dutch also is names libelle.

From the John I received this beautiful stamp:



And from Eva this beautiful shaped stamp arrived:




See more stamps on the letter 'L' at and via today's Sunday Stamps.

In: from Spain and Japan

From Eva I received this wonderful shaped stamp from Spain, showing a dragonfly. See how delicate the wings are, emphasized by the way the stamp was cut out!
The stamp on the right is special, too: before the naked eye the king's background looks shining silver, but the scanner's eye turned this into the colours of the Spanish flag!

The stamps traveled to me, along with a kind message, on the back side of this postcard:



This Samurai cat has been designed by Hana from Japan, from whom I've received this philatelic monkey.

Thank you very much, Eva!

In: from the United Kingdom

Beautiful illustration of a dragonfly, issues as a postage stamp and a maxicard, sent by John.
On the back more insects: a fly, on a stamp issued for the 150th anniversary (in 1989) of the Royal Microscopical Society, and my favourite butterfly, the Atalanta.



And this interesting stamp, or even intriguing as long as I don't know the meaning. I see a lady, a deer, the lady rowing a boat, horses, a building, trees... Please let me know if you know what this stamp is about!



The same day this postcard arrived. I had to look several times, wondering if is it a photo or a painting. It is a painting! Created by Robert K. Calvert, who has painted more trams in that era.



On the back two great matching - metro - stamps.



Thank you very much, John!