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.

In: from Morocco (and Italy and Poland)

A beautiful piece of mail art arrived from Morocco, thanks to Eva who created this great Mail Cat.

And the mail traveled fast: written 22nd of October, postmarked on 23 October by Moroccan Post, and it arrived in the right mailbox in Netherlands on 27 October!



Inside two postcards of a favourite drink (be it that I prefer it with milk, no sugar, so I think the mug bottom right might be my favourite :-) ). The drawn one Eva had bought for me during her trip to Rome, the other came from Poland.



A close-up of the stamp, issued in 2016 in honour of International Women's Day:




Thank you very much, Eva, moltes gràcies!

Sunday stamps: 'B' is for 'brief', 'bellen' and 'blindengeleidehond'

I love 'false friends': words which in one language have a certain meaning, and which have in an other language a totally different meaning.

That is the case with the word 'brief'. In English 'brief' means 'short'. But the Dutch word 'brief' has a meaning which I guess you all might like: 'epistle', 'letter'!



On the first stamp Nijntje (Miffy) is writing a brief (letter).
And on the second stamp you see the happy receiver of this brief (letter).



An other funny false friend is the verb (not noun) 'bellen', a false friend between German and Dutch.

In Dutch, the verb 'bellen' means 'to make a phone call'. In German, 'bellen' means... 'to bark' (in Dutch: blaffen).

Here you see some people 'aan het bellen' (calling),



And talking about barking (blaffen), the type of dog on the next stamps doesn't bark a lot, but works hard instead, to help to guide blind people.
In Dutch he/she is named 'blindengeleidehond' (blinden = blind people (plural), geleiden = to guide, hond = dog).
Sunny was the first guide dog in the Netherlands and started to work in 1935, the founding year of the KNGF (Royal Dutch Guide Dog Foundation).



The characters on top are from the Braille alphabet, named after Louis Braille and thus has the same name in Dutch, English and German.


See more stamps concerning the 'B' at and via today's Sunday Stamps.

In: from Spain (and the United Kingdom)

What do Morris Mouse and Harry Potter have in common?

They send/receive mail, they experience adventures...



...They can fly!...
(in apparently impossible ways)



... And they have been sent by Eva from Spain to the Netherlands!



The Mouse Mail caused some jolly way of canceling.



Thank you very much, Eva!

Postcards for the weekend: Happiness

This Postcards for the Weekend's theme is 'Happiness'!

One of the things that make me happy is nice mail. And it always is good to see the postman being happy by delivering mail, too:



Also this smurf is very happy, only he cannot bring the edges of his mouth upwards because he has to play the posthorn:



Nice mail brings happiness, both to the sender and receiver:





Happiness is for everyone, for the young and for the old.

Dutch illustrator Fiep Westendorp drew people of all ages, but she became most famous by her children's illustrations. This one of a child and cat, warmly packed against the cold, sharing happiness in the winter snow:



Finnish illustrator Inge Löök is famous for her illustrations of two very happy old ladies. Here the cheerful ladies are enjoying a nice day in the spring sun, with a drink and a play:



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

In: from Morocco

A nice mixture, connection, between the digital and the analogue world I received today from Eva.
The image has been made by German artist/typographer Harald Geisler.

Eva herself is an artist and typographer, too, which is proofed by the wonderful typography on the envelope:



The stamp has been issued last year for the 41st anniversary of the 'Green March'.

The card is part of a larger serie of postcards. Eva was so kind to send already three to me. Among these also this delicious cake:



The best choice of cakes, as in general I am not so fond of eatable cakes, but I am fond of fonts!

Thank you very much, moltes gràcies, Eva!

Sunday Stamps: Science

This Sunday Stamps theme is 'Science'. I hardly dare to say it, because I've mentioned so many favourites already, but 'science' is a theme dear to me, too.

This stamp has been issued by Italian post last year for the San Marino-Italia Techno Science Park:



This is an older stamp from Germany, which shows a portrait of Philippus von Hohenheim, better known as Paracelsus. I am not sure why he isn't looking happy on this stamp, as he has achieved several things, among these he has been credited as the founder of toxicology and for giving zinc its name: 'zincum'.



Finally a stamp sheet issued by Dutch PostNL a year ago (20th July 2015) in honour of the Nemo Science Museum in Amsterdam.
Alas I don't have the complete sheet anymore, however I found this image on the internet to show you:



Both the museum and the stamp sheet have a big similarity: they make 'science' attractive for a large public, by having people learn in a playful and interactive way.

See more stamps to the theme 'Science' at today's Sunday Stamps and follow the links mentioned there.

Out: to Sri Lanka

I had sent a small picture of the Amersfoort railway station on a multiview card to Ravindra already. Recently I found an other postcard. With indeed exactly the same photo, but a larger, easier visible one, so now it is on its way to Sri Lanka.

As Ravindra loves lighthouses, too, I added this recently issued stamp on the back.



(I've reserved one of this stamp to send to you, too, Eva! :-) )

In: from Korea

Two beautiful bird collage cards by Kareem Rizk, sent to me from Korea by Kim JungYoun.



Beautiful stamps as well, and it is the first time that I see a smartphone on a stamp!



Thank you very much, Kim!

In: from the United Kingdom

I had seen the 'Man posting / cauliflower' postcard before on Eva's website. I really loved that picture, and I am grateful that I can see and feel this postcard in real: the sender - John - has sent this card recently me!

On the back John sticked great mail related postage stamps, showing different stages of the mail process:



Some weeks earlier this interesting historical postcard arrived at my place:



On the back a lovely mail transport stamp, and information about the postmarks on the front side (click picture to enlarge).



Thank you very much, John!

Sunday Stamps: Technology, industry

This Sunday Stamps' theme is 'Technology, Industry'.

The theme made me think of this stamp sheet:



The sheet has been issued in 2010 for the 100th anniversary of the national Patent Act. It shows Dutch technological inventions, and I think inventions are the basis of industry.
Among these are the submarine, the artificial kidney, the bicycle's chain case, handwriting recognizer, automatic milking systems and LED light.