Postcards for the Weekend

This weekend the theme of Postcards for the Weekend is 'anything you wish'.

Coincidentally I received two cards from Eva this weekend (well, one on Friday and the other yesterday, Saturday), which is a good reason to post them now!



This postcard shows a flying object and I am not sure if it is a hot air balloon or zeppelin. Eva bought it in Amiens, France, the city where Jules Vernes has lived for many years.
I love the combination of the design of the flying object and the map - and stamps on top and airmail stripes on the right (wondering why most airmail envelopes have red and blue lines/chevrons?).

On the back side Eva added wonderful stamps, among them a clear hot air balloon:



Some other creatures who even knew how to fly long before Jules Verne was thinking about it, appear on this postcard:



The postcard is titled 'Reality', from a book named 'ABC Photography', and the photo itself is titled 'Sustenance 114', made by Neeta Madahar in 2003.

On the back side an other wonderful stamp, showing a rooster and a hen in a stained glass window. They represent the legend of the Miracle of Santo Domingo de la Calzada.



Thank you very much, Eva!


Find more Postcards for this Weekend at this weekend's Connections to the World.

Postcards for the Weekend: Markets

This weekend the theme of Postcards for the Weekend is 'markets'.



This pretty water colour painting of a market in Hong Kong has been painted by Shen Ping, and was sent to me by Natalie from Hong Kong.




This postcard is from a box with - newly printed - old postcards from the city of Utrecht, in the center of the Netherlands. The original photo has been taken more than 100 years ago. At first sight it doesn't look like a market like we know nowadays in our country, but when looking closer you can see that indeed there is merchandise: animals. The note says 'Kippenmarkt', which means 'chicken market'.

See more markets, from all-over the world, at and via Maria's Postcards for the Weekend blog.

Sunday stamps: 'F' is for film and fotografie

Today it is the letter 'F''s turn.

Fotografie looks and sounds a little similar to photography. Be it that in the word 'fotografie' the accent falls on the '-fie' and not on the '-to-', as I have learned that's the case with the English word 'photography'. The meaning of both words is exactly the same.
Filmmaker only differs in pronounciation of the 'a' to the 'a' in the English equivalent, filmmaker.



Heinz Sielmann was a German filmmaker and fotograaf (photographer). He created beautiful wildlife films (movies) and foto's (pictures). See some of his work via this website.

In: from the United Kingdom

John sent me this postcard, showing the Billericay Windmill in Essex.
The postcard traveled in only 2 days, from the United Kingdom to the Netherlands! And was accompanied by a special stamp on the backside:



Thank you very much, John! Thank you also for the other postcards, very much appreciated! I'll post the other cards later, but for now I couldn't wait to share this shaped bat stamp!

In: from Hungary

Behold this longing animal!
Sent by Micu from Hungary.



On the back side not a usual stamp (Hungary has many beautiful ones) but this time a postage sticker, and a priority sticker.
Boring? Not at all! Besides the interesting language - just now I learned that 'Hungary' in Hungarian means 'Magyarország'! - you can see beautiful tiny small post horns in the edges. And 'priority' in Hungarian is 'elsőbbségi'. An interesting word for non-native language lovers!



Thank you very much, Micu, köszönöm!

In: from the United Kingdom

This extraordinary house postcard I received from John.
It has been completed circa 1610 and is named 'Little Moreton Hall'. How large this National Trust site is, you can see the beautiful pictures by John, on his blog post of 3rd of March.

Out: to Sri Lanka

Another tram postcard found to send to Ravindra in Sri Lanka! I happened to find a temporary 'brocante' market on my way in my home city, and of course the old black and white photo postcards attracted my attention.

This card has travelled and will travel far, both in time and in place.
Concerning time: the card has been written and sent for the first time in 1929. And more than 86 years later it is sent again.



Concerning place: the card - originally from Marseille, France - was sent from Tanger in Morocco, to Haarlem in the Netherlands.
And now will travel from the Netherlands to Nugegoda in Sri Lanka!



On the envelope I added these train stamps, which I hope Ravindra will like, too. These I bought in the city of Utrecht at the stamps shop of Wim van der Bijl, a very friendly and remarkable stamp collector and seller.

Out: to Morocco and the United Kingdom

'La sieste' heet deze foto uit 1972 van Paul Almásy. Gelukkig had ik twee exemplaren, zodat ik ze naar twee postvrienden kon sturen die (net als ik) van plaatjes van lezende mensen houden.

The name of this picture (1972) is 'La sieste'. It has been made by Paul Almásy. Fortunately I found two copies, so I was able to send it to both mail friends who like pictures of reading people (like I do, too).



Met op de postzegels allerlei bekende mensen: de bouwer van de eerste onderzeeboot Cornelis Drebbel, de DJ Armin van Buuren, 'De Zouaaf' door Vincent van Gogh, en de Nederlandse koning.

On the stamps some well-known people: Cornelis Drebbel, who built the first navigable submarine (in 1620), Armin van Buuren, the Dutch DJ, 'The Zouave' by Vincent van Gogh, and the Dutch king.

In: from Morocco

Degenen die ons al wat langer kennen weten dat Eva en ik iets met smurfen hebben. Zelf vind ik vooral die blauwe poppetjes leuk, je kunt er mooie taferelen mee maken.
Blij verrast was ik toen ik deze Knutselsmurf in de bus kreeg.
Dankjewel, Eva!

The ones who know us for a longer time, know that Eva and I like smurfs. For me especially those small puppets are interesting, because you can make nice scenes with them.
Thank you very much, Eva!