Sunday Stamps: D is for Darwin and Dragon

This time the Sunday Stamps' theme is the letter 'D'.
Yesterday I happened to have received a postcrossing postcard from Czech Republic, showing a stamp which matches to the theme:



Charles Darwin, I think he doesn't need any introduction, pictured on a stamp designed by graphic designer Pavel Dvorský.

Darwin was famous by his book 'On the origin of species'. However, despite of the resemblance with the little animal on the Czech stamp, I think no one exactly does know the origin of the following animals:



These stamps were issued in honour of the Year of the Dragon. To two of them some relief has been added, or, as we also say in Dutch, some diepte (depth):



See more stamps showing the letter 'D' on Sunday Stamps!

Sunday Stamps: 'Z' is for zee, zeeschelp and zwemmen

We made it! In 26 weeks the owner of Sunday Stamps posted stamps of all 26 letters from the alphabet, and she made us - Sunday Stamps and Mail Lovers - do the same! Congratulations to all, and many thanks to Violet, thank you for hosting Sunday Stamps so carefully!

So, the last letter of the alphabet is 'Z'. In English pronounced as 'zea', in Dutch we name this letter 'zet'.

The first stamp I want to share with you is about the zee, sea in English. Zee is pronounced as [zey] or [zay] like in 'hey' and 'hay' (is there any difference in pronounciation between hey and hay? - I don't hear it!..).
And the letter Z is not only for zee, but also Zeeland, literally 'sea-land', which is the name of the province in the zuidwesten - south west - of the Netherlands. The country New Zealand is named after this province.



Last week this province was in the news and some historical movies were shown on television, because of a sad anniversary: in the night of 31 January - 1 February 1953 the North Sea Flood took place, and this flood took the lives of many victims.
This was the start of a dike protection plan, the so-called Deltaplan, to construct the Deltawerken (Delta Works). The construction took many years, and finally, in 1986 the main parts of the Deltawerken were finished. This stamp has been issued in 1986 in honour of the Deltawerken. The text says 'Deltawerken voltooid' ('Delta works completed') but in fact it was the main parts which were finished, and in 1986 the Oosterscheldekering was inaugurated. Finally, after more than 40 years of construction, in 1997 the last part of the Deltawerken was completed (which does not mean the end of all construction works: nowadays one has to maintain it!).
So, on this 1986 stamp you can see a part of the zee, a part of Zeeland and the forementioned part of the Deltawerken.

The province Zeeland is famous for the mussel cultivation (including selling / eating). I couldn't find a stamp showing a mussel, but today that is no problem as 'mossel' doesn't start with a 'z'. But fortunately I found a look-a-like, which at least is a zeeschelp - a sea shell, on this pretty stamp bwhich Eva has sent to me from Morocco:



One activity we can do in the zee is zwemmen (to swim). You also can do it in a zwembad (swimming pool), and some people make a match of it - zwemsport (swimming sports).
Coincidentally this 'chaincard' arrived back to me recently, after having been traveling to Thailand, Taiwan and Russia, where kind stamp lovers added stamps showing zwemmers (swimmers) to my card (and I added the Dutch zwemsport stamps to theirs). This is the result:



See what other 'Z' themed stamps others have found at and via today's Sunday Stamps!

In: from Greece

The Greek island of Ikaria has a special nature, Eva wrote on the back of this postcard. Seeing this card, I think she is right, and it is hard to 'catch' the beauty in one postcard. However, the real version of this card comes close :-)



On the back Eva added a beautiful stamp, I think of one of the deer statues in the harbour of an other wellknown island, Rhodos.

Thank you very much, moltes gràcies, Eva!

Sunday Stamps: tall ships

This Sunday Stamps' theme is 'tall ships'.

For mail lovers of course this tall ship is a favourite one, as this ship was meant and used for mail transport:



The word 'tall ship' (in Dutch also in English) I heard for the very first time just two years ago, when the event Sail Amsterdam took place. I didn't have time to visit the event, but friends who did, told me they were impressed by the amazing tall ships, and they showed me beautiful photos. So hopefully I can take a look next time, in 2020 that will be.

This stamp sheet, Dutch PostNL issued in honour of the Maritime Museum in Rotterdam, shows one - tiny! - tall ship, see bottom right:



A similar old tall ship has been pictured on this recent stamp, part of a six stamps sheet connecting the Netherlands and Australia:



A tall ship (in Dutch also 'zeilreus', 'sail giant') is a large, traditionally-rigged sailing ship. I though it always has more than one mast. So I am not sure if the following, modern, vessel will belong to this Sunday's theme. At least she sails over the oceans, and is underways for a very long time, an amazing journey. On this stamp sheet, issued by PostNL in 2015, you can see the vessels and sailors in action:



See more stamps on this interesting theme at and via Sunday Stamps.

In: from Spain

Spain has a variety of landscapes. And as I've traveled only in the south east of the country, I am happy that my friends travel to other parts, too. Eva made me happy by sending, among others, these postcards.
Tabarca, a pretty island, accessible via the city Santa Pola, close to Alicante, I've visited during my stays in south east Spain. Great to see this island again, this time from a 'bird eye's' on a postcard!

Meadows with pigs are new to me. These Iberian fellows are more fortunate than their Dutch cousins, who in contrary are kept in small cages, many of them never seeing daylight. I hope one day Dutch farmers (and of course the pennywise, paying consumers) will follow the good example of the Spanish farmers.





On the back sides two well=known people, stamped by fresh new postmarks.



Thank you very much, moltes gràcies, Eva!

In: from Spain

Donostia-San Sebastián is a coastal city and municipality located in Basque Country. These wonderful views I received from Eva.

She also had traveled to Bilbao, from where she sent this card. I didn´t recognize the amazing building in the back, although I definitely have heard of this famous museum before, the Guggenheim.



Thank you very much, moltes gràcies, Eva!

Sunday Stamps: Mammals of the Sea

Today Sunday Stamps' theme is 'Mammals of the Sea'.

Of course it is a delight for me, as I love both animals and the colour turquoise, a colour which appears on many sea animals stamps.

Eva was so kind to send me four sea animals stamps, on three very beautifully decorated envelopes. The complete envelope and stamps you can see on Eva's post of August 2015. Of the four stamps two show sea mammals, of which I like to share this closer look.

The whale (or North Atlantic right whale to be more precise):



The seal:



Also the Dutch PostNL has issued a stamp showing a seal. The seal shown above on the Spanish stamp thrives in warmer seas, and is named the Mediterranean Monk seal, whereas the seal on the Dutch stamp is used to colder waters, and is named the common seal or harbour seal:



By the way, no turquoise in this stamp, but that matches with the usual colour of our sea, the North Sea: grey...

Years ago Dutch Post issued a stamp in honour of the 'Bruinvis' (literally 'brownfish') who in English is named the harbour porpoise.
On this stamp you can see how the number of these marine mammals has been changing since the years. After a bad period fortunately the number seems to have been increased after this stamp was issued.



Two large countries with a lot of sea are the USA and Russia.
From Russia I received this stamp of an orca:



And from the USA these two arrived on one envelope: the manatee:



And the delphin:



See more marine mammals on today's blog post on Sunday Stamps and the links mentioned there.

In: from the Falkland Islands

I love birds as you might know, so I was very happy that Alvin sent me this card from his holidays place, accompanied by such a wonderful and matching stamp!

The back side of the card says which kind of penguin you can see:
Rockhopper, Gentoo penguin, Snares Crested (rare on the Falklands);
King penguin chick, Magellanic penguin, King penguin;
Macaroni penguin, King penguin, Magellanic penguin chick;
Gentoo penguin, Rockhopper, Macaroni penguin.



Thank you very much, hartstikke bedankt, Alvin!

In: from Sri Lanka

It's always a pleasure to send train and lighthouse postcards and cars and lighthouses on stamps to Ravindra in Sri Lanka. And also a pleasure to receive the beautiful views of his country in return.





And of sea life in the ocean around Sri Lanka (do you spot Dory?!):



The postcards arrived with beautiful stamps on the back:











In the past year we exchanged much more postcards, among them these also:













Thank you very much, Ravindra!

Sunday stamps: Water birds

This time the Sunday Stamps' theme is 'Water Birds'.
As I love birds this is an other favourite subject of mine!

The first two stamps I love to share with you I've published before, be it not for Sunday Stamps. Thanks to FinnBadger I received these two wonderful sea birds: a Frigatebird and a Tufted Puffin. Both on an awesome envelope, made out of a calendar page showing birds by Charley Harper. The Flamingo of course is a water bird, too.
And - thank you FinnBadger for correcting me - I first thought the Frigatebird had been created by this famous artist, too, but it appears to have been designed by Tyler Lang, who has created many more animals illustrations, which at first sight remind me of Charley Harper's birds, but when you look close their style is so different!



The puffin has been designed by Robert Giusti.

And as puffins belong to my most favourite birds and Harper to one of my favourite artists (he has created a lot of bird pictures) and Tyler Lang's artwork I think inspiring, too, no need to say that FinnBadger's mail made my day :-)

In the Netherlands also various birds have been imaged on stamps.
These two stamp sheets have been issued in 2003 as a tribute to the Dutch wad in the Wadden area. The images have been designed by Eke van Mansvelt.



You can see the 'Scholekster'(Eurasian Oystercatcher), the 'Lepelaar' (Spoonbill), two kinds of Geese, the 'Grote Mantelmeeuw' (Great black-backed gull, I guess - there are a lot of kinds of sea gulls), the 'Wulp' (Eurasian curlew), some non-bird animals
and on the sheet itself the 'Visdief' (Common Tern), 'Plevieren' (Plovers).



The Wadden is a part of the north Sea, south of the so-called Wadden Islands. Since 2009 it is a UNESCO world heritage site, nevertheless the area is threatened, by pollution, by business plans etcetera, so I hope (and in fact expect) the area will continue to be protected.

By the way, the postage has increased a lot since 2003. In that year we had to pay € 0,39 for national mail and € 0.59 for international mail (all up to 20 grams). Anno 2016 it is € 0.73 for national mail and € 1.25 for international mail..

See more Sea Birds - and Charley Harper stamps! - at and via the links under this Sunday's Sunday Stamps blog!

Sunday Stamps: Rocks

This Sunday Stamps' theme is: rocks, gems and minerals.

My dear late grandmother collected stones and minerals, so the theme is dear to me. And I love to see the stamps the other Sunday Stamps pals have collected and shared! You can find them at Sunday Stamps and the links under the post.

For me it was not easy to find suitable stamps. That is, I could not find any mineral or gem in my collection at all!

Fortunately the following rocks I found. Both are large, and both in the sea (so, island rocks!?!).

From Hong Kong:



And an illustrated one, from Spain: