Postcards for the Weekend: Winter scenes

This weekend's Connections to the World theme is 'Winter scenes'.
At the moment it is cloudy, here in the Netherlands. Sometimes rainy, and when going outside one could think it to be not only winter, but also autumn or spring. In the start of last December there were some days full of snow, and the weather forecast says it might be snowing next week, or not.
At least there are postcards who show snow. And thanks to 'Postcards for the Weekend' I was triggered to share them with you.

The postcard above I received from Margit from Germany, a cute one of Little Mole, or Krtek, and his woodland friends.



Although I dislike the cold and slipperiness of snow, sleighing is fun. This postcard is an illustration by Fiep Westendorp.

The postcard below I had made out of a photo I took some winters ago, from footsteps of our feathered friends on the pathway next to our home.



And this is a regular postcard, showing a winter scene in the province of Drenthe:



I used it for a chaincard, and after a journey via the USA, Indonesia (without melting!) and Russia the card returned home safely, the backside filled with snowmen:




See more winter scenes at and via Postcards for the Weekend!

Sunday stamps: Winter sports

This Sunday Stamps' theme is 'Winter sports'.

In the Netherlands there are no mountains, so it won't be a surprise that I don't have Dutch stamps about skiing.
On my turn I was surprised to receive a postcard from Portugal - not to receive the card itself, as Alvin and I send each other a postcard every now and then, but by the stamp he added to the back side, as I didn't link Portugal with winter sports, until now:



Nevertheless there are several Dutch people who go to mountains to ski in winter, too.
But the typical and most popular Dutch winter sport - which I used to practise in my childhood only - is ice skating.

Dutch Post has issued not one, but as far as I know at least eight stamps linked to this type of sport.

This one is from a definitive stamp sheet. The type of skate is 'Friese (Frisian) doorloper', a skate made out of wood, bound to the shoe, with one iron under it.



For speed skating the 'Noren' ('Norwegians') are more suitable. As you can see on this December stamp issued last year, the iron under this type of skate is longer and straight at the front side:



In contrary to skates used for dancing on ice (figure skating) and for ice hockey.
See this december stamp issued in 2014:



To improve the speed at speed skating, the 'klapschaats' ('clap skate') was invented in 1980 in the Netherlands. The idea already existed in the 19th century, according to a patent application in 1894.
Dutch Post has issued a stamp sheet on Dutch inventions in 2007, one of the stamps is this clap skate stamp:



Now some stamps showing skating people / personalities.
This famous one you will know. The stamp has been issued in 2010 as a December stamp, for the 60th anniversary of Snoopy:



This is a 3D stamp - scanned not as nice as in real as the image 'moves' when you move the stamp. It shows Yvonne van Gennip, a famous Dutch speed skater:



The stamp was issued together with a stamp of Ducth skate legend Ard Schenk. I don't have that one, but you can find it on the internet, see this picture.

Last but not least a stamp issued in honour or Reinier Paping. He won the so-called Elfstedentocht (Eleven cities tour) in 1963, which was a horrible tour at that time:



Each winter all people from Friesland (Fryslan, a province in the north east of the Netherlands) and West-Friesland (a part of the province Noord-Holland in the west of our country) and some other skate lovers, wonder if the winter will be cold enough to skate on natural ice and, more important, for the Elfstedentocht to take place. Most years it wasn't. For the ones who are curious about this 200 kms long tour skate happening, see for example wikipedia about Elfstedentocht and the official Elfstedentocht website.

See more stamps on Winter sports at and via this Sunday's Sunday Stamps!

Sunday stamps: Winter white

This Sunday stamps' theme is 'Winter white'.
How coincidentally: the first snow in my city arrived in the night of Friday to Saturday. In the west of the Netherlands however almost all snow has gone. In the east and south of our country the snow will last for at least this Sunday, but by the expected temperatures of over zero degrees Celsius it soon will be over.

'Winter white' makes me think of large winter landscapes. However, I don't have a lot of stamps showing this. Only the one above from Germany does, so I am happy to show it here.

But 'white', 'snow', shows up in several other stamps. Or not:
The following stamp immediately makes us think of snow, while in fact no snow is visible, on this Nijntje-(Miffy)-on-a-sleigh stamp:



In contrary to winter landscape stamps, single snowman stamps have passed through my hands already three times, thanks to so-called chaincards. After receiving, before forwarding, I scanned them. I hope my own card will return in the coming weeks or months, but at least I can show you the following stamps.

The most surprising ones to my opinion are these from Indonesia. Surprising because snow is the last thing which comes into my mind when thinking of Indonesia. A quick search on the internet however, learned that there is snow on the high mountains in Papua.



Also Hong Kong Post has issued a stamp showing a snowman:



In Russia there is more snow, and note the typical (?) hats these Russian snowmen wear:







These Dutch snowmen I added to the chaincards, two are from December stamps series (2012 and 2014 respectively), and the flying snowman showed up on a 'kinderpostzegel', children's welfare stamp sheet in 1983:





Here a regularly received stamp, from the United Kingdom:



And a regularly sent one, from the 2013 December stamp sheet, designed by Sieb Posthuma (1960-2014):



Finally there is a snowman on the most recent December stamp sheet, which, in a way, brings us back to a 'winter landscape' (-:



See more winter white stamps on this Sunday's Sunday Stamps blog, and follow the links mentioned there!

In: from the Netherlands

Prachtige collage, ontvangen van Lidia (let ook op de toepasselijke keuze van sokken en de bijpassende kleur van de envelop!). Zij heeft nog veel meer mooie collages op haar naam staan (zoals deze, en deze).
Ik sluit me bij deze goede wensen aan: voor iedereen een mooie kerst en alle goeds voor een heel mooi, gezond, gelukkig, creatief, postvol 2014!
En Lidia, heel erg bedankt!

'2014 already? Time flies!'
Beautiful collage postcard, received from Lidia (note the great choice of similar colours, of both the stockings and the envelope!). Lidia created a lot of great collages (among them also this one, and this).
I'm joining her in these good wishes: to all of you happy holidays and best wishes for a beautiful, healthy, happy, creative 2014, and may your mailbox be filled with many beautiful mail!
Many thanks to Lidia for this great card!