Throwback Thursday

This might be the blog's first Throwback Thursday.

On this blogpost a little over 5 years ago, I showed an envelope I sent to John in the UK.

I finally have a picture of the postmarks applied.

Thanks for the photo, John.

From Japan

I had sent an extra card to postcrosser Mitsumi in Japan, and some time later this nice envelope arrived.

It contained a nice surprise - several pre-paid postcards, all featuring Mount Fuji.

Circus Letters

Eva sent me this great envelope where she wrote my name in large, circus-style letters. At first I thought they were printed because they are so neatly drawn.

One of the stamps is perfect for today's Sunday Stamps prompt of 'Illustrations'.

Here is D'Artacán, from the Japanese animated series titled D'Artacán y los Tres Mosqueperros in Spanish. The English title is Dogtanian and the three Muskehounds, with Dogtanian being a portmanteau of dog and d'Artagnan.

For more illustrations on stamps, explore the links at Sunday Stamps.

The Olympic Games

The 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games were supposed to start today. They have, of course, been postponed to 2021.

In honor of the spirit of the Olympics, I have a couple of envelopes that I haven't blogged.

One from Maggie

And one from Jean (I know, it is summer, but it is so hot just looking at these stamps makes me feel cooler).

Have you ever attended an Olympic event?

Freakshow

I used a wine label to create a circus-themed envelope for Eva. I don't have any circus-related stamps, but I thought the metallic accents on the celebrate stamps were a good match.

You can see how well it traveled on Eva's blog.

I confess that I often buy wine based on the label - how do you choose your wine?

A very slow parrot

This great envelope from Katerina took a very long time to get here due to the pandemic. For a while the Greek post office was not accepting any items to send to the USA (although I could send to Greece). It hasn't been exactly speedy since resuming, either. This colorful envelope was posted in May, and arrived in July.

Finally it arrived with all of its great contents! It was well worth the wait.

Do you have a mail story that happened because of the pandemic?

100

Today's prompt for Sunday Stamps is Numbers.

I found this stamp celebrating the centenary of the Hellenic Coast Guard.

For more links to numbers on stamps, head over to Sunday Stamps.

Skyrider

More wine today. I sent this envelope to Heleen incorporating a wine label and adding the Celebrate stamps with their metallic accents.

It traveled well. Unusually for a wine label it doesn't have the name on it, so I went back to the store to find that it is perfectly named Skyrider.

Heleen took much more atmospheric photos after it arrived:

Sheep thrills

I shared a photo of a wine label I thought Eva would like as sheep are one of her favorite animals - I think because they produce wool :) (Link to the wine company's website - where I learned the sheep have names).

I was beyond thrilled to see this sheep arrive unexpectedly in my mail box.

Thanks, Eva, this is brilliant, and I love how the stamp colors match Marco's parachute.

Astronomy

The theme for Sunday stamps this week is night views.

I chose the Russian entry for the 2009 EUROPA theme, astronomy.

To see more night views on stamps, explore the links at Sunday Stamps.

Update:

If you'd like to see the other 2009 entries, euroswiss has a great EUROPA stamp blog. Note that sepac stamps are also covered. I think the Montenegro stamps are among my favorites.

Thanks for the idea, Eva.

Land and Sea

Today's Sunday Stamps topic is Land and Sea, and both arrived on an envelope from Spain.

At first I thought it was from Eva, trying a different style of writing (see yesterday's post), but it turned out to be from a postcrosser.

First the land stamps

From a set on sport issued for the Philatelic Exhibition, Motorcycling - which can only happen on land.

Growing on land, this stamp shows the largest specimen of Terrona oak in Spain, consdiered a natural monument. It is estimated to be 800 years old. 

And the stamp showing the sea

At first it was hard for me to make it out due to the way the postmark landed. This stamp was issued for the World Philatelic Exhibition held in Spain in. A clearer view of the stamp is here.

All three stamps were issues in 2004. Can you remember what you were doing this time that year?

For more stamps showing land and sea, check out the links at Sunday Stamps.

Red, white and blue

Well, fuschia, cream and navy - it's going to be a strange Independence Day anyway! Three excellent envelopes from Eva with great stamps, calligraphy and illustrations.

These three envelopes arrived on the same day a few weeks ago (June 4th) despite having been posted weeks apart. They made me think of July 4th. This year is going to be a very different Independence Day, with almost all public celebrations canceled.

It is going to be extremely hot here, so I'm OK with not braving crowds, heat and humidity this year. 

If you're reading from the US, any celebrations going on where you are?

If you're outside the US, and big Saturday plans?