Christmas Eve from France

 These lovely cards arrived yesterday from Fabienne in France - merci beaucoup!!

"But how do you know so much about me?"

Joyeux Noël to all!

Christmas Sunday Stamps

 Today's theme is Christmas.

In addition to last weeks Sunday Stamps, Eva sent me several more from Spain, new ones from 2024 and some past ones. (Apologies for the fuzzy. images, the lights on the tree and my phone would not cooperate. The 2024 stamps feature children's toys (A rate), and the wise men of the nativity (B rate).

And anything can be a Christmas stamp with the jolly snowman postmark! Here are more stamps that arrived on Christmas mail this year.

Flags and Freedom

Elephants (2022)

Kittens (2023. love stamp)

A geometric snowflake from this year's winter whimsy set

And three quarters of the holiday joy set (2024)

And finally, Westminster Cathedral in the snow, from Royal Mail (2024)

Leading up to Christmas I hope you get to spend some time with friends and family, and have some festive lights to enjoy.

Solstice

 It's the northern hemisphere winter solstice - we've reached another nadir! Tomorrow we can start celebrating the return of light.

Hope you managed to get some sunshine today. 

Midwinter's Eve

I learned last year that fans of Susan Cooper's fantasy series re-read The Dark Is Rising (the second and most famous book in the series) one chapter per day starting with today. 

The BBC also has an excellent radio series where you can choose to listen to an episode a day as well.

This Christmas card I received last year makes me think of this great series.

Throwback Thursday - "Guest" blogger

 Throwback to this day in 2023 when I was drinking in a bar in Pittsburgh and thought I was answering comments on my own blog, and it turns out I was really responding to those left on Mail Adventures!

😀

Postcard sent from that trip - thanks to Mail Adventures for the image.

Red

 Today's theme for Sunday Stamps is the color red.

Recently arrived are the poinsettia stamp in the holiday joy set (2024),

the red snow globe featuring a wintry scene with a deer (2023), sadly with a heavy postmark,

and the red A rate from Correos celebrating traditional Christmas treats (2023).

For more red on stamps, explore the links at See it on a Postcard.

Blast from the poultry past!

 I showed this for Sunday Stamps back in 2017 (!!) - it is a favorite stamp of mine, so here it is again. Chickens on a stained glass window at. the cathedral in Santo Domingo de la Calzada.

There's a fun blog here about someone's visit, and an explanation of the miracle of the chickens.

Thanks again to Eva for sending this excellent stamp. To see more stamps with the theme of glass, explore the links at See it on a Postcard.

First holiday postmark

 I received a holiday postmark yesterday, a jolly snowman

Christmas Magic

 It is pretty much a rule for letters and postcards traveling between me and Eva (in Spain) that if items are mailed on the same day, they will arrive separately, having undertaken different journeys at some point. Just another one of the unexplained mail adventures. 

Eva wrote: What are the odds that two pieces of mail sent together arrive together? If that happens the magic of Christmas is real!

Well, this pair of Christmas postcards did indeed travel the whole way together, and. are the first to arrive for the season.

Do you believe in the magic of Christmas?

Discontinued

 Why is USPS showing a stamp on their website that is no longer available, instead of one of the 2024 stamps?

November 31

 From USPS' Postal Bulletin:

Happy November 31 to all who celebrate!

The Tempest

 Sunday Stamps on Monday...

This week's theme is Fatherly Figures. I chose a stamp from Royal Mail that features a line from the Shakespeare play The Tempest, thought to be one of the last he penned. This stamp was part of a set issued in 2016 to mark the 400th anniversary of the Bard's death.

The main character is Prospero, a father. And Shakespeare was a father himself, and can be considered a father of English writing.

For more links to stamps with this theme, head over to See it on a Postcard.

Barns

 In the US, barns are commonly associated with rural life. Here is one on a presorted rate stamp, and a few on postcard rate stamps.

For links to more stamps with the theme of 'the countryside', head over to See it on a Postcard. 

Movement

 Today's Sunday Stamps theme is movement, and I have this first class stamp from Finland issued in 2008 showing a downhill skier. Impossible to appreciate in a flat image, this is a lenticular stamp that shows a different image when you tilt it.

For links to more stamps on today's stamps, visit See it on a Postcard. 

Sunday Stamps on Monday

 This week's theme is mountains.

Here's a 1.30 Canadian stamp issued in 2020 featuring Kootenay National Park in British Columbia. Part of the Canadian Rocky Mountain range is located in the park, and highest peak, Deltaform Mountain reaches 3.424 m / 11,234 ft.

It is from the 'Far and Wide' series, which has lovely images on what are sadly very small stamps. Thankful to my phone camera and the internet which allow us to see the nice details.

For links to more mountains on stamps, visit See it on a Postcard

Spanish Royalty

 Today's Sunday Stamps theme is royalty.

The only royalty I had to hand was of the Spanish variety. 

Two monarchs together, King Juan Carlos I, who resigned from the end of the Franco regime in 1975 to his abdication in 2014, and his son, King Felipe VI.

The earlier Felipe VI definitives continued in the style of his father, then changed to include a lot more color. 

More recently, the King's picture has been updated. 

Thanks to Eva for all the royalty I have shown today, and you have probably seen most of these on her Sunday Stamp post. 

To see more royals on stamps, head over to See it on a Postcard.

Women on Stamps

 The Sunday Stamps theme for Mothers Day (in the US, at least) is women, and I have three stamps sent by Eva. They are part of a larger series on important female historical Spanish figures who broke boundaries, making significant contributions to gender equality.

Issued in 2022, they celebrate Spanish women: Isabel Zendl, Clara Campoamor, and. Almudena Grandes. The hyperlinks below will take you to the Correos pages about the stamps.

Isabel Zandal (b. 1773, d. ?) was a nurse who ran an orphanage, and then in 1803 embarked for the New World on an expedition to distribute the smallpox vaccine. She ultimately settled in Mexico.

Clara Campoamor (b. 1898, d. 1972), the second ever female lawyer in Madrid, was a politician elected to Spain's congress, and successfully campaigned for the right for women to vote, which became a reality in 1933. Unfortunately the Spanish civil war reversed this decision, and she lived as an exile in South America and Europe. Her stamp was issued on the 50th anniversary of her death.

Almudena Grandes (b. 1960, d. 2021) is a renowned Spanish writer. She won many literary accolades for her writing, and is perhaps most well known for her historical fiction set during the Spanish civil war. Her 14 novels and 3 short story collections have been translated into many other languages, and many have been adapted into film.

For links to more women on stamps, head over to See it on a Postcard.

Industry

 Today's Sunday Stamps theme is industry. On this Dutch stamp celebrating Tilburg you can see a textile industry, the woman at a loom (I think, or maybe a spinning wheel), representative of Tilsburg being known as the wool capital of the Netherlands from the 1600s until its decline in the 1960s. The entertainment industry is also represented - 'Grootste kermis' is the largest summer fair held in the Netherlands, in the city of Tilburg. And from the construction industry, the building is the Stadstheer, built between 2005 and 2007. Each apartment has a cuboid sunroom that sticks out from the main structure. In Dutch they are colloquially called 'vogelkooikes' - bird cages. Tilburg is located in the southern province of North Brabant.

This stamp was issued in 2209 as part of the Mooi Nederland series (beautiful Netherlands). Thanks for the stamp, Heleen!

For links to more stamps with the theme of industry, head over to See it on a Postcard

Marine life

 Marine life is today's theme for Sunday stamps. Both of these arrived on postcards, one from the German world of letters series, showing a fish and a seahorse, and one from the US, featuring staghorn coral and fish.

For links to more stamps with this theme, head over to See it on a Postcard.

Dragons!

 Today's Sunday Stamps theme is dragons and saints. I loved this set that USPS issued in 2018. The stamps have orange metallic elements that are much better to appreciate in person. 

For more stamps on today's themes, visit See it on a Postcard.

Leaves

 Today's Sunday Stamps prompt is Trees and Leaves.

I chose this 5c stamp from Germany, which arrived by way of postcrossing.

The water lily stamp has leaves (lily pads), and then there's the petals on the flower. Petals are modified leaves, and the petals on the stamp are made of paper, which is (mostly) made from trees. A complicated route to today's theme! I love this new (since 2022) definitive set from Germany featuring all things related to letter writing turned into all sorts of landscape features.

To see more stamps with leaves and trees as themes, head over to See it on a Postcard.

____

I have a bonus eclipse stamp to add to last week's post!

Violet S very kindly sent me the amazing Canadian eclipse stamp which arrived yesterday - I love it, thank you so much!

You can see here that there are is also a hidden effect on the stamp.

Sent on the back of sun over Niagara Falls - this matches our weekend which is very sunny.

And if you'd like to see my bonus eclipse post where I held the 2017 stamps over a hot stove to get them to change color, it's here.

Total eclipse

 Yesterday's post was eclipse and sun related. I didn't have a picture of the 2017 eclipse stamps when heated, so here is one I took last night. 

And here is an eclipse stamp I forgot I had received from Taiwan.

If you're going to experience the totality, I hope you have clear skies!