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?

Double magic

I received this postcard through postcrossing.

The sender described it as magical, and I agree. Equally magical is the stamp.

It features the famous Russian wooden Church of the Transfiguration at Kizhi Pogost, and has a foiled background.

Sadly the person who sent it is no longer active at Postcrossing, so I am unable to thank them.

The 200th anniversary of Maine's admission to the Union

Maine achieved statehood 200 years ago on March 15th, 1820. In modern times, USPS has typically celebrated each sate joining the Union by issuing a stamp on anniversary years divisible by 50.

The bicentennial stamp features a painting by Edward Hopper titled 'Sea at Ogunquit' (1914) showing a part of Maine's rugged coastline.

I sent some envelopes to receive a pictorial postmark, and here are the very nice results:

From Eva's blog

From Heleen's blog

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

There's a bonus anniversary stamp on my blog post from yesterday - 60 years of Asterix the Gaul.

The earliest abstract art

Fafa sent a letter that arrived recently with a wonderful stamp showing off the cave drawings of prehistoric humans found in the Lascaux Cave (link to wikipedia page) in the Dordogne region of France. And Asterix celebrating his 60th birthday is a perfect accompaniment.

And inside, a couple of cards that are connected via the stamp and a play on words on a classic brand of bicycle, Velosolex (in French 'silex' means 'flint').

Thanks for the clever connections in this lovely piece of mail (and the bonus stamps), Fafa.

Envelope 1000 - for real this time

Once upon a time I made about 120 envelopes by hand, took a long hiatus, then started making more.

Recently I made envelope 1000 which went to Jean in an envelope exchange.

Today is the blog's 7th anniversary! I'm amazed you're all still here - thank you for your interest and support. 

I know this year of the rat isn't turning out like we imagined it would - hang in there, we are all stronger than we think. 

We will be able to look back on the blog's 8th anniversary and see how we made it through some tough times with determination, and some good mail.

(Link to first post titled Envelope 1000 if you're interested)

Hump Day

Heleen sent me this great postcard featuring camels drawn in the style of four different artists.

I managed to identify two right away, one I was a little unsure of, and one I had no idea.

See if you can guess them, and maybe you could try and guess which ones I guessed correctly.

And happy Hump Day (even though most days feel the same during the pandemic)!