Caturday

 Great cat postcard from Eva :)

Post 2000

 What better way to celebrate post 2000 of the blog than with an envelope from Jean - who's blog I found back in 2013!

I like how Jean made this stamp look like not a stamp. The addition of decorative leaves and suns to go with the motifs on this Thinking of You stamp (issued in 2023) is a lovely creative touch.

Thanks for all the visits and comments along the way!

Stratford-upon-Avon

 Today's postcard theme is maps - city/transportation system.

I received this map of Shakespeare's home town via postcrossing.

For more map postcards, visit the links at See it on a Postcard.

Turquoise

 Today's Sunday Stamps theme is minerals and gems. I chose turquoise which is featured on this 2c stamp, set in silver in a squash blossom design with crescent motifs at the bottom. The turquoise looks pale in my scan, for a better image and more information about the stamp, the National Postal Museum has a great page.

A photo of my remaining 2c stamps:

The 2c Navajo Jewelry stamp was issued in 2004, and reprinted several times due to price increases in the days before 'forever' stamps. There's a detailed article here. 

Here it is on a couple of envelopes I sent in 2020 to celebrate it being a leap year.

This stamp is part of the definitive low value postage set featuring American Design. It was withdrawn from sale in 2019.

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

Two for TGIF

 Blog buddy CJ posts the Friday Five every week - five positive things that happened.

I've got a couple today - two for thank goodness it's Friday1

1. The ice storm earlier in the week was not as bad as expected - I didn't wake up to an ice cube car the morning after :)

2. This fab Pushing the Envelopes exchange envelope from Julliana Q was the most snow I saw this week

Greetings from Belgium

 Today's postcard hunt theme is country maps.

Eva sent me this postcard while on a trip to Belgium in the beforetimes (2018). 

With European city names being common in the US, you could probably do a 'greetings from' card for many countries.

For more country map postcards, explore the links at See it on a Postcard

Celebrations

 Today is Candlemas - a day when it was traditional to take down Christmas decorations (mine were put away last weekend). The weather here has been hinting at spring, alternating between 30s and 50s (low single digits to low teens in Celsius), so it seems fitting that it is also Imbolc, the pagan festival celebrating the beginning of spring, coinciding with St Bridgid's Day on Feb 1st, a public holiday in Ireland. And last week was the Lunar New Year, saying goodbye to the Year of the Dragon and welcoming the Year of the Snake. The Snake is associated with mystery and elegance, intelligence and energy, renewal and transformation.

USPS continues its lovely series of Lunar New Year stamps. I am a bit disappointed that this one isn't in the form of a mask like the rest of the set, however it is a nice stamp, with bright red foil flowers. I received it on this fun exchange envelope - I love the little snake Jessica drew!

It is difficult to capture the foil elements in a photo. It is not obvious from USPS where the foil is (if Viridian posts today, perhaps she will show the full sheet).

In an amazing mail coincidence, I received this fantastic snake envelope (paint and collage) from Eric on the first day of the Year of the Snake.

Update: this envelope took a hint from the snake quality of transformation, and arrived in a different form to how it started its journey

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