Sunday, March 1, 2015

Sunday Funnies

This weeks theme on Sunday Stamps is 'faces' and I found the perfect stamp to illustrate this theme: Lo and behold ... the great Calvin and Hobbes in their most famous pose.

Calvin & Hobbes

This postage stamp is from a 2010 USPS series called Sunday Funnies and also features Garfield, Archie, Dennis the Menace and Beetle Bailey. Read more about the series on the USPS Stamps website.

I received the stamp on a postcard from the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden showing Manatees. They also have very expressive if somewhat mournful faces. Awww so cute!
Manatees


Check out Sunday Stamps to see more.


Sunday Stamps

Sunday, February 22, 2015

Year of the Domestic Ruminant

February 19th was the Chinese or Lunar New year and the start of the year 4713. The Chinese also have 12 astrological or zodiac symbols, one for each year in the cycle but they are all animals and if you are born in that year it is believed that you will have the characteristics of that animal. I was born in the year of the Ox and therefore should be calm, patient and dependable. If only ^_~ The animals are:

  • Rat
  • Ox
  • Tiger
  • Rabbit
  • Dragon
  • Snake
  • Horse
  • Sheep
  • Monkey
  • Rooster
  • Dog
  • Pig

    This is the year of the sheep. But also the goat. Basically the year of the domestic even toed ungulate. Sheep and goats are nothing alike as far as I can tell. However sheep are not as nice as they look and goats are obviously not evil. So perhaps being born in the year of the sheep/goat means you will be a perfectly pleasant person. Or you will have a split personality!
    Mali - Sheep Herder


    This is the only stamp I could find showing any kind of domestic ungulate. Obviously since I live in South Africa I have plenty showing wild antelopes.

    This stamp came in a packet marked Pan Africa but most of the stamps were from Malta, which is in Europe. There were also a few stamps from the Maldives and Macau (both in Asia) as well as Mexico, Martinique and Montserrat (all in the Americas). In the whole packet there were 5 stamps from Africa! It was one of those very delightfully quirky things that happen occasionally.

    It is very common here in South Africa to have a young boy looking after goats and cattle. Or rather you see the goats and cattle wandering all over the road (even in busy urbanised areas) and no boy at all.

    Check out Sunday Stamps to see more.


    Sunday Stamps
  • Wednesday, October 1, 2014

    send a Hello

    send a…HELLO issued by USA 2011


    The theme this week for Sunday Stamps is anything you like and Viridian has featured 2 stamps she received on a postcard from the UK.

    I received these stamps on a postcard from the USA in 2012 and they feature the Liberty Bell and 2 stamps from a set of 5 called 'send a .... HELLO' issued by the USPS on August 19, 2011.

    The set features characters from Pixar movies not just Remy the rat and Linguini from Ratatouille (2007) and Buzz Lightyear and a few aliens from Toy Story (1995) who you see above but also Lightning McQueen and Mater from Cars (2006), Carl and Dug from Up (2009); and the eponymous WALL*E (2008)

    send a…HELLO issued by USA 2011

    Check out Sunday Stamps to see more.
    Sunday Stamps

    Wednesday, September 24, 2014

    Gulo gulo

    Wolverine Stamps issued by Russia 2004


    The theme this week for Sunday Stamps is mammals and Viridian has used a lovely stamp from China of elephants. I have seen lots of elephants - not Asian ones of course but African ones, because I live in Africa. But the stamps I have chosen are of an animal I will probably never see in real life because it is so rare and found only in the far North, the mysterious cold North. This animal is the Wolverine. It's Latin binomial is Gulo gulo which translates to glutton. The wolverine is a fierce killer, a poacher of the prey of others and a scavenger of carrion who likes to cache it's food under the snow and return later - hence it's reputation as a big eater. Anna wrote on her postcard that they are called the 'demon of the taiga'.

    These two stamps come from a set of 4 released by Russia in 2004. This is what the whole set looks like:

    Wolverine Set of 4

    Check out Sunday Stamps to see more. Joy has a fabulous selection of South African stamps, Danut has bears from Vietnam and there is a lot more.
    Sunday Stamps

    Sunday, March 25, 2012

    Natures Poem

    Daffodil

    This weeks theme for Sunday Stamps is 'flowers, or Spring'.

    Actually it is the end of summer here in South Africa. Where I live we will soon experience a short autumn period but it is hardly noticeable as most trees and shrubs are evergreen. Down the road in the park there are some plane trees which turn golden and look very pretty until the colder weather arrives. They are native to North America and I think they might be called Sycamores there.

    Then there will be two or three months of cool, crisp days and chilly nights (by our standard, for example I hardly think a Canadian will be bothered to even think of putting on a long sleeved shirt). During this time is is usually very dry and then in August the rains come and summer is not far away.

    When I lived in England, for the first time ever I experienced all the seasons. In London spring lasts a very short time, characterised by the wonderful flowering blossoms in many front gardens. I saw cherry blossoms for the first time and fell in love with them. Or perhaps I had seen them before in South Africa but taken them for granted in a country which is so full of wonderful plant life you can hardly look anywhere without your senses being overwhelmed. After the bleak miserable winter in London I saw cherry blossoms and I felt like Cinderella when her fairy Godmother turns up!

    But before the blossoms, the first flower that I saw in early spring was the delicate daffodil. How astonished I was one day, trudging to Sainsbury's across a public field used by kids to play football, miserably hunched over by the cold to see three golden delights in the mud under a tree. I stopped and stared, just astonished that something so wonderful could grow in such a grey and sodden world. Suddenly there was hope!

    Anyway this lovely daffodil stamp was part of a set of 4 released by USPS on March 15, 2005. The other flowers are a hyacinth, an iris and a tulip. The artist was Christopher Pullman.

    I leave you now with a poem by William Wordsworth.

    I wandered lonely as a cloud
    That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
    When all at once I saw a crowd,
    A host, of golden daffodils;
    Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
    Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

    Continuous as the stars that shine
    And twinkle on the milky way,
    They stretched in never-ending line
    Along the margin of a bay:
    Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
    Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

    The waves beside them danced, but they
    Out-did the sparkling leaves in glee;
    A poet could not be but gay,
    In such a jocund company!
    I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
    What wealth the show to me had brought:

    For oft, when on my couch I lie
    In vacant or in pensive mood,
    They flash upon that inward eye
    Which is the bliss of solitude;
    And then my heart with pleasure fills,
    And dances with the daffodils.


    Sunday Stamps

    Friday, March 23, 2012

    Snow Soft

    Snow Soft


    I received this postcard from Kate in Russia for the February 50 Round Robin. It was in my favourites so I am very happy to have received it. Naturally I picked it because of the adorable sleeping cats ^_^

    The artist is Anna Petrova and she appears to have quite a few postcards, all in this charming and whimsical style.

    On the back of the card it says 'снежные-нежные' which according to Google translates as 'Snow-Soft'.

    Postcard Friendship Friday

    Tuesday, March 20, 2012

    I Saw a Ship a-sailing

    Hong Kong | Chinese Junk


    After seeing Fabienne's post showing traditional boats in Ha Long Bay in Vietnam I decided to post this lovely junk I received only yesterday.

    Junks were first in use about 2000 years ago during the Han Dynasty and evolved over time to be used in long sea voyages. They are still in use today in their modern form.

    The English word 'junk' comes originally from the Chinese word 'chuán' which means a boat or ship.