Sunday 17 March 2024

Saint and Snakes

 

2001: Year of the Snake

Tradition says that St Patrick banished snakes from both Ireland and the Isle of Man.  Some 800 years ago arguments were had as to whom the Isle of Man belonged to - England or Ireland (based on the absence of snakes). It was claimed Ireland but the counterclaim was that if you brought a snake into the Isle of Man it did not die, as it would have done in Ireland.

1988: Reptiles

In pursuit of green I found a venomous tree vipers (Bothrops bicolor) only found in central America and

 the Sri Lankan green vine snake (Ahaetull nasuta), 'only' mildly venomous

2001: The Snake
This snake looks more friendly, its name is Nelson the Serpent. A character created by the children's author Ulf Stark for early readers.
1995: Reptiles and Amphibians

I had thought that St Patrick had also banished toads but maybe the small Natterjack toad looked like a frog to the saint.  They are very rare and breed in shallow coastal pools.  There are a populations near me in the sand dunes of north west England, always a walk with a purpose to look for their tadpoles as the breeding season starts.  A small toad with a big 'voice' heard here

2013: Europa: The Postman's Van
Lets finish with the postman delivering those Irish stamped letters.  This is the classic An Post van although they have had a rebrand in recent times and are now replacing them with white vans
County Wicklow

with different pictures on them. My persona favourite is the flying postman in superman pose but only managed a snatched photo of one as it whizzed past at speed.

Sunday Stamps this week on St Patrick's Day is Snakes, Green or Irish Stamps - See It On A Postcard

Thursday 14 March 2024

Take the High Road

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt this week takes a look at streetwear and here

Photo - Jean-Daniel Sudres; Illustrations - Jean-Pierre Arcile

is where raditional costumes and streetwear together with photography and art  meet in this postcard of the Rue du Port, somewhere in Brittany, France.

View Indicator, Douglas Park, Largs

I do lover an orientation table and from this viewpoint over the Firth of Clyde the islands of Arran and Bute and lots more will be seen. The postcard was sent in 1980 so I'm thinking 1970s or late 60s fashion.

Scotland Its Highlands and Islands "Off Staffa"

Going back further in time once again traditional and 'modern' dress is combined in this railway poster of the 1920s/30s encouraging travel to Scotland. The poster invites the reader to contact David MacBrayne Ltd whose ferries still ply the islands and islands (now trading with the name Caledonian MacBrayne) and still sailing past the basalt island of Staffa and the famous Fingal's Cave although our travellers seem to be distracted elsewhere. 

Thursday 7 March 2024

Traditonal Dress

 See It On A Postcard's Thursday Postcard Hunt this week is - Folk Costumes


and here are the many Ukrainian styles of traditional costumes across this vast country
Costumes; - Italy - Spain - Turkey - Germany

As can be gleaned from bottom right script this is a  plate from an old book but the postcard provides no further information on the back.  All these dresses are far too pretty to be wearing while working so


Plimoth Plantation "Breads, Pies and Tarts were all cooked in the communal oven"
 
something more practical for the 17th Century settler in America.  This postcard is from the living history museum in Massachusetts today called Plimoth Patuxet as it recreates both an indigenous Patuxet homestead and a 17th Century English village.  The Plimoth is of course an alternative spelling of  Plymouth from a time when spelling was a fluid and not a settled thing. The museum opens for this year's season on March 23rd until November. Judging from the snow on the postcard this could have been one of the last bakes of the year although maybe not for I read that it is not uncommon for it to snow as late as April in Massachusetts.

Sunday 3 March 2024

Flowers

 

2015: Flora and Fauna of Alderney (Design - Petula Stone)

The tiny island of Alderney (2000 acres)  packs a lot into a small space consisting of woodland, scrub, wetlands grassland, heath and of course sandy beaches.  They issued this as both mini sheet and stamps but how could I resist the famous Alderney blonde hedgehog featuring twice on the mini sheet with bluebells and buttercups. Hedgehogs are not native to the islands and it is thought they were brought to the island as pets and either escaped or were set free in the 1960s.  Because of the small number they are not genetically diverse and it appears that two had the genetic variation for blonde spines (a rare trait) and today 60% of the approx 600 hedgehogs are blonde. 

The flora on the stamps are the aromatic Alderney Sea Lavender only found on Alderney and Jersey in the British Isles, Dwarf Thistle and the Spotted rock rose which is the county flower.

2010: Flowers - Pansies (Design - A Christensen)
From the wild to the garden pansy.  I can never resist buying some to pot up, these are a favourite
 
2010 (self adhesives): Flowers (Design - N Tamas)
 but I do like a mix.


2006: Flowers

Hibiscus are best planted in the spring and we are now in meteorological spring however there has been snow this week!  Our ancestors were more wise and knew Spring started with the Vernal Equinox, this year the 19th March

Sunday Stamp's theme this week - Flowers - blooming  at See It On a Postcard


Thursday 29 February 2024

Temple and church

 See It On a Postcard' Thursday Postcard Hunt for Temples and Churches - for all things spiritual...

Prasat Angkor Wat Temple

starting with the famous12th Century Buddhist temple complex Angkor Wat in Cambodia
Notre-Dame de Paris

and an ethereal view of Notre-Dame. The spire once again rises after the fire in 2019 having been recently erected last year topped with cross and cockerel. All this was very much in the future when this card was sent in September 1931.

Holy Trinity Church, Howgill, Cumbria
In contrast to these world renowned buildings  hunkered down among the Howgill Fell is this sturdy little church built in the 19th century.  I can never resist a card with sheep and in this context as the Bible verse says "I know my sheep and my sheep know me..."


Sunday 25 February 2024

Comic Strips

 

1982: 150th Anniversary Birth of Wilhelm Busch

The Maxi Card features a character from poet, illustrator, painter and satirist Wilhelm Busch's illustrated story in verse called Die Fromme Helene (The Good Helen or The Pious Helen) which satirises religious hypocrisy and dubious morality.  The card quotes and illustrates from  Chapter 5 - The Love Letter.  Busch published pictorial broadsheets (Bilderbogen) that "can be considered precursors of the comic strip" which has led him being called 'the forefather of comics'

 

The reverse of the card shows his self portrait.  Having shown the past here is how it

2021: DC Collection

looks now.

2012: Comics

In contrast Bunty's "The Four Marys"  had adventures and solved mysteries at a boarding school. Midnight feasts always featured at some point. The strip ran for 40 years and resulted in generations of girls dreaming of being sent away to boarding school, the reality may have been rather different.

Bunty is no longer published but the science fiction comic 2000AD is still in print with its most famous creation Judge Dredd.  No dystopian futures for

2020: Centenary of Rupert Bear - Stamps above from the story ''Rupert and the Mares Nest"

Rupert Bear, a comic strip which first appeared in the Daily Express newspaper in 1920. The Rupert annuals started to be published in 1936 and are still published today with a cult following.   The full set of stamps can be seen here 

Sunday Stamps theme this week is - Illustrated - See It On A Postcard



 

Thursday 22 February 2024

Houses by Water

 The See It On A Postcard Thursday Postcard Hunt is on the theme Houses. Here are some near water...


En rivière d'Étel

A peaceful retreat on a river at the eastern edge of Quiberon Bay estuary. It seems this land between water  and sandbar is more commonly referred to as a ria, a long salty inlet

On the Suffolk coast Southwold Lighthouse sits among houses handy for the popular Sole Bay Inn where one can sit inside or outside depending on the weather although as East Anglia is the driest part of the UK there is every chance of sunshine.

Heading north and inland to Thornton Beck which meanders through the village of Thornton-le-Dale in North Yorkshire and the much photographed 17th Century thatched cottage 'Beck Isle'