Birds on stamps

The theme for this week for Sunday Stamps is birds.

It was tough deciding which birds to post. So I think to make this easier, I created two posts. One was dedicated for birds from the desserts that I got from my boss last month. There were 6 of them so I thought they deserve an entry of their own.

Twenty days ago, I posted Oriental Birds. This time, I'm featuring stamps with birds that are not from my part of the globe.

This is from the series Birds of the Garden from Belarus, released 16 June 2006. The bird is called hawfinch. It's from the same genus Fringilla as the chaffinch from my Friday post. I'm happy to have two finches perched on my blog this week.

From Switzerland, issued on 6 September 2007, Domestic Birds series. This bird with open wings is Tichodroma muraria or wallcreeper. I just love its crimson wings.

These two birds from Belgium were issued 21 January 2008 and 11 November 2011, respectively. The one on the left is the Spotted Nutcracker (Nucifraga caryocatactes).  I must say I have a strong liking with the one on the right, the Long-eared Owl (Asio otus), its erect ear-tufts make it interesting. If I'm a witch, like in Harry Potter, I'll pick this for my owl.

RU-717104, Sender: Olga
Sent: 28 Dec 2011 from Moscow, Russia
Received: 24 Jan 2012, Traveled 8,260 km in 27 days

Technically, this is a postcard but I am happy to share it for the theme, obviously for the reason that it's a collage of birds on stamps -- and really lovely ones! I really find it nice that for most stamps on the foreground, the birds are featured perched on a fruit-bearing plant or on a flower. On a closer look, these stamps are from 20 August 1981. The birds starting from 1 o'clock:

Stonechat (Saxicola torquata) - chat with black plumage and dark-orange breast

Rufous-backed Bunting (Emberiza jankovskii) - very rare "Little Brown Job" bird

Asian Paradise Flycatcher (Terpsiphone paradisi) - passerine bird with elongated tail feathers

Parrotbill (Sinosuthora webbiana) - 

Siberian tit (Poecile cinctus) - also called grey-headed chickadee, another passerine bird 

I really had a great time researching about all these birds. I have a penchant for the freedom of flying but afraid of heights myself. At least I get to appreciate this freedom with these birds on stamps.

~maria

Saudi Arabia Bird Stamps 1993

These birds came from a full sheet of 9, issued by the Saudi Post in 1993. The birds starting from upper left, then going down, then from upper right and going down again are as follows:

Arabian Bustard (Ardeotis arabs)
Western Reef Heron (Egretta gularis)
Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus)
Arabian Woodpecker (Dendrocopos dorae)
European Turtledove (Streptopelia turtur)
Eurasian Hoopoe (Upupa epops)

My favorite from this set is the hoopoe. I think it has a really cool name and it has a really cool crown of feathers, too!

Sharing these birds for Viridian's Sunday Stamps.

~maria

Bird Watch

         Here are some birds postcards to complement the stamps to be posted on Sunday:

LT-174535, Sender: Lindenfir
Sent: 27 Dec 2011 from Vilnius, Lithuania
Received 24 Jan 2012, Traveled 9,052 km in 28 days

I wish I can read the scientific name of this bird at the back of the card, but it's in Cyrillic

characters. It looks so regal with its flamboyant crown.

NO-56120, Sender: Julcos
Sent: 6 Dec 2011, Sent from Lillehammer, Norway
Received: 16 Dec 2011, Traveled 9,652 km in 10 days

I believe the name of this bird is chaffinch. Julia, the sender said that

this bird is very popular and there's many of them in Norway.

Card from my own stack.

This is the Philippine cuckoo-dove. I got it from a booklet of migratory birds
published by the Wild Bird Club of the Philippines.  According to the site,

the Philippines is home to 600 species of resident and migratory birds.

~maria

Je suis amoureuse de toi!

Friendship Gift Postcard, Sender: Sebastien
Sent: 9 Sep 2013 from Cadillac, France
Received: 18 Sep 2013, Traveled ~11,526 km in 9 days

This is a surprise card from a postcard swapping friend in France. He knows that my beau is French. It's so nice of him to gift me this card, together with the bunch we've agreed for swap. He also wrote the translation for the phrase on the card, and it came with an instruction.

I'm writing this post with sweet smile on my face -- I can glance at my beau from time to time, sleeping on the other side of the screen. Thanks to technology, we can be together despite the distance. As I watch him sleep and as I ponder on the events this evening (we had a little misunderstanding), I come to realize even more the essence of love.

Love isn't just about the amorous feelings. Love isn't just about the times when you can understand each other without saying a word. Love isn't just about the feeling of "belonging" and "being at home" with the person.

Tonight I gained more understanding on the need for love to be stronger when you are not in the same page with things. Love is recognizing that the person you're with won't necessarily hold things in the same level of importance as you do. Love is respecting the other person. Love is explaining your side but not insisting that your partner gets to believe the same thing, too.

For more love-ly hearts, visit Clytie's linky part by clicking the meme below.  Also, this is a late link-up for Paulita's Dreaming of France...

~maria

Domes and Spires

Bloggers Postcard Swap, Sender: Anne
Sent: 11 Sep 2013 from Swindon, UK
Received: 24 Sep 2013, Traveled 10,838 km in 13 days

Facebook Private Swap, Sender: Diana
Sent: 26 Sep 2012 from Kėdainių r., Lithuania Traveled ~9,082 km

Friendship Gift Postcard, Sender: Marie
Sent: 7 July 2013 from Padova, Italy
Received: 15 July 2013, Traveled 10,569 km in 8 days

BE-229035, Sender: Marie-Jeanne
Sent: 11 Sep 2013 from Brussels, Belgium
Received: 24 Sep 2013, Traveled 10,478 km in 13 days

Linking up for:

~maria

Mugs on a soap dish

TW-449203, Sender: Chi-Jou
Sent: 21 Jan 2012 from Changhua City, Taiwan
Received: 8 Feb 2012, Traveled 1,048 km in 18 days

This postcard looks odd; two ceramic mugs sitting on a soap dish...

Odd it may be, it perfectly describes my mood right now. I woke up at 5 AM for an early appointment. Wow! This early start makes me feel really enthusiastic for a busy week...I'm still very sleepy though, and I think I might end up unconsciously carrying my tea mug inside the shower room. Perhaps my mug will be sitting on my soap dish like on the postcard... Nyay!

The mugs seems to be for his and her; blue and red. And in my dreamy state right now, I can say I can't really wait for the day I'm waking up beside my beau again... one month and 8 days to wait -- that shouldn't be too long...

Good Monday morning everyone!

~maria

Colors and Patterns

I'm under the lazy bed weather mood right now. It's been raining since yesterday evening and the whistling strong winds kept me up for most of the night. I woke up an hour ago (it's noon now), with a heavy head. I feel like doing nothing other than enjoy the warmth of bed. But of course, it's Sunday...and I've been excited to share the stamp I scanned last weekend for the theme: ethnic or national costumes.

I am interpreting this widely and including folk and traditional costumes.

To cap off the feature on Dutch costumes on my blog this week, here's a stamp from the Grenzeloos Nederland series 2010. Grenzeloos means 'boundless' and the series' theme is beyond borders - ancient ties of the Netherlands. For the August 2010 issue, the series featured the Netherlands influence on its former colony, Suriname.

This second stamp from the 2010 issue shows parallels between the Afro-Surinamese kotomisse and the Dutch women's costume. Uncle Wiki said that the koto was a functional dress. It's purpose was to protect the slave woman against their master's sexual interest. The stamp designer Ariënne Boelens said that the dress made the Creole women unattractive, similar to the Dutch women's style that is pious and veiled.

With my Friday post including a postcard of Finnish traditional costume along with the Dutch, I'm adding more colors and patterns on this feature. We're moving east from the Netherlands, to Belarus and Ukraine.

Issued on 18 August 2005, this stamp shows the Belarusian national costume for the Lepel region. The designer was Vladimir Savich. Characteristic of this costume is the white and red embroidery.

On these stamps, issued on 10 December 2004, we have Ukranian folk costumes. On the left is from a wedding in The Land of Ivano-Frankivsk, on the right is the exaltation of the cross from the Land of Lviv. 

For more stamps with traditional/folk/ethnic costumes, check out Viridian's blog roll at Sunday Stamps.

~maria

Dutch & Finnish Female Costumes

FI-1506946, Sender: Eero
Sent: 12 Aug 2012 from Jämsä, Finland
Received 7 Sep 2012, Traveled 8,885 km in 26 days

Friendship Gift Postcard, Sender: Mary
Sent: 6 May 2013 from Sassenheim, The Netherlands
Received: 14 May 2013, Traveled 10,429 km in 9 days

All along I thought the folk costume of the women on the first postcard is from Netherlands. Lo and behold! The card is from Finland and those women are wearing the Finnish traditional costume. I confused the women to be Dutch because of the similar striped skirts, the apron, and the lace cap. I'm grateful to Eero, sender of the card, who responded to my inquiry and corrected me on my assumption.

I tried pin-pointing which elements of the costume are characteristic to each. However, I realized I can't just use the second postcard with young girls wearing the traditional Dutch costume as reference or the postcards from my two previous posts, because it seems that the Finnish costume is similar to some of the other Dutch costumes found on this site.

This is a post I'm sharing for Postcard Friendship Friday. If someone who has the knowledge of European folk/traditional costumes can read this post, I will be very grateful if he/she can be friendly enough to enlighten me about the difference/s between the two.

As promised, the theme for this week for my posts are traditional costumes. I have scanned stamps with traditional costumes from more countries. Please wish me luck that I don't confuse myself in identifying the stamps. I have more postcards with traditional costumes but I'll save them for future posts.

~maria

Dutch costumes: Clogs - loving!

NL-1460621, Sender: Ramona
Sent: 29 Sep 2012 from Overjissel, Netherlands
Received 26 Oct 2012, Traveled 10,305 km in 27 days 

Touchnote Postcard, Sender: Wilma
Sent from Leiden, Netherlands, Traveled 10,463.8 km

Whole feet wooden clogs is my favorite among the items consisting the traditional Dutch costume. I recall getting a miniature pair of clogs for a wedding souvenir in my teenage years. Since then, I've always dreamed to try wearing clogs. I believe they're the most durable type of footwear against wear and tear. 

Back in those years, my parents were always annoyed at me because they think I'm careless with my leather shoes. But I don't own the blame! In our province it's always raining for almost 80% of the school year. I had the same pair of shoes for like 2 years to wear every single day, five days a week, 10 months in a year, to school. Plus, my feet seemed to be growing faster laterally than I was growing vertically...sigh. Oh well, so long with my defensive story of my younger years...

Clogs, durable and practical work shoes, are worn in heavy labor environment and for tap dancing. The traditional wooden Dutch clogs, or klompen are hand-crafted. I can't imagine how skillful and precise those klompen makers are! Perhaps my dream now, is not just to try wearing a pair of clogs but also to watch a clog artisan crafting out a pair of shoes in his workshop.

With that pretty heart design on the apron of the Dutch girl, I'm sharing this post with Clytie's Guest Heart Thursday. For more hearts, click on the picture below:

~maria

Dutch costumes: The High Pointed Bonnet & The Striped Apron

NL-1527421, Sender: Negrita
Sent: 4 Nov 2012 from Nijmegen, Netherlands
Received: 15 Nov 2012, Traveled 10,370 km 11 days

This week, I will be posting postcards featuring traditional costumes, mostly from the Netherlands. My first pick is this card sent from Nijmegen, the oldest city of the kingdom in the northwest Europe. 

Perhaps the most striking feature of the Dutch traditional costume is the peaked lace hat with wings and the brightly striped blue and white apron. From my internet research, this is characteristic of the Volendam town in North Holland. Uncle Wiki said that right now, only around 50 elderly women in Volendam wears this costume as part of their daily lives. However, there's a museum in the town about its history and clothing style where "visitors can have their pictures taken in traditional Dutch costumes".

I found an extensive write-up about the Volendam traditional costume on the Folk Costume & Embroidery blog of Roman K. To read more about this costume which is often printed on Dutch postcards and posters, click here.

To chase away Monday blues, check out pretty blue photos at Smiling Sally's Blue Monday meme. 

At the back of the card, Negrita wrote to me: Het leven is mooi! It means "Life is beautiful!" I'm telling this to myself in front of the mirror today for a beautiful start this week ;-)

~maria

Polish se-tenant stamps

Se-tenant : stamps with different designs that are attached to one another.

The word is French, meaning 'holding together'.

Se-tenant is this week's theme at Viridian's Sunday Stamps.

This first example is from a quadripartition on a continuous strip called Fauna and Flora of Fresh Water -- Beaver, castor, water frog, rana, birch tree, reed and other marsh plants; Kingfisher, mud crawfish, yellow swimmer, freshwater snail, water thyme, water lily and pond weed. I only have these 2 stamps out of 4. The strip was issued by the Poczta Polska, 30 March 2004.

This second example, also issued by Poczta Polska. It was issued in 29 October 2003 for the 50th Anniversary of Slask Song & Dance Ensemble. The ensemble was organized in 1 July 1953 and had it first performance in October 1954. To date, they have performed over 6,000 folk shows worldwide. On these 2 stamps, the ensemble is presented here wearing Silesia regional costume. 

The second example is a preparation for next week's theme for Sunday Stamps, traditional costumes. Looking forward for your next visit to my page! :)

~maria

Learn the nature.

Facebook Postcard Swap, Sender: Auli
Sent: 11 June 2012 from Romainville, France
Received: 27 June 2012, Traveled ~10,936 km in 16 days

It was utopia for me, traveling to Bukidnon for most of my assignments for work for the past 8 months. That place in the middle of Mindanao, south of the country is a natural paradise. With my seemingly final travel there this year happening a week ago, I can't help but feel sad.

Being in Bukidnon was enjoying warmth of nature's embrace. It was the most comforting place I've ever been; verdant mountain ranges, cool breeze, fresh inexpensive food, and good-natured people. The name of the place means mountain dweller. And if only I am very free to choose, I'd like to be a highlander and spend a year or two in that place, if not live there. It's the food basket of Mindanao and I just want to experience the joy of planting, cultivating, and harvesting crops.

I'm smiling to find these postcards in my collection that really reflects my feelings right now about Bukidnon. The French phrase on the card above means, "Learn the nature."

On the card below, the German phrase means, "Nothing happens in living nature that is not connected with the whole."

Facebook Postcard Swap, Sender: Angela
Sent: 26 March 2012 from Nordheim, Germany
Received: 10 April 2012, Traveled ~10,685.9 km in 14 days

I'm keeping my fingers crossed my next visit in Bukidnon is in the not so far future :)

Hop on to Beth's Postcard Friendship Friday meme for more beautiful cards to view as the week winds down into a relaxing phase (hopefully) for all of us.

~maria

Assortment of Hearts

JP-373345, Sender: Harumi
Sent: 24 Feb 2013 from Osaka, Japan
Received: 8 Mar 2013, Traveled 2,628 km in 12 days

My submission today for the Guest Heart Thursday is an assortment of hearts. It was sent to me last year for my birthday.

My favorite hearts are:

From the 2nd row - the leaves of different colors forming a heart and the luscious red lips

From the 3rd row - last on the row, the wings of the butterfly

From the 5th row, - the heart on the middle, a fan of a geisha I believe

~maria

Oriental Birds

Arriving back in Manila today, I'm greeted with two postcards on top of my study table. At the back of one card are really bright and beautiful stamps:

Issued by SingPost, the green stamp is from the "Pond Life" definitive collection, issued in 13 April 2011. It features the most common and beautiful specie of damselfly -- Ceriagrion cerinorubellum, commonly known as ornate coraltail. Another stamp from this set, can be found here.

The red stamp is from the "Flora and Fauna" set issued 6 June 2007. For the Aethopyga siparaja, the males have the bright crimson belly and greenish black tail. The females are olive green with hints of pale yellow. To read more about other commemorative stamps from this series, click here.

Drawing inspiration from these two stamps, I found similar ones to share for Sunday Stamps. It's perfect 'cause the theme this week is 'anything you wish'.

Issued in 2005 by Pos Malaysia, the stamp shows tekukur or the spotted dove, Streptopilia chinensis. The Malay name was derived from its soft te-croo-croo call. More information about this bird can be found here.

These 4 stamps are from a PhilPost special issue on 7 March 2008. I have the entire souvenir sheet and very happy to have it. It was for the Philippine participation at the 2008 Taipei 21st Asian International Stamp Exhibition. The first stamp (upper left) is the Philippine Eagle or Pithecophaga jefferyi -- our national bird. To read about these stamps and other stamps from the issue, click here.

These 2 stamps are from the bird definitive stamps issued by the HongKong Post on 31 December 2006. I have here the Greater Painted-Snipe or Rostratula benghalensis and the Red-whiskered Bulbul or Pycnonotus jocosus. The souvenir sheet features 12 birds (including these 2), and there were 4 high-value stamps, that can be found here. The complete set can be found here.

I'm happy to come up with many related stamps to the Singaporean stamps. Also, it's nice to know that despite most places are highly urbanized, there are still tangible efforts to raise awareness for the protection of our ecosystem, like printing beautiful birds on stamps. I think my challenge is to check out whether I have bird stamps from the west in my collection...Well, we'll see to that, until the next 'anything you wish' theme for Sunday Stamps.

~maria

Indian-themed forest park

Last night, I was typing a Postcard Friendship Friday post ... but I was nodding off in front of my laptop. I decided to do it this morning instead; yesterday was exhausting but fun-filled as well. I'm congratulating myself for overcoming my fear and ziplining for the first time! Woohoo! We finished early with the supposedly '5-day' inspection. So to celebrate, we treated ourselves for a day of adventure at a forest park.

The forest park has two entrance. We went first to the zipline area and then on the other side, there's an Indian village installation. Look! I was allowed to pet that wild boar and even have it in our photo! -- Ah, me and my imagination...

The place was really nice. It was incredible experience being up there. The forest park is on a mountain; there's green everywhere and the wind was chilly. I kinda regret not bringing or wearing thicker clothing. On the good side, the adrenaline-pumping activities warmed us up enough. There were many things to do on the Indian village but on a second thought, I was asking myself "Why an Indian village theme park and not an indigenous Filipino tribe?" ... Anyway, that's just me being me. And I think in an effort to prolong the euphoria of yesterday, I'm sharing here the Indian postcards from my collection.

Plume - A Medicine Man of the Blood Tribe
Facebook Swap, Sender: Terry Lovell
Sent from Sherwood, AR, Traveled ~12,288 km

CA-324505, Sender: Nature-Lover
Sent on 9 Mar 2013 from Ontario, Canada
Received 1 Apr 2013, Traveled 12,410 km in 23 days

Amerindian Dancer
Facebook Swap, Sender: Lidiya
Sent: 6 July 2012 from Quebec, Canada
Received 26 July 2012, Traveled 13,137.6 km in 20 days

I'm posting this from the south of the Philippines, the city of Cagayan de Oro. I won't be flying back to Manila until after lunch. The inspection (and the fun) was over. While waiting for my flight, I'll work on my report because Monday I gotta fly out again for another assignment. So that's all for now folks! I wish all of you, a relaxing weekend.

~maria

Locked in love!

I am really fatigued today but I don't want to miss joining Guest Heart Thursday

twice in a row... My contribution for this week:

It came with a heart postcard, which can be found here. And I just realized,

how appropriate, I entitled that previous post, "Loving through death" and this one

 is "Locked in love!" -- this lovely coincidence warms up my heart 

and really justifies my staying up longer tonight for a GHT entry.

--------------------------------------------------

It's a greeting stamp - pendant issued by Pošta Slovenije on 25 January 2013. 

The description for the stamp at the www.posta.si website reads:

"The latest greetings stamp bears the motif of one of the padlocks whose number 

is effectively growing from day  to day at the new Mesarski Most bridge in Ljubljana. 

By hanging up a locked padlock,  couples make a symbolic manifestation 

of their commitment to eternal love..."

------------------------------------------

I'm keeping this short and closing my eyes as soon as I post this...

I still have to wake up at 5:30 AM tomorrow, wish me sweet dreams, please. Thanks!

~maria

The post, etc.

The theme for Sunday Stamps today is the post, letters, post boxes, etc.

I'm happy to find 4 related stamps in my collection:

From Netherlands, I have this postcrossing.com stamp issued in 14 October 2011 by PostNL.

The 'Posta Italiana', issued in 7 July 2009. According to the Poste Italiane website, the design "features an envelope taking off, leaving behind a trail formed by the colors of the Italian flag."

This stamp was issued by the Česká pošta in 9 October 2011 to commemorate 

the annual World Post Day. 

A commemorative issue on 3 August 2012 by the Office National des Postes Tunisie 

for the Arab Post Day. 

~maria