Postcards for the weekend 78: Spring

Private swap, sent from Timaru, New Zealand
Sent 15 Oct 2013, Traveled 8,290 km

The label at the back of this postcard says: This lamb is one of the millions of lambs born each spring in New Zealand. According to the sender when he wrote on this postcard, "the daffodils have been blooming, the lamb bleating, the weather changing so it must be springtime!"

Private swap, Sent from Amsterdam
Sent 12 Mar 2012, Traveled 10,385 km

The sender of this postcard also spoke of spring, "Here in Amsterdam, where spring has begun so more and more flowering tulips. Enjoy!"

I've never been in a real field of tulips and I wish I will one day. 

Happy weekend everyone! 

~maria

Postcards for the weekend 51: Start of year 2 !!!

Congratulations to us blogger friends, you know who you are! And, congratulations to readers and followers of Postcards for the Weekend. We are now in our second year!

In the end, I decided to do another year as the joy of sharing postcards and providing a community venue for other collectors who want to share their postcards in a community-like fashion are more reasons enough than the pressure that comes from hosting this linky from time to time.

For this first weekend of our second year for the linky and with the theme Anything you wish, here are postcards from the country I have recently visited:

Direct Swap, Sent from Zwolle
Sent 8 Nov 2015, Traveled 10,377 km

Gouda, tulip fields, and the Dutch bonnet -- these are among the most iconic representations of the Netherlands. I came back to Singapore with a ball of gouda to share with friends. Regretfully, not as huge as this one in the postcard though!

NL-1525406, Sent from Flevoland
Sent 3 Nov 2012, Traveled 10,383 km in 12 days

Windmills -- probably the most iconic Dutch representation. I only saw one at Delft. I wish we could have gone to Kinderdijk. Perhaps next time ...

I'm waiting for my linkytools subscription to be renewed. The payment has gone through but I'm not sure why the subscription status is yet to be updated.

For those who are linking up this weekend and the linky isn't available for this post, please leave the link for your posts in the comment section for the meantime. 

Apologies for the inconvenience,

~maria

Postcards for the weekend 50: Patterns & prints

Postcard sent to self, Sent from Rotterdam, Netherlands
Sent 16 Aug 2017, Traveled ~10,486 km in 7 days

Delft was the first of four cities I've been to during my very recent trip and first trip to the Netherlands. My Dutch mom brought us to the city center on a Saturday. There was a flea market and lots of delft blue in display in the open stalls on the alleys and roadsides. Delft blue is a renowned pottery from Netherlands, tracing its roots to Chinese porcelain craftsmanship. Original and collectible Delft Blue are the ones with patterns painted by hand.

UA-536831, Sent from Kiev, Ukraine
Sent 14 March 2013, Traveled 8,707 km in 27 days

At the back of this postcard was written: Traditional ceramics of Kosov. I did my research as nothing else was provided about these ceramics on the card. If I'm not wrong, these are traditional prints and patterns from the Hutsul folk artists of the Carpathian region. I love how some of the bowls are shaped like open petals of a flower.

RU-1007560, Sent from Ivanovo, Russia
Sent 29 May 2012, Traveled 8,0479 km in 240 days

The sender wrote that Ivanovo is the traditional textile capital of Russia. Take a close look at each roll of cloth, which one is your favorite?

For patterns and prints.

Happy weekend everyone,

~maria

Postcards for the weekend 44: City views (day time)

For this weekend's theme, I'm featuring city views at day time from Europe:

Friendship Gift Postcard, Sent from Helsinki
Sent 28 Dec 2016, Traveled 9,259 km

The old buildings in Helsinki City Centre gave me peace and calm. I truly wish I had more than just a 2-day weekend to discover this European capital city. If I'm not mistaken, the tall building in the background is St. John's Church. It stands out tall compared to the rest as it's resting on a hill.

Friendship Gift Postcard, Sent from The Hague
Traveled 10,530 km

Some of you may know that I have a Dutch mom (my biological mother is Filipino but I have a second mom). She sent me this postcard from the city where she works. I will visit Amsterdam this August and I'm figuring out if it's worth it to visit The Hague as well. I like this postcard for showing a contrast of old and new buildings.

Friendship Gift Postcard from Madrid
Traveled 11,374 km

Madrid ranks high on my list of cities I want to explore in depth in Europe. Here's Metropolis Building, an architectural wonder at the corner of Calle Alcala and Gran Via. The building features 4 statues representing Mining, Agriculture, Industry, and Commerce. Its round tower is covered by 30,000 leaves of 24-k gold.

Direct Swap, Sender: Anna
Traveled 10,059 km

Of all these five postcards, this is my favorite. I reckon this picture is taken close to the golden hour. I probably wouldn't have known about Ljubljana if not for this postcard. I don't know how to pronounce this city's name either so I need to ask Google for help. 

Friendship Gift Postcard, Sender: Dr. Arnold
Sent 12 March 2017, Traveled 10,252 km

This postcard steals my attention from that of Ljubljana. The buildings are way so much taller at one part of this city. Excellent vantage point for this postcard!

~ maria

You spoke, and I listened :D Starting this weekend, the time span of the linky is extended to 12 hours more, to accommodate different time zones.

Postcards for the weekend 25: Gratitude

Searching for postcards to share for this weekend's theme reminded me of the interconnectivity of these four themes I've chosen for this month of February. Please forgive me if the cards might seem redundant with the emotions they convey ...

NL-2055263, sent from Den Haag, The Netherlands
Traveled 10,451 km in 15 days

...gratitude for receiving attention

UA-1478123, sent from Kharkov, Ukraine
Traveled 8,316 km in 17 days

...gratitude for being outside in nature under the warmth of the sun

Direct Swap, sent from Munich, Germany

...gratitude for having food and drinks on the table 

NL-3556071, sent from Volendam, The Netherlands
Traveled 10,517 km in 17 days

...gratitude for seeing and receiving a present from a good friend.

Happy weekend everyone and looking forward into seeing your postcards,

~maria

Postcards for the weekend 24: Love

Private Swap, Sent from JM Aalten, The Netherlands
Sent 21 Sep 2011, Traveled 10,374 km 

Friendship Gift Postcard, Sent from Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam

I don't have the words to describe these gestures of love and affection ...

Lovely weekend everyone,

~maria

Postcards for the weekend 23: Happiness

For more than 20 weeks, we have seen creative twists with the theme interpretations. I would love to mention each and every notable ones I've seen. I'm afraid this post won't fit on this page at all though if I do so! In line with that observation, I decided to be more inclusive for the themes this month of February. I realized it might be quite challenging, but let's see what are the postcards the four chosen emotions will bring us. To start with -- HAPPINESS.

The Red Clover Fairy, Private Swap
Sent from Russia, Traveled for 20 days

Aside from being in the company of love ones and friends, I noticed that I'm very happy whenever I'm surrounded by nature. My job needs me to talk and listen with many different people most of the time. Nature does not ask that of me; listening to its sounds is voluntarily ... for the talking part, I guess I kind of do self-talk whenever I see something queer or fascinating. Overall, it's a rush of happiness whenever I see colorful birds, butterflies, dragonflies, beautiful blooms, huge and ancient trees whenever I go for nature walks. At some places, the foliage is the same as my last visit. Regardless, the great experience remains the same!

NL-1307269, Sent from The Netherlands
Traveled 10,333 in 60 days

For this theme of happiness, I'm sharing these three reproductions of Mary Cicely Barker postcards. It's impressive how happiness is reflected on the faces of each fairy on the postcards. And oh, that youthfulness! My partner told me that he often notices that I'm the happiest whenever we do something outdoors in nature. Well, it always give me the sense of adventure and freedom -- best cure for anxiety!

The Black Bryony Fairy, NL-2110239
Sent from The Netherlands, Traveled 10,348 km in 10 days

I hope these postcards are able to make you happy, too!

Cheers,

~maria

Postcards for the weekend 17: December holidays

As mentioned last weekend, I'm going to share illustrated December holidays postcards for this weekend. I have three cards for this second set. I love this first card with the Santa Claus and the heart-shaped cookie. I think more than Valentine's Day, Christmas is a season of expressing love to people dear to us. It's always the best time of the year to gather and celebrate with family and friends. Time is such a hot commodity nowadays and for someone to put an effort to give time; it could only mean one thing -- love! I might be putting more perspective into it than necessary but living on a separate country away from my immediate family and on a long distance relationship with my partner, it means so much to me to travel or conversely, for them to travel so we can be together.

NL-2157975, Sent from southern Netherlands
on 31 Oct 2013, Traveled 10,398 km in 52 days

My partner was here in Singapore last weekend. This weekend, my whole family flew in from the Philippines. It makes my heart melt with joy, knowing that their journey by bus - ship - bus - taxi - airplane - train has finally brought them to me. If you dare ask, the whole trip took them two days!

Friendship Gift Postcard, Sent from Kuopio, Finland
Received 1 Dec 2016, Traveled 8,726 km

I think this Susan Wheeler illustrated postcard well represents the joy we have, gathering as a family for Christmas time. We don't have an infant on a pram and snowfall, though. My parents, born and raised Catholic -- asked me over the phone two weeks ago while discussing the trip, "Can we attend a church service there on Christmas day?"

"Well, of course mother!", I replied.

FI-1923136, Sent from Kuopio, Finland
on 11 Nov 2013, Traveled 8, 749 km

I'm happy to find another illustrated postcard to share this family tradition of attending a church service on Christmas. If you notice on the Susan Wheeler card, she had her initials on the lower right portion of the artwork. On this one, Stina Broome, the artist has her name neatly penned on the similar spot (only lower).

I hope we're all having a splendid experience with people we love at this time of the year! Merry Christmas everyone!

~maria

PS. Thanks so much in advance to my blogging friends who will find time to link up this weekend. I'm keeping the linky open for 3 days instead of 2 this weekend to give chance for more of us to link up. For some of you who cannot, please don't feel bad nor apologetic about it. As mentioned before, our linky party is a fun activity; we shouldn't feel tied down by it. ;-)

Sunday Stamps: Children

From left to right --

Sri Lanka Commonwealth Heads of Government Commemorative stamp when they hosted in 2013. The stamp was issued in 14 Nov 2013. I wish I could find more information about the stamp. I'm curious about the flowers the girl in braids is holding.

Netherlands Child Welfare 2010 stamp from a set of 6. I like the soft lighting and the child not looking directly to the camera. 

Another stamp from the Netherlands, this Europa stamp is the right portion of a se-tenant with a continuous design. The left portion can be seen here , the boy is on the microphone piece of this strong telephone. It was issued on 9 May 1989.

Check out the page See it on a Postcards for more children stamps this weekend.

~maria

T is for Tilburg Places of Worship, Netherlands

If you missed my "S" post, it was also about a place of worship.

For letter "T" --

NL-1921426, Sender: Joannes
Sent: 17 June 2013 from Tilburg, The Netherlands
Received: 29 June 2013, Traveled 10,431 km in 11 days

The sender of the postcard was very nice to give me a detailed description. He wrote:

On this card you can see almost all places of worship in Tilburg. The Hasselt Chapel (1540); a lamp in the Suleymani Mosque, St. Dionysius Church by daylight and festively illuminated; Jewish synagogue, Trappist monastery and brewery "de Koningshoeven"; former Hasselt church, now cultural center, St. Joseph Church with Sacred Heart statue in front at "de Huevel, the mosque, this time from outside the Norbertijnerpoort in Goirkestraat, again Hasselt chapel synagogue and mosque, the Cenacle former convent, the water tower in the Bredaseweg = road to Breda.

A bit of a challenge, but with persistence, you'll be able to identify which is which!

~maria

M is for "Molen", The Netherlands

Three days from now I will be flying over The Netherlands.

I wonder if I will see a "molen" from above. I've never seen one for real.

For letter "M" --

NL-1023366, Sender: Karin
Sent: 4 Feb 2012 from Haarlem, The Netherlands
Received: 23 Feb 2012, Traveled 10,413 km in 19 days

Molen is Dutch word for "mill". At the back of this card, the sender wrote:

I hope you will like the "molen". That's how this building on this card is called in Dutch. 

~maria

Spirit of the owl

NL-2196658, Sender: Anne
Sent: 20 Nov 2013 from Breda, Netherlands
Received: 22 Dec 2013, Traveled 10,449 km in 32 days

I'm being more pensive than usual again ... I needed to restrain myself from posting an entry here. I was lost in reverie and I didn't want to publish unguarded thoughts. 'Gotta be careful, right? ;-)

But still, I don't want to lose another chance to share a pretty postcard for
Clytie's Guest Heart Thursday and Beth's Postcard Friendship Friday.

To steer my thoughts to the right direction and to guide me make sensible reflections, here's one  of my favorite postcards. May my thoughts reflect wisdom, like the spirit of the owl. May my perception reflect clarity like being  able to identify that one obvious heart in the card. And may my judgment encompass benevolence,  like the clearly obvious and concealed layers of hearts on this card. 
How many can you count? I admit it's hard counting all of them! 

Happy weekend everyone!

~maria

Nobel Laureates in Chemistry & Physics

Petrus Josephus Wilhelmus Debije, a Dutch-American physicist and physical chemist, Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1936.

Melvin Calvin, an American Chemist, Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1961.

Frits Zernike, a Dutch physicist, Nobel Prize for Physics in 1953.

Maria Goeppert Mayer, a German-American physicist, Nobel Prize for Physics in 1963.

The theme this week for Viridian's Sunday Stamps is Industry, interpreted broadly. I honestly had to look up the meaning of industry -- The Merriam-Webster online defined it as noun, the process of making products by using machinery and factories. I decided to feature scientists, more specifically Nobel laureates for this theme. Their discoveries are the core concepts of many processes in production of almost everything in factories. 

I am a physicist in profession but whenever I read about the works of other scientists, I am ashamed to call myself one... much respect and admiration for their brilliant minds!

~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

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