Plants = Happy

Collage on letter sent by Laura (the UK).

Postcard sent by Bryon (the USA).

Both arrived together.

Churches in London

Façade and ceiling of St Mary-le-Strand
Built 1714-1717

Western Portico
St Pancras New Church
Built 1919-22

Caryatids, South elevation
St Pancras New Church

Year of the Dragon from UN

This UN postcard celebrating the Year of the Dragon took a bit to arrive: postmarked on 21 March, arrived on 16 May. A bit damaged, too, but the matching stamp on the back was not attacked by the mail monsters. 

Many thanks, Bryon!

Sunday Stamps | Kings

Hugh Capet was the King of the Franks from 987 to 996. He is the founder of and first king from the House of Capet. The dynasty he founded ruled France for nearly nine centuries: from 987 to 1328 in the senior line, and until 1848 via cadet branches (with an interruption from 1792 to 1814 and briefly in 1815).

Hamad bin Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa (حمد بن عيسى بن سلمان آل خليفة) is King of Bahrain since 14 February 2002, after ruling as Emir of Bahrain from 6 March 1999.The country has been ruled by the Al Khalifa dynasty since 1783.

Felipe VI is the current King of Spain. He ascended the throne on 19 June 2014 upon the abdication of his father, Juan Carlos I. This stamp was issued in 2015, but it is not frequently used, because its high face value (5€). It is supposed to be equipped with Augmented Reality, which links to a video of the king.

Below, more from the "basic series", issued in 2016 and in 2020, for you to look at the differences. (The image on the second stamp taken from here, as I do not have the stamp):

Phillippe of Belgium is King of the Belgians since 2013.

Charles III is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms since 8 September 2022.

Go to Sunday Stamps to see more Royalty related stamps .

#4000

Can you believe this is the post number 4,000 on this blog?!?

Austen's Letter to Her Sister

How cool is to write a letter on a (big) postcard? Laura (the UK) sent me this one, and I enjoyed the front as well as the back. And also that delightful calligraphy!

This is the text on the edited letter on the postcard (you can read here the complete letter):

No. 13 – Queen's Square – Friday May 17th

My dearest Cassandra,

Well, here we are at Bath; we got here about one o'clock, and have been arrived just long enough to go over the house, fix on our rooms, and be very well pleased with the whole of it and our first view of Bath has been just as gloomy as it was last November twelvemonth. – We stopped in Paragon as we came along, but as it was too wet and dirty for us to get out, and at the bottom of Kingsdown Hill we met a gentleman in a buggy, who on minute examination, turned out to be Dr. Hall – and Dr. Hall in such very deep mourning that either his Mother, his Wife, or himself must be dead. – We are exceedingly pleased with the House; the rooms are quite as large as we expected. Mrs. Bromley is a fat woman in mourning, and a little black kitten runs about the staircase. – I have the outward and larger apartment, as I ought to have; which is quite as large as our bedroom at home, and my Mother's is not materially less. – The Beds are both as large as any at Steventon; and I have a very nice chest of Drawers and a closet full of shelves –. I hope it will be a tolerable afternoon; when first we came, all the Umbrellas were up, but now the Pavements are getting very white again. – My Mother does not seem at all the worse for her journey, nor are any of us I hope, tho’ Edw. seemed rather fagged last night, and not very brisk this morning, but I trust the bustle of sending for Tea, Coffee, and Sugar, &c., and going out to taste a cheese himself, will do him good. –

There was a very long list of Arrivals here, in the Newspaper yesterday, so that we need not immediately dread absolute Solitude – and there is a Public Breakfast in Sydney Gardens every morning, so that we shall not be wholly starved. – I like our situation very much – – it is far more cheerful than Paragon, and the prospect from the Drawingroom window, at which I now write, is rather picturesque, as it commands a prospective view of the left side of Brock Street, broken by three Lombardy Poplars in the Garden of the last house in Queen's Parade. –

Jane

A great deal of Love from everybody.

Miss Austen,

Steventon,

Overton,

Hants.

Thursday Postcard Hunt | Lake Constance

An impressive view of the city of Friedrichshafen on the northern shoreline of Lake Constance (the Bodensee) in Southern Germany, near the borders of both Switzerland and Austria. The lake is situated where Germany, Switzerland, and Austria meet. 

The postcard was sent from Switzerland, through the Postcrossing site.

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Thursday Postcard Hunt

April theme: WATER

• Week 1 - Waterfalls
• Week 2 - Rivers
• Week 3 - Lakes
• Week 4 - Ocean, beaches
• Week 5 - Fountains

Everyone is welcome to share their postcards!

Bloganniversary

Can you believe this blog is 13 years old?!?

Mail sent by Bryon and Phillip (the USA) and Heleen (the Netherlands).

Dear Eduardo

Do you remember the Eduardo Munez Letter Project? Maybe you sent a letter to this mysterious man. Or more than one, like I did myself. It was a very dear project to me: it is the first time (and the only, so far!) that I have appeared as Mail Art Consultant in the credits of a film.

Until FinnBadger attracted my attention to it, I had forgotten to tell you that the short film is available for free in Youtube (actually, since August 2023).

Tea with Paddington Bear

Sent by Laura (the UK). It has been a while since the last time a teddy bear arrived by mail...

Sunday Stamps | Russian Artists

Galina Pavlovna Vishnevskaya (Галина Павловна Вишневская), 1926 – 2012) was a Russian soprano opera singer and recitalist. The stamp was issued in 2014, and belongs to the series Holders of Order "For Merit to the Fatherland - 2014.

I received it on this postcard, sent by Eduard (Russia).

In 2017 I received one stamp from the same series, but issued on 2017. It features Russian ballet artist Maya Mikhailovna Plisetskaya (Майя Михайловна Плисецкая), 1925 –  2015.

This is stamp for Sunday Stamps. Today's theme is one of my favourite on stamps: Women.

Il fallait oublier le confort

This postcard was made out of an old advertisement of Renault. It reads: Il fallait oublier le confort ('We had to forget about comfort'). And it is really big. Just look at the size of the pen!

Sent by Fabienne (France).

Calm & Postcards

This is a postcard sent by Bryon (the USA). I recognise a good piece of advice when I see one! 

I think I found the right postcard to reply.

(Keep Calm album)

Thursday Postcard Hunt | City Rivers

Ljubljanica River
Ljubljana, Slovenia

River Stour
Canterbury, UK

Zhujiang River
Yong Qing Fang, Guangzhou, China

Postcards sent by Ania (Lithuania), Laura (the UK) and Rui (China).

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Thursday Postcard Hunt

April theme: WATER

• Week 1 - Waterfalls
• Week 2 - Rivers
• Week 3 - Lakes
• Week 4 - Ocean, beaches
• Week 5 - Fountains

Everyone is welcome to share their postcards!

Full of Fun and Play

Letter sent by Laura (the UK).