Sunday 31 July 2011

Peace


Unforeseen events have meant I just don't have time to do anything other than the bare minimum for posts this week.  I hope they will at least look pretty.

This mail carrying Dove of Peace has come to me from Ukraine.  May it spread its peace to you all.

Saturday 30 July 2011

The White Cliffs of Dover


This postcard was my starting point for this week's Sepia Saturday, mainly because it shows a similar shaped car to the one in the prompt (they all look the same to me) and partly because it actually is sepia.  This card has a space marked for a 1d stamp which dates it at anything between 1918 and 1940.  Probably people who know about cars could date it more closely.

Note the castle, Dover Castle, on the skyline.  The keep is to the left and at the highest point you have the church and the remains of the Roman lighthouse.  They are still exactly the same to this day.



This card also shows Marine Parade and is probably the oldest of the cards.  It allows correspondence on the reverse, only for inland postage.  Correspondence on the reverse came into effect in the UK in 1902, but at varying times for the rest of the world until 1909.

With the wider angle, you can now see the white cliffs to the right of the castle.



A very similar view is shown in this reproduction of a 1924 card, though taken from the bottom of the slipway seen in the earlier card.  Otherwise the view is almost identiical.



Now moving closer to the eastern cliffs with the castle out of sight.  The building on the extreme left I am fairly sure is now the White Clliffs Hotel.  In front of it there is now a duel carriageway leading to the cross channel ferry port.


Finally, the most modern card, dating from 1997 showing the East cliff again, but now with the ferry port and a road sweeping down from the cliff above.  This road, the Jubilee Way, was built in 1977.  Otherwise, very little has changed over the years, fairly miraculous when you consider the proximity of mainland Europe and the bombs that fell during the war.

During World War I the town was the first place in Britain ever to be bombed, and the bomb was aimed at the castle.  In all, 184 bombs were dropped on Dover until the end of the war in 1918.  During World War II, the bombing was much heavier of course.  The first fell on 6 July 1940, and 2226 bombs later, the last fell 26 September 1944, averaging nearly two a day.  They estimate over 10,000 buildings were damaged and yet these along the sea front escaped.

You can find other old images and new reflections at at Sepia Saturday.

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Friday 29 July 2011

The look

Marlene Dietrich, photo by Nickolas Muray.  (c) International Museum of Photography, Rochester

A fitted, flared bobbed coat by Christian Dior 1955.  Photo B de Toledo

Both cards have been sent to me this week, I think because I say I like anything vintage, and I do.  Two things struck me about these cards: one the facial expression - so disdainful, and second the portrait behind Marlene Dietrich. 

Do all models adopt this look?  It's so unlike a normal expression.  We have recently been treated in this country to various series of "... Next Top Model" and they don't even approach normal everyday life.  I don't make a habit of watching but I saw an episode the other night.  Another world.

As for the portrait behind Marlene Dietrich in the top picture, I think I should know what it is, but I don't.  I do like the similarity of poses. 

This is a post for Postcard Friendship Friday, which is hosted by Beth Niquette at The Best Hearts are Crunchy.




Thursday 28 July 2011

Chinese art


I don't have any background story or other details about this picture, apart from to say I think it's lovely.  It look as as though it shows lakes and rivers with small boats, and maybe rice fields in the background.  There seems to be some kind of fence or dam in the foreground.  Could that be some sort of gigantic fishing net too?  I don't know.  Chinese art always appeals to me, whether I understand it or not.
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Wednesday 27 July 2011

The Candle Festival


Candles to me are generally cylindrical or cubic, with a few arty exceptions, and can usually be carried in one hand.  I do have a couple that might need two hands but that's as far as it goes.  It wasn't until I looked more carefully at this card and tried to find out more that I realised the golden figures are in fact wax sculptures and known as candles.  I don't think they have wicks though.

Every year Ubon Ratchathani in Thailand holds a month-long Candle Festival.  It's held in July, marking the beginning of the Buddhist season of Lent, a time when the monks stay inside the temples to devote their time to study and meditation.

The highlight of the festival is the parade of intricately carved wax figures carried along in decorated floats.  Some are accompanied by scenes carved in wood or plaster and then covered in wax.  There is dancing and music too, of course.  All the candles are donated to local temples.
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Tuesday 26 July 2011

Sedona


Cathedral Rock, near Red Rock Crossing, towers almost a thousand feet above the surrounding terrain,this prominent land form crests at an elevation of 4,964 feet above sea level.

I'm particularly interested in cathedrals, and this one is no exception, even if I can't go inside for a look around.  Although my scanner really hasn't done it any justice, I think you can still appreciate the beautiful colours.  They glow in the sunset.

Sedona or Red Rock Country, is named after the wife of the area's first postmaster, Sedona Arabella Miller Schnebly, so it seems very appropriate that I have a postcard from there.  This one, Cathedral Rock, is probably the most photographed of all the stunning rock formations in the area and was formed from sand dunes beside the ancient Pedregosa Sea.  Apparently the ripple marks left by the sea can still be seen in some places.
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Monday 25 July 2011

Tongyeong



Apart from knowing that this peninsula is in South Korea, I know nothing about it other than its name, Goseong, and its main city, Tongyeong.  When I first saw the old map on the card, I really thought it looked just like a dragon and wondered if it was deliberate.

The name apparently means "command post" and refers to Admiral Yi Sun-sin who was a 16th century naval commander.  He died undefeated in war, so my idea of his command post looking like a dragon my not be too fanciful after all.

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Sunday 24 July 2011

Viking invasion


In 1983 the Post Office on the Isle of Man celebrated its 10 years in existence as a separate entity from the post office in the United Kingdom.  In 1971 they started issuing stamps unique to the island and after 1973 they became the only valid stamps.

The stamp shown on the card, one of a set of three, was issued to make its first decennium, or, as anyone else would say, first decade.  I assume they chose a Viking because Vikings did have a stronger influence there than in the rest of Britain, in particular the system of government.  Tynwald is the oldest parliament in the world in continuous existence.

This month it was announced that the Isle of Man Post Office will launch Swiss Post's ePostBox.  This system enables a customer to have a postal address on the island.  This regular mail will be collected and scanned in a highly secure centre and sent to the recipient by email.  It means all your post can be sent to a single address and can be read at any time wherever you are in the world.

This is a post for Sunday Stamps, now hosted by Violet Sky at "See it on a Postcard!"

Saturday 23 July 2011

In 1964 we spread our wings


The first card above was one bought by my father and unused. Although there is a scribbled 1964 on it, it must date from at least two or three years earlier because St Andrews church on Freeman Street had been demolished by 1962.

Here was the common ground for all of us - going to school in this town, Grimsby in Lincolnshire, during our teenage years as we were finding our feet as we strived for adulthood. Some of us had lived here from birth, others were just passing through. Now we we've scattered throughout the country.  In 1964 all these cards were sent to me by friends as we took our first steps taking summer holidays without parents.




Wendy and Rosie went to Rosslare, in Ireland.  The weather wasn't too good but they seemed to have fun recovering from hard work at school.




Jennifer and Susan went to Scotland, a "grand tour" of Largs, Arran, Inverary, Loch Lomond and Edinburgh.  The card itself has a story.  I found it as I moved a small desk that used to be my mother's.  It dropped out of a narrow slot which can't be seen unless the desk is on its side.  The card arrived for me while I was living at home and it must have fallen behind the drawer soon afterwards.  The desk has moved house at least six times and yet the card didn't fall out until last month.



Muriel and Esther went to Chichester.  Muriel has since returned to that area and teaches nearby.



My sister went on an exchange to France.  She went with strict instructions to write home frequently and, goody-two-shoes that she is, she did.  I think she bought all the cards at the beginning of the trip, probably even wrote them all at the same time, and then posted them every other day.

The card shows the cross channel ferry, the Lord Warden, the first drive-on, drive-off car ferry for British Railway's cross channel service.  She was launched in 1951.  In October 1964 she was repainted in the new colours for British rail: blue hull, red funnel.  At the end of 1979 she went to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, but just a year later was sent to Pakistan for scrapping.

And I, what was I doing?  I was staying with my grandmother in Dublin, and apparently not sending any postcards home.

You can find some other flights of fancy at Sepia Saturday.
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Friday 22 July 2011

Ice


For those of you feeling the heat this summer....

"Sommerloch" or "Summer break" is the title of this picture by Bill C. Ray.  He's from Alaska but moved to live in Berlin in Germany when he was in his thirties.

The person who sent me the card wrote out a poem by Josef Guggenmos, a famous German children's author, because her home town Ludwigsberg is considered to be the cradle of poets and thinkers.
Der EisbÀr
Der EisbÀr prustet und erklimmt
Den Eisberg, der im Wasser schwimmt
Und schreitet, groß und stark und weiß
Durch den Palast aus grĂŒnem Eis.


The polar bear snorts and climbs
The iceberg, floating in the water,
And walks, big and strong and white
Through the palace of green ice.

It does seem to fit the picture (minus the polar bear) but my translation could be off mark so I'm happy to be corrected.

This is a post for Postcard Friendship Friday, which is hosted by Beth Niquette at The Best Hearts are Crunchy.

Thursday 21 July 2011

Alcatraz


Alcatraz island sits isolated amidst the cold winds of the by.  Spanish explorer Juan Manuel, subject of legend, lore, and a few Hollywood movies, once held scores of prisoners incarcerated above its cliffs.  First used as a prison by the US army during the Civil War, "The Rock" became a maximum security penitentiary in 1934.  Many notorious criminals did time on this harsh island, such as mobster Al Capone and bank robber Leon "Whitey" Thompson.  Numerous escapes were attempted, though there's no evidence that anyone ever made it through the icy, shark-infested waters to freedom.  The prison closed in 1964 due to prohibitive operating costs, and was taken over by a group of Native American protesters until 1971.  The crumbling ruins are now one of the Bay Area's most popular visitor stops.
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Wednesday 20 July 2011

Map of Paris


Paris and its Monuments, a practical visitors' guide, is what it says.  I imagine, I hope, the original was a lot easier to read.  This is a modern reproduction, sent to me from Finland.  It's a shame it isn't easier to read. 

All I can decipher with the aid of a magnifying glass, is that it show the Chemin de Fer MĂ©tropolitain, some of it still under construction.  It took me a little thought to realise the Chemin de Fer MĂ©tropolitain is now the mĂ©tro.  I don't believe I've heard its full title before.  The first mĂ©tro station opened in 1900 and the main network was complete by the 1920s.
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Tuesday 19 July 2011

Hutong


In Beijing, rows of traditional courtyard residences were joined together, resulting in narrow alleys called hutongs.  Sometimes several hutongs were joined together.  In an effort to prevent so many of these traditional alleys being demolished and so losing cultural history, some have been made protected areas. The culture is of the everyday people of Beijing, in contrast to the culture of the elite in the Forbidden City or the Summer Palace.

Most hutongs are straight but Jiudaowan ("Nine Turns") has, in fact, nineteen turns.  The further they were from the Forbidden City, the narrower the hutongs became.   Qianshi Hutong is only 40 cm (16 inches) wide at its narrowest point.
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Monday 18 July 2011

They tell me it's summer


Beach huts mean it's summer.  Unfortunately it's hard to tell otherwise.  They've stopped talking about drought, so that's a bonus.

Sunday 17 July 2011

Malaysian birds and other wildlife


Wildlife from Malaysia, showing a Rhinocerous Hornbill, a Malayan Tiger and an Orang Utan.



A Spotted Dove and Pteroptyx beami

Finally, the Lesser Spotted Airmail Bird.

This is a post for Sunday Stamps, now hosted by Violet Sky at "See it on a Postcard!"

Saturday 16 July 2011

La Fileuse


"Ton rouet chantonne
Un air des aĂŻeux,
Un chant monotone
Qui mouille les yeux :
Par des nuits pareilles
A ces chants amis
Que de vieux, de vieilles,
Se sont endormis !"
Very roughly translated: "Your wheel hums a tune of ancestors, monotonous singing which moistens the eyes. Through nights like these well known songs, old ones fell asleep."



A group of people in an obviously posed studio shot in order to show a traditional Breton scene.  Father and child are sitting on a wooden settle watching mother spinning, all intheir best traditional clothes.

It's all intended to show off traditional Breton life.  Britanny. to the north west of France, has always had a very separate identity from the rest of the country, including a separate language of Celtic origin.  These days the language is increasingly used and many schools offer bi-lingual education.

The settle is very typically carved in circles resembling ships' wheels, acknowledging the importance of the sea to the area..

The rhyme or song was written by ThĂ©odore Botrel.  He was born in Brittany and became know for his Breton songs, hundreds of them, themes being old age, love, Breton countryside, sentimentality.

As a side track, a detour into trivia, Botrel became famous after being noticed by Caran d'Ache.  I followed this up because I thought Caran d'Ache was a make of coloured pencil.  It turns out that Caran d'Ache was the nickname of a Russian born French political cartoonist.  the name derives from the Russian word for pencil.  The Swiss manufacturer of artists' materials was named after the cartoonist.

Back to the card, it was mailed in 1947, from Brittany to the Bas-Rhin in Alsace, on the eastern side of France.  The stamp, issued in 1946, shows VĂ©zelay, in the Bourgogne, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The address no longer exists but I'd guess that the Rue Principale is the one now named Rue de la LibĂ©ration.

This is a post for Sepia Saturday and almost follows the theme.
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Friday 15 July 2011

Ship of the desert


I've just finished reading the book "Cutting for Stone", a wonderful book set in Ethiopia, that had me completely engrossed for days.  I would recommend it with a few reservations, but that's another post.  When I finish reading anything that has me so involved, I feel at a loss, something is missing.

Within 24 hours  this card arrived from Ethiopia.  Ethiopia!  It made my day.   It came with beautiful stamps too.



(I can't seem to persuade Blogger to allow me to display them at sensible sizes)

On the stamps you can see the unique script of Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia, although there are 80+ languages spoken in the country.  It is a country with 12 months of sunshine per year, the land of the coffee bean. Did you know that Ethiopia is the 7th largest producer of coffee beans, and the largest producer in Africa?  I didn't.

As I write this, Ethiopia, with the Horn of Africa, is experiencing one of the worst droughts in over 50 years, worse even than the 1984-85 drought when over 1 million died in Ethiopia and Sudan.

This is a post for Postcard Friendship Friday, which is hosted by Beth Niquette at The Best Hearts are Crunchy.

Thursday 14 July 2011

Winter in Oregon


The last of the four seasons, or should it have been the first?

From the back of the card:
Snow blankets the ski lodge on the slopes of Mt Hood, making a scene of fantasy through which skiers have made tracks in the 200 inches of snow that have fallen.  The lodge was built during the Great Depression in the 1930s and stands today as a National Historical Site and is the largest wooden structure of its kind.

Wednesday 13 July 2011

Autumn leaves



I can almost hear the rustle of the leaves and the scratch of the broom.  The reverse of the card says, "Street covered with fallen leaves".  The characters on the front seem to say much more but it hardly matters.  A picture is worth a thousand words.

Tuesday 12 July 2011

Summer in Finland


Summer follows on from spring with this beautiful card from Finland.  Peaceful, picturesque, pastoral, pleasing.

Monday 11 July 2011

Spring in Korea




In the last week I have received the full set of the seasons, one after the other.  This is the spring represented by cherry blossom from Korea.  I debated which way up the card should be but I think this must be right.

Sunday 10 July 2011

25th Anniversary of the Coronation


In 1978 it was the 25th anniversary of the Queen's coronation and these were the cards and stamps issued by the Royal Mail to commemorate the event.

We are having a right royal time with commemorative events here.  Next year we have the Diamond Jubilee, the 60th anniversary, of the Queen's accession to the throne and I imagine the following year will mark the same for the anniversary of the coronation.  In between we have the 350th anniversary of the Crown Jewels, the House of Hanover in the Kings and Queens series, and of course the Olympic Games in the midst of it all.

I hope they do better than they did for the recent Royal wedding when the minimum you could buy was a sheet of four - 2 x first class and 2 x £1.10 - and the result is quite expensive.  No cards at all!

This is a post for Sunday Stamps, now hosted by Violet Sky at "See it on a Postcard!"

Saturday 9 July 2011

Amsterdam Centraalstation



I used the beautiful image of Union Station, Chicago from Sepia Saturday as a prompt for this post.  Mine is not a fabulous picture, it has to be said, but it is a station during World War II, Amsterdam Centraalstation postmarked September 1942.

The station in Amsterdam is unusual in that it's built on three man-made islands using sand made available after the excavation of the North Sea Canal.  Like many of the buildings in Amsterdam, it has wooden piles driven into the soil, over 8000 of them.  It opened in 1889.

In this case though, the postmark  "W.H.N. Loterij 1942" may be more interesting than the picture.

May 1940 was the date of the German invasion of the Netherlands.  By October of that year, an organisation, WHP or Winterhulp Nederland, was set up by the German authorities to provide food, clothing and fuel for needy Dutch people.  The funds were raised by street collections and lotteries.  The postmark advertises the 1942 lottery, suggesting a one in three chance of winning, "Uw kans 1 op 3".  In spite of efforts to seem impartial and trying to appear to be a Dutch organisation, the collections were done by the Dutch Nazi party so were very unpopular with ordinary Dutch people, especially after calls in the illegal press to give nothing.  In an effort to encourage donations, you would receive a pin as a thank you, a different one for each season. 

The card was addressed to one of the sons of a family who, by the end of the war were reduced to eating tulip bulbs.  His sister told me, "They were not very nice but if it's all you have to eat, you eat them."  Their father was in the resistance and they learnt at a very early age to hide when told and to keep absolutely silent.  The winter of 1944 was known as the "Hongerwinter".

Friday 8 July 2011

Better than video games


I was at a loss for something to post for today, until I read Beth's post about Video Games Day, today 8 July.  I've found an example of what can be done without video games or computers, just a little bit of make-believe.  I'm only surprised they didn't improvise a drum.

I do wonder if video games and such are expanding horizons in one direction but limiting children's imaginations in other ways. 

This card was sent to a small boy in the Netherlands in 1937 from his aunt.  Three years later, war broke out and within another year the Netherlands had been invaded.  Before long, toys were the least of their worries. 

This is a post for Postcard Friendship Friday, which is hosted by Beth Niquette at The Best Hearts are Crunchy.
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