Lighthouses of the Adriatic Sea and of the Danube, Yugoslavia

I have quite a lot of lighthouses stamps, but wanted to pick something where the odds of someone else posting the same would be really low....lets see if I had succeeded :)

this splendid set of lighthouses was issued in 1991 in the beautiful, but unfortunately, no more existent land of Yugoslavia...still, memories and stamps remain :)
I love the theme...I have a fascination for lighthouses and all the stories they know...there is just something magical about them, and what do they actually experience throughout their lifetime...at calm and rough seas...how many secrets are they actually hiding?
The booklet says: Although today's time is full of modern installations for ships orientation and regulation of their navigation, there are still faithful friends of sailors - nautical and fluvial lighthouses.
These proved helpers of ships and their captains, lead and direct sailors through stormy seas and rivers and enable them a safe and sure way and return to their homes and families.

The set shows lighthouses found along the shores of the Adriatic Sea and the Danube river, and ironically enough, only Macedonia doesnt fall in either category...the rest of the former Yugoslav republics either have the Adriatic Sea or Danube...or both, like Croatia.

the front page of this booklet shows the Prišnjak lighthouse at the Adriatic sea in Croatia, erected in 1886 not far away from the island of Murter (hello Agi!! :))))

and here inside the booklet we have the rest of the lighthouses, where the first ten stamps 'talk' about lighthouses found at the Adriatic Sea, while the last two are at the Danube river. I will briefly represent each of them below.

first comes the 29 m Savudrija lighthouse, the northernmost in Croatia and reputed to be the oldest on the Adriatic Sea, erected in 1818.
Next to it is Sveti Ivan na Pučini (or, St. Ivan at the open sea). It was built in 1853 and it is located on the most distant islet of the small archipelago in front of Rovinj, Croatia.
Third comes the Porer lighthouse,built in 1833, on the Porer island in Croatia.
Next to it is the Stončica lighthouse, built in 1865 at the northeastern cape of the Vis island in Croatia.
The Olipa lighthouse is the 5th stamp in the row, believed to be built in 1842. The lighthouse is on the uninhabited Olipa islet in Croatia.
The last in this row is the Croatian lighthouse of Glavat, built in 1884 on the Glavat island in the Lastovo channel.
the bottom row starts with the Veli Rat lighthouse, built in 1849, on the southwestern cape of the island of Dugi otok, 35 km west of the city of Zadar, Croatia.
Next to it is Vir, built in 1881, at the western coast of the Vir island.
Then comes a lighthouse with a probably complicated name for non-English speakers, called Tajerske sestrice, (or the Tajer sisters) built in 1876 on the Sestrica Vela island (or Sister Vela).
The last of the Adriatic lighthouses is the lighthouse of Ražanj, in Croatia again, built in 1874, at the western cape of the Brač island.
As I said previously, the last two lighthouses are at the Danube river, the first one being Đerdap (a beautiful National Park in Serbia that stretches along the right bank of the Danube river). The other Danube lighthouse is Tamiš, a 359km long river, originating from Țarcu Mountains in Romania, and flowing into the Danube in the northern of Serbia.

well lets see what others had to share for today....click on the button below, and enjoy your Sunday...it is a beautiful sunny one here!

Garden flowers, Poland

well, today is what they call, Women's Day...or Mother's Day...well, both refer to women of course, but when I think about it it gets a bit confusing...at school they give you tasks to draw/paint/write something for your mum for Mother's Day..but then you also need to bring flowers or buy a present for your teacher as well, and you may have teachers which may not be mum's...but if you exempt them from that gift-thing, they will get offended...so you really don't know in the end what you are actually celebrating...and unlike in many other parts of the world, here we do not pay even 1% of the attention to Father's Day compared to the craze today...the bars and restaurants are cramped with women, we have travelling tours organized for Women's Day, women leave work early coz of the holiday, stores are crowded with men and children...but Im sure that MANY people even have no idea that something like Father's Day exist...but that's why on 8 March they all do something for Women's Day...some because they do want to, but some in order their girlfriend/fiancee/wife/mother not to get bothered...and I must say I really hate such things done just for the kicks, but oh well :)

anyways, I've realized that for quite some time I've been posting here on Sundays only, and that I should actually pay the right attention to this blog at all other times as well.
So here it comes as a nice occasion to show these beautiful garden flowers' stamps from Poland...and, I mean, they are appropriate for today's day :)

this beautiful set of 12 stamps was issued back in 1964, all representing different garden flowers (and Im happy to have the whole set though im not quite sure if these could be considered CTO or used)

the order of the stamps is as follows:

20gr - Cyclamen,persian violet (Cyclamen persicum) - has fragrant bluish to dark lavender flowers
30gr - Freesia (Freesia hybrida)- has fragrant funnel-shaped flowers. Some of these are grown as ornamental plants.
40gr - Rose (Rosa hybrida)
50gr - Fernleaf peony (Paeonia tenuifolia)- they can live really long and one hundred year old peonies are not uncommon!
60gr - Regal lily (Lilium regale)- another long-lived plant, a trumpet flowered lily, native to western Sichuan in China which was introduced to England in 1903 by Ernest Henry Wilson.
90gr - Oriental poppy (Papaver orientale) - it is native to the Caucasus, northeastern Turkey, and northern Iran and they throw up a mound of finely cut, hairy foliage in spring.
1,35zl - Tulip (Tulipa gesneriana) - probably one of my favourite flowers...they are just so delicate! And well, you dont have to relate them to the Netherlands only. It is said that like many tulips that came from the Ottoman Empire, it could have originated in Turkey and has now become naturalised to south-west Europe
1,50zl - Daffodil (Narcissus incomparabilis) - frequently linked to the Greek myth of Narcissus, who became so obsessed with his own reflection that as he knelt and gazed into a pool of water, he fell into the water and drowned. In some variations, he died of starvation and thirst. In both versions, the narcissus plant sprang from where he died.
1,55zl - Tuberous begonia (Begonia tuberhybrida)- frost-tender plants that thrive where they receive bright light but little or no direct sun. My mum plants some begonias in spring (among other flowers), when you see all the pots on our terrace, you get this beautiful colourful pattern of flowers :)
2,50zl - Carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus) - probably native to the Mediterranean region but its exact range is unknown due to extensive cultivation for the last 2,000 years
3,10zl - Iris (Iris barbata) - takes its name from the Greek word for a rainbow, referring to the wide variety of flower colors found among the many species.
5,60zl - Camellia (Camellia japonica) - one of the best known species of the genus Camellia. Sometimes called the Rose of winter, it is is the official state flower of Alabama.

Im anything but a flower expert, so for the information regarding the flowers on the stamps I had to rely mainly on what google said to be right :)

And Happy Women's Day to all the women who feel like today it is their day....though Im the kind who'd rather be surprised with a present, a sign of love and affection any day of the year, not only when it is somewhat imposed :)

Moonlanding, Paraguay

I almost skipped today's Sunday Stamps...but having in mind today's subject, I felt I would regret if I don't post these stamps, so I'll try to squeeze in a short post here :)

these Paraguay stamps were issued in 1970 and come in a set of nine (so as usual, I must miss a stamp or two with such awesome issues!) On one of the stamps Im missing, you can also see President Kennedy, next to Wernher von Braun, who is also featured on the first stamp at the top.
Von Braun was German–American rocket scientist, aerospace engineer, space architect, and one of the leading figures in the development of rocket technology in Nazi Germany during World War II and, subsequently, in the United States and they call him the "Father of Rocket Science".
He was the chief architect of the Saturn V launch vehicle, the superbooster that propelled the Apollo spacecraft to the Moon (which is also portrayed on the first stamp).

The following (second row) stamp shows the first astronauts' landing on the Moon on July 20, 1969 (done by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin). And I think it is worth to mention the name of Michael Collins, who was the command module pilot for Apollo 11 and while Armstrong and Aldrin were having a walk on the Moon, Michael was orbiting the Moon.
The stamp next to it also shows the first men on the Moon, taking soil samples and the Apollo 11, while the third stamp in the second row shows the departure of Apollo 11 from the Moon.
The first stamp from the third row shows the landing of the Module, the one in the middle shows the  Lunar Module extraction, while the last  stamp of the ones I have is called Command/Service Module / Lunar Module.

Well, space has always fascinated me, and I wonder if one day we'd all be able to get on a spaceship and have coffee on some other planet...or whatever their specialty may be :)

For more space travels and natural phenomena, click on the button below...and Ill try later to visit everyone, including the pending ones from last Sunday...sorry, but life sometimes interferes

Year of the Tiger, Serbia

morning/afternoon/evening to all! Here comes another "issue" of the Sunday Stamps post. The theme being Lunar Year and Chinese stamps, I was not quite sure what to post...not that I do not have Chinese stamps...have a lot of those, but was somewhat indecisive...and then I realized I have this lovely FDC my dear Ana sent me some time ago, and it fits perfect into today's subject...I know it is the Year of the Snake now, but I must tell you that Im not really a snake lover...ok, im not at ALL a snake lover, I shudder at the thought of a snake, though the stamps Ive seen issued on the subject are really fascinating :) However, ill still go with the tigers this time :)

I must say that the Serbian postal service is issuing really fantastic stamps, and the Lunar Horoscope ones are not an exception....on the other hand, the Macedonian postal service has not yet issued anything related to this subject, EVER =/ Speaking of that, the philately lady should be back to work the following week, at a different post office though....the one that has undergone the fire is still far from offering normal working conditions...but well, I hope id be able to get some new stamps coz ive been really struggling with it..

bit off-topic..recently I watched "The Life of Pi" - a really nice movie...and if you've seen it, you are familiar with Richard Parker, the tiger appearing in the movie (whether he was a real character or part of Pi's imagination, that is for another discussion). Anyways, Richard Parker in soooooo many ways reminded me of my cat Foxy ...I know it may be crazy, but that look in his eyes, the way he was yawning, or stretching out his paws to fight....as if I have a miniature version of him at home....so since then, Ive started calling my cat Richard Parker too...they are both just adorable :)  Off to give him a pet :)  And you can see what others have picked for today...just click on the button below

Insects, China

I was ready to go with some butterflies for today's theme of insects, but somehow, the idea didnt really fulfill me, if i could express myself like that...despite butterflies being insects as well, I wanted something that gives that general association of insects...and I was almost to give up, when my eyes spotted this beautiful set of Chinese stamps...and voilà! :) So ill reserve my butterfly stamps for some butterfly theme :)

this set was issued June 28, 1992, where on the first one you can see The Chinese mantis (Tenodera sinensis) which looks like a long and slender praying mantis, with different shades of brown, and it is typically larger than most other mantises. This species is often erroneously given the taxonomic name of Tenodera aridifolia sinensis, as it is on the stamp featured here.
The second stamp shows the Seven-dots ladybird (Coccinella Septempunctata)which is famous in China, because it preys on pests. There are about 5000 species in the ladybird family and most of them are beneficial insects. They are the natural enemy of aphids on the wheat, earthnut, and cotton.
The third stamp shows the Sympetrum Croceolum that belongs to the dragonfly family. There are about 4000 species in the world and in China they only can be found in the provinces of Fujian, Guangxi, and Jiangxi.
The last, fourth stamp, shows the lacewing fly (Chrysopa septempunctata), that is considered an important, common predator of several insects in China, Japan, Russia, and many parts of Europe. There are about 5000 species of lacewings in the world.

for more cute or not-so-cute insects, click on the button below

250 years since the birth of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,Macedonia

So here comes another Sunday...and time for another visit to the Viridian's blog...where the theme this week is 'anything you wish'. The most tricky one for me I must say :)
Usually, id go for trains in such cases, sparing myself too much thinking...but I wanted to somewhat break that habit and post something different...and while wondering what could that be...something suitable came into the horizon...so here I am with this nice FDC issued by the Macedonian postal service in 2006, commemorating the 250 years since the birth of the child prodigy called Mozart....and why did my choice fall on this one? well, coz Mozart was actually born on January 27, so if he was still alive, today he would have been blowing 257 candles on his cake...boy, that would have been one very special cake....i hope it would have been cheesecake :)))
But unfortunately, this great man didnt manage to see many candles on his cake, since he died at the early age of only 35. But even this way, he has left great works behind him, having composed over 600 works.

well, im sure you all know who Mozart was, and more or less know the general things about him, so I wont bore you with that. ill just tell you that Ive never been to Salzburg, where he was born, but id REALLY love to go there one day...theyve told me that it is even more beautiful than Vienna...so me, who is absolutely in love with Vienna, must verify this on-spot one day :)
I love Mozart's works...I cant tell if i have a favourite, coz often it depends on how i feel, and to be quite honest, im terrible at remembering pieces entitled like "Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550" (though that is a really good one by Mozart) but titles like that just dont work for me.
At least the operas bear somewhat normal titles..
Unfortunately, Tom and Jerry seem not to have been into Mozart that much...there is an episode where Bart Simpson plays the Turkish Rondo, (which is a part of the Piano Sonata No. 11 in A major, K. 331, and is probably one of his most popular piano pieces) but honestly i dont think that im impressed much of it...I still prefer the good old Tom and Jerry making a great concert out of some beautiful classical masterpiece :)

so if you know a cartoon where Mozart's music has been used, please share :)

and on a side note, since we are at the Macedonian postal service here...wanted to share something (not so nice) with you...already did it at my postcards' blog, bur for those who do not read that one, or have missed it:
10 days ago, there was a huge fire at the main post office in Skopje...and unfortunately, that is the post office where the Philatelic Bureau is also situated...or should I say, 'was'...there were no deaths fortunately, but the damage is huge..and the post office is not working at the moment...all the employees there have been reallocated to other post offices...however, I cant find out where the philately lady is and if she is working at all or she is taking a break...I dont know if and how many stamps have suffered the fire but practically, right now, i cant get any nice new stamps....I have to be satisfied with the general (boring) ones that are sold at the post offices..and i feel sort of handicapped this way...she was my only source for all the old and new issues, and always very kind and helpful...i mean, the postal clerks are also really nice people, but they just struggle with providing me nice stamps, and it is not their fault either...so my only source is right now...i dont know where. It is also a pity, coz that building was of unusual architecture, and also, very valuable murals have suffered, which used to be in the hall of the post office..quite a tragedy =/

you can read more about it here in case you are interested (lack of websites covering the event in English...sorry)

wishing you all a great Sunday, and before you get on with your Sunday chores, click on the button below and see what other interesting stories you may find today:

Stamp Day, France

well, after quite some time, here i am with a post for Viridian's Sunday Stamps.

the theme today is Cartoons and Cartoon-like drawings...well, here is a very nice cartoon cover - couldnt get any more cartoonesque I think :)

On 28 February and 1 March 2009, 116 cities in France (in 92 departments) hosted the 10th edition of the "Fête du Timbre" ("Stamp Fair").

and as it has been the case since 1999, the French Post has chosen for this Stamp Day some comic book and children's literature heroes as topic in order to attract more young people towards the collection of stamps.
So here you have the Looney Tunes characters, that im sure most of you are familiar with :)

Im happy to be an owner of this cover with the three stamps that were issued (€ 0.56 each), where you can see Bugs Bunny and Duffy Duck, then on the next stamp are Wile E. Coyotte and the Roadrunner, and on the final stamp you have Tweety and Sylvester.

above the stamp you can also see the souvenir sheet, consisting of one € 1.00 stamp, where apart from the above mentioned characters, you can also see Taz (the Tasmanian Devil), Marvin the Martian and Yosemite Sam.

I loved watching these cartoons when I was little (and not so little). And out of all these, Sylvester is probably my favourite...probably coz of being a cat...and his clumsiness...though Sylvester Jr. was even cuter :) And I just cant stay indifferent to that lisping-talk :)

thanks a lot to Eric for sending me this cover (from whom I also stole some of the information regarding the stamps :))

well, wishing you a good Sunday and great week ahead. For more cartoon-like stuff, click on the button below