The 100th Anniversary of the Cherry Blossom Festilval, Washington D.C. , USA

One of the things everyone is looking forward to in spring here, are the cherry blossoms in the city centre. Too bad they dont last long, and the picture here doesn't do them justice, but I thought I would share it as an addition to the today's chosen cover (every coincidence is unintentional :))

Do you have cherry blossoms in your place of living? 

I know of sure that Washington D.C has them and they even have an annual Cherry blossom festival and these se-tenant stamps on today's cover were issued in 2012 to commemorate the festival's 100 anniversary.

Cherry blossoms are not today's Sunday stamps topic, however, the issue fit :)

There is one scene across the two stamps — picturing cherry trees in full-bloom around the Tidal Basin. In the stamp on the left, trees arch over two girls dressed in bright kimonos and a family on a stroll with the Washington Monument in the background. On the second stamp, the Jefferson Memorial forms the backdrop for tourists taking in the sights under a canopy of pink blooms.

Received this lovely cover from Bryon (a very appropriate envelope too) just a little over 9 years ago! Time flies so fast, it is sometimes even hard to grasp that I've known some of you that long :)) Not complaining :))

For more stamps on this topic, visit today's Sunday Stamps

The 100th anniversary of aviation, Malaysia

This cover comes probably with one of the worst scribbles of hiding an address 😄

Today's Sunday Stamps topic is air travel... something I've been missing terribly for over a year now and something I still have no idea when i will be able to go back to - I frankly hate all those rules being imposed - travelling should make you feel free, travelling is liberating, travelling shouldnt give me headaches regarding vaccines, quarantines, PCR tests, masks on hours and hours long flihts and such restrictions... I dont know if the travelling we used to know has come to an end or not, but then again, it is not just travelling but life in general....

Well at least Sunday Stamps is still the good old one, and my contribution today is with this cover from Malaysia, issued on 7th of July, 2011, commemorating the 100 years of aviation. The stamps show the upgrade / development of planes (starting from the right side), showing the birth of aviation, then the era of aviation development and in the end the era of aviation excellence. That is excellence for the time being... Im sure in 100 years or so, things will have advanced to a totally different level (regular flights to space maybe?? )

For more air-travel stamps, visit today's edition of Sunday Stamps 

And tell me, do you miss travelling? What is it that you miss the most during all these lockdowns and restrictions? 

Flowers, Bosnia and Herzegovina

First of all, Happy Easter to all of you folks celebrating it today! Here in Macedonia according to the Orthodox Calendar, we shall celebrate it at the end of the month... whether it is gonna be like last year in a total lockdown or not, we shall yet see...

On today's topic of Easter, flowers, spring (even though the weather outside is more like an autumn on its way to winter), I have chosen these two sets of stamps from Bosnia and Herzegovina, issued in 2012 and 2013, respectively. 

      

The 2012 issue (7th of June) is dedicated to the so-called spring flowers, the same flower represented in both the top and the bottom stamp in its column.

First is the Viola odorata, that is more commonly known as wood violet or sweet violet or garden violet (a small stamp-salute to our dear host of Sunday stamps 😉).  When I was a child we had plenty of pots in the garden with violets. I loved them! The colours were just so distinct, yet the petals felt so fragile.  

Next to it are two examples of Primula veris, better known as cowslip, followed by the Helleborus niger, that bears the names of winter rose or Christmas rose (even though it does not belong to the rose family). In Macedonian, we call this plant "kukurek" and it is often used in the context when someone is ill... usually we say that when you wake up in the morning, you will feel as 'kukurek' (meaning you will get better and healthy).  I never really thought about the etymology of the saying, until just now... There are some references to some old myths, but still not quite sure which one is to blame :)

The fourth column of stamps features the lovely Galanthus, or better known as snowdrop. We've been having these in our garden ever since I could remember, and they've always brought joy since they would be the first thing blooming during winter days, and were always like the herald of better days coming :) I just have the impression that each year they blossom earlier and earlier... or it might be just my impression...

The last in this set is the Crocus sativus, or much better known as saffron. I haven't used it in the cuisine yet, though I come across it in some recipes. Recently I spotted it in the supermarket and wanted to buy it and give it a try... but boy is this fella expensive 😀  And now I read it is considered to be the most valuable spice by weight...so it shall wait for some better days... till then my food can certainly survive without it 😊

       

The 2013, issued on 25th September,  set features the so-called nectariferous plants (producing nectar). Again there are two stamps dedicated to each of the flowers, though the order is a bit mixed up here :)

First is the "black locust" (also known as 'false acacia). second is the sage, whose tea I sometimes drink when I have dental issues - it has proven really effective. In the middle, that little yellow flower with the bee is the dandelion, of which we have plenty in the front part of our garden, and with the daffodils in the mix, it is really a beautiful sight! 

The fourth stamp features the 'common heather', while  the last one is dedicated to the linden, which is also kind of a symbol of my city, famous for the smell of linden overwhelming the streets in spring (not so fun for the ones with allergies tho').

So, if you haven't gotten tired of flowers and springy themes, head over to Sunday stamps for some more beauties :)

...   

Children's Books, Serbia

I don't know about you, but I love children's literature even though it's been decades since I belonged to that age group. But there is something so beautiful in it, something so unspoilt and pure, that you rarely, if ever see in the books for the older generations.

 

The first of this kind that comes to mind is "The Little Prince". I'm pretty sure that if at least not everyone has read it, that everyone has heard about it. A book that was on the mandatory reading list in the fourth grade, that equals to being 10 years old. A book I really hated back then cos I couldnt understand it, it was so odd and incomprehensible to my 10 year-old-brain. A book I read again around 10 years later and fell in love with it. To this day I still dont know why,, even though it is considered as a children's book, it is put on the reading list at such young age - I just really dont think that brain can get fully immersed in its beauty. 

Another delight of a book (that I read in my adult years) is The Secret Garden by Francis Hodgson Burnett - if you haven't read it, I really really recommend it - sometimes it takes me by surprise how much of what is considered to be children's literature, is so suitable for adults as well.

And while I'm at it - Neil Gaiman's Coraline is another lovely example to add here :)

In 2010, the theme for the EUROPA's stamps was Children's Books, and Serbia issued these lovely stamps and FDC. A number of titles are hidden in the drawings - can you name them?

And if there is a children's book you'd recommend, please do so - I'd love to read it!

Before I take you to the other children-related posts for today, here is what Serbian post had to say on the subject of Children's Literature:

-Children's Literature singles out as a special literary layer from the aspect of its function and the reader's age. Its main characteristics is belonging to an age where personality is being shaped. The spirit of this particular form of literature is impregnated by signs that are characteristic for childhood: freedom, illusory understanding of live and environment, joy, game, basicness, simplicity, liveliness, etc. Its world is ennobled by joyous charms and composed of fine threads of children's spirit. The main trait of this literary branch is actually one of the decisive roles in child's life. We are here talking about the implementation of beauty, goodness and strength into their spirit: about the art of awakening the curiosity of young minds, learning how to embrace the world with love, and to release the accumulated emotions. The little reader is a young creature who comprehends the world in a different manner and by laws of a different logic. It contemplates and experiences the world though his dreamer's eyes.

The aroused imagination leads the child towards unreachable heights and develops its sensibility. As a driving force of children's discovering of the world, the imagination represents the most powerful means for introducing them into life.

The fame of dream and reality, impossible and supernatural is receptive to the heart of the little reader. The wild and bold imagination broadens its perspectives, frees its thoughts, forms its emotions, enables the comprehension of reality, conjures up to the unknown and invisible, and makes possible the identification with literary heroes.

The imagination creates a new world over which reign other laws of man and nature. 

Check out the other posts here 

The 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 11 Mission to the Moon, Brazil

Sometime, at the end of last year, I received this envelope in the mailbox. 

At first glance it looks as if it had gotten chicken-pox or that has been otherwise contaminated. 

 

 The most logical explanation is that it had been struck by some muddy rain, which had affected the front side, the back side, as well as the paper inside the envelope... so basically, everything was wounded here, including my heart since the Apollo stamps were ruined as well and you know how I feel to things astronomy-related. 

I had almost forgotten about it, since i had placed it in a plastic bag and tucked it away in my drawer and found it few days ago while looking for something else.

One of the postmarks had been completely soaked, but the other one has remained perfectly clear, which is quite strange. As you can see, it was sent back in March 2020.. but that was when this whole Covid mess started, mail was being suspended (with a lot of countries it still is), therefore it took so long, 9 months, to arrive... not that mail from Brazil is top-efficient in normal times, but still nine months is something beyond the usual timeframe.

I assume this cover was sent for the SCM group on FB, but for a reason unknown to me, I am unable to see that group any longer - I'd like to believe it is cos of how the whole postal system has gone haywire, and not cos I have been kicked out for some reason  👀 

Im sure we all have some ruined-mail stories. If you'd like, you can share the story in the comments or you can also leave a link to that story on your blog :)

Starfish, Cyprus

You are gone for a few months (that almost turned into a year) , you come back, and bang! Blogger has taken a whole new look on the inside!  Not some drastic changes, but just enough to make me lose focus on why I came here in the first place 😏

Somehow Sunday Stamps have always been like a great reason to come back, cos it gives me something in particular to look for instead of having to come up with it myself..

And today's theme is Deep blue sea... which turned out to be more difficult than I had initially thought, and all those stamps I had in mind, turned out I had already posted them before, but I said to myself it would be really a shame to be discourages by such a "tiny" detail :)))

So after quite some browsing, I spotted this issue and I was like, yep this is it! 

 

A nice set of Cyprus stamps from 2007 showing 4 different starfish, and all of them can be found in the Mediterranean Sea. 

The two stamps in the top row show the - 1. Antedon mediterranea or more commonly known as the Mediterranean feather star. 2. Centrostephanus longispinus, or more commonly known as the hatpin urchin.

The bottom row show the 1. Astropecten jonstoni, that doesnt seem to have a more common name in use, and 2. Ophioderma longicauda or more commonly known as Smooth Brittle Star. 

I dont recall having seen a starfish in real life. Maybe when I was little during our holidays at the Adriatic Sea, but I have no such memory. How about you? Ever encountered one? And what was it like?

Hope you are all safe and healthy folks, it is a crazy world out there as we all know it. 

And before you go, check out the other entries for today's Deep Blue Sea challenge :)

End of an era

Was trying to find appropriate date to publish this article but I'm too eager to write it and not willing to wait too long for it. In last two articles (you can check it HERE and HERE if you missed it) I outlined becoming of one of the most influential figures of 20^th century, ex Yugoslavia president Josip Broz Tito.

Guess everyone has a peak in his carrier so I guess Tito shouldn’t be an exception although when you are lifetime president there is probably lot of important moments in your carrier so it is trickier to asses but in this case I think it would be hard to miss.

So it is year  1961, Yugoslavia is celebrating 20 years from national insurrection against Nazi occupation.

Souvenir sheet below was issued on July 3 in commemoration of that occasion, it represents Titos statue made by famous sculptor Frano Krsinic, and it is one of the cornerstones pieces for Yugoslavia stamps collection due to low printing quantities.

 

But in 1961 one globally important event took place in Belgrade, city capitol of Yugoslavia. On September  1^st Yugoslav post issued two sets of stamps with similar design but different values (one for regular and another for AirMail with higher values) and one imperforate souvenir sheet. Stamps depict five faces of different races (should burn them now as it is probably racist😏 ) and building of federal assembly in Belgrade.

 

Now, you wonder on what occasion as none represent Tito!? Well it represents his idea at its best. In September 1961 in Belgrade, on Titos initiative happened Conference of Heads of State or Government of Non-Aligned Countries. Term Non-Aligned Movement or NAM which should be familiar to most of those born in 20^th century came in existence after fifth conference in 1976.

This movement is still largest global organization after United Nations and is comprised of 150 member states. General idea of movement was propagation of world peace, cooperation of countries and fighting inequalities as opposed to NATO and Warsaw pact cold war policy. Trough this organization Tito managed to position Yugoslavia as one of very important countries at international scene shoulder to shoulder with countries such as were Germany, UK, China, USA, CCCP and other economical and military giants.

If you are interested in topic you can Google more on that topic as it is very interesting and I do believe that if not for Titos death this movement would become very powerful and maybe led to more just world (hope I don’t sound like Miss Universe😂)

For those skeptical about Tito I want to let know not only Yugoslavia issued stamps with his picture but also Mexico, Brazil, Cyprus, CCCP (even though he had lot of quarrel with them),  Mauritius, Sao Tome

and probably some more. Don’t believe me? Well there is few pics below to support it. Actually in 1980 Guinea issued banknote with his face? How many statesman can say that their face is found on another country banknote, no matter how small country!?

Tito passed away in 1980, on May 4^th and Yugoslavia post issued set of two stamps on that occasion.

No matter what anyone claim Tito was historical figure of greatest significance which can be easily assessed. He received numerous medals, too many to name them all but a few like, Order of Leopold, highest order of Belgium, Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum, highest decoration given to living persons in Japan, Federal Cross of Merit, highest decoration in Germany, Legion of Honour, highest decoration in France all in all 119 awards from 60 countries, sounds quite impressive to me!

His funeral was unmatched in history to that time, only much more recent funeral of pope Johan Paul II and Nelson Mandela commemoration are of similar magnitude. His funeral was attended by leaders and representatives of 128 countries and it was unprecedented to any other funeral of any president or statesman.

For the end you can find and read NY Times obituary HERE!