Interesting stamps

 

Interesting stamps

 A parcel was delivered recently with some interesting stamps. I didn’t know if they were all genuine so attempted to find out.

In Britain, commemorative stamps have been issued by Royal Mail since 1924. The first one was designed and produced for the British Empire Exhibition, which ran for six months in 1924 and five months in 1925. In the following thirty years, there were occasional commemorative issues, between one and three per year, for special events of particular note, after which they became more frequent.

From the mid-1960s. between six and ten special issue sets were produced every year. At this time, official First Day Covers were introduced, along with Presentation Packs. Postcard-sized reproductions of commemorative stamps became available from mid-1970s, to be issued alongside each new set of stamps.

From the early years of the 1970s, the number of sets increased, until usually more than ten sets were produced annually. Ten years later the practice was for Royal Mail to issue ten to fifteen sets a year.

Stamps now commemorate a diverse range of subjects, encompassing history, sport, theatre, science, popular culture, to name but a few.

The stamp at the top of this post was part of a series celebrating one hundred years of cycling. It was issued in 1978. We were still using halfpennies in 1978! They were not phased out until 1984.

The stamp illustrating the Liverpool Great National Steeple Chase of 1839 was part of the Horseracing series and issued in 1979.

The Christmas stamp called ‘Shepherd and Lamb’ was issued in 1984.

The Edward Lear stamp was issued in 1988, one hundred years after his death in January 1888.

The Kestrel formed part of the 2003 Birds of Prey series. There was later a 2019 series of Birds of Prey.

I've never been a stamp; collector. As a child, I had a brief period of collecting stamps depicting animals, but the interest faded and the phase passed. 

Philately can become almost obsessional, but those who have pursued it throughout their lives have built up valuable collections. 

Arthur attempts . . .

 

Arthur attempts . . .

 to do what he’s bred for!

Walking in Simons Wood, Arthur reached the lake.

 In the middle of the lake is a small island, on which birds rest and nest. Usually, it’s Canada geese that inhabit it, but this week it was a couple of herons.

Arthur spotted them.

Arthur jumped into the water.

Arthur started to swim towards them.

Barry called him out and Arthur obeyed.

A couple of minutes later, Arthur jumped into the water again, and again was called out. This continued until Barry and Arthur had walked on and the lake and the birds were no longer in sight.

Arthur was a happy, wet dog and slept well after his exercise.

 

Jan Pieńkowski (1936-2022)

 

Jan Pieńkowski (1936-2022)

We gave this book to our youngest daughter the year she was five. Her birthday is four days after Christmas.

Jan Pieńkowski was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1936. In 1939, while sheltering in an air raid shelter during a bombing raid in the Second World War, a Polish revolutionary showed him how to make paper cut-outs.

Cut-outs can be made with scissors or knives and the technique, known in China as Jianzhi, has its roots in that country. A single sheet of paper is cut into intricate designs, like the following paper cut celebrating the Year of the Dog.

It is also used in Mexico, where it is known as Papel Picado, when tissue paper is used to make decorations for festivals like Dia De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead)

Paper cutting was also used to create silhouettes. It was popular in the 18^th century before the advent of photography. Skilled professional practitioners could produce a silhouette in as little as six minutes. The result was sometimes called ‘the poor man’s portrait.’ The French artist, Auguste Edouart (1789-1861) made thousands of silhouettes of well-known people, including Victor Hugo and John Quincy Adams.

It is the silhouette form that was used by Pieńkowski in his illustrations for children’s books. He provided the graphics for Helen Nicoll’s ‘Meg and Mog’ series, and created pop-up books, like ‘Haunted House’ and ‘Robot.’ He was also extremely interested in stage design.

The beauty of his ‘Christmas’ illustrations is in their clarity. They illustrate the words of the Nativity, as related in the King James version of the gospels of Luke and Matthew.

'In the days of Herod the King, the angel Gabriel as sent from God . . . toa virgin . . . '

 The bright star (angel) is shown descending from the heavens.

The angel Gabriel tells Mary of her fate. I love the way she is shown as a young woman hanging out the washing.

Away in a manger . . .

The angel Gabriel tells the shepherds of the baby's birth.

The wise men from the east ask where the new king might be found. 

Herod is mightily troubled.   

The wise men bring gifts to the baby.

The wise men depart, instead of reporting to Herod.
    

'Herod, the king, in his raging,
Charged he hath this day
His men of might in his own sight
All young children to slay.'        

The massacre of the innocents.

Mary and Joseph escape.

After Herod's death, Mary and Joseph return to Nazareth with the baby. 

Jan Pieńkowski created another masterpiece in ‘Easter.’                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

Indoor gardening

 

Indoor gardening . . .

. . . takes longer than you think!

Syce

 

Syce

This puzzle provides 26 potential words. Each word must have at least 4 letters in it, and must include the central letter, in this case 'Y'.

I work on a Polygon puzzle each morning and when I have exhausted my vocabulary, I look at the solution. Sometimes, the words are so obvious that I wonder how I’ve managed to be blind to them. At many other times, unknown words crop up and ‘syce’ is one that appeared recently.

A syce holding two carriage horses

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

It is pronounced as spelt, and is an archaic Urdu term for a groom. A syce was a servant, notably in India, during British colonial rule in the seventeenth century, whose responsibilities included feeding, grooming, and saddling horses, and driving carriages. It was in use before the advent of the car, at a time when horse transport was common.

When cars later became more available, syce developed to mean chauffeur, a driver of the ‘horseless carriage.’

Arthur and the stick

Arthur and the stick

Arthur is a very easy dog to take walking. He is not interested in other dogs or people, though he greets them politely if required.  He returns immediately he is called. He becomes very excited if balls are involved, making the woods echo with his barking, so balls do not form part of his exercise.

Arthur enjoys picking up sticks, though he is not encouraged to carry small ones, in case they should catch in his mouth or throat.  This 'stick' outfoxed him and he soon abandoned thoughts of carrying it home.

I know I did it!

 

I know I did it!

How sure we are of what we have said or done. Our conviction is unmoveable, our belief unassailable.

Recently, I packaged a couple of Advent calendars for my two youngest grandchildren and sent them to my daughter. Speaking to her a few days later, she thanked me for ‘it.’

I said, ‘There were two in the parcel, one for each of the boys.’ She said she’d go and check the package, as maybe she’d thrown one out, though that didn’t seem very likely.

I was cross, very cross. I would have stood in a court of law, under oath, and sworn I had sent her two calendars. I could visualise myself wrapping them.

A day later, Barry came out of the dining room with an Advent calendar in his hand. It had been on the table under one of his coats. (We don’t just have coat hooks and wardrobes – we have chairdrobes and tabledrobes, sofadrobes and top-of-the-dog-cratedrobes, and sometimes, floordrobes. If you have OCD, steer clear of our house!)

 I could have wept! I was upset that only one calendar had been delivered, and worried that I was losing my mind. After all, I haven’t much to occupy it these days, not like when I was working full-time, with a husband often far away on business, four children, elderly parents, and umpteen animals.

Life should be a doddle, and mostly it is, but somehow the Season of Lights and Advertisements and Pleas for Donations, combined with darker days and longer nights, make ordinary things extraordinary. Every year, I declare that Christmas will be welcomed calmly in a well-ordered house. Every year, it isn’t!

The end-of-term three-week headache is absent now, but the simplicity of ordering maybe a little more than usual develops into a marathon of wondering if x, y, and z have been accomplished. In my saner moments, I realise that the smaller details don’t matter in the grand scheme of things.