Beginning or End - Sunday Stamps

I had several stamps lined up  to cover the beginning of something as I thought, erroneously, that this was the theme for this week's Sunday Stamps. Now I find the actual challenge is to find a stamp commemorating the end of something.

Nevertheless I am going to proceed with what I had in mind to see if I can get there in the end.

My favourite market stallholder seems to have bought up the collection of a man from the town of Hartlepool. Among a number of first day covers, I found this:

Philatelic Souvenir from Spain

 Inside the envelope was a hand written message on a card.

From this I have deduced that Mother and Dad had begun their holiday in Spain and as you can see the plane was new. Boeings 737s started commercial services in 1968; unfortunately the date on the postmark can't be seen but could have been in the early 1970s.

The postmark tells us the envelope was posted at Malgrat; Malgrat de Mar is situated in the province of Barcelona, Catalonia on the Mediterranean coast of Spain.

The two CEPT stamps with the Europa Bird were first issued in 1961.

The stamps on the bottom row show the Costa Brava and Lope de Vega, author, playwright and poet (1562-1635)

On the top row from left to right are:

• Torla in the province of Huesca, Aragon. Take a good look at the stamp and compare it with this picture ex wikipedia

Torla (by Gordito1869 - 1987 - CC BY 3.0)

• Nave Medieval - medieval ship.
• Betanzosica, Corunna - Emblem, church stamp issued 1967
• Catedral Sevilla - Seville Cathedral issued in 1965.

That's the last of the stamps I have to offer, Perhaps I should say that Seville Cathedral is a World Heritage Site. It also the burial site for Christopher Columbus so you could claim that his voyages came to an end here.

Don't forget to visit the usual crowd at Viridian's Sunday-stamps-103

Holiday Warmth - Thematic Photography

Carmi's 'warmth' theme had me struggling at first until I realised the answer was right in front of me.

Christmas Hearth

I'm sorry there is no 'cricket on the hearth' but if you are cold you could go closer to really feel the warmth.

Beware if you get up to festive hanky-panky in front of the fire as your reflection may show up in the background just like the pattern on the rug.

I really wanted to show some photos taken under a Cypriot sun but I was told that I would be censored if the ladies of the house were included. (Well I think censored was the word they used.) So I settled for the 'he-man' look instead.

Enjoy the rest of the holiday and have a Happy New Year, not forgetting to visit Carmi at thematic-photographic-227

Sunday Stamps at Christmas

The card I was expecting from Denmark, that I mentioned last week, arrived on time but did not contain a Christmas stamp. Nevertheless the envelope was quite festive as you can see.

Denmark 2012 - Hans Christian Andersen

The 2.00kroner stamp is one of four issued in June commemorating the fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen; in this case - The Shepherdess and the Chimney Sweep.

Just to show that I have other Christmas stamps may I wish you and your families a very Merry Christmas with these two from Monaco.

Monaco - 2003/2002

 

I hope you all have a great time; but also have the time to visit Viridian and others at Sunday-stamps-102.

Merry Christmas Sepians

I'm pleased that Alan gave us the go ahead to take his photo in any direction we wished for Christmas.

Now I've always been a Dickens fan and he did Christmas rather well in much of his work. Mr Pickwick came immediately to mind.

Christmas Eve at Mr Wardle's

By Phiz (Hablot K Browne)

Image scanned by Phillip V Allingham; source www.victorianweb.org

Dickens was also very good at ghost stories - I sure you all know the ghosts in his 'Christmas Carol.' At Christmas in 1859 there was a series of ghost stories in 'The Haunted House,' the Extra Christmas number of 'All the Year Round.' So if you have the time and fancy a good read you can have one on line here

It's time for Santa to get in on the act and thanks to Project Gutenberg I found a delightful, illustrated poem by Elizabeth Andersen called 'The Goblins' Christmas.'

Santa Claus (The Goblins' Christmas - by Alexander Sharp 1908)

I also came across the work of Thomas Nast - 'Christmas Drawings for the Human Race' - including this rather rotund gentleman.

Santa Claus

Nast first drew Santa Claus for the 1862 Christmas season edition of Harper’s Weekly; he is said to have  “invented” the image popularly recognized as Santa Claus in America.

Christmas is a time when presents are exchanged and I have been privileged to play with one of mine already. As a result during the Twelve Days of Christmas I cannot promise my love two turtle doves, nor a partridge in a pear tree so I've compromised with this video clip.

One Wood Pigeon in an Apple Tree

All that remains is for me to wish all my fellow Sepians a very Merry Christmas and to thank you all for for your comments and encouragement throughout the year.

Meanwhile I must find a sleigh to hitch up to this chap before I visit you all at Sepia-saturday-157-christmas

Ho,ho, ho!

 

Industrial Disease- Thematic Photography

Having spent many years in industry, this is a theme where I thought I would be spoilt for choice but it did not turn out that way I had expected.

First some photos used during an environmental auditing course to illustrate environmental effects..

East European Industrial Plant

If this was your first view of the factory, what would you expect its environmental effects to be?

On closer inspection some effects are obvious, like this:

Polluted watercourse

Many industrial (and former) industrial towns can have picturesque settings seen from afar.

Middlesbrough (from the Saltholme Nature Reserve)

That hill in the centre is Roseberry Topping. Another Saltholme view shows Middlesbrough's iconic Transporter Bridge.

Middlesbrough Transporter Bridge

and industrial buildings on the River Tees

I hope you noticed the tower to the left of the picture - you will see that again.

Middlehaven, Middlesbrough

 Middlehaven is a 250 acre redevelopment site that has been under development since the 1990s, based around the dock in the centre of the town. The picture show the entry into the dock from the River Tees. The hoop structure is called Temenos and is meant to attract visitors to the town. You can read about it here

Also in the picture (right) is the framework of a dock crane, while the Transporter and the old dock clock tower are on the left.

Closer this is what you see.

Site clearance 2010

Middlesbrough FC's Riverside Stadium (Behind Temenos)

Although some flats and apartments have been appeared the only building of any note on the site is, a monstrosity to my eyes, this college.

Middlesbrough College (2010)

I wonder what my daughter will think of this when she sees it for the first time, after Christmas when we make our way through the site to see a match at the Riverside.

Riverside Stadium across Middlehaven

Industrial disease or progress?

To see what other diseases to catch or avoid walk over to Carmi's thematic-photographic-226

Denmark at Christmas - Sunday Stamps

Last year I posted Christmas stamps from Norway; this year I have chosen those from Denmark.

Denmark Christmas Stamps - 2008/2009

 

2010/2011

I am hoping to receive a Christmas card with the 2012 stamps before next week so I can show you those as well.

For other Christmas/holiday stamps you will have to catch a reindeer sleigh over to Viridian's Sunday-Stamps-101

All Your Kisses - Sepia Saturday

In a week when we have learnt that the population of England and Wales has risen by 3.7 million since 2001 (Census results 2011), an increase of 7.1%, there is only on interpretation I can put on this week's picture prompt.

More than half of that 7.1% increase has been driven by immigration, two-thirds from non EU countries.

It seems to me that the featured kiss is of someone saying farewell. That makes the lady an emigrant.

The Emigrant - Artist: Gyula Kardos - 1858

The farewell kiss before one or other boards the waiting ship.

There must have been many such kisses in Sweden before my next ship sailed.

Farewell to home -
Göteborg, 1905

These emigrants were bound for England or America on a steamer. (ex Library of Congress)

I don't have the destination of the ship from Sweden, but not all immigrants landed at Ellis Island.

Emigrant arrival at Constitution Wharf, Boston

It seems that there would have been kisses of welcome here for some. Others weren't so lucky.

"Friends" meeting an emigrant girl at dock.

 

Girls travelling alone were at risk from "friends" offering to look after them - but really they were 'recruiting officers' for the white slave trade.

Has much changed over the centuries? I guess that there would even have been a trade in slaves back in the days of these two lovers.

Erastes & Eromenos

Detail from the red tondo of a red-figure Atticup, c480BC

Artist - Briseis; Canino Collection, Louvre Museum

Photo by Jostrow (2006)

Even I can't profess to remember that far back, but I do remember this from the 1970s; I hope you will too.

If not, perhaps you should take a buss over to Sepia-Saturday-156 to see how others have performed.

Shadows - Thematic Photography

The theme of 'Shadows' is one of those that you can meet by accident or design. Many of my previous posts would be fine here also, but I try not to repeat photos I have shown before.

Boat waiting for transport

In this shot it would have been impossible to shoot the boat without incorporating its shadow. However other shadows have been included as well.

When shooting dogs (not literally) you sometimes do not have time to think about shadowy effects.

Gem on her way to the house

The shadow in the next shot enhances a view on a Michigan golf course.

Oxford Hills Golf Course - looking back from 10th tee

 

You may be able to make out the shadow of a golf cart too.

Then there are times when the shot has been taken deliberately to catch the subject in shade.

Blind Sam smells his way home

In the next shot I was more concerned about framing the road with the trees; the shadows turned out to be a bonus.

Oakwood Road, MI

When it comes to old ruins, no not me, shadows can add a dramatic effect.

Fountains Abbey, Yorkshire

But enough of my shadowy past, it's time for you to check out other shades at Carmi's Thematic-photographic-225

Sunday Stamps 100 Not Out

Congratulations to Viridian for hosting Sunday Stamps 100 times.

To find something appropriate for this I have chosen the Centenary of County Cricket in 1973.

Great Britain - County Cricket

These are two from the set of three; I do not have the 3p stamp. 

The sketches are of WG Grace, the famous English cricketer, who scored 126 centuries in his career.(According to Wisdens, the  cricketers' bible) His first was in his tenth game when he scored not one hundred but two in a total of 224.

Grace was the first to score 100 hundreds in his career; currently he lies 11th in the list of cricketers who have achieved this feat.

Now that Sunday Stamps has reached 100; how long will it be before it matches Grace's highest score?

To see others batting today please go to Sunday-stamps-100

Overalls all over - Sepia Saturday

During my working days I wore overalls of various sorts and colours but not the bib and brace design depicted in Alan's prompt.

Bib and brace overalls were considered hazardous as there was a risk of protrusions getting caught on the shoulder straps. I was disappointed to find that I had no shots of me in green or orange overalls that fitted my form. In fact in the only shot I have of me I am not wearing overalls at all.

Statfjord B Topsides ready to sail away from Rosenberg Verft

You can see that the photographer had not focussed on me on 28 March1981 when the Statfjord B deck left Stavanger to be mated with the Gravity Base Stucture (GBS) legs.

I do have a shot of work going on showing a number of men in overalls watching a deck being lowered inside a leg of the GBS during construction and outfitting.

Statfjord B GBS - equipment deck being lowered.

 

To give you some idea of scale, the inside diameter of the leg at this point was 23metres. The eventual height of each of the four legs was 175 metres. As a leg narrowed and became a conical shape higher up, decks had to be lowered in halves and  lifted over 100 metres before lowering could begin,

Had overalls not been free issue perhaps I would have had to visit a place like this.

Old Advertising Sign - York Rise, Bellgate Mews, NW5

If you strain your eyes a bit you will find it reads, I think: K&M Larn, Fancy Works, Overalls, Blouses etc.

I would be unlucky now if I visited a Coventry purveyor of overalls, footwear for working and walking.

Lynes Stores, Well Street, Coventry - 2009

Lynes Stores are a bit overshadowed by that huge office block. Lynes and the other building in the foreground have been demolished.

I even found a building in Belfast showing off blue overalls.

Mosaic - Transport House, Belfast - 2009

But back in 1939, Albert T Palmer was wearing 'bib & brace' while welding.

Welder making boilers for a ship

Combustion Engineering Co., Chattanooga, Tennessee

Now I've retired I guess it's time I burnt all my overalls just like Tara Oram

And for you go over to see all the others at sepia-saturday-155

Attributions

• Old Advertising Sign - by Mike Quinn: CC BY-SA 2.0; ex geograph.org.uk; Geograph Project
• Lynes Stores - by E Gammie: CC BY-SA 2.0; ex geograph.org.uk; Geograph Project
• Transport House, Belfast - by Mike Quinn: CC BY-SA 2.0; ex geograph.org.uk; Geograph Project
• Welder - Library of Congress

Mellow Yellow - Thematic Photography

When I saw the 'Mellow Yellow' theme I immediately thought of garden flowers. Now that winter weather has set in we could do with a bit of brightness.

Lonely Lily

 

This the only lily that survived from six planted some years ago; very year it has produced a show like this.

Just why so many flowers have female names I've never been able to work out but here's one from Cornwall.

Iris - at Bedruthan Steps

However I'd better be careful what I say aboutt this one found in the wild at Portrack Nature Reserve by the River Tees.

Snapdragon!

However this old boy was definitely mellow.

Sam - Yellow Labrador

While this young girl was wondering what she had let herself in for.

Waiting for the boat

to paraglide over the sea.

Finally I have a short video for you to watch.

For other mellow yellow views you need to check out Carmi's Thematic-photographic-224

Public Announcements - Sunday Stamps

I thought I had drawn a blank this week for the public announcements theme until I remembered this 'Celebrating the Century' stamp for 1940.

USA  - Women Support War

I'm sure women don't, but it got a message across.

Otherwise the only other stamp I can find I have shown before here

To see whether others have made a better fist of it visit Viridian's sunday-stamps-99.