Sunday Stamps - Happy Christmas; USA

 With Christmas arrangements cancelled for many in the UK all I can do is say - stay safe everyone.

In the US National Gallery of Art Museum in Washington the Dutch painter Hans Memling's Madonna and Child is not on view so we shall just have to share it on a stamp from 1967.

USA - 6 November 1967

The actual painting is larger than this and includes angels on either side.

A similar Memling painting also hands in the London National Gallery.

For other stamps related to a religious Christmas please visit the links at Seeitonapostcard - Mary..

Meanwhile stay safe!

Sunday Stamps L4 USA

Three from America this week starting with the arrival of Lafayette.

USA - 13 June 1952

Lafayette became a friend of George Washington and fought in many battles of the American Revolutionary War from Brandywine to the Siege of Yorktown before he returned to France and took part in the French Revolution.

Statue of Liberty - 9 April 1954

The Statue of Liberty was a gift from the people of France to the United States. Its framework was built by Gustave Eiffel; the completed statue was dedicated in 1868.

10 September1998 

The first issue of Life Magazine in 1936 had Fort Peck on its cover. This stamp is from the Celebrating the Century series covering the 1930s.

The stamp shows the structure of Fort Peck Dam in Montana.

[For years I have referred to the US Stamp Gallery site for information on my American stamps - now unfortunately my computers warn me that this site is not secure]

For more 'L' related stamps please visit Sunday-stamps-l.

Snappers - Sepia Saturday

Personally I hate having to stand with a group of photographers when I want to take a shot. This week's prompt reminded me of that.

Snapping cherry blossom in Washington

I worked with British Rail a lot in the 1990s and saw my fair share of trainspotters armed with cameras but none quite like this:

Belgian Railfans' photo shoot

They were out to photograph a special train - a farewell to SNCB/NMBS Class 51 diesel locomotive in 2003.

I have no idea what this lot were doing in Dublin:

Team of photographers in front of Jury's Hotel, Dublin

I wonder whether they had to wait all night for someone to turn up,

Mind you I'd be happy to join this pair no matter how long I had to wait.

Wildlife photographers enjoying numerous photographic opportunities

But if it's blossom I want then why go further than our front garden?

Apple blossom (white)

Cherry blossom

I rest my case.

To see what has been snapped elsewhere the place to go is Sepia-Saturday-169

Photos: 

• Railfans - By Peter Van den Bossche - CC BY-SA 2.0
• Dublin - By Andrais Burglega - CC BY-SA 3.0
• Wildlife - Photographers taking images; Public Domain website 

Last gasp Curves from Washington

I hope I get this in before the new theme but these curves caught my eye on photos from Washington taken by my daughter.

More curves at: Thematic Photographic