Happy Earth Day.
The daisy is from the little Summit Slope Park green space here on Seattle’s Capitol Hill.
Sunday ☔
There was light rain this afternoon, but I took my umbrella and went for a walk around the neighborhood.
Saturday/ more stamps from Japan 🇯🇵
I completed a few more pages with stamps from Japan for my ‘world travels’ album.
Thursday/ greening up 🌳
Lots of green meets the eye, looking down Capitol Hill’s 19th Avenue by Stevens Elementary School.
Tuesday/ shades of pink 🌺
The rhododendron flowers are out here on Seattle’s Capitol Hill.
The flowers are gorgeous, but in some parts of the world (such as in Ireland) these plants are considered an invasive species that upset the local ecosystems.
Sunday/ a printing plate flaw 🖨️
Can you spot the Cape gannet (sea bird) that looks a little different from the other seven, in the block of stamps below?
There was a flaw in the printing plate for this sheet of 5c stamps from 1974.
On one of the stamps, some of the gray and blue ink is missing.
Issued Nov. 11, 1974
Design: Ernst de Jong |Perf. 12½ |Engraving & Photolitho. |Phosphorized paper |No wmk
SA Color Catalogue #363 |5c |Multicolored |Cape gannet (Morus capensis)
Thursday/ after the storm 🏵️
These beautiful flowers are from the streets here on Capitol Hill— I believe these are butter cup, purple rock cress and tulip.
Saturday/ bird on a wire ⚡
Here’s a northern flicker (it’s a woodpecker), sitting on the power cables in the alley behind my house.
Thursday/ spring in the north 🌸
Happy first day of spring.
Happy first day of autumn if you are in the southern hemisphere of our planet.
The camelia flower is from my front yard.
Monday/ bird on the green 🐦⬛
Happy Saint Patrick’s Day.
Here’s a Steller’s jay that visited my lawn this morning while it was still clear and sunny.
There was thunder, hail and lightning in the afternoon.
Sunday/ the Seattle waterfront 🌅
I took the G-line bus to Colman Dock (the ferry terminal) and the Waterfront late this afternoon, and walked up to Pike Place Market.
(I had missed the G-line bus up at the 17th Avenue stop by a minute and now I’m walking down Madison Street to the stop on Boylston Avenue).
I could not resist taking a picture of the beautiful The Federal Office Building nearby— constructed in 1932 and ‘an exuberant example of Art Deco architecture’, says Wikipedia.
It was sunny today, but definitely not warm— 50°F/ 10°C for a high.
A Scottish band’s members are playing their drums and bagpipes for the crowd, but I don’t know the band’s name or if it was for a special occasion.
Wednesday/ bald eagle 🦅
Just as I walked by St. Joseph Parish church here on Capitol Hill tonight just before 6 o’clock, a bald eagle landed on the bell tower.
It surveyed the surroundings from there for just a few minutes and then took off.
From Google Search Labs | AI Overview:
Washington state’s wintering bald eagle population, comprising resident breeders and seasonal migrants, is growing and is estimated to reach a steady state of around 6,000 birds.
Alaska boasts the largest bald eagle population in the United States, with an estimated 30,000 to 50,000 birds, surpassing all other states combined.
Thursday/ Narcissus ⭐️
The daffodil (genus Narcissus) is the national flower of Wales and the symbol of cancer charities in many countries.
The appearance of wild flowers in spring is associated with festivals in many places.
-From Wikipedia
Tuesday/ a close (and deadly) encounter 🦈
SEATTLE (AP) — A pod of orcas swam close to shore and amazed onlookers in Seattle on Sunday by treating the whale watchers to the rare sight of the apex predators hunting a bird.
The pod of Bigg’s killer whales visited Elliott Bay and were seemingly on a hunt underwater just off Seattle’s maritime industrial docks.
The pod exited the bay close to West Seattle, where people were waiting to catch sight of them.
-Manuel Valdes writing for The Associated Press
[Picture by Jeff Hogan via AP]
[Kersti Muul via AP]
Friday/ wildlife on stamps 🐘
Happy Friday.
These 1970s stamps arrived as part of a complimentary packet of world stamps from my supplier of stamp albums and pages.
I might still start a thematic collection and animals. It would have to be a specific animal— or kind of animal— to narrow it down to a few thousand stamps!
Issued Sept 5, 1973
Perf. 12×11¼ |Photogravure |No Wmk
802 20₮ Multi-colored | European badger (Meles meles)
[Sources: Stampworld.com, Google Search Labs| AI Overview]
Issued Mar. 10, 1972
Perf. 13½ |Design: Design: Nicolae Săftoiu |Engraving: Fabrica de Timbre, Bucharest |No Wmk
2995 35b Multi-colored | Red fox cubs (Vulpes vulpes)
The red fox (Vulpes vulpes) is the largest of the true foxes and one of the most widely distributed members of the order Carnivora, being present across the entire Northern Hemisphere including most of North America, Europe and Asia, plus parts of North Africa.
[Sources: Stampworld.com, Wikipedia]
Issued Mar. 20, 1978
Perf. 13½x13 |Design: Severin |No Wmk
921 20c Multi-colored | Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)
The genus Pan consists of two extant species: the chimpanzee and the bonobo. Taxonomically, these two ape species are collectively termed panins.
[Sources: Stampworld.com, Wikipedia]
Issued Oct. 9, 1973
Perf. 13 |Design: Jumelet |Engraved |No Wmk
747 5Fr Multi-colored | Greater dwarf lemur (Cheirogaleus major)
The greater dwarf lemur, or the Geoffroy’s dwarf lemur, is a lemur that is widely distributed over the primary and secondary forests near the eastern coast of Madagascar.
[Sources: Stampworld.com, Wikipedia]
Issued Jul. 10, 1974
Perf. 11 |No Wmk
1320 5ch Multi-colored | Oriental fire-bellied toad (Bombina orientalis)
The Oriental fire-bellied toad is a small semiaquatic frog species found in northeastern Asia, where they primarily dwell in slow-moving bodies of water and temperate forests.
[Sources: Stampworld.com, Wikipedia]
Issued Mar. 20, 1976
Perf. 12 |Photogravure |No Wmk
808-815 A278 12xu Multi-colored | Masked palm civet (Paguma larvata)
The masked palm civet, also called the gem-faced civet or Himalayan palm civet, is a viverrid species native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia.
[Sources: Scott 2009 Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue, Wikipedia]
Issued Aug. 25, 1975
Perf. 12 x12 |Lithography |No Wmk
4363 A2068 6k Multi-colored | Siberian marten (Martes zibellina)
The Siberian marten or sable (Martes zibellina) is a species of marten, a small omnivorous mammal primarily inhabiting the forest environments of Russia, from the Ural Mountains throughout Siberia, and northern Mongolia.
[Sources: Scott 2009 Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue, Wikipedia]
Issued Nov 3, 1976
Perf. 11¾ x 11¼ |Design: J. Baláž |Engraved and Photogravure |No Wmk
2343 20h Multi-colored | African elephant (Loxodonta africana)
[Sources: Stampworld.com, Google Search Labs| AI Overview]
Issued Oct. 12, 1972
Perf. 12 |Photogravure |No Wmk
701 12xu Multi-colored | Red-wattled lapwing (Lobivanellus indicus)
The red-wattled lapwing (Vanellus indicus) is an Asian lapwing or large plover, a wader in the family Charadriidae.
[Sources: Stampworld.com, Wikipedia]
Issued May 6, 1972
Perf. 13 |Design: P. Lambert |Photogravure |No Wmk
526 4Fr Multi-colored | Spider: Argiope sector
Argiope sector is a species of orb weaver spider that is found in North Africa, the Middle East, Senegal, and Cape Verde.
[Sources: Stampworld.com, Google Search Labs| AI Overview]
Issued Nov. 11, 1974
Perf. 12½ |Designer: Eva Zombory |Photogravure |No Wmk
3019 80f Multi-colored | Butterfly: Parnassius apollo
[Sources: Stampworld.com, 2018 Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue, Google Search Labs| AI Overview]
Saturday/ all the proteas 🪷
Check them out— the lineup of proteas that adorned the third definitive issue of postage stamps in the Republic of South Africa.
The 6-pocket blank pages from Leuchtturm stamp album series allow me to select, arrange and annotate the stamps in almost any way.
Some philatelists prefer to use completely blank pages, and create individual slide-in pockets (mounts) for the stamps on the page, but for now, I think that is too much work for me.
Friday/ proteas 🪷
Happy Friday and Happy belated Valentine’s Day (the day is done).
Here is what I am working on: a complete set of the 1977 Third Definitive Issue of South Africa. All the stamps in the series depict proteas*, and there will be a second and a third page as well.
*Protea is a genus of South African flowering plants, also called sugarbushes (Afrikaans: suikerbos). It is the type genus of the Proteaceae family.
About 92% of the species occur only in the Cape Floristic Region, a narrow belt of mountainous coastal land from Clanwilliam to Grahamstown, South Africa. [Wikipedia]
Friday/ a collection of succulents 🌵
Happy Friday.
Welcome to today’s South African stamp project. 🤗
I culled the set of stamps on this page from a thousand or so that I had removed from envelope paper clippings.
(A lot of work, done earlier this week: dunk them in water, carefully separate the stamp from the paper, dry on paper towel, and press under a stack of books).
My Scott stamp catalogue confirmed that these stamps are all worth hardly-anything.
One exception: there is a Standardised Mail stamp (the first one on the page), with the fine black text double-printed, that is listed for US$136. (I found no such stamp in the ones I had).
These are all multicolored, and my catalog does not list any shaded varieties, even though it seems to me it could: say—
7c bright colors and 7c dull colors;
21c olive-green and 21c blue-green;
35c blue-gray and 35c gray;
R1 brownish-green and R1 green.
1988-1993 Fifth Definitive Issue (Succulents), South Africa
Issued Sept. 1, 1988
Perf. 14×14¼ |Design: Hein Botha |Phosphorized paper| Lithography |No Watermark
903 Standardised Mail (45c) (’93) Multicolored Stapelia grandiflora
782 1c Multicolored Huernia zebrina
783 2c Multicolored Euphorbia symmetrica
784 5c Multicolored Lithops dorotheae
785 7c Multicolored Gibbaeum nebrownii
786 10c Multicolored Didymaotus lapidiformis
787 16c Multicolored Vanheerdea divergens
809 18c (’89) Multicolored Faucaria tigrine
788 20c Multicolored Conophytum mundum
833 21c (’90) Multicolored Gasteria armstrongii
789 25c Multicolored Cheiridopsis peculiaris
790 30c Multicolored Tavaresia barklyi
791 35c Multicolored Dinteranthus wilmotianus
792 40c Multicolored Frithia pulchra
793 50c Multicolored Lapidaria margaretae
794 90c Multicolored Dioscorea elephantipes
795 R1 Multicolored Trichocaulon cactiforme
796 R2 Multicolored Crassula columnaris
832 R5 (’90) Multicolored Anacampseros albissima
Note: this set includes a 1c, 2c, 5c and 10c coil stamp, which is not listed above. Interestingly, of all the hundreds of mail pieces I had, none had a coil stamp on. (Coil stamps are sold in a long strip that is rolled into a coil).
[Source: Stampworld.com]
Friday/ Jukani wildlife sanctuary 🦁
These pictures are from our visit to Jukani wildlife sanctuary this morning.
The encampments are reasonably large, and in almost all cases the animals are from zoos or from situations where they will no longer survive in the wild.
Animals in the pictures: Burchell’s zebra, springbok, lion, mountain lion, Siberian tiger, caracal, brown hyena.
Tuesday/ Robberg Beach 🌞
My friends and I went for a walk on Robberg beach this morning, and for a very pleasant swim in the Indian Ocean.
The water temperature was very pleasant, all due to the warm Agulhas sea current coming down the coast from further up north.