Search and rescue

This nice card sent to me by Silke from Bremen shows a boat of the German Maritime Rescue Service GMRS on station. Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search is conducted over. These include Mountain rescue; ground search and rescue, including the use of search and rescue dogs; urban search and rescue in cities; combat search and rescue on the battlefield and air-sea rescue over water.

Search and Rescue in German waters is conducted by the Deutsche Gesellschaft zur Rettung Schiffbrüchiger DGzRS (literally translated: German Association for the Saving of Shipwrecked, more common: German Maritime Rescue Service GMRS) with air support by the German Navy and the German Air Force. All incoming requests are coordinated by the Maritime Rescue Coordination Center in Bremen. The DGzRS is a non-governmental organization entirely supported by donations.
Besides the offshore Search And Rescue services, the German Air Force provides 8 SAR Command Posts on a 24/7 basis with the Bell UH-1D Huey. Further, the Technisches Hilfswerk is a key component of the German disaster relief framework. It is, among other things, regularly involved in urban search and rescue efforts abroad.

Josef Gabriel Rheinberger

Josef Gabriel Rheinberger (born 17 March 1839, in Vaduz, in Liechtenstein – died 25 November 1901, in Munich) was a German organist and composer, born in Liechtenstein. Josef Gabriel Rheinberger, who was the son of the Prince of Liechtenstein's treasurer, showed exceptional musical talent at an early age. At the age of only seven Rheinberger became organist at Vaduz Parish Church, and his first composition was performed the following year. In 1851, his father, who had initially been resistant to his son's desire to pursue a musical career, allowed him to enter the Munich Conservatory, where he later became professor of piano and subsequently professor of composition. When the Munich Conservatorium was dissolved he was appointed répétiteur at the Court Theatre, from which he resigned in 1867. Rheinberger married his former pupil, the poetess and socialite Franziska von Hoffnaass (eight years his senior) in 1867. Though the couple would remain childless, their marriage was happy. Franziska wrote the texts for much of her husband's vocal work.
Rheinberger's influences ranged from contemporaries such as Johannes Brahms to composers from earlier times, such as Franz Schubert and Johann Sebastian Bach. He was also influenced by painting and literature (especially English and German). Rheinberger was a prolific composer. His religious works include twelve masses (one for double chorus, three for four voices a cappella, three for women's voices and organ, two for men's voices and one with orchestra), a requiem, and a Stabat Mater. His other works include several operas, symphonies, chamber music, and choral works. Today he is remembered almost exclusively for his elaborate and challenging organ compositions; these include two concertos, 20 sonatas in 20 different keys (of a projected set of 24 sonatas in all the keys), 22 trios, 12 Meditations, 24 fughettos, and 36 solo pieces. His organ sonatas were once declared to be undoubtedly the most valuable addition to organ music since the time of Mendelssohn. They are characterized by a happy blending of the modern romantic spirit with masterly counterpoint and dignified organ style.
Rheinberger died in 1901, and was buried in the Alter Südfriedhof in Munich. During World War II, his grave was destroyed, and his remains were moved to his hometown of Vaduz in 1950. Thank you Merja for this nice maxicard.

Bluberries or are they Bilberries?

Blueberries are perennial flowering plants with indigo-colored berries (a genus which also includes cranberries and bilberries). They are the most common fruits sold as "blueberries" and are native to North America (commercially cultivated highbush blueberries were not introduced into Europe until the 1930s).

They are usually erect but sometimes prostrate shrubs varying in size from 10 centimeters (3.9 in) to 4 meters (13 ft) tall. In commercial blueberry production, smaller species are known as "lowbush blueberries" (synonymous with "wild"), and the larger species are known as "highbush blueberries". The leaves can be either deciduous or evergreen, ovate to lanceolate, and 1–8 cm (0.39–3.1 in) long and 0.5–3.5 cm (0.20–1.4 in) broad. The flowers are bell-shaped, white, pale pink or red, sometimes tinged greenish. The fruit is a berry 5–16 millimeters (0.20–0.63 in) in diameter with a flared crown at the end; they are pale greenish at first, then reddish-purple, and finally dark blue when ripe. They have a sweet taste when mature, with variable acidity. Blueberry bushes typically bear fruit in the middle of the growing season: fruiting times are affected by local conditions such as altitude and latitude, so the height of the crop can vary from May to August depending upon these conditions.

Blueberry is native to North America and is nowadays cultivated also in Europe. In Finland, blueberries are used much like bilberries. Compared to bilberry, the flavour of blueberry is very sweet but somewhat bland, lacking the complexity of flavour of the former. Blueberries are much larger in size than bilberries and their flesh is almost colourless. Thank you Eeva for this nice card showing the blueberry plant.

 

Republic of China Navy

Not to be confused with People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), the naval forces of the People's Republic of China (PRC).

The Republic of China Navy is the maritime branch of the Armed forces of the Republic of China (Taiwan). The ROC Navy's primary mission is to defend ROC territories and the sea lanes that surround Taiwan against a blockade, attack, or possible invasion by forces of the People's Republic of China. Operations include maritime patrols in the Taiwan Strait and surrounding waters, as well as counter-strike and counter-invasion operations during wartime. The Republic of China Marine Corps functions as a branch of the Navy. The ship prefix for ROCN combatants is ROCS (Republic of China Ship); an older usage is CNS (Chinese Navy Ship).
This nice card showing three of ROC Navy’s ships alongside was sent to me by YuLing.

Maria Leopoldine Esterhazy

The stamp on this maxi card is in honour of Maria Leopoldine Esterhazy, Princess of Liechtenstein. It was issued on 10^th March 1980. Thank you Merja.

Bengtskär Lighthouse

Bengtskär lighthouse is located in the Archipelago Sea about 25 kilometres south west of Hanko, Finland. The lighthouse was built in 1906 on the Bengtskär skerry where it rises 52 meters above sea level and is the highest one in the Nordic countries. This rocky skerry is the southernmost inhabited place in Finland, and is reached by ferry from the village of Kasnäs. Soviet troops landing there tried to explode the lighthouse during the Battle of Bengtskär during the Continuation War in 1941. Bengtskär lighthouse is nowadays a popular tourist destination and is visited roughly 13 000 to 15 000 tourists every year.
When the lighthouse was completed in 1907, a five-man crew was hired to live on the island: a lighthouse master, three lighthouse keepers and a foghorn operator. They lived on the island with their families for several years and seldom visited the mainland. The families were nearly self-sufficient: they had sheep, pigs and a small vegetable garden. Sometimes, during autumn storms, waves would wash over the whole island, sweeping away the valuable garden. Thank you Merja for this pretty card.

Royal Tunbridge Wells

Royal Tunbridge Wells (usually shortened to Tunbridge Wells) is a large town and Borough in west Kent, England, about 40 miles (64 km) south-east of central London by road, 34.5 miles (55.5 km) by rail. The town is close to the border of the county of East Sussex. It is situated at the northern edge of the High Weald, the sandstone geology of which is exemplified by the rock formations at the Wellington Rocks and High Rocks. The town came into being as a spa in Georgian times and had its heyday as a tourist resort under Richard (Beau) Nash when the Pantiles and its chalybeate spring attracted visitors who wished to take the waters. Though its popularity waned with the advent of sea bathing, the town remains popular and derives some 30% of its income from the tourist industry.

The town has a population of around 56,500 and is the administrative centre of Tunbridge Wells Borough and the UK parliamentary constituency of Tunbridge Wells. In the United Kingdom Tunbridge Wells has a reputation as being the archetypal conservative "Middle England" town, a stereotype that is typified by the fictional letter-writer "Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells" ;-))

One of the stamps on the card about Royal Tunbridge Wells sent to me by Debbie depicts  My Favourite Charles Dickens character: Mr Pickwick from The Pickwick Papers (1836). And I just could not resist including him in my blog.

“There are very few moments in a man’s existence, when he experiences so much ludicrous distress, or meets with so little charitable commiseration, as when he is in pursuit of his own hat.” Yet there are few of Dickens’s characters to whom we feel as charitable as we do towards Mr Pickwick – especially near the start of The Pickwick Papers, when his hat flies away as “merrily as a lively porpoise in a strong tide”. “I thought of Mr Pickwick, and wrote the first number,” said Dickens. Part Falstaff, part Bertie Wooster, Mr Pickwick embodies the conviviality, lively appetite and good humour that is an enduring part of an Englishman’s self-image. When the rotund, bespectacled gentleman first appeared in 1836 the public immediately fell in love with him, and his creator. Even now you find Pickwick clubs and Pickwick pubs all over England; and the old Dickens £10 note was not illustrated by something from Oliver Twist or A Christmas Carol but with The Pickwick Papers’s cricket match between Dingley Dell and All Muggleton. (Then again you wouldn’t have wanted Fagin or Scrooge anywhere near your cash.)
His adventures turn slightly sour when one Mrs Bardell sues him for reneging on his offer of marriage. Needless to say, Mr Pickwick had no idea he had made such a promise, but he still ends up in debtors’ prison. When a deranged man steals his nightcap, he defends himself and then, in Dickens’s words, “communicated a revolving motion to his clenched fists, by way of appalling his antagonists with a display of science.” So ludicrous does he appear that his opponent bursts into laughter. Dickens’s advice to anyone who loses his hat could be the motto for Mr Pickwick and, indeed, for us all: while others laugh, keep “smiling pleasantly all the time, as if you thought it as good a joke as anybody else”.Royal Tunbridge Wells (usually shortened to Tunbridge Wells) is a large town and Borough in west Kent, England, about 40 miles (64 km) south-east of central London by road, 34.5 miles (55.5 km) by rail. The town is close to the border of the county of East Sussex. It is situated at the northern edge of the High Weald, the sandstone geology of which is exemplified by the rock formations at the Wellington Rocks and High Rocks. The town came into being as a spa in Georgian times and had its heyday as a tourist resort under Richard (Beau) Nash when the Pantiles and its chalybeate spring attracted visitors who wished to take the waters. Though its popularity waned with the advent of sea bathing, the town remains popular and derives some 30% of its income from the tourist industry.
The town has a population of around 56,500 and is the administrative centre of Tunbridge Wells Borough and the UK parliamentary constituency of Tunbridge Wells. In the United Kingdom Tunbridge Wells has a reputation as being the archetypal conservative "Middle England" town, a stereotype that is typified by the fictional letter-writer "Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells" ;-))

One of the stamps on the card about Royal Tunbridge Wells sent to me by Debbie depicts  My Favourite Charles Dickens character: Mr Pickwick from The Pickwick Papers (1836). And I just could not resist including him in my blog.

“There are very few moments in a man’s existence, when he experiences so much ludicrous distress, or meets with so little charitable commiseration, as when he is in pursuit of his own hat.” Yet there are few of Dickens’s characters to whom we feel as charitable as we do towards Mr Pickwick – especially near the start of The Pickwick Papers, when his hat flies away as “merrily as a lively porpoise in a strong tide”. “I thought of Mr Pickwick, and wrote the first number,” said Dickens. Part Falstaff, part Bertie Wooster, Mr Pickwick embodies the conviviality, lively appetite and good humour that is an enduring part of an Englishman’s self-image. When the rotund, bespectacled gentleman first appeared in 1836 the public immediately fell in love with him, and his creator. Even now you find Pickwick clubs and Pickwick pubs all over England; and the old Dickens £10 note was not illustrated by something from Oliver Twist or A Christmas Carol but with The Pickwick Papers’s cricket match between Dingley Dell and All Muggleton. (Then again you wouldn’t have wanted Fagin or Scrooge anywhere near your cash.)
His adventures turn slightly sour when one Mrs Bardell sues him for reneging on his offer of marriage. Needless to say, Mr Pickwick had no idea he had made such a promise, but he still ends up in debtors’ prison. When a deranged man steals his nightcap, he defends himself and then, in Dickens’s words, “communicated a revolving motion to his clenched fists, by way of appalling his antagonists with a display of science.” So ludicrous does he appear that his opponent bursts into laughter. Dickens’s advice to anyone who loses his hat could be the motto for Mr Pickwick and, indeed, for us all: while others laugh, keep “smiling pleasantly all the time, as if you thought it as good a joke as anybody else”.Royal Tunbridge Wells (usually shortened to Tunbridge Wells) is a large town and Borough in west Kent, England, about 40 miles (64 km) south-east of central London by road, 34.5 miles (55.5 km) by rail. The town is close to the border of the county of East Sussex. It is situated at the northern edge of the High Weald, the sandstone geology of which is exemplified by the rock formations at the Wellington Rocks and High Rocks. The town came into being as a spa in Georgian times and had its heyday as a tourist resort under Richard (Beau) Nash when the Pantiles and its chalybeate spring attracted visitors who wished to take the waters. Though its popularity waned with the advent of sea bathing, the town remains popular and derives some 30% of its income from the tourist industry.
The town has a population of around 56,500 and is the administrative centre of Tunbridge Wells Borough and the UK parliamentary constituency of Tunbridge Wells. In the United Kingdom Tunbridge Wells has a reputation as being the archetypal conservative "Middle England" town, a stereotype that is typified by the fictional letter-writer "Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells" ;-))

One of the stamps on the card about Royal Tunbridge Wells sent to me by Debbie depicts  My Favourite Charles Dickens character: Mr Pickwick from The Pickwick Papers (1836). And I just could not resist including him in my blog.

“There are very few moments in a man’s existence, when he experiences so much ludicrous distress, or meets with so little charitable commiseration, as when he is in pursuit of his own hat.” Yet there are few of Dickens’s characters to whom we feel as charitable as we do towards Mr Pickwick – especially near the start of The Pickwick Papers, when his hat flies away as “merrily as a lively porpoise in a strong tide”. “I thought of Mr Pickwick, and wrote the first number,” said Dickens. Part Falstaff, part Bertie Wooster, Mr Pickwick embodies the conviviality, lively appetite and good humour that is an enduring part of an Englishman’s self-image. When the rotund, bespectacled gentleman first appeared in 1836 the public immediately fell in love with him, and his creator. Even now you find Pickwick clubs and Pickwick pubs all over England; and the old Dickens £10 note was not illustrated by something from Oliver Twist or A Christmas Carol but with The Pickwick Papers’s cricket match between Dingley Dell and All Muggleton. (Then again you wouldn’t have wanted Fagin or Scrooge anywhere near your cash.)

“smiling pleasantly all the time, as if you thoughtas good a joke as anybody else”.

His adventures turn slightly sour when one Mrs Bardell sues him for reneging on his offer of marriage. Needless to say, Mr Pickwick had no idea he had made such a promise, but he still ends up in debtors’ prison. When a deranged man steals his nightcap, he defends himself and then, in Dickens’s words, “communicated a revolving motion to his clenched fists, by way of appalling his antagonists with a display of science.” So ludicrous does he appear that his opponent bursts into laughter. Dickens’s advice to anyone who loses his hat could be the motto for Mr Pickwick and, indeed, for us all: while others laugh, keep