Ben Schonzeit

Born May 9, 1942 in Brooklyn, New York. Ben Schonzeit, one of the old school original Photorealists is exhibiting this month at Elaine Baker Gallery, Boca Raton, Florida.
With over 40 years of painting behind him, Ben is now widely recognized for his strong , photorealistic images of opulent flowers set against dramatic backgrounds. While being highly photorealistic, Schonzeit’s paintings also bend our perception by combining real and surreal imagery. His flower paintings are symbolic of the old with the new, and a general theme of passing time. Schonzeit’s works are settings for dreamscapes, full of melancholy, romantic irony, and intense color. This very pretty card with the wonderful ”forever” series of ship stamps was sent to me by My Good Friend Hemant.

Year End Trongsa Festival

Trongsa, situated along a gorge in the heart of the kingdom has a rich history dating back to 16th century. During the year 1541, a saint known as Lam Ngagi Wangchuk built a small retreat house, which was soon followed by many other retreat houses built by his disciples. The surrounding villagers seeing the area turning into a small village, started naming the place as Trongsar meaning, new village. Since then the place was known as Trongsa. It was in 1644 that Chhogyel Minjur Tenpa under the command of Shubdrung Nawang Namgyal built the fortress in its present form. About 300 years later Ugyen Wangchuk was unanimously elected as the hereditary king of Bhutan, during which Trongsa served as the capital of the nation until the 3rd King moved it to Thimphu. Since then Bhutan have enjoyed peace, stability and economic growth.

The local people in this valley celebrate their annual five-day festival after the harvest during the winter. This festival held in the courtyard of the fortress is one of the popular festivals in Bhutan. The festival begins with mask dances and ends with unfurling of huge ancient old Thangkha (Buddhist Religious Scroll) that is hung from a 3-story building.

One can truly appreciate the beauty of Bhutan in winter. There aren’t many tourist in the main areas, the crops are in, village rooftops are bright red with the colours of drying chillis, and the pace of life in the villages is slow as villagers spend most of their time basking in the winter sun. The sky is crystal clear as far as the eye can see with snow-capped mountains forming a backdrop of brilliant white against the azure skies. Jyotsna sent me this card from Trongsa.

SS Vega and the Northern Passage

Finnish marine research celebrated its 100th and the Finnish Marine Research Institute its 80th anniversary this year. The “Aranda” vessel depicted on the stamp was assigned to the Finnish Marine Research Institute in 1989. As early as in the winter of 1989/90 (and again in 1995/96) the vessel set sail towards the seas of the Antarctic. “Aranda” continues its round-the-year expeditions on the Baltic and other seas of the world. In 1878-80, the expedition led by A.E. Nordenskiöld sailed around the Old World starting from the Northern coast of Siberia and continuing through the Bering Strait.

The vessel Vega portrayed on the card and depicted on the commemorative stamp, was a three-mast barque and it had an auxiliary steam engine. Nordenskiöld, who was a senior lecturer in mineralogy in Helsinki University, moved to Sweden in 1857 and was nominated professor in 1858. He became the director of the Swedish Academy in 1893.

SS Vega was a Swedish barque, built in Bremerhaven Germany in 1872. She was the first ship to complete a voyage through the Northeast Passage, and the first vessel to circumnavigate the Eurasian continent. Constructed as a whaler, the vessel was acquired and rebuilt for Arctic exploration by Nils Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld with financial assistance from King Oscar II of Sweden and others On 22 June 1878 the ship set out from Sweden through the Northeast Passage around the north coast of Eurasia. Blocked by ice on 28 September of that year only 120 miles (200 km) short of the Bering Strait marking the eastern end of Asia, the ship was not freed until 18 July 1879. Two days later East Cape was passed, and Vega became the first ship to complete a voyage through the Northeast Passage. Returning by way of the Western Pacific, Indian Ocean, and Suez Canal, Vega also became the first vessel to circumnavigate the Eurasian continent. This nice maximum card was given to me by Ella.

DECLARATION ON THE OCCASION OF THE FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY

Fifty years ago the United Nations was born out of the sufferings caused by the Second World War. The determination, enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, "to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war" is as vital today as it was fifty years ago. In this, as in other respects, the Charter gives expression to the common values and aspirations of humankind. Ella gave me this maxim card issued on 20.10.1995 by Finland with this nice representative stamp.

Kilpisjärvi in Lapland

Kilpisjärvi is a village in the municipality of Enontekiö, Lapland, Finland. It is located in Finland's northern "arm" near the very north westernmost point of Finland. Although Kilpisjärvi is one of the largest villages in Enontekiö, it is still quite small. In 2000 its population was recorded as 114. Like most Lappish villages, Kilpisjärvi is built mainly around one major road, Käsivarrentie, or the "Arm Road" and Neljäntuulentie, or the "Four Winds' Road" — also known as E8. Near the Kilpisjärvi is the highest point of Finnish road network, at altitude of 528 m. Kilpisjärvi has its own school and a hotel, and the northernmost research station of the University of Helsinki is situated there. The most famous tourist attractions in Kilpisjärvi are the Saana fell and the "three-country border point", a monument at the border point of Finland, Sweden and Norway, located roughly 2.5 km northwest from the end of Lake Kilpisjärvi. In the music video for Röyksopp's Poor Leno, Leno's place of origin is listed as Kilpisjärvi.
On the card is shown this happy Laplander drill fishing in Lake Saana with Mount Saana in the background. I remember having practised this form of angling in Vladivostok in the winters of late ‘60s. The idea is to drill a few holes around you, let your line and hook through the holes and let the poor unsuspecting fish do the rest for you. But, this guy is also daydreaming of catching larger fish in some lush green tropical island. Ari sent me this interesting card from Kilpisjarvi.

Forests - 2011 - International year of forests

Europa stamps have been issued annually since 1956. First sets representing the founding 6 members of the ECSC, European Coal and Steel Community, then by the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) in 1959, (first stamps issued in 1960) and by PostEurop since 1993. Initially in 1956 a total of 13 stamps were issued with a common design from 6 different countries. A common theme of Peace and Welfare through agriculture and industry was used for 1957. The common design reappeared in 1958 and continued until 1973. From 1974 the designs reflect a common theme. The common design idea replaced the common theme in 1984, which was the CEPT 25th Anniversary (1959-84) and shows a symbolic bridge, said to represent Liaison, Exchange and Communication. With the split of posts and telecoms providers in most countries, CEPT is no longer responsible, but the postal authorities under the guidance of PostEurop continue the Europa tradition. From 1993 all the stamps have "Europa" inserted into the design in small print. For the new millennium in 2000, the common design once more replaced the common theme. The stamp design for 2000 clearly shows a column of 6 stars representing the original 6 members of the ECSC. 4 Children,(of different heritage) represent Europe's future and are adding to the Vertical Star Column with the background depicting the GREEN letter E meaning a fertile Europe. CEPT is from the French acronym Conférence Européenne des administrations des Postes et des Télécommunications.

The Russian Post in keepimg with te theme for 2011 issued this pretty stamp on ”Forests of Russia” on the maximum card, which was sent to me by Ella. The stamp has been postmarked with a lovely cancellation as well.

Weesp

Weesp is a town and a municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It has a population of 17,533 (2010). Weesp lies next to the rivers de Vecht and Smal Weesp and also next to the Amsterdam-Rhine Canal. It is in an area called the "Vechtstreek". It is only 3 km from the end of the Amsterdam metro, but the wide Amsterdam-Rhine Canal keeps it geographically separate. The town is surrounded by open grassland. In this picture card you can see two of the three pretty windmills in this town. The card was sent to me by Mardi.

Weesp is a popular stop for tourists. It has a protected historical centre with canals and many buildings dating from the seventeenth and eighteenth century. Weesp has three full-size historical windmills. It features a bastion and fortifications that are part of the Defence line of Amsterdam and the Dutch Water Line. These structures have never been attacked, though. The scenic river Vecht and the small roads that line it attract yachters and cyclists. The Naardermeer area, the first nature reserve in the Netherlands, is at 15 minutes cycling distance from Weesp.