Sunday Stamps: scenery

This Sunday Stamps' theme is 'Scenery'.
When I think of 'scenery' I think of beautiful natural panoramic views. Ay... my first thought was that I wouldn't find any Dutch scenery stamp at all... Because in our country there's hardly 'real' nature left. Everywhere you can see some signs of urbanization, highways, industry, etcetera. And the agricultural land is cultivated, so I didn't consider it original nature either.

However, triggered by Eva's post for Sunday Stamps, showing Dutch stamps, I realized that meadows cause a 'scenery' which is said to be typically Dutch.
Searching my stamps, there appeared to be even more stamps which might be suitable for this Sunday's theme. Mainly in a stamp sheet serie, which started in 2005, named 'Mooi Nederland' ('Beautiful Netherlands').

The first to show has been issued in 2005 and shows the surroundings of Nederland, a village in the east of our country:



The place name sign 'Nederland' has been stolen several times, which you can see on the pictures of the 'postzegelblog' ('stamps blog') post.
The missing stamps in this blog post haven't been stolen, I simply have used them for my outgoing mail. Just in time scanned the rest of the stamp sheet!..

Other 'Mooi Nederland' stamp sheets showing some scenery are, among others, the following ones:

This one has been issued in 2008 for the city of Amersfoort. This city is located in the center of the Netherlands, and is surrounded by beautiful woods on the south part, and meadows (and highways and industry) on the other parts:



The scenery, in this stamp defined by a profile portrait of the Dutch painter Piet Mondriaan, shows part of the 'Heiligenbergbeek', by whose creek the water of the canals of Amersfoort keeps on being freshened.

These - issued in 2007 - stamp sheets proof there's a lot of water in many Dutch sceneries.
The stamps themselves show urban views, but the rest of the stamp sheets show some more Dutch scenery, surrounding Edam (in the north west province Noord-Holland):



And surrounding Leerdam (in the south west province Zuid-Holland):



Well, when thinking of these cities, almost no Dutch person will think of nature or scenery, they will think of the products these cities are famous for: Edam for its cheese, and Leerdam for its glass industry...

Going back in time, the 'gulden' era, scenic stamps have been issued, too. I gathered them in one scan (please click picture to enlarge).
The four stamps on the left show parks. One of them is a protected nature area called Weerribben, and happens to be close to the village named Nederland.
The two stamps on the right show two other, totally different types of Dutch scenery: heather, which turns purple so beautifully in August, and dunes, famous for not only protecting our country from the sea but also for their typical dune flora and fauna.



And in the middle there's a scenic view painted by the famous painter Vincent van Gogh, accompanied by one of his quotes. Food for thought, considering my search for natural scenery: 'want men ziet de natuur door zijn eigen temperament', which means: 'because one sees nature through his own temper'.

See more - beautiful! - sceneries on stamps at, and via, Violet's Sunday Stamps!

Out: to the USA

[please scroll down for English translation]

Een heel mooi post-project is dat van PostMuse uit Amerika. Onder de naam 'Orphaned Postcard Project' ontfermt zij zich - en wij, postliefhebbers, met haar - over weeskaarten.
Je kunt ook meedoen met dit project. PostMuse heeft tal van kaarten uit de hele wereld die nog niet beschreven zijn. Als je iets weet te vertellen over zo'n kaart, of over de plaats, of iets anders naar aanleiding van de kaart, kun je de betreffende kaart opvragen, beschrijven en weer terugsturen. Vervolgens blogt PostMuse erover.
Hierboven een glimp van de mooie envelop die PostMuse maakte. Waarin onderstaande kaart zat. Van de prachtige provincie Drenthe. Daar komt een van mijn favoriete zangers, Daniël Lohues, 'weg' (= vandaan). En vooral: we hebben daar een heel mooie vakantie doorgebracht. Het contrast tussen de rust en ruimte (en schone lucht!) van Drenthe en het gebrek aan rust en ruimte (en fijnstof en andere luchtverontreiniging) in onze eigen omgeving is groot.




A very nice mail project is the 'Orphaned Postcard Project' by PostMuse from the USA. She takes care for 'orphaned' postcards, and gives us, snail mail lovers, the opportunity to do so, too.
You can join this project. PostMuse has several postcards from all-over the world who are still empty so far. If there's a postcard which has a special meaning for you, and on which you can write something, about the card, about the place or anthing that has to do with that card, you can request it for adoption. When PostMuse has sent the card, you can write your message on it, put a postage stamp on it and send it back to PostMuse, who then will blog about it.
On top you see a glimpse of the beautiful envelope (and stamps) PostMuse had sent me. Inside this, there was the postcard you see above.
It shows parts of the beautiful province of Drenthe, in the east of the Netherlands. One of my favourite singer-songwriters has been born there (Daniël Lohues).
The reason to 'adopt' this postcard is, that we've spent a beautiful vacation there, in which I noted the clear contrast between the nature, fresh air and relaxed people we found in Drenthe, and the unrest, urbanization, polluted air and stressed people in the region where I am living.