Thematic : Umbrellas On Stamps.

The Maldives (or an agency) issued a souvenir sheet with paintings of impressionists. Two of them are of ladies with umbrellas - the one by Monet is well known, the other is by Berthe Morisot (1841-1895) who married the brother of the painter Manet. She was the first woman to make a name for herself among the impressionists. The painting is "Hide and Seek", looking for a ball among the greenery.

The market vendor has a pretty pink parasol to protect against too much sun. She is preparing brochette on a small open fire. Mayotte, 2004.

A chubby, cheerful coffee pot represents Kathreiner's coffee. Malz coffee is made of roasted kernels of grain and thus has no caffeine. One can mix it with real coffee for reducing caffeine.

Nicaragua issued a souvenir sheet for the philatelic meeting in Tokyo in 1981. There are two umbrellas and a pagoda in the Japanese style and a stamp with a Chinese panda.

The SEAP (SoutEast Asian Penninsula) sports games began with six countries, now there are eleven. The rings remind one of the Olympic rings. The umbrellas are 5-tiered ceremonial umbrellas; one in a set of four stamps for the first games of 1959. This kind of tiered umbrella was seen in the crowning ceremony of the king last week. The royal umbrella even decorates a package of rice.

The lady with a perfectly matched umbrella is calling attention to the office of the Austrian railroad in Munich at which you can purchase tickets. posterstamp ca. 1920

The Belgian surrealist Rene Magritte (1898-1967) painted with amazing detail, but there is often a surprise in his work, in this example the Lady in White has a bouquet of violets in front of her face. And just for good measure, Magritte's famous umbrella. stamp 2001

The aging Monet relaxing at his water lily pond. The Lady with the Umbrella is circled in the stamp for Sierra Leone.

This time the Lady with the Umbrella is the one turned to the right - in a beautiful golden frame. The background is the apple orchard at Chantemesle and Monet's self-portrait of 1886.

(Compare to the Monets on page six.)

Monet's painting of a vacation at Sainte-Adresse was seen on page 6, here it is the background of another painting of his "Nascer do Sol", for Mozambique, 2016.

One of the stamps in the Singapore sheet for the campaign for more courtesy shows folks helping each other with an umbrella in poor weather. 1996 The writing on the umbrella says "Courtesy begins with me".

Fancy fashion as well as fashion for sports were made by the Hirschberg Company of Munich. Their speciality was loden, a thick woolen material which could resist even rain (Regenschutz) and snow in the Bavarian countryside.

Intermission.
Non philatelic.
A refrain to the rain.

"One day, you'll look
To see I've gone
But tomorrow may rain, so
I'll follow the sun…"

Two paintings by impressionists so familiar to all, they need no explanation. Issued in a set of four in a souvenir sheet for St. Tome and Principe. Nice to have rain umbrella and sun umbrella next to each other and the year in which the artists finished them.

(Rod, Well sung. K.)

Two combine harvester machines, each with an umbrella to give the operator a bit of shade, shown on Bulgarian stamps of 1959. (Note bright red flag.)