Welcome to my blog, where I take pleasure in words and pictures, be they my own or those of others. I'm a creative individual, and the crafty side I explore on my 'other blog', Picking Up The Threads, which I hope you'll visit too. I'm sure you understand that I have sole copyright of my original work and any of my contributions, so please ask if you want to use them. A polite request is rarely refused. So, as they used to say on the BBC's 'Listen With Mother' radio programme, many years ago: "Are you sitting comfortably? Then we'll begin."

Sunday 9 March 2014

Two Lovely Ladies


The lovely lady portrayed in the stamp is Clara Schumann 1819-1896, famous as the wife of Robert, the composer, but also in her own right, as an influential pianist. She was a remarkable woman in many ways and deserved to be honoured by the FDR in 1986 for her achievements in music. She was also the main breadwinner for her family through her concerts and teaching. Clara not only raised a large family of her own but took on the responsibility for her grandchildren when one of her own children was unable to do so.



The stamp was affixed to a postcard from my godmother to my parents in July of 1994, when she would be staying with her daughter’s family in Germany.

I like the card because of the sentiment it includes. My godmother, ‘Aunty Rita’ had been my Mum’s friend since childhood and she and my ‘Uncle Bob’ were good friends of my parents, Sadly only Mum remains of the four, but I have many happy memories of my godparents and the many kindnesses they showed me.

This is the reverse of the postcard with the large spring my godmother mentions. It is in the Hartz Mountains and is the source of the River Rhume


The two pictures below, taken in July 1989 at Wollaton Hall, Nottinghamshire, demonstrate the friendship between the two couples.

Viridian’s Sunday Stamps prompt today is Women on Stamps, as March is Women’s History Month in many countries and yesterday was International Women’s Day. I have very few postcards and only found one with a woman, but what a great find. Not only was the stamp of a remarkable and loving grandma but the sender of the postcard to which it was affixed also deserved to be remembered here. One of the generation who grew up in the 1920s and 30s when times were hard, who served her country in the Second World War, raised four children and was a loving grandmother to their offspring.  Of course she was also my mother’s very good friend and my godmother. Another lovely lady.

Dad and my godfather, Uncle Bob.





Mum and my godmother, Rita, with Bob on the second bench.

12 comments:

  1. Lovely photos and memories :)
    The Clara Schumann stamp was one of a series featuring women.

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  2. Nice stamp and memories, thanks for sharing both!

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  3. Clara Schumann has the most lovely face!

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  4. Nice family memories. And Clara Schumann was indeed an amazing woman. It's heartbreaking how her husband had to end his life. Very hard.

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  5. I hadn't heard of Clara Schumann before.

    I have quite a few International Women's Day postcards, mainly Soviet. One has a stamp, but I posted it a few years ago.
    http://postcardy.blogspot.com/2011/03/international-womens-day-card-stamp.html

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  6. All very special ladies indeed. What a lovely setting where they took their pictures together. I would so love to see a day like that right now, and to smell the flowers!

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  7. I like your two photos at the end the best. :-)
    Thank you for participating.

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  8. Happy International Woman's Day.

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  9. wow! a stamp with great history on it and the postcard with a great history of friendship. Love all the pictures you posted. What a great friendship they had.

    Willa @ Postage Journal: My Sunday Stamp

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  10. A stamp enhanced by the family memories you've included. Schumann I've heard of but I wasn't aware his wife was a musician too.

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  11. I recognize the stamp, I might have received the Clara Schumann stamp also, but it's a long time ago. It's good that she has been honoured this way. Her husband's music always has been far more well-known, while she has composed beautiful music, too (while raising a lot of children..).

    Thank you for sharing the postcard and the pictures, so good to see your parents and godparents together, and by reading your good memories they still are here, in a way and in all of our hearts. And I saw Mario hat on your other blog, made by your Mum - and not only your grandson but also I am delighted by her present creativeness, too!

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  12. I like the simple nature of the drawing, nice on a postcard! I remember the rest of the German Women in History series was done in the same way. Friendships like that of your parents are very special.

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