COVER N.100 - AUSTRIA

Postmark: ILZ 8262 - 15.04.22 
Posted on the 15th April; received on the 27h April 2022
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Were it not for the words of my cardiologist hanging over me like the incarnation of Jiminy Cricket and I'd pop open a bottle of good Portuguese sparkling (who cares about champagne, when we have so good and so many nectars?)

One Hundred. And what a cover it is!

I have to confess that this past week I have received a number of covers that I have yet to enter into my blog, but yesterday, when opening my letterbox upon arriving at home from work, I spotted this blue banded classy envelope inside and I immediately knew where it had come from. So this had to be #100 and it immediately jumped the line, with my apologies to the covers therein waiting 😀

Today, April the 28th, is exactly one year past I entered my first received cover in this humble blog of mine. At the time I wrote "I couldn't be happier" for I was aware that a journey had started and I have always liked the feeling of "going" even if the destination might be unclear. In the immortal words of the Spanish Poet Antonio Machado "Caminante, no hay camino, se hace camino al andar" (Walker, there is no pathway, you make your own path as you walk), so you just take the first step and hope for the best.

And the best it has been so far. Not only have I received mail with lovely stamps and images from quite a number of origins, but (and I've said it before here) I've learned a lot from these 

unsuspected vectors of culture and understanding. 

I've also corresponded a couple of times with people whom I don't know personally, but with whom I easily established a common ground of understanding, some sort of bond that speaks for our capacity as humans to relate with equals whatever the constraints geography or social organisation might impose.

This makes it even harder to understand the conscientious denial of this capacity and the transgression of  our social nature that in the meantime has led to the horrendous episode that is devastating a sovereign country in Eastern Europe. And what for? Why all the horror? Will any light come out of the rubble (hmmm..words sometimes also create their own path...)?

The first cover I received was embellished with the same blue band carried by the envelope in the above image, and how could it not, since it came from the same person. Thank you so much, Florian. How fitting that I should be writing this exactly one year after I thanked you for cover #1 in my collection. I'll be looking forward to receiving cover #200 from you, next year  😀

Stamps

mention the word Belladona and one is immediately guided to a foggy universe of witches, dark ages, obscure intentions from even more obscure people....

Although highly toxic, so much so that the ingestion of its leaves or seeds can lead to death,  Atropa Beladona, which has a widespread distribution in Europe, Northern Africa and Western Asia, and belongs  to the same solenaceae family as the tomato or the eggplant, has long been used for pharmacological purposes, and even recreational uses since its alkaloids  can induce psychoactive effects.

On 05MAR2022, Austrian Post issued a 0,85€ stamp illustrated by the image of a "schwartze tollkirsche", the deadly nightshade, over a yellow background, this being a special issue on offer only to people with a Austrian Post philatelic subscription plan, what makes it a  pretty uncommon stamp to have outside of Austria, another reason for me to be thankful to Florian, who kindly used it on my cover.

The other two stamps (5 and 10 cent) are part of a 16 stamp definitive issue themed on accessories used in conjunction with traditional costumes, issued on 01APR2020. The 5 cent stamp shows an astrakhan cap from the region of Seewinkel, in the province of Burgenland and the 10 cent a Wheel Bonnet typical of the Bodensee-Voralberg region.