FRANCE ~ White Stork - Alsace -

... A pretty postcard that made me smile... "we found the fabric"💙... according to European folklore, the stork is responsible for bringing babies to new parents... the legend is very ancient, but was popularized by Hans Christian Andersen story called The Storks... the natural behaviour of storks lends a clue to their association with birth... as a migratory bird, white storks would fly south in the fall and return to Europe nine months later in Spring when many babies were born... with so sweet "matching"????😄 Valentine's Day postmarks...  coming from the only French village with the name Saint-Valentin (Departement of Indre) that has every year a special postmark... this is showing two hearts and a pictorial cancellation featuring the famous Peynet's lovers... Thanks a lot Gilles!!ヽ(ヅ)ノ

Alsace is one of the 26 regions of France. It is on the eastern border of France and lies on the west bank of the Upper Rhine, next to Germany and Switzerland. Its capital and largest city is Strasbourg.

Storks usually live near shallow bodies of water where they wade through the water, and catch small animals, like frogs, crabs, or small fish. Many species of stork are migratory, they spend the summer and the winter in different places. The best known stork is the White Stork. It is known to build large nests in high places, like on chimneys. Stork nests are often very large. They may be used for many years.

Stamps:

Reflections - Landscapes of the World
(Issued 07-01-2017)