This and That: A Blog

St. Vincent de Paul has a one day 1/2 off everything sale once a year in December.  They did something new last month, a three-day 1/2 off sale on collectibles only.  Those would be pink sticker items, or in display boxes with pink stickers.   Now, the collectibles like glass trinkets, salt and pepper shakers, or dog figurines, I'd have already bought at full price if I liked them.  However, as the then manager had been putting out loads of antique postcards and other ephemera I thought I'd take a look.  I " took a look " all three days!  Here are some of my half-off treasures. Gombault's Caustic Balsam ad c1896-1902 I had an antique frame just waiting for something that fit, and this did!  38¢  The first day I bought one of these packets of stationary, hand-made paper from Nepal for 68¢. I didn't know it was stationary when I bought it, just that it was hand-made paper.  It's made from daphne bark .  The envelope hooks closed with ...

  Cee's Fun Foto Challenge The Crayola Box of 8 - Purple  

 I'll start out the week with an adorable photo of Mickey!  Here are some mushrooms in the park, probably in the Shaggy Parasol family.  It may be hot summer, but the trees in the park are circled with wood chips and usually damp. My son took this photo of a grasshopper hanging onto his car door.  It finally was blown off, but flew away fine.  Some bees in flowers. Tall Plains Coreopsis Chesapeake Crablegs Daylily This bee was caught in the sprinkler, and was drying herself off.  Excuse the background sound, it's my noisy neighbor warming up his noisy truck.  The entire family has noisy vehicles.  I think they test drive them to make sure the are the loudest possible. 

 Moving on from the alphabet, this week Sunday Stamps ' theme is Lighthouses.  Algeria 1937 Admiralty Building and  t he Algiers Admiralty, or   Peñon, Light  in Algiers. There was a lighthouse at this site as early as 1680. Germany 2004 The Greifswalder Oie lighthouse on the island of Greifswalder Oie in the Baltic Sea. USA 1981 From Sea to Shining Sea showing the Portland Head Light in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. Next week will be stamps relating to Children's Stories. 

Link for Shadow Shot Sunday  Linking to The Weekend in Black and White  

  Skywatch Friday   Some recent sky views at the park.  Mickey and I have been taking quite a few walks* around 7:30am, before it gets hot.  Some mornings others have the same idea, some mornings it's Mickey's private park!  The splashpad gets crowded, but by later in the day it's too hot for even that and it's deserted again. Have a nice weekend.  *No walk for us this morning, the air quality is orange.  Not the worst, but not something I want to breath. It's smoke from a nearby fire. Not dangerously "nearby" for me, but there have been evacuations.

 More St. Vincent de Paul ephemera.  A set of ten Treasure Island (CA) Naval Photo Lab photos documenting the arrival and troop disembarkation of the USS... well, the identification of the ship is up to debate.  Depending on which search engine you use it is either the USS Lamar or the USS Bronx.  I am unable to figure out the difference between Bayfield-class (Lamar) and Haskell-class (Bronx), however these are supposedly the differences proving the photos are the USS Lamar.  One search engine's results: The photos show A Bayfield‑class bridge A Bayfield‑class forward mast Bayfield‑class boat davit spacing Bayfield‑class rounded bow contour Bayfield‑class deckhouse shape Bronx, being Haskell‑class, had: A completely different bridge block A different mast arrangement A different lifeboat layout A different bow rake If this is Lamar, the photos show demoblized servicemen, part of Operation Magic Carpet, a post-war troop-return ...