This and That: A Blog

I got an email this morning letting me know it's my 2 year Postcrossing anniversary, or as they call it, Postcrossingversary.  I've been " teleporting joy across the globe with tiny rectangles of paper for 730 days... "  2 years isn't long, some have been at it for many more than that; Postcrossing began in 2005.  By 2008 it reached its first million exchanged postcards, and as of January 2025 hit over 80 million!  There are countries around the world that have issued official Postcrossing postage stamps. In my two years I have received 80 postcards from 30 different countries.  That means postage stamps from 30 different countries too!  I have sent 81 postcards to 27 countries.  Today I received a Postcrossing postcard from India.   The senders enjoy birdwatching, and while waiting for birds will see wildlife such as Indian leopards.  I guess that's like my sighting a mountain lion, but a leopard sound so much more exotic!   T...

 

 Now that April is over, and the A to Z Blogging Challenge with it (other than the Reflections post coming in a few days), it's time to focus on what's happening in the garden. May hit and the blooming began.  It feels that way, some flowers opened without my noticing they were even buds! Sharing these photos will have to be spread out over a few days this week, there are that many.  I'll start with the front yard, since it ties with the herb garden area for " Best of May " so far.  This is minus the bearded iris, which need their own post, and a few small things like the violas . Chives of course, the onion type. They seem extra purple this year. Breeder's Mix hardy geranium has flowers a bit different from the others in the mix I grew from seed. One of my favorites, Persian catmint.   Some sort of pink and sea thrift. Sweet William.  I don't know where it came from.  Maybe some random seeds I tossed out there.  Some take.  The columbin...

 For this last week of Thursday Postcard Hunt 's theme Color of Spring we're hunting for the color  Blue .  From the Porcelains Collection in the Hebert Hoover Presidential Library, West Branch, Iowa  Lake George , Georgia O'Keefe, 1922 Blue Forget-Me-Nots  To My Sweetheart , postmark 1910 Next week is May, and the new theme will be Parks and Gardens. Up first will be National Parks. 

Our last letter, Z .   It's a Z oo Out There was bought at Goodwill for $2.69.  How could I resist!  There must be a story behind this trio of Washington D.C. powerhouses!  The title is one I picked for the Challenge, I usually call it Animals in D.C.  A Z poem is here .  This is the end of another April A to Z Blogging Challenge.  It's always fun to participate, and read so many other A to Z posts.  Come back soon, I post multiple times a week beyond April!

  Y ang Jian is a figure in Chinese mythology.  I found this mid-century half-tone print of Y ang Jian in an Italian frame in the Goodwill Outlet bins.  It's not unusual for his third eye to be missing, as exports (the print isn't Italian, only the frame) "softened" the supernatural elements for the Western markets. Also, his celestial dog is often left out of these small prints, focus is on the central figure.    There's an alphabet haiku for Y here .

Not an X for a title or subject of the artwork, but for the red X I see across the image.  It may not have been the artist's intent, although it would fit his theme.  This is a print of Franz Marc's Fate of the Animals , painted in 1913, here renamed by the publisher, for an American market, to Animals at Bay .  The artist wrote on the back of the original canvas, " And all being is flaming, suffering ," or " And all being is flaming sorrow ."  Marc had a sense of foreboding, a premonition of society's apocalyptic shattering.  He sensed the coming World War, and his painting depicts the price of human conflict on nature, the animals innocent victims.  The dark portion of the painting was damaged a few years later, after the artist's death, in a warehouse fire.  Using photos, the artist Paul Klee, a friend of Marc's, restored it, but used brown tint to show an obvious difference, although it was never discovered why he did so.  I got this in the ...