This and That: A Blog

 The ephemera shoe box at St. Vincent de Paul was refilled! This time I got two 1985 Royal Mail (Great Britain) Presentation Packs.  $2.00 and $2.50   The first is Christmas Pantomime. From left to right the stamps picture Principal Boy (traditionally played by a girl), Genie, Dame, Pantomime Cat, and Fairy. They open to a page on the topic. Coincidentally, a few weeks earlier I got the Genie in a pile of world-wide stamps.  The postmark slogan reads "Be properly addressed," urging care in addressing outgoing mail.  There are other Royal Mail slogans along the same line. The second is commemorating 350 years of mail service to the public.  The stamps, left to right, are urban, rural, town, and village delivery.  In 1982 the USPS put out a series of state birds and flowers. I had few, until I found this, The Fifty State Birds and Flowers Mint Set!  It wasn't a steal at $12; about mid-range for what the asking prices are online.  Complete ...

You ask, "What's the 2026 Event of the Year?" The 2026  April Blogging From A to Z Challenge of course!   These the the 2026 Important Dates per the official information.  March 9 - 14 Theme Reveal March 23 - April 4 Sign-up May 4 - 9 Reflections Many of you already participate, but some may wonder, what is it, and how does it work?   It's a blog hop in April.  For 26 days, Mondays through Saturdays, Sundays off, you post something related to the letter of the day, A-Z.  Easy!  Write as much or as little as you want.  Or write nothing at all, just post a photo.  Books.  Recipes. Random daily musings.   I've participated with both blogs for... some number of years.  I don't know off the top of my head, and the blog I used in past years is gone, so I can't check. I've done A to Z of Herbs, Flowers, Wintersowing, General Gardening, and more (last year was A to Z of dog breeds on postage stamps!) on my the old blog, and my ot...

 E stamps this week for Sunday Stamps . E lephant, African Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso)  c. 1963 E gret, a Great E gret no less. Fujeira c 1964-1965 (now  Fujairah, part of the UAE)  Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad Al Sharqi, Sheikh and Wildlife Series E land  Republic of Burundi 1975 F is up next week. 

  The Weekend in Black and White Shadow Shot Sunday (Mr. Linky below)

 North American Cities are the theme this week for Thursday Postcard Hunt. United States is represented by this postcard of Lake Merritt , Oakland, CA.   This is a place from my childhood!  It includes Children's Fairyland .  When I was little there was a small zoo, and silhouette cutters.  You don't see them around anymore, the small zoos or the silhouette cutters.  I wrote a post about Fairyland postcards in August .   Mexico City, Mexico  The Caballito Roundabout, Reforma Ave.  Rather an oblong roundabout.  Do you have roundabouts?  We have a handful around here.  I don't like them.  That could be because they are not a thing we are used to, so no one really knows how to drive in them properly.  That includes me.   Montreal, Quebec, Canada from atop Mount Royal. March is a new theme, Animals!  Next week is Animals in the Wild.  I am looking forward to March postcards. I love animals!

While I'm not getting the snow some of you are (my son back east and has an "historic amount of snow"), it's been very rainy.   The far back of the yard has it's usual puddles.  No, puddles is not the correct word.  Flooded areas.  They're nothing that doesn't happen with every heavy rain. I put these down for stepping stones.   Yesterday Mickey considered going outside... changed his mind... and took up a drier location to watch the rain. This morning I attempted to catch a falling water droplet.  My back started aching from bending over so long I had to quit.   That's a flowering plum I got years ago from a former co-worker.  He son had planted a pit in a container.  I had it growing in a big ceramic one on the deck until last April when I planted it into the herb garden.  I thought it was pot bound, but it wasn't.  Still, it's been happy.  It's growth was stunted, so it's now a miniature flowering plum! ...

 I went into the Goodwill Outlet (bins) store, looked around a bit, decided to leave, and took one peek in the back section where they keep big stuff like furniture and vacuums.  There wasn't much, but a small old wooden table caught my eye. It was a sewing machine table/cabinet.  I lifted one side of the top and saw it had the machine, and that machine was black with fancy golden decorations.  No price.  I walked away, came back, looked for a price again.  Walked away.  Came back.  Gave in to impulsiveness and asked the cashier how much it was.  $5!  With no machine it would have been $3, and I'd have gotten it, it makes a pretty little table. The drawer on the left holds the original attachments, in their original green cardboard Singer box, and the original booklet!   1925 Singer 66, made in Elizabethport, New Jersey There's a ruffler, tucker, bias binder, hemmers (wide, narrow and adjustable), edge stitcher, quilting guide ...