This and That: A Blog

  Sunday Stamps this week is B , and I've picked Animals for a sub-theme. I'm finding it hard to narrow down my animals! Three B irds... B ooby, the Red-Footed variety Montserrat 1970  B ustard, not just any b ustard, it's the Great B ustard, one of the heaviest flying b irds in the world! Russia 2024 B ird of Paradise Papua New Guinea 1957 ... and a B rown  B ear, a semi-postal with surcharge to raise funds for the Moscow Zoo.  Future letters will feature other animals in the series. Soviet Union 1988 C will be next week. 

 Cities is February's theme for Thursday Postcard Hunt .  This week is Asian Cities.  China Beijing Olympic Park On the left is the National Aquatics Center, and the right is the Beijing National Stadium.  Their nicknames are The Water Cube and Bird's Nest.  The city of Beijing is in the background. Hong Kong In the foreground is the Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter, the first such shelter built in Hong Kong to provide shelter for vessels during typhoons.  The mountain in the background is Victoria Peak. Japan The city of Kobe seen from Suwayama Park. Nepal Patan Durbar Square in the center of the city of Lalitpur.  It's one of three Durbar Squares (public plazas in front of old royal palaces) in the Kathmandu Valley, all UNESCO World Heritage Sites.  Next week's Cities will be Southern European. 

 As promised last Tuesday, here are some items I found in the Goodwill Bins.   Books Are Fun  Bookends Made from compressed cardboard, these have a recessed panel with four holes in the back, not a normal bookend feature.  However, that is a layout used for award certificates, photo mounts, presentation folders, etc. from the 1930s into the 1950s.  Fabric tape or ribbon was threaded through holes to secure the documents.   The ribbon material used here (tied like this when I bought them) is a cotton tape, likely made from flour sack material, which was the standard material to use then.  If the bookends and ribbons were originally used together they likely date to the earlier years, say 1935 into the '40s, Depression-era or early postwar American craft traditions.   Another item from the 1940s is this portable multi-game suitcase made by E. S. Lowe. If you go to the Goodwill Bins, always, ALWAYS, open boxes, containers, bags, etc.!...

Already a month of 2026 is over. At least we've turned the corner on winter.  I hope.  February is still cold, and we've had some snow in late February in past years, including 2025. For now it's just been cold with frosty mornings.   There are signs of spring! The first wild violet.  The flowering quince is budding. So are the fruit trees. Bulbs are coming up, Weeds and black cumin are taking over.  Two weeks ago on Motley Monday I mentioned my brakes needed repair.  Fortunately that was just one rotted brake hose.  On the walk to pick up my vehicle I passed this former house.  I wonder how many houses, or units, will be built on this lot?  Some in the same neighborhood have quite a few squeezed in.  This street has quite a few old farm houses, so maybe this one needed expensive repairs.  The houses on my street are newer, 1960s. Mickey and I took advantage of sun, albeit cold sun, on the weekend to walk to the park.  He ...

The A to Z theme was so fun the host of Sunday Stamps  decided to do it again!  So this week is A stamps.  I've decided to make it harder on myself by using animals.  We'll see how that goes! A ardvark  Kenya 1966-1969 A merican Bison Hungary c. 1961 Budapest Zoo Animals series FYI, bison are not buffalo! Next week will be B stamps.