This and That: A Blog

  Unfortunately, I didn't get to the church rummage sale last Friday.  My illness (some sort of respiratory thing) lasted longer than expected. However, I discovered I completely forgot to post these two items I'd gotten at St. Vincent de Paul the day I'd bought the postcards I mentioned last week.  How did I forget about two dog figures?  🤣  Hamilton Foundry Quality Castings (Hamilton, OH) cast iron paper weight Scotty from the 1930s.  These were promotional items given to clients, suppliers, and attendees at trade shows.  He's a heavy little fella for his size!  $5 A 1950s Japanese made pottery dog with an interesting glaze that lets the clay show through.  $2.50 I did find my son a 1950s pencil sharpener at Goodwill.  I'm not sure he wants me to keep finding them!  They're considerably smaller than typewriters and cameras, but still take up a bit of room.  It's still slim pickings, but now that the weather is warmer yard sa...

According to the Census Bureau one in ten Americans claim Irish heritage.  I had my DNA done to help out a family member who is into genealogy, and it showed I have quite a bit of Irish ancestry.   In Ireland the traditions differ from here in America.  In Ireland St. Patrick's Day is a religious holiday with parades, music, and Irish foods.  In America it's mostly green beer and corned beef with cabbage.  Wearing green began there with wearing a shamrock or clover to church.  Green wasn't even the color associated with St. Patrick, that was blue, St. Patrick's Blue! Remember the school yard pinch if you didn't wear green on St. Patrick's Day?  That did start on American schoolyards! It began with " If you don't wear green the leprechauns will pinch you, " because you wouldn't be invisible to them. Naturally that quickly became pinching for the leprechauns, because what child doesn't love an excuse to pinch a schoolmate!  That's proba...

  Sunday Stamps : Letter G  G iant Land Snail New Zealand 1997 They can be up to 12" long and 2 pounds!  Naturally, at that size they can destroy a garden in a short time. G oldfish, a Japanese breed, the Tosakin  Singapore 2021 G azelle The French Somali Coast (now Djibouti) 1958 H is up next.

 Animals on the Farm is this week's theme for Thursday Postcard Hunt .  "Interior of Stable" by  Moreland c. 1908-1914 Ohio Farmlife Tillamook , Oregon Dairy Cows Pets are the Animals for next week.

  That sound you hear is drum rolls across Blogger-Land as authors reveal their 2026 April Blogging from A to Z theme!   http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/2026/03/theme-reveal-blog-hop-atozchallenge.html My theme is The A to Z of Artwork.  The artwork comes from my collection.  Most are thrifted or at least secondhand, in fact 21/26 are.  The A to Z is either the artist title of the work, or what I call it.  I think X pushes it a little, not a title, but the image of X.   That's for this blog.  On my poetry blog, The Versesmith , I will be sharing the same art along with a poem beginning with the letter of the day. So, an A to Z work of art with an A to Z poetry form relating to the art.  So, make plans for April and pick a theme!  Make a post about it and link it on the theme reveal page linked above.   A sneak peek of one of my letters.  Can you guess what it will be? print by  Sakai Hōitsu, title given ...

 It's  been very thin pickings for some time now at both St. Vincent de Paul and all the Goodwill Stores.  They're building a new one in town, in an inconvenient place for me.  I guess it's a good one if you go to one of the Walmarts or Lowes often, but I'm not near that area much.  They are also building a new one to replace the one closest to me (currently in the same complex as one of my regular grocery stores).  That's a shame, I would usually stop in when I shopped for groceries.  It will be a special trip driving the long way home.  At any rate, with the quality of the items lately, it might not matter if I go or not.  Grand openings are packed so I doubt I'll go to either.  I went to the grand opening of the one at the other end of town, and that was just after a remodel and there was a long line to get in. Back to what I have been able to thrift. The Goodwill Bins did have quite a bit of artwork and frames a few weeks ago.  ...