This and That: A Blog

  

Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 669 My first time joining in the Wednesday Hodgepodge.  Thanks to the host leaving a comment on my Blog Hop  post on the A to Z challenge site, I learned about it!  A day late, but here it is. 1. What's something you wanted to do this summer that you never got around to doing?  Oh, so much!  Repair items that need to be done before the weather gets cold and wet.   2. Were you the student who sat in the front row or hid in the back of the class? If you could go back and take one high school class again just for fun, which would it be?  I didn’t hide, but didn’t specifically pick the front either.  I liked school.  I would probably take Creative Writing again.  The teacher went on to publish some very good novels. I would want her to know I think of her often, and her haiku "rules," are still relevant!   3. What characteristics do you think are essential in a good teacher (this can be applied to a...

 It wasn't so easy to find postcards of Bridges Over Land (Bridges is the theme for September) for this week's Thursday Postcard Hunt !   A short bridge over the entrance (it looks more like the exit, and the sign reminds drivers to turn their headlights out)  of the Norfolk-Portsmouth, VA tunnel - postmark 1953 An ivy covered bridge in Delaware Park, Buffalo, N.Y.  c. 1907-1915 A Pennsylvania Turnpike overpass near the Philadelphia interchange.  1960s    Next week our Bridges will be Over Water. 

Last week I shared the dogs I got at a yard sale, this week it will be some of the ephemera.  There were quite a few postcards, some real photos.  A lot of WWI and II papers and such, including this Allied propaganda postcard c.1941. $1 I'd not heard of airgraphs, or V-mail (Victory Mail), before this.  The sender's letter would be photographed, transported as thumb-sized negative microfilm, and printed once it reached its destination.  Then it was delivered to the intended recipient.  This reduced the weight and therefore the cost.  This sender was aboard a British Royal Navy ship, H.M.S. Thackery, and was an E.R.A, Engine Room Artificer . $1 One of those souvenir photo folders I collect.  This one is   Souvenir Folder of Camp Funston , Kans. and the workmen who built it.  This was published in 1917.  Camp Funston was named for  Brigadier General Frederick Funston, as was Fort Funston in San Francisco, which is now part of th...

 I know I often wonder where the month went, but August really did fly by!   The weather is cooler, with rain expected later this week.  That'll be a change!  Here are some things going on in the garden.   Morning Glories Dragon's Tongue Bush Beans A Recent Harvest Oddly, the usually productive Sungold is not producing many tomatoes this year.  Bonny Best  (a $3 yard sale purchase) is the winner in size, color, and taste.  Dazzler Penstemon Sunsparkler “ Dazzleberry ” Sedum Garlic Chives  I have some daylily divisions given to me by a friend that need to be planted today, either in the ground or in containers for later.  I need to rip out the old rockroses in the front yard (they've gotten too big and are ugly for most of the year), as well as some of the old curb iris that don't looks so nice anymore, which will give me more daylily room. Daylilies are such nice dependable, easy plants.  This will be once the weather ...

 Let's see some Vacation Destinations today for Sunday Stamps. These are people visiting Vacation Destinations, not places I necessarily want to go. I love this one!  Great Britain 1994 "Bather at Blackpool"  Picture Postcards Centenary  Malta 1999 Tourism series  New Zealand 1981  Health series  Semi-postals with 2¢ going to Children's Health Camps that provided care, nutrition, and recreation for children recovering from illnesses, living in difficult situation, etc.  Unfortunately, due to the drop in physical mail numbers the series was discontinued, after 87 years, in 2016.  I picked the New Zealand stamps because my Vacation Destination of choice would be the rocky tidepool beaches, but not in New Zealand.  They'd be northern CA, OR, and WA.  I wouldn't poke things with a stick like the girl in the illustration though!  Nor, pick anything up, just observe. September begins next week with stamps featuring Places of Educa...