This and That: A Blog

 Welcome to Day 1, or Day A , of the Blogging From A to Z April Challenge !  Each day of April, with Sundays off, I'll be posting artwork from my collection A to Z with a few short lines about the work.  The A to Z is either the artist's title, the title I've given it, or in a few cases the subject matter.  I will be posting the same images on my poetry blog, The Versesmith , with an A to Z poetry form.  It's not too late to join in. So, on with the Challenge! The A rtist painted by my father, Winstead D. Smith, 1962.  I didn't know until I was in my 50s, when my brother told me, that this was me! The A poetry form can be found here .  

 Yard Sale Season has begun!   I went to one I'd been to a few years ago, expecting some "old" stuff for cheap.  I was right! There was an rusty old cookie tin I briefly picked up.  Then, the man told me it held his mother's buttons.  Okay, that's different, I love old button collections!  The tin was interesting, but it was really icky in the bottom, so I didn't keep it.  The top photo is of a 1940s clasp, like for a cape or sweater.  There were quite a few shell buttons.  In the button tin were things other than buttons.  Aluminium "coins."  One from an arcade, the one with the hole is an Oklahoma Consumers Tax Token, used in the 1930s to help fund Old Age Assistance programs during the Great Depression.  There are several of these.  The American Junior Red Cross tab tin button is from the 1940s.  Vintage kitchen items to add to my vintage kitchen items in my kitchen. Melon baller (my mother had this one, in f...

 First some of the garden things. Lemon Thyme The strawberries are blooming.  My two varieties grew into each other, so I don't know which is which.  One is a June bearer, the other is ever-bearing. Perennial Candytuft  One of my favorites, Blue-Eyed Grass. My only patch of tulips.  I like interior of the red ones.  There used to be only red and yellow, so the orange must be a hybrid of the two.  I've never known that to happen, but it sure looks like it. This is one big borage at sunrise. The bumblebees like the borage.  This is a yellow-faced bumblebee.  One of the Breeder's Mix hardy geraniums I grew from seed years ago.  Some non-garden things.  I was inordinately happy to find matching treats at Trader Joe's!  Mickey isn't a big fan, he prefers the sweetness of my yogurt pretzels.  The people version isn't all that good, other than the pretzels, strange bunch of stuff.  Mickey and I went to the park yesterday. We...

  Sunday Stamps brings us to the letter I this week.  I bis, Wattled (and  Emperor Haile Selassie) Ethiopia 1962 I bex Hungary 1960, celebrating the Budapest Zoo, one of the oldest zoological parks in the world. I mpala  South Africa 1998 Next week brings us J stamps.

 To round out March's Animal theme for Thursday Postcard Hunt we have Young animals.  A well dressed Bushel of Pork. Arkansas State Fair in Hot Springs -  Copyright 1907 Was " A long pull, a strong pull, a pull together ..." a way of saying " Come one, come all ..."? What's Going On? - postmark 1939 When Dogs are Puppies - postmark 1908  Oregon Young Wild Animals  raccoon, bobcat, red fox, elk  Next week is April, and the theme will be Colors of Spring.  First up will be pink .

A few weeks ago I wrote that I may have bought "a few" packs of postcards at St. Vincent de Paul.  What I meant was I bought 116 packs of two (or three in one case)!  Only two or three were repeats, but I wanted the other postcards in the packs.  This time they were wise enough to package them back to back so buyers could see both cards.  They don't always do that!  Many were antiques. That was the surprising thing.  I get the idea they only "antiques" they think are worth more are the holiday ones.   Here are some groups.   Foreign (they from Cuba, Israel, Italy, Mexico, England, France, Canada... more!), Buildings, Factories, Travel Hubs (airports, train stations) Large Letter, Vintage Street Views, Landscapes  I'd not seen a foreign Large Letter before, so this Canadian one was exciting! Two of my most interesting are these... Souvenir of  the War of 1914,  unused from Belgium This was likely printed between August and ...