This and That: A Blog

 The November theme for Thursday Postcard Hunt is Weather.  This week is Blue Skies. Three Blue Skies from around the USA. The Golden Gate Bridge in California connects San Francisco to Marin County. It spans the Golden Gate Strait.  Turret Arch near Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah. The West Quoddy Head Lighthouse is the most easterly point i n contiguous United States.  Blue Skies turn to Cloudy Weather next week. NaBloPoMo  National Blog Posting Month - post every day in November

 I went to the Farmers Market last week.  Or, the Growers Market as its called here.  Too many baked goods and crafts.  The 19th is the last day for the year. As soon as I left I forgot what kind of apples and pears I bought!   The potatoes are fingerlings, good for roasting the grower says.  There is nothing like fresh carrots, which I have never been able to grow.  I cooked up the butternut squash to use like pumpkin for pies, cookies, and muffins.  No squash savories for me.  It's really the spices that make the taste of pumpkin baked goods.    They have free tote bags for purchases.     Of course sponsored by a bunch of local businesses! Reading of vets (ad in the corner), Mickey has an appointment for a new one next month. It's not as close to home, which is a shame, but it sounds like it will be a good fit for him.  I wrote about the old vet here .  What happened there was quite a bit worse than I...

If you missed Part I, it's here .  Dune Stamps There is a type of Cinderella from the Arab states that are sometimes Illegal . Dunes . Produced in the Trucial States (now the UAE) during the 1960s and early 1970s, these were marketed to international collectors. They were often unrelated topical themes. “ Dune ” is a pejorative label reflection their origins in the desert regions. The Trucial States were a group of seven sheikdoms in the Arabian Peninsula under British protection from 1892 until 1971. In 1963 Britain handed over postal responsibility to the rule r s of the sheikdoms. The next year an enterprising American secured a deal to produce stamps for the sheikdoms, starting with Aijman. They were printed in Europe, C anceled-to- O rder ( CTO ), and sold to the global collector market. More about Canceled-to-Order , or CTO s, in a bit. Dunes were often printed as souvenir sheets, or using unusual materials, such as gold foil. This 1971 Fujeira souvenir sheet is a Dune ....

  Day 2 of NaBloPoMo, or National Blog Posting Month.  A post a day during November.  Easier than a novel, which was  NaNoWriMo's goal.  Yes, was ... while there is still a community of writers carrying on with the challenge, the official non-profit shut down last year due to "scandals and financial issues."                     Join up for NaBloPoMo  here .    I had my Grand Jury Orientation Friday morning.  I took a drive to check out the location of the parking lots Thursday in the daylight, as I had to be there Friday by 7:15am, and it's still a bit dark then.  I don't like driving in the dark. I will be serving on Thursdays until the end of the year, excepting Thanksgiving.  At least those days won't start until after sunrise!  I did notice this morning sunrise is later since we changed the clocks, so I'd have been fine anyway. Halloween was slow.  There were only ...

Day 1 of what?  National Blog Posting Month ( NaBloPoMo ). This week for Sunday Stamps we have Fashion.  Austria 1967  100th anniversary of the Vienna Ice Skating Club Greece 1947  Dodecanese clothing, to commemorate the union of the Dodecanese islands to Greece Hungary 1963  Woman from Karancssag in traditional dress Poland 1968 Puss in Boots in noble attire, which is the " cat's meow ."  Or is he a " cool cat "?  Sorry... Russia 2009  At the Dressing Table , a self-portrait by Zinaida Serebriakova Between 1948-1952 Austria issued a series of Provincial Costumes that are worth checking out.  Next Sunday is Celebrations and Festivals!

🎃 Happy Halloween!  🎃 Although Halloween is actually the eve of All Saint's Day, All Hallows' Eve, so saying that in the morning isn't correct.  You may have seen some of these decorations before.  Most of them came from the Goodwill Bins. These spiders are starting to look a bit ratty!  They are over 15 years old, so that isn't surprising.  Plus they usually get rained on.   This one is new.  Or not new, but new to me.  The Goodwill Bins had a lot of different occasion flags.  I got this and one for Christmas.