This and That: A Blog

 Let's Celebrate Historical Events this week with Sunday Stamps .  First some Historical Events in the United States.  USA 1939 While the cachet reads this FDC is for the 150th Anniversary of the United States Constitution, it isn't, the cachet maker mislabeled the event!  The Constitution was signed two years earlier. It's for the 150th anniversary of George Washington's inauguration as the first US President, as shown on the stamps.  Ecuador 1938 150th anniversary of the "adoption and promulgation" of the US Constitution (signed in 1787, but not officially implemented until 1789) I think this stamp is particularly pretty. Monaco 1776 Commemorating the United States Bicentennial  Spain 1976 Bicentennial of the United States Independence and Constitution  The image is the siege of Pensacola , honoring Spanish military involvement under Bernardo de   Gálvez, during the Revolutionary War. Great Britain 1989  800th anniversary of the Lord M...

  The Weekend in Black and White

  Skywatch Friday   On Wednesday evening we had a storm. First was the wind, then thunder and lightening, and lastly, rain.  We'd gotten a video from the southern end of town, which got it first. They had hail, but it must have hailed out by the time it got to the north end about 10 minutes later.  I took some videos on my phone.   You might be able to hear Mickey barking from inside.  He isn't allowed out when there is thunder, he runs around barking at the sky. This is the sky to the north.  Thunder and lightening are in this video.  Looking south. More to the north, a bit further to the east.  The wind was really picking up, in fact the last part where the view lowers is when I got hit in the head by a branch (small)!   After the branch hit I went back in, and that's when the rain hit.  A lot of rain.  In fact, the area was under a flood advisory soon after.   Things looked pretty good Thursday morning....

 Railway Bridges are the theme for Thursday Postcard Hunt this week.  New York Central Railroad Bridge, Watkins Glen State Park , N.Y.  The bridge crosses Glen Creek, and the stone steps on the gorge trail are called Jacob's Ladder.   P. B. & W. Railroad and vehicular bridges crossing the  Susquehanna River , Havre de Grace, Maryland, pre-1920s when the vehicular bridge was rebuilt to support expanding highway traffic.  It was scrapped in WWII and yielded enough material to build 60 tanks. By then a modern four-lane highway with a bridge had been built upstream. The Hawkebury River near Sydney, Australia railway bridge was replaced in 1946.  c. 1910-1935  Railway and highway US Route 54 bridges over the Canadian River, near Tucumcari, New Mexico.  The train was the diesel-powered Golden State  passenger train headed for Chicago.  It ran between Los Angeles and Chicago from 1902-1968.  postmark 1951 Next week ends the ...

It's been quite some time since I found this unique salt and pepper set at St. Vincent de Paul.  In fact, it was way back in June.  Since then, nearly nothing, a few postcards here and there.     I've not seen a shaker set anything like this before.  It was made by Hazel-Atlas in the 40s-50s.   It looks like a double- headed  necked turkey.  I wonder if they represent drumsticks and should go the other way?  $5   More current finds include this ceramic bird bath from an estate sale for $5, a real bargain!   I ordinarily don't buy just one shaker, however, I hadn't noticed this was one until I got home!  It's a bell, and while it does have the S and holes in the top of the poodle's head, the cork plug is so far up inside it didn't catch my notice.   You can't tell just looking at it like this...  It's from Goodwill, not one of the new ones, which aren't good at all. I have never decorated for E...

 The weather has been up and down, and that will continue this week.  Nights can be in the 40s, and the days are 70s and 80s, upper 80s by next week.  Still, there are signs of autumn.  Besides flowers and vegetables dying back and the front yard starting to look unkept, the trees are starting to turn at the park. Fungus at the park. Puffballs - one still puffed, one already un-puffed.  I do keep my eyes to the ground while Mickey is sniffing around!  I've torn out three of my four tomatoes.  Sungold (a huge disappointment since it's usually an over-producer),  Pantano Romanesco (did nearly nothing and what it did do got blossom end rot), and Golden King of Siberia , seen below.  Bonny Best is still doing great, big red tomatoes with a good taste! This is Golden King of Siberia .  I don't know exactly what happened.  Maybe a combination of things.  Rain checking, bacterial spot... however, while the other varieties had their...