This and That: A Blog

 Those who participate, or have participated in the past, in the April Blogging from A to Z Challenge know that the team picked several bloggers to write a guest post.  I was one of them, and my post is now live on the A to Z site!  I wrote about Blog Hops and how they keep our blogging momentum going after April.   How Blog Hops Keep the A-Z Spirit Alive Year-Round Today's other post, Thursday Postcard Hunt , is one blog hop I participate in.  If you find yourself wanting to post more often to your blog (or start blogging), you may find blog hops an easy way to get started.  The ideas are already there to get you up and running  writing!  

 This week for Thursday Postcard Hunt 's Travelling theme is Animals. It's not just people that can travel by animal, these postcards show not only people, but gold prospecting equipment, wine, water, and milk "traveling" by animal!  Dog-Cart Ride  And sometimes we'll stop by the road side, where the little brook babbles along, And there from your lips love's nectar I'll sip, as it sings us its  evening song. c.1900-1910 A dog-cart is a small two-wheeled horse-drawn (sometimes dog-drawn) carriage. Gold Fever Early Days in the Black Hills, 1940s  Carro da Vino (Wine Cart) in Italy, c.1905 A Mexican Water Carrier c.1910-1920 Milk Vendors with a dog-drawn dog-cart in Belgium  Postmark 1908 Next week finishes up the Travelling theme with Buses and/or Cars.

 I was early to an appointment so stopped in a the Goodwill at the other end of town.  Finally, some artwork worth buying!  Finally, anything worth buying.  It's been pretty dismal at the Goodwill stores for a few months. This was an instant " Yes !" as ravens are a member of my favorite bird family,  Corvidae. " That's So Raven ," a silkscreen numbered (4/10) print by local artist Kassia Zegzdryn (Jackaloop Design).  $4.40  It's pretty big, and the colors brighter than this looks.  Postcards From the Edge I  (The Leaning Tower of Pisa) and Postcards From the Edge II ( Cathedral Santa Maria de Fiore, Florence) , paper collages by Melissa Markell .  Titles, dates, and signature of the artist are on the backs.  Of course these caught my eye with the word " Postcard ."  The artist uses vintage ephemera and her own handmade paper in her works, which sell for more than I expected.  Only one had a price sticker, and I suggested...

 Once again, an assortment of things.  Golden King of Siberia , but the ants got into it, so all I got was a bite in the garden before I threw it out.  It was yellower than this photo looks.  There are more to ripen, just not so big.  I am getting Sungold  cherry tomatoes, and a few small  Pantano Romanesco , with larger ones growing. This small praying mantis ended up on me when I was picking bush beans.  A few days later a smaller brown one did too.  But, I didn't notice until I started to come in and wondered what sort of leaf I had stuck on my shoulder (I could see it out of the corner of my eye!).  I thought it fell off in the house, but it had moved to my other shoulder.  So, I went back outside and had the wise idea to shake out my hair!  If fell off my head and was fine. I like them, they are very beneficial, but not on my head!   At the park I saw these empty bird's nest fungus "nests." And these fungus....

 This week the Sunday Stamps theme is Rivers. I have three oldies.  Well, two oldies, one is a teeny bit younger than I am!  Australia 1934 - Centenary of Victoria   The Yarra River, Melbourne, and a Yarra Yarra tribesman, a term used by early European colonists to refer to the   Wurundjeri people of the Yarra River Valley. Russia 1959  The Chusovaya River and the Ural Mountains  Jamaica 1938  King George VI, Priestman's River in Portland, King George VI, and what look like pomegranates, but are citrus, representing the massive export industry of the 1930s. Next Sunday will be Geology.

 

Thursday Postcard Hunt has us hunting Boats this week, the second in August's Travelling theme.  These vacationers are traveling on an Excursion Cruiser on Idaho's Lake d'Alene.   Visitors have been traveling on the replica Mark Twain Riverboat in Frontierland, Disneyland, since 1955.  This was one of the original Disneyland attractions, and is still paddling the river. The original sternwheel traveled the Mississippi River.  Our mail sometimes travels by boat.  This boat is a floating post office with its own zip code, 48222!  J.W. Wescott II ,  a mail boat on on the Detroit River, Michigan, delivers mail, packages, and other items to ships while they are on the river.  Cars can travel on boats too.  This is the Passenger and Auto Ferry on Lake Erie, Ohio.  As a child I love auto ferries!  It was exciting to have my father drive onto a boat, and park the car.  We'd then go upstairs to enjoy the view. I believe most of th...