This and That: A Blog

  Skywatch Friday   Some recent sky views at the park.  Mickey and I have been taking quite a few walks* around 7:30am, before it gets hot.  Some mornings others have the same idea, some mornings it's Mickey's private park!  The splashpad gets crowded, but by later in the day it's too hot for even that and it's deserted again. Have a nice weekend.  *No walk for us this morning, the air quality is orange.  Not the worst, but not something I want to breath. It's smoke from a nearby fire. Not dangerously "nearby" for me, but there have been evacuations.

 More St. Vincent de Paul ephemera.  A set of ten Treasure Island (CA) Naval Photo Lab photos documenting the arrival and troop disembarkation of the USS... well, the identification of the ship is up to debate.  Depending on which search engine you use it is either the USS Lamar or the USS Bronx.  I am unable to figure out the difference between Bayfield-class (Lamar) and Haskell-class (Bronx), however these are supposedly the differences proving the photos are the USS Lamar.  One search engine's results: The photos show A Bayfield‑class bridge A Bayfield‑class forward mast Bayfield‑class boat davit spacing Bayfield‑class rounded bow contour Bayfield‑class deckhouse shape Bronx, being Haskell‑class, had: A completely different bridge block A different mast arrangement A different lifeboat layout A different bow rake If this is Lamar, the photos show demoblized servicemen, part of Operation Magic Carpet, a post-war troop-return ...

 Let's take a look at some Palace postcards for the Architecture theme this week for  Thursday Postcard Hunt . The Grand Palace in Brussels, Belgium  c.1905-1910 The Crystal Palace , London, England  Dated on back 9.5.07 from " Daddy ."  The Palace of Applied Arts, Franco-British Exhibition London, England Postmarked 1908 (time of Exhibition) Next week is Stations. 

  Cee's Fun Foto Challenge   The Crayola Box of 8 - Orange  

 We round out the alphabet this week with X , Y , and Z  for Sunday Stamps .  My alphabetical stamps have been animals, and for X I am grateful for scientific names! X iphias gladius , Swordfish Solomon Islands 1998   X ylocopa caerulea, Carpenter Bee   Singapore 1985 Y is a trio of Y ellow-Bellies.  Y ellow-Bellied Glider Australia 1997 Y ellow-Bellied Sunbird Australia 2003   Y ellow-Bellied Trogon Belize 1978 Last, but not least, Z .  Z ebu  Madagascar 1930 Z okor When Mongolia issued this stamp the official postal description used a generic fur-bearing rodent term that Western editors interpreted as "muskrat," as z okors were unknown outside the scientific community. Once one major catalog printed "muskrat" the others followed suit. Catalogs almost never revisit mid-century wildlife identification, so "muskrat" it remains.  However, it isn't, it's a z okor!  Mongolia, 1959  That ends this round of A to Z stamps....

  Floral Friday Fotos   One mystery purple daylily blooming with the Chesapeake Crablegs .