This and That: A Blog

 It's  been very thin pickings for some time now at both St. Vincent de Paul and all the Goodwill Stores.  They're building a new one in town, in an inconvenient place for me.  I guess it's a good one if you go to one of the Walmarts or Lowes often, but I'm not near that area much.  They are also building a new one to replace the one closest to me (currently in the same complex as one of my regular grocery stores).  That's a shame, I would usually stop in when I shopped for groceries.  It will be a special trip driving the long way home.  At any rate, with the quality of the items lately, it might not matter if I go or not.  Grand openings are packed so I doubt I'll go to either.  I went to the grand opening of the one at the other end of town, and that was just after a remodel and there was a long line to get in. Back to what I have been able to thrift. The Goodwill Bins did have quite a bit of artwork and frames a few weeks ago.  ...

  F is the letter of the week for Sunday Stamps . F rigate Bird  Montserrat 1970 (the bird theme began that year, and ended in 1974) F rigate Birds always fascinated me as a child.  I had a series of animal books and wore out the F rigate Bird page.  I have never seen one "inflated," but have seen them in flight in Puerto Rico.  Huge,  their wingspans are 7-8 feet! They looked like  pterodactyls! F ox, another of the semi-postal benefiting the Moscow Zoo.  Soviet Union 1988 F lamingo USA 1992 Come back next Sunday to see what G animals I found for Sunday Stamps.

  Something a little different this week for Shadow Shot Sunday, which is why Mister Linky is first in case you want to link a shadow and not read a post!  No shadows themselves this week, but shadow puppets!  Shadow puppets from the original The Muppet Show on display at the  Center for Puppetry Arts  in Atlanta, Georgia, where my son took these photos earlier this winter. Plenty of shadowy areas here!  Here they are in action in 1978. A few of the animals she swallowed.  You can see some have lost appendages and are torn.  They were rod controlled.

Thursday Postcard Hunt 's March theme is Animals.  This first week starts us off with Animals in the Wild.  Antelope Ground Squirrel Bull Elk Javelina  Next week will be Animals on the Farm.

 The ephemera shoe box at St. Vincent de Paul was refilled! This time I got two 1985 Royal Mail (Great Britain) Presentation Packs.  $2.00 and $2.50   The first is Christmas Pantomime. From left to right the stamps picture Principal Boy (traditionally played by a girl), Genie, Dame, Pantomime Cat, and Fairy. They open to a page on the topic. Coincidentally, a few weeks earlier I got the Genie in a pile of world-wide stamps.  The postmark slogan reads "Be properly addressed," urging care in addressing outgoing mail.  There are other Royal Mail slogans along the same line. The second is commemorating 350 years of mail service to the public.  The stamps, left to right, are urban, rural, town, and village delivery.  In 1982 the USPS put out a series of state birds and flowers. I had few, until I found this, The Fifty State Birds and Flowers Mint Set!  It wasn't a steal at $12; about mid-range for what the asking prices are online.  Complete ...

You ask, "What's the 2026 Event of the Year?" The 2026  April Blogging From A to Z Challenge of course!   These the the 2026 Important Dates per the official information.  March 9 - 14 Theme Reveal March 23 - April 4 Sign-up May 4 - 9 Reflections Many of you already participate, but some may wonder, what is it, and how does it work?   It's a blog hop in April.  For 26 days, Mondays through Saturdays, Sundays off, you post something related to the letter of the day, A-Z.  Easy!  Write as much or as little as you want.  Or write nothing at all, just post a photo.  Books.  Recipes. Random daily musings.   I've participated with both blogs for... some number of years.  I don't know off the top of my head, and the blog I used in past years is gone, so I can't check. I've done A to Z of Herbs, Flowers, Wintersowing, General Gardening, and more (last year was A to Z of dog breeds on postage stamps!) on my the old blog, and my ot...