This and That: A Blog

 1/3 through with June already?  Wow!   The weather has been quite nice, cool mornings and days that aren't too hot.  That changes later this week, days will be near 100°. The tomatoes like it warm. They have grown so quickly.  Even the sickly looking Golden King of Siberia is looking good.  Smaller than the others, but it got a later start.  May 29th on the left, June 7th on the right.  It still likes to lean to the left!   Well, leaning a bit left doesn't sound like a bad thing. Did I forget to post about King of Siberia ?  My son brought it home from work for me.  A sign read " Please take " with a lot of little pots of tomatoes.  When you are successful growing from seed you do often get too many to keep!  Bonnie Best  was not the best looking on May 10th (left), leggy and yellow.  That changed by June 7th (right). Of course Sungold is ahead of the others!   Sungold on the right,...

 As promised last week, here are a few of the postcards and photos I got at St. Vincent de Paul.  I got these on a Tuesday, right as they opened (they are closed Sundays and Mondays), and when I went back on Friday either all the ephemera had sold, or they moved the boxes into the back to refill. I hope the second reason is the correct one! These first seven are part of a 1917-1918 censored wartime education series showing life in U.S. training camps.  Each postcard depicts soldiers preparing for overseas service.  The caption on the sides, " Passed by Censor, Washington, D.C ." shows they were officially approved for public release as part of the government's effort to show Americans the troops were well-trained and ready.  " A Fleet of U.S. Flying Boats " shows early Curtiss Model F or H-type seaplanes.  Another collage of seven, these depict the Vanport (OR) flood, May 30, 1948.  Vanport was Oregon's second largest city, sitting on reclaimed land p...

The letter S for S unday S tamps . S erow, a primitive member of the goat-antelope family.  There are four species, this is the Japanese s erow. Japan 1952 S able Mongolia 1959 S tarling, Rosy Mongolia 1962 T will be next week's letter. 

 

  Skywatch Friday , where you can see skies around the world.  Outside a local furniture store on a mostly clear spring afternoon. Have a nice weekend. 

 Letters is the first of the Shapes theme in June for Thursday Postcard Hunt . I have a book of replica postcards featuring the letters of the alphabet, c.1982 (the originals were published in the early 1900s). 26 are too many to share, so here are the letters for JUNE. Next week the Shape is Curves. 

 St. Vincent de Paul put out a lot of new donations!   As you can see, there were a lot of postcards, and some old photos. The red bag held the non-paper items.  Seven of which were dogs. The Rio Hondo (El Monte, CA 1939-1950s) hound, top, was a bargain at just $1.75. The middle pup is from Ceramic Arts Studio, one they made between 1951-1954.  The company was based in Wisconsin and closed in 1956.   The bottom dog is unmarked, probably a midcentury Japanese import. While reminiscent of Rio Hondo, these are Hagen-Renaker , another southern California pottery.  These are three of their "miniature early" figures, made between 1949 and 1952, when they were still in Monrovia. The company was started by John and Maxine Renaker in their garage in 1945, where John set up a kiln by running a garden house from the kitchen's gas stove. Their daughter now runs the company.  I'd heard of Hagen-Renaker before (their little figures are sold glued to paper ...