This and That: A Blog

I went to St. Vincent de Paul to "check out the postcard situation."  They had put out some antique cards since last time I was in.  Not a lot of them, only enough to display in a plastic shoe box.  I don't know if you remember a post I made this past spring (on the old blog) where people having a yard sale had a sign for 100,000, or maybe it was 200,000, postcards.  Really.  The late father had been collecting since he was a teen, so for 70+ years.  Anyway, they donated them to St. Vincent de Paul!  If St. Vincent de Paul puts them out on the floor in quantities like this they will never get them all sold!  I hope the manager is trying to find a buyer for the lot, even if I miss out on some great ones.  She already told me she has Christmas one ready, but won't let me buy them yet.   There were also bundles of hotels and Minnesota strip mining.  The things people used to be proud of!  This is "Jolly Mr. Taconite," "create...

 I believe I've identified the unidentified mushrooms from last week .  I'd taken new photos, and a search brought up one similar.  I didn't hear from the Master Gardeners.  I believe these are  Scleroderma polyrhizum, commonly known as the star earthball or dead man's hand, in an "irregular form."  All but the one photo online show them unfolding into more of a regular star shape.  The Wikipedia photo looks like these. I was going to go back and check Sunday morning, but the air quality was in the red, unhealthy.  Other fungi I saw at the park recently included these two.  A new (to me) kind of bird's nest fungi.  The kind that appears in my yard in December is Common bird's nest ( Crucibulum laeve) , while the ones at the park, which grow in late summer and early fall, are Fluted bird's nest ( Cyathus striatus ).  These still have the lid, called the epiphragm, intact.   I hope I get back to the park to see them with the "e...

 I stamps for Sunday Stamps this week.  I nternational Flower Show in Montreal Canada 1980 I nternational Year of the Child U.S.A. 1979 I talian Masters The Delphic Sibyl by  Michelangelo, or as on the stamp, due to space constraints, " M. Angelo ." Yemen 1967 Sunday Stamps next week will be stamps for the letter J.

 

  Skywatch Friday   More  morning skies reflected in puddles. Have a nice weekend.

  Thursday Postcard Hunt 's Learning theme this week is History/Historical Buildings.  The Mayflower linen 1952 Canopy Over Plymouth Rock, Plymouth, MA undivided back 1906 Plymouth Rock, Plymouth, MA undivided back 1906 First Wooden House in California, Monterey, California c. 1910s  In 1923 the house was demolished and a service station was built in it s place.  This is the last post for September.  October's theme is Colors of Autumn.  Next week will be Orange . 

 Mickey and I took an early morning walk to the park a few days ago.  He let me put his harness on without a bit of fuss since he watched me put on my dog walking shoes !     We saw a kind of mushroom new to me.  No images look like them. I'm still waiting to hear from the Ask Extension, the online University of Oregon Extension Service.  You upload photos and ask your question.  I've had mixed results in the past.   I have seen Scaly Hedgehogs (really, that's a mushroom name!), but those were more shingled looking on top.   I almost passed these by mistaking them for chunks of wood.  Some sort of drainage, maybe related to the new splash pad.  I don't really have any idea, but it wasn't there before.  One online search identified it as a flooded bar-b-q area!  Right... because those are often down in a gully.      I guess it's not a gully, but a swale of some sort.  I wonder if it will f...

 I took a very quick trip to the Goodwill Outlet store, aka The Bins.  I spend 75¢ and rounded it up to $1.00.  25¢ of that was for a book, the rest was breakables at 10¢ a pound. Transfer trinket dish from W. R. Midwinter Ltd., " Rural England " pattern in brown multicolor (it was made in other colors too), made between 1932 and 1946.   Midwinter Pottery became one of England's biggest potteries in the 1930s. A 3" x 4" brass frame doesn't seem so special.  However, if you take a look at the glass you can see it's convex.  Based on that, and the fact the back is a fuzzy material, it dates from the 1910s - 1940s.   Convex glass wasn't just to give a more 3D appearance to artwork, but provided airspace to protect it.  Also, in the Victorian era it signified opulence. Another picture frame, this one most likely Mexican " hojalata ," meaning " tinplate ," or tinwork.  It's a bit over 8" square, with a 3 1/4" opening.  I ...

  Cee's Fun Foto Challenge   Subjects Framed by Things Made by People 

🍂 Happy Autumnal Equinox! 🍂 (at 11:19am my time)  Some random flowers in the yard. The black-eyed Susans that self-seed come back in various forms.  These are very short, having been weedeated down about a month ago. Only one New Dawn climbing rose.  This is probably Pink Supreme gladiola from the Dollar Tree a few years back.   Saturday was the nearby city-wide yard sale.  I didn't make an outing of it this time, just stopping in at a few on my way other places.  I got my 'flu and COVID shots at the pharmacy in Albertson's, so followed a few signs on the way there.  I didn't get much, a couple of items that will be shared as Christmas thrifts later on.   There is already COVID in the neighborhood, so I wanted to be sure to get the current booster.  I had COVID in 2023 and I'd never been so sick, even with all the available vaccines at the time.   Friday Mickey had a vet appointment for nail cutting (he needs sedation) a...

  H is the letter of the week for Sunday Stamps . H elicopter People's Republic of Cambodia 1987 H elicopter Great Britain 1963 H yena Mauritania 1963 H ibiscus trionum (Venus mallow) New Zealand 1960 What stamps will represent the letter I next week?  Come back next Sunday to find out! 

Link for your Shadow Shot Sunday  Linking to The Weekend in Black and White