This and That: A Blog

 I know I often wonder where the month went, but August really did fly by!   The weather is cooler, with rain expected later this week.  That'll be a change!  Here are some things going on in the garden.   Morning Glories Dragon's Tongue Bush Beans A Recent Harvest Oddly, the usually productive Sungold is not producing many tomatoes this year.  Bonny Best  (a $3 yard sale purchase) is the winner in size, color, and taste.  Dazzler Penstemon Sunsparkler “ Dazzleberry ” Sedum Garlic Chives  I have some daylily divisions given to me by a friend that need to be planted today, either in the ground or in containers for later.  I need to rip out the old rockroses in the front yard (they've gotten too big and are ugly for most of the year), as well as some of the old curb iris that don't looks so nice anymore, which will give me more daylily room. Daylilies are such nice dependable, easy plants.  This will be once the weather ...

 Let's see some Vacation Destinations today for Sunday Stamps. These are people visiting Vacation Destinations, not places I necessarily want to go. I love this one!  Great Britain 1994 "Bather at Blackpool"  Picture Postcards Centenary  Malta 1999 Tourism series  New Zealand 1981  Health series  Semi-postals with 2¢ going to Children's Health Camps that provided care, nutrition, and recreation for children recovering from illnesses, living in difficult situation, etc.  Unfortunately, due to the drop in physical mail numbers the series was discontinued, after 87 years, in 2016.  I picked the New Zealand stamps because my Vacation Destination of choice would be the rocky tidepool beaches, but not in New Zealand.  They'd be northern CA, OR, and WA.  I wouldn't poke things with a stick like the girl in the illustration though!  Nor, pick anything up, just observe. September begins next week with stamps featuring Places of Educa...

  Skywatch Friday The Weekend in Black and White View While Waiting

 The last of the Travelling theme for Thursday Postcard Hunt is Buses and/or Cars. BUSES A Haitian tap tap , a share taxi .  The Greyhound Sceniccruiser bus, manufactured between 1954 and 1956, but used into the mid-1970s.  The postcard is from the 1960s, the same years my father rode a Greyhound from the top of our street's hill to and from his job in San Francisco.  My parents had a red VW bus when I was young (they also had a few of the beetles, or bugs).  It didn't have the sunroof though.  On several vacations I was short enough to sleep widthwise on the floor, while they slept in the back with the seat down.  This one is older, a 1960 Samba, the high-end version.  I have loads of old car advertising postcards, especially 1970s Opels! CARS 1950 Meyra 35 The Meyra was a lightweight German microcar made in the 1930s into the 1950s.  It was originally designed as an "invalid carriage," or wheelchair accessible vehicle for disabled war vete...

 I went to a yard sale last month that had not only dog figurines, but ephemera, including postcards!  Lots of dogs... The marked ones were made in Japan, and most of the unmarked probably were as well.  Perhaps not the carved wood ones though.  That's more of a US folk art thing. Here are two wooden ones.  The black one is pretty big, and was only 25¢.  The sitting schnauzer was $2.  The little Scottish terrier is celluloid, c.1930s to early 1950s.  He was $2 as well.  My favorite is probably the sitting chalkware dachshund that dates to the same period as the Scottie, 30s-early 50s.  Chalkware (chalkware is the collectibles name for plaster of Paris) was a popular material for carnival prizes.  $1.  The black Scottie was 50¢ and the redware boxer/bully, $1, both from the 1950s. The little spotted dog, the setter, and what looks to me to be an American Eskimo dog, were $1 each.  The shepherd type was 50¢. Salt and pepper ...

 Geology is the theme this week for Sunday Stamps . Soviet Union 1968 Soviet Geology series  Mineral Wealth - the material basis for the development of heavy industry of the USSR Prospector Geologist  Oil Derreck at Survey Camp  Seismic Surveying  Vacation Destinations is up next week.

Link for Shadow Shot Sunday  Linking to The Weekend in Black and White What was I Reading in the Car?   Burning Wyclif by Thom Satterlee  The shadow is the steering wheel.

 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....