This and That: A Blog

 Some minor treasures from the Goodwill Bins.  A lot of Ipsy make-up bags.  These aren't the cutest ones, those were  taken away by family members for uses other than make-up!  I have extra pens in one. Tools for the Bins (screwdrivers, scissors) in another.  They are quite a popular resale item.   A tiny pin of a woman with a donkey card, © what looks like Video or Vidio. 3 pieces of turquoise.  I tested them, they are authentic stone.  Two 8 x 10 abstract paintings on canvas by Zorroz Spicer.  One is signed on the front, the other on the back with a © 7-06.   There isn't much online about the artist, although he is listed on Mutual Art, and has shown in curated shows  (I like mine better).  One Instagram user wrote about sitting next to a man on the subway (when I hear that I think N.Y.C.) who was finishing up one of two paintings.  The artist was named Zorroz Spicer and sold them to the man for $10....

Has your weather been strange lately?  September here was cooler than average, yet these first few days of October are 15° and more above average.  Today's supposed to reach 93­°! A few weeks ago I took the portable air conditioner hose out of the window, and yesterday I put it back in!  The tomatoes had stopped ripening, but now they're getting nice and red again.  Here's what's been going on around here. Morning Glories A kind of Parasol mushroom in the backyard. Probably a Conifer Parasol, as they are the PNW Parasols.  It's toxic, but not poisonous.  In other words, you may get a terrible stomach ache with vomiting, but you won't die.  Mickey doesn't nose around mushrooms, but I disposed of it just in case. Autumn Crocus is so pretty.  It's not a kind of crocus, it's a lily relative that blooms in the autumn, it's foliage is in spring.  It's also toxic, and not to be confused with saffron crocus. Planted in 2012 from a tiny pot, the prost...

 Birds is the theme this week for Sunday Stamps . Killy Hawk or American Kestral Montserrat 1970  Long-Crested Eagle Rwanda 1977  Cinderella feeding birds (they look like parakeets to me, but are more likely a type of dove). Poland 1968 Speaking of Cinderella... These birds from Batum, 1994, are Cinderella stamps. ( a shorter read ) Top row left to right: Coal Tit and Macaw Middle row left to right: Marsh Tit and African Blue Flycatcher Bottom row left to right: Red Chatterer and Victoria Crowned Pigeon Since they are Cinderellas, also called "illegals" since they were not issued by official governments, the postmarks are fake. They are Cancelled-to-Order (CTO), applied during production. Legally produced stamps from Batum didn't exist after 1920.  You may find Cinderella stamps (those resembling government issued postage stamps) sold as postage stamps.  I often see State of Oman dog stamps for sale. The State of Oman is not the country of Oman though. Many of ...

  Not my neighborhood! 

 Happy  World Postcard Day !   I'm not too impressed with this year's official postcard.  The year's theme is Paper Bridges .  It's also available to print in mono so you can color it yourself.  I'd color it brighter.   For comparison, last year's is here . It's also Thursday Postcard Hunt , which has us hunting for UNESCO ( United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization)   postcards.  My postcards are sites listed on the  UNESCO World Heritage List , which is an international register of cultural, natural, and mixed sites around the world judged to have outstanding universal value.  These sites are considered to have irreplaceable historical, cultural, natural, or scientific significance.  I noticed a few have been crossed off and " delisted ."  " Sites are delisted from UNESCO when they fail to maintain their outstanding universal value due to mismanagement, environmental degradation, or devel...

Hodgepodge Questions - Volume 673   1. When you think of autumn what sounds come to mind? Leaves crunching underfoot. Canada geese honking southward.  2.  Is a trip to the mountains something you enjoy? What's your favorite mountain?   I live in a valley surrounded by mountains, so a trip would be a short drive for me!  I don’t have a favorite mountain.  I grew up in a valley with one mountain, Mt. Diablo.  I liked going to the lookout at the top, on a clear day you could see so far in all directions.  There were also wind caves to climb into.   3. What's something that once felt like a mountain, but is now just a molehill?    I’m not so sure my former mountains shrunk as small as molehills, but having to figure life out after my husband died, with two children still minors, felt like a mountain.  There are still struggles resulting from that event, even after more than 20 years.  4. Let's play this or that-fall ...

 Finally!  Some good stuff from Goodwill!  Not one of the new stores of course. A 19" wooden mask.  I always associate the dots with Australia, however this could be African. Or Indonesian.  $7.19 because it's so big.  I now have seven carved wooden masks from around the world on my bathroom walls!  I didn't set out to collect them, I just found them over the years.  This is a Pacific Northwest wood carving from red cedar.  $4.04 Hyacinth by Patricia Jones, copyright 2001.  $4.04, a surprisingly low price as it's framed.  There is just the one small paint scuff in the top right, the white line.  There are a few artists with the name, but none fit the signature or style.  (I cut off some of the signature, but it's P in a stylized J wrapped around it.) How about a glass horned lizard?  It's just 2" and a pendant.  $1.34   Online descriptions say it is " borosilicate glass with embedded dichroic glass elem...