This and That: A Blog

 The week hasn't started off well.  I just had my vehicle (I want to write "car," but it's an Explorer.  I don't like to write "truck," and "SUV" sounds ridiculous!) towed to the mechanic down the street.  Not what used to be called, maybe still are, a "shade tree" mechanic, it's a real business, just close enough to walk to and from.  Today I let the tow truck take it without me.  It's something with the brakes, there was a puddle of brake fluid under the vehicle when they moved it. This is why I have AAA.  I get my money's worth!    The Dollar Tree has spring gardening supplies and seeds in.  Hidden away in the back, not along the seasonal wall, where it's all Easter.   The seeds are more expensive since last year.  For years they were 4/$1.00, then last year were 3/$1.00.  I checked online and while the company is U.S. based most of the seeds are outsourced.  So, the big increase is most likely due to tariffs....

 This week Sunday Stamps takes us to the letter Y .   Y omei Gate Japan 1952 Y acht Australia 1983 Issued to commemorate Queen Elizabeth II's birthday and released on the actual day of her birth, the y acht shown is HM Y (Her Majesty's Y acht) Britannica in Sydney Harbor with the opera house in the background. Y outh Immigration ( Y outh Aliyah) 20th Anniversary   Israel c. 1955  Y outh Aliyah was, in part, a rescue and resettlement program that began in the 1930s (specifically, it was founded the day Hitler became Chancellor of Germany) to help Jewish children escape Nazi persecution and resettle in Palestine.  Today, Y outh Aliyah villages are educational institutions providing support and education.  One again, something new I've learned from stamps!  Next Sunday brings us to the last of this series alphabetically themed stamps, which of course will be Z .

 

Skywatch Friday Just to clear things up (which we could do with around here, clearing up I mean), a cloudy or foggy photo is still a picture of the sky! I looked it up.   It's been foggy.  Most days it clears by afternoon ( see Wednesday's post , photos taken around 3:00 pm), just in time to come back in the night.  Yesterday it was back by 5:00 pm.  The forecast has been promising warmer weather for a week, but so far we haven't gotten any warmer.  It was 26° early Thursday morning!  Unless you have to drive in it, the fog is rather pretty. I did have to drive in it to go to the airport (it's only 4 miles away from my house, but I had to go to the other end of town to pick up the traveler first) in the wee hours of Wednesday morning.  Wee meaning leave the house at 3:10 am.  Nasty time to drive in fog.  Fortunately the plane was able to take off before 6:00 am.  On the 10th, in the neighborhood at around 8:45 am. Thursday morning f...

 Snowy Scenes is the theme this week for Thursday Postcard Hunt . Mt. Hood, Oregon  American Falls, one of three falls making up Niagara Falls, New York, seen from Canada Schaffer Butte, Bogus Basin Ski Area, near Boise, Idaho. The theme for next week is Lights in Windows.

 My oldest was visiting from the East Coast earlier this week.  The mornings have been very foggy, but by afternoon it clears. We went out to one of my favorite places (that is, easy to get to, with a turn-out to park) to view the Rogue River.  The Rogue River is one of the original eight rivers in the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968. The sun was too bright this direction. The opposite way has some rapids.   There are "falls" further downstream, which I will visit, but from the road they look more like bigger rapids. I thought the river was quite calm considering how much rain we'd had recently.  Then I saw the huge pile of sticks and branches at a high water line.  It must have been wild!  I don't know how the couple and their dog got over there, what looks like a road is a train track. Someone constructed a stick arch from the wrack (the organic debris mix of sticks, branches, reeds, etc.). From this photo you might think the tree is in bloom...

Not a lot of treasures found in the past few weeks.  They may have been there, but I didn't look over the holidays. I rescued two original paintings from the Goodwill Bins, but donated them to St. Vincent de Paul.   One of the local Goodwill stores had several items. A vintage napkin holder.  The puppy has beaded eyes.  It was the half-off color of the week, so cost $2.39.  I like to use these for postcards I'm working on cataloging.  I have other napkin holders for general flat stuff near the computer, and one that holds disposable masks near the door. There's a different puppy on the other side. Surprisingly they had a bag of three vintage Italian nativity figures still out, for 1.34, my price (senior discount).  An ox and two kings.  Not sharing until December!   I used some of my loyalty card points for the purchase.  At St. Vincent de Paul I found some 5¢ postcards.  There were two books of postcards as well, which wa...