Wonderful New Stamp

The latest in the decades old series celebrating Black Heritage.  And it's a local civil rights activist, the amazing Dorothy Height!  I'm not only thrilled that she is being honored, but that the image is so beautiful, too.  It reflects her generous and stalwart spirit of racial and social equality.

Priority Mail

In my holiday packages I got one thing kind of backward... I ended up sending my one international package last! But here's why: when I send packages, I send them with stamps on them! Afterall, isn't that what stamps are for? Plus it makes them look lovely, and generally, people like to get my packages festooned with colorful stamps. But here's an odd caveat. The United States Postal Service produces stamps that it does not sell at all of it's branches! Some, you need to order from them online to be sent to you by them to use... Stamps like the Priority Mail stamps with extraordinary denominational values. And if one wants to send a package, say to Australia, it is helpful to have a stamp with the value of $22.95 on it--in fact, it requires more than one such stamp.

For many years now, these stamps have been designed with a vintage travel poster look and depict various, random sites around the country--lots of bridges, in particular... I think they are really beautiful stamps and since most of you will never see their beauty, I have made this collection of them for your holiday enjoyment.

WPA Features On USPS In 2017

Among the Commemorative Stamps to be issued by the United States Postal Service in 2017 is these series of Work Project Administration posters from 1930's.  A reminder or a harbinger?  Who can say?

USPS Offering In 2017

Some of the new stamps from the United States Postal Service have been revealed for 2017 and among them is this series celebrating Latin and Caribbean foods!  Much fun.  I Love the three on the right, no fan of the Tamale, and never had the other two--but who knows?  2017 might just be the year, right?  ¡Muy Rico comida, mi amigos!

Practicing Random Acts of Kindness

For many years now, decades actually, I have practiced the art of gift giving.  It started after I fell in love with the axiom "Practice Random Acts of Kindness".  It has taken on a life of it's own that has also become reciprocal in many instances.  It's sort of an addendum on the "Do unto others" maxim--because in doing so others return the favor and before you know it you have a community of people practicing random acts of gift giving to one another!  It's a pretty cool thing.

You know what I love more than getting such wonderful gifts from my dear circle of friends--and let me assure you, each time I am so honored my heart fills anew with the wonder of it all--? Sending out gifts! Finding those things by pure happenstance or offer that one of you or my many other friends wants or needs--or doesn't even know that they want or need!--and preparing the package for post. I love stamps! I love giving gifts! And I love my friends! It's a win-win-win random acts of kindness sort of thing.  

And don't waste the self-adhesive borders and backgrounds that some with today's stamps!  Make the gift a total package, an all over thing of beauty!

New Stamps!

The USPS has been over the top busy issuing commemorative stamps in the past couple of months. One of the recent offerings is a sheet set to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the founding of our National Parks System. The have chosen 16 parks to represent the whole. Some are in pristine rural areas and others in urban places. They include parks in Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Florida, Hawaii, Maine, Mississippi, New Mexico, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Washington, D.C. and Wyoming.

Would I have been responsible for the design, I would have nixed the paintings in place of all photos for the Grand Canyon National Park, the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park, and Bandelier National Monument. And two, I would have switched out Carlsbad Caverns National Park with Mammoth Cave National Park for more geographic diversity (and New Mexico already has a stamp on the sheet). But still: They are beautiful! The four I have also highlight represent the ones from the sheet that I have also visited.

Happy Birthday Virginia

Happy Birthday New Hampshire

Happy Birthday: West Virginia!

A new series celebrating the birth of our states.  Starting today is just a random act of celebration!

Rudolph Stamps!

New Stamps!

Love them all!!

Global Gardening

I bought some of my seeds via Wayfair.com and for $7.00 US I purchased 5 varieties of seed from the company and paid using Paypal. Imagine my surprise when they arrived a week later in this envelop from China!

Happy New Years!

Bonsai Tree Stamps in 2012!

More stamps to be issued by the USPS in 2012. My only complaint, why not photographs? I think this series would have been better represented in photos.

Poets Of The 20th Century To Be Honored On 2012 US Stamps

Great idea USPS!

I would have gone to 20 poets, a single sheet with 20 unique stamps on it and would add the following 10 contemporaries to the group:

Edna St. Vincent Millay
Raymond Carver
Audre Lorde
Langston Hughes
T. S. Elliot
Kenneth Koch
James Merrill
Marianne Moore
Lucille Clifton
May Swenson

When The Tea Party Runs The Country

Aloha Definitive Stamps!

New US Definitive Stamps for domestic post cards in 2012! I like them.

Awesome New Stamps

A Day In The Life Of New Zealand

Captured on this fanciful sheet of commemorative stamps from the country of New Zealand.

Paul Calle, R.I.P. 1928 - 2010

It's odd to discover when someone has died that you never knew in person, but who's contribution to your life has been long and rich. Thus have I made such a discovery tonight when learning of the death of designer, artist, Paul Calle. My anonymous relationship with Mr. Calle began as a young boy when I took up the hobby of stamp collecting. Among his many other claims to the title of artist, Mr. Calle created the images and designs for dozens of United States postage stamps.

He also designed stamps for the United Nations and for the nation of Sweden among others.

This image of the astronaut from the Apollo 11 moon landing stepping down upon the moon is considered by many to be his most famous stamp design.

Among his other subjects were a host of famous Americans from all walks of life. People like Poet Robert Frost, Humanitarian Hellen Keller & her Teacher Anne Sullivan, General Douglas MacArthur, Dr. George Papanicolaou, Nurse Clara Maass, Author Pearl S. Buck, to name a few.

In stamps featuring topics like Volunteerism, Aging, The International Year of the Child, and Retarded Children; he demonstrated the power of his ability to convey a range of human emotions from joy to empathy.

















He even found a way to bring inanimate objects to life in a sculpture by Frederic Remington or the Victorian head of a camel ride from a series of 4 stamps featuring vintage carousel animals.

His career designing for the post office spanned nearly 30 years. As he went from creating designs in the early 70's using a style reminiscent of copper etching so common with postage stamps of the era and before, to evolving toward the use of photographs and painted images his acute artistry never faltered; Always there was a keen sense of design. You can look at any of these examples and see a sense of balance and yet movement that is visually intriguing as well as iconic.

The obituary from the New York Times has a delightful quote from Mr. Calle expressing his philosophy in designing for postage stamps, "When you do a stamp, think big, but draw small."

I close with two images from his sheet in the 10 set Celebrate the Century series: 1930's. I love especially this "mixer" from the stamp commemorating "Household Conveniences," because I own an exact copy of it. It was inherited from my mother who received it from her mother before her. And when I saw it on this stamp it truly thrilled me. I have no idea where Mr. Calle found the one for this stamp. I suspect the Smithsonian Museum of American History!

And of course, from the same sheet issued in 1998, Jesse Owens, a stamp that really embodies everything that makes a stamp beautiful.

I obviously never met Paul Calle, but if I had, I would simply have thanked him for all of the beautiful stamps he created. Stamps that continue to resonate with me and no doubt fascinate little boys in little rural towns with images of people, places, and things that are the stuff of dreams.

May Light perpetual shine upon him.