a weblog of whereabouts & interests, since 2010
The wildfires on the outskirts of Spokane burnt down several hundred structures and forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate.
Surface smoke from all the fires reached the Seattle area today and will hang around through Thursday.
My Ebay purchase of stamps from Germany arrived today, sent by the seller from Backnang in the Bundesland of Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
Let’s take a closer look at the stamps that he put on the envelope.
Issued Dec. 2, 2021
Perf. 12 Die Cut | Self-adhesive | Design: Bettina Walter | Engraving: Bundesdruckerei| Photolithography | 2D barcode panel | No watermark
3266 DQN €0.05 | Multicolored | Letter-and-pencil water lily
3267 DQO €0.85 | Multicolored | Letter-folded-into-swan origami
[Sources: stampworld.com]
Issued Jan. 11, 2001
Perf. 14 | Design: Aretz | Photolithography | No watermark
2037 BVK 110 Pfg/ €0.56 | Cream, brown-olive, gray & black | Coat of arms of Kingdom of Prussia (1701-1871)
The Kingdom of Prussia was a powerful European state that existed from 1701 to 1918, ruled by the House of Hohenzollern. It was centered in Berlin and Brandenburg, and it led the 1871 unification of Germany.
[Sources: stampworld.com, Wikipedia.com]
Issued Apr. 7, 2005
Perf. 14 | Design: Blume-Zander & Zander | Engraving: Stampatore: Bundesdruckerei | Photolithography | No watermark
2311 CFZ €1.44 | Brown orange & black | Plaque and characters from the fairy tales of Hans Christian Anderson
Hans Christian Andersen (1805–1875) was a celebrated Danish author, renowned for his literary fairy tales. He is also the author of plays, novels, poems, travel books, and several autobiographies.
2005 Definitive Series of Flowers (one stamp from a series of 28 stamps)
Issued Jan. 2, 2010
Perf. 14 | Design: Stefan Klein et Olaf Neumann | Engraving: Stampatore: Bundesdruckerei | Photolithography | No watermark
2584 CQI €4.10 | Multicolored | Lady’s-slipper orchid (Cypripedium calceolus)
The lady’s slipper (Cypripedium) is a fascinating terrestrial orchid distinguished by its striking, shoe-shaped flower lip. In the wild—such as the strictly protected yellow lady’s slipper (Cypripedium calceolus) in Central Europe—it grows in open deciduous and pine forests on calcareous soils.
[Sources: stampworld.com, Brittanica.com, Bund Naturschutz]
The Blue Angels did fly today, to close out the Seafair Festival weekend.
I had my big digital camera at the ready to take a few pictures from the bedroom upstairs.
The last picture shows all six aircraft in the squad, with the numbers on their tail fins.
The U.S. Navy Blue Angels air show was cancelled today, due to dangerous wind conditions. (Wind speeds on Saturday afternoon were about 17-23 mph, with frequent gusts of 28-31 mph.)
The organizers are confident that there will be a show on Sunday and will Saturday tickets for Sunday.
Blistering heat was expected to spread across a vast portion of the Western United States on Friday and through the weekend, with temperatures soaring into the 90s and even to over 120 degrees from the deserts of Arizona and California to the rolling plains of Montana.
The forecast showed the heat peaking in many places on Saturday and Sunday, when afternoon temperatures could rise as high as 103 (39.5°C) in Sacramento, 105 (40.5°C) in Salt Lake City, 115 (46°C) in Las Vegas and 117 (47 °C) in Palm Springs, according to the National Weather Service.
-Amy Graff writing for the New York Times
The U.S. Navy Blue Angels roared overhead today as they rehearsed their maneuvers for the annual Seafair Weekend Festival. (The aircraft are F/A-18E Super Hornets.)
I ran outside, or to the window, a few times when I heard them, and took these pictures.
These two pictures are from my after-dinner walk tonight.
Happy World Nature Conservation Day.
This elephant seal found itself stranded on a farm near Mossel Bay in South Africa two weeks ago, on July 15. (There were heavy rains and flooding in the area. The seal had lounged around in the shallow waters near the coastline for too long.)
It is estimated to be about 8 years old and to weigh about 900 kg (2,000 pounds).
The beast is somewhat emaciated and should have more blubber on its bones, but it was given shots against rabies and a bacterial infection by a veterinarian from he Stranded Marine Animal Rescue Team. It seems to be doing better now.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced a $70-million initiative to open five city-owned grocery stores—one in each borough—that will offer a guaranteed 30% discount on a core basket of everyday essentials.
The stores will only open in 2029, though— and this repost on X from chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov (and New Yorker) illustrates the challenges with what Mayor Mamdani efforts to help New Yorkers to better afford their groceries.
David E. Sanger writes for the New York Times:
President Trump often celebrates his unpredictability, declaring that it keeps allies and adversaries alike off balance.
By his telling, his willingness to bomb Iranian nuclear sites 13 months ago, and send Delta Force commandos in to snatch President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela from his bed in early January, reflected his determination to execute military operations that would have made his predecessors blanch. He told The New York Times he was limited only by “my own morality,” as he wielded the world’s biggest hammer.
But in recent weeks, he has seemed trapped, his presidency gradually consumed by a war he cannot find his way out of.
He has discovered limits on his power that he could have scarcely imagined as he began full combat operations on Feb. 28, when he set out goals for a swift end to Iran’s nuclear program and the overthrow of the country’s government.
There goes my ballot for the August 2026 Primary Election here in Washington State’s King County.
November with the 2026 Midterm Election is essentially three months away. Republicans have the presidency, the House, the Senate, and the Supreme Court.
They are responsible for the war in Iran, for taking away healthcare from Americans, for ignoring the brazen corruption in the White House, and for pushing up the cost of living for all of us.
Happy Friday.
I walked down to the Capitol Hill branch of the Seattle Public Library today to take back my two books that were badly overdue. I walked by the little car with the AFK BYE* plates again, and it made me smile.
*Away From Keyboard, Bye. AFK originated in 1990s chatrooms and gaming communities, and is now commonly used in mobile messaging to let someone know you will be temporarily unavailable to respond.
(Just make sure the other person knows what AFK stands for, or they might think you cussed at them and no longer want to respond! 😆)
I am pulling apart a pile of definitive stamp series from Japan issued from 1913 to 1937 called the Tazawa series, after their designer.
Following the death of Emperor Meiji, the Japanese government held its first-ever open prize competition to select a new standard stamp design.
Tazawa Shōgen was an employee of the Japanese Printing Bureau and won this national contest to design the country’s standard definitive stamps in 1913.
The stamps typically feature the Imperial Chrysanthemum crest, floral motifs, or national coats of arms and were used extensively for domestic and international mail.
It was toasty outside here in the city of Seattle, yesterday and today: 92°F (33°C).
It will cool down tomorrow, though. Elsewhere in the United States there are communities that deal with much warmer days, with flash floods and with tornadoes.
And look at the cheeky post of German magazine Die Zeit on X, about a First World soccer fan’s dilemma:
‘The big question after the World Cup: What gives life structure now, with no more football on TV?’
Answer: All right, I guess I’d better go return the deposit bottles now.
Pål Hermansen from Oslo, Norway, won first place (gold) in the Wildlife category of the 2026 reFocus Color Photography Contest with this photo of a grizzly bear in Alaska.
‘Seattle Freeze’: Forget making friends — half of Washington residents don’t even want to talk to you
– Headline of a report in The Seattle Times of May 28, 2019 about a survey done by Seattle-based Pemco Insurance, that seems to give credence to the phenomenon known as the Seattle Freeze: Northwesterners’ reputation for making it hard to form new friendships.
Here’s a cute cartoon that was printed in the July issue of The Stranger, Seattle’s alternative newspaper.
(‘Seattle’s Only Newspaper’ says the tagline on their website, but we do have another newspaper called The Seattle Times).
Congrats to Spain on their second World Cup win.
It took 106 minutes of play and 20 shots by Spain to score the one and only goal of the game.
(Argentina not only disgraced themselves on the pitch with their play, but afterwards as well. They acted like losers— sore losers, with their ‘charmless petulance’ as Adam Crafton writes for The Athletic in the New York Times.)
As for the half-time show: just, no. It was not worth watching, and it disrupted the whole game.
These spectacular lilies, dahlias, peonies, daisies and wildflowers are from the P-patch at 20th Avenue East and Republican Street in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood.
Happy Friday.
It’s wildfire season and dozens of wildfires are suddenly burning in Oregon, reports the New York Times. The state told thousands of people to be ready to evacuate.
In the northeastern United States, smoke from Canadian wildfires will likely linger in the air for the World Cup Final that is set for Sunday in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
So far, predictions are that conditions will be noticeably improved compared to previous days, though. 🤞
This morning, a storm brought thunder, lightning, and heavy rain to large parts of downtown Seattle.
The downpour totaled 0.36 inches (9 mm), and brought a sudden end to our 19-day dry spell.
