The time came to bid Beantown goodbye on Tuesday afternoon, and fly back to the Pacific Northwest.
There was a rainstorm with strong winds as we made our final approach into SeaTac Airport, which made for a rough landing, but once we started taxiing on the runway, everything was OK.
Pictures:
Looking up while waiting for my Uber driver on Main Street across from the MIT campus in Cambridge; in Uber car in the Ted Williams Tunnel again; at the gate at Boston Logan airport (dry and calm); arriving at the gate at Seattle-Tacoma airport (wet and stormy); restaurant PF Chang’s dragon at Seattle-Tacoma airport’s North Terminal.
The MIT Museum, founded in 1971, is part of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. It hosts collections of holography, technology-related artworks, artificial intelligence, architecture, robotics, maritime history, and the history of MIT. [Source: Wikipedia]
The MIT Museum at the Gambrill Center (completed 2022) occupies the first three floors of the multipurpose building at 314 Main Street. The museum is designed to “turn MIT inside out” (according to MIT Museum Director John Durant), inviting the community at large to join the conversation and participate in the creation of research projects and solutions.Kismet, an early social robot (built in 1997) from the MIT Artificial Intelligence. It had movable ears, eyebrows, eyelids and lips.Endgame, a chess machine invented in 1950 by Claude Shannon after he published a groundbreaking paper called “Programming a Computer for Playing Chess”.Atom model kit, circa 1943.Medusa (1985), a computer-generated holographic stereogram by the MIT Spatial Imaging Group and the MIT Media Laboratory.The famous Milk Drop Coronet (1957) photograph, made with pioneering high-speed flash photography.Black Panther comic Jungle Action #12 featured the first Black superhero, and featured an MIT alumnus as fictional supervillain Erik Killmonger (bottom right).A genetically engineered pink chicken. The real chicken has pinkish bones and pinkish muscles as well.3D Models that explain hoe CRISPR technology works (used for gene splicing and editing).A journal book from the museum store.
I don’t collect whole pieces of mail (such as envelopes, first day covers and post cards), but I found this post card that was for sale on Ebay impossible to resist.
This post card (‘Briefkaart’) is Afrikaans only and doesn’t bother to offer English wording (later ones were bilingual, and did). Check out the gorgeous cursive writing, an art form lost in the century that followed. The card was mailed in 1895, in Johannesburg, City of Gold, ‘El Dorado’ for real— founded only nine years prior, in 1886. (In that year the Witwatersrand Gold Rush started, which led to the establishment of Johannesburg). Just a few years earlier still, the outcome of the First Boer War (1880-81) had led to the temporary independence of the South African Republic (‘Zuid-Afrikaanse Republiek’) from the British Empire.
Happy Veterans Day to all military veterans of the United States Armed Forces.
U.S. #2513 1990 25¢ Dwight D. Eisenhower Issue Date: October 13, 1990 City: Abilene, KS Quantity: 142,692,000 Printed By: American Bank Note Company Printing Method: Photogravure Perforations: 11 Color: Multicolored Dwight D. Eisenhower’s official presidential portrait is featured on this stamp honoring the 100th anniversary of his birth. The background pictures him overseeing his troops in his capacity as five-star general. A circlet of five stars distinguishes that title. [Source: mysticstamp.com]
Here’s a sneak preview of the public art installation at the junction of 14th Avenue and Madison Street on Capitol Hill.
(Is it a time machine? Can I enter the big square and emerge four years into the future at the far end?).
Even though it’s only 5:20 pm in the picture, night has already cast its inky blacks.
I still have shoeboxes full of South African stamps on paper cutouts, and I dunk them batch by batch into water to separate the stamp from the paper.
Those that have nice postmarks on (place name and date), I keep on the paper, though.
Below is such a page.
Some of these postmarks belong completely to history.
The cities and towns that they denote have been renamed in recent years.
Fourth Definitive Issue (1982-87)— South African Buildings Issued Jul. 15, 1982 Perf. 14½x14, 14×14½ | Litho. and Recess Printing | No watermark 564 A229 1c Brown (’84) | Old Provost, Grahamstown 566 A229 2c Green | Tuynhuys, Cape Town 574 A229 8c Intense Blue (’83) | Leeuwenhof, Cape Town 576 A229 10c Light red-brown | City Hall, Pietermaritzburg 578 A229 11c Cerise (’84) | City Hall, Kimberley 579 A229 12c Deep Ultramarine (’85) | City Hall, Port Elizabeth 580 A229 14c Rose brown (’86) | Johannesburg City Hall (Note- Only the stamps in the picture are listed here; several others were issued as part of the fourth definitive series). [Source: 2021 Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue, Vol. 6A]
Postmarks: ADELAIDE, HEIDELBERG, BEAUFORT WEST, WESTONARIA, BRANDFORT (Winnie Mandela since 2021), BENONI, ESTCOURT, BOKSBURG, FOCHVILLE, GRAHAMSTOWN (now also known as Makhanda), ALBERTON, KROONSTAD, KING WILLIAM’S TOWN (Qonce since 2021), NIGEL, PIETERMATIZBURG, PORT SHEPSTONE, POTCHEFSTROOM, QUEENSTOWN (Komani since 2016), SASOLBURG, STRAND, SPRINGS (now part of the City of Ekurhuleni), SOMERSET WEST, THBAZIMBI, VANDERBIJLPARK, LICHTENBURG, WORCESTER.
It was November of 1899 in colonial Africa— in what is called South Africa today.
The Second Boer War had already started, on October 11.
The British government had rejected an ultimatum issued by the Boer republics of the Transvaal and Orange Free State.
The republics had demanded the withdrawal of British troops from their borders, primarily due to growing tensions caused by the discovery of gold in the Transvaal (Johannesburg today) and the influx of British “Uitlander” (foreigner) miners who were denied political rights by the Boer government.
The mint, where the republics produced gold coins for 1899, soon learned that the Kruger Pound dies for the 1899 coins were intercepted by the British in then-Lourenzo Marques in Mozambique (Maputo, today).
On the 2nd day of November 1899 at 10.30am, a single figure 9 was stamped at the bottom of the President’s bust on an 1898 coin, slightly overlapping the design. The coin is known today as ‘the single nine counterstamp’ or simply the ‘Single 9’, and is South Africa’s only one-of-a-kind coin.
This description from Heritage Auctions.com (the coin goes up for auction on Jan 13, 2025 in New York City): Republic gold “9” Pond 1898 MS63 Prooflike NGC, Pretoria mint, KM-Unl., Hern-ZP6. The indisputable ‘unicorn coin’ in the entire South African series, the “Single 9 Overstamp” 1898 Pond remains unchallenged in its exclusive solitude. A distinct variant of the 130-piece “99” Pond issue, the “Single 9” Pond reportedly changed hands in a private sale in 2010, for a value documented as “multi-million Rand” by Hern. Other industry sources detail a more precise figure of ZAR 20,000,000, which was the equivalent of US$ 2,700,000 at the average 2010 exchange rate. Possibly selected as the candidate for the overstamping for its gleaming ‘Prooflike’ appearance, this rarified treasure has been the prime target of South African experts for over a century. Translation: ‘Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek’ is ‘South African Republic’ (an area north of the Vaal River and south of the Limpopo River and not to be confused with ‘Republic of South Africa’, which is all of modern-day South Africa and which came about only in May 1961, after the Union of South Africa gained its independence from Great Britain). The figure on the coin is President Paul Kruger, the leading figure in the movement to restore the South African Republic’s independence, culminating in the Boers’ victory in the First Boer War of 1880–1881. Kruger served until 1883 as a member of an executive triumvirate, then was elected President of the South African Republic.The gold price as of November 01, 2024 is $2,736.42 per ounce, a record high*. *In absolute dollar terms. When adjusted for inflation, the early 1980s is still the peak for gold, at some $3,200 per ounce in inflation-adjusted dollars. Translation: ‘Eendragt Maakt Mag’ means ‘Unity makes strength’.
Some 50 million voters have already cast their ballots for the 2024 US Elections (one third of the electorate).
I came across this stamp in my shoebox with on-paper stamps today.
1994 Modern Shipwrecks Issued Mar. 18, 1994 by Transkei, from the final set of stamps issued by Transkei* Perf. 14½ x14 | Litho. | No watermark 301 A62 85c |Multicolored | Oceanos**, 1991 *Transkei was a self-governing tribal homeland in South Africa from 1976 to 1994 in the Eastern Cape province. Transkei ceased to exist on Apr. 27, 1994. It was reincorporated into the Republic of South Africa after the 1994 national election. **MTS Oceanos was a French-built and Greek-owned cruise ship that sank in 1991 off the coast of South Africa when she suffered uncontrolled flooding. Friends of my parents were on the ship as she was going under 😱, and came away on a lifeboat with nothing other than the clothes that they had been wearing. [Sources: Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalog, Vol. 6A, Wikipedia]
There was mail from Maryland in my mailbox today.
The cancellation says that ‘As in past elections, the USPS is ready. If you choose to vote by mail, please mail early.’
(Early voting has started in some states, and here in Washington State we will get our mail-in ballots by Friday, or by early next week).
Let’s check out the stamps.
1999 Celebrate the Century, 1970s – Bicentennial, Watergate, and Earth Day Issued Nov. 18, 1999 Perf. 11½| Offset, Intaglio printing | Wmk. None No 3321| 33c| Multi-colored | 1970s Fashion
1984 Horace Moses Issued Aug. 6, 1984 Perf. 11 |Engraved printing (combination press) |Wmk. None No 1845| 20c| Orange & dark brown | Junior Achievement founder, Horace Moses [Sources: stampworld.com, mysticstamp.com]
There was mail from an Ebay seller in Tasmania, Australia, in my mailbox today— with a single pair of South African stamps inside.
2023 Australia’s Native Animals – International Stamps Issued Jun. 26, 2023 Perf. 13¾ x 14½ |Design: Jason Watts Engraving/RA Printing | No watermark No. 4205 AUS$ 3.90 |Multi-colored |Bilby (Macrotis lagotis) Notes: The bilby (Macrotis lagotis) is a desert-dwelling marsupial about the size of a rabbit. It was once widely distributed through arid and semi-arid Australia, but wild populations are now restricted to spinifex grassland in Western Australia and the Northern Territory, and to a small region of southwestern Queensland. [Sources:stampworld.com, Australia Post Stamp Bulletin No 384]1930-1945 South Africa Definitive Issue (designs redrawn) Issued Sep. 1, 1938 Perf. 15×14 |Photogravure |Wmk. Multiple Springbok heads Se-tenant pair of Afrikaans & English inscribed stamps SACC 43c 2d |Blue and violet |Union Buildings, Pretoria [Source: The South Africa Stamp Colour Catalogue, 1988]
Here’s a Cybertruck clad in white wrap, that we had spotted in Columbia City today.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with a classic ice white look for one’s wheels— but how about a whitish wrap with a little pizzazz, such as the Satin Flip Ghost Pearl (from the website buywrap.com)?
These stamps from the USA landed in my mailbox (on an envelope from an Ebay seller that I had bought stamps from).
200th Anniversary of the US Constitution Issued Aug. 28, 1987 Perf. 10 hor. on 1 or 2 sides Photogravure Booklet with 4 panes of 5 stamps printed in cylinders of 120 2355 A1720 22c |Multi-colored |Preamble to the US Constitution 2355 A1721 22c |Multi-colored |Preamble to the US Constitution 2355 A1722 22c |Multi-colored |Preamble to the US Constitution 2355 A1723 22c |Multi-colored |Preamble to the US Constitution [Source: 2003 Scott Stamp Catalogue Vol. 1]Classic Books Issued Oct. 23, 1993 Perf. 11 Litho. & Engr. Booklet with 4 panes of 5 stamps printed in cylinders of 120 2787 A2126 29c |Multi-colored |The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn* 2785 A2124 29c |Multi-colored |Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm** [Source: 2003 Scott Stamp Catalogue Vol. 1]
*The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel by American author Mark Twain that was first published in the United Kingdom in December 1884 and in the United States in February 1885. [From Wikipedia] **Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm is a classic American 1903 children’s novel by Kate Douglas Wiggin that tells the story of Rebecca Rowena Randall and her aunts, one stern and one kind, in the fictional village of Riverboro, Maine. {From Wikipedia]
I had business downtown and missed the No 10 bus on the way back.
Oh well, I thought, it’s such a beautiful day— let’s just walk back up to Capitol Hill.
Top to bottom: The monorail station at Westlake Center. The Summit Convention Center, the addition to the original Seattle Convention Center. (The Arch + Summit Convention Centers hosted 160 events in 2023, up from 114 in 2022, but still came in with an operating loss of $23 million for 2023). Fall leaves at East Pike Street and Boren Avenue. The Starbucks Roastery at East Pike Street and Melrose Avenue. The pooch is wearing booties. Beer truck from Ninkasi Brewing Company in Eugene, Oregon. Korean Restaurant on Denny Way. (And now you know how to write Korean Restaurant in Korean!).
Hey! And here’s the Google Street View car at work. Maybe an image of me will make it onto the next update for Capitol Hill. 😆
My little ultraviolet lamp arrived today: one that is specifically designed to inspect postage stamps. (My pictures below).
Starting in 1969, South Africa began to add phosphorescent frames to stamps from its first definitive series of stamps*. Starting in 1971, the phosphorescent element appeared throughout the paper. It is almost impossible to distinguish between these two types of stamps without the aid of an ultraviolet lamp.
*Definitive series of stamps for the Republic of South Africa. The Union of South Africa became the Republic of South Africa in 1961 when it gained its independence from Great Britain.
Republic of South Africa First Definitive Series, Redrawn Issued 1969-1972 Perf. 14×13½ Photogravure, chalk-surfaced paper, printed with phosphor bands 282 168 ½c New blue, carmine-red and yellow ochre | African Pygmy Kingfisher [Source: Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue: Commonwealth & British Empire Stamps, 2016 Edition]Republic of South Africa First Definitive Series, Redrawn Issued 1969-1972 Perf. 13½x14 Photogravure, chalk-surfaced paper, printed with phosphor bands (LEFT, issued 1969, with bands badly misplaced! ) and without phosphor bands (RIGHT, issued 1971) 277 169 1c Rose-red & olive brown | Coral tree flowers [Source: Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue: Commonwealth & British Empire Stamps, 2016 Edition]Republic of South Africa First Definitive Series, Redrawn Issued 1969-1972 Perf. 14×13½ Photogravure, chalk-surfaced paper, printed with phosphor bands 284 132 1½c Red brown and light purple | Afrikaner bull [Source: Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue: Commonwealth & British Empire Stamps, 2016 Edition]Republic of South Africa First Definitive Series, Redrawn Issued 1969-1972 Perf. 14 Photogravure, chalk-surfaced paper, printed with phosphor bands 285 133 2c Ultramarine and yellow | Pouring gold [Source: Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue: Commonwealth & British Empire Stamps, 2016 Edition]Republic of South Africa First Definitive Series, Redrawn Issued 1969-1972 Perf. 14 Photogravure, chalk-surfaced paper, printed with phosphor bands 286 134 2½c Violet and green | Groot Constantia wine estate [Source: Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue: Commonwealth & British Empire Stamps, 2016 Edition]Republic of South Africa First Definitive Series, Redrawn Issued 1969-1972 Perf. 14 Photogravure, chalk-surfaced paper, printed with phosphor bands 287 135 3c Red and deep blue |Burchell’s gonolek [Source: Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue: Commonwealth & British Empire Stamps, 2016 Edition]Republic of South Africa First Definitive Series, Redrawn Issued 1969-1972 Perf. 14 Photogravure, chalk-surfaced paper, printed with phosphor bands 293 138 10c Brown and pale green | Cape Town Castle gate [Source: Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue: Commonwealth & British Empire Stamps, 2016 Edition]Republic of South Africa First Definitive Series, Redrawn Issued 1969-1972 Perf. 14 Photogravure, chalk-surfaced paper, printed with phosphor bands 294 139 20c Turquoise-blue, carmine and brown orange| Secretary Bird [Source: Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue: Commonwealth & British Empire Stamps, 2016 Edition]
Here are my pictures of a ride today on the new northbound extension of the Sound Transit light rail system to downtown Lynnwood.
Here it is: the $3 billion extension from Northgate to Lynnwood with four new stations, 16 years in the making. Voters approved it with along with Obama’s election in 2008; planning was done from 2010-2016, design from 2016-2019, and construction from 2019-2024. The 1 Line extension hugs 8½ miles of Interstate 5 and crosses over it north of the Mountlake terrace station. A fifth station will open in 2026 at NE 130th Street. [Map from Sound Transit website]Northbound and approaching the existing Northgate station here. Interstate 5 traffic on the left. Much of the extension is elevated compared to Interstate 5, though, due to the uneven terrain there.Here is the view from the elevated rail and platform at the Lynnwood City Center station. There is a large parking garage at the back (not visible here), a parking lot on the left, and the canopies and bus stops of the Lynnwood Transit Center. Buses can be taken from here to Everett in the north, or to either of the ferry terminals at Edmonds and Mukilteo.Glass mural artwork on the boarding platform at the Lynnwood City Center station. The artist is Preston Singletary. The art was inspired by his Tlingit heritage and family, and influenced by his father’s recent death.Here’s the train at the Lynnwood City Center station, with the parking garage at the back of it.One of two identical sculptures called “Shift” down on the grounds below. The artist is Claudia Fitch and are a nod to the lamps from Lynnwood’s Interurban trolley system, which operated from 1910 to 1939.Here is Claudia Fitch’s “City Hummingbird” and “Kitchen Window Curtain” at Lynnwood City Center Station, to honor the history of neon road signs that once lined Highway 99 as well as the nature Pacific Northwesterners see in their own backyards. [Description of artwork and text from Seattle Times]Getting ready for the 30-minute ride back to Capitol Hill train station. The overhead graphic of the 2 Line (blue) and 1 Line (green) shows that more stations will open in the near future. Stations have numeric identifiers as well, which should make it easier for foreign language speakers and visitors to find the stations that they need to use.A peek into the future, looking at a little section of rail north of Lynnwood City Center station that has already been constructed. The next push north is scheduled for 2037 with stops at West Alderwood near the mall, Ash Way, Mariner, Highway 99 in South Everett (possibly) and Southwest Everett Industrial Center near Paine Field. Two final stations at Evergreen Way and downtown Everett are aimed for 2041, depending on funding.
A letter arrived today from Antwerp, with more South African stamps inside.
Youth Philately Issued 1993, Oct.18 Perf. 11½| Photogravure 1508 Air Hostess Natacha, by François Walthéry| 15fr | multi-colored [Source: 2018 Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue, Vol. 1B] From Wikipedia: Natacha is a Belgian comics series, created by François Walthéry and Roland Goossens. The series tells the adventures of Natacha, a young sexy flight attendant in the service of the flight company Bardaf, and her clumsy, hot-tempered colleague and friend Walter, with occasional participation by her flight captain Turbo and his co-pilot Legrain. Natacha was first published in the Franco-Belgian comics magazine Spirou on February 26, 1970.
Belgian Railways 175th Anniversary Issued 2010, May 10 Perf. 11½| Photogravure & Engraving 2438 Belgian Railways 175th Anniversary| €1.18 | multi-colored [Source: 2018 Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue, Vol. 1B]
Let’s see what’s on these stamps from Spain.
They were put on an envelope sent to me from an Ebay seller from Barcelona.
There was a single stamp from South Africa inside, to add to my collection ☺️.
Architecture of Gates in Spain Issued 2015, Jan. 2 Die Cut Perf. 13 | Booklet Stamps | Lithography 4010a Moon Gate, Cordoba | 42c | multi-colored 4010c St. Mary’s Gate, Hondarribia | 42c | multi-colored [Source: 2021 Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue, Vol. 6A]
Cartoon by David Horsey, a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist for The Seattle Times. Toto, I’ve got a feeling this isn’t Trump’s show anymore, says the heading on the opinion piece that accompanies the cartoon. .. and then there is Tom Nichols from The Atlantic that says about Trump’s press conference (‘press conference’ is flattering Trump) at Mar-a-Lago this week ‘His obvious emotional instability is frightening, not funny’.
Stamps (from South Africa) that I had bought in March (on Ebay) from a seller in China, showed up in my mailbox today.
The sender used a greeting card envelope with a preprinted red stamp on (far right). The cancellation mark shows that the envelope was sent on June 14 from the city Anqing (pop. 4 million) in Anhui province. Anqing is some 250 mi due east of Shanghai. My name and address were very neatly written in print style. At the end, a nice reminder for me as to how to write ‘USA’ in Chinese: 美国 Měi guó (or ‘Beautiful country’, literally translated).Let’s take a closer look at the stamps: Insects (II) From a set of 4 stamps issued Aug. 23, 2023 by China Post in the People’s Republic of China Perf. 13 with syncopated perf. left and right edge (one larger hole) |40 x 30 mm |Offset lithography printing Colnect Code:CN 2023.08.23-01 |80 分 (fēn) |Multi-colored |Atlas moth (Attacus Atlas)Special Greeting Card Stamp Issued Aug. 8, 2013 by China Post in People’s Republic of China Perf. Die Cut 13½ x 13 with syncopated perf. left and right edge (one larger hole) |30 x 30 mm |Photogravure printing Cat.Code Mi:CN 4501 |3 ¥ (yuan) |Multi-colored |Bamboo plant
.. being President of the United States*— or to collect stamps. *President Biden sent a cease-and-desist letter of sorts to House Democrats today, telling them to support him in the election.
In the mean time it’s Christmas in July for me, because my latest two purchases from the UK landed on my porch today.
These are old labels used for registered letters or mail pieces in South Africa. (Obsolete: printed barcodes without the sending city or town’s name on the label, are used nowadays). I am still deciding if some of them will make it into one of my stamp albums. Look for the label VERWOERD- BURG 1 at the bottom of the picture. Verwoerdburg in Gauteng Province, now goes by Centurion. It was named for H.F. Verwoerd, prime minister of South Africa widely seen as the architect of apartheid. Verwoerd was assassinated in 1966. Then there is TECOMA— not to be confused with Tacoma, Washington State 😁— a post office in East London, Eastern Cape Province, that has been permanently shuttered.This is just part of a massive collection of mint issues from the 50s , 60s and 70s for South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia). I have almost all of these already, but some in my album are used stamps with heavy cancellation marks, and I can add a few control blocks to my collection (four stamps with the margins from the original printed sheet).
