Stamp topics and dissing on Batman
On the various philatelic discussion forums, the subject of stamp topics arises from time to time. It seems to coincide with a stamp release that is likely to have some pretty insane popularity.
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Remote learning in the pandemic – teacher fails and lessons learned
When the pandemic hit, I had no clue we’d be shifting to remote learning. I also had no clue I’d be trying to teach my own children at home.
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The Christkindl joy at Christmas
The collecting of Christkindl covers is a fairly popular sub-specialty of people who collect stamps related to Christmas. I have a few and they are beautiful. Christkindl. So there are a couple of definitions here. Christkind (or Christkindl) is the traditional gift-giver in Austria and other regions in the area (think Santa Clause). It also […]
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Norman Rockwell, the Boy Scouts, and Liberia
Norman Rockwell, the great American painter, painted some 51 annual illustrations for an annual Boy Scout calendar in his career. I was a Boy Scout from the time of 7 or so (Cub Scouts) until I joined the Coast Guard at 19. Naturally, I was frequently exposed to the Norman Rockwell artwork. Eventually, this spilled […]
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A man in a roomful of girls
My three girls are adopted. They are now 11 (the twins), and a brand new 10. When they came to live with me, they were 2 1/2 and 4 respectively. The awesome responsibility of raising three girls first reared its head a couple months after they came to live with me and my ex-wife. The […]
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The USCGC Cowslip and adventures in buoy tending
From 1988 to 1990, the USCGC Cowslip moored right behind us, and that was the cause for quite a bit of fun. I served aboard the Red Cedar, a 157-foot coastal buoy tender based in Portsmouth, Va., and the Cowslip was a cactus class cutter. She was 180-feet long and was a seagoing buoy tender.
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The challenge of alternative licensure programs for teachers
I’m a second career teacher and got there through alternative licensure. I’ve never regretted my decision, but I remember quite well one particular day. Day one. I walked into a classroom for the very first time.
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Robert E. Howard and the station cancellation
Like many, my first exposure to Robert E. Howard was through his character, Conan the Barbarian. There was a set of 12 books, not all written by creator Robert E. Howard, but I devoured them in days when I was maybe 14 or 15. What was critical was they were a different than Lord of […]
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The front, the back, and look closely
On the surface, the cover is plain on the front. A stamp. An address. A postmark. It is often … frustrating when someone is actually looking at my collection and they see just that plain jane cover. But there’s more to it, right? The front This is where the interest begins, but you can’t casually […]
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The USS Joseph T. Dickman and the USCG
One of the latest additions to my postal history of the Coast Guard collection is the depicted cover mailed by a sailor on the USS Joseph T. Dickman, APA-13. Before the Joseph T. Dickman The keel was laid in 1920 and upon completion of construction, she was the SS Peninsula State, a passenger and cargo […]
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