postcards, stamps and Hermann, Missouri

map postcard of Missouri

Hello! I received this postcard on Friday from my blog buddy Lynn, who blogs at Present Letters.
THANK YOU, Lynn!

I adore this map card of Missouri! I love most illustrations, it's such a visual way of showing and explaining stuff. Do you see the St Louis Gateway Arch in the map? Lynn sent me a card of St Louis earlier with that arch in it.

I don't know much about Missouri so I didn't recognize the significance of most of these images. I looked up Hannibal's history to find out who that guy is. Ah, Mark Twain! Heheh I didn't know he grew up in Hannibal or what he looked like, obviously.

I'll probably look up the other images but since I've been sitting on this post for nearly two weeks, I better get writing!

Sleeping Effort by Jackson Pollock (1953)

I've actually received quite a lot of mail from Lynn in the past month. Apart from the St Louis postcard, she also sent me one of the Jackson Pollock painting Sleeping Effort, which is in the Washington University Gallery of Art in Missouri.

I also got a nice package in the mail from Lynn two weeks ago. Yeah, I'm so lame as a swap partner and also in being so late in posting about the goodies I get!

Look what was in the envelope!

USPS July 2010 Sunday funnies comic strip stamps

Yahoo!! Lynn sent me these after I raved about Calvin and Hobbes on my postcard blog and mentioned that the USPS had issued a Calvin and Hobbes stamp as part of its Sunday Funnies comics set last year. Lynn went to the trouble of ordering the complete issue set for me when she couldn't find it at the post office. Lynn, that was so cool of you, a huge thanks to you!

I stared at them for a while before raiding my shelves for my well-loved Calvin and Hobbes books. They are my favoritest comics ever. The two protagonists are a bit of a terror but you have to admit they're cute, and there are a lot of messages that are relevant to grown-ups and so true about life.

I love all the stamps although I'm a fan of only the one comic. I read quite a few Archie books in my youth (one of my flatmates was a collector) but I wasn't crazy about it. Don't you think it's quite sexist? I also can't imagine ever not tiring of being in a love triangle. Move on, already! I didn't like Garfield or Dennis the Menace (that boy scares me!) and I've never read Beetle Bailey. I don't read comics anymore. I don't know if I outgrew them (are you ever too old for comics?) or I just prefer fiction now. I do go through phases; for about 5 years after university, I read only non-fiction books on history, politics and current affairs.

Hermann, a book about
Hermann, Missouri

Lynn packed an envelope full of goodness. In it was this autographed book about Hermann, Missouri by Dianna Graveman and Don Graveman. The town was founded in 1937 by the German Settlement Society of Philadelphia in an attempt to preserve the German language and customs in the area. Hermann is sometimes referred to as "Little Germany and was named the Most Beautiful Town in Missouri by Rural Missouri magazine. It is known for its wine industry, holds its own Oktoberfest, and claim to be the sausage-making capital of Missouri. Sounds like a delicious place to visit. I would love to see what a small Germany looks like in the USA. That's one thing I like and admire about the States, there are so many communities with their rich cultures and heritage that co-exist with all that Americanness. I love the mix.

1903 stock certificate of
Hermann Shoe Manufacturing Co

The book has a lot of lovely old photos of Hermann's history like its industries, people and events. The black and white photo shows a stock certificate for the Hermann Shoe Manufacturing Company.

USA Philatelic, 2011
Volume 16, quarter 1

I tried to look up the company and found the book on Google Books! You can read Hermann (Images of America) online. I'm glad I don't have to print a copy. I love digital resources and Google Books but I have to say I'm very much a touch it, feel it sorta person. I love to hold a real book and flip the pages, it's not quite the same to curl up on the sofa staring at the screen, is it?

Lynn sent me the 2011 1st quarter issue of the USA Philatelic as well. This is so cool, it documents the current stamp issues from the USPS. There were so many things I love in the magazine. I think I have to live in the US so I can get everything I want! heheh. Here are some photos of stamps I'm lusting after (Lynn, please don't read this!! The comic stamps were enough and I appreciate the THREE stamps you put on that one postcard! LOL)

Animated Rescue: Adopt A Shelter Pet
stamp issued April 30, 2010 by USPS

USPS wedding stamps and Celebrate! stamp
issued January 5, 2009 and
October 6, 2009

American Design series
USA stamps issued 2002-2007

Jazz (Forever) Digital Color Postmark
issued March 26, 2011

Hawaiian Rain Forest USPS stamps,
12th and last in Nature of America stamp series

Abstract expressionists commemorative stamps
issued March 11, 2010 by USPS

Those Hawaiian rainforest stamps above are fantastic. There are 10 stamps in that one pane! Hi res to look for them all.

I like these abstract expressionist ones on the left, too. There are stamps of art by artists including Pollock, Mark Rothko and Willem de Kooning.

Look, I actually got a few of the stamps I was gawking at on the Missouri map postcard! (thanks again, Lynn!) and another package I received last week from a swap. Read about it in this post.


The best thing about blogging is the great people I've met. I'm so grateful for the support and friendship my blog buddies have given me in the last few months. I'm quite an inquisitive person and have lots of interests (I often flit from one thing to another although I'm more often toggling between several things - that's how I missed Kate and William's first - and second - kiss on the balcony, because I was reading blogs on my reader and talking at the same time!) and since I started this blog, my already huge list of likes, interests and activities have kept growing. I never would have thought I'd be exchanging postcards with new friends and strangers via swaps and Postcrossing, reading writing/writers' blogs and writing my own book blurbs, interviewing photographers and artists, watching quilting video tutorials, admiring tablescapes and pink, playing with fonts, tweeting, sharing likes and discoveries here and elsewhere, or that I'd actually know what " base target="_blank " means.

I could go on, but I've probably bored you already. Just wanted to say thanks for reading, following and commenting. I especially love feedback, so please drop me a line or push my buttons. Heheh, I'm referring to the social media buttons I've introduced in my blog. You can now tweet my posts, share them on Facebook, like me on Facebook or add me. It's getting a little crazy here but I wanted to build some other options for interactivity. Please go ahead and ignore the buttons if it's getting too much for you too. lol

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Related links
Flickr set of US state map postcards from DeeDeeQ5724
http://www.jacksonpollock.com/



by liberal sprinkles