Delivering for America

 

For a book lover and collector with a fascination for postal mail, the newly published history of the US Postal Service was a temptation too great to resist.  My copy arrived yesterday, and I look forward to many hours spent perusing its 496 pages.  The beautifully produced large coffee table book is full of rare photos and captivating facts of the 250 years of the USPS.  It is written by James H. Bruns, the former director of the Smithsonian National Postal Museum and a prolific author and historian.  The long story of the USPS is a wild tale of adventure, innovation and technology that can hold the interest of any candid reader.  Though today's dismal state of the Federal government casts serious doubt on the future of the largest delivery service in the world, there will always be its noble history, as related in the pages of this stellar book.

Banned Books Week 2025

 We are now in the midst of Banned Books Week 2025, which runs from October 5 to Let Freedom Read Day on October 11.  The annual celebration of Free Speech and Freedom of the Press long predates the short history of this blog; indeed, it has been needed from the earliest days of our nation.  Sadly, it is needed now more than ever.  Hopefully our current thuggish, tyrannical administration will eventually recede into the dark corners of history, yet we must be ever mindful that the freedom to read any and all literature is perpetually under threat.  Censorship is today no less a problem that it has been in recent memory.  Efforts to restrict libraries in schools, universities and municipalities is a corrosive force that poses a persistent threat to society.  This year author, actor, and activist George Takei has been named honorary chairman of Banned Books Week.  Mr. Takei is no stranger to harassment and censorship, and he reminds us that a free and open society depends on the abolishment of censorship in all its forms.  So this week, I will remember that living in "the land of the free and the home of the brave" requires unrelenting effort from all of us to root out censorship wherever it is found.  Read on!

Happy Anniversary

 

Happy Postcrossing-versary to me!  It was on this day, 13 years ago that I joined the worldwide postcard exchange project known as Postcrossing.  On that day, I mentioned on Facebook that I'd joined, little knowing what I'd be getting myself into.  Since then, it has grown into a hobby that I devote much of my time to, not to mention significant expense.  Over the years, I have sent over 11,600 postcards and have so far received about the same number.  From 116 countries around the world, postcard have come and gone, sometimes in days, sometimes in months.  But I value each one I send and receive, as a small symbol of a fellow resident on planet Earth; no matter how similar or different we may be, we share our humanity and our passion for postcards.  I've managed to persuade a few friends and family to join Postcrossing with me, but even more participate in other ways.  My wife and some other family members are now always on the lookout for new and interesting postcards for me to send around the world, and I deeply appreciate their contributions.  So far, I see no prospect of relenting in my efforts to dispatch postal souvenirs from central Alabama to the wider world.  It's a hobby I hope to continue to enjoy for many years to come.  Write on!

World Postcard Day

 Once again, it's World Postcard Day when we celebrate the date of the first postcard, sent in 1869.  Long before email or text messages, the postcard represented a quick and inexpensive way to send a short message.  More recently, picture postcards were a popular through the mid 20th century as a way to send souvenir photos from vacations back to family and friends.  Today, enthusiasts like myself preserve the tradition by sending postcards around the world in an exchange program facilitated by Postcrossing.  Of course, that's not enough anachronistic messaging for me, so I also send personal postcards to family and friends during vacations and on other holidays and special events.  This year I will be sending a commemorative postcard that was published a few weeks ago to specially mark this day.  And by sending a few cards on this day, I will earn a profile badge at Postcrossing, as I have every year since 2020.  As I write my postcards today, I'll be remembering the long history of the humble paper rectangle- the world's first short message system.

National coffee day

 Happy National Coffee Day to you all!  Today marks the celebration of that most precious of beverages, extracted from the amazing coffee bean.  One popular legend has it that coffee beans were discovered by a 9th century goatherd, but we are all indebted to whoever figured out the hard stony pit  of a cherry-like fruit could be washed and dried, roasted to a dark brown, ground into a powder, and extracted with hot water to provide a beverage so essential to so many.  I myself have previously mentioned how important coffee is in my life.  Accordingly, I roast my own green coffee beans, then brew them using several different methods, from conventional drip maker to French press to moka pot to elaborate, high-end Italian espresso machine.  While many people will today enjoy the coffee that they obtain from some shop or other, I always make my own at home.  It's the only way to obtain the best quality product.  And while I sip my daily brew, I often contemplate the economic, social, and geopolitical roles that coffee has had over history.  Much of this is well documented in the excellent book "Uncommon Grounds" by Mark Pendergrast.  (This book also taught me a different important lesson:  Decades ago, I lent my author-signed copy to an acquaintance who never returned it.  I don't lend books anymore.) So today make a point of remembering while you enjoy coffee in whatever form you prefer the amazing impact the humble bean has had on mankind.

Rare card alert

 Today's alert is a card I sent myself and was just registered by the recipient in...Downers Grove, Illinois.  In over twelve years of Postcrossing during which I've sent over 11,600 postcards, this is the first card I've sent to the western Chicago suburb where I grew up.  Downers Grove is now a moderate sized Chicago suburb of over 50,000 residents, though it was much smaller when I lived there through the 1960s, 70s, and 80s.  The village (it's always been referred to as a "village", for some reason) was founded in 1832 by a settler named Pierce Downer.  It is located on a commuter rail line into Chicago, and so has become a prosperous bedroom community, and all-around basic, nondescript suburb.  My childhood there was pleasant and comfortable, if not exciting.  Downers Grove is not known for producing much of note, apart from Sherrill Milnes, the famous operatic singer, and Emo Phillips, a once-popular standup comedian.  My high school friend and soccer teammate once served as mayor of the village.  All these decades later, I still have happy, nostalgic memories of the place, which were revived by sending this postcard.

The postcard that was just registered in Downers Grove.

Rare card alert

 Today I received a postcard from China.  Not in itself a rare thing, but I'm glad to see mail from China has resumed, after being stopped for a time after confusion resulting from the de minimis duty changes.  No, this card had a unique feature:  stamps with fluorescent ink.  When I shined an ultraviolet light on them, unseen features appeared. (I am a research scientist, and use a UV light in my daily experiments in the laboratory.)  The sender of the card explained that the stamps showed prehistoric fossils, and under UV light, the location where they were discovered is revealed.  Pretty nifty!  Even the other stamps, like the one on the lower right, with the large Chinese characters and the '3' on it had some fluorescent security features embedded in it.  This is the first time that I'm aware of fluorescent ink being used in stamps.  However, nearly invisible fluorescent barcodes have been applied to mail by the USPS to aid in sorting for many years.

Stamps under normal light.

The same stamps under ultraviolet light.

Maine wrapup

 We’re home safe, and basking in the many happy memories of the completed trip to Maine. In an example of amazing modern technology, my phone has already made its own video of the trip. Enjoy!

Maine Day 12

 And suddenly, it was time to head home.  After a wonderful, perfect week and more in Maine, we had to pack up and return to Helena.  We spent the morning gathering our belongings and the few souvenirs we picked up this week, tidied our rental house, and then drove back to Portland to catch our flight home.  With a smooth, trouble-free journey to Maine, I was concerned that our usual bad travel luck would finally catch up to us on the return trip.  But I needn't have worried. The two hour drive to Portland went quickly, and both of our flights home, along with the short layover in Detroit went without a hitch.  We even landed in Birmingham ahead of schedule.  Back to the real world.  It was just a terrific, perfect vacation in every way.  I wish they all could be like this one and the twelve awesome days we spent in midcoast Maine!

One last Reuben before the flight home.

At the Sea Dog pub in Portland: preflight meal

Midcoast mail

 As we roamed around the midcoast region of Maine this past week, I've kept my eye out for all the local post offices we have happened to pass.  It's been extremely convenient that one of them is directly across the street from where we've been staying.  So each day I drop off a stack of postcards - my personal travel ones, along with Postcrossing cards - to go out to the world.  But we've glimpsed many others, some large and stately in the imposing style of 1940s-era government buildings, some very quaint and tiny.  The closest one, here in Tenant's Harbor, looks like a simple wood framed single story ranch style house.  It appears to share space in the building with the local Veterans of Foreign Wars chapter.  Inside, it has all the basic requirements: PO boxes, mail slots, and a clerk's counter.  Curiously, this post office is not the only one I saw this week that still has a relic of the recent past.  There is a dedicated drop slot for Netflix disks.  I assume this reduced the number of disks that were broken by other heavy objects, but I'm surprised these slots still exist for Netflix DVDs, which were discontinued two years ago.  Still, it's fascinating to see the variety of facilities, from a tiny post office on remote Monhegan Island, to the stately, large office in Camden Maine, which we were told by a passing local resident that it served as a location shot in the Steven King movie Thinner.  Each post office serves its role as an entry point into the mailstream of the USPS, and to the wider world.  Even in this digital age, they provide an essential tie to the wider world.

My postal home base for over a week: Tenant's Harbor

Tenant's Harbor wasn't the only post office that still has a dedicated Netflix DVD slot

The Tenant's Harbor office has all the basics, including a clerk's counter...

...and a PO box lobby.

Thomaston was not quite the smallest post office I saw.

The main post office in Camden reputedly served as a courthouse exterior in the movie Thinner.

Even remote Monhegan Island has a tiny full-service post office.

As a souvenir, I sent myself a postcard from Monhegan Island to get the rare postmark stamp.

Port Clyde also has a small post office.

The Rockland post office wins the award for most drab architecture.