So long, '25!

 On the last day of this seemingly long year, some of us inevitably turn a little contemplative and assess the past twelve months and the changes they've brought to the world.  In just such a mood I write this on a cold, sunny morning in central Alabama, while weighing my role in the universe.

From a personal standpoint, it's been a pretty mixed year.  As are most of them, I suppose, with ups and downs that culminate in a general sense of turmoil or serenity, as the case may be.  Early on in the year, I experienced a potentially serious health episode which resulted in my first ever ambulance ride and ICU admission.  Things turned out alright, and I used the episode to spark a renewed effort in personal wellness.  Through the rest of the year, I've accomplished some much-needed weight loss, improved my fitness, and improved some worrisome medical measurements.  By December, my annual physical exam produced a panel of blood test lab results that were, as my medical professional wife called "textbook perfect."  This is an area that I hope to continue in the coming year.  This summer also saw a landmark birthday for me, which was allowed to pass with a minimum of fanfare, as I had hoped.  Age hasn't produced wisdom, but it has certainly provided experience, which is maybe the next best thing.

The past year also saw our first real vacation in over five years.  In it, I overcame my aversion to the hassles and disappointments that so often accompany modern air travel, and we had perfectly smooth travel to a beautiful location on the midcoast of Maine.  Wonderful weather and beautiful scenery made it an enjoyable and memorable trip.  I only wish such a trip could be reliably reproduced!  Closer to home, I expanded my literary horizons with regular participation in the Trollope Society Big Read, where we read and discussed works of the prolific Victorian author.  That's also something I will continue this year.  This year I took the plunge and arranged to have professional landscapers to tend to our property, freeing me from the drudgery of lawn mowing and yard work.  It's made a tremendous difference in my life, and I wish I'd turned to this option years ago.  And finally, I've been diligently puttering along with Postcrossing, where I exchange postal messages with other like-minded people all around the world.  The daily arrival of a tiny personal connection to another human being does wonders for one's outlook on life.

Taking a wider view, things are decidedly less rosy.  My country continues to suffer a despicable felon at the head of government.  In the past year, nearly everything that could seriously be said to "make America great" has been dismantled or seriously damaged.  As a working research scientist, I have grown an astonishing capacity to absorb the daily developments that represent destruction of the nation's once respected and admired scientific system.  Higher education is under assault, research funding is a shambles, once respectable agencies are now run by crackpot hacks, and the nation's proud scientific tradition is a smoking ruin.  Restoration, if begun tomorrow, would take years to return us to the condition we boasted only 12 months ago.  This is just the area of life with which I am most familiar.  But almost every other aspect of American life has been systematically destroyed in the past year.  The environment is being destroyed, the arts are being demolished, rule of law is being contorted to unrecognizable dimensions, public health, safety, and welfare are a shadow of their former selves, international relations are a shambles, and simple American principles like Freedom of Speech are no longer upheld.  To merely express disapproval of the current regime is to invite thuggish retribution from the government or its agents.  It is difficult for me to express how much I despise the current demented resident of the White House (what remains of it) or of his ignorant cult of supporters.  Fortunately, Postcrossing members do not often delve into politics, and I am only occasionally required to apologize for the disgrace that my country has become.

Since my personal life is on balance a good one, and since the conditions of the wider world are so bad, perhaps it is understandable that my coping mechanism has been to ignore the outside to that extent possible, and instead focus on life close to home.  If I were a better person, I might try to do small things to change the world for the better, for that's what will be required if we are ever to return to a sensible existence on this country.  But I simply don't have that sort of energy.  So I'll content myself with my books, my postcards, my experiments - in the laboratory at work, and in the kitchen at home - and try to hold on until the national pendulum inevitably swings back towards sanity.  Will that begin in the year that begins tomorrow?  I'm not hopeful.  But it surely will eventually, given enough time.  And I will try my best to endure until it does.

Blog to blog

 A few months ago, I discovered the blog "La Boite aux Lettres du Monde", which my high school and Duolingo French lessons enable me to translate as "Mailbox of the World".  The blog author, Daniel, solicits postal mail with interesting stamps from all over the world, which he posts on his blog.  In return, he promises to reply to senders with mail of his own.  This is a man with whom I share a like mind, so I sent off my letter on about November 30th.  Today, Daniel has posted my letter.  For the international 1st class 1 ounce postage rate of $1.70, I used two first class forever stamps ($ 0.78 each) and a vintage 14 cent stamp.  The paired forever stamps come from this year's issue of battlefield scenes of the American Revolutionary War, which was issued this past April.  Some of that stamp issue are matched pairs, or two stamps that combine to make one scene; the ones I used were from the Battle of Lexington and Concord.  I've had great enjoyment following this blog, and seeing all the beautiful stamps from around the world, and I look forward to receiving my reply from Daniel.  Stay tuned.

Big Read finale

 For the past year, I have been participating in The Big Read from the Trollope Society.  In bi-weekly Zoom meetings from London, UK, I have joined in the discussion of several worthy novels by the prolific Victorian author Anthony Trollope.  Coming into 2025, I was well familiar with Trollope's best-know novel series, the Chronicles of Barsetshire, and the Pallisers, but little beyond that.  By following along with this year's reading list, I have been exposed to a much wider selection of the author's works.  Some of the books I have enjoyed greatly...others, not so much.  But it was all time well spent.  And now I embark on the final reading assignment of the year.  It is the short story Christmas at Thompson Hall, first published in 1876.  Instead of buying a bound paper copy of the book as I usually do, I've instead downloaded the text from Project Gutenberg to read on my vintage 2nd generation Kindle.  Instead of turning pages, I'll be virtually flipping them with a button press.  But by the final meeting on December 22, I will have completed the entire reading list of this year's Big Read.

Playlist

 Since he began several weeks ago, I've been a regular listener to the podcast of actor Bill Nighy, Ill-advised.  In each weekly episode (which usually drop on Thursdays) Bill dispenses answers to listener-submitted questions on a wide variety of topics.  Everything from personal relationships to sartorial tips receive Bill's ostensibly well considered opinions.  Bill himself cuts off any excessive expectations, however, by prefacing each show with the boast that it is at best an opportunity to squander time.  And it's certainly helped me to do that; my job requires the squandering of large amounts of time, which I do via podcasts and audiobooks while I labor away at the lab bench in the furtherance of science.  Anyway, the show concludes each week with a musical playlist, a compendium of music that Bill recommends.  He is, we are to understand, a devotee of diverse musical genres.  Since I am not, I usually gloss over this segment of the show.  But then is the book segment, for Bill is an avid reader.  And he's mentioned a couple of titles recently that I have greatly enjoyed.  The first is The Bookshop, by Penelope Fitzgerald, which I just finished.  The short novel is the story of a brave young woman, Florence Green, who overextends herself and her capital resources to open a bookshop in a small, dreary coastal town in 1960s England.  In doing so, she upsets the rigid social order of the dull, drab village, and plunges headlong into the morass of bureaucratic red tape and hidebound local inhabitants.  Fitzgerald's delightful novel is a fascinating study of human nature and the incongruous hurdles that are thrown up by prejudice and ignorance.  Apparently, the novel was also made into a feature film of the same name, which Mr. Nighy appeared in.  From this, I immediately moved on to Nighy's next book recommendation, Berlin Game by Len Deighton.  I'm only a few chapters into this first book of a nine book series, but am already enthralled.  It is a cold war spy thriller set in divided Germany shortly after WWII, and it reads very much like a novel of John Le Carre or Graham Greene.  This was once my favorite type of fiction, and it's a pleasure to be reunited with the style by such a well written book.  I expect I'll enjoy this and all the ones to follow.  Bill Nighy's book tip batting average is running high- I hope I can keep up.

Rare card alert

 As a Postcrossing member for more than 13 years, I've eagerly (but hopefully not obnoxiously) spread the word about my hobby.  Along the way, I've convinced a handful of family and friends to join me in sending postal mail to random strangers around the world.  But in sending nearly 13,000 postcards to randomly assigned people, it was only this week that for the first time I sent a card to someone I know in real life.  This rare card didn't go too far- just to Jacksonville, Florida to an old friend from my college days.  But in sending this first ever card to someone who is not a total stranger, I achieved another first in this hobby that has occupied so much of my time.  Write on!

Rare card alert

 For whatever reason, there are not many active Postcrossing members in central America, and therefore cards from that region are rare.  So it took over 13 years of Postcrossing for me to receive my first ever card from Guatemala.  Sort of.  The card itself is from Amsterdam and was sent by a Dutch Postcrosser who was travelling in Guatemala at the time he sent it.  So it has an ID number from that country: 2131, meaning I've sent nearly six times as many cards as the entire country.  In fact, there are only 23 registered Postcrossing members in the country.  All this makes for an exceedingly rare card, one I'm happy to add to my collection.

October stats

 A productive month for me on Postcrossing.  In October, I sent 141 cards to recipients around the world, and received 122 cards.  This brings my all-time total for sent cards to 11,759, which earns me the rank of 28th Postcrosser in the USA out of 76,696 members.  I also hold on to my #1 ranking among Alabama Postcrossers.  And on this cold November morning, I'm steadily writing cards that will go out in todays mail.  Write on!

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!