My history of stamp collecting has been erratic, to say the least. I had great enthusiasm as a child. But my interest lapsed when I reached junior or senior high school age and then college and beyond. But I think my interest resumed sometime in my 30’s when I was married and had small children – and most importantly was living in Fiji in the South Pacific where there was a very active Philatelic Society. We joined the group and participated in the monthly meetings and the circulation of books of stamps to buy.

I have a very interesting response to a letter that I wrote at that time to the Philatelic Society in Norway.

After Fiji we went to Bangladesh and I had a penpal with whom I exchanged stamps

The years went by, my collecting interests lapsed – and now some 40 years on I am picking up the odds and ends and becoming a rather avid collector again. Onward!

AndI I have discovered that I have my son Andrew’s collection as well. I wonder if he wants it for his son – I doubt it.

Anyhow, here we are and I feel swamped. There is too much to collect. How do I narrow it down to manageable dimensions? I think I will sort what I have and not buy anything more.

But postcards – that’s another matter!

What a joy to visit a real live bookstore. And Barnes & Noble is really quite close to us here at Ida Culver. And. it’s an easy Uber destination. There – I’ve puit in a plug for a bookstore and a ride service. I am am avid reader and as regular readers of this blog know, I love books – and I like to own the books I read – although I’m at the point now that I am giving my books away to worthy causes.

Today I purchased 2 books – one by an author that I know and like – Haruki Murakami. And the second by a much revered author that I have read about and a topic that I have little to no interest in. Well how is that for being adventuresome.

Have you ever been diagnosed with skin cancer? I wonder.

Well the good news is that Katerina has been a regular visitor to my garden of late. She saunters in, stays for a while,, assumes her position for bird watching, and sooner or later decides to exit via another watching post. Yesterday she missed seeing the hawk – yes a hawk! First time I have ever seen a hawk so close. That really was a highlight.

I suspect this cards sent to my mother by 2 of her bridge playing friends back in New England

What a joy to be in my garden and have Katerina enjoying the sunshine – and the bird life – with me. She is such a lovable cat!

That was the scene for a couple days last week – the fast fading days of summer. And I got to read my book also – Haruki Murakami’s Killing Commendatore. Haruki Murakami is not to everyone’s taste – as I found out when I chose a Murakami book for my book group in Dublin a few years ago. I thought my book group readers would appreciate this author but no – none of them liked my choice. I was disappointed. Never mind.

Anyhow I loved the latest Murakami and it was perfect to have the solitude – apart from the birds and Katerina – to enjoy the spell/magic of the book.

Katerina – not at her most watchful