I turn 50 years old in just a few days. I had planned to do a few things in order to celebrate my first half-century on Earth -- a "50 things about me" blog series for one thing, putting together an article picturing "my life in stamps" for another. I thought about "issuing" a series … Continue reading Monthly Meanderings: November 2015
family
Most Thoughtful Gifts
It took a couple of years of packages that never arrived and frustrations over extremely high shipping costs to convince my sister and I that annual holiday exchanges between Kansas and Thailand were more trouble than they were worth. Since 2008 or so, the majority of our exchanges have been the online variety. But every … Continue reading Most Thoughtful Gifts
A Date Which Will Live In Infamy
Today, the 7th of December, is Pearl Harbor Day – the anniversary of the attack on the U.S. military bases in Hawaii, which led to America’s entry into the Second World War. It was, as President Franklin D. Roosevelt (a fellow philatelist) declared, “A date which will live in infamy.”My continuing patriotism, despite my expat … Continue reading A Date Which Will Live In Infamy
Happy Thanksgiving
The last Thursday of November is American Thanksgiving. Through most of my life this was my favorite holiday of the year. Coming a week before my birthday and a month before Christmas, Thanksgiving always felt like the start of, well, everything. I love the entire holiday season but this day felt extra-special. When I still … Continue reading Happy Thanksgiving
Mark Joseph Jochim 