Saw this cartoon in the Wall Street Journal. Very appropriate.
Proud Postage
Consistent with my use of fountain pens is my affection for written correspondence. Thus, there is the need for postage and lately I’ve found the stamps produced by the United States Postal Service to be less than inspired. They’re just in a rut; sooner or later they’ll deliver some good ones. In the mean time I have a source for great stamps. Here’s a shot of just a few of them:
Of course, my favorite is the Gadsden Flag in the upper left corner. (That’s the one that says, “Don’t Tread On Me.”) Don’t miss the George S. Patton one in the upper right, either. There are the ones with the American Revolution theme, space exploration, and nautical history. My supplier must have a deep well of these because I send approximately 50-60 pieces of mail to both US and international destinations each month. He’s never run out and I’m grateful.
These stamps are works of art and a sort of time capsule that capture history and the mood of the age. Compared to anemic email with it’s slang, shortcuts, silly animations, these stamps stand tall. And they should. The recipients of my letters and cards frequently comment on how they like the stamps. Drop someone a handwritten note once in a while to show your affection and appreciation. After all, that’s what friends are for.
Goodbye Kodachrome
Kodak announced that it is discontinuing it’s famous Kodachrome line of film. I greet this news with sadness. I remember using Kodachrome years ago, when I was in highschool and again in college. More recently, I’ve used Ektachrome, a film with which I’ve been able to achieve stunning results (in terms of color rendition, clarity, and so forth). However, the digital age has been upon us for some time now and sooner or later film will be a quaint thing of the past.
In some ways, this is a good thing. Film processing produces a bit of pollution and waste that digital photography virtually eliminates. Furthermore, digital manipulation can be less expensive and time consuming than the “old” way of chemicals and enlargers. No the results are not the same; they can’t be the same. The process is different. Thus, it is neither better nor worse in my opinion, simply different. I can accept that and adapt. Along the same lines, photography is open to more people due to reduced costs. This is another good thing as there are some sharp eyes out there who might otherwise not have a chance to practice the art.
Still, I miss days of winding film into a holder, exposing it, waiting until it came back from the lab and that thrill of getting a great shot. It’s sort of like Christmas morning every time with both the joy and disappointment of getting what you want or not.
Another kind of High-Ball
In earlier posts, I mentioned a novel I work on from time to time about a couple of pals whose lives intertwine between the end of the First World War and D-Day of the Second. One of them is employed by the Pennsylvania Railroad and much of the story centers around life along the lines in Eastern Pennsylvania. It’s hard to imagine what the scenery was like back then. By this I mean the large number of steam equipment traversing the countryside as well as working in massive railyards located in major cities and small towns alike. Everything moved on the rails, especially if it had to move over a long distance.
Thus, I found this video of a Union Pacific steam locomotive running out west. The term high-ball originated from a signal which consisted of a ball run up to the top of a pole, indicating to the locomotive engineer that the track ahead was clear. Thus, he laid on the coal and proceeded with all due haste. Take a look at more than 200 tons of locomotive moving at full speed.
In case you missed it, watch the video all the way through. The whistle isn’t all that clear, but it does spark the imagination. I’m grateful to all the people who post videos like this. They go a long way to making my job as a writer a bit easier. Just think, sixty or so years ago, before jet liners arced through the sky, there were hundreds of steam trains like this striking out across the nation.
The Bent Page 
You must be logged in to post a comment.