Jim Nolan's Blog

Swedish Nobel Prize Stamps

Sent from Uppsala, Sweden in 1972. Illustrations by Lasse Soderberg. 1912 Nobel winners Gustaf Dalén (Physics) and Alexis Carrel (Medicine). Dalén was a Swede.

Swedish Royal Dramatic Theater Stamp

Not sure what play this is from, but she seems to be asking him to reconsider a decision taken in haste. One of the Royal Dramatic Theater's greatest directors was Alf Sjöberg, who led productions there from 1930-1980. Not a bad run. He also won two Grand Prix du Festival at the Cannes Film Festival, in 1946 and 1951. Sjöberg also happens to be the grandfather of my buddy Martin. Letter sent from Bromma, Sweden, so it must be from my grandfather Bengt Paul.

Swedish Sailing Stamps

Beautiful Swedish sailing stamps. Not sure what year, but probably pre-1967. Envelope sent by Bengt Paul to his daughter Christa. 

Christmas Seal, 1947

From my grandmother's scrapbook.

Another Kind of Buffalo Grill

I love this! Here's the story from my great pal (and former Buffalonian) Jon Ward:

"The grill is on the front lawn of a store in Pittsboro, NC that sells African and French art.  I think the grill was made in Senegal.  The internal firebox section is made of a cut up propane tank.  The owner says he has reduced the price to $550, in case anyone simply must own one."

Thanks, for sending, Jon.

Swedish Stamps with Made-Up Histories

Stamps honoring August Strindberg's great-grandmother, Karin. She was famous throughout Skåne for her banana bread, to which she added chocolate morsels. Strindberg hated chocolate morsels.

Video Tour of Richard Proenneke's Cabin

 

Video from DC Morga's YouTube channel. Thanks for sharing your tour.

Walking in Snow Cartoon

Franca and Zoie cartoon by Isabella Bannerman.

Walking in other people's footsteps is a tried and true strategy to avoid getting snow in your shoes.

Paper Snowflake Cartoon

Cartoon by: Isabella Bannerman

Do kids even make snowflakes anymore? Maybe on an iPad.

I like the Goody Two-shoes in the back.

Buffalo Forge Grill for Sale

This is a real beauty, just redone. It looks like it's ready to last another 50 years. It's for sale by Erin Jurecic (ejurecic@yahoo.com). Erin's father owns a body shop, and sandblasted and painted it. He matched the exact color with DuPont paint. Erin tells me the blower works perfectly; her dad took it apart and sanded the fan. Hey, they only made around 500 of these grills, and a lot of them got rusty and thrown out. They're easy to throw in the back of a car, because the legs are easily removable. You will have the coolest grill at the tailgate, no question. If you're interested, make Erin a offer. It's won't go cheap, but it's less expensive than I paid for my re-do.