Topic 1: Y'all know how bare branches look against the sky, right? Around here, the maple trees are budding out, which means tiny little red buds all along the limbs. This evening, we had a storm coming in, and an impressionistic glance out the window let me see red branches against a lavender sky. Made me do a double-take, that's for sure.

Topic 2: Can anyone in England explain the origin of the stamps that are on the package I rec'd. today, please? Both kinds are cartoony-looking drawings. One is of a man who apparently is a doctor (bag on floor by his chair says "Doctor"). Across his lap is a blanket with a sun, moon and stars pattern, and the letters DNA which he appears to be examining with a magnifying glass. The caption reads, "Genome Medical Futures". The other one has the guy climbing a DNA strand "ladder", across which is a snake giving him a dirty look. This caption reads, "Genome Cracking the Code". ???

This afternoon we had a thunderstorm. The sky became nearly as dark as night, the lightning flashed and the rain came down in buckets. As I left the pottery studio at dusk I saw an absolutely gobsmacking sight...the freshly washed sky was a glowing cobalt blue and the first stars twinkled in the east as the last rays of the sun died in a paler shade of blue, wisps of charcol clouds waving goodbye.

The two stamps you describe are part of a set of 5 issued in February to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Crick and Watson uncovering the double helix structure of DNA. They announced their discovery "We have discovered the secret of life" in The Eagle pub in Cambridge, England.

The stamps present five cartoon representations of key areas in genome research.

2nd Class: The End of the Beginning - The piece of the jigsaw puzzle signifies that the discoveries made so far, and the mapping that continues, present us with the method of finding the beginning of life.

1st Class: Comparative Genetics - Highlights the fact that 95-98% of the genes in humans and apes are the same.

E Class: Cracking the Code - The twisted ladder with a snake signifying that DNA is a double-helix, but also that the process can sometimes be ‘one step forward and two back’.

47p: Genetic Engineering: The mix and match of genes from different organisms and how genes can be transferred from one species to make another.

68p: Medical Futures: The immense possibilities arising from the mapping, sequencing and analysis of the human genome are viewed through a scientific crystal ball.

For those of a technical turn of mind, the details of the stamps are:
Designer: Williams Murray Hamm
Illustrator: Peter Brookes
Stamp Format: Horizontal
Stamp Size: 37mm (w) x 35 (h) mm
Printer: Joh Enschedé Security Print
Print Process: Litho
Number per Sheet: 50
Perforations: 14 x 14.5
Phosphor: As appropriate
Gum: PVA

Thank you, dxb. I thought they were just about genetic engineering; I didn't know they were commemorating the discovery of DNA.

Hey, Connie? Perhaps you ought to consider publishing.