Try to be a Rainbow in Someone’s Cloud

USPS unveiled the Dr. Maya Angelou Forever Stamp image today on March 4, 2015, and announced that the stamp's First-Day-of-Issue as April 7, 2015 with the dedication ceremony at the Warner Theater in Washington, DC.

Maya Angelou (April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014) was an American author, poet, dancer, actress, singer, and champion of civil rights. One of the most dynamic voices in 20th-century American literature, she was known for her series of autobiographies. The first of the seven in the series, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” published in 1969, gave a vivid account for her childhood against the African-American life in the South as the background.

Postcard BY-892970 from Belarus shows a rainbow over the National Library in Minsk. Although unrelated, it does remind me a quote from Dr. Maya Angelou: "Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud." In "the Letter to My Daughter" in 2009, She said "You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them." Dr. Maya Angelou recited her poem "On the Pulse of Morning" at President Bill Clinton's inauguration in 1993. I can't wait to see the stamp.

Fort Jefferson Lighthouse

Outgoing postcard US-3133041 to Belarus shows the Fort Jefferson Lighthouse on Garden Key in the Dry Tortugas, Florida. Erected in 1876, Fort Jefferson Lighthouse, also known as Garden Key Lighthouse, helped warn sea traffic away from the dangerous shoals and reefs that surround the Florida Keys until it was deactivated in 1921. Today the  three-story hexagonal lighthouse made of boilerplate iron is part of Dry Tortugas National Park established in 1992. The lighthouse is one of the five Gulf Coast lighthouses featured on postage stamps and a stamped postcard book with pre-printed 28-cent postage issued by USPS in 2009.

Hexagonal Pavilion

Postcard DE-2409177 from Germany shows a hexagonal pavilion in a Japanese garden. It was attributed to the Japanese Tea Garden in the Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, California. However, I couldn't find similar photos from Google Image Search or Flickr Photo Search; and it didn't show up on Nata Metlukh's excellent drawing of the Tea Garden. So, I am not sure. If you know where the pavilion is, please leave your comment below.

Middle Bay Light, Alabama

Postcard US-2663940 is travelling to Indonesia showing Middle Bay Lighthouse, also known as Mobile Bay Lighthouse, that is located at the center of Mobile Bay, Alabama. The hexagonal shaped prefabricated screw-pile lighthouse was first lit in 1885.

The keeper's wife gave birth to a baby at the lighthouse in the summer of 1916 during World War I. However, she was unable to nurse the newborn baby. The keeper brought a dairy cow to the lighthouse and created a coral on the gallery at the lower deck. All had to be evacuated when the lighthouse survived a hurricane but sustained damages that year. The light was automated in 1935 and deactivated in 1967. It was placed on National Register of Historic Places on December 30, 1974. To learn more, visit the Alabama Lighthouse Association's web site.

Postcard photo by Carol Highsmith. You can purchase a copy at zazzle.com.

Hexagon

Postcard US-2621782 from U.S. shows this well-documented quilt that was the work of Abigail Scott Duniway (October 22, 1834 - October 11, 1915). Outspoken and often controversial, Abigail Scott Duniway was an American women's rights advocate, newspaper editor and writer, whose efforts were instrumental in gaining voting rights for women. She came over the Oregon Trail in 1852 from Illinois with her educated parents and family. The quilt, measured 80.75" x 60", was made from 1869 to 1900.

Wikimedia Commons: Abigail Scott Duniway ca 1870-1900