First-day cover Austen stamps arrived

Sometimes I doubt just how much of an Austen fan I am (my friends will shake their heads at this), but my joy in seeing these little stamps reassures me. It’s very much the same experience as seeing Jane’s portrait at the National Gallery. And just to be perverse, I think my favorite is Mansfield Park, Fanny Price on the other side of the door, always the outsider. Elizabeth standing before Darcy’s portrait, however, is next. And Knightley saying “Badly done, Emma! It was badly done, indeed!”

I was also tickled to see my address as Ms  Jennifer Petkus, Bates House. The Royal Mail insisted on the address having a name, so at last I have taken my husband’s name.

And another little treat is the realization that the stamps were issued on 2/21.