When I think of letter writing as an abstract notion I think of Vermeer paintings. When I think of myself sitting down to write letters I think of particular things such as my desk and bottles of ink and fountain pens. Sealing wax comes to mind and also paper. I can almost feel its texture or its smoothness just thinking of it. These images are always accompanied by feelings of comfort and warmth.
The reality of sitting down to write a letter is often complicated by little things going wrong like misspelling words, crumpling up the paper and starting over. Sometimes, pen in hand, I stare at the paper as though my mind has gone mute. Tonight I sat at my desk to respond to letters. They would be my first letters of the year and all was well. I wrote the first letter easily. Thoughts flowed and letters correctly formed words with no embarrassing misspellings. Filled with the optimism borne of accomplishment I thought I would make an envelope instead of conveniently pulling one out of the box. A handmade envelope is always a nice touch I thought. To make it a sort of celebration I opened a bag of Smarties to eat while making the envelope. I then brought out the glue. Please understand that Elmer's Glue has been a lifelong friend. It has served me well since kindergarten. It was there for me though various and multitudinous craft projects even into my adult years. But tonight...Elmer wronged me. The cap came off the bottle and glue puddled on the paper, ran on to the desk, down to the chair, and finally to the floor. I ran to grab a wet rag and set to work cleaning, cleaning, cleaning before glue could dry. The warm feelings I enjoyed earlier had completely cooled. I am pleased to say that espite this bumpy start I was able to press on and write more letters...but only after eating more Smarties.
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I am, at the moment, all caught up on letter writing. I can now go to the post office with confidence. I've been delaying picking up my mail for fear that doing so would complicate the feeling of being behind on correspondence, a feeling akin to the sensation of sinking. But now, at the start of the new year, I am all caught up and ready for more letters. I look forward to a new year and new letter friends and I anticipate great enjoyment in getting to know you better.
Also for this year I mean to get back into the practice of sending birthday and other cards. Conversational letters has been my focus this past year but now it's time to reacquaint myself with the greeting card and committing random acts of mail. What fun this year will hold. I have a stack of wonderful cards to send to unsuspecting friends this year. I'll show them to you another day and probably throughout the year as I use them. Now, pick up that pen and have a great letter day! Well friends, it is the last day of AD 2011 and also the seventh day of Christmas. The first day of Christmas was full of rest, a snippet of peace on earth. I haven't posted regularly of late so I have some catching up to do and have a couple things to show you. First, I received a card from the Anonymous Sender and have learned his identity. He's SANTA!! Oh my goodness, I had no idea. I also had no idea that Santa lived in Canada, but then, that makes more sense than for him to live with all those elves and their toy factory on an ice block in the Arctic. Thank you, Santa, you made my day! Please excuse the cocoa smudge. Below is the enclosed card. I immediately liked it for the colors and the style of painting but on closer inspection I liked it all the more when I noticed the cowboy holding a teddy bear. That's an unexpected twist to a rustic American theme. I've also received a few notable envelopes lately. I enjoy making my own envelopes and I especially enjoy receiving handmade envelopes from others. Here is the front and back of an envelope made by our Limner. The shape is unique. With Limner's permission I'll brag about the content. It's quite impressive and can enjoy it's own post. Love the stamps! And finally, a two in one picture below. The envelope on the left is from Marian whom you've met here before. She made this envelope from a magazine page. Why don't I think of these things? On the right is an envelope from my penpal Julie. She makes envelopes from children's story books. Inspired by her I actually found an excellent book at the thrift store to cut apart and make envelopes from but I couldn't bring myself to cut up the pages. I've thought of looking for an old atlas at the thrift shop but I might not be able to cut that up either. Next time I'm at the office supply store I will buy myself some labels so I can use any paper whatsoever and not worry about the visibility of the address. That's all for now. I have a couple letters to write before I'm off to the New Years Eve party and I also may just pull out the scissors and glue and satisfy the itch I now feel to make envelopes. Play time is surely a good way to end the year. :o)
Blessings to you all and a happy new year too! This last year held some small but delightful changes for me. Okay, perhaps "change" isn't the best word. Addition is a better word but that will just make you think I had a baby (I didn't). For the first time ever I opened a P.O. Box and threw out my address to the world in search of new friends. I'm thankful for my new friends and enjoy them. I only hope the satisfaction is mutual. Also, in search of a way to fund my kids' debate expenses I found Paperly and joined up. We'll see how that goes. I'm feeling hopeful. Perhaps I'll do stationery reviews now and then.
The arrival of a new year inevitably makes me take inventory and make plans, or at least form hopes. In the coming year I plan to continue the letter writing adventure and get to know my new friends better and hopefully gain a few more. I also intend to waste less time and read and write more. I am not making resolutions about X number of letters or books per week or month because I know in advance that I will not keep those resolutions. I only resolve to make the small reformations that could have a large impact on those things and through small changes bring good results. Oh yes, praying more would be good too :o). What do you want and hope for the coming year? Do you take spiritual inventory or set goals? I think most of us do. Write me a letter about it. I would love to hear from you. |
Letter Matters
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