Postcards and Letters

It is pouring here, and I don't want to even make a quick trip to the mailbox to get my postcard for the day in the mail.  Hoping it will let up soon--otherwise, hoping the umbrella will provide some defense from wind and rain.

So far, I've managed to keep with the Month of Letters challenge.  It has been a challenge in some ways and a revelation in others.  Making postcards and envelopes has been fun; I love experimenting with different materials, paints, stamps, etc.  Of course, making the postcards or envelopes isn't required--isn't even the point--but I love doing it.

I've sent Valentines

And received Valentines

What has surprised me is how much I've enjoyed writing the letters to people I know from real life and to people I've become friends with through blogging.  Not all real-life friends share the same interests, so it makes for a great mix.  I can talk about books or sewing or crafting with blog friends and about memories and kids with others.

My mind goes from "Oh, no!  I don't have anything to say!" to suddenly feeling ready to communicate.  The postcards are easy and quick, but the letters have me pausing and thinking and sorting through possible topics of interest .  

The challenge doesn't require a response, but almost everyone has sent an email saying that they received and enjoyed finding something in their mailboxes besides junk mail.  And quite a few people have responded with fun postcards and wonderful letters in return!  I've posted a lot of both incoming and outgoing mail on my other blog, but I sometimes forget to take pictures, especially on the outgoing mail.

I've sent letters

And received letters

 Isn't that stamp gorgeous?

I got a wonderful letter from Melody Lee (Melody's Reading Corner) in Singapore!  My return letter went out yesterday.  Writing people that you meet online, that share your interests (crafting on my other blog and reading on this one) has been such a pleasure.  

Writing friends with whom I've been out of touch for quite some time has been easier than a phone call because I can do the pause thing--take a sip of tea, read a while, whatever--and come back without any awkwardness.  

An artist friend of mine who lives in Santa Fe and I had recently gotten back in touch on FB, now we are exchanging letters!  We've known each other since the 7th grade, were friends all the way through college, then life journeys took separate paths, and we seldom got in touch. It was nice to send a FB message or two back and forth, but the letter writing--well, it feels real in a way that FB just can't.  In a way, the letters are like we are still the same 7th graders, not well-traveled "mature" women.

 When Bryce Eleanor was here a while back, she painted her postcards to her cousins.

      Max likes Freddy (Five Nights of Freddy) and Mila loves Erin Hunter's Warrior series.

Bryce Eleanor loves to draw; painting was a bit more demanding,

but she did a great job.

 I love her messages.  FNF3 is a game, and

evidently Night 2 has given her trouble.

This is just a taste of what has been going on here this month.  A lot of reading, a lot of letters and postcards, as little housework as I can get away with.  :)

Here is a site about the Royal Mail in the UK.  So many interesting topics:  historic letters, postage,  writing in code, the origin of the postmark, mail coaches, and much more.