the long letter
written on the outside of my valentine
was even more important
than the card inside
the kinder who worked very hard to write it all down
read it out loud to me
confident, proud, with voice inflections, hands moving
and so much to say.
—
“fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.”
-william wordsworth
i recently made halloween cards
for all of my grandies and nieces
and sent them out early
to make sure they arrived in time
imagine my surprise
when i opened my mailbox
and found a letter
that i had sent out
a day earlier
only to have the post office
deliver it back to me
instead of sending it on ahead
somehow they had managed
to process it on the back of the envelope
and decided that my return address sticker
was where it should be delivered
i often wonder about their logic
and am pleasantly surprised
when things actually get
to where i had intended them to go
i will try again tomorrow
and tell them that it should go
to where the mailing address is
on the front of the letter.
“you know you’re a fool when what you’re doing
makes even the post office seem efficient.”
-joshua cohen
found this sweet surprise
waiting for me in my mailbox
a very old tiny sleigh with a handwritten letter
from a neighbor i’ve never met
who’s lived nearby for over 50 years
she left it for me to add to my fairy garden
when the season is right
she took the trouble to repaint the sleigh
and write me this lovely note
wanting to visit the garden
but too shy to stop by to see it up close
it was such a kind and thoughtful gesture
i wanted to thank her and figured out where she lived
then wrote her a long letter back
to let her know
how much i enjoyed her special gift
and what it meant to me
i really hope that we meet in person in my garden one day.
—
“give what you have. to someone, it may be better than you dare to think.”
― henry wadsworth longfellow
dear mom –
“just a few photos from xmas. still having shutterfly problems so thought i’d better at least send something. felix is talking, saying ‘car, ear, nose’ and magnus is crying over patsy cline songs. just back from swimming at ellen’s house with the dairy cows watching us from the other side of the fence. terry has his triathlon in two weeks then he can finally relax and not train every night. had our outdoor movie night on the weekend and it was great, everyone had fun and the kids got to stay up late and be maniacs.
what’s going on at home?”
❤ love, holli
(a glimpse of life from my daughter who was living far away in australia at the time)
—
here’s to
national handwritten letter day
in honor of one of my favorite things.
—
“letters are among the most significant memorial a person can leave behind them.”
-johann wolfgang von goethe
melbourne assigned some of its trees
numbers and email addresses
so that residents could report problems
like low hanging branches.
instead, thousands of people wrote them love letters.
what would you write to them?
—
“if you reveal your secrets to the wind, you should not blame the wind for revealing them to the trees.”
-khalil gibran
—
credit: mentalfloss, the atlantic
I didn't have my glasses on.... 