The Mightly Little Hummingbird and #mailart, #snailmail

We visited with Chris, Amelia, and Bryce Eleanor Tuesday night before Chris left for Georgia.  A hummingbird had flown into the window and was stunned and unmoving; hours later, it was alive, but still not moving.  That night, B.E. and Amelia tried feeding it, and finally did get it to eat a little sugar water, but it couldn't, or wouldn't, fly.  Wednesday afternoon,  B.E.  sent a text message that the tiny creature had successfully overcome the trauma and flown away!

Mail:  Finally, I'm beginning to catch up on the mail I owe!

Incoming

 

Outgoing

To Teresa & Ricky

To Hester

I still have a few letters to answer, and it is time to start thinking Halloween mail!  

The next postcards and envelopes will have some orange and black and spooky stuff.

Interesting:

Mysterious Postcards Sent to Chefs   (using old album covers)

Books/Reading: 

I'm not keeping up with reviews too well over at A Garden Carried in the Pocket, but I read and read during September.  In spite of the beginning of cooler weather, September was a month of "apathy attitude" in my world.  There are several reasons for this--it is a month that reminds me of lost loved ones, allergies make me unusually tired, the news is almost always distressing, and it all becomes a mash up of procrastination and mood swings and general torpor.  I've been coming out of it lately, but that means a lot of books still need to be reviewed.

I did review this one, and today I saw an article that made me think about it again:  Britney Spears Conservatorship Alludes to an Older Story of Controlling Women Artists.   

The article focuses on Claudine Claudel and her commitment to an asylum by her family.  It is a sad account of a woman whose rights were commandeered and who was locked away for 30 years.                                                                                                                                                                    Claudine's story  here.  

While Spears may have needed help, what she got was something entirely different, and probably entirely based on her financial benefit, not on her mental health.

The Mad Women's Ball reviewed here.  

Crafty:  little Halloween monsters

Superstitions and Other Stuff

Making the Halloween postcards was fun, and seventeen Halloween postcards went out from Carondelet Court, along with a couple of Halloween envelopes.  November ushered in a pause in postcards and a need to write more actual letters.

Sitting down to write a letter creates a different atmosphere from a phone call, text, or email.  Often, I'm writing letters in my head about what is going in the world and in the home, what I'm thinking about and what I'm reading.  Then, when sitting down to actually write a letter those mental conversations evaporate--suddenly my mind is a blank.  

Yesterday, my first line on a letter commented about the date, Friday the 13th, which made me think about superstitions, rituals, amulets, and talismans.  I'm not superstitious, but am curious about them and actually practice a few:  "Bless you" after someone sneezes, crossing my fingers, etc.   Doesn't matter if you have any faith in them, some are just comforting and courteous.  Sports figures often have some funny or complicated rituals for good luck.  

My first cup of coffee each morning doesn't count as a ritual, although it is a daily practice.  It is a habit, rather than what constitutes a ritual in my mind, because it doesn't have a particular purpose.  If I sat in silence and thought about something, perhaps prepared mentally for the day, then it might become less of a habit and more of a ritual.  But no, the coffee accompanies  daily tasks and digressions like checking to see if the cats have eaten last night's food or sitting at the computer and pushing cats from my lap if they won't play nice.

Maybe I'll make an effort to change some of my habits and create rituals instead, lending importance to simple things.  

Reading about the rituals that writers, artists, dancers, and sports figures intrigues me.  How do you feel about superstitions?  Do you have any?  Or any rituals that you practice?  

 Time seems to be standing still and yet moving too fast.  

Last Week's Mail

Incoming  

Outgoing Mail

 

Books/Reading 

Some of the books I've enjoyed lately:  The Preserve by Ariel S. Winter, Their Frozen Graves by Ruhi Choudhary, Gone Too Far by Debra Webb, Children of the Valley by Castle Freeman, and The Eagle Catcher by Margaret Coel.  I mentioned News of the World by Paulette Jiles last week (loved!).  

What have you read lately?  

Monday, Monday

  We  had some rain last week and the promise of cooler temperatures--yes, 93 degrees is cooler.   I've been reading,  playing upstairs making postcards, and doing a little embroidery while watching New Tricks on Hulu.

I had to get some more lab work done since my thyroid has been up and down since May--high, low, high.  New prescription each month.  While there I decided to go ahead and get my flu shot.  Another thing off the list. 

Months after filling the trunk of my car with things for Goodwill, I finally made that trip!  Now, I can put my groceries in the trunk again.  :)

Erin and the kids are going to be moving to Colorado this month.  Her new job will be with a firm specializing in family law.  I'm so happy for her...and not so happy for me.  That's so much farther away than Baton Rouge.  

Last Week's Outgoing Mail

to Hannah

to Max (Ha!  this one was supposed to go to Mila, but I wasn't paying attention)

to Mila (This is the one that should have gone to Max!)

to B.E. 

Letters from Lockdown  -- these charming illustrated letters are from artists and illustrators.   Just one example:

Now there is a contest for children to send letters about their lockdown experiences.  

Books/Reading--finished Intasar Khanani's The Theft of Sunlight yesterday, and it was as delightful as each and every one of her books have been.  This one is set in the world of Thorn, which is a retelling of the Goose Girl fairy tale.  Rae, another one of Khanani's strong female protagonists, has a club foot, but is determined to do her best in her pursuit of whoever is stealing children and selling them into slavery.  Khanani knows how to build a story and how to develop characters who have strength and resiliency.  Rae, despite her handicap, repeatedly places herself in danger to protect Princess Alyrra and to discover how the Snatchers are stealing the children and who is behind the organization.  I have only one complaint--now I must wait for the second book in this duology.  The Theft of Sunlight is a YA book, but it is one of those wonderful examples of an excellent story being enchanting  for any age.  

Garden

The Eve of September

It is difficult to believe that the Summer of 2020 is 

edging into the Fall of 2020 and we have been in such a state of

uncertainty since the Spring of 2020.

I can imagine that we will be referring to 2020 in these terms

for years to come.

Time for the morning cup of coffee.

 

--  Fee brought Belle, his office cat home for a visit during Laura; she is still here because the power is still off at his office.  Bell is a tabby like Edgrr, but her face is sweeter, more feminine, and her fur is soooo soft.  At a distance, you see the similarities, up close the differences are more apparent.  She's a girly girl and Edgrr is macho fella.  

--I'm still celebrating Women's Suffrage.  A  toast to those women who endured all of the terrible opposition and gained the vote for women!   

--I found this amusing:  Lizards will hold anything you give them.  This example suits the desire for coffee or tea first thing in the morning.

Reading:  I went through the first four books in Dana Stabenow's  Kate Shugak series this summer and enjoyed every one of them.  

Mail:  Not much last week, in or out.  

But my new stamps arrived :)

Reading, Gardening, Mailing, and Fighting Mosquitoes

Books/Reading
I've discovered a new author (for me).  Dana Stabenow writes the Kate Shugak books set in Alaska.  The setting and characters are so vivid, I feel as if I have been there and met them.  I've already finished the second in this series, and I've enjoyed them both.  I've only reviewed the first one.  

While Stabenow's Kate Shugak in an Aleut and concentrates on investigations and the indigenous culture of Alaska, Saumya Dave provides a look at Indian culture (from India) in America.  Well-Behaved Indian Women examines the cultural differences between those born in India and their children born in America.  The main plot premise focuses on arranged marriages.  I found it interesting as our American culture is so different.  My daughter went to high school at the Louisiana School of Math, Sciences, and the Arts, and many of her friends were from different cultures--Korean, Thai, Filipina (another Jen),and Indian students.   And yes, some of the Indian girls had arranged marriages.

I've been reading so much that I can't keep up with reviews on my book blog, but reading keeps me from dwelling on things I can't control.


Garden

Cosmos

Honey Bell Cuphea

Supposed to be a hummingbird plant,

but I've yet to seem them visit here.

What do they like?  Milkweed, Lantana, and the Basil!

Crepe Myrtle flowers on Japanese Maple

When crepe myrtle confetti falls, it looks

like neon pink flowers everywhere.

Mail
I've been enjoying playing upstairs lately.  Made some more Art Deco postcards on watercolor paper.     

Outgoing Mail

postcard to a care home resident

 to Connie, using one of the vintage envelopes 

she sent me and attaching it to an envelope for mailing.

Seeing how the watercolor works on the vintage envelopes has been interesting.  The envelopes are approximately 80 years old, faded, and stained.  The watercolor adapts to this patina and is much less bright than on watercolor postcards.  

When my husband and I sit outside, he will not get a single bite;

mosquitoes invariably choose me.  

But on a positive note:  Adding a new weapon to the fight against insect-borne illnesses like Lyme disease and malaria, the Environmental Protection Agency on Monday approved a new chemical that both repels and kills ticks and mosquitoes. The E.P.A. has approved nootkatone, which is found in cedars and grapefruit. It repels ticks, mosquitoes and other dangerous bugs for hours, but is safe enough to eat.

What have you been doing,

reading, making, thinking lately?