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?  

Mid-October

 Mid-October.  I've been playing with this embroidery for about a week as I watched some shows like New Tricks.  The basic shape is outlined in red, so there is quite a bit of time left on completing this slow stitch project I want to use on a large barrett.

The cosmos and lantana keep me in cheerful colors, 

and the coleus and purple sweet potato vines root in another jar,

 then get planted in pots that I hope will last a little longer as it gets cooler.

Incoming Mail

from Cate

From Teresa

I love the effect of the chalk pastels on black,

from Patty 

the gold sparkles all over, but doesn't show in the pic

I love shiny things. :)

from young Zoe

This is one of my favorite postcards ever!  

It arrived completely black with instructions from Zoe 

to use a toothpick to scratch a design!

An interactive postcard--creative and fun. :)

Outgoing

Last Days of September

Postcards: I've been making Halloween postcards on Oct. 1 for World Postcard Day.  My desk is in chaos, but it is messy fun.  Today, I'm going to straighten up my work area because the chaos has encroached so far that I have no place to actually work.

Garden 

 How I love the spider lilies!

I also love the little herb bottles for flowers

Mail

to Zoe

Family:  Erin, Mila, and Max are now in Colorado!  She's liking her new job in family law, and they are all adjusting to their new surroundings.

Of course, there's a name for it!

Compliments and Kid's Photoshopped Drawings

Do you compliment strangers?  I do.  Not often enough, but sometimes I'll blurt out a compliment to a complete stranger and the effect on them has an effect on me.  Back in the days before the pandemic, a young woman was leading us to our table at a restaurant, and I said, "You have the most beautiful smile!"  She glowed.  I glowed.  I complimented a young bagger at a grocery store on his braids.  Same thing.  His response and my response to his response was a pleasure.  

A great smile and interesting hair often elicit a comment, but I'm also often impressed with eyes, hands, rings, earrings, unusual clothing choices.  Yesterday, a young man whose hair was shaved on the sides with about 2 inches of pink hair standing at attention on top was working near by and when I said (from my social distance) "I like your hair," his grin was a little joy in my morning.  He leaned over and showed me his dark roots.  :)

So this morning, I read this article in The Guardian about Complimenting Strangers.   I knew exactly what she was talking about.

I like her style:  “I’m loving everything that’s happening here,” I said, walking past a fabulously non-binary person in a body-conscious gold jumpsuit and coordinated vest. I splayed my fingers and waved my arm like a grand old dame, from sky to sidewalk. “Everything!” I crowed over my shoulder, speed-walking on in my orthopedic Adidas high tops. Grand old dame likes everything that’s happening here, people! Everything! I barely looked back to see what the reaction was, but I’m pretty sure I at least got a smile.  (I'm not sure I could work up to that level, but I love it.)

There is a self-serving element in the compliments.  Making them feel good makes you feel good.     But complimenting others isn’t a completely selfish act. Dr Alex Lickerman, co-author of The Ten Worlds: The New Psychology of Happiness, tried smiling at and positively engaging with service workers he saw regularly, and discovered that their demeanor seemed to change overall. He observed that workers who’d been reserved or even sullen began to engage more positively and happily with other customers (although Lickerman noted that there was an initial period of feeling like he was weirding out service workers when he was friendly with them).

Outgoing Mail

After mailing Penne's letter the other day, 

I thought of something I forgot to tell her.

So I made a postcard to tell her about an author she'd like,

because I knew I'd forget before the next letter.

I'm off to work on a couple of more letters and postcards now.  Hester asked for some of the old envelopes, and I want to get them off to her this week.  Also need to order more stamps.  

Wow!  From funny to frightening! :)

Love the bird dog.

Dad Photoshop's Kid's Drawings

#mailedit

Outgoing

postcard to young Zoe

Pandemically Speaking.  Unfortunately, reopening has not gone as smoothly as many hoped.  At any rate, cases have drastically increased in the South and West have clouded our future.  Again.  

I worry about how schools will respond, how businesses will survive, how farmers will fare...and all of the endless chain of human activity. I'm OK.  I'm retired and have books and crafts and letters and the garden and the internet.  Not everyone has those advantages.

Truthfully, even in Phase 2 of the reopening, I have never come out of isolation mode with the exception of a grocery store trip now and again or going to get my checkup for refilling my thyroid medication.  At first it was a little difficult even for a stay-at-home like me, but I've adjusted.  Now, however, with cases again on the increase, I can't help but wonder how society as a whole is going to deal with even longer periods of caution.  

Things that have made me happy lately:

MousesHouses Be Safe and...

A Common Sense Camp --"The camp has eight themed weeks that include kitchen confidence, anti-racism, DIY, laundry and cleaning, safety and emergency preparedness, personal finance, city savvy, and social skills."  Now is a good time to teach kids about common place things they need to know.  :)

Mary's Sewing Camp--teach a kid to sew and you may end up with quilts.  

Earth School

The Power of Play by Steve Curry
When we play, we affirm our values and connect with others. When we are absorbed in play, we lose ourselves.” Contemporary American author Diane Ackerman says, “Play is our brain’s favorite way of learning.” 

https://stevemccurry.blog/2020/06/25/power-of-play-2/

Snail Mail During the Pandemic and Mail Art During Lockdown -- Writing letters and postcards has appealed to many people during this period.

Books/Reading:  All of these were Advanced Reader Copies, and  all were very good.  I was glad to have another Maeve Kerrigan/Josh Derwent by Jane Casey installment (so good!).  The John Connolly Charlie Parker book is different from his previous books (no paranormal events), but excellent as usual.  I love Sherry Thomas' Lady Sherlock series (Charlotte is a delightful detective).  A Dance with Fate is the second in the Warrior Bard series by Marillier  (I only recently read the first one and this one is just as good).

Mail

I still have two or three letters to answer and have been making more envelopes and trying to organize my ephemera.  

Lazy

I have a lot of catching up to do.  It is hot and humid, and I often choose to ignore garden chores. My housekeeping has deteriorated.  The poetry embroidery piece gets attention only once in a while.  It's time to re-schedule dentist and doctor checkups that were postponed in April and May, but I keep putting them off.    Since I have been reading (a lot), catching up on book reviews for my book blog is another item on the list.  June has been a little lazy so far.

Books

A Garden Carried in the Pocket -- so many reviews to finish writing

Garden

Embroidery

Mail

Incoming Mail

Outgoing Mail

postcard to Suzi

letter to Connie

May Is Flying By

 Sunday morning, a nice spring rain, not too hard.  

Books/Reading.  Finished the latest Michael Robotham book last night, and I like his new protagonist, forensic psychologist Cyrus Haven.  When I realized it was the second book in the series, I ordered the first book.  (I'd rather read books in order--but it doesn't always work that way.) 

Still reading Sanjay Gupta's Stay Sharp. I only read it in small increments, giving it time and attention. An excellent book for my brain book collection--informative, readable and positive.

 Birds. Flocks of doves have been chasing away the smaller birds, frustrating me.  My husband thinks it is amusing that I'll sit outside, waiting for the doves, then jump up and frighten them away, but the cardinals like it and come back quickly after the doves leaves. I googled the dove problem and discovered that many others have an ongoing battle with bully birds like doves and had several suggestions. Hoping to stymie the bullies, I've  ordered a new feeder and some No Waste feed that doves don't care for.  Fee said he thought he could rig something for the two flat feeders that might help as well. 

Outgoing Mail over the last couple of weeks.

There were a couple of postcards I forgot to scan. :(

postcard to a little "Mouse"

The sun came out and dried up all the rain in the afternoon.

Monday-- Caught up on the chores I didn't do yesterday, including mopping the floors.  I've worked on drafts of book reviews for my book blog, done some laundry, and read.

Hope this week goes well for you. :)

How Long Has It been? Quarantine Day??

I'm back to writing letters, after about a month of missing the process.  Part of the reason is that the USPS needs us to buy stamps and to send letters and postcards, but there is also the fact that I've missed writing letters and decorating envelopes.  I have some unanswered letters from before the lockdown, but I've received several more in the last week. Leaving the letters in isolation for three days or so only heightens my anticipation to open and read them.

Postcards to the grands went out today, and maybe tomorrow I will have something else for the mailbox.

  

Erin's letter went out Monday

the back

  

Incoming

Outgoing postcards to the grands today

B.E.

Mila

Max

 Reading:  Blood on the Tracks by Barbara Nickless, No Woods as Dark as These by Randall Silvis, The Book of Koli by M.R. Carey, Shadows of the Dead by Spencer Kope, and just finished Sharon Bolton's latest book Split.  I have a couple of nonfiction books that I started, but have been unable to concentrate on lately, so mysteries and thrillers.

Embroidery:  I started this two weeks ago and haven't worked on it since.  I have a bunch more quotes that I intended (still intend?) to include.  The incomplete quote: "Poetry is thoughts that breathe, and words that burn."  --Thomas Gray   I thought this would keep me occupied, but for some reason, it fell on the back-burner.

After all, there are so many things to keep up with, including feeding the cats and the birds.