Fifty Years Ago

Once again, in honor of my mother... I started this blog because of her ten years ago. You can read it here. And today, it's 50 years ago since her passing. Fifty years? And it was on Friday the 13th that she moved onto another life, and it's Friday the 13th today too.

Dear Mom,
I still miss and love you.

And I can't believe I haven't posted since December 2018. I've been a bit out of the social media arena. Is that what you call it, arena?

Dear Mom,
I'm still going to the Post Office and receiving letters, and writing back anyone who writes me. As you know it's my favorite form of writing... my favorite love. I did find a new love though and I may have mentioned it before... quilting. I thought I had mentioned it in previous posts, but I guess not. Or at least I can't locate it. I call it my Letters of Love quilt.

The story... I was with Ruth (younger sister) who is the quilter, shopping with her for material for a quilt she was going to make. I was along for the ride. Inside the shop I spotted material that had writing on it. Whoa, I thought. Maybe I'll make a quilt with writing on it. I bought seven or eight yards of each writing material they had. FYI, I spent more money than Ruth that day. I stuck the material in the closet and it sat a year. I was waiting for the right pattern. Then on some blog I found the perfect pattern, bought it. And I believe another year went by. I decided I better do something with this or what a waste. I called upon the experts, mainly Ruth, Jan, and Elsie... what do I do? Where do I start? What should go where? The questions were numerous and the suggestions were even more so.  Ruth suggested I join the quilter's guild that her and Elsie belong to and then I could go to the retreat where all those who attend gather and sew. This seemed like the only way I would accomplish this task. I did what was required before the retreat: to cut out all the pieces, so when you were at the retreat, all you did was sew, sew, sew.  And so, so, so I was sure, sure, sure that I would have my quilt finished before the end of the retreat. HAAAAAAAAAAA. Little did I know. My quilt block required 8 small pieces to be sewn together. That doesn't seem too bad, right? But the size quilt I decided to make was for a queen size bed, and that required 240 blocks. I was still hopeful, until the end of the retreat and I only had 25 blocks sewn. Two and half days of straight sewing... okay not completely as one stopped to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner, and then there was exercise, and show and tell, and gabbing with various people. Who knew? I didn't do a lot after that retreat until Ruth told me that the guild was going to have a quilt show and they like all members to contribute. I decided that would be a good goal for me to have this quilt finished for the show. And by golly, I sewed every day, even if it was for five minutes. I'll share more about the process if anyone is interested, but I did finish sewing it, and then had a professional actually quilt it. It was too big for me to handle. And viola, Ruth and I both entered our quilt pieces. Ruth and I both won second place. Mine for the large quilt size and hers for the miniature size. How about that? I'm still in shock. But mostly in shock that I actually finished it and the quilt is now on the bed in my writing room. How appropriate, eh?

Here it is:

Well Mom, since you were a seamstress and could sew anything even without a pattern, I thought you'd enjoy this huge accomplishment. I must have inherited some of your creativity. Thank you.
Love, Lynn

The Last of the Post Office Box 113 Adventure

Day 295 through 305

This begins and ends December’s letters and also ends this Post Office Box 113 – my year adventure with my post office box that my kids purchased for me for my 60^th birthday. I renewed the box, so those who are writing to this Post Office Box can continue. Or if you haven’t had the opportunity to do so, now is your chance. I just won’t be tracking it here like I did the past year.

Day 295 – December 1st – One letter 

 Day 296 – Two letters

Day 297 – Zero letters

Day 298 – Post Office unexpectedly closed due to the memorial of our former President Bush.

Day 299 – Believe it or not, I ran out of time and missed going!

Day 300 – Four letters! Perhaps skipping two days makes a difference.

Day 301 – One letter

Day 302 – Three letters – and I didn’t even skip a day!

Day 303 – One letter – this was a mystery as there was no return address and the envelope felt really thick.  When I opened it, here it was… from hubby! He certainly tricked me.

Day 304 – Five letters and three of these were from my husband again, but this time with no return address, I suspected it was from him. 

Day 305 – December 13th - Six letters. This was my birthday and this was the day, a year ago, that I began this adventure and what an adventure it has been!  This is also my husband’s birthday AND our wedding anniversary!

And here is the total number of letters that I have received this year at my post office box: 296 (but not 365 days, as there were only 304 days that the PO is open, so that’s pretty close to being one letter a day average!

And this is the number of letters/pieces of mail that I sent out as I traveled to the post office (this includes my 200+ Christmas cards): 913… um yeah, I might have an addiction to writing letters, but it’s one addiction I don’t mind and I’ll continue as long as I’m able.

I’d like to take this time now to thank everyone and keep on writing those letters!  And not to just me, but to anyone you love or want to connect with.

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE YOU ALL!

And my two little stinkers

Day 283 - 294

This ends November’s letters

Day 283 – One letter

Day 284 – Zero letters

Day 285 – Two letters – both of these were a surprise!

Day 286 – Zero letters

Day 287 – One letter

Day 288 – Three letters.  I had forgotten my key and asked the gentleman, who was relatively new at this post office, if he could retrieve my mail. He was happy to and when he came back, he said, “Oh sorry, all you have is three letters.”  I shouted, “Are you kidding? That’s a lot! Whoo-hooo!”  I’m sure he thought I was a little crazy.

Day 289 – Zero letters

Day 290 – Zero letters

Day 291 – I was actually too lazy to go out, busy doing all kinds of stuff at home.

Day 292 – Two letters – one was a small package from a dear friend I haven’t heard from in quite some time.

Day 293 – Zero letters

Day 294 – Two letters – one was a surprise package from a cousin who sent me some art – I had no idea he was artistic. Isn’t that fun?

And that concludes November.  Only 11 more days to go before this Post Office Box 113 adventure will come to an end. Oh, I’ll still have the Post Office Box, but not the daily adventure.

Day 271 - 282

This begins November’s letters…

Day 271 – November 1^st, one letter, this friend writes at least once a week, if not more, a special lady.

Day 272 – One letter, another special lady who writes quite frequently. 

Day 273 – Zero letters

Day 274 – Zero letters

Day 275 – One letter – a surprise, this one was a thank you!

Day 276 – One letter

Day 277 – Two letters – one from my daughter, can you see her funny card? And the other from a special friend who always writes. Okay, all my letter writer friends are special. My non-writing friends are special too, just so you know.

Day 278 – Zero letters

Day 279 – Zero letters

Day 280 – One letter 

Day 281 – Zero letters

Day 282 – Didn’t go today because we got a lot of snow!