Friday's Favorite Family Foto

t my brother's home in France in October, I was pleasantly surprised when he shared some very old family photos I had never seen before. They were recently passed along by a distant family member in England. This was my paternal grandmother whom I knew nothing about. Because my father was raised in foster care, I always thought his mother must have died young. Obviously this lady lived to be a good age and I see so much of my father in her. I wish he had been more open in discussing his roots - I believe his childhood was sad and he would never talk about those early years. I don't even know this woman's first name but do know she was from Brixham, Devon where my father was born in 1900.

Perhaps this is not really a favorite family foto, but seeing my lost grandmother's face is special. I notice my hands look a lot like hers with long fingers and pronounced bones. I wish so much I'd had the opportunity to know her when I was a child. I only lived a few miles from her.....................a scenic twenty minute ride around the bay on a double decker bus and I could have been tapping on her door!

Visit Deborah at Pictures, Pots & Pens to find out who else is sharing favorite family photographs this week.

The Written Word

I'm just thrilled beyond words at the response to my posts on bringing back hand written letters! It seems many of you feel, as I do, that this fading piece of daily life deserves resurrection sooner rather than later.

Because several of you are ready to put pen to paper, I think you should definitely write to someone you already know. If they haven't received slow mail from you in a while, think how much the sight of your envelope will change their day, bring them joy, and hopefully make them want to write back to you.

If you would like to write a short note ~ or a fill an envelope to bursting with this and that ~ to a blog friend, there are several who have commented on my recent posts on letter writing who are holding their breathe as they wait for a real letter to show up at their home here or overseas. I suggest looking at the comments on my recent posts, picking a new friend and exchanging an e-mail note (yes, you'll have to use modern technology first!) to acquire their slow mail address.

Then the fun will begin when, perhaps on a dreary January afternoon, you will find comfort sitting at your desk or kitchen table, cup of tea at your side, penning a few lines to an old or new friend, knowing you are part of bringing back the true written word.

This lovely book published by Laughing Elephant would make a great gift to any writing enthusiast ~ you may also enjoy having it in your own personal collection. It covers everything about writing by hand with beautiful pens and colored inks, and has wonderful vintage illustrations and many, many quotes about the pleasures of hand written letters.

Letters are one of the most tangible memories of our friendships, and we should save them as we save photographs, and other personal mementos, so that we can evoke past friends and vanished times.

~ Edward St. Paige

My Mother's Letters

These letters were written to me by my late mother. They span twenty years of family life from 1976~1996. They were preceded by fourteen years of more letters which, sad to say, due to moving, I did not keep. From the moment I arrived on US soil my mum and I wrote weekly. Those hundreds of airmail envelopes and aerogrammes crossed the pond, usually by air. We were too anxious to share news to await delivery by the cheaper sea mail option taking a month or longer. Only parcels came by sea. Phone calls were on special occasions only as a 3 minute call in 1962 was $25.00. We weren't cheap, just poor!

Around 1996 my mother's health deteriorated due to her age and she found writing difficult. Correspondence became mostly birthday and Christmas cards with her always elegant handwriting eventually becoming scratchy and weak looking. The former long paragraphs turned into a brief "Love always, Mum". The telephone then became our method of keeping in touch, weekly phone calls with much cheaper rates, sometimes several within a few days when things weren't going so well. Her visits to the US also stopped but I journeyed home whenever possible.

My mother died in 2003 while I was with her ~ hard to believe almost six years have passed since that day.

How I treasure these letters I do have. Beautifully penned pages of news from 3,000 miles away. Some are sad, such as details of my father's illness and subsequently going home to be with him for a little while before he died in 1976. Then mother's loneliness during the years following her retirement, and her inability to ambulate on her own because of arthritis. Her letters always shared news of my brother's busy life........so busy that he didn't write me often! His university years, his tennis training and eventual Jr. Wimbledon matches, his romances, his years of interesting jobs, then his marriage and becoming a dad.

I read every one of these letters above on the one year anniversary of my mum's death. It was hard but wonderful to sit for many hours, sliding each beautifully written letter from the envelope, and reading about so much life, so much history. Many tears were shed but there were many chuckles too.

So this is why I am hoping that families will continue to write a letter by hand now and then. Sharing news in a letter that your child, grandchild, even great-grandchild may read some day, is an awesome thought. They will thank you when they find that hand written envelope, carefully remove the pages and read your lovingly penned words.

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Pen and Ink

Nothing gives greater pleasure than a letter penned by hand. Paper and pen still have their magic. We still entrust them with our dearest wishes and innermost thoughts and dreams.

~ Kate's Paperie With Bo Niles

Above and below - Wedding cards

Life would split asunder without letters.
~ Virginia Woolf

Birthday card for a dear friend.

I love to make special occasion cards like these above although I must be honest and tell you that I don't make as many as I did prior to blogging! This will change in 2009 ~ back to the drawing board, literally! I also plan to write more letters by hand. I still have older friends in England who don't use a computer and perhaps never will. They will be the recipients of a letter during the year, not just a note written inside their birthday or Christmas card.

My recent post By Hand has opened Pandora's box, though hopefully there are no evils inside! There are several of you out there who are are excited about hand writing a letter to a blog friend. Some of you are already pairing up and planning to write with pen and ink. Maybe that letter will drop on your doormat or peek from your mailbox soon. Can we return to days of the 'pen pal' and look forward once again to the post/mail arriving at our home with something other than those bills and junk mail?

And none will hear the postman's knock

Without a quickening of the heart.

For who can bear to feel himself forgotten?

~ W.H.Auden

I often wonder what would happen if the Internet collapsed permanently and we could no longer e-mail. Many of the younger generation have never penned a real letter full of news about their lives. I have always encouraged children to write letters by providing the necessary accouterments. A great gift at any time is a box with some attractive paper and envelopes, personalized return address labels, seals, stickers, a nice pen and a roll of stamps. Of course children today may need you to sit with them when they first put pen to paper. Encouragement, praise and patience to compose and execute a well written letter will be needed.........after all, this may be a totally new experience for them.

I hope you will write a letter to someone. You don't need to have perfect penmanship. You can use a modern roller ball pen if you don't posses a fountain pen and ink. Nice writing paper and envelopes will bring a smile to the recipient's face, or you can use a sheet of composition book paper, even a notepad. Your letter does not need to be long and rambling, even short notes are enjoyable. You may not be an artist (however I believe everyone can make a squiggle that often looks better than a million dollar painting!), but you can attach a sticker or rubber stamp an impression to add some pizazz. Whatever you choose, the recipient of your letter will be happy. You will be sharing something very personal that has come from your heart and hand.

Letters give life a rich dimension. They can be saved, savored, reread and treasured for hundreds of years.

~ Alexandra Stoddard

The healthy plan is......................

...........................I'll start the new year with fresh juice, yogurt, organic granola, blueberries and of course coffee, lots of strong black coffee.

In France it's strong black coffee with a buttery croissant or pain au chocolat. So why are the French in better shape and apparently healthier than many US citizens? It's all about walking. Walk the village streets as I did in October. Walk the wide boulevards of Aix-en-Provence, Paris and other French cities. No fancy equipment required. Jogging not necessary. Walk to the bakery, the village grocery, the flea market, through the vineyard, up into the hills for the view and the fresh air. I know ~ most of us can't do those romantic sounding walks, sigh!

Just get out there and do it anyway. Let's all walk somewhere today!

Images by my granddaughter Jasmin as we plan our

healthy lifestyle for 2009.

By hand..........

............we kept in touch by sitting down, pen in hand, covering sheets of pretty paper in perfect penmanship.

These letters would be signed, sealed, stamped and delivered. Dependent on how many miles they traveled by land, sea, and later through the clouds, in days or weeks they would drop through the letter box in the front door, or await the daily opening of the mailbox at the curb.

The first person to pick up the mail would call out, "there's a letter for YOU". The handwriting was neat and sometimes recognized. A favorite cousin from "across the pond". An elderly auntie who shared family history. An old school friend keeping you up to date on who got married. The stamp, often pretty and perhaps foreign, would later be soaked off and given to a child who'd started a stamp collection.

The joy of opening an envelope containing a hand written letter seems to be almost forgotten in this world of technology and speed. Perhaps that's why receiving a card with handwritten greetings is still so pleasant. E-cards and e-mails are nice because they still show someone is thinking of you, but they can't compare to carefully slitting a parchment envelope and pulling out pages lovingly written with a vintage fountain pen.

I sit on the love seat in my bedroom in the late afternoon sun, a delicate curl of warm steam wafts from a cup of Earl Grey. Opening my mail is no longer very exciting, just advertising, medical news, offers for items nobody needs, and of course bills! But now and then, my heart leaps, there's a handwritten envelope, a pretty canceled stamp......................and inside news that may already be old but reading it brings joy knowing someone took the time to write.

Do you still receive handwritten letters? Does your heart flutter knowing someone special took the time to actually write to you with a pen?

Are you interested in joining a group who would exchange words, thoughts, short letters written by hand so that you could still experience this now old-fashioned joy?

Pink Saturday

Just when I thought I was all 'pinked out' I took a trip over to SuzAnna's Antiques to hunt among the displays for more precious pink treasures. First I hung about outside looking for something to photograph..............and there he was, not pink but grey. Pink and grey look good together! Anyway, hanging out playing with a purring kitty gave me time to look about and find........................

..........these Pepto pink garden chairs looking really snazzy up against the purple door......

...........some pink frames, a pink watering can, pink rush seat chair, and a great pink screen door with a heron.

The kitty was soon chased off by a tiny Yorkie named Charlie who's person, Tracy, has a room full of gorgeous things for sale at SuzAnna's, see some of them in my recent post here. So I went inside and found a pretty pink smocked and embroidered frock for a toddler princess, a pink lined china shell................

.........more pink china with painted roses, glasses and glass plates..........

..........and this pink framed teddy named Tim who would be

so cute in a little girl's bedroom.

It seems there's always something pink tucked away some place, so head on over to Beverly at How Sweet the Sound and see her list of Pink Saturday friends - bet they've all found something pretty to share.

Enjoy your first weekend of the new year.