I finished my 2nd book of 2021. I read the book "Big Lies in a Small Town," by Diane Chamberlain for my Book Hive Book Club. If you're a new reader on this blog, the Book Hive Book Club is pretty different. There are 12 people in a group. We all choose a book we want to read and buy that book and a journal. We read the book, journal about it, then send the book and the journal through the mail to the next reader. I've read so many books I never would've even considered picking up and I have met some really interesting people as well. Here's a link to The Book Hive Book Club on Facebook in case you might want to check it out. So, the book....
This
story, told from alternating perspectives tells the life of 2 artists
and their involvement with a mural. The first artist, Anna, is the
painter of the mural. After applying for the post office mural contest
across the US, Anna was initially told that she could not paint the
mural she applied for, but she was given the opportunity to paint one
for a small town in North Carolina. She temporarily moves to NC to get a
feel for the town and quickly discovers the positive and negative
aspects of being there.
The other artist, Morgan, is a young woman
serving time in prison for a DUI charge. She is given the opportunity to
be released from prison and put on parole to help restore the mural
painted by Anna years before. A local artist had taken an interest in
Morgan and, in his will, has given the directive that she should be
given the opportunity to restore the mural for his new gallery opening. I have never read anything by this author, so this book was a pleasant
surprise. I really enjoyed the character development, the plot, the
relationships that developed over time and the story being told through
multiple perspectives.
Also, because I'm a total nerd, I became interested in the post office mural aspect of the story because I had seen the post office mural stamps released by the United States Post Office in 2019. Apparently, in 1933, a friend of Franklin D. Roosevelt suggested that the government try to help artists in need of work by commissioning artwork for public buildings. This led to the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP). About 3,700 artists were hired to create work depicting American life and modern trends. After that project, the Section of Painting and Sculpture was formed, which was later called The Section of Fine Arts. This group commissioned over 1,000 murals to be painted in post offices across the US between 1934 and 1943. These are what the stamps look like. #GoNerds
In my next post, I anticipate talking about how I'm currently tanking most of my January goals. Ugh. I've learned a lot about myself and about life in the past year.
I haven't written much about mail since the new year. I have received some beautiful cards that I wanted to show off:
Secret Christmas RR#3
From gzechanka in Ukraine
From Rodzinka in Russia. I loved the stamps on this one too.
From Liisa in Finland. Thanks for telling me about the traditional decorations with the Finnish flags. I didn't know that.
From Alevtina in Russia Thanks for the great stamps too. Love the braid on the snowman!
Postcrossing:
This is from Jacque in Az. I love it. Because she's awesome, she also sent me the next card.
I love Nouvelle Images!!!
Keeping with the music theme. She also sent an Elvis stamp and Edith Piaf too. That would be a really interesting duet, eh?
Naoko sent this yummy card from Japan.
This next one made me giggle a bit. It's from Marilyn in Texas. I have never been to Tx, but I've heard "everything is bigger in Texas," so I guess this fits. I'm right on the "Damned Yankee" and snafu border.
Today I visited the Spellman Stamp Museum in Weston, Massachusetts. I had never heard of the museum until a friend of mine posted on Facebook that she had visited it with her father. Then, the next day, I saw it advertised in the the Highland Street Free Fun Friday program. I decided I would up my level of postal nerdiness and indulge myself by visiting this museum.
The museum is located in Weston on the Regis College Campus. Today the museum had opened a new Olympic stamp exhibit and was hosting 2 Olympic athletes. I took a few pictures after asking, since I wasn't quite sure if they wanted their collections photographed.
This is Timmy with John Allis, who was a cyclist at the Mexico City(1968) and Munich (1972) Olympics. Mr. Allis was a very kind and intelligent man. Timmy asked questions about how many bikes Mr. Allis had gone through before making it into the Olympics. He wasn't sure, but he told us about one of his earliest memories of being pulled around on his tricycle by his pet boxer. (He also mentioned that he was a skinny little guy who weighed 80 pounds at the age of 14. I think Timmy is already above 80 pounds.)
The boys both participated in a stamp scavenger hunt. They had to find things like "A stamp that shows Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern day Olympics,""Find a fencing stamp issues by Luxembourg" (It's the red one, 2nd row down- 3rd one in; in the picture above) Some of the stamps were kind of odd- like "a stamp showing Daisy Duck lighting the Olympic torch with the reflection of the sun" from Grenada. It was fun anyway. I chose these fencing stamps to photograph because I'm hoping that one of my former students will be fencing in the Olympics at some point in his life. I have not had an Olympian as a student yet.
Speaking of Olympians, the other Olympian we met was Bill Becklean, who was in the Melbourne Olympics (1956), as a rower. He told us a few great stories about his experience at the Olympics. He said that the American team actually lost the first heat of his competition to the Australians. However, they won the repechage, which is a second chance heat at a regatta to ensure that all crews have 2 chances to advance. In French it means "to save" or "second chance." They ended up competing against the Australian team again in the semi-finals and won. Right after that, the Australian team approached the Americans and offered to show them Australia. He is friends with many of them to this day. He also told me that Nicaragua issued a stamp with his boat on it, but they didn't have it here at the collection. He was also very nice and asked Timmy if the wanted to hold his gold medal. How cool is that?
The gold medal.
Civil War mail from 1862. Look at that handwriting!
More civil war mail and an accidental picture of me too :) Again, I wish I had that hand-writing.
Prisoner of war mail- censored
Early mail art.
Early mail art. This one was my favorite.
This one reminded me a little of Limner's blog. Check out her incredible mail!
Stamp dress anyone? If you ever see me wearing something like this remind me that I've gone too far.
The boys in front of the sign. Following are just some pictures of the pretty trees by the museum. I imagine this place is beautiful in the spring. It would've been really nice today if it wasn't close to 100 degrees!
The respite of some shade.
Tim's first day cover that he won from participating in the "stamp hunt."
Each boy left with a packet of stamps to start a collection.
Sweet, thanks!
If you are local, stop by this museum sometime. They also had an activity room, a small gift shop, a small research library and some really interesting displays about stamps, post related things- scales, post office boxes, stamp holders, mail related games, etc. They also do programs for schools and scouts. If you do go, the hours are somewhat restricted (12-5, not open Sunday.) Here is the link to the museum.
I love penpalling and hearing from my friends through snail mail. It will be no surprise to you that I also love receiving packages, especially "no reason" packages. I got one of those packages today from my penpal Ashley in Wisconsin. Here are the goodies she sent me:
Ashley always sends awesome stamps. The post office didn't even stamp these with the postmark. Good thing I'm not one of those people who reuse the stamps. Lately I have realized that I have lots of half-used journals (paper hoarding anyone?) so I thought about putting together a journal of the stamps I get on all of my letters. I usually put the envelope with my letters and then just store them, at least the stamps will all be together. David seems interested in stamps too so maybe we can do this together. I am not going to remove them from any postcards, just the letters.
This is a really cool, music themed letter sets. For all of my European friends, I never see any letter sets like this in stores in the US. (Anyone reading from the US know any stores that sell them?) The red stamp that looks like a postmark says this was made in Italy. On the left side there are envelopes and on the right there are pieces of stationery. I love it! I especially like how the gold pops on this paper. I will write a letter using this tonight!
Images belong to Bravado Merchandising
Then there are these Justin Beiber- trading cards? I laughed when I saw them. I'm not sure if these were because I'm a music teacher, because I must have confessed having his music stuck in my head, or because I accidentally seemed like I called her Boo in an e-mail the other day.
I'm planning on starting this devotional as soon as I finish this blog post. I have needed to spend some serious alone time with God lately and I have been pretty neglectful on my side. Thankfully God is always faithful to me, even when I'm selfish with my time. Thanks for this, Ash.
Lastly, she sent some cool Massachusetts postcards since I'm really involved with Postcrossing. Plymouth, MA (Plimoth in the old spelling) is pretty close to where I grew up.
Also, today I have spent a lot of time listening, noticing and watching people. Just today I have seen/heard about
- my parents struggling with moving out of the house they raised us in
- a friend feeling isolated and lonely as a stay at home mom. At the same time, she is struggling with the fact that many of the people she really considered friends don't seem to notice and her church keeps asking more of her.
- A mom losing her child to cancer
- Another friend whose cancer has returned
- A few of my students competing in a national fencing competition
- An acquaintance who got injured right at the beginning of the summer and has to really restrict herself all summer
- The reminder that many people do not feel safe living based on their color, religion, sexuality, etc.
- Medical issues that run the gamut
- Loneliness/feeling like you don't belong
For my Christian friends, this has reminded me of 2 passages today: " Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.- Ephesians 29-32 And... " Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you.Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other.And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone.Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.Rejoice always,pray continually,give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.- 1 Thessalonians 5: 11-18
Even my friends who are not Christians, there are so many people in this world who are hurting. Wouldn't the world look very differently if we all took a minute to reach out to someone in whatever way we can? A letter, a package, flowers, a phone call, a hug, a smile... anything. If you are a person who is reading this blog and you are going through a hard time, please feel free to message me and I will add you to my prayer list. I hope the rest of your day is filled with many small moments of happiness.
Somehow I missed a pile. I also have cards that were directly given to me, but all these are ones from the post!
From Schoolbag in Germany.
From Ieva in Lithuania. Cool stamp too
Thanks Nastya in Russia! Love the music washi tape too.
From darkpunkangel in Canada. Thanks!
From Eris in Spain I love the design on the front.
This card is reflective and very cute. It is from Nathalie in The Netherlands. I am enjoying your orange spice tea while I'm writing this! Thanks :)
What a pretty card from Veronique in France. A an aside, Veronique also is the moderator for the Secret Christmas card swap so she is busy assigning people to send cards, updating hundreds of posts, etc. In addition to loving the card, I also appreciate the incredible amount of work she puts in just so a bunch of people who love the mail can wish each other a Merry Christmas from across the world. Much respect!
From Alla in Russia. Look at the little birds!!!
From my penpal Angie in MD! I am planning on catching up with all mail by New Years so keep an eye on your mailbox within the next few weeks.
This card from Germany is so elegant and beautiful. I also got a cool Christmas postmark. (Love the Santa washi too!) Thanks Corinna!
