A Little About What is Going On

I know that I haven't really written anything about letters or letter writing in awhile. This time of year is very busy at Heart's Ease Cottage. It is hard to get anything done inside when there are gardens to be planted and tended, and then the bathroom renovation is occupying the evening hours...
I am mostly caught up with my "letters to be written" stack, the ones that remain require special attention, (art desk time), so I haven't gotten them out. I haven't had a chance to check my P.O. Box in a week, but the last couple of times I checked, it was empty. It is a busy time of year for everyone! I will get back to regular posting and letter writing once I get the garden tasks under control...( "control" is tongue in cheek since the garden controls me, not the other way around!).
Until then, I will encourage you to see what we've been up to by checking out my other blog: www.aviewfromthecottage.blogspot.com where I have posted many photos of the gardens at the Cottage.
Also, my husband has authored an update on Samuel's progress at: www.akneeforsamuel.wordpress.com
if anyone is interested in how Samuel is doing.
I hope this finds you well and having a wonderful Spring! See you in the Mail!

Incoming Mail

Well, I think I have survived the illness that kept me down for almost a month! I am now back to the business of writing letters and getting caught up on blog posts. So here are some of the things I have received and not posted.

This card with a special cancellation was sent to me by Kimi in California

Post cards and note cards from Ellie VG in the UK, Kimi in Ca., Tom in Mo., and Eunice in Wales

Limner in Texas has been very creative and generous to me with mail. She made sure there was mail in my POB waiting for me upon my return from Costa Rica. Thanks Limner!

Wanda in British Columbia sent me this letter packed with good news and stories!

Monique in Ontario sent me snowy mail to brighten my day.

Pen Thief in Ohio sent a nice, newsy letter and a splash of color.

Linda in Virginia sent me a great letter and some wonderful ephemera. I adore S&H Green Stamps!

Super Hero sent me an invitation to participate in a couple of different mail projects and a really cool post card!

While I was in Costa Rica I received mail from two new pen friends, James in the Philippines and Impeccable=M in California

Ahmet in Turkey sent me one of his lovely and unique Puzzle Letters.

Ahmet also sent me several sheets of my artistamps that he reproduced for his mail art project Puzzleposta. Thank you so much Ahmet they are awesome!! What a generous gift and such a surprise!

Then last but certainly not least, Ahmet sent me this wonderful 2012 calendar featuring one of his many beautiful puzzle letters. 

It never ceases to amaze me how blessed I am to have such generous, interesting and talented pen friends. My life is much richer for all of you! Thanks so much!

Life Keeps Happening....

  I have been waiting to write an entry until I had my act together at home... Well, "life" keeps happening so I don't think I am going to get my act together. Most recently my husband and I had the pleasure of ripping the floor out of the main bathroom. The gasket under the toilet had been secretly leaking and the sub floor abruptly began to sag. Sigh...

  The yucky part of the task is now behind us, a new sub-floor is in place and we will set the porcelain throne once we acquire the hardware to bolt it to the floor. My husband and I are no strangers to construction projects. We built our house back after Hurricane Hugo threw the majority of the house into the woods. Since those days we have had the opportunity to do many other construction projects under our roof...

New tile next to tub

This one was particularly repugnant due to the fact we had to tear up a perfectly good tile floor to make the repair. One good thing to come out of it is that I now am going to fulfill a long time desire to have a black and white mosaic floor in the bathroom. I have always wanted to have that kind of tile in there because we have this wonderful 1920's porcelain over cast iron corner tub in that bath and I think the tile will really set it off. So looking on the bright side, Yipee! I am going to get my mosaic floor!
  For the present I am going to have to live with the plywood sub-floor. Construction projects have a tendency to get what my computer programer sons would call "scope creep".  The john leaks so we have to rip out the floor, then h-m-m... this would be a good time to take out the 20 year old sink cabinet and replace it with one of those really nice shallow profile sink bases with the porcelain , round fronted sink top. So while we are at it we should open the wall behind the sink and re-plumb the sink plumbing, since it is old and could leak and ruin our new tile floor... and gee.. a pressed tin ceiling would really give this room an authentic period look, (another detail I have always wanted but could not afford when we were rebuilding the house). Of course we will want to give the walls and wainscoting a new coat of paint before we lay down the floor. So, once again my house will be a construction zone and God only knows how long this will take, since my husband will be very busy supporting electronic poll book implementation in preparation for the May primary... it is after all a presidential election year. At least I won't be trying to do construction with little kids under foot, like we did when we were building the house back after Hugo. At that time we had a 7 year old and a six moth old to keep up with as well as put our house back together. Actually, the thought of not having them around to "help" is kind of depressing... Enough of that. My goal for 2012 is to get over my "empty-nest" syndrome and enjoy the new life stage I am in. This is a lofty goal since I was drowning in "emptiness" before we went to Costa Rica.
  I am sorry. I am babbling. I am still working on the transition to Stateside life, I feel fragmented and scattered, but it is time for me to pull it all together. The seeds just arrived for my spring garden, so I need to get them in flats and under lights. The plans need to be laid out for a bathroom renovation and I have still got a pile of letters to answer and delinquent blog entries to write. So... I think I will grab a stack of letters, make a Cafe con Leche with smooth Costa Rican coffee, and give some of my pen friends something in their mailboxes! See you in the mail!

Getting back to Life American-Style

Hi all!
  I know that it has been awhile since I posted... Wow... life comes at you fast here in the States! I am struggling to reset my inner clock from "Tico Time" to "Rat Race", my head is spinning. It almost seems like I am going in slow motion and the rest of the world is a whirling blur around me. I know in time that the sensation will subside and that I will recalibrate, but it seems such a shame to lose the beautiful calm that came over me while we were gone.

 One real consolation is that now I am able to send and receive letters again! When I returned to the states and checked my P.O. Box, (not the very first thing I did, but it was one of the top 3), I found that it was stuffed full of mail goodness from my pen family...Sigh! It feels so good to be thought about... it made tears well up in my eyes. I have missed you guys! I am afraid that I have not had a chance yet to sit down and write any letters. I have been working on a set of postcards to mail out to everyone, so soon I will have something out to all the people on my mailing list. Then I will begin to work my way through the stack of lovely mail I have received. I want each of you to know how much you mean to me and how appreciative I am of your friendship. You are the best! Very soon I will see you in the mail!
 

Staring at an Empty Page

  Well the chaos at my house is beginning to settle down as my husband and son finish up the post election clean-up. It was a pretty wild ride for a couple of months for both my husband and son since they have been totally consumed with getting their customers ready for the November general elections. It has meant many long days away from home and hearth for them and many long days of being alone for me...  You would think that I would be glad for the time alone to play at my art table, but I found myself feeling empty and a little lost. I have always been the creative/artistic sort, but I have discovered that my creativity is catalyzed by the joy I find in the company of those I love. I am able to take the energy that I feel from the company of my family and translate that into art, letters, landscaping, cooking, whatever I turn my hand to. But when the house is empty and everyone is busy with their own lives, I am left to run on my own energy.  In solitude I find that I have very little spark and much less fuel for generating creativity. I used to joke that I run on solar power since I love being outside, and rainy days used to make me feel thick and sluggish, (that is until I lived in Costa Rica where we received 200 inches of rain a year.  I overcame my issues with rain in self defense!), but now I see that I am really family powered....

 Since early in my marriage I have been a stay at home mom. I separated from the Air Force right before our first child was born in 1982 and I have been at home ever since. I very much enjoyed my time with the kids when they were small. I "ran" on the constant inspiration that I received from seeing the world through their eyes. Later, when our first born was school age, I took on the role of homeschool mom.



The boys rebuild an engine
 as part of science class.



We delved into the sciences and history, math, reading and language with joy and anticipation of what would be discovered in our quest for knowledge. I was inspired by exposing young minds to their potential and found many creative ways to open doors of understanding for them. In return my creative well was filled by seeing the lights come on in my children's minds.

My youngest son was interested in animal husbandry so as part of his high school exit project he managed a herd of Alpine and Nubian dairy goats. He designed and built the milking stand. We built the barn as a family project.

A fountain and shade garden one of
my sons made as a school project

   Of course much of my personal creative time was consumed with raising and educating my kids and providing a home environment that nurtured our whole family. But my creative mind was alive and well and I found ways to vent my creative energy that didn't take time or attention away from my family. Sometimes though, I would long for time of my own. Occasionally while folding laundry or processing produce from the garden, I would entertain myself with thoughts of what I would do with my time when more of it belonged to me. Be careful what you wish for...

   Aside from the craziness of "Election Season", I am now facing life as an "Empty-nester". My youngest son recently moved out on his own which left a void in my daily life and routine. For the the first time since 1982 I don't have the company of one of my kids at home. I have no reason to rise at any particular time, no lunches to pack, no big meal to fix to fill the stomachs of my growing boys (and often their friends as well...). I have little demand on my time or attention during the day, (except for an occasional nudge from the dog for some private time outside or a tummy rub). I anticipated that this would be a golden time of life for me, a time to grow creatively and take advantage of all the freedom I have. Much to my surprise the reverse has been true. I must say I really didn't see this coming. But right now I feel a might bewildered, I am trying to figure where to go from here. I guess I am experiencing a " creative block" of sorts,  I am staring at the empty page of my new life and I don't know what to do with it. Coming to grips with the fact that life as I have known it is now over, is probably a good first step. I know that time will erode my sense of being cut adrift, and that I will come to accept and embrace this new juncture in my life. I will find new purpose and a new muse will emerge, it will just take time.  

  I don't mean to complain or to sound ungrateful. There are a many things I find comfort in and that I am very grateful for : I have a great husband who loves me. He is very patient with me and my sometimes maddening neurosis. I have two sons who have grown to become men I can be very proud of, who love me and still take time to let me be "mom", and I have a whole family of people who I correspond with, who share their lives and stories with me and make me feel like I belong to a larger world. The letters, cards and art I receive from my penfriends have done much to lift my heart. The care and concern these people have shown me has helped me to realize that the life ahead will be much like the life behind, full of the inspiration and joy that flows from loving and being loved.  

  What are your muses? What do you use to spark your creativity? Drop me a line or post a comment, I would love to hear about the things that inspire you...

Now on to some of my most recent incoming mail....

Hester sent me these wonderful windows into Boston in the fall! What a lovely surprise to find this in my mailbox. She has packaged the fall leaves in security envelopes with a window, only the whole business is turned inside out. What an original and nifty idea! Thanks Hester!

One more thought before I close for today. I am leaving at the end of the month for 6 weeks in Costa Rica. I will be writing letters while I am down there, but the postal system is slow and undependable so I can't be sure what I mail will even reach people...  Also I won't be home to check my mail so if a letter comes to my POB after I have gone, it will be sitting for six weeks "on hold" at the post office waiting for me to return home. As much as I hate to say it,  probably the best thing to do at this point is to wait to write me until I return to the States on January 9, 2012. I will be trying to answer any mail I receive between now and the 27th of November when we leave for C.R., but if a letter comes after I leave it will be January before I can answer it. If your letter misses me and is stuck in the post office for a month, I apologize. I will be sure to get a letter back to you as soon as I get home!

  I will continue writing on my blog while I am in Costa Rica. I will not always have connectivity, but I can compose my blog entries on my computer and then when we are able to get to an internet cafe or otherwise have access to the internet, I can post what I have written. I am hoping that during my time outside the USA, those who write to me regularly will for a short time, contact me by an occasional comment at Art of a Letter or by e-mailing me to let me know how things are going. I will be glad to hear from you all!

 

                             Until next time, I'll see you in the mail!

Decorated or not, a Letter is a Treasure

  I receive many letters that are from people whose interest is solely in letter writing. I usually don't photograph them since I blur out the addresses to respect their privacy and that doesn't leave much to show in a photograph.  But I want to say that receiving their letters is every bit as much a delight to me and is cherished as much as the artsy ones I receive.

   I am fortunate to receive letters from so many interesting and talented people, who each express themselves through the sending of letters. Some use artistic embellishment as an extension of their letter writing, for others it is calligraphy or beautiful penmanship, there are those who can turn a beautiful phrase or paint a vivid picture with words, many write to share a smile and a kind word to brighten my day, still others who write me are story tellers who beguile me with a yarn well spun. I receive letters from all kinds of people: artists, history buffs, teachers, students, nurses, thinkers and readers, poets, musicians, atheletes, moms and dads and more. I correspond with people of all ages, from those who are a good deal younger than myself to others that are older. Some people write from places far away, in lands very different from my own. These people write to me in English, when it is not thier native tongue. This is a constant source of joy and amazement to me, since I know how hard it is to speak a second language, much less write in it!! Even with all the diversity in the people who write me, I have found that all of my pen friends have certain things in common; without exception, each is generous and kind, thoughtful and insightful. I am richer for knowing each person who writes me and I feel privileged, humbled and blessed to have them in my life!

Incoming and Outgoing Mail October 2011

                                   

Here is some of my outgoing mail for October. I am posting the photos of my First Day of Issue for my new artistamp, now that I am pretty sure everyone has gotten theirs. I hope that you have all received yours!

This is the postcard I made to celebrate my new artistamp.

This is the stack of postcards ready to go in the mail.

         Outgoing handmade envies and a watercolor butterfly postcard.

There was much more mail that went out, but I was so far behind that I just mailed them when I did them instead of waiting until I could get them photographed. I hopefully won't get so far behind in the future...

Incoming Mail

Lots of postal fun from: Janine in Switzerland, Cathy in Ohio, and Chris and Marion both in Pennsylvania.

A festive "doodled" envie and nice letter from Misty in Ohio

Mail from my Canadian pen friends Wanda and Monique

Butterfly lovliness from Kimi in California and Courtney in Australia

Rusty in Oklahoma, sent me this beautiful hand drawn card wishing me blessings on the first of our fall feasts, Yom Teruah (Feast of Trumpets) also known as Rosh Hashanna. This was quite a nice surprise Rusty... it was as sweet to my heart as apples and honey are to the taste!

This journal came from the talented hands of Limner, who resides in the Texas. It was a very nice treat to find in my mailbox and one that was put to use almost immediately as my new postal journal!

       Next was a mysterious cylinder with my name on it... also from Limner. I played the "guess what it is" game for a couple hours before I allowed myself to open it. I couldn't have possibly guessed how beautiful and unique the contents would be, but below you will see the surprise contents of the package.

Inside were several pages of hand crafted mail related goodies that Limner designed, as well as some vintage images on sheets of paper for clipping out and using in future mail creations. I would have posted them as well, but the time they spent in the tube made them uncooperative for having their photos taken. They kept rolling away! Anyway, I feel very blessed to have received so many beautiful things from the generous and thoughtful Limner!

Sirpa in Finland, sent me this beautiful watercolor festooned envie with a letter that was also decorated with her lovely artwork. Sirpa has such a gift with watercolors, pen and ink. I am always amazed by her mail art! Included in the envelope was a Marjolein Bastin note card to add to the collection I have received from Sirpa in the past.

In both the envelope and the letter, the watercolor is done as a continuation of a photograph. She extends the detail of the photo out past the edges of her photos with paints. What a clever idea, you never cease to amaze me Sirpa! Thank you so much!

I have also received letters from Troy in Colorado, Donavan in Maryland, Angelia in Illinois and Tom in Missouri.Thanks to everyone who takes the time from their busy lives to share some of themselves with me!

August Outgoing and Most Recent Incoming Mail

Outgoing Mail

 This is my most recent mailing to Sirpa. If you want to see what was inside, check out her blog: www.sfimail.blogspot.com  she has done a blog post on my package to her...Thanks Sirpa!

I made a border for Kimi's letter by stamping with various objects on my art table... a wine cork, and a cone shaped piece of carving medium left over after a recent carving project. The address label is from a new set of stationery items I am designing.

                                

Limner likes bees so I used Marjolein Bastin tissue paper to add some lovely fat bees to her envie and made a fun little air mail sticker to help get it on its way.

                                                                                

Here are a few of the postcards I made and sent out recently. I sent out a bunch of others but they were in a stack of letters and postcards that I mailed without photographing them first. I am bad about doing that.

                                                            Incoming Mail

                                                                              
  Mailart and letters from penfriends Misty, Kimi, Sharon and Bev.

                                                                                
        I received postcards from Douglas, Misty, Chandlerguera, and Kimi.

A letter from Linda and one from my new penfriend Courtney in Australia.

                                                                
  Another beautiful puzzle letter from Ahmet in Turkey. He also sent me the wonderful gift posted below.
                                                                             

                                                                                 
Ahmet received my Summer First Day of Issue Stamp and asked if he could reproduce them, (on occasion he showcases other mail artist's stamps on his envies and puzzle letters, crediting them for their work of course). He sent me some of the reproduced stamps when he sent me the latest puzzle letter. They even have real perforations! Thanks so much Ahmet! What a generous and cool gift!

I also have received a whole stack of letters from penfriends  Angelia, Super Hero, Troy, James, Patty, Marion and Limner.

                                                                              
Last but not least, I have a Summer Fun Mailart contribution from Bev Sykes. I will also be posting this on the side bar showcase for the Summer Fun Mail Art Call. The deadline for contributions is September 5, so there is still time if you want to send something in! I will be sending out my thank yous,  return summer fun post card, and documentation after the end of the mail art call on the 5th. Note to contributors... normally documentation is sent out with a list of names and addresses of those who participated, if you do not want your name and address to be sent in the documentation, please let me know!

Oh nertz... I posted a couple of letters that I had already posted in another blog post... since I am all but done with this post I think I will just leave things as they are and admit to the mess up! So, I think I am caught up on posting incoming and outgoing mail, now I need to get busy and reply to all this lovely mail! Until next time, I'll see you in the mail!

 

Busy Busy!

  It is headed for 99 degrees today, so I was outside at the crack of dawn picking things from the garden. Today is preparation day for the Sabbath. I will clean the house from top to bottom, cook for the four meals we will eat between sundown Friday and sundown Saturday and somehow fit into the mix, processing all of this wonderful bounty before the sun goes down. Why then you ask, am I sitting at my computer instead of making progress on the tasks at hand?

Well, I needed to cool down some, (I got a headache from the heat while in the garden...) and I wanted to show you all why I might not be as timely as I usually am getting return letters written!  I have been working pretty hard to get caught up on outgoing mail and by the end of tomorrow I should be up to date. But I have had to put a lot of time in the garden and  the kitchen recently, so I am later getting things out than I like to be.

  I have received some wonderful mail goodness in the last couple of days, but I am going to have to wait to post them until after I finish the tasks at hand. I also have a couple of fun projects to talk about... One is a project I am working on with my pen friend Country Dirt at  www.penpalling-dad.blogspot.com. We are writing letters back and forth taking on the role of a fictional brother and sister in the year 1876. I will be writing a blog entry on this project in the near future. The other project is going to be a "Summer Fun" mailart call, the details will be posted in the next few days, but for now it is back to the kitchen to process all this produce... anyone want to lend a hand...?

                                                         Until next time, I'll see you in the mail!

More Unpacked Boxes

  We have been living back in the USA more than a year now, and finally I have my art supplies out of boxes! I found some things I thought got lost in our return trip from Costa Rica: my beloved paint brushes, which have seen better days, but I love them anyway...they aren't worn out, they're well broken in...! I also found the set of Berol Prismacolor pencils that I have torn the house apart looking for several times and just recently replaced. Sigh. Isn't that the way of things, as soon as you give up on finding something and replace it, you will find the lost item.

  I have been putting off opening my "art stuff" boxes, since we have been reworking some of the rooms in the cottage, I had no place to set up my space until recently. For most of my adult life, I had to use the dining room table for art projects. This was difficult at best, since I hardly ever got finished with a project in one sitting and the table would need to be freed up for meals. So I drag my stuff out of the closet, set it up and rush like crazy to get to a stopping point where I could clean it all up before dinner needed to be served.

Then a few years ago, I stumbled across the answer to my problem. I drove by a "weekend sale", different from a yard sale since it was open Friday,Saturday, and Sunday. I hardly ever get to go to yard sales; we are Torah Observant and keep a Saturday Sabbath, (a day of rest with no commerce of any kind). Since most yard sales are on Saturday, I usually miss all the good bargains, so I was very excited to see the sign for a Friday through Sunday sale! I drove past the sign and then abruptly u-turned, forsaking my intended destination for greener pastures. I thought I heard something calling my name... ever so softly, "Elle, come find me... I'm waiting to be yours..." When I got out of the car and started walking up to the sale, I saw on the driveway a piece of furniture with a big sign on it that said "Please take me home". There were two ladies standing there looking at it, one remarked to the other that it was an interesting piece of furniture, but she had no idea what it would be good for. I knew exactly what it would be good for and as soon as they were a polite distance away I grabbed the sign and went to the woman sitting behind a T.V. tray with a cash box on it. I asked how much it was and she said "oh... we had been asking $85 dollars for it, but if your can take it with you when you leave, you can have it for $75." Normally I wouldn't think of spending that kind of money on the spur of the moment, but I didn't think twice, I wrote a check and danced all the way back to the car. I couldn't believe that it was actually mine!!

It's mine all mine!! This vintage drafting table began its life in a university architecture classroom in the 1940's. It is now a permanent fixture in our family room and will one day belong to our youngest son, who like his mom, is artistically inclined. Most people would need to sit on a tall stool for it to be the right working height, but I always work standing up, so it is the perfect for me! The table top tilts and the cabinets can be arranged within the frame in several configurations, to suit the needs of the user.

I am afraid that the tilt top will never get used, since I always have wa-ay too much stuff sitting on it!

  In the boxes that held my fabric and art supplies, I also found some other things that have been packed away since we left for Costa Rica in 2009. At one point in the past I was very involved with "altered arts", like altered books, art dolls, atcs and the like. I eventually found that even though I really enjoyed the challenge of a "round robin" altered book or an "add and pass" art doll, I really didn't have the time or money to commit to these kind of projects. I decided to stick to my love of letters as a my personal outlet and to expend my creative energies on my mail... But I still have a few of the projects I worked on during that season of my life, and I thought you might enjoy seeing a few of them. So over the next couple of posts I will include a short show and tell of some of my finished (or almost finished...) projects.

  I made a cloth book in commemeration of a Mad Hatter's tea party that I had at Heart's Ease Cottage one year. It was a lovely day for a garden party. Each of the friends that attended brought a hat of some sort to decorate. I provided the supplies to decorate the hats with and as it turned out all of my generous guests brought things as well, so we had a virtual treasure trove of goodies to decorate with! We munched on hazelnut flavored, dark chocolate dipped strawberries, (berries compliments of our strawberry patch), as hot glue and glitter, silk birds and strings of faux pearls and other goodies became part of our party chapeaus.

  Later, brunch was served in the shade of our huge Shingle Oak trees in the front yard. We brunched on homemade chocolate chip or blueberry waffles, quiche, fresh blueberries and strawberries picked from the garden that morning. There were several choices of iced tea, and frozen fruit ice cubes to keep the tea cold without diluting it with melting ice. As a finisher there was a checkerboard, citrus flavored, Mad Hatter's cake with candles that burned with green, orange and pink flames. We all ate and laughed and talked until we could unbirthday party no more...

The art dolls on the front cover represent me,(the blonde,)and my dear friend Ketzy,(the brunette), who helped me prepare everything for the party.

The silk flowers that are embroidered and embellished to the left page are from the table decor. The background on the right page is made from one of the table napkins I chose for the buffet table.

The right page has a photo of the cottage all dressed up for the party.



The Mad Hatter's Cake

                                       


Decorating hats



Finally, a group shot of the mad hatters. I never finished the last page, so it is on my "to-do" list. Then ...how to bind the book? Right now I am holding it together with string threaded through the grommets, but I want something else for the final binding. Anyone have any suggestions?

    Well, my next post will be about all the lovely mail that has been pouring into my POB. I just need to get it all logged in and photographed. Thanks to everyone who wrote me and brought some very happy mail days! Until next time, see you in the mail! Elle