A Day at Arenal

  Ah-h... to breathe deeply of the pure rain forest air! It feels so good to be on the mountain treading the ground I walked every day while we lived on the farm, seeing my friends and filling my senses with the sights and sounds that have filled my dreams since we left Costa Rica in the summer of 2010. It almost doesn't seem real.
  We took a drive around Lake Arenal and spent the day at the volcano. Volcan Arenal is the tenth most active volcano on earth. It erupts almost every day and lava flows constantly down its crusty sides. Today though it was unusually quiet, not a single fiery stone crashed down the sides, the venting steam was a faint mist instead of the billowing plumes that usually wreath the cone and shoulders in clouds of vapor. The view of the volcano was wonderfully clear all the way to the cone, but it made me wonder if this is the calm before the storm... this area had a 6 magnitude earthquake the day before we landed, it seems unlikely that the volcano would be so quiet. But for today we enjoyed the clear view we had of the volcano and strolled the lovely trails and meticulously tended gardens of the Arenal Lodge and Observatory.
  Several varieties of hummingbirds zipped around our heads and teased us into thinking we might catch a photo or two of them... not! The other birds that normally flock to the feeders and fill the air with their songs and chatter were as absent from the scene as the volcano's daily grumblings. But I did get some nice photos of some other creatures and lots of photos of the gardens and tropical flowers.
  On the way back around the lake we stopped at the Lucky Bug Gallery and ate a delicious dinner on the veranda overlooking the gardens and tilapia pond. Tiny purple and green Wood Nymphs and White Bellied hummingbirds battled for ownership of the feeders at the end of our table while we ate. A large Kingfisher flew past at eye level before swooping down on an unsuspecting tilapia in the pond. He barely disturbed the water as he snatched his dinner up and flew to a nearby tree to enjoy it. Wow...
  We made it back around the lake to the Sabalito, (the pueblo where we used to live), just as the sun was setting. We  spent the early evening hours chatting with friends and allowed ourselved to be swallowed up by the deep dark of the rain forest. The air was cool and fresh and the peace in my heart was as thick as the darkness. Life is good.
  The jungle insects have tuned up for their nightly serenade...I think I will let them sing me to sleep... So good night to all and Pura Vida!

*note: I am on a borrowed computer and don't have access to my usual tools so there probably won't be any photos posted until I return home. 
           

Costa Rica Bound



Keel-billed Toucan on
 the farm in Costa Rica 2009

  Things have changed a couple of times back and forth but it looks like I am going to be making a trip to Costa Rica after all. If all goes well,  my husband and I will be flying out on the 15th of May. I am very excited!

  I am afraid that all the garden chores and preparations for our trip have kept me away from my art desk and letter writing. I have received a lot of mail from my pen friends and I am woefully behind on returns. If you have written me and haven't received a return, please forgive my tardiness...I am trying to get at least a postcard off to each of you before I leave, but I probably won't get many letters posted until I return from my trip. I haven't forgotten any of you and I want you to know how much I appreciate the letters and mail art that you take time out of your life to send to me. I will be gone two weeks and upon my return I will make letter writing a top priority.

For the moment, I will share some of the photos I have taken of life around Heart's Ease Cottage and I hope that you are enjoying life and making the most of the beautiful May weather.I'll see you in the mail!

Well, once Patrick's rose found a home in my yard other roses kind of found their way to the cottage as well. The roses on the arbor give us a huge display during the month of May, the border roses bloom in profusion all summer and fall.

 

Our border roses have masses of blooms which the bees love!

Trimming the limbs of our old oaks and planting 90 azalea bushes has been our big spring project this year. Can you imagine digging 90 holes to 2x the size of a 3 gallon plant bucket?   

Our cultivated blackberries plants are just laden with fruit this year.

This handsome gentleman lives in the "Pond Garden" next to our front porch. 
He is a stout fellow about the size of both my hands put together and has lived in the pond for years.

Bok Choi seedlings just waiting to be tucked into their garden bed.

My pen friend Sirpa commented on the cardinal in one of the postcards I sent her from our snow day in January. I have been trying to get a good shot of him ever since so I could send her a photo postcard featuring him. This one shows his colors well but I would really like it if he would oblidge and give me a nice pose in the profile...

The cabbage are heading up and soon it will be time to make saurkraut.

When the fava beans are ready, I will make Egyptian Felafels and Tabouli. Yum!

Sweet Charlie  strawberries

Tagg is the only dog I've ever seen that sniffs flowers...

The scent of Jasmine wafts in through the open windows and fills the house with its sweet scent.

Patrick's Rose

  Most everyone has a best friend  at some time in their life. Someone who knew you better than anyone else, who loved you even though they saw your flaws, who knew what to say when you were down or could tell you without regret when you were making a fool of yourself. Of course this is true within the bonds of marriage, but I am not referring to the marital relationship, since it is so different in many aspects from friendship.
  For me, my best friend was my brother. He and I grew up as Army brats. We moved so often that making friends was difficult and leaving them painful, so we were often to each  other more friends than siblings. I was the oldest by four years, so when I got married, he was still in high school. During a few years when we were seperated by miles and stages of life, we went different directions, but that is often so with life long friends, they are woven in and out of the fabric of our lives. 
  After my husband and I returned from our tour of duty in the Philippines, we seperated from the military and settled down to raise our kids in North Carolina. Patrick and I were able to reconnect and it wasn't long before he moved to N.C. to be close to me. We had such fun, laughing and telling stories, playing with the kids and just hanging out. He owned his own business and worked his own hours, so many times during the day, when my husband was off at work, Patrick would come to help me with the kids and chat over garden chores.

  Patrick had a green thumb, he grew all kinds of indoor plants and collected roses for his garden. Being the "practical" one I grew food, herbs and fruits, I salted in flowers for color and if they were functional, as in  they could be used medicinally or for crafting, I felt free to use my precious garden space for them, but roses were fussy and thorny and took up room where I could plant food, so I didn't have any roses. When we went plant shopping Patrick would buy a new rose and I would say "they are pretty but you can't eat them", and head for the herbs and veggie starts. It became a standing joke over they years and the more he chided me about not having roses the more determined I was not to have them!

  Then Patrick fell ill and was too weak to garden. I would go over to keep his beloved roses pruned and fed so that they would stay lovely and bring him some cheer. We would walk around his property chatting and observing the microcosm of his yard , pausing often to rest. The scent of damask and moss roses filled the air and I would marvel at his hair shimmering like a new copper penny as we rested on the bench in the rose garden. I tried to take it all in, to etch those moments into my mind to draw from in the lonely years after his death.

   A couple of months before he died, he rallied and was feeling pretty good. We went out plant shopping and he bought a yellow rose called Graham Thomas. It was lovely,  it's yellow frills scented like citrus and rose combined. When we got back to his house with his purchase I asked where he wanted me to plant it, he smiled and told me that this rose wasn't going in his garden it was going in mine... His impish grin told me there would be no arguing the point this time, and I didn't want to anyway. So we made a garden in a sunny spot in the backyard at my house, with the Graham Thomas rose as a centerpiece. I filled the garden with herbs and flowers that were blue, yellow or white, to set off the rose. Over the years I trained it to trail along a fence and every year in late April, the same time of year that we planted it together, it gives me it's first lemony blooms. This morning I went out on the deck and there they were in all their glory, their tissue thin petals shimmering in the morning light. A reminder that those we love live on in our memories and the stories we tell about them and that even though petals fade and fall the cycle of life continues.

  I know this story has nothing to do with letter writing, but I just had to share it with you, because that is what letters are all about, sharing pieces of your story with others. Until next time, I'll see you in the mail!

OutGoing Mail

I am such a scatter brain sometimes.I wanted to make sure that I got my letters posted in a timely fashion, so I dashed off to the P.O. with a stack, mailed them and then realised I hadn't photographed them. Sigh... I am posting a couple that I have recently worked on and did remember to photograph. I have more that I am working on and I will post them when I'm finished.

I used one of Patty's handmade envelopes, made from Laura Ashley wallpaper for this letter.

The envelope for this letter was originally sent to me by Hester in Boston. When I saw the envelope it made me think about the children's book "Where the Wild Things Are". I happened to have an old beat up copy of the book that I got from Goodwill some time ago, so I decided to use some of the elements from the book to decorate the envelope and send it on.

This is the back of the envelope. This "Wild Thing" is one of my favorites from the book.

This postcard is made from one of my original collages. I added some 3-D elements to a print of the collage and made it into a postcard.

I thought it would be fun to add my most recent artistamp and some other "Steampunky"  elements.

There are more coming... and if you are fond of chocolate, leave me a comment and I will send you an Ode to Chocolate postcard. See you in the mail!

Incoming Mail March 2011

Here are photos of the goodies I have received in the mail during the month of March. It has been such fun to look in my POB and find these treasures in there! I opened them to discover well wishes, seeds, vintage stamps, add and passes to play with and pass on, handmade envelopes, photos, Marjolien Bastin calendar pages that are pretty enough to frame... It was really warmed my heart to receive such lovely gifts from my mailart and pen friends! Thank you all!






 



This envie brimming with goodness comes from Sirpa in Finland. Enclosed were several of Sirpa's fine photographs, a letter written on a Marjolien Basten Calendar and other goodies to bring cheer to the dreary March weather.

Hester in Boston, makes lovely cards and envelopes. She sent me a newsy letter and a card set. She mailed it all in a handmade envelope. I have restasked added to and sent to another pen friend. You will see her envie reborn in my outgoing mail post. The same day I received a second envelope with a recipe she meant to include with her letter. I haven't tried the recipe yet, but it sounds great!  

Wanda from British Columbia wrote me a wonderful letter and filled the envie with vintage stamps and some tomatoe seeds from Seedy Saturday, an early Spring Horticultural event in her area. I am starting some of the seed today!

Samuel Montalvetti from Argentina sent me  an"Add and Pass"booklet, a very interesting MailArt folded booklet and other goodies. He is a member of I.U.O.M.A

A package stuffed with handmade envelopes, from Patty in Virginia. She made them from Laura Ashley wall paper and offered them on her blog as a gift to anyone who wanted them.  http://www.justletterrip.blogspot.com/ She sent Five and I have already used a couple of them in my mailings.

  Some people collect shells when they go to the beach...I collect sand. I noticed years ago that sand wasn't just sand; in Tulum Mexico the sand is like sugar, granular and white. While in Kitty Hawk North Carolina, it is chunky, less like sand and more like shell fragments. On the other end of the outer banks in Jockey's Ridge, the sand looks like it came out of a huge sand box, uniform in shape and yellow, (Jockey's Ridge has sand dunes 16 stories high!). In San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua, the sand is black due to the large amount of volcanic material mixed in with the sand. Recently I received a postcard from a pen friend who had been to the Sahara Desert, she incorporated some of the redish orange sand into the art on the post card. It was very interestingly done and it gave me an idea...

  Why don't I put some of my sand collection to good use and send some of it to my pen friends. So I am going to do just that. I am at the moment in Wilmington, North Carlina, my husband has a business meeting and I decided to tag along so that I could collect some sand from Wrightsville Beach. I think I will start by sharing the sand from this trip. It will be fun to work out a way to send the sand on a post card, since it would be too easy to send it in an envelope. If you aren't on my mailing list and would like to receive one of my sandy post cards, please e-mail me your snail mail addy and when I get them done I will send you one!

 
 

Humbling Thoughts

Dear Friends,

    I woke up this morning with a sinus headache. I had to get up at 5:45 to get everyone breakfasted and off to work, but since it is a rainy day, and moving my head really makes it thump, I decided to go back to bed and catch up on letterwriting and my blogs. Our dog Tagg got up on the bed to nudge me out as if to say,"Hey Mom, it's light outside what are you doing in  bed ?" When he realized I wasn't going to get up, he flopped down resignedly at the end of the bed, but kept looking wistfully over his shoulder as if to say, " Mom, your worrying me...". He is such a good companion, sweet and funny and annoyingly persistant when things don't run on his schedule... (as he gets up from his spot at the end of the bed and tries to flip the laptop off my lap with his nose, so he can assume its place). I guess before long I will have to get up since I'll have no peace if I don't.
  In the early morning quiet, I have been contemplating a great many things, our lives since we came back from Costa Rica, health challenges and questions about the future. But while I was thinking about all these things I felt more palpably the newest ache in my heart, the sadness I feel for the poor people of Japan. The tragedy that has befallen them makes my troubles seem like inconveniences. First the earthquake, then the tsunami, and to add insult to injury, one nuclear reactor after another in the middle of a meltdown. How hopeless and helpless they must feel. In some ways I can empathize, everything but the front two rooms of our house was destroyed by Hurricane Hugo in 1982. My husband, seven yr. old son, six month old infant and I lived in one of the two remaining rooms while my husband and I began the slow process of rebuilding our lives. It took us 6 years to get back to "normal", but we didn't have to worry about our children being washed away by an ocean surge the height of a 3 story building, or being made sick by radiation from not one but three reactors melting down.
  The task ahead of the Japanese people will be a difficult one: To survive all that has befallen them and then to find the courage to face the future, bury their dead, clean up and start over. It is my job to help how I may, with my finances where we can, with any practical things I can do from here like collect clothing and toiletries to send to refugees and most importantly to keep their plight before God, petitioning for His intervention and mercy.
  Reflecting on hard days ahead of the Japanese people is helping to put my personal life challenges into perspective. I have much to be grateful for: today I woke up with my husband beside me, I know where all my dear family memebers are, I have a roof over my head and shelter from the cold and rain. I am truly humbled.
  If any of you have thoughts on how we might be a comfort to those who are now finding themselves homeless and in danger please leave a comment. I am sure if we all put our heads together we can come up with some ways to really be a help!
  I am off to start my day, I hope that you are all safe , happy and healthy. Until next time, I will see you in the mail!