Take Time To Remember

Today is Memorial Day. A day for reflection and a day of giving thanks to all those servicemen and women who have fought for the freedoms we have in this country. If you haven't already, take some time out to remember those who have and are putting their lives on the line for us each and everyday. Remember, you dont have to support the war to be in support of the troops.

Happy Birthday John Wayne

The Duke would have been 104 today if he were still alive. Unfortunately, he passed away in 1979 from complications with stomach cancer. The reason for this post is that...



..there is a John Wayne stamp. I really like this stamp, because he looks so stoic in the photo. The stamp which is valued at 37 cents was released September 9, 2004. It was part of the Hollywood Legends series of stamps.

Some interesting facts about the Duke...He starred in approx 184 movies. Of which he was the lead in 142 of them. Another surprising fact that I learned was that he had 7 children! I am not sure why this shocks me but it does.

Anyway, its getting late and there are more letters to write!!

That Hiatus Didn't Take Long...

Ok...So after thinking about it some more..I decided that I enjoy posting, AND it doesn't take too long. So I will still continue to post when time permits.

Today I was informed that my nephew Carter would love to get some fun mail. He enjoys postcards, but also LOVES to look at the envelopes all of you decorate. So..if any kind hearts out there want to send some mail to a 4 (almost 5) year old..please do so at the address listed on the blog. His name is Carter Coulbourne. He would sure appreciate it. And anyone who does will get some nice mail back from him. Perhaps some of his artwork. =)



To anyone who has sent me something and not gotten a response yet. I promise I am still working on the stack of mail I have sitting here. I will get a response to you soon!!

And with that..I think I shall be off to write some more letters!

Posting Hiatus

I wanted to put up a quick post that I have decided to take a short break from posting in order to catch up on some letter writing/mail sending. I promise it wont last too long but I really need to get some letters written. =)

Look forward to seeing a book review when I resume posting. As always I appreciate your patience and thank you all for reading these rambles.

Cheers!

Circus Day!

Happy Circus Day! Did you know it was Circus Day??? I bet you didn't, but if you did...well...you would be awesome at Trivial Pursuit. I actually read it on a book blog..so I cannot say that I already knew it. Today is in commemoration of the Ringling Brothers opening their famous circus in 1884. Cool huh? Anyway...being that today is Circus Day...I wanted to talk about...



Circus stamps! The stamp shown above was issued in 1966. The first day cover was issued out of Delavan, Wisconsin...which coincidentally is the birthplace of John Ringling. BUT...did you know that John Ringling bought the Barnum and Bailey Circus after P.T. Barnum and James Baileys deaths? Which is why the circus is now called, Ringling Bros., and Barnum and Bailey Circus.



But lets not forget that there were other Circus stamps released in the US. In April 1993 the USPS released the set of stamps shown above to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the first circus performance in the United States. That first performance was in Philadelphia on April 3, 1793. The circus was brought over from England by John Bill Ricketts.

Neat info right? I think those are the only Circus stamps that were issued...if I am wrong PLEASE do not hesitate to let me know!

Moments That Make You Stop and Think...

So today has been yet another rainy gray Ohio day...though they say we may get some nice weather for a day or two later this week....*fingers crossed*.

I got home and decided to read through my RSS feeds (the wonderful way I keep up with all your blogs) and I found a nice article about a local post office that is being renamed after a soldier who was killed in the line of duty on this third tour in Iraq. The Rootstown Post Office will now bear the name of Sgt. Jeremy E. Murray. =)

**Mail Art Call**

The author of the Dinotopia series of books is hosting a Mail Art Call for decorated envelopes. You can find all of the details here and I highly suggest that you submit something. Why not? We are all making art anyway. Put it to good use!

Mail Recap

I spaced out yesterday and forgot to post the incoming mail from last week. So here is some of it. (I am sure there are somethings missing..mostly postcards cause I respond quicker to those. And then they get filed in their respective bins.)



Things are getting drier here..slowly. But our forecast this week is calling for rain. =( Just means perfect weather for writing and reading!

Soggy in Ohio

So, I haven't posted since before the blogger outage and I wasnt going to post anything today, but I decided I would post something quick.

I am sick of all the rain and flash floods we have had in Ohio!!

Thank you...that is all.

Help Save Vanishing Species

There isn't a whole lot to report. Today was another no mail day. Kinda odd until I remember that I have a TON of stuff to respond to.

There was an article of interest today though. The USPS is going to be releasing a stamp to help save vanishing species. This definitely combines two things that are amazing. Sending mail and giving money to a really great cause.

You can preorder the stamps (which will release in September) at the USPS online store.

Tuesday, Tuesday, Tuesday

Today was a no mail day. Which is completely fine...I have a TON to send. Haha. So I plan on working on that again tonight.

There was an interesting mail related thing I wanted to share. This article. Technically it is more about coins than stamps...but the 3 cent coin was originally brought out for the easy purchase of stamps!! How cool is that??

Learning something new everyday. =)

Late Mail Recap

Ok…ok…I promise that I had EXTREMELY good intentions about posting my incoming mall this week. However..as usual life got in my way. =(

As many of you know..I have a little buddy named Carter. Well he was having some really bad stomach pains and so my brother and his wife took him to the ER on Saturday. They transported him from the local hospital to a Children's hospital about 40 minutes away.

He has been there since sometime Saturday afternoon. They still aren't totally sure what is wrong with him, though they did rule out appendicitis (which is good). Though they did an ultrasound and ct scan and found that he has a thickening of his bladder wall. The problem is that they still don't know what is causing that. His fever was high again today (right around 102.8) and his white cell count was raging as well. Both of those indicate an infection, but they cannot seem to find one. **Edit...they apparently found strep.**

SO…now you know why it has taken so long to post this. AND I want to let everyone know that if you are expecting a response from me..I promise they will all get sent out once life slows a bit. I am very slowly getting through them..the pile seems to be getting smaller…I hope.



I am sure there are a few postcards missing. SO...if I didn't post a picture of something please let me know. I may have accidentally filed them after responding. If only I could keep my wits about me... In addition to the Rubber Duck from Kelly, I got another piece of fun mail I wish to highlight. Limner aka Bobbie from "OH, Write Me" sent me a copy of The Art of a Handwritten Note. How wonderful. Granted...I havent had much time to leaf through it, but I will be sure to let you all know how it is.



**Also, if anyone is interested a new issue of USA Philatelic is out. I got my issue in the mail today…so I imagine they are available at the Post Office. You can also sign up to get them sent to your house for free at the Beyond the Perf website.

Short Post

Just like the title says tonights post is going to be short!

So if you have read my recent posts you know that I have been getting some cards together to tuck into a box for my soldier Matthew. Well...I seem to have inspired someone else! SO...what I think you should do..is travel on over to Maria's blog and email her to get her mailing address and then send her soldier Gordon a card for his birthday! =)

Everyone loves getting birthday greetings so why not send a few yourself? I have already emailed her..have you?

No Mail..OH Wait!!

So today has been utterly rotten. Mainly for career related reasons, but regardless..it has been an extremely rainy Ohio day. And of course with the rain comes foul moods. Currently my mood isn't foul...more lazy and just plain blah!

I got home from work and decided to check the mailbox to see if there were any goodies waiting for me. (Not that I need more letters to respond to at the moment, but reading a good one is always a pick me up). I pulled out the largest bundle of mail and it was all junk. Sales ads and coupons to places that aren't anywhere around here. Needless to say I was a little disappointed. Then I noticed that laying in the end of the mailbox were some envelopes. Surely those were some correspondence for me...

Nope. I recently made a call for Birthday Cards for Matthew (the soldier I write to). He will be turning 20 on the 7th and I plan to send him a box of goodies. I thought cards would be a nice addition. So I posted it on the Soldier's Angels forum and I have gotten quite a few. So that was good...but still no mail for me.

In a desperate attempt to pull something out of the box for myself..I bent down in the rain to make sure I had cleared the box completely when...





That little guy was patiently waiting to be plucked from the box! How awesome is that?? Now I can add "rubber duck" to the list of odd things I have been mailed. I truly do love this getting completely random things in the mail. This rubber duck is from a fellow mail artist/ letter writer/library employee named Kelly P. (Not to be confused with my other friend Kelly D. who sent me the frisbee.)

Anyway, Kelly P. if you are reading this...you are awesome and definitely made my day. Expect a very cheerful thank you soon!!

Mail This For Me Deer

Today was an odd day. Many bloggers took to their blogs to write about the death of Osama Bin Laden, so many in fact that I decided to steer in a different direction. Though, I will point you towards probably the most well written and thought out entry about the events that took place overnight. This entry was written by Bev Sykes and I must say I couldn't have worded it any better.

Since my brain had been so bogged down by all the media reports and such. I steered away from answering my mail today. I just couldn't focus for lack of better wording. But I did go and visit my grandmother. While we were talking (after discussing Osama) I was telling her about the frisbee I received in the mail..and about how I am hoping to get more sent through the mail soon. She then told me a mail related story that I would like to share with you.

Shortly after my mother was born, my grandparents were living in Saratoga Springs, NY. My grandfather worked construction so he was located there for a few weeks. While off one weekend he decided to go hunting. He managed to get himself a deer and thought to himself... (why I am not really sure) the legs on this deer would make mighty nice lamps. SO..instead of taking them to a taxidermist there in NY, he decided that my grandmother should mail them back to Ohio to the taxidermist he usually used. And so she did.

It wasn't until I told her that she realized...you aren't supposed to mail things like that. We all had a really nice laugh about it. But it also got me thinking..if my grandmother has gotten away with mailing deer legs...what other things have been sent via USPS without their knowledge?

Weekly Mail Call

So I really did fail this week, but I promise I had good reason to. First..I am finally feeling better after taking some antibiotics for an infection. They totally wiped me out! Which means....I am severely behind in sending out mail. But Sundays are good days to work on that.

Secondly, my brother was in town from Boston. There was an alumni rugby match at our Alma Mater and thus Saturday was spent watching men throw each other around on a field. It really is a rather fun sport to watch..though I missed the buzzer going off when someone scored (clearly I have watched too much Hockey!).

But after much consideration..I do believe I will start posting the weekly mail on Sundays. They seem to be the only day that I can find the time every week to do it. Also, it makes more sense as we still get mail on Saturday. Being that Sunday is the day without...I will post it then.

And without much further wait...



Look at all that wonderful mail!! I feel like I misplaced a few things, but my mail register says otherwise. So perhaps if I did misplace it...I also didn't record it.... I am hoping that is not the case.

**Special note... I am considering mailing a Frisbee and doing sort of an add then pass thing. One would start it off...write something on the back, then pass it along to someone else and so on..until the back was filled at which point it would be sent back to the original sender. Honestly, I think the drawn/written on frisbee makes a GREAT conversation piece. SO, anyone who is interested in such a thing be sure to leave a comment below. I figure this way, we will make sure the frisbee goes to people who are willing to pay the postage (under $2). For the purposes of this experiment we will only be sending it within the US..something tells me sending it outside the country would be a lil tricky. We could ever do multiple frisbees if anyone else would like to have one to keep. Think of the possibilities!**