Welcome, friends! And Happy April!

Every year, in the month of April, there is an international blogging challenge called the A to Z Blog Challenge. I’ve done it in previous years, but as with many of my writing friends, the last couple years have been difficult. Between the pandemic; war in Ukraine (Slava Ukraini!); the George Floyd riots and subsequent awakening of the American people to the continuing evils of racism, misogyny, and homophobia; the climate emergency; and the rise of Christo-fascism in the U.S. and around the world, it’s been a difficult climate in which to be a creative. It’s easy to feel lost in the midst of all of the onslaught.

I think it’s important to remember that we are physical beings. We aren’t avatars, and we don’t live in social media: we are flesh and blood beings with physical bodies and THAT is where our connection, our reality, must live.

And therein I found my theme for this month’s blog challenge. I decided to join at the last minute; I literally wrote the theme out yesterday and had to ask myself, “Am I nuts? Do I really want to do a 30 day challenge right now after coming off a severe dry spell?” In answer, my brain’s squirrels awoke and not only was the answer yes, but I got ideas for my other sites and themes.

Thus, here I am.

Which brings me to today’s subject: letters!

What do you get in your physical mailbox? Do you get garbage mail, paper spam, bills, and nothing interesting? Nothing uplifting? Connecting you to people from far away?

Well, I LOVE getting “non-bill” mail. It turns out, you get what you put out there, and that’s doubly true for receiving letters. If you write letters, you will get letters back. Pretty magical, nu?

And so my theme this month will be around my love of penpalling. I’ll share some pictures of letters and postcards I’ve received (never with the sender’s address visible), and I’ll talk about how I meet other penpals and snail mail aficionados. I’ll even talk a little bit about mail art. While I don’t consider myself a mail artist, I am fascinated by it and have participated in a couple Artist Trading Card swaps.

But for today, I’ll simply close with an invitation. Would you like to be my penpal? If so, please drop me a note at a.catherine.noon AT gmail DOT com and include your name, how you like to be called (if your nickname is different than your given name), and your mailing address. International folx welcome – I just got in a new set of international stamps. 🙂

Tell me, Dear Reader, what do you like to receive in the mail?