Sadly, writing letters seems to be a thing of the past. Emails, text messages, Twitter and blogs are just some of the new forms of communication. While social networking has the advantage of being immediate and will no doubt eventually change the world, there is something to be said for the simple pleasure of opening the letter box and finding a letter.
My love of letter-writing began decades ago when, as a young mother, I would write to my family overseas. These letters would fly across the world and reach their destination 10 days or so later. The anticipated reply would take another few weeks. My father kept the letters for me in a bundle tied with ribbon. Reading them now I am awash with nostalgia. They give an unexpected record of our family's life: Children's milestones, special occasions - the minutia of everyday life long forgotten. The tone is surprisingly upbeat but I am sure my parents could see the homesickness hding between the lines.
Of late, I've been sketching designs on the envelope, as an artform in itself. Usually they are watercolour drawings of birds and butterflies. I try to match them with some 'vintage' stamps my daughter and I found in stamp shops. The stamps are still valid for postage but no longer issued by the Post Office. We found that some post offices have commemorative hand-franking stamps that they will happily use to frank your letter. Above is a beautifully hand-painted postcard from Jarek in Poland and an evelope with a sketch of the Superb Fairy Wren.
Your comments re your letters home as a young mother are very touching - do you get a sense that you've changed a lot since those days?
ReplyDeleteLove the Fairy Wren and the postcard from the Polish dude!