Awhile ago I wrote a little piece about the joys of receiving real, honest-to-goodness mail in the mailbox out by the road (Stationery). My goal was to get people to use their imaginations to come up with a little surprise for someone else. A nice surprise. I suppose I should have seen it coming, but I didn’t. People sent me little surprises. Nice ones. I am finally catching up with my correspondence. I have located envelopes that are not stuck together, and cards that are pretty and stamps that, combined with more stamps of more recent vintage, should serve. Now, what to say . . .
To Karma, who made a pencil portrait of Miss Sadie and the Cowboy?
Or to Isa, who sent pretty stationery that reminded her of my lakes and wished me an early spring?
Or to PJ, who packaged up a license plate and a vintage Torch Lake postcard? I am not kidding.
Well, Thank You springs to mind. And there might be a word or two beyond that, written on the pretty cards tucked into the creamy envelopes, all of it to be deposited in the Eastport Post Office on Saturday. After that it’s in Katherine’s hands, or Rick’s.
And while I’m at it, I think I should send some real mail to a couple of other correspondents. Birgitte sent me all those lovely little Nisser, and all she got was an email. What was I thinking?
And Molly’s letters reminded me of the nice fat ones that used to fly back and forth with friends I missed dearly when we moved across the country. Email responses, while better than nothing, seem insufficient.
And there are more. My evening’s pleasures are laid out for me. Ten pretty cards chosen, check. Ten envelopes addressed, check. A little cup of tea, a little note. Tuck, seal, stamp. OK, maybe a little glass of wine, we’ll see. Civilized. Let’s hope I remember how to construct a sentence without a keyboard! Yes indeed. Miss Sadie and the Cowboy have offered to help with the sealing and stamping. Miss Puss . . . well, you know how she is.
Torch Lake Views 
P.j. grath
February 18, 2011
Gerry, how about if we all make a commitment to post a piece of real mail–not counting bills–at least once a week until Memorial Day? Could we do it? I am very much afraid of losing the United States Postal Service, though Netflix is helping it hang on by a thread. I got several pieces of real mail myself this week, and it is such a treat, isn’t it?
Gerry
February 18, 2011
GACK!! I am commitment averse!
I am going to mail-post (as opposed to blog-post) ten RealMails tomorrow. I will probably not send off any more RealMail for months, unless the Forest Ranger and I decide to get married, in which case I will send off tasteful notes. Wait, wait, you are saying . . . What Forest Ranger? That is the selfsame question I am asking myself! Do not expect a tasteful note in the near future. Except for the thank you for the license plate of course. (Now, see, what I really want to ask is Did you make it yourself? but I am not going to do that, because people would be flummoxed.)
I feel I should warn you–since practically all the cool people except for thee and me have Real Internet, Netflix is moving full speed into streaming downloads. Pretty soon we won’t be able to get DVDs by mail either. I did get lovely CDs from NARA full of Civil War veteran documents, but I had to pay an unholy amount of money for them. Does it count if we have to pay an unholy amount of money?
Anna
February 18, 2011
Oh, how very nice all you received in the mail! My, it has been a long time since I’ve truly written letters in longhand. I used to love getting letters in the mail, and writing letters and decorating the envelopes. An art now, I think, letter writing. Lovely post and photos!
Gerry
February 18, 2011
It was nice! The world is full of people who have a pleasant impulse and act on it. OK, maybe not full full, but well-supplied. I expect there will always be room for more such benign souls.
Karma
February 19, 2011
I’m glad you enjoyed your mail, Gerry! It was fun to do and I hope it was a nice surprise! 🙂
Gerry
February 19, 2011
I did and it was. Thank you Karma!
P.j. grath
February 19, 2011
Okay, I’m back to say that YES, I am making the commitment, and I’m adding an optional addition to it, also, which I will fulfill. It’s easy for me, as, while I try to limit my commitments, I adore sending and receiving real mail. I’ll post about this on Monday. But if you’ve got five pieces of mail going out, you’d only have to write and send four or five more–averaging them out–to make the Memorial Day deadline. Will the Muse not strike again before MD?
I do not want to download streaming movies! I’m just finally catching up on the switch from CDs to DVDs. We watched a good DVD last night, “The Burning Plain,” which I rate right up there with “Snow Cake,” my favorite from last year.
Have you read A SUPERIOR DEATH, by Nevada Barr? (I wanted to try one of her novels, and what better than one set in Michigan?) Maybe your Ranger is waiting for you on Isle Royale. Oh, here’s a nice line from A SUPERIOR DEATH: “The letter was there. Anna put it away: a treat for later.” Okay, two lines.
You are a sweetie!
Gerry
February 19, 2011
I have read A Superior Death, and pretty much all the rest of the adventures of Anna Pigeon. (The ones about the cave and the fire scared me to death and I never want to go to those places again.) I am pretty sure that all the forest rangers who spend time on Isle Royale are hundreds of years too young for me, but I’ll bet there are others up there in the U.P. who have a few miles on them . . .
I wouldn’t mind a bit downloading movies, as that would allow for a great deal of spontaneity. The older–and more forgetful–I get, the more I value spontaneity.
The Muse whacks me around all the time, but I am tough. I hit back. My Muse is perpetually sore in the shoulder area. Still, by my count it will be fourteen weeks until Memorial Day and regardless of how many rounds I go with the Muse between now and then, I am unlikely to meet such a daunting commitment.
Mind you, I am sneaky.
kiwidutch
February 19, 2011
Brilliant post.. it inspired me to the point where, before writing this comment, I sat down and hand wrote two letters to people I’d been meaning to write to for a few weeks, but didn’t get around to.
Hubby put both cards in the postbox a few minutes ago.
It was exactly the right reminder at exactly the right moment.
Thank You!
Gerry
February 19, 2011
See, that’s what I live for — to get other people to do the things I seem to be congenitally incapable of managing myself. I think I ought to go into politics. Or maybe Talk Radio. Oh dear, Miss Sadie just made clear her feelings about Talk Radio. ‘Scuse me, I have to go, er, tidy up.
ilya
June 1, 2011
i love it
katherine
February 19, 2011
Those of us who have a vested interest in the Postal System, like that YOU GOT (real) MAIL. As for DVDs, I doubt that Netflix will cut out delivering them because there are just still too many people without a fast internet connection. But what do I know??
Gerry
February 19, 2011
You know that there are a lot of people who lack a fast internet connection, which is one of many fine qualities that puts you leventy-eight up on most politicians.
I did patronize the Post Office today–two of them in fact, as I had forgotten that you and Rick are lazing about this winter keeping the office open just one hour on Saturdays and I had to go all the way up to Charlevoix to buy stamps and send off Real Mail–and I will patronize it again on Tuesday, as I forgot some other important things.
On my way back from Charlevoix I passed the sign pointing to HONEY and Turned Right There, but I failed to find further directions after that. Do you know who’s selling honey down on the Flat Road? Or perhaps on Scott Road? It can’t be Margie Guyot, because she’s fully occupied with the chickens and the rabbits and the possums, not to mention the cupcakes.
katherine
February 20, 2011
I can ask Shirley and Sue who’s selling honey down their way. Hey, Rick and I would love to keep the P.O. open longer on Saturday but that’s one of their “cost cutting measures” but I AM glad you went to some Post Office somewhere!
Gerry
February 20, 2011
I should never joke about cost-cutting measures. The consensus of opinion at the Eastport P.O. on Saturday was that We Are Lucky To Have A Post Office At All.
Nye
February 20, 2011
The only thing that I don’t like about real mail is the bills that keep pouring in, but other than that I think there is still charm in receiving a snail mail. 🙂
Gerry
February 20, 2011
Agreed on both counts!
Dawn
February 20, 2011
I am in agreement about real mail. I love real mail, and how sweet so many people took a moment to send you some! I think I just might take PJ up on her challenge to send out one real mail letter to a real person every week between now and Memorial Day. Seems like something a bit challenging..but worthwhile too. I have a friend who made me a whole bunch of hand made cards….they would love to be sent across the country, don’t you think?
Gerry
February 20, 2011
Of course they would. You and PJ are warming the cockles of postal hearts all across the country. See, I think the beginning of the end for the Postal Service as we knew and loved it was when it became a vehicle for junk mail. Pounds and pounds of it every week, to the detriment of postal knees and backs everywhere. If people could look forward to nice things in their mailboxes they’d clamor to keep their postalpersons.
katherine
February 21, 2011
The honey people are the first house you come to on Scott Rd (I think)…It’s the house with the outdoor wood furnace. Shirley and Sue said they may not sell it in winter but they didn’t know for sure.
Gerry
February 21, 2011
I’m on the case.
isathreadsoflife
February 21, 2011
Funny to see some familiar stamps on Your desk 😉 so my snail mail made it over the pond ? So happy for you, Gerry. Another connection between the Writing Studio and Bait Shop, the Gently Used Ideas Store, Torch Lake and this small village close to the Swiss Alps 🙂 Aren´t we living in a small world ? Lovely post and great commitment.
Gerry
February 21, 2011
I am glad you enjoyed it. I enjoyed going to the Post Office with mail for Switzerland, too.
Beth Toner
February 22, 2011
Gerry! I have a license plate like that, given to me by my summer Torch Lake love (from the cottage next to ours) in the summer of 1980. I still have it — proudly displayed on the front of my Honda Pilot. 🙂
Gerry
February 22, 2011
I am not even sure I have a plate holder for my front bumper, but it is way too cold to get out there with a wrench anyway. Perhaps I can affix the license plate to Miss Sadie in lieu of the one she keeps chewing off her collar. Miss Sadie is a terrier who does not appreciate things that jingle.
Don Weeks
February 22, 2011
Gerry,
If you want to get totally nostalgic about real mail, you might consider a wax seal on the envelope. This probably will wreak havoc on today’s postal processing equipment, but so be it. You could also write with a quill pen dabbed in a bowl of ink. You could become the modern-day Benjamin Franklin. And do it at night with a lamp fueled by kerosene or whale oil.
I use e-mail for business, but I prefer snail mail for personal correspondence. It just says a lot about the thought and effort that has been put into it (but I cannot find my old wax and stamp mold kit. Alas).
Thanks for bringing back memories.
Gerry
February 22, 2011
I am all about bringing back memories, but whale oil??? Don, you astonish me. I’ll bet there are still wax sticks and metal stamps made for sealing, though. What I’ve always wanted is one of those signet rings with a secret compartment, opened by a tiny spring . . . I digress. It would be a great deal of fun to be the modern-day Benjamin Franklin, particularly if it meant I could be Ambassador to France for awhile.