Artful Words

Friday-March 26, 2021

Dear Marion,

  The month of March is coming to a close and we have ridden the rollercoaster of ever-changing weather patterns. My walks this week have taken place during chilly temps, fog, sunshine, and blustery winds that Winnie the Pooh would marvel. There has been another mass shooting claiming 10 lives in a food market in Boulder, Colorado. Migrants trying to cross the border into the U.S. for a safe and better life for themselves and their children have reached an all-time high number. This weekend on the calendar marks the beginning of Passover, Palm Sunday, and Holi the ancient Hindu Festival of Love. Fortunately, the number of vaccines given has increased substantially and in two months should be available to 16-year-olds and older allowing(hopefully) for more ease in lifestyles. Zoom meetings, facetime phone calls, emails, texts, social media, and snail-mail have all aided in keeping communication lines open whether work or social interaction, but I still get the most joy from opening the mailbox and waving to our mailman. 

  When your grandchildren were small, you would send them a special card you made and include $5.00 for every holiday large or small. You wanted each of them to know the joy of opening that mailbox and receiving a card with their name and address on the front of the envelope and a little something to claim as their own. I don’t know who enjoyed it more- us watching that moment or them experiencing that bit of love unfold. For much of their young lives, we were fortunate to receive our mail from Bonnie, our mailwoman. I am pretty sure you had a few conversations with Bonnie as she was always so friendly even while racing to keep on top of her route. On occasion, I had the opportunity to enjoy an update about her two daughters and all that they were pursuing each excelling in different areas. Without getting too involved(here and now)in her personal life, I just wanted to point out how kind, thoughtful, and conscientious Bonnie was while working in our town. After probably 10-15 years, Bonnie’s route no longer included our town and we have had a multitude of mail carriers. One thing remains and that is their friendly and consistent delivery of our mail. Currently, we have a mailman but I do not know his name. We exchange warm hellos and thank you from a safe distance as he delivers from his truck. Bonnie delivered on foot probably as to not block the road(you know how tricky our block can be with parking). Recently our current mailman has not been delivering and as with the current times, I hope that he is on vacation and not sick.

  Delivering words and enjoying the art of the word can bring us such a range of emotions. While I enjoy reading, it takes some work for me to indulge in poetry. In fact, I very rarely read poetry, and yet when I have it often fills me with emotion. You have loved following my friend Lee’s painting and illustrations since college and I wanted to share with you a few pieces representing what she has been concentrating on in these last years. Lee is fortunate to share a love of the arts with her mom, Marjorie, and they have experienced art in many of its forms together. A few years back, Lee began to focus on her mom’s beautiful longhand penmanship. After a few sketches, Lee realized how impactful her work could be using this beautiful writing within her paintings. Marjorie has had a very full life as a mother, career woman(Librarian and Pianist), friend, wife, and artist(music, painting). All of these accomplishments come through her hand in the form of her written word. Much like you, Marjorie was born during a period in time that women didn’t have as many opportunities to pursue a career as did men making her accomplishments all the more fascinating. Lee incorporates her mom’s freehand writing as well as special requests to write words from Emily Dickinson and Robert Frost to name a few into her canvas and the story she chooses to paint.

  Your granddaughter and I often frequent the bookstore together and she convinced me to purchase The Lost Manuscript by Cathy Bonidan. I picked it up from my to-read stack and thought how interesting as it is written in the form of letters. The correspondence begins as the manuscript was found and read in a hotel room but it was not finished in the same hand that it had begun and so the story unfolds. An envelope with an address is found wedged in the page and as fortune would find so was the original author. He had lost his half-written manuscript as a young man on his way to deliver to someone in publishing for direction. Some thirty years later, he now has the opportunity to do with it what he chooses. The person who found the manuscript is stirred into discovering the path that has brought this story to her and she encourages some help along the way.

  I find it interesting to hear stories, especially how people make connections, but I always loved that we shared this same thought. This week is Palm Sunday and we are struggling without the taste of chocolate and ice cream during this season of Lent. Recently, we discovered we could indulge on Sundays,  so we did with ice cream. Your granddaughter has been baking and attempting to fill this chocolate void and this week's delivery was Homemade Cinnamon Bread. The cinnamon and sugar were rolled into the loaf much in the way life’s stories come together and blend to make an interesting mix. The enticing mix wafted through the air and kept the chocolate at bay for a bit more time.

Talk soon,

Forever Yours

Quote:

“Do the things that interest you and do them with all your heart.”

Eleanor Roosevelt

First Lady of the U.S. 1933-1945

American political figure, diplomat, activist 

1884-1962