Can you believe it? No less than four of the elusive Tufted Titmice, all in one picture! This little bird has captivated me, I think because it is just so pert, so pretty and probably because he is so shy. It’s a thrill to know that Mr and Mrs produced two baby Titmice!
Baby grackles are entertaining as well.
And they are beautiful birds.
…
One of the things I like to do periodically is send cards or letters to some of the people living in assisted care. It’s a little thing to do, to let people know they are not forgotten, and Mr. Katz keeps us supplied with names.
So I had been doing this the other day, when I read an email from my pal Tim, in Brooklyn. He said he had been sending cards to the elderly in a nursing home.
I emailed him back: “Tim we are elderly. Why isn’t anyone writing to us?” For some reason he found this very funny. He and I are of the generation that remembers well, getting proper letters from our friends and relatives. It was a whole lot more exciting than email and you got stamps from foreign places. Well, sometimes from foreign places.
You had something called anticipation. And if you enjoyed writing yourself, there was the enjoyment of writing a response. You used to save stuff up to write about. Then you waited to get a reply!
My parents got a letter once a week, and my mother wrote back promptly. The boarding school in England made the girls write home once a week. The nuns made us sit down, on Saturday afternoons for the task and most of the girls seemed to regard it as a real challenge.
My brother Peter was awful at writing letters and my poor mother waited weeks in between, hoping for news of her boy, far away in England. My father got cross when no letter came, but many people really found it difficult to write letters. I’m not sure why, as I see that many of these same people are quite willing and able to compose email.
Now it’s time for me to get my sore butt onto the exercise bike.
And after that I must respond to the latest letter from my pen pal Sylvie. This is getting to be like old times! Ha, see Tim, someone does write to me!
Sikkim says “Hi!”
Hi Carolyn. It’s good to read that you are pen pals with Sylvie. And, I’m glad to know that she has written to you. Surely, Jon has provided her with enough supplies to write to lots of folks in your area, LOL. Recently, I have become a pen pal to one of The Mansion’s residents (I think I read that Sylvie now lives elsewhere). And a neighbor of mine just this week starting writing to another Mansion resident. We live in Virginia, but I can only imagine that, if a fair amount of Jon’s followers write to folks at The Mansion, that will lift spirits.
Writing notes (the snail mail kind) to friends and acquaintances when the pandemic hit was a great project for me to undertake. I heard back from most of them. Actually getting a “thinking of you” note through USPS seemed to be uplifting. Just like “the old days”. I’ve told you before, but it bears repeating. Love your writing; love your photos…..may not hear from you via “snail mail” but it’s what uplifts me each day.
You are too kind! Tim just told me he has sent out 200 cards to the elderly! He is 77 himself. He is stuck in a penthouse apt alone with his poor cat and I think he is very lonely himself, so he keeps busy!