I’m still doing LetterMo (and InCoWriMo)!  As of today I have mailed out 22 letters/postcards/cards (with one ready to go in the mail), received 3 replies and one letter-not-a-reply, and drawn castles, maps, lava, clouds, and barns.

I’ve talked about the weather a lot, Ithaca, winter activities, and whatever else came to mind – including often the paper or card I was writing on.

And Friday and today, as a reward for finishing my work self-evaluation and then for getting the taxes done and sent, I bought a bunch of stationery. 

Some of this is from AliExpress which, if you haven’t encountered, is great when you’re not in a hurry.  That is, most of the stuff is shipped ground from China, so times for arrival are like twenty to 65 days.

Again, this is fine for things you’re cool getting whenever.   Not good for like Christmas presents or anything else on a schedule.

But so pretty!  And that 20-60 day shipping is freeeeee.  So yeah, I guess I’ll be sending some letters in … April? May maybe?

Good encouragement, I suppose, to keep writing letters!

I got some from Etsy, too – Husband and I spent like an hour looking for things in my qualifications (matching envelopes, natural images, preferably lines, half-sheet size) and he finally found some really nice stuff from La Papierre on Etsy.  Win!

And then, gentle readers, I went looking through my stash.

(possibly poor timing there)

I found… two boxes of cards I had bought in college.  Back in the first two years of college when I still sent a lot of snail mail.  So, 1995 or so.

I found letters I had bought last year.  I found envelopes.  I found three father’s day cards, never sent, and even a St. Patrick’s Day card.

(you can buy cards for anything)

(except, at the grocery store, a cheerful small-child-friendly just-hello card)

I also found some  – but not all – of the cards sent to me from Reddit, a pile of letters from the last LetterMo I participated in (2017), two piles of Christmas cards and some empty envelopes saved for the return addresses, some stickers, some stuff I bought for Alder by Post…

Two thank you letters sent my my Aunt.

I, uh, well, buying stationery may have been premature.

I think I’m going to be writing a lot more letters!

Luckily, I already wrote one today!  That’s a start, right?

…Hey, April is the US Postal Services Letter-Writing Month…