Letter #271 from Canada

Letter #271 comes from Melissa in Southern Alberta,Canada.She loves to travel and sometimes has to travel for her job.She really enjoys travelling by car since it's a slower journey where you can actually absorb and enjoy the beauty around you as opposed to flying to another destination.Isn't there some saying like it's not the destination,but the journey that counts,so I would agree.It's always fun driving on the roads and enjoying the landscape of new places you have never seen before.

Melissa works for a steel company as a material analyst/warehouse supervisor,where they manufacture pipes for the oil and gas industry.She was originally training to be a professional artist at an art school,then trained as an emergency medical responder.She then worked at her current employment as a medic,which then led to her getting the current position she is at now,so you just never know where life will take you.

She has lived in Northern Canada for six years now.She lived in the Yukon Territory at Watson Lake then at Dawson City,Yukon.In Dawson,she worked at a saw mill,elementary school,a casino and as a dog mushers assistant for four years.As a dog mushers assistant she had to cook dog food and train 36 sled dogs to take travelers out on the trail for a sled dog ride.She told us that we could google Fishwheel Chartered Services to find out more about dog sled rides.

This will come as a shock to many people,but she says she does not have a computer in her house.She says that she already has to spend 8 hours a day on the computer for work,so she rather spend her time at home reading a good book or handwriting letters,etc.She says that if she had a computer in her home,she fears that she would spend more time on it,which would take her away from the things she loves to do,plus she is close to her job,so her computer isn't very far away. :) She also told us that her preferred method of transportation to her job is on her 1974 Kawasaki Motorcycle since getting her motorcycle license just last year.

Thanks Melissa for your lovely letter and postcards,which can be seen below:

Letter #270 from Montana

Letter #270 comes from Malinda in Montana.Malinda was also homeschooled and graduated only tow years ago.

She says that her city of Bozeman is the best place on earth and that she feels like she lives where people want to vacation at.Wow,Bozeman should really have her be their spokesperson for the area after reading that great slogan! :) How many of us can say the same about where we live?

Some of Malinda's favorite activities include ultimate frisbee,reading fiction books,making up new words,cooking (especially soups),finding funny quotes,such as this one - "the average person thinks he isn't". :) Oh,and she also likes meaningful quotes,like this one from Maya Angelou- "I've learned that people will forget what you said,forget what you did,but people will never forget how you made them feel".I would definitely agree with that quote because I know for myself I always think about how a person made me feel when I visited them,did they make me feel like I was family or did I feel more like I was there to take up space.I'm sure we can all relate to that at some point and recall how someone could have done something else to make us feel better.

Bozeman is surrounded by mountains that have white peaks all year long....sounds like a postcard doesn't it?She says they have about nine months of winter each year,so if you are going to Montana,you better like snow and cold weather. :) She said that the coldest day she could remember was when it was -43°.I can remember in Michigan when the wind chill was around
-32°.... our eyelids had frozen and even the insides of our noses were frozen...that's how cold it was and when your eyes would tear up from the wind,it would just freeze,so we know how cold that is and I don't think temps that cold are any fun at all and neither does she. :) She does mention that they get beautiful summers and that the sky is always blue there.Didn't I tell you she needs to work for the tourism department of her area?

She also enjoys knitting warm things for winter.At least with 9 months of winter,they will definitely be used.She is currently working on a sweater.I hope it gets done before the temps drop too low.I'm sure it will start getting cold there soon,if it hasn't already.

She also told us some of the craziest things she has done...remember,she is only 18,so I'm sure she will have many more to add to this list soon. ;)

-rode an elephant when she was 10 years old
-she collected and sold worms when she was 6...wow,she must have great neighbors if they bought worms! :)
-she read 200 books in one summer for the summer reading program-super!
-she ate raw squid...don't want to ask how it tasted :)
-she stuffed 18 marshmellows into her mouth and was able to say "chubby bunny" coherently. lol!
-she's had dreadlock for two years
-she sat within 5 feet of a black bear
-she played paintball and loved it

She also wanted to share her list of crazy things she plans to do: (I don't find most of them crazy at all,but maybe to others)

-pierce her nose
-get married
-save her first kiss for her wedding day (wow,is she one in a million guys!)
-have/adopt 6-10 kids
-homeschool her children
-learn several languages
-sing in public
-go on a mission trip
-publish a work of fiction
- bring a little heaven to earth (maybe that can be done by adopting like she wants to do. :) )

Thanks so much Malinda for your creative letter.She also made us a cute handmade card,which can all be seen below:

Letter #269 from Georgia

Letter #269 comes from Carissa in Georgia.This was yet another unusal letter.When we opened it,it looked like one of those renewal cards you always find falling out of magazines,so we were really confused why this would be in an envelope.We then realized after turning it over that Carissa's mother had these printed out for her after finding out about her project.

Carissa is also doing a wonderful letter project where she is writing 365 letters in a year- one letter a day to a unique person,so we felt very honored to be chosen as a unique person to have a letter written to by her.On the card her mother printed out,shows pictures of Carissa doing some of her favorite things,such as baking .She said that she works for Williams Sonoma,so she gets to do some baking for her job,too.Ok,I hope she gives me more details about that job because my children and I love to bake and to have a job involving baking,well,that just wouldn't be a job,but I'd take the money and bakeware for it anyways. :) Since Carissa enjoys eating things that may not be good for us,she is happy that she also enjoys running,so she is able to burn off all those calories she earned in the kitchen.She currently runs about 25 miles a week to keep her fitness level high,in the event that she wants to train for something like a marathon.Carissa is a huge Atlanta Braves fan and even had season tickets a few years ago,so they mostly watch it on tv now,although they have gone to two games this year,but she said it was really hot.

Carissa was preparing for a trip to Miami to visit relatives and also spend a few days at Disney World,so she was really excited about it.She is probably back by now,so I hope she had a great time!You can see her lovely letter written on the back of the card that her mother had made for her.Check out that cake she made...isn't it awesome!?!

Letter #268 from Indiana

Letter #268 comes from Marti in Indiana.At first,when we saw the envelope and the return address was from a college,we thought some college was trying to recruit my oldest daughter who is a senior this year,so we were quite surprised to find out it was actually a letter for our project!I'm just glad I didn't decide to tear it up before opening it.Marti lives in a small town and works for the college she graduated from...Franklin College.How cool is that to work where you graduated from....it must be a great school if she wanted to stick around after graduation. :)

Her favorite local restaurants are Benjamin's Coffee House,Richard's Brick Oven Pizza and El Nino's Mexican restaurant.She always requests her favorite dish each time she visits each place.I do the same thing...I rarely order anything different than my fave dish,it's the reason I eat out,so I can get my fave dish. :)

She says that they have four branches in their library system and that their local one will soon be moving and expanding...we are still waiting for our new library to open in December,so we know how exciting it is waiting for a new one to open.She also said that their schools have four levels: elementary,intermediate,middle and then high school.That's so different from the three levels we are used to,but I guess it's nice if you don't like a certain school,then at least you know you won't be there that long. :)

Thanks Marti for your lovely letter,which can be seen below:

Letter #267 from Pennsylvania

Letter #267 comes from Marian in Lancaster,Pennsylvania,which is most known for their Amish population.She is a college student near Pittsburgh,but when she isn't in school,she's at home in Lancaster.She says that even though she lives in a neighborhood,she is surrounded by farmland and that down the road from her house is a farmstand where they buy their produce.

Marian says one of the great things in Lancaster is their old covered bridges that have a lot of history to them.I can recall seeing plenty of them in books....I always wanted to drive through one of those....especially during the fall as the leaves on the trees are golden colored.She also told us that a traditional dessert from the area is called Shoo Fly Pie.It's a pie crust filled with cinnamon sugar and molasses,with crumbs on top.She says it is very tasty....I have never had Shoo Fly PIe before but should definitely try it sometime.She says she tried making one at home before with her friends,but it burned. :(

Thanks Marian for your lovely letter!Hope you are doing well in college!Her lovely (and colorful) letter can be seen below:

Letter #266 from Virginia/DC

First off,I apologize for the delay in updating...so much has been going on,not to mention my keyboard likes to stop working a lot these days...maybe because there is always somebody needing to do work on it so I think it figured it has worked hard enough and needs a break. :)

Now back to regular programming.We received this lovely package from Laura in Virginia filled with wonderful postcards of DC,a map (which will definitely get used when we go back in April for the Science fair...can't wait) and a lovely magnet.She didn't include a letter and I tried emailing her to see if she had forgotten it,but I have not heard back from her,so I don't have anything to share except the photo of her goodies below.If you are reading this Laura,thanks for the great package and we hope to hear from you soon!