Letter #89 from New York

Letter #89 comes from Maggie in New York.She sent us a very unique and interesting letter with an assortment of goodies.She says that a few years ago she moved from Pennsylvania to New York and was happy,but felt isolated,even though there were so many people,but she says that nobody talked.So then she got the idea to make art and small books and little things and would include her address and then give them to strangers throughout the city on the bus,on sidewalks,on the train,etc.She would give them in hopes of receiving some mail in return from them.Through this great idea,she has made some friendships in her city as well as around the world.I think that is really a clever way to meet new people!Maybe we should try that one day. :)

Please enjoy all of Maggie's assortment of tickets and stamps and other goodies along with her letter.It was really fun looking to discover all the little goodies and notes she typed on the papers.Also,look at the stamps on her envelope,aren't they amazing!

Letter #88 from North Carolina

Letter #88 comes from Teri from North Carolina.She is one amazing lady!She does so many things,she is also a fellow homeschooler and enjoys knitting,spinning her own yarn,growing her own cotton,growing and making her own herbal medicines and she even makes her own inks for pens.She actually wrote the letter using her homemade ink that she made from pomegranate peels.Who knew you could make ink from a pomegranate peeling!

She enjoys making things from plants and loves animals,as well.She volunteers as a wildlife rehabilitator,helping orphaned opossums and squirrels,mostly.They also just successfully incubated their first batch of chicken eggs.We recently watched a show on PBS that showed people who did the same thing and it was amazing.

Teri also says that she enjoys "drinking" in life and all that it can teach her.I would love to visit Teri and have her teach me all the things she wrote about.She also said that the world is an oyster and I couldn't agree more.Thanks Teri for writing.She also shared a recipe for sweet potato pie since she said North Carolina is the sweet potato capital of the US.

Enjoy her letter below which shows some of the things she enjoys doing:

Letter #87 from Oklahoma

Letter #87 comes from Terri in Oklahoma.She happens to be the mother of another letter writer,Brian,that wrote to us from Missouri.She currently works as a children's vision screener at a non-profit organization that provides free vision screening for students statewide.She says that one in four school age children has some type of vision issue.She says that to test Pre-K and Kindergarten students that can't yet read,they show them a chart with shapes and so they play a quick game of identifying four shapes,then they get to wear "magic glasses" to search for an "E" in one of two cards.She says the kids love it and the older kids really love it because they get out of class.I remember those days when we got out of class,sometimes we didn't do anything since it could sometimes take a while.

Her territory covers the northeast corner of the state and involves a lot of travel,but she gets to come back home each day.She says the driving across the state is one of the perks of her job that she enjoys.She said that in 2010,she drove 12,604 miles!She gets to visit such diverse schools,for example,she said that at one school they had a total of 37 students (Pre-K-8th grade) and their fitness plan involved climbing trees! :) I bet that must be a fun school and they all must remain friends or hate each other for being with them for 9 or 10 years straight! ;)

She also told of how she has met some students with some very unique names,such as these: Appearance American Horse,Magic Buffalo Eater,Sparkling Star (that must be a girl) and even twin boys named Whiskey and Bourbon!And there was also a family that named their children Spring,Summer,Autumn and Winter and then they had a brother named Season.Oh,let's not forget the student named Cyclops,who she said had 20/20 vision in both eyes.Since they are in Oklahoma,I am assuming that most of the kids were Native Americans judging by the names,although I could be wrong since I don't know everything. :) Please do not take this as me judging the kids' names,I definitely hope it didn't seem like I pointed out their names to poke fun at,they are just unusual names we never heard before and wanted to share with everyone to show how different people are.It's kind of neat being unique.

Se says that her town is 45 minutes north of Tulsa (I have been to Tulsa before since I have a lot of relatives there).I remember the land along the highways being so green and mountainous and very clean!She also says that they are a city that oil built.Two brothers struck oil BIG TIME and started an oil company that transformed from a small business to a global energy enterprise,called Phillips 66 or Conoco-Phillips Oil Company.

She also noted that her city is home to the Price Tower,the only skyscraper designed by Frank Llyod Wright.It was completed in 1956.It has 19 stories and includes a museum,offices,restaurant and the Inn at Price Tower.She said the interior rooms are triangular in shape.That must be pretty neat to see a triangle shaped room. :)

Terri's favorite restaurant is Murphy's Steak House,it's actually not famous for steaks and not an ideal choice if you are looking to eat healthy food.She says their slogan is "Gravy over all" and they really mean it,just look at the letter below and you'll see beef gravy on french fries....I haven't even tried cheese on my fries,let alone gravy,I'm just not the type to experiment with toppings other than ketchup on my fries,but who knows,it could be good.What will they think of next?Cream cheese over fries...hmm. ;)

She also told us about The Buffalo Stampede which was introduced a few years ago as a fundraiser.The vision was to bring life-size bison sculptures to parks and businesses throughout the city in a public art project.In all there are 15 of these bison statues.Each statue is purchased and them painted in a theme.The proceeds from each bison usually totals about $2,500.She said that when both of her older kids came back home to visit about two years ago,they arrived at midnight and it was cold and rainy,but Terri and her husband loaded the "kids" in the van and brought them to do some "buffalo hunting".The kids thought they were crazy since they had been living out of state,so they didn't know about the statues.I wonder if Brian and his sister thought they had been away from home just a little too long after hearing their parents tell them they were going buffalo hunting at midnight! ;)

Please enjoy Terri's lovely letter and postcards below:

Letter #86 from England

Letter #86 comes from Claire in England.She lives in Leeds,which is in the northern part of England.She grew up in Coventry,which is a smaller city right in the center of England.Coventry has about 300,000 people and is thought to have been a settlement during the Bronze Age.It was bombed heavily during WWII,so very few original buildings remain.The city was then rebuilt in the 1960's and 1970's with an abundance of concrete.It wasn't nice to look at so she knew she wanted to live elsewhere.

She has travelled around Europe with her best friend and they saw many different places,including Amsterdam,Berlin,Prague,Budapest,Salzbur,Rome,Venice,Verona,Florence,Sorrento,Nice,Paris,and the Jura.She says it was the best experince ever.I think that would definitely be on the top of my amazing things I did list. :)

She moved to Leeds to start working on a degree in Linguistics.She fell in love with the area and her four years of school flew by.

The population of Leeds is around 800,000 and is much larger than Coventry.It is the largest center for business,legal and financial services outside of London,there in the UK.She says that Leeds has so much to offer and so many different students to mingle with.She says that even though the city center is huge,but in only a 10 minute drive,you can see beautiful fields and countrysides and is only an hour from the seaside.She says the weather is not great and most days can be described as dull,gray and miserable.

Claire has gotten engaged last year,but has no wedding plans just yet.She says they have a lodger that she lived with for 3 years in university accomodation and is working to become a midwife.They also have a guinea pig.

She got a part time job working in local prisons and then decided she wanted to work with offenders and has been trying to persue that career ever since.She works full time with the parole department and she wants to be an officer one day.She also volunteers some evenings with young offenders (ages 10-16...yes she said 10) in police stations.She also enjoys writing to people in prison since she knows it can be very lonely.

Claire is also currently studying for a degree in Criminology and Psychology.She also says she is quite the night owl and loves to go to gigs and night clubs.Her favorite musician is Leonard Cohen.She also loves tattoos an has about 8 of them,one of which she sent us a picture of.

She loves all things vintage,such as cupcakes and old jewelry.Her main interest is photography.Her and her fiance love to collect old and toy film cameras.I have one of those Diana cameras that does lomography but haven't used it yet,but we've seen so many cool pics with the camera,that we just had to have it.I love to collect cameras myself.

Oh,she also sprayed the letter with her favorite perfume,Issey Miyake L'eau D'issey.I will have to see if our stores sell it so I can sample it. :)

Thanks Claire for the letters,card, brochures and pictures that you all can see below:

Letter #85 from England

Letter #85 comes from Craig in England.This is another lovely letter with beautiful penmanship,just look at the "hello" greeting,it's simply beautiful!He said that his letter was written with a dip-pen,a pen that is the next step from a quill pen,but made of metal to increase its life.

Craig lives in the most northernly part of the English counties on the east side of the country that borders Scotland.The county name (Northumberland) comes from a long time ago when the county was a lot bigger and more important than it is today.About 120 miles south of the city of Newcastle upon Tyne is a city called Hull,the river that runs through Hull is called the Humber and that is where the name Northumberland comes from - the land north of the Humber;Northumberland.

The county is a rural county producing food and has a small area,but is close to Newcastle,so it still has some "heavy industry" including shipbuilding,once the main industry in the River Tyne.The other big industry nearly 140 years ago was coal mining.Coal mining was so important,that a saying, "taking coals to Newcastle" which was pointless,was coined;nobody would bring coal because they had so much of their own. :) The area now produces automobiles (Nissan),beer, and is famous for its hospitality.He said that a few years ago it was said to be the 5th best city in the world for its nightlife.

He moved to the area he is in now 15 years ago and decided to stay because the area is so beautiful and unspoilt.He works for a well-known American company in a factory that produces perfumes for men and women.

He and his wife have many pets and his wife loves tropical fish...their fish collection seems to keep multiplying and they call their aquarium the cats television because their cats could sit and stare at it for hours....I guess they are wondering when they will become their dinner. ;)

Craig used to be in the army and spent most of his army life in Germany,but also went to the Falkland Islands twice,where he said he saw a lot of penguins.He also spent 8 months in the US and even drove from Florida to California,that must have been such a long and tiring trip,but also exciting to see so many states,although you don't get to see much from the highway,but you do get to see different landscapes.

His hobby is riding motorbikes and during the warmer months,he works with the police,teaching them how to ride more safely.

Craig loves writing letters to people all over the world.He has penpals in the U.S.,Canada,Indonesia,Germany and in England.He enjoys making his own envelopes,so that each letter is different.He also buys books from old book shops or clearance shops and turns them into something more interesting than store bought ones.We would love to see his transformed books.We bought some old books with beautiful covers just to do some art journaling in and make them unique,but we haven't started yet.It's always hard to start it for fear of ruining a great book.

As you can see from the letter,he loves to use fountain pens and having people to write to gives him an excuse to buy more pens,paper and ink.He loves the pens so much that is he actually having a custom made pen being made for him in New York!I think we have a lot to learn about the different types of fountain pens obviously.I just thought they came in small,medium and large,but I guess there must be a variety of different types of pens.

Thanks Craig so much for your lovely and beautiful letter!Please see his letter below that he enclosed in a handmade envelope that we love:

Letter #84 from Ireland

Letter #84 comes from Dominique in Northern Ireland.She is originally from Normandy but has lived in Northern Ireland for 21 years now.She went to Ireland while studying English in France and ended up staying in Ireland.She has two daughters,one of which just became penpals with my youngest daughter,who is thrilled to be penpals with her.She describes herself as creative,disorganized and a chatter box.

She says that her daughter,Eileen is very good at art and is always making things.She wants to be a journalist and her favorite subject is German.She says that her other daughter,Flo is a very good girl,very shy and is their little "monkey". :) She loves to cook,read books and loves animals.

They also have a cat,a dog,guinea pigs and four hens.

They live in a little cottage on the school grounds where she teaches French and her oldest daughter attends that school,too.

The town she lives in is called Ballymena,meaning "the middle townland".It is located in the county of Antrim and has a population of 28,717 people.The town was built on land given to the Adair family by King Charles in 1626,on the basis that the town hold two annual fairs and a free Saturday market in perpetuity.As of 2010,the market still runs.The town used to host Ireland's largest one day agricultural show at the Ballymena Showgrounds.The Town Hall was built in 1924 on the site of the old Market Ballymena situated in the Northeast of Ireland,about 45km from the capital of Ulster,Belfast.

Dominique  says she also loves nature.She says the beaches in her area are beautiful and wild.There aren't mountains but they have hills.She says the people are really friendly.She said that when she first went there,she was scared because of how the media portrays Northern Ireland as being a dangerous place with terrorists,etc.,but she says she has never felt threatened and recently things have quited down,so it is much safer now,too.She says the weather is not really great,with all the rain,but if it wasn't for the rain,you wouldn't see such beautiful grass growing in Ireland.I know when I picture Ireland,the first thing that comes to my mind is all the green grass and open space,so I agree with her that they need the rain to keep it beautiful.

Along with her letter,she included some brochures and recipes of Banofee Pie and Ulster Fry.I have taken a picture of the recipes alone so that hopefully you can click on the picture to enlarge it to get the recipe.Dominique's lovely letter and brochures and colorful envelope with a great assortment of stamps can be seen below:

Letter #83 from Belgium

Letter #83 comes from Caroline from Belgium.She studies Dutch and English literature and linguistics at the Univerity of Leuven,which was founded in 1425 and is the oldest univeristy in Belgium.She says that for her English exams,they can choose to take the test in either British English or American English.She chooses British since that is what she was taught in school.

Caroline's native language is Dutch,but it's the same language they speak in The Netherlands,but the dutch they speak in Belgium is a little different.She says it's often called Flemish.The way she describes it is like the english spoken in Britain,America,and Australia,they all speak English but with different dialects.They love to laugh at each other's Dutch dialects. :) Here are some dutch words/sentences she shared with us below.See if you can figure them out since they are common words we use everyday, I will not put the translation for you. :)
•Hallo
•goedemorgen
•goedenacht
• hoe gaat het?

Erica says that in Belgium,most people speak more than one language.There are three official languages:Dutch,French and German.Most people also speak English and even some Latin.She can speak Dutch,English and French and can understand some German.Next year she plans to learn Japanese.We love all things Japanese so it should be exciting to learn Japanese....hopefully we will get a letter from Japan.

She also said that she has lived in the same place her whole life.She loves to travel,but has never been out of Europe.Her recent travels include Amsterdam,Leeds and Paris (oui,oui). :) Her dream is to one day visit Tokyo and the US.She would really like to visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Florida.

She says her favorite show is Glee,but that it's not well-known in Belgium.The cast of Glee will be visiting London and Dublin this summer but will not be able to attend.

Erica also gave us a few facts about Belgium:
•Official name:Kingdom of Belgium
•Founded in 1830
•First king:Leopold I
•Current king:Albert II
•Motto: "Strength through unity"

Erica also enclosed a variety of ticket stubs and a map showing us where she lives and a booklet about the museums,which she says that when you're 26 or younger,you can get into the museums for $1.50.She also sent some coins worth 1 euro cent each,she says most people dislike the coins because they really can't use them and so they just take up space in your wallet.Thanks Erica for the lovely letter and goodies,which can be seen below:

Letter #82 from New Jersey

Letter #82 comes from Erica in New Jersey.She lives in a city called Waldwick,which is a 30 minute drive from New York City.She also lives 5 minutes from the train station which is very convenient,but very expensive,it costs $20 for a round trip ticket from her home to NYC.She loves to go to NYC with her friends and visit museums,shows,restaurants,etc.She says the shopping is very good in NYC.....I would love to go shopping there one day,too. :)

Erica has a sister that is deaf,so she speaks ASL (American Sign Language).We used to know how to sign the alphabets when the girls were small but now we have forgotten.We have been interested in learning sign language,so maybe we will have to look into that over here.She says that even though her sister has a college degree,nobody will hire her since most companies don't like to hire people with disabilities...that's really sad.I hope she can one day find a good job.Maybe she could teach people sign language or help tutor other kids that are deaf,too,until she can find a job,although it's so difficult for anybody to find a job these days.

Erica enclosed a brochure to her local pizza place that is very popular and also a postcard from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC.Thanks Erica for your lovely letter and for the brochure and postcard!See her letter and goodies below: