E-MAIL AND CHRISTMAS CARDS

I love e-mail for one very good reason. We've moved from one place to another and many of our friendships and relatives have been reduced to a Christmas card per year. They are the people we know and love, who have busy lives as we have. We rarely see them, never forget them, but time displaces the closeness you once had.
E-mail changes that. You can zap off a quick note once a month, or once a day, like neighbors over a fence. You can share a cute picture or send a joke and keep more personally in touch. I've cursed this machine, but I'm grateful for its ease of communication. I just relocated old square dancing buddies, Dave and Sandy Barron and we exchanged about 10 years of catching-up.

The Post Office, once the only profitable government institution, has suffered because of e-mail. People don't send as many cards as they used to because of e-mail. E-cards are animated, beautiful and enjoyable. But paper cards, especially Christmas cards, have their own appeal to me.
Over the years I've collected every greeting card and post card ever sent to me. And, those of my parents, friends and anybody who was willing to share their's. I have a huge collection of greeting cards in scrapbooks, and I never get tired of them.

  Many of them are themed, such as dog cards, or cat cards, or Santa cards. It started when I was a 2nd grader. My mother was writing out her Christmas cards. In the stack was a Santa card with a fuzzy red suit, both his front and back, with the famous poem, "T'was The Night Before Christmas," on the inside. Oh, how I wanted that card to be my very own. Mom wouldn't relent, no matter how much I begged. But happiness was assured when I found the card on the Christmas Tree Christmas morning addressed to me. I was hooked.

Now, I never let a card get away.

We are the rat-packers of the world. Without us, much of history would be lost. Some say we are insane. But, I care not. I love my old cards and letters, Christmas and otherwise. Merry, Merry!

EXTREME SHOES

The quilt show I attended last weekend had a new feature, whereby about 30 pairs of decorated shoes pointed the way around the grounds to the various venues. Since my daughter collects shoes, I thought I'd take some photos for her and the one above is an example.
This morning, however, I open my email and viewed jaw dropping shoes. EXTREME as in EXTREME.
I spent a couple hours on-line trying to find the origin of these photos to give credit, but could not find the source. During the search process I found many more mind boggling extreme shoe photos. What's more, they are for sale and supposedly wearable.
She must need the guy to keep her from falling over.
As sinuous as a striking snake.
This pair must be for masochists who WANT to walk on nails.
Maybe these slippers will scare away the real thing. But they look so realistic, I'd like to find a pair for my friend Jan, the neighborhood prankster.
I had a great morning traveling around the extreme shoe websites. One site was inoperative and I found one of the shoes in my line-up on my first attempt. It was Extreme Shoes Arts And Design. Others that were interesting: http://stylefrizz.com200803/virtual-shoe-museum-the-creepy-extreme-section and Shoes.about.com/od/imagegalleries/ig/extreme-heels.
There was, of course, much more. Its a strange world out there...but fun!

MAGAZINE COLLECTING IS A HEAVY RESPONSIBILITY

One might ask why anyone would collect magazines? They take up way too much room, they are ubiquitous. Where can you store them? I'm chuckling at the truck loaded with boxes of magazines. Those are the ones saved from a larger load rising to the top of the truck's cab. I advertised on Craigs List, HAVE TRUCK OF MAGAZINES, WILL TRAVEL! The only bites I got were men interested in Porn. No takers. Yes, they are mine. I have narrowed the collection down by about 2,000 pounds. I've had special racks made for them. I can't resist trotting through them now and then to see the handsome, brown, Michal Jackson with his beautiful nose before he decided to surgically narrow it, or the gorgeous Diana before her tortuous and deadly courtship with the papparazi. Oh, the moments relived through my magazines, and the wonderful education they impart. Collecting may not be rational, but it is enjoyable.

ELEPHANT INVENTORY

Collecting and the things people collect fascinate me. Probably because I'm a traveler and collector myself. My daughter-in-law started collecting elephants as a pre-teen and relatives and friends continue to add to her collection. Some people have the ability to resist collecting things, others don't. What fascinated me about Laurie's elephant collection is the many guises an elephant could take, from swizzle sticks, jewelry, wind chimes, baskets, tea pots, cookie jars, ash trays to musical instruments. She adroitly places them about the house, approximately 800 of them, in places they are visible, and yet fit into the general decor. Not easily done. I photo inventoried her collection for insurance purposes and wish I'd kept a copy of the photos to enjoy and share.