Morning, mumpers! It’s currently 24c/75f with a predicted high of 342c/89f and sunny. Weather app says “The fucking sun is shining but it looks jaundiced.” I say Scorchio!
Today in 1937, the first airmail letter to circle the globe returned to New York. When I was at school, I had a penpal who lived in New York, we wrote to each other for years but eventually the letters became less frequent and eventually stopped. I sometimes wonder what happened to her.
Good Mornin’ Y’all! Up and caffeinatin’. YAWN ‘Tis 71 Amurrkin out and partly cloudy with a predicted high of 84 with rain/tstorms/apocalypse predicred for this afternoon/evenin’. I feel 'twill be a good day to remain inside and dry. RDOS inactivities are definitely in store for the day. Sup, or whenever we decide to do it, will be burgers 'n fixin’s, oven fries and watermelon.
BooFae never been much of a letter writer, but when my oldest brother served in Vietnam, all of us would write to him frequently. ISTR special envelopes we had to use for air mail. Or maybe not. That was a very loooooong time ago.
Now I need more caffeine and to feed rumbly tummy. Then, onward into the soggy day! Rah.
Up, caffeinataed, and sheveled. Off today. Rising from my rest slab was briefly delayed because my tuxedo-ed menace to society wanted cuddles. I shall sloth the day away. It’s currently 71 degrees Ferret Height(21.667 Centipedes) outside.
Tis practically millipedes out there; we’re looking like breaking the May record for heat today. Not hot by general standards, only around 24C, but the locals are melting…
I’ve never been much for more than writing a postcard smugly indicating that I am having a lovely time on holiday, or having a silly time, given that it’s me. I did have a school issued German pen-pal for a bit, who literally just described his computer, in detail. I’m sure the fact that 90% of it was almost exactly the same in German or English was a complete coincidence… We did not stay in touch once it stopped being compulsory.
I woke up unexpectedly groggy, despite an early night and sleeping OK, so I’m WFH today, in case I have come down with something. It also means I can swear loudly at the computer without other people sniggering. Swearing is definitely happening, seeing as today’s job is getting some complicated graphs to work which do not want to work. Technically I could probably take the day off, as it’s a public holiday, but I really do need to get this done…
For the fire alarm in my old rental place mentioned yesterday- the place was a big old house converted into 3 flats, and the alarm was a shared system wired in to all 3 flats, which all went off at once whenever toast got burnt. Probably good from a safety perspective, but not cheap at all to replace, although smashing it did occur to me in the early hours. Plus I would probably have been evicted if they could show it was me.
There was also a risk, as they typically have a battery backup for power cuts, that smashing the main system would have left them turned on with no way to switch 'em off until the battery ran out. The malfunctioning alarm was actually the one in my bedroom, and I was in the ground floor flat right next to the alarm unit, so I wasn’t going to win any arguments about who should be dealing with the damn thing… I do not miss renting.
63F this morning at 0645. Supposed to hit 89 today, which is unpleasant. I think breakfast will be hash browns and eggs and sausage.
Letters? I wrote a lot of letters when I was first in the military, mainly to girlfriends, and then later to my wife when I was deployed for months on end. Also wrote to my parents on occasion. My handwriting has never been very good and nowadays it’s practically unreadable. Best thing I ever learned in school was how to touch type.
Looks like I need to make a trip to the grocery today, as we’re low on a number of things, and laundry is piling up again. Exciting stuff.
It’s a foggy 65 Ferrets at FairyChatEstate and much rain and possible t-boomers are promised. Certainly not the hoped-for holiday weekend for many. But ain’t that how it goes??
I used to write letters all the time. I had a huge variety of stationery with matching envelopes, so I wouldn’t have to use boring white paper all the time. I did have a Japanese pen pal for a very short time - maybe a few months. Most of my correspondence was when I was in the Navy. Immediate family, aunts, cousins, friends - I’d buy stamps in rolls of 100. My Christmas cards included hand-written letters - not mass-produced family-grams. Even after I married, I kept up writing for a while. But gradually, I stopped. Life got in the way and when no one writes back, it’s discouraging. Then there was email, and even with this, I just exchange the occasional email with FCD’s last surviving aunt. Unless someone is on my FB, chances are we’re out of touch.
Regarding airmail:
Historically, domestic U.S. airmail ended in 1977 and international airmail ended in 1995. Because the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) fully discontinued surface (boat) transport for long-distance mail, all standard First-Class international mail is routinely flown.
Plan for today? Dunno. FCD is still abed. Otis is lying on the porch, surveying his domain - he hasn’t even eaten yet. Daughter asked if I’d drop off a couple of tomato cages to her. I’m sure I’ll find something to occupy my day. Eventually.
Happy Moanday, and I hope some of you will be able to celebrate Memorial Day in a non-soggy fashion.
Morning all on Memorial Day here in the USA. There are 4 war movies on various channels as I type this about 7:20am and I expect things will stay about the same for the balance of the day because nothing says Memorial Day like war movies… on the other hand, my all-time favorite war movie (1950’s Battleground ) is on today so some TV watching will be done. Gym is only open 8am-4pm so any exercising will be light. Dry for now but a 60% chance for afternoon rain and only getting to 77F for the high, so pretty comfortable compared to some other Mumpers reports.
I used to write letters in college a lot, mostly to my brother and girlfriend, and then when working for the Government I wrote a lot of letters pre-e-mail and when I worked over in the U.A.E. the Emiraties liked everything formally in writing, so lots of letters there. Haven’t written more than a handful in the past 25 years, however.
Nut, good luck with both the incipient cold and the unruly charts.
doggio, I always take two towels with me to the gym, because you never know…
It’s Monday morning, and I’m posting! It’s also Memorial Day here in the USA, so is this an MMMP?
I foolishly spent most of yesterday watching auto racing. First was the Indianapolis 500, where low-slung open-wheel cars scream around a 2.5 mile oval at about 230 mph. Felix Rosenqvist won in a last-lap dash. Next was the NASCAR Coke 600 at Charlotte, N. Carolina. NASCAR uses racecars built to resemble the cars we drive in real life. Underneath the skin, the resemblance disappears. They are pure, fire-breathing race machines. The drivers in both these kinds of cars are ensconced in armored cages, padded restraints, and special harnesses to protect the head and neck. Oh, I do blather on. We went to bed at 11:30 pm, and there was yet another rain delay. My phone says Daniel Suarez won a “rain-shortened” race.
Nearly every year, a driver attempts the double, racing the Indy 500 and flying to Charlotte to race the 600 there. This year’s attempt was made by Kathryn Legge, who crashed out in both races. I think they said the last successful double was done by Tony Stewart, who finished both races a while back.
I don’t like writing letters, partly because I have terrible handwriting, which Parkinson’s has made even worse.
Spot: < sits in mud area, stares at front door >
Me: < looks out with trepidation >
So the painting guys are working today, so Spot might get his shows back by the afternoon. I’m having my bowl of dry, flavorless bits(with milk and strawberries) and a banana for breakfast.
I like when they run the same tracks as the F1 cars
F1: “I nudged the curb, and trashed my $1million floor!”
NASCAR: < crushed curb to dust at 185MPH >
Dunno, have you counted your neighbor’s chickens this morning?
(TIL you can’t use < strikethrough > on emojis)
It’s 52F and mostly cloudy. Rain showers are expected to move in around 11:00 a.m., with a daytime high of 62°F.
I used to write letters all the time as a kid and even the first year or so after moving out of my childhood home. I even had nice stationery and matching envelopes! I had pals from summer camps, the Youth Conservation Corps, and a yearly event in the San Bernardino mountains where kids from all over the western US met, along with a couple of friends who moved out of state. I also wrote to my Grandma quite often. But, as others mentioned, communication eventually dwindled as we all got busy with life. I often wonder what happened to some of them.
I spent hours out in the yard amending the soil in pots and gardens, filling the new planter my son built, and transplanting numerous plants. I’m still not done. I spent a good amount of time trying to get a plant out of a planter and into the ground. Last year, I bought a gorgeous specimen of Angel’s Wings (silver leaves) and stupidly decided to put it in a gorgeous blue pot. What a mistake! The roots wound round and round inside the pot, and it probably took me a solid half-hour just to wrestle it out. However, it’s out of the pot and into the ground, and hopefully will once again regain its beauty. It’ll probably need a good solid month for that to happen.
I never got to the lawn, and I doubt I’ll get to it today because I need to go out to the SNF.
Good morning, everyone! It’s a quiet Memorial day morning in the Magill household. Mrs Magill and the boys were up bright and early to install flags, and I was up later to make corrections on the flag database.
They then swung by the Twice Daily to get doughnuts and apple fritters.
I got my SDMB Postcard Exchange list, and was pleasantly surprised to see a MMPer name.
I have about forty-five minutes to decide whether I want to remain lazy, or go to a power flow class. What says the peanut gallery?
I had loaded the whipped ganache into a pastry bag for frosting the cupcakes. Once they were frosted, Mrs Magill, Spike, and Squeaky lined up, so I could squirt the leftovers on their tongues.
Mrs Magill likes to say that everyone is crazy. You just need to find someone whose crazy aligns with yours. Achievement unlocked!
Just last night I was enjoying Happy Hour at a rather swanky place. Whole lotta the comfy genteel set, Bentleys, plural, at the valet station, etc.
Along about 7pm I’m done eating & drinking, HH is ending, and the restaurant is filling up and getting loud. Time for me to hit the bathroom then toddle home.
Somebody had barfed into the sit-down toilet but a large percentage had missed the bowl and was slathered all over the fixture and the floor and …
Sooo classy.
I came out, found Josh the manager (I’m a semi-regular) and told him he had quite the mess in his men’s room. He furrowed his brow in the most genteel way. Some poor schlub from back-of-house had an unpleasant job for the next 20 minutes.
So there you have it. You can be a barfing level drunk at 7pm if you have a nice enough car. And start early enough in the afternoon.
To tie this back to JtC, I bet whoever did that went back to their table too.
My mom was a prolific letter writer. She went through a spell where she assigned pen pals that she’d pulled from a magazine or something. We had to sit down once a week to write to them. Mmy assigned pen pal was a quadriplegic kid from upstate NY. His mom was the one who wrote back.
As a young adult, I wrote to my fiance when he was in med school in Kansas. Now, I send cards to certain folks once a month with a few lines.
Up, caffeinating, breakfasted and fixing to do KP. Other than a couple of phone calls, it’s RDOS.
It’s 72 and sunny in no. Illinois. I have the patio door open. Ursala Kitteh has already hair balled on the mat in front of the door and is now sleeping it off.
Yesterday I was browsing a book store and almost bought stationary that had Paddington Bear on it. Then remembered I have nobody to write to. I used to love writing letters. My hobby now is paper crafting so I make greeting cards and write short messages.
Going to the Dollar Tree later to buy junk food and garbage bags. Then Ariel is getting her first bath of the season. It’s a toss up at to who gets wetter but that’s okay since this afternoon will be in the mid 80s.
58 ferrets, out of a predicted 68, and cloudy. 90% chance of rain this afternoon, so the folks who do Memorial Day cookouts might be able to do so without holding umbrellas over the grill.
Had several pen pals back in the '80s, when I was in Hawai’i. Then I transferred to Scotland and got a social life, so I gradually dropped them all. I did get to meet one whilst there, though – don’t remember what part of England she was from, but she came up to visit twice.
RDOS! RDOS! Rah, rah, rah! Hard to believe it’s been over seven years since my last job went away.
Good morning! Rainy today, so we’ll mall-walk and I’ll see if I’m healed enough to try on pants. The cats are snuggled by the fire (Remora Eel Day, but still running the fireplace), so I’ll probably set up there to catch up my to-do list and send emails later.
In my misspent adolescence and early adulthood, I wrote many letters to many people, often very long, including creative writing, drawings, newspaper (remember those?) clippings, and collages.
These days, I send postcards when I travel, including to some of my friends’ parents (in their 80s & 90s), my family, friends and former colleagues, and anyone who asks for one. I send holiday, thank-you, and birthday cards. If I see a card or postcard that I think someone would like, I buy and send it. I have a few friends with whom handwritten letters are a part of our correspondence. I’m always very happy to see an actual letter or postcard in my mail. I send mine without an expectation of receiving one in return, because writing and sending them makes me happy.
I’ve considered joining one of the annual poetry postcard exchanges, but haven’t quite gotten there yet.
Today is Pentecost Monday, so I have off, since I live in a Catholic canton. The weather has been sunny (today’s high was 30 C / 86 F), and will remain so for the next week. As there is no rain, and the humidity is low, the plans need lots of water. No AC, so the people need lots of water as well.
Just bought a bunch of postcards - some for the postcard exchange, plus one for my mother-in-law, and one for my parents. I’ll often send postcards to family, and Christmas cards, and sometimes birthday cards, but that’s about it. And I receive the same, from the same people.
One of my friends studied French so she always writes « PAR AVION » on the envelope in her beautiful handwriting. We learned to write at the same time, but I certainly did not learn it as well as she did.
Which reminds me, I haven’t responded to a Christmas card that showed up in mid-January. Maybe I’ll do that this week.
