Sunday delivery
Linda, of Linda’s Backroad Musings, is a rural letter carrier. She recently had a post about the survival of postal letters in the age of email. It’s an interesting post with some facts and figures. As she points out, the age of letters has not passed yet. This is the mailbox we have at Roundrock. (I showed you the mail box over at Fallen Timbers in this post.) This one is by our first fire ring (we’re on our third now) so it’s a bit off the path and unlikely to get rural free delivery.
Still, I keep hoping that some day some interloper will leave me a note. Linda had suggested that I leave the flag up and maybe some wayward letter carrier would see it and come by. So I’m counting on that. I’ll let you know.
Pablo did not make it out to the woods last Sunday, and he was kicking himself for his choice. Libby and Seth left early that morning for St. Louis, and I was free to do whatever I wanted with the day. But we had had a significant snow storm a few days before, and the reports suggested that the snow was deeper to the south. I didn’t expect the 100+ mile drive down on the highways to be bad, but I worried about the last two miles across a washed out gravel/dirt road that went up and down and around the Ozark hills.
The sun came out and the temps moderated, and by mid-day it was lovely outside in Kansas City — and probably even nicer at Roundrock. I could have driven all but the last two miles and then hiked in, but I didn’t.
So did I go out today?
So far, the stars haven’t aligned properly to allow all of our offspring to be at home at one time. We’ve seen all of the faces, just not all in the same place at the same moment. It looks like it may be next weekend before we have everyone together (including my brother, his wife, and their fine son in from central Illinois).
The next Festival of the Trees is being hosted by Lorianne at Hoarded Ordinaries. Her deadline is December 30 — next Sunday — so you still have time to send her a link at zenmama (dot) gmail (dot) com. Or you can use the splendid automated submission form, which often works.
The new year promises new hosts, and we’re hoping that you’ll be one of them. Just let me or Dave know that you’re interested, and we’ll give you all the help you need.
Mark of Biomes Blog is back after a short time away from the blogging world. Why don’t you head on over there and let him know the world is a better place because he puts his fingers to the keyboard, okay? (Be sure to click on the ads and make him wealthy.)
Maybe Blogger doesn’t hate me specifically. Lately, when I’ve left comments on Blogger sites, I’ve been able to leave my URL as a clickable link. I guess what is happening is that Blogger is slowly rolling out a new system for leaving a hot link signature, and not all of the features were (are?) installed right away.
I’d read somewhere that the new system is an attempt to prevent phishing through hot linked signatures. I don’t know how that would work, and I’m not sure that Google really isn’t bent on world domination, but I’m willing to grant them some credibility for the moment as we see how this new mechanism unfolds.
What’s Pablo reading now? I’m still working on The Sea, The Sea, by Iris Murdoch. It will be a long haul. I’ve read this book once before, in fact, it’s the first Murdoch book I ever picked up. Now my ambition is to read all of her novels in order. This one puts me past the half way mark. What will I do when I am finished? Perhaps re-read all of the Philip Roth novels in order? Find a new author? I don’t know, but I’m eager to find out.
Missouri calendar:
- Beavers feed on sapling reserves.