Clouds

For thousands of years, clouds have captured people's imaginations. These ever changing forces of nature are always around, and change as we do. Clouds represent many things. They can be menacing in a huge grey mass, or lighthearted as they drift across the sky. Our perception of clouds changes as well. Clouds can be a source of dreams for younger children,a source of worry for adults as a storm approaches, or a spectacular array of colors for everyone that takes the time to look up. Clouds are always there. Take a picture outside and most likely there will be clouds in the background. And when the sky is bright and clear many people notice immediately and say, "Look. There aren't even any clouds in the sky today." These beautiful masses of air and water are part of the many things that we as humans take for granted. So the next time you step outside, take a little bit of time to look up and watch them float by.

The Letter

There is something different and almost magical in writing a letter to someone. And I don't mean sending a Hallmark card and leaving it at that. I mean a real letter. The kind that is filled to the brim with slanted, messy script detailing your life, your family, maybe even your pets.

Sure, today we have a much better way of communicating. There's Facebook, Twitter, Instant Messaging, Texting, and e-mail. And of course, these have their many advantages that many people can't imagine living without. But when we decided to embrace these new standards of communication, we lost something as well. We lost intimacy. It used to be, when letters took weeks, sometimes months, to arrive at their destinations, people didn't just send information. They sent hopes and dreams and love. A shortage of letters from someone usually meant something drastic had happened. And today, with thousands of e-mails reaching their targets in less that a minute, there is I suppose a sense of assurance, but less of a personal contact between two people.

And this is why letters today mean so much. In a world that is moving at an accelerated pace, where the lines around the edges are blurred, receiving something that a loved one took the time to hand write simply so that you could feel it's weight on your finger tips is that much more powerful than reading it on a computer screen.

If you enjoy letter writing and receiving as much as I do, click on Letters of Note and Today I Saw in my blog roll. Thanks for reading!

Share the Joy!

I'm sorry I haven't posted in a while. Things just got way too busy, with school and Christmas approaching fast. Anyway here are a couple photos of the things I made for my family. Unfortunately I did not take pictures of them before I gave them away, so there are only two that I can show you.

This is a shadow box that I made from scratch for my mom. I painted a cardboard tray black,and put in rolling green hills. Then I cut out a tree, painted it gold and glued it into the box. Finally, I cut out pictures of the whole family and decorated the tree with stars and presents underneath.

This picture is the inside of a box filled with office supplies for my Dad and "A book of Office Encouragement" (below), with quotes about the office and work. (The camera on my computer makes writing look backwards, so its kind of confusing.)

Hope you enjoyed!