Write Til Your Ink Be Dry…Thy Mailbox Lies Barren!!

 

It has been 460 years since the birth of Shakespeare, but his words still live on. I particularly like that line from Two Gentlemen from Verona, 

“Write till your ink be dry and with your tears moist it again, and frame some feeling line that may discover such integrity.”

They’re surely talking about keeping up their correspondence, right? 😉 

I was first introduced to Shakespeare by Mrs. Hultgren, my high school English teacher. She loved the Bard and tried to inspire her somewhat reluctant students with his greatness. We memorized monologues, read whole plays aloud in class and took turns acting out our favorite death scenes. “Et tu, Brute?” 😵 

At first I struggled with the language. What is this guy taking about?!? But the more I read the easier it became. I soon got swept up in the stories which were amazing… both witty and profound. In the end it’s the words that do it for me. Shakespeare invented so many phrases, clever quips and salty insults. A lot of his lingo is still in use today. Here is just a sampling of what I discovered with the help of those interwebs…

• as luck would have it
•  bated breath
•  the be-all and the end-all
•  break the ice
• brave new world
• cold comfort
• dead as a doornail
• the dogs of war
• faint-hearted
• for goodness sake
• foregone conclusion
• good riddance
• kill with kindness
• laughing stock
• one fell swoop
• wear my heart upon my sleeve
• wild-goose chase

Isn’t that amazing? Four and a half centuries later and Shakespearean quips are still common! 

So in honor of the greatest English writer of all time, I decided to send a Shakespeare inspired letter to a friend in honor of her birthday. She loves books and words as I do so I hope she will enjoy it! 

“To be a well-favoured man is the gift of fortune; but to write and read comes by nature.” (Much Ado About Nothing)

Hie thee, good folk, and let thy missives fly with all haste!

XOXO, 

Mrs. Murphy 

Go for the Gold…and the Mailbox!!!

 

Summer is great. You’ve got vacations, ice cream, parades, watermelon and swimming!! But every four years it’s even more fun…2024 is an Olympic year!! Woo Hoo! 

Inspired by this historic sporting competition I looked through my postage for some Olympic themed postage stamps. There are some really great vintage Olympic stamps! 

I always encourage non-postal people to look at the stamps on any mail they receive. For anyone with any interest in art, history, culture, geography, sports, science, beauty, life - really…there’s something for you to discover on a postage stamp!!! The Olympics is no exception. 

I wrote my Olympic themed letter to a friend with a family I thought might be interested in the Olympic Games. I described some past Murphy Olympic activities and challenged them to follow the Paris Olympics this summer. Perhaps they can learn something about the countries the athletes come from or study the flags of all the nations and make some paper copies to fly around the house. It’s always fun to follow the medal count! They can even create their own backyard Olympic Games that the whole family can participate in! Don’t forget the medals! 

And of course, if they do any of these awesome Olympic activities they must write back to Mrs. Murphy and tell me all about it!! 

Go Postal, People!! (And Go for the Gold!! 🏅)

XOXO,

Mrs. Murphy 

My Olympic Snailmail 🏅 🐌 📬 

Neither Snow Nor Rain Nor… Prolonged Blog Post Droughts…

What’s up, mailbox mates? Did you forget about ol’ Mrs. Murphy? Well, I’m still here and I’m still making mailbox magic! That’s one of my favorite things about snailmail as a hobby, it’s always a welcome surprise to receive some actual “Good Mail” in the mailbox no matter how long it’s been in between letters. In that same spirit I hope you, dear postal pals, are pleasantly surprised to have a new blog post from Mrs. Murphy. ☺️

Much has been happening in Murphy-ville!!  The most wonderful event has been the addition of another grandchild! Mr. and Mrs. Murphy-Boy-Wonder have added a bouncing baby boy to the family! Mr. (Papa) Murphy and I are overjoyed! This grandparent gig is the best! Mini Murphy was born at the beginning of summer and I’ve already sent him some snailmail. Yay! 🥳 

Another exciting event has been the Murphy Move! With all of these Nextgen Murphys in the works, Papa and Granny Murphy wanted to be ACAP (as close as possible! 🤗)!!

Sorting, purging, organizing and packing is probably good medicine for everyone every 20 years or so, right? 🤪 We are definitely downsizing and trying to dispose of unnecessary stuff and clutter to the best of our ability. I have NOT however gotten rid of any SSA (Snailmail Supplies and Accoutrements)! Another perk of snailmail as a hobby…few, small, flat, easily packable supplies are needed for unlimited results!! (Everyone knows the best part of any mailbox magic is the words that you write!!) ✍️ 

Moving is always bittersweet. One looks forward to a new adventure, a fresh start in a new home and town. But it is with great sorrow that one moves away from dear friends and neighbors. 😢 Once again, snailmail is the answer! Not only can we create delightful snailmail to make our creative hearts soar, the letters (hopefully) will connect us with our former friends and neighbors and bring them joy. Winning! 🥳 📬 🐌 And if you’re really lucky they will write you back! 😉 

So don’t let snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night (or even really long hiatuses 😑) keep you from sending some snailmail!! It’s always magic!! 

XOXO

Mrs. Murphy ❤️

From Grandmother’s House the Mail Goes!

 

Greetings, fellow snailmail enthusiasts!! 😁 I do apologize for the long delay but I am excited to announce that I am now a GRANNY!!! 🥳👵🏻 Anyway, I have been focusing on Baby Murphette these past months and haven’t really done much in the way of snailmail. I did however, send her the first of (hopefully) many letters I will write over the course of my lifetime! My own dear grandmother was my very first penpal. Her frequent cards and letters were what started my lifelong love of all things postal. ❤️ 📬 🐌

As I was contemplating this new identity of grandmother, I was reminded of a grandparent themed postage stamp I have. A 1969 $0.06 postage stamp featuring a Grandma Moses painting. Grandma Moses is such an interesting Grandmother!! I learned from the Smithsonian that Anna Mary Robertson Moses (Grandma Moses) grew up on a farm in upstate New York. She worked as a hired girl starting at the age of 12. Her tasks included helping neighbors and relatives with cleaning, cooking, and sewing. At the age of 92 she wrote about her love of drawing and painting, “My father would get me and my brothers white paper by the sheet. He liked to see us draw pictures. It was a penny a sheet and lasted longer than candy!” She used berry and grape juices to brighten her images. Alas, the difficulty of farm life allowed her little time to pursue her art. 

She married when she was 27 and moved to a farm in Virginia. She and her husband, Thomas Moses, had 10 children but only five survived beyond infancy. Life was pretty tough for the Moses family.  Mrs. Moses supplemented the family income by making potato chips and churning butter. They later moved back to New York and farmed near Eagle Bridge. 

Grandma Moses did not start painting until she was 77 years old and looking for something to do “to keep busy and out of mischief” after her husband died. She painted nostalgic scenes of American life and sold them at country fairs alongside her prize-winning pickles. In 1939 a collector saw her paintings in the window of the local pharmacy and bought them all. Soon after, Hallmark purchased the rights to reproduce her paintings on greeting cards and the name Grandma Moses became known across the country. She died at 101, after painting more than 1500 images. In November 2006, her 1943 work Sugaring Off became her highest-selling work at $1.2 million!! 

I am inspired by Grandma Moses to pursue my interests and passions well into advanced years! It’s never too late to start something new. Snailmail is a great hobby to pursue. Not only does it give you an opportunity to be creative, it connects you with others and hopefully brings them joy, too! 

Won’t you join me in sending some post today? I recommend sending something to your grandchild! 🥰 (Tell them all about your hobbies!) 

Go postal, people!! In a good way!! 

XOXO, 

Mrs. Murphy 

P.S. Write Sooner or Later!

 

Well, that was a lengthy hiatus. 😬 I do apologize for the lateness of this blog post, but a snailmail blog post, like snailmail itself, is a joy whenever it appears! (At least I like to think so) 😊

So, what has Mrs. Murphy’s Mailbox been up to of late? Well, one of the most fun things I’ve sent via the postal service is a sisters journal! My sweet sister picked up a guided journal for sisters to share memories, secrets, hopes and dreams. It’s a fun way to celebrate the unique bond of sisters. 

This is the actual journal she got for us!! 

It might be geared for younger sisters,🤷‍♀️ but it sure has been fun for a couple of 50-something sisters! 😊 The thoughtful prompts have been great for reflection and recollecting old family memories. It’s been amazing to me that there is always something new to discover about one another after all this time. One of us fills out a section at random and mails it to her sister! Hooray! Good mail! 

Our own sister snail mail inspired me to read about some other sisterly correspondence. The Postal Museum (one of the Smithsonian museums) is a personal favorite, obviously. 😉 They have wonderful collections of letters. I read one letter from Anna Mitchell, an American Red Cross worker, that she sent to her sister Caroline Phelps-Stokes. She included extensive descriptions of her relief work during WWI. She worked at a canteen in France in 1916. The facility provided coffee and food to civilians and the military. Reading it was like stepping back in time. 

Snailmail has value to me for many reasons. It encourages others, connects people in a meaningful, unique way and records personal histories for future generations! It’s a wonderful hobby! I highly recommend it. 

Go postal, people! In a good way!! 

XOXO,

Mrs. Murphy 

Postal Rates May Be Going Up … But So Are Our Spirits!!

 

I don’t know if you’ve heard the news, but the USPS has announced another increase in postal rates. 😕 Starting July 10, 2022 it will cost $0.60 for a first class postage stamp. 

While this is can be frustrating to a snailmail enthusiast (and normal people, too😏), I want to encourage you to send some good, old-fashioned post. I believe there is something truly special about writing and receiving a real letter. 

Letters matter. Have you ever been to a history museum? I am always amazed by the impact a letter can have. A million possessions have deteriorated into nothingness but fragile pieces of paper have been preserved for generations. Letters have special meaning and meaningful words are worth reading over and over.

An actual ink-on-the-paper, stamp-on-the-envelope letter communicates much more than the words on the page. A real letter confirms the importance of your recipient. Sending a thoughtful note to someone shows you cherish a relationship and want to invest in it. 

Writing real letters helps you pause long enough to say things that matter. When I text I often respond with one word, or even an emoji. 👍 🙄 Texting and email are mostly reactionary. Writing letters is much more thoughtful and purposeful. You do it to give, not to receive. 

Real mail brings so much joy!! Today’s mail is mostly bills and junk. If you take the time to craft a letter, affix a postage stamp and drop it in the mail, you may have single-handedly rescued someone from a bad day! Finding some “good mail” in one’s mailbox is truly magical and serendipitous! 

So while it’s true that inflation seems to be affecting everything,😫I encourage you to keep up your correspondence. It’s a wonderful, worthwhile hobby! 

Go postal, people!! In a good way! 

XOXO,

Mrs. Murphy 

Mrs. Murphy and Miles of Mail

 

The new mountain flower Forever Stamps!! 🥰

Spring has sprung! Or so the calendar tells us. In the part of the world where Mr. Murphy and I dwell spring is a complicated season. Often spring arrives with a warm, sunny day followed by freezing temperatures and snow the next. Its inconsistency is its most reliable characteristic. The world seems rather grayish-brown, wet and muddy but there is an underlying hint of new life, a spark of bright green amidst all the brown, a touch of warmth in the wind. It’s exciting!! 

Mr. Murphy and I enjoy the great outdoors and recently checked out a new to us park/trail in our area on one of those gentler spring days. It got me thinking about the often hidden jewels that can be found in one’s own backyard. We humans are creatures of habit and often go to the same places and do the same things because they are familiar and lovely and we don’t have to worry about whether or not we will enjoy ourselves because we’ve been there before and we KNOW we like it. But as I often said to the MurphyBros when they were wee lads, “It’s fun to try new things!” Usually this involved a vegetable of some sort but the principle is the same. 😉

Speaking of those MurphyBros, now that they each have a Mrs. Murphy of their own🥰, I was inspired by spring and the great outdoors and decided to send some Mrs. Murphy Adventure Mail!! 

With the help of the fabulous interwebs, I was able to do a little research on some outdoor recreational areas near Mr. and Mrs. Murphy-Boy-Wonder and Mr. and Mrs. Super-Murphy-Boy. I created a little challenge snailmail for them and posted it! Even if they are familiar with this particular area, I think the scavenger hunt idea and novelty of getting a challenge like this in the mail will bring something fun and joyful to their lives!! 🥳 My hope is that they love the surprise snailmail, take the opportunity to connect with nature and each other and, of course, write me back to tell me all about their adventures!! 

A section of my Murphy Miles Adventure Mail! 

Spring has sprung, people!! It’s time to go postal!! 

I mean, get outside!! But also go postal and send some fun spring time snailmail!! 

XOXO,

Mrs. Murphy 🌿🌸🌤