Oh, Brother! Where Art thy Post?

What strange creatures brothers are!” (Jane Austin)

I have had, at times, similar sentiments to those expressed by Miss Austin in her novel, Mansfield Park. I grew up with a lovely sister. I had, primarily, female cousins and most of my friends and neighborhood playmates were girls and came from families of many sisters. Even my darling Mr. Murphy has two sisters, no brothers!! Brothers and their relationships were somewhat of a mystery to me. That is why I am ever so thankful that my life was blessed with the Murphy Brothers! My appreciation of and feelings of affection toward brothers has grown exponentially, even if I don’t understand everything about their unique relationship. 😉 (Why are they always punching each other, anyway?🤔)

                          

When the Murphy Bros were little and squabbling about this or that, I would make it a point to tell them some important truths about the relationships of life...

• Friends are wonderful, but some are only for a season. They come in and out of your life as your situation and circumstances change. 
• No one loves you like your parents, of course, but parents get old and die. 
• Your spouse will hopefully be your partner forever, but we all know there are no guarantees and some marriages do break. 
• Even your own children will grow up and move away. 

But your brother, your God-appointed best friend, is with you from the cradle to the grave. Brothers have a unique and special connection. Brothers share the same past, they stand by one another, shoulder to shoulder, in the present and will fight for one another in the future. Don’t take this special relationship for granted! Cultivate it and make it a true friendship. Be your brother’s keeper!

This theme of brotherhood has been prominent in my life lately. Last fall we went to two concerts where brother acts performed, The Avett Brothers (Scott and Seth Avett) and For King and Country (Luke and Joel Smallbone). While watching “The Tiny Desk Concert” series hosted by NPR Music, I recently enjoyed the brotherly performances of The Black Crowes (Chris and Rich Robinson) and The Jonas Brothers (Nick, Joe and Kevin).  I watched a documentary about the Drs. Mayo of the Mayo Clinic (Charles and William), the movie Tombstone (featuring Wyatt, Morgan and Virgil Earp), the movie The Fabulous Baker Boys (a movie about fictional brothers staring REAL LIFE brothers Beau and Jeff Bridges), and the new release 1917, about one brother’s attempt to get a message to the frontline in order to save his brother’s battalion from a German ambush during WW1. While chatting with Murphy Boy Wonder (the elder) I learned that he was reading East of Eden, Steinbeck’s classic story about, you guessed it...brothers. Brother post even arrived in my mailbox...I got a catalog from Brooks Brothers (Daniel, Edward, John and Elisha). 😉 It seemed as if this theme of brotherhood was everywhere!! It got me thinking about famous brothers and postage, of course. Who (and his brother) has been on a postage stamp? 🤔

• The Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur, have been honored on several stamps. 
• John and Bobby Kennedy have each been the subject of a postage stamp, but not together. 
• The Ringling Brothers were honored with the circus Forever stamp issued in 2014. 
• The Mayo brothers were recognized by the USPS in 1964 with a commemorative stamp. The stamp’s color is green, a color traditionally associated with medicine. 
• The Biglin brothers from New York (John, James and Barney) were active in professional rowing after the Civil War when rowing was a hugely popular spectator sport. James and Barney were the subject of several paintings by Thomas Eakins and one is featured on a postage stamp. This stamp was released in 1967 to honor the painter, Mr. Eakins, but I feel it honors the Biglin brothers, too!
•  I also discovered some international stamps that honored brothers, like the brothers Grimm (Jacob and Wilhelm) on a German stamp. 
• Groucho Marx was depicted on a postage stamp from Grenada, but they left Harpo, Chico, Zeppo and Gummo out. Sorry, fellas. 😕

Another interesting, but much more somber, stamp I discovered was the Gold Star Mothers stamp, issued in 1948 to honor mothers whose sons had been killed in war. In November 1942, Thomas and Alletta Sullivan of Waterloo, Iowa, lost all five of their sons after a Japanese submarine sunk the USS Juneau, on which they all served. News of the family’s loss made international news and president Roosevelt sent a letter of condolence. In 1944 a movie called The Sullivans was released telling their story. It was nominated for an Oscar for best original screenplay. Two US Navy ships have been named The Sullivans in honor of the family’s sacrifice. When the stamp was released in 1948 the first sheet of stamps was presented to Alletta Sullivan, as a Gold Star Mother. 

                              

After all of this brotherhood research, I’ve come to the conclusion that brothers are great and they can do amazing things when they work together! In celebration of brotherhood everywhere I am creating and sending some snailmail to the most wonderful brothers I know...those Marvelous Murphy Bros! 

XOXO
Mrs. Murphy

A Red Letter Day for The Red Cross!

During this time of medical emergency I’ve been looking back through the annals of postage history to discover amazing people who did amazing things during times of crisis. I also learned that, appropriately enough, March is Red Cross Month! 

Founded in 1881 by nurse Clara Barton, the American Red Cross has been dedicated to helping hurting people from the very beginning. The Red Cross serves the military and their families, offers training for the community, provides disaster relief in the United States and worldwide and supplies about 40% of the nation’s blood products. I took swimming lessons, a first aid class and have given blood many times all thanks to the American Red Cross! The American Red Cross is part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Society, the largest international humanitarian relief network. Their noble goal is best summed up as a desire to relieve human suffering. The Red Cross, is, of course, helping during the Coronavirus pandemic. Their website provides excellent education about caring for someone who is sick with the virus, what social distancing actually is and why it’s important and they are encouraging healthy people to give blood during this epidemic! 

The Red Cross postal history is also interesting. Back in 1931 the US Post Office wanted to release a stamp to honor the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Red Cross. The original plan for the stamp was to use a portrait of Clara Barton but somewhere along the way it was decided the stamp design should be similar to a 1930 Red Cross poster depicting a nurse kneeling with outstretched arms before a globe. The stamp was printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. It was a two step printing process in which the red cross was added last on the black and white background. Because the cross was added during the second printing it was relatively rare to find it perfectly centered in the blank space provided for the design. I even read about a print that had the cross missing. It seems the corner of the paper was folded over and the cross was printed on the back of the stamp!! That stamp is valued at $40,000! 🤯 Who says stamps are boring?! (See examples of the wandering cross below.)

Of course I wanted to know more, so I headed to the library and found a biography of Clara Barton! A Woman of Valor: Clara Barton and the Civil War by Stephen B. Oates is now on my TBR pile!! 

Reading is a great quarantine activity! Many of my friends tell me they are not really readers. Some folks haven’t picked up a book since their high school or college days. Now is the perfect time to give it a try! The benefits of reading are myriad and who doesn’t want to be transported to another time and place right about now!! “A book is a gift you can open again and again!” Garrison Keillor.

During this time of crisis doctors, nurses and other health care professionals are putting their lives on the line to care for others. In honor of Red Cross month (and nurse Clara Barton), won’t you join me in sending some snailmail to your favorite healthcare provider? As a nurse myself I know those folks would sure appreciate it!

Some of my outgoing post! 

 (Don’t forget to be on the look out for that missing cross stamp! 😉)

XOXO,
Mrs. Murphy

PS: Clara was honored on a postage stamp in 1948. Better late than never! 

Postal Pursuits Prevail During Pandemic!!

Has the pandemic of 2020 got you feeling down? Everything’s cancelled. Travel is banned. Spring break is ruined. People are quarantined. Sure the NCAA Basketball March Madness is no more, but don’t forget about Mrs. Murphy’s Mailbox Madness! Now is your chance to stay home!! Take advantage of this forced “down time” to create and send some mail! Connect with friends and family FROM A SAFE DISTANCE !!!! 😁😉

After all...

“Some things in life are bad, they can really make you mad. Other things just make you swear and curse. When you’re chewing on life’s gristle, don’t grumble, give a whistle! And this’ll help things turn out for the best! Always look on the bright side of life!” 😉🎶🤣

Well, in an effort to follow Monty’s advice, I created some pandemic snail mail! Social distancing at it’s most glorious. I didn’t have that awesome polio vaccine stamp, but I put on a T Rex Forever stamp and a few others that seemed appropriate. (T Rex did NOT wash his hands and look what happened to him!! 😱)  Send some snail mail to your favorite quarantined pen pal! Remember, nothing brings a smile to someone’s face like some “GOOD MAIL” 😁🥰 It’s 
magic!

Stay healthy!

XOXO,

Mrs. Murphy

Of Books & Letters

I love the library. I go every few weeks and check out a large stack of books. Some are from my “want to read” list and some are just random selections that happen to catch my eye. Just recently I happened to find a book that has long been on my list. 84 Charing Cross Road  by Helene Hanff. It’s an epistolary book!! That’s a book that uses letters or diaries to tell the story. (My nerd heart was bursting!) ❤️🥰📚📬

Released in 1984 in celebration of Library Week

Published in 1970 it is a collection of letters from American Helene Hanff, a freelance writer living in New York, to Frank Doel, the manager of a used bookshop located at 84 Charing Cross Road, London.  Their correspondence spans 20 years (1949-1968), and although they never met, they developed a charming and winsome friendship through their shared love of books. Helene was brilliant, funny, kind, generous and amazing and I wish I could have been her pen pal!! I know we would have been kindred spirits. 🥰📚📬 

The book was made into a stage play and later a movie starring Anne Bancroft, Anthony Hopkins and Judy Dench in 1987. After I finished the book I watched the film (Thank you, Amazon!) and found it delightful, the script closely follows the real letters.

 If you are a book and letter nerd...and let’s face it, you probably are if you are reading this blog😉...I encourage you to add this book and film to your own list! ❤️ 

Now I’m off to write a letter to a pen pal that lives across the pond! 🇬🇧 Go postal, people! It truly is a beautiful experience.

XOXO

Mrs. Murphy 

Fairway to Heaven

Fore!! Do you know any golfers? Are you a golf aficionado? Do you know who the “Golden Bear” is? What about the “Great White Shark”? You’ve probably heard of “Tiger.” How about the “King”? 

FOREVER Stamp 2020

On March 4, 2020 the USPS will release it’s newest FOREVER stamp honoring Arnold Palmer (the King). Arnold was one of the greatest champions of all time winning 62 PGA Tour events (5th most of all time) and over 92 tournaments worldwide. He is credited with helping to popularize golf, transforming it from a sport for the elite to one that is enjoyed by the multitudes. 

🏌️‍♀️⛳️ 🏌️ 

While I am known only for my mini-golf game, I do have fond memories of riding in my grandparents’ golf cart while they played golf at their golf club. My granddad would do his best to give me some pointers, and I still use his putting technique of “imagining a line running through your ball to the hole...hit it right along that line”... yet I remain hopeless at golf! 🤷‍♀️  I know that golf was something my grandparents enjoyed together and they played all during their active retirement years. I also remember watching golf on TV with them. They were big fans of Arnie. 

While golf is not my passion, I am always thinking about creating and sending my next postal project. 🥰📬 I want to surprise and bless people with a fun or encouraging note in their mailbox, something that is special or meaningful to them. In anticipation of Arnie’s awesome new stamp I created some golf inspired snail mail for some golfer friends I know. 

All it needs is the stamp!! 

Head out to your post office after March 4th and see if they have this new stamp. (You can also order stamps from the USPS website). 

Send some golf inspired snail mail to your favorite golfer!! I may not be able to golf like Arnold Palmer but I definitely enjoy his tea while I write letters! 👍

Go postal, people!

XOXO

Mrs. Murphy