There is a lady whom I've known forever, who was a dear childhood friend of my mother. She is a prolific letter-writer and used to correspond with Mama over the years, or we'd visit when we had a chance to go to my mother's birthplace. This lady is in her later eighties now and is shut-in for sometimes weeks on end and many of her pen pals are now deceased. I have kept up written correspondence with her for a number of years and especially since my mother passed away. I can't keep up with her on sheer numbers of letters sent, but keep in touch by pen and ink (or printed on my puter printer) with only occasional phone calls. It's a dying art, and this woman joys in getting mail in her box to pour over perhaps several times and maybe even stow away as physical evidence of her friendships. Sitting at her desk and sharing her thoughts are an important part of her day and her mind is as sharp now as it was ever and I think the letter writing has been part of why. In addition to that, I have gained some really precious insights to my mother's life when she was a young girl, especially since it was a different perspective than the stories my mother would share with me. Now, that as they say is 'priceless'. So yes, I keep an active pen and ink habit. I also will surprise my three cousins with a rare letter even though we do phone each other on occasion. Now, when I lived overseas it was at a time when phones were not mainstream in homes in those places and very, very costly to make long-distance calls and there was no email. I had several friends in America with whom I would send mail. It took about two weeks each way, even airmail. So new news was old news by the time each of us would get answers. Patience, patience..............it's also become a lost art, no?

Looks like cypress spurge or Euphorbia cyparissias. A rampantly spreading, freely seeding euphorb that is listed as invasive or a noxious weed in some states. I know it is on the list in Colorado, which is pretty darn close to Arizona :-)

What fascinating stories, natesgram! What a wonderful thing to reconnect with your pen-pal from Micronesia after so many years. That's quite a gift! And what a sweet, sweet story about your father-in-law and how he met the love of his life. :-) My mother really inspired my interest in pen-pals. She had a pen-pal when she was a young girl in the 40s - a girl her own age who lived in Scotland. Mom saved several things that the girl had sent her, and over the years as I was growing up, I used to love to dig out those items and dream about a little girl from long ago and far away. I had my first pen-pal when I was a pre-teen. Her name was Barbara and she was an Italian beauty who lived in New Jersey. She was extremely boy crazy, and quite precocious for an 11 or 12-year old, and I remember being somewhat "scandalized" by her letters in which she told me of kissing (and petting with) boys. Shocking! ;-) When I was an older teenager I briefly had a young man as a pen-pal. His name was Christopher and he lived in England, and was very handsome. I definitely had a crush, but I also had a boyfriend who was jealous of my long-distance letter writing, so I stopped communicating with Christopher. I've wondered a few times over the years whatever happened to him. Thanks to magazines such as Country Decorating Ideas and Country Almanac, I've had quite a few pen-pals, several that I grew very close to throughout the years, even meeting in person and developing a relationship with their families as well. I reconnected with several of them on Facebook (but I no longer have an account there, so have kinda lost track of them again). Back in the early 90s, I probably had 5 or 6 very active pen-pal relationships with women who, like me, had a passion for decorating, collecting, and homemaking. We regularly sent each other "swap boxes" of goodies that we either handcrafted or picked up for one another in various antique shops or even at yard sales, and that was so much fun. Looking back to that time in my life, I wasn't working - I was a full-time homemaker - and the letter writing definitely filled a void and made my days at home more interesting. I still can't quite believe all of those pages and pages that I hand wrote! I just wrote a brief thank-you note to a work contact, and my handwriting has become just atrocious throughout the years. I know it wasn't this bad when I was regularly writing to my pen-pals! Fun topic! It made me stop and remember some really neat people from my past.

This is just too funny, and you are way too defensive for me to think you sincere in the least. I looked you up last night and had my suspicions but held my tongue, waiting to see if you would do exactly as you have done here. You have requested nothing from any of these boards that you cannot find yourself just by googling. The girl you're talking about has more of such resources at her own disposal than all of us put together. Not to mention you, your mother, all the rest of your family, your friends, their family and friends, and all of her own family and friends. How much more can one pity party possibly require? But you chose to come to boards of strangers, asking them to offer their email address and home address to not only you but also a criminal - a criminal that does not exist, at least not for the reasons you express. Then, you have the nerve to insult us because you screwed up your own scam. We immediately saw the "WARNING SIGNS" from YOU! So, next time try harder to remember why you don't post to many of these boards, oookkaaayyy. And you spelled clique wrong, to which I do not subscribe.