Letters from everywhere

Lynn, and I have been sending each other letters since undergrad, long before we started this postcard challenge. Posted to and from all over the world, amazingly, our letters have yet to be lost (or so I think!).

I am constantly curious about the journey our mail takes.  Lynn's first June drawing captures mailboxes she dropped letters into over the years. Her drawing provides a glimpse to the start of letter's journey, but it fills my curiosity only partially. What path did letters take when she sent them from Egypt to Samoa? What adventures? It is a journey I'd like to trace.
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Although the front of this card is a tale in itself, on its underbelly, Lynn wrote to me about the closing of school for the summer. The start of summer break is always sweet, but last year she also felt relieved to put distance on discussions of financial woes facing the public education system in Michigan. It can be a tiring, heated debate and is one that I listened to a lot growing up with a teacher as a mother. Although each day she would get up and work her heart out for her kids, her compensation, just as with most government jobs, depended on public policy and revenue rather than her effort or success. No rewards for hard work and no security if someone is relatively new or teaching elective classes.

It is the same in Ghana. Not only does a lack of incentives hinder teacher morale and performance, the budget is tight. In Ghana, nearly all of the education budget - which makes up a third of the government's total budget - goes to teacher salaries. This leaves the government with little money to build schools, develop materials, provide professional training - in short, to do anything other than pay teachers. Teachers deserve to be paid well, but each time I hear this debate, I always hope it will focus first on how to pay them rather than on blanket budget revisions. My two cents before school is out for the summer.

Flying

Jessica went paragliding the day after drawing this card- she had flight on the brain! This is such a gorgeous bird she drew, I really love all the natural and realistic details.  I remember seeing pictures of her paragliding with the instructor and seeing a smile of pure joy on her face.  Reminded me of when I went on zip lines in Costa Rica.  I would love to try paragliding!!  Jessica saw forest and villages and enjoyed the peacefulness of being suspended up above.  Such a fun memory.

Stuck

Between a rock and a hard place. Another illustrated idiom, brought to you by Lynn (she deemed this my 'bonus card', since I got one extra last May).

Sometimes there is no easy decision.You look left and right, imagining there is another way, but there isn't one and that is the way it is. On a call with my mother today, we talked about a situation just like this one; a situation with no easy solution. Our conclusion was that sometimes when you find your self in these situations life doesn't start feeling better unless, after waiting a while to scope out the situation, you just deal with getting roughed up by that rock or that wall. You take a stance.

The problem is: what is on the other side?  Oh, please, send the poor stick-man a postcard revealing this.

Summer

Jessica drew a summery image of tomatoes in her typical dots.  This methodical way of drawing is her therapy from a busy time at work- which she had because she was getting ready to have a visit from her dad and take time off. I remember they were planning to go on Safari which was exciting for me becasue in a few months I would be going on my own safari.  I'm not sure if Jess gets tomatoes on the vine like this in Ghana, but perhaps she remembers why she wanted to draw this summery image?

Morel Madness

Lynn spent a weekend with her in-laws, hunting for morel mushrooms last spring. Although she said they were unlucky, their neighbors were more fortunate. They had set up card tables on the side of the road selling morels to people, like Lynn, who were dying for a taste.

Morel hunting has always been a spring ritual for my family. My Dad has secret haunts all over Leelanau County that he has visited since he was young and guards protectively. His secret locations and the mushrooms themselves are not easy to find. They blend into and hide under the leaves and make only a brief appearance during the flash that they call spring between winter and summer. It is easy to walk past morels without even realizing it, even if you are on the hunt. Well practiced, however, my Dad can walk behind us sweeping the ground with his eyes, finding mushrooms we nearly stepped on.

Even now, despite loving the taste of morels, it is the search that I remember most fondly when I am far from Michigan in spring. Morel hunting provides a rare, focused time in the woods with my father. As the spring sun beat down through leave-less branches, we would discuss rare plant species, the weather, unusual fungus and he would tell me stories all while wandering in a sea of trillium.

As a side note, I spoke on the phone with my father today and it seems that he has not been lucky thus far this year. Knowing it is all about timing, though, I am still optimistic and am dreaming of scrambled eggs with dried morels next time I am in Michigan.

Postcards that Wander

Its a new hobby of mine to look around the news and web and find postcard related projects, stories or art.  That's how I stumbled on "The Wander Postcard Project" where illustrators to imagine a postcard from everywhere and nowhere at once.  Their art is being shared every day on this blog. Go on over and check them out.  Its a fun parallel to our little project.  (You can download for wallpaper if you find one you like, I might add this to my new phone!)

This is a funny card because it was either sent to me by mistake, or I was supposed to mail it on to a mutual friend of ours (and I'm just realizing that now!)  The card is addressed to Merilee and asks her all about her plans to come to West Africa for the summer.  I know she ended up going last summer, because some of the drawings Jessica did in June and July were inspired by their travels.  Sorry Merilee, hope you can enjoy this digial version of your postcard for now!!