O is for Opossum

This week I want to show you my sweet opossums for Jenny's Alphabe-Thursday.

They are a gift from a dear friend in Texas who happens to collect opossums.

What a sweet face!

Since the opossums have pink noses and feet, I want to link this post to Beverly's Pink Saturday.

N is for No matter the letter

How lucky I am that no starts with N. Since it's my birthday, I am going to post a few photos for Jenny's Alphabe-Thursday no matter the letter. For my birthday, there were flowers ...

... some gifts, ...

... and sunshine despite the recent rainy and cool summer weather.

The weather wasn't great for a longer outing, so the destination was IKEA.

Köttbullar (meatballs) for lunch.

Lamps in the cafeteria.

The atmosphere there was lovely that afternoon.

Of course, you can't leave IKEA without buying some neat stuff.

The sun fought hard that day -- it was great to see some blue sky.

In the evening, I enjoyed the garden with the beautiful flowers.

Even a withered clematis bloom can look so very pretty.

The strawberry joghurt cake I had made earlier that day.

The evening was mild enough to have cake on the terrace.

Yummy cake and a delightful birthday day.

More pink flower power

Finally, I have some pink photos to share for Beverly's Pink Saturday. The moss phlox below is blooming in the garden these days.

In June, I had the chance to take some more gorgeous pink flower photos.

A wee flower in the grass.

Pretty weed.

Geranium called "Wilde Hilde" (Wild Hilde).

A lavender flower.

Pink butterfly weed -- a former friend from Pennsylvania sent me the seeds a couple of years ago.

Another pink geranium.

On an outing in June, I saw those beautiful pink flowers.

Da Vinci rose.

A truly splendid pink rose.

Happy Pink Saturday!

M is for Maximilian II

Jenny's Alphabe-Thursday is the perfect chance to take you to the monument of King Maximilian II in the Maximilianstraße (Maximilian Street) in Munich.

Maximilian II was king of Bavaria from 1848 until 1864.

In the background you see a palatial building, the Maximilianeum.

The principal was Maximilian II, who started the project in 1857.

The reason why I was in that part of Munich was my good luck in winning tickets from a radio station for the variety show "Red" in the GOP theater.

It was a great evening with stunning acrobats, singers and comedians.

L is for Letters

My word choice for Jenny's Alphabe-Thursday is letters. When was the last time you wrote a letter? In summer, I like to sit on my balcony and catch up with my correspondence. Mind you -- I only write few letters nowadays, but letter writing is still a dear part of my life. I have written letters since in my childhood and had dozens of pen pals during my teens.

There is something special -- even magical -- about putting your thoughts and daily experiences to paper and send them to a dear friend living on the other side of the world. Do you know the thrill of finding a letter in your mailbox, especially when it's written on a colorful stationery? I have saved one sheet of each of my stationeries since August 1988.

Dreams of One Thousand and One Nights -- and memories of laboriously writing letters in French to a pen pal living in Tunisia.

In the beginning, I found my international pen pals through the Finnish company International Youth Service or IYS for short. For a small fee, you got the address of a girl or boy in your age group. Sadly, IYS doesn't exist anymore -- it closed down in June 2008. The website doesn't exist anymore, but I found somewhere else this last statement by the staff of IYS:

IYS will be closing down this summer, by 30th June 2008

The International Youth Service (IYS) has been operating since 1952, over 56 years now. We have arranged foreign pen friends for school children and students aged 10 - 20 years in over 100 different countries.

The internet has lead to a situation where sending ordinary letters is old-fashioned. Letter writing, once very popular, is now a hobby of a few.

We have come to the end of a certain period. As we can not find enough young people interested in penfriendship any more, we have decided to close down this firm by 30th June 2008.

We thank all our customers, both children and teachers, in past years and wish you happy times. Don’t stop learning different languages and cultures and keep up those penfriendships you have managed to build up.

The staff of INTERNATIONAL YOUTH SERVICE

Over the years I lost contact with most of my former pen pals. Most of the time, I didn't get a reply anymore. On other occasions, there were misunderstandings or we simply drifted apart. It's nice though that all those people have been part of my life for a while.

Another popular way of finding new pen pals prior the Internet era were friendship books or FBs for short. I especially liked the ones which were beautifully decorated. Anyway, below you see one of the boxes in which I keep the letters I have received over the years.

My name on one of the many envelopes. I am still in contact with the woman who wrote this. She is now married with four lovely children.

I love the different, beautiful stamps on the envelopes. I also try to buy special stamps for my letters, as they look so much nicer.

Isn't that airmail drawing just adorable? I even met the woman who drew the bird a couple of years ago, but after a while, she didn't reply to my letters anymore. I hope she and her son are doing well.

Japanese stamps.

These days I like writing both emails and letters. Emails are cheaper, quicker and easier, and they can be great if they are written like a real letter with salutations and embedded photos. Additionally, it's wonderful to receive a real letter now and then -- a greeting card or some personal lines. I am still open to get to know new pen pals and hope that will never change. Maybe you are in the mood to write a letter now -- go for it!

Happy letter writing and pen palling!