Postcard feature: Owl and moon

Jesse was excited to see his postcard in the mail today! This, he tells me, is a picture of an owl in the moon, which he drew because he loves birds.

Yesterday a nighthawk sat on our new chicken fence for thirty minutes in broad daylight.

Before the moment Anna came in to shout at me in electric whispers that it was there, I had never seen a nighthawk except in the air, at twilight, its white wing-stripes and sharp peent peent peent clearly telling me that's what I was seeing.

They are so much more interesting up close.

People are much more interesting up close! Even a short note like this one lets us feel connected to the person who found the postcard.  The finder said simply, "Very Very Very cool artwork.  Found in a book @ Central Library downtown PDX.  Peace!"

Peace to you, and thank you, finder of Owl and Moon, for sending Jesse's card back to us.

Here's our nighthawk visitor from yesterday morning:

Postcard feature: Farmland

Usually, the postcards that come in the mail are from the last library we visited, so we love it whenever there's a return from a library one or two trips ago!  This one is from our Evanston trip last year.

This simple abstract reflects the colors of farm fields seen from above and the importance of water.  It's raining in our little town today, and the new ditch Brett dug for his mother last night is working well--the orchard is getting all the water it needs.

Rain energizes me.  Thunderstorms are the best!  We're expecting some tomorrow.

The finder of this postcard didn't send us any notes, but we are so happy they played along with us!

Postcard feature: Funky Chicken

There was a farm.

Goats dotted the pasture and chickens came running for the grain my mother-in-law would toss.  My boys loved going there, especially Jesse.  He loved gathering eggs.  Brett and Nate spent a lot of hours helping Grandpa (Brett's Dad) build and rearrange and care for things.

But today, Grandpa needs care and the farm is empty.  It was the impending loss of Saturday mornings with Grandpa that finally turned years of talking about chickens into a backyard full of actual chickens last year.

I drew this little chicken and left it in a book in the library in Hayden, Idaho (where we once lived).  This week, it came back.

The finder wrote:  Hello--
I absolutely LOVE this idea!  It was such a sweet thing to find tucked away in a book.  (The Good Pig).  What a blessing to find something so personal!

_The Good Pig_ is a fun book.  I received my copy from a friend I've been writing to for years.  We had never met at the time (we have now!)  Today, she and I exchange long letters in tiny, pretty notebooks.

My thanks to the finder for returning this postcard!  I hope you enjoyed _The Good Pig_ as much as I did!