Clay & Laura's Big Adventure!

The last time it snowed here was January of 2020. The snow barely stuck. The sidewalks were clear. It melted into a reasonable chilly, but bearably cold day.  This is not bearably cold by Texas standards: 15 degrees and plummeting. Texans cannot drive in snow, so we're hunkered down, enjoying the view, and I am personally breaking out the hot chocolate. I'm one of those people who only wants it to snow at Christmas, and then I'm over it. I'm dreaming about our mild California winters and sunshine, lots of sunshine. It's also Valentine's Day. Clay and I will have to get creative in our celebration since there will be not dining out, and ordering in may even pose challenges. I have been promised stamp art by Clay. I'll keep you posted on our arts and crafts session. Any winter people out there? Please share what you love about it, and how you coexist with the cold. I need tips. This promises to be a very cold week. 🥶🧊  

I've always loved mail. I had penpals growing up. My cousin and I wrote each other letters. I also exchanged letters with my friend who lived in the Philippines. Right now, I find myself really wanting more tangible connections to people. Especially when much of our world and interactions are digital. A letter feels more personal, even if it's from a stranger.  Clay collects stamps and has a pretty decent collection of postcards. He found a website called postcrossing.com. Once you create an account, you can send postcards to other members. The website will assign someone to you when you indicate you would like to send a card.  So far, Clay has sent postcards to Germany, Russia, and Switzerland. I'm a slacker, so I've only sent out one to Germany. We could receive postcards at anytime from people all over the world. It's pretty fun.  I'm excited about our new hobby. I'll keep you posted about the cards we receive.  What are your Covid hobbies? I'm curiou

I haven't said much about my decision, and many people are leaving for other platforms. I am not leaving for another platform, with the exception of a blog.  There is something called emotional contagion. As a highly sensitive person and a strongly empathic person, this is something to which I'm strongly susceptible. Emotional contagion means that feelings are contagious. It's the same thing that makes babies cry when they hear another baby cry. Or why we laugh when someone is laughing.  I feel like with the pandemic and fewer outlets, everyone's emotional responses, including my own, are heightened. As an empath, I feel not only my feelings, but other people's feelings as well. And, I feel all of them all at once - good, bad, happy, sad, angry, fearful, confused, heartbroken, suspicious. I feel them from both sides of the aisle. I feel them in addition to my feelings, and I also feel my feelings about your feelings. This can be overwhelming.  I'm not going to l

  Never in my life did I imagine months of work from home, a pandemic, wearing masks as a normal thing, or Bernie becoming a viral meme. 2020 was a wild ride, and I'm hoping that the world starts to look a whole lot less chaotic soon. In the meantime, how do we human in meaningful ways? Specifically, I mean interactions with humans other than spouse or immediate family? How do we still human? I  still Zoom, but it's becoming tiresome. Spring and Summer are easier for me. I garden, hike, eat outdoors, try to do socially distant outdoor activities in the sun, and these things are good.  Right now, we're going to church (they have very stringent protocols in place), and I attend a socially distant (in person) dog training course for our puppy. Clay and I want to join a post card club where you send post cards to people all over the world. In the same vein, I'm still working on very belated Christmas cards (they'll probably be Valentine's Cards at this rate). I am e