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Today's
Reading: John Greenleaf Whittier: Life and Letters
by Samuel T. Pickard
2001
Book List
Plum
Island Bird List
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Well, world.std.com recovered enough that I managed to
upload two of this week's entries and send a few crucial
emails before it became incommunicado again. I could connect
to world just fine but world couldn't connect to the rest of
the world (as it were). So I sit here wishing for a return
to the glory days of letter writing and fast postal
delivery.
I've been immersed in Whittier's letters for a couple of
weeks now (I'm a slow reader and it's two volumes, what can
I say) and am struck by the variety of people he
corresponded with and the amazing depth of content. Oliver
Wendell Holmes, Charles Sumner, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Sarah
Orne Jewett, Lucy Larcom, Annie Fields, Celia Thaxter
...
Anyway, when I was still able to connect to the Internet
I found a site dedicated to the lost art of letter writing
(which of course I failed to bookmark -maybe I can find it
again when the server's problems are over). It used one of
Whittier's letters as an example. The other interesting
thing about the site was that it suggested keeping a journal
as a way of discovering content for your letters. Write a
journal so you'll have something to write about in your
letters... hmm.... not a use of the journal that I've ever
thought about before although I've used passages from my
journal in letters to off-net people (unwired people?) just
because I'd said it well once and saw no need to reinvent
the same story. Not that I write that many real letters,
mostly postcards anyway.
All this Whittier letter immersion also got me thinking
about what my "letters" would present to some imaginary
future biographer. What would my correspondence say about
the times I live in? And I can't resist reversing the
suggestion about keeping a journal in order to have
something to write about in letters. Of course, I'm not sure
email counts as letters, but it's worth a try, so here goes
- a bunch of emails I sent this week between server
outages.
To: Z.
Did the board approve buying the G4?
Second question has nothing to do with the project.
Can you identify the plant in the attachment I am
enclosing? A friend just gave it to me (mounted and
framed) as a Christmas gift (this particular group of
friends just had our Christmas party on Saturday
because our original pre-holiday date got canceled).
She gave everybody in the group pressed flowers, but
mine was the only one she didn't know the name of and
neither did I. It looks like some kind of aster but
not a kind that grows around here. She picked it in
the White Mountains in New Hampshire.
Best regards, Janet
To: G.
I saw your query on Massbird. I highly recommend
the Charles Darwin Foundation.
They support research and conservation projects in
the Galapagos. I've been contributing to them
(membership) since I visited the Galapagos in 1995. I
don't know if they have set up a specific fund for oil
spill cleanup but I know from the news broadcasts that
they are involved in the effort.
They have a web site at
http://www.galapagos.org.
I suppose I could go look there to see if they have
a specific oil spill fund.
Best regards, Janet Egan
To : G. (about 15 minutes later)
Just checked and discovered Darwin Foundation does
have specific oil spill fund you can contribute to at
http://www.galapagos.org/spill.html.
Janet Egan
To : S.
Attached for your review is the PDF file of this
month's volunteer newsletter.
Thanks, Janet
To: Z.
Sure, I can get another Backpack CD-RW with
parallel connection. If you are going to buy a new
laptop then maybe you could get the CD-RW built in.
I'll check on that when I check on laptop prices.
My email stopped working yesterday afternoon -
problems at the server, not at my computer - and
didn't start working again until today. Same problem
with Internet connection. Computers are no fun at all.
Now that the server is back on its feet (knock wood),
I will be able to get some laptop prices, find out
what extras (like keyboard and mouse) come with the
G4, order computers and stuff like that. I can see
tomorrow is going to be a very busy day.
Meanwhile, the mystery plant can wait. I'll bring
it with me the next time I come over (you are right
that that is inevitable). It's not an urgent question.
I just thought I was being exceptionally stupid not
recognizing it. It hadn't occurred to me that the
leaves and the flowers might be from different species
to make nice artistic arrangement.
I'll be in touch.
Best regards, Janet
To: B (Wednesday)
Lots of new cats this week, lots of 'em black. Get
ready to be inundated.
[cat pics and bios in Wednesday's entry not
repeated here]
Adoptees since last week are Elly, Sage, Samantha,
Meeko, Immy, Iggy, Erika, Echo, Snowflake.
That is all. Over and out 'til next week.
Janet
To: S.
There was a note in the newsletter box requesting
us to remove [xxxxx] from the mailing list. It
didn't indicate whether it was for the volunteer
newsletter or the regular newsletter, but [xxxxx
is] not on my list so I assume it must be for the
regular mailing list.
Thanks, Janet
To: K.
In addition to the JPG of Joey that I emailed you
for the newsletter, there is a nice photo of Joey that
K... suggested putting with the Joey article in the
newsletter. It's in the newsletter mailbox in the
office.
Thanks, Janet
To: new volunteer
Thanks for connecting with Merrimack River Feline
Rescue Society through
http://www.volunteermatch.org/.
I'm the chairperson of the Purrfect Companions
committee and I'd like to invite you to come to our
next committee meeting on [meeting date] at
the MRFRS Adoption Center at [address].
Are you interested in the nursing home visits or in
being a buddy for one of our elderly adopters? Or
both? We need volunteers for both of those things.
I look forward to meeting you.
Thanks, Janet Egan
Merrimack River Feline Rescue Society
To: S.
Thanks, I'll make those changes today. I think it
might be best to leave out the health coordinator news
'til next issue.
Janet
To: K.
I'll see what I can dig up for you. I remember that
Joey was all matted when he came. I also remember that
we were all afraid of him because he would bite and
bite hard. He used to sit on top of the big yellow
bucket and prevent us from getting to the clean
litter. I'll pass your message on to Kendra who might
have more background info and some specific "before"
memories of Joey.
Regards, Janet
To: K...
I've been corresponding with K. about the Joey
story for the big newsletter. She sent me this request
for more info about Joey's background and his behavior
at the shelter. I thought you might do a better job
answering it than I can. I just remember being
petrified of him! And how matted he was when he came
in.
You can send your thoughts directly to K. Deadline
for the big newsletter (real newsletter, whatever you
call it) is February 5.
Thanks, Janet
To: I.
I am looking forward to coming to Budapest. I will
be in touch about details of the machine of machines,
my arrival date/time, and things like that
shortly.
Z. joked that he would ask you to drive me to
Kaposvar to visit my brother, but you are off the hook
because my brother will be at a conference in Houston
and not in Hungary at all. What a big world.
Best, Janet
Now doesn't that make a rousing journal entry? If my guys
ever win the Nobel Prize for botany maybe our correspondence
will have some historic value - oh wait, there is no Nobel
Prize for botany ... Well, maybe if I win the
Pulitzer for my cat biographies... I think "Kyle is a 6
month old male with short hair. He was given up. " is deeply
moving and extraordinarily well written, don't you? Its
brevity and wit rival the haiku of the most honored masters.
Not.
Will scholars of the future puzzle over the meaning of G4
and JPG? Not to mention CD-RW? How long will it take them to
realize that Joey is a cat? Not that scholars of the future
will ever get a chance to read these missives to begin with.
Bit rot and technological obsolescence will have set in long
before then.
Whoa, stop the presses, this just in... peeps (the
marshmallow kind) are a hot topic over at DeSelby's.
I was so amazed to read that there's a peeps fan club and
that adults actually like them and all that, that I have
brought back from the archival backup disk one of my best
ever entries: Mailing Peeps to
Bosnia. As you can see, I seem to be able to connect to
the web again. Of course with my luck that will change
before I actually upload this entry.
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