Crisp leaves and correspondence

We collected these autumn leaves on one of our walks in the Mountains. They are as big as dinner plates. Mimi particularly was desperate to collect as many as she could, and bring them home.
I'm so glad I let her. They really are lovely.
Look what we did with them!

 

a u t u m n   b u n t i n g

In between the autumn leaves, I clipped vintage postcards, mostly with a floral or landscape theme.

The vintage postcards have come from a large album of cards: Daisy's collection from Lizzie, XMas 1907, that my aunt gave to me in a box of old books she thought I might like. She was right of course, I like them very much! I have written about some vintage postcards I've collected before. They are gorgeous and I find them fascinating. They also are great for decorating.

 

There's something about other people's correspondence, or maybe just correspondence full stop, in this age of electronic communication. Certainly sending cards is not what it once was. It was funny to see in this gorgeous collection, which consists mostly of birthday, Christmas and Happy New Year cards, the messages are brief, and often carry no real news at all. I guess it was people's way of 'dropping a line', letting the person know you cared, but without too much time or effort expended.

The album is battered and worn. The words may not have been profound (at least not the ones I've read) but Daisy obviously kept them with care, inserting each card into a tome to be later pored over and kept, records of friends and family and relationships and celebrations and of years passing..

For reasons too tedious to go in to I have been without the use of a mobile phone for many weeks. One upside (and there aren't many - but don't get me started), is that I've been reminded of how much I like writing cards. Choosing a delightfully delicate card to say thank you, or a light and brightly decorated card for a greeting is fun and requires a little thought. I don't think anyone will keep them in an album (although I have lots of old cards sent to me squirrelled away in various shoe boxes and bags, and under beds..), but it is a nice tangible way to communicate, and somehow seems to require and convey a little more care than a text message, don't you think?