Monday 29 February 2016

Letters from home - Kraft+ Feb Challenge

Hello again Scrappy friends, lucky it's a leap year, it allows me one last day to enter the

KRAFT+ February challenge, which is all about going postal.



The postman, letters and stamps were an integral part of my childhood and younger days.

Long before most homes had a telephone on the wall, communication from our home was done by letter. I smile when I think how dependent we have become on mobile phones.

The Grandchildren can not imagine how any arrangements could be made by saying something like,

"I'll meet you at the Beehive corner at one o'clock on Friday"
"But what if they forgot Granny, or you changed your mind?"
"Well, you waited until they came and you didn't change your plans unless there was an emergency"

"Really, that's very tricky Granny, did you have to wait for hours!"



The photo is of my home in the country, North of Adelaide.
I've included the journalling here, if you're interested; it's a bit difficult to read on the layout.

Feel free to scroll on my by, if it's all a bit too much!

My first memories of letters and the postman were when I was about five years old. Still at home with Mum, I waited on this front verandah for the Postie to come on his bicycle, hoping he would stop at our house, drop some letters in the box and blow his whistle. Because I was a big girl, I was allowed to bring the letters inside to Mum. We didn’t have a telephone, so mail was the only way to communicate with friends & relatives. There was great excitement when a wedding invitation came, or news of a new baby in the family. When I left home to start Nursing training, I wrote home each week and received news from home too. To see Mother’s writing on the envelope, made my heart sing; I missed them all so much and longed to hear news of the farm. Her warm, chatty letters of everyday life, eased my intense home sickness. My letters to her described the shock of working 12 hour days, witnessing births and deaths, dealing with road accidents and having to wash a man! Later, when travelling for a year overseas, I continued to write home every week. When cleaning out Mother’s home after her death, I discovered she’d kept all those letters, so I have a potted history of my life. I hardly recognise the naive girl I was, or the world traveller I became, but my experiences and memories are preserved in my letters to Mum. Journalling 2016



The corner flourish stamp is from Tim Holtz - Soulful Journey



The stamps I found in the same drawer as all the letters my Mother saved.

Thanks for calling in to say hello.
I truly appreciate any comments you may care to leave.

9 comments:

  1. What a wonderful memory you have scrapped and I always love the journalling keeping the moments alive for others to see.. a lovely take on the challenge.. and there is something about receiving a letter.. much better than an email.. I think anyway!

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  2. I like where you went with this Challenge, not only using the sweet post stamps but delving into your childhood memories.

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  3. Damn it girl. You made me well up with tears. Because from the age I could write, my Mum made me sit down & write to 'Mam' [Grandma] when SHE was writing her weekly letter... so we did the same as you. I never kept any of those letters that Mam wrote to me. When I moved in with Mam & Grandpa to attend the Exclusive Girls School, yup! I wrote to Mum each week when Mam did....& I never kept any of Mum's letters to me either. So for you to find that TREASURE TROVE [much more so than money!!!!]..... WOW! Love that you used those stamps, too. And I'm wondering if that's your family home? Gorgeous glorious & VERY original page. Love. And thanks for the trip down memory lane, too :):)

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  4. Ooops! Did I even thank you for joining in with us at K+? Giggles....if not...then MWAH :)!!

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  5. What lovely memories! On this page the journaling certainly takes centre stage. The (postal) stamps are genuine too. A very special layout.

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  6. Memories to be cherished...love what you've done here! How cool are those stamps, it's amazing what we have secreted away. Thanks for joining us over @ Kraft+ :)

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  7. This is just beautiful Helen and so very special! ;-) Love the design and your fabulous journaling....makes me think back to the letters that I used to get in London from my Mom. People don't really do letters these days, when email is so much easier! But there is still nothing better than receiving a nice card or letter in the post! ;-)

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  8. Your page brings back memories of penpals and my darling husband doing border duty and writing every day so that I always received 7 letters once a week. Sometimes I yearn for life to become slow like that again.

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  9. Ok so for some reason this layout made me teary. I remember those days and I can't believe I never kept a single letter written or received. I guess because my mother instilled in me a "if you don't use it get rid of it attitude" which I still struggle to reign in these days. Such a beautiful layout. Clean and simple and gut wrenching ... Love this.

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