I have been on a letter-writing binge. It is as if I am Emily Dickinson!
Or Mozart!
Or Leonard Pennario! He was a great letter writer too. He wrote a million letters and remember, he wrote one of them right down the street from my house.
Speaking of Pennario today I wrote letters to two people for the book, the actress Joan Fontaine and also Nicholas Rozsa, the son of the composer Miklos Rozsa, who wrote that wonderful concerto as a present for Pennario.
I am so virtuous!
How this started was, remember the other day when I went to my high-school reunion? I went home and wrote a letter to the nun who was at the reunion because I like her so much and at the reunion she got me so weepy. And every time I run into her I keep thinking I will write, but being a slug and a Schuft I never do. Well, this time I did.
But zut alors!
Is the stamp situation driving anyone else crazy?
That is my letter to Sister Maria pictured above. Look at all those stamps crammed into every corner of the envelope! The letter looks as if it is coming from India. And it is only traveling a couple of blocks!
Luckily being a nun, Sister Maria is probably used to getting letters from the Third World so my letter will not shock her. That is what I am hoping anyway.
The problem is that postage is going up so fast that I cannot keep track of it. And I do not have time to use up the stamps that I have. So now I have two huge glassine envelopes full of all kinds of stamps, some of which have no amount printed on them, so they just sit there. It is as if I am back in my stamp-collecting days!
My favorite is the "H" Rate Make-Up Stamp. Does anyone in the world know what it is worth? That is the "H" Rate Make-Up Stamp pictured at left. It is the stamp of mystery!How about the tiny flimsy square stamp that is just the Statue of Liberty and the flag, with no numbers? That is a goodie too. That stamp is so unrecognizable that I cannot even Google around and find a picture of it.
If I use these stamps, will the Post Office recognize them? I do not know. So I do not use them. Meanwhile, my letters look more and more as if they come from the Third World.
And the Post Office wonders why we do not write more letters.
5 comments:
Mary, you could do like I did last year and go to the post office (or order online) and get yourself a big bait of the "Forever Stamps". They cost whatever the going rate is (First Class) and also have no value printed on them. And like it says, they are good forever. Then you can just throw all the others away. Just get plenty of them because they go up whenever the others do. That is what solved my problem. I only use a few stamps per year and bought a book of twenty (I think).
Oops! Forgot to note that they cost the same as the current price for 1st class stamps (I do not even know the current cost). I did this not to save money but to get out of the pickle of never having or even knowing the current rate when I finally did need a stamp, lol.
You're confused? Imagine working for the USPS. I did for 22 years and could never figure it out. However, I found a stamp table with values at the following address. Try it.
http://pe.usps.gov/text/qsg300/Q604a.htm
I will not sign as distinguished a name as Prof. G. to any comment dealing with the USPS.....
Sister Maria is the best! And, of course, she's fortunate to be hearing from you, Mary, especially so soon after you two have seen each other. Your letter writing discipline is impressive. It's quickly becoming a lost art.
You are such a pleasure, honestly!! Seriously, I have been saving stamps lately, depending on the subject matter - you should stock up on the Forever Stamps, Mary! They are good - no matter if the postage goes up or not. I believe it is the Liberty Bell on it.
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