A Summer in Paris

How many of you have ever spent a summer in Paris? How many of you wish you could spend a summer in Paris? I think most of us romantacize the city. But hey, that's what we do when day dreaming of far away places. It makes us smile. I may not be spending my days walking the streets of Paris, but this summer I will be coloring the streets of Paris, thanks to the wonderful and amazing Limner. Confused? Well, keep on scrolling and you'll see what I mean in a second.

An envelope from Limner. On the other side it reads: Do not open until package arrives.

Fortunately, both the envelope and the package were in my mailbox yesterday.

The package. Notice the FYI in the lefthand corner. It stands for: For Youthful Impulses..... I like it. I also really like the map paper. I wish you could all feel it because the texture is amazing. It feels like an old vintage linen postcard. 

The contents of the package. Pretty in pink.

What a fun gift to receive.

So many little details to color in. Now you know why I'll be spending my summer coloring in Paris. I will share with you when I've got some of the pages colored in. These are pictures on the backside of the long mural to color in. I will definitely be busy, and I can't wait.

I also received another letter from Cat on the same day. I love having mail in my mailbox.

Her hand drawn characters are so cucte. I love all the different expressions. My favorite is the cat on top. He just looks worn out and relieved to be resting.

"V" is for Victory Mail (V-Mail)

Photo courtesy of  Library of Congress

All of my life it seems, I have been fascinated with the 1940's, and the history of World War II. I'm not sure why I'm drawn to this era but I've always loved the syle of clothes, the hairdos, the simpler way of life, the music, and the correspondence. Some of my favorite black and white movies were made in the 1940's.

I've stumbled upon many websites that preserve letters from World War II. Each and every one of them are so insightful and evokes in me a sense of pride and awe. Following is a sample of a V-Mail letter on the Daily Herald website. I enjoyed reading this letter a great deal. I hope you will too.

To learn more about what V-Mail is and how it operated, you can click here to read it on Wikipedia.

I read the above book a few years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it.  It's about 3 sisters living in Chicago during world war II. Each evening the sisters sit at their kitchen table writing letters to soldiers in the war. One sister writes to her fiance', another to a man she wishes would propose, and the last sister to an ever changing group of men she meets at USO dances. The characters are strong and the story line is phenomenal. You really feel like you are back in 1943.

Here is an excerpt from the book: A letter from one of the soldiers to one of the sisters.

April 4th, 1944 "Somewhere in the Pacific"

"I'm sitting her in the tent with a cup of joe. I've been waiting for a quiet time to write this letter, and now that time is here. I just had a luxurious bath in a stream with two nets stretched across either end to keep out the alligators. Then I took a walk ot enjoy the view: shattered coconut trees, obertutned jeeps, and whatnot. Oh hell, I guess I'll skip the preeview and go right to the feature.

     "Kitty, it seems like I'll never be your kind of guy. You've changed, and I have, too.  I'm not the man you said good-bye to  at the train station. Or maybe we always were different and we had to be apart in order to see that. I do think of you. I think a lot about you and your sisters, too. The Heaney sisters, wowser, best of the Midwest. But evreything back home seems like it's a movie or something, an out-of-focus movie at that. Maybe it would be best if you and I stopped writing. Seems like you might have more in common with that othr guy; you kind of tipped your mitt when you mixed up letter that time. And to be frank, it seems like I have more in common with Tish. I hope it doesn't hurt your feelings for me to say so. Maybe you already know. But I can tell it's a strain for you to write to me, and it's hard for me to write to you, too. I just don't know what to say.

"Kitty, you know I'll always love you. but not that way. I think you wanted me to slip you some ice for the fourth digit before I left but I just didn't see us a married couple and now I see I was right. I hope we'll still be friends.

"

"P.S. thanks for that picutre you sent. Nice lid. You always did look swell in hats."

I have just listed sets of V-Mail Envelopes in my ETSY shop. I hope you will check it out.

Have a great night everyone.