*Yes. My name usually has two l’s.*
I just thought I’d share RW’s latest love letter with you.
I just thought I’d share RW’s latest love letter with you.
That envelope is a hum dinger, eh?
RW’s magnificent, shy and kind rookie brother and fellow smokejumper drew this up for me. I’m enchanted by it. Cap needs some encouragement, my friends, can we all put our hands together for him and tell him to never quit drawing. Ever.
*clap clap clap*
Also, he is a track and field star, lives in Tucson and is relatively single (though he informed me his girl situation is complicated…whatever that means…I think it means he’s single or can do better…). So if you’re in Tucson and you want to date one of the best fellows on the planet, please contact me at thenoisyplume@gmail.com and I’ll arrange a blind date for you in autumn.
Why?
Well. Because.
I believe in love.
And this fellow deserves love.
______________________________________________
Righto.
Funny anecdote that will make you snicker (and swoon because a man handling a baby thing is always very touching):
A couple of weeks ago RW and a few other boys were out with their base manager doing something to a fire look-out tower on the top of a mountain. When they pried a board off a wall of the tower, they found a chipmunk nest. RW’s boss took a stick, poked the nest and eventually found a baby chipmunk in it. He reached out, stroked it gently with one finger and said:
It won’t bite.
He scooped it up, put it in his pocket and took it home to his little girls.
I officially have baby chipmunk envy.
I am also incessantly pestering RW about finding me a helpless baby critter in the woods to care for, it doesn’t even have to be a chipmunk, it could be an owlet or a star nosed mole or a young bison. Whatever. I just want something wild and fresh living with me here at The Gables.
*Apparently, Mister Belsby also has a pet flying squirrel he rescued as a baby from the forest…what have I got to do to rescue wild infantile critters??!!! You may or may not believe this, but I watch for them all the time when I’m out and about. I have since I was 12 when I used to scour the banks of the Saskatchewan River for owlets — just like Farley Mowat.*
*Apparently, Mister Belsby also has a pet flying squirrel he rescued as a baby from the forest…what have I got to do to rescue wild infantile critters??!!! You may or may not believe this, but I watch for them all the time when I’m out and about. I have since I was 12 when I used to scour the banks of the Saskatchewan River for owlets — just like Farley Mowat.*
____________________________________________
And in review:
I watched this and it was very good but disturbing (only because it was so real and set in normal, present day). I can’t help it, I think Carey Mulligan is so extraordinary. Every role she’s ever had has been utterly compelling. What ever “it” is, she has it. Watch it.
One of my dear, long distance friends sent it to me.
Not only is the story gritty, breathtakingly beautiful and heartbreakingly real, but it’s beautifully structured and composed.
I can’t stop thinking about it. I’m utterly haunted in every way.
And I love my dogs.
And I’m ever more afraid of rogue pit bulls (but think about it, the breed was bred to fight for centuries…you’re going to have those instincts surface from time to time…) (urp…that’s a sensational topic, isn’t it…).
Most of all, when the author described herself as a gregarious hermit, I understood her. Fully.
Just pick up a copy.
Ukulele and Eddie!!!
I like it because it makes me feel like a feisty, countrified pineapple salad.
Just give it a hear.
Ok?
Ok.
I have to run,
I told Penelope we’d play Scrabble.
She likes to use big words like onomatopoeia.
She likes to use big words like onomatopoeia.
x
Other books to read:
1. One Good Dog
2. A Dog's Purpose
3. The Art of Racing in the Rain
Your artist friend has raw talent!
You are ADORABLE!!! You deserve a little wild thing to take care of (aside from yourself, of course! ha!)
RW's brother is skilled with the drawing! How great 🙂
Be ready for some flurry of comments about pit bulls. Personally, I have met some amazingly loving pit bulls and there is always the possibility that they can be that way, but in my experience I know that any dog owner would be completely ignorant to think that their pit bull is in the clear from having an outburst. It's in their nature…they are a totally different breed and have to be trained specially. Anywho….
Have fun with penelope! I need to play scrabble again. My board is just sitting there, sad, under the bookshelf. Not many of my friends like words the way I do 🙂
Di & Barney: Thanks for the suggestions!!!
Cat: Oh yeah. I know. I've met a few lovely pit bulls too. But having bird dogs who instinctually are obsessed with birds really confirms the fact that the instincts of dogs need to be taken into account when you're choosing what breed will suit you best.
To understand my comment on pit bulls in this post, you really need to read this book! I'll send you my copy! x
I am a fan of envelope art and this just made me smile and say out loud "that is so awesome!". How exciting it must have been to see this waiting for you in the mailbox.
Cap – don't stop drawing! You make people smile!
I have to say that drawing is the cutest thing I've seen in a long while. Always love a good book/movie/music recommendation- thank you. I've been digging Eddie and his ukulele as well, something intrinsically happy about the sound a ukulele makes. I've been really enjoying reading Daniel Woodrell of late (Winter's Bone author), I love stumbling upon a local author, and he's a Missouri man. Wishing I could join you in some scrabble (I'm a medical transcriptionist, and my hubby won't play with me because I tend to use words like "dyspepsia"). Wishing you a wonderful weekend, take care.
ahhh, cap: what a sweetie you are!
i wish true love into your life, may it find you and knock you for a loop. amen.
[well, then. ziggy challenges YOU to a game of scrabble, j-feather.
he uses big words like rapprochement and méridienne.]
x
I would love to read that book! Especially while I am dog-sitting 😀 Right now, the giant German Shepherd I'm with makes our walks go like this: "is that a dog? crap" *turn around* "oh, there's another dog" *go the other way* "damn squirrels!" *hold on REALLY TIGHT*
He's HUGE. It takes ALL my weight to hold him back from lunging at things.
Also, I just noticed the dogs on the envelope! With little Plum scrambling! HOW CUTE 😀
I have so much love for this envelope. And for the impulse to help love find its way. I'm with the fox on this one, cheering for true love.
The best gift I've ever received: my big brother brought me home a baby turtle in his lunchbox (in the days when he worked road construction. Now he's a surgeon. I'm glad he doesn't bring things home in his lunchbox anymore). Complete with a muddy, swampy home. I'm sure his BLTs never tasted the same. That's love if I ever smelled it.
For a moment I thought that was RW's drawing and I was like "Ok, seriously, a smoke jumper AND he can draw?" ha, ha! I love it though it is lovely. Hope a lucky lady finds him soon.
wow! a love letter enclosed in original artwork– mail doesn't get any better than that!
I picked up a swan feather for you in normandy. a little family of them was nesting on a small island in the seine by where we stayed, and the grass was sprinkled with swan fluff.
I think you should come back to WA to visit RW. I would drive from Seattle to meet you for lunch in Winthrop?? ***I am constantly inviting myself no??*** For real, that envelope is lovely and your posts always make me smile, wonder and dream a bit. Thank you
I am stumbling about that word now since I have started listening to Chilly Gonzales…..
Now, do have a go at "Pack of Two". (Remember, "Grace" = Gail.) You, as a member of a pack of four (AND pride of two), will love it. Caroline, by the way, called herself the "merry recluse".
Re pit bulls: I've met both sweet and nasty. Good socialization and training make all the difference. However, given their breeding background of selection for specific traits, one must take note of individual personalities–as with all beings, in fact.
I LOVE that love letter envelope! Cap, keep on truckin'.
Remind me to tell you about the orphan long-eared owlet I raised. She adored my cat and followed him around obsessively. I think there's something to the "Owl and the Pussycat" story.
x
When I saw that drawing I assumed RW drew it and I thought, why the HELL is he smoke jumping!?! It's A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.!! I can't even say more, it's just so good, I stared at it for like 5 minutes, haha. Hope he does more, and you share it with us.
I just told my husband that when he's gone he needs to send me envelopes that look like that.
He grunted in his man way and wandered off. ::rolls eyes::
Our niece has decided not to breed or sell her wolves as she says: "Most people don't understand wolf Nature"…they're wonderous creatures Yes, but most peoples aren't up to the responsiblity of caring for such a spirit. And they are "Spirited" in the truest sense.
It is important that we understand the "Nature of the beast" before we embark on a mission to share it's companionship.
I think this applies to Human relationships as well?>
Such whimsy in that Envelope Art!)) Give that man a standing O!!
What a great gift to get in the mail!!
A true love letter 😀
I agree that Cap should keep at it!! Your art makes people smile from deep down in their wiggly toes. (please pass along the message Jillian)
And Jillian know that your writing touches my dreams…. ahhhh, thanks 😀
xxx
ahh, so clever! will he consider a long distance relationship? oh heck, i'm willing to move! 😉
p.s. I can easily imagine a little Marmot runnin'bout the gables!
love the ukelele songs. and that envelope is amazing!