Video of cats and mail

Not a lot of substance in this post, folks, but I present to you a video of cats getting, playing with, or attacking the mail.

A good mail weekend

I've had a lot of other stuff going on in my life lately, and I haven't been spending as much time on mail as I'd like... but this weekend, especially Sunday, I got back into it and wrote a bunch of letters and postcards. It felt wonderful to immerse myself in mail all day long again!

There are changes afoot, and I will share the news in due time... but for now, I will say I am thankful for the wonderful world of mail as a longtime hobby and passion that has sustained me through many circumstances and changes.

Happy mailing, everyone!

Great stamps from China, with cat stamp

I received a wonderful thank-you letter from China recently, in response to US-3101799 that I sent on Postcrossing. The sender told me a truly beautiful pet story (in my Postcrossing profile, I ask for a beloved pet story if people are wondering what to write), which was heartwarming and sincere. He also sent me some great stickers from China, including some cute cat stickers like the one on the envlope -- and the postage stamps were a gift in and of themselves! Sometimes I get fairly boring stamps from China, but not this batch! Can you guess my favorite?



The cat!

Feline Postal Brigadier with a tiny letter

Behold Sebastian, essential member of the Feline Postal Brigade, with a teensy tiny letter. Photo by intrepid postal goddess, Donovan.

Are you on Flickr? You, too, can add photos of postal kitties to the Feline Postal Brigade group - please do! The world needs more postal kitties.

Soda, feline letter-writing taskmaster

Soda has been very helpful in my return to increased letter-writing this month.



Longtime blog readers know she loves to sit on my writing desk and "help" with mail.



Usually she gets up when I do - letter finished, time to drop it in the outgoing mail slot, etc - but lately she's been staying on the desk and giving me this look: "Are you really finished?" Nope. "Then get back here and write some more."

Okay.

More from the Feline Postal Brigade: Soda guards my postcards

I usually sit on the couch with my laptop when I register postcards - from Swap-bot, Postcrossing, etc.

Soda usually sits next to me and keeps my postcards warm.

If she's still on them when I get up, I let her keep them for a while... hence there are usually postcards on the couch.

See more excellent mail cats in the Feline Postal Brigade Flickr photo group... and please submit your own!

Yet another post featuring Soda on my writing desk

I can't resist. I know I'm biased, but she's so cute... and ever so helpful with my letter writing.



And hey, it's a snapshot of my desk in action, without being cleaned up all nice for a planned photo shoot.



Write the letter, or pet the belly? Tough decision. I usually have to do both.

Soda on my writing desk, AGAIN

Soda is on my writing desk a lot lately. She knows she will get an occasional pet there, and it seems my writing lamp is a low-grade heat lamp. She's so cute, and I'm so over-indulgent, that I take a lot of pictures of her there. And then share them incessantly with you.



But part of my motivation is that I really love photos of other people's writing spaces, especially when they're in action, and not just recently cleaned-up and pretty (although those are nice, too). I only got a dedicated writing desk late last summer, so it's still sort of new to me, and I really, really love it. At first I thought I would dislike the white lattice (a permanent fixture in our house) around it, but actually I love it. The cats can poke their faces through and say hi (there are stairs and a platform behind it, so the cats are eye-level with me if they meow through the lattice), and now I've discovered that it's a great place from which to hang things! I have a few cute little pen pal gifts hanging there, as well as an Edward Gorey calendar. There's more now than when this photo was taken a number of weeks ago, but as I glance up at my writing desk now, I realize that everything up there is something someone else has sent to me. Cool - I had a theme and I didn't even know it!

Soda says hi. If I wrote you a letter or postcard recently, she probably helped.

A welcome visit from the Feline Postal Brigade

Here's a photo of Soda, Feline Postal Brigade charter member, "helping" with a letter. She has learned how to get up on my letter-writing desk, and now it's a free-for-all in kitty correspondence.



I took these photos back in January, when Memo was still with us. I can't help but think that now, as I post them. We are taking so much comfort in our two remaining kitties, Soda and Magic, and I find myself wondering - are they really grieving for Memo as much as they seem to be (they are unquestionably confused by his absence), or are they just tuned into our grief, and staying close by to give and receive comfort?

In any case, Magic and Soda and I have been thick as thieves the past few days, and I am so grateful for their presence and feline love. Soda has been sitting all over my letters on my writing desk (yes, I have been writing a few), and she is more than welcome. She is purring on the arm of the chair I'm sitting in, as I type this, and nuzzling my hand.

More from the Feline Postal Brigade

Soda has recently discovered how to jump up on my writing desk, so I'll have more photos of her reprising her role as mail cat.



She is a proud member of the Feline Postal Brigade; here she greets Sebastian, another lettercat and Feline Postal Brigade charter member. He is the star of his own photo stamp here, too.



And yes indeed, she does have extra toes... The better to grasp my mail with...

Feline Postal Brigade

Yeah, yeah, more photos of the adorable Soda lolling about on my mail.



This time she's sleeping on the incoming, not the in-progress or the outgoing.



Yes, folks, being a mailcat is often exhausting business.

This week must be the week for getting around to doing those things I've been musing about, because I've just gone on a lark and started a Flickr group for photos of cats on mail. It's called the Feline Postal Brigade, and I invite all you cat-owning, Flickr-using letter-writers to post your mailcat photos there.