Par Avion: Do You Remember?

Image by McFortner via Flickr

Do you ever stop and think how amazing it is that we can communicate across the globe like this?  I'm 51 so I remember when a letter to Europe took weeks and  it was extra for Airmail, or Par Avion like the envelopes said in that particular blue.

And, why did they only say it in French and English if the envelope came from North America? Did we only send mail to France?  Did we buy all our envelopes in Quebec? Did we think French was the only other language spoken or that everyone else but the French would just see the little plane? 

I was a language major in high school, had relatives in Europe, and spent the summer I was 14 in Spain  so I had cause to make a rare call and send and receive mail to and from Europe and once in a great while even to a friend who moved to Asia to teach. A daytime call to Europe was a ridiculous expense. But we also only made long distance calls after  five in the evening if it was important and after eleven for any other reason because the rates were lower.

As late as the mid 80s it was thought that video communication would never be commonplace. That the best we could hope for were something like faxed still shots.

In the early 1990s we had a great trip to Italy to meet my cousins there. I remember crying as we left because I thought of my maternal Grandfather who had emigrated to the US in the early 20th century. He had only returned to Italy once in 1968.  My mother went with him. Since then my family has gone back and forth many times. If it weren't for the hassle of flying and house sitter arrangements it would be a walk in the park to go back and forth. The world has changed so much. 

Lest I sound like my own grandmother, let me say that my husband is part of the technological revolution that makes this communication possible.  It isn't only what I remember, it's looking back just a century or two when it took three months to cross the Continental US and information only moved as fast as a ship or a horse.

Amazing.

A Reader's Life, A Blogger's Life

My nose is not that large!  Image via Wikipedia

What's it like to be a blogger, part of the Internet Media? It's such a great job; money for nothing, right?  Well it's more like nothing (except that I like it and meet great people like you) for money.  That's right, while I do my blogging as a  business I haven't made any money and spend quite a bit.

Maybe, eventually, I will make money.  It would be nice to be successful in that way as well as the ways in which I am a successful blogger.  Refusing to limit myself to a non-"adult" group of topics limits which advertisers will pick me up.  Even some companies that sell hot lingerie!  I feel my value as an adult is that I can share adult issues with other adult.  I am not selling porn but that word, "adult" apparently equals "porn." So, how does  my day go?

Six to Eight AM I wake up, reach into the bag next to the bed and pull out my computer or I-pad and start to check email and tweets.  Usually I have a bit of networking to accomplish.  sometime in the morning I usually do some laundry, get dressed and run down to the closest cuty, Portland, for Pilates or Cardiovascular exercise.  Then get my errands at the store, pharmacy and post office done. I sometimes get to shop or socialize. Then I get home and I read and network.  I try to read a book every day for Fangs, Wands and Fairy Dust.  I "talk" with authors and publishers at this time.  Also, in the afternoon I do laundry and get dinner going.   And I read, read and read.  Usually I finish my book between nine and ten at night and right a review.  Then I am looking at news about TV, books and movies, I try to figure out what to write about here on Winged Effigy, and figure out how to get information you may not have time to compile.  I was joking with another blogger that I type my fingers to the bone and sometimes it feels that way!  But, I know that I am very fortunate to have the chance to find what I love to do and have the chance to do it. 

I get maybe half of what I read through publishers and contests.  The rest I buy.  The best thing is that I finally have a great excuse for reading all day. 

Thank you all for making my day worth it!!!!

What's your day like???