Saturday 3-14-2026

St. Patrick’s Day mailbox decoration

As the holidays come and go, I feel a bit nostalgic about our mailbox decorations. We changed these out twice a month – quite a laborious process. We made a hanging rack that hung near the ceiling in our shop and the decorations had hooks so that regardless of the size of the decoration, it would hang pretty neatly next to the ones on either side so we wouldn’t get clobbered trying to walk under the rack and they could hang without bashing into one another.

We would get out our tall ladder and my husband would climb up and fight to get the decoration off its hook without falling or dropping the decoration. We would have ‘discussions’ every time. I was right there ready to steady him or take the decoration, but he stubbornly wanted to do it himself.

We would put the decoration in the back of the truck and drive down our long STEEP driveway (over 650 feet) down to the road. We always carried the two wrenches needed to get the old decoration off the mailbox and attach the new one. It took two of us, one holding and the other using the wrench to loosen and then tighten nuts and bolts. This was such a fun time in our lives and I miss it now – although I’m not sorry to leave the steep driveway behind.

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We visited Harvey at the nursing home this morning. We weren’t sure which days we’ll visit next week, so I went ahead and brought the two St. Patrick’s Day cards I painted – one for the manager of the nursing home and the other for Harvey’s full time nurse, plus the new addition to Harvey’s ‘Happy Wall’ to put up.

Khun A. Porn, the manager, was delighted with her card. I explained that the shamrock was supposed to bring good luck. She said she actually has a shamrock tattoo! As we were leaving, she thanked me again and gave me a big hug. It was Peem’s (Harvey’s full time nurse) day off, so I left her card propped up on a table.

This is Harvey’s “Happy Wall” in his room at the nursing home. We got the go-ahead at his birthday to put pictures up, so now I’m trying to leave him reminders that he is loved when we can’t be there to tell him ourselves.

Today’s visit was good and bad, as usual. He recognized us today, said, “Hi, Babe” when we came in. He liked the picture I made for his wall and he liked my earrings. Not so good was he still thinks things have disappeared – been lost or stolen – when they haven’t. He also insists there is a shelf on the wall behind his bed on which several things have been placed. Today Brian took a picture of him and the wall behind him, but he wasn’t deterred. He also told me that he ‘talked Peem (his nurse) into sleeping with him last night.’ (Who could resist an 82 year old man, bedridden, frail, with a nasal feeding tube who makes very little sense?) I congratulated him and we talked of other things…

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Freepik

I had a great time sketching at the cafe yesterday. I got my favorite spot (hooraaaaay!) and sat there comfortably sketching while drinking an iced mocha, watching people come in and leave the cafe, and goggled at the insane traffic outside the window.

I’m looking forward to starting to paint at least one of the sketches this afternoon.

“Flowers and colours everywhere, I am so glad that March is here.”
― Anamika Mishra