From Ruth - (The train is still off the tracks)

It's 5:30 pm - on Wednesday - I am listening to the storm warning sirens -- going off for the second time - fingers crossed that we don't get nailed. Very unsettling. But, I did want to let CK in Garden City, NY know that her a.d.o.r.a.b.l.e. envelope arrived today. The letter was chock full of kindness and thankfulness for the inspiration she gets from the blog.  I figured if I took time to write this - in case my house blows away - at least CK will not wonder what happened to her letter.

Also - shout out to K-2 -- I got your last message on FF -- and hope I survive this storm, so that I can respond.

I need to feature your greeting cards on the blog. 

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My first holiday card of the season - from Ruth. Every year I am blown away with loveliness from all different directions. Thank you, Ruth, for a splendid kick-off to the holiday season. I did not get any cards done before T-day so I will be sending valentines.

Love it.

Love it.

Love it.

On Dec 7th, I am adding this warning. It relates to the topic of evaluating the quality of artwork.

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The WSJ had an article that was too complicated for me. It involved research on marketing products to caregivers. We don't really care about that part. The part that interests us is this observation about how people feel that any effort to make a card is better than just buying a card. 

<quote from article>

This was true even though people uninvolved in the experiment thought premade greeting cards had nicer designs; even they believed, though, that the homemade cards better expressed love.

The same pattern ran through several experiments—people felt better about themselves, and their caregiving, if they exerted more effort. 

<end of quote>

As I grumble about the poor quality (IMHO) of my work on envelopes - in the back of my mind, I know that people still appreciate that I spend time on trying to make something. I tend to feel objective when I make my observation. Maybe my observations are subjective. Maybe we should save our energy for some different discussions.

Good grief, Jean, get to the point. 

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Dec 14th -- one last opportunity to edit -- I deleted the last line because it didn't make sense. The point of relating the research was to show that even when people agree that the quality of something made by hand is less than a commercial product, there is some added value to the fact that someone took time to make something by hand.