Feb from Kate --- Periodic table

 

Kate's tiny printing is always spot-on. I thought the border might be a sticker - but it is hand drawn and carefully painted in - and sparkles. My short name and address fits nicely into this cartouche. Maybe Kate will tell us what she does with longer names and addresses. I guess it would be a rectangle - which should work fine. I like the layout and how the stamp still got canceled - but not obliterated.

I am also showing the flip side of the envelope. It shows that the envelope was slightly mangled by the machinery. You can almost feel the amount of pressure that was applied. I get some pretty mangled envelopes. Washi tape is so pretty - but it is not *machine friendly* at all. So -- you might want to reconsider washi tape on your envelopes. There is no washi tape on this one - I'm just mentioning it for the people who use washi tape.

***

Today we are going to talk about the fondness we have for the first letter of our first name. Or - perhaps you have a problem with your first initial. Either way, I'd like to hear about it if you have a good story or painful lament.

I have had almost 70 years of struggling with my J. My dear departed mom told me that on the day I demanded that she teach me how to write my name, I was in tears because I could not make a J. I could guide the pencil from the top down towards the bottom, but I couldn't curve to the left - my little hand just kept jerking to the right and I would make an L. And then I would burst into tears. It was quite a scene.

Eventually - I figured it out - and then came the horrors of cursive. Too much to go into today. Instead we are going to have a bonding session with my fellow J people, Janet, JeanR, Jessica - am I forgetting anyone? Did you know that we are the only people who do not have our letter on the periodic table?

I did not know that until Feb 7 when there was a daily quiz asking which letter is not on the table - J. I had guessed Q - and while Q is currently there - it is going to be leaving.

Quote from the article:

J. Yes, there is a Q in the abbreviation for the element Ununquadium (“Uuq”). But that is a temporary name, and once this element gets an official name, Q will disappear from the periodic table and be as elusive as J.

As luck would have it, my mom saved the first piece of paper that caused all the tears. As I recall, there were some additional episodes before I figured it out. In fairness to me, the J is the only letter that starts with a stem and then goes to the left - plus it is the newest letter - and whoever thought we needed that letter was mistaken. All the J sounds should have been assigned to G - and the guttural G sound as in *gut, guppy, gun, ugly* should have had a new symbol.