Summertime is for Postcards

The first postcard of the summer:

It makes me really happy that Sarah T would go to tour an old 19th century operating theater in London, think of me, remember how much I love receiving postcards, and send me one showcasing said operating theater as a surprise.

Is that a sneaky Roscoe photo bomb?

Gothic operating theater hidden in a church tower. Sarah T knows me all too well. Remember that, when I linked to her travel blog, I expressly mentioned how much I enjoyed her post on that operating theater tour! You've already received an email, but, again, thank you, Sarah T.

I love, love, love postcards. I think they're a terrific medium of communication, especially for summertime travels. They're short and sweet and wonderful. A couple of years ago, after moving back to California from NYC, I started carrying around a roll of postcard stamps in my purse. Since then, if I'm out and about, and find a postcard that reminds me of someone I know and love, I can jot down a couple of lines and send it off on any old moment's whim.

Must remember to feed the citrus trees.

I started collecting Santa Cruz/Central Coast postcards a couple of weeks ago for a little postcard/diary/writing project collaboration I'm doing with my super friend Emily C.* She left Santa Cruz for Europe about a month ago and won't be back until September. I'm missing her tons, not only because she's my closest friend in town but because she's also been my most immediate sounding board for books I'm reading, research I'm doing, DEEP THOUGHTS I'm having, etc. This is a nice way to keep a log of the things we're reading/thinking/writing that we want to bookmark for discussion when she gets back into town at the end of the summer. It's kind of like having a phantom dialogue. Spooky and I like it.

BOOM, is that a SodaStream next to my decorative bat house? Yes, I have a decorative bat house.

I got Sarah T's postcard in the mail before leaving the house to run errands with Jason in town. I must have had her subconsciously on the brain when we arrived at Costco and I spied a mondo stack of pleasantly marked-down SodaStream soda makers and lost my miiiind. I shrieked "Sarah T and DB have one! Sarah T and DB have one!"** and started pawing at a box. Jason asked me if I wanted one for my birthday (which is still two months away), and I said "no, no, no, no...", and then he took the box and put it in our cart, and I said something to the effect of "we can just keep it in the cart and wait until we're in line to pay to decide..."***, and next thing we know I've completely rationalized buying the soda maker. For my birthday. In two months.

We immediately set it up upon returning home and indulged in some home-made Dr. Pepper rip-off and it was diviiiiine. I'm going to use it all the time to make lemon juice soda water and it's going to be even betterrrrr.


Summer: postcards, soda water, and gazpacho. Expect a post on magical basil gazpacho soon. Tomorrow?

***


* Check out Emily's fantastic website, If She Draws a Door, here.
** They use their soda maker to carbonate water for dinner, and I'm so impressed every time I stay with them and we have home-made soda water with our meals. Or have soda water by itself. Who needs an excuse for drinking fizzy water?
*** I do this often in places like Costco or Target. It actually works surprisingly well to counteract impulse shopping (except for this time).