The Postcard Project Chicago: UPDATE #3

The postcards are landing. I heard from Grace in Ireland that she and her family received my postcard, and she sent back this beautiful picture of the Killarney Lakes, the surrounding mountains, and the National Park. What an incredible view! And look at that sky!

I had a fascinating email conversation with Len from Norway. Here is an incredible photo of him skiing at Gaustablikk, Norway.

In his email, he mentioned that he and his wife have two ships cats named Florence and the Machine and MiniMe. Because I had never heard of a ships cat before and because I am the type of person who just has to know, I emailed him back about it. He said that a ships cat is a polydactyl cat, or cat that has extra toes, and that his have 7 on each front paw and 6 on each back paw. (You learn something every day!) He also sent me some pictures of his beautiful life in Norway: packrafting on Oslo Fjord with his wife, skiing, and enjoying Norwegian hut life. Wait--hut life?!!!

When I asked, What is hut life? (promising that I wouldn't ask him anything more), he graciously explained to me:

"As a Canadian, I can only give my version of Nordic hut life. But it is really, really different from the winter cottage experiences of Canada. First, Norwegians love winter. There is a reason they have the most gold medals in Winter Olympics for a country of 5 million people.

Our routine is to spend every weekend in the mountains at our hut. We:

• dig through the snow to get in the hut

• unload the car (Volvo or Land Rover Defender, of course…:))

• light the candles (it is very dark at 60 degrees north in winter)

• light a fire

• pour a whisky or my preference, Aquavit (Norwegian, of course)

• make dinner and enjoy the cozy, cuddly, warm environment inside while respecting the outside sounds of winter."

How romantic and gorgeous is that?! I am now OBSESSED!

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When starting this project, I thought, I'll send out these postcards. Hopefully it will bring a smile to people's faces. Maybe 10 percent of people will respond.

What I never could have predicted was how generous some people would be, allowing me a glimpse into their lives. Maybe it's because I reveal stuff about myself on my blog--I write about things I'm struggling with; I write about my son; I post pictures--that they feel they can be a little vulnerable, as well. Whatever the reason, it has been quite beautiful and touching to be able to connect with people who had previously just been strangers. Although we are separated by physical distance, the true distance between two individuals (especially in the age of the internet) is miniscule.

To let you know what's happening on the home front:

In the last week or so, hundreds of cicadas have started coming up from the ground after having been underground for 17 years. We have actually been hit with what they're calling a double brood. According to USA Today,

"A combined 17 states are hosting this year's cicada broods: the 13-year Brood XIX located mainly in the Southeast, and the 17-year Brood XIII in the Midwest. The two broods have not emerged at the same time since 1803, making 2024 a rare, double-brood year."

Lucky us! ;o)

I've taken some pictures so that you can see what it looks like outside our house. While there are some fully fledged adults on plants (see first image, below), most of the adults make their way up to the tree branches, living off tree sap, singing, and mating. What you see on the trunk of the tree outside my house and clinging to plant leaves are the shed exoskeletons, or molts, of the cicadas. They are the empty shells that the cicadas leave behind when they become adults.

When the cicadas first started appearing, it was kind of gross because the exoskeletons were everywhere. You literally couldn't take a step without crunching them beneath your shoes (yuck!). I am starting to see the lesson in this natural phenomenon, though. Throughout life, all of us continue to grow, and sometimes we outgrow the casings that we're in and need to break out to become something bigger and better. My son is definitely in that period of transition, where he's starting to push out of his childish exoskeleton, and I, too, feel that I'm going through a metamorphosis of sorts, moving from one phase of life into another. What I need to keep reminding myself is that this is a totally natural process, and that I should embrace it!

(To read a more scientific explanation of this phenomena, click here: https://www.prevention.com/life/a36462747/cicada-molt-exoskeleton/)

Wishing you all a beautiful day!