A Sentiment

God knew what He was doing when He sent a gentle breeze and brought a lovely butterfly to set my heart at ease. The happiness of your friendship and the gentleness of your words have touched my life in special ways and now I feel assured. Thank you for your loyalty and for reading everyday. I only hope you find things to make a happy day.

Friday, May 29, 2009

The Country Mailbox





In the town where I used to live, we picked our mail up at the post office. Every morning one of us would make the trip to town and pick up the mail. It was the meeting place for everyone. I met many people at the post office, when I first moved to town. The day the social security checks came in....many old people would come really early and just wait till they could hear the clerks putting the mail in the boxes. It was a country town and things came in the mail that I couldn't believe. A farmer friend went to the mail box one morning and picked up her baby chicks. Some people would send and pick up hatching eggs. My daughter once sent me a garlic rope from Texas. We didn't get to the post office until after the weekend. When I went to get my mail...they handed me a very smelly package and said, "Glad you came to pick up your mail...the whole place smells like this." My neighbor moved to Georgia and they were experiencing a drought. She joked that she wished she could have some Hampshire rainwater. So...you know what I did....I filled a container and put it in a box and sent it on to Georgia. She and her husband...in their late 80's got a real chuckle out of that. At holiday time I always included the post office workers when I did my baking. A plate of cookies went to town or banana bread. They loved this tradition. Some of my neighbors did the same. Eventually, we could have home delivery and it was never the same. I have moved to another town, and we have a rural box. I try to be friendly with everyone. When our mail man cut his arm on his route...he came here and got his arm bandaged. I look for him on very hot days and give him some pop to take with him. I wave to him and appreciate when he puts mail with a rubber band on my porch chair, if it's too much for the box. He brings packages to the porch and makes sure they are safely put aside. Always a wave or hello. I looked around our neighborhood and found that these boxes are a neglected place in most people's yards.

Do you decorate the area around your mailbox? Our neighbors have, pretty much, just left them alone. Ours sits in grass and needs to be trimmed every time we mow. We have a lot of foot traffic on our street...the two legged variety and the four legged. The furry ones always stop to check out our box. It must be so interesting to them LOL I want to have some flowers planted there, but I am not sure what to plant to be pretty ....even though the four legged ones will be doing the watering. I think that I will go out this morning and try to fancy up my roadside mailbox. The people driving by will have something nice to look at....hope they pay attention to the road though...our mailbox has been replaced 3 times in 6 years. Oh, well...such is life.
Balisha

5 comments:

The cottage by the Cranelake said...

Nice pictures and nice memories :-) The mailman out here on the countrie side is gold worth. They always drives to my house and puts my mail beside my door if it´s to big for the mailbox.

But our mailboxes are more like square boxes. In my village no one decorates or paints them, but I know places they do so.
Have a great weekend now!
Christer.

Lynn said...

We have had the same mail box since we moved here 30 years ago. It is one of the really big ones, from back when they made them to last and last and it has. It has been painted many times. There are lots of flowers around it, a big bed of flowers... Have a great weekend...

Balisha said...

Hi Christer and Lynn,
You have a great weekend too.

Hi Lynn,
I used to do decorative painting on mailboxes for people and myself. I just got my last on painted and some kids destroyed it with their car. Now we have one of those plastic ones that no one will damage...probably. Have a good weekend.

OhioMom said...

So have you decided what to plant around your box? I have seen some plain and some planted, can't wait to see what you decide to do.

Gram said...

I have had to go to the post office to a P.O. box to get my mail; to mailboxes at the end of our road - were our newspaper was delivered also; to a mailbox at the end of our driveway and sadly now to a mail pod. I always like decorating my mailbox and planting flowers around it, but now it is just a sterile metal cabinet.