Mail artists and letter-writers are a generous lot, and I have sent and received many fine gifts to and from pen pals. I appreciate the spirit of giving in serendipity - not for birthdays, not for Christmas or some other gift-required occasion, but "just because."
My cats are particularly close to my heart, and this hand-carved rubber stamp from the amazing Carroll just arrived out of the blue. She titles it, perfectly, "Memo Guards The Mail." And yes, folks, she hand-carved it herself! I have oft admired her handiwork (more of the fine mail she's sent me here), and prodded her to sell her stamps, but she is a creator for joy and not for cash. I was positively verklempt when I opened this, and it came in this amazing box. (I don't know how to embed these photo files, so please do follow the links - they're worth seeing!)
Carroll's own photo of the back and impression of this stamp is here...
...and she referenced this photo of him as one of the inspirations.
Ain't it the spitting image??
Slight tangent and Memo update:
I was so verklempt when I unwrapped this that I actually teared up and wept a bit, and that is because Memo is not in the best of health these days. When the stamp arrived, we thought he was descending further into kidney failure. (No joke, he's had "six months to live" for the past 4 years.) The day before we went away on our many-days holiday whirlwind trip, he was convulsing and we took him to a very expensive Sunday morning emergency vet appointment, bracing ourselves for the worst and prepared to put him down. However, it wasn't kidney failure, it was a combination of (unrelated?) a bladder infection and feline diabetes. Because he needed constant monitoring, we had to board him at the vet while we were away ($$$$!!!). He is back home now, and I'm becoming a pro at giving my fat cat twice-daily injections of human insulin. Surreal. But he's doing much better now, and no longer seems to be at death's door.
But what an amazing gift Carroll has given me, Memo forever embodied in a stamp. I am absolutely touched beyond words, and stamping Memo all over everything. He is gracing quite a lot of my outgoing mail these days - you might see Memo guarding mail on a future letter to you!
