AReedM

I have always loved writing and receiving letters and postcards so the loss of this custom in recent decades has saddened me. I also have an endless curiosity about culture, geography, and humanity across the world, so postcrossings is appealing.

I live in the state of Vermont, in the region of New England, in the U.S.A., which is one of the most beautiful (and nicest) states of the union both in natural and pastoral senses. 40 years ago Vermont law made commercial billboards illegal which has rendered the landscape--along with a large percentage of 19th century buildings and homes remaining, many small villages, low population, and lack of urban- and suburbanization--aesthetically pleasing and tranquil in a way lacking in most of the rest of the country. I have lived many places in the huge U.S. (far west, east, north, south, and in the middle), and Vermont is my favorite.

The exiled Russian writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn lived in Vermont for many years in the 1970s and 1980s. I love Russian literature of the past three centuries, and much English, American, as well, and contemporary literature from many countries.

Since childhood and continuing to the present, I have loved gardens and gardening, reading, handcrafts and artifacts (early pioneer log cabins, 18th century Russian Orthodox churches, fossilized walrus tusk carvings and sealskin coats and boots made by Native Americans, Timber-frame homes and stone cottages); human creations of skill and beauty, but also the stories behind them, the lives they represent. I am fascinated by Otzi, the "Iceman," whose 5,000 year-old fossilized body was discovered under a melting glacier in the Italian Alps in the 1990; I wonder about who he was, his life story, what he felt, why he was pursued and killed in that way.

I have practiced yoga for many decades and I believe it has helped keep me as healthy as possible (along with gardening) and kept me curious to live and learn more even in troubled times like the present. I used to love to ski, both downhill and cross-country.

My favorite scent in the springtime is lily-of-the-valley, lavender in the summer, highbush cranberry in the fall, and wood fire smoke in the winter. I enjoy making wood fires in my wood-burning stove, starting with kindling that I have gathered all summer. Spring is my favorite season, though I enjoy summer and fall, and I love the look of cold winter days with lots of snow.

Some of my favorite songs are "The Sisters of Mercy" (Leonard Cohen), "I'm so lonesome I could cry" (Hank Williams), "The Lark Ascending" (Ralph Vaughan Williams). I like chamber music, string quartets, folk ballads, "Summertime" sung by Janis Joplin, Ella Fitzgerald singing anything, including "Stormy Weather."

I first tasted Dutch unsalted butter and French baguette when I was 16 and have sought out such good food and cook it myself ever since, and like to watch good cooks on t.v., try new recipes and ingredient