Dear friends!

I've been pretty MIA on RAoC and I have a feeling that this might continue for some more months - I'm a bit burned out and need a break. Still, you wonderful people have sent me a ton of mail and deserve a thank you! So here goes:

• u/introvert_hangover: Thanks for your card with the styilized leaves. It made me laugh - it had such an "blink twice if you're trapped in a fountain pen trap" air about it :) I'm impressed by the seriousness of your interest - I personally float from interest to interest like a butterfly on a much more regular basis :) I hope that your house projects are going well. Our flat here is now pretty well set up - we drove to the recycling center today to get rid of the remaining scraps of (cardboard) packaging from the move. Since today we even have our movie setup in place in the living room!
• u/hemng: Thanks for the awesome card from the Ganga Aarti ritual, so sweet of you! I'm happy to hear that the stamp arrived okay. I appreciate that you wrote back, very kind. Hugs back!
• u/LeeElla: Thanks for your sweet card! I visited Canada in the summer so it looked very different from the card :) I'm not great at riding bikes but I agree that it's a useful skill. I can relate to what you say about getting lost because I lose my direction very easily - I always rely on Google Maps and would be in trouble even in my own city if my phone broke. I hope that you're well and that you can do some more travels (e.g. to my city!)
• u/Anora214: Thanks for your sweet card (hugs back!!!) and the cool Longhorn story! Nooo I missed out on Hurricane Ridge because they only reopened the road on my last day, and I was too late (even though I arrived early-ish) because they put a low limit on # cars to let through that day and apparently everyone wanted to go. Such a bummer! Not sure I'll get the opportunity again anytime soon - had I stayed one more day, it would have been no problem. Oh well! P.S. I love how the US has so many space themed stamps, the JWST stamp is sooo cool! Wish I could get and use those more often. Postage in Germany is cheap but I only found out on this trip that it's also quite cheap in the US - I don't understand how all the Americans on this sub are complaining! Relative to GDP, the US postage must be among the cheapest in the world!
• u/libertyprogrammer x3: Thanks for your three cards (two of them with a park stamp/seal, nice!) from New River Gorge National Park. I didn't know about this place, it looks great! Good job on visiting so many US National Parks, what a fun list to tick off! Thanks also for telling me about your activities in the park. I sure did encounter several effects of the BC and Alberta wildfire when I visited - Tofino was cut off, and I didn't manage to make it to Hurrican Ridge either because it was closed after the historic hut burned down (I think that one was unrelated to the wildfires though, probably arson or something). Thanks again for thinking of me and sending so many cards from your travels! I'll try to do the same next time I go on a trip, although that one will only be an hour or so away from home.
• u/AppleCritter723 x4: Thanks for all your space/planet themed cards (including one for my gf - she is not much of a card writer but she appreciated it, says hi, and sends hugs!)! Sorry I'm a bit late responding, I've been super exhausted, working late hours and trying (unsuccessfully) to find a sufficiently appealing new job. If I don't find anything in the next two weeks then I'll probably give up for now. Such exciting news about your new fountain pen! Do you like the way it feels in the hand? The writing looked a little pale but I think that must have been due to the ink. I didn't quite understand the background story though, were you saying that you were hoping to pass the fountain pen on to W some day in many years? Haha I lol'ed about your messy journal compared to E's being neat and tidy - I had kind of imagined that about him! It sounds like you're just like me - messy, but not disorganized. Awwwww!! Your hedgehog stamp prints are the cutest!! Thank you for sharing that. And you even drew a little balloon on one - adorable!! Sadly, I haven't written to anyone in weeks and I'm not seeing the energy coming back yet so you may have to wait for a while to receive a card from me again. Maybe second half of August? I'm very exhausted and need to recover, I think. You and your loved ones are often on my mind! Sending big hugs 🤗🤗🤗