3BT: last day of school, snail mail, fellowship with friends

http://correspondencequarter.blogspot.com/2011/04/3bt-last-day-snail-mail-fellowship-with.html

Thursday, April 28

1.      Today I taught my dozen+ college students for the very last time. Next semester I’ll have a new set of students—for two completely different courses (two or three may return). I have enjoyed getting to know these young women and men this past year; this has been one of those semesters in which I possibly learned (even) more than my students did. Today was bittersweet: I know I won’t see some of these precious people again, since they’ll move on with their lives (some to other countries), and I’ll remain here. Ah, the transience of the teaching life.

2.      Snail mail! More on that in my Monday Mail post.

3.      Tonight our sweet Women in Ministry (WIM) group of gals met for fellowship (and food), also for the last time this semester. I took photos … and will post them here soon-ish.

Winning streak!

Remember I wrote about winning some pretty tulip notecards in a random blog draw in March? {Thanks, Carla P at 365 Letters: http://365lettersblog.blogspot.com/}

See http://elainemaryphillips.blogspot.com/2011/03/im-winner.html

and http://elainemaryphillips.blogspot.com/2011/04/tulips-from-texas.html 

Then I entered another little contest, since I was having such fun getting to know other letter writers, and Angelia from A Year of Letters: http://ayearofletters.wordpress.com/  chose me as her winner, too:

http://elainemaryphillips.blogspot.com/2011/04/if-i-were-mail-carrier.html

Last week I commented on a pen pal’s blog (read the full story below):

http://thepeartree.ca/2011/04/giveaway-french-butter-dish/

The Pear Tree’s lovely Lori-Anne Poirier writes:

http://thepeartree.ca/2011/04/giveaway-french-butter-dish/

An admirable blend of quirky and clever, the French butter dish is a tall bowl with a cylindrical lid. The butter is packed into the lid, while a few centimetres of water sits on the bottom of the bowl. It’s a natural way to keep your butter fresh without refrigerating, which keeps it soft and spreadable. ... 

... Recently, a secret source (okay, it was my mum) unearthed a stash of these dishes at a shop, and picked up three of them for me. I am a butter fan (and, ahem, a bit clumsy, it’s true), but that’s more than enough for the Pear Tree House. So I’m going to share one butter dish with an interested reader! ... Just leave a comment below, telling me what you like real butter on, and I’ll randomly pick a name on Friday at noon PST. 

And then, today, most unexpectedly, I found out that I had won the butter dish:

Giveaway Winner Announced!

The randomly-drawn winner of the French butter dish was Elaine M. Phillips! Congratulations! We will be in touch with you shortly to arrange getting your butter dish to you. For everyone else, watch for more fun giveaways down the road. {Thanks, Lori-Anne at http://thepeartree.ca/.}

RP says it’s time I bought a lottery ticket. J