Good Mail Day

I love the changing seasons - each one brings it's own beauty. Right now autumn is colouring the trees in bright orange, yellow and red hues. 

Another sure sign of fall, we've started digging potatoes. If the weather stays nice, it takes about three weeks to harvest them all. We have about 500 acres.

As the days turn cooler and the evenings longer, I think about getting more writing done. Right now I'm working on an article in support of organ donations. You're probably wondering what prompted that; I had a corneal transplant over the summer which opened my eyes to this topic, including the loooong wait lists. Stay tuned, the article will be posted here hopefully in the not so distant future.

Speaking of writing, today I got email from Latvia. I don't know anybody there. But it's always fun to get email from people in faraway places, who are interested in the Hutterite way of life. Today was no exception. She wrote me through the Contact Me form right here on my blog. It's obvious she's still learning the English language. And I was impressed that she only started learning it at age 47! Should I ever be this ambitious, I'd probably learn Spanish. I fell in love with that language at an in-service a few years back. A teacher demonstrated a new language learning program and the attendees got an intro Spanish lesson, and were able to speak a few phrases after an hour. But, I'm straying from my topic...  

You probably know where Latvia is. I wasn't sure, so ended up getting a quick geography lesson via Google. Latvia is in Northern Europe and is part of the three Baltic States, all part of the European Union. The other two Baltic States are Lithuania and Estonia. It seems to me the only time I hear anything about these countries is during the Olympics. 


First she asked if I know anything about the Herrnhutians, who apparently originated in Moravia. The Hutterites have roots there as well. This Latvian lady seems to think the Herrnhutians are similar to the Hutterites in other ways as well, because they, "desire pure and honest living and working. They didn't live communally, but goods were shared, if needed, nobody had been left hungry."  

I've never heard of the Herrnhutians, and a few Google clicks didn't bring me any closer to learning more. Do you know anything about these people? I'd love to know more about them.

Then this lady from Latvia surprised me by saying she has my book. As much as I'd like to say, Hutterite Diaries has been translated into other languages, including Latvian, I can't.
I thought it's rather sweet, though, how she got my book. Her son gave her an Amazon gift card for her birthday. And of all the books on Amazon, she chose mine! It makes me want to meet these people.

Yes, today was Good Mail Day.