Doulton

I am planning to reduce my time with swap-bot. Mail is iffy all around. Resending can be costly. I have problems with international swaps and don't have the money to invest.

I prefer to establish a few penpal relationships. If you like to discuss books, music, aging; feminism; politics from a blue point of view, and nature and the environment-- send me a message . My printer has died so my letters will be 1-4 pages long handwritten.

Today. March 25, I got a swap from about 200 miles away in my own country. Postmarked in late February. Many of my swaps overseas have disappeared.

My Pledge to You I will read your profile and try to find something suitable to send you. I know that I am very old so may not have the same cultural knowledge as you do. I will pledge to rate you as soon as possible--I will make it a priority. I fail when your profile is skimpy.

I pledge to give you a heart if you fulfill the swap without adding extras. If you don't get a heart from me it's because you added glitter, little stickers, random pieces of paper.

** I pledge to rate you at the earliest possible moment"

I am neuro-divergent and it causes me great pain. Please send me a message if you are sending me something not swap-related. Please remind me if I neglect to respond.

NO EXTRAS PLEASE.

I understand that life is challenging for people of all ages, so I understand crises and obstacles. If you cannot send a swap on time, I "get it". A message would be nice, however. I will not give you a bad rating without making inquiries first.

My passions are cats, literature, music, travel, museums, and poetry. I like history and languages. I am remarkably illiterate about anything that happened after about 1985 or thereabouts.

I like to write letters and I read a lot. I am retired from a career as an literature and poetry teacher.
I would love to hear from anyone over 50 who might be interested in doing to Proust Questionnaire.

I probably commit most of the seven deadly sins on a daily basis. I don't think I can change at this point. But I argue daily with gluttony.

My home is absolutely smoke-free but I do have some furry cats. Please contact me if you are allergic to cat hair and let me know how I can send you a "safe swap".

My animals: I have two cats; I also have an adopted rat, Carolina, who works in Dar es Salaam. I have an adopted cat, Debra, who lives in Rome.

WHAT I WANT:
Only words, my friends. Only words. No little tuck-ins; no gifts, no matter how small. For me a successful day is when more leaves the house than enters it. And a prompt rating. I am very interested in other people. I like to read about what inspires and excites them and how they chose paths. I would call myself a feminist and a liberal, but I don't approach Swap Bot with any political agenda. I enjoy getting book and music recommendations.

I have absolutely no talents. I cannot send you cute home-made things or even awkward home-made things. Not everyone has the Martha Stewart gene. My postcards are dull. The Nine Muses passed me by when they were dispensing talents.

Other classifications (partially helpful but I am not totally sincere about the taxonomies they represent:

MBTI: Life-long INFP has become INTJ

Enneagram: 5 with a 4 wing

Astrology: I have my 12th house crammed. All my planets are in Virgo, Libra, and Scorpio. Scorpio moon rising

A: addle-pated; Arbus, Jane Austen, Fred Astaire, agnostic/atheist; anti-war; animal rights, agoraphobic, aging

B: Beethoven; Elizabeth Bishop; Bruckner; Beatles; Bogie and Bacall, Brenda Blethyn;

C: Cats, classical music, Maria Callas, Johnny Cash; Chekhov, cows; the phenomenon of "celebrity"' Charlie Chaplin; Carrie Coon; camp, cognitive struggles, Alan Cumming

D: Democrat, John Donne, Emily Dickinson, death

E: The Environment, England; equality, George Eliot, T.S. Eliot; eccentric; elderly, Eastern religions

F: fairness; Fine art; feminism; fountain pens, flâneur

G: Edward Gorey; Glenn Gould; gratitude; global politics;

H: History; Haiku; Alfred Hitchcock; Edward Hopper; hens, Handel's Messiah;

I: Italy; ink; Iceland; Issa, Introvert; ironic. INFP for many decades. Slowly turned to an INTJ.

J: JOMO (Joy of missing out), Jackie O!

K: John Keats; Klutz since birth

L: London; Mike Leigh, "Live and let live".

M: Minimalism (goal); Sherrill Milnes, Mahler; Motown; AA Milne; mental health struggles and I am always ready to believe I am wrong;

N: Nature and its travails; Neuro-divergent (sometimes my brain does odd things); nostalgia, Nemo's Almanac

O: Opera; opinionated; open to change but I fear I am fully baked by now; Flannery O'Connor

P: Puccini; The Pre-Raphaelite Movement; power dynamic; pasta; Patti LuPone; psychology, pen pals, pixallated

Q: Quirky

R: Rossini; "recycle, upcycle, reuse";

S: Shakespeare; Swedish Death Cleaning, Schubert; Stephen Sondheim; Scandinavia; satire; Wallace Stevens; Nina Simone, Survivor

T: Greta Thunberg; Trollope; travel; Anne Tyler; JMW Turner; Elizabeth Taylor, Thanatology, "The Traitors"

U: Understanding others and their disparate points of view

V: Verdi

W: Willing to listen to other points of view; Amy Winehouse, Elizabeth Warren, Edith Wharton, Shelley Winters

X: Y: Z:

I do not like "alternative facts". I don't like narcissists or greedy people. I am "small-talk adverse".

I fear authoritarian governments and kleptocracy, oligarchy, and theocracy.

I really dislike the smell of smoke and am very sensitive to it. I have a fear of clowns! I don't do "cute". I don't do "New Age".
I really don't like waste and am trying to remove all plastics and other unnatural things from my environment

Otherwise, I'm fairly easy to please.

In books, I don't like Sci-Fi, "romances," "westerns," or anything Harry Potter or Twilight. The supernatural and the paranormal make me yawn! I like literary fiction; a good mystery; fascinating non-fiction, biography and memoir.

Just "Keeping it real" as RuPaul might say. If we are in a swap no need to make it extra.

I am doing my "Swedish Death Cleaning" I also do not need note cards nor postcards. Help me reach my goal of finding a good home for my sundry scraps and such. I do not send out what I consider to be "junk" although your mileage may vary.

WHAT TO SEND ME?

Only what the swap calls for. I treasure words. They need not be lengthy. There's nothing like a perfect haiku (only 17 syllables more or less).

NO EXTRAS PLEASE