ankabake

Hiya, new here, friend recommended I join you all for the fun. Thanks to all those who allow newbies in your swaps, and those who take time to send kind messages to newbies, politely correcting us and sharing suggestions and tips for being successful on this site. I appreciate you assuming the best first.

I'm Annie from Kansas. I love the tallgrass prairie and gardening with native perennial grasses and wildflowers. You can find me spending evenings on my front porch swing watching the sunset. I live in a nearly 100-year-old farm house. My backyard looks out onto a cow pasture and beyond my front yard is a wheat field. I once drove 3 hours to help dig up and rehome a 30+ year old prickly pear cactus from another gardener.

Please note I live in the country and will mark "sent" after I put your note in the mail. However, that may not mean your note will get postmarked the same day. (Example, it recently took 12 days for a regular envelope to go from my home in Kansas to a friend in Wisconsin.)

If for any reason you are ever unhappy with a note from me or mail transit time, please reach out before rating. I will do what I can to make it up to you.

I will always rate as soon as I receive your note. If I have not rated you, I have not received your note. Message me to check in. Cheers.

I do love snail mail and enjoy exchanging letters with friends. I have a handful of great friendships with seniors, and they like to write! I like to be creative. Definitely an amateur when it comes to crafting though.

Swap topics I searched for may give you a glimpse into my interests (in no particular order):

• Moon
• pressed flowers or leaves
• coffee
• linocut/printmaking
• mantra or affirmations
• tarot
• houseplants
• seeds
• fungi
• rural life
• podcasts
• embroidery
• ephemera
• wind chimes
• bookmarks
• rocks
• fossils
• marbles
• book recommendations
• Spotify playlists
• printed photos
• collage
• nature
• sun catchers
• sun dials
• labyrinths
• birds
• Boston Terriers
• poetry
• rituals/traditions
• fairy tales
• origami.

Swap formats I would love to participate in:

• Collaborative/traveling (journals, craft, notes, etc.)
• swaps to exchange favorite things
• swaps to exchange junk drawer/geocache type misc. cool items
• notecard, postcard and stationary swaps that aren't written on.

I love StoryGraph. Here is a link to my 2023 read list cover graphic from the app.

I wouldn't really recommend much of what I read last year. Big yes, however, to both reads by Polish writer Olga Tokarczuk: Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead and Flights. My 5 star recommendation from 2023: Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy.

I'm waiting patiently for the return of Severance, which 100% parallels Haruki Murakami's Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. The last movies I really liked were The Great Beauty and Inherent Vice.

I especially love live music. The last show I went to was AJ Lee and Blues Summit. Amazing! Does anyone else miss thesixtyone?

I have an opportunity to accept an impeccable collection of Americana, folk, roots, and bluegrass (in the form of 3,000 CDs) from an aging friend. Should I do it??

Here is a link to my Shazam tracks.

Lately, I've been listening to the following on Spotify:

• Pretty Sad Songs, playlist by Vertigo Vinyl
• Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah radio
• Teenage Dirtbag Radio, playlist by Jacob Feder
• Road Trip 90s/00s, playlist by Mons
• Art Room Mix 2023, playlist by Joseph Bertsch.