2024 Postcrossing wrapup

 The final tabulation of my Postcrossing activity in 2024 is in, and it was a productive year.  In total, I sent 896 cards this year and received 915 cards.  This was enough to maintain my ranking as the 27th most active Postcrossing member among the 75,599 registered Postcrossing members in the USA.  I remain the #1 leading Postcrosser in Alabama.  To no surprise, Germany is the most active of all countries, receiving 27.9% of all cards I sent this year.  At the other end of the scale, there were many countries to which I sent a single card, including Moldova, Cyprus, and the United Arab Emirates.  I've been a Postcrossing member for over twelve years, and the fun hasn't faded yet.  Write on!

New year, new book

 Just as the year 2025 begins, I have begun to read a new book.  It is a Victorian novel by one of my favorite authors, Anthony Trollope.  The Vicar of Bullhampton is a stand-alone novel, not part of one of Trollope's novel series, like the Chronicles of Barestshire, or the Palliser series.  I chose this book since it will be the topic of discussion at an online bookclub organized by The Trollope Society.  The first 14 chapters are due to be covered in the first meeting on Monday, January 6, 2025.  So far, I've made it through eight chapters and found the book to have a faster start than some of Trollope's novels.  Several main characters have already been introduced, and there's been a minor scuffle between two of them.  Tension, conflict, and a budding love affair, all in the first 52 pages!  This novel was published in 1870, by which time the prolific Trollope was a well-established author.  I've read over a dozen of his other works and look forward to completing this one.