I get very few pieces of relevant, old-fashioned mail these days. With one repeated exception this time of year—“free” calendars arrive almost daily. Free because at one time I sent in a donation. Or the sponsoring organization purchased my name from a mailing list.
The most recent calendar came from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. It followed calendars from the World Jewish Congress, the Audubon Society, the National Wildlife Federation, The Nature Conservancy, the Wildlife Federation of America, the World Wildlife Fund and U.S. Conservative Judaism.
Why 2027 calendars show up six months in advance is a puzzlement, unless the sectarian organizations sending them hope to get their share of monies that would be sent to Jewish organizations that distribute calendars in the summer before the Jewish New Year begins in September. (Calendars from Jewish organizations mostly run September through August.)
All the calendars are constructed with monthly heartstring-pulling pictures chosen to elicit a contribution. The WWF, for example, has adorable pictures of a young panda, a baby emperor penguin and a mother rhinoceros feeding its calf. Each month of the Holocaust museum calendar shows “tiny objects” of child victims and survivors. Give once and you’re locked into annual calendars for as long as their mailing list computer retains memory.
Last summer charities started to up their game. Along with the standard, full size 8-1/4” by 10-1/2” hanging calendar, a 6” by 8-7/8” booklet calendar arrived in the packet.
Calendars are not the only freebie showing up in my outdoor mailbox. I’m getting personalized return address labels, far more than I could possibly use over an entire year. Organizations like Sierra Club, The New York Public Library, the Environmental Defense Fund, United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, the National Park Foundation and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee have my address on insta-print.
Though my iPhone has a clock and calendar, I’m old fashioned enough to have actual clocks ticking away in all rooms of our house (including bathrooms) and paper calendars hanging in our home office and mud room. I keep a pocket multi-year calendar on my night table.
Gilda does not share my association with old-time technologies. That’s why all these solicitations are sent to me, not her, except for the ones from right wing and Christian organizations. Somehow she got on their mailing lists.
Tick Mystery Solved: In my last blog I wondered why a picture of a tick showed up on an unrelated New York Times article about JD Vance’s book “Communion.”
Turns out, The Times had published a story (“We Don’t Have to Sit Back and Let the Ticks Win”) a few pages earlier in the July 12 Opinion section which I only just got around to reading. To illustrate the article the creative staff liberally planted ticks on the printed page of the article, dropping one or more on several other pages of the section, including the one on “Communion.”
I can’t say this graphic treatment was groundbreaking. During a visit to Miami years ago I recall seeing a magazine article on the preponderance of large, black palmetto bugs infesting homes. The art director delighted in placing multiple palmettos across the entire magazine section. That was really creepy and truly realistic.
How to Live Better and Longer: Gilda laughed at me, my kids rolled their eyes, when several years ago I compiled a list of illnesses my parents endured and perhaps genetically passed down to me and by extension to my offspring.
But there it was, number 8 in The New York Times suggestion for a better and longer life:
“8. Make a list of your parents’ chronic health conditions.
“While lifestyle affects people’s risk for age-related diseases, genetics also play a role. Dr. (Elena) Volpi (director of the Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies at UT Health San Antonio) advised finding out which diseases run in your family, and then talking to your doctor about how best to manage your risk over time. Ask which signs or symptoms you should watch out for, and what you can do about them” (https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/28/well/longevity-expert-tips-middle-age.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share).
See, I’m not so crazy after all.
