ankabake

Hello! 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.

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. Happy to be building up my craft stash again after many years. An amateur when it comes to drawing, but getting back into doodling (Zentangle style). I am drawn to paper crafts. I inherited a needlework stash from my grandma and great aunt (crochet, embroidery, cross stitch, rag rugs) which I have been meaning to learn.

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.

Swap topics I search for may give you a glimpse into my interests. If you know of a swap you think I may like, feel free to message me!

In no particular order:

• Moon
• pressed flowers or leaves
• coffee
• linocut/printmaking
• mantra or affirmations
• yoga, mudras, meditation
• tarot
• houseplants
• seeds
• mushrooms, moss, fungi
• rural life
• podcasts
• embroidery
• ephemera
• wind chimes
• bookmarks
• rocks
• fossils
• marbles
• book recommendations
• playlists (Spotify user)
• printed photos
• collage
• nature
• autumn/fall season
• sun catchers
• sun dials
• labyrinths
• birds
• Boston Terriers
• poetry
• rituals, traditions
• tattoos
• song lyrics, movie lines, book lines
• fairy tales, folklore
• origami
• board games
• tea swaps: I love mints and herbal tea, nettles, dandelion. Anything crisp and refreshing that would make an excellent iced tea! I am not a fan of anything overly floral (like rose or hibiscus). Decaf please.

Surprise book of 2024 so far ... Stoner by John Williams.

I love StoryGraph for tracking my reads. 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, Inherent Vice and Dune.

I especially love live music. The last several shows I went to were AJ Lee and Blues Summit, Jeffrey Martin, Pokey LaFarge, Adam Greuel and the Space Burritos, Lyxe... Amazing! I enjoy outdoor and/or intimate, smaller venues.

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.

Does anyone else miss thesixtyone?

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.

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 swap 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.