Peg Kerr's Journal

See what I received in the mail yesterday!

(For those not familiar with this custom between kijjohnson and me, read the entries tagged "Friendship Ball.")

Usually, we just send things back and forth in the ball itself, but knowing that I've been feeling kinda low lately, Kij included other little gifties in the box itself, turning my surprise package into a lovely early Easter basket.

Friendship Ball April 2007 Kij sent me a mini Easter basket when she sent back the Friendship ball! In the foreground, a silly refrigerator magnet (is your best friend a psycho?) Second row, a chocolate bunny, jelly beans, "bunny candy corn" and a tissue paper flower. In the back, three wee pamphlet/books, one called "These Blooming Herbs: A Book of Aromatic Gossip" and one called "On Gardens and Gardening" and one a handmade book that Kij has filled with affirmations.

The Friendship Ball, opened Opened, the Friendship ball reveals a wee lamb and two Pascal coins.

(Do I not have a cool best friend or what?)

Edited to add: Since people have asked: I got our friendship ball at a gift shop which has since gone out of business, but you can find them easily on the Internet. Here's one, and here's another. This second one looks like the one Kij and I have. Here's a heart-shaped one. Here's another, and another.

I just got the friendship ball back from kijjohnson, with a gift that made me laugh: a little guest towel folded up inside that reads: "You'll always be my best friend. You know too much."

Have I explained already about the friendship ball? This was one of the most scathingly brilliant gifts I ever hit upon. I gave it to Kij several years ago, for her birthday, I think, and we've been trading it back and forth ever since. It's a little silver-plated metal ball, round and three inches in diameter, with a hinge on it so that you can open it. Any small hinged container will do, like a little box. You put a small gift into it, and send it to your friend, and she puts a gift into it that she's found and sends it back, and you just keep trading it back and forth. The ball is so small that you can put tiny things into it that are inexpensive. The fun of it is finding the tiny perfect things to send. It's a terrific way to maintain a long distance friendship, and it's a lot of fun. I have sent Kij, among other things, a coyote shaped pin, glass beads shaped like monkey heads, a tiny cardboard pot sown with strawberry seeds. She has sent me little magnets with photographs that are stuck to the metal shelves in my office, a gorgeous silk scarf, and antique ribbons to sew on my ribbon coat.

Fiona has started exchanging letters with a little girl she met in daycare when she was two. They've been apart for years, but have always kept in touch. I'm going to suggest that we find a little hinged box, and they can start it as a friendship box.

Edited to add: See my later entry here, which includes pictures and ordering information if you'd like to get your own friendship ball.