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Newsletter

Welcome

I love to connect with my readers, and in my monthly newsletter, I share my thoughts, updates about events, a discussion of what I've been reading, stories from life in Connecticut, and much more. Feel free to browse my past newsletters and stop by at the beginning of each month to read my latest note to you.

Latest Newsletter

Alexandra at her kitchen writing desk
Photo by Elissa

After a year of wearing blue and yellow in solidarity with Ukraine, I’ve added more colors back into my wardrobe, but I still make sure to keep some blue or yellow in my outfit every day.

March 2023

3/1/2023

I love you!

February, the month of love, has always been a time to celebrate our love for each other, and our love of life. Our shared humanity and cultural traditions, ceremonies and celebrations unite us by this sacred bond of love.

When we dwell in the consciousness of what is true, good and beautiful, we feel as though invisible forces are guiding us. I think of the great irony and mystery of the pop-up exhibition, “Alexandra Stoddard: A Colorful Life,” that came to me seemingly out of the blue. It happened only because I let go of my excess collections. I was writing “Empty and Be Full” as I was deaccessioning. I’d read, with great enthusiasm, The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning: How to Free Yourself and Your Family from a Lifetime of Clutter, by Margareta Magnusson. I unearthed hidden treasures. I woke up. By shedding an ...

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All Newsletters

Alexandra at her kitchen writing desk
Photo by Elissa

After a year of wearing blue and yellow in solidarity with Ukraine, I’ve added more colors back into my wardrobe, but I still make sure to keep some blue or yellow in my outfit every day.

March 2023

3/1/2023

I love you!

February, the month of love, has always been a time to celebrate our love for each other, and our love of life. Our shared humanity and cultural traditions, ceremonies and celebrations unite us by this sacred bond of love.

When we dwell in the consciousness of what ...

read more
Photo by Elissa

My pop-up exhibition, "Alexandra Stoddard: A Colorful Life" opened last week at the Lyman Allyn Art Museum in New London, Connecticut!

February 2023

2/1/2023

I love you! Happy month of love!

Because my dear friend and literary assistant Elissa went on Christmas holiday to her hometown in Michigan to be with her family and friends, I wrote my January newsletter to you earlier than usual. Let me circle back to where we left off ...

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Photo by Elissa

Ahh, a moment’s peace!

January 2023

1/1/2023

I love you! Happy, happy 2023. November was a monthlong celebration, leading up to the full-blown festive holiday season culminating on New Year’s Eve. Out of darkness, light the lights. Early in December, houses are decorated for the holiday festivities. Candles and wreaths are in windows, trees are trimmed ...

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I feel I’m on vacation in the Mediterranean every time I come into my sitting room and see this Roger Mühl painting.

December 2022

12/1/2022

I love you.

The season of love and gratitude is upon us; I’ve never felt greater love in my heart. The spirit of true giving is thanksgiving. This is a time to reflect, to light the lights, to pause and meditate on all our immeasurable blessings. I feel deeply ...

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Photo by Elissa

Celebrating my good friend and literary assistant Elissa’s great talent as a muralist. She painted this mural in the children’s area at Charter Books in Newport.

November 2022

11/1/2022

I love you!

Please vote! The midterms are held this year on my 81st birthday, November 8. Please don’t assume your vote doesn’t matter. Every vote is equally important in our shared value of equal rights. People tend to focus on national elections, but we must vote for ...

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Photo by Elissa

Standing with my sunflower in a secret garden in Stonington.

October 2022

10/1/2022

I love you!

A dear friend left the cottage recently, and I said, “I love you.” Because we never know. None of us knows for sure what the future will bring. I had an inexplicable urge to express my love, and it felt important to me at that spontaneous moment ...

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Photo by Elissa

Enjoying the sunlight in my kitchen as I sit at my writing desk. I’m still wearing blue and yellow every day in solidarity with Ukraine.

September 2022

9/1/2022

I love you!

I feel this September will continue to expand all the love we hold in our hearts. As we approach this most meaningful month of new beginnings, I’m focusing on my gratitude for all the loving-kindness that you, friends, have given me. Your gifts of love are ...

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Alexandra sitting amid the hydrangeas in her garden.
Photo by Elissa

In my favorite place, amid the hydrangeas.

August 2022

8/1/2022

I love you!

Happy August! I feel blessed to write this newsletter for you each month. I have known since I was a young girl that letters are indeed gifts we give ourselves. The pleasure I derive from corresponding with you is indescribably delicious. I’m forever grateful we are ...

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Alexandra surrounded by hydrangea
Photo by Elissa

I love my forest of hydrangea!

July 2022

7/1/2022

I love you!

Happy July! June’s Summer Solstice on the 21st gave us the longest day of the year. I enjoyed an early dawn breakfast in the garden as I gazed out at the sailboats in the harbor. The air was crisp; the day was full of promises it ...

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Alexandra in front of a rhododendron bush
Photo by Elissa

I love being in a forest of springtime rhododendron.

June 2022

6/1/2022

As we all know, “we never know.” We, as humans, understand that we live with uncertainty. None of us knows what may happen at any moment. Just hours before Elissa was going to swing by to pick up this letter to you for the June website, baby Jonathan, just one ...

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Photos by Elissa

Wearing the colors of the Ukrainian flag in front of Water Street Café.

May 2022

5/1/2022

I love you! Remember the wise words of Dr. Samuel Johnson: We don’t need to be informed; we need to be reminded. It’s vitally important to me to continue to communicate with you my heartfelt love. As we face reality in these challenging times, be assured that I ...

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Photo by Sandy

Blue and yellow: Ukrainian solidarity!

April 2022

4/1/2022

I love you!

Before we leap into April, we should all take a moment to acknowledge the beauty and tragedy in the month of March.

Unfortunately, March intensified the brutality of this inhumane war on Ukraine: a living hell. A warmonger dictator has the Russian military brutally attacking and killing ...

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WELCOME

I love to connect with my readers, and in my monthly newsletter, I share my thoughts, updates about events, a discussion of what I've been reading, stories from life in Connecticut, and much more. Feel free to browse my past newsletters and stop by at the beginning of each month to read my latest note to you.