DEAR ABBY: Every year you discuss practical gifts for senior citizens. When my late second cousin, "Pat," turned 94, she was having serious problems with her vision. She loved corresponding with friends, but could no longer write in a straight line, so her envelopes could not be read correctly by the post office.
I asked a friend if she would create some stationery that my cousin could use; she removed the thread from her sewing machine, and on the back of each sheet of paper "stitched" parallel lines about 1/2 inch apart. I asked her to do the same with the envelopes, but to make only four lines where the address would go.
Cousin Pat loved her beautiful -- and useful -- stationery. Her friends were able to read her handwriting, and so could the U.S. Postal Service. It's easy to write in a straight line when your fingers can feel the tiny "bumps" that the needle makes.
I'm a retired former Braille teacher, and machine-stitching is one of the techniques I would use to make geometry drawings for blind students. (I wonder if banks would permit this on personal checks?)
I hope this idea will help more people with fading eyesight to keep in touch. -- NORMA L. SCHECTER, HUNTINGTON BEACH, CALIF.
DEAR NORMA: Your idea is innovative, inexpensive and terrific. I hope that readers who use it will be sure to include stamps with the stationery.