1966
Last day!Took stuff over to KB’s house. We got a lot of planning done.
The picture was took today. Gene Trudeau came over, got me sitting on the back of the care, and in the driver’s seat. Got traveler’s checks too. Urg!! $450 worth.
Mr. D said we leave at 5:30 or 6 AM Urg again! Gee I can’t believe it! This is wonderful. How JUST wonderful! I can’t wait!
1976
I found three pennies today. Either I’m in for three pieces of luck (find an apartment on the first day and not get into an argument) or we’re moving to a flea-bag apartment in Thruppence, MD.
Idea for an article: adults dealing with their parent’s divorces.
Comment 2023
Still not ready to write that one.
1977
Work on my paper is progressing, but slowly. I'd hope to have it done this week, but so far only 1/3 done. R and C come tomorrow to stay the weekend, and that will take care of my work time. Hopefully I can fit some in while they are here.
The weather has been clear and cool in the early morning, when I go to class. Very bracing. So bracing that if I come home midday I go to sleep. Yesterday I had a 2 1/2 hour nap. I'm not sure I really need that much sleep, or if it's just becoming a rather time-consuming habit.
I am impressed by Marley's stubbornness. Jim and I have left her to go to work for nearly 7 years now. Yet she still acts betrayed, hurt, and surprised. Amazing
I survived the midday slump by staying at the library and writing some more. Then I came dangerously close to snoozing by coming home and reading the paper while lying on the couch. But a cup of tea worked wonders
Tomorrow I must plan my life!
In the morning I have class then go to the library right war, make slides for next Monday, grade reports and start making up the exam. I'll stay on campus until the checks come. Then I will go to the bank get a roll of quarters and cash the check. Then I go home make a grocery list to groceries put away groceries. Quick clean the bathroom and maybe the kitchen. Finally, sit out on the deck and read. I like that part
1997
After a very busy week comes a week that is a slow down superficially – – much less on the schedule – – but must remains to be done. The questions how to get as much done as possible, while retaining time to relax and enjoy the summer with my family.
Right now, family is going to Busch Gardens for two wonderful days. I am staying here, in case Mom needs me. No one to pick up after, no one to nag, no one to cook for, no one to find things for, no one to worry about! What a delight. I was spending the morning winding down and planning the summer. Again…
But I do take pleasure in planning.
Later, after midnight –
Mom died suddenly tonight. I was grocery shopping, and came home to three messages, two for ManorCare and one from holy Cross emergency room. Looking back, I see myself as amazingly calm, and very aware of what had happened even before they told me. It was sudden, it was unexpected, but at the same time, from the first call, I just felt this was it. And sad as I am, I am grateful that she suffered very little, that we had these weeks together, and that she was spared months or years of dementia, following whatever happened after her surgery. But I will miss her. Despite our differences and dissimilarity, I love her and I'm so proud of her and what a fine person she was.
2004
They just announced that our train will be in at 8:15 – – about 45 minutes late. Hardly worth mentioning.
The Bozeman trip was good. I made the spur of the moment decision to focus on their collection of "first shirts”. They have 29 examples, mostly the same rectangular style. 12 had the same accession number, from a Prescott family in Massachusetts. The most amazing needlework. I could not see the stitches with my own naked eye, so it is clear that I would not have been able to replicate the workmanship. How did the woman feel about that sewing? Was it pleasurable? An act of love? A source of pride? A silent prayer for a safe birth and a healthy baby?
Today I leave the mountains. It is always so hard. I know that when we pull away from the western edges of Glacier Park, I must say goodbye to the landscape I love. My new office must have mountains. And someday I will spend more than a week here.
2016
Afternoon pages. I made it through the morning – – two outstanding, inspirational presentations by Reverend William Barber II. Then lunch and a nap. We have had rain and sun and we will apparently have more rain and then sun for a while. I miss my house, and my familiar routine. I am feeling decidedly unsocial. So many people, so much talking. So little listening. I could happily just sit and listen to music. I have made a couple of attempts at the sermon, but I'm also now waiting for Carol's ideas. I need readings. At first glance, Aged by Culture seemed like a good possibility, but then I realize that she's also pretty academic. I would like to believe that I am not as academic as she is, but I'm probably fooling myself.
We have seen many of the usual suspects here. I do miss Kevin Drewery still. He was such a fixture here. Columbus is not too bad. Like Cleveland it has a lot of rundown industrial and retail neighborhoods. Like Cleveland, no place to buy shoes.
2019
Morning:
Sunday on Star Island. Is there a more perfect today? I don't think so. We had a 4:20 AM fire drill and then I couldn't get back to sleep. So I got to be up at dawn; a nap will be an order later.
This is just a pump primer. It's been a few days since I worked on the book. So I need to get back into the project, even just a toe. And I need to get something done between moments with grandkiddo. I was dozing (last night? This morning?) and thinking about the dress-up game section of this chapter. As long as there have been children and clothing there have been dress up games. I have no proof of Stone Age tykes playing hunter but I also firmly believed that it happened. Children learn by imitating grown-ups and pretending. Fithian, in his memoir as a school teacher in colonial America, described his charges stuffing their dresses with rags and pretending they were pregnant. But the 20th century brought a new phenomenon to the playground: ready made costumes designed by adults to appeal to children and encourage play. By the time our girls of 1949 were four, cowgirl outfits were available, many of them carrying the approval of Dale Evans. I did not want a cowgirl outfit. I especially did not want anything endorsed by Roy Rogers or Dale Evans. As a fan of old cowboy movies, I preferred Hoot Gibson, Tim McGraw, or even Johnny Mac Brown. I wanted – – explicitly – – “a cowboy outfit with a two gun holster”. Cowgirl suit sometimes had a gun – a small one stored in a pocket-style holster on the skirt. But my cowboy play – – enacting John Reynolds to my big brothers Doc Reynolds required a cowBOY outfit and two working cap pistols. So, on December 25, 1956 (The Best Christmas Ever) I received my wish; well, everything but the boots, which I still long for. Mom made the western style shirt out of a printed fabric depicting a buffalo hunt. There was a store-bought vest and pants with plastic fringe, and a two gun holster with lots of caps. I also got a doll house. What I will never know and must never assume to know, is which parent bought which present.
Afternoon:
Every time I have explained my current work to a woman of about my age, they have launched into a story about their high school dress code. One was sent to the principal’s office for wearing a skort. Another was punished for organizing a pants day for the girls at her school. Another wore jeans under her skirt on a snowy Minnesota day and just left them all day. For boys and young men the 60s were a battle ground over long hair; for women of my generation it was the war for the privilege of wearing pants.
And it didn't end there. When we entered the workforce, after college or high school, or nurses training, more skirmishes awaited. I was an assistant manager in the bed and bath department of a big downtown store, a job that required lots of stooping, lifting and ladder climbing. After a month on the job I asked my supervisor if I could wear pants instead of a skirt. Yes, she said if I wore a smock to cover my ass and as long as they weren't too casual. "How about white duck pants", I asked, thinking about some yardage I bought recently. “That sounds fine”, Joan said. So the next week I showed up in my new work pants: yellow cotton printed all over with white ducks. I got away with it.
Evening on the porch: Lovely weather, with tender warm breeze at sunset.
2024
Sunday on Star Island (again). I said goodbye to my new friends from Star Arts and the Natural History conference, and am settling into a long wait for the arrival of my friends in the Star Union conference. About six hours of knitting, walking, and maybe writing.
A taste of the morning:
I remember that cowboy outfit and the two pistols. John was a rebel with a good heart who frequently bailed Doc out of self-made perils. Doc should have been more careful; he had only one six shooter.
Here I will channel Grandma and wonder how many cowboys had neuromas 🤔