Bishops at the Grill

(1963 September 22)

This Tuesday the Convocation meets here, and I will be in church 9:30 - 12 - lunch at Grill and speakers - then at night the men meet starting with supper. They will hear Bishops of Australia and Hallock [of Milwaukee]. (Picture me tripping up front with the UTO at Women's meet. Each UTO [United Thank Offering] treasurer puts hers in from each church.)

Grooming

(1963 September 22)

Yesterday I got Dee one of those wire brushes as Vica [Skip's dog] had. Hers was all moth eaten and beyond recall. He winces but tries to be brave. Getting pretty matted and attention needed. The leaves those two pets drag in now!

The Grove Street house

(1963 November 7)

[Polly's house at 33 South Grove Street was featured in a 2-page story (with 9 photos) by Harry Johnson in the Richland Observer. Ira Haseltine, the miller who founded Richland Center, planned in 1851 to have the house built for himself across the new millpond from his mill, and did so 1852-57. After the Civil War, the mill and the house were acquired by the Parfrey family, and then in 1945 by the Holos, until the Kays bought it on June 9, 1954. Polly reluctantly sold it in 1994.]

Blacktop

(1963 July 2)

Also out in front is Del Whiteis' crew putting down new blacktop. This I do not have to explain to you. Whackety-bang with those big orange road machines.

Dutch elm disease

(1963 July 2)

Miss Barnes [next door] is having an old elm tree cut down. This is a beautiful big elm in her back yard with about 4 huge trunks fused into one. It has some disease and she fears it will fall on her house. So for two days a man is there with ladder and tackle, and a tractor is down below to pull on an attached rope to guide it, and the old saw is a-humming and a-buzzing and causing poor Dee to bark.

Meatloaf

(1963 July 2)

I made a 3# meat loaf Sunday with equal amounts lean beef, pork, ham. Ask it to be ground twice. Spread it out on paper it came in. Sprinkle on seasonings. Various kinds alter flavor. Salt, pepper, ketchup, chopped onion, parsley, 1 slightly beaten egg + 1/2 cup milk was what I used. Wash your hands and mix all well. Shape in long loaf in pan. 400 degrees, 15 minutes, then about 300 degrees for 2 hours. Roll a couple of potatoes in oven to bake or put a peeled potato in the pan with the roast. May cut potato lengthwise. This is very good hot or cold.

Backyard report

(1963 June 20)

Dee is now to be relied enough to be free and go with me to the clothesline where I have just hung up a mess of rags used for cleaning during the week. With my new soft water these old rags are cleaner than my towels used to get! Meanwhile Dee finds the bone from last Sunday's roast and chews away on that as a Mother Squirrel and 2 babies venture from their nest. Hidden from sight are birds teasing me by singing or quoking away (I wish I could identify them!). - Oh, it is so pleasnt in our back yard! Of course there are certain dark objects here and there in the grass, not far from Dee's tie-out rope - but a new Puppy-Scoop ordered from Penny's should be here today and that problem if not solved, made more pleasant!

Anniversary snow flurry

(1963 March 26)

I have been predicting a snowfall as it fell on the day you were born [March 28] and has thereabouts ever since, and this morning here it was! Am writing after lunch so Daddy may have this when he goes, and now sun, and snow about gone.

Scary teachers

(1963 February 18)

I surely have had teachers who scared me so I could hardly recite from grade school on up. The teacher who threw the chalk at me in 8th grade to William Ellery Leonard.

Big bone

(1963 January 8)

Joke: I made pea soup with ham again this morning and had a big bone for Dee [her little dog]. I called him and held it up and said Sit up, but he slunk away into his bed. At first I was stunned, then realized he was afraid of it - probably thot it was a club of some kind. He is outside enjoing it now tho.

Snob?

(1962 October 29)

MM started out well this fall in going with nice kids. Seems to me she is going down a notch all the time. When I talk to her about it, she says all are equal. I am a snob; she is not. The kids I seem to value ride around and drink heavily all the time. Kids she likes are the ones who are Nazarine or Assembly of God and do not drink.

Puppet gala

(1962 December 31)

Last night [on the Ed Sullivan Show] we saw these wonderful puppets and I wished that something would be on when you were here. Skip, it was a full hour of these and they were made by masters - wonderful apt expressions - and controlled by experts. We were shown back stage several times, but mostly just sat enjoying it. There was a negro band and a wench doing the Charleston! There was a marimba band and Maurice chevalier to a T. There was a longhaired proff at the piano and an opera singer whose neck stretched when she reached for a high note that made us hoot - circus, acrobats. Mostly it was how the men who controlled them were so good at it. Puppets did such lifelike things we forgot they weren't real. I read years ago how they were popular in Europe when a big play house was filled, balconies and all, with an audience. The puppet choruses, acts, or complete plays were all the go.

Advent fasting

(1962 December)

The 21st [will be the] anniversary of Father Johnson's being ordained 40 years ago by Bishop Webb. We are honoring him with a supper Thursday because the 21st is Friday and I am baking one of the 18# turkeys. Always plenty to DO.

Requiem

(1962 December)

Bishop Ivins died this week and a requiem Mass will be said Saturday when his ashes are interred at Nashota. He was 72 I think.

Sunday rides

(1962 September 9)

A movement underfoot to go for a ride, my Sunday bete noire. But if I don't go, it's off, so I suppose I should. One mustn't be selfish. So much otherwise to do here inside and out, I hate to just bump along for an hour. Isn't that a dull attitude tho? Burn this.

Dutch Kitchen

(1962 September 9)

Last Sunday Daddy took us to the Dutch Kitchen at Spring Green. We were surprised at the very good food and Dutch atmosphere. Each table had a small loaf of good homemade bread on a board with a sharp knife. As we stood in the doorway someone said, "Oh! There are the Kays!" And it was Sally Davis and family and her parents and in-laws. You must go there with us some time.

Not a bad dog

(1962 September 9)

Well, our dog is really a darling. I have known dogs but never one so understanding as this one. He never cries if staked out or locked up in garage or laundry. He always seems to be trying to read my mind so he can mind me better. We laugh about reactions to newspapers. To the cat, the rattle of a paper means FOOD - that I am putting one on the floor and am about to feed her. To the dog it means get in your bed or you'll get a swat over the tail, and one day when I read the paper at the kitchen table, he was constantly in dread. Every time I turned a page, he jumped into his bed.

Luck untried

(1962 September 9)

Daddy and I saw the [Richland County] fair from 1-2 when we took them [MM & pal] there and thot it smaller and less interesting. Many Try Your Luck stands. Not many people trying. Either we have seen it too often or it really is going down hill.

Polly's rugs

(1962 June 25)

The rugs: I made the Yellow Pirate Ship about 1928 before I was married and by now it shows signs of wear and is weak and I do not think it would stand to go to the cleaners, the strain of being tangled with other garments and the tumbling would make it fall apart. Also the other one which I took to New York [for interview for article in Woman's Home Companion]. I have always washed them on a good drying day (by hand). But not very often - once in 5 years. They are mostly for show - put them away from the traffic and leave them be. Sometimes a cleaners handles Oriental rugs or will do special work. This may be different, and OK. Take time to look around well.

Hairdressing

(1962 June?)

Edith [Tuxford] goes to Madison regularly to get her hair cut and waved. Then she lets a girl here wash it in between. I could never be that fussy and went down to the Cardinal as usual Tuesday. That will do for a while.

Not a well

(1962 Spring)

Have excavated our "well." Looks to be an old cistern 2-3 feet deep. Under the sod there was nothing 2-3 feet down.

Exchange

(1962 Palm Sunday)

Today is bright and clear but cold and windy. There were 52 people in church this morning, partly because Father Johnson is such a congenial soul and really loves people, I'm sure. He seems to go along with a lot of things others might battle against. As when Kassie saw all the desserts so tempting at the Friday fish supper and asked him, though she had sworn off desserts for Lent, if she couldn't exchange Friday for Sunday, he said as a rule no, but an exception might be made in an emergency! Also baptised Lane Tyler's girl Melody Lane. Isn't that a song title?

Earl Grey

(1962 March)

Earl Grey and I have tea ever so often.

Animated gifts

(1962 March 28)

I am still dickering with Animated Gift people over my gift. They sent me shrimp eggs to be raised for food for the [sea] horses. I wrote it was too much trouble and I would like a refund. They said no dice and sent me a catalog to choose another gift like an alligator or monkey, starfish, or eels. I'm thinking it over.

Russian

(1962 March)

I love the Russian study and am good at it except for the precision of memory work and the conversation I am not good at. But much of it is very fascinating to me. For instance BOLSHOY LE GOROD MINSK? = "Is Minsk a large city?" BOLSHOY is "large" - large ballet. OKE CHAENYA = "eyes black" must be "dark eyes." I think I have eyes plural, black singular, but haven't learned plurals yet.

The shrimp original

(1962 March?)

I have a shrimp original in the oven, and the secret ingredient is - shrimp! And I sit here loafing until it is ready. I could be reading The Anglican Communion Past and Future by Gerald Ellison, Bishop of Chester, as I have Chapter One, to give at a Congregation Study Club in Lent. But not now.

The tub's farewell

(1962 February?)

The minute we got in the house after taking our girls to Madison, I started in making beds and making the upstairs presentable so the plumbers wouldn't be shocked. At 8 a.m. today I emptied the bathroon and about 8:30 Klenzings came and carried out all the old fixtures. The trap under the floor of the tub was broken. Not too bad after all. It took 3 strong men to carry out the old tub, straining like ancient Egyptians. It played one more dirty trick on me, that old trap. I was standing by the front door and got drenched, I hope for the last time! Ran for old dishpan.

Short circuit

(1962 February 13)

My clowns [installing new bathtub] sawed an electric wire in two by mistake then had to go to town for a piece to splice it, trace it in the attic, at last back where they started at quite a set back to the Kay pocket book.

Among the artisans

(1962 February 13)

Today has been one spent among the artisans. Practically at the same time Ralph Klenzing [plumber] and helper, Forrest Hine [electrician] and helper, Larry Saltzman, and Bob Schluster, carpenter, were here. All measuring, etc. Big problem - bathroom floor slants away from outside wall, so new tub won't drain. Mrs. Kay doesn't want the floor raised 2". What to do? Finally Mrs. Kay says lower it by the window; so they do that. The new tub is now in and it is so small I am sure you will miss the old beauty.