Keep on trucking

(1980 memoirs)
To this day I get more of a real thrill from riding in a truck than in any posh car.  I have ridden in the electrician's truck, oil truck, furniture truck, mover's van, plumber's, -- oh, I don't know -- carpenter's, house painter's -- etc.

Cemetery scene

(1980 memoirs)
Of course Harry [the drummer] and I had movie dates, etc.  Sometimes after a movie we'd go to Sanford Cemetery and sit on the tombstones and talk.  He might put his arm around me and say, "Well, I see you have on your cast-iron protector tonight."  I would giggle and say, "Yes."  So then pretty soon we'd walk home!  This went one for a while, and it wasn't too many weeks before we mutually went our separate ways.  Too little in common.

AC problem

(1993 July)

I like it warm and not air conditioned! Of course not too hot. If I lived near the Mississippi River, I'd say my problem was water. But everyone else is OK.

Meals on Wheels

(1991 end of June)

I am getting very sick of Meals on Wheels and will stop when cooler. Mass cooking - bla flavor. They didn't come at all today, and I made a cheese sandwich and Jan brot me a cold supper.

Portia's funeral

(1991 February 20)

Do you remember Trinity Church [at Baraboo]? Gothic - beautiful stained glass windows, an altar set back two steps. ... Besides the pall bearers there were no more than six there. ... Even dead, Portia with her strong mind gathered us together for her service exactly as she wanted it.

Epateuse

(1991 January)

I was glad I decided to go to the concert as my headache went off. The pianist wore an off shoulder red gown on which seemed to be red Xmas tree lights which twinkled. Showy for the provinces, I thot.

Depressing

(1990 September 1)

[MM] said her doctor phoned to tell her to tell her relatives to watch a program on TV on depression. .... It was creepy to see these poor ones staring into space sitting alone. ... I am not able to watch depressing programs like that and always avoid them as did LL. One should be aware but not necessarily steeped in it.

Mrs. Morris

(1989 May 31)

My new help has been here and gone. ... She arrived in the school bus she drives and parked it in the street opposite the garage. Fair and capable-looking, she took off her shoes at the door, preferring to work in her socks. ... This is a pretty good sample of Mrs. Morris's conversation: We are making my bed. I say, "Some of my sheets are getting thin, and it's been hard to find white ones." "White ones? I don't like white at all. None of mine are white." I say, "You decide with the majority," and the talk ends.

Casting Dicken

(1989 February)

I am nearly through Nikolas Nickleby, the spring Campus play and Jean says the last she will direct. She is dreaming of retirement. ... [And in a later letter:] Jean has cast Nicholas Nickleby and has given Paul [Fowell] the part of Mr. Gride, a dwarf. I warned her, but to no avail. The audience won't know the difference as N.N. is a thick book. Bill is building the set every day, happy it will be his last.

Half mast

(1988 April 16)

Before I finish this dirge I want to say we had a Big Funeral here for Vernon Thompson [ex governor] and wheels out from Madison. His long political obit in paper. All very proper but being asked to fly our flags at half mast I thot was over doing it.

Damom

(1987 May)

Yesterday in church a heavy young man sat ahead of me with his lame father. He would measure about 24 inches across his seat, enough to catch the eye. Coming home Bill was telling me who he was - his name, DAMOM. "No," said I, "that would Damon & Pythias from mythology." "No," says Bill. "I asked his father how he got the name, and father said he and his wife wanted, the two of them, to share in his name. So the DA is for DAD and the MOM is for - well, you can finish it yourself and say what you like. " I did.

Authentic atmospheres

(1984 May 14)

I am eating chop suey from my Blue Willow China and looking at Cherry Blossoms. Is that Oriental enough for you? [Written on a card illustrated with a Japanese screen painting.] .... Friday morning a Boston Fern came into my life. It was a Mother's Day gift from Mary Margaret. Now the atmosphere in this old house is really authentic.

Dirty story

(1978 August 8)

But, dear me - school isn't what it once was as far as proper and suitable subjects. One story he [the teacher of Fiction Writing class] read from a book for discussion was about two people in a carnival lying naked in bed together - the Tatooed Man and the Fat Lady. The FL bet the TM $20.00 she could piss in a whiskey bottle 3 feet away and he took her up on it. The rest explains her method step by step. At the end the TM gladly paid up and said it was worth it. Wow.

Bentwood bonaza?

(1978 September 29)

MM had a problem of what we were going to use for chairs at her Xmas dinner. So I went to Byron Turner's auction and got 4 plain solid oak chairs. Then I saw an ad for 6 Bentwood Chairs and I went to see them - at the Gnome King's Castle. They are like ice cream parlor chairs. $30 each; all the pieces of the chair are made of bent poles. Seat is round. She may not want these at all. [Not clear if Polly bought them or if Mary wanted them. The original bentwood chairs were made in Austria by Thronet and are now a high-dollar collectible. The "client's chair" in Lorin's office was a genuine Thronet (with label) and now has a place of honor in my study.]

A lovely time

(1976 August 13)

Wednesday night I had a lovely time. David Kopitzke, museum director, invited me to dinner served on the roof of the [Frank Lloyd Wright] Warehouse. When I went thru the building, it all seemed so much like going thru a basement - dirty & dark & cementy. So when I got off the elevator, I was amazed at the transformation - blooming flowers in white tubs, long tables with white cloths & red cloth napkins, candles, vases of flowers, nice silver. Beef brats were being cooked in two or three big black cookers, and the salads and desserts!! Four different beverages, the most fascinating was the beer, which required a good pumping up before a glass was drawn. The Board gave the dinner so some Richland Center people could meet the students from Taliesin [Wright's school in nearby Spring Green], and I sat between two, and some were indeed fantastically garbed.

Cartalk

(1973 September 19)

I am not very knowledgeable on makes and types of cars, but I can tell you what I think and like. Well, with the fuel shortage on, the little cars are more economical; of course that helps. All the new cars must say how many miles they go on a gallon of gas, so you would have that to go on. But I do feel unsafe myself in a little Beetle - OK for city driving but on a highway with trucks and all I would say no. What about other makes like Ford, Chevrolet, others - ? I do not like a 2-door sedan. You wish you'd never bot it every time the person in the front seat has to get out to tip his seat for the person in the back seat to get out. I do not like bucket seats. If you have a long seat across the front, it is so nice for a place to put a purse, road map, a sweater, packages or two other persons. I do not like stick shifts. Power steering [she means automatic transmission] takes all this grinding of the gears out of your hands. Try it, you'll like it.

Duster

(1964 November 2)

I am making a blue and navy checked duster for Aunt Lois who can't be fitted in store-boughten clothes as she likes shirts fairly long. She can wear this either as a robe or dress. May include sample. Is cuddly. Put the collar on this aft and have the pockets and buttons left.

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.

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.

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.