The CCZCC extends its winning streak to 15.
Dear Mother,
I'm way behind on answering letters, but at this time of the day I don't feel like writing to anyone but you. I've enjoyed receiving so many letters from you this week - wish you had more holidays.
I just came back from the doctor for my last shot of the week. The nurse thought that I should be feeling better, but I informed her otherwise. My complexion still resembles that of "Casper the Ghost" without the smile! But I am doing no work or running around so I should be better by next week. While there, I checked on the results of David Wayne's (wee) test. He checked out fine and he isn't anemic. He certainly doesn't act tired.
We had a blow today. Yesterday a notice came that we had a certified letter to pick up. Today I went to get it and guess what - the Pontiac people are notifying all 1965 Pontiac owners (that's us) that they have discovered these cars are faulty. Just a minor little thing - the steering wheel may separate from the wheels so you could still move, you just couldn't guide a car. Dave is going to have ours checked tomorrow - or either take the car and live in a motel! If there is something wrong, we won't have to pay to get it fixed.
[Now we know Dad's car was a 1965 Pontiac Bonneville, similar to this one which has been nicely restored:]
[If you want to see more pictures of that one, and a list of features, check out this link: https://www.conceptcarz.com/gallery/10944/pontiac-bonneville.aspx. If you imagine that car with a red interior, that was our car.]
I'm glad you understood about the puppy situation. We have been had for the last time - at least by those two. I was afraid (after I'd already written) that you might think I was just acting pregnant, you know nervous, irritable, etc. But really Dave feels the same and he certainly isn't pregnant. Suzie did come over yesterday (without pup) and asked me if I felt like going to a movie. It was one I really wanted to see, "Valley of the Dolls," so I went. It was not a show to take David Wayne to, but I did this time. From now on though, I'll stick to Walt Disney movies. I am planning on taking him to "Sound of Music" next week and "Dr. Doolittle" the week after.
Suzie's whole personality was different yesterday. I imagine she's pretty upset with me, but that's fine. She didn't rough-house with David Wayne and he acted much better than usual. They haven't been over at all this week at night - before it seemed they were dropping over constantly. I have a sneaking suspicion my husband took care of that because of my "illness." Your comparison of them to Pat Neale was absolutely perfect.
[It sounds to me like Suzie was trying to mend the friendship and is treading lightly.]
Speaking of old friends . . . I got a letter from Joan Gambill today. It's the funniest thing I've ever read. When I get through answering her, I'll try to remember to send it to you. She hasn't changed one bit. She did inform me that Sandra Smith and Mary Jane McDuffy are divorced. I had no idea. When you read the letter, be sure it's on a day that you can snicker off and on all day without people wondering about you.
I mailed Dave's sweater back today. Probably you will not need a ticket because they are the only store in town that will carry that brand. It is a lovely sweater. If you can't get exactly the same one, color and all, we'll understand.
I'm worried about your floor furnace. Can the plumber try to light it again? Didn't this same thing happen last winter? I can't advise you on getting another one. I hate to see you go in debt, especially with Mike beginning college soon, but after all, you can't freeze. Sears sounds like the best deal but they have such high interest rates - you know that better than anyone though.
[We'll find out in a future letter that the winter of 1968 started off about as cold as the winter of 2018, in North Texas, at least.]
About ol' Mike - - - I wish he didn't have so many activities and could get a part-time job. He would sure learn the value of a dollar that way - and really I don't know of any other way to learn it. I was very proud of him about Key Club, DeMolay, etc., but I just wonder now if that was the best thing in the world. It seems to me that it's just been expensive on you and work for you, too. And he can't be making any more lasting friendships than I did in my little I.D.K.D.Y. club.
To answer your questions about David Wayne's toys - he loves everything. The dunking bird fascinates him and he shows off the bathroom stuff to everyone he can drag in there. David Wayne was very pleased with the cars, but Dave and I noticed he wasn't playing with them or the road set he got. Finally, last night we had the opportunity to sit down with him, explain the road signs, show him to keep on the right side of the road, etc. Can you believe it? He did not know how to play cars. I guess children learn that from playing with other children. Now, he has all cars on the road, his train track crossing it, all signs in the correct space, built buildings and houses with his Lego building toys, and is having the time of his life creating incidents. We had to teach him how to play cars!
[What a weird kid, not knowing how to play cars. Sounds like I was a quick learner, though. And as my four-year-old grandson can attest, I still enjoy creating "incidents" while playing with cars or trains. (Think Gomez Addams.)]
The Lego building toys were what Nate and Judy sent. They thought for David Wayne, but Dave has enjoyed them more. Some of the pictures are too difficult for David Wayne to do yet. Dave spent two hours one night putting a soldier together. He's just like a kid with them. The cutest, most unusual gift came from Tracey - a Jolly Green Giant footprint rug. It is a bright green and the most hideous looking thing you could imagine. I must get some flashbulbs so I can take a picture to send you. At the moment, it is David Wayne's proudest possession and no one is allowed to walk on it.
[I remember that big green footprint rug. Unfortunately there isn't a picture of it in the photo album, but I do have a scan of a picture of the rug taken on January 14, 1968, with me and Dad sitting behind it. Here it is:]
[Would you like to know how I came to have a scan of that photo and how I know what date it was taken? Of course you would, and I'm going to tell the story regardless. As Mom has mentioned in her letters, she was sending pictures to various people while we were living in Los Angeles. One of those people was probably her father (my grandfather, Papa), who had divorced my grandmother and was living with his second wife at the time. Well, shortly after wife #2 passed away he married wife #3 in 1983. Papa died in 1986 and some family members kept in touch with wife #3 for a few years after that, but then gradually lost touch in the early 1990s. Occasionally her name would come up at family gatherings such as Christmas time, but nobody knew what became of her or if she was still living. That happened most recently in January of 2017, and we assumed she had passed since we figured she would have been over 100 years old by then. Well, we were right about her age but not about her status. She died the following month at the age of 101.]
[Fortunately, Papa had kept a box or two of keepsakes such as photos going back to at least the early 1940s when he was serving in the Navy. Fortunately again, wife #3 didn't get rid of those items when Papa died in 1986, nor after she married her fourth husband two years after that. More fortunately, those items did not get thrown away when she went into a nursing home many years later and her house was sold. Even more fortunately, the niece who handled her estate contacted my cousin Steven to see if he wanted these items, and he now has those treasures in his possession and scanned that photo for me. So, to say I'm lucky to have an electronic copy of that picture would be an understatement.]
Another gift you sent for David Wayne has turned into a family gift - the book on ants and bees. I read and my boys sit spellbound listening. If I read while Dave is at work, we have to discuss it at night. Really, all three of us are enjoying it and I hate to finish it.
I will close quickly as we are fixing to leave to go to the store.
[I was in college before I knew "fixing to" was a colloquialism. It was just a normal phrase to me that I heard and used all the time.]
Something has come up about when we are leaving L. A. but it will take a whole letter for that.
Love,
Linda
[I can't believe Mom finished this letter with that cliffhanger and made my grandmother wait until the next letter for the moving back news.]
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