November 30, 1967: Cafeteria fish and newlyweds

Letter postmarked November 30, 1967 (Part 5):

This is Part 5 of the letter postmarked November 30, which is the remainder of the letter not covering any specific days of our Thanksgiving trip to San Francisco.

Now to answer your letter. It was in the mailbox when we got home late Sunday night and as tired as we were we couldn't wait to read it. David Wayne loved his special letter - especially the Peanuts stickers. Dave enjoyed those articles on politics, especially the one I'm sending back to you.

[The article Mom sent back is a column someone wrote about Ralph Yarborough, who served as a US Senator from Texas from 1957 to 1971. The columnist did not have a good opinion of Senator Yarborough. The article primarily pokes fun at his response, as well as the response of many other politicians, to the damages along the Texas coast due to a recent hurricane. At the bottom of the article, in someone's handwriting other than my mother's or my grandmother's, is "This was cut from an independent paper in Birmingham." Assuming that's Birmingham, Alabama, I have no idea why a column about a Texas senator would appear in an Alabama newspaper. But I do have a theory on how my grandmother came across the article. After her divorce from my grandfather, she remained in close contact with his mother (my great-grandmother) who lived in a rural area in northwestern Alabama. My great-grandmother wrote the occasional political piece for the local newspaper, so I suspect she came across this article and sent it to my grandmother in Denton. My grandmother, in turn, must have added it to some political articles she had been saving for my dad.]

David Wayne did enjoy his Halloween, but we haven't been to see the baby in No. 9. He has been several times to No. 6 to see the old lady's fish though. She even tried to give him some.

[The old lady's fish? What's that all about? I'll refer you back to the August 28, 1967 diary entry, where Mom recounts a trip to the beach. I caught some minnows on this visit to the beach and brought them home, but they died. One of my comments regarding that diary entry was, "My desire to observe fish will be revisited later on, I hope." And here it is. There was an old lady who lived in our apartment building who had a large aquarium. (Well, it seemed large to a five-year-old, at least.) Reading between the lines I'm guessing we discovered this lady and her aquarium while I was trick-or-treating on Halloween and she let me come into her apartment and watch her fish for a bit. She must have told me (and my parents) that I could come back whenever I wanted to to watch her fish, and I did. I don't know if Mom would call her first to ask, or if I would just ask Mom if I could go, but I would just knock on her door, ask if I could watch her fish, and she'd let me in so I could stare at the aquarium for awhile. (Yes, "The Incredible Mr. Limpet" comes to mind.) I don't know if I did that the rest of our stay in Los Angeles, or if the novelty eventually wore off and I stopped going.]

The Hansens have already gotten him a Christmas present and so have Gene and Suzie. On Monday, Barbara and I took David Wayne to eat in a cafeteria - it was his first encounter with one and he was fascinated. I had never even realized that he didn't know what they were. I just wonder if I'll be able to give our new baby the experiences that David Wayne has had. I doubt it.

[Fascinated by a cafeteria. Fascinating . . .]

Suzie and Gene are going to be contestants on The Newlywed Game. It will be taped the 8th of December but won't be on television until the 16th (Saturday night). Now don't miss that as it should be very exciting. Tell Mike that it will even be worth his time. You may not want to ever admit you're from Texas again, though.

[I do remember watching that episode of The Newlywed Game, which would have been the original version starring Bob Eubanks that aired from 1966 - 1974. Hopefully Mom will mention it in a letter after we watch it.]

We haven't been back to the Sivells for one reason and then another. I have asked Dave to invite them over this weekend so I'll let you know. I did tell you that they invited us to eat with them on Thanksgiving - I appreciated that.

My "gloomy" letter did help me, but I was afraid (later, of course) that it might upset you. I'm glad you understood that it wasn't permanent. Our trip to San Francisco pepped me up and also the night Dave took me out to eat at the French restaurant. Both of us needed that shot in the arm.

 As for Dave's diet, he couldn't wear any of his clothes and that made him feel bad. He hasn't stuck to it rigidly lately and that helps. Really, I'm proud that he still wants to look nice for me after being married a whole year - it's kind of a compliment to me, I believe. 

I felt some movement recently and my last trip to the doctor turned out fine as he could hear heart beat, etc. And I am getting bigger, so something's bound to be growing. I better warn all of you that Dave is going to be a different type of "first father" than the cartoons show. Now, he will be proud and happy, yes, but he won't be beaming or showing off "look what I did!" He just isn't the type. Neither do I expect to get any help on feeding, changing diapers, cleaning up messes, etc. With Dave, the family will just have to not criticize or be surprised and I will know that he is happy. Besides, I'll get the biggest help knowing that bills will be paid and the child will be loved and taken care of. That is another reason that I would like to see Wayne because I doubt seriously that we will "see" it with Dave. 

I will answer the rest of your letter another time. It is just about time for Suzie to come so we can go to the show. I am really excited about seeing "The Sound of Music." Take care of yourselves and write often. 

Love,

Linda

 P. S. - I mailed another package for you - just sort of a novelty gift. Let me know if it gets there. Now I have finished all shopping except Wayne and Dave.

[I guess Mom got brave enough to mail another package to Texas. Let's hope this one arrives undamaged.]

November 21, 1967: The colorful crash

Letter postmarked November 21, 1967:

The CCZCC now stands at 4.

Dear Mother and Mike,

Here it is another Monday morning. We are getting ready for our big San Francisco trip so we didn't do much this weekend. We had lousy weather here anyway - by lousy, I mean it rained. I didn't care to be out on the roads, especially the freeways. There were several people killed in car accidents (27 or 28), two boy scouts died while on camping trips, and one whole section of town close to the mountains was plagued with flooding and mud slides! So as you can see, your children were pretty wise to stay home. Maybe old age has set in.

Dave did take me out to eat Friday night. He took me to "Taix," a French restaurant. The food was just wonderful, but not very Frenchy - we had a vegetable soup, a salad, and pot roast with new potatoes and spinach, and of course that wonderful fattening French bread. Borrowing a word from dear Aunt Sara, the place was "elegant" but not expensive at all - the meal plus two (one each) before dinner cocktails was $7. You could hear Dave's sighs of relief all over the joint when the bill was presented.

[You may recall from the November 17 letter that Dad hadn't committed to taking Mom out anywhere on Friday night when Gene and Suzie offered to watch me.]

[Taix opened in 1927 and moved to the current location on Sunset Boulevard in 1962. It is still run by the Taix family. Here's the web site: http://taixfrench.com/. Regarding the cost of their meal, $7 in 1967 purchased about as much as $51 in 2017.]

I was terribly disappointed that we didn't go anywhere after eating - like dancing, show, etc. We left David Wayne with Gene and Suzie at 6:30 and we picked him up at 9 o'clock. But, Dave and Gene had plans to watch a football game on TV for Saturday, so they have to get their reset. They keep better "in training" hours than the football players.

[The football game on Saturday happened to be #1 UCLA vs. #4 USC, so I can see why Dad and Gene wanted to watch it. USC won 21-20 and went on to win the national championship. This game, which has its own Wikipedia page, is considered by some people to be a contender for college football's "Game of the Century" (20th century). USC's win was in no small part due to the efforts of junior running back OJ Simpson, who scored two touchdowns. One of these, a 64-yard run in the fourth quarter to put USC ahead for good, is considered one of college football's best plays ever.]

There was a bit of excitement during the game. We heard this terrible noise outside and when we went to investigate we discovered there had been a terrible car accident just up the street. Two women ran a stop sign and hit a car with three women passengers. One car had run onto the sidewalk just missing this poor old woman who was out for a stroll. We had two ambulances, two fire trucks, and one police car on the scene. During all the excitement I happened to notice several pregnant women standing around and some women in white uniforms. On closer inspection I discovered no wedding bands on their fingers. Then it hit me - Gene and Suzie live next door to a home for unwed mothers! You should have seen me fly into action - I flashed my ring around, kept calling David Wayne in a very loud voice, and I stuck to Dave's side like glue.

[Now we know Gene and Suzie lived within a block or two of our apartment building. What is it with car accidents on this street?]

Sunday we stayed indoors and watched television and read. The "Alice In Wonderland" special was on Sunday night. Gene and Suzie had told us to bring David Wayne over to watch it on their color set. It was just wonderful. I had seen it before, but seeing it in color was great. We are hoping to get a color television when we get home.

[Yes, color television was a big deal in the 1960s. The first television season that had only color programming in prime time on all three networks (ABC, CBS, NBC) was the 1966-67 programming season. The first year in which more color television sets were sold in the US than black-and-white sets was 1972.]

David Wayne is really having fun with Gene and Suzie. They are crazy about him and just beg to keep him for us. Suzie even wants to keep him during the daytime when I go shopping. Since Suzie is a speech teacher, I'm trying to enlist her help on getting David Wayne to pronounce his t's and s's. As we were watching the wreck on Saturday my son (in a loud voice) said, "Look at the clouds of the shitty." Suzie said she thought that was one time he pronounced it right.

[I think I got my "t" sounds straightened out fairly quickly, but I know I had a problem with "s" sounds until second or third grade.]

I guess your work is still keeping you pretty busy. Maybe you can rest over the Christmas holidays. Resting seems to be my specialty these days. I don't even like to watch television during the daytime.

[Good, that means I can watch TV all day.]

Well, I will close for now. I would like to get this letter mailed today. Take care and make Mike behave.

Love, 

Linda

October 18, 1967: Squeaky grill

Letter postmarked October 17, 1967 (part 2):

This post is a continuation of yesterday's letter, where we went to the North Pole to escape the Los Angeles smog.

Sunday we drove to Olvera Street - yes, again! We had a purpose - David Wayne had to have some "MOUSE SHOES" like his daddy. I wrote you about the Mexican slippers. You should have seen the salesman's face when I told him we had to have a pair that squeaked! I guess they are used to hearing anything from tourists - but . . . shoes that squeaked? Anyway, the boys have great fun seeing who can make the most noise. I bought a pair of sandals - noiseless and very comfortable. I'm going to get Linda Kay a pair for Christmas and if you'll send me Wayne's shoe size I'll get him a pair, too. Dave loves his - good for his athlete's foot, you know.

[I can just see me wanting squeaky shoes like Daddy, and then both of us driving Mom crazy walking around in them.]

I also bought one of those big straw Mexican handbags. Now I can carry extra film, flashbulbs, Dave's billfold, etc. without any difficulty. We bought a pinata in the shape of a witch which is about three feet tall. The only trouble is that it is so cute we don't want to break it. You'd think I was still teaching - our living room looks like a classroom decorated for Halloween!

After leaving Olvera Street (also left a lot of money there) we drove to the beach as it was pretty hot on Sunday. Everybody else had the same idea so we didn't do anything except go to the bathroom while there then drive home. Long way to go just to go to the restroom, eh?

A lady who moved from the apartment house left her grill so we can cook outdoors again - pleased Dave to no end! There is the problem of getting meat to cook though - Safeway had a sale on sirloin last week ($1.59 per pound can you believe it?) At home I got it for 89 cents per pound. It's nice when Dave cooks out because it's less work for me. Last night as he was turning the meat he dropped a good fork in the hot coals. When he came upstairs to tell me about it he looked just like a little boy confessing to some naughty deed. I couldn't get mad because I was too amused at him.

[Dad did love to cook out on the grill. Here is a picture of Mom's birthday present for him in July of 1966, which would have been right before they got married.]

[This picture was taken on the front porch of my grandmother's house in Denton. It's an apron, a hat, and some grilling tools and gloves outfitted on my grandmother's dress form. In the lower portion of this picture there is a little boy about to turn four years old.]

[And here is a picture of me and Dad standing in front of the grill in the back yard of our house on Osceola in Carrollton, followed by a better picture of the grill with me and Mom in front of it.]

[Mom's caption on the one with me and her is: "David Wayne and Linda in back yard. Dave loved the grill in background." That's our dog Taffy walking behind the grill. Note that I am wearing cowboy boots in those pictures. They are probably the same pair I put on the morning of July 17, 1967 when we left Carrollton to move to Los Angeles.]

[So yes, Dad loved to cook on the grill, but he hated it when I would put ketchup on my steak he had worked on so hard. I do remember that being a source of conflict when we lived in Carrollton, along with the usual issues between parents and children over food.]

I am going to start sending Christmas presents next week - in order to beat the rush. In case you get anything before Christmas, don't open it. If you have any ideas for Mike let me know. He is one person I'm stumped about. Also, it is going to be expensive to mail things, so remind everybody that this year it will be nice to think of the "idea of exchanging gifts" instead of the gift itself. I have already bought David Wayne a "Build-A-Road" set for his matchbox cars so that might be an idea for y'all to get him - some more cars!

[I know what I'm getting for Chrisssssstmas, I know what I'm getting for Chrissssssstmas.]

I will close for now. Write when you can. I am still pestering the mailman and I've made a rule never to leave the house until the mail has come. Take care.

Love,

Linda

August 15, 1967: Better food

Diary entry for August 15, 1967:

Went shopping at Better Foods. Ate supper. Read and went to bed.

Shop, eat, read, sleep. Another slow news day, although Mom forgot to mention the photo on the front page of the LA Times that day. It was a picture of about five sixths of the earth's face, taken from a distance of 214,000 miles by Lunar Orbiter 5. Per the caption, "It is the first photo taken of nearly the full earth from as far away as the vicinity of the moon."

You space nerds can see the photo (original and enhanced), plus the tape reel it was stored on, plus a neat story about how the photo came to be at this link: http://www.moonviews.com/2009/08/loirp-releases-recovered-lunar-orbiter-v-image-of-full-earth.html

We're less than two years away from walking on the moon, so NASA is somewhat busy right now.