49 Cedar Road.
Ottawa 9, Ont.
Tues. 28th. Oct.
Darling Lindy,
I have just finished writing to Grannie and will just write you a short letter too to say that I hope you have a lovely weekend in Brantford and survive the change in Toronto, etc. all right! I know that you will but it is alarming to think about things beforehand sometimes. Maybe Uncle Dix will drive you in on your way back. I forwarded your Commencement invitation to you yesterday, so you will be able to make all the arrangements with Bruce about when he is to come etc. Daddy and I will get your ticket to the dance through Charlie but anyway, we will be able to talk about that when you are home next week. It’s so nice that you have this time at home so that we can get organized because it would be so hard to make things for you at a distance. I have been ironing and piecing the bits of the green sari and I am now sure that I can get it out of the material, and I think it will look very pretty. Daddy and I laughed like anything over the account of the girls measuring you in the letter we got yesterday, but anyway, I must say that I think the pear-shaped Hazell bit is preferable to having hips 31 as well as bust! I hope to have a dress more or less done by the time you come home so that we can try it on and do any minor alterations before finishing it, and then I can concentrate on the long one. I spread the gay material for your lounging pyjamas on the floor of your room with the pattern on it to see how it would go and Saki is delighted! She keeps rushing in and skidding on it, and of course loves lying on the rustly paper pattern! I haven’t the heart to put it away, but I will cut the pattern out today so that at least the paper isn’t all scrubbled up!
I was so delighted to know that the weekend with Janet and Joey went so well. In your letter that Janet brought you sounded as if you thought Joanne might be bored, but both the girls were very pleased and excited about it when I talked to them and I am sure that they both had a lovely time. You sounded as if you enjoyed it too and I think that this is a good criterion – if you enjoy a visit or party other people do too. I am glad that the goodies were a success, but I don’t suppose you had many left after the weekend. I don’t think that there are any more Snoopy strips to send you – the ones I put in the parcel were all that there were about the Head Beagle- actually, he just went to see the H.B. all filled with fear and trembling, and he never turned up, and now it has kind of faded out.
To go back to the weekend and Jean – did you by any chance see her Formal that she made at Th.giving weekend? It is out of sheer material, I hear, but knowing how sloppy Jean’s sewing can be, I wondered if you had seen it and what you thought of it. Did Janet mention Commencement or wasn’t it possible to talk about it because of Joey?
I don’t think that I have anything thrilling to tell you about since I last wrote. Oh, except, Charlie went to Dr. W. yesterday afternoon to get a tooth filled and I went to the book shop again, and I got a lovely oldie! It is called ‘T. Tembaron’, and it is by the Little L. Fauntleroy person only this is supposed to be an adult book, not a children’s. It is all about a New York paper boy, who inherits a great place in England – does the plot sound familiar? Anyway, it is enormous fun, and I sat and read it all yesterday evening – nauseating and ridiculous and I am enjoying it hugely! Something for you to Read in Reading Week! By the way do you have loads of work to do when you are home? I think that we will have to have an Early To Bed curfew so that you can catch up on all those lost hours of sleep. Poor lamb, Daddy and I were so sorry for you when you wrote about the practical joke they played on you when the kids wrecked your room. It is no fun being the victim of a practical joke and unfortunately I don’t think that you can live a communal existence without coming up against it. Let’s hope that they will grow out of this immature business, and that you won’t have to put up with it much more. The only thing to do that I can see is to pretend that you don’t care, but it is very hard. It was a shame that both Terry and Cathy were away so that you had no moral support, but I think that you were probably even more upset because you were very tired, and you must try and get to bed a bit earlier now that your essay is over.
I told you in my last letter that we were going to the Smorgasbord on Friday evening. Actually, Charlie was involved with a Basketball tournament on the Friday after school so he didn’t even know if he could come, but in the end he came with Alan and they just ate together and then disappeared. I went down at 1 o’clock with Marjorie and Mrs. James and Mrs. Davis, and Betty and Chris Best were there, and we set tables, made salad and scalloped potatoes, cut the peameal bacon I had cooked etc. We were there till about 4 and then came home. I was supposed to help Marjorie keep the buffet table supplied, but Daddy didn’t get home till 5:30 and then he was pooped so we had a drink and then went and collected Edna Renault’s casserole and got down about 6. The place was seething! We had set places for 114, but I think that we must have had about 150 altogether. Marjorie had lots of help so it seemed mean to leave Daddy on his own, so I chickened out and went with him and ate. It was a bit of a scramble, but it was OK. Not nearly as nice as when there was a smaller number of course and some of the casseroles looked very dull, and Daddy had one that he said was absolutely tasteless, but there was enough of everything except desserts and I think Mrs. G and Laura were a bit generous in the way of 2nd helpings to small boys! I made a big upside down cake, and was conservative and had a piece of it myself! Afterwards I went and helped serve tea and coffee a bit, and then when the magician came, Daddy and I came home. They made 100 dollars profit so that was quite nice.
Fr. Graham phoned me on Sat. and asked if I would have one of these Sherry parties for the parish, but he wanted it next week or the week after, so I told him that with Daddy going into hospital I just couldn’t do it. We have left it that if he can’t get anyone else to do it in this area I’ll have it later in the month. You asked on the phone for me to tell more about why Daddy is going into the hospital – well it is for tests to begin with. Dr. K. thinks his throat, sinus and nose trouble may all be caused by an allergy, and of course Granpa has had this all his life and both A. Merle and Carman have the same trouble. In addition to this the thyroid gland is enlarged, so what they are going to do is take a sort of picture of the inside of his throat with measurements and do tests for allergies, etc. and then decide on what to do. If they decide to operate (take a piece off the gland or something – Peter Savic had it done a few years ago) then Daddy would be in hospital for a week or 10 days, and three weeks off work, but we will have to wait and see. We have heard nothing more from Dr. K about going in or anything, but I presume they will let us know this week. Daddy doesn’t say anything about it you know so I can’t tell you if he is worried or what. You will be here next week anyway and find out what it is all about.
I must stop as I am STARVING! Doesn’t that sound like one of your letters? I want to sew this afternoon and horrors! I have forgotten to take the meat out of the freezer for dinner! Daddy and I go to the Arts Centre on Thurs. for ‘Hamlet’ – Charlie goes another night in Much more expensive seats! Britta Lagerquist has just phoned up to ask Daddy and me to dinner later this week- I hope she doesn’t use so much perfume this time!
Lots of love from us all and PRRR – p from Saki!
See you soon – nice –
Mummy
A Family History in Letters 