September 12, 1970 The Silliest Day, The Lighter Green, The Quietness, The Queer Okra and The Opening Meeting

Dear Mother & Daddy,

"This is the silliest day. It was supposed to be nice but is cold and rainy and I just turned the furnace on. The temperature is dropping because I had the house open early this morning.

I painted the woodwork this morning in the bathroom upstairs so the house is a bit smelly. I had cleaned the bath and just decided the paint needed to be freshened a bit. It didn't take long.

I also want to paint the kitchen but I don't know when I'll get started. We have to buy paint for that but I'm going to get the same thing I've used in the rest of the house. It will be a lighter green than this we have in the kitchen now.

Students are moving in the dorms today and tomorrow so the quietness is over. There will be about 17,000 this year. B met with new faculty this morning and is at a luncheon now for the library staff so today is almost like a regular school day.

Bob was so happy to get the picture you sent. He said it filled a gap. He took all that stuff to Chicago with him and worked a lot with it here before they went. He sorts & matches pictures & names and I don't know what all to check out the names.

I sure didn't expect you to send me anything out of the garden. In fact, I never thought about it. Friends gave us a lot of yellow tomatoes and some okra this week. I love the yellow tomatoes but the okra is sort of queer. I'd never cooked it before and it wasn't really too bad but I wouldn't buy it. I fried it. Since we have been getting some rain people's gardens have perked up.

My clubs haven't started yet this fall. There is an all-day meeting next Friday of Quill Club and I hope to go. I haven't gone in so long and we're going to have a covered dish luncheon so it should be fun. I won't have written anything to read but will take some sewing.

I have to give the book review for the opening meeting of Travel Club on Oct. 5 and am having a real struggle getting my book review ready. In the first place, there are other things I want to do and then it is a hard book to do. It is Custer Died for Your Sins -- a book about our American Indians. It is excellent but there is so much in it.

Bob had a letter today from the Med School to come for an interview about a James Scholar. This is just an honor (no money) but if chosen to be one he would get to be choosy about his courses and take extra courses. It gives them a lot of extra advantages. He applied for this last spring.

Bob & Pat had a call from some friends they'd known in Williamsburg and were thrilled to know they were going to live in Chicago. The boy is a chemist but couldn't find a job so is going to work for an airline. I don't know when they'll be moving because they haven't found a place to live yet.

So far, Pat has taught only one full day but had the children a few minutes the first day. The rest of the time has been meetings and just getting the room ready.

I must go clean my paint brush."

               Love,

                   Bonnie