Friday, June 26, 2015

July 20, 1969 The Real Nice Time, The Moon Landing, The Real Zing, The Bucket of Apricots and The Pretty Stones


Dear Mother & Daddy,

"It seems like a long time since we were home but our short visit was nice. We met Ann & her friends at the church. She had ordered fried chicken from a drive-in so we picked that up and went to the house where she lives. She & Mrs. Happy had made potato salad and Mrs. Happy went with us to the park to eat. We had a real nice time together but came on home from the park.


We listened to the radio and got home in time to see the moon landing. I just had to watch that & turned the TV on the minute we got up Monday morning.


I'm thankful the men are back home again and still find it hard to believe that they really went to the moon.

I finally got around to the applesauce & other stuff. I poured off the thick blackberry pulp & made one batch of jam. Then I strained the rest & made a batch of jelly. The plum juice had a real zing to it when I opened it. It tasted all right so I made jelly and it did some powerful foaming in the pan but it made beautiful jelly & it is real good. One more day though, and I'd have had plum wine going.

Before I got all of that done, Miriam brought me a bucket of apricots so I had to do them. I just cooked them & ran them through the colander & then froze the pulp. I can make jam this winter. I forgot to say I made a batch of bread & butter pickles.


We're still feasting on the vegetables we brought home. I creamed the potatoes & they are just delicious. The little cantaloupes are good, too.

I took the stones to the diamond expert and he studied them a long time thru his glass. He seemed uncertain but finally said he believed they were just glass. He suggested we put them in some mountings & enjoy them as most people do who find things like that. He had me look thru the microscope & told me what he was looking for and why he thinks they are not genuine. He did say that he could tell me more certain if they were diamonds because he knows more about them. He showed me two rings which were genuine stones and we compared them with these stones. The sapphire (blue) was a different shade of blue but the ruby was the same color as the stones. We are going to have someone else look at them when we get around to it. Anyway, they are very pretty stones.

It is too hot for Daddy to be working in the shop so wait awhile on my bookcase. Maybe I can still locate some walnut and then will check the measurements again.


I hope you can make out the quilt patterns. I copied the directions out of a book & the dotted lines show the quilting. It probably would have to be pieced by hand. It is supposed to be tricky to piece because of the curved seams. Do a block or two out of scraps and see how pretty it is.


We're going to a wedding afterwhile so I'd better get lunch fixed.

Hope you both are fine."

                        Love,

                            Bonnie

NOTE:  My grandfather repaired clocks and watches for people, and was paid in "precious" stones by a Dutch man for repairing his watch sometime in the late 1950s.  I believe these are the stones Mom is referring to in this letter. Many of them were determined to be rhinestones, but there were also several rubies and garnets. Over the years, Mom had many pieces of jewelry made with those stones, both the genuine and the others. The remaining tiny stones, are pictured.






4 comments:

  1. I remember the moon landings very clearly. I watched all I could on the TV and found the whole event and all the following missions fascinating.

    I had to smile at your entry this time when Bonnie says : "I'm thankful the men are back home again and still find it hard to believe that they really went to the moon" and then goes straight on with: "I finally got around to the applesauce & other stuff." Priceless!!

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  2. Haha! Yes, that's Mom:-) Straight to the point, whatever it might be! Thanks very much for your comments. I'm glad to see you're back and hope you're doing well!

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  3. Great post Ann! As David Bennett mentioned, I love Bonnie's delivery of story. Always on task and to the point!
    The stones are beautiful!

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    1. Thank you, Pam! You are so thoughtful to comment and as always I appreciate it. I will be sure to let you know the fate of the stones!

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I welcome your comments!