March 3, 1973 The Special Birthday, The Sluggish Circulation, The Book Club, The Strange Quilt Top and The Beauty Shop

Dear Mother,

"Thanks for the nice birthday check and card. B's mom sent me one too so I'll use them both for something special. My birthday has been special. I had so many cards and letters. Bob & Patty gave me a coffee server like my everyday dishes and I've wanted that for years.

Ann & Bob sent me a beautiful piece of Danish pottery. There is a Denmark shop in Springfield that has all sorts of pretty things. They love to go there just to look and when the store gets anything new they call the kids to come and see it.

I'm sorry your feet and legs are bothering you. You probably sit too much and the circulation gets too sluggish. Try propping your feet up every time you sit down to work on your quilts or read. You might soak your feet in hot water to speed up the circulation and wiggle your toes & ankles when you have your shoes off. Maybe the weather will soon be nice enough for you to get out.

Then you should walk a little every day. That's hard to do but I think it would help even if you just walked a little. I can hardly wait until I can get in the yard. My body is so stiff & lazy from so much sitting.

I joined another book club but haven't started getting books yet. They always have so many I don't want. This is Literary Guild and I've never used it before so don't know how I'll like it. The first book is Law and Order and I sure don't want that.

We're having rainy, foggy weather but the temperature is getting mild at last.

I'm going to the beauty shop in a few minutes to get my hair cut. It's getting hard to manage and I hope a haircut will make the permanent last a little longer.

I started that quilt top you couldn't do. Ann's afghan is too hard to carry around or to work on while people are talking so I had to have something to take with me. I can see why you didn't want to try to do the quilt. It was a real puzzle to figure out the colors and it is the oddest looking color combination I ever saw. Maybe it will be pretty when it's done but it is strange now. And I bought just what the pattern called for. Time will tell.

It's about time for me to get to the beauty shop. Hope you are fine."

                 Love,

                    Bonnie

NOTE: If you're curious about the author of Law and Order, Dorothy Uhnak, read about her career experiences in law enforcement and resulting novels here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/12/arts/12uhnak.html