Haddock and Dill: May 15, 1966 The Little Watch, The Ruined Gardens, The Bug and The Good Meeting

Dear Mother & Daddy,

"We are glad you liked the little watch and hope it will run a long time. Last Sunday was sort of a strange Mother's Day for us because we hardly saw the kids. Two of the girls in B's office are leaving so we went to a dinner for them at the country club at noon. Then in the afternoon I had to help with a tea for some faculty people. We were supposed to go to a program at school in the evening but we just stayed at home.

B and some others had a meeting in Chicago on Monday so another wife and I went along for fun. It was blue cold but we didn't stay out much and just shopped around in the department stores. We didn't buy anything except shirts for our kids. They have 3 children. It was fun to look around and we were home before 6:00.

It seems that I complain about the weather in every letter but this has been the most miserable week. There was snow on the ground Monday morning and it has rained almost everyday since. The sun was out yesterday but it was cold. The peonies seem all right but everything else is ruined. The iris and day lilies are a mess and the pink locust looks as if it's dead. There won't be much fruit either and some people's gardens were just ruined. I'm glad I didn't get those petunias out.

The children are all right again except they sound terrible when they cough. B has been taking pills to ward off the bug and seemed fine this morning. He left for Baltimore about an hour ago and will be gone until Friday. A student drove him to Chicago and he'll fly by jet the rest of the way--be there in 1½ hrs. from Chicago. It's an all expense paid trip and 90 colleges will be talking over their problems. It should be a good meeting.

School is just about over. Ann and I went downtown yesterday and got the makings for her class night dress. It is dotted swiss (pink). She got white shoes. We took Bob down Friday night and got a sport coat and slacks. I thought he should have a suit but he simply wouldn't have it. He liked what he got so I guess that's what counts.

Well, I stopped to get lunch and now it's raining again. We called a man to come to fix the roof but of course he didn't come.

B was supposed to be on a color TV show from Chicago this morning at 9:00 but we forgot it until it was too late. Once in a while we can get Chicago but it wouldn't be color on our set. This was the show they made a few weeks ago.