David’s Diary – 23 April 1971

Friday, 23 April 1971

Can’t remember what time I got out of bed—after Θ. Shaved, had breakfast. My main concern for the day was to get my sermon finished. I got down to St. Mary’s, and devoted my time to the sermon. I was finished with the rough draft by about 11:30. Came on home, after stopping at Riverdales for bread. Ate when I got home. After lunch I set about fixing the door to Debbie’s room—bottom section had to be glued back on. Bonnie left for work, then I remounted the shade in Debbie’s room. The window isn’t finished yet, but the shade is needed. Then Debbie went down for a nap, and so did I. About 2:30 I got up, worked on the sermon for the balance of the afternoon—also put together a squash pie—I finished the sermon about 4:45. After Bonnie got home Debbie and I went outside. She had been asleep all afternoon. I set to work turning over the soil in the garden plot out in the yard—worked at this for a while. Got almost ¾ done on the larger plot. Debbie and I also played on the swings for a while. About 6:45 the Burtons arrived. We had supper, visited—it’s been over a year since they were up here, and they’re moving to Colorado in June. Larry brought me some Fritz Wunderlich records which I asked him to buy for me in Boston. So we listened to those, played with Debbie for a while. Spent a good amount of time recalling BU and church relationships. OBLO c. 12:05.

Saturday, 24 April 1971

[Top panel: took pictures of Burtons, harbor from headlands]

Up about 9:20. We had breakfast, after which I shaved. It was a glorious day—warm, sunny—so we all went for a walk. We showed the Burtons the church—took a picture on the steps—then we walked down to St. Mary’s; I gave them a tour of it, too. From there we walked down to T-wharf—and out to the headlands. We headed home about noon. We parted from the Burtons in Dock Square. They wanted to walk down the Neck—and we were weary, especially Debbie, for whom it was proving to be a long walk indeed. When we got home Debbie had lunch, then went down for a nap. We relaxed, had lunch on the table when Larry + Mary Kay returned. After eating we had to prepare for going to the garden. Among other things this meant getting Debbie up out of a very sound sleep. We got to the garden about 2:15—the Burtons drove up too, just to see it—but then they left for Boston. It will probably be many years before we see them again. Then it was work. I took one of the roto-tillers, and didn’t let go for a full two hours—no breaks. About 4:20 I finally shut it off—joined the party for refreshments. We picked up Debbie at the Lewis’—where she had gone for a nap—but didn’t take one. We got home shortly after 5:00. I went to Gloucester for Kentucky Fried Chicken—since we were too weary to cook. Then flopped after eating—watched NBC news. Spent the balance of the evening working on service; made brief trip to the church; practiced sermon. Listened to music; bathed, read in bed. LO. 11:30.

Sunday, 25 April 1971

Up shortly before 8:30—we lost an hour due to the time change. Shaved, had breakfast. 3 showed up for my class. We began the story of Joseph. Got to the church about 10:40. Medium sized crowd. Preached on “A Formula for Coping.” Bonnie taught Sunday School today—as for the next few weeks—so she’s not in church. I was home by 1:15—got lunch going. I tried to read a while after eating, but was too weary. Napped, Θ. Got up about 3:45–4:00 —read for a while, then went down to the Universalist Church. They were having a 4:00–6:00 o’clock “tea” —in celebration of their 150^th anniversary. It proved to be a negative experience for me—not that there was anything wrong with the tea itself—rather the conversation that I had—with Ernie Bailey, the Baptist minister. I had been given the task of approaching him regarding participation in the Joint Church Committee—the group trying to find out how local churches can cooperate. He’s a great ecumenist, but he has the theory that the Cape Ann area is the smallest viable unit for ecumenical work, and thus he doesn’t want to participate in strictly Rockport ecumenical effort. It’s a stupid theory. In any case his reaction was wholly negative—and I found the whole conversation very irritating and annoying. After I got home I relaxed, we had a late supper, then I spent most of the evening until 10:00 working on reading—Gray’s The Canaanites—snacked, wrote my weekly letter to Mrs. Myers (copy to folks)—puttered at this and that. no bath, read in bed briefly. LO 12:20.