Friday, 21 August 1970

Up about 9:00. Had breakfast, then got to work reading—Frost OT Apocalyptic. About 10:30 or so I heard Eddie outside with the kids—he and Mora had arrived from NYC about 12:30 last night. I visited with him—also with Dave Herlihy for a while—then got back to reading about 11:30. We had lunch about 12:15—Bonnie left for work, Debbie settled down for a nap. I read for a while, then napped. At 2:00 Eddie was at the front door, he gave us some mackerel—which he cleaned for us. Just as he left the mail man arrived—just about 3 hours late! He brought slides and a movie—mainly of Debbie’s birthday. I finished reading—arrived at my stopping point—then the rest of the afternoon tried to make headway on my sermon, but without much luck—got about ¼ done. Fixed supper, we ate about 6:00—watched CBS news. In the early evening we played with Debbie—had a wild time. For the second time we tried to teach her to twiddle her thumbs—she seems very intrigued with the whole idea. I got to reading about 8:00—about 8:45 we viewed slides, had a snack. Bonnie was exhausted, went to bed, so I had quiet to read, which I did for the rest of the evening; bathed shortly before 12:00. Read finished Frost; OBLO c. 12:30.

Saturday, 22 August 1970

[Top panel: took two pictures: spider + tomato patch]

Up at 9:00—after Θ. I had hoped to get a lot of progress made on the sermon, but I didn’t have much luck. The kids were outside much of the time, and Bonnie began clipping the hedge—by late morning I was getting very frustrated and annoyed. Got a call from Amelia Fisk that some boys were seen stealing corn, so she advised us to pick what we wanted. About 11:30 I drove over to the Lewis’s—to show them photos of the banners, and to go from there to the garden; they gave us some pears. I went to the garden, brought them some corn, then headed home. We had lunch, I shaved, with close attention of Debbie! then did some calling: went to see Lucy Patience—took her some vegetables. Homer Orne came in while I was there; then I came home, drove up to see Hannibals. Returned home briefly, then I drove to Gloucester—got some groceries. When I got home, Bonnie had taken Debbie for a walk. I turned to the sermon, but got only a few sentences done when they returned. We fixed supper. After supper had a phone conversation with Sarah Orne re: the $5.00 charge for Sunday School—she doesn’t like it. My whole evening was devoted to finishing the sermon + preparing the service. I finished it all up about 11:45. Bathed; OBLO, 12:30.

Sunday, 23 August 1970

Up at 8:30. Had breakfast, shaved—left for the church about 9:30—raining—it rained almost all day, heavy at times; only 10 in the congregation—5 in the choir. Mrs. Hannibal was there, for the first time since I’ve been the pastor here; perhaps Rip will be coming soon. When we got home we fixed lunch. Then I decided to nap—I “should” have pushed myself to read, but I decided to take a day off from that. So the mid-part of the afternoon I spent napping. About 4:00 I got up—discovered that Bonnie had been doing some baking. I puttered around; I numbered and catalogued the box of slides which came recently. About 5:30 when we were preparing for supper the Lewises dropped by to pick up some things that Carol had left here. Then during supper David Herlihy came to the door—very elated—he has been discharged from the Navy, without having to do his 2-year service—they just aren’t needing as many men. He stayed while we finished supper—after he left I relaxed, listened to the Boston Pops. 7:30-8:00—I trimmed the forsythia bushes which Bonnie had started on yesterday—very wet. We spent from about 8:15–11:00 at the Patriquins—showing our slides and movies and snaps, and watching TV. Came home, bathed; read a while in bed; LO, 12:10.

Monday, 24 August 1970

Up about 8 (?)—after Θ. Had breakfast, but I wasn’t feeling up to doing anything—so I sunk back into bed for a few minutes. But then I got up and got to work on my reading—started Bentzen’s Intro to OT, Vol. I. I worked in this til about 10:00. Then I did my article for the Eagle, drove over to their office as usual. From there I went to the garden to check on tomatoes—I picked several from the plants that came up on their own—many were ripe and on the ground. Came home, got back to reading until about 12:15; Bonnie and I had lunch, Debbie was asleep. Bonnie left for work, I read. About 2:00 Debbie woke up. I gave her some lunch; I put together the turkey salad for supper. Then I put her up in her rooms. I returned to reading. For a brief while I napped, then read some more. When Bonnie got home I worked on supper. We ate, watched CBS news. Early in the evening I continued with the reading. Then about 8:40 Mora came over to sit with Debbie and to do her laundry—we went to the show at the Little Arts Cinema: The Sterile Cuckoo—a good film—funny, yet sad. Got home shortly after 11:00; had a piece of pie with Mora, visited; I got a little more reading done; bathed together; OBLO c. 12:40.

David’s Diary – August 24, 1970

©2017 copyright owned and transcribed by David Madison and Deborah Sweeney
Post originally found: https://genealogylady.net/2017/10/02/davids-diary-august-21-1970/