Monday, 9 November 1970

Up about 9:30. Had breakfast, shaved. The first item of business was to get my article written for the Eagle. Then after the mail arrived, I went over to the Eagle office. From there I went to the Town Clerk’s office to find out the procedure for getting an article in the town warrant re: funds for Project NUVA—came home, conferred with Jack Roberts on the phone. It was then about noontime, so I helped with lunch—i.e., I got it Bonnie still feeling lousy—she’s got cold, cough, sore throat—plus nausea. After eating, I took Debbie with me down to Tucks—we for prescriptions filled for cough med + nausea pills. I relaxed briefly after getting back, then at 2:00 Hazel Brady arrived; we then picked up the Ornes, drove to First Methodist Church in Melrose—got there shortly after 3:00—Bishops Day on the District. This was over about 5:00—the Bishop talked a long while, then answered questions. Got home about 6:00. Had supper—Bonnie had eaten before I arrived. Watched CBS news—had to clean up the dishes. My evening was spent on desk work and getting Debbie to bed. About 10 o’clock I went over to Busseys to get their vaporizer—for Bonnie. We had a snack when I got home; Bonnie went to bed, I read the newspaper; OBLO c. midnight.

Tuesday, 10 November 1970

Up about 9:00. Had breakfast. Today it was hard to get going—I was scheduled to begin study again on the Qualifying Exam—but I lacked ambition. When the mail was delivered I read I.F. Stone’s Bi-Weekly. The mail man also brought Vol II of R. H. Charles Apocrypha + Pseudepigrapha—I ordered both volumes—the other one will probably arrive soon—they came from Blackwell’s in Oxford. Bonnie did some work in the early morning, then rested the latter part. We fixed lunch around noon—the news carried the report of the death of Charles deGaulle. Bonnie was feeling well enough to go to work—after she left Debbie went down for a nap—I napped briefly too. Then finally I turned to studying—although it was hard to keep at it. Late in the afternoon I turned to work on supper—and Bonnie got home early. We ate about 6:00—watched CBS news. About 7:30 the Administrative Board arrived—i.e., 7 of them—nothing unusual or dramatic happened. Jean Crowell reported the dollar figure on the Fund for Reconciliation—$1571.50 has been collected, i.e., about 58½% and the half-way point chronologically won’t be reached for about 4 or 5 months yet. The meeting was over about 9:00; after everyone had left we relaxed, then I turned again to studying for a short while; bathed; relaxed; OBLO 12:07.

Wednesday, 11 November 1970

A rather non-productive day—up about 9:30—did a little studying in the morning, but for the most part greatly bothered by lethargy. We had lunch about noon. Then early in the afternoon we went over to Gloucester—one of Bonnie’s colleagues at work has a humidifier he wants to sell, and Bonnie would like one—to help her avoid sore throats. So we went to his home, picked it up—spent some time talking about and looking at his aquariums. We then came on home—a huge fire was burning out of control several blocks away—we could see the huge column of smoke. When we got home we were all exhausted—so we celebrated the holiday by sleeping—sacked out until about 5:00! Then I fixed supper—since Bonnie thought she’d get nauseated if she tried to. After supper we relaxed, watched CBS news—Storefront Lawyers. [1] Then I got to studying; I’m working on Deuteronomy. I have selected 6 or 7 areas of OT study to concentrate on in the next few weeks, preparing for retaking the exam: Deut; Pentateuchal criticism; Daniel; prophets; Ezra-Neh; Psalms; Qumran. I kept to studying—except for coffee break until about 11:00; then I made out orders to Cokesbury + Whittemores—my Christmas shopping; bathed about 12:30. relaxed, read, OBLO 1:22.

Thursday, 12 November 1970

Didn’t get up til about 9:30—after Θ. Shaved the first thing—2 days worth, then had breakfast. Slowly proceeded to studying—after going to the post office to mail my orders to Cokesbury and Whittemores. The mail man brought vol I of Charles Apocrypha + Pseudepigrapha—vol II had arrived on Tuesday. I went through all the mail, and went about putting my bookplates in the Charles volumes—also wrote a check to Blackwells. We had lunch, then I did some photographing of the Charles set—took 3 slides to incorporate into my Dead Sea Scroll talk. Then Debbie and I went out shopping. Bonnie was exhausted—needed a nap—so I decided to get Debbie out of the house. We went to Mals, then to Stop + Shop. Came home, put the groceries away, then Debbie and I went up to see Rip Hannibal. When we got back from there I tried to get back to reading, but there were distractions. About 5:15 I went down to Richdales for bread + milk. At 5:45 Dick Bamforth picked me up—we went over to Gloucester to the Gonzaga retreat center on Easter Point [2]—a dinner for Protestant Clergy. We had to leave the discussion early—about 7:30—when I arrived home Bonnie went to a Sund.ay School Teacher meeting—I watched TV, we had a snack when she got home—then I read. OBLO  c. 11 o’clock.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storefront_Lawyers

[2] Named after St. Aloysius Gonzaga: https://easternpoint.org/?page_id=792

David’s Diary, November 12, 1970

©2017 copyright owned and transcribed by David Madison and Deborah Sweeney
Post originally found: https://genealogylady.net/2017/11/04/davids-diary-november-9-1970/