Note to visitors: I spent far too much time trying to combine my records about the move to Linden Ponds, so phooey -- both versions coming up.
Version One
To: Newton High School classmate Aura Kern Kruger
Subject: LINDEN PONDS
To answer
your question, why did I sign up? I had received a flyer in the
mail, didn't think too much about it until I learned that my old
friend, artist Elizabeth Robinson, was on the Priority List and very
enthusiastic. The first hundred people to sign up would be given their
choice of available apartments. I hastened to get on the list
for $150 un-refundable dollars, joining what the management now calls this
early group: Pioneers. Everything else is refundable, including a couple of down payments amounting to $5000. What I most liked was the management's policy of returning to your family your original payment for your apartment. My duplicate bridge partner had a question about this deal. "Do you mean your investment will be returned when you move?" I said, "Move to heaven, you mean?"
I'm not a
believer in a heaven. What in the world would you DO for eternity? It's
miracle enough to have had the good luck to be born, thanks to a
long line of conceptions in my family tree that had to proceed exactly as they
did in order to make way for me. Not a single hitch such as “No, sorry,
but I have a headache," or “No, "I'm going to be away on a business
trip. Sorry I won't be around to fertilize that particular egg.
I'll do all the fertilizing you want after I get back." These
hitches would have side-tracked my actual ancestral tree and a lot of
other babies would have been born instead. As you may have guessed, Aura,
I marvel at the series of miraculous conceptions that led to the birth of every
one of us. It's a pet subject of mine.
Linden Ponds is in Hingham in the area of the
quarries on Route 53. We are all invited to a ground-breaking ceremony on
October 3rd.
They expect the
complex to be ready by mid-October. We
are promised that the Clubhouse will be open. This includes the Country Store, the Bank
Branch, the library, the Creative Arts Studio, the Restaurants (one with formal service and
one Cafe) Lounges, Classrooms, Card Rooms, the Medical Center, the Pool
and hot tub, the Fitness Complex, etc.
Yes, an Adventure is the word for it. I
picture myself as an octogenarian Eloise. Life will be so easy . .
. one meal a day, included in the monthly service fee, means I'll never ever
have to cook another dinner! Tim's response to my anxiety about the
stress of moving: "What're ya worrying about, Mom, you've got
two strong sons, we'll give you all the help you need."
The arrangement
you have with Jo sounds ideal for you. It's clear that your grandchildren
are a bonus in your life. You have always been adaptable to everything
that comes along in life and apparently don't have my need to hang onto my
privacy as long as I can.
About the
trembling hands: Is this a condition you have at all times or could you
have simply been nervous? Back in the 70s I took lessons in a small room
in the Braintree Duplicate Bridge Club. One night a fellow student
named Jim showed up, and we found we were the only ones there. He said,
"Let's join the game in the big room." WITH THE SHARKS??? My
hands shook for six months before I gained confidence enough to play calmly.
I don't remember Leon's appearance in Newton High School's Pride and Prejudice, but I clearly recall
what a downer it was when illness prevented his playing Puck in A
Midsummer Night's Dream. Your husband-to-be would have been perfect for the
role. I agree that good movies are rare these days, although A Beautiful
Life was one of the best I've ever seen.
One more
coincidence in our lives: The book Kathie will eventually
finish working on is also divided by seasons. Don't be surprised if your working title is changed by your
future editor. My memoir was formerly called Reconcilable
Differences, but the top-notch cover artist the publisher landed said it
was too bad a lively, humorous book had such a dull title. My
editor frantically called me, said she had been trying to think
of different titles all night, and asked me to come up with some
possibilities. The next day I called her back and began reading my list of ideas. When I came to "Take My Ex-Husband," she said, "Wait! Go back to that one."
I consulted Kathie, and between the three of us, we came up with a title we all liked. I thought the cover artist's illustration was inspired, with its tipsy letters suggesting the author's offbeat personality.
Many thanks for the exquisitely embroidered hand
towels; the chapters in which you have done your best writing
are all the gift an editor could ask for. . . .
December 14 2013
My whole apartment reeks of burned Cheese Dreams. I didn’t have a cookie sheet (still in Weymouthport in the stove drawer), so I heated the Sandwich Thins in a heavy saucepan coated with a little olive oil. In minutes the kitchen was smoked up, as well as my clothes and hair.
Opening the heavy sliding picture windows to let some air in was extremely difficult. I had to hook my fingers around their edges and lean my entire 115 pounds backwards. Next came the clean-up of burned cheese cemented to metal. Then came the tasting. I said to myself the famous line by the camper whose buddy, after the guys drew lots, was stuck with the cooking chore: “This tastes like [censored 4-letter word]! But it’s good!”
Footnote: I recommend to everyone
The Outskirts of Hope, a memoir by Aura Kruger' daughter Jo, available on Amazon via Kathie's blog
http://engagingpeace.com
