She went looking for some paperwork which, sadly, has been disposed of but she did find papers which caused her to sit for a while, they were letters written to and letters received from four dear friends.
How does she have the letters that she wrote to friends? Simples.. these letters are so old that they date to when she and a lot of her friends had fax machines and she wishes people still had them, for it is much quicker to write a letter and fax it than having to wake your computer up, type the email and then send it.
So she sat and read letters from Moley.. dating from November 1994. From Edgar, his are hand written and were sent by mail, the first is dated 1991, faxed letters to and from Carolyn in NYC date from the early 1990's and from George to her also in the early '90s.
These friends wrote long letters.. not just a scribbled note, no, they were friends who communicated in the truest sense of the word and she was suddenly struck by the fact that none of her friends write letters these days. Bill wrote but only on postcards, he was idle and preferred the telephone, so there is nothing of his to read.
They've all gone. Edgar died October 30th, 1997. Bill died October 30th, 2003. George died in 2010 she doesn't know the date and Moley died October 30th, 2012. (I know, very creepy, three beloveds all dying on the same day!)
These four friends were all slightly larger than life, so there letters were FULL of information, news and of what was happening to mutual friends and 'stuff'.. she sat on the bed quietly when she had put the file away in the cupboard and mourned them, she mourned the loss of them in her life and the life that she had those twenty odd years ago. She misses them all greatly.
She knows she is not so gregarious as she used to be but she mourns her health, for even if her Gastro team gave her written clearance and permission to fly any long distance, the thought of what agony her knees would be in if she had to sit in an airline seat, is enough to make her not even think of flying to NYC, let alone a thirteen hour flight to California.
Oi vey..
So she gave herself a little mental shake, ran a deep hot bath with deliciously smelly bath oils and soaked in it for the longest while, then washed her hair, blew it dry, put a load of washing on, made a huge pot of hummus with chickpeas that she had soaked over night and that had simmered gently for an hour and a half, steamed a large pan of beets, carrots, broccoli and kale and we retired to bed to have an early supper.
Slurp.. I have never had warm hummus before! How delicious it was, she told me not to expect it every day.. how sad, I thought to myself, for it was particularly slurpicious.
They, the weather forecasters say we are in for a hot week! Huh! I'll believe when I see or feel it! She has work to do at the allotment, for February and March are the time that you prune apple and pear trees and she needs to do a lot of that out there. So, if it is hot then she'll take me and we will go early in the morning for the whole day, if it is not, I'll be a 'grass daughter' and be home alone whilst she goes for about three or four hours.
We will see what the week brings, tomorrow she is off to a Farmer's Market and to the library to change books.. she read 'The Girl on a Train yesterday' but wasn't overly impressed. Tonight she has a thriller 'No Safe House' by Linwood Barclay to read. He writes well and you don't see the end coming.
But she has to do the washing up and hang the washing up to dry up before we can settle down with this book.. so pip pip. Enjoy your evening.
GeeGee Parrot.
February 18th, 2017.
How does she have the letters that she wrote to friends? Simples.. these letters are so old that they date to when she and a lot of her friends had fax machines and she wishes people still had them, for it is much quicker to write a letter and fax it than having to wake your computer up, type the email and then send it.
So she sat and read letters from Moley.. dating from November 1994. From Edgar, his are hand written and were sent by mail, the first is dated 1991, faxed letters to and from Carolyn in NYC date from the early 1990's and from George to her also in the early '90s.
These friends wrote long letters.. not just a scribbled note, no, they were friends who communicated in the truest sense of the word and she was suddenly struck by the fact that none of her friends write letters these days. Bill wrote but only on postcards, he was idle and preferred the telephone, so there is nothing of his to read.
They've all gone. Edgar died October 30th, 1997. Bill died October 30th, 2003. George died in 2010 she doesn't know the date and Moley died October 30th, 2012. (I know, very creepy, three beloveds all dying on the same day!)
These four friends were all slightly larger than life, so there letters were FULL of information, news and of what was happening to mutual friends and 'stuff'.. she sat on the bed quietly when she had put the file away in the cupboard and mourned them, she mourned the loss of them in her life and the life that she had those twenty odd years ago. She misses them all greatly.
She knows she is not so gregarious as she used to be but she mourns her health, for even if her Gastro team gave her written clearance and permission to fly any long distance, the thought of what agony her knees would be in if she had to sit in an airline seat, is enough to make her not even think of flying to NYC, let alone a thirteen hour flight to California.
Oi vey..
So she gave herself a little mental shake, ran a deep hot bath with deliciously smelly bath oils and soaked in it for the longest while, then washed her hair, blew it dry, put a load of washing on, made a huge pot of hummus with chickpeas that she had soaked over night and that had simmered gently for an hour and a half, steamed a large pan of beets, carrots, broccoli and kale and we retired to bed to have an early supper.
Slurp.. I have never had warm hummus before! How delicious it was, she told me not to expect it every day.. how sad, I thought to myself, for it was particularly slurpicious.
They, the weather forecasters say we are in for a hot week! Huh! I'll believe when I see or feel it! She has work to do at the allotment, for February and March are the time that you prune apple and pear trees and she needs to do a lot of that out there. So, if it is hot then she'll take me and we will go early in the morning for the whole day, if it is not, I'll be a 'grass daughter' and be home alone whilst she goes for about three or four hours.
We will see what the week brings, tomorrow she is off to a Farmer's Market and to the library to change books.. she read 'The Girl on a Train yesterday' but wasn't overly impressed. Tonight she has a thriller 'No Safe House' by Linwood Barclay to read. He writes well and you don't see the end coming.
But she has to do the washing up and hang the washing up to dry up before we can settle down with this book.. so pip pip. Enjoy your evening.
GeeGee Parrot.
February 18th, 2017.
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