Stone Diaries, The - Carol Shields [89]
Yours, J.
P.S. Hope next Tuesday is still all right.
Bloomington, Indiana, November 14, 1959
Daze—Your lawyer phoned the other day about the Lake Lemon property.
He’s got a buyer interested at last, but only if they bulldoze the pyramid and re-fill the area. Can you let me know how you feel about this. Should we go ahead? Apparently they don’t need Maria’s signature for the sale.
If she ever surfaces, they can work out some sort of compensation.
Love, Fraidy (Mel says hello)
Bloomington, Indiana, December 13, 1959
Daze, Merry Christmas from Mel and me. I passed on your comments to the real estate people, and, no, I don’t think you’re crazy. Why rush into a sale if you don’t need the money, though I probably should warn you that the pyramid seems to have attracted vandals, either that or frost damage. All best wishes in the next decade. Who ever thought I’d become "the little married woman" and you’d be the "career gal." Anyway, it suits you. Beans and I are in agreement on that, if nothing else—you’ve found your metier!
Love ya, Fraidy
Ottawa, April 3, 1960
Dear Mrs. Green Thumb, Wow, you really told it like it is in "Plant Food—Yes or No." My wife and I’ve been bickering over this particular issue for years. So, in gratitude I’m sending you my recipe (attached) for getting the algae off your lily pond (if you have one), and keeping it off! Tell your readers they can buy copper sulphate at any nursery or hardware store.
So long and thanks, Roman Matrewski Ottawa, August 12, 1960
Dear Mrs. Green Thumb, Really enjoyed your dramatic struggle with the ant colony. Also your words of enlightenment on the European leaf beetle. You’ve got a real gift for making a story out of things.
Gratefully yours, Fed-Up-With-Weeds-And-Bugs-in-South-Ottawa Bloomington, Indiana, November 4, 1960
Hi, Just got Alice’s wedding invitation. I’ll be there with bells on.
I’m taking you at your word about bringing "a guest." We’re going to fly instead of taking the train. He’s loaded.
Beans Ottawa, December 15, 1960
Dear Dee, Just talked to Pinky who said he’d be glad to take over the column until your daughter’s wedding is over. I understand these affairs can take a lot of organizing. Pinky’s got some interesting material on ferns which seem to be making a comeback. Let me know if there’s any way I can help out.
Yours, J.
Ottawa, January 22, 1961
My dear Dee, Forgive me, but I must put this in writing. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
J.
Hampstead, England, April 20, 1961
Dear Mother, We’re so happy in this little house. I never dreamed I could be this happy. Even the address sounds like a poem: 1, Brewery Lane.
How about that! I think I’ve been a little crazy all my life and now suddenly I’m not any more. I’m going to stay here forever and have babies and write about Chekhov and keep snug and sane. Thanks for wonderful snaps of Victoria. It makes my heart swell, just thinking of her. Glad to hear you and Beans and Fraidy have decided on Bermuda this year. Ben sends his love along with mine.
Alice Bloomington, Indiana, May 25, 1962
Daze, So glad we could make it for the christening. Alice looked gorgeous—my, she’s mellowed—and Ben Junior is beautiful. (I suppose they’re already back in Hampstead.) And it was nice meeting Jay at last. Yes, you were right, he does have a nice rich, worldly laugh.
Also there’s something endearing about a man who knows all the words to "Ivan Skavinsky Skavar." I couldn’t help being pleased he and Mel had so much in common. Isn’t it bizarre, all of us having beaux at our age, though I guess Mel doesn’t quite qualify as a beau now that he’s a husband. By the way, Beans and Brick are talking wedding bells. Wish I could warm to him, but can’t somehow. What do you think? It isn’t just his name