Daze — you’re going to kill me, but I can’t make Florida in Feb.
Guess why — I’m getting married. Yep, married! Hope you’re still standing up and breathing. Beans says I’ve misplaced my brains, but I think you’ll like Mel. He’s a lab instructor, divorced, nice hair, sings baritone in a barber shop quartet, that says it all. So instead of soaking up the sun in Florida, why don’t you get yourself down here to Indiana for the wedding. It’s gonna be a five-minute quickie in court, no fancy dress, but the biggest party you ever saw afterwards.
Buckets of champagne. Oceans.
Love, Fraidy
Bloomington, Indiana, January 17, 1958
Just a scribble. You’ve just gotta come for THE WEDDING, and then we two old maids (toi et moi) can head down south for a week in Florida. (Fraidy says you’ve got over your fear of airplanes.) I need some gee-dee sunshine. Hope Mel works out for Fraidy, he’s sweet but has already had TWO divorces!!!
Beans Ottawa, March 4, 1958
Dear D., Wonderful piece on palms, “The Mystery Tree,” and we’ve had a great response to Pinky’s drawings too.
Wondered if you would care to see a performance of Tea and Sympathy. I’ve been given two tickets for March 15th.
J.
Ottawa, June 2, 1958
Dear Mrs. Green Thumb, Your tribute to geraniums touched the middle of my heart. These sturdy, stout-hearted darlings have kept me company for the fifty years of my married life, sitting on the window sill and cheering me on while I peeled the supper spuds. My hubby was one of those who could not conceive of supper without potatoes on the plate. Well, now I’m in what they call a retirement home, Sunset Manor if you can believe it, so no more paring knife duty, but I still have my window sill full of bright little beauties. Like you, I like to rub the dead flowers between my fingers and smell the fragrance, only I never told anyone I did such a thing, it sounded so crazy.
Sincerely, Mrs. Alice W. Keefer
Ottawa, April 27, 1959
Dear Dee, Thank you so much for inviting me to Easter dinner. What a handsome family you’re blessed with: Alice with that cloud of red hair, shy Warren, sweet Joan, and your niece Beverly and little Victoria. I had almost forgotten the pleasure of sitting down with a real family for a holiday meal — and a splendid meal it was! And please don’t think I was embarrassed about Alice demanding to “look me over.”
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 and those godawful neckties is it? Maybe it’s the way he sneers at the Kennedys. Maybe it’s that Sigma Chi ring. Maybe it’s everything.
Love, Fraidy
Ottawa, June 6, 1963
Dear Mrs. Green Thumb I agree absolutely that peonies are beautiful but stupid. The dumbest thing about them is the way they resent being moved — which is why my husband and I welcomed your suggestions last week. Many thanks. You’re the greatest.
Audrey LaRoche (Mrs.)
Ottawa, August 15, 1963
Dear Mrs. Green Thumb, Your piece on hollyhocks was terrif. I liked the part about their “frilled dirndl skirts,” and their “shy fuzzy stems.” I haven’t had hollyhocks in the yard for years, but after reading your column I ran straight out and bought a bunch of seeds, even though it’s too late for this year.
Thanks a bunch, Lydia Nygaard Ottawa, November 25, 1963
Dearest Dee, Couldn’t reach you by phone, hence this quick note. Most of the Sports and Home section will be cancelled next week because of the Kennedy coverage — so we’ll be using your rock garden piece the following week. What a world this is, everything falling to pieces.