An Active Day

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Hi everyone,

Bernice had an active day today. She spent about three hours of the afternoon with two old friends. Phe is on the left and Annie on the right with darling Bernice smiling between. In 1957 or so Phe and Bernice were part of a cooperative nursery school that was quartered in the old stone Methodist Church of Sea Cliff's basement. A group of moms got together and hired a professional teacher and volunteered their time to serve as aides in a nursery school they formed. They worked out a schedule so each of them worked as an aide part of each week but had time off to get other things done. All contributed modest amounts of money to finance the venture compared to the cost of a regular nursery school. The church building now houses the Sea Cliff Library and town offices. Our son Arthur and Phe's son Ed, both now 57, were happy members of the nursery school. Phe and husband Ed were our regular companions as theater and concert goers for decades. Annie, who now lives far out east on Long Island, and made the long trip in to visit Bernice, has a son Pete who was our son Harvey's best friend in his childhood. Pete is now a farmer in Pennsylvania but he and Harvey still maintain their contact. Phe brought along a spinach pie and part of this was Bernice's dinner tonight. Annie came with a large tin of cookies she baked herself — oatmeal raisin, peanut butter, and (my favorite) butter crunch with a drizzle of chocolate. Bernice was energized by their company. From my study downstairs I could overhear a continual female chatter mixed with much laughter.

In the morning Bernice and Laury pushed ahead for two hours on their Measure for Measure edition. I no longer ask when their work will be complete. I know the notes for the last scene are finished but now there are performance notes to consider. They do enjoy themselves.

At mid-day we had mixed results with our iChat with friends in France. Knowing her stamina for sitting before her computer is limited, Bernice asked me to start downstairs with my computer and i did this by chatting with Raymond. For some reason when we then tried to continue from her computer upstairs, we were unable to establish a connection. After my lunch I was able to connect successfully from my computer but, by that time, Bernice's girl friends had arrived so I carried on myself. Our talks are very satisfying.

In the early morning I spent some time shopping. I am accustomed to shopping together with Bernice who has her list and seems able to find everything. My major responsibilities are pushing the cart, lifting heavy items, and unloading when we arrive home. I now sometimes find the mere search for the correct item is a struggle. A cell phone call to Bernice is sometimes required but today I managed to avoid that. I look forward to Bernice's companionship in every realm including the aisles of the supermarket.

Good night all,
Merwin