The morning of Thursday, August 1 started with laundry at 5:10 a.m. That day, I worked at the schoolhouse till 8:50 p.m. on department records. I had to disappoint Penna about working on Saturday when I realized he took time to donate blood on Monday.
Elizabeth told me that Aunt Martha Monroe arrived a day early. Mother Atwater and Aunt Martha came in afternoon on Friday. The baby read the letters of my alphabet song. Dad Atwater complained a lot.
On a more positive note, my mother said she had more orders for her decorated writing paper.
The baby was out while I mowed lawn.
Aunt Martha brought Mother and Dad Atwater up to the pink house in her Oldsmobile on Saturday. I got some Polaroid pictures of the visit. That day, I also picked up some blueberries that Mr. Barnes got for 50 cents.
Bruce Bunker was the minister at the Montgomery Church on Sunday, August 4. The baby was crying, and I told him if he didn’t stop, he couldn’t go for a ride later. He went to sleep. After taking Hester back to Sarah Gillett Home, we stopped at Atwater’s. Dad Atwater gave the baby a somersaulting monkey. I have started saying The Lord’s Prayer with baby at bedtime.
Monday morning, I got walkie talkies in Greenfield that I planned to use to find Bob. That day Wee Wisdom magazine requested my social security number as result of new federal regulation.
I got 14 gladioli from Bessie Sibley on Tuesday to have for Mildred Moore’s birthday. Our pump made a noise and flashed blue light that day, so I phoned Ted Hendrick to get new parts and to order repair work.
On Wednesday I tested the new walkie talkie as I headed south on the road. I discovered that it faded at about center of Mt. Tom. The repair department at Sarat’s tightened the fan belt in the car, which stopped the noise that happened when starting it. When I got home, I took a bath in the brook.
At the laundry on Thursday morning, one of the machines was out of order, so I had to move my load to another one to finish the rinse cycle. I took another bath in brook.
I stopped by the Westfield post office, went to the bank and picked up groceries after work. When I got home, Charlie Peckham was mowing the Barnes’s field to the north of schoolhouse.
On Saturday, I dressed to get some sun and walked with Uncle Ralph to the Holcomb Hill fire tower. It was a clear day with a stiff breeze. When we got back, Uncle Ralph woke the baby, who then followed me while I mowed.
The church music went well on Sunday, and I was able to read the baby to sleep by 12:20 p.m. I left a note about the kitchen faucets with Ted Hendrick in Southampton.
I took the S237 Rambler to the Bernardston garage on Monday to have its radiator flushed. Tuesday was spent mostly looking for people. In the evening I worked on state records at schoolhouse.
Cullinan’s party had a piece fall off the shift linkage of their car on Wednesday. That day Hester visited Maud Raymond. She had come twice before and found no one home. She said that Maud’s $75-per-month apartment was very nice.
At 5:10 a.m. on Thursday morning, I thought how glad I was to hear the baby move and know he was there. I got home from Greenfield at 6:20 p.m. and was too tired to work any more. Elizabeth fell asleep in the baby’s room. She woke in dark and didn’t know where she was.
Friday I found a $25 check from Unity for my alphabet song waiting at the Westfield post office. I took the baby for a short evening walk to find flowers he could recognize and name.
I ironed two shirts and pants after doing early-morning laundry on Saturday. At 11:30, Uncle Ralph came up and the baby kept saying. “Want Uncle Ralph to go.” I got a massager for my back.
Robert Berkey was the minister on Sunday, August 19. He gave a sermon on spiritual blindness. Afterwards, Marion Shaw sent blueberry peach jam to Elizabeth. The baby is getting new large teeth. After taking Hester back to Westfield, we stopped at the Atwater’s for half an hour so Elizabeth could take a bath.
After supper on Monday, we went to the Camp’s place to leave $2 for the Cushman anniversary, but we did not find Frona. Then the baby accidentally blew the car horn and she came out from the garden. She insisted on giving us beans, corn and squash. We got Dad Atwater a subscription to Readers Digest for Christmas.
While the state DPW was removing private signs from highway property, they took down a sign for the Agawam Baptist Church. Then they lost it and had to replace it. I took plywood to Jim Constantino to paint it.
The Atwaters came to visit on Wednesday. Dad Atwater said he was unwell and kept taking his temperature, but it never exceeded 99 degrees.
Ted Hendrick worked on pump on Thursday. He left it so we could control it by unscrewing the fuse. The baby was getting into things. Elizabeth gave him a radio to play with, but I took it away. Elizabeth complained. I said “Goodnight” and walked up Herrick Road till my head stopped throbbing. The Atwaters brought blueberry crisp in the evening.
On Friday morning, Ted came back and he and his son repaired pump motor and replaced kitchen faucets. I sent him a check for $29 in addition to the $75 paid yesterday. The Atwaters brought Elizabeth lamb chops.
On Saturday, Elizabeth mentioned that she felt badly because she could not do more for her folks. The Atwaters came up at 4:30 p.m. Then I took Elizabeth and the baby to Westfield for a short call on the Sanfords. The baby was well behaved.
Dean Fern, the chaplain at Mount Holyoke College, gave sermon at church. The music went well. Elizabeth had daisy ham for dinner.
Monday, August 26 was a busy day at work, and I arrived home at 5:20 with a backache. I slept on couch till 9:30 and then to bed. Elizabeth’s parents visited her in the evening.
After work on Tuesday, I walked out with the baby. We found jewel weed beside road and I showed him how the seed pods will explode if you squeeze them.
On Wednesday afternoon, I phoned Elizabeth from Northampton and she told me that the Atwaters had just arrived with corn. The baby could ride his tricycle quite well. After work I took a bath in the tub, then danced with the baby to music on the radio.
Phil Grout and Frank Hoey went to Westfield on Friday about the turnpike entrance from Route 10. I mowed the lawn in evening. Two more kittens appeared in wellhouse.
August 1963 ended with morning laundry and a trip to the dump. I got groceries at the A&P and filled the pump reservoir three times with the brook pump. Elizabeth told me the sun was scheduled to set at 6:35 p.m., but it was still several degrees above mountain then, so the schedule she saw must have been computed for a different longitude.
