What I'm Learning . . .

. . . In Mother's Diaries

Looking for ideas for my nightly blogs, I have turned to reading random year diaries kept by my SWEET departed mother. Tonight I yanked 1938 off the shelf and I am at this minute finding out things about myself that I don't remember or never even knew.

I don't plan on recounting every day through the year but I just opened to January 2 and found that I was sitting in front of the Atwater Kent with Eddie Reilly intently listening to "The Shadow Knows."

On January 14 there was a blizzard and I was busy shoveling snow when I had a better idea. I built a snowplow, Mom's diary says. I haven't the fogiest idea what it looked like.

Came March 5th and the snow was melted so I got busy building my camp and office from the old henhouse in the backyard. Worked on the roof. And my new telescope came in the mail on April 11 and I spent the night looking at the stars.

It was April 26, the diary says, went I went shopping for an extension wire to put lights in my stamp club upstairs. That must have been the Whittenton Juior Stamp Club I had just organized.

Benny Goodman came to town on May 5 and I went with Dad to hear him at Roseland Ballroom. The next day, Mother's diary says, I went to Eddie Gregg's market again to count some more beans in a jar that he hopes will win him a new bicycle at the end of the month. He's going to make a guess how many beans are in the jar.

On the 21st of May I got a new job shoveling horse manure at Jim Powers' riding stable. It was a smelly job the diary says. And I went down to Eddie's market to make by guess at the bean jar so maybe I would win a new bike.

Mother sent me out in the neighborhood to see if I could get some prizes for the church whist party. I managed to come home with $39 and promises of five cakes and two pies.

And on May 28 - what a SWEET night - I WON the Silver King bicycle at Eddie Gregg'sMeat market. Next day and the day after that, Decoration day, I rode the bicycle all around Taunton all day.

I'm real tired now so I'm going to the refrigerator and get my chocloate bar I saved from Lady B's Mother's Day boxes of chocolate and have a nice SWEET snack before I go to sleep.

- 30 -