My morning was spent working on the newsletter for The Palace, which truly does not take all that long. Not like the church newsletter does, that's for sure! The Board has not met since our Annual meeting which makes for a slowness of news. Fortunately there is other stuff to write about, such as new plantings on the property and double rainbows in the river.
Several of my neighbors do not have computers or cannot print the newsletter, so I do this for them, delivering it to their doors. If they are not home, I simply leave it in the door. At one unit, I rang the bell, and when no one came right away, I tucked it in the door and turned to leave. Just as I walked away, Betty opened her door and the newsletter dropped to the ground. She snapped it up and asked me to come in. I am so glad I did!
Betty asked me if she could play a song for me on the piano and I told her yes. The baby grand is quite elderly, belonging first to Betty's mom, and now to her. Some of the notes sound elderly too, which seemed almost fitting for its appearance. Not that it was decrepit or anything, more like the finish was not what I expected for a baby grand. Rather than being smooth and shiny, in black or white, this piano had the look of an upright from the old days, more of an oak finish, like furniture.
She played "I'm in the Mood For Love" from an old music book, and played beautifully. She told me how she played this song for her granddaughter, and her fiance, and they thought it was the most beautiful song ever heard. It was a first for her granddaughter, and now she wants it played at her wedding!
Betty is known affectionately by her grands and great-grands as "Moley" for some reason long forgotten, but the name is now hers. She is a widow of about four years, I believe, having lost her Navy Commander husband to Alzheimer's. When he got sick, she quit all her jobs to stay home to take care of him, and never looked back. She served on the Boards of many organizations in Clay County in the past, and was a Realtor besides. Now, she has no computer in her home and refuses to have one!
Her daughter, Cathy, spends most of her time staying with Betty, age now 84, as they keep each other company. Cathy's spouse works for the TSA on the western side of the state, which allows Cathy to hang out with her mom at The Palace! She is a gem and we have matching political beliefs which makes for good times when visiting on the sun deck or at the pool! Last year Martie, Cathy, and I plus Cathy's brother, Gary, enjoyed a lovely evening doing just that.
I have mentioned Betty before, I am sure, since she has the claim to fame in The Palace as having been a Rockette! This photo was taken in 1947, in silhouette.
Betty had a birthday last week and she wanted to show me her gifts. One was a hand-made quilt, made by her other granddaughter. It was her grands first time making a quilt and it was fabulous! Betty had it displayed across a settee in the river room.
The squares of the quilt, probably about 10 x 10" each, her granddaughter cut from her grandfather's favorite shirts, including those he wore in the Navy. Betty pointed out the ones he wore for church, his Friday-only red sweater for Patriot Fridays (he never wore red otherwise, because 'he was a Gator!' This sounds like a legitimate reason to a Gator fan...), a sweatshirt they had made for a family cruise, his Navy reunion shirts---each significant in the life of Andy. And now again, back in Betty's home. I was moved, moved to tears!
Next, Betty showed me a tray table which was next to her wicker chair in the same room. This was a wooden table, like a TV tray, which her daughter, Cindy, had carved and colored. These people are just unbelievable!!! The words around the edges are a take-off from the book and movie, "The Help", where the black nanny/housekeeper would tell her little white charge---"You is strong. You is smart. You is beautiful." Cindy added more text to it, expressing love and admiration for her mom. As I neared the door, I asked to come back in, to snap a picture of it, but didn't photo graph the quilt. Gives me an excuse to go back again!
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