A medal for SHS for successfully enduring 48 years with me.
Anniversary
Category: Wife
Bernice’s life with Seymour – a marriage of 49 years.
Tree-maker
I drew a family tree for Dad for the Collens branch with PageMaker. I did several versions. One with circles and triangles for males and females, and many different length lines. My avant garde font makes a perfect circle with a capital O and triangles with option + J. (Actually any font will make the triangle in the same way.) It required a lot of copy/paste maneuvers. Another version was with lines only, using * to denote “deceased”. I then typed all the names in two ways: all caps and upper/lower case. U/lc with lines only is the cleanest looking, most readable version. Circles and triangles makes clear who is male and female, especially in the case of unisex names.
If I do a few more of these, I’ll have the technique in hand. It promises to save Dad lots of money for his Supplement to the book. He asked if I could teach him to do it on my computer. I probably could but in the end Iױd probably get it done faster doing it myself. (That’s my genes from Boss talking!)
Fishing
Dad went on a fishing excursion yesterday – a charter for six men. The catch was good; each came home with 12 blue fish fillets. I fixed one tonight and it was enough for three. David happened by at 5 p.m. to spread some fertilized compost on the lawn and bring a batch of spaghetti squash, so stayed and ate with us. I microwaved one squash, mixed the resultant spaghetti strings with onions, sweet peppers, celery and garlic sauteed in olive and hot pepper oil and sprinkled with romano cheese – even Dad ate it!
Healing soup
Yesterday I went to the funeral of Harry Lassman (age 92). He’s the grandfather of the Wishes and the Rosenthals. He was a wonderful man, active and alert to the end. He and his wife, Anne (still alive) were Dad’s patients and love him dearly.
Harry is the one who, after his first heart attack about 25 years ago, said to Dad, “You’re a wonderful doctor and you saved my life, but your wife’s soup is what put me on my feet.”
Dad never told me this. Harry did on one of my subequent visits to him. When I heard it I told Dad, “Hey, I want some credit for the ones I save.”
Shkolnik Archives
October 30, 1988
I sat with Dad for three hours yesterday – with his material for THE BOOK [Shkolnik Family genealogy]. He has two mountainous notebooks – one of text and one of pictures and documents. We did one branch to establish a pattern: tree and pictures and biographical text. I didn’t attempt to edit – he’s actually written very well. Just uses too many passive verbs – that that’s his “style.” It’s a start, anyway. If he can continue the compilation enough to show a printer for price, then he can complete the task in a few more months.
March 20, 1989
100 copies of The Shkolnik Family Archives have been printed and are presently at a bindery! Dad says he has an offer for movie rights but he’s holding out for better terms! Your father has accomplished a gerat task and I am extremely impressed.
Saltzman’s Park
Time and effort and love and devotion is what your father is pouring into the vegetable garden and yard and flower beds this season.
I am now calling it Saltzman’s Park. You are going to be astonished. Dad and David bicker good-naturedly each time David comes home, about what and how to plant. David has different ideas, is not so meticulous and, of course, is dedicated to the “organic method.” But we have already harvested: lettuce, Boston and Ruby Red, spinach, radishes, scallions. And everything is popping out – peas, cukes, beans. Today they planted tomatoes and peppers. But most exciting is the planting of flowers.
It’s a miracle, after 23 years, to see flowers growing wherever you turn.
Football at West Point
Where were we today? At the US Military Academy at West Point. This day was arranged (without consulting me) by Dad, John Antoinetti and Jim Gigante, the three roommates at Wesleyan in 1941). Jim is the one who transferred to West Point and was in the Army for the next 25 years. Dad has always wanted to see a West Point parade and go to a football game there. Jim got tickets for this day (Army and Holy Cross) and the arrangements included the wives. They drove to West Point from Alexandria, Virginia, and we and the Antoinettis met them there.
It was a beautiful autumn day – wonderful foliage. West Point is indeed a spectacular place. Rose Antoinetti cooked wonderful food for a tailgate lunch. Dad gathered the accoutrements: wine, cheese, fruit, etc. I went against my will, and was very unhappy to have to sit through a football game. The good part was what I mentioned: the weather, the setting and the nice people.
But there were 30,000 people there. It was a reunion weekend for the classes of 1981, 1976, 1971 and 1966. I had to wait in a line on the field where we parted the car for 35 minutes to use a portable toilet. I was chilled for the morning parade which lasted an hour and a half, because it was windy and hadn’t warmed up yet. And I detested the game! We were on the 50 yard line in the very top tier of the stands. I felt like I was in the Goodyear Blimp.
I managed to leave the game in the middle of the second quarter and returned in the middle of the fourth quarter, spending the time waiting in another line for 30 minutes to get a cup of coffee and then finding a sunny spot to sit in (on the periphery of this upper level of stands) and watch the people – especially the wives of the alums, many of whom looked like fashion models from 5th Avenue!