Today was beautiful. A bit chilly when we first got up but Chelsea and I had a lovely walk. We ran into the older lady with the cane who walks early too. She said that she has been missing us as we have not seen her for a few weeks. Both she and Chelsea and I have been trying to delay our walks because of the dark so our meetings will probably be chancy in this dark time of the year.

I cleaned bathrooms, sewed and Dick and I racked the Gewertziminer. Dick took me out for lunch because I was taking Mother out for dinner tonight. I like that kind of a deal. He and I went to Antoinette's. He had spaghetti and I had a mini pizza. We like that restaurant. Then Mother and I went to Chizzy's for dinner. I had a gyro there.

I won't have to do much cooking tomorrow either. We will eat leftovers and since it is Friday, I will have lunch with the Wells people at Dairy Queen. I also am giving blood at 11AM so will be able to really eat if I want to.

Jim and Michelle came home today, a day early. They did have lots of fun and saw lots of stuff INCLUDING bald eagles and a moose. Boots was beside himself to see them. Leslie, the flowers kept beautifully. I kept them in our lower level family room which is very cool. As I was sewing a lot this week I got to enjoy them as I "babysat' them. But they are still beautiful. only two flowers gave up the ghost. They called on their way home so the flowers were waiting on their dining room table when they walked in the house.

I took Mother to dinner tonight on the way to the funeral of a dear friend of hers called Madeline. Mother and Madeline went through grade school, high school and a year of Normal School (teacher's college) together. Madeline stayed in Sheboygan Falls with the Bowsers during the year she went to Normal school. She and her husband Melvin Seiderwere married in 1941. They were married for 15 years before their only child, a son named Hal was born. Mel came to the place that Dad was working after Hal was born and handed Dad a cigar and announced that he had a son. Dad assumed that, after all those years, they had adopted and asked Mel. "Where did he come from?" Mel glared at him and said "Where do you think?" They all laughed about that for years.

Before the service I spoke with Kay Seider. The coffin was closed and she told me that Madeline had told them that a closed coffin was her wish. She further said that if they had an open coffin, she would sit up and stick her tongue out at everybody. Kay said that they decided not to take that chance. A wise decision.

Mother feels sad because so many of her friends are going. But Madeline was also 91. Mother says she feels like "The Last Leaf" This comes from a poem by Oliver Wendall Holmes. If you don't want to read the whole thing (which is beautiful) just read the last verse.

I saw him once before,
As he passed by the door,
And again
The pavement stones resound,
As he totters o'er the ground
With his cane.

They say that in his prime,
Ere the pruning-knife of Time
Cut him down,
Not a better man was found
By the Crier on his round
Through the town.

But now he walks the streets,
And he looks at all he meets
Sad and wan,
And he shakes his feeble head,
That it seems as if he said,
"They are gone!"

The mossy marbles rest
On the lips that he has prest
In their bloom,
And the names he loved to hear
Have been carved for many a year
On the tomb.

My grandmamma has said--
Poor old lady, she is dead
Long ago--
That he had a Roman nose,
And his cheek was like a rose
In the snow;

But now his nose is thin,
And it rests upon his chin
Like a staff,
And a crook is in his back,
And a melancholy crack
In his laugh.

I know it is a sin
For me to sit and grin
At him here;
But the old three-cornered hat,
And the breeches, and all that,
Are so queer!

And if I should live to be
The last leaf upon the tree
In the spring,
Let them smile, as I do now,
At the old forsaken bough
Where I cling.

Love

Mary