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JEAN VENRICK, wife of THE WORDWRIGHT (May 2009, one year and one month after her stroke–LOOKS GREAT, doesn’t she?)
MY WIFE’S JOURNAL – A peek on pages around September 1972
“My 1972 Canning list thus far:
June – Strawberries – 20 packs frozen
July – Green beans – 14 qts canned
” ” _ 2 qts frozen
” ” 2 qts frozen (my own organic)
August
Slaw – 8 packs frozen
Sweet Pickles – 5 pts canned
Pickled Zuchini – 2 pts canned
Sweet Pickles – 6 pts (organic, purchased) canned
Sweet Pickles – 4 pts canned
Dill Pickles – 3 pts canned
Tomatoes – 4 pts, canned (organic, mine and mother;s)
Green beans – 2 pks, frozen (” ” ” “)
Green peppers – 15 peppers frozen (organic, purchased)
Sept. Slaw 4 pks frozen (organic, mine)
Grape jelly – 17 jars (Bill’s Dad’s grapes)
Tomato juice – 23 qts canned
Sauer Kraut – 2 crock, still fermenting (4 pts, 9-16-72)
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Kim and Kris [neighbor kids] are here playing. It’s OK as long as they don’t slam doors.
Tomorrow I want to make some more of those delicious hamburger buns. It its a rainy day I may do some more mending and perhaps start on my cleaning project.
xxxxx
Saturday Sept. 16th
Tonight I am tired. I’ve had my bath, washed my hair and now sitting, resting even though it’s bedtime.
I worked late stemming elderberries for the freezer. Ended up with my green bowl 3/4ths full. Have 9 containers, all sizes, full. This winter I’ll make jelly or pies as I need them. Also cold packed 4 pints of sauerkraut and boiled a ham. Made potato salad this morning.
Finally I went to the grocery and spent $9.00. Plan to finish shopping Monday. … [left out personal notes about our "savings kick" wanting to buy country property - pipe dream later realized] Our garden has sure helped on the food bill. For example last night all our vegetables were from the garden.
Yesterday I pulled the green beans, making enough for supper. That will be all the green beans till next year. Also pulled some beets, dug some carrots, picked 2 green peppers, 7 cucumbers and a few tomatoes. Had one fallen apple. Last evening we drove by Carroll, one of the back roads and picked elderberries . I love this time of year when there are so many things to gather.
Went shopping with the kids for their winter coats, $17.00 for Beth, $10.00 for Shawn. I really had a day full. Now its nearly midnight and I’m sleepy. #####
HOW MANY YEARS AGO?
How about 39? Wonder what a gallon of gasoline was then – I just checked – 36 cents! (Check it out yourself; I found that almost unbelievable.).
SOME NOTES AND REFLECTIONS — My wife, Jean, was 40 years old in 1972. Jean’s journal was not a rigid daily affair but it helped keep track of family data especially after we adopted our children. Now the journal reminds us of what life was like years ago. Since 1967 she has filled 6,600 (six thousand, six hundred) pages of regular school notebooks. We had adopted our two children after being married 33 years and we were tossed in the turmoils of life when the wage earner’s employer went bankrupt and we were trying to “make a living” in printing, commercial art and making rubber stamps. Those were lean years and hard on a mother raising children when other mothers with children the age of ours were eight years younger. No one ever needed to wonder what my wife did all day–she worked at housekeeping! A provider with a capital P.
She juggled money like a professional and we “got along” and “went without” but “we made it”. We could easily have been compared with Yankees whose philosophies were “use it up” or “do without” and “make do”. Young married couples today could easily wonder how my wife got so much done – preparing three meals a day for our family, doing the laundry, being mother to two young children and the wife to a busy guy who was trying to produce the financial means for all the former. Every day was never quite the same. During all these years we were active in our church and Jean was one of the church organists for thirteen years and played for dozens of weddings too.
Here we are 39 years later, kids are grown with kids of their own (all adults except for one teenage granddaughter). My wife is 79 now, experiencing several “health issues” as they’re called today, I’m just 33 days behind her in age until February 2011 and we prefer to say, “We’re OK.” Everybody has problems and situations they have to work through, why should we be any different?
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THE WORDWRIGHT and my wife, Jean, are grateful for our years together, since 1951.