1976, July 8: Letter from Marcy to Jed and Jay

A three-page handwritten letter, plus a two-page followup handwritten letter.

Combination order-invoice form for the book industry
Combination order-invoice form for the book industry

All the pages are written on the back of order/invoice forms from the bookstore where Marcy was working, Merit Book Center.

Thursday, July 8

at Merit

Dear Jed and Joaquin

Do you remember getting a book from Grandma & Grandpa at Christmas about an island near Denmark, called Fir, where amber was washed up on shore and the children made it into a cross for their mother’s birthday.-?

Well, some people were in the store today who were from that very island. They had not been born there, but the man’s family was originally xxx from Fir. He told me what amber is - .... You know how trees have sticky stuff inside like our blood, but theirs is yellowish - called sap. When it eeps out of the wood (after the wood is cut) it’s called resin. Well, in the age of dinosaurs there were great forests in Denmark and that area, that sank down as earthquakes and other changes happened. Soon they were covered with many feet of rock and soil. (not soon, but after many centuries.) The trees changed into stuff called peat ^^pronounced peet^^ that people in Europe use like wood or coal for their fireplaces. And the sap, or resin, as the trees secreted it, changed after many centuries into amber, which is a soft, yellowish rock. Not a hard rock - it can be scratched by most metals, but very beautiful and fine to touch. It takes an electric charge easily - You can take a piece and rub it for a while, then balloons & pieces of paper & other light things will stick to it. Maybe Aunt Karen has a piece to show you.

Added sideways in margin: the amber was loosened by earthquakes from the peat bogs where the trees once grew.

Nothing exciting is happening here. We haven’t rented the extra room yet. Lots of people from L.A. asked about you - Carol, whose house we stayed at, and Eddie (who we went to Griffith Park observatory with) and Del Jones, - and all the people at Henry Shimizu’s meeting wanted to know where you were.

I am working late tonight and Saturday night. Sunday is Tsukinamisai, and Sunday afternoon will be Redwood Teacher Selection Day. But we think that we don’t have any really really good ones (not as good as Becki, anyway) So we may have to advertise in the newspapers some more and see if we can find someone else. I’ll let you know what happens.

Please write us a letter and let us know how you are doing - send a picture, if you want. I sure miss having lot of pictures.

It is really really hot here - you guys are sure lucky to be up there.

Now I have to go back to work.

Please remember to Johrei each other.

I love you a lot. Peter & I miss you.

love,

Marcy Mousey.

P.S. Tell Grandma & Grandpa & uncles & aunts & cousins hello for us.

M


Friday, at home

We just got your letters. The pinball machine sounds neat. xxx Is it a really big one?

I hope you have a really good time on the beach. I was on the beach at Dell’s house but I didn’t get to play any neat games or hunt for shells. Just wading and talking to friends & getting sunburned.

Grandma send us a nice long letter, too. We were glad to hear that you help her by getting your own snacks and stuff. Did she show you how to load up the dishwasher? ’Quin, did you tell her that you like to do dishes? You must be helping a lot Grandma was very pleased in her letter.

I am going to make some origami dragons for a bazaar that the church in Los Angeles is having. I have to mail them pretty quick.

Please take good care of yourselves and have a good time!

We love you a lot!!!

love,

Mousey

We’re not using the post office box any more, so just send letters to our address, elided by Jed.

Notes

electric charge
In fact, the word electricity derives from the Latin word for amber, electrum.
tsukinamisai
I’m confused by the references to tsukinamisai in this letter and in Peter’s. I’m guessing that Marcy attended tsukinamisai at the Los Angeles church the weekend of July 4, and then attended it at the San Francisco church the weekend of July 11. But that’s just a guess.

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