My Grandmother's Journals: March, 1998

I have a bag of small notebooks my grandmother recorded her days in: When she woke, what she ate, any movie she went to see, any mail and calls she received, then what she read and watched on TV before bed.

 

In 1998, she was 82 and living alone in a mobile home park in Santa Cruz, Calif., but I wouldn't describe her as lonely. She was an extremely independent, frugal and persnickety woman whom I never knew to live with another person or even a pet after she raised my mother as a single mother in the 1940s and 50s in Los Angeles, Calif. (I wrote more about her life in an earlier post.) 

 

 

The photo at right shows my grandmother and mother in the late 1940s in LA. I don't know anything about that stroller, but I do know that dog wasn't theirs!

 

 

 

My grandmother loved the ocean, and lived close to the famous surfing spot Pleasure Point. Nearly every day she walked to the cliffs above the ocean, checking out the waves and seeing if anyone was surfing. When she died at 97 in 2013, I took her ashes to those waves with one of her friends, and we each dropped some ashes at the sand. A moment after I dropped mine, a surfer emerged from the water where I stood.   

That was cool. 

February entries.

Sunday, March 1, 1998

Took melatonin tablet (1 mg) last night, slept OK.

Awake 6:30, back til 8:30. Usual breakfast.

CBS 9 a.m., "Face the Nation." Arnold Specter feels Starr is going too far.

Tennis 10 a.m. Sampras won, some great shots.

Walked to mall, bank, home.

Worked on pix.

TV: 60 Mins, "Women in White."

Monday, March 2, 1998

Awake 4:30, up 7:30. Usual breakfast.

To Drug Emporium.

To county building, looked for clue to street. Got two deeds, no easement mentioned.

Home, called Justine. She can’t come, having M&M for dinner.

Fixed tuna.

Mail:Letter from Mina, had to get tested for HIV and Hepatitis. Lab tech broke a vial containing Mina’s blood.

TV: News, Frasier, A&E “Egypt Discoveries.”

Tuesday, March  3, 1998

Awake 6:30. Usual breakfast. Chores.

Dillon called. Tomorrow, 11 a.m.

Put tax records in shed.

To Drug Emporium, got TV Guide, osteo-bio.

Walked cliff, nice weather.

Ate BK, chicken san.

Home, worked on fotos.

TV: News, Frasier, X-Files.

Bed 9, no sleep. Read papers.

 

Friday, March 20, 1998

Awake early, 5:30.

Worked cutting up the Jasmine, then pulled some weeds from 9 to 10 a.m.

OSH: Checked in nursery for Carmel Creeper. Only 5 gal cans there. $16.99

Home, lunch. 

Put “umbrella” plant outside, moved “snake” plants around.

Repotted Christmas cactus.

Wrote girls.

Saturday, March 21, 1998

Awake 7. Tea, etc.

Drug Emporium, BP.

Post Office, mailed letter to girls, Andra.

Looked for typewriter ribbons, too high. 

To Sears, got ribbons and correction tape. Also brown tights.

To Scotts Valley, ice cream!

To show, “Primary Colors.”

Home, some TV, read papers.

Called Mina, talked to Larry.

Sunday, March 22, 1998

Slept good, two Melatonin pills.

After tea, worked in yard. Got leaves cleaned up. pulled some weeds.

Talked to Ellie, she in pain. To emergency, nerve.

Fertilized plants.

Golf: Ernie is big! 220 lbs.

To Nob Hill, very busy.

To Longs, BP out.

Home 4 p.m. Ate yogurt, potato.

TV: Moguls of Hollywood, good. Titanic, X-Files.

Monday, March 23, 1998

Awake 6. Tea, etc.

Drug Emporium for BP.

To Kmart 10:30 for breakfast. Got plant and steer manure. $.89

Looking for oil SAE20: Kmart, Sears, Thrifty, Albertsons, Longs and Lucky.

Finally found man who gave answers: Can use 3 in one, or 30. But no-detergent, The detergent can spark a fire!

Put fertilizer on all parts of lawn, grass cut. Rained softly.

Oscars tonite.

Tuesday, March 24, 1998

Awake 7. Tea, etc.

Correction tape wrong.

To Drug Emporium. BP, TV Guide, card for Justine, cough drops.

41st for donut/coffee.

To Palace Stationery. No correction tape?

Back to Sears, got tape.

To Travel Agency re Tahiti.

To Carol's, returned book.

Broke rear right light, backed into garbage at harbor parking.

TV: News, Frasier.

Bed 10:30. Good sleep.

Wednesday, March 25, 1998

Awake 7, up 8. Tea, etc.

Chores.

To Sew, Sew Maria’s. Got blouse, pink.

Walked on cliff. Talked to polite man, called me “ma'am.”

To Drug Emporium, got paper. Told girl about string.

To McDonald’s, coffee.

Home, sewed nightgown neck. 

TV: Frasier, Cybill.

Bed 9:30, crossword.

Thursday, March 26, 1998

Awake 6, slept til 9:15.

Tea, cereal.

10 a.m., ESPN. Venus Williams over Martina Hingis.

Hingis took toilet break after 2nd set, was “boo'd” after.

To Scott’s Valley, Doctors on Duty, paid $8.07 for flu shot. 

To show, “Man in Iron Mask.” They cut Depardieu “frontal nude.”

Mail: Got check, $14,038.70.

TV: Frasier, Mystery. 

Friday, March 27, 1998

Up 7, tea, cereal. Bank 9. Deposited check.

Home, tennis.

To Kmart, lunch. Turkey dinner.

To library, looked up capital gain stock dividend/splits.

To Wherehouse, got 2 videos. ($1.50). Already saw them.

Saturday, March 28, 1998

Awake 7. Heat, tea, etc.

To Safeway, no cereal sale.

To Nob Hill, got their corn flakes.

Home,  called Mina.

Tennis: Venus over Anna Kournakova, very good. Both tired from yesterday.

Few chores, then 41st coffee/donut.

To show, “Love and Death on Long Island.” Great!

Mail: Note from Justine. She and Karen are talking of going to Paris.

 

Tuesday, March 31, 1998

Awake 4:45, again 8:15. 

Chores. Raining. 

Mailed “Mosaic of Memories” to Gary and Joan, also mailed letter card to Mimi.

Kmart, no TV Guides yet.

41st, coffee/donut.

Albertsons, home.

Mail: Letter from Stimson.

Rained most of night.

April entries