Posts Tagged Crystal

Glimpses of the Past: Morning Conversations with Audrey Mae

Phone Conversations every Wednesday at 8:30 AM (EST)

June 12, 2002 through February 19, 2003
(daughter Crystal’s home, West Warwick, Rhode Island)

Author’s note:  The origin of this note-taking was a daughter just writing down the casual phone conversations between her mother and herself.  It was only after months of jotting down these tidbits of subject matter that I realized the gold mine of knowledge that I had amassed. I, then, decided to put these conversations together as my mother’s memoirs.  Enjoy! Keep reading to learn about a woman whose 95 year life span connected colonial Rhode Island farm life to modern day, from the horse and buggy age to space travel to the moon.  As Audrey’s niece Jean commented “Aunt Audrey was so ‘enthusiastic’ about life. She taught me so much…” or as her granddaughter Belinda commented “she was such a unique and special woman. I know I have a lot of her spirit in me.”

Audrey: Anna sat in my house; we had a lovely visit. Luanne has told her all the tales. Crystal really enjoys it. Everything is going along fine!

Crystal Gay MacDonald

Audrey: Oh, but I loved all my babies! … Crystal couldn’t wait to get up and get into mischief…

Audrey: Oh, it is really nice. Spencer put up a bird feeder by the dumpster because the crows eat out of the dumpster. Crystal put a bird feeder by the window.

Audrey: I eat broccoli. I am not crazy about it, but it is good for me. Macaroni and Cheese is my favorite, no matter who cooks it. I like scrambled eggs and bacon. A friend of Crystal is the chef here at Alpine. Well, it is sunny today, but snow is piled all around. There is dirty snow all over the ground. All the big rocks have a roof of Snow! When the snow is wet, it sticks to leaves. When it’s dry, it falls off. I have quite a few friends around here. Many people here I’m friendly with. So many people here, I have a hard time choosing who I like the best. I do not go out too much. It’s too cold. I like to keep warm. I am a great sleeper. I sleep more than I wake. Amber spent the whole day here marking my initials on each piece of clothing. Amber and Crystal are good at that. We were also sorting post cards.

Audrey: Deardra came. I’m in my chair and we go out. Everything going fine! Stephanie and her sister look  just alike. Been out and walked around a lot. I was with Deardra.

I called Dawn. She’s got a boyfriend! He was a college professor. He is a “gentleman”. He is older than she. Spencer couldn’t get over it! (he was surprised but happy for her).

Amber and Crystal pop in. Amber bought curtains yesterday. She is having lots of fun. It’s nice to settle down. She has her own car. Today, men and women both need a car.

Amber’s boyfriend is awfully good to her. He’s a good guy. I hope they get settled down and both enjoy their life!

Tell me. Who are you’?

Audrey: I didn’t have any fear of them coming over here. I never had a newspaper. I hated to read about it. I was so busy with kids.

Crystal was born the day before Pearl Harbor and I was in the hospital. They closed all the curtains at night. We never got bombed. It was funny hearing the planes go over the hospital. Seems so I counted sixteen planes the first day. So I said to myself, I wonder if sixteen planes will go over tomorrow. However, after that day only a few planes went over. I was glad to be home because a hospital is where they want to bomb.

Audrey: I saw Theo yesterday. Everything was going on around here. There were things to sell. (Alpine Nursing Home’s activities)