Dorothy gave Abby a gold locket with the letter ‘A’ on it. But she also gave her a piece of paper with the following printed on it (I just found out about this!). I thought this was very interesting.
“What is the history of the locket? While all jewelry is personal, the locket is perhaps the most personal of all. Speaking about lockets, British locket enthusiast and collector Sheherazade Goldsmith says: “They’re heirlooms that represent a moment in time … [walking in London] I’d come across engraved silver hearts in Portobello Road antique stalls and wonder about the stories.” Lockets can tell stories – on a grand and an historical scale. Gold lockets, silver lockets, jeweled lockets – these can mean more than the sum of their parts. Such was the case when lockets were worn to express membership in a secret society – an allegiance to a slain monarch in the divided political landscape of Great Britain following the execution of British King Charles I in 1649.”

Dorothy is quite taken with Abby (no surprise, eh?) and she wants to take her to the English countryside before the summer is over. “My ancestral home is there and the gardens are beautiful,” says Dorothy. “My second cousin lives there now and I go whenever I can but travel can be hard for me.”

No worries! Abby’s Dad Carl has agreed to drive them. Abby has a wonderful new friend.

Abby loves her trees. She has two of them and she swears they are her friends.

“In my backyard there is a London plane tree and a common lime tree,” she says. “They are both big and I stare at them from my window or sit beneath them and read. I really love the common lime tree because the bees come buzzing. They love the honeydew nectar from the aphids that are on the leaves.”

Abby says that when she looks at her trees from her window, she is reminded of Anne Frank who wrote of looking at her favorite tree from her room.

“Trees just make me peaceful and happy,” says Abby. “People are crazy and unreliable and selfish and mean sometimes. But the trees just live and go on and on and do their thing while giving me and the bees such joy.”

Thank you, trees.

Here is a paraphrase of what Abby told me about her lunch yesterday with Dorothy.

“Dorothy and I went to a Thai restaurant for lunch yesterday. Mmm….I love peanut sauce and satay! Anyway, she told me that her husband had worked in British Intelligence way back in the ’60s. She said that the only books that ever got the British spy business right were “Smiley’s People” and “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy”. Those books were accurate about the business, according to her husband. He said it was a lot of drudgery and tedium “punctuated by the rare moment of excitement and danger”. She said she couldn’t tell me any more because then she would have to kill me. Even I knew she was joking and we both laughed. She has a very nice cat who doesn’t normally like people but seems to like me. I told her that my Grandma’s cat in Brussels hated my guts and tried to kill me several times out of spite. We laughed about it but I think it’s partly true, of course. When we got back to her apartment, she made me tea and we talked some more. When I left, she gave me a big hug and said, ‘you come back any time. I am your friend and will be there if you ever need anything. I’m a little grouchy but I’m very loyal.’ She’s a dear woman.”

Dorothy asked Abby if she would go with her to a store that has been giving her trouble.

“I have to take some different medications and they always give me a hard time. Maybe I’m paranoid or just getting old but they seem rude and they always make me wait longer than others and it’s just a pain. Will you come with me? Something tells me they will like you.”

Abby thought this was strange but she went with Dorothy to the store. Sure enough, the people were very nice and said, “well, who is this ray of sunshine you brought with you today?” Abby said she’s a friend of Dorothy’s, “who happens to be a great lady with fascinating stories. You should hear everywhere she’s been and everything she’s done!”

When they got back outside, Dorothy hugged Abby and said, “I knew bringing you was a good idea!”

Abby had her second visit to Dorothy’s apartment. (Dorothy is the woman from the lunch cafe who Abby befriended.) They played gin rummy and then Dorothy talked to her about writing and editing. Dorothy was a professional editor and worked with some of the UK’s best mystery writers of the 1950s and 1960s.

“If you want to be a writer, write!” she told Abby. “I know that sounds obvious and simplistic but you’d be surprised how many so-called ‘writers’ spend a lot of time thinking about writing and talking about writing instead of just writing. The good news is, you’re off to a good start by writing those two poems each day. That is excellent as poetry means you really have to fine tune the ramblings in your head into something brief but potent. Keep doing that!”

More later on the Dorothy/Abby visit…..thanks for reading.

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

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