Sunshine filled my soul and the day. It's marvelous to sit in my sewing shop and design and sew dresses. I actually wore a sweater as I went about my work yesterday. It's June but the weather in our small town never gets very hot.
Lucille Bond came in today with her three girls, Willy, Bertie, and Alexa. Lucille once told me that she had thought all three of them were going to be sons. She only had boy names chosen for them. The oldest would be Willard Jr., then Robert, and Alexander. When they were born she shifted their male name to a female, Wilhelmina Elizabeth, Roberta Rae, and Alexandra Alice. Personally, I think that she handled the situation in a very clever fashion.
Lucille told me about an organization in Astoria that she's involved with. It's called The International Order of Good Templars. It began in 1851 as an organization for temperance. I remember the Dragon Lady, Madame LeRouge hated the entire idea. Her customers liked a combination of drinking, and women. Some of those men had been at sea for long periods of time. This gave them a huge appetite for these activities. I have never understood why a man who is completely drunk thought that made them better lovers. Instead it made them clumsy and fumbling.
This is an organization that I will never join. I stay as far away from that part of Astoria as I can. I have no desire to remember my experiences in that town. I'm happy to report that it does seem to be improving. It still has a long way to go.
Astoria has been so wicked that men will walk up behind somebody in the daylight and knock them out. They awaken only to find that they are miles out to sea. Their poor family will not know what happened to them. Sometimes it takes them as long as six years to return. Sometimes they never return. It's a horrifying thing to treat human beings as mere beasts of burden.
Lucille prides herself on being a model citizen. Unfortunately, in her mind, that means that she has the right to judge everyone else. Her feelings of insecurity drive her to judgement of others. She lost her entire family coming to Calkington, and married at a very young age. She had very little opportunity for education. She taught herself to speak English in a more educated manner. I will admit that I admire her discipline, and her many talents. I know full well that she could be sewing beautiful clothes on her own. Somehow it makes her feel better about herself to have someone else perform that assignment. I'm grateful for her business. I just wish that she didn't treat me so poorly.
I'm weary. I hear sleep calling me. Bonne nuit.
