Audrey: I’m always out! I go out in the hall. Everything is going along fine.

Audrey: Margaret Mitchell and her husband lived upstairs, and the mothers and babies were down stairs. Seems so I was alone! Her house was upstairs. She let me have her upstairs with the babies. She only let me up there. She gave me all the privileges that she could.

William J.B. Spencer and Audrey Mae Spencer

Audrey: There was much more snow then. I could walk over the five-foot fence and not sink in as the snow was frozen. I could walk over the fence!!

We would get a snowstorm and I was always sick in bed with the croup. I would lie in bed and look out this nice big window by my bed. I’d keep watching for grass. Mother (MaryJane [née Vaughn] Spencer) would shake out the tablecloth on the snow. I would watch the birds come picking up crumbs that were dropped on the snow.

When I was a child, a sled as wide as the street was hitched to a couple of big horses. This sled swept the road of the snow. We used to have five feet snow storms! The people would be out plowing the road the minute the snow started until the snow stopped. Without plowing the roads, the snow on the road would have frozen and no one could even get out of their yard. Everybody got up and plowed their own driveway and then the road. If they wanted to get anywhere, they had to help plow the road.

The mailman came with horse and wagon. The buggy had a little top to keep you from getting wet or you could open it to get the sun (like a doll carriage-canvas to open it up or fold it over back). The mailman came by every day when I was little. My job was to go to the mailbox and get the mail. I was small and didn’t know enough to read.

I played with little stones by the house. I made a little fence and made a stove with stones. I would stand there and pack the stones and play for hours with the stones. I was always out in the yard, but I never went near the road.

The road was for the mailman and mail wagon.

Clara Tarbox would go by. They went down to the Village (Arctic) every day to get groceries or something.

Mother and I went down to Arctic every week to get groceries. Arctic used to be a nice place. Then a lot of hoodlums hung out in Arctic. You had to look out for yourself in your wagon. Mother would say “You stay right close to me now”.

Mother would go catch a horse, hitch the horse to the wagon and drive to Arctic. That was quite a job to go out in the yard and call “Prince”. Prince would come right away. Prince was afraid of hay loads. We tried to keep him away from hay loads. He was the only horse that was afraid of hay loads. When we got to Arctic, Mother would get out and put reins around the hitching post.

I would hang on to my mother’s clothes. Mother would go into the Bedards store. There was one little aisle or hall where I could see two little old ladies there. Mother always sat there and talked with them for a while. I sat there. I was quiet.

Audrey: I took piano lessons until my teacher Lizzy died. She was a nice sweet lady. I had learned one scale but I couldn’t play fast. I felt so bad when she died. I didn’t have any other teacher. We had no way of getting anywhere.

Billy Tarbox always came down and played the organ and piano. He played The Last Rose of Summer.  He sang and played. He grew beautiful dahlias so we called him the Dahlia King. He always had a Sunday each year when he would decorate an iron chair with dahlias that he picked. Every Fall, he would dig them up and give (a bulb) to everybody to plant. The one who brought back the best Dahlia would be the winner. One year he had a doll within the dahlias. I couldn’t wait to see it. I had a plain old doll, the Dahlia Doll was beautiful and fancy and sitting there all summer for the winner to get.

We went to Rocky Hill Chapel and Hannah Barton was the head of the Church. Everyone had a horse and wagon and there was not enough space to park. When I went to Rocky Hill Chapel, my teacher was Hoxsie. She had three or four girls. She taught school and had played the organ. She played the piano in the Sunday school.

Audrey: Bobby Lucier used to come and play the organ before he went to CA. I could play I Love Coffee; I love Tea …

(Heather: Yes, all of us used to play that piece!)

Wedding picture of Milton and Audrey MacDonald

Audrey: It has been raining and snowing so now it is muddy. The snow is piled up about five or six feet high. I’m happy and contented here. Everybody in the family is doing well. I’ve got on my white pants and red shirt. They (Alpine Nursing Home staff) are very good here.They take good care of us. Someone helps me get dressed each morning. They are very good nurses. We know them all. They are all pretty young and they wear pretty colors. We cannot find fault with these young women. They are kind and take good care of us.

I love this chair! (light weight “Companion chair” with four small wheels) I get around just like I’m walking.

Theo, she comes out and we have big and long talks in the hall. She’s in Room 10. I’m in Room 4. My room is nice. Everybody likes it here. I have three meals a day and the food is good. Theo plays Solitaire but I haven’t played cards lately.

She lived in West Greenwich and I lived in Anthony when we (Audrey and Milton and Theo and Bill) went to the dances. All the dances were (held) in West Greenwich. In the old days when we went dancing, all the dances were held in an old barn. After Theo and Bill married, they stayed in West Greenwich, and after we (Milton and Audrey) married, we didn’t see each other again. We didn’t get out then. Oh, Dear, my hand is tired!

Heather: I’ll call next Saturday, same time, same station!

Audrey: It is sunny. The snow is melting. It is heaped up on the sides and except for the snow on the stonewall, it is not pretty any more. The guy (Sobersides) is out with the trash and he put his hood up. It must be cold. We are hardy people. We all had to live through hardy weather.

The reason we have so many stones in R.I. was the ice was melting from the north and it would roll south. By the time it got to R.I., it dropped off all the stones before it got to the sea. It was all ice. It melted in R.I. When the snow melted, it left all these stones. The early settlers put these stones to good use and built stonewalls that are still standing today! They knew how to build stonewalls. They had wonderful reasoning in their minds to think of this. What else could they have done with all these stones?

Audrey: Amber brought over the larger bookcase that Ernie made. He did a beautiful job. She put it in the trunk of her car. The bookcase is beautiful. Ernie made a shelf for my telephone and a place for the wires to go through the back and not get all tangled up in the front. It like a little desk and all I have to do is reach for the phone.

Amber, she has a great mind for thinking things out. She put the bookcase between my bed and the wall next to the window. I still have a clear path to the sink land beyond. Amber worked all day getting everything in order. My books from Emily Dickinson to the Dictionary are all in order. The picture of the (historical) graveyard is set up. She brought cardboard boxes that hold my beautiful cards from Edith. Edith always sent me beautiful cards. She has my bulletin board all set up with pictures. I couldn’t be happier. She set up Belinda’s picture as a nurse. Belinda loves to study and hopes to he a surgeon. I can’t wait! Doctor Belinda!

Audrey: When I was two years, Ed was eight years and Edith was sixteen years. Grandma had an awful time having children. She stayed in bed most of the nine months because she was afraid to lose me like she lost all of the others. When I was born, the doctor gave me a slap on the behind, and Grandma about died because she thought that was awful. The doctor had to slap me because I wasn’t going to breath. Grandma lost babies and had a hard time.

We (Edith, Ed and Audrey) seemed to be stronger. Other babies she lost. When I came along, Grandma was careful. When I was born, I had hair that was very dark. Grandma was very, very happy that I was alive. I was heavy as a baby. I think I was 10 pounds.

Your uncle Robert MacDonald weighed ounces when he was born, but when he grew up to be three hundred pounds. (whereas) I weighed ten pounds at birth but never weighed much more than a hundred pounds when I was an adult. It was just the opposite.

Audrey: You call me every Saturday and it is Saturday today.