What did you mean when you said you’d got the watercolours out? “What do you mean by being kitted out with a crayon and a fancy headscarf!” What you do … I do. I’ll have you know that I was quite artistic too. I met your father at art evening classes, remember. “I know. But…
“Finally, you enter a big department store’s fabric sale. Feeling very tired, you offer up a little prayer. And my sister unearths a roll of linen … … with a butter yellow background, birds, flowers in coral, a little pink frog or two … and leaves the exact colour of your carpet … The moment of truth is that you need 11 metres and there are just…
“My sister goes off to buy the curtain material you have set your heart on but someone else has bought it. All 36 yards of it…. you write that you “could weep”. “And when she suggests you come with her and your granddaughter on a trip to the nearest big city one hundred miles away, your first reaction…
“Your letter to me is dated February.” “It’s very cold outside and you look at your curtains, thinking – “life is passing me by and I can’t stand them any longer”. My sister brings you a sample of fabric from the nearest town – “Butter yellow linen with peonies” – just what you want.” “You…
“The other day I found one of your letters amongst some papers.” Is it a nice letter, dear? “It’s lovely, Mum. It’s a saga, that’s what you call it, about desiring and obtaining some new curtain material. You wanted that fabric so greatly.” Me and my materials. Your father used to call them my “schmutter”.…
syb & me