And then one rainy day Richard's cousin came to visit and he asked if I could drive him around as he was thinking of moving to the San Diego area.
It was this day that I fell in love with the homes being built near UCSD in La Jolla and we soon had our Pacific Beach home on the market and sold it for almost twice as much as we bought it for (the beautiful yard, woodwork, and shutters were enticing I think). So we actually bought our third new home in seven years! It was in La Jolla Heights, 3500 sq ft for $59,000 in the summer of 69. This was to be our smartest buy and where we would live for almost 20 years. We did make a good profit on our Pacific Beach home, though. We bought it for $27,000 in 65 and sold it for $45,000 in 69.
A story about the color of the house says a lot about Richard. I had chosen the yellow color of the house from a swatch. The day after it was painted I drove up to see how it looked. I was shocked!! It was a bright sunshine yellow!! It looked horrible for a house. With near tears I reported to Richard. He was so calm. He said we could have it repainted. Then he instructed me to drive around La Jolla and find the color I liked and then knock at the door and ask the people what color they used. That is exactly what I did and the lovely mellow yellow cream color was painted over the bright yellow and I learned another valuable lesson--you cannot pick a color from a swatch. Expensive lesson. Richard never lost his temper at all over something like this. Solve the problem, that is the way he always thought and acted. Keep everybody happy.
This was the Christmas Card I wrote for Christmas 1969.
We've moved to the heights of La Jolla, Where the fog and sea breezes abound.
Close to the office, the school and beaches, And we simply love it, we've found.
So next time you drive to the zoo or the surf, Jet in, or sail into port,
Remember you've friends who want to see you at 2865 Sugarman Court.
For the Happy Holidays ahead, Christmas, New Years, and all the rest,
Richard, Janet, Linda, Maria, Jimmy and John, All send you their very best.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
Some pictures of the House!
Some pictures of the House!
This is actually the floor tile as it was in 1988 when we sold the house. It originally had gold linoleum which was later changed to carpet and then finally the tile. Even the tile was a problem. We were using a decorator and she had hired a company who hired the men who did the tile. They had a falling out before the grout was done and refused to finish. The company hired another man to finish the grout. Unfortunately he did a grout that lapped over the sides and was hideous. The rep from the company who hired the man tried to tell me that is the way it was supposed to look. Then the decorator came and told him it would all have to be taken out and redone--and it was, at no extra cost to us.
Another part of the Christmas card was original drawings by the children about Christmas.
Recently as I looked closely at the card I noticed John had drawn a little balloon over Baby Jesus with a line down to him as if this is what He was thinking about and in the balloon was a drawing of the Crucifixion!!!!!
I wonder if I really noticed that before and asked him about it. Amazing how children's minds work. Linda had a very neat drawing of the Nativity scene and she said she remembered being very disappointed because she thought they were going to be printed in "The Children's Friend"!!!
Maria had a Santa Claus (she loved presents) and Jimmy had something that looked like the manger, probably helped by Linda.
Interestingly I just read that the manger would not have been wooden as has always been depicted, but it would have been made of stone. In fact it said Joseph was not a carpenter but a stone mason!!!
Beautiful Children, 1969.
