Went with Suzanne to WinCo and got some good stuff. It's especially helpful to be able to include heavy or bulky items which I can't carry when I don't have my cart. As soon as I got home, I started in on food prep and readied spaghetti squash and applesauce. I asked the all-knowing Internet if rice could be put in a slow cooker and yes, indeed, so I used my smaller one. Had some with dinner and it was good.
At the recycle area, I found an almost full, thirty-pound, bag of Miracle-Gro Garden Soil someone had left, and lugged it home in my cart. It says it's for vegetables and herbs, but I assume it can be used for flowers, too. Come to think of it, maybe I'll get some tomato plants this year, anyway. I scooped out about half for my own use and asked Suzanne if she could use the rest; she was delighted to have it. Laboriously dragged it her patio, so we could share.
After lunch, I bused to town to the library. As I had intended, I took out The End Of The Affair, but then my eye fell on the new book section--AHA! There was a biography of Ethel Rosenberg, which I immediately snatched up and took out. Here's why:
Exactly twelve years and two days ago, I met one of the Rosenbergs' two sons, Robert Meerpool. (The boys had been adopted and their names changed after their parents were put to death.) I wrote about meeting him on this blog. This makes for a very lengthy entry, but I don't care; I've added it at the end.
While I was busing home, Ellen called. Happy day, she now has ten days off (Spring Break) and she invited me to come for Easter and stay overnight. Sure thing, especially because we intend to indulge in Margaritas before dinner.
The Rosenberg/Meerpool Entries
Thursday, April 08, 2010
...On Sunday, I'm going to attended a brunch in Ocean City for The Rosenberg Fund for Children, headed, intriguingly, by Robert Meerpool, the son of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were executed as Communist spies a half-century ago. More on this later.
Monday, April 12, 2010
The talk by Robert Meerpool was fascinating....Meerpool and his daughter, an attorney, use these venues for fund-raising, and have done a lot of them. They don't give the impression that they're bored, superior, or practiced at glad-handing, but are warm, friendly people. He helped himself to brunch and chatted with attendees and she got me coffee. I didn't realize until they were introduced later who they were.
A music stand and chairs were set up in the dining room where, I assume, the usual furniture had been removed, and Meeropol spoke there. He covered a lot of the topics in his books, both of which I had read, and he was very engaging. He spent about half the time on his parents' story and the other half on his organization "The Rosenberg Fund For Children." He did not insist on his parents' innocence, but pointed out that the crime for which they were convicted was trumped-up and the punishment meted out--death--was inappropriately harsh. As I've mentioned before, it's generally accepted that his father did pr0vide the then-Soviet Union with "secrets," but they did not concern the atomic bomb. Also, this was during WW II, when the Soviet Union was a U.S. ally; Julius was passionate about the evil of the Nazi empire and wanted to help defeat them. As for Ethel, the consensus now seems to be that she was aware of her husband's actions, but had no part in them. If they had "cooperated" with the government, they would almost surely not have received the death sentence. All mixed up in this sad affair were the "red scare," antisemitism (open and covert), and the heavily conservative mood of the time.
Meerpool's book, An
Execution in the Family,
was on sale for $10 and I
bought one, adding $15 as a donation to the Fund. I had already read
it--remarkably, our little library had a copy--but want to have it
to go over again. The author signed it, added the date, and I
chatted with him and his daughter for a few minutes.
Talk
about a unique family. Imagine talking to a relative stranger and
the subject turns to your parents' passings: "My father
died of a heart attack, and my mother of cancer. Yours?" "They
were executed on the same day by the United States
government."
There's
a conversation stopper for you.
NOTE: I have no idea why the font size and spacing are so screwed up. Tried to fix, but couldn't.
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