James Landreth

The Little Littlefield Newsletter
Being an abbreviated account of the continuing adventures of Aleda, Jim, Leanne and Mark in 2018
In order to fit into the smaller card and envelope this year in one sheet, this is a shortened post. Yet, more news and stories await
you at Jim’s new Website/Blog: Jameslandreth.com. Just type this into your web browser’s URL space. 

Aleda
Besides the activities mentioned elsewhere, travel-grandkid-
garden, she continues with the “Sisters of the Skillet”,
(described in previous letters) a.k.a., the Church Service
League in our church. This involves attending the weekly
Tuesday luncheon and various activities associated with
such. It also involves having Jim present PowerPoint shows
once or twice a year primarily related to our recent trips.
She was involved in the annual Christmas luncheon and
bazaar this year. Because we have had extensive experience
over the years of making our own Christmas cards (see
attached) she volunteered Jim to make a card for the CSL
and to sell them to make money for the charities that the
CSL supports. This turned out well though some cards still
remain and can be purchased from her. She continues with
her primary means of enjoyment/relaxation: reading and
music.

Leanne – Kurt – Benjamin
Leanne continues with her work at Caleres Shoe here in
town. Their motto: “Caleres inspires people to feel
good...feet first.” However, she did have a change of
divisions going from Dr. Scholls to Famous Brand
Footware. She enjoys her job as a sales analyst very much.
Her primary occupation is her son Ben and her husband and
household. Ben is a-going and a-growing. He turned three
in July and we went to the Transportation Museum for a
themed birthday party with friends and family. We are sad
to report the passing of their two long-time pets, the dogs
Kaia and Zoe who lived long and pleasant lives but
succumbed to that old druid, Time.

Mark
He made a big move at the end of this year, leaving his law
firm and going solo in his practice of the law. He’s a real
estate lawyer specializing in landlord-tenant and
condominium association issues. He’s still in Chicago, still
keeping up his house in Downers Grove, still travelling (e.g.
Spain, L.A., Mexico) and rooting for the Cardinals and PSU.

Jim
People often ask, “Jim, what do you do now that you are
retired?” And Jim’s standard come-back is “Whatever
Aleda tells me to do”. So, avoiding the description of the
mundane and domestic chores which often border upon
those of the distaff variety I will briefly mention a few:
Garden: due to circumstances solely under my control I
planted about 30+ tomatoes plants and about 12 +
(butternut) squash plants. The yield was fruitful and we put
up (our method is freezing) about 15 pints of tomatoes but
the squash was donated to either our stomachs or to friends.
Viking talks: We belong to the Swedish Council of St.
Louis, a group of Swedenophiles. Part of this is a monthly
meeting called the Viking Seminar. This is similar to a
ROMEO (Retired Old Men Eating Out) club, except we eat
cookies and discuss topics related to the Vikings. For
example, Jim presented two topics: The Influence of the
Vikings on Ireland, and Rise and Fall of the Viking Age.
These are available on the website.
Loretto Perfectus Walsh: Another project Jim has
embarked upon is to edit a biography written by his uncle,
James J. Walsh, (JJW) the father of Margaret, Tori and Mary
Walsh. This work was completed by JJW sometime before
his death but was never published. In the opinion of several
it could use a little editing in order to make the work more
readable to its potential audience, mostly his grandchildren
and future generations. Because this work was languishing
in its current form, Jim took up the challenge and is
currently editing it. But who is Loretto Perfectus Walsh
(LPW) you ask? LPW was JJW’s aunt, also aunt to Jim’s
mother (Kathleen) and the sister of James J Walsh, M.D, Jim
and Kathleen’s father. She was the first enlisted woman in
the Navy and hence in the armed services (in 1917), the first
Chief Petty Officer in the Navy. She is recognized as such
and there are several references to this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loretta_Perfectus_Walsh

Teddy Bear
Our sole pet is Teddy Bear cat. We adopted him about two
years ago from friends (Jason “the mason” and Brittany
Frye). His (the cat’s) primary occupations are eating and
guarding the estate from small varmints but with only minor
success in catching the prey. He seems to have had a major
success in eating. He’s much like Ogden Nash described a
dog, “A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side
of.” When Teddy’s in, he wants to go out and when he’s
out, he wants to come in. Either way, he’s hungry.
Musical events this year:
Die Fledermaus (J. Strauss, Jr. comic opera)
Winter Opera Dinner-Musical (three events)
Evita (Repertory Theater, St. Louis)
Fleadh Nua (Music Festival), Ennis, R.I.
HMS Pinafore (Union Ave. Opera)
Maria Callas, in her own words (movie)
The Pearl Fishers (Bizet, Winter Opera)
The Elixir of Love (Donizetti, Winter Opera)
A Mother’s Heart Divided (folk duo, Penn Alps, Md.)
Appalachian music, Adaland Mansion, W.V.
Gandy Dancer Dinner Theater, Elkins, W.V.
Aleda Recommends:
Aunt Dimity books (Nancy Atherton)
Books by Georgette Heyer (ex. Faroe’s Daughter)
The Crows of Berea (Julie Johnson)
Fever at Dawn (Peter Gardas)
Father Timothy books (Jan Karon)
Educated (Tara Westover)
Big Stone Gap (Adriana Trigiani)
Travels: Ireland in the spring
In May we gathered together a group of friends and relatives
and took the Ireland bus. The participants:
Well, we flew from loci all over the States to Dublin and then
took the bus from there to points all over the south of the
Emerald Isle. I will relate one anecdote. Others (examples: The
Miracle of Clonmacnoise and The Losing of Pat) you will have
to find on the website. Tom Quinn, our guide, took us to
Blarney Castle where some of us got to kiss the Blarney stone.
It was obvious that Tom Quinn, being the quintessential
Irishman (get it??) had kissed it many times before as evidenced
by his stories and his elocution. One day while he was waxing
on some topic of forgotten lore he talked about one of the Irish
poets or authors, I forget which, and how he is now considered a
misogynistic writer in today’s climate of feminist criticism.
Tom used that peculiar adjective several times in his description.
Soon after, as we all descended from the bus to visit a quaint or
historic or holy place, one of the group took me aside and asked
me, “What was he talking about when he said someone was
‘massaging the stick’?” Well, I had to think for a minute, not
being able to immediately to make the connection but it slowly
came to me. Ah, yes, he was talking about someone being
“misogynistic”. So I explained this to her and we both had a
good chuckle. However, in thinking about it, it dawned on me
that perhaps these two homophonic (not that other word!!) words
had similarities might actually have an association apparent only
to one with a prurient interest. That is, someone who is
misogynistic would likely also be someone who is “massaging
the stick”. That, I thought, was worthy of a guffaw, not merely
a chortle.
As noted, further anecdotes about Ireland and numerous
pictures are available at Jameslandreth.com
Travels: West Virginia in the fall
In October we drove back east, first to Reading, PA to visit
with Jim’s cousin Margaret and her husband Sal at their
lovely home in Shillington. We had a very nice reunion and
enjoyed telling stories about the family from long, long ago.
Margaret was so kind as to give me two family heirlooms:
the series of autobiographical works written by her father
and the headless doll that belonged to my mother. See next
story.
We then drove to Pittsburg and joined up with a bus tour of
West Virginia, the highlight of which was a drive past the
statue of Don Knotts (a.k.a. Barney Fife and Ralph Furley)
in Morgantown, WV. Unfortunately we couldn’t alight to
take a picture with him. We were travelling with our friends
from Billings, MT, Rene & Tom Richmond, whom we met
on the Queen Mary II on the trip to England last summer,
previously described. On this trip we had a tour of a coal
mine, of the radiotelescopes at Green Bank, four different
railroad excursions, a tour of the bunker at the Greenbriar, a
jet boat ride on the New River* and a trolley car museum in
Washington, PA. As an aside, some of the cars looked like
ones Jim had ridden growing up back in Philly when he
would take the Red Arrow Line and SEPTA trolleys on
visits to his cousins Margaret and Tory and Mary. There
were three musical events also, see box above. A highlight
of the trip was that we got to reune with our dear old friend
Dana Olsen, he from when we were resident-fellows
together back in Nuclear Medicine in Seattle. It’s always a
joy to see Dana and the discussion is always wide ranging
and full of humor. On the drive home from West Virginia
we stopped in Erie, PA to visit for a few days with Aleda’s
family, i.e. her brothers Harold & John Litzel and her
cousin Karen. Lastly, we stopped in Columbus, OH to visit
with Jim’s two college roommates from Penn State, Fred
Kinsinger & Beal Traister. Although the hour was late
and the visit short, a chance to reconnect with these two old
friends from collegiate days is always one full of humor and
reminiscence.
*The New River is claimed to be the oldest river in the
world. An interesting nomenclature paradox.
In Memoriam
If you remember from last year’s letter, I spoke of the
passing of Jim’s aunt Maura Hughes Walsh. My
observation was that she was the last of the previous or elder
generation (our parents, aunts, uncles, etc) and that we are
now the elder generation and soon we too shall pass into the
great beyond, far across the shining river. Well, now this is
*-happening to us. I am sad to report the passing of my
cousin Margaret Regina Walsh Albert in October in
Reading. Margaret was one of the three Walsh sisters,
Margaret, Tori and Mary. It is said that they are/were
equivalent to sisters to Jim/Lan and he was “the brother they
never had”. She developed pancreatic cancer about five
years ago and fought a valiant fight against that old tyrant.
As mentioned above, we got to see her in early October and
had an enjoyable visit. She leaves behind her devoted
husband, Sal and six children and many grandchildren. The
obit is available at the Jameslandreth.com website.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Jim and Aleda
Aleda & Jim, planners and movers
Barbara & Pat Fillette, our friends from Philly and oft’
companions in travel
Shelley & Linda Partlon, friends from prior excursions, also
Phillyites
Rich & Trudy Foster from Penna. And good travelling
companions, too
Mary Anne Osborn from Seattle, from our Seattle days, in
the 1970’s
Dot McCain & Kathy Gowan, friends of Mary Anne’s, and
Dot and Kathy are sisters, from the Seattle area
Mary Discenza, Jim’s cousin from San Diego and his
confidant and editor
Ruth & Jim Nepute, St. Louisians. Jim N. is a radiologist
and was Jim’s boss at West County Radiology
Beanie & Roman Widolff, Portlanders, the liberal one in
Oregon, our friends from the Peace Corps days in Jamaica
Carolyn Dieckmann & Bertie* Schmidt, Bertie is Beanie’s
sister and Carolyn is a friend of hers from southern Indiana
Alice Robb, Beanie’s super nice cousin from Michigan
Rudy & Bill Fasbinder from Vancouver, WA, Rudy is
Beanie’s sister.
Tom Quinn from the Shannon, Eire, our leader, guide,
shepherd, lector, docent, companion, emcee, limerick
reciter and raconteur extraordinaire.
*Do you remember the story of when we went to visit
Bertie at the bakery in Batesville to get bagels?