Bishop’s first letter to her aunt in 1963
is dated 3 January from Rio. Proof that letters had been exchanged after her September
1962 epistle is in the first paragraph, when Bishop hoped that “you got my
modest Christmas gift – because I got yours!” Bishop’s gift was, undoubtedly,
money. Grace’s was more tangible and practical and was elaborated as Bishop got
going. Even so, enough time had elapsed that Bishop was unsure “where to
address you.” She surmised that Grace had “gone to Florida” and suspected she
should use “Hazel’s address” in Hollywood, FL. Wherever her aunt was, Bishop
knew “this will reach you,” directly or re-directly. The year was still brand new,
so she emphatically typed, “Happy New Year.”
Bishop then accounted for her holiday,
telling Grace that they “went to Cabo Frio for Christmas.” They left on “the 21st
and came back ten days later.” She noted they had “a nice time” at their “friend’s
house,” which they had “all to themselves, with servants, too.” They spent
their “time swimming and driving around to see the beaches and birds, etc, and
sleeping.” This leisure and rest were greatly needed after the stressful late
summer visit by the Lowells and because of Lota’s increasingly busy job.
At one point ‘Mary Morse went there … with
Monica,” and “brought all our mail, including your book, from P.” I assume “P”
is Phyllis and the gift in question was a cookbook, because Bishop quickly
remarked that “it came in very HANDY there [Cabo Frio].” The cook, who worked
for their friends, a man, “isn’t too good” (it seems good cooks were hard to
find), so “every once in a while I take over.” At least this cook “likes to
learn things,” which was the reason why when “your book arrived,” Bishop found
it helpful: “I taught him how to make a New England (or NS style) fish chowder.”
Bishop then complained about the bread, which was “so bad” that she “made a Johnny
cake – thanks to the book, too.” This gift had “hit the nail on the head” for
Bishop, who offered a heartfelt “thank you very much.”
As for marking Christmas, they “didn’t do
anything at all in the way of … celebration.” Bishop used “a bottle of store mincemeat
and a box of store pie crust,” both given to them by “an American friend here,”
and made “a rather mediocre mince pie” that “top[ped] off our boiled shrimp on
Christmas day.” The poor pie did mange to taste “a little like Christmas.”
Bishop had never been fond of this holiday
and the older she got the less she liked it. She confessed to her aunt that she
was “rather sick of the whole commercialized racket.” (I am reminded here of
Charles Schultz’s “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” which came out in the 1960s and
addressed this “commercialized racket.”) Bishop wished that the Brazilians “wouldn’t
adopt it.” She noted they were “still torn between our style of Christmas and
their style of New Years.” Bishop explained that “until quite recently,” Christmas
“was just a religious affair” in Brazil. Gift-giving happened “at New Years,”
and still did. Indeed, “Lota got quite a few” gifts.
This brief treatise on cultural differences
in gift-giving segued to a practical development. Bishop noted that she “gave
us three air conditioners, out of my fellowship money” (so much for
travelling). Because Lota’s job was keeping them so much in Rio, in the heat,
they decided they “couldn’t take another summer in the city without them.”
Bishop decided to do “it up brown* while we were at it.” The result: “what a
relief.” Bishop reported that “Lota will be working like this for three more
years, maybe longer.” They had decided “to make ourselves moderately comfortable
in the apartment.”
This dense, opening paragraph of her first
1963 letter was only just getting things started. She had a lot more ground to cover,
which will continue in the next post.
Click here to see Post 128.
************
*Note: I have never heard this turn of phrase before. Bishop so rarely used such colloquial terms, it jumped right out.
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