Wendy at work

Here is Wendy's diary for 2 weeks in August 1976,illustrating how hard she worked.

Monday August 16: Three loads wash. A wet, dark day. Put basement carpet out to air; washed kitchen floor. Wrote 4 letters.
Aug 17: A lovely day. Played tennis. Started scratching off paint on window ledges downstairs. Took Jonathan to NAC Theatre to hear & see the Huggetts. A most enjoyable evening.
Aug 18: A perfect day. Scraped rest of downstairs windows and got undercoat on. Cleaned both bathrooms. Up early to have car serviced. Spaghetti for tea. Worked after tea to finish undercoat.
Aug 19: Another perfect day to play tennis with Jonathan 8.30-9.15 then gardened till 11.15. Did one load washing. Biked to bank. Bought chicken for tea. Second coat enamel on all downstairs window sills. Played piano.
Aug 20: Played tennis. Finished painting kitchen window sills but paint very gucky. Painted tops of heater covers. To Davies for buffet dinner. Awfully boring. Home late & broke toe and toenail when heater cover dropped on it.
Aug 21: To Emergency to have toe X-rayed (broken) & dressed. Home to rest up. Lamb chops for tea. Rebecca to work. DP [her friend] here but no bother, went out with Suzy & Carol.
Aug 22: David home 3 am & slept all day. DP & Rebecca to Lac Phillippe. Rebecca to work, DP off. Early bed.
Aug 23: A perfect day. Did 5 loads washing very quietly & put foot up as much as I could. Billy [Watt; next-door neighbour]brought in a cup of tea for me in afternoon.
Aug 24: A gorgeous day. Out to Richmond by car with Billy to pick tomatoes. Very pretty out there. Made up 2 lots chutney. Rode bicycle to Dr Patten for toe dressing. Waited some time. Wrote 2 letters.
Aug 25: Another bonza [NZ slang for very good] day. Cut up tomatoes & onions in sun all day. Did a load washing. Made up 22 lb tomatoes into relish. Dropped place mats on to nail bed: agony!!! Roast pork for dinner.
Aug 26: Cool & a little cloudy, just my sort of weather! Finished making chutney & cutting up tomatoes & onions in sun.
Aug 27: Hot & muggy. Shopped all a.m., Bank, Carlingwood, Lincoln Fields. Put food away, made pate & cleaned kitchen. Up to Dr Patten for foot dressing. Home to roast chicken. Out to film Bad News Bears.
Aug 28: Rebecca off to Hull disco till 4 am. Could not sleep for worrying about her. Up at 10 am washing & house cleaning. Toe sore.
Aug 29: Cold but sunny. Away at 10 am w. D & J to Lanark, Carleton Place, Balderson Cheese Factory.
Aug 30: Under 10 C, v cold, started washing early, soaked toe & wrote letters. A bad night with burning toe.
Aug 31: Started painting middle wall in stair well & plastering cracks. Bought wall paper. Had watch fixed.
Sep 1: Washed & carried on w. sanding & scraping doors.
Sep 2: Busy with painting wall, washing, sanding & plastering cracks in stair well. Hired ladder from Rentalex & worked on high walls till 11 pm. Very tired.
Sep 3: Returned ladder. All a.m. shopping for food & putting it away. In afternoon undercoated doors. Bought $1 navy striped dress at Fairweather's.
Sep 4: Painted doors & west wall & architrave of upstairs hall. Put on wall paper. Watched TV.
Sep 5: To church. Fine but cold. Second coated 4 doors upstairs & now finished!

All above is vertbatim from her diary for the last two weeks of August 1976, except for an occasional word I couldn't read. I was away much of those two weeks, doing a series of site visits for the NIH Epidemiology Study Section. As Richard says, she was like the Energizer Bunny. It took more than a broken toe to slow her down!