Aunt R-M's letter to my sister (then 10 yrs. old) in reply to a request for family information

Dear E;

I've decided what pages I should have copied for you and will go down to bank soon.
I've read and read and can't see any place telling the origins of the [family surname]. [ . . . .]
The M.s came from Ireland as you can see by the enclosed copies.
It mentions A. B. who came to America with her sister. [Your grandma] said Sunday, she thought they were twins but I think only sisters. Somehow they became separated and she never ever saw the sister again. [ . . . . ] Because of [this], we have distant cousins of which we know nothing.
Have been writing all kinds of St. Pat letters. Have house all decorated for two times I will entertain this month. Sunday Bud, J and I had dessert here and all off of Great Grand-mother H.'s dishes which date 1803--green Bramble pattern. Don't think they were impressed but I loved using the dishes.

Love,
R.M.

Great-Aunt R-M

This is one of my great-aunts on Mom's side of the family. I remember Great-Aunt R-M as a rather delicate elderly woman of inherent elegance mingled with the decency and reserve of the rural Midwest. The first photograph above was taken on her baby brother's [my grandpa's] eightieth birthday. The delicate fabric of her dress and her matching jewelry capture Aunt R-M's attention to tasteful and lovely attire.

The next photographs picture another birthday party, one that occurred a number of years earlier. Aunt R-M prepared a celebration for my sister complete with a delicate pink theme, fragile dishes, and a singing candle. I also remember green grapes served with a fluffy white cream--to my little girl sensibilities, that dish captured delight and refinement. The party with it's exquisite food and place settings lingers in my memory amidst a rosy aura of pink lemonade in old glass goblets.