I was so glad to read the Nov. 17 letter in The Sun by Beverly Ainscow, in which she wrote of her surprise and sadness at the closing of Sunnyvale Nursery. I too was greatly surprised when this happened. This is just one more experience of losing parts of our quieter, simpler community.

I understand that yet another housing unit/community is going to be built there--right around the corner from where I live.

Both my family and I will miss the nursery for so many reasons. The most obvious being that it was so close and easy for us to go each year to purchase all the flowers we needed, the trees and bushes for our yard and vegies for our garden. But one thing I especially appreciated was that in this world of fear, the nursery was close enough to our home that I could allow my children to stroll over there with their friends and wander around collecting fallen flower petals.

It was a chance for my 9- and 13-year-old to feel they didn't need me to travel everywhere with them. I remember running off to the candy store (Queens, NYC) when I was a kid and not needing my parents to join me. It gave me a sense of freedom that is not easy to offer my own children in today's world. My daughters have often gone to the nursery with their friends and collected flower petals at the Nursery. They would then come home and press them so that they could eventually turn them into bookmarks and jewelry.

I will definitely miss the Sunnyvale Nursery. In the nine years I've been in Sunnyvale (San Jose before that) I've watched Chuck's Fruit Stand and CJ Olson's reduce in size. One by one, bit by bit we are losing our history.

Thank goodness for the orchard and museum at the community center. At least a small piece of history will be preserved. I can still go there with my children, and even my Girl Scout Troop each spring, and see, smell and even lend a hand when it's time for "cuttin' cots."

Mara Beckerman Sneiderman

Sunnyvale