Box 330
Ottawa R.R.1.
10th Nov.
Dearest Mummy,
Thank you so much for your letters & the pictures which I am enclosing. Cec has got the colour pictures of the children for you but has left them at work! I found some P.C.s & a picture of Allan & a few newspaper cuttings etc. of yours behind the bookcase in your room, but thought I might as well just mail them out to St. V. sometime as you have quite enough luggage as it is & they would probably weigh at least an ounce!!
Why I was routing behind the bookcase was of course because we did a great turnaround of rooms & “yours” is now the children’s. Linda’s bed is where yours was; Charlie’s crib in the corner where the bookcase was; his ch-of-drawers between the end of the crib & Linda’s bed & Linda’s ch-of-drawers where the little couch thing was. Their clothes are in the closet and they seem very pleased with it. We are too, particularly as we still have our animal! It goes through to Mrs. Rothwell too & through her registers into the kitchen, but so far it only goes in our walls & in the cold room & in the roof! Everyone seems to think it must be a rat – lovely!
We have made the other bedroom into a combined study – spare room like this
Cec hopes that if he can shut himself away in seclusion he may do some work & if the desk is in there I won’t use it as a hold-all & pile stuff on it! We have put the brown chest of drawers downstairs in the entrance hall with mittens, scarves etc. in, & a plant on it & the mirror hanging, & it looks very nice. All the plants are flourishing & we potted a dark red chrysanthemum which is doing nicely too. The little couch bed we put in our bedroom along the window wall & it looks all right. Of course with no desk in the sitting room we’ve moved that around too- my favourite occupation! – and it is now like this:-
We are simply delighted with our “new” sofa & it looks very nice we think – with each thing we do better. We didn’t use all the material by any means & I now think I will try my hand at making a foot rest thing. This arrangement of the sitting room is quite good and with the little bookshelves in the corner we have the radio accessible but not noticeable & it is much neater!
As you will gather we got the sofa done before our party on Friday & a good time was had by all! We had Stuart & Willa Woods (you met him once in Ethel St.), a Dr. Kalra from the Council (an Indian bachelor – very nice & amusing) & Marjorie Bedard from the Council – works in Administration there & has quite a lot to do with Cec’s group.
I had met her at the Herzberg’s – she’s 30 to 40, nice looking in a career-womanish way & her home is in Ottawa. Of course we didn’t know if she was RC or not, so I thought I better be safe with fish on Friday, so we had: – Shrimp Jambalaya, Stuffed Eggs, Tossed Salad, Melba Toast; then Apricot Cream with Sponge Cake & Coffee. Everyone was very complimentary which was nice.
Both the children & I had bits of colds last week – nothing much, but runny noses & Linda got a cough & I think it must have affected her disposition as she is cross as two sticks this week! Anyway on Sat. to cheer me up I went to the library & then on downtown to get a new hat. I made quite a tour of Ogilvie’s, Caplan’s, Frieman’s etc. & didn’t see anything thrilling, but ended up at a little hat shop where I got quite a cute one for $6.00 – brown velvet like yours & sitting on the top of my head, but it has little brown velvet flowers at each side with a diamanté centre in each one, so it is quite frivolous. Cec approves & I am tickled to bits. On Sunday however, I decided we shouldn’t go to Sunday School as we were both coldy so I haven’t worn it yet. We drove around to the houses behind the Montreal Rd. N.R.C. though to see a family who has just arrived from New Zealand. He is a Fellow in Cec’s group & has with him his wife & little girl & boy – each about a year younger than Linda & Charlie. Their name is Moore & we found them in this little house with no furniture except beds & a kitchen table & chairs & it took me back so forcibly to Ethel St. & made me count my blessings. They had a dreadful old anthracite stove in the kitchen & were having such trouble with it so we lent them our Corn-Popper pan & electric ring to help out. I took her with us to Loblaws & they are all coming to dinner on Sunday. Fanni came home with her baby on Sunday, so I took around a gingerbread & a nice red plant I bought (have forgotten its name – has a trumpet-like flower). She had a woman in every day & of course on Tues. the woman got flu & Fanni was left to cope, so I went around and got Janek at 9 a.m. & kept him all day – he was very good, but Linda was a little b—! I don’t know if she was jealous or fractious from her cold still, but she whined & wailed all day till I could have bitten her!
Tomorrow is Remembrance Day & it is a holiday here. Cec will be glad of the rest as he went back to work last night & got home at 3:30 a.m. & then off with Teddy at 8:15 this morning! We are having Dr. & Mrs. Herzberg & their daughter Agnes to dinner tomorrow evening. They are still camping out in one of the N.R.C. houses as their new one in Rockcliffe isn’t ready – we were in 2 minds whether to ask them, but decided that if they were anyone else we would ask them at once, so we shouldn’t hold the fact of his being a Director against him! Dr. H. is a vegetarian of course so that is a problem to begin with! I have decided on: – Cheese Soufflé, Mushroom, Celery & Noodle Casserole, Chicken Livers in Bacon (for us!), Salad, Rolls: then an Orange Chiffon Pie I think.
This has all been about us & what we’ve done & eaten, so I’d better answer your letter now. Yes, I was surprised about Princess Margaret & felt very sorry for her – all the publicity & everything, but hope that now Peter is out of the picture she will eventually find someone else. – 16 years older was a lot, I think apart from the divorce difficulties etc.
Charlies eczema has been pretty good lately – & you know what we found! While he slept on the little couch bed in your room he kept toasty warm but never got all wet & sweaty – as soon as we put him back in the crib with the plastic covered mattress he gets soaking wet again & itchy of course. So I am going to get some ticking & try to cover the mattress – the plastic is split anyway, so something would have to be done. I have cut the eiderdown & bound the cut edge & covered Charlie’s half with pale blue cotton with cowboys on & he loves it – it keeps him beautifully cozy.
I hope the Bazaar & Turkey Dinner were a success. I could use the latter right now – I am hungrey! I have made an Apricot Loaf, so think I’ll try it! I forgot to tell you, Lindy was thrilled with her letter, mag. & Betsy McCall’s. She spent 2 whole days cutting them out – said she didn’t need my help & did them beautifully with great care & was absolutely absorbed by them. She is very keen now on writing & can print nearly all the letters of the alphabet & is beginning on numbers. She is also beginning to read! Came to me the other day with a book & said “Look Mummy – L-A-D-Y – Lady!” Charlie is learning to say his “L”s at last & on prompting will say “Linda “& “Hello” quite clearly!
Must stop before my arm breaks – Lots of love to A. Ettie & Monie & Margs & lots & lots for you from us all –
Cyn.
A Family History in Letters 