Box 330
Ottawa R.R.1.
Tues.
Dearest Mummy,
I am late writing to you & have two letters & your parcel all to thank you for. We loved getting them all and I meant to write and say thank you last week, but we have all had such a collection of wretched colds that I just have felt in no fit state! Charlie began it all about a week ago & then Cec & Lindy got it & then me – all the same type with coughs & runny noses. Lindy wasn’t bothered quite so much I don’t think, but poor little Charlie had a real whopper & although they are both still runny nosed their coughs aren’t so bad & I think they are over the worst. Mine was about at its peak last night, but once I got going today it didn’t seem so bad, & as Cec’s is getting better I think we’re all on the mend! I am just so thankful the children don’t get really ill like Gudrun’s with temperatures etc. Lindy & Charlie get a bit cross & weepy but are really very good & sleep well.
We had our first big snow-fall yesterday (did you get any?) and so today I took the children out in it for a little while & they had great fun making train tracks in it. It is bright and not windy so it’s really lovely but I didn’t think too much of it while I was hanging the blasted sheets on the line! I can see I won’t be doing that much more this winter! Margie has just got a new washing machine & dryer & she phoned me up in the middle of the morning & gloated over me!
I am having so many interruptions! Just had Eatons here with my 2nd installment of Christmas presents (which I hastily hit in the cold room) & a few minutes ago the Pest Control Man. Yes – we still have our animal & Myrtle was convinced it was a rat & of course had a 100 kittens. She has kept phoning & bothering us & have we done this & that till Cec & I were sick of her. We have set traps, but she was determined to poison it which Cec didn’t want to do in case it died in the walls. Anyway the P.C. man she sent for says after looking around here & seeing the rubber balls he’s chewed & heard about the rubber erasers he’s eaten (one mine, one Mrs. Rs!) says he thinks it’s a chipmunk or squirrel! He says a trap is best & has shown me how to set ours so he won’t eat the bait & go away! (Has done that 2 or 3 times already!) I hope we get him but that I don’t see him in the trap. Myrtle has him in her hot air registers & chewing her cupboards etc. – you can imagine the fuss she makes!
I seem to be all in a muddle in this letter what with dashing hither & yon & coughing & snuffling & I haven’t got your letters right here to answer, so I will wait & answer them later & tell you all about what fun we had with your parcel then too & in the meanwhile I will just ramble on which is simplest for my addled brain!
Yesterday we had quite an experience which so easily might have been a tragedy. It was about 20 to 5, getting dark & the roads all slippy from the snow & the children & I looked out of the window to see if the mailman had been & saw Jimmy from next door going to go across the road to get his Granny’s mail. We watched him & I was just saying to the children “Look how careful Jimmy is crossing the road” when he just seem to dart out amongst the traffic & was knocked down by a Colonial bus coming from Montreal. I saw Mrs. Carleton go out & I thought I’d go to help her & just met the bus driver coming to ask me to call an ambulance, which I did & then phoned to the police & he phoned his depot. By then the children told me some men had carried Jimmy in the house, so I went over there & found they’d carried him in on a blanket & he was on the floor but quite conscious but scared to bits of course. He could move his arms & legs & wanted to get up but we kept him still as one ear was bleeding a little. Apparently the driver put on his brakes at once & when he was knocked down the wheel was locked & so just pushed him along a little without going onto him. Of course the old lady was in a state, so I phoned her daughter for her, & the other daughter & helped her get ready to go in the ambulance with Jimmy. Just then the ambulance came & took them away & so I dashed home to the children who were so good – just standing watching the cars & very thrilled with the excitement! Then the bus driver came back to get my name & address & what I knew about Jimmy, then Miss Carlton came home & I called her & brought her in & told her what had happened & then the police arrived & were in the middle of taking down my account of what had happened when Cec arrived for dinner – & nothing ready of course! However, I phoned Miss C. later & she told me the other sister & husband were down at the hospital with her mother & that Jimmy had been x-rayed & seemed quite all right but he was to stay overnight in the hospital just to make sure, & I have heard from Mrs. R. now that he is coming home this afternoon. Poor little fellow, I am so thankful it has turned out so well.
One minor detail was that I had just washed & waxed my kitchen floor & decided not to do the stairs as it was getting late. Only the bus driver & I went in the kitchen, but the stairs & dining room were full of melting snow & mud from peoples’ boots & I felt so pleased I hadn’t wasted my energies!
Later.
Well here I am again – I seem to have written pages and not said much, so I better get going. First of all the parcel! We loved it! And the children were so thrilled over everything and rushed to tell Cec about all the things Grannie sent them when he came home. Lindy of course was delighted with her bracelet and has worn both it and her “barette” ever since they came. Charlie got the magnet & little clown etc. & has carried them around in a little box for days! They each love their little books & Charlie immediately grabbed the funny little hat as his & calls it his “cowboy hat” & looks a hoot in it! More his size than Allan’s though! I am just thrilled with your bargain material & keep telling everyone of how you got it all for 50¢! I have a dress pattern which I was going to try but the material I thought of buying was over $?.00 [West Indian insects bored two holes through the entire 18 pages so sometimes the transcriber is at a loss!] a yard so as I need quite a bit I was hesitating as I didn’t want to be too rash on my first trial for myself! However now I shall have no qualms over experimenting with your material & am panting to begin. Have to make Barbara Heslop’s nightie yet – I’ve made Anne’s & Jani’s skirts – they look immense but better big than small!! Do you remember sending me a red belt for my birthday? Well I thought it would go nicely with the navy material & my red shoes & new red bag. I don’t think the thinner material for top will matter – I haven’t decided whether short or 3/4 sleeves yet.
The Bazaar certainly was a Noble Effort & did very well I think. I was telling Pat Tomlinson about you helping with the Turkey Dinner when we were at Sun. School last week & said “I wonder when St. M’s Bazaar is? “& she said “When do you think? Yesterday!” She knew nothing about it till her M-in-law made some mention of having been, & of course we had been in S.S. not church other Sundays, but we got no notices or anything. Unlike Margs’ Pat says their Bazaars are never a success & I don’t wonder much! To go back to your Bazaar, I laughed over Monie’s Afghan – what a pity it wasn’t a nice lavatory seat or a case of liquor! When you had your Turkey Dinner did A. Ettie recall the Ham Dinner I went to in the church hall with Hugh Brown & how A. Ettie giggled over the Jews coming & then nearly collapsed when she realized Marg’s friends were Jews too!
You ask about Lindy & Sunday School – well we’re still going as you can see & Pat T. takes both Joanne & Susan & now Charlie wants to come! Just the last 2 weeks there’s been a big improvement – the big S. Sch. has moved over the road to a hall they’ve hired & the Church Hall is just for the little ones. They put up partitions & make little rooms & have the little chairs & tables down & it is fine. The S. Sch. teachers are under the impression that I have a heaven sent way with babies (having soothed weeping small girls for a few Sundays) so last week they asked if I would look after the tiny ones on the stage so I had 5 little girls of 2 and under! We had all the toys up there & crayons etc. & I just had to keep them happy! Actually we got on fine & the adults kept coming up to tell me what a wonderful difference it made as the other children weren’t distracted by the little ones & the toys. Five was O.K. – hope there won’t be 15 next week! Lindy came with me last week, but next week she is to go with Joanne into Pat’s little class & little Susan is to come with me – at least that’s the plan!
Thank you for sending on my Father’s letter. I will write at Christmas & send some small things. Cec & I have decided to send him a year’s sub. to Reader’s Digest as he always seems to be quite interested in it & as our Sub. is up this year I won’t have any to send onto him. A. Muriel wrote & told me about the book which she read & liked very much. He has had my address on letters & parcels etc. but must have forgotten it.
Tomorrow (now Wed. – freezing rain & horrid – my sheets froze to the line & were stiff as boards! Grrr!) is your Thanksgiving & I shall think of you all eating turkey & having a yummy time while I make our Chilli for dinner! It is a good thing I won’t be tempted as I am dieting again & plan to try to lose a bit before Christmas as I’m sure to increase again then!!
I have been very busy this past week trying to organize a Lab Christmas Party. They used to have one in the Lab you remember, but that is illegal & they haven’t had it in the past couple of years & Cec refuses to have anything to do with it. Everyone says “Oh, it’s too expensive to have one outside“ & when you say “Well how much?” They say “Oh, I don’t know, but too expensive!” So I decided to find out! I got some information from Lu & got in touch with a girl who organizes their parties & she was wonderful & told me lots of things & a place available & just everything, so I handed over all this to Miss Bedard & the outcome is we’re having a party for $1.50 per person, which includes supper! We couldn’t get the room on a nice day before Christmas so have booked it for the Friday after, so it will be a Pre-New Year Party & should be fun I think – I hope so as I am to blame!
I was so glad to hear that Marga is so well & full of fun now – she certainly seems to be a busy little woman with Bazaars & Luncheons & dinners at her M-in-laws. I hope the old lady is all right again after her fall.
What fun to go to the Cat Show – the wee white kits must have been sweet, but actually I am easy- ?sy about another animal just now! Lea wants a kit as she has mice & apparently Grenier’s had some but when I asked they were all gone.
I have begun to do Charlie’s mattress – all by hand of course, & found it took me over 2 1/2 hours the other morning to do one side! It’s not often he is off it for 3 hours at a time – particularly when I haven’t a thing to do! – so I haven’t tackled the other side yet, but already Cec says he is much drier at night – warm & toasty, but not sweaty. It isn’t the cause of the eczema of course, but sweating does aggravate the itching.
Talking of my new hat (flat by the way!) I got Linda one last week – a white wool cap with a tail down the back & with red braid & trimmings. She is tickled to bits with it & with her dark green snowsuit & red mitts she looks very cute. Oh & I also got her new red boots & Charlie has her brown ones, so she is very chic!
Our dinner for the Herzberg’s went off very well – except my Cheese Soufflé collapsed of course! But they were so nice & really seemed to enjoy themselves & so did we. They thought our children were so good! Charlie of course kissing & hugging them all affectionately! (Last night he told me I was the sweetest girl in the whole world! And another night when I was going out he kissed me & said “Keep nice and safe!”). We had the New Zealanders (Moores) to dinner on the Sunday & that was quite fun too but golly, their two little kids had every single toy in the whole house in the sitting room when they left. Chaos! She is preggy again – the little boy is about 1 1/2 I guess and Sharon 3. (Catholics!)
I am enclosing a letter from Lindy & she asked me to tell you please to send her more paper dolls! You remember the pretty little paper dolls we had at the cottage? She has cut them all out herself now & they are lovely – she is so neat & careful. The letter was her idea & she got Cec to spell the words for her but she did all the letters herself & when you spell “Grannie” she can just write down G etc. etc. without being shown. Isn’t she clever!!!
Lots of love & hugs & kisses from us all – have a Happy Thanksgiving –
Love from Cyn.
A Family History in Letters 