Dearest Mummy, As you will see from the children’s letters your birthday parcel arrived in good time and of course caused huge excitement! I asked Lindy if I should put it away and she said “Well – it’s such a long time. How about opening it & if Granny has put in more than one thing, we could save one & open one!” so that is what we did! The children were delighted with their gifts – Charlie was a little dubious of the shirt at first – did boys wear such bright shirts! – but he tried it on & it looks so nice & fitted so well that he was reconciled! Thank you so much for my gloves – they are so nice & I am delighted to have them as I have so few nice gloves. I also got your letter with the cheque & will get the shoes & batteries & send them off this week. I was over at the Coin wash at McArthur Plaza last week, so went to Bata & asked about the shoes. They have the exact shoe but in a very ugly yellowy brown, but he has another pair which he says is made on exactly the same last & which looks very much the same to me. This is in the same beige-y colour as yours & he says they don’t come in white. I had no money at the time, so didn’t get them, but will do so this week. Tomorrow we take Lindy to this Dr. Hargadon to see about her front teeth, & then I must begin getting ready for our holiday, as we leave a week on Sat. The weather is still very changeable & has been hot & humid with violent thunder showers, so I hope it gets it all over before we go. Cec is asphalting the driveway – such a job, but it begins to look nice.
Dearest Mummy, It was two weeks ago today that I posted my last letter to you in Montreal when I was with Mary Egan, and it seems more like two months ago! Cec has been home for more than a week and we are beginning to feel that he was never away, although my goodness, we were glad to see him! I might as well begin right away and tell you of our doings and then I can answer your letters and say thank you properly. I think I told you of Flora W. coming to tea one day with the baby, and then the next day Mrs. Bowen invited me to tea- this was really because of “My Position” and she also invited Marjorie as Past President and Gertrude Pierce who is President of the Altar Guild, but it was very nice anyway. Marjorie’s Mother was there too and Mr. Bowen and we all had quite a chatty time. The next day (Fri. 9th) I took Ruth Lockwood to Almonte to the Woollen Mills Shop. Of course when I suggested it to her before Cec ever left I had great plans to buy all sorts of things, but after my great dress spree I had no money, and Ruth wasn’t much better, so we really went for fun! Ruth actually took a piece of material and matched it, so we didn’t completely waste their time, but actually I was very glad to see what they had and how the prices compared so that in the Fall I can plan what to get if I want to go again. They have very nice sweaters of all shades as well as woolen material, and also blankets. The latter of a mixture of rayon and viscose and something else, as well as the pure wool ones, and I was thinking that for Charlie it might be better as he finds the wool too hot. We had a picnic lunch on the way back, and although it wasn’t warm enough to make us want to get out and recline on the grassy sward, it was very pleasant sitting in the car with the windows open! During the week I had a phone call from Lila who is back in Ottawa for two months, so I invited her to come to dinner on the Sunday. It turned out to be a nice hot day – one of the few we’ve had – so we had it out in the garden and I cooked meatballs and chicken livers in bacon on the little grill. They got a bit burned, but Lila is a polite girl and said she liked the charcoal flavour! Myrtle annoyed me immensely by peering at us, and talking and as she had laryngitis we’d all have to stop and listen and say ‘Pardon’ and in the end never know what she was talking about. By the time Cec got home I could hardly be civil to her. She was in and out and on the phone every day and she’d be saying “What are you doing now?” and “Where are you going today?” until I felt I had an inquisitor on my heels. The day I went to Montreal she phoned me after 10 at night and demanded very indignantly “Where were you all day?” As you can imagine this did not go down very well with me! Next day- Monday- was the day Charlie S.[Stainthorpe] was to be in Ottawa. So after the children set off to school I dashed around and made beds etc. and then about 8:40 a.m. I phoned the Château Laurier and asked for him but they said he hadn’t come yet, so I left a message with my phone number and about half an hour later he called me. He had just arrived after a night in the train from Toronto and hadn’t had breakfast yet, so I suggested that I would come for him at 11 o’clock, and if he felt like it he could stroll up and look at the outside of the Parliament buildings as I knew I would never find a place to park there. I’d given the children their lunches, so I got organized and set off in my new blue patterned dress and black hat that Mary and I made and we duly met at the right time and place. Charlie is just the same – a little more paunchy, but full of pep and enthusiasm and having a wonderful time. We went to the car at once as he had been up to Parliament Hill, and I set out to show him Ottawa. I can’t say it was much of a success as a guided tour, as he was having so much fun telling me about Ruth and the boys, and all the things he done on his trip and the things he’d seen that I didn’t have the heart to keep interrupting him and saying this is this and that is that! However, we went around the Driveways and Dow’s Lake so he must have had a favourable impression. Unfortunately the tulips had just completely finished and not much else was in bloom and the same applied to our garden, but everything was beautifully green and springy looking. We got to the Champlain Island in the Ottawa River just around 12, and I showed him the rapids, and the log booms higher up, which interested him very much, and then I suggested that we have just a light lunch in the restaurant there, and he thought this was a good idea. We had toasted Western sandwiches and coffee, and he’d not had such a sandwich before and he thought it was a beautiful restaurant so it was nice to please him. Afterwards, I took him over the bridge and down through Hull and he saw the view from that side of the river, and then we went down Sussex Drive, past N.R.C. and the Prime Minister’s and Governor General’s etc. and through Rockcliffe Park. On the way home we passed Steinberg’s and Loblaw’s and I told him I shop there, and then I suddenly thought he might like to see one, so back we went and I took him through Steinberg’s much to his amazement and interest! He bought some cherries to have on the train next day and then saw some corn and asked if that was what it was, as their Courier had said they hadn’t lived until they had eaten corn on the cob, so of course I got some, although it was not in season, so it wasn’t very good, but at least he’d have some idea of what it is like. We got home around 2:30 I think, and we sat chatting for a little, and I noticed that he was looking a bit droopy eyed, so I suggested that he should lie down and have a little nap, so I think he was very happy to do so. I was happy too, as I shut myself in the kitchen and managed to get the dinner well on the way. I had a chicken casserole with bacon and mushrooms, mashed potatoes, fresh asparagus and corn on the cob, and then afterwards a strawberry shortcake. I found it very hard work with both Lila and Charlie being both host and hostess and missed Cec so much – it is really hard to entertain and cook and serve dinner at the same time! The children came in from school while Charlie was still asleep, and we crept around for a little while, and then he stirred so we made tea and I introduced them. They were very tickled at some of Charlie’s English expressions and of course we got so muddled up with the Charlies that we had to say Big Charlie and Little Charlie! Big C. brought them both pretty little egg cups and spoons with the arms of London on, so they were very pleased and I was glad that I had the things to give him for Ruth’s boys. I was quite glad that he had grandsons because whenever the children suddenly got uproarious, or were particularly child like he would say “Just like Richard and Michael!” and look quite pleased!
Charlie (in the back) with Ruth, Richard, Michael, and Peter Haynes in England.
He was tired after his night in the train, and they were off to Montreal early in the morning so we drove him back to the Château soon after 8 o’clock, and this suited me fine as I didn’t want to keep the children out too long. It really was nice seeing him again and he seems very contented with his life now. I suggested he try a trip to the West Indies, and he said that you had said so too, and he seemed quite interested so you might be seeing him next! On the Tuesday Fanni had very kindly invited us all to a barbecue supper, so this was a lovely free day for me, without even dinner to prepare. Unfortunately it was as changeable as all this peculiar summer has been, and about 4 it clouded over and began to pour with rain, so we couldn’t sit outside doors after all. Teddy has built a lovely new fireplace outside and we were going to christen it but we had a nice time anyway. Talking of christenings the Bowen’s smallest girl, Patty, aged four had me very puzzled the other Sunday – she kept telling me that she was going to – – – – and that I should come to this – – – – and there would be nice things to eat! I couldn’t make out what the word was and asked her again and again and finally got it – a “bastism”! Next day, Wednesday, I set out on my trip to Montreal. I gave the children their lunch and arranged for them to go to Mrs. Lockwood’s after school, and then dashed around and did a few chores before I set out at 9 o’clock. It was really a perfect day for driving, as it was sunny but quite cool, so I wore the navy and white checked outfit you helped me buy before you left, and my pink straw pillbox hat. I took just about the three hours to drive the 120 miles, and felt very proud of myself as I only got lost once in the city, and then I drove in onto a side street and found myself on the map! I found a parking lot very near the bus station and was there at 12:05 to find Mary just arriving. She looks practically exactly the same – no gray hairs and just about the same figure, but of course her complexion is 10 years older, like mine! We set off and found an Italian Restaurant nearby, and decided to take our time, and ordered a bottle or rather a half bottle of white wine and sat there sipping and talking and eating for two hours. We showed one another pictures of our children and told one another about our families, and caught up on our friends and their children and had a thoroughly good time! Mary had stayed one night with Olwen and Noel in Vancouver (3 children) and I was wrong – I thought Noel was a teacher but he is with an advertising firm. I was very amused because apparently they loathed Canada to begin with and a few years ago went back to England, and although they both worked there they couldn’t make enough money to live on! Not, I gather, in the style to which they would like to be accustomed! So they returned to Canada, but for Mary’s few remarks it sounds as if Owen is still quite affected. Mary’s mother and Gerard were meeting her at Prestwick, and Gerard was lending her his car, so she hopes to get around and see everyone. She is then going home via Rome, and Gerard will go there with her, and then she goes on to Singapore and so home. She has left the 2 girls in a convent boarding school where Ann already goes, but the young one just for the term, and the three boys and Michael are looking after each other. She seems to have very much the same kind of life as I do I think, and seems very contented. After our long lunch we went and looked at the shops a bit and I got some candy to take back to the children and Mrs. Lockwood, and then before long it was getting on for 4 o’clock. I wanted to leave before the evening traffic rush began, and Mary wanted to be back before too late as she was staying with a young English couple, so we had a cup of tea and said goodbye and I was home soon after 7. My activities still weren’t over though, as this was the evening of Mr. Bowen’s presentation, so I got tidied up a bit, and then went over to the Lockwood’s and took Mrs. L and Linda and Charlie down to the Church. There has been a great mix-up over the parish letter telling the people about the Bowens’ leaving and asking for subs. etc. – in fact it was never sent, and in the end the Wardens had to ask some of us in the Guild to phone everyone, so we were quite relieved to find there was quite a nice crowd there. The Guild served tea and coffee and cookies, and then the gifts were presented – very nice leather briefcase to Mr. Bowen and a set of dishes to Mrs. Bowen and a cheque ($100). The dishes were exactly the same as my blue Wedgewood, but yellow as Mrs. B wanted those, but I didn’t think they were as pretty as mine. We also gave a cheque to Mr. Trumbull the organist (Mrs. Rothwell’s lodger – remember?) as he wouldn’t accept a salary apparently. He is leaving Fairfield School so of course leaving Mrs. R and the Church too. I didn’t stay to the end of the social as I had the children, but it was quite pleasant and I think that the Bowens were pleased. Next morning I blessed Mary Orr, as this was the day that she had talked me into going and helping her with this lunch. The Save the Children have a Dog Show every year apparently at Ashbury College and Mary and some of the other women provide and serve lunch for the dog show judges. It really wasn’t hard work, as I had to be there at 11, and about 4 of us set up card tables and then one long buffet table table with the food on it – all cold- in the gym. We served about 25 people and then had our own, but had no washing up or anything, and as they all trickled in a few at a time there was no rush. I left about 2, and went to the Coinwash and did my washing! Did I tell you that the washing machine had passed out? Cec says the motor has burned out and we don’t feel inclined to spend $50 or more for it, so we have decided to leave it until after the holidays, and then decide what we’ll do and in the meantime I take my washing down to the good old Coinwash. The next excitement that week was the Sunday School Picnic, which was at the same place as last year – the big park at Hogs Back. It was a lovely day, and it was really very nice. It began at 10, and I took Joanne with L. and C. and they ran races all morning and then had lunch- hot dogs and pop and ice cream! Afterwards there was a Treasure Hunt and some silly races for adults. They had made me join in the throwing the raw egg business as they had last year and I gave a great heave up into the air and it nearly came down on a man’s head! It was all over around 2, so that gave us a nice time to get home and have a great bath and hair wash do for Daddy coming home! It was rather a pity that we had to miss this Sunday in Church as it was Children’s Sunday with all the presentation of Sunday school prizes etc. Not only that, but the Service was taken by the children too, and they had asked me if Linda would read one of the lessons. I had to explain that we wouldn’t be there, and I didn’t tell Lindy as I knew how disappointed she would be, but her Sunday School teacher told her and of course she was quite sad. They both got prizes, but someone else had to take them for them. On the Sunday morning we were all set to leave at 10, as Cec’s plane was due in at 1:35, and I thought we’d get there in good time and have some lunch and watch the planes. However I decided to try and check before I left Ottawa, so I phoned BOAC, but after a lot of hoo-ha they told me if I called in 2 hours they would be able to tell me when the plane got in! This was ridiculous of course, as we’d be nearly in Montreal by then, so off we set anyway, and had quite a nice drive, though the children got a bit bored! We stopped by the side of the road and had picnic cookies and milk and coffee, and we got to the Airport just at 12:30. We parked the car, and went into the Terminal and to the BOAC Enquiries, and asked about the plane and the girl said calmly “Oh, that flight has been cancelled.” I was so infuriated, particularly as it turned out that they had known for hours, and must have known when I phoned in Ottawa. However, they said Cec would arrive at 4 o’clock, so we had lunch and resigned ourselves to a nice long wait. Fortunately there were a few drug stores etc. open in the concourse, so we bought Linda a book and Mummy a book, and Charlie 2 little matchbox cars, and amused ourselves as best we could! Watching the planes was very disappointing, as they arrive and take off behind another building, and although they have a lovely terrace and viewing deck, one can see nothing! Time passed and who should I see the George Lindsay, off to Halifax, so we chatted a little while – by the way, I don’t think I told you that they have been posted for 3 years to the Italian Riviera! For once, June has nothing bad to say about this move! Getting on for 4, we went and checked on the plane again, and this time they told us 4:30, and of course, we finally saw Cec at about 5! But it was worth waiting for him!! We drove home, and on the way Charlie began to wilt, so I gave him a car sickness pill, and he dozed and slept most of the way. When we got home though he didn’t feel like eating any supper, so I took his temp. and it was 102, and the eczema behind his legs was a mess – all broken out in yellow pustules, and looking so sore and inflamed. So that was a sad ending to our day. However, we were all so happy to have Daddy home, and he brought Linda a lovely little Dutch doll with wooden shoes which take off, and for Charlie from England lots more tracks for his train, and a dear little Royal Mail Van. Also all sorts of souvenirs – a model of the Little Mermaid from Copenhagen – a carved wooden statue of William Tell from Switzerland, – a Delft tile from Holland,- some table mats with views of Cambridge. My big present was a seascape by Van Gogh from the Modern Art Gallery in Amsterdam, and of course we had the children’s pictures waiting to surprise him, so we are going to have some framing done! Cec and I have always wanted a sea picture and I like this one very much – I told Cec I had to laugh when he wrote and told me he had bought it as he carefully said he had bought this picture by Van Gogh and then added (reproduction)! Poor old Charlie got to bed, and to sleep and Cec and I talked our heads off. He saw Charles Courtois in Belgium, Langseths and Boks in Copenhagen, Klemans in Stockholm and Fischers in Lucerne – all people who have been over here at the C.ouncil – and they were all so kind to him and gave him a wonderful time. In England he visited Miss Lefroy and Chris as I told you, and also Gunborg and the girls as well as 2 ex-Fellows of NRC, then he went up to Birmingham University and stayed there with a Prof. whom we had met here, and then onto Cambridge where he stayed as a guest of St. John’s College. In Cambridge he visited his friend Dick Chapman who was our best man, and also various scientists he knew, and then on the last evening he found he was free, so he phoned Anne Winnick. She was out, but he finally got her old mother to realize who it was and she told him that Anne was at the Arts Cinema, so he went there and nearly gave Anne apoplexy to find him waiting there for her to come out! He went home with her and her friend (the new Headmistress of Coleridge) and saw the children, and then to the friend’s house for supper. I just wish I’d seen Anne’s face of amazement! Didn’t he cover a lot of ground and people though? And what do you think – he wasn’t home two weeks when he got an invitation to attend an International Symposium next year in JAPAN and give a paper! He is not at all keen, but it is a great honour and he is definitely among the Greats of the Physics world. Dr. Herzberg and 2 other famous scientists are to give long papers, and then about 20 scientists from all over the world give shorter ones – these including Sir Gordon and Dr. C. C. Costain! It isn’t until the Fall of next year, but he is disgusted because he has to write this month and say what his paper will be on and he doesn’t know what he will be doing all that time ahead! We only hope that this won’t put a spoke in our plans for 1963. Poor little Charlie was still very poorly on the Monday so I kept him in bed and had Dr. Whillans. He had a very sore throat, and Dr. W. said it was a strep throat, and that he wondered that he could be so cheery as it looked so sore. His legs were a bit better, but he gave me some ointment for them and some penicillin pills for the throat, and really, they worked like a charm, and by Tues. he was feeling so much better. I was glad as I had a big Guild Coffee Party on the Wed. morning. I had invited the past executive committee and the new one and various people like Pat Tomlinson and Mrs. Martin – making about 20 altogether, so it was a relief that Charlie was feeling better. It turned out to be a pouring wet day, and everyone was saying “What a day to have a party”, but they all came just the same, and everyone seem to have a nice time. Charlie was well enough to go back to school on the Friday, and work with him at home, and not having a car and staying quietly at home it was quite a nice change from my wild dashing about! A little goes a long way when all the other jobs are piling up just the same. Cec began working around the garden that weekend, and it really has been lovely, but the weather this summer has been so strange for Canada. We never seem to have had more than one or two fine days in a row, and we have had so much rain – heavy thunder showers, and sudden drenching downpours, and then sunny but cool – just ideal for the gardens, but not settled summer weather at all. Actually, Cec was saying the perennials have done wonderfully this year but the annuals are doing very poorly – however the tomato plants recovered and although they haven’t much in the way of fruit yet at least they are alive. The people who are on holiday now will be very disappointed as we have had a lot of rain and it hasn’t been swimming weather at all.
The next week was the children’s last week at school, and I took them to the dentist one day too. Both with small holes, and Linda is to go to a periodontalist (?) to see about her front teeth coming to a point. She is quite resigned the thought of wearing “bands” as most of her pals in school do anyway! They both did well in their reports, and now Linda is in Grade 6 and Charlie Grade 5 – big kids!
Cec has now started work on the driveway – first of all he is lifting all those big flag stones at the front door and putting fill underneath and levelling them out and now he is going to put new asphalt on the driveway itself. He then has to re-tar the roof – both such horrid messy jobs. I can’t remember if I told you that while Cec was away I finally booked us a cottage for the first two weeks in August. We had looked over the literature previously, and decided on one or two that looked nice, and I wrote and one of the places was booked up and the other had a cottage, so I booked there. It sounds good – on a lakefront, with a sandy beach, indoor plumbing, refrigerator, and electricity of course, inner spring mattresses and boats to hire, so I hope it turns out as good as it sounds. It is due west of here and is north of Toronto in a part of Ontario called the Haliburton Highlands, and it is supposed to be very beautiful country, so I hope we’ll have a good time. We leave here on 29th July and stay there for 2 weeks, then we plan to drive down to Stratford to see the matinee of “The Pirates of Penzance” and then go on to Merle for the weekend before coming home. Last week was the first week of the children’s holidays, and I had booked them both for swimming lessons at the YWCA. Charlie’s lessons were from 10 to 10:30 and Lindy’s from 10:45 to 11:15 so they fit in very well. They were both quite excited about them and then of course on the Sunday poor Charlie’s eczema all broke out again, and he had a temp. once more. I called the Dr. on Mon. and he sent out some more penicillin pills, and I kept putting the ointment on them, and then suddenly he threw up his breakfast. However, he wasn’t sick again and by the evening I could give him a pill and he was feeling fine and hungry! Of course he couldn’t go to his swimming lesson though but, I took him along to watch Lindy’s and the teacher suggested he come and watch his own classes and that is what he did until Friday when he was O.K. and could go swimming himself. His legs cleared up and I came to the conclusion that it must have been a slight tummy flu because on Thursday and Friday I was quite off, and very achy and tired. They are both loving the lessons though and on the very second day Lindy took off and swam across the pool! I am not allowed to watch but she says she can swim on her back and that they are going to learn to dive and can hardly bear to come away from the lesson. The teacher is a young teenager, but the classes are nice and small – not more than 12 and Lindy’s has now dwindled to 4, so they get lots of attention. Of course I spend my whole morning in town spending money and drinking coffee and getting no work done!
The previous Sat. we had Chris Møller out to dinner as his time here is getting short, and then last week Boris and Joan had a Cocktail Party as a farewell for him. I hadn’t been feeling too good that day, but I was able to sit and drink a little reviver and felt better. On this Sat. I had a dinner party and had Teddy and Fanni and Alec and Phyl and a young Portuguese couple from the Council to a cold buffet. I had soup first – crab bisque – then I had cold Gaspé salmon, cucumber sauce and then a salad plate, and a Hawaiian chicken salad with hot French bread- oh yes, and I forgot- a plate of cold meats and stuffed eggs, then after, a strawberry cake. Everyone seem to enjoy it and afterwards we showed some of Cec’s pictures – he hasn’t got them all yet- and Teddy showed some of his, and then we went downstairs and played darts and did jigsaw puzzles! It was really fun though and I had a good time too! Yesterday I washed up! Well, at last I have caught up with ourselves – I have been writing this letter for three weeks, but what with Charlie being sick, and swimming lessons and one thing and another the time has flown. I am so sorry that it has been so long, but I know you will forgive me. I still haven’t answered your nice letters but I think that I will have to leave that till my next or I will never get this away. As Guild Pres. I am now on the Church Advisory Board, and they have been putting me to work with regard to the rectory. We are getting it all painted inside for the new rector, and today I had to go and get the painters and show them the place and see about the paint and take down the curtains and send them to be cleaned. Tomorrow we begin swimming again – 4 more lessons this week – and so I will be off on the spree again! Must stop – will write soon again and we all send much love to A. Muriel and lots of love and hugs to you, from Cyn.
Cyn’s birthday was April 3rd. In her letter of June 3rd, she had told her mother that there still had been no sign of the birthday parcel that Carol had no doubt mailed in early March! Not only had there been her birthday presents and treats for the children inside it, but Carol had also included some items she thought would sell at the Anglican Bazaar that Cyn’s Ladies Guild had held in May. And just days after that last letter, Cyn sends another one because the parcel has finally turned up!
2043 Montreal Road, Ottawa 2. Ontario. 8th June, 1961
Dearest Mummy, At long, long last your birthday parcel has arrived! Many, many thanks! I am delighted with my petticoat and panties, and you should have heard Linda’s squeal of delight when she saw your old red poppits! She is going to wear the yellow hair fastener tomorrow with the yellow dress you once sent her. Charlie has been walking around in his sun glasses although it was a nice rainy day! The baskets and hats are fine – the hats are a bit squashed but I have just been steaming them and they are all right now I think. It is such a pity we didn’t have them for our handiwork stall as I think they would have looked very gay and attractive, but I am having a coffee party in a little while and will show the girls and if anyone wants to buy I will sell the things, and if not I will put them away for next year. It was very sweet of you to send so many things for us and I know all the girls will appreciate it. Ruth Lockwood just phoned me after dinner to say that she had had such a nice card from you, so I don’t know if it took as long as the parcel. I also got your typed airmail of June 1 and think that you did very well. Don’t worry about mistakes – when you type letters to me just try to buzz along and you will soon find it not such a chore and you will get quicker. Obviously I don’t worry about mistakes! But if you are being too careful it slows you down unless you are an expert. I wrote to you just on Monday and already it seems long ago. One thing is piling on another, and unless I am careful Charlie will be coming to dirty floors and dusty house! On Tuesday morning I went over to the N.R.C. on Montreal Rd. and helped at the Blood Donor Clinic. There were 6 of the Scientists Wives there including Sheena and me, and we served orange juice or coke to the people before they gave blood (my job) and some checked cards and helped the nurses, and then the others served coffee and cookies and doughnuts afterwards and gave them little tokens. It was interesting and quite fun, particularly as I met all sorts of our neighbours! I took Sheena home with me for lunch and she stayed chatting all afternoon until tea time. She is expecting, did I tell you? We had a nice time, but of course I got nothing done. On Tues. evening it was the Guild meeting and I had asked Eddie Savic to sit with the children, but he got a stiff neck, so kind Peter came instead. I went to the meeting and was duly elected president. We also presented Mrs. Bowen with a nice aluminum tray and six coasters to match. It was very pretty – quite big with a handle at each end and a design of pinecones beaten into the polished aluminum. She seemed very pleased with it. On Wed. a.m. I dashed around and then at 10 o’clock set off for Mary Orr’s with all the paraphernalia to make my hat! It was very intriguing to watch her swathe the tulle and try it this way and that until we were satisfied. It is a small turban shape and made of a kind of nylon lace stiffened. Then over this Mary has draped black tulle with velvet spots to give a slightly bouffant look! I have some pretty little mauvy-blue flower clusters which I am to place hither and thither! I think it will look very pretty, but since then I haven’t done a thing to it, but I must finish the creation for Sunday. When I came home I got the children’s lunch, then washed all the windows in the house and washed and polished down the stairs and the downstairs bathroom. Then, at 4 o’clock Flora Wansbrough came to tea with the baby! She had left the little boys at a party, but Linda and Charlie were very amused at watching the baby get her cereal – and of course the baby loved the attention and laughed and chuckled and splurted cereal and was a riot! She is a lovely chubby little thing now and Flora is looking well. Flora left at 6, and we ate dinner in a rush and then Charlie was off to Cubs, and I had to go and pick him up at 8.00 so that’s how the time flies. This morning I decided I had better go downtown to the bank as I wouldn’t get another chance before next Wed. and I wanted to have a decent amount when I go to Montreal. I took Mrs. Martin down and dropped her there and then did a few things, and I got a pretty handbag with your five dollars for my birthday – thank you very much! It is black patent leather with sort of tapestry sides with a rural scene! I wanted black to match my black patent leather shoes and both my new coat and my pink suit are trimmed with black, but I felt that plain black wasn’t very summery, so I am delighted with this – it is quite plain inside, and nice and roomy. So I am now really well fitted out. I certainly am glad I got my coat when I did as it has been cold and rainy so much since, and I have worn it practically every day and got so many compliments.
After being in town – by the way I got some small things to give Charlie for Ruth, and the boys as I hadn’t sent them any birthday presents this year. Ruth, a very pretty brooch – I would like to keep it myself! – Richard a small pocket knife with a Mountie on it, and Michael a pair of those slippers socks. Then I went to the coinwash and as well as my wash did a blanket and the loose cover off the sofa- I found I had enough material to replace the entire seat, so I put it in and then washed it to make it all the same colour! It was after 2 when I got home, and I was to be at Mrs. Bowen’s for tea at 3! Rush, rush, rush! Tomorrow Ruth Lockwood and I are going on a little expedition to Almonte – a place near Carp where there are woolen mills and a mill shop, and we are going to look over the woolens. I suggested it to Ruth before Cec ever left, and now I really have no money for material but we are going for the fun of it anyway and will have a picnic lunch. I only hope it is a nice day – today poured solidly till about 3 o’clock. Lila phoned up the other evening and is back at N.R.C. for 2 months, so of course I asked her out, and we are collecting her at 3.00 on Sunday afternoon, and she will have dinner with us. The children think this social life is wonderful – when Cec gets home I will be glad to be carless and forced to stay at home for a while! I must stop now as I am tired and as you will see the mistakes are increasing! I am enclosing two hair nets, and hope that they are all right. I didn’t know if you preferred nylon or hair or what – you will have to let me know when I get you some more. You have me full of curiosity over this mysterious expensive birthday present you thought of sending Linda! I am glad you found something more reasonable, but do tell me what it was! Much love to Auntie Muriel, hello to Doris and big hugs and kisses from the children. Linda is very pleased with herself this week because 1.) she has lost 2 of her 8 year old molars – one of which she pulled out herself! and 2.) there was a Dominion Test at school in Vocabulary and Comprehension and she was top of the class in both. Out of 75 words she got 72 correct and she got all the other test correct – clever girl. Charlie says “Well, I wasn’t the best in my class, but I wasn’t the worst either!” Lots of love from Cyn.
Dearest Mummy, You seemed to approve of the type written letter and feel that it encouraged you and your typing out effort, so I am very happy to continue that way, as it really is much quicker than writing and I do get so much more on the page. The children enjoy getting your typed letters and think you are doing very well. I do too, but you mustn’t peek – better to have mistakes, because otherwise you will never get any speed if you stop to look and see what you are doing! Thank you so much for both your letters -14th and 26 – I am very sorry that I have been so long in writing, but I have had a kind of cold, or rather a sore throat, and I felt rather ‘punk’. Charlie had a bit of cold and sore throat the weekend before Cec left, and I kept him home from school on the Friday, but it cleared up quite quickly only unfortunately I caught it and it turned into real hanging-on thing with me. It didn’t develop too much the first week – I had a sore throat and kept expecting it to turn into a real cold but after we saw Cec off at the Airport it went up into my sinuses and I got earache that night and puffy all round my eyes and felt miserable. I don’t know if I got chilled standing waiting for the plane to take off or if it was just developing but all weekend it was just the same so on Monday I phoned your friend Dr. Kastner and he told me to come in that afternoon as there were a lot of strep throats around. He gave me a penicillin shot and penicillin tablets to last a week, and I have been gradually improving, and feel pretty well back to normal now – not very energetic though! Dr. K.’s nurse was enquiring for you and I think it was that same day that I had a phone call and here it was Basil’s wife, Win is it? We had quite a little chat and she seemed very nice and said that they would come and see us if they were in Ottawa. She was very complimentary about you too, and said how much they had enjoyed meeting you. She told me that Helen Hadley had been there but was now in Toronto after settling Sally in a job with Bell Telephones – apparently she couldn’t get into – was it T.C.A. she wanted? – and they had quite a time getting her something, but it was all fixed now. Helen was to go home soon I think she said so I don’t expect that I will see her. Next week Charlie arrives, and what do you think – it never rains but it pours – I am also meeting Mary Egan! I had heard from Nan that she was visiting England this summer [from Australia] but thought nothing of it until last week I had a hasty airletter saying that she was flying via Canada, and after stopovers at Vancouver (where she will see Olwen and Noel – remember?) Banff, Calgary and New York, she was going to Montreal to stay with someone for two days before flying to England. She went on to say that she understood that Ottawa was close to Montreal so could she pop over to see me or could we meet somewhere. Of course she barely gave me a week to reply as she was leaving on the 3rd and didn’t tell me her address in Montreal or anything so I dashed off a reply and said I would meet her in Montreal bus station at 12:15 by the bookstall on 14th June, as Ottawa was 120 miles away and by the time she reached Montreal she might be glad to stay still for a day or so. So – I only hope that she gets my letter and that we do manage to meet – it seems very haphazard somehow! It will be fun seeing her after 13 years, and I must look my best! Last week my hair was long and straggly and I felt a wreck, so I went over to Emil and had a hair do. He cut it quite short and straight and trim across the back and gave me nice fat curly bangs and short sides, and everyone has been complementing me on it. Except the children that is -they just groan and say ‘But it doesn’t look like you it’s awful!’ I must say that I feel quite happy not to look like me for a change! (P.S. Mrs. Emil doesn’t make the flowers – she just sells and rents them – they are plastic. [This is a reference to their Bazaar decorations mentioned in the last letter. They were successful there but Cyn would not have been a customer!]) I had determined that the first week that Cec was away I would do some sewing, so despite my indisposition I began on my pink suit on Monday and was able to wear it at a dessert party of Marjorie Graham’s on Wed. afternoon. The lining wasn’t too much extra and it does make it look much nicer I think, and it looks nice – not homemade I presume, as quite a few people asked me where I bought it! I still have quite a lot of material so I will make Linda a skirt and also the suit pattern has a pattern for a blouse – a kind of tailored one with a round neck and zip at the back and it shows a picture of this worn with a skirt and made in the same material it looks like a dress, so I have cut this out and will make it this week. I have also got Linda’s flowered cotton cut out, but no further and I hope I will get it done soon. Somehow I seem to have got involved in all sorts of things these next two weeks – going to the Blood Donor Clinic tomorrow to serve coffee and juice – next week going to help serve a luncheon in aid of the Save the Children and what with both Charlie and Mary coming next week and each taking a whole day is as it were, I can see I’m going to be hopping! I was listening on the radio this morning about the Kennedys in London, and that reminded me that I am sending you a LIFE about their visit to Ottawa. It really doesn’t have any very good pictures but I thought that you would be interested. Lindy, Cec and I went to see them the evening they drove from Gov. House to the Am. Embassy in Rockcliffe. Charlie was at Cubs so he couldn’t come, but I don’t think he minded too much. We got a good view standing on the flat stone walls at the gateway, but you know how quickly they seem to go by even if the car is going slowly, so I don’t think poor Lindy got more than a backview and she was so excited about Jackie! I got a quick glimpse and saw that she had a big strawberry pink organza stole around her shoulders, but the main impression was that they were both laughing and seemed to be having such a good time! Very natural and informal and it is such a nice change from some of the old stuffed shirts.
The next day I did go out to Carp – just set out from here around 9:30 and got there in less than an hour – had a cup of coffee and then came home. I gave the children their lunch at school so I didn’t have a rush and stopped at Simpson-Sears on the way home but saw nothing enchanting! Lea looked pretty well and seems to be getting on all right, but of course their odd ways and method of living amazed me as much as ever! The house was in even a worse mess than usual! Poor Lea! We had a nice holiday weekend for the Queen’s Birthday – you are amused at me saying this and not Whit. but Whitsuntide is not recognized publicly in Canada or the States, and it just so happened that the Monday nearest to 24 May, Victoria Day, happened to be Whit. this year. We had Cec’s birthday on Monday and gave him a sports shirt, a key case and a new cigarette lighter and a big bag of fireworks! We had a steak and apple pie for dinner and then lit all the fireworks and had great fun. The weather was not bad most of the weekend so we got quite a lot done in the garden but since Cec has left it has been weird – we had frost a couple of nights and half of our 18 tomato plants are dead I think, and it has been wet and cold with just two nice days I think. We haven’t had any really nice weather since that hot few days I told you about earlier. Of course the lilac and tulips have lasted wonderfully and the garden still looks lovely with them although the tulips have been out for about 3 weeks, but none of the seeds are doing a thing. Do you remember Monie sent some Morning Glory seeds and one or two others last year? I planted them more than two weeks ago but there isn’t a sign – probably rotted in the ground! We are having an awful time with crab grass in the flowerbeds as the new soil we got last fall must have been full of it. Cec and I weeded all the beds and got them clear before he left, and they are just as bad again. As you can imagine we are all missing our Daddy very much, and that first weekend seemed a week long – particularly as I had the cold. However, on the Sat. morning I had made an appointment to take the children to have their portraits done in pastels! One of the stores in town advertised this artist giving sittings – 2.50 a black-and-white sketch and 5.00 for pastels, and so I went and looked at some of his drawings one day and thought they looked quite nice, so decided to have the children done as a surprise for Cec on Father’s Day, which is actually June 18th – the day he returns. The drawings took about 30 – 40 minutes each, and I think they have turned out very well – at least you can tell who they are! They are in profile and Lindy’s is very good I think – she looks quite animated and although not actually smiling she has a pleased look on her face, whereas Charlie who sat like a little statue the whole time looks very serious and so less like himself to me, but Myrtle thinks that his is better, so who knows! [I always thought it was lucky I had long hair, because Charlie’s showed the artist couldn’t draw ears!] I must get Cec to take a picture of them to send you so that you will get some idea. The colour is very good and he sprayed them with a fixative so they won’t smudge at all. After the portrait business we went to the Library and then on to Rockcliffe Park for lunch – hotdogs and ice cream cones! I just sat in the car but the children ran around and as usual thought R. Park the most wonderful place! The Sunday was a rainy day so it was very dreary, but this weekend was better although it rained both evenings and it’s pouring today (Mon.) Lindy went on her Brownie Picnic on Sat. and Charlie played with Jimmy, and then yesterday kind Margaret Savic asked us to dinner, so the time passed quite quickly. Oh, I forgot to tell you – last Thurs. I had a real spree. Before Cec left he said while he was away I should buy a coat, as the black bengaline one I had is very old now and is no longer waterproof, and this year one has really needed a spring coat, though some years it gets too hot very early. Anyway, I thought I would have a day in town, so I gave the children lunch and then went to town and to the bank. I began looking in the shops in Sparks St. but found that the season for spring coats was about over, and there were very few to choose from. I had thought I would get what they call an ‘all-weather coat’ – that is a coat which is waterproof, but not just a raincoat, and earlier they had some nice ones in brocade or tapestry, some reversible and so on, but I couldn’t find a thing I liked. So I thought perhaps I would get a nice silk print dress with three-quarter sleeves, because most of my summer dresses are very summery and sleeveless or pastel colours, and by this time I was down on Bank St. and prowling around some of the little dress shops, so I went into one and got into the clutches of a very charming gentleman! He was really very nice, but of course a great salesman, and when I asked for coats first he brought out some and I tried them on but didn’t care for them, then he brought out this one – lilac coloured and quite plain but with a small collar bound with black braid continuing all down the front. I tried it on and it looked so nice – it is waterproof and the material is a new thing- backing laminated onto a kind of plastic foam, which insulates against heat and cold. I hadn’t wanted mauve, but in the end I liked it so much I said I’d have it and then I looked at dresses and tried on such a pretty cotton satin in just the style I wanted and it fitted me and suited me so I took that too! Bang went $50! I wrote and told Cec I would be spreading the housekeeping money thin this two weeks! I am sending a piece of my new dress to show you as I shortened it to wear to the Savic’s yesterday.
I needed a new summer hat to go with all these, but felt I’d been extravagant enough for one day, so I got a hat form in a small turban shape, and some black tulle and some mauvy- pink flowers and Mary Orr is going to help me make a hat on Wed! So what with my new mauve coat, new pink suit, new flowered dress and the navy and white outfit you helped me buy, I am doing pretty well but I was very low in clothes as I got nothing last summer except the cotton dress you gave me and the cotton skirt and blouse to wear around the house, so I really needed quite a lot – oh yes, and I made myself that white and blue cotton dress too, but it is quite ‘bare’ and hot weather. I still have some tissue gingham to make Linda and me sundresses, but then I think we will be well set up. I feel that if we are going to go to England in two years, I had better begin to gradually build up a suitable wardrobe, as I won’t be able to suddenly dash out and buy everything I want at once, and I think this coat will be very good for travelling as it is very light but warm, and is loose enough to wear over a suit or a dress. The children were most impressed with my rashness, because after buying all these things I took them out and bought them both new sandals, and Linda a new pair of blue slacks, and they felt I was really going wild!
We had three nice postcards from Cec last Wed. from Belgium and then just now we got two airforms from Holland. He seems to be having a hectic time, but to be enjoying it and all his friends are determined that he should see every bit of their countries available! He was only in Belgium from Sat. morning till Sun. afternoon, but the things he did and places he saw with Charles Courtois would be enough for a week. Charles took him to spend the night with his uncle, a retired judge, and aunt and their family, at a lovely manor house in the country and he said they were all so wonderful to him. He was busy at the meeting at Holland, but was having the day off after he wrote and going to the Zuyder Zee.
Now he is in Denmark and as today is a Danish National holiday he will be sightseeing I expect. The weather had been mostly sunny but cool although it rained the day he wrote but that is better than too hot. We wrote to him this weekend and sent it to London as we are not sure of reaching Sweden in time and have no Swiss address. We wrote once to Holland, and talk of trying to keep things quiet, of course Linda wrote a poem “Mummy had a shot In the bot For her cold She’s getting old.” and of course I hadn’t intended to mention it! Also Charlie told him we let the well run run dry on Thurs. and I had to get Ken to come and prime the pump! No use trying to keep secrets! I am so glad that you and Auntie Muriel enjoyed your holiday so much at H.B. Cottage. Even we have had some hummingbirds on our lilacs lately! I am glad too that A. Muriel’s cough is better and I hope that you both feel quite rested and well again. Don’t forget that you have to go and have your blood checked every now and then. I will try and remember to get the white hair nets when I am in town this week and will send them as soon as I do. I will willingly get the shoes at Bata but you must be sure and give me the number on the shoe and the size and all particulars, because I can’t remember a bit what they looked like. I will send the recipe for the Lemon Loaf with the hair nets – I just had a piece with my lunch and it is delectable I think! I was just busy writing this this morning when here I saw Charlie strolling along the road! I dashed to the door thinking he must be ill or something, only to find that a boy had pushed him in a puddle at recess, and his pants were soaked, so his teacher had sent him home to change! Of course he was taking as long as possible over it! How wonderful that Monie and Owen are coming next year, and imagine bringing Hugh and Ginny [their nephew and wife]! Lucky, lucky people! Particularly Ginny – marrying a man with such a generous godmother! They will all have a wonderful time I’m sure and the young couple will have a real dream holiday – can’t you imagine Hugh getting the biggest kick out of everything just like his Dad! You were telling me about making the Java plum jam for Monie, and you sound as if it were quite a job, with all the big stones, but I am sure Monie will be delighted. I am looking forward to my stewed guavas when they are in season – any burny sugar cake or coconut candy?!! I must stop now and get this posted or you will think that I have collapsed. I shall rush down to George’s and mail this and then do the vacuuming I should have done this morning!
Lindy and Charlie have been home for lunch and send big hugs and kisses. Much love to A. Muriel and lots of love to you from Cyn.
When reading the somewhat infrequent letters that survive from 1960-61 after the 3 year gap, the thing that strikes me is how things have changed. The children have grown, of course, and are more independent, involved in outside activities and performances, but also the community has grown. Both the Anglican and United Church congregations have now got their own ministers living locally- Mr and Mrs Bowen with daughter Deirdre in my class were the Anglicans- and have buildings near the school- the United Church building a modern church with rooms on the sides, and the Anglicans have a Hall, dedicated in December 1960, with an altar that could be screened off leaving a space for other activities, with a choir balcony over the entrance. There was a vestry, kitchen, and nursery off to one side and a a second story above those rooms, for the Sunday School classes. As well as taking the littlest ones in Sunday School, Cyn was very involved in the Ladies Guild which took fundraising seriously, and Carol was interested in hearing all about it.
Cec has professional travel plans that take him further afield- Europe in May and June of 1961- where he can meet and catch up with colleagues, former Fellows, and their work- and families. As for neighbours, Joanne and Susan had a baby brother now, and the Savics who lived a little beyond the Blachuts and had 2 older boys, had become friends through the NRC and church, so Margaret Savic had coffee with Cyn, Fanni and Pat, and Charlie played football with Mike. Friends further afield had had changes too. Charlie’s godfather, Dr. Charlie Stainthorpe, was a widower now, and was going to visit Ottawa and see us in June; and my godfather, Dr. Gordon Sutherland, had been knighted, and Cec was hoping to visit Sir Gordon and Lady Sutherland while he was in England.
2043 Montreal Rd. Ottawa, Ontario
17th May, 1961.
Dearest Mummy, You can probably type better than I can now, but I thought that as this was going to be a long letter it would be more economical on the postage to type it! Do you have fun using your little typewriter? You must be getting pretty good at it now as you seem to be practising regularly. You asked in your letter once how long it took me to learn to type fairly fast, but you must remember that I was at that Secretarial School for a year, and typed every day for quite long periods, so we can’t really compare. We have two big topics of conversation today – the Ottawa weather and the visit of President and Mrs. Kennedy. The weather is quite extraordinary – at the weekend it was simply beautiful, warm and sunny and like summer – all the tulips came out and the leaves and grass were so lovely and green, and then it got so hot that it just about finished us and the flowers! On Sunday it was over 90 degrees, and Sat. and Mon. it was up to 80, then of course on Mon. evening we had a tremendous thunderstorm with a tremendous lightning flash which hit the telephone pole just across the road outside Mrs. Cardinal’s house and put all the telephones in the area out of order all yesterday. I know you will think this was a great hardship for me, but I didn’t even know it till first Myrtle and then Miss Sproule came and asked me! After the storm it began to get cooler of course, and by the evening yesterday it was really cold and the furnace was on, and now this morning it is down to 40 degrees, and we are all back in our winter clothes again! Such a shame to be so cold for the President’s visit, but apparently there were thousands of people out to welcome them yesterday afternoon when they arrived and they said on the radio that there were crowds already waiting around Parliament Hill. We had thought that we might go to N.R.C. yesterday and watch them drive past to Gov. House, but Charlie got an invitation to a birthday party for 5 o’clock, so this was just the wrong time. Linda had to be at Brownies at 6:30 too, so it would have been a rush. Today Cec is taking the car to have a check up, so our only chance will be to go this evening and watch them drive to the American Embassy for dinner at 8 p.m. which actually will be rather nice I think, as Jacqueline will be in evening dress, but I hope it isn’t a dull evening or we won’t see much. They leave tomorrow and of course I could see them then, but the children will be in school. Charlie’s party was a big success. They had dinner at the little boy’s house, and then the father took them to the movies to see a funny film “The Absent-Minded Professor” which Charlie thought was uproarious! – They didn’t get home till nearly 10 o’clock, so he was feeling very much the worse for wear this morning! I am feeling very relaxed now because all our big events are over for the time being. Of course, Cec leaves a week on Friday, so he is as busy as a one-armed paper hanger, as Til used to say, but although he is going back to work a lot and working very hard he seems to be fairly content with the way things are going. I am content because I got him to come down town with me last week and we bought him a new suit and a new pair of shoes, and I have got his raincoat and his other good suit cleaned so I feel that I am getting my jobs done! The suit is very nice – a mixture of wool and dacron, and is dark blue – not quite as dark as navy, but a nice colour and Cec looks very nice and clean in it!
The last big event I was talking about was Linda’s Ballet Recital on Saturday afternoon. I think I told you that their class was doing “Mistress Mary and her Garden” and Linda was one of Mary’s friends in a red and white striped skirt, white blouse with puffed sleeves, white apron, wide red belt and big red bow in the hair. The theme was that the garden wouldn’t grow, so the little friends call in the bees, butterflies, birds, sun and rain to help, and all these are little children in costume and they all do a little dances, then the silver bells, cockle shells and pretty maids all perk up and do their dances, and last of all Mary and her friends do a joyful dance. It was very sweet, and of course the tiny ones who were bees and butterflies were a riot! They always forget what they are supposed to do and try to see their Mummies and drop their wings and other antics which greatly add to the enjoyment! The other teacher’s class did a ballet too about ‘The Magical Cat’ or something, but of course it wasn’t so good! As I told you it was a roasting hot day, and the children were all there all morning rehearsing and then all afternoon for the show so they were all tired.
Sunday was Mother’s Day – do you remember “Fresh, I am your Mothaw”? [reference to a comic strip, as I recall- Dick Tracy perhaps?]– but as Cec had been at work the previous night till 2 or 3 o’clock I didn’t get breakfast in bed. Instead the children and I just had tea and toast before church, and then afterwards when Daddy got up we had brunch with Daddy cooking the bacon and eggs. Charlie had made me a raffia frame with a picture of himself at school and Lindy gave me a clip she bought at the White Elephant stall at the Bazaar and a bottle of eau-de- cologne and Cec gave me a very pretty pair of baby-doll pyjamas, so I did very nicely. I hadn’t the strength to make a cake, but I made a Swiss roll with a chocolate filling and as I had a chicken, we took it outside, and cooked it on the charcoal grill. I forgot to tell you, that on the Friday I was asked to come down to the school at 3:30 to see Linda’s teacher, and at first I thought “Horrors, what is the matter?”. Then I discovered all the mothers had letters too, and little things began leaking out, and in the end when we went, here it was, a Mother’s Day Party! We were all ushered to our children’s desks to find a card for us and a corsage no less! Then the children served us tea and cookies and then a big Mother’s Day cake! They were all very attentive and so thrilled with themselves! All last week I spent trying to catch up with myself after the Bazaar. The house needed cleaning and I had letters to write and washing and ironing to do and I wanted to begin making some summer clothes for Linda and myself, but of course I haven’t got around to that yet. Just to complicate matters, the day before the Bazaar our water heater burnt out, and we had no hot water. It just did it all quietly in the night, but Cec had quite a time getting the old element out and then chasing around town trying to get a new one to replace it. However, he managed and it is fine again. Then last week I was in the middle of a big wash and went downstairs to find the whole thing silent and still and a horrible burning smell – not to mention all my sheets sitting half done! Fortunately, it was a nice sunny day, so even if the wash was very drippy when I got it on the line it did dry before too long. Cec says the motor must have burnt out, and as we don’t feel like spending money on repairing the old machine we are going to shelve the matter until Cec comes home from Europe, and in the meanwhile I was down at my old friend the Coinwash yesterday! Of course we had to have three things go wrong and the last was our toaster, which began toasting only one side of the bread, but clever Daddy soon fixed that. Now, I only hope nothing else decides to go wrong while Cec is away! Are you and Auntie Muriel interested in a recipe for a delicious lemon cake? I got it last week and tried it yesterday and could eat it all, it is so good. It is baked in a loaf pan, has 2 eggs, and while it is still warm you pour a mixture of lemon juice and ordinary sugar over the top which makes a lovely sugary crust. Yum! I had such a busy day yesterday- Pat Tomlinson was going to walk up with the baby so I asked Fanni and Margaret to come and have a cup of coffee and see the baby too. However, I had the car so decided I must make full use of it, so I got everything ready for the coffee and then drove over to Orleans and got my meat before my guests arrived. After they left, the children came home for lunch and then I collected the washing and went to the Coinwash, and afterwards to the cleaners with Cec’s things and to the Library and to get Charlie a birthday present for his little pal. After tea I drove Charlie to his party, then got dinner, saw Linda off to Brownies, and set off for a Guild Meeting at 8:30! I yawned through most of it, but managed to sell quite a lot of my left-over aprons to the girls! Most of the meeting was a hash-over of the Bazaar of course, and although we still haven’t all the ticket money in, we think we will have made around 600 dollars. Actually this is about 60 dollars less than last year, and one year we made about 750 I think, but I think on the whole money is tighter this year. Another thing too, is that we have put on so many things during the year that on the whole year’s achievements we are way up, and after all you can’t expect either the Guild or the visitors to spend as much at one thing or work as hard if they have been giving all year long. Also, it was in our new hall, and although it looked lovely, it isn’t nearly as big as the school was and so we were more crowded, and some of the stalls that we had to put up on the balcony didn’t do well at all, because people just didn’t go up there. Our stall, the Handicrafts and Aprons did much better than I ever hoped, because we made nearly $80 after the expenses were paid. I didn’t think we would do it very well because at my suggestion we had put it all the little children’s things that I had sold so well the previous year on a special stall for children, so actually we had no small cheap selling things, and we really didn’t seem to have very much, but we made the stall look very pretty – Joan Mainwood’s husband made us a thing like football goal posts which we put over the stall and covered with green crepe paper, and then we had a pink sign ‘Handicrafts’ hanging from this and we decorated it with pink paper roses and leaves and it really stood out and attracted the eye. The tea room had to be in the hall too of course, and you know where the red curtains in front of the altar were? It stretched from there back to the other side of the opening into the kitchen. They had screens across the hall there, with entrance and exit, and they covered these with green paper and they looked very nice but of course it took up a lot of the space.
The hall did look very nice as we kept all the decorations in white, green and pink, so that they harmonised, and then do you remember Emil the hairdresser’s wife went in for artificial flowers? Well, Edna Thomas who looked after the tearoom is a great friend of Ruth Arndt’s, so she had the idea of renting flowers from Mrs. Arndt and it worked out very well. She made a pretty little vases of small flowers for all the tables in the tearoom, and of course they not only looked very sweet, but did away with the worry of spilling water and children knocking over etc. and then she made up two lovely sheaves of big flowers – gladiolas etc. in shades of pink and fastened these to the wooden grills that are on either side of the altar, in front of the red curtain. Then along the green covered screens in front of the tearoom she put trails of ivy draping over the top and on the Front of the balcony clusters of fern and hydrangeas, so that looking up it looked very attractive. Mrs. Arndt came and arranged all the flowers and worked for hours on the Friday evening and for all this and the rental of the flowers it came to less than 4 dollars, and even this we covered because we sold the little table vases at enough profit to pay for it. Wasn’t that good? They really did help to make the hall look very gay and spring- like and quite a number of people remarked on them. We had our M.P.’s wife, Mrs. Paul Tardiff, to open the Bazaar and she was very nice – a fairly small plump French woman in a smart black suit and a most fancy hat composed entirely of pale pink silk gladiolas! Mr. Bowen introduced her and then she made a short speech opening the affair, and then I thanked her, and little Glen Ashton (the little son of the one you used to call “the pretty girl” – she has a baby now too) presented her with a corsage of pink rosebuds which exactly matched her hat! Wasn’t that clever!? I wore my navy and white dress and jacket and my pink hat. Talking of babies, Mrs. Cook, the United Church Minister’s wife has a son – a huge baby I hear, but apparently they are both doing well. The Bowens are leaving at the end of next month but so far we have heard of no one else coming. We have been busy in the Guild deciding what to give Mrs. Bowen for a parting gift – it hung between an electric kettle and a pewter tray, and the tray won, although personally I would far prefer the kettle! The Church will also be giving something, but I haven’t heard anything about it yet. Our kitchen is still only partly done and all the men have begun working on their gardens, so goodness knows when it will be finished. Discouraging! The Guild even offered to pay for someone to come and finish the cupboards etc. so that at least we could put our china away, but no, they said they were going to do it! Mrs. Barltrop came back from England just before the Bazaar, and brought her Mother back with her no less! The old lady is 87 I think, but apparently full of go and was at the Bazaar, although I didn’t see her. I was talking to Eve [Eve Proudfoot, the granddaughter] on the phone the other day and she was saying that they were going over to Simpson-Sears and Carlingwood Shopping Centre that day and going shopping and having lunch, so she must be pretty spry. Mrs. B. said something at the Exec. Meeting about going into the hospital in the fall, but I didn’t enquire about it. Your friend, little Mrs. Davis, is going to be on the Exec. next year – we don’t have our elections till next month, but it is hard work getting one candidate for each job, let alone an election, so we don’t have much competition. It seems obvious that I will be president, willy-nilly! I am answering all sorts of odd questions you have asked from time to time, so this will be very disjointed, I’m afraid, but at least your curiosity will be satisfied! Re. Pauline Johnson on the stamps, she was a Canadian poetess, apparently, and either Indian or half-Indian. She lived near Brantford where Merle lives, and when we were there last summer we went to the Six Nations Indian Reserve there to see a Pageant, and I think Pauline Johnson lived there long ago and her father was some big chief or something! By the way, Cec’s Mother and Father aren’t coming down this summer after all. They seem to like it so much in Penticton and be happily settled there, so it would really be a pity for them to give up the apartment and make the long trip down here and visit from one of us to the other, which after all is very tiring. Also, I think they are very happy to be near Leona and Carman and the children, and we had a letter from Leona not long ago telling us that she is expecting again. We laughed, as Leona said “Carman and I were quite horrified at first, but we are used to the idea now. I used to think I wanted five children, but no longer – three will be enough!” She was in the hospital when she wrote, as she had been having quite a lot of trouble, and I think had had a rupture, but was going home soon, so I am sure they will be glad to have Mr. and Mrs. C. near by. This has changed our plans for the summer somewhat, as Merle is going to finish her Summer Course in Toronto during the vacation, so this finishes our idea of sharing a cottage with them somewhere, but we are thinking of trying to get a cottage somewhere about halfway between them and us, so that they could perhaps come and spend the weekend with us. We don’t want to spend much money this summer on holidays as Cec will probably have to spend a bit on his trip, and also we want to save money for 1963 and our European Jaunt! [never happened.] You will have to consider trying out one of those nice banana boats and we will have a reunion in London.
You sent me Jean’s address for Cec but I didn’t even mention it to him as he is not going to Oxford, and his time in England is so crowded that it will be a toss up as to whether he can see half the people he wants to. He will be less than a week in England and he will be in Cambridge and Birmingham as well as London. One person he himself suggested that he would try and visit is Miss Lefroy, [Carol’s former headmistress, and family friend] but if he does find he has time to go he will telephone first. I haven’t even told Anne in Cambridge because he isn’t sure if he will have a spare moment. He is staying in St. John’s College the two nights he will be there and is pretty well booked up with people he has to see. He leaves here on Friday 26th and arrives in Brussels (jet) where he sees men who were Fellows here and sees a little of Brussels and Namur.
Then on Sunday he goes to Amsterdam and is there for the whole week at the conference and gives his paper. He goes to Denmark for the first weekend in June and visits the University of Copenhagen, where he will give another paper and sees two Professors who were over here and whom we know. About the Tues. or Wed. he goes to Sweden and stays with the Klemans in Stockholm – they were here for two years a while back. He visits the University and sees some people there and then flies to Frieborg in Germany for a day and night. After that on the Friday to Berne in Switzerland where he spends the night with a Swiss couple, the Fishers, who were here two years ago and sees the Univ. and then to England.
He hopes to go out and see the Sutherlands on Sun. afternoon, and then the rest of the week he will be visiting the National Physical Laboratories, the University of London, the University of Birmingham, and the University of Cambridge. When he is in Birmingham he will stay with a Prof. Sheridan and his wife – the Prof. was here last summer and came to dinner with us and sent me a beautiful bouquet of flowers afterwards – were you here then? No, I think it was before you came. Then on the Sat. evening he flies home, and arrives in Montreal on the Sunday, and as there is no flight to Ottawa for hours, the children and I are going to drive to Dorval Airport and meet him. Do you remember us passing the Airport the day we went to Montreal? It is on this side of the city, so I don’t have to go through. The day he comes home, 18th, is Father’s Day so we will be able to have a nice celebration. Cec’s birthday will be while he was away, so this weekend is a public holiday for the Queen’s Birthday (24th but we get a holiday on the 22nd to make a long weekend) and we have decided to celebrate Cec’s birthday on the Monday too. This is also the day that Canadian children have fireworks, so I have got a bag full that will be one of Daddy’s presents!
How is Judy getting on and have you got any of the puppies left? The children always like to hear news of them and think it a great pity that you can’t air mail one to us! Just as well that you can’t as Mrs. Martin’s Siamese cat was killed on the highway on Sunday, and I just hope Nicki can survive, but I don’t think there would be any hope for a puppy. I have been meaning to write to you about the Will, and say that I certainly agree with you that it would be much wiser for you to have one of the Banks as executor. I can just imagine that me here, and things in England and St. Vincent would make for a great muddle. I said to Cec “Which bank do you think?” and he just grinned as he doesn’t have much opinion of either, but personally I think you might as well make it Barclay’s as you can talk to them about it instead of writing, which is always unsatisfactory. Also they have a big organization in England which will be able to cope with the English side whereas if you made it Martin’s they would probably have to get Barclay’s to cope with the St.V. side anyway. Cec is sorry that he has never written to you about the letter from Martin’s about your shares and transferring them etc. He has meant to, but has really been so busy with his work and writing letters in connection with his trip that he hasn’t had a chance. He was quite disgusted with the letter, and the Manager saying that he “thought” this was so, and that was so, you would think that he could have made the effort to find out the information completely before writing, because we really don’t know much more yet as his opinion don’t mean a thing. However, I think Cec feels that you might as well leave things as they are for the time being, but he will write himself and be more definite when he has not so busy. I haven’t written to Mr. Carnegie, but still mean to. Actually, what he and Mrs. C. say is not so much different, except that J.M.G.E [Cyn’s father] seems to be withdrawing all the time now instead of having moods of withdrawal and moods of outgoingness. But I think this is only to be expected, and if he sleeps a great deal of the time this is to be expected too, as he is an old man, and I don’t mean only in years, but has been ageing in his mind as well as body all the time he has been in the hospital. It doesn’t seem much good sending things or magazines or anything now, but one feels that one should.
You will be amused to hear that I am still hanging on to your 5 dollars! Now that Cec’s clothes are bought I hope I will be able to get a coat at last, and then I will spend my 5 dollars on a handbag! Of course both the children need summer shoes now, but I really must begin and replenish my wardrobe as I am very low in both summer and winter clothes. I plan to make Linda a school dress out of the flowered material you brought from the Miss Finlays, then I will at last get on with my pink suit. I think I have been so long about it because I don’t much care for the material now, but I had the idea that I might make the suit with just a “cardigan” jacket (loose – no buttons) and then get a linen–like moygashel type material in a plain pink to match and I could wear the jacket with that too, and so make two outfits. The material is very loosely woven so I am going to have to line both skirt and jacket, so I must get the lining material this week. I plan to get a flimsy black hat to wear with the pink, so I think it should look quite pretty. I have never been out to Carp to see Lee [her sister-in-law] since she had her operation, and Cec has no time now before he goes, so I am planning to drive over tomorrow morning. I want to do some baking now as I have to make cookies for a Home and School Meeting tonight and I thought I would take a few things out to Lee as I am sure she won’t be feeling like doing too much yet. I hope that you and Auntie Muriel are having a lovely time at your cottage and really enjoying the sea. Can you bathe just there at the cottage or do you have to go further along to the Breakers? Anyway, I hope that it is doing you both a world of good and that you are recovering from all the giddy social round and getting rid of A. Muriel’s cough. That errant parcel has not turned up yet, and Ruth Lockwood was saying last night that it must be lost, but I said no, two months or more wasn’t too unusual! The children have been home from school for their lunch and send a big hugs and kisses. They both have homework now, and what with that and the nice weather there isn’t much hope of letter writing just now, but maybe when the holidays begin! Much love from us all and I hope I remembered to answer all the questions! Love Cyn.
Dearest Mummy, I’ve just written an A. M. but of course ran out of room so while I remember I must just jot down one or two things. I’ve just forwarded a mysterious card to you from N/Cle – don’t know the writing & it is by sea so will take forever. I would have opened it & enclosed it in mine, but it was too big to go in any of my envelopes. Addresses coming up:- Mrs. Barltrop Box 303 R.R.1 Ottawa (off to England yesterday) Mrs. Davis – don’t know the box number – suggest you send c/o Mrs. Barltrop next door. Mrs. Lockwood – 15 Seguin St., Cardinal Heights Ottawa 2. Since you left Marjorie Graham & her Mother have both had flu very badly & quite a lot of other people too, so I’m glad you missed it. There seems to be a regular epidemic & everyone says that they have never felt so ill with anything & that it takes a long time to get over the weakness.
Tuesday – 29th Thank you so much for all your letters – the last 22nd of Mar. & the one with Charlie’s enclosed & Lindy’s – also please thank A. Muriel for me. I am sorry Easter has crept up & I haven’t sent you any Easter cards. I thought about getting some a few weeks ago, but was in a hurry & left it & since then I haven’t been in any shop except Steinberg’s & IGA but we all send our love and best wishes for a Happy Easter. The children finish school tomorrow & Cec is actually taking today & tomorrow holiday as they are only allowed to carry 15 days of annual leave onto the next year & he has these 2 extra so must take them before 31st or lose them. So we are having a nice long weekend. The weather has been very nice & springy this week but is dull & windy today. Nearly all the snow has gone & there is a big pond down the hill behind, much to the children’s delight! Charlie goes down to catch tadpoles etc. & of course the other day he came in with “a soaker” as he calls it – over his boot tops & dripping! Great fun though! On Friday Chris Möller (the Danish Prof.g) is coming with us out to the Sugar Bush for Maple Syrup & Sugar. He has never seen it so it is very interested & of course the children love to go & we will have pancakes for lunch! On Easter Sunday George Ritter (the S. African) is coming to have dinner with us. I plan to have ham – won’t the children be disgusted! I had a letter from Charlie Stainthorpe yesterday, full of news that he is coming a trip to the U.S. & Canada this summer. It is a Cooks tour of 1 month (including Q. Mary & Empress of Canada to & from) so only has 1 day & 1 night in Ottawa but it will be great fun to see him & show him around. Another thing is that it is 12th June he will be here & Cec will be chasing around Europe, but it will be some excitement for me & the children while Daddy is away. He arrives on the Mon. morning from Toronto & stays at the Château Laurier, leaving for Montreal on Tues. morning, so I thought as I will have the car I would drive him around in the morning then we’d have lunch somewhere & come back here in the afternoon for the children & dinner. Last week I had a most amusing time – we put on an Ad. in the paper to sell the old stove; the youth bed; the green sofa bed downstairs; the old greeny-blue sofa & Cec’s old armchair up here; the baby scales; and the children’s little old wooden table & 2 tiny chairs (we painted them blue). I was answering the phone all day long – & up to 11:45 at night and on Sunday! It was very funny sometimes & all sorts of people came out. In the end we sold everything except the stove & baby scales & made $31, which was quite nice as it nearly pays for one of the new sofas downstairs. They look very nice, by the way, & we have had a grand change around of furniture. We have put your/Lila’s bed up in Charlie’s room & we have moved the big old desk out of our bedroom into the window of the sitting room where the old sofa was! I have been madly washing & waxing floors as everyone brought mud in & men moving furniture etc. all over. I did the whole sitting room, kitchen & bathroom yesterday & the stairs only last Friday, but they had to be refurbished & now I must tackle downstairs.
We had another big excitement last week – THE OPERETTA!! Of course Lindy seemed to do nothing else for weeks previously, but the whole school was immersed in it at the end! They gave it for the school on Tues. afternoon & then public performances on Thurs. & Fri. evenings. We went on Fri. evening & took Charlie – he wanted to see it again & .50¢ a ticket was much less than a babysitter! Myrtle was there & the Knights & Proudfoots & everyone with a child of course & it was suchfun! It was called “The Magic Beanstalk” of course, so wasn’t new, but it was so well done – all the costumes & scenery lovely & the singing very good. Lindy was one of the 7 little Chinese girls & they had a song & dance & really they were so sweet. They were the smallest in it & were so little & pretty in their gay costumes & makeup & flowers in their hair that everyone mentioned them & thought they were the nicest! We did too of course! It’s all over now & L. was exhausted but no ill effects. Must stop, no more paper – Lots of love from us all – Cyn.
Dearest Mummy, No letter from you last week, so for once I’m not having to start with “thank you for your letter”– so unusual that I feel quite amazed! Of course I usually have lots of apologies too & without my two constant beginnings it really is astonishing! Of course I will probably hear from you tomorrow because if we don’t get your Post & the Saturday Evening Post on Fri. or Sat. they always come on Mon!! I had a nice long letter from Nan this week and one from Dottie too. Nan was telling me a little bit more about her Mother & about the children & so on. They made no plans for summer holidays, but afterwords managed to book at Whitby & are off this month. This was the first letter I’ve had from Dottie since the baby & we heard his name – Timothy. Lindy is greatly amused because Dottie calls him “Timmy Willie” & in one of her Beatrix Potter books there is a little country mouse called Timmy Willie! She says he is a very good little fellow – and what do you think? They now have a Rolls Royce no less!! Second hand, but still – the swank m’dear, as Dottie would say! She says Ken has always longed for one & got this chance at a bargain & couldn’t resist although they don’t know whether they’ll keep it. They are very tickled with themselves & Dottie says they went over to York for Peter’s 1/2 term & had a great success with Peter carrying off the whole thing with nonchalance! Talking of letters I’ve always meant to say thank you for the ones you sent me – Jean’s, Bren’s & Pamela’s – & to tell you how interested I was in them. The more I hear about other couples with children to educate in England the more thankful I am for Canada! Bren & Pamela were both talking about school fees & Nan in her letter was telling about Sandy trying to get into the Grammar School & how hard it was & I feel so thankful that we have none of that to go through. In England to get your children the best education you just have to pay for it or have a brilliant child, whereas here unless you’re a millionaire your child does the same as all the rest & the public education is the best. The thought of school fees hanging over you for 20 years or so – it makes me shudder! Here, we can begin saving now for universities! As a matter of fact Cec & I were just talking a little while ago about beginning to save the Monthly Family Allowance cheques ($10) for a nest egg when the children reach university age. Either to help them through University or to go a trip to Europe with or whatever their little hearts desire! Of course I shall miss that nice little cheque – it helps me out when housekeeping runs low & I always look forward to a little squandering! However – for the Sake of our Children! – and considering it’s theirs!! All this talk of the children at university age makes me think of Little Mona & you & Moo having such fits over her occupation! I had to giggle, but I do agree that it isn’t a job I’d like myself or like to have my daughter doing. I suppose it must pay well & if she is to be married in less than a year it will only be a temporary thing, but still one would think Millie & Ford would try to get her to look around for a more congenial job. I had a letter from Mill & she tells me that they plan to get married next spring so I suppose Mill and Ford feel that if she is old enough to make such major decisions she is old enough to make minor ones also. In a way I admire Millie & Ford very much for the ability to stand back and let Mona be independent and to see that she has grown up, but I don’t know if I could do it myself – I suppose it must depend a lot on your child also. Certainly I think most American youngsters are much more mature in many ways than English boys & girls & a million times more mature than I was. Also Monie seems to be a very domesticated girl & everyone says how much help she is around the house, so perhaps she really is best suited to being married young and having a house and family. Mill must know well from her sisters (& her cousin Cyn!) that it’s fun having a gay time before you were married, but not all fun & that the dream man doesn’t always turn up, so perhaps she feels Monie’ll be happier this way. What I do feel is a pity is that Monie isn’t going to be trained to do anything. Even if she didn’t go to University if she were trained as a typist or a florist or a dressmaker or something I think it would be so much better. As it is, the only thing she can do is work in a store & that can’t be a very paying job – particularly as you get older. Not that I mean to be gloomy but sometime it might be such a help if they needed extra cash & she could earn some, & I don’t think any mother with young children can help but wonder sometimes what she would do if the responsibility for their upbringing were all hers. You hear of so many tragedies – a husband killed in a car crash & a wife left with a baby boy & a girl of 3 (Lea & Jim’s friends) – Margie Garrett’s neighbour whose husband died of a heart attack at 35 & left her with 2 little girls – one must feel a bit braver and more able to carry on if there is something on can do oneself to support a family. However, I have all these problems to come to & probably when Linda & Charlie are that age I’ll have all the decisions taken out of my hands too. Prof. Katz from Saskatoon was talking about the same type of thing & saying it was useless to wait until the child is leaving school or even a teenager to try to see where his future lies, but that you could see from the time the child is in school a few years what type of mind he has & be able to help him to live so that he is expressing himself in the things he does best & will continue to make his career through those things. So I must have an eagle eye on Linda & Charlie! Certainly with their Daddy’s academic record I feel they should have some bias towards the University & already Lindy is quite interested in the fact that I was a teacher & went to College too, so I think it must make a bit of difference. What a long dissertation this has been! I had better stop & get to bed! Last night was such a hot stuffy night that I felt I was tossing & turning all the time & even got up & wandered around a couple of times – most unusual for me!
Monday. Today is now as cold as can be & I have on a sweater & am sitting on the bed with a blanket over my knees to keep warm! Although it is cold & windy & dull there is no sign of rain & it is as dry as a bone. We haven’t had a drop for ages & the poor garden is a wreck. The grass has an odd green patch where we have emptied the paddling pool, but otherwise it is brown & like wire to walk on. We have tried to water the roses a bit & they are looking very pretty & have done well, but everything else is wilting. Our tomatoes down the hill are just lovely however & for the last 10 days or so we’ve had a wonderful crop – big & red & smooth – with no rain they haven’t cracked at the top & they really look beauties. We have quite a few baby melons growing too & are watching them eagerly. Did I tell you a baby groundhog appeared not long ago? But what with Nicki & the dog next door & Cec all chasing it, the poor thing gave up & seems to have left for a quieter neighbourhood! Relations between us & our new neighbours are again sort of strained! At least between the children – I don’t know about the adults! But they are so queer – a week or 10 days ago the children asked if they could have Jimmy to dinner one evening which we did & everything was fine. Then a few days later Jimmy & Pauline etc. wouldn’t come & play with the children & wouldn’t let them come over. Next day they let Charlie come, but not Linda! (You can imagine the tears.) Next day not at all – until the poor kids spent their time drooping around miserably with either one or the other of them left out, so I said “all right – both of you go or neither of you go”! Since then they have played by themselves & communications have ceased! Which I really prefer if we aren’t able to have Jimmy without his gang of cousins – Linda already picked up “My God!” from Pauline so I can do without more! Did I ever tell you about the birthday party Lindy & Charlie went to? Well all I need say is they had dozens of children of all ages & Charlie did not enjoy it! Lindy’s birthday party is the next big excitement – less than 2 weeks now. We have just had a nice quiet weekend doing nothing & it has been very pleasant! Last weekend was a long weekend with the Monday holiday & we were on the hop so much & it was hot, so it was nice to have a rest & a change. On the busy weekend we had Mr. & Mrs. Hunka in for drinks & coffee etc. on Fri. evening. I think I have mentioned her before – she is English & he is Canadian & they have a teenager Vicky & a little girl Nicola of Linda’s age who was in K’garten too but in the afternoon class. He works at NRC but on the Administration & was in the London office before they came over last year. She is dark & very nice looking & I like her very much – he seems quite nice but Friday was the first time I met him. On the Saturday we took Lila out for a picnic with us to the place we were at with the Blachuts. It wasn’t quite so nice as the river was much shallower with no rain & Cec couldn’t get wet even to his waist! However Lindy had a lovely time in the water & with Lila playing but old silly Charlie wouldn’t even put a toe in! We set off home about midafternoon as I didn’t want to repeat the peeling process, & we had got there quite early in the morning, but oh, it was so hot driving home! We were all exhausted & cross & longing for a nice cup of tea! On the Sunday we had the Dresslers to tea. They are the young Swiss couple with twin baby boys – now 4 months old & they are so cute & good. Susie keeps them so nicely & they look sweet, but you would hardly know they were brothers let alone twins, they are so unlike each other. One has dark brown hair, brown eyes & a little face with a pointed chin & is quiet & placid & the other has a big round face, just a fuzz of fair hair, blue eyes & is excitable & lively!! They were as good as gold & lay on our bed & let us stand around & play with them & then just fell asleep when we left them. When it was time to go home one was still asleep & one was just lying cooing! Lindy was enchanted of course! You asked about Boris’ baby once – he is a year old now & a very lively little fellow but no beauty! He has a funny little receding chin with a dimple & is rather dribbly, but of course Boris is the proudest father in the world! Who do you think we had a phone call from last week? Ray Appleyard! He was just in Ottawa between trains having arrived from Switzerland & going up to Chalk River where Joan & the family were for a holiday. Cec went down to the Château Laurier and had a drink & chat with him & he says the family is fine and the baby boy doing well. They are staying another year in New York. Talking about living in different places makes me think of Jean & I wonder how they will all get on in England. It always seems as if Jeanie is longing to be where she isn’t, & you can’t help but think St. Vincent will be shrouded in a rosy cloud when she has left it! I am sure that she will miss her multiple servants anyway – from what I gather even people with money don’t have much help nowadays – Dottie has a daily help from the village to clean & Gunborg has an untrained girl from Sweden – so they both still do a lot of cooking etc. themselves. Poor little Charles – even Mill & Monie said Jean was so un-maternal to him. It seems very cruel to send him straight off to boarding school when he is going to be even more lost & lonely in a strange country. Peter doesn’t seem to say much about what the children are to do – does he just let Jean go her own way? I wonder what kind of a job he will get. When Cec was talking to Bob Spellar when he was here he was saying £1000 or £2000 a year is not considered a big salary now the way prices have gone up. Of course I know Peter has his own money but taxes are high too. I was very amused at the story of Peggy & Patsy inciting Alex to trespass on Royal Ground! They must have been very thrilled to see them all so close even if they were expecting to be hauled off to a dungeon at any moment!
I just phoned & got Mrs. Martin to sit for us tonight so that Cec & I can go to a movie – we haven’t been in an age and the last one we saw wasn’t much. This is “Love in the Afternoon” with Maurice Chevalier & Audrey Hepburn & Gary Cooper & is in Paris & is supposed to be very amusing. Hope it is. It’s such a chilly day it feels like going to a movie somehow! You mentioned a long time ago seeing “Desirée” – we liked the book very much & would like to see the film. One we are looking forward to is “80 Days Around the World” which is supposed to be coming soon. I often meant to ask you how A. Trixie’s toe was after her operation & if it was very painful or if the results were worth it. You mentioned being interested because of yours, but as you said no more I wondered. I hope you are feeling all right now & that A. Muriel is keeping well too. Charlie’s awful poxy scabs have all gone now & we are all fine – I made bread & butter pickles on Fri. evening & poured some boiling water on my fingers but that is our biggest mishap & by the next morning they were better! As you can tell Ken is still giving us garden produce & we do very well. Mrs. Scott just had an op. to remove an internal tumour but is very relieved as they found it was not malignant, but she is having to take things easily. You asked one time about Lindy’s class at school – there were 30 in her class in the morning & 25 in the afternoon I believe. I don’t know how the Grade 1 will be arranged, but I think there will have to be 2 classes. Lindy in a way is quite sad about school all day next term – she says “I’ll have no time to play”! Well, I seem to have just about dried up! I haven’t been sewing anything lately but cut out the pink & white material you sent Lindy to make her a little sundress for her birthday. It is a sweet pattern Phil Douglas gave me & I just had enough material but will have to get a little plain white for a sash. We were over at Phyl’s on Friday (another hot day) & all went down to the Rockcliffe Lake just near them & had a swim. Lindy wasn’t used to bathing with dozens of bigger children around & objected strongly to the splashing! Need I say what Charlie did?!! We went back & had tea at Phyl’s with a nice English girl who lives near her & has a little girl of Charlie’s age & a baby boy. She had a very sweet, very English voice & Charlie said “I like her talk”! When he likes people he also says “I like their look”! Lindy & Nicki are both sitting on the bed with me & being distracting! Nikki still has sunburnt peeling ears poor little thing – they never seem to tan! How are the little kitties? I hope these ones survive! We have had Nick just a year now & she is a pet- Lindy particularly loves her dearly & she loves the children too- she always cries if they go out to play without her & when they go to Ken’s she trots after them.. Must stop – p-r-r-r-from Nikki, X from Lindy & a little snore from Charlie (still asleep) & lots of love from us all – Love to A. Moo too – from Cyn.
Dearest Mummy, Not yet 11 o’clock & all my washing on the line! I must admit that the beds aren’t made yet, but I have to go down to the P.O. when I go for Lindy so I thought I would write one of these to you & mail it. I wrote to Dottie & Nan last night & also my father. He now has the bright idea that I should come to England & bring Lindy to see him. What he thinks I would do with Cec & Charlie I don’t know. Then his next letter he suggests we all come back to England to live – they need scientists etc. & over here there may be another depression. So of course I have written squashing all these suggestions so he’ll probably get mad at me again. Thank you so much for your last letter which came yesterday (written 5th) – mostly about babies, legitimate & otherwise! I see that your May Fair was all over & that you did very well. Perhaps you’re having a breathing space now like us! We are being quite quiet and unambitious now – Cec is going back to work again in the evening a bit & gardening a bit – he has got some tomato plants in down the hill & says if they don’t freeze we will have nice early tomatoes! The seeds in the basement are all sprouting nicely, but the lavendar hasn’t appeared yet – Mrs. Carleton says they have never been able to get the seeds to germinate so I wonder if we will. I didn’t do much sewing last week but finished a little blue corduroy jacket for Lindy to match her skirt & made a blouse for me out of an old shirt of Cec’s! All Lindy’s last summer dresses have to be let down & Lu has passed me on a few of Leslie’s & they all have to be taken up! Groans! Next I am going to start my white & black dress & I have some black cotton with roses on to make me & Lindy skirts. The sofa cover by the way is made out of the material Dottie sent me from England for curtains in the old house. I got brown fluffy edging & it really does look nice. I was glad to hear that your vitamins did you good. I go to see Dr. K. on Friday & we’ll see if he gives me any more iron – I feel quite perky now. My hand is fine & although there is a little lump still it doesn’t hurt or prick anymore & I think the lump will gradually go. We didn’t do anything much last week except have a visiting Englishman, Dr Cruikshank, to dinner & on Sat. evening we went to Teddy & Fanni’s. They had about 14 people & we had a v. nice time.
Sunday was Mother’s Day & all last week Lindy was so excited about it & a secret she had! On Friday she came home with a little parcel & a big picture & ran to hide them in her room till Sunday, but after 1 hour she couldn’t bear it any longer & had to show me! She showed me her picture (of me!) & her gift – a sachet that she had made all herself! Then she said a verse & sang a song! We then hid everything away again till Sunday!! Poor Charlie was quite at sea – didn’t know what a gift (always “present”) or a sachet was! Lots of love from us all, Cyn.
Dearest Mummy, It is a lovely day after a week of cold windy weather. We had a beautiful warm spell over Easter & for a while afterwards & things were just looking lovely & then it suddenly got so cold & even froze some nights & people who had put out plants etc. got them all frosted. However we weren’t so venturesome & indeed Cec is being very correct about his gardening this year – all the seed catalogues etc. tell you to begin seeds indoors & as we haven’t had too much luck putting them straight into the garden & the season is so late beginning here anyway that we thought we would try it. So last weekend Cec made some flats & sifted soil etc. & planted them & already we have some funny looking little things! I giggled at Cec as he worked so hard over getting them all done nicely & then he said “Well, I hope they won’t be a success!” & when I said “Why?” in horror he said “Well, I couldn’t bear the thought of having to do all this every year!” However he is already talking about what he’ll do next year so he can’t be too serious! We planted Cosmos, Clarkia, Brackycomb, Petunias, Lavendar, Zinnias, Nemesia, Portulaca, Stocks & Perennial Iceland Poppies. Also Tiny Tim Tomatoes & some Baby Muskmelons for down the hill! We have ordered 6 more rosebushes & 3 new chrysanthemum plants & Cec divided up all the orange lilies in the Fall so we have quite a few perennials now – also some delphiniums & a peony we got last year & sweet williams. My Bleeding Hearts from Mrs. Carleton are all doing nicely but Cec is having grave doubts about the chicken manure he dug in so laboriously in the Fall. You know it was on Ken’s advice he did it, but our things seem to be so late compared to other peoples & our bulbs are so slow. Of course the latter may be caused by the transplanting as in the places where they weren’t disturbed they are way ahead, but poor Cec is going to be so disgusted if they don’t do well after all his hard work. The children have been playing out all day with Jimmy except for going to S. School, & I gave them a picnic lunch on the grass & they had a lovely time. They are both looking so well & rosy cheeks now & seem to get so much dirtier than they ever did before! The bathroom wash basin always seems to be filthy & Charlie’s towel is just like the pictures you see of little boys’ towels! Charlie is quite lonesome on school days with no one to play with now, as he had such fun at Easter with Lindy & Jimmy, so he will be delighted when summer holidays come. He is very pleased at the thought of going to school & in S. School this morning I heard him holding forth to the teacher in front of all the children so he isn’t shy! I meant to begin a letter to you last night, but I began to make a book for my S. School – a Touch & Feel Book. They give you outlines of a sheep, bunny, dog, bird etc. and you cover them with cotton wool, velvet, feathers etc. to get the right feel – it was fun but it took me hours! Cec was at a Men’s Do at Boris’ & I spent the whole evening stuck up to the eyebrows! My class is still going strong & I have pretty regular help from a lady Mrs. Kuhn whose little girls come so it is all right, but I find I spend at least one evening a week making things for it & getting things ready. Do you remember Flora Wansborough a thin dark girl further down the hill towards Ben Rothwell’s? They adopted a baby boy just over a year ago & we coffee together occasionally – anyway she is an Anglican & I got her interested & she may come & help teach. She came & watched last week. Yesterday afternoon the Anglican Ladies had a big Maytime Tea & Sale of Work down at the School. It wasn’t anything to do with the Sunday School really but all the mothers etc. got together & organized it & the idea was to make money for a Fund as the beginning for a church some day. They sold tickets at 25¢ for the Tea & then had an Apron Stall, Children’s Wear Stall, Baked Goods, Plants, Candy Stall & a Recipe Stall which I thought was such a good idea. I’ll tell you about it because it might be a new idea for your May Fair or Bazaar sometime. They had 13 very luscious foods set out looking very attractive, then in front of each one little samples of the cake, cookie etc. stuck on toothpicks for people to taste & they were selling the 13 recipes typed on a sheet for $1. 00. They had some foreign recipes, some pickles etc. & I thought it was very good – Pat & I got one between us – 50¢ apiece! Pat has it at the moment & is going to type me a copy – they have the recipes from various people you know, which always adds interest too. I thought I had done quite well as I sold 10 tickets; made chocolate truffles for the Candy Stall; made coconut cakes for the tea; made choc. layer cake for the Bake Stall & sent 2 jars of pickles. Then I heard of a lady who had sold over 70 tickets, made 2 aprons, 2 children’s play suits, made bread, cakes & sent jam to the Bake Stall & was in charge of the Candy Stall & made dozens of lots of candy. Whee! Anyway it turned out to be a big success, & had lots of people there & I hear today that it made over $500 which seems wonderful for such a small group with no real church organization behind them. I was going to take Linda & Charlie, but then Linda got an invitation to Diane Kuhn’s birthday party (in her class at school) so Charlie decided he would rather stay at home & play with Jimmy. Lindy was to go as a storybook character, so I spent the Friday morning making her a little red cloak with a hood. Do you remember some red lounging pyjamas I swapped with Jessie long long ago? Then at my Halloween party in Cambridge I made them into a red petticoat? WELL – now I made Lindy into a cute Little Red Riding Hood! Lu gave her a pretty red moire skirt of Leslie’s a little while ago & they exactly matched & with a white blouse & a little basket she really looked like the storybook! I took her to the party & then took Pat & Mrs. Tomlinson & Joanne & Susan to the Tea – lots of people were there – even Mrs. Rothwell making funny remarks about Anglicans! I got some cookies & small cakes, some candy, a kettle holder & a pair of darling little “baby doll” pyjamas! The top is flowered cotton with little white panties, but unfortunately it is too small for Linda (they had no bigger sizes) so I will send it to Barbara Heslop for her birthday.
I was so pleased with myself yesterday morning as I went to town & had such a successful shopping spree. I had thought I might get a suit this spring but I looked around earlier & they all had these straight tight skirts which are so bad for my poor seat! Then I decided I would get a coat as the only non-winter one I have is my grey raincoat from trousseau days which is very sad now, & I saw a nice black bengaline in Simpson Sears catalogue (water repellent too) which was just what I wanted so I sent off for it. I was so disappointed when I got a card saying it was out of stock so on Sat. I went downtown & found just the same thing at Freimans’ & in my size too. I got it there & then & then hopped upstairs & got a little pink lacy hat & a pink scarf (I already have a new high-heeled black suede shoes). I also got Nan a pair of red corduroy “scuffies” (slippers with no backs) reduced to $1.00, so felt very successful! I dashed home & got Cec to mark the hem of my coat & shortened it then & there & wore it to the May Tea with my new hat & felt so pleased as everyone was dressed up to the eyes & I felt quite chic too. I have my white straw that from last summer I’ll also wear with the coat & I got some pretty white material with a black flower spray on it to make into a dress, so it will all go nicely. Do you remember a pretty navy coat Lila had on that day we drove out to Kingsmere? Well, mine is very like that. I feel quite free to concentrate on our summer wardrobe now as I have at last finished the slipcover for the sofa & feel very pleased with it. Cec & I had such a busy time last week after Easter. I told you how he began painting & finished the bathroom & it looks so nice & fresh.
Then I got some pretty yellow nylon & made a new curtain & we got 20 yellow tiles (plastic) & tiled around the wash basin. It looks most elegant & it is such an improvement as the wall got so splashed behind the basin & it spoilt the paint. We are very pleased with it. Then Cec began on the kitchen & painted that (I helped but I was mostly sewing the slipcover. ) It is a very pretty pale blue, walls & woodwork, with the brown cupboard doors. We have also moved things around & now it is like this-
It is such an improvement having the stove near my workplace in the corner near the sink & the fridge is just as convenient on the other side & not so much in the way. It takes the stove away from the door too & when we sit at the table we are not as close to it. Cec has hung the bread box below the window & under it we have a new white garbage can! I have some blue and white spotted material to make frills for the tops of the windows but haven’t done so yet. I think it looks very nice though & I’m delighted with it. All last week then, Cec was painting hard in the evening & I was sewing away & in the day time the children & I were busy gadding! Lindy was on holiday of course, & on the Wed. we went to tea with Susi Dressler & saw the little twins – so sweet – just a month old, then on the Thurs. we drove over & had lunch with Lee & Barry & Dougie; on the Friday we went & had coffee with Flora & then on the Sunday the Atchisons [Cec’s sister & family] came to dinner! Cec planted all the seeds last weekend too, so it really was a busy time. The A’s were all well after a bad winter of colds, chickenpox etc. but little Patty Lou is growing fast & beginning to walk & Lea is still enchanted with her baby. Cec & I we’re saying that she really missed so much of Darryl’s baby hood with working that this is really new & fun for her & she just thinks Patty is wonderful. I was handing on some of Lindy’s little things I still had – but not the prettiest ones! Aren’t I mean – but some of them are too sweet to give away! This week we had a party on Tuesday – a surprise birthday party for Lila! You know she is so good about sending the children birthday, Valentine, Easter presents etc. etc. & one day Cec & I were talking & I said I didn’t really like surprise parties but that I thought one for Lila might be fun, so we had one! We invited mostly those with children whom Lila treated as she treats ours you know – Phyl & Alex, Nan & Don Ramsey, Joan & Boris, Ray & Doreen Moore (the N.Z. couple but they couldn’t come – Doreen is sick – preggy again – R.C.’s poor girl ) then Dr. & Mrs. Herzberg, but Mrs. H. couldn’t come as she was away, & Dr. H’s secretary Mary & Santiago & Dr. Velasco. I phoned Lila a little while ago & said I wanted her & Mary to come out & arranged a day in a very casual way, & then Alex & Phyl picked them up & got here about 8:50 & all the rest at 8:30 having put their cars around the side. Then when Lila came up everyone sang Happy Birthday & we gave her a pretty pink corsage & a card signed by all the children! She was quite pink & confused, but very pleased I think & we all had a nice evening. We chatted & then played quite a good card game that everyone can join in, & we had Punch to drink. Then I had coffee & tea & a big pretty tray of open faced sandwiches like I used to have in Cambridge & then a big birthday cake. I made it white with a wreath of pink rosebuds around & Happy Birthday Lila in the middle. It was all over & everyone leaving by midnight but we felt we’d had a good time & enjoyed it anyway so we hoped everyone else did! We had a nice card from Lila full of raptures afterwards! On the Wed. the children & I had another kind of party – Charlie & I picked up Lindy from school in the car & went downtown for lunch & then we went to see Walt Disney’s “Cinderella”! I was very keen to take them as they have a Cinderella book with pictures from the movie & they were both thrilled at the idea. Lindy just loved the whole thing & enjoyed every minute, but poor old Charlie got a bit tired & kept saying “Is this the end?”!! However I really think it was quite a success as it was their first full length film in a theatre – I loved seeing it again too! Then we went out to tea to Mrs. Kuhn’s on Thurs. & Lindy & I got our haircut on Fri., so those are all our activities! Cec was back at work every night except the party night last week, so he was really tired this weekend but he got some good results, so he was quite content. Next week I hope we all are going to have a quiet week – I feel we have been living hectically for quite a while! Thank you so much for your last letter (29th) which I got yesterday – I am so sorry that none of our things reached you for your birthday though. Somehow your letters come so nice & quickly now though, that I assume mine do to you too, but I hope that by now the parcel as well as my long letter will have arrived. It was my fault about the A.M. not getting posted though- so don’t blame poor Cec! I had a bunch of letters to mail – paying bills etc. & your A.M. & some library books & my purse & so on & Charlie & I got in the car & I put them all on the seat between us. Well, what with Charlie & me & all the other things your letter & one of the others slid down the back of the seat & I didn’t notice they were missing when I mailed the rest. Then a few days later I saw a little white thing sticking up & pulled it & lo and behold – letters! I’m sorry! I’m so glad you had a nice birthday – yes we did think of you – and had such a lovely picnic – how nice of Auntie Muriel. You told me the girls had sent you a pretty dress but you didn’t tell me what it was like, but your new hat sounds very pretty too. What a pity Noel Coward didn’t come to Church on Easter Sunday & see you in it! But I really can’t imagine him dashing to Church at the crack of dawn as you & A. Muriel do! What a pity you didn’t see him though although I feel he must be too too conceited for words! Your telling me of him reminds me that I nearly forgot to tell you of someone I met unexpectedly at the May Tea yesterday – Mr. & Mrs. Hughes from Acacia Avenue – remember? They have built a house out here at Rothwell Heights- not way down by the river, but in some woods that we rather liked – moved in just about a month or so ago. They were very cordial & most pressing that we should come & see them, so we must do so & see their house – Mrs. H. tells me it has “What my Mother would call a Charles Dickens window”!! What do you think she means?! I guess a bow window or one with leaded panes! The Church Procession you saw sounds a most exhausting affair – I’m glad you didn’t try to join in. The new man at Hazell’s sounds as if he will take some of the work off Uncle Fred’s shoulders which will be a relief for him, but as you say Alan Gunn doesn’t sound as if his return will be very permanent. I wonder if you got any bargains at the Sale? They have been having big sales in all the stores here but somehow nothing I needed! You were asking about Charlie – he’s not nearly such a tender little plant as he used to be & doesn’t cry so much, but still that lower lip can quiver in a very pathetic way! He doesn’t cry at the Barber’s or having his hair washed now & is quite independent – Lindy at last will have her hair cut at the hairdresser’s but has to hold my hand! I am going to make her pink & white sun dress soon – we both think it is very pretty – when I get a nice pattern. You were asking about our finances – well we are doing quite well & have it last paid off the money we borrowed on our insurance when Charlie was born!! Also we have joined a Civil Service Co-op Savings Society which takes the money out of our pay cheque before we get it so perhaps now we will amass a huge fortune!! I don’t seem to have been reading much lately – too busy sewing! But I ploughed through a long but interesting biography of Richard III! We don’t belong to a book club at all now – the English one was nice but we got a bit tired of it & the U.S. ones we never seem to get books we like! I think the table mats for Ginny & Hugh are a very good idea – I’m sure they’ll like them. [Cyn’s cousin Milly Pembleton’s son was getting married in the summer, and so Carol and Cyn were considering wedding presents.] I must get them something & send it off – I thought of something in the china line, but I’ll go & have a look around. Mill very kindly asked us down this summer but I think we’ll postpone it till another year – we thought we would just stay home & save our money this year! But having just begun the savings plan we want to get a good start, & even at the cottage you seem to spend a lot of money & we were counting up & on our trip last year we spent $500 about. That includes things we bought & everything, but still! Talking of table mats I really like yours much more than Amy’s – they look cleaner (!) & the colours are so pretty & cheerful. She keeps impressing on me that she only sends to children now, so obviously I’ll not get the big ones! By the way, I got the photo album from Una at last – so silly- all these pictures & only a few with you in & I haven’t a clue as to who any of the other people are! If she said sent it to you, you might have been amused at it, but really there are so few with you in that it seems quite pointless to send it to me.
Tim
Monday. I am just finishing this off this evening & have just had a birth announcement of Dottie’s baby – a son! Ken writes a note on the bottom that the baby & Dottie are both doing well. Born 16th April & weighing 7 lbs. 2 oz. but no name. Cec says that anyway he won’t be so spoiled as a baby girl would have been! [Ken & Dottie’s blended family now has 4 boys!] I must stop as I am yawning me head off! Must send Nan her birthday card & will send her Scuffies tomorrow – my love to Auntie Muriel – big hugs & kisses from Lindy & Charlie & lots of love from us all – Cyn.
Dearest Mummy, I am ashamed of not having written for such a very long time – I don’t know how it is I seem to achieve so little these days & be constantly disorganized! However this morning I have got my washing out on the line early & Claire comes tomorrow to clean so I thought, “To heck – I’ll leave everything else & write to Mummy!” We are having the most beautiful Easter weather – it began on Good Friday & has been sunny & warm & heavenly ever since. Before that it had been dry but quite cold for so long – all the snow melted early but up until last week the ground was still frozen & we have had hardly any rain & with not so much snow as usual, the gardens are as dry as a bone already. The children are having a wonderful time out in the sandbox. Cec fixed Charlie’s wagon on Friday & he has been out with that wagon every available moment since, but I see he’s changed to sand now! His little face is quite pink & sunburnt & both of them look so well. Actually Lindy wasn’t too well at the beginning of the weekend – she was very tired & drooped & not eating on Wed., but Thurs. seemed quite perky & was very keen to go to school as it was the last day before the holidays. She didn’t seem too bad all day although no appetite, but on Fri. morning she didn’t feel well & stayed in bed. We were supposed to be all going over to Jim and Lee’s for dinner in the afternoon, so I had to phone Lee & tell her we couldn’t come & we were all disappointed. I was worried that Linda might be sickening for something as there are mumps & chickenpox around, but it turned out to be a little tummy flu I think as she had a bit of diarrhoea & a little temp. On the Sat. she felt a bit better & was out & about but she is just beginning to eat fairly normally now. I think I had a touch of it on Sun. as I had the trots & felt very tired – went to bed at 9 p.m. & slept for 12 hours & felt fine yesterday! We had quite a busy day on Sun. as I meant to go to 8 a.m. service, but had a restless night (this sudden hot weather!) & was wide awake at 5 & fast asleep at 8! So I went at 11 instead & had just got home & Cec had bathed the children when the phone rang & this was Joyce & Les Haywood & their 3 girls. They’d been to Montreal for the weekend & were in Ottawa on the way home, so they came right over & we had coffee & chocolate cake (which providentially I had made on Sat.!) They left about 1:30 & we had a scrambled lunch & Cec took the children over to visit Lila. She has recently gone to live with an old lady who was to be away for the weekend, so she had invited the children for the afternoon. We went & collected them about 6 laden with chocolate bunnies etc. Lila had had an egg hunt for them with those coloured candy eggs & they had enjoyed looking for them but then told her they didn’t like those eggs & didn’t want to take them home! Poor Lindy has had the worst time trying to pretend there is an Easter Bunny! I have never said much about it as we in England didn’t have it but this year in kindergarten they have heard the whole thing & although she knows we really give the eggs she has been pretending it was the Bunny! On Easter Sunday morning Charlie, who was rather confused by all this, said “Did you give me the Easter Egg or did the Easter Bunny?” & I – who had put my foot in it once or twice with Linda, said “Oh, the Easter Bunny gave it to me to give to you” whereupon Lindy gave a great smile & said “Oh I am so glad you told a lie about it “!!
Note final sentence.
Cyn’s College Recipe- amended for larger amounts!
Chickens mandatory!
Yesterday we had Fanni & Teddy & their 3 boys over for tea & I made a Simnel Cake – do you remember them? The last one I made was in College but this one was nicer – I had to grind the almonds myself for the almond icing though! In amongst all these activities Cec has been so busy, first tidying up the garden & fixing the long narrow trench where we had a few rosebushes & some chrysanthemums. We have ordered 6 more roses so he took out all the chrysanths & dug in manure etc. & got it all ready. Then he has been painting – finished the bathroom in pale yellow, very pretty & last night we began on the kitchen. We painted all that bright pink woodwork pale blue & it is a vast improvement & we will paint the walls pale blue too. The cupboard doors are still stained brown, so there will be some contrast & I am getting some material to make just a frill across the top of each window – blue & white I think. I have been making up the children’s sheets & pillowcases. I made the winter flannelette sheets as soon as I got the material, but just got the cotton ones done now. I also made Lindy a pretty little pink flared skirt out of the pink material Nan sent me. I had asked her to get Lindy a Viyella-type dress & pants & the little pink & blue dress she got had no pants so she sent a yard of pink Dayella. It was much too pretty for pants so I made this little skirt & it looks very sweet. We got Charlie a navy blue raincoat you know, & he is thrilled – “I’m just like a little man” he says “With a long draggy-down coat!” It’s nice & big you’ll gather!! I have begun making the slip cover for the big old sofa, but so far have only one cushion made, but it looks nice! I am going to try and get it done this week though, as once I get going at it I don’t think it will take too long. Another thing I made was a hat! Lu took millinery classes this winter & promised to show me how to cover a “hat form” if I got one. So I got one in Woolie’s for 29¢ – just a white buckram shape like a crescent moon & took it & some of the pale green material of my dress over to Lu’s & she showed me how to do it – you stick the material on with household cement! I lined it & trimmed it at one side with a few dark green feathers & it is very nice I think! Anyway with that & my dress I have a new outfit! I really have needed them as we have been really social lately. Last Thursday Boris & Joan suggested that we join them & Jerry & Mary to have a Chinese dinner downtown, so we all met & had a lovely feast! We then went to Joan & Boris’ & had dessert of fruit salad & coffee & it was a very pleasant evening. The Sunday before Santiago invited us all out to dinner, so we drove out to the island & had a Chinese dinner there too – except the children had chicken. It was very nice also & Dr. Velasco (who was there too) & Santiago came home & spent the evening with us. The week before was my birthday week & so we went out to dinner with Cy & Margie on the Friday. We went to the Château Laurier & had a drink & then went to the French Buffet & thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. It was the first time Cec had been there & he thought it was just as nice as we did. Actually on my birthday Cec redeemed a long time promise & had us all to lunch at the Council. [Government Cafeteria, nothing special.] This was the biggest treat to the children & they thought it was wonderful seeing so many people they knew all eating their lunch too! We were at Dr. & Mrs. Herzberg’s one evening & he had just recently returned from a trip to India & he had lots of lovely colour slides which he showed us & he also brought back all sorts of beautiful saris & stoles & carved things & turquoise jewellery etc. for Mrs. H. & Agnes, so it was very interesting, although he had so many colour pictures (& quite a few the same) that I had a hard time keeping awake while he was showing them! We have been trying to pay back some of our social duties too as with me being ill we were away behind & seem to owe everyone. We had Mary & Jerry & a friend of theirs from Harvard who was up working in Cec’s Lab. for about 6 weeks & a couple called Beer from Ann Arbor. He was in Gordon’s Group & we met them last summer (Cec knew him already) & he is now at the Council as a Fellow in another Dept. Gunborg assumed we would be great friends as Mrs. B. is English but this was our first get together! Then another evening we had another man from the Council in another dept. whom Cec likes very much. His name is Andy Dunn & we were also interested because his wife comes from Trinidad! They met in Halifax apparently where she was at school (her parents are Canadians living in Trinidad) but the funny thing was that I mentioned I had relatives in Trinidad & that one of my cousins owned the Coblentz Hotel & her parents live on that very street! Mrs. D. knew the house & the family who used to live in it years ago when she was a girl – wasn’t that funny? Actually we didn’t like her as much as him, although she was all right & we had quite a good bridge game. Do you remember me talking about a Swiss fellow at the council called Kurt Dressler and us going to his wedding to his fiancée last May? Anyway Susi was pregnant & about Feb. the doctor told her it was twins & that they quite likely would come early, so this was great excitement & at the end of March twin boys were born. They were quite big 6 pounds & 6 lbs. 3 oz. & I went to see Susi in the hospital & saw the little fellows & they looked very cute – dark-haired & nice & big, not little teeny things like most twins! They are called Lucius & Rainier! I took them little sunsuits made of terry towelling you know – one bound in blue & one in green. I am taking the children to tea tomorrow as Lindy is very keen to see the babies! Susi is kept busy as she is feeding them herself & they eat every 3 hours!
Talking of babies Dottie should have hers by now & I am most eager to know what it is – I can’t help but think a baby boy! I haven’t sent anything yet as I wanted to wait & see so that if it was a girl I could send a very feminine gift! Yesterday was your birthday & we all wished you many happy returns & thought of you. I do hope that my parcel isn’t very late – I had part of it ages ago but wanted one or two other little things & didn’t get downtown for ages. I’m afraid I still have the children’s card not mailed, as I thought we had one for them & then found it was an Easter card & by the time we got one the P.O .was closed for Easter but will send it- better late than never! I hope you had a lovely day & drank your health as nicely as you drank mine. We got all the Easter cards from you & A. Muriel & thank you so much for them. A. Muriel is so good about remembering us & I’m afraid I owe her so many thank yous but since I was ill I seem to have got so behind hand. When I rest every afternoon & go to bed early I get nothing done! By the way, while I was visiting Dr. Kastner I showed him the little bump on my hand that I thought had a piece of glass and & he took me in at the Outpatient Dept at the St. Louis Hospital one day & gave me a local anaesthetic & tried to get it out. Of course it bled so that it was like looking for a needle in a haystack so he doesn’t really know whether he got it out or not! Anyway he stitched it up & I had a bandage on for a week or so but it is all healed & all right now. There is still a sort of bump there but it doesn’t hurt to press on it as it did before, so I think it is an improvement. I am still taking my iron & am to go back to see him next month. How are your vitamins doing? Do you feel that they are doing you any good? You will be amused at one thing in your parcel – I sent you a little maple sugar to compare with your cane sugar. I was so pleased this year because I found a maple sugar farm not far from Orleans & took the children out one afternoon to see the sugaring off. It was such fun that we took Lila the next Sunday & it was the first time she & Cec had seen it either. We saw the sap collecting from the trees, but the most interesting part was the sugaring shed where it is boiled in flat open pans over wood fires and then depending on the length of boiling they make syrup, taffy on the snow, or sugar. The children don’t really like the sugar – it is so strong but when Lila was with us we came home & had pancakes for lunch & Charlie kept up with the rest of us. Lindy actually eats pancakes now, which is a great concession but she has honey on them! I must stop now & get my washing in & wash the dishes etc. etc.! I will write again soon & answer all your nice letters – I have them all here to reply to, but there wasn’t room in this one, but one thing – I would love a brunch coat – thank you very much! The children send big hugs & kisses – Charlie still has your letter under his pillow! Love to A. Muriel & lots & lots for you from Cyn.
A Family History in Letters 