Mason City, Iowa. Jan. 25, 1937 Dear Circle: I see by the above date that Amelia has had another anniversary. We hope it was a happy one and that she may have as many more as she can enjoy. Judge Clark, who has practiced law here for 40 yrs died at his desk last week. Such, to me, is a desirable way to go. No months of helpless imbecility for the family to remember. I'm sorry Flora has to linger on week after week. Ezra Yaggy died yesterday morning after an illness of two days with pneumonia at 86 yrs of age. So many deaths every where among elderly people. We have not had the Flu as yet. Cal did not feel very well today so has stayed in bed but he seems like himself again tonight. That is a very good record of tenants, Ella. Where are the Lunds going now? Those boys are certainly fortunate to get such a welcome home as Ella has given them. Well, we have had some very snug winter weather this year so far but in our little cottage we have been very comfortable with no coal at all, just chunks of wood that Cal had sawed from the dead trees in the grove at the lower farm, and there is still enough on hand to last well along in Feb. He expects to cut some more when the weather moderates & there is less snow, & it makes a great improvement in the grove. He told me today that if I'd choose the color I want for the bathroom, he would get busy & paint it soon. I'll try not to delay him. How terrible these floods are, and these strikes, too! In this quiet little neck of the woods, we can't realize how awful they really are. In a letter from Ruth today, she says they expected Martin Johnson, the big game photographer who was killed in the plane crash, to lecture at their school Jan 23. She has had the "Cousin Robin" & sent it on to Gerald. Ralph, their youngest, is six yrs old & loves to read. Was reading his second library book for that week. This is his first yr. in school. Cal's sister Jennie & husband are down in Florida, at Clearwater, the last we heard, but were planning to move about and see the state while there. Abe Spotts, Olive and Earl are in Calif for the winter. The family from Madison we lived with down in St Pete last winter, are down there again this year but I'm satisfied to be right here this winter. I've done very little so far this year but do my little housekeeping & have read a few books. Best wishes for '37 from Annie E. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hawthorne Cottage. Feb. 20, 1937 Dear Circle: Isn't it SNUG inside when its snowing & blowing outside as it is tonight? It began to seem like Spring with the water rushing down the gutters, BUT the ground-hog saw his shadow so we'll have to be content with winter for a time. Cal is reading snatches to me from a quaint little book "A Cheerful Cherub" that I got at the library. There are two volumes of it with a jingle on a different subject on each page & a clever black & white sketch to illustrate each below the verse. Today, when we were uptown, Cora Senior met me & we visited awhile. Both she & Joe have been quite sick this winter. Have had to call a Dr. in! The first time they've had to, in the 24 YEARS they have lived in Mason C. and for some years before that. She said Joe had had to give his business affairs over to their daughter Mabel to look after. He was getting SO forgetful, couldn't remember what he wanted to say, at times. She spoke of two farms & three houses in town to look after. I didn't ask her how old Joe is but he can't be much older than Arthur is, and see what that young thing does each week! I am sending a story he wrote & filled his column with last week when he couldn't get out to see the man he hoped to write up! Well, I chose the color I wanted for the paint & cal painted the bathroom & kitchen and washed the dining room & living room walls so we are about thro' housecleaning. He washed off the roof and the outside of the house yesterday preparatory to painting outside when the weather is warm enough. He arranged some pipes so he washes it with city pressure from the hose. I seem to have unconsciously become a member of the Cong'l Woman's Union here. I see my name in the printed list of hostesses for this year. They have been very nice & friendly to me & I think I shall enjoy working with them. They meet the first & third Friday of each month. Dale set two traps in their hen house this week & caught two civet cats that had killed three chickens just before and the hens won't go to roost there now & have quit laying from fright. Myrta uses her teeth like a native & they look well. I think we should have a dentist in each Pickford family. Here's hoping you are all well as we are at present. Love from Annie E. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hawthorn Cottage, Mar. 21, 1937 Dear Circle: Spring is here! and Arthur had better not be TOO stubborn about "putting 'em on again" if the weather man lets "Winter linger in the lap of Spring." You know Iowa. The "winter dodgers" are on the way home from Florida & Calif. Jennie & Al & Will Millington will arrive any day now & also the Spotts family from Calif. The winter in Cal. has been the most uncomfortable Emerson Hartong has had since he went west, which is many years. Paul Spott's wife says the leaves all fell off her mother's grapefruit trees from the frost, so no crop, & she has just had the misfortune to fall from an auto, when the door flew open, & broke both wrists. Jennie said it was almost too warm for her in Florida some of the time. Well, we are starting out on our 48th year of married life and in normal good health. Clint Bitterman & wife are just ten years behind us to the day & hour. So Dale & Rena had us down to supper on the 19th & then we all went up to Clint's where their club was meeting that evening. The program centered around that wedding date. Roll call was ans. by the men telling of their bride's dress in each married couple there & the wives told of the color of tie worn by groom & the date & place of ceremony. My groom said I wore a striped blue and brown silk dress with big buttons! which was PARTLY right (that WAS the trimming). Then a mock wedding was staged with considerable merriment, and when the refreshments were served, there was a big angel food cake with roses atop & 1890 on one side & 1900 on the other. And to begin it all, the announcer of K.G.L.O. at 2:30 PM told of our marriage & also Clint's & played "Love's Old Sweet Song". So it was quite a day, ending at 12:20 AM Sat. Cal went back to Madison for the week-end last week on business but I stayed here to "keep the home fires burning." Jean stayed with me & went to school from here. Gerald, Myrta & Betty called a few minutes on Fr. & Myrta went back to Minneapolis with them for the week-end. Cal attended Henry Buckmann's funeral services yesterday at Nora Springs. We leave now for church & later, dinner with Wendell & Grace. As ever, your sister Anne Elizabeth - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hawthorn Cottage. Sun. April 12, 1937 Dear Circle: This is a real April day , cloudy at time, then sunshine & a stiff breeze to dry the ground. No farm work yet, the fields are too wet. It rained some in the night and helped our supply of cistern water a little. Cal was working in the garden after lunch and called me out to show him where things were that he might damage if he raked. I thought I'd be out a FEW MINUTES but it was TWO HOURS before I got in. You know how it is. You rake a place & it looks so much better that you go on and on & I discovered two tulip beds 4 x 8 ft that are just appearing. We don't know what else there might be in perennials, so it will be a sort of a surprise garden this year. I found out another thing: that A.E.B. isn't what she used to be 40 yrs ago when it comes to garden work. Two hours are enough at one time. I went to cooking school four days last week and then got out my OLD recipe and made a batch of cookies! Hide-bound old woman! Cal began painting the house outside last week on two nice days but will have to wait till it is dry & warmer again now. He's using an ivory body with green trim. This matter of these MEN broadcasting is getting so common that it isn't even news any more. Just wait till we WOMEN begin! At the Progressive Club, Fri. eve, the Pres called on the three broadcastring men present to "fess up" if they were "jittery" while doing their broadcasting. One man said he was somewhat, Arthur wasn't but Cal had a bad moment when his printed sheet slid away from him on the smooth table top. He wouldn't accept any help in the preparation of his talk but I noticed he was quite concerned about how it was going to go off for a few days before. I wrote to Ruth, Ella, about your Truman being in Pullman in April & they'll probably see him while he is there. There was a boy's & a girl's hobby show here on Sat. and Theo Marie got many prizes for her exhibits in it. I hope you all keep well as we are at present. Love to you all Annie E. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hawthorn Cottage. May 8 1937 Dear Circle: Just outside the window I can see a pair of robins busy feeding their young. When I rake in the garden, they are always very near. We have a wren house in that tree, also, but so far no tenants. But we HAVE a frog in our pool that is a real CARUSO. He sings nearly all the time and can be heard by all the neighbors, but we can't see him. Speaking of music, Jean got back from the state contest at Iowa City at midnight last night and spent the rest of the night with us. The orchestra won superior rating and will now go to Columbus, O. on Wed. for the final contest. I was one of Florence's [Dean] guests at their Matinee Musicale recently and enjoyed it. Florence played two selections VERY WELL and it is surprising how she keeps up her music beside all her other duties on the farm. Arthur prevailed on Rena to jot down one day's duties at their farm this week for his page, and it is a study in perpetual motion. Cal has been at the farm the past two days helping Dale disc the corn ground. It is still almost too wet to cultivate the soul, but it hasn't rained for two days now, so it will get dry some time. He was a month painting the house & garage two coats because of so much wet weather. Annie Jackson O'Keefe called on Rufus & M. and us this week. She looks VERY well, Lives in Sioux City now & Myrtie lives with them. She, Myrtie, has never married. Annie had been visiting Sylvia & Ella Berk down near Rockford. Tomorrow being Mothers Day Dale & family will be here for dinner. We wish we might have all our children with us, on that day. But they are ALWAYS thoughtful and kind to us and have never caused us needless worry in all these years. Jean has her 16th birthday on the 10th & Dale's 46th on the 13th and there is a Cong'l convention for three days, 11-12-13, whose delegates (some 500) are to be entertained by the church members. I have promised to take two, and on the 14th, we are to entertain the City Progressive Club, so next week is to be a full week. Today is the first day without a furnace fire this spring. It is almost true, "we have 8'mo's winter & 4 mo's of bad weather," in Iowa. We are sorry to hear that Ray is sick again. I noticed by the Journal this week that Ella's Truman Torgerson had had an operation since he got home from Pullman, Wash. All well here. Love to you all. Annie - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hawthorn Cottage. June 14, 1937 Dear Circle: I see by the above date that it is Ruth's & Dick's [Jones] 15th wedding anniversary, and also Flag Day, and I never once thought to put out a flag, and didn't see one any neighbor had out. I've been busy in the garden all day setting out plants and weeding. The heavy rains have been hard on the tall plants, & I've had to stake most of them. The peonies are lovely now. I have two shades of pink, white & dark red, and the roses are out this week, too. We both enjoy our garden. If this rainy weather does not end soon, building boats, if not arks, will be in order. Some families had to be rescued from their homes yesterday when the Willow Creek got out of its banks. We drove down to the farm last Eve after the very hard rain and found water running over the grade by Ray Shanks farm & by Mrs Stiners farm so deep that it stopped our car twice by getting the distributer wet, and the cornfields were lakes. A very discouraging outlook for corn. Sat. evening, Grace & Noel & family came to spend the night with us, on their way to Pullman, Wash. for a vacation with Ruth & Dick. They left Sun. morn at 8:30 and were at Grand Island, Nebr. 400 miles away at 7:30 PM. By contrast, Sun. PM Jennie & Al called for us to go for a ride with them to Garner, they said. Now, we'd never been to Garner or Forest City, or Pilot Knob when we lived in Iowa before, so we gladly went with them for a nice ride & got home just before the big rain came. Cal has been working at carpenter work a week or so for Mr Millington who is haveing his office rebuilt & enlarged where he sells coal, cement, & feed. Well, there are THREE lawns minus dandelions in the circle now, for Cal has declared war on them also, and the clover he sowed is growing nicely now so it looks as it should. We have just learned that Than Bishop died a week ago Sun. at his home in Washington State, and Ira Roberts died last week also. Frank Confer is visiting old friends here at present, we hear, but have not seen him yet. He lives in Ontario, Calif. Myrta enclosed the letter from Joe Pickford they received recently asking about the family picnic. That question is still undecided as to where & when, but must be attended to soon. All well here. Love to you all. Annie. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hawthorn Cottage. July 14, 1937 Dear Circle: Before this letter comes around again, we'll "be seein' you" at Backbone State Park. There's a rather high ridge in the park that gives it its queer name. It's a rather scenic spot for IOWA but, of course, compared with the West its a DEAD LEVEL ! It's nicely kept & I hope we have a pleasant day from the weather man. We have not, as yet, heard from the Penn. Pickfords, except the Wm. Pickfords at Wilmerding, who sent regrets. Charles, Paul, Ethel, Merle Hamel & Betsey Steele, also sent regrets. We have not yet heard from Fred Sears & family or Trella Lamson & family, or any of Alice Holden's children, or Roger. Of course, Ruth & Gerald can't come. Grace & Noel & family got home safely but had a close call near Rudd, when going home, when a woman they met lost control of her car and only by Noel's quick action was a smash avoided. In a letter today from Grace, she says the young couple they had in their house while they were away took good care of things, and she was very glad they reached home before this very hot weather came on. It was cold and rainy in Pullman, very unusual at that time of the yr. They visited the Grand Coulee Dam near Spokane & went on to Seattle & Mt. Rainier & Yakima where Noel lived before he came to Madison. They found Ruth's family all well & had a fine vacation. They got back to Mason City on Fri PM Jly 2 and stayed till Sun. AM & we had Mr & Mrs Ulve as guests, also & had a jolly time. Cal is helping Dale make hay the past few days. He has plowed corn for him too, with a tractor to pull the 2 row plow. The corn has grown the past week but some is still small. Arthur found some that was tall & had his picture "took" with it. I have just cold packed 6 pts. of string beans in my pressure cooker from our small garden spot. Have had all the radishes, lettuce & peas we could use while they were good. Grace showed me how to get results from a small garden when they began to garden in Madison. I mowed the lawn for the first time this summer today & didn't mind it for it was not sunny today so was quite cool. Good bye till the 8th of Aug. Love from Annie E. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hawthorn Cottage. Aug 16, 1937 Dear Circle: It seems almost like a dream that we were together only a week ago. Yesterday was a VERY windy day & hot, too, not like the pleasant picnic day. So far as we have heard, all got home safely and I think we all enjoyed the day. Cal has been busy with threshing since but they think they will finish today. The grain has turned out very well considering the fact that some fields were SO wet at seeding time that they were never touched after the seed was sown. The grasshoppers are doing damage in the clover fields, eating the young plants and I noticed our pieplant leaves are stripped to the mid rib, which I've never seen before. Our garden gives us corn & tomatoes in limited quantities at present and there should be lima beans & string beans later if we have rains in time. Our petunias and zinnias and hibiscus are doing well and we have white, soft pink, and soft yellow water lilies when the neighbors dogs neglect to take their baths in our pool. A state of war has been declared here and armament is ready when the next one is found enjoying our pool when Cal is at home. He says he won't shoot to kill but will give them a good scare. There are eight hibiscus blooms out this AM white & light & dark pink, about 6 in. in diameter. Rufus & Myrta left on their vacation yesterday morning. Ruth & family are in camp at the Hama Hama River camp near Liliwaup, Wash. over near The Hood Canal. They catch trout in the river & salmon & cod fish in the salt water, also oysters & clams when the tide is out, & will be there until Aug. 23. They were at this camp last yr. also and enjoy it very much. We & Arthur were invited to Harry Heinselman's for dinner yesterday. Their three grand children were there. Three boys, all under three years. Our thermometer says 91o at 10 AM. So goodbye for this time. Love from Annie. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hawthorn Cottage. Sept. 24, 1937 Dear Circle: If I should live to be 100 years old, I don't think I could be more USELESS that I've been for the past week, all because I went out to the garden & saw the birdbath was empty & thought to fill it by dipping a quart of water from the pool with a pail and found I couldn't straighten up afterward. Luckily, I did not fall forwayd head first into the pool. So I've been on a lay- down strike since, till, today, I managed to bake a batch of cookies by using most of the forenoon for it, and after speinding the PM in bed with my Zoalite light to warm the small of my back, I sit myself down (VERY carefully) to write my sheet of the Robin which has been here several days. I saw a good definition of growing old the other day, to- wit: The time when a man is thinking that in a week or two he will feel just as good as ever, and a definition of an adult as a person who has stopped growing except in the MIDDLE! But, seriously, I am sending a clipping from The Globe G. written by Arthur that I think is a wonderful pen picture that we farmer folk will recognize. When I got around a little, Cal went to help Wendell with the finishing of a house he has been building here in the city. We have had no killing frosts yet here & still have string & lima beans & tomatoes & Swiss Chard in the garden & a number of kinds of flowers, also about 100 gold fish, two snails & 15 frogs beside some lovely lilies in our pool. Any of you fond of frogs legs? It is cash & carry as we do not deliver. Cal has been asked to build a porch (enclosed) on a house in Rock Falls, but he has to help Dale when he begins to husk corn by running the elevator so he don't know just when he could do it. I had planned to have this small domicile all cleaned for winter by now but so far nothing doing. Call found the grass on the lawn so long & tough when we got back from our three weeks in Madison that our mower (a 2nd hand 22 yr old one) wouldn't cut it, So he was forced to borrow an up-to-date rubber tired one from a neighbor which did all that was required. Dale & family are well & busy as usual, as are the others of our children so far as we know. Good luck to you all. Love from Annie E. Amelia, Arthur says Luella Berkey was visiting her daughter who lives here in Mason C. but he has forgotten the daughters name. He urged Luella to go to see you & Ella as she was talking of going to Janesville, Wis. anyway. He thinks she lives in Calif. May Hyde was living with Luella's daughter. May died recently & Arthur went to the funeral & in that way got in touch with several old Monticello folks. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hawthorn Cottage. Oct. 21, 1937 Dear Circle: I'm feeling better! Now, I only feel like three score & ten, but today is the first day I've been free from pain since Sept. 17. Have taken chiropractic treatments for it and eight of them seem to have conquered it. Now, to catch up with neglected work! Esther Henrickson of Santa Ana, Calif. spent last night with us & left for a visit with her brother in Idaho this PM on her way home. Her parents are in fair health, she says. Cal is helping Dale by running the elevator to unload the 12 to 15 loads of corn Dale husks in a day with his tractor- husker outfit. He has both Hi-bred corn & his own seed in one field side by side. SIX rows of his own seed make a load just a little larger than FOUR rows of the HI-bred makes. The man who rents the lower farm has a two row husker and can husk 20 acres per day, (which is going some) and not a mitten to patch! The few rainy days we've had recently have filled our cistern and it will be enough for all winter if no more comes. Cal brought in the gold fish to the basement yesterday. It was some trick to catch them. He made a net over a wire hoop on a pole & went seining for them and when all were rounded up, there were 192 young ones and the three parents! How's that for a crop? I suggested we put all but 50 in the river near by & let them float to Florida for the winter, but Cal wouldn't part with any of them. So by another yr, we'll be running a rival to the State fish hatchery. I'm sure we all appreciate Mrs Krohn's help in writing Ella's sheet for our "Robin," and we are glad the boys are as congenial as last year. Arthur called this morning and said he thought of going to Madison for a few days soon, also to Fennimore. In a letter from Lola Heinselman Rodman [Cal's cousin] yesterday, she says they are now very comfortably settled in our Madison house and it seems like home to them already. The other tenants were there four years. I wonder how Theo can continue to be wife, mother & grand mother, year after year, but she & Merle take after their Mother, I suppose, and keep everlastingly busy. Bed time, so good night & love from Annie E. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hawthorn Cottage. Dec. 1, 1937 Dear Circle: How the months do slip by! Here it's nearly Christmas and I haven't begun my Christmas shopping yet. In fact, I don't seem to do much but get us some thing to eat from 7:30 AM to 6 PM. Of course, there'the Cong'l Women's Guild and the Woman's Club in all departments which are sandwiched in between meals. I think Ella should send the recipe for that lively bread she bakes, so we could all try it. One could almost bake a batch in less time that one could dress & go up town for some! You should see the WOOD we have in our back yard! It is as high as the garden fence & fill the space from the fence to the house. Then the coal bin is full and the garage except space for the car. It will keep us warm all winter and the grove on the farm looks better wihout it. One neighbor came over to see if we'd sell some. He wanted to get some for their fire place & Cal told him to take a wheel barrow load home & see if it was suitable for a fire place! Well, we have begun to feed our fish after one of the old ones died, and they feel better now. But what shall novices do when experienced fish owners disagree? One said DON'T feed them; another said "Of course I feed them." I am enjoying the Woman's Club here. They have about 600 members, I understand, and the dues are only $3.00 instead of $10.00 as in Madison. The speakers, so far, have been good and Myrta & I go to all the Dept. meetings. We have had a season of wrestling with raffia and now I am trying pewter. Ruth writes that Dick is planning to attend a series of Science meetings in Indianapolis after Christmas and she may come with him and visit us for that week. We hope she will do so, for it is four years since we've seen her. Ella surely doesn't look her age in that picture. Sorry to hear she is so lame again. We are going to have the City Prog. Club next week and I, also, am to have a birthday. Cal got a birthday card when he was in the office at Madison that had a picture of a cemetery on it & the words "Look where you'd be if you didn't have 'em." The "Robin" may not get around again before the 25th so I'll wish you all a "Merry Christmas" now. With love, Annie. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hawthorn Cottage. Dec. 30, 1937 Dear Circle: I see I wrote my last sheet on Dec 1st. That is a quick trip for this busy month. But now that the holidays will soon be over, we can take a little more time for things. Tomorrow morning Dick will come on his way home from a Science meeting in Indianapolis. Ruth decided not to come until they drive back next summer. Jennie and Al left on their way to Texas on Tues. They expect to stay there (if they like it as well as they did Florida last winter) until Spring. Clint Bitterman is not at all well. Is having heart trouble and lack of hydrochloric acid in his stomach, so has lost appetite & weight and is in bed for six weeks, the Dr. says, to see if that will help him. We are in our usual health for which we are thankful. We had a very happy Christmas Day with Dale's family and Jennie and All as guests. I put up our Christmas decorations just before our Club (Dec. 10 Christmas) meeting and they've been up ever since The longest I've ever had them up. Cal keeps busy in his basement workshop most of the time. He even made Christmas gifts this year. He made two VERY good looking Carrom boards and now has under construction a small book case, and has announced that if that is satisfactory, he will tackle the job of refinishing Mother's old bureau later. Arthur drove over to see us this forenoon. I wonder how he dares to drive on these icy streets. I have a permit to drive but have driven only once in the 60 days, so I will have to have it renewed and hope the streets will be clear of ice & snow by the time another 60 days have passed. Charles & Alice seem to be having open house with so much company. We are glad they feel able to entertain so many. I must get out my family register and add all these new relatives names & bith dates. It's about three years since I've entered any. We wish health & happiness to you all in the New Year. With love, Annie & Cal.