Mrs. J. C. Bitterman Mason City, Iowa. Jan. 25, 1941 Dear Circle: I see by this date that Amelia is 80 years young today, and where will you find a lady of that age more nifty and spry than she? Many happy returns of the day for her. We have just had a telephone call from Brayton Millington saying he had a telegram from his father this eve from Abilene, Texas. Jennie and Al and Will Millington left here on Thurs. morn at 7:45 for some warmer clime but had not decided whether it would be Texas or Calif. finally, but I judge they have decided to go to Calif. They are all considerable past 3 score and 10, but Mr. Millington has a modern new car and they have nice weather down there, they say, so we hope they have safe journey, and a pleasant time for the next two months. I had a letter from Emma & Will Pickford in St. Pete. last week. They are in a snug cottage with her brother & his wife very near where we lived the winter we lived in St. Pete. She has the same heart trouble Cal has and has to eat, sleep & rest most of the time and no exertion or the trouble comes back again. She enclosed this picture that I will send along. She says she LOOKS just fine & well & they hope to come to the (our) family picnic next summer. I think the Penn. Pickfords are turning out better than the Middle western ones are from what Della writes. Celia Holden Ramsey wrote me that she had a letter from her Mother's sister in Eng. Nov. 30. Celia had sent her our Golden Wedding picture that was in the Globe Gazette last March and she wrote Celia that she sent it to Harriett Pickford in Penn. so it had crossed the ocean twice. Cal has begun to do a little hammering in the basement at times and says he is going to put in a 3-way elec. switch beside the dining room door next week, but he chafes still at times, at having to move in "low" all the time, but I'm so glad to have him around the house, I don't mind him moving slowly. He drives the car all right and I'm glad he can do that for I've not cared to drive during this icy time. So far as we know, our family are all well, and hope you are also. Best wishes to you all, from Cal & Annie. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Mason City, Ia. Feb. 23, 1941 Dear Circle: After a week of snug zero & below weather it has moderated to 30o tonight. It had been so mild for a time before last week, that I thought spring was almost here, so I cleaned the bathroom & kitchen walls, etc. --just a year since I had done them before. Cal, also, got busy and laid more floor in the attic and insulated under the floorwith corrugated cartons from the furniture store and is putting them on the roof, also. He is feeling much more normal now, and it is hard to hold him down to a reasonable amount of work each day. It surely seems good to have him around again. I will enclose a clipping from the Nora Springs paper about the disposal of Eliza's property. Joe Senior willed a farm apiece to his two daughters and now these same girls get Eliza's farm. Jennie Senior Peck's husband is a railroad man in Des Moines and Mabel Senior May's husband is a fireman on the city fire Dept. Joe's wife makes her home with her daughter, Mrs. May, in Mason City. Hermine Pickford called up this PM. They were up for the day at Arthur's and were starting home at 4 PM. Friends & relatives here are well, so far as we know except Blanche Wilkinson. We have excaped both "flu" and colds so far this winter. Ella, we were glad to hear of the safe arrival of Jenny & Wendy and of their dental accomplishments, but with two physicians for parents and being in the branch of the family that stresses double features, we are prepared for triplets, quadruplets, or quints as the years go by and we know they'll be cunning little folks. [Twins born Dec 27, 1940,to Betsy Sprague Owen (Theo's dau.) and John Steele.] Dale told us a speaker at a farmers-merchants banquet last month told this story. Several generations of a family had been sheep raisers but the present family were not. When asked why, the man said "No demand." "It used to take two sheep, two years, eight months & 27 days to grow enough wool to clothe one woman. Now two silk worms working part of a Sunday PM can do it!" We had the City Progressive Club here on Fri. eve. Had a pot luck supper and a good time later. Ruth sent a first picture of their house which they are enjoying settling, and are finding it very convenient. It will look entirely different when Dick gets the landscaping done in the spring. He has a "way" with plants that makes them thrive. Jean is enjoying school work at Ames and will be at home on Mar. 19 for a short vacation. It will soon be 51 years for J.C. & A.E.B. Love to you all from Cal & Annie. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Mason City, Ia. Mar. 26, 1941 Dear Circle: Rufus & Myrta brought the letter to me on Sun, but I've been rather busy and had not take time to write my sheet till now. It is 5:45 PM & we are due at Wendell's for a birthday dinner in 15 min. So I'll see what I can accomplish in that time. We are wishing Wendell more anniversaries of his birthday with health to enjoy them. We are about thro house cleaning and are we glad!! We went at it and Cal helped with the painting and he says it did not do him any harm. He rested often and does not seem any the worse for it. We are having to go to Madison this week end as our renter in our house has bought a home and wants to be released form the lease on ours by May 1st. So we have to make some dicision as to whether we will rent again or list it for sale. Cal thinks he can drive alright but it is more than he has attempted since he was sick. I could drive some of the way but I drive so much slower than he does it might worry him more than to dirve. It will depend on what the weather is like by Sat. We just had a telegram from Jennie Chapman saying they were starting home this morning and might stop at the Grand Canyon on the way. They've had a very wet winter in Calif. and Trullie has been sick a part of the time they've been there, so it hasn't bee such a jolly time. Well, Dale has just come in and I found it hard to collect my thoughts while Cal & he talked things over. Jean was at home a week between quarters last week but went back on Monday AM. She says the Home Ec. course is plenty stiff but she likes her work. Time is up and will have to go now. Love to you all, from Cal & Annie. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Mason City, Ia. May 1, '41 Dear Circle: Of course, I couldn't come in to write this sheet as long as day light permitted me to work in the garden! But the dishes are now washed and I will get busy on this job. I have been to an all-church luncheon at the Methodist Church today. They served a good lunch for 25 cts. and did it with neatness and dispatch to over 200 women. We had a light rain yesterday & it is raining a little this eve. We need a rain to start every thing to growing. Have had to mow the lawn twice and some farmers have their cows in their pastures but gardens are slower. Cal is going to the farm tomorrow to fix the water tank & the fence around the pasture, with Dale's help. I see in my last letter I spoke of Jennie and Al & Mr. Millington starting home from Calif. They were in a town in New Mexico going about 30 miles per hr. when they crossed one of their streets where there was a dip for drainage & Jennie, in the back seat, was thrown forward & then back so violently that a vertabra in her back was fractured and she is now in a cast on her back in bed. She managed to ride home but was in much pain. The Dr. says she must stay in bed 4 mo's. She has now been in bed one month. Maude, Clint Bitterman's wife, is caring for her. We suppose the new tenant is moving into our house at 1717 Chadbourne today. We hope they will be satisfactory and will enjoy living there. Grace wrote the neighbors on both sides, there, were wishing Cal & I were coming back to live there, but, excapt for Grace, & family, we are content to live here. Cal has mowed the front lawn once this week which is more than he could do last summer. He has to be very careful what he does, & how, but he is able to do many small jobs each day that keeps things neat about the home Charles, Cal & I are close seconds to you and Alice and go to bed from 8 to 9 & rise at 7:30 & we have two couches to lie down on any time we feel like it daytimes, also, and we use them. Bedtime now, so good night to you all. Annie E. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Mason City, Ia. June 20, '41 Dear Circle: I wrote last on May 1st. We are having real summer heat, about 90o today, after three weeks of daily rain. The corn fields were like pastures but now the farmers are getting them cleared up. The sweet corn in our garden is 2 1/2 ft high and we have had two meals of peas this week. Cal is not doing any farm work this summer but is doing some head work instead. He found it too hard to mow our large lawn by hand so he planned how to put an electric motor on the mower and does it ever clip it off! and ever since we have lived here, we have wondered if we couldn't use our rather level drive to make a shuffle board court, and so having conquered the mowing problem, Cal went at making a shuffle board court, and succeeded this week. We both enjoyed playing that game in St. Pete the winter we spent there and are initiating all our nighbors into the fun now. We have just come in from the City Prog. Club picnic in East Park. There will be no more meetings till next Sept. I am going to a Book Review club this summer which I enjoy very much. The lady, who reviews three new books at each meeting, does it in such an interesting way. Jennie Chapman is now able to sit up a short time each day and hopes to be able to walk again in time. Matie Spotts Sargent has been here to attend her daughters wedding at Ames, and Lynn Spotts daughter was married last Mon. We attended the wedding of Esther Senior Stinehart's daughter last Sun. PM. We will have to have the date & name of Ella's newest great grandson for our family register. [I do not find his name on Pickford register.] Hope to see you all at the re-union in Aug. Love from Annie. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Mason City, Ia. Aug. 12, '41 Dear Circle: I don't feel equal to any thing more strenuous than writing my sheet for the "robin" this PM. It is a welcome change of temp. we're having today after 90o+ since July 22. Everything needs rain, but none in sight. Threshing about finished around here, with a rather light crop of only fair quality. We enjoyed the family gathering at Clear Lake, and the group pictures taken there came yesterday. Ruth & Dick & children have been in Mad. & Sturgeon Bay, Wis. the past week but we expect them back on Thursday PM to visit us for another week and then they must be on their way West again. I made five pts. of grape juice this AM & 1 1/2 pts jam to save the grapes. The birds were eating them from the vines so fast. Every thing in the garden is ripening fast due to the great heat & lack of rain. We still have beans, tomatoes & the corn will last about two more days before it is too hard. My dahlias are forging ahead tho'. One lavendar root has grown so tall the flowers are away above the eaves of the garage. We received the announcement of the "Golden Wedding Day" at the State Fair on Aug. 27. last week. We couldn't attend last year for Cal was in the hospital but we may go this year if we both keep well. Though I think going to fairs is about the most tiring thing a person can do. Cal keeps busy at small jobs each day. He has just rejuvenated a rocking chair for Jennie that she says Wendell & Ellen & Cal & I gave her when she & Taylor Sweet were married fifty years ago. It is good for another fifty years now! He has made another shuffleboard court for a neighbor in her basement & is to make a recreation room for another friend very soon now. He still plans to paint our house when the days are cooler. We were glad to see so many of our 80+ years old relatives at our picnic. Love to you all. Annie. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Mason City, Iowa. Sept. 25, 1941. Dear Circle: I will write this sheet before I begin on the days duties, which is doing the fall house cleaning. Have the bathroom & the kitchen to do yet, and, as usual, am glad there are only FIVE rooms and bath to do each time. My old back isn't what it used to be, so I have to humor it a good deal, tho' it is better than it was at the time of the family picnic. Cal has been threatening all summer to paint the house outside but had not got started till the weather cooled off. But after he had passed his 75th birthday, he felt so peppy, he went at it and in six pleasantly cool days, he did the house & the garage, one coat. Now, he is debating whether to go on with the second coat or wait till spring to put it on and have it fresh for next summer. He made a shuffle board court on our drive way this summer and he has had many hours of fun playing with neighbors both men & women. But that sport will be out of date when winter comes & snow. I will enclose a clipping from the Globe Gazette telling of the family picnic of the Berk family, (Ella Jackson & Sylvia Jackson married Cyrus & Jason Berk.) I think Ella did very well to write so sensible a letter without any head. What American Hitler did that deed? I copied the recipe for peach pie. Have canned plums & made apple butter recently. Dale took Jean to Ames on Fri. last week to begin her Junior yr. there. She enjoys her work there. Trullie writes us of the death of Levi Henrickson recently. He was confined to his bed for two months before his death and it was caused by old age. Mary is quite spry yet and they had passed their 61st anniversary. On their 60th, Trullie said Mary remarked "And I don't know him yet." Trullie said Mrs Confer came to see her on Sept 6. Rode over with some friends. She seems just as usual only has to use a magnifying glass when she reads. Lives alone in Ontario & cares for her garden & is mentally alert, still. The sun has come out and it is time to get busy at the cleaning. Love to you all. Cal & Annie. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Sun. AM. Nov. 9, 1941 Dear Circle: Rufus brought the letter yesterday and while dinner is cooking I will write my sheet. We did not go to church today for Cal was feeling tired and is still in bed following a busy week (for him). He was at the farm two days making a bin for soy beans for Dale and puttying and putting on the storm windows for Rena and, because of that, we are having one of Rena's chickens for dinner today. Cal will be up when I call "dinner" for he is fond of chicken. He drained the pool and brought the fish into the basement tank yesterday. He thinks he'll cover the pool & leave the lilies out this winter. I hope we don't lose them. A pool is interesting but don't let anyone tell you it isn't a lot of work. Then he was at Jennie's two days fixing her furnace so it was safe for use this winter. But he says she will have to have a new one next year. They now think they will stay at home this winter but, when it gets below zero, we won't be surprised if they go south to Texas. On Thurs. PM we attended the funeral services for Cora Senior, Joe's wife, who was 80 years old and had made her home with her daughter, Mrs May, here in Mason C. since Joe passed away, two years ago. Cal plans, now, to attend the annual Muatual Ins. meeting at Des Moines Nov. 11-12-13. I went two years ago but think I want to use what it would cost, for something else this year. The snow still stays as the temp. is too low for it to melt. Dale stopped husking because too much snow still clung to the stalks & was taken to the crib along with the corn, and there are many fields of soy beans to be combined yet. I was pleased to see Arthur had written a sheet for the "Robin" this time and had put in it a bit of his old-time humor calling himself "Your Fellow Gloomer"! I noticed this clipping in the Globe G. last week and thought Ella might remember this couple, who lived in Monticello years ago. The names are familiar but I can't place them. Charles and Amelia might recall them. We are in our usual health, for which we are thankful, and hope you all are, too. Love from Annie & Cal. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Mason City, Ia. Dec. 10, 1941 Dear Circle: This is the 3rd letter this PM. It is real winter weather today with 15o below zero promised tonight. Cal has been at the farm two days helping Dale put a new roof on the chicken house and it got on just in time. Cal served on the jury all last week and until Mon. eve this week. It was a trial of a seven months bride who shot her husband in Sept. She confessed the shooting but claimed self defense, as the husband had repeatedly threatened to shoot her. She was acquitted and the whole neighborhood is relieved that he is gone. I had a gay week-end for an "old lady". Sat. the 6th I went with Rufus and Myrta to see "One Foot in Heaven", Rufus buying my ticket as a birthday gift. The play was very good. Many people in Mason Sity kenw Rev. Spence, who was pastor of the M.E. church here for several years just before his death. Then, after supper, Cal & I went to see Fibber McGee & Molly at the Palace. That is a record for me, TWO movies in one day. Then on Sun. we went to church and, from there, we went to Jennie's where we had the birthday dinner, which Rena and Jennie had prepared. So with letters & cards & gifts from my children I had a very happy birthday and can truly say I don't feel 75 years old. How terrible that we are again at war! So many lives lost all because of the greed of one man! The sums spent in this war would have made every one comfortable if directed toward peaceful ends. Charles enclosed a clipping from a Cedar Rapids paper with a picture of Kate & her daughter-in-law & grand daughter in his letter to me which I will enclose as I think the rest would like to see it, too. The baby is so cunning. This month there are so many meetings one after the other that we can scarcely realize we shall soon come to the shortest day of the year & Christmas Day. We wonder what another year will bring to the U.S.A. I wish you all as merry a Christmas & as happy a New Year as possible. With love. Annie.