Mrs. J. C. Bitterman Mason City, Iowa Jan. 26, 1944 Dear Circle: If Rufus and Wendell can use such tiny sheets of paper, so can I. Any way I haven't much to write about for I am still very much a lady of leisure. I manage to get two light meals a day & Cal gets the breakfast & washes dishes. I ironed some of the more particular things yesterday and we had callers in the eve who stayed rather late, so I am too tired to do anything today but write this letter lying down. I have been dressed each day since Jan. 1, and will be so glad when I can get back into my usual stride. I have not been out of the house since Nov. 5. but I don't mind that if I could do some of the things I see should be done indoors. Cal and Will Millington have had fun playing Shuffleboard this month. So he has had some out door air and, one day last week, our neighbor & her little twins were swinging in our swing that had not been taken down this winter. How's that for Iowa in January Grace writes us that they expect Noel J. home for THREE DAYS about the first of Feb. from his college work in the State College of New Mexico. But they do not know what is to be next on his program. I think Ella does well to make so many dolls. I don't do any thing but a little mending. Best wishes to you all and love from Cal & Annie. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Mason City, Iowa. Feb. 27, 1944 Dear Circle: I see I wrote my sheet on Jan. 26. last time, so the letter made good time in Feb. This PM we drove down to Jennie's at Nora S. The day was mild and the last block of street next to their house was so muddy, we parked our car & walked on the side walk. I have been down to Dale's to dinner once on Jan. 30. and to supper once to Mrs Snyders (next door to us) and twice up to the store in the past four months. Cal & I are just beginning to realize we are OLD folks. Up to this winter, we were able to do what we planned to do but now, we take the line of least resistance in every thing and often have not any thing to show for the day but three meals, and some little tinkering jobs he finds about the house. But I am getting much better for I can sweep the house now without stopping to rest. So give me time and I may be busy again. Dale and Mrs. Johnson (Rena's mother) have been keeping house the past few days while Rena has been in Monona taking care of Jean, who broke out with the real measles a week ago today. Rena will be home tomorrow. Jean went thro' grade, & high school & college and never got the measles, till now. Janet is now in uniform and on duty in the wards at the hospital in Iowa City. She wrote a comical description of the bath she gave her first patient, an elderly man, But, she added, he was quite jolly about it. Noel James was at home for just three days the first of Feb. and is now back in school in New Mexico but he writes that the A.S.T.P. are to be disbanded and the boys put into the army. But he does not know any thing more definite, as yet. Ruth writes they have all had the "Flu" but are better again. We have escaped even colds this winter so far. Ella, how do you see to make so many dolls? The twins now have a family of dolls apiece and so MANY play things they can scarecely use them all. I am hooking a cover for the piano bench and that is all I have to show for this winters work. We are going to decide about a victory garden later in the spring. Neither of us can work bending over much. Love to you all. Cal & Annie. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Mason City, Iowa. Mar. 21, 1944. Dear Circle: I've already written two letters, so I'll just go on and send this "Robin" along. This past week end was a busy, happy one. I am able to go out some now, and I went to our club on Fri. eve. then up town on Sat. for groceries. Sat. eve some neighbors came in to help us celebrate our anniversary, they said, and, on Sunday, the 19th, we were invited down to Dale's for a grand family dinner. Jennie and Al and Maude were guests, also. It was Maude's 64th birthday and the 44th anniversary of her marriage to Clint. Then in the evening, our neighbors, Mr & Mrs Boggie, came in to visit us. On Mon. eve, Harold & Helen Snyder and the twins, Sue and Sally, & Walter & Sophie Alborn and Eula Leffler (our neighbors on each side of us) came in bringing a big cake & ice cream for us all, to wish us many happy returns of the day & with the cards & letters it made a very happy week end. Today, Cal had to visit the dentist to have a root extracted which had bothered him of late. He is still not persuaded to have them all out and a new set made. Grace writes that Noel F. has been in bed for two weeks with the "Flu" and having some X-ray treatments, but is some better. Noel James still does not know what is in store for him, but is at a camp in Texas again temporarily. Ruth writes that she may come home for a visit some time this summer but won't know for sure till later. I hope, Charles, you may find some thing that will help your hearing. Cal and I find we have to listen a little more closely to hear voices these days. Best wishes to you all for health in the days to come. Love from Cal & Annie. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Mason City, Iowa. May 21, '44 Dear Circle: Ths sun is shining!! To be sure, it does so only at intervals between showers but we still are much more fortunate than those who live along those rivers that are out of their banks. We came home from Madison on the 12th, having been with Grace for three weeks. She was very weary from the long anxious weeks of Noel's illness but in the last letter, she said she was now less tense and had been out in the garden planting early seeds and getting some sunshine. We can yet scarcely realize that Noel is gone. [d. 27 April 1944] It seems a pity that such a man, who was able and willing to be a benefit to the world, must be taken while so many who are a real detriment to others, still live on. Noel James came home for ten days from camp in Texas and when he got back to camp again, he found he had been made Technician 5th grade, which raised his pay from $50.00 per mo. to $66.00 and the insignia on his sleeve is now Jean has finished her first year of teaching and is going back to Monona for next years work. Janet comes home on Thurs. this week for her vacation from her Cadet Nurses work at Iowa City. The weather has been so wet that Dale has not been able to finish his corn planting yet and we have not got our garden all planted yet but the rhubarb & asparagus are ready to use and there are lots of dandelions if one cares for greens! Cal went to the funeral services for John Meier at Nora S. last week. He was 87. You remember him, Charles? Amelia Churchill was very ill and in the hospital when we left Madison but we have not heard any more since we got home. We wish Ella and Alice happy birthdays this month. Ella's on May 27 and I don't know the date of Alice's but I think it is in May. By going rather slow and resting often, we keep about as usual, as we hope you all do. Love from Cal & Annie. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Mason City, Ia. July 8, 1944 Dear Circle: While I'm resting this PM, I'll write my sheet. It is cool in doors today but hot out side. We went up town for gro. this morning and Call clipped one hedge & I weeded some among my flowers. Gardens are growing now & some neighbors have beans to can already but ours are not yet ready for a few days yet. We expect Ruth's daughter, Alice, tomorrow morning. She has been attending the Gen'l Council of Cong'l Churches in Grand Rapids, Mich. June 21 to 29th as delegate from the state of Wash. Following that, she was a delegate to the Interdenominational Christian Youth Movement at Lakeside, Ohio, and also to the Nat'l Council of Pilgrim Fellowship, July 2 to 5. She is Pres. of the Wash. State Pilgrim Fellowship. She is 19 years old. Two years ago, she was a delegate to the Gen'l Council at Durham, N. Hampshire and she drove with their Cong'l pastor & wife & three others in a station wagon clear across the U.S. to the meeting. She has been with Grace for two days & will be with us for three days before going home. Noel James is still at Camp Barkeley, Tex. and is a radio operator now. Jean had a week at the home of her fiance' in Canada recently, when he had a furlough,. His father has a great acreage where they raise wheat & hogs. It is in Saskatchewan and is prairie country like Iowa was 50 years ago, and with conditions similar to then. Jean thinks she likes farming in Iowa better. We spent July 4 at Dale's. There was no celebration here at Mason City. The old saying that corn should be knee high by the 4th holds good only in some places. Some fields are absolute failures while others are fine this year. Cal was in Madison a few days recently and sold our house there to Grace, who will move there when she sells her own house. They will be near high school & Univ. also, living there. Love to you all, Cal & Annie. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Mason City, Iowa. Aug. 16, 1944. Dear Circle: After a warm day, we have just had a hard thunder storm with some hail and a hard wind. Yesterday Cal went to see the damage done to a home by lightening striking a tree near the house, for the Ins. Co. and there will probably be other calls tomorrow. We have had two good rains this week that will help mature the corn and potato crops. Nearly every one says gardens are not very good this season. We had our first lima beans for supper tonight. The tomatoes are just beginning to ripen. I have been drying sweet corn as it matures more than we can eat each day. The wind this eve. will have blown many apples off. They have been selling at 3.00 per bu. but windfalls will bring less. Grace has got home again from her treatments at the hospital and the Dr. tells her she should have no further trouble but she is not yet as strong as before. She had a letter from Noel James saying he hoped to have a 13 day furlough Aug. 23, and would come home if he did get it, but, of course, nothing is sure. He expects to be moved soon and perhaps to go across. The family in our house have found another place, so Grace can begin moving after Sept. 1. to 1717 Chadbourne Ave. It will be a big job for her alone. We may try to go back to help her if we can find enough GAS. Ruth and family have been in a cottage on Hood Canal in the Olymipc Mts. of Wash. for a week. Dick was doing work for the college in that region and Ruth was to prepare her Masters Thesis for publication by the Univ. of Wis. as a text book. She translated a scientific book on molds by a German author as her thesis. Janet is kept busy at her work as a Cadet Nurse and likes it. It will soon be a year since she began the course. Jean will be teaching at Monona Ia. again this coming year. Dale has his threshing done and his hired man enlisted in the army this week. Jean & Rena have been busy painting & papering several rooms before she goes to her school work & Cal and I work when we feel like it and rest when we feel like it, and now to bed. Love to you all, Cal & Annie. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Mason City, Ia. Oct. 14, 1944. Dear Circle: I see my last sheet was written Aug. 16 and Rufus' is dated Oct. 2, so I have held up the letter 12 days this trip, but we were in Madison from Sept 14 to Oct 10 and found the letter waiting when we arrived home, and we have been busy since we got home. We were glad to be able to help Grace move to our house in Madison, but it was a job she couldn't have done alone. Cal did all kinds of things to make things more convenient for her and we think she is now comfortably settled before cold weather comes. The girls have only four blocks to go to High School & can come home for lunch which is much nearer that where they were living in Nakoma. Noel James, we think, is over seas. We have had no word from him for four weeks, when he called his mother by phone from N.Y. City, the port of embarkation. Some parents say they have had to wait six weeks before hearing from sons who have gone across. We stopped to see Amelia on our way home from Madison. She was sitting up & looked so dainty in her lace trimmed pink jacket, and the Dr says her arm is doing well. It is about the first time she has had to have care since she has lived in Fennimore, which is remarkable. [Annies sister Amelia Hannah Pickford Sears] Yesterday I went to the 1st meeting of the Cong'l Woman's Guild (a luncheon) and the day before we went to the Oct. meeting of the Golden Wedding Club at Plymouth. There were 46 couples there (all married more than 50 years) from the surrounding towns. Gus Heinselman is Pres. and Cal is Vice P. We meet 4 times a year at different towns for a dinner. We must get our storm windows on while these fine days last for we know an Iowa winter is ahead. We are well as usual. Love to you all. Annie. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Mason City, Iowa. Nov. 20, 1944 Dear Circle: I think I'd better write my sheet tonight and I can leave it at Wendell's when I go to the Woman's Club tomorrow PM. We have a meeting on three of the Tuesdays of each month this year, which seems to come rather often. Cal was in Des Moines for three days last week at the Insurance Convention, and I think that, maybe, is the last of this trips away from home this year. He has been in Madison 60 days during the summer just passed but it was necessary that he help Grace with things she could not do alone. Now she is comfortably fixed for winter. Noel James is now in England and had had a days sight- seeing in London when he wrote last. I think California will have to beware or Iowa will cut in as a winter resort. No frost in the ground as yet and I got radishes and lettuce from the garden for our supper tonight, and last winter the Idle-Rich Club played shuffleboard during each month of the year! He hasn't had time to play as much this year as usual, but says if the weather is favorable they will try a game on Thanksgiving day, when Rufus & Myrta & Jennie and Al are here for dinner. Can't realize it is nearly Christmas for the whole year has slipped by so fast. The farmers are making use of the mild weather to get stacks of corn piled up. Dale is through by now and has a good crop. Ruth and Dick have lived in Pullman for 16 years but Dick has now taken a Federal job as Plant Pathologist for the Gov't and he is stationed at Seattle. So they will be moving there before long and if they find a house to live in & will sell their property in Pullman. So they will be another 400 miles further away from the Old Folks at Home! We keep about as usual in health here and are thankful for many things. Love to you all Cal & Annie. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Mason City, Iowa. Dec. 27, 1944 Dear Circle: A Happy New Year to you all! at least as happy as one can be with this terrible war on and our children scattered all over the world. But we are still the most comfortable of any nation, for we do have food and homes not blasted to pieces. This morning every thing is covered with fresh white snow & it looks like a real Christmas scene. We had a quiet Christmas season. Rena did not feel equal to getting out on their 30th anniversay on Sat. the 23rd. Both girls got home and we went down for a while in the PM. Then, on the 24th, they called up and insisted on our coming down to dinner as it was Rena's mother's birthday (84). So, after church, we wnet down and stayed till 3:30 PM, then went to the children's Christmas program at the Cong'l church. After a lunch at home, we went to the 60th wedding anniversary of one of our couples in the Golden Wedding Club. They are both active and the bride said that the husband had never been sick enough to have a doctor in his life so far. He is 82. That is surely some record. Well on Christmas Day, we both felt that a quiet day at home waould be just right for us, so that is what we had. Rena's arm is doing all right the X-ray says, but, of course, it will be several weeks yet before it can be used at all. Grace says they have already had a foot of snow to shovel and may have had much more by now. We have had no word from Noel James since Nov. 14 when he wrote he was in France. So we are sure he is not far from the front lines, if not IN them already. Our neighbors, the Alborns, have been called to Medford, Wis. by the death of Mrs. Alborn's brother and they drove through on Tuesday. Medford is east of Eau Claire. That is a good picture of Henry when he was having fun. Where did he get such a freshly pressed suit? Cal and I enjoy fun as much as we ever did and we do have good times with our neighbors and friends here. I'm enclosing a poem we like so much. We wish you all the best in 1945. Cal and Annie.