514 7/26/1943 Helen Carlson to Sadie Erwin

Helen Carlson 401 Alexander, Monroe, Louisiana Monday, July 26, 1943

Sadie Erwin 1120 Cole St., Enumclaw, Washington

Dear Folks, Here it is the last week of the month and then August & September will go fast and then we can start hoping for a cool night now and then. It is nice out tonight though and by sleeping out on the porch it is really comfortable. I had a nice letter from you today written Thursday when you were on watch, Mom. It’s been hard to get fresh eggs here and two weeks ago I saw a farmer in a truck delivering eggs so I asked him if he had an extra dozen I could have. He did and they were nice eggs. He came again last Saturday and left me a dozen but they were old because the yokes broke on every egg I cracked. Today I baked a cake and had the syrup on cooking for the boiled frosting but couldn’t make it after all because I couldn’t get just the whites from the eggs. I needed whites from two eggs so cracked all the eggs I had to see if they were all like that and they were. I threw them all out because they looked funny and smelled. After the first bunch of eggs I told Elmer’s boss’s wife how nice they were so she bought some this last time too. She must think I don’t know about eggs if hers were like mine. I hope Stella and Harold had a lot of fun at Redondo. Do Mildred and Bob stay there all summer? Did they ever move from Enumclaw like they thought they were going to do? Glad will have her hands full with the three children. Pop you are right about thinking I would like living close to home. I would love it. Everything I do I think about you folks and everything Jimmie says and does I wish you could see him. That was good news about Mussolini wasn’t it. Bob sent us an interesting pamphlet on Tunisia and after I read it I’ll send it to you. No I don’t suppose Stella will get much wear out of the linen skirt. Here they wear lots of white. She might like it though if she got a pretty blouse to go with it. Tell Glad that the company has a job in Whiting, Indiana which is just out of Chicago. A single fellow from here was sent to that job and couldn’t even get a hotel room in Chicago but finally got a room just as someone was moving. This Doris Braden who went to Rochester, Minnesota missed her train while in Chicago so got a cab and asked the driver to take her to a hotel and he just laughed and said she would have to make reservations weeks ahead to get one. She finally got one someplace. Yes that dress that shrank can be pressed out. When I went to Shreveport that time with Sarah I took that dress to the cleaners there. One night we were all going out to eat so I went after my dress and got all ready and put my dress on and they had shrunk it so it actually came up to my hips. I took it back and they stretched it to the right length in just a few minutes. I stopped for a while to go to a big fire just a few blocks from here. It was one of the big old houses only four blocks from here and it burned clear to the ground. Earlier this evening another house just half a block from our place was on fire and just a couple nights ago a big colonial mansion which was supposed to be one of the nicest homes in the state burned to the ground. They estimated the loss at about 75 thousand dollars. So many of those big places have air conditioning and they think maybe the wires went haywire or something. Have you heard where Jim is yet? It would be swell if he could get a furlough. I don’t suppose there is any use in my writing until I know his new address. Well Folks I better stop because I either want to wash my hair or frost the cake. The lady upstairs gave me two fresh eggs so I can make my frosting. Today I waxed my floors and they look so nice I like to just sit and look at them. If I had my curtains up my place would really look nice. Tomorrow night I’m having Mr. Cafone over for a cold supper but don’t know yet what I will have. His wife is still out of town. I’ll write more later folks and goodnight again for this time. Love, Helen