Monday, March 12, 1951

March 12, 1951

411 Bonnie Dr

El Cerrito, Calif.

Dear Brothers & Sisters,

What a beautiful day it was today! How I wanted to be outside loafing in the bright sunshine! How nice it was to walk around the block at noon, even for a few brief moments, and breathe the warm balmy air! What a beautiful Sunday was, and Saturday also! I certainly felt sorry for all of you up to your knees in snow with the cold, cold wind whistling past you and chilling the marrow in your bones. It is true that some vagrant tag-ends of weather originally scheduled for the middle west got shunted this way some weeks ago, but this is all gone now, the weather lanes having finally gotten straightened out.

All this nice spring weather brings with it a restlessness tho which makes one view work with a certain jaundiced eye. Saturday afternoon having other things that could well have been done, I decided to go instead for a ride in the country. It was very beautiful — the hills were green, peaceful cows & sheep dotted the hillsides, all nature seemed to be busting out with spring. The road I took was out past Walnut Creek and around the other side of Mt. Diablo and then back on the near side of the mountain. Today altho I felt restless again, there wasn’t much that could be done about it; however I did manage to spend some time inspecting a new layout in the column which in order for a comprehensive inspection to be made necessitated spending quite some time there. This excursion revitalized me however so I was able to labor the rest of the afternoon.

Since I wrote my contribution to the round robin letter I have finished the book case and bedside stand I was working on. I bought a small radio for the latter with which to lay in bed on summer evenings & listed to the ballgames. Also I decided that I would make a small lamp for it, which is not well on its way toward completion. These objects have been made with various tools I have bought in the last several months; since they are taking up space in my drawers I decided to manufacture a chest for them — this project is also in an intermediate state.

I have in the interim purchased two books — one on how to build houses out of concrete blocks which attracted my attention because I figured that sometime I might be building a house & perchance this info would be useful; also I bought a book called “Tales ofthe Uncanny & Supernatural” by Blackwood which Time mag recommended & which I am happy to say is well worth the recommendation. I also washed my car a week ago & polished it, some rain has since spotted it a little but I can still see my reflection in it at 50 paces so you see it is still quite bright & shiny.

The Gustafsons left for San Diego last week so now things are quite quiet & peaceful, overhead. This will not last however since in May the Wilsons’ missionary son is due from Japan; they have I understand several children also with associated capacity for much ado. This remains to be seen however.

This is all for now.

With love

C.P.

Monday, December 29, 1947

Dec 29, 1947

1317 Shattuck

Berkeley, Calif

Dear Father & Mother & the rest of the folks at home,

I am still kind of tired-like and I guess I didn’t work at normal efficiency today but I will get off a letter telling about my trip to Washington before I retire (go to bed, that is). I have finished writing a few thank you notes and practiced a little on the piano also this evening. I should write to Howard J. Nelson but I guess I’ll let that go for awhile.

As I said in a postcard we left work at 10:30. About that time everybody was beginning to stop working so we didn’t cheat the company much. We got along very well during the first part of the trip. By 5:30 we had reached Mt. Shasta in northern Calif. We rested there for awhile & changed into some warmer clothes since by that time we had reached a fairly high elevation. After we had passed Klamath Falls, Oregon the road became rather slippery and we had a little mishap when we went in the ditch. However we were close to an oil station so we got a fellow to pull us out and we were able to continue with only a slight delay. About 1:30 a.m. we passed down below the freezing line again and the rest of the way, tho the weather was foggy was easier driving. We arrived at Chehalis at 6:30 am on Christmas Day. Both Hugh & U were quite tired so after saying “hello” etc etc we slept for awhile in the morning.

Hugh’s parents live on a 110 acre farm about 6 miles outside Chehalis, Washington which is a town of 6 or 7,000 people. The farm is about 50% woodland, but some of it hasn’t been cleared fully (that is, of the remainder). They have cows, pigs & chickens and they also raise strawberries. Mr. Guthrie works part-time in an electric shop in Chehalis. He says that after he gets 30 acres of so more land cleared he will spend all of his time at the farm.

The country side around Chehalis certainly seems very inviting, except for the fact that it is so rainy. I guess the fact that Christmas day & Friday were clear was a minor miracle. The alternate wooded and cleared land looks very nice and the presence of the wood virtually eliminates fuel and building costs. The timber is, of course, suitable for use in building, so you can cut down what you want, take it to a small sawmill (of which there are quite a few) and get the logs sawed up into lumber for a small fee. Them if you are any kind of a carpenter you can make your own buildings. I guess that in Washington in that section you can more nearly provide yourself with food, fuel, shelter without aid form the outside world than you can any other place I have ever seen. the land is fairly cheap, too. A farm complete with average buildings and about 50% woodland costs about $90-$100 per acre. The taxes are nil — perhaps $25 per year on an average farm. A considerable range of crops can be raised — fruit (cherries, apples, strawberries); grain (oats, wheat) and vegetables (peas etc.) In addition considerable dairying is done. I certainly liked Washington and it seems sto me that it offers much for not very much expenditure of either time, money or effort.

Oregon is much like Washington, except perhaps or more rugged terrain. It is perhaps more picturesque but not as practical a place as Washington.

The Christmas holiday was spent primarily in eating, sleeping, loafing, walking around on the farm etc etc. I chopped wood, which I haven’t done for a long time. I took a fairish [remaining page(s) of the letter are missing]

Thursday, May 22, 1947

May 22, 1947

1317 Shattuck

Berkeley, Calif

Dear Father & Mother and the rest of the folks at home,

This week has been sort of a cool & blustery one so far. Most of the time in the mornings and the evenings it has been cloudy, and not only with misty indecisive clouds but with determined & voluminous ones. In addition the wind from the sea has been quite strong & certainly nippy. At midday the sun is usually out and it is nice and warm but it doesn’t stay out after mid-afternoon except fitfully. This noon I went for a little walk instead of kibitzing at the bridge game and it was nice out then but this evening it is nice to be indoors, or so my mood is anyway.

This morning the battleship Iowa was anchored in the bay, having steamed in sometime in the previous 12 hours or so since it wasn’t there yesterday evening. A couple of landing barges and some launches were headed toward it as the train went over the bridge so I guess that a whole bunch of sailors were in line for a leave. Altho it is supposed to be a very large ship, & undoubtedly is, it didn’t seem too large as it lay anchored there. However I suppose it was a good ¼ to ½ mile away so the distance may have made it seem smaller. Also the fact that no objects were nearby for comparison of relative sizes made an evaluation of the true picture of its size difficult. This morning about ten-thirty there was supposed to be a parade of some sort in S.F., in connection I presume with its presence, along with several smaller ships, in pot but it didn’t amount to very much. However people seem to have taken advantage of the situation to toss paper out of the office building windows, much like at New Year’s, since there was quite a bit laying around on the streets & sidewalks.

Tuesday night as usual I went to the fractionation class. This time he really went on a spree, deriving equations for absorption towers etc., and I got tired after about 15 minutes of it, and wished I were home in bed. Wednesday night I had supper with Frank before coming home. Mostly, life has proceeded along in its usual routine. It is sort of funny sometimes — you get so you recognize lots of people by sight, since they ride the same train in the morning, or they are waiters or bus boys or something — but you don’t know their names or what they think. It is fun tho to speculate some times about them. Perhaps they do the same about you.

Thank you, father & mother, for your recent letters and advice. However, I feel that perhaps I erred in discussing the subject, particularly since you do not seem amenable to my stand. So, let’s not discuss it any more, shall we?

With love,
C.P.

Sunday, May 4, 1947

May 4, 1947

1317 Shattuck

Berkeley, Calif

Dear Father, Mother and the rest of the folks at home,

I was very sorry to hear that your side was troubling you so mother. Perhaps you should go to the doctor and find out what’s wrong; even if it isn’t much you’ll know that it is that and not something to be concerned about. Anyway I hope it gets better quickly. As you mentioned in your last letter, Clarice is also probably having a difficult time keeping her household running. Will her knee get better with a little rest so that she can get along if she is careful or will it require more than that? I believe you mentioned something about an operation; it would be hard for her, & them, if that were the case.

Today has been a very nice day, as was also yesterday. Both were fairly cool but nice and sunshiny after being cloudy for awhile in the morning. Yesterday afternoon I got in my two hours of sitting in the sun in the park and this time it really looks like I was out in it a little. I thought when I left after 2 hours that I might have stayed out a little longer but I am glad now that I didn’t. May 1 was a record warm day here in San Francisco, both for all of the May 1’s on record and for this year. I didn’t mind it as much tho as the other warm spell. May 2 started out hot but cooled off suddenly about 10 or 11 and it has been cool since.

I didn’t get around to writing Thursday evening which makes it twice recently that I have missed the usual mid-week letter. I’ll endeavour to do better hereafter. Monday night I worked on the distillation problem; Tuesday I went to the class. As I expected I didn’t do very good in the test; however, a lot of other people didn’t either so I ended up slightly above the average. The longer I attend the less enthusiastic I get about the class. last Tuesday’s lecture was very dull and I almost went to sleep. This week three problems were assigned and altho I have spent considerable time on them they still aren’t complete, requiring at least two hours more work. Whether it’s me or the class I don’t know.

Last night, or rather Friday night, we had dinner at a place called the Ritz Cafe or something like that. This one was located very conveniently in downtown S.F. This makes the second in a row that was a very good place. I had a broiled salmon steak and it was really good; much better than the one I had at Fisherman’s Wharf. Afterward we went to see Blackstone the magician. I wasn’t very keen on going but the others wanted to so I went along. It was interesting enough but whether it was worth the price of admission or not I don’t know.

Yesterday morning I got my laundry and a suit from the cleaners, had breakfast and worked on the distillation assignment till noon, completing 2 of the problems. Then I went downtown, completed some errands, came back, went to the park, afterward read & practiced till suppertime. I went to bed early after the usual Saturday night bath since I was still sleepy from the night before, despite the fact that I didn’t get up till 7:30. Today I got up about seven and working on my scrapbooks till 9:30 when I got dressed and went down to breakfast & to church. This afternoon, till Fred Allen came on, I spent again on the distillation assignment, get about 2/3+ of the way thru the last problem. Fred Allen wasn’t very good this afternoon. I went downtown for a little supper, came back and practice for awhile but didn;t feel in the mood for it so stopped pretty soon. After I get this finished I guess I’ll go to bed & listen to the Ford Sunday Evening Hour or whatever program it is that has the music on it and comes on about 8:30.

As I wrote to you awhile ago I was very undecided what to do about my church membership. Well, this morning I thought I might as well transfer it here even if the church didn’t seem too desirable. However, by the time the service was over I was certainly not in the mood again, so I didn’t do anything about it. I don’t know what’s wrong but practically all the time recently I feel when I come out of church that I have been gypped. I get up in the morning feeling nice and peaceful and after breakfast take a nice little walk to church and see the nice day and the cute flowers in people’s yards, all the time feeling like I’m glad it’s Sunday & I am going to church. Then, boom!. as soon as I get in there and the service stats I feel like a big wet blanket has been thrown over my nice happy state of mind and I wish I were anyplace but there. This is the case for almost any church service, not only the one I usually go to, so your suggestion about visiting some others isn’t too useful. Anyway, it leaves the whole situation up in the air.

Roughly the possible alternatives are, as far as I came make out: a) I can leave my membership indefinitely in San Pedro. This I refuse to do absolutely. b) Transfer it to come church here. This also I refuse absolutely to do. My experience so far with any of them and an examination of the rest of them convinces me that I certainly do not desire to be affiliated with them. c) Transfer it back to Gowrie. This is acceptable to me, since altho I have no illusions about Pastor Walfrid, nevertheless it is at a safe enough distance so that it can’t make me unhappy. If you have any other suggestions to offer I would be glad to hear them.

Since I have come to S.F., I have in general been happier, than I have been at almost any previous time in my life, except perhaps when I was going to Jr. College at Ft. Dodge. There have been times when I haven’t liked it so well like the time I got all wet walking home from the distillation class but mostly I have liked it. I like the work I am doing, the place I stay, and the things I do. I am most certainly not going to allow any generally unsatisfactory church affiliation like I had in San Pedro mar the possibility of such a state of mind & being continuing. Perhaps I am wrong but that is certainly the way I feel.

With love

C.P.

Thursday, April 24, 1947

April 24, 1947

1317 Shattuck

Berkeley, Calif

Dear Father, Mother and the rest of the folks at home,

This week has certainly been cloudy and cool. I guess tho that the rainy season must be past since it didn’t rain despite the cloudy weather. Frank says that out where he lives (about a mile or so from the ocean shore) the fog has started to come in in the evenings, a sign of summer there. Her ein Berkeley it hasn’t been foggy however. I hope that it has warmed up and become springlike at home so that the farmers have an opportunity to get finished with their spring work.

As you mentioned in your last letter, mother, I suppose it is a curious feeling to think that you will be moving back to town soon. Just think, you won’t have all those strawberries & raspberries, chickens etc etc. You won’t have Mrs. Griffith to talk to altho doubtless there will be others in town. It will seem strange coming home to you there too. I don’t think I’ve been inside the house there since we left. not even when I was helping paint the barn did I go in.

This week has passed along fairly uneventfully. Tuesday night I went to class as usual. We had a test and I certainly made a miserable showing. I’ll have to try to do better in the next test. I guess I’ve been out of school too long to know how to do well in them. Last night I went to an illustrated lecture at Wheeler auditorium. It was part of a naturalist travelog & was fairly interesting. Before going I had supper with Frank in S.F.

I haven’t transferred my church membership here. As I believe I mentioned before I am not at all sure what I want to do with it. I suppose I shouldn’t leave it in San Pedro, but on the other hand there is no place here that I want to join. I guess tho I’ll have to decide before long. My initial impression of the minister hasn’t changed and aside from Sunday services when I usually don’t meet or talk to any of them I have no contact with any of the members.

This is about all for now

With love

C.P.

Monday, November 4, 1946

Nov 4, 1946

664 W 13th

San Pedro, Calif

Dear Father & Mother and the rest of the folks at home,

Last night the clouds rolled in from the sea and along in the evening it began to rain. I had gone to a show & when I got out about ten o’clock it had let up but it started in soon after I got back to my room. This morning it isn’t raining but it sounds quite blustery outside; quite as tho it would be nice to stay inside all day. It was warmer last night when it began to rain but it is chilly again this morning.

Life has continued as usual since I wrote Monday morning. Each evening I have been practicing except last night when I decided to take a vacation & go to a show. My work is also coming along pretty good — I am sort of winding things up preparing to leave. I will probably be leaving the Saturday night before Thanksgiving; to date I haven’t investigated any means of shipping my stuff up there. I believe I will have to purchase another trunk or get ahold of a large wooden box in which to put my books.

I also went to the library last night and read awhile, mostly in periodicals. I had finished the book on philosophy by Durant that I had been reading & brought it back. This book had been, with a few minor exceptions, read entirely on the way to & from work and while eating breakfast & supper. At home there are usually other books to read so I utilized the aforementioned time to get it read. It probably helped my digestion.

Yesterday two letters arrived, one from Vivian & one from mother. I don’t know what to say about your proposal to come home over Christmas, mother. It would certainly be nice to be home, eat gryn, Swedish cookies etc etc, go to Julotta, and take part in the other Christmas festivities — to say nothing of seeing all the folks and the children. However, I don’t know if it will be possible. if I had been staying in this vicinity I certainly think that I would have make tentative plans to go, but since I am moving the situation is slightly different. I haven’t decided tho and will mull the matter over in my mind for awhile.

Well that’s about all for now,

With love

C.P.

P.S. I guess you’re really happy that the furnace is getting installed. It is indeed fortunate that the weather has been clement so far.