July 23, 1949 Thirty-Six Pints of Applesauce, Painting the Floors, Slipcovering a Chair and Looking for Linoleum

Dear Mother & Daddy,

"I wish you had some of our nice cool weather.  It has rained quite a bit but that is better than hot, dry days.

We are all fine and Bobby doesn't seem to miss Lynn much when they're away. He has asked about her only two or three times and plays alone much better than he ever has. He cries less too and it makes me wonder if I pay too much attention to Lynn and he was jealous.  Anyway, he is awfully good and may be better off not seeing too much of Lynn.

I have 36 pts. of applesauce and we ate a lot.  I just quartered the apples and cut out the dark places and then strained the sauce, so it was easy to make.  I have another batch of watermelon pickles in the making but don't think I'll make anymore.  Each batch makes only 4 or 5 pts. but that will do.  I colored these with green food coloring and they look much better than the others--will be pretty in a pickle dish.  We are going to look about peaches this afternoon.  A fruit stand advertises them for 1.00 so I want to see them.  They are southern Ill. peaches.

We went by to see the flat yesterday and it needs a lot of work.  B is going to paint the floors (they are too bad to sand) next week if he can get to it.  Then he'll paint the kitchen and maybe waterpaint our bedroom.  It is all right, only blue, and I couldn't use my drapes and slipcover on the bed.  My living room drapes are too short so I'm going to slipcover a chair with them and it will match the couch.  We haven't decided on rugs yet.  We want one to match our beige twist but can't afford two.  We have about decided on the dining room suit.  It is bleached mahogany in a palomino color--very light and real pretty.  It is full size with everything except a china cabinet and we can add that later if we want it.

We are going to look for a linoleum for Bobby's room this afternoon.  Seems like it takes a lot of looking to find anything.

Hope you are both fine."

              Lots of love,

                      B, Bonnie & Bobby

NOTE from Ann:  Life magazine's human interest feature on July 25, 1949 was about Albert Schweitzer.  B & Bonnie read much of his work and admired his efforts on behalf of Africa in particular, as well as his musicianship.  An interesting man with diverse interests and talents, and one who lived his philosophy, was eventually awarded the Nobel Prize in 1952.