A Day in the Life, 2018, and a Month in 1940: Part Four

“Dobre popowoodnew!” as she crawls from the living room after her long nap.  I say good afternoon in Polish slowly, and spell it (incorrectly) even slower.  She doesn’t reply but keeps making slow progress towards the bathroom. “How are ya feeling?”  I ask as cheerfully as possible but I already sense, and brace myself.  She…

A Day in the Life, 2018, and a Month in 1940, Part Three

After breakfast, once Babu is safely on the couch, is another span of time where I don’t need to be 100% on watch.  Many aspects of this job are not that hard.  Most days, Babu doesn’t need all that much and sleeps a lot.  I’ve gotten into the habit of cleaning and showering during this…

A Day in the Life, 2018, and a Month in 1940: Part Two

Babu rises and shines again right around 8:30.  Ok, now we are back on track.  As she takes about 25 minutes in the bathroom I get breakfast started.  I should set my alarm in the morning a lot later because at this point I can do this in my sleep.  When the door to the…

A Day in the Life, 2018, and a Month in 1940: Part One

There is some dream, some dream about…my garden.  I keep walking, taking turns peering around corners, snooze and there’s more.  More yard, more rose bushes.  It’s both a marvelous snooze dream, like The Secret Garden! and an anxiety dream.  There’s more.  More work to do.  I could have put the snooze cucumber plants here and…

A Hello and a Little Update

Hey everyone.  I feel that right away I need to tell you Babu is doing well!  🙂  Yes, I have been away from the blog for a while.  Whenever this happens, which some of you long time followers know happens a lot, I feel its tug.  When I’m not working on the blog or transcribing…

April A-Z: January

Usually, when I “end one year” and “begin another” inside this project I celebrate almost as much as I do the actually changing of years.  Ok, that’s an exaggeration, but possibly this January, the January of 1940, deserves to start without a lot of fan fair.  Here is a shock: Oh my.  This hasn’t happened…

April A-Z: Insufficient sleep

You really cannot say that Babu had a wild life.  She did everything a good woman of the time was supposed to do:  waited until marriage, did well in her college studies, got work and was, for the most part, a very dependable employee.  Even still, here is one passage I will never forget: Rumble…

April A-Z: December, 1939: Everyone Stopped by!

Wednesday, December 6th, 1939 Tonight at 6:15 Jakey rang the doorbell.  He leaned against some paint and I had to clean his pants.  Then Edmund came, asking if Jakey lived here.  Next came Filo.  Billy turned up last of all.  We discussed things and when Dad came home from work, they left to bowl. I…

I’ve Been Holding Out on You. (The World’s Fair, 1939)

Yes, October, 1939.  I have been holding out on you.  Kinda, but not really.  Yea, not really.  I began as super excited.  I had seen, not really peeked, a picture here, a word there… Babu went to the World’s Fair! So exciting.  I wanted to read all about it.  What did she think of the…

Responsibility. And what comes with it.

In September, we read about Babu’s new hashtag life goals. Saturday, September 23rd, 1939 Consulted Mother today about my paying board and managing on my own pay.  I think I will. Wednesday, September 27th, 1939 It’s so cold, rainy, and miserable out today. I can get no answer out of mother about what board I…

October, 1939

Sunday, October 1st, 1939 Johnny Krol came home with me after church. Jake and Edmund told me to dress in a hurry so we could start for Amsterdam, New York. He (Ed) borrowed a convertible coupe Oldsmobile and we started off in style. Got there at 3:30. Had a good time at Paul and Ann…

Just the Right Amount of Sweet Part Two

September was so sweet, it needed a two part series.  Since I alluded to this in yesterday’s post, I will say, that I’m glad there is a little drama to spice up all this sweetness!  Yesterday we read about some trouble with how often Jakey and Babu spend time together: Monday, September 25th, 1939 Jakey…