Now this truly is a mystery. Usually, Babu’s pictures and diaries line up perfectly, date for date, event for event. She writes about her day and I can always understand where any pictures with that date on the back fit in. Not this time. Here is her passage: June 8, 1941 Saw Ernie off to…
Tag: vintage photographs
Joe and Billy Fight
June 18th, 1941, Frances, the new girl, eats lunch with Ernie and me now. She’s only 17 and very young. Gets tired soon and tell us too. Not like I used to keep it to myself. Ed. came up and told me, after all Chet. M.’s studying he didn’t pass his recent physical. I drove…
Garrulous Tonge
Babu writes (prepare to chuckle, if you are anything like me): June 11, 1941, Had a letter and some pictures from Jakey. I told myself to keep quiet about any plans to go South because they may not formulate, but I still talk. Why do I have such a garrulous tongue? Went to choir rehearsal…
Before the News Breaks: Part I
While Babu is in Chicopee wrestling with loss, Jake is in Alabama having no idea that he, too, has lost a friend. The letters Babu gets from him are a jarring juxtaposition to what she is facing at home. Was it a welcome distraction? May 21, 1941, Jakey wrote me another letter today and he…
In Honor and Memory of “Stretch” Part I
Unfortunately, this was the start of the end. I am simply to sad to create suspense or to worry about spoilers. May 11, 1941, Nat was angry because Stretch didn’t come home. However, he’s sick in the hospital and can’t help that. Ed K. came up and gave me a driving lesson and we picked…
Convicts in the Barracks, May 10, 1941
May 10, 1941, Saw Ernie off on the train and felt lonesome. Came home and started cleaning my drawers. Jake sent me another letter and some pictures. He looks so thin and his hair is clipped short. Edmund, Johnny Lech, and Eddie came up early and left soon. J.L. came back about 8 and we…
Letters from “This Godforsaken Hole”
May 6, 1941, It’s so warm again and no rain. I had another letter from Jakey again today. It felt so good. Freda Grockmal read our palms and told us what the stars had in store for us-at club tonight. We adjourned to the Moonlight and we had cokes and exchanged experiences. All the way…
Writing Letters and Waiting for Letters, May, 1941
Monday, May 5, 1941 Took my piano lessons and “Prof” at the city hall. I wanted to get home and then dreaded it if I didn’t have a letter. I had two when I got home. Both from Jakey. Gosh he wrote the same day he got there and another a few days later. Said…
Just Listening to Some Jazz While Waiting on the Mail…
Friday, May 2, 1941 It rained in spurts today and by evening had turned really cold. Washed my hair, cleaned my room, and played piano. Nellie dropped in for a while. I was anxious to get home tonight to see if I had any mail from Jake, but there was none. His folks had a…
Redo! March 3, 1940
I just updated a post from a while ago with more pictures that I put together with the date. Here they are again: Sunday, March 3rd, 1940 We slept till nine this morning. Had breakfast and Ernie, Jakey, and I went skiing. The hill was quite steep. I swore I wouldn’t go down it but…
Mohawk Trail
While combing through literally thousands of pictures and decades of written records, I found some images from October 1940. They are beautiful, even if problematic, but they also don’t fit. I read through Babu’s journals for the month many times, and even looked to see if I transcribed for the wrong year. No. It seems…
April A-Z: Krol
As I have written about before, Babu has had a friend that always interested me. She wasn’t part of the “main core” of friends but she was important. Please read this post about Johnny Krol before continuing! Who is Johnny Krol? Wednesday, April 26th, 1939 Because I didn’t say hello to Johnny last night,…
transcribingmemory 