The MIA is Back in Action!

The holidays took their toll on my letter transcribing project.  Days turned into weeks, and I began to feel like Grandpa must have felt those last few weeks in California...will I ever get back?!?

The hustle and bustle of Christmas preparations, family gatherings, New Year's Eve and my 50th birthday celebrations, in addition to the basement room remodeling project sidetracked my letter project.  But I'm back...with a fistful of New Year's goals that demand my attention.  Specifically, I want to transcribe two letters a day until this project is complete!

It felt so good today to sit at my little makeshift desk in the basement furnace room typing out the familiar scrawls of Grandpa's pen.  It was like coming back home.


As of my last blog post (nearly a month ago), we found Grandpa working on a highway paving crew in Iowa in April of 1928 and writing letters to Grandma from Waverly.

Today's two letters were both postmarked "May 25, 1928."  One was from Grandpa and the other was from "Walt."  In my blog post from Nov. 16, I alluded to a letter with beautiful penmanship "oozing scholarly romanticism."  One of today's letters was THAT letter.  Here are a few of Walt's flowery phrases for your reading enjoyment...

"My dear Miss West:  Of all the nerve, you will say, that long-eared, cock-eyed, bowlegged nut writing to me, the Queen of Sheba, or maybe the queen of Iowa, or at least of Marshalltown, that thriving garrulous city in the heart of God's poultry kingdom; but this much conceited and inestimable gentleman is going to write regardless of your feelings which he wouldn't hurt for anything on this green place called 'Hinterland'."

"I was egotistical enough to believe you might write me to come to Marshalltown and incidentally to look over its present color of paint."

"I suppose you think I am about 100% Scotch.  But, never let a little thing like that worry you my dear brown eyes, for I have yet to meet a 'tight' Scotchman.  Usually they never buy enough to get that way."

"At least ye might give the steady a rest for a minute or so, and drop me a line, not too hard now dearest, and tell me just how thy little big heart responds to this scratching of mine pen.  Don't you think that would be fun?  Ain't we got no fun?"

"Perhaps you will pen me a response rapidly if not much sooner than you receive this wretched piece of unmitigated conceit."

I absolutely LOVE Walt's way with words.  I'm sure he had quite the way with the ladies in person, as well.  Why don't people write that way anymore??