May 7, 1940

Well, here I am on fatigue again, but this time it is only hut orderly so not so bad. At present, I am waiting for the orderly officer who should be around any minute now to inspect the quarters so will take this opportunity to finish this effort. Most of the boys went out on regimental manoeuvres leaving a skeleton crew here. The advance guard of about twenty left for points unknown early this morning, so the main body should move about Friday. The weather is bright and sunny and everything is very pretty, but to date, I haven’t heard a song bird equal to the song sparrow or the good old meadowlark. I went for a walk with Art McLauchlin on Sunday afternoon and got a few good snaps which I will send on as soon as they are developed. Well, there is very little news here so will have to quit stalling and sign off.

I imagine that by the time this reaches you your flu will be over but at any rate, take care of yourself and don’t try to do the work of two or three people, particularly when it comes to planting the garden. I really feel sorry for you when I see these beautiful gardens here and think of the way you slave to produce a beautiful show of flowers just to have the frost rob you when they are at their best. You and Dad will just have to save and move to the coast where a clever gardener really can achieve something for their efforts and where you don’t spend half your life keeping warm.