2 Feb. 1956

Dear Folks

Last night at 11:00 we had the first mail call in a week. Early this morning we had another; I was well pleased with both of them. In the first I learned that we now own a new Olds 98. Good for us—but I’ll be willing to bet any amount you wish that by the time I get home, it will be full of dog hair, bobby pins, & wadded up Kleenex. If I may make a suggestion—use the other car for weekend jaunts & keep the Olds in the garage! Glad to hear it is a 98—that’s the best one Olds makes; though to be truthful, they haven’t changed much since our first Olds. Try & keep it in good shape till I get home, huh?

Thanks for the price list on airplanes. I’ll take the $45,000 one (cash, of course). Also for the card—the valentine cards they sell around here are of two types—one the heavily flowered "Oh, my dearest darling, you’ve made my wish come true…" variety & the other showing two people shaking hands with a heart in the background, saying "To my friend on Valentine’s Day." So I didn’t get you any.

And then this morning, I got a large envelope saying "Photograph." It turned out very well, mom; the smile is just right. Those earrings are pretty—where did you get them? I’ve been taking it out & looking at it all day, to remind me that I do have a mother.

I’m beginning to think of the United States as a mythical paradise, what with fathers driving around in big new cars & mothers who can afford to have photographs taken & wear expensive clothes. You’re living far better, & in a far better world than I am.

Hope to borrow a movie projector tonite to look at my films. Got another roll back today (Pompeii), & from "hold-&-squint" method it looks beautiful. I’m quite an artist, if I do say so myself!

Glorious Riviera—HAH! And I say it with much more scorn. The first time here, it could be forgiven, or passed off as an unseasonable cold snap. But this! Five inches of snow with fog writhing over the water & everyone suffering from practically frostbite—never!

Here it is February, & I feel, with the weather & all, as though it were Christmas. Oh, well.
No movies tonite—the guy I was to borrow the projector from has gone on liberty. Oh, well (I’ve said that before, haven’t I?)

Providing the sea does not freeze over between now & Saturday, I think I’ll go ashore, just to take pictures & look around. Wonder how Nick is enjoying his three-day ski tour. Sure wish I could have gone, but I’ll save all my money for Rome.

While looking at a map of Greece, I finally found Rhodes—it’s an island about a half-hearted stone’s throw from Turkey. It is nowhere near Athens.

A persistent rumor that seems to have lost the air of scuttlebutt & been generally accepted is that our last two weeks will be spent on a NATO cruise—with Oslo & Plymouth, England being two of the four ports we’ll hit. Wouldn’t that be nice?

Speaking of Rome, Roge & Jim will be going with me. They went before, too, over Christmas. I want to go the first payday after we hit Naples.

191 days left—6 months & five days.

Yes, mother, I still want brownies—a huge, 10 or 20 lb. tin of them. I told you I liked the last ones.

Well, like a sand castle, my thoughts are crumbling away, so I’d best close now.

Love

Roge