Life in San Antonio

March 24, 1942

Dear Mother,

I intended to write to you Sun. evening, but during the afternoon we walked down by the river. It was so beautiful, & so warm. The river lies about 20 or more feet below the surface of the streets, & it winds all thru the city. There are walks & lawn, & benches on both sides of the river, & you can follow it for miles. When we got home I was so tired that Harold went to church with Reed & Alan and I went to bed with Alvin. For the first 3 days I was terribly sleepy all the time, partly from the trip I suppose, & partly from the weather. It is regular spring weather here. The mornings are cool, but by 5:o'clock in the afternoon it is hot. I haven’t dressed Alvin any different than I did at home except for Sun. afternoon. The sun is hot, but in the morn & eve the wind is quite cold & Sat eve. Alan & Reed helped Harold unpack everything and Alvin was running out & in with them & caught a nasty cold. It really didn’t develop until yesterday, and I did practically nothing all day but tend him. He is feeling much better this morning, and has already been asleep nearly 2 hrs. I think the trip tired him considerably.

All our freight arrived Sat. and in good condition with the exception of the table that has a couple of dents in the top, & the back of one of the chairs that had the paint rubbed off. I was surprised how well everything else got here.

We are living in a nice location Mom. It is just a good walk to town, yet there is plenty of yard. There is a grocery & hardware store within 1/4 a block & a bakery where I can get day old goods within 2 blocks. Harold put Alvin’s wagon together this morning. It will be easy to pull him to the bakery & back.

As for the house, we haven’t too much room, & I still haven’t found a place to put my washer, but it is big enough for me to manage & keep clean. The ceilings are quite high, & the windows longer than any I have ever seen. My front room curtains will do very well for my front room, & also the bedroom. The old bedroom curtains will do in the bathroom, & the kitchen will have to have new curtains. We have all the hot water we can use, and the gas range is really very good. It was all reconditioned & repainted & looks like new.

Alan is having a time trying to find a room. The best he has been able to do so far is $40.00 for room & board. Everything is high here, and I find no difference in the kind of food sold here than at home. Eggs are 29¢ & 31¢ but butter starts at 45¢ & goes up. Lettuce is 8¢ & 10¢ per head & bananas 10¢ lb. Asparagus is just coming on, & I haven’t seen any good spinach. Bread is 15¢ & milk 14¢ to 17¢ per qt. We are taking 2 qts a day now but will have to have more if Reed stays with us. Meat seems to be much cheaper here. Bacon is 27 a lb as compared with 43¢ at home. But one thing we’ve got to get before anything else is either an ice box or a refrigerator. You can’t keep food overnight without finding a very small ant in it. I mean hundreds of them they are just about the size of this ink mark (-). They get into everything. I washed the cupboard out last night & put the food in casserole dishes with lids on them, & still this morning those tiny ants were in the food. They seem to come on vegetables from the store, & must multiply by the tens of thousands.

So far we are getting along fine. We have no expenses other than our rent, altho Harold says he heard starting next month they well get paid the 10th instead of the 1st & the 25th instead of the 15th. Alvin is finally awake as you can probably tell from my writing. He is feeling good after his sleep & his cold seems to be nearly gone.

It is 8:30, & the dishes are done, & Alvin back in bed again, and I’m so sleepy I can hardly stay awake. Alan has been here tonight, & another Elder Jorgenson also a former Swedish missionary who is taking the school for the job. This weather is still getting me I guess. I could sleep all the time. How is everything at home? Tell Wid that San Antonio streets surely do follow the old cow trails. You go a block, & can’t find your way back to your own street. I’ll bet you are having a time getting the mess cleaned up that we left. I hope the weather is better up there by this time, but please don’t try to get things done too fast. Harold is talking, & I don’t know what I’m writing, and its time for bed. God bless you Mother, and take care of you. We hope we will soon be able to help.

With love, Laura