Mon 20 March 44

My Dear Paddy Girl:–

I received the dandy Letter you wrote to me on Feb. 27^th and was very pleased to hear from you again. Its pretty nice now with both my Sweethearts writing to me.

I was going to write to you yesterday but things started happening around here and I had to get on the job and before I got another chance to write to you it was dark.

There is nothing to do much where I am, that is when the days work is done, so we go to bed about as soon as it gets dark. I guess you are still at school in the afternoon when it gets dark here – imagine me going to bed when you are still at school.

Evidently you and Mother are having a pretty good time together. How about going to a show with the $2⁰⁰ I am enclosing and then if there is enough left you could have tea down town after the show – Perhaps you could write and tell me about the show – I hope it is a good one.

For the first 3 days I was in this place we didn't even have a tent but we are quite accustomed to sleeping in the open now although most mornings there is still a frost on everything.

Now we have a big tent called a Marquee (it sounds like "Markey).

There are some offices in a big house near me but our office is right in the tent where we sleep, so we can keep an eye on all the mail we might have.

Between our tent and the big house there is a fountain and a pond with gold fish in it. We sometimes watch the little fish and try to round up a few crumbs for them too.

This is truly a strange country Paddy Girl – It is really never what you could call warm and yet those gold fish are OK in that pond in the open and there is a flower of some kind coming in bloom every month of the year. Just think of seeing roses on the bushes outside and frost enough to make shell ice at the same time. This still seems strange to me after seeing three winters of it but just the same it is true.

In reading your letters I am inclined to think you have a very great liking for waffles. You will have to learn to make them so you can fix up a big waffle feed for me some day. Perhaps you can make them now, can you? By what you have learned to do it would not surprise me if that is another of your new tricks.

Well Little Lady I must go now as it is supper time. Do write again when you can and tell any other little girls or boys you know whose Daddy is over here that we are always looking for even just a few words put in with Mother's letter.

A Great Big Hug and Kiss for Mother and another for Yourself.
All my Love Paddy Girl
XX Daddy XX