According to the History Channel, the Germans capture Helsinki during this week. And while Herb is writing this letter, the British are evacuating Passchendaele Ridge. I read a little about this area here. Apparently for some, the battle to win the Ridge is as infamous as the Somme. I am learning new things.
April 15th (1918)
Dear Mother,
I haven’t had any letters in a week or so but day before yesterday the mail man very kindly brought my package of tobacco all intact. I certainly was glad to get it, too. Nothing could possibly be more acceptable.
There’s nothing out of the ordinary routine around here. The weather has been very bad lately – rain every day and mud everywhere of course. I don’t have to be out in it much so it’s not so bad but a little sunshine would be very acceptable. However May will soon be here.
The Sector has been very quiet lately and there have been very few wounded coming in, so we don’t have very much to do.
I have a new “Bunkie” now, the French clerk. He’s an awfully nice chap, a Parisian and we get along together very nicely. He speaks very fair English, too, and we are helping each other out. A few weeks ago he went to Paris on leave. While he was there the trains that take men on leave back and forth were discontinued and he spent a bad two weeks returning. He certainly was glad to get here, so there must be lots worse places than this. I’d certainly rather be here than in some American base camp. A month of that was enough for me. Of course it’s nice to be with a lot of Americans and the Y.M.C.A.’s help a lot but up here we’re much freer in every way.
By the way the next time you send me a package of tobacco or anything send a few tubes of toothpaste. I’ve enough to last quite a while but I don’t want to have to resort to this French stuff. It tastes all right I know, because I’ve sampled it but it doesn’t clean.
Love to all,
Herb.
Showing posts with label Paris. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Paris. Show all posts
Sunday, November 16, 2014
Friday, October 31, 2014
Moving up to the Front
No letter between the February 20th and the March 15th letters... seems like an awful long time not to 'visit' with his parents.
Sixth Avenue is his home in Troy, NY.
I have no idea who Hugh Rankin is or what he is doing in Paris.
Herb explains his situation to his parents here, which is nice to understand better. He is in Prouilly, I believe. He passed through Charters, Le Mans, Saint Martin d'Ablois, Meaux, Fort Vanves, and Versailles, on the way here.
Herb's Ambulance group is attached to the French 71st Division. I should do some research on them, shouldn't I?
What is up with Harry? Funny to read all this and then think of what I know about Harry as a man - which isn't much, but still. To hear about what a tough time he was having as a young man is funny.
I wonder what he knows about the Japanese.... and I didn't know he read French.
March 15 (1918)
Dear Mother,
This finds my travelling around finished for a while at least. We made our trip by automobile from our first camp to this place very safely. I saw quite a bit of French country on the way but I’d be willing [sic] trade it all for a look up Sixth Ave. We were located outside Paris for several days and though I wanted very much to go see that Pal of Hugh Rankin’s I couldn’t make it.
We are now in a small French village just back of the lines on what is at present at least a fairly quiet section of front. All our work from now on is of course with the French Army. At present the French Division to which Section 580 is attached is ‘en repos’ as they call it – resting. When it goes up to the Front we will move up nearer too, though we will of course be back of the lines a bit.
Had my first letter a few days ago and I surely was glad to see Dad’s familiar handwriting. It’s rotten luck about Harry but the only thing is of course for him to quit it. However don’t let him worry about it. I of course don’t know anything about this Bissell school but it would be well to make inquiries first – after the other unavoidable fiasco. At any rate don’t hesitate to call my resources. They’re yours. I had just gotten down to hard pan when the Q.M. came across with some money for us. We are paid now in francs and since the franc has depreciated in New York a month’s salary is (or looks to be) larger than before.
The place we now have was formerly filled by an old American Field Ambulance Section now in the U.S.A.A.S. they started back to a rest camp as we moved up so we passed them on the road. Someone yelled :Hello Herb” and there was Herb Blake passing in a car. We both stopped and shook hands + chatted for a moment. I hardly knew him – he looked like a tramp but good and healthy. He said young Lavin from the “burgh” was in the section, too, but I didn’t see him. It was a former “Syracuse” section but I’ve been away so long that I didn’t know any of them.
I haven’t heard from Karolyn yet but have hopes. Now that we have a definite stopping point the mail comes more frequently and I expect it will be fairly regular from now on.
As for my health – well there’s nothing to worry about in that. I’m getting so disgracefully fat that I’ve had to request a new uniform because the same uniform that I wore home Christmas can’t be persuaded to button around me now. I must have gained more than ten pounds since New Years.
Spring is going to be here soon. Already the days are much warmer and overcoats have been abandoned.
I’ve just one request to make. Once a week or so I wish you’d send me a New York paper and perhaps the “Post”. Now that we’re with the French, reading matter is scarce as hen’s teeth, and I’m certain you must know more about the war than I though I’m only about ten miles away from it. I read the French papers now and again but there’s little news in them. I’d certainly like to get the inside dope on this Japanese scheme.
As ever,
Your affectionate son,
Herb
Happy Halloween, dear readers.
Sixth Avenue is his home in Troy, NY.
I have no idea who Hugh Rankin is or what he is doing in Paris.
Herb explains his situation to his parents here, which is nice to understand better. He is in Prouilly, I believe. He passed through Charters, Le Mans, Saint Martin d'Ablois, Meaux, Fort Vanves, and Versailles, on the way here.
Herb's Ambulance group is attached to the French 71st Division. I should do some research on them, shouldn't I?
What is up with Harry? Funny to read all this and then think of what I know about Harry as a man - which isn't much, but still. To hear about what a tough time he was having as a young man is funny.
I wonder what he knows about the Japanese.... and I didn't know he read French.
March 15 (1918)
Dear Mother,
This finds my travelling around finished for a while at least. We made our trip by automobile from our first camp to this place very safely. I saw quite a bit of French country on the way but I’d be willing [sic] trade it all for a look up Sixth Ave. We were located outside Paris for several days and though I wanted very much to go see that Pal of Hugh Rankin’s I couldn’t make it.
We are now in a small French village just back of the lines on what is at present at least a fairly quiet section of front. All our work from now on is of course with the French Army. At present the French Division to which Section 580 is attached is ‘en repos’ as they call it – resting. When it goes up to the Front we will move up nearer too, though we will of course be back of the lines a bit.
Had my first letter a few days ago and I surely was glad to see Dad’s familiar handwriting. It’s rotten luck about Harry but the only thing is of course for him to quit it. However don’t let him worry about it. I of course don’t know anything about this Bissell school but it would be well to make inquiries first – after the other unavoidable fiasco. At any rate don’t hesitate to call my resources. They’re yours. I had just gotten down to hard pan when the Q.M. came across with some money for us. We are paid now in francs and since the franc has depreciated in New York a month’s salary is (or looks to be) larger than before.
The place we now have was formerly filled by an old American Field Ambulance Section now in the U.S.A.A.S. they started back to a rest camp as we moved up so we passed them on the road. Someone yelled :Hello Herb” and there was Herb Blake passing in a car. We both stopped and shook hands + chatted for a moment. I hardly knew him – he looked like a tramp but good and healthy. He said young Lavin from the “burgh” was in the section, too, but I didn’t see him. It was a former “Syracuse” section but I’ve been away so long that I didn’t know any of them.
I haven’t heard from Karolyn yet but have hopes. Now that we have a definite stopping point the mail comes more frequently and I expect it will be fairly regular from now on.
As for my health – well there’s nothing to worry about in that. I’m getting so disgracefully fat that I’ve had to request a new uniform because the same uniform that I wore home Christmas can’t be persuaded to button around me now. I must have gained more than ten pounds since New Years.
Spring is going to be here soon. Already the days are much warmer and overcoats have been abandoned.
I’ve just one request to make. Once a week or so I wish you’d send me a New York paper and perhaps the “Post”. Now that we’re with the French, reading matter is scarce as hen’s teeth, and I’m certain you must know more about the war than I though I’m only about ten miles away from it. I read the French papers now and again but there’s little news in them. I’d certainly like to get the inside dope on this Japanese scheme.
As ever,
Your affectionate son,
Herb
Happy Halloween, dear readers.
Monday, July 14, 2014
Fiber Art in High Fashion
On the cover of Glamour Magazine's July edition, spectacularly attractive Keira Knightley is sporting a bright fuchsia, woven dress. The photographer or editor cropped it at about her waist.
As a fiber artist, that caught my eye - high fashion with weaving. Oh, our lucky day. The dress designer, Altuzarra, was inspired by fiber artist Sheila Hicks.
BUT - WTF? This dress is awful. It looks in the same vein as Carol Burnett taking the curtains to make a dress à la Gone with the Wind. Did Altuzarra take a wall hanging down and wrap the runway model with it? As a top on Keira it looks splendid and enticing, here on the runway it seems a bit of a joke. How disappointing.
Though Altuzarra's execution was unfortunate in my opinion, it afforded us an opportunity to learn about Sheila Hicks, who
Here is a tiny little sample of her work, called Escape to the North, which I found the same place I pulled her biography:
As a fiber artist, that caught my eye - high fashion with weaving. Oh, our lucky day. The dress designer, Altuzarra, was inspired by fiber artist Sheila Hicks.
BUT - WTF? This dress is awful. It looks in the same vein as Carol Burnett taking the curtains to make a dress à la Gone with the Wind. Did Altuzarra take a wall hanging down and wrap the runway model with it? As a top on Keira it looks splendid and enticing, here on the runway it seems a bit of a joke. How disappointing.
Though Altuzarra's execution was unfortunate in my opinion, it afforded us an opportunity to learn about Sheila Hicks, who
was born in Hastings, Nebraska and received her BFA and MFA degrees from Yale University. Upon completing her studies at Yale Hicks received a Fulbright scholarship in 1957 to paint in Chile. While in South America she developed her interest in working with fibers. After founding workshops in Mexico, Chile, and South Africa, and working in Morocco and India, she now divides her time between her Paris studio and New York.
Hicks has been widely exhibited in both solo and group exhibitions. A major retrospective Sheila Hicks: 50 Years debuted at the Addison Gallery of American Art and traveled to the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia and the Mint Museum in Charlotte, NC. Hicks‘ work is also included in such collections as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art, both in New York City; Museum of Fine Arts Boston; The Art Institute of Chicago; Museo de Bellas Artes, Santiago, Chile; and the Museums of Modern Art, Tokyo and Kyoto. One-person exhibitions include those at the Seoul Art Center, Korea; Israel Museum, Jerusalem; and Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam.
Here is a tiny little sample of her work, called Escape to the North, which I found the same place I pulled her biography:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)