October 27, 1908
Kelowna B. C.
My dearest Kathleen,
I send you three more photographs of the house, one of the back of it, one taken from the front door looking into the hall, and one of the fireplace.
The one of the back of the house doesn’t show you very much except the summer kitchen, which I expect I told you about. The front of it is covered with mosquito netting to keep flies etc. out and it was meant for a cool place to cook in summer. It isn’t so cool really, as the sun gets round to it about 2:00 o’clock and after that it doesn’t provide even shade, but I think that could be altered by putting blinds out like shopkeepers use. I only thought of this on the spur of the moment but I believe it is feasible. This is what I am pleased to call my bedroom now. The one of the hall doesn’t take in very much but I couldn’t get any further away with the camera. I think the steepness of the stairs is exaggerated, as really you will not find them very steep to come down however you may prefer to do it, but in the photograph they look as if they might be rather dangerous to descend. The third and last photograph shows your fireplace. I don’t know how that will strike you. It is built of rather a nice coloured red brick and the original looks awfully nice but doesn’t photograph very well. As you see, all my photographs that were round my desk appear again with the addition of the new one in the centre of the mantelpiece. I have an idea a hearth rug would be an improvement.
I think I sent you a photograph of the back of the house before it was altered sometime in the spring. You will be able to compare the two now and see which is the nicest.
I have been spending the weekend at the Mallams’. We played off the singles on Sunday and I won. After that we went across the lake duck shooting and came back without getting a shot at all. Although we could see the duck all round on the lake, they were much too wild and we couldn’t get them within range at all. [This is the first mention of the Mallams in an extant letter of Robin’s, although Kathleen mentions a Miss Mallam in Kathleen–October 29, 1908. Peter Mallam, my father’s close friend in high school, was my godfather.]
It is almost exactly a year since I left here to come home. I wish I could put the clock back a year or else on a year, I don’t mind which. On for choice though. I wonder how the new horse will turn out. With a name like that, it should be useful and I hope you will have lots of sport on it. [The horse is named Utility. See Kathleen–October 6, 1908.] I have an idea it’s your turn to have a hard winter again. I hope we get it instead. I like them out here, lots of snow for sleighing and tobogganing, hard frosts at night and brilliant sunshine all day. They really aren’t so bad as they sound, these winters out here.
Mrs. Farley’s waxworks are going to visit Kelowna shortly. I wonder if “The Last Rose of Summer” will appear too. If anything like that should happen I should feel I had been praising up the country under false pretences. The only part of that show that was any use at all was when you came downstairs and I had about two minutes to talk to you before your carriage came.
I haven’t got a letter to answer this week as no English mail came in at all today. I suppose I must wait till Wednesday. Only half a letter this time, as I have nothing more to say.
Yours as always,
Robin