438th AAA AW BN
APO 578 % Postmaster, N.Y.
England
4 April, 1944 1115
My dearest darling -
Right now Charlie and I are goldbricking. We’re back in our room and ordinarily it’s rather early in the day to be back here. But we finished our work and didn’t have very much ambition – so we headed back to the Castle. It’s a fine sunny day and frankly, dear, I’m lazy. Incidentally – when I read some of your letters about your getting up at such and such an hour – late morning or even early afternoon – I wince, but I don’t blame you because among other things, it must help shorten the day considerably.
Yesterday, darling, I hit another Bonanza and got five letters from you from around the 17th, 19th, 16th etc. of March and one actually from the 21st. I underline “actually” because as you’ve already noted – I received an earlier letter already dated the 21st.
What distresses me mostly in the last few days’ mail, dear, is that apparently up to the 21st you still weren’t sure how I feel about an engagement – or a ring; and also – that apparently your folks had not yet heard from me. I’ve lost track of the date when I wrote both your folks and you about how I felt – and I can’t remember whether it was after my leave or not – but gee – it seems like a long time ago. Maybe it’s because we’ve moved in the interim and our last spot already seems far away in point of time. I’m sure, though, that by now, sweetheart, how I feel must be clear to you all – and I’m just waiting to hear. You even mention a letter of your mother’s written January 25th. That particular letter didn’t get to me for a long time – for some reason or other and then I wrote and explained. Apparently, dear, a whole bunch of our mail from the middle of March – was delayed, because some of the other fellows have had mail from home complaining of the delay.
I was glad to read you had visited the Gardner home. It’s been years since I went through it – but I remember how impressed I was at the time. Seeing things like that – as we have been able to do here in England – takes you out of the ordinary world, temporarily, true – but nevertheless long enough to let you know that something like that does exist.
I enjoyed your description of taking care of Charlotte’s baby and your vision of riding home to visit our folks with our son. And who in the world, dear, guaranteed you a son? Not that I don’t want one. The Lord knows I’d like nothing better – but there are girls, too, don’t forget. It won’t make much difference, though – as long as we have a family – and on that score – I certainly let my dreams carry me off, dear.
You wrote me a very sweet V-mail on the Ides of March, darling, which I enjoyed very much. It had such a pleasant thought – but we’d better get together – because my heart is with you in Newton, and if yours is here in England – we’re missing the boat. No doubt they meet somewhere midway across.
And what in the world I’m going to do with a salami in Walter Raleigh’s Castle – I don’t know. Anyway it was something different and when it comes – I’ll write a thanks to Stan.
Darling – I’ll close for now. I’m going to play squash this p.m. I’ll tell you how I arranged it – tomorrow. Sweetheart I love you and miss you – the way you do me – and there’s only one thing I have in mind always – to get home and marry you – quickly! My love to your folks and the family in general.
Right now Charlie and I are goldbricking. We’re back in our room and ordinarily it’s rather early in the day to be back here. But we finished our work and didn’t have very much ambition – so we headed back to the Castle. It’s a fine sunny day and frankly, dear, I’m lazy. Incidentally – when I read some of your letters about your getting up at such and such an hour – late morning or even early afternoon – I wince, but I don’t blame you because among other things, it must help shorten the day considerably.
Yesterday, darling, I hit another Bonanza and got five letters from you from around the 17th, 19th, 16th etc. of March and one actually from the 21st. I underline “actually” because as you’ve already noted – I received an earlier letter already dated the 21st.
What distresses me mostly in the last few days’ mail, dear, is that apparently up to the 21st you still weren’t sure how I feel about an engagement – or a ring; and also – that apparently your folks had not yet heard from me. I’ve lost track of the date when I wrote both your folks and you about how I felt – and I can’t remember whether it was after my leave or not – but gee – it seems like a long time ago. Maybe it’s because we’ve moved in the interim and our last spot already seems far away in point of time. I’m sure, though, that by now, sweetheart, how I feel must be clear to you all – and I’m just waiting to hear. You even mention a letter of your mother’s written January 25th. That particular letter didn’t get to me for a long time – for some reason or other and then I wrote and explained. Apparently, dear, a whole bunch of our mail from the middle of March – was delayed, because some of the other fellows have had mail from home complaining of the delay.
I was glad to read you had visited the Gardner home. It’s been years since I went through it – but I remember how impressed I was at the time. Seeing things like that – as we have been able to do here in England – takes you out of the ordinary world, temporarily, true – but nevertheless long enough to let you know that something like that does exist.
I enjoyed your description of taking care of Charlotte’s baby and your vision of riding home to visit our folks with our son. And who in the world, dear, guaranteed you a son? Not that I don’t want one. The Lord knows I’d like nothing better – but there are girls, too, don’t forget. It won’t make much difference, though – as long as we have a family – and on that score – I certainly let my dreams carry me off, dear.
You wrote me a very sweet V-mail on the Ides of March, darling, which I enjoyed very much. It had such a pleasant thought – but we’d better get together – because my heart is with you in Newton, and if yours is here in England – we’re missing the boat. No doubt they meet somewhere midway across.
And what in the world I’m going to do with a salami in Walter Raleigh’s Castle – I don’t know. Anyway it was something different and when it comes – I’ll write a thanks to Stan.
Darling – I’ll close for now. I’m going to play squash this p.m. I’ll tell you how I arranged it – tomorrow. Sweetheart I love you and miss you – the way you do me – and there’s only one thing I have in mind always – to get home and marry you – quickly! My love to your folks and the family in general.
All my love for now, dear
Greg
* TIDBIT *
about Isabella Stewart Gardner
and her Museum
Isabella Stewart Gardner
by John Singer Sargent (1888)
about Isabella Stewart Gardner
and her Museum
Isabella Stewart Gardner
by John Singer Sargent (1888)
Greg was glad that Wilma had visited the "Gardner House', now known as the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Isabella was born the daughter of David Stewart, a business owner from New York and Adelia Smith. She married a wealthy Boston financier John Lowell Gardner in 1860 at the age of twenty. Everyone called him Jack, and everyone called her Mrs. Jack. According to excerpts from the Gardner Museum web site:
On the morning of March 18, 1990, thieves disguised as police officers broke into the museum and stole thirteen works of art, including a painting by Vermeer (The Concert) and three Rembrandts (two paintings, including his only seascape The Storm on the Sea of Galilee, and a small self-portrait print) as well as works by Manet, Degas, Govaert Flinck, and a French and a Chinese artifact. It is considered the biggest art theft in US history and remains unsolved. The museum still displays the paintings' empty frames in their original locations due to the strict provisions of Gardner's will, which instructed that the collection be maintained unchanged.
Examples of the nine seasonal courtyard displays can be seen in the following pictures. Wilma, no doubt, enjoyed the nastertiums.
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is at once an intimate collection of fine and decorative art and a vibrant, innovative venue for contemporary artists, musicians and scholars. Housed in a stunning 15th-century Venetian-style palace with three stories of galleries surrounding a sun- and flower-filled courtyard, the museum provides an unusual backdrop for the viewing of art.
The Gardner opened to the public on the evening of January 1st, 1903. It is the only private art collection in which the building, collection and installations are the creation of one individual. Isabella Stewart Gardner's vision that the museum remain as she arranged it "for the education and enrichment of the public forever" is reflected in every aspect of the museum. Although she conceived of the museum and amassed her collection with her husband, he died before it was built. Its preeminent collection contains more than 2,500 paintings, sculptures, tapestries, furniture, manuscripts, rare books and decorative arts. The galleries house works by some of the most recognized artists in the world, including Titian, Rembrandt, Michelangelo, Raphael, Botticelli, Manet, Degas, Whistler and Sargent.
Setting her sights on the Fenway, a formerly marshy area that had recently been filled, in 1898 she purchased a plot of land on which to build her museum. Architect Willard T. Sears drew up plans and construction of Fenway Court, as it was originally called, began in June of 1899. Mrs. Jack attended the driving of the first pile and visited the construction site regularly, carefully supervising every detail of the building. She climbed ladders to show painters the effect she sought for the interior courtyard and determined the placement of each architectural element. The building was complete by November 1901, and Mrs. Jack spent the following year carefully installing her collection. Gardner herself lived in an apartment on the fourth floor.
Mrs. Jack disliked the cold, mausoleum-like spaces of most American museums of the period. As a result, she designed Fenway Court around a central courtyard filled with flowers. Light enters the galleries from the courtyard and from exterior windows, creating an atmospheric setting for works of art. Love of art, not knowledge about the history of art, was her aim. Her friends noted that the entire museum was a work of art in itself. Individual objects became part of a rich, complex and intensely personal setting.
The art of landscape has always been central to the Gardner Museum. Mrs. Jack was an avid gardener, and created theme gardens—an Italian garden and a Japanese garden—at her summer house in Brookline, Massachusetts. In keeping with her passion for horticulture and garden design, the museum’s interior courtyard is an astonishing work of art, combining plants, sculpture, and architectural elements.
Today her legacy continues as this lush central courtyard is regularly transformed with new plants and colors in nine dramatic seasonal displays, including the beloved Hanging Nasturtiums display each April. The unique interplay between the courtyard and the museum galleries offers visitors a fresh view of the courtyard from almost every room, inviting connections between art and landscape.
CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
The Gardner opened to the public on the evening of January 1st, 1903. It is the only private art collection in which the building, collection and installations are the creation of one individual. Isabella Stewart Gardner's vision that the museum remain as she arranged it "for the education and enrichment of the public forever" is reflected in every aspect of the museum. Although she conceived of the museum and amassed her collection with her husband, he died before it was built. Its preeminent collection contains more than 2,500 paintings, sculptures, tapestries, furniture, manuscripts, rare books and decorative arts. The galleries house works by some of the most recognized artists in the world, including Titian, Rembrandt, Michelangelo, Raphael, Botticelli, Manet, Degas, Whistler and Sargent.
Setting her sights on the Fenway, a formerly marshy area that had recently been filled, in 1898 she purchased a plot of land on which to build her museum. Architect Willard T. Sears drew up plans and construction of Fenway Court, as it was originally called, began in June of 1899. Mrs. Jack attended the driving of the first pile and visited the construction site regularly, carefully supervising every detail of the building. She climbed ladders to show painters the effect she sought for the interior courtyard and determined the placement of each architectural element. The building was complete by November 1901, and Mrs. Jack spent the following year carefully installing her collection. Gardner herself lived in an apartment on the fourth floor.
Mrs. Jack disliked the cold, mausoleum-like spaces of most American museums of the period. As a result, she designed Fenway Court around a central courtyard filled with flowers. Light enters the galleries from the courtyard and from exterior windows, creating an atmospheric setting for works of art. Love of art, not knowledge about the history of art, was her aim. Her friends noted that the entire museum was a work of art in itself. Individual objects became part of a rich, complex and intensely personal setting.
The art of landscape has always been central to the Gardner Museum. Mrs. Jack was an avid gardener, and created theme gardens—an Italian garden and a Japanese garden—at her summer house in Brookline, Massachusetts. In keeping with her passion for horticulture and garden design, the museum’s interior courtyard is an astonishing work of art, combining plants, sculpture, and architectural elements.
Today her legacy continues as this lush central courtyard is regularly transformed with new plants and colors in nine dramatic seasonal displays, including the beloved Hanging Nasturtiums display each April. The unique interplay between the courtyard and the museum galleries offers visitors a fresh view of the courtyard from almost every room, inviting connections between art and landscape.
On the morning of March 18, 1990, thieves disguised as police officers broke into the museum and stole thirteen works of art, including a painting by Vermeer (The Concert) and three Rembrandts (two paintings, including his only seascape The Storm on the Sea of Galilee, and a small self-portrait print) as well as works by Manet, Degas, Govaert Flinck, and a French and a Chinese artifact. It is considered the biggest art theft in US history and remains unsolved. The museum still displays the paintings' empty frames in their original locations due to the strict provisions of Gardner's will, which instructed that the collection be maintained unchanged.
Examples of the nine seasonal courtyard displays can be seen in the following pictures. Wilma, no doubt, enjoyed the nastertiums.
CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE
April
Nastertium
May-June
Spring Blooms
June-July
Summers Blues
August-September
Bellflowers
September-October
Grasses and Berries
October-November
Chrysanthemums
December
Holiday Garden
January-February
Midwinter Tropics
February-March
Orchids and Bromeliads
April
Nastertium
May-June
Spring Blooms
June-July
Summers Blues
August-September
Bellflowers
September-October
Grasses and Berries
October-November
Chrysanthemums
December
Holiday Garden
January-February
Midwinter Tropics
February-March
Orchids and Bromeliads
