On such occasions, judging at least from the records that have survived, it seems we tended to dress to the nines. So did Pappy, sometimes. And sometimes not.

Pappy was an equal-opportunity occupant of rockers and what he called “declining” chairs…

Note the gas heater on the east wall. Provided all the warmth the whole house [occasionally] needed. One big reason for Pappy’s move to the desert.

The front porch was outside the curtained window. Pappy sits on his declining chair, facing roughly toward the bookcase.

Evenings, Pappy would sit here to grade papers and “rest his eyes”. Valerie still treasures the chunk of Formica-clad one-inch plywood that he would keep on his lap. Once we had invested in a television set, it would often be on, all the way at the north end of the room.