Handwritten 8 page letter to Ekaterina Erastovna Zborovskai͡a describing the life of the Imperial family in Tsarskoe Selo.

Rough English translation:

No. 6

11 June T[sarskoe] S[elo] 1917

Hearty thanks for letter no. 6. My sweet Kaita, it seems to me that I have received all your letters so far; but they take too long to get here, and you have not received mine yet. The Ivan-da-Maria* (that is the name of the flower) is very nice. Well, how are you all doing? I always look forward to receiving your letters. Tell A. K. that we received his letter for which we are awfully grateful to him, and we will send a response to him with Vera, and to you, too. How is your Mama doing? Kiss her many times and tell her that I often think about our telephone conversations last year. Where is [your] sister, who came with [your] brother from Poltava? Have you taken pictures of all of you? I would like to have your pictures. Is Victor very busy, as Vera wrote that he was appointed an aide-de-camp now? I am so sorry that I write so boring letters, and ask so many questions, but I want to know even more about you all. Are Ser[ei] Iv[anovich] Iuzik and others with you or not? Is there other news from over there? We are have wonderful hot weather these days. It is so unlike Ts[arskoe] S[elo], isn’t it? […] We are sitting on window[-sills], reading and writing letters[…]. We will have to go for a walk soon, and then we will write, of course. During our walks and in general a lot of comic things happen, and I would like to describe them all to you; you would laugh a lot and for a long time, especially over the yesterday’s staff…. But unfortunately, I either cannot write about many issues! – you understand me, don’t you, darling?

Well, we have come back from our walk. We feel warm, as we were working hard. We were sawing, cutting, and carrying logs. We have two dead trees sawn. We also stopped by the kitchen garden. We already have onions, lettuce, and also […]. We water the beds and, of course, spill water on our feet; and Alex[ei] pours water from the pump on us; so you can imagine our appearance. But everything dries up fast as we sit in the sun. Nothing special happened today. - Your letters always smell wonderful and remind me of you. We have received a letter from Elena Nik[olaevna] from Erzerum, where she works now; she writes that it is nice there. She often rides a horse there and so on. – I wanted to write you something, or ask you something, but I forgot what it was. Of course, as soon as I mail the letter, I will remember; it always happens like that. – For my birthday I was given a pair of earrings, and my ears were pierced; this is, so to say, small news. – When you write to Rimma, or Kisa – kiss them for me. Do they write to you? My sisters have just come. I hope his letter will reach you soon. How is Vladimir? Is he still with you? Please pass on my best regards and greetings to everybody. Also pass on a lot of those to your brother. Well Katia, sweetheart, I have to finish my boring letter. I wish you all the best. May the Lord be with you. I kiss you many times and hug you in my thoughts. And I love you. Yours,

A[nastasiia]

Today during our stroll my right cheek was bitten and it has swollen.

[* a combination of the most popular Russian male and female names symbolizing a typical Russian couple and also the name of the flower (heart’s ease).]