Sonia is back!

Nathalie with a Shakespeare colleague, Sarah at far right, and their friend Victoria in the middle—all at the conference this past summer in Prague. Nathalie and Sarah became professors a few years ago, an arduous process in France, and they both work very hard.

Dear Friends an Family,

I met Sarah 9n 1999 when José Ramón (from U. of Málaga) organized with his most collegial colleagues the first ever international conference on screened Shakespeare. There were 5 keynote speeches, I believe, and JR invited me to give one. What an experience. The conference itself was in a lovely seaside resort, Belamádena, on the Mediterranean. Our days and nights were full of pleasures, camaraderie, good food (eaten very late), and scholarly enrichment. My talk was on the problems with Branagh's filmed version of Hamlet: the room was full of students from all over Spain and by Shakespeareans from all over the world—and the scholar who had worked with Branagh on the film. I am not going to get into why I found the film disappointing, after admiring very much Branagh's other films made before this one. But I do remember that a colleague from MIT said to me afterward that she thought I was a wonderful role model for all the young female students and scholars there because I had the nerve to criticize a film with the senior scholar who had worked with him in the audience. I had thought nothing of it. I was aware of the people in the front row, nodding vigorously in agreement with me.

The scholar got his revenge, whether purposely or not. We went on many bus trips—and he joined me on my seat the day of my talk. Trouble was that he had a miserable cold, and after traveling with him for an hour perhaps, I was sure to get it also. He may just have wanted to indicate to everyone on the bus that he had no hard feelings about my talk.

Sarah and I spoke often at the conference. She was absolutely wonderful because though she loved (and probably loves) Branagh's Hamlet, she was interested in my view as well. She is a bubbly, bright enthusiast. Such generosity of spirit. We saw her subsequently in Paris (10 years ago when Merwin and I celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary with our family in London and then spent a week in Paris where Sarah lives), and at conferences she and Nathalie organized in Rouen, where we were able to stay with our friends Michèle and Raymond. What lovely connections all around.

My friend Anne came yesterday to walk with me, and on the day before that, my friend Joan came but since walking looked dicey, we went to Bernard's for a salad, and then to my manicure shop. At last, nice clean nails!

Sonia returned today! I missed her greatly. Her calm presence is soothing, and she encourages me to do more than I might otherwise do. We did quite a lot of kitchen work as well: noodles cooked for the week, salad dressing made after a long hiatus, broccoli, lettuce. After a nice massage, I rested from the exertion. No chance of getting to the computer: I needed a long rest—though eventually I got around to organizing some dresser drawers: Does anyone need 500 t-shirts? I don't think so. Laury came over, and we chatted about our work together, but she also went with me on a second walk and helped me with some clothes issues. I had brought some of my leggings from 4E where I don't need them anymore, and asked Laury to see if Elyssa, her beautiful daughter, would like them. Laury is going to find out if someone who is studying medieval literature might want to take some books.

Don, the builder who worked on our addition, came to see the damage in Merwin's study. (Merwin's beautiful rug, by the way, got a thorough cleaning and looks great.) Don will be here tomorrow to pull down whatever cannot be salvaged. It looks like a LOT of work needs to be done. I stay upstairs: ignorance is bliss. Merwin spends a large amount of time working on his damaged files, sitting and ironing at the kitchen table. {He asked me if, while he was ironing, I would like him to iron our place mats, which had come out of the dryer: I never iron them, but OK, why not?)

On the fly, I invented a dish for dinner tonight, starting about 5:45. Sauteed red pepper pieces, onion, and garlic till soft, added enough noodles from the week's supply for 2 servings, blue cheese crumbled, mild Monterrey Jack (these cheeses were gifts from visitors), a little cottage cheese left over, plus veggie meatballs. Covered to blend flavors and melt the cheese. Very nice. Merwin liked it.

Last night, the Writing Group, all 9 of us, met at Kiraku and then convened in our dining room to read papers. Not everyone read, but we heard some surprisingly revealing words and photos about Anna's love of costumes for Halloween. I dashed into the laundry room and got Eve's purple wig (nice and clean) to give to Anna for some occasion or another. I am trying to dispose of things. Kathryn read a most beautifully crafted piece about a mystery series. I must get the name and information. Toby read her piece she had written for her 50th Boston Latin School reunion. Joe read a polished version of a scene from his book in progress. Jay wrote about teaching strategies he's using. Barbara wrote one of her probing pieces about Ruby, a girl in a very small Missouri town. I read something I had written in 1982 about why I am hooked on Hamlet: not too much has changed.

I can't believe I am still sitting at the computer! I now have a reasonably comfortable set up. I sit on a rollator, which I can lock in place. My feet are on a low stool under the desk. Not quite good enough because my feel are now burning. But an improvement over the last setup.

Love to all,
Bernice