Lots of pictures!

On the left is our youngest granddaughter Sabrina Mina Kliman, Arthur's daughter, with our oldest granddaughter, Laura Taraday Kliman, Harvey's daughter. On the right is Laura sharing a joke with our lovely daughter-in-law, Debbie, Arthur's bride. Both cousins are working chemists, Sabrina as a recent graduate with a B. S. degree, and Laura as a 4th year candidate for a PhD in organic chemistry at Boston College. Both women live in the Boston area. It is a joy to see that there is a possibility of a friendship between these two lovely women. As usual click to enlarge the photos and use back space to return to blog.

Dear family and friends,

Happy Father's Day to all who enjoy these recognition days. Father's deserve something! not ties, but a loving phone call, perhaps. But then, Merwin gets a phone call almost every day from his sons. This morning we are expecting Lincoln to visit. I must get my questions ready for him, because he is one of the several gurus who helps me understand and use my technical equipment. Dave is also terrific at that: he came by yesterday and gave me a tutorial on the address book of the dang blame email program I am now trying to use. Arthur and Harvey also weighed in yesterday, and we got to talk to Sandy as well. We are indeed blessed. Who knew during all those stormy years of bringing up these active guys that they could be such a comfort to us now: friends and sources of joy?

The new meds are having their deleterious effects, nausea and fatigue, but now I have the nausea pills, and when I need a nap, I just lie down. Two yesterday, and I slept deeply both times. The itching continues to be a problem, held at bay to an extent with anti-histamines and of course the ultra violet B light treatment. Dr. M. says that if this CEP701 works as it should, I could be free from itching without having to take anything else. I didn't ask him when. I already have experienced two experimental drugs (that is, off-use drugs, that are not in a trial program as this one is). "Off use" means that the government allows a drug made and approved for one use to be prescribed for another use. Neither helped me at all; quite the opposite. So I remain cautiously optimistic, glad to be in a trial that has already proven itself to help people with their symptoms.

The main excitement of the day was preparing a packet of work for the new PhD who will be helping me this summer, thanks to a subvention from Columbia U. We have to work long distance because she lives in far away New Jersey. I have to teach her how to do the work by preparing instruction sheets. It's not easy because there will always be exceptions that crop up. She will be shaping notes on Hamlet gleaned from journal articles, and these will go into our website, hamletworks.org. I also received in the mail proof sheets for the TFANA audience review I wrote of Measure for Measure as well as the review of John Mosedale's book, The Church of Shakespeare. The reviews look very good visually, with the wonderful photos accompanying them. I also tried to get ready for a meeting with Laury today to work on our
Measure for Measure edition by reading the section she has prepared. She will be coming here about noon.

It's easy for me to stay inside the house all day, but with a little effort, I made myself go for a walk with Merwin, this time at Sea Cliff beach. We consider ourselves so lucky, Buffalonians that we are, who never saw Lake Erie unless we drove for miles, to be so close to the beaches here.

Today promises to be a good one for us, full of family and friends—and the work I enjoy.

Much love to all, and Happy Father's Day to those who have that title, especially Nick, who is in Baltimore today to be with his father and brother; to Nick M., who has a new baby son, a brother to his first son; and to Eric and Derrick, fathers of their baby son. You all bring smiles to my face.
Bernice