After the weekend

Day lillies outside of Merwin's study windows.

Dear Friends and Family,

I wanted to write as soon as we returned from NYC but I found the latest i.e. last version of my “At Sea” essay waiting for me. I spent most of Monday on that. Yes, I found a few of the press's errors, but I also found sentences of mine that were not as clear as they should have been. I am not sure they will accept changes rather than corrections of their errors. I have to work on the piece again today, but I sent Mimi a preliminary list of changes. Oh my! I am the opposite of Bertram Russell and Mozart—besides the fact that they were geniuses and I am far from that—in the sense that they wrote once and that was it. No corrections or clarifications needed. I write draft after draft.

On Friday we made it as far as Port Washington in pouring rain, only to discover that the trains were not running because of flooding on the tracks. After some hemming and hawing, we returned home and I cobbled together a supper. We were unable to meet Michelle at Szechuan Gourmet. So we got up early the next morning and got to the City in time to rest a bit before our last concert of our Philharmonic series. We met Naomi and afterward went across the street to a hotel restaurant where we had a very pleasant supper. I had a vodka drink, which I am not supposed to have, but once in a while can't hurt. We were mourning our last philharmonic concert; from now on we will go to Tilles, 10 minutes from Glen Head.

At the philharmonic, we also ran into Lore, a friend from RSNS, whose daughter is still undergoing the procedures following a stem-cell transplant, a cure for myelo-fibrosis, the disease I have. Because this procedure is so life threatening, they wont do it to anyone over 70. If it doesn't kill you, it cures you entirely of the disease.

On Sunday we prepared for a visit from the Stark family. Isabel is 16 and will be an intern studying at Rockefeller University; she will be staying in our apartment, with the board's permission, weekdays this summer. We will come in on weekends. A lot of sheet-switching will have to occur, but it is worth it to help this bright young girl, whom we have known since she was born. Her mother worked for Merwin at Algorex. The Starks, Michelle, Gene, Gabby and Isabelle, treated us to a lovely lunch at the Bryant Park Grill, across the street from our apartment.

Afterward, we walked the short distance to the NYPL entrance. The Starks had never been inside this beautiful building. With them I entered the Allen Room, a study room for scholars, removed my books from my shelf and put them on the return table, and took my papers and things. Then we walked to the main reading rooms where I returned my key-card for the room. A sad moment.

Before we left the City, Rachael came over for a brief visit. She helped me remove winter clothes from the closets; her parents will pick them up this weekend and take them to Connecticut. They'll bring them to Glen Head when they visit. Finally, Merwin and I took the bus to Penn Station, and I found that I was fearful of the familiar escalator. My balance is so bad. So we found an elevator, They are not so easy to discover.

Home again in Glen Head. Dave went shopping for us on Monday, and now we are fully stocked again. Merwin is considering whether he feels more energetic now that the radiation is over and done with. Perhaps a little. It will get better as days go by.

Once the SQ business is over, I will return to hamletworks.org and Macbeth. The very good news is that with the higher dose of chemo, the pain is entirely gone.

Love to all,

Bernice