Dear Cyndy,

August 20, will be just fine. Do let me know at your convenience
how many double, and how many single beds we should have ready
for you.

This evening we had a real tonado alert. The weather service
said the severe weather would strike Meadowview at 8:35,
Glade Spring at 8:45, and Konnarock at 8:55. I unplugged
the computer, put a flashlight in my pocket and told Margaret
we'd go down into the basement when the wind picked up.
But nothing happened. We had a few minutes of heavy rain,
but no wind at all, and not even a respectable bolt of
lightning anywhere in the vicinity.

Yesterday morning UPS delivered my Samsung printer. I was
concerned I might not find a Linux driver, but packaged with
the printer was a very comprehensive CD disc which contained
the software that I needed. Much of today I spent drafting
a legal document which has to be filed by the end of the month.
In the morning, I'll drive to Chilhowie to send it off by
certified mail.

It's not false modesty when I write that I'm dissatisfied with
any translation I make of poems of Hoelderlin (1770-1843,
incapacitated by severe mental illness after 1805) In one of
the letters to my cousin Marion Namenwirth which I am forwarding
to you, I quote a poem "Abendphantasie", (Evening Thoughts), 
a translation of which I will put on my "to do" list.

It may be a reflection of my megalomania and poor judgment
that I will forward to you nine items of e-mail correspondence
regarding the history of my family, and as attachments,
drafts of two letters not yet sent, as well as the legal document
that I will mail tomorrow morning. But as you know, any literary
activity has a terrible and compelling reality for me, - it is in
fact the only reality that I know. Reading and rereading what I
have written, keeps my mind on an even keel, - or perhaps better
said, gives me the illusion that I am sane.

Please give my regards to Ned.

Jochen