Dear Cyndy,

Some afterthoughts: Of practical importance, Margaret goes
swimming on Thursday mornings from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. I drive
her to the pool and pick her up afterwards. Our phone
(617-484-8109) won't be answered between 8:45 and 9:05 a.m.
and between 10:10 and 10:30 a.m. During those periods you
can reach me on my cell phone 617-548-5768. From your letters,
I infer that you don't plan to arrive before 11 a.m. Otherwise,
we would, of course, stay at home.

I've been rereading your essay about the Farm, trying to
imagine how you felt, - how you feel - about Canaan.
As for Philip Larkin's poem, I've been rereading it also,
and this morning, incongruously, it reminded me about 
T.S. Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral. The two pieces have
little in common, except that they are both about churches
defunct, albeit in different ways, and very famous authors
who seem to me to share an uncanny detachment from the
meanings that our cultures have attributed to what transpires
within the "holy" places about which they write.

Now back to housekeeping. Have a safe trip and give my
regards to Ned.

Jochen