Dear Cyndy,

My mind and my schedules are in some disarray, and I
want to apologize prospectively for perhaps some temporary
interruption in our correspondence. Here's the situation
in which I find myself:

A tornado has hit Konnarock, fortunately sparing our house,
so far as I have been told, but interrupting the electricity
which has not yet been re-established, and tossing numerous
large tree trunks across our driveway and across the five
hundred feet of cul de sac which leads to our house. No sign
of the highway department which is presumably keeping its
distance because of downed power lines. 

The hearing in my Nantucket appeal has been set for February 10.
My two pending motions have not yet been adjudicated. If they
are granted, I will have several hundred more pages of documentation
to print and to file. I will want to be in town - back from Detroit
and Konnarock for at minimum two weeks before the hearing.

My credit card has been charged with the costs of the cremation
of my sister's body, and I have every reason to assume that the
Cremation Society of Michigan has fulfilled its obligation. 
I haven't yet received copies of the death certificate. I have
spoken by telephone with a very compentent sounding friend of
my sister who lives in Windsor across the river and runs a
social agency of sorts. Her name is Tovah Perlmutter, and she
is willing to visit Margrit's apartment and make an inventory
of items to be removed. I've also spoken with Josie Sheppard,
a very friendly 3rd year Detroit University law student, who
has also offered to help me.

Margaret and I are planning to drive to Detroit in early January
to start emptying Margrit's apartment. I have only the dimmest
notion of how I will go about that. But I know that I must be
back in Belmont in plenty of time for the hearing. One scenario
entails our driving from Detroit to Konnarock, and on the way
we might make a 90 minute stop in Hilliard so that we could
finally meet Ned, - provided he wanted also to meet us.

Tomorrow morning I will be off to Home Depot to buy another 
thermostat which I will install as a sensor on the boiler in
our basement and connect to an alarm in Klemens' house next door.
By this means he will be alerted if, in very cold weather, 
our oil burner fails, and I hope he could then make arrangements
to keep the pipes from freezing.

Klemens has been consoling himself by collecting pictures of
his aunt and posting them on the Internet where Margrit's
many friends can have easy access to them. As an historian
concerned with my family, these pictures might be of interest
to you, but of course I'm not offended if you don't bother
with them.  Here is the URL:

http://picasaweb.google.com/klemensbmeyer/MargritMeyer2009?feat=email#

The file is large, perhaps as much as 44 megabytes, and you shouldn't
download it unless you have rapid (broad-band) Internet access, and
perhaps not even then.

Stay well, give my regards to Ned, and please don't take it
personally if, in the next few weeks, my letters become somewhat
less frequent and maybe even somehat shorter.

Jochen