Dear Cyndy,

True to my resolution and before I forget, here's my answer 
to your letter which just arrived and for which I thank you.
Perhaps I'll reply in two stages. Almost everything that
passes through my mind reverberates with echos which at
times are different, very different from the stimulus that
incited them.

It's been raining, repeatedly and heavily. The roofs are
tight, but water seeps into the basement through the floor
and through the walls on all sides. Cinder block, of which
the foundation is built, is very porous indeed. Home Depot
sells an inside paint which is claimed to be waterproof,
provided that the cinderblock is clean, provided that it
has not previously been painted, provided it is free of
cracks, caveats so broad and so general that the lawyers need
have no concern about the "guarantee" ever being enforced.

The severity of the water problem is a consequence in part
of the circumstance that I have had the gutters removed from eaves
on all sides of the house, for the reason that gutters soon become
occluded with leaves, and require to be cleaned from tall ladders
which I no longer have the strength to carry or the humor to climb.
I've been toying with the idea of catching the run-off from the
roof in broad channels of sheet metal, placed just above ground level,
the discharge from which might be channeled into dry wells remote
from the house. Seems practical and inexpensive. The troughs would
be eminently accessible for cleaning from the ground, but potentially 
an eye sore, and a nuisance when it's time to mow the lawn.  
We shall see.

The settlement of my sister's estate has taken a new turn, in
that Ms. Ute Wigley-Mueller, the lawyer who drew and then concealed
in her basement Margrit's will, has informed me that the sole 
executor for Margrit's Canadian funds was one Aaron Atkinson,
a Toronto lawyer presently on vacation. Aaron is the son of Harold,
who was Margrit's friend and whom she nominated as executor in her
1995 will. Harold died in December 2004, ten months after Margrit
signed the 2004 Codicil, the contents of which I have not seen. 
At this juncture I can only speculate that in a fit of pique at
Klemens who had been named as successor executor for Canadian funds
in the 1995 will, Margrit replaced him with Aaron Atkinson.
Alternatively Aaron's nomination may be an improvisation by
Ute. I'll find out when I read the Codicil. Ute says she's 
already mailed it to me. It should arrive in Belmont by the
end of next week.

That's all for now. Stay well and give my best to Ned.

Jochen