Dear Cyndy,

Thank you for your letter. Although I'm much concerned about 
your medical problems and very much aware of the burden that
they constitute, I believe you are wise not to write about them
and wise to try to practice detachment from these concerns. I
have often reflected on the paradox that when as a physician, 
I elicited a history from a patient, I was arousing painful
memories and reminding him or her of experiences that I could not
make better, and that by bringing them to the focus of attention,
I was making matters worse.  In this sense it may be said that
on occasion, emotionally if not physically, the physician is the
cause of the patient's distress.

There's still no word from the Appeals Court. You may be correct
in your surmise that they are waiting for me to die so that the
problem might to go away without their having to reach any
decision. I have been busy with so many things on my mind, that
I in turn have been somewhat relieved to be spared for while
the hard work of finishing the Nantucket house. Whether I will
ever have that opportunity, remains to be seen. But I've learned
much about the courts, about the society and about myself, and
the metamorphosis of mind that learning brings about I find very
rewarding.

Day after tomorrow Margaret and I are driving to Augusta, Maine
for a four or five hour visit with her brother and sister-in-law,
both of whom are as elderly as ourselves, and neither of whom
is in good health. A day or two later, perhaps as early as Friday
or Saturday, Margaret and I will start for Virginia where we will
possibly stay into early October, but not much longer.  Then it's
home again to Belmont for the winter.

I'll be thinking of you and Ned, and wishing you the very best.

Jochen