Dear Cyndy,

Thank you for your letter. I spent the day reprogramming a
computer that Klemens brought over from next door. It has
only a 750 megahertz processor and is too slow for my high-
spirited grandchildren. I may or may not have told you that
my computer on Nantucket which controls the four surveillance
cameras has been on strike since October 16. For lack of time
on the Island and particularly for lack of a source of computer
parts there, I concluded that I had no choice but to assemble a
replacement in Belmont. This I did. From a Silicon Valley
company that calls itseld "Advantech" I ordered a four port
video-capture card. Four port, of course, means that it will
support four cameras such as I have installed. I ordered the
card on October 27, it was shipped on November 3, and the UPS
driver placed the little cardboard box in which it was packed
on our doorstep yesterday, November 10. The Pony Express would
have been faster. The programming was interesting. I had 
forgotten where in my files, I had stored the programs with
which I control the cameras and send the images back to Belmont -
or to Konnarock, if that's where I happen to be. The Nantucket
machine, of course, is inaccessible, but to the Konnarock
computer I can login from Belmont, and in no time I has refreshed
my memory of the programs and "uploaded" them to this computer,
installing them in the new-old machine which now seems to
function flawlessly. On Saturday, two days from now, I'll take
it to Nantucket, - my first trip there in more than six months.
Margaret is coming with me.  I remember thinking in the spring
that with the June 20th deadline, surely I would have a decision
by mid-summer. But that was not to be. Not only does God work
in mysterious ways, the courts do likewise. I have given up
all expectation of a conclusion to the case. I hope that,
health permitting, Margaret and I will spend from mid-April
to the end of June in Konnarock, four to six weeks in July and
August in the unfinished house on Nantucket, and then another
six weeks in Virginia.

Finally, after months of bureaucratic obstruction, it appears
as if my Virginia medical license is about to be reactivated.
It was rescinded for inactivity about 10 years ago; I was never
informed, never given an opportunity to maintain an active status.
When six months ago, I reapplied, the first demand was a check
for $497, - and it's emblematic of the brazen stupidity of the
responsible official that she refused and returned the check
because it was imprinted with Margaret's name rather than mine.
Then there was a requirement of a letter from a Massachusetts
physician attesting to the fact that I had been in practice
here from 2000 to the present. That's a fact which Klemens
certified for me. Then they wanted an AMA physican's profile. 
That's an organization I have spurned for 56 years, but they
make it their business to maintain a record about me, which
turns out to be - as they say in Virginia - clean as a hound's
tooth. 120 hours' certificates of continuing medical education
were also on their requirement agenda. They wanted not merely
a catalogue, but copies of the certificates. Since 13 ounces
is the most one is permitted to drop into a mail box, I carried
the package with all the certificates to the post office. It
weighed one and a quarter pounds. All that's outstanding now
are the records from the State of Tennessee where I was also
once licensed to practice medicine. The Tennessee officials
assert that they have sent the non-information to the Virginia
officials who claim not to have received it. But Tennessee
proved gracious, and agreed send another copy.

I'm uncertain whether or not it's of interest to you, but I
have found (another) gaping loophole in the estate tax laws,
this one explicitly acknowledged (and recommended) on the
Internet, and confirmed by Fidelity Investments as an interested
broker. The opportunity - or is it a trap? - arises from the
provisions of Section 529 of the Internal Revenue Code which
provides for tax sheltered "College Retirement Accounts." The
concept is that parents and grandparents as donors should be
able to plan for the exorbitant costs of post high school
education, by putting aside into tax sheltered accounts, funds
in the amount of $13000 per donor per beneficiary per year,
which funds are immediately recognized as completed gifts
and are therefore removed from the donor's estate. What's
so remarkable about the arrangement is that the donor, although
he or she has made a completed gift, retains control not only
of the investment but also of the distribution of the funds,
and has the power to change the beneficiary to any other member
of the family who is a potential "college student" including
him or herself. In our culture, as you know, it's never too
late to go to college. Even I might someday, after I've
finished my novel, consider another round of college for
myself, and on second thought appoint myself as beneficiary
of the funds I have "given" to Rebekah, Nathaniel, Benjamin
or Leah. It's an amazing about-face on the part of the IRS,
which having extolled the "completed gift" like the Holy Grail
for decades, now seems to be espousing Indian Giving on on a
monumental scale. Section 529 as written, and as interpreted
at least by Fidelity Investments, provides for the making of
non-taxable gifts which remain under the control of the donor
and are recoverable by him or her with only an insignificant
penalty, a 10 percent surcharge on the accumulated income. It
sounds, and it probably is, too good to be true, and will
possibly appear in a very different light when on some future
day the IRS with or without consent of Congress, finds it
politically expedient to whistle a different tune. The imagined
penalties they might then impose are subjects for yet another
nightmare.

I plan to put tax matters behind be and to get back to working
on my novel as soon as I can. My best to both you and Ned.
I hope that both of you are well.

Jochen