Dear Marion,

Thank you very much for your report on "Nixon in China".
John Adams is, if I remember correctly a local Cambridge figure,
who has conducted concerts of Baroque music which I attended.
Since my attention is attracted by the music rather than by the
conductor, my memories of him are non-existent. Contemporary
music, as you may have inferred from previous comments, presents
a challenge which I have been unable to confront. Perhaps thirty
years ago we attended the most memorable oratorio performance of
my life: Haendel's Saul, staged by Peter Sellars.

My second thoughts on yesterday's hearing are very dramatic.
The judge, my estimation of whose intellect and integrity continues
to decline, repeatedly admonished me personally not to delay 
settlement, else she would punish me by dismissing the case.
The deep irony: Nantucket's strategy has been deliberate delay.
Delay is ultimately the only weapon in their arsenal. If the
Court now charges me with responsibility for the delay, the Court
is in fact blaming me for not capitulating, blaming me for 
appealing from Nantucket's mini-tyranny. Blaming the victim
is the name of the game. Yet I find it difficult to play the victim's
role, since I'm having such a good time. But between now and the next
hearing on April 21, I shall diligently practice victimhood. I'll
try to learn. If I can elicit from you pity for my miserable state,
I will know that I have succeeded.

Meanwhile, Mr. Gordon has faxed to me documentation that the
plumbing permit has indeed been issued. Inasmuch as Mr. Gordon
is now the officially responsible plumber, I shall summon my
courage to turn on the water, take a shower, flush the toilets,
and continue with the non-plumbing construction of the Nantucket
house which was interrupted in December 2008, by the Cease Desist
and Abate order. Moving Margaret at age 86 1/2 and myself at
age 80 1/2 in March into an unfinished unheated house on the
Nantucket moors is a bold and perhaps a foolish project, but if
I want to finish the construction, that's what I must do. Before
we go, much paper work needs to be completed, including income
tax to be filed. I see no alternative but to interrupt my work on
the novel. You may be relieved that my letters will unavoidably
become shorter and less frequent. Stay well.
Jochen