Dear Marion,

The circumstance that you haven't written for a few days, I hope
means nothing more sinister than that you have had better things
to do. I myself just came in from cleaning the gutters and trimming
the grass around the perimeter of the foundation. Tomorrow morning,
if it doesn't rain, when the dew has evaporated, I will start painting
some of the shingles, not for appearance, but in the expectation
that the paint will protect them and make them last longer.
Klemens wrote me this morning that he spoke with Nathaniel, who
is well, leaving Romania for Germany tomorrow, June 25, where
he will visit both Augsburg and Hamburg. A week later he goes
to London for a weeklong "master class" in conducting, before
coming home.  I haven't spent any more time on Hoelderlin
translation or exegesis, since Nathaniel has - and should have -
other concerns on his mind. Instead I have been writing both in
German and in English about my Nantucket experience. I'm dissatisfied
with my essays because I haven't found a way to tell my story
without centering it on myself, an egocentricity which is
distasteful to me. Write to me when you're in the mood.
Jochen