Subject: Re: hello From: cynthia behrman Date: Fri, 5 Aug 2011 07:14:20 -0700 (PDT) To: Ernst Meyer Dear Jochen Welcome back to Belmont. Hope the rehearsals are going well. How long will you be in B.? How much electrifying did you get done? Best to you both Cyndy * * * * * * From: Ernst Meyer To: cynthia behrman Sent: Wed, August 3, 2011 7:18:07 AM Subject: Re: hello Dear Cyndy, Thank you for your letter. We are on Nantucket, and I am working feverishly to try to get as much work done as possible before we return to Belmont on Friday, hence my brevity. Nathaniel found his cellist, who I believe lives in Newton, among his musician friends. I'll write at greater length Sunday or Monday. I hope you continue to feel better. Give my best to Ned. Jochen * * * * * * cynthia behrman wrote: Dear Jochen I've been a bit low recently, hence no letters. I expect you two are eagerly awaiting Nathaniel's concert. A very ambitious one, I should think. You didn't answer my question: where did he find the cello soloist? Best of luck for both concerts. Are you then off to Nantucket? This odd machine deleted your letter without permission, so I cannot refer to the dates you gave me. Don't know wny it does that. It is I who ought to be the alpha dog, after all, but apparently it does not agree. We had a lovely though quiet visit with David and Manuela. Ned had viola quintets on Saturday for David, which he much enjoyed. I had hoped that he would paint the gazebo roof with Thompson's Water Seal, but he was unable to climb ladders because he had sprained a toe! But we picked beans and mowed the lawn and conversed. I hope they weren't bored. The summer is winding down. School starts in two weeks here, and the stores are full of Back-to-school sales. I always thought August was part of summer and you returned to school in September, but that is no longer the case. I've been on a biography kick lately. Just read Gary Wills's short one on President Madison. The odd circumstance there (which Wills addresses) is the fact that M was a great constitutionalist (wrote lots of the Federalist Papers), but a mediocre president, inept and insecure. I don't know if biographers can ever really sort out the complexities of a bygone figure, but he makes a good case that Madison was a good committee man, so to speak, but not a good executive, as he could not make rational decisions. Ah, the power of historians ! What are you up to? any word on the Nantucket problem? Best to you both, Cyndy * * * * * *