Dear Cyndy,

Margaret hasn't yet sufficiently recovered from the ordeal of the trip
for me to broach the issue of Trollope. This afternoon or tonight, I will
ask her and report to you. Meanwhile my confession; I cheated and looked
up haha in Wikipedia. I won't tell you what I found, so as not to deprive
you of the chance of telling me. I will however anticipate the discussion
by asking whether you can cite any other word with an etymology so primitive
and simplistic. If the haha was so named because it startled by evoking
surprise, aren't there many other objects and situations, - not to speak
of persons, - that have a better claim to the name haha than -  well, I won't
say what.

The embolism to the toilet tank resolved spontaneously, at least partially.
The tank now fills, albeit slowly. If one is willing to wait five minutes
between toilet flushes, no plumbing intervention is required, at least
not now, and for this undertaking at least, the ghost of William Ciarmataro
need not be disturbed. He would however object to my repair of two dripping
faucets in the bathroom that Klemens and Laura will use.

If you're familiar with Ibsen's Enemy of the People, you'll understand why,
having discovered that ALL new Nantucket houses have floor joists
impermissibly perforated with 4 inch holes and all new Nantucket houses
are therefore structurally compromised in the mind of one who believes
in the Building Code, I'm considering changing my name to Thomas Stockmann.
I'm forever surprised how reflecting, meditating, ruminating on a topic
will dislose further dimensions. The building inspector, Mr. Stephen
Butler, it turns out, is in the curious position of regularly approving
both the framing compromised by the Ciarmataro approved plumbing and of 
subscribing to Mr. Ciarmataro's vitriolic criticism of my work which
Ciarmataro finds offensive precisely because it does NOT, like the
plumbing he approves, violate the Building Code.

When Margaret awoke from a long mid-day nap a few minutes ago, I had
an opportunity to ask her about Trollope. She admitted that she had 
not read the novel which you mentioned. 

I spent much of the afternoon trying to locate the broken connections
to the two (of eight) Konnarock video cameras that have ceased to function.
I was not successful; will try again in a day or two. I've also spent
some time playing with a hand-held electronic voice recorder, which
Klemens lent/gave me. I propose to take it along and speak into it
at all future hearings, with the explanation, if challenged, that I
need it to preserve my memory of what I said, not to mention given
my poor hearing, of what was said to me. The convention of taking
testimony under oath seems to me eminently inappropriate in this
Nantucket controversy.  Nantucket officials lie with abandon,
especially since their mendacity is never challenged by the courts.
One cannot ask them to swear, i.e. to invoke God as their witness
to their telling the truth, without taking the name of God in vain,
which one should avoid if possible.  Besides, it has become obvious
that these judges cherry pick the evidence, ignoring what doesn't
fit into their preconceived schemes. The testimony of the Nantucketers
however has potentially much literary value. It's the poetry of the
absurd and rudiculous.

That's it for now. Please give my regards to Ned. Good night.
Jochen