Sunday, January 21, 1973

Jan 21, 1973

13119 Hermitage

Dear Family,

It’s Sunday evening, Jean and the girls are watching television (Jean is knitting also) and I’ve just finished looking thru some copies of the Eugene, Oregon Register-Guard — part of our preliminary inspection of Eugene as a potential place of retirement a year from next summer. The day has been a nice sunny one but rather windy, sort of like a March day in Iowa except rather warmer. This morning when I went out to pick up the Sunday paper, the bayou seemed to be just alive with birds — quite a few robins and whole flocks of blackbirds plus others that I didn’t recognize.

After we returned from church this morning I did a little gardening outside, raking up enough pine needles etc from the front yard to fill the trash can, watering my potted plants etc, then later on in the afternoon (after a good nap) I planted some bulbs that Muriel had given me for Christmas and some that Jean had bought earlier at some church meeting she’d gone to — it was really delightful to be outside in the beautiful weather. Towards the late afternoon Jean & I went for a walk in the bayou; despite the little thunderstorm we had last night it seemed quite dry underfoot and we had a good hike. I guess the windy day had dried it off.

Yesterday Jean and I took Muriel and her baggage back to Austin for her second semester at the Univ of Texas. Included in her baggage this time was the secondhand bicycle she bought while she was home on Christmas vacation; I was able to take off the handle bars so was able to get in into the trunk which was convenient (otherwise I’d have had to put on the luggage rack on top of the car to transport it). We left about 8 AM and had her unloaded etc by about 11 AM. The weather on the way up wasn’t too promising — considerable low fog and occasional light misty rain — but after we got to Austin the weather cleared partly and the rest of the day was quite nice.

Muriel was really ready to be back at school after her 4-week layoff (including the week extension caused by the cold weather in Austin) and I guess she was glad to see somebody else than the family for a change. Anyway she declined to accompany Jean and me on the sightseeing we planned on doing. Jean and I visited the LBJ library, the Texas capitol building, the O. Henry house & museum and the French legation. The library and capitol were interesting tho rather predictable in content and interest — I liked most some western painting at the library & Jean liked the White House chinaware that Ladybird had designed.

The best item on our itinerary was the French legation. During the 10 years or so that Texas was a republic, the French built a building in Austin which served both as the legation and the home of the official in charge; it was the only one that remained of those countries that did establish relations with Texas and had been restored in recent years by the DTR (Daughters of the Texas Revolution). It contained items from that period and also from subsequent owners (one of which, the family that is, owned it for many years).

We left Austin about 5 PM so we reached La Grange about dusk, had supper at the Bon Ton restaurant there and got home about 9 PM. Palma & Laurel weren’t up when we left but they had enjoyed having the house to themselves while we were gone.

The rest of the week was about as usual. Shell was threatened with a strike on Thurs but it was postponed at least till this week. Palma got her score on the PSAT/NMSQT and she did about the same as Muriel as we have hopes she’ll get a scholarship like Muriel but time will tell. Work was as usual, I finished a memorandum that I hadn’t been looking forward to so was glad to have it done.

All for this time

With love, Carl

Sunday, January 14, 1973

Jan 14, 1973

13119 Hermitage, Houston

Dear Family,

As I start to write I’m watching the last gasp of the football season and sort of rooting for Washington to win, mostly I guess because I’d like to see Miami, which has its 17 game winning streak to defend, get its comeuppance. It’s a beautiful day here in Houston today — and yesterday was a beautiful day also — but both days are quite a change from some of the wintry weather we experienced last week. The week thru Friday was cloudy (up thru Friday Houston had had only one day with any sunshine at all in 1973) and Thursday Houston had its first snow since about 1960. I suppose a couple of inches fell altogether but it was enough to make the landscape white, pretty much disrupt business & school activity, and give the children of Houston a chance to make numerous snowmen, throw snowballs, go sledding on a whole range of improvised sleds and generally experience what the north has every year. Over the years Houston has averaged a real snowfall like Thursday’s every 10–15 years so it was due to happen. The last snowfall in 1960 was 4 inches and that had been the record except for a real freak snowstorm back in 1895 when about 24 inches fell. After seeing what 2" could do, 24" would really have paralyzed Houston.

The snow started early Thursday and there were a few accumulated flakes on the newspaper when I picked it up off the sidewalk at about 6:15 AM. The ride to work was a pretty slushy one with the snow falling steadily with large flakes tho not really heavily. It kept on well past midday and work at Shell was let out at 3 PM, so I was home early )in time to wrap the outside water pipes & faucets against the anticipated ~20°F temperature Thursday night). I also took the precaution of draining the radiator of the old ’58 Plymouth, it only has water in it as it still leaks (where the water goes to I’ve never been able to figure out). The girls went to school on Thursday tho attendance was rather spotty and were also home early — most school districts in & around Houston didn’t have school on Thursday but our district did. It turned out that the supt was off skiing and no one was willing to act in his absence — the supt is a rather autocratic individual and sort of runs the district as his personal fiefdom. However, school was let out on Friday so Palma & Laurel had a day of vacation; Shell however thought the situation wasn’t that bad (as indeed it wasn’t) so I spent the day working as usual. Both Thursday & Friday nights the temperature did get down to about 20°F, so I was glad I’d brought all the delicate plants inside and to have taken the other precautions I did.

Even before the snowstorm Texas had been having some unusually cold weather and these involved fuel shortages in parts of the state. The Univ of Texas at Austin was involved in one of these shortages so the opening of the spring semester was delayed for one week; as a consequence we didn’t take Muriel back to Austin yesterday as we had planned. Instead we’ll do that next Saturday, and miss seeing Nixon’s second inauguration as a result — can’t say I was that interested in seeing the inauguration anyway. Muriel would be happy to be back in school, she’s about had her fill of being back home again. This past week she bought a secondhand bicycle to take back to Austin to help her get around; I guess she feels there is too much walking to suit her.

Yesterday (and from late afternoon on Friday) Palma participated in a 24 hour fast held by the youth groups at Memorial Drive United Methodist church. She came home shortly after 6 o’clock yesterday evening and said that she certainly felt the effects, tho I think it was at least partly psychological. Their fasting was sponsored on an hourly basis by church members and the proceeds were to be used for earthquake relief in Nicaragua and partly for local purposes. We left shortly afterward (Palma stayed home & Laurel was babysitting so it was just Jean, Muriel & I) for supper & an evening of visiting at the Woods — Shell friends from California. Today has been about the usual Sunday; Jean & I did go for a walk in the bayou after lunch but iut was still rather muddy so we didn’t go far.

All for now, With love, Carl

Sunday, January 7, 1973

January 7, 1973

13119 Hermitage, Houston

Dear Family,

It’s the middle of a cloudy, rainy, cold afternoon on this first Sunday afternoon of 1973 and it’s the kind of day which ain’t fit out for man nor beast, in my opinion. One thing you can say about it though is that it is consistent with its immediate predecessors, which were generally equally cloudy and cold, but at times rainier. At that I suppose we shouldn’t complain after reading about the ice storm and interrupted electrical service in the Kansas City area (we surely have wondered how the Prairie Village Strands were making out) and the wintry temperatures reported from the upper midwest and other parts of the country.

Today started off in the usual fashion with some pecan rolls for breakfast that Muriel had made earlier in this holiday season; then Palma, Laurel & I went to church — Jean stayed home with a lame back which she got yesterday when she straightened up too suddenly (it’s a little better today but she isn’t bending or stooping over for the time being) and Muriel wasn’t in the mood for a Memorial Drive United Methodist church type service. After church but before lunch Laurel, Muriel & I went off an a shopping expedition of sorts — Muriel to inspect a bicycle which she thought she might want to buy (the boy who had it was making some repairs and it wasn’t ready when we arrived so we left altho Muriel thought it looked like it might meet her requirements — maybe we’ll inspect it again later this afternoon), Laurel to get some supplies for the art class which is one of her classes this semester, and all three of us to do some grocery shopping. It was one o’clock before we were back & had lunch and since then I’ve been occupied with various odd jobs till I started in on this letter.

Well, it was back to work for Shell on Tuesday and as the week progressed more people kept returning from all the year-end vacations so that by Friday there were only a few people still absent. A fair number had spent the time back in California and brought back accounts of frozen plants, snow and freezing temperatures. Next week will be a full five-day week for a change and I can look forward to a succession of these now with only occasional breaks until summer comes — the first half of the year is always lean on holidays & vacation time it seems.

Palma & Laurel were back in school on Wednesday with about the same schedules except for one or two classes. Palma has a humanities class this semester which sounds good (they are starting out with WDurant’s book on history of philosophy) and Laurel has this art class for which the Texas school system provides no supplies — Jean says we’ve spent about $10 so far on this class, rather different from the custom in California.

Friday evening we had the Johnstons for supper — Palma & Muriel made crepes for both the main meal [ham with mushroom & cheese sauce] & the dessert [chocolate & tangerine] both of which were delicious. Yesterday our Shell friends the Towells came for supper & a visit and later we played our new dictionary game with them & they seemed to enjoy it. Laurel missed out on the game as she was babysitting again for the people who live directly behind us.

We almost acquired a cat again from two small girls in the neighborhood who had found a small half grown stray cat and were trying to find a home for it. However it wandered off last night and since then we haven’t seen it so it may not come back. It resembled our previous cat somewhat. It looked like it had had a hard time of it through its young life and I hope it makes out wherever it is today.

All for this time.

With love, Carl

Monday, January 1, 1973

Jan 1, 1973

13119 Hermitage

Dear Family,

The new year of 1973 is starting out wet and rainy here in Texas — I woke a couple of times during the night to hear some thunder rumbling way off in the distance and to hear the rain on the roof, and the rain is continuing as the day gets started. Generally it’s sort of a light rain but there was a brief heavy shower as we were having breakfast. Jean & I went to bed well before midnight and more or less slept in the New Year, altho I dimly recall being awake about then and being surprised at the lack of noise and commotion outside which was usually the case in El Cerrito. Laurel was baby-sitting for the family behind us and I don’t know just when she got home — she’s still asleep as I write (about 10 oclock AM), I also don’t know when our other two daughters got to bed, altho Muriel was up and around about as so soon as we were.

The year seems to be starting on a sort of optimistic note, as judged from the news in the morning paper. Nixon has ordered a halt in the bombing and hopefully the new negotiations may lead to the long hoped for settlement. The oil workers’ union and the oil companies appear to be headed for an agreement which will avoid a strike and all the accompanying inconveniences. Mr. Shultz says the economic picture is good for the year ahead.

As far as our family here is concerned, we seem to be pretty well over the flu or colds which have been afflicting us for the last week or ten days, altho I still have sort of a stopped up nose today. Today of course is a holiday and I at least will be watching some of the football games; tomorrow it’s back to work at Shell after a week’s vacation and it won’t be too easy getting up at a quarter to six, after getting pretty accustomed to a considerably later rising time. Palma & Laurel start school again on Wednesday or Thursday of this week but Muriel won’t be going back to Austin till the middle of January.

Our Christmas was generally a happy one despite being far from the family contacts of all our previous Christmases as a family. Christmas Eve we spent at the Johnstons — two of their children were at home and Elsie’s mother was visiting with them also; before we went to their house for supper Palma & I went to a Christmas communion service at ~5 PM in the afternoon — sort of a candlelight service which was quite meaningful.

We had our Christmas presents on the morning of Christmas day and we all received many worthwhile gifts & happy surprises. In the afternoon the Johnstons stopped by for coffee & cookies as did also the Kruegers (I ride to work with him) and we also had a visit across the bayou fence with some Shell acquaintances in the neighborhood who had gone for a walk there. In the evening we went to an open house but didn’t stay too long as the girls were suffering from their respective colds and weren’t too interested in the company; my bout with the flu didn’t really start till the next day.

In between times during the rest of the week I did get a few jobs done when I felt like doing something. Friday we went to see a traveling art exhibit at the Houston art museum (part of the Norton Simon collection) which was pretty good. Saturday we had breakfast at Brennan’s (a delayed birthday gift to Muriel because Jean was in the hospital on her birthday last August) and we then went to ITC where I work and made free phone calls to Calif and other points. Yesterday was the usual Sunday, then we had the Guthries for lunch and a good visit. All for this time

With love, Carl

Thursday, December 21, 1972

December 21, 1972

13119 Hermitage, Houston

Dear Family,

Today is the shortest day of the year and the beginning of winter — but we certainly feel that Texas (along with most of the rest of the country) has already had more than a taste already of real winter. One thing we have noticed in this more southerly clime though is that these short winter days aren’t as short as they were in the SF bay area — for example this evening after I got home from work it was still light enough for me to go out and rake up enough leaves, pine needles, cones & accumulated debris in the front yard to fill up the trash can. That’s a bonus and as Clarice wrote in her Christmas letter it should be one of the blessings we can count if we but look for them.

Muriel arrived home from Austin early this afternoon and she said the weather was clear & bright there, becoming progressively cloudier and grayer as they neared the coast. She’ll be home for nearly 3 weeks as classes don’t resume until about Jan 15, so she’ll have a good long relief from those dormitory meals — this evening she really enjoyed the sweet corn (which came from the vegetable club Jean has joined — the ladies of which take turns going to the farmer’s market and buying fresh produce for the whole club).

Today was also the first day of Christmas vacation for Palma and Laurel and they welcomed the end of school for awhile. It is also the middle of the school year and they have been having final tests the last week or so; after Christmas the new term begins. Palma celebrated by sleeping in till close to noon and Laurel by coming down with a cold which had been developing for several days. Hopefully she’ll be better after a good night’s rest tonite but right now she looks rather dreary — she had expected to babysit tonite for the family just behind us but as it turns out they too are suffering from some bug so she could back out of that commitment easily.

Tuesday evening Jean & I went to hear her play in the school orchestra in the Christmas program of music as Spring Forest Jr. High. It was a good concert I thought & the orchestra was surely an improvement over that at Portola Jr High in El Cerrito last year — there the head of the music dept had interest only in band music and the orchestra really suffered. The orchestra had already played 2 or 3 times that day for various elementary schools in the district, so she really had a workout.

We continue to get accounts, in Christmas cards & letters from California, of the unusual cold there. Fuschias, poinsettias, citrus trees have been dealt harsh blows by the freezing temperatures and many doubtless won’t survive. In a way I’m glad I’m not there to see more poor frost-bitten fuschias. At the botanical gardens at the Univ of Calif some 50 years of plant development may be largely lost. One friend wrote that snow remained in her backyard for 2 days after it fell — usually when snow falls in the Bay area it’s only in higher elevations and lasts only a couple of hours. Lately it’s warmed up there, but the damage to plants has been done.

Work continues rather busy these last days before the holidays and I have a busy half day ahead of me tomorrow to get things cleared away before my week of vacation next week. Should be able to get things done though if there aren’t too many interruptions. A lot of people are on vacation already and the offices will have a half-deserted air next week I’m sure. Here at home I brought in the Christmas tree yesterday evening and decorations. it will be a rather different Christmas for us this year — the first one really way from any of the rest of the family, altho with Jean’s dad’s passing over a year ago the old family traditions would be passing regardless of where we were. We’ll be home by ourselves Christmas morning but we have invitations out for Christmas Eve and for Christmas day in the evening so our days then will be filled with fellowship. All for this time

With love, Carl

Thursday, December 14, 1972

Dec 14, 1972

13119 Hermitage

Dear Family,

Well, the wet, cold and cloudy weather has continued in Houston but we are promised clearing weather for the up-coming weekend and I hope the weatherman is correct in this forecast. At least we haven’t had the freezing rain and ice which afflicted much of Texas the earlier part of the week. Muriel wrote from Austin that she went out one evening only wearing her open sandals and her feet felt like they were frozen by the time she got back to the dormitory — at Austin like many inland areas in Texas there was a slick coating of ice over everything and I guess walking around on this ice was what got her feet cold.

A Shell engineer who had been out in Los Angeles for a couple of months was driving back to Houston and encountered the icy conditions in west Texas, skidded off the road but wasn’t hurt and his car was still running so he limped along till he could stop & wait out the weather. He finally got to Houston a couple of days late but happy he made it safely.

Today was drizzly most of the day at ITC but here at home there were a couple of hard showers — Jean was out driving in one of them and she said it was about as hard a rain as she’s driven in.

Last weekend was a pretty full one. Saturday morning I put up the Christmas tree lights that we had bought to string along the porch — they look nice but don’t compare with some of the houses in the area that are literally festooned with lights. The last time I tried putting up lights like this was in El Cerrito and it turned out that the lights were faulty so they kept blowing the fuses when I tried to turn them on; after that experience it took a long time before I was interested in trying again.

In the evening we were invited to the Guthries’ out in Northwest Houston for supper. It started to rain as we left to go there and kept up all the way, the driving was pretty miserable. We’d been there once before when we were down her in February househunting but had sort of forgotten the way so we got lost a couple of times before we finally found the way. But it was a good evening and we learned a new word game that was interesting to play. It was after midnight when we got home so we were slow getting started Sunday morning. Laurel & Jean stayed home from church, Laurel because she had a cold & Jean to get ready for our guests Sunday afternoon, but Palma & I went to class at least, walking instead of driving the car over.

In the afternoon we had the Wests for lunch, the afternoon & for supper. Frank is a fellow Shell engineer & Marian is a LWV [League of Women Voters] acquaintance of Jean’s from El Cerrito. It was a good afternoon of conversation. The Wests are down here only till next summer when Franks has his 80 points & will retire — he’s about 5 years old than I but with fewer years of work at Shell. They are going back to California for the holidays.

Monday I took off as a day of vacation and spent the day on various jobs, including varnishing an old trunk that we’d found in Jean’s dad’s basement after his death and which we took along to Texas. Jean expect to use it to store blankets in. It was rather chilly out in the garage doing this but I got it done (even tho it took almost two days for the varnish to dry). I finished off the day watching football on TV in the evening (along with some of the moon shots) as I’d missed out on all the Sunday football games.

This week I was afraid I’d have to drive myself but it’s turned out that I didn’t have to for which I’m duly thankful — next week should be normal again with trike training over & the regular drive on hand again.

Tuesday evening Jean & I went to see some old houses in Sam Houston park decorated for Christmas, really quite colorful. All for this time

With love, Carl

Thursday, December 7, 1972

Dec 7, 1972

13119 Hermitage

Dear Family,

Brrr! Houston may be hot in the summer but it can be pretty raw and cold in the wintertime, as evidenced by the weather we have had the last couple of days. Of course it’s not like the weather which has moved into the middle west with temperatures in Des Moines of down in the 0–10°F range, but it sort of feels like it. Then there is the contrast which occurs here as the hot and cold weather patterns move in and out. Tuesday for example was a hot humid day, with 75°F or 80°F temperature, then early Wednesday morning a cold front rolled across Houston dropping the temperature 30°F or so in as many minutes. I woke up during the night as the front moved in and I thought it was raining but it was only the wind which came with it as I learned later on. In addition to being cold the weather has been cloudy so all in all it has been pretty gloomy as well.

I’ve just finished watching “World Press” on TV — the same program I liked in Calif and which is carried here on the educational TB station at the University of Houston. Haven’t done much this evening except do this TV watching and write a letter to Muriel as supper was late this evening — Laurel has her violin lesson Thursday evening from 5:45 to 6:15 so it’s always past 6:30 PM by the time we get back from that.

Today I had to drive myself to work as I have all week, as the two drivers I normally depend on have either been on strike training at the Houston chemical plant (in case the oil workers strike on Jan 1) or have been taking a defensive driving course after working hours at ITC. I hope that they soon resume a normal commuting pattern so I can ride along, this driving in Houston traffic every day certainly isn’t to my liking.

Yesterday I attended a meeting at the Houston Oaks Hotel, sort of a research organization that Shell is a member of. This hotel is located in a fancy shopping area called the Galleria which was all decked out in its pre-Christmas finery yesterday — I found it all vaguely depressing.

Last Sunday was a busy day for us. In the morning was church & the adult class, which is well into the study of the book of Matthew now. Then I spent some time watching football on TV until Jean & I left for an open house at the Kisten’s — Shell acquaintances who live in the southeast part of Houston. We’d only expected to stay an hour but there was a lot of good visiting so it was close to 6 PM when we got home — just in time to get to church for a program of song and dessert. Resembled a little but a similar service that was held at Epworth in Calif each Christmas season. Afterward the Johnstons who were with us came here & we sat and visited for awhile.

Monday I had a day of vacation again, and again it was used partly in shopping, an activity I don’t particularly relish. Jean went with me and we got 4 new neckties for me — she’d found a shop that had ties which weren’t the big wide ties currently the vogue and which met with my reactionary taste. We also got some poles which I’ll use for flagpoles for our Calif & recently acquired Texas flags; eventually we expect to get an Iowa flag also. Later in the day I varnished for the 4th time the chair of Jean’s dad’s that I’ve been refinishing — it’ll soon be ready for the reupholstering. I finished off the day watching the LA Rams take the measure of the poor SF 49ers. All for this time

With love, Carl