Saturday, October 14, 1972

Oct 14, 1972

13119 Hermitage, Houston

Dear Family,

It’s getting on toward 5 PM on this fall day in Houston (perhaps a bit on the warm side but not uncomfortably so) and I’ve just cleaned up after the day’s activities and between now and when we leave for supper & a visit with the Vanderwaters (Shell and El Cerrito acquaintances) I’ll get this weekly letter written.

Jean has just gone to take a short nap before the evening out, Laurel is playing the piano and Muriel & Palma haven;t returned as yet from their afternoon of shopping. Laurel isn’t taking piano lessons & has reacted quite negatively to any suggestions along that line, so it’s a little surprising to have her start in playing again all on her own; hopefully her interest will retrn and maybe we can get her into taking lessons again. Palma is now having a lesson every other week from a lady just behind us and likes her teaching quite well.

Muriel is home for a weekend visit and it surely was nice to see her again and to talk in more detail about her classes at the university etc. Originally we’d expected to have her come by bus and we’d pick her up at Katy (a small town about 15 miles to the west of us) but she skipped a late class and so got a ride home with a cousin of her dormitory roommate. We’ve done a lot of talking since she got home and I for one have a better picture of her school life now than I did before. She continues not to like dormitory food and is I think a bit thinner than when she left six weeks ago. She’ll go back tomorrow afternoon for another stint at school until Thanksgiving when we’ll be seeing her again.

This week Laurel had the second two of the 4 teeth that the orthodontist wanted removed extracted, so now she is ready for him to begin putting on the braces to start straightening her teeth. She has an uncomfortable couple of years ahead of her and I hope she doesn’t regret her desire to have this dental work done. Her bill will be higher than Muriel’s (probably because of inflation and also the tendency for higher dental prices in Houston); I guess we were fortunate in having only 2 children having to have this experience, as Palma only needed minor work involving a retainer for awhile.

Work at Shell continues rather busy these days — there appears to be a very marked turnabout from the condition during the last months at Emeryville. In response to the increased number of projects there has been an increase in the dept personnel by transfer in from other parts of Shell. So I guess for several years at least the dept will have a sellers market rather than a buyers market for their work. Should continue I suppose till about the time the new research center is completed in 1975. I heard the other day that some concern had developed about the fault lines under the proposed site that might affect the building plans — seems that there are local salt domes in the vicinity that cause shifting of the ground and consequent damage to buildings. I thought that having left Calif I wouldn’t be affected by fault lines but this doesn’t appear to be the case.

* * *

Yesterday was a fairly busy day for me tho I did knock off early for our evening at the Vanderwaters and also spent time at & after breakfast in conversation with Muriel. I repaired a leaky mechanism in one toilet and also fixed up some faucets that have continued to drip after my first effort at fixing them (they don’t leak this time); also sprayed for bugs around the outside of the house, particularly along the foundation & around windows & doors. Still have to do some spraying inside. We’ve noticed more bugs lately so I guess the effect of the spraying we have done before we arrived is wearing off. Also went to the bank in the morning & took Laurel on a brief shopping trip. All for this time.

With love, Carl

Saturday, October 7, 1972

Oct 7, 1972
13119 Hermitage, Houston

Dear Family,

I’ve just finished writing a letter to Muriel, and it’s getting along toward bedtime but I’ll at least get started in the weekly letter to the family before I call it a day. Next weekend, Muriel will be coming home for a weekend visit and we are surely looking forward to seeing her again — it will have been 6 weeks I guess since Palma & I took her to Austin, but it seems as though she’d been gone for a much longer time. She put in her order to several things she likes to eat — but which she hasn’t encountered in her dormitory fare.

Another cold front penetrated across Texas to Houston this weekend and therefore we are having another delightful weekend — not quite as cool as last weekend so far but the forecast is for a temperature in the mid-50s tomorrow morning. This time we also haven’t had any rain tho there were scattered showers predicted. During this past week we did have some rather warm days, but generally I think that after mid-Sept, Texas weather becomes quite acceptable. I spent this morning mostly gardening. No mowing of grass which seems to be growing slower as we get further into autumn, but I pruned the bushes along the house, raked the backyard; fertilized the berry vines, bushes and my bonsai trees. Then this afternoon I rearranged things in the garage a bit and finally moved my tool chest out there — didn’t want it there till I’d got the garage doors so I could lock them, but had that accomplished several weeks back. This took till about the middle of the afternoon and I spent the rest of the time till supper fixing or adjusting cabinet catches.

Jean continues to feel better each passing day but still doesn’t like to drive (tho she has this past week) so I took her to the polls for the school board election this morning. I’d neglected to get my voter registration in time for this election, but have it for the general election in November, so I couldn’t vote today. Not much interest in this election — Jean was voter #13 at about 10 AM after the polls had been open 3 hours or so I guess. On the way home we did some grocery shopping — otherwise the day was spent at home.

Tuesday night was open house at Westchester High for junior and senior classes, so Jean & I got to see all of Palma’s teachers and hear a little about how they conduct their classes and what their objectives are. Again we were favorably impressed by the teachers, as we had been a week before by Laurel’s at Spring Forest Jr. High. One of Palma’s teachers — her history teacher — had retired from Humble Oil after 25 years work several years back and had gone into teaching. He said he considered his work teaching a lot more significant than what he did at Humble (he didn’t elaborate on what that was). 

* * *

Well, it’s Sunday afternoon now and Jean & I are sitting out in the backyard, reading or writing & meanwhile just enjoying the weather. Palma is inside with the TV on and Laurel is off babysitting. Today was Jean’s first Sunday back to church after her operation; we’d thought some of an afternoon excursion to an “October-Fest” at Round-Top, about 1/2 the way to Austin. Sort of an antique show with several restored houses in the town also. But Jean felt she wasn’t up to that much driving so we’re spending an easy & relaxing afternoon at home. Should be a good way to get ready for the week of work coming up. All for this time.

With love, Carl

Sunday, October 1, 1972

Oct 1, 1972

13119 Hermitage

Dear Family,

The big news this weekend is the weather — a cool front finally penetrated as far as Houston and it’s cool in this part of Texas for a change. This morning (at 8:30 AM yet) the temperature is 55°F and outside it almost feels like summer in El Cerrito. The change started with a rainstorm Friday evening which was preceded with a pot of spectacular lightning but with only a small amount of thunder. When we got up Sat morning and I stepped outside I felt like I should run inside and get a jacket (but I didn’t, just shivered in delight instead). The rain was a little over an inch and this plus several other rains this past week have kept the ground moist and the grass green. Palma just came thru the kitchen loudly asking what she is supposed to wear to church this morning as all her current wardrobe is adapted to hot muggy weather, but I’m sure she’ll make out all right — she said she slept with her windows open last night and woke up to a really cool room. I wonder what our reaction to this kind of a change will be a year from now — yesterday evening we were at another Shell family’s house for dessert and a visit and they were saying that their neighbors (Houstonians for 4 years) had complained about this awful cold weather that had descended on them.

Yesterday was a rather busy day, seemingly with a good part of it taken up in a couple of shopping expeditions. In the morning after finishing up the usual Sat AM chores I drove off to the bank, and then to Sears where I bought a new battery for the old Plymouth (the battery gave out one day last week so I had to take the old one to Sears when I got the new one, and install the new one myself) and also some brackets to steady the gate post (that leads to the garage) to the house. The post moves in the ground and the gate binds against the garage wall (it did, that is, I fixed it later yesterday afternoon). Then on to a post office station for stamps and a stationery store for a 3 ring binder for Jean, and a last stop at Weingarten’s for some grocery shopping. After lunch I swept pine needles & oak leaves off the roof again, gardened a bit, then took Laurel & Jean shopping for some jeans & shoes for Laurel. I used the trip to get some picture wire (for the mirror I’m going to put up in the front hall this afternoon) and a new needle for the record player as the old one was giving out — just happened to locate a shop that had the appropriate kind.

Friday evening we had the Johnstons over for bridge (and talk and dessert); it was fun playing bridge again after a long time. When they left about 11 PM the lightning preceding the cool front was just starting, but I think they got home before the rain started. Tuesday evening was open house to Spring Forest Jr High where Laurel goes; both Jean and I were favorably impressed by the teachers — most of them comparatively young and still idealistic. Wednesday I took Jean to a candidates night for the upcoming school board election & then to a “tea” for Shell wives of the area. Wasn’t too much impressed by the candidates, either incumbents or challengers. Thursday Laurel has her first violin lesson with her new teacher & likes her. The new from Muriel continues good but she didn’t write much about her classes.

All for now With love, Carl

Sunday, September 24, 1972

Sept 24, 1972

13119 Hermitage, Houston

Dear Family,

It’s a rainy day here in Houston — the kind of day, or rain, that was termed an “all day rain” back in my growing up days in Iowa. Maybe still is called that for that matter. It began late yesterday afternoon with what seemed to be a typical afternoon or evening thunder shower, but since then it hasn’t c;eared up in the usual fashion and instead has developed into a light but steady rain. I woke up several times during the night to hear the rain on the roof and as of now it’s still pretty drippy outside (a little after 9 PM — after breakfast but before time to drive to church). I wonder how Palma is making out on her overnite retreat with the church group. They went to a beach house down near Galveston and my guess is that the weather there is about what it is here — normally it could be dry there while it was rainy here, but today is an exception. She wasn’t too eager to go and we sort of talked her into it, so I hope it doesn’t prove to be an unhappy time. At least with the rain the temperature is lower which should make things more comfortable.

I’m happy now that I decided to mow the front yard yesterday — it was getting pretty long in spots and, judging by how “squishy” it was when I walked out to pick up the Sunday paper, today isn’t the day when it would mow very easily (even if the rain would let up). I’d let it go longer than usual because on the average it wasn’t growing very fast, perhaps because fall is approaching, so it was getting to the point where I had to do something soon. Normally I would have done it early yesterday but we has an appointment with a potential violin teacher for Laurel and some other things also intervened, so it was about the middle of the afternoon before I started. It was a little warm doing it then, but the sky was cloudy so it wasn’t too bad. By the time I finished about 6 PM the thundering had started and the rain began with the half hour. Laurel had gone bicycling off to visit a friend and would have been caught in the rain coming home, except that she was invited to spend the night at the friend’s. She was brought home so the bicycle is still there — I guess we’ll pick it up on the way home from church. With Laurel off visiting, Palma at the retreat and Muriel at school, Jean & I were alone at home last night. We spent the evening watching a movie on TV, really a pretty good one with sort of a surprise ending.

We continue to get reasonably happy news from Muriel at Austin who I think the confinement of dormitory life isn’t all to her liking. Probably in future years she will try to get an apartment along with some other students. She likes to get up early — which is different from most dormitory inhabitants — and go to bed relatively early, which is also different. One evening she was particularly irked when she’d been asleep & her roommate & a friend came in late & proceeded to play the radio loudly. She apparently has located a ride to & from Houston on some weekends so we may be seeing her in a couple of weeks, and we can really get caught up on things.

Work this past week has been a bit frustrating since the problem I’ve been working on has proved to be surprisingly intractable and I’m still quite a ways from a solution — it started out as a one-week job and I’ve already spent two on it. This next week the fellow I usually ride with is off to Europe for 4 weeks (he is a native of Germany) but I think I have a ride linked up so I won’t have to drive. Jean continues to improve and to increase her activities — it’s about a month now since the operation. One day she did the wash but it was still pretty much all she could handle, but she’s doing quite a bit of the cooking now.

All for this week With love, Carl

Sunday, September 17, 1972

Sept 17, 1972

13119 Hermitage, Houston

Dear Family,

With the coming of September there is a definite cooling of the weather here in Houston tho it may still be pretty hot at midday. The air is still muggy & moist when I get out to water my plants in the morning (as I did this morning — weekday mornings it’s took dark to do this now) but it’s enough cooler so that I don’t work up a “sweat” doing it. This week we’ve had more rain after some rather dry weeks. Thursday there was about an inch here at home (the most I’ve measured since I put up the rain gage on the backyard fence) and there was some more on Friday & a sprinkle yesterday (enough to send us scurrying out to bring in the wash). With the rain the grass in the yard has picked up a lot, tho my lawn still is a far cry from some manicured lawns around here. These dry weeks have kept it from growing very fast but soon I’ll have to mow it again (seems like at least 2 or 2½ since I last did it).

I’ve formed the opinion that the St Augustine grass popularity around here is totally unwarranted — it’s subject to insects & plant diseases, required watering in dry periods, and gros like mad at other times. I think my policy ill be to treat it so it has to really struggle to survive — that was mowing will be minimized and tho it won’t look as nice, perhaps it won’t be the rampant growth that attracts insects & promotes plant diseases. I’m also considering substituting any one of various ground covers for various areas. According to the Texas gardening book that the real estate lady who sold us our house have to us there are several ground covers that thrive around here, with little or no attention and with resistance to the local insect population.

Things went quite good last week here, even tho I worked every day and didn’t take nay days off as we’d first planned when Jean came home from the hospital. Each day has seen an improvement in how she feels and in her ability to start or resume doing various things. Yesterday evening we went to the Johnstons for dessert in honor of their youngest son’s birthday — he’s the last of their three still at home — and Jean enjoyed the evening which is more than she would even have been up to a week ago. We came home about 10 o’clock tho so it wasn’t a late evening. Jean has also gone for some short walks & visits in the neighborhood, thus providing some welcome interludes in these days of relative inactivity for her. Work has been pretty busy lately so it was good that I could handle things here without taking vacation time right now.

The news we get from Muriel indicates that she is adjusting to college life and seems to be enjoying her classes and teachers. As she gets to know her roommate better she is liking her more and I think a good relationship will develop there. Last Sunday she was hit in the eye with a volleyball & her contact lens cut some small blood vessels in her eye, but a visit to the student health service, & later to an eye doctor in Austin, indicated no damage other than the superficial injury. For which we were thankful of course.

Palma & Laurel make various semi-critical remarks about school here, but generally at a lower level than in Calif, so I’d guess they are reasonably satisfied (except for Laurel’s objection to the dress code). Palma plans to resume piano lessons soon & Laurel may begin violin lessons thru the school.

All for now With love, Carl

Wednesday, June 28, 1972

June 28, Houston

I’m picking up on this letter after we arrived in Houston — actually we arrived yesterday which was Tues June 27th but we’ve been occupied by many details since then and it’s only now that an opportunity has presented itself to continue writing. Late this afternoon we got the news that our furniture will be arriving to be unloaded tomorrow so that will be a busy day. Then we’ll have Friday & the weekend to get squared away in our new home before I go to work for the first day here in Houston.

Last Friday we drove from Delta Utah to Cortes, Colo, taking several hours out along the way to do a bit of sightseeing in Arches National Monument. There were really some spectacular rock formations there and I took a number of pictures. Our time was a little limited so we didn’t drive all the way in, so we didn’t see some of the longest arches — Jean & I will have to so that someday after I retire. The scenery along the road was also quite beautiful in spots and resembled that in the Arches National; Monument itself. All of southern Utah seems to give rise to these unusual rock formations of which the Arches, and also Bryce and Zion parks (which I’ve never visited) are representative. In the southeast part of Utah and the neighboring part of Colo the topography changes and there is some nice agricultural land, interspersed with more rugged and desert-like sections.

Friday night we stayed in Cortez, Colo, which is close to Mesa Verde National Park. Most of Saturday we spent sightseeing there — that is Muriel, Jean & I did (Palma wasn’t interested and stayed at the park lodge while we visited some of the many historic sites in the park). The Indian ruins are located on top of a large, high, widespread tableland or mesa, which is covered with verdant vegetation — hence the name Mesa Verde. The ruins cover the time period from about 1 AD to 1300 AD and show the progression from an early & relatively primitive culture, thru the pueblo period and finally into the final or cliff dwelling period. This ended between 1250 & 1300 AD when the area experienced a severe drought over a period of 20 years or so and the pueblos & cliff dwellings were all abandoned because of the failure of the food supply. Within the park there are some 800 sites of ruins, etc, so you can see that it was really a well developed culture & a considerable population of Indians at one time. Of course we only saw some of the more well known sites, but we did visit examples of all the stages of the culture from the earliest to the last.

After we left Mesa Verde we continued on thru southern Colo for awhile, thru some good agricultural areas before we stopped for the night. Sunday we drove thru New Mexico, stopping for a short while in Santa Fe to see some old Spanish buildings there. As we entered New Mexico from Colo we first drove thru some beautiful forest & ranch country; Santa Fe itself was a disappointment to me and the rest of the route south & east form Santa Fe was rather bleak terrain.

We entered Texas on Monday (we spent Sunday night at Clovis just outside the Texas border) and right inside Texas we encountered another stretch of good agricultural land — irrigated I believe, but showing lush fields of corn, and what appeared to me to be soybeans. The weather was hot as we drove thru Texas (it had also been hot on Sunday in New Mexico and we used the air conditioner in the car for the first time on the trip on Sunday). I had always heard that west Texas was desert-like but generally to me it seemed quite green for the most part.

It took us till well after noon on Tuesday to cross Texas; but we did go out of our way to drive thru Austin, the state capital, where Muriel will be going to the Univ of Texas next fall. We only drove thru the campus briefly but it did give her some impression of it — she’ll get a good introduction at the orientation session she’ll be attending in July.

We were all happy to arrive in Houston — hot tho it was — and we straightway went to the realtor’s, got the keys to the house, and went and looked at it before checking in at the motel. The girls were favorably impressed I think with our new home, tho without any furnishings it doesn’t have the appeal yet that will come when our belongings are moved in. I also unloaded my cargo of plants —bonsai trees, fuchsias, etc — and set them in the backyard. They came thru quite well so I have hopes for the plants that went on the moving van (the two large oak trees I had dug up as well as some larger fuchsias and other plants).

Today was a somewhat frustrating day as it seems rather difficult to get things done in a locale where one does not know where the laundromats are etc. But we did get to a bank this morning, rented a safe deposit box & got the valuables stowed away and an account started, as well as getting some laundry done. This afternoon we cleaned up drawers & cabinets at our new home, putting in fresh paper etc so we are tolerably prepared for the arrival of the van tomorrow. I also swept out the garage — it’s likely it will hold mis stuff rather than the cars for awhile until we decide the appropriate niche for everything. The house was generally quite clean, but with a fair assortment of dead bugs around — as the pest control man had been thru the house a week or ten days ago and sprayed it for these. Houston is definitely a buggy place and spraying for bugs is a part of the way of life.

With love, Carl

Friday, June 23, 1972

June 23, 1972

Delta, Utah

Dear Family,

I only got as far as the date & place on this account of our recent doings when I was interrupted this morning and now it’s after supper and I’m writing in our motel room in Cortez, Colo. rather than in Delta, Utah. The day was another comfortable traveling day — generally on the cool side and mostly sunny tho along toward the middle of the afternoon there were quite a few clouds and a few drops of rain. Nothing like the rain thought we encountered yesterday afternoon which was pretty heavy at times. This morning everything was fresh and green looking because of the rain and the air had that “clean” smell which, in my recollection, follows the typical midwest summer rainstorm.

Today we drove from Delta Utah to Cortez Colo and this puts us just about at the halfway point on our trip to Houston. After lunch we spent an hour or so in a rather hurried look at Arches National Park in Utah which was just off the road we were taking. Some rather spectacular rock formations and I took half a dozen or so color pictures — the roll in the camera was I think still there from our August vacation of last year to the Pacific northwest and that shows how much of a picture-taking family we are. The whole southern part of Utah seems to be the same general geologic structure, more spectacularly represented in some places like the park we visited today but with evidence of it many places along the roads we traversed. We also saw some nice farming country today as we passed thru Utah, particularly in the southeast corner and also in the adjacent part of Colorado.

Last Friday was my last “working” day at Emeryville but I put in only a token appearance as the office furniture was in the process of being moved out and there wasn’t any good place to work. Along with the furniture was all the files so there wasn’t any access to them and this further reduce any incentive to work or much chance to do anything constructive. So I turned in my badge after an hour or so and went home to keep an eye on the packers. They spent all day Friday and most of Monday getting us packed and even then some things like the springs & mattresses and the contents of several closets still remained till the movers came on Tuesday — so that we could still sleep in the house on Monday night.

The loading was all supposed to be done on Tuesday but actually it took till well past the middle of the afternoon on Wed, so we were almost a day late starting our driving to Texas. I suspect that the mover was spending more time on the job than usual so we could have a little space left over in his van for a supplemental job; he’s not supposed to unload our stuff in Houston till next Thursday which leaves him with some time on his hands just sitting there with his van all loaded and nothing to do unless he can develop some additional small moving job. Next time (if we ever move again) we’ll know better what to expect and how to deal with it.

But we finally did start on our way about 4 PM on Wed, in time to beat the worst of the commuter traffic locally in the bay area tho we did run into a little congestion in Sacto. We had supper in Auburn in a most excellent restaurant that Palma spotted, actually as I was in the process of making a U-turn to go back to another place we had just decided on. This restaurant was in a restored Victorian house and the surroundings as well as the meal were elegant (tho a bit expensive, but then Shell was paying for it). The restaurant was fittingly called “Butterworth’s.” It was just newly operating but I suspect with time should become well known — a fellow who used to work for Aerojet was the owner. He said he’d had this ambition for a long time and as soon as he had his “grubstake” he went ahead with his plans.

Fred Brye home, formerly Butterworth's restaurant

We also stopped in Auburn for a short visit with the Flints — Mr. Flint was a boyhood friend of Jean’s dad and we’ve visited them off & on thru the years whenever we passed thru Auburn. Neither Muriel nor Palma recalled the Flints from previous visits but took to him & his wife immediately (Laurel wasn’t with us as she’s staying in Calif to go to Cazadero music camp for 2 weeks beginning next Monday and will fly to Houston when that’s over). After visiting the Flints we drove on to Reno where we spent the night and Palma had a chance to visit again the First Methodist Church there where the youth choir visited a year or so ago on tour — it’s really quite picturesque but hemmed in now by businesses as are so many downtown churches.

Thursday we traversed Nevada — the day was cloudy almost from the start and by the time we entered Utah we’d driven thru sprinkles now and again. In Utah Muriel was driving when perhaps we shouldn’t have let her as she isn’t too experienced. The road was a little wet and windy and the car skidded out of her control; fortunately we ended right side up and with no damage either to us or the car or anything else but we were all a little shaken by the experience. She didn’t drive at all today but when the situation seems appropriate later on we’ll let her start in again; maybe it was a good experience for her and will instill more caution in her in the future. After the incident I drove on to Delta, Utah where we stopped for the night; we could have gone further but the rain was so heavy at times that I didn’t feel like driving under the circumstances. As it was we had just passed into another time zone which made the time an hour later by the clock, so it was close to suppertime anyway by the time we’d located a motel.

Sunday, December 26, 1971

Dec 26, 1971

411 Bonnie Dr, El Cerrito

Dear Family,

It’s a little past 4 PM on this gray and drizzly day after Christmas and as I sit here in the living room starting to write I can see all the marks of the season — soon to be put away till next year, or discarded, or moved to a more appropriate place or use. The Christmas tree stands in the corner, with the top bent a little by the weight of the tree lights and/or decorations — someone was saying that they’d talked to the proprietor of a Christmas tree lot who’d said that he was tired of people who wanted an absolutely symmetrical tree and that he liked a tree with character. By character I was given to understand he meant a tree with a branch too big here, or no branches at all there or some imperfection. I think our tree this year had “character” — it never was exactly straight and now it has a definite curvature.

By the tree is the end table I made a couple of years ago — on it sits a pot with a chrysanthemum plant in it (brought by some luncheon guests that Jean had last Thursday — a lady and he three daughters who used to live on the other side of the block from us here), a Christmas tree decoration that Ruth Peterson (Rev. Gus Knock’s oldest daughter) brought when she came to dinner last Wednesday and last, but not least, the old glass sugar bowl with cover than belonged to grandmother — now being used for a few days to hold some old fashioned hard Christmas candies.

On the mantle stand a row of Christmas cards we’ve received this year and from it hangs four red, decorated Christmas stockings. Yesterday morning they were full (at least those of the girls were), now they are flat & empty again; not there any more is the red stocking belonging to Palma that she’d put up for me since I don’t have one of the decorated ones that are preserved from one year to the next.

As I write I’m munching periodically on some salted peanuts which I think came from Laurel — they were in “my” stocking — and I can hear from downstairs the strains of the hi-fi set with a rather melancholy song now being played. Over its sound tho I can hear the chattering of some birds outside — blackbirds or starlings I guess — that have been with us for several days now. Earlier this afternoon I went outside for awhile and did enough pruning on the rose bushes to fill up the trash can — the garbage man comes tomorrow morning and this was my last chance to fill it before he came. Started in to do this Friday morning, which I had off as a holiday, but just as I started it began to rain with considerable vigor so then I retreated inside until a more propitious time — this afternoon it was misting some but even so it was rather pleasant to be outside getting a little fresh air. Just after lunch Jean’s sister & her husband from Encinitas down south left to return home, they cam on Wednesday and it was an enjoyable visit for the days they were here. They have a long drive ahead of them before they get home this evening. We’re glad we’ve not driving some 500 miles this afternoon & evening.

Monday Jean & the girls went over to San Francisco, not shopping but just to see the stores and decorations — including the City of Paris store with its large Christmas tree, for the last time I understand as it’s being discontinued after the first of the year. Another example of the decline of downtown shopping & the flight to the suburbs. Tuesday they wnt out to the Sun Valley shopping center in Concord, which is where the stores bave been fleeing to. Palma had a friend stay overnite Monday night, she used to live up the street aways & now lives in Marysville in the Sacto valley.

Thursday there was a luncheon at work for the three process engineering depts — chemical, licensing & mechanical — and I went to it having contributed my $1 (and being assured by the steno in charge that I didn’t need to bring any salad or dessert as originally specified). After the luncheon there was a short and not too tuneful singing of Christmas carols, to the accompaniment of two engineers playing recorders (an instrument a little but like a clarinet, except that you use your fingers to cover holes to make the various notes). I spent the rest of the afternoon doing my Christmas shopping (we had the afternoon off from work) and so got it done a day sooner than I have in recent years when I’ve used Christmas Eve afternoon for this purpose.

Friday evening we had supper with just the Ritchies — Jean’s sister — along and then went to the Christmas Eve service at 7 PM. Afterward we just sat & visited until we chased the girls off to bed and Jean & I filled the stockings before following them. We had the opening of gifts Christmas morning — I got a beautiful box, decorated with stamps, from the Prairie View Strands and a large framed watercolor painting from Jean. The latter she’d seen over in the El Cerrito library and is a rural Calif scene from the Livermore valley. By the time we’d finished opening the gifts it was time to get the turkey started and we did that before having lunch. The Rosels came in about the middle of the afternoon and we had supper about 5 o’clock — the turkey was a bigger one than usual & wasn’t quite as well done as we usually cook them, but it was a delicious and every one ate too much I’m sure.

In the afternoon before our guests came Jean & I went for a walk (the weather having cleared a little — we’d had a rainy Friday & Friday night) in the cemetery nearby and left some holly branches at the graves of her folks. It was amazing how many flowers we saw in the cemetery, and the number of small Christmas trees on many graves — remembrances of many happy Christmases of the past no doubt. After supper we visited until late, but we woke this morning feeling somehow fresh & rested anyway.

All for this time

With love, Carl

Sunday, July 25, 1971

July 25, 1971

Seattle, Washington

Dear Vivian,

It’s bright and sunny this morning here in Seattle and I’m sitting outside in the shade, at the motel we spent the night at, looking out over a body of water in the city here — don’t know it this is the one called Lake Washington — I rather think it’s one of the other & smaller ones in the city. doing misc packing & cleaning up I guess while Laurel is washing her hair. We let her “sleep” in this morning as she’s been complaining that we’ve been getting her up too early to start on each day’s activities. However I noticed she woke up about as usual and used the time to read in bed which is just what she’d have been doing had she been in the car riding along. I think today will be a fairly warm day here, tho I hope not like some last week which we read in the paper or heard over TV were up in the 90s. After lunch we are meeting this family that Jean knows and are spending the afternoon at the science museum & other exhibits at the site of the World’s Fair here some 8, 9 or 10 years ago; then having supper with them before we proceed on a ways before stopping for the night.

Yesterday morning we drove up to Hurricane Ridge in Olympic Park, this being the last of our several side trips into various parts of it. This ridge is at about 5000 ft elevation, and because of the combination of altitude, latitude & precipitation is in an Arctic zone as far as vegetation is concerned. From it we had a good view of the high mountains of the peninsula (including the highest, Mt Olympus at close to 8000 ft — Laurel pointed out that the real Mt Olympus was in Greece), several of the some 60 active glaciers in the park, and a somewhat obscured view of the straits of San Juan de Fuca (the entrance to Puget Sound) and British Columbia. The view was obscured partly by natural haze due to a temperature inversion but also by smog from a Crown Zellerbach plant in Port Angeles (where we’d spent the night before). We drove as far as we could but late melting snow prevented us from driving in as far as we might have later in the season. We went on a brief naturalist-conducted tour which was rather interesting, saw several flowers, some animals and clambered over several big snowbanks that still lay astride the trail we took.

On leaving the park we drove on to Port Townsend, partly because I thought it sounded interesting, and also because a member of my ride group at Shell has bought a lot there, where he intends to retire someday. Shortly after we got to Port Townsend we stopped briefly at the site of a Fort Townsend, now a state park. There he chanced across the individual in charge who was doing a little spade work putting in some parking facilities and he gave us several old square nails he’d just dug up — probably part of the old Fort buildings. In Port Townsend we drive around and looked at various of the old Victorian houses — several very well preserved ones, as the ones in Astoria, Ore that we’d seen earlier. Jean & Laurel went in one and we all visited another county museum, which seem to abound both in Oregon & Washington.

From Port Townsend we had a ferry ride to Whidbey Island — one of the larger islands in Puget Sound which we drove down, then took another ferry to the mainland & on down to Seattle. The view from the ferry wasn’t spectacular but it was interesting & certainly reminiscent of ferry trips in San Francisco Bay in years back. I think ferries will be operating a long time in Puget Sound as the distances to be traveled are large and traffic is relatively light so that the cost of bridges would be prohibitive. Also there are so many places to be connected that a large number of bridges would be required.

I’ll let this be all for this time — could you send this along to Verner’s when you write to them.

With love,

Carl

Friday, July 23, 1971

July 23, 1971

Quinault, Wash

Dear Clarice

I got this far on this letter this morning and then as things worked out I used my time for other things so hardly got started. Now we’re settled in a motel in Port Angeles after another day of sight seeing and I’m sitting by the pool while Laurel has a swim (an adult is supposed to accompany a child under 12 — in my case Laurel knows a lot more about swimming than I do & what I’d do in an emergency isn’t quite clear in my mind, but here I am to fulfill the rules). This choice of a motel with a swimming pool is a concession to laurel, who is getting tired of this traveling & sightseeing and would like to get home shortly; hopefully a good swim session will mollify her for a couple of days. We still have two weeks scheduled, but the traveling aspect tapers off now and perhaps when we stay “put” a little longer when we stop each time she’ll be a bit happier.

Today has been a continuation of our exploration of Olympic Park on the Olympic peninsula in western Washington. Yesterday we started on this by driving up along one of the rivers which originate in the park & flow to the Pacific. We drove in as far as the last housing accommodations and there rented a house keeping cabin for the night — left Laurel to read & play while Jean & I drove in further thru the “rain forest” typical of the park. Later in the day Jean & I took another short hike into an area of big trees — Douglas fir, western hemlock, Sitka spruce etc towering some 300 ft & perhaps 500 years old — really peaceful & lovely in the late dusk (which is after 9 PM this time of year in this latitude). Today we took another drive into the park along another river (the Hoh river this time) thru similar forested terrain, but I thought even more impressive and scenic. We also took a couple of short hikes down to the Pacific (there is a non-contiguous portion of the main park that lies along the coast). The shore was still foggy when we were there but the drives into the park were in sparkling clear weather. We’ve been fortunate in the weather we’ve encountered here in Washington according to the daughter & son-in-law of a member of my ride group, who are living in Seattle. We had planned to drive into an area of the park caller Hurricane Ridge late this afternoon but the park ranger thought tomorrow morning might give us a better view from the ridge (of Mt Olympus, the highest in the park, and also such topographical features as the river valleys in the park & the the adjacent parts of Puget Sound) so we put it off till then and gave Laurel a chance to swim instead.

My initial impression of Washington when we entered it yesterday wasn’t too favorable but it has certainly improved since, and I think the Olympic park is truly one of the most beautiful spots I’ve seen in all the west. The rain forest is really beautiful, whether it’s shrouded in fog or in sunlight. Both give it a kind of beauty which is quite breathtaking. And of course the Washington beaches, as present in the park, are similar to the Oregon beaches and just as spectacular. Makes me wonder why anyone keeps on living in California.

Tomorrow in addition to driving up to Hurricane Ridge we plan to visit an historic town of this area — Port Townsend — which is supposed to have some interesting Victorian houses. Then onto Seattle where we’ll see some friends of Jean’s on Sunday, plus a museum-viewing that’s available on the side.

All for now — could you send this on to Vivian.

With love,

Carl

Thursday-Saturday, July 22-24, 1971

Quinault

on Lake Quinault, Wash

July 22, 1971

Dear Muriel and Palma

Yesterday we arrived in Astoria from Tillamook. On the way up from Tillamook we continued to see the beautiful Oregon Coast making a few view stops but choosing Ecola State Park as our lunch stop. There was a lovely drive through the woods a mile or so to the parking area. Again we saw a pretty bush with bright red berry clusters which I later found were red elderberry. After lunch we walked out on the headland which had rugged rocky cliffs under it much like Carmel. In the area near Astoria we stopped to see Fort Clatsop where Lewis & Clark wintered in 1806. The Astoria Column is high on a hill and honors the many men who first did this & that.

This morning it was dried cereal & fruit before seeing the Bumble Bee Canning factory where we saw tuna (albacore) being slit, detailed & beheaded, skinned, cleaned off, fed to cans, cooked & labeled. Also saw a small job of canning salmon steaks — one to an oval can. I bought Ritchies’ Christmas present.

Then to the Clatsop Co Museum in the old Flavel mansion occupied continuously by family until 20 years ago. [Google also turned up links to a second Flavel house, two of which I am including here because they are so interesting. —LRS] Then the Maritime Museum which we will recommend to Ray. We’ve seen several extensive displays of sailor’s (macramé) knits and several purses made with knots. Finally over the Astoria Bridge into Washington — 4 years since the ferry was replaced.

Fri

Washington didn’t look as good as Oregon at first. We almost froze when we stopped for lunch in the “foggy foggy dew.” But as the afternoon came on we came out of it and the state looked better. We bought bread in Aberdeen and headed toward Quinault on Lake Quinault in Olympic National Forest. The National Park was across the Lake. After renting a rustic cabin we left Laurel and drove about 13 miles into the Nat’l Park along a river canyon into the rain forest. At the end we took a short hike. After supper of beans and Canadian bacon & Daddy’s home grown beans and the last of my Virginia Bakery brownies Daddy and I again set off a short distance to walk a short trail to see some big trees: red alder, douglas fir, Sitka spruce and red cedar.

It was foggy when we awoke and you could just see across the Lake. We stopped for a short walk to show Laurel the beautiful stream we’d seen on the Big Tree Walk. The road took us along the beach area in the Park and we stopped at Beach Walk #2 (there are 5 or 6) and Ruby Beach. It was foggy, chill but beautiful. Lots of driftwood. We chose Hoh River for our next Park exploration. It proved delightful and we walked the moss trail. It hangs down in gobs on the branches like a blanket.

Highway 101 turns and goes until again you enter the Park at Crescent Lake and it looks like Tahoe must have looked even before my time. There are some cottages on the north shore but the lake was beautiful and blue today with no neon signs. A ¾ mile walk with a short steep grade at the end after crossing a log across the river (with a handrail) took us to see Marymar or Marymere Falls. They aren’t very high and they aren’t a single drop but they are very nice — waterfalls always are. Then on to Port Angeles. 

First we stopped at the VisitorsCenter for the Park — I’ve never know one to be outside a park. Then we found a motel with an indoor swim pool. Laurel is in it now. Children under 12 must be with an adult, so Daddy is sitting down there writing a letter. Of course there were no adults with the 3 or 4 other children swimming when I left. Yes I went in but found it very unsatisfactory — it was like swimming in a bathtub in a warm room.

We’ll call you tonight.

Sat am — Laurel’s watching color TV cartoons in bed. We’ve had 7 dinners. Twice we ate on our own, once out of our lunch basket and once in our kitchen as mentioned. Otherwise I’ve had salmon 3 times and crab twice. Daddy is still eating ground cow.

We’ll probably see Canada today but we won’t get there. The northwest has had good weather for about 2 weeks — we’ve been lucky.

Love,

from your mother JRS

Monday and Tuesday, July 19-20, 1971

[written by Jean]

Monday July 19, 1971

Reedsport, Ore.

Dear Muriel, Palma & Sylvia

This was the day of our trip up the Rogue River on the “Official Mail Boat.” There’s also the “Original Mail Boat.” We had our second breakfast of Virginia Bakery sweet rolls. This time with orange just as there were no quarts of milk in the store last night. Daddy’s coffee dealy is working out very well. Then packed up & off to the mail boat.

They left pretty much on time. We were the 2nd of at least 3 leaving at 8:30. It’s a beautiful river with a very wide flood plain. As you get up a few bends the trees don’t have so many snags among them and it’s better forest. There are several places where the channel must be deepened or they couldn’t run the boats all summer. There are 2 places to eat and they ask you where you’re going before you leave and evidently phone the orders up. We made the last stop at Singing Springs. It’s efficiently run and you’re assigned a table as you arrive and tell them your order — chicken or roast beef. We arrived shortly after 10:30; lunch at 11;30 — leave at 1. We chose to walk to “town.” There is a Forest station and one store in Agness. 2 room school house and high school is an hour away. It was quite warm and we just sat under the trees after lunch until time to leave. As we were leaving Carl noticed a busboy we were talking to was from Iowa. I noticed it was Des Moines and asked if he’d gone to East High. Sure enough he knew Clarice.

I found the trip back less enjoyable as going downstream we had a stronger wind but it was only 1½ hours (about 30 miles) back so that helped. The day dawned clear and it was still clear at 2:30 when we returned. Since then we have driven to Reedsport where we got out first motel with a pool. Laurel is swimming now behind me — I was in earlier about ½ hour. We don’t plan [on] going out to dinner tonight after a good lunch and expensive dinners the last 2 nights.

We’ll call you at 9.

July 20, 1971 Tue

The fog came in so it was foggy when we looked out at Reedsport. So we are seeing the Oregon Coast in sun and fog. As we came north we found there were so many interesting things to see we decided we didn’t care whether we got to Astoria or not.

1st was a little place where an insectivorous [plant] grows profusely. 

The sea lions were hiding in the fog.

2nd Cape Perpetua; first the short Indian shell mounds and then an interesting Forest Service Visitors Center, and and fog.

At Newport there was a bakery, county museum, old lighthouse and right up the highway an agate beach. At Cape Foulweather there is a beautiful view — the one on the Sunset Oregon book — with sea otters out on the rocks. Finally we headed to Tillamook and I couldn’t get Carl to either stop or take a byway again.

Love,

JRS