Saturday, January 4, 1958

411 Bonnie Dr

El Cerrito, Calif

Jan 4, 1958

Dear Brothers & Sisters

As you see I have held up the round robin almost a month this time but I felt that since we hear from one another at Christmas, I might as well wait till the new year before sending it on its way. The new year finds us recovering from a series of colds and some stomach flu, which affected Muriel primarily, but we are now about back to normal — as normal as things ever are with two youngsters whose only norm is change as far as I can discern. Christmas this year was a big event for Muriel and for Palma also, who I think was quite affected by the unwrapping of gifts etc. — more so that Muriel was at her age. Muriel received amongst other things a tricycle; after several falls on the sidewalk in front of the house (which slopes slightly) & in the garage she now practice in the patio until her proficiency is increased. Palma rises the “wonder horse” with considerable vigor and it’s always a wonder to me how she manages to get on it — I keep feeling she’ll slip and fall on her face but she hasn’t so far.

We have had a rather wet fall for California, and I think a little cooler than average. Early in the fall we had some rather warm weather along with early rains and this led to a considerable number of late roses but these have now mostly faded. The leaves on our Modesto ash trees are now all gone — blown off a week or so ago on a windy night. It’ll be a couple of months before the new buds start to come out. However even now there are a few signs of spring — the lengthening days, a few daffodil leaves coming up here & there, the robins etc — so it won’t be too long before the feel of winter will pass. This afternoon I spent working on a grape arbor I am constructing; I didn’t get finished but another half-day will suffice and then I can tie up the grape vines properly (and hope to garner a better yield of grapes next fall, as well as enjoy a shady nook in the garden on warm summer afternoons).

As usual most of our activities center around home, & for me, work at Shell, but we have managed to do a few other things (we even went to a movie a couple of weeks ago — the first one in at least 6 months I’d guess if not longer). As I wrote in the last Round Robin, Jean & I attended a series of lecture on art & architecture in California; these proved to be quite interesting & educational. We’ve seen Roy & Beverly Milton several times and on New Year’s Day met Donald Milton — the last time I saw him was at John’s wedding I think. They stopped by in the morning on the way to Muir Woods — a drippy excursion I’ll wager since it rained in the afternoon & Muir Woods seems sort of damp even in dry weather.

This will be all for now. Don’t let my delay in sending on the R.R. serve as an example to anyone else.

With love,

Carl & Jean