Sunday, January 29, 1956

January 29, 1956

411 Bonnie Dr

El Cerrito, Calif.

Dear Brothers & Sisters,

Coming home tonite from Jean’s folks’ where we had had supper, I suggested to Jean that she could use part of the evening writing the round robin contribution from Calif. This suggestion did not meet with very much enthusiasm tho, so, like Vincent, I am doing the honors. However I shouldn’t complain since I get by with less letter writing nowadays than ever before, & have on the other hand more to read.

A couple of weekends ago I was sorting thru & arranging my collection of old letters & came across one from Vivian while she was teaching in Lakota. This letter related the opinion that Lakota high school students considered a) the writer’s health and b) the weather to be indispensable topics for a letter. So, to fulfill these requirements I shall inform you that I am feeling fine (and sound of teeth as attested by a quite recent verdict of the dentist), that Jean is fine and that Muriel is growing & developing well. And secondly, that the weather in these parts has been dry & sunshiny for two whole days but that prior to these two days has been wet, gloomy, cloudy & rainy for the better part of two months. In fact it has been so damp that the chimney bricks have started to get moss growing on them.

Because of the rainy weather I have been prevented from following one of my usual weekend activities, namely working in the yard. Before Christmas I was able to get the front yard mowed one day but since then was unable to mow it again till yesterday because it was too wet. Consequently when I got into it yesterday it was really quite a job getting it mowed. Yesterday I also finished the rose pruning & noticed that the tulips & daffodils I set out in the fall are coming up. Perhaps they are early because the weather, tho wet, has been on the warmer side. We plan to plant some trees along the sidewalk but have yet to buy the trees & get them planted.

Probably the most important factor in how the Strand household in E.C. is run is Muriel. Right now she has just reached the point where the playpen as a useful tool may be on the way out. Yesterday she climbed out, or more correctly, climbed to a point from which she fell out. He fall scared her more than it hurt her & she hasn’t repeated the escape, but I feat it’s only a matter of time. She has started to open drawers instead of closing them, can open & shut doors (except for hard-to-open ones), has a vocabulary of perhaps 25 words (recognizable at least to some degree to Jean & me), hates to have her hair washed but likes a bath.

My work at Shell continues as usual — a mixture of practical service problems & somewhat impractical (at times) research work. Right now my big project at home is the refinishing of the floors, with which I’ll have the assistance of Jean’s brother-on-law. I’ll be glad when it’s done. This will be all for now. I shall send the R.R. on its way tomorrow a.m. on the way to work.

With love,

Carl, Jean, & Muriel