Saturday, October 28, 1972

Oct 28, 1972

13119 Hermitage, Houston

Dear Family,

It’s shortly after 8 PM on this Saturday evening (really only about 7 PM as we go off daylight saving time tonite) and I’m sitting at my desk in the bedroom as I write — Jean is in the family room reading this morning’s copy of the Houston Post, Laurel is napping in the parlor and Palma & Muriel (who came home for an unexpected weekend visit) are babysitting at the Baker house next door.

It was a cool, pleasant day but much of the time there were clouds obscuring the sun but no rain so Jean got her wash dry (even tho she didn’t get it out on the line until about lunchtime). The day started rather leisurely for all of us except Palma who was scheduled to take the PSAT (Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test) so was up and on her way to Westchester High by 7:30, before anyone else was up. Muriel had called at 9 PM last night saying she was coming for the weekend and arrived home about midnight — we didn’t wait up for her and she stayed up studying until 3 AM so she would be free today. So she didn’t feel like getting up early and both Jean & I didn’t sleep too well so it was well past the middle of the morning before we left the breakfast table.

I spent the rest of the morning on various chores around the yard — then started in on the weekend projects which included putting up a bulletin board for Palma in her bedroom & for Jean in the kitchen and also working on starting to refinish a chair from Jean’s dad’s house that Jean expects to have reupholstered for use in the parlor. Also washed the old Plymouth — it was rained on last Sunday but somehow the dust from sitting outside 2 weeks didn’t come off in the rain so I needed to use some soap on it.

Jean took Muriel to the eye doctor this morning to check up on her contact lenses (everything was fine so she won’t need to check back for a year) and this afternoon took Laurel shopping for some clothes. Did quite a bit of traipsing around but she says she feels good this evening tho rather tired — even a week ago this would have been about too much for her energy, so she continues to recover for each passing day.

It was very nice to have Muriel home for the weekend again, tho it was just 2 weeks ago that she was home on her previous visit. She continues to get better adjusted to the routine & people at Univ of Texas but even so has started a campaign to go back to Calif for school next fall. Well, we’ll have to think about that. She’ll be riding back to Austin tomorrow afternoon with the girl she came home with — we’ll probably say goodbye to her before she leaves as the rest of us have matinee tickets for “No No Nanette” tomorrow afternoon which starts at 2 PM in Jones Hall in downtown Houston. After we’ve been to that (it’s a musical of the 20s resurrected & I suppose altered to fit today’s idea of a musical) we plan to go by my working place at ITC and make some free long distance calls on the WATS line. So with church in the morning it promises to be a full day.

Work continues about as usual, tho a little more relaxed this past week than the preceding month or so. There was a meeting of the process engineering groups on Tuesday and things have certainly rebounded from the slow period of the last year or so at Emeryville. The prediction was made that next year would be busier than we are right now and that the next 10 years look like more of the same (wonder how many of those years I’ll be involved in); currently our dept is expected to expand ~50% in personnel over the next year. It surely is either feast or famine it seems like.

All for this time,

With love, Carl