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