Started writing this December 14, 2015, late afternoon

Dear Family,

I'm on the plane from Oakland to Phoenix, one of those lucky flights, with plenty of space to spread out. Nice!

I enjoyed my visit to Berkeley this weekend, though I would find it easier to visit if the sleep schedule was not so very different than mine.

As I usually do, I first took BART to El Cerrito and had a nice lunch with Oscar and Paulette. I made a several stops in downtown Berkeley before taking the bus up the hill to Campus Dr.: Stone Mountain and Daughter's fabric store, the bead store, and Andronico's.

Here's a photo of Stone Mountain & Daughter Fabrics. You may remember, Mom, that you were the first person to take me there, years ago.

I had a very nice time talking with Harriet on Saturday morning, and again with Harriet and Tamika together on Sunday morning. Harriet took her Biophysics final at our house on-line, and got a 97%. She eventually wants to go for medical law.

Both of them have the same favorite TV show, a cable show called "48 Hours" which depicts forensic cases and the effort made to solve them within 48 hours, as there is some legal benefit in not going beyond that much time.

Before the tea on Saturday, I took a photo of you, Mom, as you practiced walking around the kitchen and hall, with Sandy behind her "spotting" you. It seems to me that you are walking much more smoothly, with a continuous motion rather than the "baby step, stop and grimace, baby step, stop and grimace" that you used to do.

The tea went very well, always great to see and visit with that nice group of people. Below: neighbor and friend Peggy Tabraham, Chinese exchange student with her host, long time friend Danielle, and Marcia, a friend of Mom's since library school.

 Unfortunately I omitted getting photos of over half the people there. 

I talked with Benter's husband Kalouch (pronounced "Kal-oa-ich") and his brother-in-law, Alfred. Both of their wives were down with the flu, so didn't attend. I was glad to hear that Alfred and his wife, newly arrived this past May, no longer were working at Brennan's restaurant but had acquired better jobs.

Of course the two Africans had to ask me if I thought Trump could possibly win!

Oscar and I did some music toward the end; if we forget to, you always remind us, Mom! "Amazing Grace, Dink's Song, Careless Love, etc. We also always do the lively instrumental tunes "Soldier's Joy" and "Red-Haired Boy", or rather Oscar plays them and I play rhythm chords.

The next day went well. Tamika was at the house, it seems to be working out quite comfortably with her. It was fun to watch those s episodes of "Hamish Macbeth". (We skipped the reportedly grisly funeral parlor one, John). I get really tickled by the quirky side characters in that show. I like the actress who plays his intense dark-haired girlfriend, and the actor who plays the Hamish character is very appealing.

Mom, you are really reading a lot!  In fact, the whole first evening I was there, you read a book continuously. 
 

I usually bring flowers when I visit, and this time it was a bunch  some heather and some light-blue, ornamental eucalyptus pods. As I walk from Andronico's to the 65 bus stop on Hearst,  I always pass the florist on Shattuck, the one which is owned by the Japanese couple who are about my age. They always have unique and interesting stuff.

Surprise, on Sunday, one of the pods opened into a flower. Here's a photo of it: 

Saturday evening, Nancy called to set up a face-time call with herself and Annabelle "to show Gaga her Christmas tree". In the background Jack was playing Yatze with Wendell, and winning. The device used for the video-chat was not face-time, but something like it: very life-like and fun, more so than Skype in my opinion.

Finished writing this on Tuesday, December 15th

It's very cold and sunny here in Apache Junction. I overslept this morning and missed an appointment, which I feel badly about.

Sunday, Sandy and I had a pleasant lunch at a café near the north Berkeley BART station. I asked a German woman to take our photo:

Love, Lennie

P.S. There was a dusting of snow on the desert mountains which the plane flew over on the flight home, and the lights of Phoenix were very bright because the same strong winds which buffeted the plane also blew away the usual pollution: