13 April, 1963

Dear Mama and Daddy:

We are very pleased that you liked the shirt....obviously Lucy was responsible for the craftsmanship, but I bear full responsibility for the choice of the material. I remember your penchant for aloha shirts. It is wash and wear, incidentally.

After a good deal of procrastinating on the part of the staff of out department I finally had my general examinations a month ago. Although they might have gone better, I am now officially a candidate for the Ph.D. degree. I received a letter from the Dean of the Graduate School today informing of this new situation. I expect to finish up either at the end of the summer or by the New Year. Unfortunately research never progresses at the rate I would like. I keep making up weekly schedules, and have yet to keep to one, for one reason or another. I am now in a big push to get an abstract submitted for the Genetics Society meetings, which are to be held at Amherst, Massachusetts, in August.

We received a note from Linus, mirabile dictu. Poor fellow, seems to have stumbled into a trying period of life. Thank god his accident wasn't more serious. He can always buy another Super 90, but.... I think that we ought to try to get together this summer, especially so if Peter does indeed come over. I will be pretty busy, but ought to be able to take a week off.

Today we had a very pleasant warm, spring day. Although we have had a very mild winter, today was the first really warm day. We diddled a bit in the yard. Some weeks ago, the weekend after my orals, we cut down the laurel hedge at the street side of the garden, achieving a real sense of space in the yard. Although it opens it up to the street, the improvement is immense. Lucy is putting in her vegetable garden new, and also is making a little dry stream bed through the bamboo at the east side of the house. She seems to derive a real satisfaction from her labors in the garden, to say nothing of the gustatory delight we all get from the fresh vegetables.

[...] Too bad, but somehow I can understand. He has always struck me as a pretty unfeeling fellow, and it may be difficult for him to express emotion to a woman. Also, he liked to work at night, all night. He hasn't published anything since he went to Harvard, except for one paper, the experiments for which he did at CIT. Strange, the Harvard effect.

Linus writes that you have had an offer of $3000.00 for the Merc. I think that that is the minimum acceptable figure, although Lucy and I have had our eye on the old crate ourselves. I guess that I ought to learn to be realistic, though. Linus indicates that he may be interested in getting it back himself, I guess for Linie. I have trouble reading his handwriting, and didn't fully understand what he was saying. It seems to me to be not a particularly appropriate vehicle for a teen-aged kid.

Much love from

Crellin