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8.4.60
Hi Sweetheart -

I'm sorry my love, but I missed this morning's mail call. It seemed less
worthwhile to put a quick note in somehow than to wait a while and take time for
a real letter - gee it's been several days since I really have had time to sit down with you
+ really talk. This morning I spent from 9-10 (when the majority have Econ 1) cramming
for my 10-12 German class so there went the letter time. I guess I'll have to return to the
evenings, now that I have German in the mornings again.

Golly, this is starting out as a really good quarter here on the Burg, not even counting
what trips we will be able to take. The classes are better, I'm enjoying some outdoor activity,
and the weather is marvelous! And everyone came back from the vacation glad to be here
again, so the group is running very smoothly and pleasantly, for the present at least.
Every time I walk out-of-doors, if only to go between buildings here, or every time I look
out my window, I am struck by the closeness of the beauty and life of nature; we are so much
closer to the earth here than I have ever lived before. Even at Fallen Leaf it wasn't like this -
for that was scenery sort of specially set aside for vacations; here we are in the midst of
productive land - of soil tilled for farm or vineyard, of fruit orchard or vegetable garden or
wood forest - and somehow you are much more aware of things growing anew, of activity and
vigor and dynamics, not just a static, finished beauty. I guess this is also the difference
between spring and summer. Everything is just coming alive - this week and the next
couple are blossom time in the trees - so the world is a flower garden outside my window -
it's just gorgeous and seems to begin each day with a smile inside. Also it's generally
very warm and sunny outside, and even after dark it's comfortable in just a short-sleeved
shirt. This means for one thing that it is very nice to be outside - many kids have begun
to study in swimsuits on a towel, all over the surrounding grassy hillside, or on the
lawn in front of the library. I spent Wednesday afternoon on a quiet bench behind Stanford
Haus, with the tree branches right above me, the sound of birds all around, and St. Augustine
in my lap. Also I've been really enjoying some basketball - an hour or two each day. We
have a half court almost right outside my window (in the driveway for the cars, which park
in the basement of Stanford Haus), and it really feels great to be somewhat in shape again, with
the help of our 3 weeks on bicycles. Also we'll probably have several more games like the one
Wednesday night in Backnang, and these are fun too. Volleyball is also beginning,
and later maybe swimming, at a pool in Beutelsbach, so lots of us can enjoy the healthy
exercise now which we usually omit at Stanford.

German class this quarter is far better than last quarter. No more sharp and
[strothman?] grammar and stupid stories; instead we're reading "Im Geist der
Gegenwart", a collection of post-war short stories, written by really good authors.
And we are reading them on our own, so as to be prepared to discuss them in class;
Herr Zimmerman has done a marvelous job in getting at the bigger meaning behind