January 25, 1971 (Letter from Mardi)

How is the sun baked god of the golden Florida sands holding up in drab, dull, snowy, wet Buffalo, New York?  What a bringdown!  At lest you probably have a great tan that can actually remind you that you were really there!  I spoke to my mother and she liked it; only she was just beat when she got back.  They went to the Bahamas and spent a few days there.  (taa-taa)  Her plane trip home though was kind of a mess for her.  I guess there was a terrific ice storm hitting PA and they couldn't land Agony at Jamestown so they went on to Bradford and they had a taxi there to take her home.  Not too comfortable.

My trip back was unreal!  I got to Cleveland and not, not even one NW flight was flying into or out of Cleveland yet, because of the strike.  So I had to go to Allegheny and get my bags because they were checked on NW to Msp!  So this guy got the bags and carried them to United for m3!  HAPPY!  In Chicago I got on stand-by and I actually got in Msp an hour earlier than expected, hungry, tired, and grubby.  Never again.  Amen.  I was started to get "jet crazy".  I was going into this daze -- on a plane, off a plane, on a plane, off a plane, on a plane, etc.  After Chicago I would have gotten on any plane to anywhere!

So that is about the extent of my excitement since I've gotten back.  No, it hasn't been bad for January.  News years was fun and we all got bombed and collapsed into bed.  We've been tobogganing and skiing and Bill has been playing hockey.  So far we've gone through a carton of Ben-Gay and Bufferin!  The first week Bill's knee went out and he got into a fight.  My Bill! -- Certainly not my boy ----. The next week it was his other knee and this week he smashed his elbow!  I caught a really bad cold from skiing all Sunday and I was home Tues and Wed.  As y ou can tell, we are in good shape.

Everyone, everywhere seems to be in that slump.  I talked to Barb last night and she's just hanging in there!  Barely!  I wrote Joan and note and sent it to her home address.  I have no idea what she is doing.  I gold her if things got unbelievably bad she could come out here or go to Boston.  Naturally everything will work out well for Joan, I hope.  I haven't been able to get in the hang of anything lately.  School, work, the whole bit, except fun.  Which there is never enough of at one time like January-February and March.

I must close now and get to work.  Take care.