Bummed Out. Well, I thought 200 sheets of this paper were cheaper than the legal pads. It is, but I am not sure if it is worth it as these are lined wider.

I did get your letter on Tuesday and was bummed out by it, so I put it aside to respond to on Wednesday, but now it is Thursday and I am just drafting my response.

I have been vegging out the last few days, and as such, I have done no writing. I guess you will be coming home from skiing to an empty mailbox and for that I apologize.

I did receive the enclosed letter from Mom and Dad also Tuesday. I think I sent you the letter where Dad talked about getting back on a schedule of writing (or I still have it and will check before I send this out) but the warmth in this latest letter is (unknown).

I did actually receive the food package that they sent many days ago to Downstate. I am not sure if anything is missing as the weight was only twelve pounds. So even though Downstate told Dad on the phone they would return it, it managed to find its way here. I do not think Mom and Dad resent it, but that could have been a possibility. They did find, and the prison let in, the sun dried tomatoes! So they will be a good thing to add to my tuna salad.

As you can see from the enclosed letter, Mom and Dad are working their way back north and hopefully I will be able to catch them on the phone soon. The reality sunk in this week that no matter what happens with this next step on my appeal, I will most likely be here for the next year or so. I guess the good part is that this may be the most time I am here if not.

So let us check out your letter. Hmm, no letters from me you say? I started listing the dates of my letters to you while at Downstate but lately I have not, so I can not say what you are seeing (or not seeing) in your mailbox.

It is amusing how after the many years of prison writing I have not kept a tighter rein on the dates. It just goes to show that some parts of a person’s "make-up" (highly technical term) are more likely to remain despite radical changes in his or her environment.

So part of the let up in the rain of mail to your location has been my anticipation of the arrival of the typewriter. For example, I have simply "stored" a whole bunch of clippings from the NY Times, etc. Hopefully by this weekend, I will be able to get things cleared up with Mom and Dad.

Wow, a ski trip to Killington, which now includes good old Pico Peak. That is the place I leaned to ski. A friend had a house right down the road from Pico. I think he was actually between Killington and Pico and talked about the killing he would make if Killington took over his property to merge with Pico. I do not know if that part happened though.

Hopefully you had a good time, you had good weather and there were no injuries or sickness.

I always wanted to go to the top of that mountain. Did you take the gondola up to the top? I do have the ski map of Catamount inside my locker and the CO was checking out my locker the other day and did a double check on it. Most inside lockers around here are festooned with naked or scantily clad women. OK. Next subject.  ¶ 9:33 AM