Hello. Thanks for hanging in there during this prolonged silence. I’ve been meaning to post but have had limited internet access and have yet to figure out how to tell people what happened. Below is an excerpt from an email that conveys the basics.
“We got a terrible phone call last week and had to make an emergency flight back from Zurich: my family’s farm near the New York border burned on Christmas night, and my 94-year old grandmother perished in the fire. My brother Carl was staying with her for the holiday and tried to get her out of the house twice, but was ultimately unable to pull her to safety. He was badly burned and cut in the blaze and was brought to the Trauma and Burn Center at Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh. They are, I think, one of the top burn centers in the country, which is good. His injuries are no longer life-threatening but burn treatment is difficult and exhausting. My father, stepmother, R and I are here with him on rotating shifts eighteen hours a day to handle care, therapy and all the medications. They have a small residential area on on the top floor of the hospital for family members, so we’re staying there for now. We are hoping that he will move closer to my father’s home in Buffalo by next week, but it is still touch and go. I will know more in a few days.”
Displaced 
Emma,
How sad that I find you again under these circumstances.
Can I help? I could come to Carl’s bedside and read crappy fiction to him…I want to do something to help.
Les and I were in Jewett today as we journeyed with our beloved beagle to the WW II Museum in Eldred. Yes, Eldred, and it ain’t bad. The landscape on the whole drive was depressing with myriad Christmas blow-up jobbies deflated in lawns and reindeer blown over, and, regrettably, some ornaments still standing.
I don’t know how you are coping. I loved Vivie, too, and of course, you and Carl mean so much to me.
Keep in touch.
Much love,
Carla