Lava and Year of the Pig

Dear W,
I am sorry to tell you I was able to get only one copy of The Advertiser your haiku was in. I explained to the man at the paper that I wanted six copies (I know you said three, but I wanted you to give or send them to relatives and friends. I'm so proud of your beautiful little word poem) for a young girl from New Hampshire. He looked blank so I told him it was a New Englad state 6000 miles from Hawaii. He was very nice, and made three phone calls to see if he could get even one more. But no luck. Usually they have dozens - hundreds - left; but on that particular day, the volcano had erupted and the photographers had been able to get some stunning pictures people were either saving them or sending them to friends and relatives. If you turn over the page where your haiku is and look up in the left hand corner, you'll see that lava (2000 degrees) advancing down that road - where nothing could stop it. Some five or six homes were destroyed because they were in its path. You have much better pictures in color from magazines, but, even so, these are very impressive.

If you remember, some months agon I told that over here this is the Year of the Pig. Some of the others are the Year of the Dog, Cat, Horse, Rat - twelve altogether I believe. I thought you mikght like a "pig" souvenir. If it is too large, a cobbler or tailer can make it smaller I'm sure.

Thank you for the lovely Easter card. It arrived on my birthday - the fourth. So I had a whole long weekend of celebration. And I especially loved the little book bonus by James Herriot. I've read his four wonderful books - five, really, for one was of pictures of his beautiful but stark homeland. I sure wouldn't want to live there. How did your science fair project turn out? Did you really have snow today? It's almost May!

Love,
E.R.G.