Wednesday, June 2nd

LAST WEEKEND I was at Colby College to get an honorary doctorate, and spent the night in China with Ed Kenney and Susie and their two little children, Jamie and Anne, five and two, respectively. Anne at two is already an enchantress, using every feminine wile to get what she wants; Jamie at five interested in things rather than people. He was delighted by the magnetic frogs I had brought, and explained to me the difference between toads and frogs. I enjoyed the whole evening tremendously, starting with a slow walk around the village by China Lake in the evening light, lilacs in full bloom and many charming small old houses one could dream of living in.

The Kenneys have bought an old house with the rare charm (for New England) of standing a hundred yards back from the road with a long lawn in front of it … this space and the great trees along each side give it an English look. Susie had cooked an epicurean meal, including salmon mousse in a fish shape, and afterward we talked until midnight. These two both teach, both write, and inevitably their life, with two small children to bring up, is one of constant struggle for the time and the energy it requires. I admire their courage, and once more feel the pang of what such lives cost, and whether it will be possible, especially for Susie, to do what she hopes to do as a writer. If there are “beautiful people,” they are not Jacqueline Kennedy but these two!