Reading: After two weeks of picking it up and putting it down again, I finally finished Echoes by Maeve Binchy. This is the second Maeve Binchy novel I've read; I did not enjoy this one as much as I did Copper Beech, though I liked the Irish setting. Part of the problem is her cast of characters is too large; by flitting from one story to another she ends up doing none of them justice.

In other book-news, I put a hold on the university's copy of Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898. I've always been fascinated by late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century NYC and its boroughs, a result of reading lots of Edith Wharton, John Dos Passos, and Betty Smith at an impressionable age.

Blossoms: Lots of trees still in bloom, including dogwood. The white and the pale pink dogwoods are doing well, but the ones with the darker pink blossoms have been a disappointment this year.

Intent to Evict

Miss Pat called at 11:30 this morning to say that Daniel was sick at school. He was running a slight fever and had thrown up. I drove right there to pick him up and found him lying on the floor in his sleeping bag while the other kids were eating their lunch. He said his stomach hurt, and he didn't want to eat anything when we got home. His fever was just over 100 deg., and I gave him Tylenol and put him to bed when the twins lay down for their nap. He ended up sleeping about two hours and seemed much better when he awoke. I'm not sure whether we'll be able to send him to his swimming lesson tomorrow.

In the latest on the Sarah situation: My uncle Jim called this afternoon to tell me that Aunt Sal is not going to be coming down this weekend, so the face-to-face meeting about the Sarah problem will not be occurring. I had offered to stay with Nana while this meeting was taking place so that they could get together somewhere other than Nana's house, to keep from upsetting Nana. At this point we don't know whether or not Sal will be coming down next weekend.

Jim also wanted to tell us that he had dropped off a "Notice of Intent to Evict," (or whatever the proper legal term is) to Sarah this morning. In this state, you have to inform a tenant thirty days in advance of beginning legal eviction proceedings; since Sarah had paid $300 toward her debt, she could claim all that the money she has paid should be applied toward her rent instead of the toward the $700 she owed on the phone bill, and thus she would be considered a tenant in the eyes of the law and could only be evicted by legal means. Jim saw Nana's lawyer and had the paper drawn up earlier this week and wanted to present it to her before the end of the month since these things are apparently handled on a month to month basis.

Sarah, needless to say, did not accept the news well. She started cursing a blue streak. Jim stopped her, saying, "Sarah, you see that woman sitting in the living room?" [meaning Nana] "She never allowed that kind of talk in this house, and you are showing great disrespect to her." That didn't faze her, however.

I told Tab about it when we talked on the phone this afternoon. He thinks that by taking this step Jim has escalated the conflict and crossed a point of no return. On the other hand, I can see why Jim and Rita felt they had no choice since Sarah has not responded to any of their more reasonable efforts to get her to acknowledge her responsibilities.

What a mess! I absolutely hate for this to be happening right now in Nana's house, where she should have peace in what may be her last days.

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