July 17th, 1982

Perfect day of ocean and sun and lovely people. Yesterday Gary and Eileen, Joanne and myself drove here to Joanne’s beautiful home in Beach Haven, New Jersey. A big, comfortable two-story house with that breezy open feeling of summer homes. A broad deck goes all around the second story with a gorgeous view of the bay and, at night, a panoramic landscape of heaven. I slept late today. When I got up, I joined Joanne and Eileen who were already basking on the deck. I’m red as a lobster now. We spent most of the day lolling in the sun having turkey sandwiches and languid serious conversation. Midafternoon we went to the beach and the surf was magnificent. I stayed in the water mostly, crashing and diving into the waves. Then we all showered and Joanne napped while Gary and Eileen and I drove into the village to a shopping mall. Gary and I had chocolate shakes and talked about how different the rest of the world is from New York. Eileen shopped for bargains. I bought Joe a baseball jersey with Beach Haven on it. We bought fresh salad greens from a market on the road and came home and had manicotti, which I had brought. then we all went to an AA meeting in the village. We took a circuitous trip back home, driving up and down cozy little streets seeing family life shining in all the windows. Enormous waves of serenity. We bought Breyer’s vanilla ice cream and came home and had bowls of ice cream with fresh blueberries. My dog and I now curl up to sleep to a symphony of crickets. I am very happy.