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[And lastly, a letter from Phil's mother to Harry, after Phil had come to San Diego. Harry had written to Mrs. Keeney (a letter which we do not have here) and this was her reply...]
18135 Heyden Avenue March 21, 1974. Dear Harry, As you can see by the above, this should be the first day of spring, but judging by the view from the office window here it is anything but! We had quite a bit of snow overnight and also this morning, but at least it won't last long this time of year. I fed my dear little wild birds before I left home this morning and they were managing to find their seed all right, they know where to dig for it if the snow gets a little heavy. It is very gratifying to hear the chirping they start up when they see me coming with the seed, our German Shepherd Heidi always "helps" me with that chore when I mention to her that we will go out and feed the birds, she acts as though it is a very important part of her life!! Len and I would like to thank you very much for your extremely kind letter. You have deep feeling and understood that our minds would be relieved once we knew that Philip had been warmly accepted. Your statement regarding "not being able to pay Phil what he is worth" (or words to that effect), was obviously meant from a material point of view, monetary in fact but believe me, that is very secondary to what you both may be able to give him spiritually and technically in his pursuit of music - these things can never be bought, only acquired when one is receptive to same, and I hope that Philip always will be. We all miss him very much, but want more than anything for him to "find" himself and from that find the happiness which is due him. The past few years have not been very happy ones for him. I was both furious and very disappointed when I phoned our local Canadian T.V. station yesterday and learned that your program will not be aired here on Sunday - a movie is always shown here at that time they also assured me that it would not be shown at a later date. We are most disappointed. Thank you very much for the petal from one of your gardenias - I felt very envious when Philip told us of your lovely flower garden. I do have two brave orange crocus blooming in the front garden and the frost hasn't been able to kill them, thank goodness. Also, I envy you the sea - I spent so much of my life beside it in England, that really does make me feel homesick when I think of those hours there. One day I shall see it again! In closing, I would like to hope that your health is as good as possible - I know there reaches a point in our lives - in some earlier than others - when we can't always feel as fit as we would wish to be, but sometimes there are other compensations when we look for them. My mother will be eighty seven this summer and is going through a rather disconsolate period of her life, but I am hoping to be able to cheer her up when I go out for my usual visit this year. Once again, we thank you - it was very pleasant hearing from you. Please give our kind regards to Danlee and we are very sorry that we won't be able to see you both on T.V. this Sunday. Take care of yourself, if we are ever fortunate enough to get to San Diego we will surely visit you. Sincerely and gratefully,
Your friends,
P.S. Please excuse my typing instead of writing but arthritis in my thumb makes it rather difficult -- and illegible!
Meadows
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