BREV TIL: Vibeke Hjelmslev FRA: Svatja Jakobson (1962-01-12)

January 12 th, 1962

Dearest Vibekke,

your letter was a great joy for as allways at Christmas »something warm and smiling and quiet in the en-eeloppe with the danish kingl on a evening-sea-blue background. The pleasanter it was for me because I had a very bad and long and depressing cold Just over Christ- mas.But I myself was unable to write to friends - just to think about th’em only.lt was the winter, but the Char lottenlund spring -fraaagranc e was also in your letter.And#e thank you both for your wishes and I hope you do not mind much rhhis dellay in sending JHUt our best wishes for t e ^ew Year to you and Louis. The time goes so fast that I have th< feeling that nothing at all really happened in the short term we refer to as 1961.Some teaching,some reading,some articles written,some colds,a few 3$ - ings out,a few dinners at home,a few movies and very few concerts,much morning-readings of the strangest events all over the world in the news- papers,many cigarettes smoked... and the days are full to burst and the nights are short with very few dreams squeezed-in, well, I wonder about Time. I guess it feels like that when one does not travel far away, and I did not go anywhere this summer except a few times to the beach around t e corner. Roman,at the contrary , was again everywhere in the spring and summer,and ekmxh:: like^the home best when he is recuperating from the fatigué and such, and plays with the caleidoscop(which I gave him for Christmas) walking around this place in his pajamas.This year he does not plan to go anywhere far and I am set to fly to California to deliver some lecture and jump from there to Mexico,and t^&n to take a tour around the Slavic settlements on this coast tø look for their /fåId songs and fairy tales especially on the farms, and,the best of all things this year;I have a free term

with no teaching obligations and am decided to do something very active and positive with the Time so I feel it more when 1963 comes again, and have more to write to you at next Chrisibm&s. In any case,we are ,thanks God,healthy in body and mind, on the whole. Yes,the time flies. There is snow again and I am going slicing.And yesterday, a student of mine asked me: are you stil skiing? It made me think of my own'gaff' In Norway,when I asked - when we came to Norway at the beginning of the war - the same question Mr.Raestad who was then perhaps younger than I am now,and learned that my question hurt him. Well,as you see,I am stil in that New Year's day mood. The most joyful thing I did this year was much dancing of the "Balkan Slavic and Greek dances with I like very much. And listened with delight to some electronic music compositions of my studentSoAnd saw two wonderful exhibitions of the Dada Art and Max Ernst's in NY. And am pre- pairing a series of talks with Serbian music for the local broadcast - which makes me feel once more enchanted with my experience in the Yugoslav and Bulgarian villages. And thsr.£ are a few books that I enjoyed: Picasso's Picasso and Max Liberman : The artist in his studio.And there were many friends whom I was happy to meet and kiss. And I wish much I could see you both soon and kiss you also.

Your