This wasn't actually much of a hardship: Ellen was terrific company. She loved to laugh, and to laugh with Ellen meant being reduced to helpless wheezing. She was an attentive hostess and conversationalist, brimming with interest in her fellow humans. Evenings in our houses were for conversation, board games, reading aloud (James Thurber, Damon Runyon, the poems of Jane Kenyon), with snacks and drinks prepared and served with great courtesy by Ullu, and a revolving cast of friends joining in. It was a wonderful time, and Ellen didn't like to see it being interrupted even for a couple of days, welcoming our family home from a weekend trip with a typed note: Dear Marcus & Monika and every single one of you dear people, We hope ?" and know ?" that you had a wonderful time