Memphis Democrat January 17, 2001

Jeffrey's father Andy came to visit for the weekend from Chicago. We also hosted Chris and Christina, a couple from Ann Arbor, MI, who brought us lovely gifts of tofu and home dehydrated strawberries and cherries from their garden. They worked hard with Kurt and Don hauling and splitting firewood. Don worked so hard that he broke our iron maul.

Cecil amazed us again with his delicious cooking. This week he made Ethiopian food. He served it traditionally, with a sourdough pancake called injera and different vegetarian stews.

Alline was feeling ill and asked me to say she didn't do anything worth mentioning.

Cecil and I spent over an hour in the Bank of Kirksville in Memphis, between the our personal business and all the different accounts we manage for the group. I've never spent so long in a bank and I've never had so much fun in one either. Thanks Sandy (and Betty) for helping Cecil vote absentee on a holiday, since he'll be out of town on the 24th.

While we were in the bank, Tony, our visitor Megen and Laird from Sandhill gave blood. It was Megen's first time and we were extra nice to her that day.

Don attended an auction and brought home lots of construction supplies including buckets and buckets of nails. He's stocking his own informal hardware store.

Alline, Bekka from Sandhill and I had a sewing night, where each worked on her own project and taught each other a few tips and tricks. Kurt, Don, Jeffrey, Tony, Megen, and Laird went at the same time to watch an episode of the Dune miniseries.

Tony, Cecil and I traveled to Jefferson City for a day. We met with our representative Sam Berkowitz, and he graciously showed us around the capitol and talked to us about issues that concern us. We also got to watch the state senate in session. It was a very interesting and educational experience. I highly recommend it.