Memphis Democrat January 24, 2001

Hi everyone. It's me, Alline, filling in for the globe-trotting Rachel Katz. This week Rachel is in Champaign, IL, with her old friends Bob and Laura. The three of them are taking a vacation of sorts and watching lots of videos - mostly dark, sad, bohemian art films. I'm not sure if they're wearing berets and smoking Gitanes or not. We're looking forward to Rachel's return, as she's bringing many of the videos back with her. Cecil has also gone to visit friends in Champaign and then is going down to Florida to visit his family. There's no telling WHAT he'll be bringing back with him!

Don attended another auction, and picked up lots of building supplies at great prices. It's always fun to see what he comes home with! In other news, we're looking for a couple dozen gallon jars with good lids. Does anyone out there have some they'd like to get rid of? Please call and let us know if you do!

Friday night Tony, Jeffrey, Megan, Kurt and I went to Memphis to see "The Legend of Bagger Vance." We enjoyed the movie, but what we found even more entertaining was the reaction of the first five rows (all kids) to KISSING on the screen. The noise level increased dramatically and we could almost hear the sighs of relief when the dreaded (and SO embarrassing!) kissing finally stopped!

Roger and Mary Walker had Kurt and me over for a wonderful dinner last Saturday. Roger apparently feared for our health when he read in this column two weeks ago that Cecil had prepared tempeh and sauerkraut pizza. The Walkers took great care of us and it was all Kurt and I could do to waddle to the car after the delicious chocolate dessert. And just for the record, it is absolutely amazing what Cecil can put on pizza and still have it taste great!

For our Dancing Rabbit Book Group we've all been reading 'Lonesome Dove' by Larry McMurtry and we'll soon have a rousing discussion about Gus, Call and the boys. I feel like a huge weight was lifted from my shoulders when I read page 945 and could finally closed the book for the last time - whew! That was a long one! Don Delillo's 'White Noise' is next on our agenda. A friend of Cecil's is in a book group in California, and when his group finished 'White Noise' they sent their seven copies to us. We're wondering - are there any other book groups out there that would like to trade their books for ours?