Memphis Democrat
February 13, 2003

Hi everyone! This is Alline filling in for Rachel.

This has been another busy week at Dancing Rabbit. Let's see - where to start?

On Friday almost all of us participated in a communication workshop. Most of the Sandhillians went too, and so we met in the Rutledge Community Center. It was hard work, but felt really productive. Many Rabbits attended the Saturday and Sunday sessions at Sandhill, too.

We celebrated Steph's 24th birthday with a big 'ol chocolate cake, lots of flaming candles, and a viewing of 'Amelie'. It's a French film about a rather, er, unusual girl, and is a lot of fun. On the weekend Steph's mom and sister Emily came for an overnight visit. On Saturday they had afternoon tea with Alline, who was found their company delightful. We hope they become regular visitors!

Rachel and Tony went with Pete, their ornithologist friend to Keokuk where they saw hundreds of bald eagles. Since most of the river has frozen over, the birds are flocking near the dam, where there is still some open water for fishing. T and R said it was absolutely amazing, and they kept us entraced with their stories.

Steph, Alyson and Alline made personalized Valentine's Day cards for each person at Dancing Rabbit, and then put them in a box. The idea is that we'll all sign everyone else's card (but steer clear of our own because we like surprises!). Then, come Valentine's Day, we'll all have a card filled with thoughts of friendship and good wishes. Alyson calls it "Validation Day", and it seems like a great idea to us!

Susan T. Brown and Andra took a trip to Columbia to deliver tempeh for Sandhill. While there they went to 'The Main Squeeze' and had a scrumptious lunch, which guaranteed that a good time was had by all.

Alline is back from her adventure in Maui as a cook for a Sierra Club Whale Watching Research trip. Her group was working with a professor studying the effects of whale-watching boats on whale behavior. Needless to say, the group did their research from land, and learned a lot about whales. They also ate a lot of fresh pineapple and papaya. Yum yum. Imagine Alline's surprise at arriving home and finding frozen ponds and 1-degree temperatures instead of beaches and waving palm trees. Sigh.

Kurt is back from working in Illinois and vacation in California and just mixed up 80 gallons of lime plaster. He's applied the first coat to the kitchen in the Milkweed cottage, and it's looking beautiful!

Andra has announced plans to start a biodiesel-manufacturing business, and we are happy as clams at high tide about this development. Not only will this provide an income for Andra and enable her to learn a lot about business, DR will have a built-in supplier for fuel for our vehicles. Yippee!

Tony kept busy building furniture for the first time, and is really enjoying himself. Can't wait to see it!

That's it for this week. Stay warm!

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