Memphis Democrat
May 22, 2003

Hi everyone. This is Alline filling in for Rachel, who should be in Yellowstone (Jor is that Jellystone, Yogi?) National Park by now.

What a jam-packed, excitement-loaded, non-stop week! We started out Monday morning with a ground-breaking ceremony for our Common House. It's finally happening - hooray! We each had a shovel with a big bow, and all dug in on the count of three. We read a note from the generous donors who gave us the grant, and then celebrated with home-crushed apple cider. Doesn't get much better than that.

But wait - it does! Because later that day it was time to celebrate Jeffrey's birthday. One of my favorite traditions at DR is that when it's your birthday, people have to celebrate however you want (within reason, of course). Jeffrey likes to play basketball, so Tamar organized a basketball game (or three). Two carloads of us went to the outdoor court at the school in Memphis. Let's see - Jeffrey, Tamar, Alline, Tony, Ted, Thomas K., visitor Sky, work-exchanger Michael, Alyson, Steph, and Don hit the boards, er, concrete. We had enough for five-on-five with everyone getting the chance to sit out and take a quick breather. It was not only fun, it was really funny, too. Everyone had their own style - Tony and Ted were literally everywhere at once; Thomas played a kind of zen basketball, preferring to pass to his team mates rather than go for the sure-thing basket. Sky lived up to his name and was in the air more than on the ground, Don made lots of baskets, Michael was great under the boards and Steph ran tirelessly up and down the court. Tamar practiced her ball-handling skills, Alyson developed her world-famous ball-over-the-backboard technique, and I just tried to remember who was on my team. Jeffrey smiled a lot. It was great.

Tuesday was our weekly Women's Sewing Circle. Unbeknownst to Steph, it was also the Surprise Going Away for Steph Party. All non-sewers sneaked in and yelled "Surprise" and then we all had lots and lots of chocolate cake with double-chocolate frosting. We gave Steph some postcard stamps so she could keep in touch. Friday morning she packed up her bike, and before she could leave she had to go through the hug line. Then we all stood by the side of the road and waved as she pedaled off. By Sunday she was in St. Louis where her family lives, saying good-bye before jumping on the train for Portland, OR, where the cross-country adventure will begin. We'll keep you posted on her progress.

In other areas, Thomas K., Tamar and Ted sawed logs in preparation for their new mushroom business. They hope to grow both shitake and oyster mushrooms.

The Stream Team (Tamar, Andra and Rachel) got to put on their official shirts and grab their official nets and go down to our stream for their first official Stream Team morning. They sampled the water (which turns out to be pretty healthy), found lots of cool critters (including pollywogs and a turtle) and generally had a good time. I'm sure the Department of Conservation will be MOST impressed with their results.

Saturday morning Tamar left for Massachusetts to visit her family. Kent Kattleman came with his skid steer loader and he and Kurt worked on the first step of leveling the common house site. Later that afternoon nine of the usual suspects went to Kirksville to see "Matrix Reloaded". Reactions ranged from sheer ecstasy to "so, ok, how come that guy wasn't dead?".

Work continues on Bluestem. The gravel bag foundation is all in place and the bags are level. Onward and upward!

That's it for now. Next week there will be a new correspondent - Kurt and I will be in England where we'll be visiting a friend and I'll be a trainee on a two-week Sierra Club Coast-to-Coast walk. Keep your fingers crossed that all goes well, and that my experience doesn't become a Coast-to-Coast stumble...

Back to list of Memphis Democrat Columns