Memphis Democrat
December 14, 2006

Suzanne here-- the snow is finally melting and I'm hoping we won't get any more before my trip next week to visit family in Raleigh. I was very happy to see it come and now I'm happy to see it go. After living in states with temperate climates like Virginia it is such a novelty for me to have winter weather in the winter. Although it is not so fun trying to thaw cold icy kindling to light a fire, and I'm a little tired of having wet boots always drying in my entryway, I'm still thrilled to live somewhere where it snows in winter.

I was thinking this week how differently I might feel if I had to drive in the snow to get to my job. All of us here work in the community--some of us do computer related work like website design, computer repair and online marketing; some people do freelance writing or editing. I do a combination of jobs--email correspondence for Dancing Rabbit, cleaning houses, building, cooking for visitors and childcare shifts. Many of us do seasonal work like construction, fruit picking, or gardening which means working a lot in the summer but having a lot of leisure time in the winter. Pretty much everybody here has a flexible schedule. Nobody here works nine to five or has to commute to a job. It's easy to love snow when you don't have to drive in it.

The snowy weather was perfect for Tamar's annual birthday triathalon on Monday. The intrepid participants started early in the morning with skating followed by cross country skiing and ending with yoga. That night, the celebration was completed with a deluxe sushi dinner made by Ted. We know how to do birthdays around here!

This weekend Tony, Rachel, Gigi, and I went on the annual bird count at Kirksville with a group of people from Truman University. It was a lot of fun tromping through the snow looking up at the trees. We saw a pretty good variety of birds--woodpeckers, golden-crowned kinglets, juncos, blue birds, cardinals, an owl and a couple of red tailed hawks. We saw so many blue jays that we had to remind ourselves to keep writing them down. I was the most excited about the woodpeckers--we saw four different varieties and I spotted three of them.

Our dinner circles have been getting smaller and smaller due to folks leaving for their holiday travels. Tony and Alyssa are still in Oregon, Michelle in England. Ted, Sara and Aurelia left on Sunday to visit family--Ted's extended family is pretty excited about getting to meet six month old Aurelia. I'm jealous of the time I'll miss--who knows how much Aurelia will grow and change in the month she is away. She will probably be crawling by the time she comes back. Tamar left on Sunday as well--to spend time with her family and to participate in a ten day meditation retreat.

Tony and Alyssa are away but that doesn't mean their dog Thor has been lying low. In fact, he had a parental-vacation party in their beautiful new house (with some help from Thomas who has been taking care of Thor and the house.) There were some pretty awesome party games and a lot of dancing. Now if only Tony and Alyssa would come back so we could have a party with them.

Ron has been over at Sandhill a lot this week helping to fix some of Sandhill's computers. Today is his birthday and to celebrate we are having another dance party tonight. He is getting ready to leave soon to go back to Illinois--he has some business to take care of there that may keep him away for several months. So, sadly it will be a going away party as well.

This week I've been spending a lot of time with Cynder, Rowan and Toren doing art projects. It has been so much fun it makes me wonder why I never do art projects on my own. But, somehow it is just so much more fun with company. I'm amazed by how creative they are and how much more creative I am when I'm with them.

Last night Rowan made dinner for Sunflower food coop (and guests Cecil and Ron) with help from his mom, Jennifer. On the menu was spicy black bean dip, blue corn tortilla chips, red beans and rice, butternut squash, and chocolate cookies with chocolate chips. It was a fantastic meal. Pretty awesome for a ten year old! Cecil was nice enough to do all of the dishes. Tonight Cynder is cooking for us. I'm excited as I hear that she is making Gingerbread people.

Kurt and Alline have been working away at finishing their house. Kurt painted the office/guest room and set up his desk and has been busy organizing it ever since. Alline has been reorganizing her office and quilting studio upstairs. They've now got their living room set up downstairs and it is very inviting. It is so comfy over there that those who enter never want to leave. Lately their house is dog-central as well as people central. Of course Baloo is there and now Maya, Isis, and sometimes Thor come over as well.

Winter is a time when many of us spend a lot of time doing committee work for the community. Thomas, Jennifer and Juan on the retreat planning committee have begun planning for this year's retreat. It is scheduled for February but a lot of work will go into it before then. And our oversight committee, Thomas, Tony, Amy and Tereza, have also been hard at work doing end of the year work preparatory to retreat.

This week, Bob spent time, as part of his work for the warren siting committee, drawing up plans for my new warren. 'Warren' is our term for each person or family's leasehold (derived from the term for rabbits' homes). My new warren will be between Tom and Tereza's warren and Bob's warren, and across from Nathan and Thomas's warrens. I am so looking forward to gardening there this summer and to planning the house/craft studio that I want to build there next year.

Thomas, Jennifer and Juan have begun planning for our winter retreat. It is scheduled for February but a lot of work will go into planning it before then. Our oversight committee, Thomas, Tony, Amy and Tereza, has also been hard at work tying up loose ends and doing preparatory work for the retreat.

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