Memphis Democrat
January 25, 2007

Suzanne here reporting on a week I mostly slept through--I was sick with a bad sore throat. Life took on a surreal tinge for me. I stayed mostly in bed coming out only for necessities. A solid layer of ice over the village turned Dancing Rabbit into a skating rink. Now a layer of thick powdery snow has covered up the ice. All week long I have been walking with tiny tiny steps. I feel like a babushka, wrapped up in as many layers as will fit, and moving at a snail's pace. No sooner do I get inside and take all of the layers off, then I realize there is something I need to do outside, like bringing in firewood. Oh well, I do like to complain but the fact is I love winter--the stillness and white and muffledness of everything. I like the feeling of remote-ness and . And if I'm honest, perhaps I also enjoy the increased difficulty level of life in winter here, in a perverse kind of way. It makes me feel rugged.

When I begin feeling the urge for connection I come to the common house and find a whole different world. Folks hanging out in the great room, all of the doors shut to keep in the warmth from the fireplace. Thomas carving wooden spoons or drawing, Brian playing the piano, Bob reading a book. Alyssa working on puzzles. I work on my rug--which is coming rather slowly since I don't really know what I'm doing. Or I crochet for hours at a time, since it takes less thought. The blanket I am working on is getting larger, and now works as both project and lap blanket. Yesterday the common house was really lively. Tamar came over and joined Thomas in carving. She is making a wooden spoon for Aurelia with two round ends. Nathan was reading--he has a back injury and is taking things pretty easy these days. In the afternoon Gigi and Renee came over and delivered Girl Scout cookies and tempeh. Don and Betsy came over and the house was filled with the beautiful sound of Irish jigs and reels. Tamar played fiddle, Brian quitar, Don the mandolin and Betsy played flute. Unfortunately it was so lively Thomas got distracted and cut his hand by accident while carving. It looks like he'll be doing everything with one hand this week.

Alyssa and Tony B made some big announcements at dinner this week--they are now the newest members of Ironweed! This is an exciting development for Dancing Rabbit as well as for Ironweed. It has always been part of our vision to have numerous smaller communities within our large community--communities of varying focuses and sizes. For a long time now, Skyhouse has been our only subcommunity with Ironweed still in the planning stages. Ironweed still has a lot of planning to do, but they are getting much closer to the goal. Alyssa and Tony also announced that their new house is called "Larkspur." Last week's naming party was a success!

This week was not an easy one for travellers weather-wise. Amy came back from an FEC meeting in Seattle this week and Tony from his FIC meeting in Tennessee. I hear it was a tough ride back for Tony. Laird was driving and his truck got stuck in the ice two times. They had to get out and push. Amy made it back safely, but then came down with a cold. Jennifer tried to go to Kirksville on Thursday. It took her an hour to get our truck out of the driveway, only to get stuck going up the hill, just a little past where Laird's truck was stuck. Last night, Tamar and Kim were going to Quincy to pick up Alyson, but something happened with Alyson's train and so they didn't need to make the trip. It might have been just as well, given the new layer of snow on the roads.

Committee work has been in full swing. The retreat planning committee, land use planning, land management, DRVC, (our car coop committee) and the not-yet-a committee but soon to be "integrated village design" or building committee all met this week. Jennifer is a member of four of these committees and I was joking with her that she could wear different hats each time she switches tasks. I had my second meeting with the Land Management committee. The land management team (currently Rachel, Thomas, Sara and now myself ) is working on planning for the year. We talked about our goals in a broad sense--a comprehensive plan for encouraging the health of the land, animals, plants, people (and microorganisms!) of our ecosystem in a holistic way. Soon we will move on to talking about specific things we want to do this year--which prairies it is time to burn, where we want to focus our tree planting efforts for the year, what erosion control measures to take, etc. We are talking about doing a lot of mapping of our land this year, for use in future planning.

And finally, this week our favorite stray cat, Fionn McCool aka Ginger aka George aka Phinneas Finn has finally found a home. Well, a temporary home at least. Kurt and Alline have brought him into the house, to see how things go. Alline is allergic to cats, but she says that she is also allergic to dust and other substances that she is around frequently, and already takes allergy medication, so perhaps being around Fionn won't affert her that much. Fionn is a big beautiful affectionate orange tom cat who matches dog Baloo and Kurt and Alline's newly stained orange floor. So far, Fionn doesn't seem fazed by living in a house that often holds four dogs! I am mightily fond of Fionn but don't have space in my small cabin for a litter box so I hope we are able to find a good permanent home for him.

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