Memphis Democrat
January 6, 2008

by Alline

Greetings from Dancing Rabbit! Another week has flown by, leaving us with nothing but happy memories, muddy feet and smiles on our faces.

We rang in the New Year with a potluck dinner, game night and dance party. We were delighted to see Chad and Kim's baby Nina, some of us meeting her for the first time. Sandhillers came along too, toting delicious pineapple upside-down cake and delightful beverages. After dinner we pulled out the games – Risk (Matt successfully took over the world), and Apples-to-Apples. Some of the older and/or less energetic Rabbits are grateful for Newfoundland, where New Year's comes at 9:30 p.m. Missouri-time. Quickly becoming an annual tradition, everyone is able to celebrate according to his/her own willingness to endure sleep deprivation. I'm embarrassed to say that this year I didn't even make it to Newfoundland. Which is fine, because it is more than evened out by those who celebrated Hawaii's New Year into the wee hours!

Tuesday brought more snow – it was a gorgeous white winter wonderland, still miraculous to this Californian who grew up "going to the snow." We'd each put on three or four sweaters and two pairs of socks, pack up the car, and drive for four hours to the Sierra Nevada mountains. Once there we'd slide down snowy hills on inner tubes, get soaking wet, pack snow on the hood of the car so that we'd have something to show the neighbor kids when we got home, and pile back in for the ride home, sipping lukewarm cocoa out of my dad's big Stanley work thermos. Now, things are much easier. I can just look outside, and there it is. Snow, everywhere. I never tire of standing on the porch and looking at snowflakes as they land on the sleeves of my black coat. The neighbors must think I have an odd twitch – from their vantage point, they just see me standing in the freezing cold, arms outstretched, big smile on my face. It is so quiet, and peaceful.

On New Year's Day Jennifer returned from New York where she had been helping the Carletons pack up their house before their move back to Missouri at the end of this month. She had a fantastic time, and was much appreciated. Other Rabbits were on the move, too: Brian returned from New Jersey, Dan and Jan from different parts of Ohio. It is fabulous to have them back. Claire, one of our work exchangers from this summer, also popped in for a day.

Our thermometer read 5 below zero on Thursday morning. Brrrr. All the more reason for... exploding Christmas movies! Kurt, who never met a Christmas movie he didn't like, has expanded the category to include his other favorite genre – Action. Since the "Die Hard" and "Lethal Weapon" movies take place at Christmas-time and even have Christmas carols in them, he considers them perfectly appropriate for holiday viewing. We had had plenty of sun and wind so our batteries were full (from our solar panels and wind mill), which is another way of saying it was a prime movie viewing opportunity. BJ, Thomas and Sparky agreed, and all had a great time.

Speaking of great time, the babies, Adam and Zane, are healthy and happy and getting bigger every day. It is a pleasure to see them around town and in the Community Building, smiling (for the most part) and bundled up to their (imaginary) teeth.

As dinnertime approaches each evening I find myself singing Greg Brown's song "Canned Goods:"

Let those December winds bellow 'n' blow
I'm as warm as a July tomato.
And there's peaches on the shelf
Potatoes in the bin
Supper's ready, everybody come on in
Taste a little of the summer,
Taste a little of the summer,
You can taste a little of the summer
my grandma's put it all in jars.

Only this year it wasn't grandma – it was me (and Rachel and Amy and Juan and Tony and Sara and Tamar and Ted…)! What a thrill to open the pantry door and see jar after jar of gleaming red tomato sauce, jewel-like beets….heck, even the pickled okra looks good! I learned how to can here at Dancing Rabbit, and each summer will find many of us sweating in our respective kitchens, putting up goodies for the snowy days. It is tremendously satisfying to look at jars of food and know that they were grown by friends a few steps down the path.

We've been working on planning our annual retreat, which is fast approaching. Since we're crafting a village from scratch there are zillions of things to take care of, and our schedule is packed. We are also doing training in consensus decision-making and conflict resolution, as both are key components to how we get along and grow our little town.

Saturday Rachel, BJ, Dan, Sparky, Kurt and I went to town to have dinner at El Mezcal and to see 'Enchanted.' We are so excited to have a Mexican restaurant in town – they were swamped, but kept their cool, and delivered dish after delicious dish. We were especially impressed by the waiter who carried out five platters on one arm, a sixth in his right hand, dodging arriving patrons and runaway toddlers without spilling a drop. Amazing!

Happy Three King's Day!

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