Memphis Democrat Column from February 04, 2007

I'm back after a hiatus due to our annual community retreat last week. We schedule several days of meetings every winter during which we review our finances, decide on projects that we want to do during the year, take a look at our individual and group work areas and talk over issues and proposals that need attention from the group. A basic requirement is that all the members are home for these meetings and it gives us a chance to reconnect after our recent travels. We also have had some fun times. The evening before the start of our meetings there was a celebration of my birthday. Laird cooked a lovely supper and Gigi made some of her wonderful lemon cakes to enjoy afterwards. I took some time off from my usual work scene and had a very enjoyable and relaxing day. Gigi and Renay took French out to dinner and a movie in Kirksville to celebrate his birthday this past Saturday. Renay had a basketball game in Unionville earlier in the day. She recently started practicing after school on Wednesdays and also played in the big benefit basketball tournament in Memphis. The social scene with our friends at our neighboring communities has also been very active. We have had our regular community potlucks, with only a one week interruption due to icy roads and hazardous travel after the recent storms. Betsy and Sue have joined the sewing/handwork circle that includes folks from Dancing Rabbit and some of our local neighbors. The meetings of this group have been held at Dancing Rabbit and homes in the area. Laird and Cecil from Dancing Rabbit also continued enjoying their regular Wednesday bridge nights in Kirksville. Ceilee came up from Columbia on the 23rd to help Laird with processing our two pigs for the freezer. He also wanted to spend some time with us before he moved to Las Vegas, Nevada at the end of the month. He is going there to pursue some new opportunities and had already spent some time in Las Vegas the previous week and found an apartment. We are glad for him but know we won't see him as frequently as we have the past few years. We heard from Jo that she is settled in Amherst, Massachusetts and doing well. She's found a great place to live with a good roomate and has started working at one of the nicer restaurants there as a prep/plate service chef. Laird notes that it is a big shift for him with his children not being as close by as they have been recently, but he is looking forward to seeing them during his travels and feels good about the choices they are making. This weekend, our friend Tom from East Wind Community came for a visit with his sixteen year old son, Sequoia. They used to be sorghum season regulars, but had not been at Sandhill in nine years. Sequoia now lives in Clarksville with his mom and is a high school sophomore. It is always interesting for us to see community kids we knew when they were younger grow up. Stan returned from his trip to the Pacific Northwest with lots of stories about his time there. He really enjoyed himself and got to do some interesting things after the FEC meetings in Seattle concluded. He saw some of the sights in Seattle, includng Underground Seattle, Pikes Place Market and gorgeous views of Mt. Rainier. He visited friends in Olympia and Port Townsend and spent some time exploring the natural attractions of the Olympic Peninsula. He also attended a meeting at Port Townsend Ecovillage with former Sandhill member Bekka and found it very interesting to see how a newly forming community organizes itself. Laird left for Utah on January 30, where he is scheduled to work with a cohousing community. After that, he will be spending time in Albuquerque with Ma'ikwe and they will be planning for their wedding in April. He then heads for Ann Arbor to do some more teaching before coming home. Otto has been busy the past few days felling some standing dead trees and gathering up other wood to add to our supply. He has had good help, with Betsy, Sue, Michael, Tom and Sequoia all pitching in. Despite intense wind chills, icy gravel roads and cranky equipment, they have gotten a lot done. The garden crew finished up putting together their seed orders at the end of the month and they have already begun showing up in the mailbox. The bright pictures on many of the packets encourage us to think of spring. That's a nice option when the Arctic Clippers blow in from Hudson's Bay and whistle in the eaves.