Another increase today. The rent will go up; the Internet Service Provider cost went up and now the coop delivery has tripled in price. It is to make the service almost profitable according to coop bylaws. Nevertheless, it wipes out the discount I have been receiving. Nevertheless, the coop folk are so great to deal with. I was informed of the change and the new delivery person read the letter in its entirety. ...

The plane that crashed near Buffalo … that was the run I made to and from the Seeing Eye re Elwood. I think it was Continental and that sort of plane. Scary and sad.The women made cheese yesterday at C’s house. Elwood lost his bone and we had to find it for him. We made mozzarella and marzipan. Marscarpone is made with either light cream or half-and-half. The half-and-half version is far too rich for me.I got the prayers done. I had one day where I made good progress and then had to be fill in the gaps for a day or two. Glad that’s done.I was quite amazed. I was asked to do the pastoral prayer Sunday. I realized I wasn’t sure what the visuals were about that, what the space looked like, etc. The service just flows and I don’t analyze it when I’m following where it leads. I raised the question with my Bible study group since I figured that they had the info. They were quite touched and honored I had asked them. After wards we went over the space so all should be well for Sunday.We had a good time last weekend celebrating Brian’s birthday.It’s been warm but dreary here. Yes, you can put your lined Crocs through the washing machine. They’re drying now. I don’t know how long that will take. They took quite a beating on the mud luscious, puddle wonderful walk to and from the library.

Today is a school holiday. My friends, their niece and their cousin’s wife came to make cheese. We made two kinds of cheese, mozzarella and lemon cheese. It was quite exciting. We even had milk from a local dairy 20 miles north of Madison. We will visit one day as their is an artisan cheese maker nearby. When the cheese making was done, we went to Ian’s for pizza.Although Ian’s can make you a pie, they typically sell by the slice and have 20 varieties to choose from. They are happy to run them down for you as you move around the display area. Combinations of vegetables, meats and fruit capped by their best-seller: macaroni and cheese pizza. This is a white pizza with elbow macaronis. I had a slice of this and a spinach-roasted pepper-and-portobella mushroom slice. This latter was a bit wet and I would choose something else another time. The cousin met us there for lunch. ...

I found out people did not get out of the church meeting until 3:30. Fortunately, they served lunch.

Elwood and I were finally able to run an errand outside by ourselves. In fact, I got sweaty on the way home. I needed to return some books to the library. the library has a wonderful system whereby I could opt in to receive email notices when books are due. In fact, i had three to return so off we went this morning. There’s a lot of dry pavement out there but also a lot of slush and some uncleared places. There is still a high snowbank with a narrow opening at one intersection. ...

Obama invoked that understanding of patriotism that was instilled me long ago. Perhaps it was living in central NJ. Perhaps it was the Little Maid books. Perhaps it was paul Revere and visiting Concord, MA. Sacrifice of our ancestors: America’s story is my story even if my ancestors were still in Europe. The re-making of America: Mother read Making of America. The story goes on.

Good to hear her sing.

Finestein reminds me I was in grade school during Selma.

I will have to hear/read this poem to fully grasp it.

don’t forget dogs need to go out. It’s very cold out there. K was right to stall.