I taught my first class at Meredith on Thursday and had a lovely time with them - 7 women, at least 3 of whom are in their "23 Plus" program for women returning or starting late in school. They seem eager, interested, and keen to learn. What a gift! An eighth student signed up the day after - word of mouth?

The weather here is up and down all the time. This weekend it's at 70 - lovely for working in the garden, already preparing it for the spring planting, which will be here before we know it.

We have nice new neighbors - a young couple with two boys - 8 and 4 - who came for dinner on Friday. The boys were SO well-behaved and quite delightful. We're going to plant extra vegies for them this year and, in turn, they'll plant some extra stuff for us - maybe grains. In addition they have cows and have given us some of their butter - yum!

I can't tell you what a relief it is not to be worrying about UNC - I feel like an enormous weight has been lifted off my shoulders. Literally - I went for a massage yesterday and my shoulders feel two inches lower than they had been.

We went out Thursday evening (freezing) to attend a rally in Chapel Hill protesting any escalation in the war. There were enough people to warrant a police presence, but it was peaceful and well ordered. We read the next day that tens of thousands had turned out across the country. With less of a commitment at school now I can do more politically and I'm glad for that.