Monday morning--and it's February. January has seemed long. In fact, this is the coldest longest winter we've ever had here in Georgia. My house seems too big and not warm enough.

Yesterday while we were walking, I attempted to take pictures of the winter trees and landscape with my iPhone. Unfortunately, I didn't know what I was doing. So I have 8 videos, some including long stretches of the darkness inside my pocket, with the sound of feet crunching and the background murmur of voices, punctuated by a few pretty good shots and me saying what's this blinking red light? why won't it let me take any pictures? sort of like pocket dialing, but it's me. Somewhat amusing, if you like that kind of thing.

It was cold and overcast, below freezing almost all day. I got a lot done, though. I made special low-fat pancakes with egg white only, and fruit sauce instead of maple syrup. Also bean soup for lunch...and I started some cinnamon bread rising. All by 9:30. Then we took a walk with Zoe. It was cold, but okay when you got going. I had to take my gloves off to try to take the pictures. Then we showered and headed to the Fellowship. It's amazing how much you can get done with a few extra minutes. Since I wasn't singing in choir, we didn't have to be there early. Ray and I sat together for once. The service was lay-led and about "Ethical Eating." Geoff Lewis spoke about their farm. And Neal Priest talked about being a vegetarian. He has now been a vegan for a year and a half. It was enjoyable and inspiring. Olivia from Farm 255 spoke some after the service. They raise all their own meat and 75% of their veggies. When they slaughter an animal, they try to use all of it before slaughtering another. This involves educating patrons about eating things they might not otherwise.

After the service, we drove to Bishop to pick up a dog. Lisa had taken in this one-year-old over-active puppy to keep it from being killed at the shelter, when some friends of hers couldn't keep it any more. But her dog is sick and blind and the puppy kept wanting to play with him. We are keeping him for a little while. We are both looking for a permanent home for him. His name is Cu (which I don't get) and he is a beautiful and smart, but energetic dog. Maybe some retriever or shepherd... butterscotch colored. I walked him around her yard for about 15 minutes and he was playing tug-of-war with the leash the whole time. We had some trouble getting him in the crate. Lisa was sad to see him go, but whe is dealing with a lot right now. When we got him home, Zoe was not pleased. She growled and attacked him when we tried to bring him in the breezeway. Outside, they were okay. She has clearly established her dominance. Eventually, we let her in the house while we got him settled. He was very reluctant to come into the breezeway since she had attacked him. We put him in the crate in the breezeway, partly for his own safety. They settled down, but we had to go through it all again when we took them for a walk later in the day and fed them. I guess it will probably settle down. He is the kind of dog who chases sticks, unlike Zoe.

Finished the bread. Ray worked all day. Made supper. Watched a movie on TV. Thanks to DVR, I can just stop it when the phone rings. It's great. Went to bed a little later than usual and now I am tired.