8/20/22 It's Saturday. Thought it would be a non-working day. We were invited to the countryside again, this time to the village of Lunow for the adult celebration of Thomas' niece. We were picked up a little before 11 am in the great old yellow Mercedes van that has toured most of this hemisphere - been to India and back, for instance. Before we could leave, Thomas wanted to share his latest ideas about the project: a large suitcase with items that must fit like a puzzle but there's never enough room, for instance. Since he had started the day with adding yeast to flour, he thought about unleavened bread - not even enough time to let the bread rise before you leave. Then we headed out of town with a stop at a little farmers market where he was hoping to pick up some rye and wheat for his bread making. This was in Stolzenhagen where the art community Ponderosa is. The rye & wheat were not there unfortunately for T. but we had a really nice drive. Sometimes it gets really bumpy when we get to a patch of restored cobblestone. I have a strange (as in unfamiliar) sense of belonging to this land somehow: I was moved almost to tears by the beauty of the place, almost like coming home. Is it in my dna? The tiny villages feel like a step back in time. The party was held in a big old farmhouse where restoration has just begun. Upstairs was a large room, big enough to be a dance hall where tables were set up. It seems that everywhere we go, once we've explained the project, people have stories to tell about their own family's history. Thomas got one on tape when EB and I went for a walk to the river. After leaving, we made a quick stop back at T.'s farm and looked in at the pottery workshop next door. There we met a young woman artist who has a friend whose family fled from Iran, another possible story to be told. Last but not least, we spoke briefly to the elderly neighbor on the other side who remembers the flight from Poland with her mother after WWII. She is willing to let Thomas record her telling that story again. Back at the hotel, we made ourselves a meal of crackers, cheese, olives, figs and grapes with a little wine for me and beer for EB. Now it's off to bed...

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