Sunday, December 11, 2016

Mary Poppins, Jigsaw Party and Workday

How's that for a multi-event blog post?!

So much is happening that I need to put several events into one post!

Around Thanksgiving we had community members participating in a couple of really cool events - one was the Common Women's Chorus - a few members are part of the chorus and the concert was truly beautiful.  The other was our local community theater, showing Mary Poppins, with one of our members- Mickey - playing the role of Mr. Bank's childhood nanny.  Mickey was AMAZING.  She is an astounding actress!

THEN we had a JIGSAW PARTY!  The art committee has planned an artsy fence to cover an electrical system on the site.  In a previous post we shared photos of getting the posts sunk for the structure.  But the fence itself has about 200 curved cuts that had to be made with a jigsaw, and also loads of holes that had to be drilled with a drill press.  So we had a party to try to get it done.  We had four people on jigsaws, one on the drill press, and 2 sanding.  AND we finished all those cuts in less than an hour!!!  THEN we had dessert and sang holiday carols.  FUN. We still have to put the fence up, but the great majority of the work is done.  Watch this space for photos of the finished product (in a couple of months, probably:))

Today we had a workday, a meeting and a potluck meal. The key project was building another of our paths, and we made excellent progress.  The meeting was good, but we are still learning the new decision-making process, so it's a bit slow going.  The potluck was delicious!!  We celebrated Karolyn's birthday with a tasty carrot cake.  On Dec 19th we have another birthday...... Rose is turning 101.  Wow.

Happy Holidays Everyone!!!
Mickey (in between Mr and Mrs Banks!)

Dick at the drill press

David at one of the jigsaw stations

Joyce at another of the jigsaw stations

Mickey sanding the saw cuts

Mike and Ann were also sanders

The crew with jigsaws!!!!!!!
Ann, David, Leslie, Joyce, Mary, Dick Mickey and Mike (Kelly and Meg also came to help, but we got done so early that they came just in time for dessert!)

Workday on Dec 11th - working on the new path
Mickey, Leslie, Cheryl, Rosemarie and Dick

Putting down the ground cover and putting in the edging (I caught Dave in a photo!!!)

 Leslie learning to use the power wagon

 Leslie, Dave and Rosemarie dumping the gravel
 Cheryl and Karolyn laying fabric (Richard was also hauling gravel and Mike was using the tamper - missed getting photos of them!)



Elderberry Retreat

Nov 19-20th was an amazing Elderberry retreat.  We brought in Laird Schaub and Maria Stawsky to help us improve out meeting skills, as well as our skills in consensus decision making.  What a wonderful weekend!  On Friday night we talked about what is precious to us at Elderberry.  It was really heart-warming to hear the responses.  On Saturday and Sunday we learned a new process for decision making and conflict resolution, and tackled a tough decision that we had been trying to make for a year.  We had always planned to buy one of the Elderberry homes, and eventually to have that possibly be a home for a caregiver.  But we decided instead to not buy it, and to put some of the money into a fund to support aging members, and some of it in a fund to improve infrastructure that addresses safety issues (better walking surfaces, lighting, etc.)  On Saturday night we had a pizza party - great fun!!  In addition to 8 kinds of pizzas, we had great dancing! And Maria told us that she and Laird were VERY inspired by our community (and they have worked with MANY communities).  It was a fantastic retreat.

Mary making pizzas



Dance party!!!






 At the retreat...


Richard and David working on the wood shop (original barn on the property - being restored)