Monthly Archives: September 2020

My summer vacation

Sep 25, 2020 Editorial, Nature, Travel
My summer vacation

As is typical during the first few days of school, the teachers asked the students about their summer vacation. Usually, there would be stories about the amusement park, the swimming pool, or traveling across the country. Because of the pandemic, I can’t imagine anyone had a typical summer vacation. We made occasional trips around town for hikes, but there were two camping trips we took with neighbors that were really bright spots in an otherwise unusual and lonely summer.

Enjoying a campfire

Cohousing is great for sharing resources. Since I don’t have a tent, I was able to borrow a tent and sleeping bags from one of the neighbors. The group that went camping is very skilled, so they helped me figure out how to set up the borrowed tent. They also made the reservations, planned the hikes, and brought all the other necessary supplies. I just had to show up! We were careful with physical distancing protocols and wearing masks during the trip. We took separate cars and had separate campsites, but we were still able to do activities together.

Sharing a meal

The highlights of the two trips were the hike to a waterfall, and watching the sunset on the beach. Sitting around the campfire, sharing meals, and playing games were also great memories.

My kids and I enjoyed the trips and are grateful we have neighbors who are willing to teach us how to camp and make the experience more enjoyable. We are also lucky to live in such a wonderful location with beautiful campgrounds a short drive away.

Mysterious Noise from Wetlands by Ken

Sep 21, 2020 Uncategorized
Mysterious Noise from Wetlands by Ken

10:00 Saturday morning and 3 of us are working on the CH patio. There comes a loud noise from McDonalds. It was clear and loud enough we thought it was a car hitting a dumpster in the parking lot. We couldn’t see anything so we went back to work.

In a few minutes some folks come over the bridge and say “there is a car in the wetlands”. We went to look and there was a car 12-15 feet down the slope from fast food heaven.

The driver was a fully clothed elderly man who was able to get back up the hill with his cane. As we approached the police warned us the car was on a slippery slope. And the second officer quipped, “it’s in neutral too.”

The tow truck driver attached two lines to the back of the car while he and the officers had a good laugh. Several of us watched the operation from the back of our newest members 3 bedroom. And away the car went.

But there might have been a mystery involved in this incident. One of our families said they had seen that same car turn around in the north side parking lot not minutes before the accident. What had convinced him that whatever he was looking for was just over the hill from McDonalds parking lot.

Good and Bad

Sep 17, 2020 Editorial

The Paradox

At the 2019 National Cohousing Conference in Portland, I attended a workshop session where one of the ice-breaking activities was to go around our small circle and share something good and also something bad about living in cohousing. When we got back together into the larger group, the facilitator, somewhat jokingly, referred to this as the cohousing paradox- that it can exist as both good and bad.

[Paradox: any person, thing, or situation exhibiting an apparently contradictory nature.]

Until then, it hadn’t occurred to me that being both good and bad is a paradox. We all have good days and bad days, or good years and bad years. I just assumed that’s life, not a paradox. And yet, it’s practically the definition of a paradox. Cohousing has both frustrating (bad) and enjoyable (good) elements. I suppose we strive each day and with each interaction to strike a balance between those elements.

I will enjoy writing more about the frustrations and joys of cohousing… in future posts. The paradox of good and bad came up this week not in a discussion about cohousing, but with one of my kids.

School started back up this week and it’s distance learning from home because of the pandemic. One of my kid’s teachers has assigned “180 days of feelings” which is an online journal where they track how they feel each day. On the first day, my kid had only bad things to say: “it was stressful”, “it was frustrating”, “it was exhausting”, “I think they’re not a good teacher”, “this was the worst first day ever.” I admit, my kid takes after me. I find the negative very easily and complaining comes naturally. Though I empathized, since it was really stressful for me too, I pressed for more explanation, and also asked wasn’t there anything at all good to report? For example, you were barefoot all day, which has never happened at school before. After some thought, my kid finally conceded that, “well,… it was nice to pet the cat during the school day.”

For a reward after making it through the first day, we enjoyed ice cream at home. The first day back at school was, paradoxically, both bad and good. I’ve asked my kid to make an effort to record some good feelings in the journal, as well as the bad feelings. You’ll be happy to learn that the second day was “pretty good”.

Is it the apocalypse yet?

Sep 11, 2020 Editorial, Nature
Is it the apocalypse yet?

If you were looking for proof of the apocalypse, look no further. We have a pandemic, the sky is on fire, and I am actually contributing to a blog! Was all that part of the prophecy?

I’ve been on the editorial team for months and though I’ve had ideas for posts and taken plenty of pictures, I haven’t contributed yet. At our editorial team meeting, I decided and was encouraged to post once a week- what’s been going on at Cascadia Commons Cohousing Community.

So here’s the big thing going on right now- THE SKY! This photo was taken by neighbor, Pat, and there was no color filter used- the sky is the orange hue and haze due to the nearby wildfire smoke. The angry red sun didn’t photograph as well, but it’s quite a fantastic sight.

So that’s why I’m indoors, posting a blog entry. I’m waiting to find out if there will be evacuation orders in the next few days. But I’ll enjoy looking through my window at this surreal, other-worldly, sci-fi, dystopian view while it lasts.