Cleaning bees and breakfast potlucks

This is a bit dated but...I wanted to share it anyways.

Our community puts on these little potluck breakfasts seasonally (if they happen more frequently than that, I am oblivious to it).

It’s a nice change to the evening potlucks. The energy is so different at these. Quiet, calm, relaxed.

After the potluck they host a cleaning bee. And this time they had planned a soup and muffin lunch afterwards as well. It was delicious soup and John made bread with local wheat that he had freshly ground.

Sometimes I wonder about making time for these cleaning bees. God knows I have a hard enough time keeping my own house clean. It seems silly to go wash windows in community when there is a pile of dishes on my counter. And my weekends are short enough already and that means I have to get up early enough to come up with something to make to bring and … insert more excuses in here…

But, the experience is really worth it.

It gives my kids the chance to give back and also to get to know their neighbours in a more productive way. Anna has been helping Kari all morning and even hours later she won’t leave her side.

It’s a fun way to contribute and to build relationships.

I am making a conscious effort to not sit at the kids’ table at the regular potlucks. It is so nice to spend time with the other adults.

Mia has started a Friday afternoon tea. They are really low key and quiet but it’s been a nice way to round off a work week.

I am glad to see that people are putting more effort into community building.

-Myriam

Community Sharing

There are many people here with wonderful gifts. Some share their gift of celebration with us, others their gift of growing food. Some share their gift of relaxation with us. Others their gift of music and song. Some share their tools and time. Others their love and affection.

It’s wonderful to walk down the atrium and hear Mia’s music playing in the dining hall.

Or Mykl playing his guitar.

Or to pick herbs and kale from the community gardens.

And when I needed to boost my car, to borrow a neighbour’s car to boost mine.

Earlier this month we talked about giving up our car and adopting a car-free lifestyle. Aside from being good for the environment, it would have also been good for the budget and waistline.

I put out an email to select members of the community and asked them for support in this idea. And we were overwhelmed by the response. Three people offered us their vehicles to use. Even frequently.

As a family we do sort of need a car though. There are appointments at the hospital for Trey and there are unexpected trips to the school to drop off a blood glucose monitor. And there are dentist appointments and big grocery shops and then road trips or drive to go hiking or swimming.

When we added up the many things that we wouldn’t actually bother doing if we had to cycle or borrow vehicles we realized how naive we had been. So, at the end of it all we decided that we would keep our car. But we were so grateful for those people who offered to lend us their vehicles so generously.

Cohousing.



-Myriam

Party Central at Pacific Gardens!

Maybe it's because of spring, but people at Pacific Gardens have been partying hearty this last month, and it shows no sign of stopping!

First was the Green Party party May 5th with munchies and great dance music provided by a local  acoustic rock duo, Paul and Jess.

Next was the birthday party Tara threw for herself the last weekend in May, with all kinds of good food, a bonfire and general merry-making.

This was followed by Susana's birthday party two nights ago, which featured the same great band, Sharon's super-delicious, gluten-free cake (yes, there is such a thing!) and even more food.

Having a dance band made it extra-special for Susana, who loves to kick up her heels on the dance floor.  As she says, "It is hard to dance and have a sad face!"

But the best is yet to come. Two weeks from now we will have our very own PG Olympics, with a bonfire Friday night, a potluck breakfast the morning after, and a day of races and fun.

Here is the beautiful poster that Myriam designed for it:

We end the month with a Magic The Gathering party for Trey, where we will commemorate his arrival on this plane eight years ago, and feast on cake!

Trey's talented Mom, Myriam, designed another fabulous poster for this event:

Myriam is the creative force behind these last two events.

This is why I love Pacific Gardens!

Kathryn

A Beautiful Life

Today I was going to write about the way of the circle, but it has been such a lovely day here at Pacific Gardens that I wanted to celebrate its perfection.

It's been raining off and on for the last few weeks, and yes, I know on Vancouver Island's wet coast, that is to be expected, but not in May, and not for the whole month!

But now it's June, and today was absolutely exquisite. Clear skies, with a balmy breeze wafting the scents of flowers and trees through the air and carrying the sounds of the children playing in our gardens to my patio.

For the first time this year, I hung my laundry on my umbrella clothes dryer, and the warm wind whirled the clothes around like flying flags so that they were dry in less than an hour, smelling of spring.

My neighbour Susana has been away on a special two-week holiday to celebrate her 60th birthday (there's going to be a big birthday bash for her this Wednesday), so she hasn't been able to tend her garden.

The flowers don't seem to mind the neglect.  In fact, they're thriving, growing in profusion, purple, yellow, white and orange, dancing in the breeze while my wind chimes sing all day.

I look out into the gardens and see our spring fashion parade of sun-hats, some floppy, some splendiferous, others bedecked with bandanas or a blossom made of felt, each as unique and quirky as the owner who wears them.

I find balls and badminton rackets and skipping ropes lost in the fast-growing grass, and in the distance I hear Kaj, ear-protectors firmly clamped on, tackling marauding plants with a weed-whacker.

After dinner I'll join the walking group on an hour-long jaunt around the neighbourhood, and we'll talk about cabbages and kings and whether pigs have wings - and maybe politics.

It's on days like this that I feel I have the most beautiful life ever, and like the speaker at the Sunday service I went to today, am determined to be a radical optimist, full of joy and hope for this flawed but wonderful world we live in.

Kathryn

Flourishing in the Second Half of Life

Last weekend I was fortunate to take a course on Aging Well in Community, sponsored by Harbourside Senior Cohousing in Sooke, B.C.

What made it special was not only the setting - the beautiful campus of Royal Roads University, with its exquisite gardens and wild peacocks strutting the grounds - but the people.

They ranged in age from their 50s to their 80's, and although they came from different backgrounds and occupations, everything from a retired RCMP officer to an astrologer, they fit the classic cohousing personality profile.

They were well-travelled, adventurous, constantly seeking out new experiences and challenges - what we at Pacific Gardens would call BURPIES (as distinguished from Yuppies) - bright, under-employed real people.

The purpose of the course was to get us out of denial about aging, and into planning for a positive future by getting real about getting old, and ensuring that we will be able to thrive and flourish during our senior years.

The best way to do that, we learned, was by staying healthy through community.  Social isolation is as bad for your health as smoking, and being involved in shared activities was the key to a happy, healthy old age.

Living in cohousing, I had observed the positive effects of community life on our elderberries, as my sister cohouser Roz has dubbed us, with improvements in both physical and mental health for the elders amongst us since they moved here.

Although the course was put on by members of Harbourside Cohousing, they did not say cohousing was the only option,  but talked about such actions as retrofitting your house to stay at home, or moving in with children.

Another possibility being investigated by one group of people who attended was building an environmentally-sustainable house for themselves and their friends to live in as they aged.

No-one was keen to live in a gated condominium community, or a seniors' home.  We are from the baby boom generation, rather accustomed to making our own choices about how we want to live - and transforming society as we do it!

If all the zoning approvals go through and it gets built, Harbourside Senior Cohousing will be the first of its kind in B.C. and only the second in Canada, leading the way to a new form of aging in place for us active elderberries!

Kathryn

How Community and a Tree-Climbing Cat Cured the Post-Election Blues!

It's hard to believe that it was more than a month ago since I've posted here...but fortunately Myriam has kept everyone up-to-date with what's happening with her beautiful pics of Pacific Gardens in bloom and its newest residents!

I could tell by the number of viewers that politics is not the favourite topic of those who read this blog, so that's a cautionary note for me that not everybody shares my passion for this topic.

I will say that I was both happy and unhappy with what happened, mostly unhappy.  I spent a few days trying to avoid feeling depressed about the election results, without much success.

It didn't help that Nanaimo city council had voted five to four to destroy Colliery Dam Park, one of the jewels in this city and certainly of the Harewood neighbourhood.

So I decided to give up and just wallow in negativity and get it out of my system.The best way to do this, I thought, would be to catch up on all the housework I had neglected during the election campaign.

I tussled with the dust bunnies, tossed out the garbage, sorted the recycling, and scrubbed the ring out of the bathtub. And you know what?  I started feeling better.

It was a case of if you can't clean up the world, you can at least clean up the grunge in the kitchen sink. And while I was vacuuming the grit out of the patio doors, I noticed something.

It was a beautiful spring day, and outside my window, the kids were swinging on the hammock and playing on the lush green grass, and the flowers were starting to bloom again in Susana's garden.

Some robins had built a nest in one of the old apple trees, and their song filled the air of the early evening, fragrant with the smell of grass and blossoms.  But something even  better happened - although it didn't seem that way at first.

A few months go Mykl and Laura had acquired a little tabby kitten, who is now at the stage of prowling outside.  The cat saw those robins, and immediately made a bee-line for the tree.

Up the trunk the feline scooted, tail switching, while the robins flew about in terror trying to protect their nest. The little cat went higher and higher until it was almost at the top of the tree, and then the robins began dive-bombing it.

The cat couldn't go down, and the robins wouldn't give up.  What to do? I rushed outside and got Mykl, who with the help of Kaj, put up the long, tall ladder we use for pruning and gleaning.

Mykly quickly clambered up the tree, and stretched his arm out as far as he could to haul down the recalcitrant kitty, who, despite the dive-bombing birds, was still determined to get at that nest.

So what was it about this little tableau that heartened me?  The coming together of the community members to rescue a cat up a tree?  The determination of the robins to protect their young?

I'm not sure. But it made me happy, and banished those post-election blues.

Kathryn

New residents...

We actually had quite a few new residents this last month. It certainly seemed to be the month of transitions.

But, I am referring to our youngest, fluffiest new residents.

 

-Myriam