Wednesday, August 14, 2013
4 August 2013
1:08 AM | 
Posted by
John Tennock
3 August 2013 6:18pm
Another very mild sparkling day with the promise of a cold, clear starry night. We made and early start this morning, digging the trench around the garden plot before the day became too hot. Good progress made before cleaning up to attend a monthly community meeting. We haven't had much opportunity to participate in these over the years because we have spent so little time on site. We hope that an extended stay will allow us to be more actively involved in these discussions and other activities like working bees.
As the community membership has stabilised the meetings have become more civil the they often were in the early days. One reason for the change seems to be the increased number of women and families. There was a good turn-up and worthwhile discussion and decision making. Several new members were ratified, the conclusion of quite a long process these days.
By the time broke up it was close to lunchtime so it was back to our site for a delicious chicken lunch and a glass of red wine. Our neighbour returned from a morning surfing and, spotting us relaxing, came over to join us. It took a few more glasses of red before we had finished sharing our respective morning experiences. Apparently Crescent Head is one of the top surfing beaches on the east cost of Australia. The neighbourly chat ended with a trial run on his recumbent tricycle - quite an experience!
What was left of the afternoon was spent fitting some new kitchen shelves, briefly interrupted by a visit from another neighbour inviting us to his son's birthday party tomorrow.
It's quite a new experience having all these friendly neighbours. When we first stayed on our block the valley we are in, known as "The Bowl", was empty and we were the only occupants. Now it is more like an estate of acreage lifestyle blocks.
4 August 2013 8:50pm
I spent the morning digging another third of the 48metre perimeter trench around the garden plot to bury corrugated iron, on edge, as the bottom portion of a bandicoot-proof fence. I should finish it tomorrow.
Our neighbours have a son with Down's syndrome and we have spent the afternoon at their place celebrating his 42nd birthday. Most of the community turned up and it was a very convivial occasion.
It has been interesting to experience the social environment here now that we have made a longer term commitment to being here and are no longer regarded as visitors. In fact, we are among the long term members of the cooperative, having taken up our share fairly soon after it was formed over 10 years ago. It's just that we have not previously stayed for much more than a week or so at a time, and often with periods of over a year between visits. The members who attended todays gathering were a range of ages, backgrounds and family situations. The thing they all seem to have in common is an unwillingness or inability to participate in 'main-stream', competitive, career oriented, consumption-driven society. Some have extraordinary social or creative skills, others could be regarded as significantly disabled. However, it seems that we can all come together socially with an attitude of tolerance and co-operation.
Another very mild sparkling day with the promise of a cold, clear starry night. We made and early start this morning, digging the trench around the garden plot before the day became too hot. Good progress made before cleaning up to attend a monthly community meeting. We haven't had much opportunity to participate in these over the years because we have spent so little time on site. We hope that an extended stay will allow us to be more actively involved in these discussions and other activities like working bees.
As the community membership has stabilised the meetings have become more civil the they often were in the early days. One reason for the change seems to be the increased number of women and families. There was a good turn-up and worthwhile discussion and decision making. Several new members were ratified, the conclusion of quite a long process these days.
By the time broke up it was close to lunchtime so it was back to our site for a delicious chicken lunch and a glass of red wine. Our neighbour returned from a morning surfing and, spotting us relaxing, came over to join us. It took a few more glasses of red before we had finished sharing our respective morning experiences. Apparently Crescent Head is one of the top surfing beaches on the east cost of Australia. The neighbourly chat ended with a trial run on his recumbent tricycle - quite an experience!
What was left of the afternoon was spent fitting some new kitchen shelves, briefly interrupted by a visit from another neighbour inviting us to his son's birthday party tomorrow.
It's quite a new experience having all these friendly neighbours. When we first stayed on our block the valley we are in, known as "The Bowl", was empty and we were the only occupants. Now it is more like an estate of acreage lifestyle blocks.
4 August 2013 8:50pm
I spent the morning digging another third of the 48metre perimeter trench around the garden plot to bury corrugated iron, on edge, as the bottom portion of a bandicoot-proof fence. I should finish it tomorrow.
Our neighbours have a son with Down's syndrome and we have spent the afternoon at their place celebrating his 42nd birthday. Most of the community turned up and it was a very convivial occasion.
It has been interesting to experience the social environment here now that we have made a longer term commitment to being here and are no longer regarded as visitors. In fact, we are among the long term members of the cooperative, having taken up our share fairly soon after it was formed over 10 years ago. It's just that we have not previously stayed for much more than a week or so at a time, and often with periods of over a year between visits. The members who attended todays gathering were a range of ages, backgrounds and family situations. The thing they all seem to have in common is an unwillingness or inability to participate in 'main-stream', competitive, career oriented, consumption-driven society. Some have extraordinary social or creative skills, others could be regarded as significantly disabled. However, it seems that we can all come together socially with an attitude of tolerance and co-operation.
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