First, the block party: The weather was looking grey and foreboding in the morning, but the sun burst through in the afternoon for what turned out to be a wonderfully well-attended block party for the immediate neighbourhood around Vancouver Cohousing.

No one had RSVP’d to the invitations we delivered but we were pretty sure curiosity would attract some of the neighbours. In the end, more than 40 people came to check us out and see for themselves. The teams of greeters at the front gate ran out of name tags and had to get more.

Many of our members contributed yummy savoury and sweet snacks. We had lots of one-to-one conversations getting to know each other and showing them our homes. Most people expressed how much they were impressed with what we built. But I also heard from the  neighbour directly across from us how it bothered her that construction began at 7 in the morning, and another neighbour to the west about damage to his driveway and some concrete that our contractor partially repaired.

Tours were organized of the common house. Mark and Cyrena played classical string duets in the lounge, and Ian invited me to drum with him as he entertained with children’s songs on our patch of grass in the courtyard.

 

I’m very glad I took the initiative in our external relations committee to organize the party so we could begin building relationships.

Next, the blockhead

In the evening, I prepared a curry called eggplant bharta for our Indian-themed community dinner on Monday. It was the first time I’d used the common house stove and the first time I’d cooked for 40 people. I totally forgot to turn on the fan, and when I was sauteing large amounts of onion in large amounts of oil, I triggered the very loud fire alarm.

Shortly, three firefighters appeared on the scene – see Taryn’s photo. I explained what happened and after a little while they left. Fortunately, the fire department doesn’t charge for answering alarms. They don’t want people disarming alarms to avoid a fine.

A trio of amazing young musicians held me spellbound at the Sakura Days Japan Fair at VanDusen Gardens. Called Tsumugu Project, they are Chie Hanawa on Tsugaru shamisen, Keita Kanazashi on taiko (pictured) and shinobue flute, and vocalist Anna Sato.

They’re playing again Sunday afternoon at 3:25-4:05 at the Cherry Stage. The fair runs to 5 pm. The trio is on a Canadian tour, having already played in Toronto, and going next to Salt Spring Island for a taiko workshop on Thursday and performing on Friday before returning to Japan next Tuesday.

 

 

 

They are all strong, virtuoso musicians who can perform with both great power and tenderness. I played taiko for 10 years in both Japan and Canada so I particularly enjoyed Kanazashi’s energy, skill and creativity. Here’s a taste of their show on YouTube.

I was married to a Japanese woman for 14 years and lived in Japan for three years, so I consider myself a bit of a Japanophile. I never miss the Powell Street Festival in August. But I was surprised to learn the Sakura Days Japan Fair, a project of the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival, is in its sixth year and I’d never heard of it.

There’s lots to enjoy, including a children’s tent, hands-on woodworking, haiku writing, the tea ceremony, a Japanese garden, cooking class, sake tasting, ikebana (flower arranging), calligraphy, a host of vendors and a great variety of Japanese food. Parking is limited – there’s a bicycle valet and handy transit service.

I’ve been focused on editing a 120,000-word report since Friday, but I did pause to put together a poster for an evening of sacred chanting I’ll be doing in Ottawa. I’m so grateful to Joel Yan in Ottawa for organizing it and asking Roslyn Wollock, Adult Education & Cultural Programs Manager at the Soloway Jewish Community Centre, to host the event. That’s very generous of the centre.

I’m looking forward to joining with Joel on guitar and perhaps other local musicians for the evening on Monday, April 18. Please share this information with folks in Ottawa and even Montreal who might be interested.

We did a similar evening in Ottawa two years ago and had a wonderful time. I wish I could be there more often.

Today also had a food focus. I took some time to prepare a good lunch in my carbon-steel wok on my new gas range. Just love cooking with gas. It was organic brocollette (cross between broccoli and gai lan), onion, Yves ground round (a soy product), garlic, ginger and a sauce with Chinese mushroom stir-fry sauce, Thai sweet chili sauce and Japanese shoyu in a stock from rehydrating dried shiitake mushrooms.

This evening, Darcy and Tara came over to discuss our menu for the community dinner we’ll be serving on Monday. It’s going to be an Indian feast and I’m taking on an eggplant dish, Baigan ka Bharta. I’ve basically never met an eggplant dish I didn’t love, so this should be fun.

Today’s main photo shows Wade working on his laptop at the new bar counter Cam installed today in our shared office space. Cam built the 12-foot counter in our workshop from two $5 wood doors he bought used, one oak and one mahogany. I contributed two bar stools, an adjustable leg for support and some organizing.

Cam, left, tries out the counter he built in the Vancouver Cohousing workshop.

I’m in awe of people like Cam with building skills. When I drive a nail, it’s pretty much guaranteed to be crooked. Just lucky I don’t hammer my thumb.

I’m planning to spend some time this weekend at the counter enjoying the mountain view. It will be a break from working all day at home.

• • • • • •

Betsy and Lorne in the Bay Area in 1968.

Today I got a lovely message from Betsy in New York marking the 49th anniversary of when we met in 1967 on Kibbutz Nirim in Israel’s Negev Desert. I’m so glad we reconnected last summer when I was in New York for a family wedding, the first time we’d met in 40 years.

I’ve been working this evening designing an invitation to Vancouver Cohousing’s Kensington neighbourhood for a block party. The photo shows some of the images I’m using.

When we were seeking support from local residents for our rezoning application in late 2012 and early 2013, we said we were going to be great neighbours. I’m a member of our external relations committee and at a meeting this week I proposed that it was time to be neighbourly.

We’ll open our gates for a couple hours on a Sunday afternoon, offer refreshments and tours, and get to know the people into whose world we have landed, perhaps like a spaceship from another planet to some of them.

After all, we’ve created a multi-family complex with 31 units housing 51 adults and 18 children right smack in the midst of a single-family neighbourhood. Many of us remark that we continue to be amazed we actually made it happen. It’s real and we’re living here.

• • • • • • •

One reason I’ve been able to blog daily has been a drought in the flow of the editing work I do on contract. But this evening a 120,000-word report landed in my inbox and I’ve got a week to polish it. You may not see posts from me every day, or some posts may be pretty short and sweet, like this one.

 

 

On an appropriately bright, sunny afternoon, more than 100 people visited Vancouver Cohousing today for the showcase of BC’s first cooperatively owned community solar energy project.

In the main photo, you can see 15 of the 90 photovoltaic panels on our rooftops that are generating clean power for use in our common areas, such as the common house and parkade.

Many of us took advantage of free salted caramel ice cream, supplied by Earnest Ice Cream – owned by fellow cohouser Ben Ernst – an investor in SolShare Energy, which created the project. SolShare is a subsidiary of Vancouver Renewable Energy Cooperative.

SolShare co-founder Rob Baxter described some of the technical aspects of the project. The 23 kW photovoltaic plant officially began generating clean, pollution-free electricity at the end of January 2016.

Vancouver Councillor Andrea Reimer gives a dreamcatcher to J-M Toriel, on behalf of Vancouver Cohousing. (Heather Mann photo)

Fellow cohouser J-M Toriel spearheaded the effort to bring solar panels to Vancouver Cohousing. I’m going to piggyback on cohouser Heather Mann’s email to our community this evening: “J-M introduced the event and speakers, and shared joy and pride on behalf of Vancouver Cohousing for being the pioneers to implement solar panels through this financing strategy in all of BC. Rob Baxter proceeded to explain how the solar panels were financed: through local investors buying shares in SolShare, who will earn dividends on their investments as Vancouver Cohousing uses the solar energy.

“Andrea Reimer of City Council acknowledged the effort of Vancouver Cohousing in forging toward its dream, ‘even though the negotiations involved in working toward your dream may at times have felt like a nightmare.’ She gifted us with a dreamcatcher on behalf of the City.

“Bullfrog Power, Canada’s leading green energy provider, also shared their excitement to involved in this significant event,” Heather wrote. “Bullfrog Power originally financed the solar panels through a loan to SolShare before investors bought in.

“Following the speeches, guests were invited to mingle, tour our facilities, and soak up the sun.

“I felt inspired by the vision of a green energy future, and proud to be part of such a forward-thinking community,” Heather wrote. “J-M, along with many of you who worked to pursue this vision, should feel very proud indeed. Today’s event sent out ripples into the greater community for what is possible.”

When I arrived home from being on Roundhouse Radio, Taryn said there was a surprise by my front door. I was delighted to find a package of seeds for growing gai lan, one of my favourite Asian greens. It’s one more example of  loving kindness in my Vancouver Cohousing community, something I talked a lot about when I was interviewed on the Janice & Cory show (weekdays, 3-6 p.m. on 98.3).

After a lifetime in journalism, it’s always strange not to be the one asking the questions. I’ve often found mistakes in stories written or broadcast about something I’m involved in. But an on-air interview offers the opportunity to really tell your own story.

Co-hosts Janice Ungaro and Cory Ashworth were warm, enthusiastic and genuinely interested in knowing more about cohousing. The first question was whether “cohousing” was just a 2016 name for “co-op”. While both embrace a more collaborative lifestyle than the mainstream,  an essential difference is that co-ops in B.C. are generally rentals, while people in cohousing have strata title to their own homes clustered around common areas.

I described the loving connections and sharing, and how we’ve made all our decisions by 100 percent consensus. Cory said I was blowing their minds and basically wondered what planet I was from. I did make it clear when asked that we are not a cult, just people who want to know our neighbours better in a close-knit community.

I’m loyal to CBC Radio 1 and the BBC World Service, but now I’ve added Roundhouse Radio to my go-to radio stations. Roundhouse launched last fall and describes itself as “a commercial station with a community focus, serving the needs of the people who live, work and play in the City of Vancouver. Focusing on intelligent conversations from a unique, hyper-local perspective, Roundhouse provides content important to the lives of everyone who is engaged with this city.”

Their hip studios are at 714 Alexander St. in Railtown, and every last Tuesday of the month there are free bicycle mini tune-ups outside their front door provided by Union Street Cycle. And if you register with the Vancouver Police Department’s “Project 529” bike recovery app, you can ride by and pick up the ID shield for your bike.

With co-hosts Cory Ashworth and Janice Ungaro at Roundhouse Radio. (Devon Taylor photo)

• • • • • •

Club 69 loses another member: Patty Duke

Oscar-winning actor Patty Duke has died at age 69. She was born Anna Marie Pearce in Queens, New York, on Dec. 14, 1946. As reported by Associated Press:

Duke’s agent, Mitchell Stubbs, says the actress died early Tuesday morning of sepsis from a ruptured intestine. She died in Coeur D’Alene, Idaho, according to Teri Weigel, the publicist for her son, actor Sean Astin.

Duke found early success playing the young Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker first on Broadway, then in the acclaimed 1962 film version for which she won her Oscar at age 16, both with Anne Bancroft as Helen’s teacher, Annie Sullivan.

Then in 1963, she burst on the TV scene starring in a sitcom, The Patty Duke Show, which aired for three seasons. She played dual roles under an unconventional premise: as identical cousins living in Brooklyn, New York.

In 2015, she would play twin roles again: as a pair of grandmas on an episode of Liv and Maddie, a series on the Disney Channel.

In her 1988 memoir, Call Me Anna, Duke wrote of her bipolar condition and its diagnosis only six years earlier, and of the treatment that subsequently stabilized her life. The book became a 1990 TV film in which she starred, and she became an activist for mental health causes, helping to de-stigmatize bipolar disorder.

• • • • • •

A rainbow reflected on my front door.

Today was the first of our organized community meals in the common house, prepared and served by our members. It was a beautiful, sunny day and we could glimpse the mountains through the lounge windows. Almost 40 Vancouver Cohousers sat down for a delicious dinner of red lentil dahl, naan bread, rice and salad.

It was a lovely opportunity to chat with folks who share this amazing place. At my table, we caught up with how settling in is progressing and discussed how we had first become involved in the project. On the other  hand, Margot (pictured below) was more focused on her food.

We’ve been organized into crews of three to shop, chop, cook and clean for dinners on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and a weekend brunch. This evening, Nicole sent an email on behalf of the fellow members of her crew, Britta and Barry, with some lessons and insights from the first meal.

The first thing is to look at larger teams. “There were five of us (thanks for bringing friends Britta!!) cooking/setting up nonstop for two hours and I started prepping the meal at 2 pm,” Nicole wrote. “So the teams may want to plan to start earlier or have more people per team. Or just have waiting diners to help set up. This is assuming of course that you will have as many people at your meal that we had tonight. Smaller groups will obviously take less time.”

There has been a lot of discussion about the price of the common meals. “Tonight’s meal was one of the cheapest that you could make and at $5 a head we made just over $35 above our cost,” Nicole said. Costs will come down once we finish setting up our pantry and buy supplies in bulk. Clearly, our common meals are a work in progress.

Tonight’s monthly Chanting & Chocolate was delicious. The music was so beautiful  – one the participants, José, said he felt transported to another realm. I love my band and continue to be amazed that these superb musicians want to play with me.

This post’s feature photo was shot by photographer Anita Laura Fonseca at February’s chant evening. She said it will be part of her exhibit at an interfaith conference called Encountering the Other that will happen in May at Vancouver School of Theology where she studies. She’s photographing clergy and rituals from different traditions.

After the chanting, we hung out downstairs for tea and the triple-chocolate brownies I bake at home. I’ve been hosting monthly chant evenings since 2004, interrupted only when I went to live in Uganda. The donations we receive support the education of five orphans from the community where I lived.

Bringing farm-fresh, organic produce to us

One of my visions for Vancouver Cohousing was that because we have 31 households, a truck full of organic fruits and vegetables would come to our door so we could shop onsite. Well, a variation of that dream is bearing fruit, so to speak.

Olive sent out a community email about participating in a Community Shared Agriculture (CSA) program. If 10 households sign up, Earth Apple Farm in Abbotsford will deliver weekly harvest boxes right to us.

The farm’s website says the program “recognizes the importance of the relationship between producer and consumer and is based on the understanding that operating a small-scale sustainable farm is a community-oriented endeavour. Both farmer and consumer share responsibility in both the benefits (fresh, local, healthy and ethically grown produce) and risks (bad weather, illness, pests) that are inherently involved in the practice of organic farming. The consumer gives the farmer one easy payment in the spring when the biggest expenses (leases, seed, fertilizer, equipment maintenance/repair, rentals, tilling, etc) are incurred by the farmer and the CSA member benefits from a weekly supply of the freshest and tastiest produce throughout the growing season.”

 

 

This weekend, I’ve traded cars with Ben, a neighbour at Vancouver Cohousing. He has an all-electric BMW i3 and was going on a trip with his wife Olive and daughter Margot beyond the vehicle’s range of 130 to 160 km (80 to 100 miles).

I’m not entirely new to driving a car with an electric motor. I had a Toyota Prius from 2005-2009 before I sold it and went off to live in Uganda. When I got back, I didn’t have quite enough money for another Prius and bought a Honda Fit. I’ve missed feeling that I’m part of the solution.

Driving the i3 is an adventure. When I step on the accelerator (can’t really say you’re stepping on the gas) it has immediate and surprising power. And when I take my foot right off, it pretty much stops right away, unless I’m on a downward slope. And whereas the Prius was silent idling and under 15 kmh, the i3 is totally quiet throughout your drive. There’s no instrument cluster and instead a screen ahead of the driver, plus a larger widescreen display in the centre of the dashboard for navigation and other features.

Between drives, the i3 is plugged into a charging station. At our cohousing parkade, we have two, brought to us by one of our members, J-M, whose company Big Green Island installs chargers in residential garages.

I’m not quite ready for an all-electric. At 69, my priority is accident-avoidance systems. I’m hoping that by the time I get into a new vehicle, there will be a plug-in hybrid with those systems and all-wheel drive that won’t cost a fortune. In the meantime, I really should dust off my bicycle and get pedalling.