2003 News
5th Anniversary Celebration
December 2003. Five years of living in community on our land, Hooray! We celebrated with music, games, a dinner by Roberta, hand painted sunward rocks for new folks, and a haiku poem read aloud for each person who arrived or departed in the past year, all masterfully MC'd by Marc and Nancy. A listing of accomplishments for the year was enthusiastically compiled and we performed a fun ritual where individual appreciations and advice are anonymously written on a sheet of paper attached to each person's back. Already Sunward has accumulated several customs and traditions and we feel grateful to the people who have put the spirit and vision into making these things happen.
Community Building Weekend!
November 9-11, 2004. A special community building weekend with facilitator Bea Briggs, of Huehuecoyotl Ecovillage in Mexico, brought us together to create more joy and ease in living together, deepen and renew our existing community sense of who we are, why we're here, and where we're going. Significant progress was made on articulating our core vision and shared values as well our decision making process. Important healing work was on some personal struggles and rifts. Our collective spirit was lifted with experiencing Sunward's continued growth and maturity as a community.
Haunted Common House
October 31, 2003. Transforming our Common House into an eerie cavern for Halloween went on for a couple days leading up to the party with spirited help from the kids. Our kids then did double duty trick-or-treating at both Sunward and our neighboring community, Great Oak. Our party was a convergence of guests including a gang of AFS exchange students at their first Halloween, attendees of the NASCO Institute happening in town, and many members of Great Oak from across our pond. Traveling communitarian Doug, aka The Green Lantern, organized a great bonfire with singing and story telling to warm us up for dancing. Amy and Michael put together an awesome five decade spanning dance mix and jumbo sound system to keep us shakin' our booties into the wee hours of the night.
Cover Cohousers
Seven smiling Sunwardians were featured on the cover of the Fall 2003 issue of Cohousing magazine. How will we stay humble with all this fame?
Fall!
The glorious hues of Fall leaves are surrounding us, above in the canopy and under foot as we chat with each other on the pedestrian paths. Walking the trails in our woods is a delight as the sunlight filters magically among the colorful leaves, branches and crisp air. We are looking forward to a rich line 
up of activities this Fall including our Halloween festivities, celebrating our 5th anniversary of living on the land together, and an assortment of Holidays. We've been focused on improving our consensus decision making process, and energy has also been bubbling lately around designing a beautiful brick paver piazza outside of our common house and installing it as a community project. Stay tuned!
Kindermusik with Katie
September 2003. The 2nd season of Kindermusik with Katie is under way with two classes being offered in the Common House. The toddler class is called "Our Time" and this season's theme is Wiggles and Giggles. They are learning a lot of music to do with friends or at home that relates to water activities. The preschool-age class, "Imagine That!" has the theme See What I Saw and focuses on talking and singing about things to do at the park and outside. They have been exploring pitch with the seesaw song "Seesaw, Up and down, In the air and on the ground." The concept of the glissando is also being tested out with the sliced song" "Climb up the ladder; Climb to the tip top -- Sliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiide down."
Shed Moving Party!
September 27, 2003. An intrepid crew of Sunwardians honcho'd by Carol and fed by Josie tackled the big task of moving our utility shed across our parking lot. We were aided by our trusty bobcat, pipes as rollers, long wooden levers and a lot of muscle. More of our crew took on replacing doors and painting walls and sorting all the stuff that was in the shed. This is our second trip for our shed since we originally salvaged it from a demolition site.
Rowena is a Storyteller!
After years of dreaming about it, Rowena decided to pursue the work of her heart as a professional Storyteller. It must have been meant to be as it has been going really well with lots of opportunities to perform in various locations - day-cares, schools, bookstores, museums, Kerrytown, as well as a story circle program in our own Common House. This fall each of her circles features stories from a different continent and include song, movement activities, sensory experiences, and usually a snack! Rowena's next wish is to give performances in larger venues and the Ark's annual Story Festival.
Ecovillages Road Tour Visit
August 10, 2003. Valerie and Michel visited sunward as part of their 4 month, ten thousand mile, North American Ecovillages Road Tour. Their goal is to discover the state of Ecovillages in the United States. They are visiting many intentional communities in the US and collecting ideas and best practices to bring back to Quebec City, Canada where they are part of a core group seeking to create an ecovillage. Their group also sent a team to Europe on a parallel research quest to drive their efforts in Canada.
Humming Bird Research
A number of Sunwardians have enjoyed watching Allen Chartier's activities at Hefners' hummingbird feeder. Allen is licensed to band hummingbirds - a very specialized skill, and he is the only such bander in this Michigan-Ohio-Ontario area. The hope is that eventually, with lots of birds banded recaptured at various points along their travels and at nesting areas, we will be able to know a lot about migration routes and habits of the birds. Our kids were especially encouraged to watch the banding. If you are lucky enough to be present he may place the bird on your open hand for its takeoff! At the west end of sunward we've enjoyed watching the Humming birds compete with the butterflies for the best nectar in a large patch of Mexican sunflowers.
National Cohousing Conference
June 2003. A record number of 8 Sunwardians traveled to Boulder, Colorado to participate in the National Cohousing Conference on June 19-21, joining communitarians from around the country and as far as New Zealand. Wonderful times were had by all surrounded by kindred spirits working to build a brighter future for ourselves and this small planet. Our members brought back myriad ideas to explore for Sunward from the tours of 9 regional communities, workshops on process and communications, sessions on all aspects of life in, and physical operation of cohousing communities, inspiring plenary events, and extensive networking with others in the communities movement. Keynote speaker Paul Ray spoke on how cohousers are part of the 50 million strong Cultural Creatives subculture in the US, sharing a world view, values and lifestyle that collectively may change the direction of our country for the better.
Bird Watching
June. Spring migration has drawn to a close and lots of birds have stopped to feed briefly in the area and then gone on to more northerly climes. However, some have stayed to raise their families here. The Great Blue Heron that lives in our wetlands continues to evoke awe as he silently glides in cricles to land on the pond. [more]
Outdoors!
Summer finds our walking paths filled with Sunwardians playing, chatting, gardening, working, and relaxing through all the daylight hours. A pair of community landscaping workdays in the exceptionally cool spring began the season's landscaping artistry. Our tree planting continues as energy and money allow with a particular focus on replacing our many beautiful Ash trees that are falling victim to the devastating Emerald Ash Borer beetle.
Wedding Chimes
May 24, 2003. We shared in celebration as members Becky and Dale exchanged their wedding vows in a ceremony led by Dharma Teacher Geri Larkin on May 24. An Indian feast followed and we danced and smiled into the night. The festivities also built connections between Sunward and our soon to be neighbors at Great Oak Cohousing as most members of both Cohousing communities joined in the celebration. Guests each contributed a page to the wedding cookbook with their favorite recipe and good advice for a successful relationship. We're wondering if there is something special in our good earth here as this makes the 3rd partnership between members who met at Sunward.
Craft Fair
May 10, 2003. Some of the artistically inclined members of Sunward put on a Craft Fair in our Common House. They brought items they had made, to display, and offer for sale to their neighbors and to the public. There was a beautiful display of unusual paper bowls, some photographs, a robotics display and items made from woodworking. There were sketches, baskets made from natural materials found on our land, and a display and demonstration of weaving. The event was a fine success, and no doubt will become an annual event at Sunward.
Vernal Equinox Concert by Changeling 
March 2003. Our friends in the Celtic duo Changeling once again graced our Common House with their wonderful music to help us celebrate the Vernal Equinox. We danced and tapped our toes to fiery jigs and reels and were enraptured by the songs and laments. A jam session with the band after the show lasted late into the night with sunwardians and guest musicians.
Mardi Gras!
March 2003. Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler! Our Common House swayed to the zydeco beat as we cebrated Mardi Gras and brought a little bit of New Orleans to Michigan. Wild costumes, beads and masks turned things inside out and we danced till the wee hours. Amy cooked up her famous red beans and rice and we imported some special beverages from the heart of it all in Louisiana.
Common House Furnishings
February 2003. Our Common House functions as an extension of each individual home and thus allows each home to be smaller than would be otherwise needed. Lately, the Common House has been getting much cozier thanks to the dedication of the decorating and furnishings committee. Carefully selected art work is appearing, along with comfy couches, and cozy wool rugs to make it more and more inviting for hanging out, having a meeting or party. Home is where the heart is!
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“Cohousers believe that it's more readily possible to live lighter on the planet if they cooperate with their neighbors, and their lives are easier, more economical, more interesting, and more fun.” -Charles Durrett
