2004 Happenings
6 Years Together
November 2004. Our celebration of our 6th Anniversary together on this land included a rhythm parade around the community led by Doug and his marching bass drum as peopled joined in when the band passed. Rhythms continued in a Drummunity circle led by special guest Lori Fithian. From the circle rose smiles, giggles, statements of appreciations, accomplishment, and real stuff as we reflected on the past year. A personal Haiku verse was read to honor and recall each person who had arrived or left the community. We lingered long over an eleven dish Indian feast then gradually drifted off into the Sunward night.
Music Nights
Fall 2004. Music nights at Sunward have been active and great fun! We've had nights that are smaller and intimate, and others that have attracted a large crowd. Both settings are nice, and the variety is appreciated, too. From a Suzuki duet turned folk ensemble to acapella round singing to group favorites and requests, we've filled some wonderful nights with song, and its been very rewarding. Some come with instruments (one night, we had guitars, mandolin, violin, cello, drums, and tenor saxophone!!), others with ideas. Some come with their voice ready to sing along, others just come to listen and watch. It's a great way to try out an instrument you've been wanting to play with other people, good for relaxing after a busy week, or revisiting your singing repertoire. It's a casual setting, and open to anyone who wants to join us the last Friday of the month!
Halloween Strikes Again
Our 6th annual Halloween celebration began with a drum led costume parade circled the community and melded into trick or treating. New this year was a very scary Haunted Woods trail of which younger folk were cautioned to only enter the first section. Dancers amassed at our spookified Common House even before DJ Andy had his mixer fired up but soon whirling bodies with happy feet were swirling in in rhythm to the eclectic beats till the wee hours. It was another great blending of friends, family, neighbors, and overseas travelers coming together in our community home.
Snoop Night
October 23, 2004. For the third time, we enjoyed a SNOOP Night (Sunward Night to Observe Others' Places). About a dozen households opened their homes to let people come in and look around and see how each family has adopted our common floor plans to its own taste, furniture, organization and originality. We gathered in the Common House first for wine and munchies, then spread out to check out the houses. A highlight on the tour was a fabulous loft Mark and Katie built themselves from the high attic ceiling space above their stairway.
Learning to Juggle
October 3, 2004. We were delighted with a surprise visit from Dave Finnigan, aka Dr. Confidence who stopped by Sunward on his N. American juggling tour. After sharing a terrific dinner with us in the Common House, the good doctor performed some juggling feats and quickly got everyone into the action. Fun music helped folks young and old get the basic moves of juggling one, two, and then 3 scarves. "Criss, Cross, Apple Sauce!" Some folks moved on to balls and soon the room was filled with concentrating faces tossing colorful objects into the air and many smiling onlookers. Quite a few folks went home with practice balls so stay tuned for the next home grown juggling performance. Perhaps it's also a good metaphor for life in community, balancing the rich mix of personal lives with community work responsibilities and social involvement - it is a lot to juggle!
Piazza Construction
May 23, 2004. Our grand summer project of creating our long imagined piazza is under way. We are rallying the community and organizing work crews to do the fine site leveling work now. Everyone is getting into the swing of this community effort and we imagine the big piazza opening party in the summer on top of the carefully placed thousands and thousands of brick pavers. Stop by and help us finish the job!
Spring!
March 20, 2004. The spring equinox manifested a warm sunny day, presaging a good growing season for Sunward's flora and fauna. It feels great to shake off our winter wraps and snow clearing chores and re-explore the many wonderful nooks and crannies around our ponds and woods brimming with eager buds. Our landscape crew is readying its most organized season yet and or common house dinner honcho's are testing out a new approach to severing up great meals for the community. We've recently adopted new definitions of our consensus process to smooth out our decision making thanks to the perseverance our great facilitation group! 
We look forward to visits from friends old and new - might that be you?
Ordinary and Extraordinary
Sunday, March 14, 2004. Today was a busy day at Sunward, an ordinary and yet extraordinary day. Nancy prepared another one of her delicious dinners with the Cuban touch. Tara hosted a Happy Hour to welcome Linda and Ann into the community. There were several meetings in the Common House. In one 
facilitated by Mickey and Ruth, 29 households reflected on people moving into and out of Sunward. Lots of feelings were expressed, including hope and sadness and fear and happiness and anger. We acknowledged our successes at Sunward and brainstormed ideas for changes. We honored our continuing growth, both personally and as a community. We are aging as a community, being on this land for over 5 years, and we are growing in wisdom. All this is the ordinary stuff of life. What is truly extraordinary is that we shared this day as a community. Here we are at Sunward. Just think, most people don't even know who their neighbors are. It is extraordinary that we care enough to share the ordinary everyday things of life with each other.
News from 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001...1999, 1998, 1997
“A community grows great when the elders plant trees in whose shade they know they will never sit.” -unknown
