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OCTOBER 2018
#27
            The First Senior Cohousing Community in Port Townsend, WA
QV Abounds with Teachers
 
We all know that our Quimper Villagers are a bright, caring, nurturing bunch, but who would have thought that nearly one-half of us are teachers? From flower arranging to flight instruction, from bilingual pre-school to ESL to French and Spanish and Language Arts, from Anatomy and Physiology to Philosophy and Religion, to Theatre and World Politics, our teachers cover the gamut of learning possibilities. Several have taken on the added complexities of teaching severely physically and learning disabled, emotionally disturbed, and exceptionally gifted students.
 
In September, I asked these retired (all but one) teachers if they missed the anticipation of beginning a new school year with preparing new curricula and gathering new materials for their classrooms. They all said that while they loved teaching and especially the joys and challenges of interacting with their students, they were happy to be free from the bureaucracy of the formal school environment, the daily or weekly lesson plans and the long hours, feeling their work was never done. One common challenge they all faced was staying abreast of new developments in their field and keeping their classes/courses fresh and interesting, both for their students and for themselves. Several felt frustrated that, after decades of experience in the classroom, there was no mechanism by which they could share their experience and mentor newer teachers after their retirement.
 
Jack, who taught on the college level for 40 years added, “The period between 1960-1980 was a great time to be a grad student and college teacher. It was a time when college education was highly valued and well funded and jobs were plentiful.” 
 
Many of the teachers enjoyed full autonomy in their classrooms within broad parameters. It allowed them creativity and a great deal of individual interaction with students and their families. They all said that they fed off the students’ excitement, having a shared learning experience, and witnessing their “ah ha” moments.
 
Pam D, who taught severely disabled children said, “One of the parts of the day I still miss is standing at the doorway of the bus to greet the kids and being amazed by their resilience and enthusiasm.”
 
Ivar summed it all up by saying, “I was born to teach.” Many nodding heads concurred.
                                                                                      - Araya 
Where Are My Shoes?
 
Can’t find your shoes or flash light when it matters most? Where the heck did you put your keys to get into the storage shed? Do you have your ‘to go bag’ ready in a handy location in case of major emergency? Do you need medications daily and do you have extras for an emergency situation? What about water? One person needs a least one gallon per day.
 
If an earthquake happens tonight, are you ready?

     

 
Your neighbors on the Emergency Preparation Team will go over a few basics in the next three months at general meetings.  Phil will demonstrate good water storage and/or ways to purify what water you have at hand.  Pam C will talk about (rather than demonstrate) having proper buckets and materials on hand for human waste. Betty will show you simple emergency foods & recipes to keep you healthy. Take a look at the very fine booklet that was passed out last spring, it covers a whole lot of everything you might need in case of major emergencies.
                                                 
Are you really ready? 
                 
                                                          - PamC

We threw a small welcoming party for our newest member, Mark. He moved in on Wednesday and had pictures up on his walls by Friday! We are thrilled to have him with us.
Need a Fix?
 
Quimper Village is a big operation, with 28 residences, a Common House, garages, shop and other buildings, storm water system, roads, sidewalks. Stuff happens. If you poke a hole in a closet wall, or a hose bib starts to leak, or the porch paint peels, or the rain garden by your house develops tidal waves, who ya gonna call?
 
Quimper Village is an “air rights” condo:  Each member personally owns only the interior, the “air,” of their homes, bounded by the drywall.  That hole in the closet is your problem to fix.  QV Condominium Owners Association (COA) owns everything outside the drywall in homes: the buildings, plumbing, pavement, shop, Common House, art studio and a bunch of other things necessary to keep us warm, dry and content. B&G (Buildings and Grounds Maintenance) Team – Mack (pictured), Ivar, Skip, Jerry, Mike and Doug -- are tasked to keep all that COA property working and looking good. 

B&G recently came to every house to clean filters in the mini-split heater/ACs.  They developed a routine that’s fast and keeps the rest of us from falling off ladders in our living rooms.  Skip seems to repaint/repair the recycle temple doors every few weeks (because the rest of us bang them up).  Jerry drove the QV limousine (sometimes mistaken for a golf cart) all over the unpaved surfaces of QV and then supervised covering them with more dirt and hydro seed.  Mack (below) and Ivar use the shop to build things for common use, Doug improves the drainage ditches and Mike knows plumbing. And they all work together with remarkable good humor to make us all comfortable and safe. 
 

Your personally owned equipment (e.g., appliances) are under warranty from the manufacturer or seller, but some interior issues (e.g., leaky shower or closet door) may still be under Builder’s warranty, which runs out very soon.  B&G Team just completed a major inspection of the entire QV-owned establishment and found only minor items for the Builder to repair.  Notify them ASAP of any issue, interior or exterior; your thing might fall under Builder’s warranty.
 
And every now and then, say thanks.                              - Jack                                                                          
The Making of a Meadow
 
       Through the magic of hydroseeding, our rough fields and old construction roads are morphing into a meadow-to-be. Initially, it looks an awful lot like a big fluffy green carpet. So just what is that fluffy green stuff? 
         All told, we have 320 pounds of grass seed along with 24 pounds of wildflower seeds bound up in a slurry of 5,600 gallons of water, a ton of mulch, some fertilizer and sticky stuff called “tackifier.” 
        While Tex the dog looked on, Javan and Chrissie of Wayne’s Hydroseed loaded up the tank, then cranked up the pump, ready to spray the almost 2 acres of our open space. It took eight loads over two days to complete. 
        Just a few weeks later, the seeds have now begun to germinate, just a fuzz of little green spears. In early spring as it starts growing in earnest, Javan will return to feed it a dose of lime and fertilizer. 
        In a wild flower meadow, the first season is always the best they say, with a riot of color. Bright annuals predominate the first year. Perennial flowers will shine after a year or two as they settle into a good long life. We can keep up the bodacious blooms by scattering more of our favorite seeds every fall. 
        These grasses are different from the low grow fescue mix we used last year. In addition to several fescues, there are also perennial rye grasses and some clover. It’s a taller mix than last year’s and more resilient. This, along with better soil preparation, should give the meadow a great start. 
        After the winter rains, in the warmth of early summer as the ‘fluffy green carpet’ explodes into a brilliant tapestry, we will have all but forgotten the toil of  ‘rock parties’ and ‘weed fests’ that prepared the way. 
        And what about all the seeds we scattered by hand before the hydro-seed was placed? We should see those blooms in drifts of red, blue, white and yellow, brilliant against a background of the hydro-seeded grasses and wildflowers.                                --Cindy

Cindy coordinated our efforts in doing this...
...so in the spring, we are treated to this. Big thank you to the seed sowers.
Port Townsend Kinetic Sculpture Race
October 6th and 7th in 2018
        This colorful race originated in Ferndale, California in 1969 when Hobart Brown made some artistic changes to his son’s tricycle and displayed it for admiration in front of his art studio. A nearby shop keeper, Jack Mays, felt challenged and created his own kinetic vehicle and dared Hobart to a race.  Well, you might say “the race was on.”  Soon a dozen human-powered sculptures joined in, and the first Kinetic Sculpture Race roared down the main street of Ferndale, not without breakdowns and accidents.  Neither Hobart nor Jack Mays won this race.
        Here is how our own veteran of the race, John C remembers it, with a mea culpa for his “soggy memory.”
        Around 1983, a few of Port Townsend’s “adventuresome younger generation” heard about Ferndale’s race and traveled down there to meet Hobart Brown with the intent to have one here in PT.  They met with Hobart and got PT sanctioned to hold one.
        The “brake and float” tests were held Saturday morning and afternoon. Each entrant had to prove their sculpture could roll down Monroe Street hill from Lawrence Street and be brought to a full stop, still on the hill, about even with Memorial Field.  This was no problem for entries that consisted of a bicycle and a bunch of Styrofoam, but it became more exciting when a twelve-foot-long, nine-foot-tall apparatus on four tractor wheels, equipped with seating and pedaling for four usually slightly clad beauties, started down the hill.  If you couldn’t pass the braking test, you rumbled on down Monroe into Port Townsend Bay, to applause and cheers. Disqualified! Even if you floated.
        However, if you and your device passed the braking test, you had to demonstrate your floatability by entering the Port Townsend Bay and paddling to a certain point and back to dry land. You had qualified!
        The next day, the race started on Water Street and worked its way through Downtown and out to the Jefferson County Fairgrounds, through the Dismal Bog, a sixty-yard-long slough filled with mud. Then the surviving racers headed back towards Downtown and into the water at the public ramp.  Those that survived exited the water and finish in front of the American Legion Hall. You won! Well, maybe.
        Explaining the winner was way too complicated for John.  It had something to do with mediocrity and being in the middle of the pack.  But he became excited when describing the Kween Koronation Kostume Ball on Saturday night.  Sort of a Bacchanalian orgy in John’s mind.
        I checked with the race sponsors and learned that little has changed. This year the theme is Mediocre Superheroes. The Ball is for twenty-one-year-olds and older and no cameras allowed. I think John had it right.            - Jim

- SAVE THE DATE -

May 30-June 2, 2019

We invited Alan Potter to come and give us a lesson in Laughter Yoga. What a great way to come together and enjoy ourselves and each other. The monthly general meeting that followed (ha ha) was surely (ho ho) more enjoyable as a result.
Newsletter Team: JimD, Araya, Cindy, PamC, Jack, and Cheron
Extra photos by  Mena, JimP, Jerry  -  Thanks!
Copyright © - 2018 Quimper Village, All rights reserved.

SEND US A MESSAGE OR COMMENT:
QVNewsTeam@gmail.com
3105 Sage Lane
Port Townsend, WA 98368

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Quimper Village · 3105 Sage Lane · Port Townsend, WA 98368 · USA

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