I waited at The Sniug for the family to pick me up, and got into a nice conversation about the Cape and community and the long furture of life on Bowen. Lots passed between us, but one thought I was left with was that no one can plan a neighbourhood. Developers plan developments, but it is up to citizens to make them neighbourhoods. We have fear about all kinds of scenarios of the future, but at what point do we find ourselves in those stories, helping to turn "developments" to "neighbourhoods." Regardless of whether a developer has produced a "neighbourhood plan" creating neighbourhoods is the provinces and responsibility of citizens. So my questions for the medium term and long term for the Cape is, what are we all prepared to do to make whatever happens down there a part of our community? How do we act as midwives tothe new neighbourhood that will evolve with the new people that will ineveitably arrive? How do we steward the future community we all want to live in? If we find ourselves on one side or the other of the debate, can we see ourselves caring after the desicion is made? Or if "our side" "loses" do we turn our backs on the Cape? I find my own emotional energy these days invested in these questions.
In other news, we're doing more work on the front of the house these days, building access to the garden from the front of our place. Over the past few years we have made more an more of our lives in the out of doors, putting in a hot tub and a garden and patio and using the sleeping porch. We have a small place, but since stretching out, we are able to make it much bigger, with some many more outdoor rooms and spaces and our lives have stretched correspondingly.
The work on the front should be finished this week and when I find my camera I'll upload some photos.
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