The Leaves of Twin Oaks Summer 2001 - Page 2
For the first time in several years, we had enough extra money mid-year to suggest and vote on One-Time Resource Allocations. The OTRAs for chickens and a sauna passed. Sad to say, River’s OTRA for inflatable sheep for our sheepdog to herd failed, as did Valerie’s request for funding to invite Pee Wee Herman here and recreate Pee Wee’s Playhouse (proposal included this issue.)
Another OTRA that passed went to Jay for starting and maintaining flower gardens. Starting last year, George, then Mr. Tom and now Jay have gone on a Twin Oaks beautification rampage, creating flower gardens around the willow tree by the driveway, at Emerald City and by the old dairy barn. One of the most obvious benefits of the abundance of labor Twin Oaks is currently experiencing is the freedom for members to spend more time doing things they love that also benefit the community.
Brenda, Keenan, and a bunch of other folks organized a fantastic summer camp which the kids christened Camp Chillin’. The camp involved current TO kids, ex-TO kids, and friends, and drew on the skills of many adults in leading activities ranging from woodworking to judo to day hikes. Highlights were a three-day camping trip to Virginia Beach and a theater production written by the kids entitled Monkey Boy in the City. In other kid news, Jonah has 4 teeth, and four-year-old Adrian has learned to ride a bike – without training wheels!
Things looked dire for a while for Piper’s Reading Windows tutoring program in Louisa; she couldn’t afford to continue to pay rent on the building she was in and didn’t know where she could move the program. We were all immensely relieved when, following significant lobbying from Twin Oakers and other friends, the Louisa Board of Supervisors agreed that Piper could run the program out of the old library rent-free.
Another recent exciting event in town: Jay came in second in the horseshoe –pitching competition at the Louisa County Fair. He brought home a trophy and everything! And speaking of Jay: when he moved here last fall, he and Jake became the first sibling member pair to live here in a while. When my brother Raj moved here this summer, we became the second, and Jane and Virginia are now the third. Three years separate each pair of siblings.
Jay and Jake recently brought back over 20,000 flower bulbs from their mothers home in Wisconsin; more on that story later this issue. In other garden news, George has taken over the Modern Times garden from Morgan. Morgan inherited it last year from Cassie, the progenitor of the garden, who had to give it up after 14 years due to vision problems. Cassie will still be working with George doing “boarder patrol.”
Last but not least, in case you weren’t paying attention, in 2002 Twin Oaks will be 35 years old! We’ve decided that this is going to be an important event and a huge event is already in planning. Look out for more details on this momentous occasion.