Pillars of the Community

Not that we need more things on our table, but we are becoming, if you can believe this one, active in our community. One of the things we love about our town is that there is a huge amount of community involvement, all on a completely volunteer basis. It's the reason so many things happen that are open to the public. Well, being a true Democrat, how can you not take a little without giving a little back? With this in mind, certain things have come our way, and we have jumped in, even in lieu of all the other "stuff" going on, mainly work for R and parenthood for both of us, not to mention the daily rigors of real man chores.

The whole Transition Towns movement is picking up momentum, and it really showed at the latest Community Connection "Pancake Breafast." There was a huge turnout, due in part to TT promoting it, and it was actually a nice affair. CC did a nice job.

R is in charge of a lot of TT stuff. The community and environmental lean strike a chord in her, and in me, as well. She is actually now the head of TT, though a lot gets done via CF, who seems to be in charge, though he won't acknowledge it. The reality is, TT needs the guy, so it works out well. We piled everyone into the car and had a nice breakfast. The spread was more extensive than I'd thought it would be. I figured they'd just crank out pancakes and be done, but there was fresh fruit, and eggs! A feast, though coffee was a little hard to come by. Addiction, you gotta love it.

The kids had fun sitting at the head of the table, next to the CF, and gobbling down the flapjacks. It was cute to watch. There was a lot of discussion about what was planned, including the farmer's market, which is really gaining steam. It's really a vestige of a bygone era of community government open to and run by the public. This scene is played out across the state.

At some point, all the talk about select boards and voting started to bore the kids (can you blame them?), so I had to take them outside. We went to the store and go cat food, then played in the snow, waiting for mom. Because she's in charge, she had to stay till the end, but it was fun just hanging out.

And I think the meeting was a success. Good turnout, good discussion/debate, and things are moving along. People around here are really passionate about a clean environment and a strong community. The big thing is the market, and because we don't have enough to do, we are toying with the idea of opening a booth and selling pizza. The best part of this plan is that we have absolutely no idea what we're doing, which I've found is all the more reason to go for it and jump in head first.

Besides, what a great topic for blogging. You can't make this sort of stuff up. Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Alicia Solario for the pic.