December 28, 2008 – 3rd Anniversary Indian Feast

We continue to have a great time at our anniversay feast.  And it isn't just a one day celebration.  We got together at Terri's place for two preparation sessions before the event itself.  Many hands create some very tasty dishes.  We packed Terri and Laura's house with great aromas, laughter, sharing with each other, and plenty to feast on.

December 7, 2008 – 4th Annual Holiday Cookie Bake

We outdid ourselves not only making LOTS of cookies to share but also decorating up a storm.  Lorell helped elevate our decorating options and skills to new levels.  It wasn't just the sugar that enlivened our spirits.

December 5, 2008 – Sharing Supper at Dalo’s

A long table was surrounded by many lively community members and filled with lots of yummy Ethiopian food for us to share. Lorell, our hostess, offered us a quintessential community activity, sharing food from common platters.  With our fingers too!

November 21, 2008 – Small Developer’s Lunch.

Kristin and Terri participated in a luncheon bringing together professionals throughout the city.  Many are very interested in collaborating and are particularly interested in community and cohousing.

November 19, 2008 – Social at Yetti’s

November 15, 2008 – NW Regional Cohousing Association Meeting and Cohousing Fair

Terri, Kristin, Chris, Martha, Lorell headed to Seattle to participate in the meeting, tabling, tour of Duwamish Cohousing and after event Potluck.  We had a great time being with other cohousers, participating in topics.  Kristin and Terri were busy talking to folks from forming groups, particularly after Grace used us as a case study in her presentation.

November 9, 2008 – Families and Cohousing Event

Sponsored by Daybreak Cohousing, several folks from our community and three additional cohousing communities participated on a panel about living and raising a family in cohousing.  Well attended, the event was a living example of the support and cohesiveness of the area’s cohousing communities. Stories and laughter were shared by all!

October 21, 2008 – Social at Blend

October 10, 2008 – Sharing Supper at Mississippi Station

Members of the community gathered to share current life events, food and laughter.  A visiting couple from Mt. Shasta joined the frivolity to find out more about living at Daybreak and meet this happy crowd of folks!

September 26, 2008 – Sharing Supper at Susan’s

A large and colorful group of Daybreakers filled Susan’s colorful and artful home for joyful conversation, great food, and a chance to watch the first presidential debate together.

September 25, 2008 – Neighborhood Meet and Greet at Yetti’s

We invited our future neighbors to join us at Yetti's, a friendly new wine bar/cafe a short distance from our future home. The delight in meeting one another seemed to be mutual. Neighbors included several people who live across Killingsworth from our future home, as well as our woodworking friend, Kurt, who is also new to the neighborhood.

September 19-21, 2008 – Second Annual Community Retreat – Cedar Ridge Retreat Center, Vernonia

Daybreak community members and prospective members, plus two canine companions, attended our retreat this year, in a quiet country setting an hour's drive from Portland. Our retreats are for fun and connection... hearty meals, lounging around, mixer games, some singing, board and card games (something for everyone with the casual variety and the more intense in the same rowdy room on Saturday night), mini hikes, crafts, nature observation (ah, the famed spawning salmon), volleyball (our skills proved to be a bit rusty! But enthusiastic), knitting, swimming, horseshoes... All play and relaxation, no business this weekend. Lots of laughter and sharing.

September 18, 2008 – Social at Yetti’s

Several neighbors and new acquaintances joined us in the lovely garden at Yetti's wine bar, a new Overlook neighborhood business. Interested visitors were able to tour our future home, a short walk away.

September 13, 2008 – Alberta StreetFair

The last street fair of the year was major fun! Several of our future Overlook neighbors visited our booth and we invited them to come to our upcoming neighborhood meet and greet. We were excited to talk to so many people who had heard of Daybreak and, as usual, enjoyed talking to people about the benefits of living in community.

September 12, 2008 – Sharing Supper and Bunco party

For this Sharing Supper night, we gathered for a Bunco Extravaganza! We had four full tables of folks rolling dice plus a couple floaters. Peyton, age 4, floated in as she liked to roll the dice or entice some of the 'big kids' (i.e., adults and teenager) to help her draw some pictures. The night ended with multiple winners, including Sterling as the winner of "most losses"! We'll definitely have to repeat the Bunco night!

September 6, 2008 – Belmont Street Fair

It seemed like family day at Belmont Street Fair. Our kid's table with stickers, stamps and Daybreak sunflowers was enjoyed by a steady stream of children. Also, many people said that they had read about us in the recent Oregonian article on cohousing. To top it off, we were able to tell everyone the great news that Daybreak had broken ground!

August 29, 2008 – Sharing Supper at Erik’s home

A warm evening allowed everyone to spill out onto the spacious deck. A variety of Brats complemented salads and desserts that were brought and shared. Daybreak people had opportunity to meet Erik's sister Cyndi, his niece Sonja, and nephew Asher as well as a variety of other friends. It gave family members and friends an opportunity to find out about Daybreak firsthand as well as "approving" Erik's new neighbors.  Lots of fun connections were made, and fun conversation was had by all.

August 20, 2008 – Social at Chapel Pub

We toured our property with visitors from out of town before heading to Chapel Pub for our social. The cyclone fences around the property were the most beautiful we'd ever seen... so long had we been anticipating their arrival! The social at Chapel Pub was lively and celebratory as this was the week we closed on our construction loan. Visitors from Bend, Louisville and our own neighborhood came to learn about Daybreak and shared our excitement about the next phase of our dream becoming a reality.

August 19, 2008 – Construction Loan Celebration

Kristin initiated a spur of the moment celebration after-work at Yetti’s when the banks finished closing on our construction loan.  Kristin and Terri were exhausted from all the hurdles that had to be jumped in the last several months and exultant. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.  Thank you to everyone for sharing the celebration! Our toast was simple and to the point, “YEAHHH!”

August 16, 2008 – Hawthorne Street Fair

When you're hot you're hot! The 100-degree weather didn't stop a steady stream of families, singles, college students and seniors from stopping by our booth to meet us at the Hawthorne Street Fair. Children stopped to draw on our sunflowers while the adults talked with us about the benefits of community living. We all wished we could take a dip in the dunk tank across the way!

August 15, 2008 – Sharing Supper at DiPrima Dolci and Yetti’s

Lorell introduced us to two fun establishments just down the street from our future home for a celebratory sharing supper.  Spirits were high on a very warm evening at the end of a week during which members and supporters completed signing construction loan documents in just two days. Our new, smallest and shortest member, Max, not yet two weeks old, was a center of attention along with his mom, Tiffany.  Pat from DiPrima Dolci and Yetta from the new wine bar next door gave us a warm welcome to the neighborhood.

August 3, 2008 – Social at Patton Park

Patton Park, next to the water tower and IFCC on Interstate Avenue in North Portland was the site of a relaxed Sunday afternoon social. We had new visitors who peppered us with (welcome) questions, and some of them took the opportunity to walk or drive over to see our site.

July 25-27, 2008 --NICA Summer Gathering

The Northwest Intentional Communities Association (NICA) held its annual summer gathering in Portland the weekend of July 25-27. This was an energizing event! Diana Leaf Christian, author of two books about  living in and finding community, drew a large crowd on Friday evening with a talk aimed at intentional community seekers. We had an information table at this event and were inundated with people who are seeking to join or create a community.  Several of us spent the rest of the weekend at Columbia Ecovillage, where we met members of 13 intentional communities and other people from all over the Northwest and many other regions. Stories, workshops, song, dance, food and community were enjoyed by all. We also welcomed visitors to our future home site during the Sunday tour of area communities.

July 19, 2008 – 3rd Annual Daybreak Picnic

Another potluck in the park, plus quirky, fun games involving brain power and/or physical coordination!  We lounged in the shade at Arbor Lodge Park, a lovely spot near our future home, sharing stories and food. We created some nonsensical poems/stories on a variety of themes including clichés, color, and food (‘natch for us), even though each writer could only see one sentence of what had already been written.  Terri dreamed up a group of silly games for us to do in small groups that led to creative and hilarious solutions for getting to the finish line.

July 17, 2008 – Arbor Lodge Park Social

July 13, 2008 -- Daybreak "De-planting" Day

We invited our future neighbors to come to the property to help us save dozens of plants before construction begins. Good tools and folks with lots of plant wisdom helped make our "De-planting" party a success. We were delighted to meet the neighbors and glad to see the roses, fuchsias, irises and many other plants going off to new homes right in the neighborhood.

July 12, 2008 – Mississippi Street Fair

We've got community! That was our message when we met community-minded folks at the Mississippi Street Fair on July 12. Kids played at our children's table while the adults chatted with us about the latest exciting developments at Daybreak. We met lots of people who are interested in building community and living a more sustainable lifestyle. We invited them to our next social at Arbor Lodge Park.

July 6, 2008 - Sunday social on our property

We were delighted by the good turnout for this social on a holiday weekend. Twelve new visitors came to meet us, see our location and learn more about Daybreak--including people from Central Oregon, Canada and Texas.

July 5, 2008 - Portland Farmers Market at Portland State

Members of Daybreak talked to a steady stream of shoppers at the Portland Farmer's Market. We handed out information on all of Portland's six cohousing communities as well as the national Cohousing Association. Students, tourists and families were among the people who expressed interest. Many people were surprised that there were so many communities here in Portland

June 28, 2008 – Celebrating Alex and Tiffany's Marriage

On the hottest day of the year we celebrated the marriage of Alex and Tiffany at the home of Scot and Ken. Most of the community was present including our next and youngest member, Maximillian. We ate, drank (lots), toasted the couple, read poems and generally had a grand time despite the temperature.

June 28, 2008 - Daybreak Training Day

On June 28 we had our annual training to improve our skills in consensus decision making. This year we concentrated on the nine ground rules for communication we use in our plenary meetings and the Mutual Learning Model that they are part of. Our facilitator, Annie Bentz, walked us through a variety of exercises, and also included some role play, that helped demonstrate the power of this approach. This generated lively discussions about practicing these skills more often. As a group, we listed several next steps to expand upon what we learned and practiced. They included having the Process Team develop practice options, identifying signals to encourage use of the Mutual Learning Model (MLM), continuing to post ground rules at meetings, pointing out when people use the ground rules at meetings, expanding the number of people who do this, and creating a glossary of MLM terms for new members. Everyone also wrote down five interests in regards to community from the MLM perspective.

June 26, 2008 – Eastbank Portland Farmer’s Market

June 21, 2008 – Tiffany’s Blessing Way

The women in our community came together to honor Tiffany's transition to motherhood. We told stories of our own experiences as mothers, of being mothered, giving birth and being birthed. Our well wishes, love and support will be present in the wish flags that we created for Tiffany's birthing room and the candles we'll light in our homes when her labor commences. Little Max is so welcomed and loved already! Chris says she can't wait to babysit!

June 16 , 2008– Weekday Social at Blend

June 11, 2008 – Interstate Farmer’s Market

We spent an enjoyable afternoon meeting new friends and neighbors at the Interstate Farmer's Market in the Overlook neighborhood. Several neighbors shook our hands and welcomed us to the neighborhood! There was a lot enthusiasm for living a more sustainable lifestyle in a supportive community. "What a great idea!" was a refrain we heard many times.

June 6, 2008 – A Bowling Sharing Supper

A team of five bowlers hit the hardwoods at Interstate Lanes. Senor Diablo (Ken) had consistently high scores and shared the top slot with Miss Count (Kristin). The Slammer (Scot), threw them down, getting a respectable number of spares. Sasquatch (Sterling) showed us how the left handers do it and mastered some good straight shots by the end of the evening. Plenty2Spare (Tiffany) had a hard time adjusting her bowling ball around her bowling ball belly and may be changing her nickname to "Bumper Babe". Interstate Lanes is close to the Daybreak site, has nice staff, and passable pizza. We've got enough for a team--howzabout an all-cohousing league?

June 1, 2008 – Social at Chapel Pub

Several new and old friends joined us at McMenamin's Chapel Pub. As usual, there was lively discussion with lots of questions. It was delightful to share about the values we place on living in a socially supportive and sustainable community.

May 21, 2008 – Grace’s 2nd birthday party at Old Wives Tale

May 15, 2008 – Social at Our Future Home Site

Many friends, new and old, dropped by to visit us at the site of Daybreak's future home on a beautiful warm evening. We had a great time getting to know each other, relaxing on the grass and waving at neighbors passing by. It was easy to imagine sitting in our garden or on the terrace under the the big maple tree, strolling over to the Common House for a cup of tea and watching children run around in the play area. The apartments in the photo are empty and will be deconstructed before construction begins... very soon!

May 4, 2008 - Social at Mississippi Pizza Parlor

April 26, 2008 - Community Ground Breaking/Ground Blessing

We gathered on the site of our future home for our eagerly anticipated community groundbreaking and ground blessing , on an auspiciously warm and sunny day. Construction will begin soon, following deconstruction of the small apartments on the Daybreak property. A sign is already posted on the property announcing Daybreak’s future home and our colorful “wish flags” are fluttering on the lower branches of our big maple tree.

Click HERE for the special page for that day!

April 25, 2008 - 'Sharing Supper' in Sarah's Garden

It was a magical night in Sarah's garden. She filled us up with great vegan food from Proper Eats and some very old Oregon wines. We had fun starting and maintaining the wood fire meant for both grilling and keeping us warm as the beautiful evening progressed. Several of us were grateful for the hot tub too! We had no problems visualizing ourselves doing the same thing up on our roof deck next year!

April 23, 2008 - Social at Blend

We filled up the back room at Blend with new visitors who came to find out more about Daybreak. We had met so many folks the weekend before, at Earth Day, and several of them came to find out more about Daybreak and cohousing in general. We talked a lot about the many sustainable features, both physical and social, that Daybreak has incorporated into its design and vision.

April 19, 2008 - Earth Day at Overlook Park

Portland's Earth Day celebration at Overlook Park was fun, cold and wet, with interludes of sleet, snow and sun! We had a great time meeting the crowds of community-minded people that stopped by our table to learn about Daybreak and cohousing. Even one of the mayoral candidates stopped by to chat. We also had fun with folks from Columbia Ecovillage, which had a lively booth right next door.

April 11, 2008 - Sharing Supper at Terri's place

We had a "conversation-full" evening with a special visit from our friends Greg and Catalina. Food, drink, and much enthusiastic cohousing talk kept us all together late into the night.