Cohousing-L Mailing List: small cohousing groups

[Judy (BAXTER]

Mike Malone wrote (May 29) 

<<Monterey Cohousing Community (MoCoCo) is also a small group. ... For most of
us, particularly those with children, our lives and social activity became
restricted  to cohousing. Now, a year after we have all moved in, many are
trying  to recreating former social ties. Although I certainly know folks in
the group better than I have  previous neighbors, I don't feel close to anyone
that I didn't know  prior to joining the group.  I don't think that being small
always  means close-knit. 

Gee, this all sounds pretty grumpy. We have had many wonderful times, 
including a wedding on our front lawn, building a wonderful retaining 
wall that snakes up a slope, and several  spontaneous lawn suppers. >>

Well, it does sound a bit grumpy.  I think we are all experiencing extra stress
because our common Kitchen has been torn up for remodeling for 3 months, and
will be unavailable for a quite a while more (partly due to our local suburb,
St. Louis Park, which seems to be nationally known for requiring more hoops to
be jumped through than anyone else).  So we have been missing our regular
"glue", i.e. common meals, and birthday parties help but don't quite make up
for it.  AND, in MY humble opinion, with our busy lives and our old building,
it would be a big help to have more people. On the other hand, I know we can't
face more new development for quite a while.  ANd the group dynamics are quite
complex as it is.  

I certainly wouldn't call us "close knit" - however I do have several close
friends I didn't know before joining the group, and I know others do too.  We
also seem to have a fair number of introverts in the Meyer Briggs sense - they
like having us extroverts around and  handy when they come out of their caves.

Bottom line - we have 15 homes, 22 adults (soon, when a real, active,
participating renter moves into our remaining townhome next week),  10
children, and I'd like to be a bit larger but not a lot.

Judy

Judy Baxter, Monterey Cohousing Community,(MoCoCo) Twin Cities Area, Mpls.,MN
-- e-mail:      baxter [at] epivax.epi.umn.edu
****remodelling our Common Kitchen******
****remodelling laundry and creating a warm woodshop
-- Resident of the "mansion"- the 1st 8 homes in a rehab Georgian building built
as a retirement home in 1924 - 
-- 7 new townhouses (additions to the community) are done! - and occupied, one
   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
is left for a Cohouser buyer, move in after June,1998  - 3 BR, 
2 car tuck under garage,        $145,000 
 Voice Mail for Monterey Cohousing - 612-930-7554