Highline Crossing News
Fall Cleanup right around the corner
Fall cleanup is coming up October 29/30. There will be LOTS of leaves to rake and many other work day opportunities. We get together four times a year for cleanup days, working together to spruce things up. (Posted 10/23/2011)
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Mark your calendars - it's almost time for the carnival!
Highline Crossing's 3rd Annual Community Carnival is coming up Sunday, August 14 from 1 - 6 pm. Invite friends and family and join us for carnival games, balloon fun, the always-popular dunk tank, and many other great activities! (Posted 7-9-2011)
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Grab your brooms - it's winter cleanup time!
In spite of our current spring-like weather, we are making plans for our annual Winter Cleanup next weekend (February 5 & 6). We will work together on a variety of tasks, concentrating on giving the Common House a deep clean. We have four community work days a year (one for each season) and we've found that working together makes the tasks much more enjoyable and helps foster a community-wide sense of accomplishment. (Posted 1-29-2011)
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Here come the holidays!
The holidays at Highline Crossing come with interesting traditions that have developed and grown throughout our years together. Coming up is our annual tree-trimming event where everyone gets together and decorates our big Christmas Tree in the Common House. That will be followed by our zany Secret Santa gathering & gift exchange. There is also likely to be a Solstice celebration thrown in somewhere, too. And we all look forward to our now-famous Christmas Eve pierogi dinner - in the morning the Common House will be filled with neighbors working together to make, fill, and cook pierogies; in the evening, we enjoy the fruits of our labors over friendly chatter in an elegant candle-lit dining room. (Posted 12-3-2010)
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Busy fall planned for Highline
The kids are back in school, the nights are getting crisp, and the geese are making their way back from points north. Ah... autumn. The next few weeks are going to be busy ones for the community. We have a special Harvest Dinner planned October 10, then Fall Cleanup is coming up October 16 & 17 where we'll work together to tidy up the community and prepare ourselves for winter. That same weekend, we will have visitors from across the U.S. as another Coho/US tour of Denver/Boulder cohousing communities stops at Highline Crossing. And we'll top it all off with a rousing "chicken dance" at our nearly-famous annual Oktoberfest party that same weekend! (Posted 10-4-2010)
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Summer's going fast! (but the weeds are still here...)
We've opted to forego our normal summer cleanup for smaller, informal work parties this summer. On Sunday, August 22, we are resurrecting our sometimes-annual Mojito/Weeding party. We'll get together, pull a ton of weeds, and sip refreshing mojitos made with the surplus of mint from our own community garden. It's a great way to get work done and have some fun at the same time! (Posted 8-15-10)
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Spring has (finally) arrived
The tulips are in full bloom; the lilacs are just starting to open; the irises are beginning to shoot up buds; and the cottonwoods along the canal are turning greener by the day. Ahhh... spring! And the plants aren't the only things that seem to be coming out of hibernation. Neighbors are out and about soaking up the warmer weather - the kids are playing impromptu games on the pedway, gardeners are busy in the community garden, cooks are planning festive community dinners, and the snow shovels have finally been relegated to the garages.
Side by Side by Springtime: With spring comes our annual Spring Cleanup, when neighbors work together to keep the community clean and beautiful. This year's cleanup takes place the weekend of May 22 and 23. We will tackle a variety of projects ranging from weeding and trimming to scrubbing and painting. We have found that working side by side with neighbors on projects that matter to all of us makes work and spirits lighter. (Posted 5-8-2010)
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Highline Crossing goes dark for Earth Hour
Highline Crossing's Green Team hosted an Earth Hour celebration on March 27 as the community joined our neighbors across the globe in a call to action on climate change. The community was dark when the lights went off for Earth Hour, but the Common House glowed as we enjoyed desserts and drinks by candlelight. And if good food and friends weren't enough, we were also treated to extraordinary musical performances by two of our young community members: Eric (12) played classical guitar throughout the evening, and Lydia (5) serenaded us with a special song prepared just for our Earth Hour event.
(Posted 3-28-10)
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Shoveling our way into spring
Even with the recent snows (every weekend for the last three!), there are telltale signs of spring - now less than a month away. The days are finally getting longer, gardening catalogs arrive daily in the mail, and if you look closely, you can see the first green leaves of Grandma Carol's hyacinths beginning to push bravely through the cold soil.
We just finished our winter work weekend and the Common House has a fresh new look. Interestingly enough, the community members who participated seem to have a fresh new attitude to go along with it. We're already planning our projects for the spring work weekend.
Speaking of new things, Highline Crossing is now on Facebook - check us out! (Posted 2-22-10)
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Preparing for the Holidays at Highline
The tree is up in the Common House, the Secret Santa list is out (shhh), smells of holiday baking are in the air, and there are twinkling lights of all colors and configurations throughout the neighborhood. We have developed our own unique traditions in this tight-knit little community and all comers are welcome. Whether it's Chanukah, Christmas, the Solstice, or merely a simple nod to the winter season, spirits are bright and good cheer (and good food) abounds.
First on the agenda is the tree-trimming, then a Common House cookie & tea party, then the holiday dinner/Secret Santa gift exchange, and it will all be capped off with our annual Christmas Eve pierogi feast. The New Year is right behind with more merriment; and not far beyond that is our annual Chinese New Year celebration.
After the hubbub of holiday activities, a little quiet time may be in order. We will relax and watch the days slowly get longer while many of us sit down with our seed catalogues and dare to let ourselves dream of spring. (Posted 12-12-09)
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Annual Art & Talent Show highlights handcrafts and performances
Highline Crossing's Annual Art and Talent Show has turned the Common House into a lively performance venue every November for the last many years, and this year was no exception. The talent at this year's show spanned generations - the youngest performer was five; the oldest was 60-something, and the performances were just as varied. The showcase featured instrumental performances, poetry readings, dramatic performances, and vocal stylings (both re-made and original, including a beautiful ballad written and performed by one of our five-year-olds!). The evening even featured a dramatic (some might say overly dramatic) reading of a cream puff recipe, at the end of which the audience was rewarded with a huge platter of the actual cream puffs described in the recipe!
In addition to the performances, the walls, tables, and counters were covered with arts and crafts ranging from watercolor paintings, sculpture, and photography to hand-made jewelry and quilts - an inspired and inspiring collection that has turned the Common House into a temporary gallery/museum/gift shop. (Posted 11-22-09)
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Autumn at Highline means fall cleanup and fall fun
Just before winter taps at the door in Colorado, the fall colors set on, the temperatures get crisp, and we revel in the last splash of green before settling in for the colder season. Autumn at Highline Crossing bustles with activity as gardeners harvest the last of their crops, the kids settle back in to the school routine, and we all scramble to finish those chores that must get done before winter.
One of our favorite fall traditions at Highline Crossing is our annual Oktoberfest celebration (complete with the now-famous tofu reubens and the participation-mandatory chicken dance!). And one of our other traditions, Fall Cleanup, is right around the corner - we'll be working together to tidy up the landscaping and spruce up the property before battening down the hatches for winter. (Posted 10-7-09)
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Highline Crossing first ever carnival big success
The Carnival rode into Highline Crossing last weekend complete with midway games, a dunk tank, pop corn and snow cones, an inflatable jumper for the young kids, and a dunk tank for kids of all ages. (There was also an oustanding tai kwon do demonstration; something you don't see at just any carnival.) The event drew over 100 community members and friends and lasted from noon to sundown. It was an afternoon of good old-fashioned fun, and though the midway games sometimes proved just as vexing as when we were kids, this time—in the spirit of cohousing—all the kids who played were assured of prizes! (Posted 8-10-09)
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Highline Crossing gears up for fun with late summer events
Following on the heels of our summer cleanup, and our first ever carnival is our annual barbecue, and right behind that is our 3rd annual mojito-fueled weeding party (proving, once again, that weeding can be fun!). Dates to be posted. (Updated 8-10-09)
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Highline Crossing holds annual Spring Cleanup
Spring is the perfect time to take stock of what needs to be spruced up after the long winter. Highline Crossing community members tackled a variety of projects during this year’s Spring Cleanup the weekend of May 16 and 17.
We subscribe to the “many hands make light work” philosophy and Highline Crossing’s Spring Cleanup brings neighbors together to work toward our common goal of keeping our community property clean and beautiful. During this year’s cleanup, we trimmed, pruned, swept, planted, weeded, and much more. And we did it together, which made it even more enjoyable.
Spring Cleanup is one of four community workdays Highline Crossing requires of residents each year. The others take place seasonally in summer, fall, and winter. (Updated 5-25-09)
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Highline Crossing to participate in Earth Hour 2009
On Saturday, March 28 from 8:30 to 9:30 pm, Highline Crossing community members will join millions of people around the globe as we participate in Earth Hour 2009 - a call to action against climate change.
We will gather in the Common House by candlelight (after turning the lights out in our own homes, of course) to enjoy drinks, dessert, and each others' company as we do our part to send a message to world leaders before the Global Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen later this year.
For more information on Earth Hour, visit www.earthhour.org. (Posted 3/8/09)
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Community adopts new governance model
Highline Crossing’s community members recently made a significant change to our governance model. Previously, our community association by-laws and CC&Rs (conditions, covenants, and restrictions) called for a three-member board of directors. The Board of Directors has been the legally accountable authority, although most of the work of the community gets done at the team level, and decisions on community-wide matters have been made by those community members attending the monthly meetings.
In order to expand community input and involve more of our members in the decision-making process, we now have a steering committee that consists of seven members (one representative from our grounds, buildings, common house, marketing, and finance teams and two members from the community at large). The steering committee provides overall management, coordination, and leadership to the community.
Teams are continuing to meet once a month (or as often as needed); the steering committee meets once a month; and the community as a whole meets quarterly. The entire community will continue to decide the broad issues of community business, protection of assets, community vision, and governing philosophy.
Consensus-based decisions are one of the hallmarks of cohousing, and Highline Crossing remains committed to using consensus in our decisions. In the past, however, frustrations have arisen when a single community member was able to block a decision on which the vast majority of members strongly agreed. The teams, steering committee, and community will continue to use consensus to make decisions under the new model, but if one member intends to block consensus, he or she must have the support of two other community members.
The steering committee is a completely new leadership concept to Highline Crossing, and we are transitioning into this new governance model with hope and enthusiasm, and also with the knowledge that we will need to be flexible in working out unforeseen issues that may arise.
Details on the governance process are available in the “Download Documents” section of our Web site. (Posted 2/22/2009)