From the Core Group; May 8 2009

We met as planned at Lynette’s home on May 8th and turned our attention to formulating a set of guiding principles that will serve as an important point of reference for existing members and others who we anticipate will join this initiative at some future time. It is challenging to create such a document. We must use words to communicate intent yet we are already discovering vocabulary choices can be tricky. Some words carry a charge and do not necessarily mean the same thing to each of us. At this time we do not want to distract you particular stumbling blocks we encountered. It will be more useful to use the preliminary guidelines that we offer as a starting point for the larger group's discussion. We see our task as creating a concise “living” document akin to the spirit of The Constitution--- something that is both comprehensive and subject to change when required. The comparison is a bit grandiose --- I trust you get the gist!

We also addressed the idea of “casting a wider net”, in other words, inviting others who may be interested to join us. We do not consider ourselves a closed group. If there are people who you are aware of that you feel might be interested in this exploration then feel free to invite them. PLEASE DO LET JILL, NELL OR ME KNOW WHO YOU HAVE INVITED. ALSO, direct any newbies to the blog so that they can sign up and catch up.

At our proposed picnic at South Village on May 19th ( raindate May 20th) at 6:00pm we will distribute a draft of preliminary guidelines/principles.

The evening should look something like this:
6:00-6:45 Gather at South Village and eat together ( bring your own picnic dinner!)
6;45-7:15 Review guiding principles and register input
7:15- 8:00 Tour the land at South Village with special emphasis on what would be “our” area in the event SV is the right site!

Kindly RSVP using the Blog or to Jillwolcott@mac.com

MARK YOUR CALENDAR
The JUNE large group meeting will take place at the Raap’s house on June 16th at
7:00… As before, we will share in , song, conversation, Costa Rican coffee, herbal tea and dessert. We request that 4-5 people, volunteer to bring some sort of dessert.