Returnin’ to “the Forest”
November 10, 2008 by admin
Filed under Livin' in the Forest
Returnin’ to “the Forest”
In 2006, our family started the venture to sell our home and move. It was a very stressful time making decisions, watching the rates, and of course showing the house. One decision that was a “no brainer” was that we were “Returnin’ to the Forest.” Or at least she was.
My wife, Kathy, had moved into this neighborhood when she was two weeks old. She has since gone away to college, gotten married (to me), and started a family. She will turn 29 again this December, so she has been a part of Windsor Forest for many years. She knows how close knit a community it is and she wanted her family to experience the same. I entered the picture in the high school years and saw a lot of the same qualities. I probably spent more time in this neighborhood than my own during those years. Her parents were thrilled about that.
So our house was on the market and we began a journey through just about every house in Windsor Forest with a sign in the yard. We were fortunate enough to find a fixer-upper next door to her parents. I think. We started our renovation. All the time moving from place to place and driving back and forth to the Windsor Forest bus stop until we moved in. Twelve months later we had taken that house and made it a home. And that’s where we were; home.
Seems like a lot to go through, but now we have swim meets, progressive dinners, picnics, parades, group trick-r-treatin’, holiday parties, and actual trees. Annual events quickly became the norm. You’d be hard pressed to find many of those qualities in other neighborhoods. Kathy was back in a place she felt most familiar. Even now, she will give me directions to pick up our daughter and will say “you know, it’s next to where the Kirschner’s lived”. Huh? Like I said, I’m not a veteran here yet so I may need a road name or two to find her.
You could set your watch by some of the people taking their walks around the neighborhood and their faces are becoming more familiar every day. Some are old friends that could paint a picture of this place that would make anyone want to live here. All throughout our moving ordeal, I would give Larry Foster updates on our progress and setbacks. He would always smile and say it will be worth it. Now I could hit a golf ball from our house to his (I’m not sure if I’ve hit it yet).
You really can’t appreciate an atmosphere like this until you experience it. My kids and I have the benefit of living with, and next door to some real Windsor Forest historians. Natives who have been here longer than most. It says a lot about a place to have two generations choosing to live in it. Will the third generation follow suit? Let me get them out of the house first.
Curt, Kathy, Kayla, and Alyssa Nordeman
Livin' in the Forest " The Foster Family"
September 30, 2008 by admin
Filed under Livin' in the Forest
Although we have only lived in the Forest for five years we have grown to truly appreciate those who have been here for 20+ years. I had asked some of the veterans to write a monthly feature for the Forester so that the newcomers could get a better sense of how the neighborhood was in it’s earlier years. Larry Foster has generously offered to be the first.
John Womeldorf
Livin’ in the Forest
The Foster’s have spent twenty great years in the Forest – we raised two children here that could not wait to get out on their own but would be terribly upset if their parents moved. Windsor Forest is their home. They don’t have anything to worry about, we’re not going anywhere.
We arrived 20 years ago; we could not have been greeted more warmly. Our children who were 1 and 9 made friends quickly, and we made friends with their friend’s parents. Before we knew it four families had joined together to create a “Cooking Coop” where Monday thru Thursday one of the families delivered dinner to the other three homes. In essence each family only cooked one night per week, the other three nights we had great leftovers or dined out. Eighteen years later the Coop is alive and well and has been a special part of our lives and friendships. Speaking of cooking - every three months the neighborhood participated in “Knife and Fork” where 30 to 40 couples gathered in groups of 6-7 couples at assigned homes for dinner parties. Each house had the same menu and all guest participated in preparing the dinner. For the newly arrived it was a great way to meet new friends. The friendships made at Knife and Fork continue today.
What did I like most? Memorial Day, Fourth of July and Labor Day – the basics haven’t changed so this will not be new to a lot of those reading this. We’d start the day with a golf tournament, followed by lunch, libation and laughs at the club house- off to the pool or horseshoes at someone’s home or both, then back to the clubhouse for a picnic. But that’s not all – after the picnic we’d play jungle volleyball until it was so dark we had to stop. Needless to say they were long, tiring but great days. What were the best things? -the camaraderie and sense of community. As a newcomer the golf was a great way to meet new people – some of my best friendships today started while participating in theses events. I remember watching the younger generation swimming in the pool and playing volleyball with us. What great memories. Members of that younger generation have gone out to do good things with their lives and I am confident they are using their memories of the holidays in Windsor Forest in their new neighborhoods. Some have decided to raise their families in the Forest. By the way – the entire neighborhood owes a great deal of thanks to Barry Beers who has been organizing the holiday golf tournaments for at least the last 20 years- and more.
Neighborhood clean up day – loved to hate them. When I first arrived there would easily be 100 people at the club house and things were happening – mulch everywhere, weeds flying, paint spreading, libation and laughs. It was hard, dirty work! But I never left a Neighborhood Clean Up without a very strong feeling of camaraderie and sense of community.
Have you noticed the common theme? Interesting how work and play in the Forest end with the same results. Good times, great friends- a terrific, caring neighborhood.
Larry and Lee Foster
13 Tempsford Lane
Williamsburg VA