A few photos I took around my hometown.
Our downtown all lit up for the holidays:
An impromptu snapshot of our street with the iPhone:
My father and my son over in Aquila. Thank you CDD or CROA or whoever for the new bench.
Son enjoying some time in the backyard.
Eastlawn. Hello, Moon.
Thanks to CROA for a fun holiday party on Saturday. Scheduling only allowed us to attend the carols and tree-lighting, but that was enjoyable.
John Baker of JB Creative sent a press release about a new movie about Celebration. John is a filmmaker and Celebration resident.
From the press release:
Celebration is a thriving, diverse and multi-cultural community, set against the backdrop of picturesque homes and public buildings, architecture, nature and scenery.
But to outsiders who visit the town, or read about us in international news reports, there is a common misconception that we live in a pre-fabricated neighborhood, overshadowed by the ominous Walt Disney World and conditioned to live by the rules and regulations of a strict governing home owner’s association.
The Town That Disney Built is a new documentary film that celebrates and honors the Celebration community, with the simple aim: “To document and celebrate the day-to-day lives and times of the residents of Celebration – and to give the community at large a glimpse inside our town, to see what Celebration is truly like – and cut through the mystique, the drama and the misconceptions that exist about our community.”
For more information, and to order, visit www.thetownthatdisneybuilt.com.
This evening we attended an early preview of the annual “Now Snowing” event that runs through most of December in Celebration. There was “ice” skating, NEV train rides, Santa & Mrs Claus, and the snowfall itself (which is actually just soap of some kind).
To set the scene, they put down a layer of snow around dusk:
Before long it looks like this:
The actual snowfall wasn’t easy to capture on camera but you can kind of get the idea:
This year the regular snow falls start on Saturday, November 26 through December 31. There are snow falls every night at 6, 7, 8, and 9 pm. More information can be found on the Celebration Town Center site.
The weather was cool and dry, people were friendly and upbeat, and traffic was under control.
Our homeowners association, CROA, recently completed a community-wide inspection of covenant violations, followed by mailed letters to each owner who had a violation. Some of the owners took to the Front Porch to air their displeasure. I noticed a few interesting behaviors.
Some people acknowledged that they had clear violations but wanted to air grievances anyway. “Yes, I know the yard looks like crap but my something was something and the other thing was happening and…”
Others tried to deflect, as if the HOA only had a limited number of citations to hand out and why was I picked when there are worse houses on the block? “Sure, our porch handrail is a rotted-out eyesore, but WHAT ABOUT THE VACANT HOUSE NEXT DOOR? WHY WEREN’T THEY CITED?”
The people who had a legitimate beef were the ones who have had long-term modifications who weren’t cited before. For example, a non-conforming path to the mailbox. I don’t think these people should necessarily be exempt, but they should be given plenty of time to make the corrections without penalty.
For the record, we were cited for our mailbox, which seems like the default citation if nothing else can be found. In our case, the mailbox is probably borderline, so I’ll fix it without grumbling too much. Of course, I live next door to an abandoned home that looks like hell… 
It rained today. All day. Even at 9:00pm the radar still looks like this:
While we could use the rain, this weekend we were supposed to welcome in Fall with the annual Oktoberfest festival. Somewhat fortunately, since it’s been so rainy, the organizers have rescheduled the Saturday events for next weekend, October 15. See you next weekend!
At what point do we declare this bike forfeit?
Bonus credit if you know where this is without me having to tell you.
A reminder that, according to the FCC, a homeowners association can’t deny you access to satellite television, despite what the CC&R might say, except for in a few instances. There are a few further exceptions in the case of common property, like in a condo.
