3 An invitation · the Check-In Circle

An invitation to the circle

Ida Fenn is eighty-one and has a cat called Ledger. On Saturday Bet knocked on her door, and on 26 September 2026 this invitation reached the email address on Ida’s own page. It is live: answer as Ida.

One · the handshake

What Ida receives

Bet met Ida at her door on Saturday and asked whether she would like someone to check on her on storm days. The invitation reaches Ida alone, at the address on her own page. This is the Kindling handshake §5.2: nobody is listed without saying yes §5.1, whoever asked for them.

Email · to Ida alone ida.fenn@mail.example

Bet Larkin would like to add you to The Check-In Circle.

What it’s for: Neighbors who live alone and would like someone to check on them in storms and cold snaps, and neighbors who will do the checking. Bet or Maggie meets each person at their own door first. You choose who checks on you, and they say yes too. Unlisted, never copied and never printed: its address travels by hand.
Who’s asking: Bet Larkin Signed in with OAuth
How she knows you: She carries your mail, and she knocked on Saturday. If you say yes, her vouch is written beside your name in this list, and nowhere else §4.4.
Who can see it: Unlisted. The people in the circle can see who else is in it, and nobody else is given the address. It is never copied to the library, never printed and never read by an app.
Who checks on you: You choose, from the neighbors who check, and each of them says yes too. Your address goes only to them, by email, from you.
Messages: Only people in the circle can write to you through it.
Pausing and leaving: One email, any time. Away at your nephew’s for Christmas? Say so, and nobody knocks.
What it costs: Nothing. Nobody pays to be listed or checked on.

Waiting for your answer

A no is remembered, and Bet can’t ask again unless you tell the list she may.

It reaches Ida alone

The invitation went to the address on Ida’s own page and to nobody else. Nobody in the circle is told it was sent. If she says no, or lets it lapse, the file never mentions her.

Her daughter asked Bet to look in on her. That is how Bet knew to knock. It is not how Ida gets in: only Ida can say yes.

Email verified Ida’s own identity. If she says yes, her line in the circle reads “Vouched for by the curator”.

Behind the scenes

These buttons play Bet’s side, and the clock. Nothing is sent anywhere.

The Pool sent a handshake request.

The log, and the exact JSON

As it arrives in any mail program: plain text

From: Foul Weather Friends <keepers@foulweatherfriends.example>, on behalf of Bet Larkin
To: ida.fenn@mail.example
Subject: Bet Larkin would like to add you to The Check-In Circle

Ida, this is the list Bet told you about at your door on Saturday.

Neighbors who live alone and would like someone to check on them in storms and cold snaps, and neighbors who will do the checking. Bet or Maggie meets each person at their own door first. You choose who checks on you, and they say yes too. Unlisted, never copied and never printed: its address travels by hand.

Who can see it: the people in the circle, and nobody else. It is never copied or printed.
Who checks on you: you choose, and they say yes too.
Leaving or pausing: one email, any time.

Yes, add me:      https://foulweatherfriends.example/handshake/hs-foul-weather-friends-check-in-circle-ida.fenn-demo/accept
No, thank you:    https://foulweatherfriends.example/handshake/hs-foul-weather-friends-check-in-circle-ida.fenn-demo/decline

You can also just reply to this email with yes or no. If you do nothing, this lapses on 10 October 2026 and nothing changes.

Email is the floor §6.1. Ida needs no app and no account to answer: a link, or a reply that says yes.

Two · who checks on Ida

Ida chooses, and they say yes too

Once Ida is in the circle, she can ask up to two of the neighbors who check. Each one answers for themselves. The pairing lives in their email, not in the file: the list says who is in the circle, never who checks on whom.

June OkaforVouched for by the curator

Walks the harbor loop most mornings, so can knock on a few doors along the way on storm days.

Not asked

Walt KesslerVouched for by the curator

Lives alone since the house got quiet. Would like a knock on storm days, and knocks on two doors himself.

Not asked

Carl JansenVouched for by the curator

Widowed, and lives alone. Checks on two neighbors and would like the same.

Not asked

Ida’s card by the phone

Nobody yet. Ida asks, and each neighbor answers.

Who can write to whom

Checked live with the kit’s canMessage. Every member of the circle takes messages only from people in it (accept_from: shared-pool) §7.2.