Good TImes - Christmas 2008

Christmas was great - we were all together! Courtney & Rob arrived at dinnertime on Tuesday after a snowy drive. Their cats, Cozmo & Newman settled in downstairs and by the next day all the cats were venturing into each other's space and being guardedly friendly.

On Christmas Eve morning Rowland and Rob went to the cabin, snowshoed out in the cold, cut down a tree and dragged it back to the truck. THey brought it home and set it up in the living room - first time we've had a real tree in probably 15 years! Additional lights were procured and added to the tree.

Our Christmas Eve service was at 5:00 and as special as always. Afterwards we had our Christmas Eve dinner, which was delicious, and then decorated the tree and opened one present each.

Christmas morning brought stockings from Santa, gift-opening and our traditional breakfast of waffles. In the afternoon Rob & I went snowshoeing around our yard, then over to the next street, through the park, down the hill, across the crick (frozen solid) that borders our property, and back up our hill. Courtney took lots of pictures and we had a fun time and definitely got warmed up from the exercise!

In the late afternoon we went to the Community Christmas Dinner at the Road House. This is the 3rd year and attendance has been growing each year. We had fun seeing lots of people there that we know and having a chance to wish them a merry Christmas.

The temperature was supposed to warm up on Friday and the roads were predicted to be icy, so Courtney & Rob decided to stay 'til Saturday, which was a real bonus for us! We continued to relax and snack - that's what the holidays are for, right?!

We're enjoying Mom's visit and she loves looking out the windows at the gorgeous snowy vistas.

I'm on vacation for the week and Mom & I are reading a lot of books, talking, getting out now and then and just having a good time.

Family Christmas

Christmas was great!

Finally Feeling Christmasy!

It's been quite a week (and month)! Advent was going along smoothly. We had a great turn-out to decorate the church on a Thursday this year instead of Saturday. Women of Faith took 2 vans on a Saturday trip to Duluth for the day. We had lunch at the Olive Garden, visited the Glensheen Mansion, spent a couple hours at the mall and ate dinner at the Village Inn in Virginia (MN) on our way home.

The next day after church Rowland & I drove down to Plymouth in a snowstorm to spend a couple days with Courtney & Rob. That was fun and relaxing, as always.

Thank goodness for that time because then it was crunch time to get ready for the Prime Timers' Christmas party at our house, send Christmas cards (I'm 2/3 done at this point) and get Mom's room ready for her visit!

Bruce flew to Sacramento on Dec. 13 and he & Mom flew back on the 14th. THey were stranded in Minneapolis for 2 days because of the huge snowstorm we had that Sunday. They spent one night at the Radisson and the 2nd night with Courtney & Rob, finally getting here at 4:15 on Tuesday afternoon.

Tuesday night I started coming down with a horrible cold (or some darn nasty allergies). Wendesday morning was "cookies for shut-ins" at church. Thursday afternoon I had a funeral. Afterwards I called my allergy doctor's office begging for help to get through another funeral, 2 Sunday services and Christmas Eve. He put me on an antibiotic and I continued to muddle along.

Friday was more funeral prep, Saturday morning was the 2nd funeral and then I had to get ready for Sunday morning, followed by Sunday evening's Longest Night/Blue Christmas service. I could tell I was starting to improve a little on Sunday, but the cough is still nasty and I can't sing or talk too long or I have a coughing fit.

Yesterday Mom & I were to get haricuts in Canada and they ended up being rescheduled for the evening, but it finally happened & here are the results:





Yesterday was incredibly cold, but we braved the elements to go to Canada to Tim Horton's in the afternoon and back again last night for our haircuts. Today it warmed up and snowed all day, which wasn't nice because Courtney & Rob had to drive in it all the way here. But they arrived safely in time for supper and some present-wrapping and a movie. (I'm sure some of them are napping in front of the TV even as I write!)

I got the Christmas Eve bulletin done & even the one for Sunday, so I'm finally able to start relaxing and getting in the Christmas spirit! We've been looking forward for a long time to having our whole family together this Christmas - including our 3 cats & Courtney & Rob's 2 - so it's going to be a truly joyful, festive time.

The Holy Breaks into the Daily

Sermon preached by the Rev. Sue Judson Hamly on November 30, 2008 at Faith United Church, UCC, International Falls, MN
First Sunday of Advent Year B

Scripture texts: Isaiah 64:1-9 and Psalm 80:1-7l 17-19

We tend to think of Christmas as a time of wonder and magic—a season of warmth, joy, happy memories, happy families, peace on earth. And for some folks that’s how it is. For others it’s just a memory, a longing or an unrealized dream. This year, for many people in our country Christmas may not be what it has been in the past. But that doesn’t mean it’s not a miraculous time.

The psalms are a book of prayers in the middle of the bible that hold back nothing in the heart of Israel. There is praise and thanksgiving, but also anger, doubt, guilt, even demands. The demands slightly resemble reminders, just in case God has forgotten the promises of old or God’s habit of intervening in wonderful ways on behalf of Israel. In the psalms Israel is saying, remember, God? Remember that we are your children and you are our loving Parent; we are the clay and you are the Potter; we are the vine that you yourself have planted and cared for, tenderly. How long, O Lord, how long will we have to wait for you to “give ear,” to “stir up your might,” to “restore us,” to “turn again” and “let your face shine” upon us? Psalm 80 “confesses the people’s trust in a God who is big enough to hear their hurt, strong enough to handle their anger and pain.” They “are in a world of hurt [and t]hey want God to know about it”[1]

The people could have been suffering in slavery or exile, in crushing defeat or on the edges of a power structure, after the return of Israel from exile, that didn’t care what constituted true holiness in the eyes of God. The beauty of the psalms is that they can be prayed by Israel in all of these settings and times, and in concentration camps and pogroms, because they express the heartfelt, anguished questions of a people who have a history with God. This long, long history holds memories of God stepping in and doing something when the need was great. We can understand that shared stories of defeating Pharaoh, raining bread from heaven, and enjoying the glory of David might lead the people to have certain expectations of God. And that is the word for Advent: expectation. In what way can people of faith “expect” God to act?[2]

In the psalm there is a sheer sense of helplessness and longing for God. In today’s reading from Isaiah, the author does speak of sin, but seems to blame the people’s unfaithfulness on God’s decision to remain aloof: “because you hid yourself we transgressed.” Isaiah, however, knows that there is iniquity that God will have to forget, as we ourselves hope that God will forget our own sin. So the time of expectation that coincides with the world’s jolly celebration of “the season” is at least partly about repentance and turning back to God. And Advent is also about the nearness of God, our hope to experience God—right here, “down” here, on earth—to experience God’s radiance and power and love.[3]

That’s what we really want, especially in times of loss, grief, suffering, illness, fear and uncertainty. We want to experience God—to experience the holy in the midst of our everyday lives. We want to be reminded that no matter how bad things are, we belong to God—that all the earth belongs to God—and we want to believe that God breaks into this reality regularly.

When we take the time to stop and think about it we realize that God DOES still break into our daily lives with holy moments. Sometimes, this in-breaking is dramatic and publicly celebrated: for example, the Berlin Wall coming down or the end of apartheid. Sometimes it’s felt in private consolations and reconciliations, a relationship restored by forgiveness or a return to health, or a simple moment of sensing the beauty around us or God’s presence with us.

I remember Christmas Eve about 20 years ago. I was a seminary student and I was the reader for the Christmas Eve service at church. I hadn’t grown up going to church on Christmas Eve because we were always out of town with my mom’s side of the family. I came to love the 11 pm service with its bible readings and the choir singing the Hallelujah Chorus and then everyone processing out to the church’s front porch where we were handed candles which we lit as we went outside and then we all stood there at midnight singing “Silent Night” into the quiet neighborhood with all the stars twinkling overhead.

On this particular Christmas Eve as I stood up to read, I was overcome with a sense of amazement, wonder, awe and gratitude that God loved God’s people so much that God, in Jesus Christ, came to live among us and share our common lot and life! What a miracle! Into the ordinary chaos of life a child was born in a barn full of animals. He was born much like any other child was born in those days, but this child was different because he would grow up to change the world forever! He would care about ALL the people, even the poor, the women, the outcasts, the lepers, the disabled, the scorned and the rejected.

And does that ever give us a reason to be hopeful! In spite of our personal and congregational losses this year; in spite of the shape our world is in and the economic problems our own country is facing; in spite of wars and famine and genocide and global warming, God has not given up on us! God’s love is present with us! God’s holiness breaks into our everyday lives and inspires us to love and action.

Because of God’s love… because we are aware of God’s love… there is hope in this season of expectation. There is hope for a better life for all, and for peace on this planet. And because we can be hopeful, we can also see and sense the holiness breaking into the ordinariness of our everyday lives. In this Advent season, seek the holiness in the everyday and strive to look forward rather than backward, to reach out in love, and always to be hopeful! AMEN.

Endnotes
1. Talitha Arnold, Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary.
2. http://www.ucc.org/worship/samuel/november-30-2008-first-sunday.html
3. Adapted from http://www.ucc.org/worship/samuel/november-30-2008-first-sunday.html

Thanksgiving

For once I didn't check the weather forecast, so it was a surprise to wake up to falling snow yesterday morning - our first real snow of the season! Thankfully, no one had to drive too far to get to our Thanksgiving dinner.

We enjoyed all the usual treats... turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce, traditional Thanksgiving green bean casserole, yams with marshmallows, salad, rolls, "scrabble" (the Kientz family version of chex mix), peach and pumpkin pies. There was lots of good conversation and a movie for entertainment (or napping)... a relaxing, enjoyable day.

I'm thankful for 2 days of not leaving the house (I only went outside today to shovel and take a few pictures), and I'm thankful for all of you, my wonderful friends and family!

More Cats

While Rowalnd was recovering from elbow surgery 3 weeks ago, he relied on the cats for company and entertainment when he couldn't do much else. They obliged, of course!

In Memory of Arden

The Rev. Arden Johnson has been a member of our church since he retired from ministry in 1992. He was much loved by the whole congregation. Arden died on Saturday in the Hospice unit at St. Mary's hospital in Duluth. This is the homily I preached today at his memorial service at the Community Building in his home town of Big Falls, MN.

Arden Johnson
November 25, 2008
2 Timothy 4:5-8

Arden was a member of the search committee when I was called to serve Faith United Church, UCC in 1999. On a snowy St. Patrick’s Day that spring it took me 2 tries flying out of Minneapolis before I actually arrived in the Falls. I was then taken to see the church, meet the search committee and preach a sermon for them before they took me out to dinner in Canada.

For those of you who’ve never been to Faith United Church, it’s a beautiful building, oval in shape with the sanctuary in the half-round where everyone can see everyone else. And Arden was one of the most wonderful, welcoming people. That afternoon he took me aside, between the back door and the narthex, put his arm around me and said, “You don’t have to worry—the devil can’t corner you here because there aren’t any corners!” I think we became instant friends in that moment.

I bought one of Arden’s cedar fencepost vases on that trip, just in case I didn’t get to come back. I knew God was calling me to serve this church, but I had to wait 6 weeks to find out if they knew it too. As you can see, Arden’s beautiful handiwork is something I enjoy very much—in fact I’m sure more than half the members of our congregation own Arden Johnson vases, ducks, jewelry boxes or photographs. Most of the time he donated the money from the sale of those items to the church.

When we moved to Minnesota, Mary and Arden invited us over for lunch right after we arrived in town. I asked Arden if he had any lamps for sale because I was trying to organize the house and we needed more light. He said “No” and I heard a horrified gasp from Mary. But Arden added, “I don’t have any for sale, but I do have some to give, “ and he gave me 2 of his fencepost or log lamps that have graced our home ever since.

I also shared a love of cameras and photography with Arden. It was such fun when he’d arrive at church on a Sunday morning and seek me out saying, “Sue, I got a new camera!” and his eyes would just light up! We enjoyed comparing notes on cameras, photo software and photography techniques. Over the last 9 years, we’ve had several of the same camera models. In fact it was Arden who moved me into the world of digital photography!

We are so fortunate that Arden and Mary joined our church in retirement! Arden always embodied the extravagant welcome UCC churches strive to offer to everyone no matter who you are or where you are on life’s journey. Arden was doing that long before it became part of the God is Still Speaking campaign. He also served as Moderator for two years, inspiring us with the slogan, “We Can Do It!” He was a willing supply preacher until he decided to put an end to his preaching career when he turned 80. About a month after announcing that he was giving up preaching, he presented me, during our worship service, with this UCC pendant. It was made for him by one of his parishioners and he wore it every time he preached. It is an honor and a privilege for me to wear it now and we agreed that someday I, too, will pass it on. What a wonderful connection and a magnificent legacy from a truly special pastor and friend!

Pastoral ministry is a very challenging and gratifying vocation that is not always easy. For over 40 years, Arden was a real gift to several congregations, following the advice of a mentor who told him to go to a congregation and “love the devil out of ’em.” He cared; he loved; he fought the good fight, finished the race and kept the faith.

In his second letter to Timothy, Paul talks about how he has done the same thing in his ministry. Loving all God’s people isn’t always easy, but it’s what God calls us to do. It’s a big job and lots more people are needed to do it. If we all follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ—the one who came into the world to show us how to love—then the world God has entrusted to our care will finally be a much better place for all living things.

Arden has gone on ahead of us to that new life we have all been promised, but he, too, set an example for us to follow. He was a genuine disciple of Jesus Christ, always striving to help others know and love God. We must also fight the good fight, run the race, and above all keep the faith. Arden’s faith always burned bright, an inspiration to all. God has blessed us with the gift of memories, the inspiration of love, the promise of the resurrection and the comfort of faith. Our path is set before us and we can run our race with joy; we can hope and trust in God, and yes, we too can love the devil out of everybody! AMEN.

A Friend Moves On

My friend and colleague, Jill Warner came to the Falls in early 1998 as the interim pastor at Faith United Church. After I arrived, she taught band at the high school for 3 years, served several interims and continued to be active in the community when she wasn't away for an interim. But eventually the time came for her to seek and accept a permanent called position which she will begin the first Sunday of Advent in Aberdeen, SD.

Jill and Friends offered a Farewell and Thanksgiving concert at our church last Friday night and we said farewell and Godspeed to her on Sunday with a special Coffee Hour after worship. Exciting times ahead for Jill and her new congregation. To read a story in our local paper, click here.

Indescribable Gifts

Sermon preached by the Rev. Sue Judson Hamly on Nov. 23, 2008 at Faith United Church, UCc, International Falls, MN.
Thanksgiving Sundsy

Scripture texts: Psalm 100 and 2 Corinthians 9:6-15

Thanksgiving is a day—or maybe a season—of counting our blessings, perhaps finally remembering to be thankful for something, eating more than we should and hopefully spending a day or a weekend with people we enjoy.

That’s pretty much your basic American Thanksgiving, in a nutshell. But besides eating all that delicious turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, pumpkin pie and whatever other goodies are part of your Thanksgiving dinner, this is a day that is—or at least should be—about celebrating the indescribable gifts of God.

Psalm 100 tells us HOW to celebrate. Even though our Puritan ancestors didn’t believe in music or decorations, the Psalmist tells us that we should make a joyful noise to the Lord and come into God’s presence with joy, gladness, singing, thanksgiving and praise. Why should we do this? Because the Lord is good! God can be trusted. God’s steadfast love endures forever and God is faithful to all generations. We can be thankful because we have witnessed this—both personally and through the stories of the Bible.

In today’s second reading, Paul seeks to explain to the Corinthians about God’s indescribable gifts of surpassing grace. This passage is a good stewardship text reminding us that how we sow (sparingly or bountifully) determines how we reap. It is the text from which we gained that “old saying” you’ve probably heard many times in your life, “God loves a cheerful giver.” It also reminds us that no matter what our personal complaints, we truly have been provided with blessings in abundance, which in turn enable us to do good works, to be generous, to share those blessings and to produce thanksgiving to God.

But you’ve heard all that before in one form of sermon or another. Today isn’t the time for the usual. Today isn’t the time to just count your regular blessings. Today is a day to think about some indescribable gifts and to give thanks for God’s extravagant love.

I’ll give you a few seconds to think about what an indescribable gift might be………. I saw some of God’s truly indescribable gifts 6 months ago in the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park. Many of you have seen similar places of incredible wonder and majesty.

But this morning I am thinking of one of the most indescribable gifts God gives to us—the gift of special people who grace our lives and our hearts.

We have all been touched by many people who have passed through or still share our lives. As a congregation we have been blessed three times over, in recent years, to have three clergy persons as members of our church—Arden, Jill and Leo. We knew we would be saying “so long and Godspeed” to Jill today, but we didn’t expect to be saying farewell to Arden as well.

When Rowland started working in one of the big Lutheran churches in Decorah, he told me that the minister would get phone calls every Monday morning from several retired clergy in the congregation telling him what was wrong with his sermon the day before. Can you imagine?! Now there’s a reason for taking Mondays off—hopefully people will have forgotten the sermon by Tuesday! Our clergy members have always been totally supportive, encouraging and helpful, and for that I am eternally grateful. And I realize what a blessing they are!

Arden always demonstrated the extravagant welcome the UCC currently uses as part of our PR campaign. Some people might joke, “go see Sue, she’ll marry anybody,” but Arden agreed that marrying a couple who might never darken the church door again was the caring thing to do. One never knows when the seeds we sow may bear fruit. He respected everyone and saw the best in them and he knew in his heart that God loves everyone and so should we.

I want to tell you one story that I can’t tell at the memorial service on Tuesday because there will be people there from the churches Arden served. But it’s a story you need to hear if you haven’t heard it before, and be reminded of if you have. Arden served his last church for 22 years. Not long after I came to Faith United, he told me that when he retired he had “had it up to HERE” with the church. (Only Arden was quite a bit taller than I am, so he had had it up to here [holding hand a foot above my head]. Congregations don’t always treat their pastors well all the time and there had also been a Conference staff person whose comments and actions had been hurtful to him. But Arden found that coming here to Faith United Church and being a loved and welcomed member of this congregation was “so healing” and was exactly what he needed.

So, you see, you have been an indescribable gift to Arden, and he was certainly an indescribable gift to us!

In May, 2005, another clergy friend of mine died of cancer. His name was Donel McClellan and he served the UCC church in Bellingham, WA. Donel shared his dance with cancer (as he called it) by way of a blog on the internet. One day he had an experience at an International House of Pancakes that inspired him to write what he called “The Pastor’s Last Sermon.” He posted it at the time he wrote it, along with his thoughts. Then his son posted it again as the final entry to Donel’s blog the day he died.

I share it with you now because it speaks of God’s love and a pastor’s musings on life and love, and I think Arden would agree…….

Breakfasting at IHOP
The man in the next booth
finished talking to his wife
on his walkie-talkie.
He said:

God bless!
I love you.
I'm gone!

I swiped the words
thinking they were the ideal
obituary.

God Bless!
What more can be
said about life?
Every morning is an
undeserved gift. Each
evening a blessing.
If not blessed, then
life is something less
than was promised.

I love you
sums up the prophets
and the law. To love
and be loved is life's
greatest promise
and our finest achievement.
Love trumps dislike,
finesses anger and spite,
defeats ennui.
In the end there is faith
hope and love.
You know
which is the greatest.

I'm gone.
I suspect this is a finality
only from the perspective
of the living.
Who is to say to where
I have gone when I depart
this breathing
physical body?
I'm gone suffices--
and contains within its finality
the hope of another meeting,
as when the man in IHOP
returns home to love's arms.[1]

God’s indescribable gifts are treasures and blessings for always. AMEN.

Endnote
1. http://hellbox.org/donel/

Buddies

The ultimate in cat friends ... O.P. and Rusty enjoyed Rowland's lap together tonight!

Love that Garrison Keillor!

Garrison Keillor has another great column that I read on the editorial page of our local paper last night.

It's called "Wow! America is cool" and you can read it for yourself at salon.com by clicking on the link below. Enjoy!
http://www.salon.com/opinion/keillor/2008/11/12/obama_victory/

Rusty's accepted!

Rusty has settled right into our family and he and O.P. have become great friends while Chloe is more tolerant every day.
Rusty & O.P. play for hours, wrestling and chasing each other. O.P. will wrestle him down, wrap his paws around him and then proceed to give him a good licking - all over his head and face!

Reiki Class

Last Friday and Saturday I taught my first Reiki I & II class, finally!! I had 2 students, one from church and the other is the pastor at the United Church of Canada across the river.

What an amazing experience! It was truly exciting to be teaching Reiki and to realize that I can do it and feel fairly confident. It was also overwhelming, though. There is so much to cover in just two days and it felt like a huge responsibility - but a wonderful responsibility. After the first day I was wired-tired. After the class ended I felt great, but then it was time to turn to the sermon. After the first of the year I'll look at scheduling another class.

An Historic Moment

Last night I stayed up watching CNN election results and then the concesson speech by Senator McCain followed by that wonderful speech by President-Elect Barack Obama! I was riveted to the TV and seeing the expressions on the faces of the people in the crowd in Chicago brought tears to my eyes. I haven't felt such a sense of being a part of history in the making in a loooooong time. It was exilarating!

All day today I've been joyful and energized and there was a sense of excitement and hope in our study group this morning. It just felt good to be with like-minded people, celebrating the outcome of this landmark election in which the American people are calling for change. A Black man has been elected president of these United States and he's a 20-year member of the UCC!

It just feels like exciting times and as one of my friends said, "I feel like we finally have HOPE again!"

Garrison Keillor has a great column in response to the election results:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/keillor/2008/11/05/happy_couple/

Happy Hallowe'en!

Halloween almost fell by the wayside today since I was teaching day 1 of my first Reiki class. It was a wonderful experience and I'm looking forward to finishing up tomorrow! I have 2 students ... one from here and one from Canada.

But I stopped at the store and got mini Nestle Crunches and made it home in time for 15 trick-or-treaters. The cutest costumes were a beautifully gift-wrapped box with a big bow (a girl) and a cute green dragon (a boy) and his little sister who was a pink, red-haired fairy.



Times change, but the few trick-or-treaters we get are fun to see.

What's in a Name?

It's amazing how difficult it can be to come up with the right name for a pet. O.P. was easy, he had his name printed on his side! Chloe's name I found on a calico cat blog. We have just finally settled on "Rusty" for our new kitten after trying out dozens of names, mostly having to do with his being an orange cat. We kept coming back to "Rusty" so now it's settled! Next project is for him to start learning his name. Chloe never has, but O.P. definitely knows his!

Our New Kitten

Yes, we're probably crazy, but after looking at the cute kittens from the Borderland Humane Society in the paper every week, we finally decided to go look at some. Bruce & I went and fell in love with an adorable, cuddly, orange kitten named Benji. We're going to change his name, but haven't decided what it'll be yet. If you have any brainstorms, let us know!






And here's a couple videos of him playing!

Autumn Afternoon

Bruce thought it would be nice to get a few pictures of his orange Speeder and the fallen autumn leaves. A couple of deer decided they wanted to get in on the photo shoot too! Unfortunately they were frightened away by an ambulance arriving - with full sirens - at the hospital nearby.

 
 
 
 

A Unique Personality Test

My daughter sent me this "test" today. It's fun and amazingly accurate, I thought! It'll be on the sidebar of my blog for awhile, but here's the explanation of how to do it:

When you click on the link, a series of 15 pictures will come up. Click on the photo in that category that appeals to you. Another 15 pictures will come up, click the one that appeals most to you and move on. Just continue picking. At the end it will give you a profile of yourself.... It's called a visual DNA.... Your choices dictate your profile.

Here's my VisualDNA. What's yours? Click below to ry it and see what you think!

Traveling on Real Tracks

This weekend Bruce and his friend Glen from Fort Frances went to Spooner, Wisconsin with the Speeder. They did some "runs" on their own and participated in giving kids rides on the "Pumpkin Train." 

Listen for both the bell and the train horn on Bruce's Speeder.

Here's another clip of Bruce driving his Motorcar ...

... and here's the view from inside the car with Glen driving

"Steeples" Ad

The UCC just finished a two-week ad run on several cable networks. It brought lots of people to the ucc website and note of appreciation from people who never thought there was a church that would accept them: "no matter who you are or where you are on life's journey, you are welcome here!"

If you didn't catch the ad on TV, you can watch it right now, right here!

New Adventure - YouTube!

I decided it was time to explore posting a (short - my little camera only does SHORT) video on YouTube and find out what that's all about.  

Soooo, here's a video of Bruce's Speeder... (click the triagle or anywhere on the picture to play it)

Track Party

A couple weeks ago Bruce had a party for the guys who laid the track for his Speeder. It was raining again but we all had good food and fun.

The local Super One grocery store's bakery made a great cake!

The "Crew"

More Hospice Butterflies

For the third year in a row, our local Hospice raised funds by having a release of monarch butterflies in memory of loved ones. I released two butterflies in memory of Dad from Mom and me. This event takes place in the garden at the Holiday Inn on Rainy River, near our house.

I've Been Workin' on the Railroad!

Well, not ME, personally, but Bruce and lots of his RR friends laid 80 feet of track in our back yard this summer for him to practice running his "Speeder" or Motorcar. Bruce is a member of NARCOA, the North Amreican Railcar Owners Association and there are lots of other people out there who enjoy this hobby!

The track was laid on two separate nights in late May and early June. The first night it rained, but they kept right on working!



And it's ALL DONE!

Here it is ... ON the track!!