Highlights and Features

PROPERTY JOURNAL 5/18/2019 PAGE 1

HIGHLIGHTS AND FEATURES

•  EYEWITLESS NEWS
•  Amigos® ANTICS
• THURSDAY is (almost always) AMIGODAY

INSIDE:

•  MISSPELLED WURDS

•  DANGLING PARTICIPLES
•  SPLIT INFINITIVES

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The purpose of this paper is to help folks understand what it takes to keep our Church buildings and grounds in service; to let you know what’s happening and why, (if we can find out for you, which is sometimes like pulling teeth, or your leg, on occasion). As a matter of policy, the word "work" is forbidden on these pages, being replaced with "fun" or "joy", which mostly it is.

THE NEW YEAR -

The year is closed, the record made,

The last deed done, the last word said,

The memory alone remains

Of all its joys, its griefs, its gains,

And now with purpose full and clear,

We turn to meet another year.

Verse by Robert Browning

"Behold, I make all things new."

Revelations 21:5 English Standard Version (ESV)

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We begin again, with the Annual Congregational Meeting

this Sunday, January 31.2016.

Be there. Be a part of it. You are needed.

AMIGOS! ANTICS…01 28 16

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John Ward, Carol Vreim, Jim McIlvaine, Jim Lammey, Kirk Berger, Linda Dierksheide, Chris Frost, Joey Clark, Chet Henricksen, Tilly and Dick Hujsak, and Don Mullings.

Earlier week participants (elves?) : Snow shovelers Chris and Eric Flach, Chris Robinson, Anne-Marie Walters, Dot McKee, Shirley Deist.

Weather: 21F rising to 42F, calm, and sunny.

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PROJECTS:

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Forget projects; here's the Scoop (so to speak):

We got (un-officially) about 27 inches of mostly fluffy snow from our weekend blast.

We are told about 5 people showed up Sunday for both services combined. Most folks were stuck digging out at home.

Many volunteers stopped by to help clear walks (some noted above). The Amigos had some further shoveling fun this week, plus a bit of ice chipping.

(Tilly, Dick, Kirk, Chris, Joey, Jim M, Carol, Don)

STUFF:

Tilly and Dick and Kirk widened the narrow path into our parsonage meeting and workshop … (a few of our larger-sized folks barely squeezed thru the original opening provided by the Crafter "Girls" the day before.) A roof slide-off had added to the pile there.

To prepare for our annual meeting, most of us helped to rollout and set up 15 round tables with about 120 comfortable folding chairs in the Social Hall.

Tilly and Dick cleaned up in the kitchen area there, tossing outdated food from the fridges in the process. They also did some quilting for Social Ministry on a Red Russian quilt.

Chris and Joey discovered that all our light bulbs were okay this week.

Carol stored away the Christmas candles, and tended to flowers wherever they needed it.

Chet did his paper recycling bit, fast as a speeding bullet… didn't see him.

Linda did some office work, and shredded the evidence…or so someone said.

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(St Paul's Preschool is highly recommended!…All of our Children are gifted and way above average…Editor)

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PRESCHOOL PANICKING

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So my wife and I went to this meeting at our daughter's preschool. The purpose was to give us helpful information about our kindergarten options.

Let me just say, as a parent: aieeeeeeeeeee.

Centuries ago, when I was a small hairless preschool child in Armonk, N.Y., kindergarten was simple. When you turned 5, you enrolled in Wampus Elementary and attended Miss Gregory's kindergarten class, where you made hideous refrigerator art from construction paper and paste. There were no other curriculum options, unless you count the option of, when Miss Gregory was not looking, eating the paste.

I honestly thought it would be pretty much the same thing for our daughter. I mean, we live near an elementary school. It has a kindergarten. I figured Sophie would attend kindergarten there. I was an idiot.

It turns out that this is not about kindergarten at all. This is about LIFE. And when I say "life, " I of course mean, "Harvard." You need to get your child into the right kindergarten program, so that she can get into the right elementary-school program, without which she cannot get into the right middle-school program, without which she can't get into the right high-school program, which means she will not get into Harvard and all because you flushed her life down the toilet by picking the wrong kindergarten when she was 5 years old …you worthless uncaring parental scum.

I know what you're thinking. You're thinking: "That's ridiculous! You can't wait until your child is 5 years old to start thinking about Harvard! You have to start much sooner!"

This is true. In certain places, by which I mean Manhattan Island, serious parents start obsessing about Harvard before their child is, technically, born. They spend their evenings shouting the algebraic equations in the general direction of the womb so the child will have an edge during the intensely competitive process of applying for New York City's exclusive private preschools - yes, preschools - where tuition can run - and I am not making this figure up - well over $15,000 a year. If you're wondering how on -earth a preschool can get away with charging that kind of money, the answer is three words: really delicious paste.

But seriously, the question is: Why are these parents willing to go to such extremes, and spend so

much money, to get a child into a certain nursery school? The answer is: They're insane.

No, that's unfair. They're simply people who want their children to have every possible academic advantage so they can get into Harvard, which admits only extremely high achievers, which a lot of the time means students whose parents have driven themselves insane.

But it's not their fault! It's Harvard's fault! Harvard could do this nation a great service by changing its admission policies. Imagine if, instead of accepting a typical applicant who is class president AND valedictorian AND star athlete AND active in community affairs, Harvard started selecting applicants based on, say, their ability to burp the theme song from Gilligan's Island. Wouldn't that be wonderful? Wouldn't that cause these Harvard-crazed hyper-parents to chill out and allow their kids to just be kids?

No, it would not. It would create a huge demand for burping tutors.

But getting back to our kindergarten meeting: We went in there naively thinking we were going to find out how to enroll our daughter in our local kindergarten. Instead we spent 90 minutes finding out that we had all these options: Did we want our daughter to be in a magnet program? What kind? International studies? Math and science? Performing arts? How about a charter school? Or maybe a gifted program? And should it be integrated gifted? Or pullout gifted? Or learning disabled? Or learning disabled gifted? And what about private school?

These options, and many more, were explained to us by two nice, knowledgeable, thoughtful people with long experience in the local schools. They urged us to visit different schools and ask many questions before making our kindergarten decision. They stressed that every child is different and there is no right answer. I think I speak for every parent in the room when I say that I came out of there truly believing that, whatever choice we ended up making for our daughter, it would somehow be wrong and she would NOT GET INTO HARVARD.

After the meeting, we went home and relieved the babysitter. Our daughter was wearing her Ariel the Mermaid outfit. She is deeply into being a mermaid. If there were a gifted mermaid magnet kindergarten program, that would be her first choice. And, for that matter, mine. Assuming they have decent paste.

By Dave Barry

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PAYING ATTENTION

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A funny story circulated recently about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes. Doyle evidently told of a time when he hailed a taxi in Paris. Before he could utter a word, the driver turned to him and asked, “Where can I take you, Mr. Doyle?”

Doyle was flabbergasted. He asked the driver if he had ever seen him before.

“No, sir,” the driver responded, “I have never seen you before.” Then he explained: “This morning’s paper had a story about you being on vacation in Marseilles. This is the taxi stand where people who return from Marseilles always arrive. Your skin color tells me you have been on vacation. The ink spot on your right index finger suggests to me that you are a writer. Your clothing is very English, and not French. Adding up all those pieces of information, I deduced that you are Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.”

“This is truly amazing!” the writer exclaimed. “You are a real-life counterpart to my fictional creation, Sherlock Holmes!”

“There is one other thing,” the driver said.

“What is that?”

“Your name is on the front of your suitcase.”

Perhaps the driver was no master detective, but he was observant. He paid attention, and paying attention is an important part of living fully -- if we pay attention to the right things.

Speaker Alan Loy McGinnis tells of a New York City sculptor named Louise. She lived in one of the most dilapidated neighborhoods of the city. But, by paying attention to her surroundings, she found endless beauty and inspiration. She marveled at the elegance in the varying patterns of the sun and the moon reflected on tenement windows. In an object as ordinary as a chair she could see something extraordinary. “The chair isn’t so hot,” she once pointed out, “but look at its shadow.” By paying attention, she was able to see what others might miss.

Paying attention to the moments and to ordinary things of life, as much as possible, is a way to happiness. Like Brené Brown says, “I don't have to chase extraordinary moments to find happiness - it's right in front of me if I'm paying attention and practicing gratitude.” What do you think you might actually see and appreciate if you were to look carefully?

• I think I might see things or people in a new way. Too often I look straight through them and take them for granted.
• I think that, if I were to pay closer attention, I may better notice the abundance in my life instead of wishing for what I don’t have.
• If I look carefully, I think I just might see how beautiful and exquisite my life really is instead of thinking someone else has it better.

I don’t have to chase extraordinary moments to find happiness. I have to pay attention to the right things and happiness may find me. -

- Steve Goodier

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-- Success comes in cans; failure comes in can'ts."

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The Lord bless thee and keep thee…

The Lord make His face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee,

The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and… give… thee… Peace.