Sweet Lorane Community News – July 21, 2016

July 21, 2016Newspaper Columns4-H, Crow Car Show, Crow High School, Crow Middle/High School Booster Club, Groundwaters 2016 Anthology, Hannah Edwards, Kevin Stevens, Lane County Fair, Lorane Christian Church, Lorane Community Potluck, Lorane Craft Group, Lorane Ice Cream Social, Marci Haro, Oregon's Main Street U.S. Highway 99 Coloring Book, Troy Jentzschpaedwards Leave a comment

Fern Ridge Review
Creswell Chronicle
Sweet Lorane Community News
July 21, 2016
By Pat Edwards

The Lane County Fair as well as the 4-H Youth Fair was held last week. Our family attended Wednesday and Thursday to watch our granddaughter, Hannah Edwards, show her lamb in the market and showmanship classes. 4-H has long been a tradition in our family and we’ve always supported it wholeheartedly; the kids have all raised animals from the family’s herds and flocks. That, I believe, is the essence of what 4-H is meant to be. We haven’t had any championship animals over the years, but we’ve raised some champion kids in the process. Congratulations to Hannah for following in that tradition. We are all so very proud of her.

Crow High School has a new principal. Marci Haro, former principal of the North Bend Middle School, was recently hired. Welcome to the C-A-L School District, Mrs. Haro.

I also have to send my own welcome to Crow’s new football coaching staff. Kevin Stevens (who also happens to be our grandson) is the new coach with another favorite, Troy Jentzsch, assisting him. Both Kev and Troy are graduates of Crow High School and are looking forward to working with the team.

The new craft group that is forming in Lorane is sponsored by the Ladies of the Lorane Christian Church. They hope to meet semi-weekly at the church and encourage anyone who wants to join them to bring their craft projects so that they can all work on them together. They met this past Tuesday and plan to continue meeting on Tuesday nights at 7:00 p.m. The next get-together will be on August 2. I will be donating a few of my new OREGON’S MAIN STREET: U.S. Highway 99 Coloring Books for those who want to join in on the social part of it but don’t have a craft project to work on yet. I might even throw in a box of colored pencils. For more information, contact Jeri Porter at 541-942-2448.

The annual Lorane Community Potluck and Ice Cream Social will be taking place this year on Sunday, August 14. Everyone’s invited to come to the potluck first beginning at 12:30 p.m. Doors at the Lorane Grange will open at about 10:30 a.m. for those who want to drop off food or come early and visit with their neighbors. Bring your favorite dish – an entree, salad, side and/or dessert to share with everyone. We usually get a wonderful selection of food! Everyone will begin eating at 12:30 p.m.

The Lorane Ice Cream Social, sponsored by the Lorane Fire Department, will be held the same day from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. Expect to find yummy homemade pies and ice cream and lots of fun activities for children and adults alike. Both events have become traditions that Lorane residents and friends in the area look forward to each year. Please plan on joining us.

A reminder, too, for the 14th annual Crow Car Show sponsored by the Crow Middle/High School Booster Club. It will be taking place on September 10 at Crow High School. They have a Facebook page set up under the name of “Crow Car Show” and they have provided contact numbers if you have any specific questions. The Crow Booster Club President is Linda Lay (541-844-5840) and the Auction Donation Coordinator/Vice President is Diana Lassen (541-517-9031) if you have items you are willing to donate for the baskets that will be auctioned. (Jen Chambers and I could donate some our coloring books!) Proceeds go towards booster club projects throughout the year and benefit all Crow-Applegate-Lorane students.

Groundwaters is now encouraging local writers and poets to submit their short stories, memoir, creative non-fiction, personal experience, poetry and other “family-friendly” contributions for our upcoming annual issue. The deadline for submissions is August 15. We’ve already received some wonderful submissions and hope to get as many as possible before the deadline. We especially encourage young writers to submit for our “Bubbling Up” section. If you or someone you know is an amateur writer or even one who has published a story or two or fifty, we’d love to include your work in our anthology. More information and submission guidelines can be found on our website at http://www.groundwaterspublishing.com/Anthologies.html or you can contact Jennifer Chambers or me at submissions@groundwaterspublishing.com for more information.

Sweet Lorane Community News – July 14, 2016

July 14, 2016Newspaper ColumnsAlyssa Shepherd, anthology, Film Camp, Groundwaters, Kevin Stevens, Lorane Christian Church, Lorane Community Assoc., Lorane Craft Group, Lorane Family Store, Lorane Growers' Market, Lorane Movie Night, Marissa McNutt Cooper, Rural Art Center, Takako Bartolduspaedwards Leave a comment

Fern Ridge Review
Creswell Chronicle
Sweet Lorane Community News
July 14, 2016
By Pat Edwards

Life has begun to return to whatever “normal” is for Jim and I since our recently aborted attempt at a vacation. My brother-in-law, John, is back under his own doctor’s care and is at home for now. Jim’s been busily working at the store and at home, and Jennifer Chambers and I’ve begun our work on this year’s edition of the Groundwaters 2016 anthology.

Jim has been in seventh heaven since our grandson, Kevin, moved back to Lorane to help him at the store and with our rentals across the street. Kev’s been a godsend and we are so grateful that he is here to help out. It has allowed Jim to take on some projects at home he has been wanting to do for a long time, and Kev’s experience at managing Safeway stores is really making itself evident at the store, too. Thank you, Kev!!

The Lorane Grower’s Market is about to be set up at the Lorane Family Store. Whenever any of you have extra produce from your gardens or fruit trees that you would like to donate to the Lorane Community Association, please bring them to the store and put them on the display rack in front under the canopy. (Flowers and plants are welcome, too, if you bring them in containers with water.) If you know that you will be donating something perishable that needs refrigeration, let Marissa McNutt Cooper or Jim know so that a cooler chest can be made available to store them in.

The way it works is that donated produce is left at the stand and anyone who wants to buy or trade for it can do so. It’s set up on the honor system, and a secure cash box is located beside the produce bench. Place whatever amount you want to donate towards the produce you are taking (or towards the community fund). If you bring produce, you are welcome to trade it for some that others have left. The cashbox is emptied daily and all proceeds go towards community projects that benefit us all.

I am trying to get information on a new group that seems to be forming in Lorane. Apparently, community women are being invited to participate in a crafting get-together to be held at the Lorane Christian Church. An initial meeting has been set for Tuesday, July 19 at 7:00 p.m. I understand that if there appears to be enough interest, depending on how many show up on Tuesday night, they may begin holding them on a regular basis. I’ll try to get more details for next week’s column.

Here’s some more information about the free Rural Art Center’s Film Camp…“For the 5th year in a row, Rural Art Center will transform the Art Room at Applegate Elementary into Film Production Central. Thanks to generous grants from Oregon Country Fair Foundation and Plum Creek Foundation we have great equipment to work with. People of all ages are encouraged to come and join in the flurry of creativity and in the making of a film.

“We have used a variety of mediums to tell wonderful stories to our community. The Rural Art Center Movie Night will premiere our production in October. This year’s camp will meet Monday, August 8 to Thursday, August 11 and Monday, August 15 to Thursday, August 18. All days will be from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

“Takako Bartoldus will join us to share a well-known Japanese story called “Tears of the Red Oni.” This story explores sacrifice, friendship and, especially, Japanese culture. Takako taught high school in Japan for 10 years before relocating to Eugene 5 years ago. She is now an Assistant Teacher at Bridgeway House School.

“The Film Camp is free. Contact Alyssa Shepherd at malyssa2@yahoo.com or call 541-556-8151 for questions or to enroll.”

Sweet Lorane Community News – July 7, 2016

July 7, 2016Newspaper Columns4th of July, Boise, Creswell parade, Cruise 'n Ride, Fireworks, Independence Day, John Edwards, OPVA, Oregon Paralyzed Veterans of Americapaedwards Leave a comment

Fern Ridge Review
Creswell Chronicle
Sweet Lorane Community News
July 7, 2016
By Pat Edwards

I hope that everyone had a good 4th of July. We did… even though we didn’t expect to be here for it. Our daughters put together a fun family barbecue and a bonus this year was that there were no extra-loud illegal fireworks being set off in our neighborhood. I don’t want to sound like an old scrooge. As a child living in Lebanon, Oregon, I loved the activities surrounding Independence Day celebrations. Our dad would bring home an assortment of sparklers and ladyfinger firecrackers. He showed us how to ignite them safely using a punk and he would later handle the lighting of the fountains and pinwheels that we all watched in awe. I also remember the special times we traveled to my aunt’s house on East 22nd Street in Eugene. The whole family walked from there down to Hayward Field on the UO campus. We’d go early enough to find a patch of lawn to lay our blankets on so that we could lie and watch the fireworks display. It seemed that the whole town turned out for it.

At the time, I didn’t realize how traumatized our pets could become. We always shut them in the house while we were lighting fireworks, but seeing the way our dogs now cringe and crawl under my computer desk when the loud booms of illegal fireworks explode through the valley, I sympathize. More importantly is the increased awareness we now have of the PTSD that some veterans who served our country have to deal with each 4th of July. We are so lucky to have scheduled activities to attend, even now. Creswell provides a wonderful parade each year and once it is dark, families still are able to go lie out on a lawn to watch beautiful exploding displays of fireworks.

Despite our aborted vacation recently, Jim and I are glad to be back home. His brother John is under the care of his local doctors now after spending 3 days in a hospital in Boise, Idaho. Hopefully, one of these days soon, we will try again, but for now, we’re enjoying being home.

The trip was star-crossed from the very beginning. Besides John becoming ill in the middle of nowhere, we dealt with the fact that all motels/hotels were booked along Highway 26 and we had no place to stay even if John had been well. In addition, his power chair decided to quit working after we went back out to the cars following dinner in John Day. It just quit and it took over a half hour of pulling levers, pushing buttons and kicking tires before it suddenly came to life and John was finally able to lock it into place in the passenger side of his van. The vacation just went downhill after that… We even had problems on the way home. After leaving Burns with plenty of gas (we thought), we discovered that there was not a gas pump left in any of the little towns between there and Bend. We became really concerned when the gas warning lights in both of our cars went on. We were still 30 miles from Bend at the time and we were all holding our breaths, fearing that we weren’t going to be able to make it that far. Our daughter Kelly, who lives in Montana, chose to call us to find out how we were doing when we were 5 miles from Bend. When I updated her, she insisted on staying on the line to make sure we made it there safely. When we drove both vehicles into the first gas station in Bend on fumes, we all breathed a sigh of relief. I remember saying to Kelly, “Oh my gosh! I haven’t been this stressed since… Saturday!” We can all laugh about it now, but we weren’t then.

A quick mention of an upcoming event. Mark your calendars for July 16. It will be the “Cruise ‘n Ride” Benefit for the Oregon Paralyzed Veterans of America. It will start and end at the Crow Grange. Start time is 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. and it costs $15 per vehicle with proceeds going to the OPVA. Cruisers of any legal motorized vehicle will visit granges along the route where they can buy raffle tickets, draw poker cards along the way for prizes, buy snacks, visit an old fashioned country market, listen to live music, play bingo and other games, enjoy arts and crafts displays, etc. at the various granges hosting it. Unfortunately, Lorane Grange is not on the route this year as they were last year, but the ones that are participating are Irving, Elmira, Central, Spencer Creek and back to Crow. Go to http://www.Cruise-N-Ride-Benefit.org for more information.