Category: Newspaper Columns

Newspaper columns that I have written for the Fern Ridge Review in Veneta, Oregon and the Creswell Chronicle in Creswell, Oregon. I began writing them for the Fern Ridge Review on August 4, 2010; on December 6, 2012, the Creswell Chronicle began printing them, as well. I am still the Lorane columnist for both papers.

Sweet Lorane Community News – December 29, 2016

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Fern Ridge Review
Creswell Chronicle
Sweet Lorane Community News
December 29, 2016
By Pat Edwards

The Lorane Directory Facebook page is adding a file for people to list their comments and feedback on various services they have used in the area. The first entry is one provided by Chris Nwk Blanchard. His family on Lorane Highway had been out of electricity for 10 days following the ice storm. They thought that Lane Electric would fix it, but didn’t realize that they would need to have a licensed electrician come to their home to repair some damage there before LEC could hook them back up to the main line. It was two days before Christmas and Chris put out a plea on the Lorane Facebook page to electrical contractors in the area who might be willing to do a last-minute job for them so that their electricity could be restored in time for Christmas. An angel in the guise of Chris Leturno of Superior Electric who lives in the Crow area immediately responded and had the work done in time to allow Lane Electric to get the family’s power restored. Not only was their best Christmas gift a warm house and restored electrical power for the Blanchard family, but, in addition, there was no charge from Superior Electric to do it. This is what holiday and community spirit are all about… neighbors helping neighbors. Thank you Chris Leturno for your kindness and goodwill. It will live on in the Lorane Directory as a recommendation for your services. I hope residents will post their recommendations for other local services they want to share, as well.

I hope that everyone had a safe and happy New Year. Our house is always pretty quiet, as Jim and I usually stay home and spend a relatively normal evening… and this year was no different. I guess that we earned the title of “party-poopers” quite some time ago.

School for the Crow-Applegate-Lorane School District will be back in session on Monday, January 2, but Friday, January 6, is the first half-day scheduled to prepare student progress reports. During the scheduled half days, the Rural Art Center has a great program in place for students who want to stay and attend three hours of creativity with professional artists and a healthy snack. A suggested donation of $10/afternoon is requested, but there are scholarships available if this is a hardship. If your child is interested in attending these, contact Michael at 541-844-0543 or ruralartcenter@gmail.com for more information. There is no bus service afterwards, however, so children must be picked up promptly at 3:00 p.m.

The program for Friday, January 6 is “Baskets.” Donna Crispin, a fiber artist, will show those attending how to weave a basket with a wooden base using reeds and yarn to create a lovely, small and unique basket.

The program on Friday, February 10 will be on “Rope and Cordage.” Students will make their own jump rope with yarn and then learn how to make cord out of dried leaves. A full schedule of the RAC half-days of art activities can be found in the most recent “District Buzz” newsletter at http://www.cal.k12.or.us/district/news/12-7-16.pdf.

Shortie and I went for a walk up Easy Acres today and met a Lane County road maintenance crew cleaning up the broken branches and limbs littering the sides of the road. It’s been a huge job for them, but I really appreciate the things that they do to make our roads better and nicer to travel. I asked one of the crew members to pass on my thanks to one of his colleagues, in particular, who does such a great job of mowing the sides of the roads along Lorane Highway, especially, each summer and fall. He certainly puts a lot of TLC into the work he does.

Again, Happy New Year to all of you. Let’s hope it’s a much better one than 2016.

Sweet Lorane Community News – December 22, 2016

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Fern Ridge Review
Creswell Chronicle
Sweet Lorane Community News
December 22, 2016
By Pat Edwards

I’m hoping for a quiet week this week. With the holidays and the after-effects of the ice storm which left many of us without power for days, and for some, a week or more, it will be good to find a sense of normalcy. At our house, we were without power for three full days, but as I mentioned last week, at least we had a small generator that helped get us through the outage without too much discomfort. Then, unfortunately, there were those whose lines leading to their homes were some of the last to be fixed and were literally in the dark for over a week.

Despite everything, though, most of us were aware of the heroic efforts of the crews that were out in the freezing and dangerous conditions of trees and branches falling indiscriminately while they worked to get warmth and light back into our homes. For me, these men and women are heroes who deserve our thanks and appreciation. Thanks to all of you who worked long hours in difficult conditions to provide us with some of the things we so often take for granted. You are very much appreciated!

Since there’s not a lot of events planned in the coming weeks, I thought I would tell you a little about the Edwards’ family’s Hawaiian trip, as promised. We had many adventures on the cruise. Some were great tours like the one that we took to the Volcano National Park on the big island of Hawaii where we saw red molten lava bubbling up to the surface of the Mt. Kilauea crater.

Some were fun like the day we spent on a beautiful beach in Maui where many of the family played in the surf on boogie boards and others swam out to snorkle with turtles while Jim laid on a lounge chair, under an umbrella, watching everyone and I waded out to get a closer look at all of the shenanigans.

There were some stressful times, too… like when our daughter, Michele, and her family drove up the Road to Hana on Maui and got detained behind a landslide for hours. Fortunately, they got back just in time to board the ship before it was ready to sail.

The most memorable time we had wasn’t a lot of fun, other family members will agree, but it will probably be the one we talk about the most whenever we are bringing up family memories.

When we got to Kona on the island of Hawaii, we booked 6 two-person kayaks for a snorkling adventure. At first, the plan was for Jim and I to be in one together, but I said that it wasn’t a good idea as neither of us were experienced in kayaking. (It turned out to be a wise decision.) So, Michele offered to be in one with Jim and they assigned me to our grandson, Kevin. We all figured that we’d be kayaking in a bay or a tributary, but when we got there, we found out how very mistaken we were. We were to kayak in the ocean, about 50 yards out from the shoreline… and it was windy that day… and there were waves. I was petrified the whole time we were out on the water, but Kev kept me focused and on course, instructing me to steer INTO the waves and not allow them to broadside us. He assured me with words like, “It’s ok, Grandma. I’ve got’cha!” and he did. His calm assurance gave me the opportunity to go out of my comfort zone and do something that I’ll never want to do again, but I was able to conquer my fear enough to say afterwards, “I did it!”

As you read this, we are all looking in our rearview mirror at Thanksgiving, Christmas and other holiday celebrations as the road ahead is disappearing over the 2017 horizon. Where it will lead us is anyone’s guess, but I’m hoping that, as we travel along, we’ll find some sunshine… sunshine for the soul, and peace within our hearts. 2016 was a rather strange year; To me, it seemed unsettled and the path through it was rocky and hard to navigate. My prayer and wish for 2017 is that it brings healing and harmony to our troubled nation… that we find more common bonds to join us than disparities to divide us.

Happy New Year to each of you!

Sweet Lorane Community News – December 15, 2016

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Fern Ridge Review
Creswell Chronicle
Sweet Lorane Community News
December 15, 2016
By Pat Edwards

As I sit here writing this week’s column, I am surrounded by what looks to be a war zone. Trees… good-size oaks, mainly… and large branches are lying all around our home. One especially large tree in the hillside pasture in front of our driveway split in half and the huge, tree-size chunk landed precisely between a small storage shed and a fence. It is even straddling a wooden fence without smashing it. Our house and vehicles are unscathed although one of Jim’s tractors is littered with small branches.

We are currently without electricity… our third day, but thanks to our oldest daughter, Gloria, and Jim’s small generator, we’ve had enough light in our family room to think we are “normal,” warm food (and hot coffee!) and enough power to charge our cellphone batteries and provide Jim with his indispensable TV each night. It’s even allowing me to write my column on my laptop if the WiFi will allow it to be transmitted. We also had enough heat to keep us warm thanks to an indoor propane heater .

It’s all been an inconvenience, but this morning the roads are clear of ice and the sun is breaking through the clouds, so we are blessed in even small ways.

It was an extremely rough week for us even before the ice storm hit. We had to put down our beloved Outlaw. I still tear up when I talk about him as I am now. He and Shortie have been Jim’s and my companions now for many years. Unfortunately, Outlaw, a Queensland Blue Heeler, developed seizures and they got so bad, even though he was on medication, that he became brain-injured. He had 4 seizures in one day… the last one especially bad, After that, frequently he didn’t recognize us and became lost when he would go outside and eventually, even in the house. When he woke us up one night last week, whimpering because he didn’t know where he was, we knew that it was time. It was so hard, but he left us with so many good memories!

We’re going to have a quiet Christmas this year after our over-the-top Thanksgiving. It’s probably just as well since there’s so much to do once our power comes back on. I did get my tree up and decorated, but nothing else. Oh, yes! We did fill two requests on the Angel Tree. Apparently many others did, too, as Jim said that the tree at the store was kept bare most of the time. Thanks to all of you who filled the food boxes, too.

It was fun going to the Crow High School’s Alumnae Basketball Tournament this year, especially since the women played, too. There weren’t a whole lot of brave female souls who felt they were in shape to run up and down the court, but it was fun watching at least one granddaughter out there making her fantastic moves again. Our grandson, Kevin, was there, too, showing us some of his stuff. All were having a good time.

We also had an enjoyable evening the other night watching the Creswell Middle School Choir perform. Our youngest granddaughter, Natalie Edwards, was one of the singers who did a wonderful job of putting us into the Christmas spirit.

Thank you to all of the organizers in Booster Club and the Creswell choir director for the hard work that went into these events.

There’s probably a lot of other things I need to tell you and remind you of, but I don’t have access to my other files, so hopefully you will already had your calendars marked.

To each of you, Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas! and may your New Year be one that brings us all joy and peace.