Tag: Bingo

Lorane Community News, September 8, 2022

September 8, 2022Newspaper Columns, Leave a comment

Fern Ridge-Tribune News
The Chronicle (Creswell)
Sweet Lorane Community News
September 8, 2022
By Pat Edwards

With the approach of fall, the Lorane and Crow granges are reinstating their monthly fun and game nights. Both will be hosting their popular bingo games and refreshments in the coming week. The Creswell Grange started theirs earlier and will continue on into the winter months. Here are the schedules:

As bingo caller, Randy Eschleman brings a lot of fun and laughter to the game at the Lorane Grange, and his wife, Marti, helps to keep everything organized.

The Lorane Grange will get back into the swing of things on Friday, September 16 at 7:00 p.m. Along with the family bingo (all ages welcome), they will offer a table of desserts, coffee and punch for those who can’t resist.

The Crow Grange is changing things up a bit this year. They are going to experiment with afternoon sessions instead of evenings, as it has been in the past. According to Connie Suing, “We start again next Saturday, September 17, from 3:00 to 6:00 p.m. The cost is $15 for 15 games and the progressive Blackout is up to $600 right now.”

The Creswell Grange has been hosting their bingo nights every third Wednesday of each month at 7:00 p.m., so their next session will be held on September 21.

For those of you who have not attended any of these, they are family events. Children are welcome if they are accompanied by at least one parent. It’s not about gambling. Unless you get to yell “Bingo!” on the blackout jackpot at the end of each session, you probably won’t win back all of what your buy-in costs and sometimes you’ll be able to select a gift from the prize table instead of a cash prize. It’s more about getting together to visit and share some laughs for an evening (or afternoon) of fun and “community.” It’s about supporting the many community projects that these granges sponsor each year, and to help them maintain their buildings and expenses.

In these days of stress and uncertainty about what’s going to be happening tomorrow on national and international levels, the future is going to be much brighter and our lives are going to be much less stressful if we choose to concentrate on those people and those happenings that involve family and community. We have some direct control over the outcomes of local events and situations and the positives are much more evident among family and friends.

Our voices can be heard on the national level by voting—which is vital—but they can be heard strongest and be most effective by how active we are within our own communities. It’s something that I’ve always believed.

An evening playing bingo at the Lorane Grange

Besides attending local events, consider joining the groups that work within each community. In Lorane, we have the Lorane Grange, the Lorane Christian Church, the Rebekah Lodge, the Lorane Community Assn., the Lorane Fire Department, the Rural Arts Center, Theta Rho, 4-H clubs, a yoga group and, of course, the school district’s Booster Club/parents’ group, among others. Each one will benefit by having more active members who are willing to do whatever they can to establish and strengthen the lives of each of us who share the same concerns, goals and hopes for the future… our community family.

Sweet Lorane Community News – October 21, 2021

October 21, 2021Newspaper Columns, , Leave a comment

Fern Ridge-Tribune News
Creswell Chronicle
Sweet Lorane Community News
October 21, 2021
By Pat Edwards

A sense of almost-normalcy has begun to settle over the Lorane and Crow communities. Jim and I have recently had the opportunity to join our neighbors and friends in fun evenings of “dessert and bingo” at both the Lorane and Crow Granges. I notice that the Creswell Grange is reactivating their “third Wednesday” night bingo sessions, too. Of course, masks are worn by those in attendance and, except for family groups, we socially distance ourselves as much as possible. The masks don’t keep us from chiding the bingo caller if he makes a wrong call or, more importantly, yelling “BINGO!” at full voice before collecting a prize off the table or a $5 to $10 bill. None of us there are going to get rich from it… but, that’s not why we’re there. Most of us come to visit with friends and laugh and tease each other in a way we haven’t been able to do since Covid shut us down socially. There’s always the hope that we’ll be the one who eventually wins the big blackout prizes at all three places, but those times don’t come around very often. The consolation of $25 at each place is an incentive to keep us trying, though.

The next dessert and bingo night at the Lorane Grange is scheduled for Friday, November 12, at 7:00 p.m. and the next Crow Grange event will be on Saturday, November 6. If you haven’t had a chance to visit neighbors for awhile, plan on joining us. I, for one, am hoping that they are harbingers for things to come beginning in the spring. I look forward to the many events we enjoyed in our communites before the pandemic shut us down.

There are some fun Halloween events coming up in the next week. In Lorane, Shauna Doughty and her family are once again offering the community a FREE “Haunted Barn of Old Lorane” event. It will be open Halloween weekend, October 29, 30, and 31. “We’ll start at dusk. We ask that everyone please respect and follow all COVID rules, as we will also.”

The Lorane Christian Church will also be hosting its annual “Trunk or Treat” event on Halloween night, October 31, 2021, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. in their parking lot. Participating families can decorate their car trunks or cargo areas for Halloween and offer treats to the ghosts and goblins that arrive. Usually coffee, hot cider or cocoa and snacks are offered to those who want to stay and visit.

The Creswell Grange will also be hosting their 2nd annual Halloween Trick or Treat event on Sunday, October 31, between 4:00 and 6:00 p.m.

A Lorane community event to celebrate the completion of the Stony Point segment of the Territorial Road project is scheduled to take place on Monday, November 8, from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. at the Lorane Grange.

The Crow-Applegate-Lorane schools’ fall sports programs are coming to an end for this season with post-season play. The Crow High School volleyball team has been named “first-seed” in the league and they will be heading to the playoffs and possibly the state tournament in Redmond, Oregon.

The Crow High School football squad is scheduled to play in the league’s “first-ever” 6-man playoffs soon.

Go Cougars!

Sweet Lorane Community News, January 9, 2020

January 9, 2020Newspaper Columns, , , , , Leave a comment

 

Pat 2020 headshot Creswell Chronicle

My new headshot for the Creswell Chronicle

Fern Ridge Review
Creswell Chronicle
Sweet Lorane Community News
January 9, 2020
By Pat Edwards

 

Well, we’ve made it into the new year without any major weather inconveniences, but most of us are still preparing ourselves for the possibility of another snow/ice storm that caused us to be without power and water last February. I’ve always considered that the more prepared we are, though, the less likely it will happen… something similar to Murphy’s Law.

Jim and I feel we’re much more ready to deal with another spate of bad weather than we were last year. Thanks to Brian and Michele—our daughter and son-in-law—we now have a large generator that should help us with water, lights and heat should the power go out for several days again, and if our water lines freeze, I have about 6 five-gallon containers of water stored away that we can use. Those measures should ensure that we won’t need any of it this year.

With the new year also comes tax-season. At least the normal cold and rainy days of our Oregon winters can be spent in a warm house while going through all of the unending paperwork and records-retrieval that is required to make sure that Uncle Sam has all of the information needed that will hopefully net us a refund. Of course, that’s generally proven to be wishful thinking, but miracles do happen sometimes.

The Lorane community has been quiet lately. Most of us have been so immersed in the holiday festivities and the adjustment back into whatever we consider “normal” in our lives that we are content to enjoy the quiet for awhile before we get back into the swing of things. So, there is not a lot to report right now.

The regular “1st and 3rd Saturday” Crow Grange bingo nights have already resumed for the new year (bingo starts at 6:00 p.m. and bingo at 7:00 p.m.); the Lorane Grange will be having its Spaghetti and Bingo night on Saturday, January 25, (dinner beginning at 5:30 p.m. and bingo at 6:30 p.m.); and the Crow Grange will be having its first bingo of the year on Wednesday, January 15 (games start at 7:00 p.m.)

The Crow Middle/High School art class has a new project and needs your help. Teacher, Pat Dixon, is asking for donations of old and/or worn books you don’t want, postcards, games with missing pieces, jigsaw puzzles, cloth, buttons, costume jewelry, etc., that can be used in their “Altered Art” project. Contact Pat at pdixon@cal.k12.or.us to arrange for a drop-off or pick-up time.

Lil Thompson asked me to let anyone know that the next Lorane Grange meeting will be on Thursday, January 16 at 7:00 p.m. They welcome new members and have lots of ideas to discuss.

As for me, personally, I’ve resumed my yoga class with instructor, Jen Chambers, at the Applegate Regional Theater, and actually welcomed the stretching and workout of my muscles and joints following a couple of weeks without it. I’ve found the small classes are not only beneficial, but very enjoyable, as well. It’s something I look forward to each week, now.

2020 has begun on a positive note for all of us in our family and we’re hoping that it has for your family, too. Now, if we can just get the scary and unsettling national and international concerns under control, it might begin a trend of lots of positives in all of our lives!