Fern Ridge Review
Creswell Chronicle
Sweet Lorane Community News
November 14, 2019
By Pat Edwards

It’s amazing how fast the holidays are approaching. Each year, the time seems to go faster and faster. Thinking back to my youth, it seemed as though the days, weeks and years, kept at a leisurely pace. There was time to go to school, do chores, spend some fun time outdoors and still have time left over for lazing around in the sun on summer days or lying on the bed, reading a good book during the days of inclement weather. I don’t ever remember being bored, but life was unhurried and much simpler then.

These days, it’s easy to cram useless time into our days—on the computer or with cell phone in hand. I’m as guilty of it as anyone. A lot of my work is done on the computer, but when I need to take a break from reading and editing manuscripts or designing layouts for books, I begin scrolling through Facebook or getting current with email correspondence instead of giving my mind a rest.

With the decreased energy level brought on by advanced years, I’m not as inclined to go outside and provide my body with some much-needed exercise in the fresh air as I know that I should. Instead I pack my calendar with schedules and events and “things to do,” leaving little for leisure time that can stretch out my days a bit. Each day is filled with trips to town to do errands and go to appointments instead of taking a Sunday drive, just for the fun of it; or short overnight trips to the coast or mountains. I’m missing the quiet times when I can read the stack of books for pleasure-reading I have waiting for me. I take yoga classes instead of accomplishing the same goals by heading out to pull weeds and prepare my flower beds for winter or stacking the fallen limbs lying in our pasture on a burn-pile. I eventually get those chores done, anyway, but the jobs are usually much bigger than if I went out each day and did them a little at a time.

Speaking of yardwork, those of you who drive past Easy Acres Drive on Territorial may notice that the flower beds at the entrance to the Easy Acres neighborhood have been tilled up and are awaiting new plantings. Our neighborhood group is joining together to once again make it into a welcoming entrance since I lost the battle with the weeds and grass a few years ago. We will soon have it ready to bloom next spring. We’re not going to put permanent plantings in right now, however. Once the Territorial Highway project begins on that section, most likely it will all be dug up and moved by the county. The plans are not concrete yet, but the county has warned us not to plant anything we are sentimentally attached to.

A lot of holiday bazaars are scheduled for the coming weeks. I usually share a booth with my author/colleague, Joe Blakely, each year at the Holiday Market at the Lane County Fairgrounds, but we have decided to forego it this year. So, I’ve signed up for the Fern Ridge Holiday Bazaar on Friday and Saturday, November 22 and 23. My table will be at the Elmira Elementary School and I’ll have all of my books and this year’s Groundwaters Anthology on display. I participated in one at the Creswell Grange a couple of weeks ago and it was fun talking to everyone. I hope that many of you will stop by and say “hi.”

Don’t forget to add your non-perishable foods to the food boxes that are provided at the area granges and stores for those in need during this holiday season. And, be sure to attend the community Thanksgiving dinners provided by the Lorane Christian Church at the Lorane Grange (Sunday, November 17 at 5:00 p.m.) and the potluck in Crow hosted by the Crow Grange (Thursday, November 21 at 6:30 p.m.). They are great ways to meet your new neighbors and catch up on what’s happening in your neighborhoods.