by Elaine Rassel The first Thursday of April happens to be April 1 April Fool’s Day! How many pranks do you think will be done on this day??
I spoke to Shirley Shea. She is almost ready to get rid of the “boot”. The doctor said she thought she would be dancing by April 5! This has been a long time but with two bones fractured, it does take some time. She said she wasn’t part of the Easter Egg hunt at the Center on Sunday, but she did watch the kids from her window. She counted over 40 kids on the east side of the Center. They were having a good time finding the eggs.
The robins have been seen three weeks ago. They have been hopping around and carrying grass, etc. to make a nest. Even the last snow storm we had, didn’t seem to make a difference to them. They are bound and determined to get that nest made no matter!
We had some more rain this week. It was a welcome one and didn’t bring any bad weather with it.
In looking back for upcoming events at the schools, the first Spring concert is the MMCRU High School Spring Concert in Marcus on Thursday, April 29.
I was told there is a new business in Marcus located in the brick building where First Cooperative used to weigh trucks. The Blue Horizon Energy had an open house on Friday (March 26). It is a full service clean energy development company. Since 2009 the company has delivered hundreds of solar energy and battery storage projects for farms and businesses. The Dorr farms and MMC School District have both installed solar energy systems and have found there is a cost savings and efficiency of using solar power. We welcome this new business to Marcus!
Sunday Heartland Care Center invited kids to an Easter Egg Hunt starting at 1 o’clock. The parking lot filled up before the designated time. Get ready, set, and go! The kids were off to find the eggs with candy in them. Before 1:20, they were done hunting!
I have a story on Easter Parades that I hope will be able to be printed. Not all parades were about “fashion”.
With Easter next Sunday, this week will be Holy Week. Good Friday brings back some memories to me. I was working at the restaurant uptown and this was the time most business places closed for Good Friday services. The restaurant was open but not anyone was there to wait on people. People that didn’t observe Good Friday services, did come to get coffee (served by themselves).
Faith Lutheran Church had service at 1 p.m. There were quite a few people in church that day. The minister had given his lengthy sermon that brought us up to Good Friday. One of the Ferrin girls was playing the organ for the song, “Were You There When They Crucified My Lord,” when, all of a sudden, there was no electricity. It got as dark as night outside right at that moment. The minister had just read about the sixth hour, where there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun’s light failed; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two and Jesus breathed his last.
I will never forget that moment. It was as if we were “there”. We could hear the wind howling. It was still dark as night even though it was afternoon. When I went home, I saw that we had lost our outside basement door and Elsie Blietz had lost her canopy over her door to the wind. The people who had come into the restaurant, couldn’t understand what had happened this sudden darkness and wind.
There was a time when I went with Claudia Goodrich to a church convention in Des Moines. Even though it was summer and past Easter time, there was a group of women that gave a presentation to us of what they had given to their congregation at Easter. I really don’t believe any of us were prepared for this presentation. There was no air conditioning where we were. It was stifling hot! All of a sudden, people came down the side aisles and the middle aisle yelling, “Crucify Him, Crucify Him! It was just as if we were part of the mob that was before Pilate. All of a sudden, Claudia got up and left. She later said that this moment had affected her in a way that she was sick to her stomach and ended up with a headache. It was one of those moments that we felt we were “there”. Have any of you experienced such a moment?
I hope you have a blessed Easter. Don’t forget to remember in your thoughts and prayers, those who are experiencing health problems, those who have lost loved ones to death, those having financial problems due to the pandemic, or are lonely. Count your blessings.