School is over with and summer has just begun with summer sports (Little League baseball) at least until July 4. The Marcus Public Library is having summer programs again. Bring your bathing suit along and head for the swimming pool after the library program!
We did get to the MMCRU Greenhouse on the Saturday of their open house. The students that are in the Greenhouse business, had much to offer of what they had started. They had many nice flowers and vegetable plants. Outside there were some iris plants a person could get and plant. I wish a picture of what was in their Greenhouse could be in color to show the beauty of their work!
I missed out on the Mark Brighton Elementary Track Meet on Tuesday. I wasn’t going to walk over a mile to get there! Remsen students came over for the Meet. I’m sure the kids had fun.
Thursday I had lunch with friends and continued afterwards to get on with articles due on Sunday. That evening I enjoyed a few slices of pumpkin bread—thanks to the baker. It was good!
The Sioux City Journal has a “Mini” at the bottom of their front page. Barb Moats had submitted one on May 19 that wasn’t the usual political or negative one on certain issues. “Thank you to everyone who planted a flowering tree. God is in His glory!” She is right—a flowering tree does bring beauty to our earth!
The Memorial Day services will not be in this week’s newspaper. I have instead put in an article on some history on Memorial Day. Going back in years on how Marcus celebrated, times have changed. People used to line up at the Legion Hall (Senior Center, now) and march to the cemetery. Girls would have flowers with them that they would decorate graves with on arrival. There were times when the school band would play at the cemetery. (Kids have a fit if they have to march in a parade at homecoming, can you imagine what they would say if they had to march to the cemetery?!)
Memorial Day for my family was to have fried chicken and the works and then invite others to come. Toward the last, we even went to the Le Mars park where the golf course is located and had our picnics with family and friends. (That is before there were cell phones that kept us from enjoying others and conversation.)
There will be a change in how the Sioux City Journal reaches its readers after June 20 of this year. There will be no more carriers delivering the newspaper to doors—newspapers will be in the mail. Steve, after more than 10 years of delivering, will probably have trouble getting used to not getting up in the early morning hours.
I have not gotten used to not working the 11 to 7 shift even though it has been over 20 years! These hours seem to be when I can get my work done.
I saw on early morning television a program on elephants in Africa. There were pictures of elephants that had their tusks partially cut off. It was a miracle that they survived. Some that didn’t also were taken to the ground (they weigh over 2,000 pounds) I don’t know how. Their tusks were taken for piano keys, necklaces, buttons, etc. Then they had their legs taken off. These were taken and put on legs for coffee tables. I think that would be awful seeing those when you looked at the coffee table.
There was also mentioned that an elephant has over 100,000 muscles in its trunk. It takes that many muscles to raise and lower the trunk. Also, its skin that looks so rough, really has pores that when they find water (if water is available) and mud gets on their skin—these pores absorb the mud and the elephant has skin problems. Just a little information that I found interesting!
The Sisters of Charity of New York that have dedicated their selfless service to others in need for more than 200 years, have realized their current reality—the congregation continued to shrink and age—and not a single new sister has joined their U.S. group in more than 20 years. This group has nursed Civil War casualties, joined civil rights and anti-war demonstrations, cared for orphans, and taught countless children.
They announced in an April 27 statement that they are now on a path to completion after much prayer and contemplation that led them to make the decision that marked the beginning of this Catholic congregation’s end.
The day when the group met and accepted their reality and charted a new future, was indeed a time of emotion as well as silence. At this time, they grasped a roster of every sister who had ever served the congregation and honored these women who preceded them. The group knew that these women were with them at this emotional moment. They knew they had done what God had asked them to do.
It was Mother Elizabeth Ann Seton who set their lengthy mission of service into motion when she sent three sisters to New York City in 1817 to start an orphanage. Eight years prior, in Maryland, Seton had founded the Sisters of Charity—the first community for religious women in the U.S.
In New York, their mission expanded to schools and hospitals. In 1846, the Sisters of Charity of New York went off into a separate order. Shrinking congregations are an issue that many religions have to face and deal with at the present time. Now the work of the Sisters of Charity of New York is just a memory of what was and now has come to an end.
Remember in your thoughts and prayers those who have lost friends and loved ones to death; have had their lives changed; have health problems some of which are terminal; are still struggling to make ends meet even though they have a job; help those who desire “wants” rather than “needs” that prestige isn’t everything and be with those who are still trying to shorten the distance between family/friends to build a bridge instead of a wall. Count your blessings! I will close with this quote from a Cleghorn Christian Church Cookbook: “The size of your troubles depends on whether they’re coming or going.”