SOLON & BEYOND, Week of March 30, 2017

by Marilyn Rogers-Bull & Percy
grams29@tds.net
Solon, Maine 04979

Good morning, dear friends. Don’t worry, be happy!

The piano concert at the Solon Congregational Church with Alexander Walz playing the piano was held on Saturday night. There was lots of clapping going on after each song. There was an intermission, and wonderful food was provided, and then more songs were enjoyed, it was a most enjoyable evening.

On Saturday, April 1, there will be a Whist Card Party at the North Anson Congregational Church at 4:30 p.m. These parties are a lot of fun, and it is always a mystery waiting to be solved, as to who wins the big prize! If you don’t know how to play whist come and learn, it’s really easy. This event is held in the Fellowship Hall.

On Sunday, April 16, at 6 a.m., there will be a Sunrise Service and Breakfast at the North Anson Congregational Church. Everyone is invited.

The North Anson Congregational Church’s Senior Companion Program has a new contact person, Rose Hendrix. If you would like to know more about the benefits of this important service contact Rose at 628-3322 or Gail Watson at 474-9622 for more information.

There will be a community dinner for Jim Tindall and family at the Embden Community Center from 4 to 6:30 p.m. Jim is the owner of Timdall’s Store and the Dam Diner, in North New Portland. He has recently been diagnosed with cancer. Will you join us to help relieve a portion of the monetary stress to his family. The menu for this event is very varied for this meal, so you will have lots to chouse from. There will be a Silent Auction starting at 6:15 p.m., and again, many different items. It is truly a worthy cause.

Lief and I have eaten at the Dam Diner on many occasions and we really like the good food we have partaken of there and the wonderful, friendly atmosphere in this place. We always stop there on our way up to camp, but for some reason on a stormy drizzling day last week, we decided to go to the Dam Diner for lunch. We hadn’t heard of Jim’s illness, but Annette told us about it and we were so sorry. Hope everything works out for them.

Since the above is the only real news I have this week, I turned to my old Old Farmer’s Almanac Sampler which has some words about the seasons. It says, “Our poet remembers spring and sings of it when his hot summers are on him or frosts and winter– and then he does so by true remembrance and in contrast to the world about him in other seasons at that time he finds the true meaning of cloud and clod and bud and freshet and just what the bird had sung to him. 1931 March is a boisterous fellow, And undetered by fear, With many pranks proclaims himself The tomboy of the year! (That has surely been true this March of 2017, wouldn’t you say?) Now we have April coming up… ‘Tis April still, but April wrapt in cloud – Month of sweet promise and of Nature’s bliss, When earth leaps up at heaven’s reviving kiss, And flouts at Winter lingering in her shroud. (It is dark and freezing rain and snow outside my window as I write these pleasing and happy thoughts of Spring, hope it cheered you up!)

And now for Percy’s memoir: Life without purpose is barren indeed – There can’t be a harvest unless you plant a seed, There can’t be attainment unless there is a goal, And man’s but a robot unless there’s a soul…. If we send no ships out, no ships will come in, And unless there’s a contest, nobody can win… For games can’t be won unless they are played, And prayers can’t be answered unless they are prayed… So what ever is wrong with your life today, You’ll find a solution if you kneel down and pray Not just for pleasure, enjoyment and health, Not just for honors and prestige and wealth… But pray for a purpose to make worth living.And pray for the joy of unselfish giving, For great is your gladness and rich your reward When you make your life’s purpose the choice of your Lord. (words by Helen Steiner Rice.)