PRAIRIE CITY — Hope you had a good time visiting and celebrating Memorial Day — between rain showers. But are we complaining? No way. We welcome all forms of moisture whenever it comes. The Avenue of Flags at the Prairie City Cemetery was impressive as usual. I don’t know how long they have been there, but it seemed to me that there were more and different kinds of flags around the center flagpole. My tulips and peonies held out, so we were able to take them to do our little dab of “decorating.” My grandmother always called it “Decoration Day” because of the flowers decorating the graves.

And being the first holiday of “summer,” the traffic was terrible between here and the west side of Oregon. After leaving the traffic in Prineville, the road to Seneca through Paulina was awash with critters, so one still had to be on one’s guard. And going back over Mount Hood was a slow go, too. So if you are going to come to Eastern Oregon, don’t do it on a holiday weekend … I’ll let you draw your own conclusions from that.

Theresa rang the dinner bell, and Ginger led the flag salute. The May birthday gift certificate donated by Blaine at Huffman’s Market went to Sharon Thissel. Thanks, Blaine. Theresa asked the blessing for the 30 of us in the dining room.

Then she went through the trivia for the day. This was Senior Health and Fitness Day! How about that! Birthdays included Clint Eastwood, Joe Namath, Fred Allen and Walt Whitman. On this day in 1859, the Big Ben clock in London began keeping time on the steeple of the Parliament Building. The four bells weigh a total of 13.5 tons (!!). Also, the man who invented the Trivial Pursuit game died on this date. In 1879, Madison Square Garden was opened. And in 1885, cornflakes were first manufactured. In baseball, in 1948, Tommy Lasorda struck out 25 batters in 15 innings. Our trivia question: Who was Madison Square Garden named for? President James Madison. I said it first, so our table got to go through the serving line first.

We had chili dogs, potato salad, macaroni salad, green and pink Jell-O fluff salads, watermelon, cantaloupe, pineapple, strawberries, cucumbers, and other stuff left over from the banquet last night. So you never know just what might be available when you come to dinner here! There was cake and brownies for dessert, too, if you had room. A lot of us had containers to take home for later! Driskill Memorial Chapel brought a cake, but we elected to freeze it for later use since we had all this other largesse! Remember, the menu is subject to change …

Our volunteers included Sharon, Carla, Gwynne, Mary, Tom, Chris and Theresa. Many thanks to one and all. The only announcement was about the health fair that will take place in the middle of June.

We welcomed visitors from Monument — Brian and Kathy Woodell. So that got us thinking about going there some Tuesday!

The garden is all up and growing except for the carrots, but it hasn’t been long enough from their planting date, so I’m not concerned — yet. Got a new sprinkler that will cover the whole garden so I won’t have to move the hoses!

Acts 17:28 For in Him we live and move and have our being.

JOHN DAY —

Memorial Day was last Monday, so we hope everyone enjoyed reminiscing about things of the past and about loved one who have gone on before us. Now that we are past that day we move on to the days before us.

It seems like cold days of winter and early spring have decided to stay away and warmer days are here and in the days to follow.

On Thursday, June 1, Darlene Nodine and Judy Thomas greeted 24 diners as they came in by the desk and signed in and put their names in the drawings, and they assisted the 18 who came in to pick up their meals. Darlene gathered the information and did the announcing.

Our servers were from the First Baptist Church. Carol Nickol led our flag salute, and LaDonna Pickett asked the blessing for our meal. Thanks, Carol and LaDonna, for your service to diners at our center this day.

Fifty-nine meals were delivered all around John Day and surrounding area. Some 128 frozen meals were delivered during the month of May. The delivery drivers were Jeanette Julsrud, Pati Davis and Rick LaMountain. Thanks to all of you for your time and efforts of love for others.

As we picked up our meal from the kitchen window, Carol and LaDonna were there to assist where needed and serve drinks and clean up when everyone was done eating. We dined on hot turkey sandwiches with mashed potatoes and gravy (yum, yum), broccoli and cranberry sauce. Ice cream and cookies were for dessert. What a great meal. Yum. Thanks Shay and Darla for another meal well done.

The John Day high school choir came to serenade us as we were beginning our meal. The word is they go serenade other senior groups with their special music. We enjoyed the group, and we hope they will visit us again.

We saw a couple brand-new faces this day. They just moved to John Day in the area of Dayton Street. We hope they enjoyed our visiting and lunch and the music, and will come visit with us again.

It was nice to see Scott Myers and his father-in-law again. When we are used to seeing people regularly and then miss them for a while, it is so good to see them again and know they are doing well.

Bob and Scott, welcome back.

The total meals from our kitchen today were 101, and the frozen meals delivered for the month of May were 128. Shay and Darla put in a lot of hours and service to our community to prepare and serve all these meals and leave the kitchen presentable. Thanks, Shay and Darla. Plus, the 128 frozen meals during the month of May, delivered all around our area.

In case you haven’t checked out our library lately, Linda, our librarian, has made many changes and improvements there. It is amazing what one woman can do. Books do not need to be checked out or even returned unless you choose to. There are so many labels to see in there and so many stocked shelves.

David Pasko won the Chester’s card, and Scott Myers won the free meal. Congratulations, you two.

John 3:16 God loves us so much that He gave His only begotten son so that we can have life everlasting and have it more abundantly.

What a mighty God we serve.

MONUMENT — Our greeters at the table were Kristi Guimont and Jan Ensign. They checked in all the guests, collected and counted up the money. There were 53 guests and three takeouts.

Our cooks, Terry Cade and Carrie Jewell, made beef and bean burritos, corn salad, Spanish rice and birthday cake. I was unable to attend and partake of this lunch, but I am pretty sure that it was a scrumptious lunch. We thank our cooks once again for their wonderful cooking. I thank my awesome hubby for taking notes for me to write my article.

Bob Cockrell led the flag salute, and Judy Harris made the announcements and prayed the blessing over the meal.

This was a special day for our senior center. Rick LaMountain of the Grant County Senior Citizens Advisory Council was on hand to present a special award to our very own Bob and Sylvia Cockrell for all that they do for our town and Monument Senior Center. This day was to give recognition to this wonderful couple, who have volunteered many hours and helped in so many ways, including fixing, cleaning, mowing, and the list goes on. We thank Bob and Sylvia so much and we appreciate them — they are truly special people.

There will be a city cleanup day and it will be Saturday, June 10, at 8 a.m. Please come and help to keep our town beautiful and clean. All volunteers are welcome, and your help will be much appreciated!

Friday, June 16, will be the health fair. Lastly, there will be a basket-making class on Thursday, June 22, at the Monument Senior Center. Judy Harris will be giving this free class. All participants will be helping to make the baskets that will be auctioned off at the Buckaroo Fall Festival in September. Please bring a pair of scissors and a blow-dryer. There will also be a potluck lunch to share at noon.

A special shout-out to our dear friend Bruce Hansen. We of Monument all wish you a very happy, happy birthday, Bruce! His birthday is on June 11. Hope you have a wonderful and blessed day!

I have started the process of weaning my bottle baby goats. They are not very happy about it. I have now cut it down to just one feeding. They all look at me with very dissatisfied faces. I cut them short on their feeding as well. They are getting plenty of grain and hay, and they have grass to munch on as well. So they are not starving to death, they just wish they could have more milk. I took Isabel from her mama, Chevre. She has been crying for her mama. I feel kinda bad, but it had to be done. She is actually bigger than her two brothers, Timmy and Tommy.

I have started to plant some seeds. I forgot that I usually plant a whole bunch of zucchini in one pot and then transfer them. I did that, planted some Korean melons, and some beans and peas. I hope they all sprout and grow soon.

Psalms 71: 1 In You, O LORD, I have taken refuge, let me never be put to shame.