JOHN DAY — Every Tuesday at 1 p.m. we have bingo at our center. Our main goal is to have fun, give the community an activity to attend, and help fund our center when we have needs that we struggle to take care of.

Starting in December, we will begin having bingo at 6 p.m. on the second Friday of every month. The caller will begin at 6:30 pm. Arriving at 6 gives you time to get your cards and daubers and mark the patterns to be played on your cards. This will make the evening go smoother and we won’t be out so late. Many people that still work would like to play and cannot come in the daytime. This bingo session is for you.

Saturday, Nov. 30, is the date for Dayville to have their annual food, gifts and crafts fair, at the Dayville Community Hall. Don’t miss it.

We received a pamphlet on healthy eating for older adults. Our chef, Shay, gave a short message to all of us on how he must follow the guidelines in it. It is amazing to think of all the hoops our cooks must go through to prepare a meal for us.

There are so many things cooks must do besides cook that I, for one, am in awe as to how they can even get it all done. Our senior center cooks deserve much recognition and respect from all of us that partake of their meals. Be sure to comment on their food and thank them for preparing it for you.

ODOT had a meeting this week to discuss all the new sidewalk corners they have been upgrading for quite a while now, and one item on their agenda was interesting to me. It was whether or not to replace the stoplight near Dairy Queen. Much discussion has been going on prior to the meeting about that light.

The two days this last week that we had indoor dining, we had the St. Elizabeth Church with Steve Shapiro, Judah and Ivy Ezra, Kathy Radinovich and Kay Gonzales, and Jo Steiner, Chris Finley, Jeanette Julsrud and Pati Davis from Cornerstone Church. All our volunteers are very important people. Imagine a lunch with no servers and no one to clean up afterwards. It is important work.

Father Christie from St. Elizabeth Church always does a great job with the blessing for the meal, and sometimes he has a scripture to read us or a song. He is so respectful and humble, and it is apparent when you see and hear him.

Pati Davis asked the blessing for one lunch too. Again, these are important volunteers for our center. Thank you all for you service to our seniors and all our other visitors.

Altogether our cooks sent 186 or more meals out from the kitchen. Sixty meals were delivered to residents in the community who struggle with getting out of the home and making food for themselves. The delivery drivers for this week were Ramey Lacey, Pati Davis, Barb Comer, Jeff and Jodi Cyphers, Peggy Molnar and Cindy Combs. The delivery drivers really do a service of love for others by using their own vehicles and fuel and time to see that other people are nourished.

The winners of our drawings this week were Sonie Guttu, Earl Carlton, David Sheffel and Dave Pasko.

We sure did eat good food this week, and the servings seemed so big that several people commented about it. When Shay enlightened us on the healthy eating guidelines for older adults, we learned that the amount of food on each person’s plate is designated in that pamphlet, and he is mandated to follow it. Wow!

On Monday, Nov. 18, we will dine on ham, scalloped potatoes, veggies, French bread, fruit and chocolate mousse. Thursday the 21st will be our Thanksgiving meal with turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy, vegetables, roll, and sweet potato pie for dessert. I feel full just thinking about all this food. It sounds so good I know I will try to eat all of it. Ha!

Lamentations 3:22-23 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is your faithfulness.

MONUMENT — Winter and the cold weather are creeping in for sure! I heard that Long Creek even got 8 inches of snow this past week. The road was clear and the snow did not stick, but on the sides by the road and the fields, it sure did. So much to do yet, and the cold is fast approaching.

Our greeters at the table were Bob Cockrell and Sue Cavender. They greeted and checked in all the guests. The collected and counted up the money. Jan Ensign filled out the paperwork. Bob led us in the flag salute and made the announcements. Your truly prayed the blessing over the meal.

Our cooks, Terry Cade and Carrie Jewell, made us chicken teriyaki, steamed rice, eggrolls, a fresh green salad, and pudding with whipped cream on top for our dessert. It was a filling lunch and we appreciate our cooks so much. We thank them for their efforts.

We had sewing on Wednesday. We had a lot of fun and I am so blessed to be able to sew, visit and eat with this special group of ladies. Hope you can make it next time. We always meet on the second Wednesday of every month.

There were some other events but I did not receive the information early enough to post it on this platform, so it will be past-tense news by the time you get to read about it.

Hope everyone got to celebrate and thank some veterans for their service on Nov. 11. We are grateful and thankful for each person who has served or is serving in our military. It is a sacrifice and we thank all who have lost their lives fighting for our freedoms. May we never take for granted the cost of freedom, which was won with blood and tears.

I’m still cleaning and getting things (or trying to anyways! Ha) ready for the winter. I got some good poopy dirt from my goats for next year’s garden! Yay. I’ve got lots of plans for next year! I know, we haven’t even started winter yet and here I am talking about next year’s planting. One can dream.

I’ve yet to put my boys with the girls. I am trying to remember who is related and who is not and who was its mother and who was its father. I can’t believe that I can remember who was whose baby. I just don’t want to be having to have my mamas kidding in the cold wet weather.

It will be exciting to see a bunch of new babies being birthed next spring. My adolescent bottle babies will be ready to be bred and have their babies next year. I will have to train them to let me milk them, too. That part I am not looking forward to, for some of them are a little ornery. I will just have to find something to bribe them with besides grain. They do love peanuts, but we shall see.

Proverbs 2:6-7 For the LORD giveth wisdom. Out of His mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. He storeth up sound wisdom for the righteous. He is a shield to those who walk in integrity.

PRAIRIE CITY — Well, it looks like it is time to get out the snow shovels. Now where did I put them? The road to Burns was bare but wet for my quarterly journey today to see the Miracle Ear lady. The appointment was made for 3 weeks ago, but they changed it to two weeks ago. Then I was ill, so I finally got there today. Third time is the charm, you know.

So, I missed being in the Hall for the meal, but lots of others made it. We had 60 names on the book. I did get my meal later and it was delicious!

Next week will be our Thanksgiving dinner as we will be closed on Nov. 27. And I saw lots of pumpkin pies to go along with the turkey and taters, etc.

Ginger led the flag salute and Carla asked the blessing. Gwynne was the winner of the $10 in trade gift certificate donated by Huffman’s Market. Our volunteers included Sharon, Mary, Gwynne, Carla, Teresa, Tom and Pam.

This day is Sadie Hawkins Day and World Kindness Day. Do those go together? It is also Whoopi Goldberg’s 69th birthday. And remember that “normal is nothing more than a cycle on a washing machine.”

Our wonderful cooks prepared meatloaf, mashed potatoes and gravy, glazed carrots, applesauce, and birthday cake courtesy of Driskill Memorial Chapel. See what you missed?!

Karla Teague led a team of Operation Christmas Child box packers after dinner. We were happy to help this worthy project. The ol’ Hall has had lots of use the past couple of weeks, and we are happy to provide a place for banquets and memorial get-togethers. (My spell checker does not like that word! No matter how I spell it, there is a red line! But you know what I mean, right?!)

Got a bright idea when I got up Monday morning to move the “office” out of the room that it shared with the “studio” so I could have more space in the studio to be able to leave the instruments more available for practice.

I thought about that all day Monday to be certain that it was the right thing to do. So Tuesday saw it happen.

Decided that that would be a good time also to go through all the trays, files and boxes to weed out items that were no longer needing to be saved. The trick is deciding what is garbage and what would be memorabilia. Then there is the stuff that Mom saved … oh, dear.

One of the interesting finds was a “Crossword Puzzle Dictionary” that I had given my grandmother in 1962! It is vest pocket-sized, so you can take it with you … Aha.

Also found a notebook where I had written down a lot of the offbeat crossword definitions. Like Homer Simpson’s family and the architects Eero and Eliel Saarinen. Did you know that a group of nine is an ennead? Or the “Time Machine” people are called Eloi? And AHA! The comics page has returned to the East Oregonian. Thank you.

1 Thess. 5:16-18 Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.