By Jackie Deal
It happens every year. I end the season with unmatched gloves. Really, they’re gloves but for the sake of alliteration mittens sounded better. A couple years ago it was one red and one blue glove. The next year I ended the season with one blue and one black glove.
Where do the mates go? And anyway, who says gloves have to match? Okay, to be socially correct, gloves have to match. Last year I was determined to beat the odds. I bought three pair of blue gloves. Count ‘em. Six blue gloves floating around in my car, the house and yes, the yard when one got loose. But I thought I had it licked, I would end the winter season with at least one pair of matching gloves.
When winter started this year, and the steering wheel grew colder… no, I don’t have a heated steering wheel, sure wished I did. Nonetheless, it was time to begin a serious search for my gloves. Under the car seat? Nope. In the glove box, Nope. Ah ha, the back seat: one glove, dark blue. Huh! I bought three pair of MEDIUM blue gloves? Oh well, a glove is a glove and now to find one more. From under the kerfuffle of my back seat I found another glove. Red! Red! I haven’t had red gloves for years. I dug further and unearthed more gloves: I now have one dark blue, one red, one medium blue and one ugly tan glove. Do they match? Nope. Do I really care? Nope. I’ve started a new trend: un- matched gloves!
The Office has welcomed Hannah Hedgehog. She was rescued by Mike and Terry Hilty #71 and brought here for some peace. It turns out she is from the English countryside. Hedgehogs are known to roll into a tight ball when trying to protect themselves. She was rolled through the leaves, which stuck to her tiny spikes. She made her way to Timber Valley’s garden, enjoying the wonderful tomatoes grown there! As the story goes, she is Henrietta’s long-lost cousin.
Timber Valley lost a vibrant, forever young member when Jan Turley passed away Sept 22, 2024 after battling shingles and a return of her leukemia. We will always remember: an avid Master Gardener, her yard awash with the plants she loved, a pinochle player with “the big boys”, a determined Fast Track player with “the girls”, a believer in Jesus, a lover of the Lamplighter cuisine, and so much more.
Tables were turned at the Friday, September 20 Social Hour. After handing out many pens to speakers over the past couple years, Sharon Elliott was presented with her own very special “magical pen” by Richard Hickethier. Sharon delivered an, as usual, entertaining presentation on her training experience as a Sutherlin Chamber of Commerce Ambassador. Complete with a slide show, put together with Richard’s help, she talked about the intense 5-day training in Lebanon, OR and what it means to represent a city as an Ambassador. The experience included learning about the city of Lebanon, activities available in the area, touring some of the businesses, and a train ride. One very interesting tour at the College of Osteopathic Medicine… something about labor and delivery of robot babies? You had to have been there.
Timber Valley lost a long time and treasured member on August 31, 2024 when Helen passed away. Helen was born in Chicago on December 13, 1936. She and her family moved to Bandon, Oregon in 1949 where her father and partner built and operated the Bandon Wayside Motel. She would graduate from Bandon High School and marry her sweetheart Gene Schrader in 1954. This past June 12 th Gene and Helen celebrated 70 years of marriage!
