Timber Valley SKP Park of Oregon, Inc

There are important decisions to make. World shaking decisions, I must decide
what to wear, where to go, when to——whom to——.

Clean the cat’s box, Stupid

Things to do, places to go. The societal demands on my schedule are stupendous.
If I slack off…

Clean the cat’s box, Stupid

Phone calls to make. Messages to return. Events to plan. Meetings await.

Clean the cat’s box, Stupid

Sitting by the window, enjoying the early morning sunshine, coffee cup in hand. A
new day yawns before me awaiting my guidance.

Clean the cat’s box, Stupid

It’s then that I notice. My cat. My beautiful black and white tuxedo cat is circling
the room. She peers into her litter box. Backs off. Then completes a 360 degree
circle in the center of the room. She returns to peer into her litter box again.
Scowls at me in disgust.

Clean the cat’s box, Stupid

The world can wait. My life goes on hold. Priorities have been established.

Clean the cat’s box, Stupid

Jackie Deal

There’s a song extolling Ireland’s “forty shades of green” by Johnnie Cash. Look around us; doesn’t it seems like we have forty shades of green or more? Look very closely at the hillsides surrounding us. The grassy hills are a tender spring green, soon to be exchanged for a summer coat of tawny golden brown. But for now they’re that unique spring green.

The new leaves on the trees now budding out are a gentle soft green almost yellow-green and some of them are clothed in white and pink flowers. Mixed in with the new green are the greens of the more mature trees: mid-green, brownish green, even deep maroon with a green-black undertone. Many hades but all variants of green.
Behind, on the hills are the evergreen trees, mostly spruce or fir, but all shades of deep forest green. These trees stand sentinel, framing the valley hills. They hold everything together and provide a perfect picture frame.

Think about it. Aren’t we like the trees? We have the “old” timers in Timber Valley. They remember all that went into the earlier days of the park when members washed the windows and mopped the floors in the clubhouse. They are the evergreens, framing, holding the park together. Still standing strong.
The mid-greens have been here awhile. They volunteer, take part in things and rejoice in joining together. Some of them suffer from “burn-out”, trying to do more than their share.

Then we have the “newbies”. They’ve come into the park in the last couple of years and are still coming as older members leave. Some of them have jumped right in and are participating and helping out, some while still on the AWL. But there are others who say, “We’re retired. We didn’t come here to work. Let someone else do it.” Or words to that effect.
It takes all the forty shades of green to make our hillsides beautiful. It takes all our members, old, mid and new, to keep our park thriving and moving on into the future. Is it too much of a stretch to say: when all participate and do their share, our park will be more beautiful and worthwhile? We are the forty shades of green.

By Jackie Deal