Monday, December 01, 2008

Wright Cromwell News

12/01/2008

Wright Cromwell News by Jennie K. Hanson December 1, 2008

Lincoln Hansen says: “On behalf of the ‘Leonard’s Has Been’s’ we wish to express our heartfelt condolence to Alice Lake and Family on the death of their dear friend, Kenny Lake.  We are giving $100 to the Dollars for Scholars in memory of Kenny.  God Bless His Memory.  Lincoln and Gang!”

It was great to see Dennis Sorenson at the Black Jack Grill about a month ago.  Dennis was in the area and happened to stop for a meal in Wright.  My husband Bob knew Dennis years ago and probably hadn’t seen him in the last 30 to 40 years or more, so it was great to visit and catch up on the old days. 

The next tour of the Villa Vista Construction Project will be on December 11th at 2 PM.  Meet in the living room at the Villa and dress warm as some of the rooms are not heated yet.  This project should be completed by January or February.  It sure looks great so far.

Last chance reminder to go to the Ken Peterson Pork Dinner Benefit for World Hunger and the local Food Shelf on Saturday, December 6th from 3 – 7 PM.  Thrivent Insurance for Lutherans is providing some supplemental funding for the local food shelf portion of the proceeds.  A Free Will Offering will be taken at the door.

The Bethlehem Sunday School will be putting on their annual Christmas Program on Sunday, December 21st at the 9 AM service. 

Traditional Swedish goodies will be served from 1 – 4 PM on Saturday, December 13th at the Hope Lutheran Church in Moose Lake for their annual St. Lucia Day.  Everyone is invited.

On October 31, 2008, poster presentations were made at the annual Xavier University meeting of the Ohio Psychological Association in Columbus, Ohio.  Lonnie Bradford of Wright, Mn, a graduate of the doctoral psychology program at Xavier, and associate professor of psychology Christian End, PhD, presented “Impact of an elder speak training program on resident self-concept, well-being, and communication satisfaction.” Lonnie is an alumni of Cromwell/Wright High School. 

A couple of weeks ago, I took my grandkids to the movie, “Bolt” in Duluth.  It is about a dog who thinks he is a super hero, but finds out that he is really just an actor in the movies.  One of the quotes in the movie made a lot of sense to me.  Here it is:  “There’s no home like the one you’ve got, cuz that home belongs to you!” So I guess that means we should be thankful for the home we’ve got and appreciate everyone that lives there. 

Up-coming school events:

Elementary Christmas Program will be on Wednesday, December 10th at 7 PM. 

High School Christmas Program will be on Monday, December 15th at 7 PM.

The Book Fair is coming to the library on December 8 – 12th from 8 AM – 5:30 PM and on Dec. 6th from 6 – 8:30 PM

Yearbooks are going on sale at the school.  They are $35.00 before Christmas and $40.00 after Christmas.  All yearbooks must be paid in full at the time of ordering this year.  There are some discounts for multiple orders.

The winners for the raffle sponsored by the Cromwell-Wright American Legion Auxiliary have been announced.  The first prize winner is Stephanie Larson who received a beautiful home-made patchwork quilt.  The second prize winner is Ramona Goranson who received a gift certificate to Applebee’s Restaurant.  We’d like to thank all of you who participated in our successful raffle –the proceeds are used to support programs for our local veterans.

The next meeting of the American Legion Auxiliary will be a holiday party on Monday, December 8.  We will have a pot luck luncheon at the home of Lindsay Lally at Noon.  There will also be a gift exchange (value $5 - $8) for those that are interested.  We will also be playing our ‘traditional’ game, so if you want to bring another small gift, please feel free to do so.

The Luminary Committee still needs your help collecting empty clear milk jugs to use along the city streets as we light up the town.  They can be gallon or half-gallon sized but should be clean.  Labels are OK, odors are not.  You can leave them off any time in the next week at the small white booth outside the pavilion.  We’ll also take the white ones too – they just don’t shine as bright as the clear ones.  Thank you for your support.

If you haven’t already done so, mark your calendars for Saturday, December 20, for a holiday community celebration at our Luminary Night events.  There will be hayrides, caroling, visits with Santa, ice skating, a chili supper and our Luminary Program.  Look at your favorite local businesses for more details.  Please contact Linda Larson 644-3484 or Carolyn Krogh 644-3670 or Walter & Beth Collman 644-3736 by December 17 to order your memorial bags. The suggested donation per personalized bag is $1.00; this year we will have a short service outside the pavilion with the lighting of the luminary memorial bags.  If you’d like, you can light your own memorial bags – just let us know when you order them.  These events are open to all area residents and visitors.

Since I don’t have a lot of news this week, I’ll end with a little Christmas Trivia Quiz.

1.  The name of Scrooge’s deceased business partner in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol was:

2.  In the song “The Twelve Days Of Christmas”, what did my true love send me on the eleventh day?

3.  How many gifts would you receive if you received all of the gifts in the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas?

4.  In the song “Winter Wonderland”, who do we pretend the snowman is?

5.  In the song “All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth”, why do I want my two front teeth?

6.  In the traditional song, “Go Tell It on the Mountain”, what are you suppose to go tell on a mountain?

7.  According to the song, “Frosty The Snowman” what kind of soul does Frosty have?

8.  True or False: Joseph was the one that told Mary she was going to have a baby.

9.  In the Christmas song, who did I (the narrator) see kissing Santa Claus under the mistletoe last night?

10. In the song Jingle Bells, who was seated by my side?

Answers will be in next week.  Hope you enjoy this little quiz.

That’s all the news from Lake Moneybegoneforshopping and Hello to all the folks who shop locally! 

Monday, November 24, 2008

Wright Cromwell News

11/24/2008

Wright Cromwell News by Jennie K. Hanson November 24, 2008

Here’s a short note from Jon Sloan that I thought you’d be interested in.

Hope everything is going well with you, things are busy here with work and everything.  Jan is doing fine, busy as well.  I don’t know if you had heard, but Brenda Deterling is going in for surgery next month, she has cancer, and has finished her first stage of treatment before surgery.  She’s doing good so far, keeping really upbeat about everything.

In addition to working, I finished teaching 4 workshops on cartooning at the Franklin Library in Minneapolis, it was fun, and the kids enjoyed it.  I’m also corresponding with another library about setting up another series of cartooning workshops to teach in January.

Martial arts are keeping me busy as well, I was tested and promoted last Saturday, and now I am a 5th Degree Black Belt.  There are 9 levels of Black Belt in traditional Tae Kwon Do, each level requires a number of years in between before promotion: 1st degree to 2nd takes 1 year, 2nd degree to 3rd takes 2 years, etc. so I’ll have to practice and train for five years before my next rank test to 6th degree.

Sounds like things are going well with your new exchange student.  I hope he’s enjoying his stay in the U.S.  Hope the rest of the family is doing well.  Take care! Jon

Here’s an e-mail we got from our exchange son, Gwang Ho from last year: “Just since today, it has begun snowing here in Korea. Woo… today was cold, I wore a coat which I brought from Minnesota. The word “Cardinal” is on it. I miss you a lot too, all of you including Bob, Sonet, Devon, Mandy, and even the absolutely no taste-noodles!* Anyway I hope your new son from Pakistan is really friendly and will have a great time with you. (I’m sure about it) It is really great for him to have such a great host parents like you!  Anyway, it will be really good for you to have him, too. Devon and Mandy aren’t there, neither Sonet and I am.  It can be solitary if there’s no noise maker in your house but only a bunch or stuff.  I’m really glad about that you have new one (exchange student).  Sorry about that I haven’t just used my camera since I got back Korea. I will just send you some pictures soon.  Anyway, it’s going fine here.  I passed the entrance exam of my high school. Now I’m going to get in the school that is 18 hours a day!  Sincerely, Gwang”

*I have to explain, last year, I thought that since Gwang Ho liked rice so much, I would make him some egg noodles.  I fixed them and served them to him with a little butter.  After a few seconds of eating them, he put his fork down and said, “These noodles have absolutely no taste!” So, from then on we teased him about the “Absolutely No Taste Noodles!

Here’s an email from Wil Tamminen:  “Good morning Jennie. Wil here.  Enjoy your newsy news. I got a kick out of your comments about the Little Icon on Gas gauges. I have been working for Enterprise car Rental in Forest Lake for 3 years. We have 100 cars to rent and there are 37 agencies in the Mpls St. Paul metro area, including the Airport. Within the last year Enterprise purchased National and Alamo and are in the process of combing the three into one entity. The reason for the tremendous growth at Enterprise is our ability to pick up customers and bring them back home after they rent a car, plus at Forest Lake I deliver cars on a tow dolly w/a Chevy Pickup! How’s that for service. I love my job...Anyway, I drive every imaginable type of vehicle and w/o this Gas Gauge convenience that has been installed in recent years, one never knows which side to fill upon. You are not alone in this predicament. In my 44 year career in transportation, this job is the most rewarding in meeting new people every day while picking them up or delivering a vehicle to them in Central Minnesota and western Wisconsin.. again, Judy and I enjoy your news, keep up the good work...”

Thanks, Wil and Judy for the very nice comments.  I too enjoy writing the news and trying to slip in a fee educational items at times. 

Please try to remember the Ken Peterson Benefit Pork Dinner and all the trimmings for World Hunger and the local food shelf.  Thrivent is supporting us with Supplemental funding for the food shelf portion of the dinner.  It will take place on Saturday, December 6th starting at 3 PM - 7 PM with entertainment during the supper, too.  Jerry Mowers and Judy Von De Linde from 3 – 4 PM, then Harold Haapoja, and 8 of his friends along with Diane Hansen and Bill Haapoja from 5 – 7 PM.  Please come, enjoy the dinner and plan to stay for the fun and memories.  A free will donation will be taken.

The Downbeats will be performing your favorite Christmas songs at Bethany in Cromwell on Sunday, November 30th at 2:30 PM.

The Bethany Lutheran Church in Cromwell will be having their Annual Holiday Bazaar on Saturday, November 29th.  Sale starts at 11:30 AM with white elephant, baked goods and craft sale, and Auction starting at 1 PM.  Pie and Coffee for lunch will also be served. 

The Finnish Pikku Joulu Celebration will be held on December 7th at the Holiday Inn in Duluth.  Buffet and program tickets are available from Bob Seppanan at 644-1034, Elaine Ahlgren at 525-4435, or Joyce Ilola at 729-9316.  All tickets are sold in advance only. 

Joey and Lea Anderson would like to say a huge Thank You to everyone who embraced Robert Holm and his family with so much love and support.  Your donations, time, hard work, and appetites were very much appreciated.  It is wonderful to live in such a kind and generous community. 

I’d like to end with a warning.  I see so many people own cell phones now and they leave the re-charger cord plugged in all the time whether the phone is charging or not.  Do you know that the cord has live electricity flowing through it?  If a little child or anyone for that fact accidentally put the live end of the cord in their mouth, they would be shocked or even electrocuted?  This happened years ago to my friend’s child with a vacuum cleaner cord and he lost most of his tongue, so please unplug those cords when not in use, or at least keep them out of reach of children.

That’s all the news from Lake Hopeyougotyourdeer and Hello to all the friends and relatives coming home for Thanksgiving.  Gobble, Gobble!