Wright News

03/10/2007

Wright News by Jennie K. Hanson March 12, 2007

Update

Dean and Brenda (Heaser) Nyberg are the proud parents of their first child, Dylan Dean.  He was born Feb. 4, 2007.  He was 6 lbs. 6 ½ oz. and 19 ¼ inches long.  His grandparents are Don and Cherie’ Nyberg and Mick and Annie Heaser.  Ebba Hedin is his great-grandmother.  There will be an “Open House” baby shower for Dylan on Saturday, March 17 at the Bethany Lutheran Church at 1 p.m.

Hi, are you enjoying that extra hour of daylight at night yet?  I guess it’s a whole lot of commotion about nothing.  Oh, well our national legislators seem to think they know what they are doing.  I turned our clocks on Saturday morning, so lost the hour early in the day.  It will still be hard to go to bed early though.

There is still time to attend some of the Lenten services in the area churches.  The next Big Event is coming up on March 28th at Bethany in Cromwell is when Lorie and Bill Bastion will put on a concert of special music.  Bill is a premiere tenor in Minnesota and his concert will surely delight anyone who attends.  Let’s all turn out for this one and fill the church!  Remember Soup Suppers at 6 PM and services start at 7 PM.

St. John’s is meeting at 5:30 PM for mid-week Lenten services on Thursdays. Are you in The Class of 1957?  Well, if you are, you will be celebrating your 50th Class Reunion this summer.  Remember the Statler Brothers famous song, “Class of 57”?  I bet they get a lot of requests for that song this year.  You can go on their website and find all kinds of information about them and even order their CD’s if you wish.

Speaking of Anniversaries. The Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Wright will be 95 years old this summer.  They will celebrate their 100th Anniversary in 2012.  That’s only 5 years away.

Marion and Sheldon Larsen are happy to say that their little twin granddaughter, Paige Larsen is continuing to improve from her Sturge Webber Disease.  The little tike is now14 months old and weighs 19 pounds.  Doctors are trying to keep her condition under control and the prayers for this little one are very much appreciated and still needed.  The family thanks everyone for keeping Paige in their thoughts and prayers.

Rod Walli is also very appreciative for all the prayers for him since he fell and hurt his back.  He reports that the brace is off and he has started running again.  Looks like a complete recovery is in store for him.

Nicole Suhonen will be traveling to South Africa with Campus Crusade for Christ on a 10 – 12 day mission trip.  She is a little concerned about the 16 - hour flight, but hopes it goes well.  Maybe she can get some sleep on the way.  She asks for prayers that the whole trip will go well for her and the 26 others in the group and that God would use them in ways they could only imagine and that ultimately the people in South Africa would see His Love through them!  Nicole is sure this will be a life changing experience!

There will be an informal get together after church at Bethlehem Lutheran in Wright for Art Aho as he celebrates his 90th Birthday on March 25th. Friends are welcome to attend, but not gifts please.  Cards and greetings will be appreciated though.  WOW! 90 years old!  What a milestone for Art. Congratulations on many more.

Don’t forget the Senior Citizen’s BINGO in Wright on Saturday night the 12th, from 7 – 9 PM.  Refreshments will be served. The Senior Citizen’s of Wright meet at the center on the 1st Wednesday of the month at 1:30 PM for their regular meeting, and at 1 PM on the other Wednesdays for cards and games.  Everyone welcome!  You don’t have to be a member to visit.

There are two important Benefits coming up in the area.  First, this Saturday, March 17th is the Pancake Breakfast Benefit for the Roger and Mary Rose Varo Family at the Cromwell Park Pavilion from 8 AM to 1 PM and then on Saturday, March 31st at the Cromwell Park Pavilion for Mike Nobis, serving a Chili Supper from 4 – 7 PM.  These deserving folks deserve our support so let’s come out and help them.

I’m hoping that all my readers enjoy St. Patrick’s and St. Urho’s Day this week. There is quite a history behind both holidays, but thought I’d include some about St. Urho’s as most people don’t know too much about that one. The History of Saint Urho’s Day

The legend of St. Urho was the invention of a Finnish-American named Richard Mattson, who worked at Ketola’s Department Store in Virginia, Minnesota in spring of 1956. Mattson later recounted that he invented St. Urho when he was questioned by coworker Gene McCavic about the Finns’ lack of a saint like the Irish St. Patrick, whose feat of casting the snakes out of Ireland is remembered on St. Patrick’s Day.

According to the original “Ode to St. Urho” written by Gene McCavic and Richard Mattson, St. Urho was supposed to have cast “tose ‘Rogs” (those frogs) out of Finland by the power of his loud voice, which he obtained by drinking “feelia sour” (sour whole milk) and eating “kala mojakka” (fish soup).

The original “Ode to St. Urho” identified St. Urho’s Day as taking place on May 24. Later the date was changed to March 16, the day before St. Patrick’s Day. St. Urho’s feast is supposed to be celebrated by wearing the colors Royal Purple and Nile Green. Other details of the invented legend also changed, apparently under the influence of Dr. Sulo Havumäki, a psychology professor at Bemidji State College in Bemidji, Minnesota. The legend now states that St. Urho drove away grasshoppers (rather than frogs) from Finland using the incantation “Heinäsirkka, heinäsirkka, mene täältä hiiteen!” ("Grasshopper, grasshopper, go from hence to H_ _ _!"), thus saving the Finnish grape crops.

The “Ode to St. Urho” has been modified to reflect these changes in the feast day and legend. The Ode is written in a self-parodying form of English as spoken by Finnish immigrants. There is also a “Ballad of St. Urho” written by Sally Karttunen.

The selection of the name Urho as the saint’s name was probably influenced by the accession of Urho Kekkonen to the presidency of Finland in 1956. Urho in the Finnish language also has the meaning of hero.

There are St. Urho fan clubs in Canada and Finland as well as the U.S., and the festival is celebrated on March 16 in many American and Canadian communities with Finnish roots. The original statue of St. Urho is located in Menahga, Minnesota. There is a beer restaurant called St. Urho’s Pub in central Helsinki, Finland. A 200l book, The Legend of St. Urho by Joanne Asala, presents much of the folklore surrounding St. Urho and includes an essay by Richard Mattson on the “birth” of St. Urho. This is probably a lot more than you would ever wanted to know, but I thought it was interesting!

This week’s Trivia:  There are 20 answers found on the Icosahedron (that’s a 20 sided figure) Magic 8-Ball.  They are: As I see it, yes; Ask again later; Better not tell you now; Cannot predict now; Concentrate and ask again; Can’t count on it; It is certain; It is decidedly so; Most Likely; My reply is no; My sources say no; Outlook not so good; Outlook good; Reply hazy, try again; Signs point to yes; Very doubtful; Without a doubt, Yes; Yes – definitely; and You may rely on it.

I guess these are the same answers I use with my grandkids most of the time! But they missed “Maybe; Go ask your Mom; Not now; You’re kidding;” and my favorite: “We’ll see!”

Household Hint:  Protect fine china by inserting paper doilies between plates when stacking.  You could also use paper plates between the china ones.  If you don’t have fine china, just eat off the paper plates.  (I’m trying to be funny!)

Bible Verse:  Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised. Proverbs 31:30 I guess by now you may have figured out that I love my new computer.  I don’t know what I’d do without it.  Remember all the whiteout we had to use before computers or we even had to retype a whole page because of a major mess-up?  Now all we do is “Delete” or “Cut and Paste” to repair or rearrange a word or sentence.  I love it!!  If you ask kids what carbon paper is, they couldn’t tell you! How times have changed!

That’s all the news from Lake Letthatsnowkeepmelting and Hello to all Art Aho and all his family!