Ahhh… the Dog Days of Summer. I often thought that this phrase signified hot sultry days “not fit for a dog.” The days where you would find your dog just “lazing about” in some cool corner or racing you into a cool body of water (pool, lake, or ocean). The phrase is actually a reference to the fact that, during this time, the Sun occupies the same region of the sky as Sirius, the brightest star visible from any part of Earth and part of the constellation Canis Major, The Greater Dog. Because the star is so bright, the ancient Romans believed it actually gave off heat and added to the Sun’s warmth. Regardless of what you believe about these hot summer days, I can tell you that no one is “lazing about” the fellowship. In fact, some have been quite busy and are shining stars themselves.
Our new Social Action chairperson, Lita Diorio, has started a new initiative referred to as “The Knitting Knights.” Its mission is to bring together individuals who enjoy using various crafting skills (knitting, crocheting, sewing, etc.) to create items that can further benefit our fellowship (by selling them to raise funds) or the greater community (i.e. making small caps to donate to hospitals for newborns). Think of it as “Crafting for a Cause.” If interested in participating, please contact Lita.
There are more changes and additions to our Religious Education (RE) program. The first is that after many years of dedicated service in our nursery, Max Devlin has accepted a new full-time position as a truck driver and therefore can no longer oversee our nursery. I would like to thank him for his service and wish him all the best. So now, in addition to looking for a new RE Teacher, we are also actively looking for a new nursery attendant. In the interim, Ruby Barnthouse has volunteered to teach arts and crafts on Sundays to the children for the rest of the summer. Thank you Ruby!! We also hired a temporary nursery attendant – Katie McGrath. Katie is a college student who works at a Girl Scout Camp during the week and was willing to manage the nursery until she returns to school in mid-August. Welcome Katie!! While we are grateful to Ruby and Katie, we still need to hire individuals for these two positions. If you know of any qualified candidates for either position, please let someone on the board know.
The new windows project continues to move forward. Jon Price has engaged an architect to help create a design of what we want. This plan should be finalized shortly and then we can send it out to various companies for bids on what it would cost. Stay tuned.
In closing, I hope that you are able to spend the Dog Days of Summer in a manner that you enjoy (FYI – mine does include air conditioning). Stay safe. Stay cool. Enjoy.
With gratitude,
Linda
