OCTOBER  ARCHIVES

In upcoming services we’re reviewing the seven UU principles.  Personally, I’m starting with #7.

Try to imagine our shock when recently we went to a Portland recycle center we’ve often visited with plastics and items our waste collector won’t take, and,  “what to our wondering eyes appeared”??  NO BINS for anything, except glass.

I phoned METRO, and learned no one is accepting plastics at the moment.  Seems China is currently refusing plastics. Overload??  Sanctions??  Who knows the answer??

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Thanks to our Site Committee for the woo-hoo changes in our site.                                              ***

Just learned Elizabeth Winslow has returned to Colorado, apparently a good career move for her.  CO shared her with us for one year.  She brought the Taize meditation to us, and we hosted services last winter and spring.  Good wishes Elizabeth.

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Last June’s UU General Assembly brought us a new national UUA  president, Susan Frederick-Gray, of Phoenix, AZ.  This was the first time the UUA voted entirely electronically.

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There’s a new minister, actually a duo, at Rogue Valley UU Fellowship (aka, “Ruff”) in Ashland. The Rev. Sean Parker Dennison and Rev. Theresa Soto (Mrs. D) started September 10th.

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Lou and I drove Mitzi  Asai Loftus to Ontario, OR for her sister’s 94th birthday, and for a time were  literally unaware of the eclipse.  TRUE!!  (We did savor 100% totality in the sky!)

After the  somewhat-publicized solar event, all of us went to the Four Rivers Cultural Center and Museum in Ontario.  It represents the four cultures living in the area: Native America, Basque/ European, Hispanic, Japanese. Our hostess, Mika Asai Hiuga,   has volunteered as a docent for decades, sharing her Tulelake internment camp memories. By the way,  the WW II camps are a very visible aspect of the center.

During the visit one couple overheard Mika and Mitzi sharing their stories, and soon were totally engrossed. They were Frederique (native of France), and  Jeff Sugarman, visiting from the Bay Area.

We spent time sharing stories of France, ours and Frederisque’s. And we invited them to a future trip to K Falls, as Jeff last visited Crater Lake when he was six. Add four or five decades to that. (Jeff took this photo.)

The center/museum share facilities with neighbor, Treasure Valley Community College. Ah, the togetherness of Ontario. Togetherness akin to ours with St. Paul’s, Blue Zones, others.

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From Rev. Jack Mendelsohn:  “You can’t, ‘sign on’ to spiritual development. Your signature (in membership book) affirms

commitment to an open minded, inclusive, reasoned, seasoned, compassionate and contemporary approach to life”.

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October 24th is United Nations Day, and a time to remember the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (signed 10 Dec.1948).

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The Rev. Meg Riley, Senior Minister of  the UU Church of the Larger Fellowship (“Church without walls”), put it this way: “Active engagement in our world.”  LET’S KEEP IT UP.

Barbara Turk, Archivist