Cub Center Chats
Swoosh! November blew in to let us have a taste of exhilarating crispness. Yards are being covered by cold-shy leaves of varying colors, and every step is taken outside results in rustling and crunching. Ahh, fall is fabulous!
Happy news to report on those Monarch butterflies; The dwindling numbers in Southern California have rebounded this year by 400 percent! Yes, that’s four times as many as last year! Gardeners there were encouraged to plant more milkweed, and apparently that helped.
What happened to Thanksgiving? A walk down the aisles of many stores reaffirms that it seems to be disappearing. Even before Halloween, the shelves were bursting with Christmas decorations and gifts. November should be a time of Thanksgiving for our blessings, a time to be thankful that we live in this country and enjoy its freedoms. It should be a time to fill our hearts with thankfulness and ready us for the ultimate celebration that comes in December - a celebration of the birth, life, death, and resurrection of the Son of God! Let us always be thankful!
As we approach Veteran’s Day, I did a little research to understand its background better. It is also known as Armistice Day because it marked the end of the hostilities of WWI. Originally established on May 13, 1938, Armistice Day honored WWI veterans. After WWII and the Korean War, Veteran’s Day was to honor all veterans, established in 1954.
In 1971, it was moved to October, but it was moved back in 1975 to November.
Veterans Day should not be confused with Memorial Day. Memorial Day honors those who died in service to our country, and Veteran’s Day honors those who put their lives on the line and survived.
Traditions on Veteran’s Day: American flag flown at half-mast, Educational events, 11 a.m. - period of silence, Prelude and posting of colors, Pledge of Allegiance, singing of the national anthem, Patriotic songs, Retiring of colors, Dinners or Luncheons, Marathons and Musical Concerts, Parades
To all of you who served in any branch of our military service, with tear-filled eyes, I thank you. You are my heroes!
Several of our patrons at Cub Center were in the military, so they are very special to us. We hope that all of Olney’s Vets will be with us on Nov. 11 to allow us to honor them with food and ceremony and heartfelt thanks.
You sky-watchers and astronomers out there be looking in the early morning sky on Nov.19 to see a partial lunar eclipse. The Earth’s shadow will appear to be eating the full moon. Share that experience with a child or a friend—share the wonder of our world and universe! Mark your calendars Dec.4 through Dec. 17, 2021; Earth will be passing through Gemini’s Meteor Shower, which should supply more than 100 meteors per hour; it should peak on Dec.14!
Allen Bernhart, I hope you had a great birthday celebration with your family last week, and the same goes for Glenna Chapman, who enjoyed her special Day this Tuesday, the 9th. Happy birthday to J.R. Smith, who adds another notch on his birthday stick on the 13th.
Volunteers are still needed. Maybe just come and visit with people—that may brighten someone’s Day, and that someone just might be you! People need people, so reach out and touch someone this week and be happy. Come eat with us; enjoy a great meal at a table with smiling faces; chat with friends, both old and newly-made; leave with a spring in your step and a heart full of joy!