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Got this nice note from Dottie Stoerker-Peters that I thought I would pass along:
I belong to a group called the Westerners. It meets here at the Country Club the second Thursday of the month. They have interesting speakers from the community and elsewhere who talk on historic subjects of one kind or another. We get together about 6 P.M., have a drink together, or just visit, then we have dinner (and they are very good dinners) and then about 7 P.M. we take a break before the speaker takes over. It’s always a pleasant evening together. The Eifferts, the Metzens and Barbara Harris have recently joined and they all say how nice it is to see neighbors and friends and have a nice dinner and speaker so close to home.
The Westerners are always looking for new members, so i thought I’d tell you about this. Perhaps you would send a message to the neighbors telling them about our group. I have been taking neighbors as my guests, but I think we could just invite them to come on their own. Dinner never costs more than $12 or $13. And the annual membership fee is $15 for an individual or $25 for a couple. Each month a letter comes to the members telling them about the speaker and inviting them to come to the meeting. If you will let me know who is interested in coming to the next meeting, I’ll pass the message on to our host and hostess, who will in turn invite them to come. If they like us, they may want to join. If not, at least they’ll have an opportunity to see whats happening in the neighborhood.
For more information, contact Dottie. If you need her contact information, drop me a note.
Jim Downey
Hi everyone!
I just wanted to give a brief recap of our neighborhood party and business meeting last night.
First off – thanks to all who came. Special thanks to Jayne and Greg Wack for hosting the event on their lovely patio, and to Bob Hutton for helping supply the tables and coolers!
We had a great turnout for the party, about 75 people all told, when you include our guests from the Police and Fire Departments. KOMU did a segment on the news last night about the city-wide event, which pretty much featured nothing but footage from our party. If you didn’t see it, you can check it out here, with a related story on the Night Out here (that’s Greg burnin’ the burgers in the photo!). The food was excellent, and the company was even better. We got to meet our new neighbors (perhaps a spotlight introduction on them later) and everyone certainly seemed to enjoy themselves.
The business portion of our evening was brief but productive. First, Jean Leonatti, current President of the Country Club Board gave an update on the latest things happening with the Club and answered some questions. We had reports from the CCENA officers (short version – everything is going fine, we haven’t spent any money, and the new directory will be available soon), and then we made a change to the Bylaws to make the annual $5.00 membership fee entirely optional. We discussed re-activating the Neighborhood Watch program (more on that to come), and street lighting. The possibility of expanding the Association to include the adjoining neighborhood to the north was discussed, but we decided not to act on that at this time. Then, since there were no new candidates for office, we elected the current slate of officers to serve another term. (Perhaps we’ll get out on good behaviour next year.)
The meeting was over by 7:20, and a goodly number of people stayed for another hour or so to chat and enjoy the delightful evening.
Again, thanks to all who were able to attend.
Jim Downey
If you had a chance to make it to the Open House/Coffee at the Gerke’s this past Sunday, you don’t need me to tell you how enjoyable it was. We had a good turnout, and lots of people from the neighborhood got to meet one another for the first time. It was particularly enjoyable to meet Beth Leonard and Lamby Hedge, our newest neighbors there on South Country Club Drive. Pat and Gene gave tours of their lovely 1920′s home, and we all had a great time of it. Even Karl Skala, our representative on the City Council, was in attendance and happy to discuss many issues currently before the council.
I would love to have these kinds of relaxed events in the neighborhood every month – it is an excellent way to get to know one another, and to discuss in an informal setting those hopes and concerns we share. We tentatively have someone scheduled to host a Coffee in May – can I get a volunteer for April? June or July? Drop me an email if you are willing to welcome your neighbors into your home.
Cheers!
Jim Downey
Holiday greetings to all our friends and neighbors here in Country Club estates! I hope your day is filled with friends and joy, whatever you wind up doing.
And remember that just one week from today we’ll be having an Open House. As I noted in October:
I wanted to give everyone advance notice of a social occasion: on New Years Day, 2009, Martha and I will be having an Open House here at our home, and all are welcome! If you haven’t had a chance to see the house previously, this will be a good opportunity to check out the founding home for our neighborhood. We’ll have food and drink and (probably, unless it is freakishly warm) a fire going, warm companionship, and would love it if you stopped by! Let’s say anytime from Noon to Six PM – or as long as the party lasts.
Cheers to one and all!
Jim Downey
I just wanted to take a moment and wish our all neighbors and friends a Happy Thanksgiving. The past year has seen many changes and challenges for us personally as well as for the neighborhood.
Just a few moments ago on my morning walk I wandered over to look at the destruction happening adjacent to the LTACH site, at the swath of trees now turned to wood chips, the natural flow of the small creek disrupted in favor of someone’s idea of “management”. As with a lot of things, this situation will get worse before it gets better.
But there is still much to be thankful for. We live in a beautiful neighborhood, not just in terms of aesthetics but also in terms of spirit – a place with history, a place of caring for one another.
New Years Day we will have an open house here at 2011 N Country Club. After that, I hope to organize a series of monthly “coffees” – a casual social event of a morning at someone’s home. This would be a great way to promote neighborhood interaction on a regular basis in an informal setting. And it could possibly be done in conjunction with neighborhood “home tours”: we have a lot of historic or interesting homes here in the neighborhood, and it might be nice to give people a chance to see them on the inside. If you would be interested in hosting such a “coffee”, please leave a comment, drop me a note at jim@afineline.org , or chat with me about it on New Years.
Best wishes -
Jim Downey
Welcome to the equinox. The weather hasn’t yet gotten chill, but my morning walks around the neighborhood reveal autumn color creeping into the trees, and it is more common to see a mist rising from the Country Club’s lake.
My apologies for the lack of blogging here. Been a few hard weeks, dealing with some (relatively minor, yet demanding attention) health issues. Like my tomato and pepper plants this year, I have not given forth the yield I had hoped for initially. Perhaps it has been all the rain, or just that the soil needs rest.
But with the new season comes new hope. Might seem odd to some that this is the case, since autumn is seen by many as a descent into winter. But I love this time of year, and it is why Martha and I chose to marry in October, some 21 years ago. I love the crispness, the lovely gold that comes and captures the sun, as we go round and round.
Jim Downey
Hello, everyone! Jim has asked the other new officers to step up and introduce themselves. My parner and I moved onto Country Lane two summers ago in July. We were looking for a house that was close to our jobs (Stephens College for me, Socket for him) that was more kid-friendly than our downtown loft. The steep stairs, lack of elevator, and parade of loud Deja Vu drunks under our window from 1:00am-2:00am every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday was not conducive to child-rearing! We knew the moment we visited that this was the house, and the neighborhood, for us. We were joined by our son, Dante, that November–if you’re trying to do the math, he’s 21 months as I write this.
Most of the time I’m at home with Dante and our two cats, Josie and 13, but I sneak over to Stephens a few times a week where I teach one or two classes a semester in women’s studies or liberal arts–women’s folklore, women world leaders, and other humanities courses. I’ve also been taking banjo lessons from Dierik Leonhard of Ironweed for a couple of years now. My nearby neighbors will be glad I’ve traded in my first love, percussion, for that banjo; it’s so much quieter! I do still have a set of drums out in the garage in their cases, though, should anyone want to rock out….
Most of you will have a chance to meet me in person over the next year as I update the neighborhood directory, one of my goals as secretary. See you around the ‘hood!
