We held our Officer’s Meeting last night to get ready for the October Stated meeting. We decided upon a date for Matt’s FC, and talked more about our plans for the Clubhouse space for next year. For a few people, it was their first time seeing the front room after we moved the space around and displayed the lovely and restored Eagle embroidery, and the Demolay Banner we found in the back closet.
This weekend, a few of us headed out to Lone Fir Cemetery for their last grave cleaning of the season. We chose a few different Masonic graves to clean up, and found the task much more enjoyable than we even expected. At the end of the day, we visited the grave of one of our Past Master’s, Chester Wheeler, who was Master of the Lodge back in the 1930s.
This year we went to the Mountains and had our first retreat over 4000′. We stayed in an AirBnb in Government Camp from three nights enjoying fellowship, some outings, and some time set aside to discuss the future of the Lodge, especially next year. Hunter and Matt kept everyone very well fed with a spread for breakfast and lunch. We went out for BBQ one night, and even enjoyed a dinner at Timberline Lodge in the Cascade room! We had an outing to My Hood where Kevin led everyone on a hike that ended up being a little longer than expected, but the views were fantastic. We came up with a large action plan for next year, and some ideas for what to do about our current Membership crunch.
As usual, our second Wednesday was filled with Fellowship and Board games. We ordered some sandwiches, and played through a game of Betrayal at Baldur’s Gate, one of our favorites.
We’re officially back from summer, and we’re making a splash! We had a fantastic meeting last night, despite the scorching heat in the Temple during this heat wave. Many folks even spiced it up with some Hawaiian shirts! Prior to the meeting we had a delicious BBQ dinner, procured by Brother Hunter. At the meal, we were also blessed to have the attendance of three prospects who were inquiring about our Lodge! After dinner, we had a great meeting with a few lovely presentations. The Worshipful Master presented Worshipful Brother Jimmie with his Past Master’s Apron, which he picked out himself to great effect. Presenting the immediate Past Master a customized apron is a Friendship Tradition going back to WB Leo’s year. Brother Kyle also had a fantastic surprise for all of us: the completion of the restoration work on a piece of art we found in our back room! He also gave a wonderful history of the piece and what was discovered about it during the restoration. After the meeting we retired to the Clubhouse for refreshment and fellowship, as is our habit.
