April 19, 2006

Falls City Notes / Dorothy Cassidy
Life's blooms require patience

Last year I bought a very interesting plant at the Garden Club plant sale. I am a gardener (amateur!) but had not seen this one before.

It had no blooms, but the Garden Club gang assured me it would have flowers. I must admit there were times I wanted to throw it out. Those two long, somewhat fuzzy, leaves were not all that inspiring.

I am glad I waited. I now have flowers! Maybe it was placing it in a "place of honor" beside my orchids. Now I will have to take it back this year and ask the name of it.

Patience -- it is required of many things in life. In utter frustration I gave an orchid away a couple of years ago. It was a difficult one to start, and I waited for four years. It grew into a very large plant, but had no blooms. I found out recently that I had done extremely well in growing the plant and that had I waited one more year I would have had a plethora of flowers!

Like I said -- patience.
--
After church I went up the street to the open house at United Methodist. It was great to see all that had been done, and the congregation was extremely proud of it.

While there I met Erma Ferguson, the "resident" historian who has wonderful stories of Falls City. She proudly told me that her grandfather, Byron Teal, had cut the original timbers for the building.

Mr. Teal, it seems, was involved in just about every aspect of the founding of this town, from county commissioner to county judge and a variety of other ways. I can't wait to hear more from you, Erma!
--
Don't forget the Chili Feed/Bingo Night on the 22nd -- it will be at 6:00 p.m. at the elementary school. It will benefit the new community center/fire station.

Volunteers are needed to make chili or cornbread. Donations would be greatly appreciated as well. You can call Melodie at 503-787-4509 if you can help or have donations or questions. Thanks for all your work, Melodie!
--
Bev Martinez is heading up a work crew of volunteers to do a cemetery clean-up. The days will be May 6 and 7. Folks will be doing weed-eating, trimming and general clean up. Many volunteers are needed, and you can call Melodie at the number above to sign up.

This is a much-needed project. The cemetery is seen first as guests come in, so let's show our pride in the town.
--
As I said earlier, patience is hard to come by. Sometimes we will not be able to see the good come from the "seeds" we plant. Our American way of thinking demands to see instant results, but life doesn't always cooperate that way.

As we help a neighbor with our actions or words, as we encourage a child or volunteer to help, we may not always see the results right away. Even the small changes we struggle to make in ourselves at times seem futile.

But eventually we will see it was worth the effort. It calls for a little more faith and patience.

Until next time, blessings on your house.