Brethren,
I hope all of you had a great 4th of July holiday. At our First Stated meeting, we had a wonderful presentation from our DEO, Wor. Jim Kraut, on the closing charge. Not every state uses the closing charge and it turns out that we use only part of the original charge. For our Second Stated, we had a presentation from the Beehive Club. Bro. Rob Martin gave a very interesting paper on the pot of incense. It turns out there is a positive physiological effect from incense. I thought it was used to cover up bad odors. In other Lodge news, Wor. Jim Morgan has graciously volunteered to head a committee to look into how best to improve our kitchen. As you all know it’s very tight in the current kitchen and is in dire need of, at least, a facelift, if not a slight expansion and some improvements to make it cleaner and more efficient. We want to have a safe, clean area to prepare food before our meetings that won’t make any of us ill or pose a hazard to the Lodge.
On Saturday, 2 August, we will have a special Called meeting. One of our EA’s is battling cancer, which has spread. The Grand Master has given us special dispensation to confer both the FC and MM degrees consecutively so we can raise our Brother so he can focus on his health. For our First Stated in August, we will have the C. Richard Walk Memorial Lecture from RW Michael Pobat. This is another of RW Pobat’s excellent talks that he started working on last year with Dick. All he’ll tell us is that it’s another in his series of talks along the line of his Commander Herndon and Brother Pike talks and that some of the Brethren have volunteered to assist him. It should prove a fun evening. On August 9th will raise RW Leroy Jackson’s grandson to the sublime degree of Master Mason.
For our First Stated in September, we will have a Hawaiian (or Aloha) shirt night combined with a bring-a-friend/Brother night. This is a good opportunity to bring someone who is interested in the Craft or to bring one of our Brothers who we haven’t seen in some time. Also on Saturday, 13 September, we will be taking a family trip to the Mt. Vernon estate. We will have lunch followed by a special tour of the mansion and grounds not normally open to the general public. Afterwards, we will have a special wreath laying at Bro. Washington’s gravesite.
Sincerely and Fraternally,
Tom Morrison, Worshipful Master
