Thanksgiving Prayer/Harvest time submitted by Bill and Charlene Watson

Happy Thanksgiving -- Charlene and Bill

I visited here today and thought that you would enjoy it too! - check this out at: http://wandascountryhome.com/thanksgivingprayer/index.html

I'm Fine by Charlene Watson

I'm Fine

(Author Unknown)

Submitted by Charlene Watson

It is better to say "I'm fine" with a grin,

than to let people know the shape I'm in.

I'M FINE!! HOW ARE YOU?

There's nothing the matter with me,

I'm just as healthy as can be,

I have arthritis in both knees,

and when I talk, I talk with a wheeze.

My pulse is weak, my blood is thin,

but I'm awfully well for the shape I'm in.

And arch supports I need for my feet.

Or I wouldn't be able to go out in the street.

Sleep is denied me night after night,

but every morning I find I'm all right.

My memory's failing, my head's in a spin,

but I'm awfully well for the shape I'm in.

Old age is golden, I've heard it said,

but sometimes I wonder, as I go to bed.

With my ears in a dreawer, my teeth in a cup,

and my glasses on a shelf, until I get up.

And when sleep dims my eyes, I say to myself,

is there anything else I should lay on the shelf?

The reason I know my Youth has been spent,

is my get-up-and-go has got-up-and-went!

But really I don't mind, when I think with a grin,

of all the places my get-up has been.

I get up each morning and dust off my wits,

pick up the paper and read the obits.

If my name is missing, I'm therefore not dead,

so I eat a good breakfast and jump back into bed.

The moral of this as the tale unfolds,

is that for you and me, who are growing old.

It is better to say "I'm fine" with the grin,

than to let people know the shape we are in.

I'M FINE!! HOW ARE YOU?

City Council Meeting Agenda and Financial Reports for November 2011

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Barnard City Council Minutes October 2011

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City Utilities to Increase Slightly

On October 17, 2011 at the Lincoln County Commissioners meeting...

Al Joe Wallace moved to grant RanDan, Inc a twenty-five cent per household per month increase for solid waste collection within the cities of Barnard, Beverly, Lincoln Center and Sylvan Grove due to the increase in insurance and fuel costs, seconded by Steve Errebo.  Motion carried.

In reaction to this, the city council voted to increase the Barnard trash rate to compensate.  You should notice the increase on your bill due in February 2012. 

THE CAFE WILL RE-OPEN!

Cathy Brockway, of Barnard, approached the city council on Monday, November 7, to ask permission to lease the former Betty's Place/Annette's Country Kitchen location.  After visiting with Cathy, the council voted to approve it.

Cathy plans to open the cafe after the first of the year.  She will be cooking and hosting a couple of meals at the community center between now and then.  Cathy worked at the cafe during its last incarnation.  Best wishes and success for Cathy's new venture.

Other cafe news...

Arnold Good won the rifle drawing.  The cafe fund that the city has established benefited from that drawing.  The funds will go towards re-roofing and insulating the roof structure of the cafe building.

Ella Dryden as I Remeber Her by Charlene Watson

Ella Dryden as I remember her

By Charlene Watson

Everyone in Barnard knows the story of how Ella and Jimmy Dryden met and fell in love as youngsters in Edinburgh, Scotland, in the early 1900's but were separated for many years after Jimmy emigrated to the United States. They both married and lived their own lives until many years later in 1966 when Jimmy came back to Scotland to visit after they had both lost their mates. Before he returned home, Jimmy asked Ella to marry him and come to the United States to live.

As Ella told it in her delightful Scottish burr, “I just hopped on a plane and arrived in Boston in February of 1968, wondering if I had done the right thing traveling all that way to marry Jimmy.” All her doubts were dispelled, however, when Jimmy and his family met her at the airport in Wichita and gave her a wonderful welcome. They were married in March fourteen days after she arrived here; and she became an American citizen in September of that same year.

I tell you all of this to explain how this delightful little white haired Scottish lady came to live in Barnard and become part of the First Baptist Church family.

 Jimmy had suffered many physical setbacks and was confined to a wheelchair by the time his daughter Lila and son-in-law George moved them to Milo and then later into Barnard. They enjoyed traveling and seeing the country for some time until Jim suffered a brain injury in a serious car wreck. He was no longer able to drive a car so this spunky little haired Scottish lady learned to drive a car for the first time in her life. She continued to care for him in their home. This was what everyone loved and admired about her; she didn't let anything keep her down.

  “After the wreck Jim was just like a child and I had many heartaches and tears but through it all, the Lord never failed me. I was given the strength to carry out my task of taking care of him,” Ella said. After his death in 1977, Ella returned to the little house in Barnard where she and Jim had spent their last years together.

Ella was very active in the First Baptist Church. She had been a professional seamstress in Scotland and loved to sew. She spent many hours working on quilts and other projects with the Missionary ladies.

Ella also sang in the choir and it was always a treat to hear her clear soprano voice ringing out with praise to her Lord. The whole congregation looked forward to the Sundays when she favored us with a solo, sung in her delightful soft Scottish burr.

  Everybody in town knew and loved Ella with her pure white hair and her constant infectious smile. She seemed to be able to overcome any obstacle but Ella shared the following thoughts with me one day. “Outwardly I carry on as usual, inside I am heart broken. I miss Jim so much but time is a great healer and as I go on the hurt is easing.”

When Ella died in 1992 at the age of 94, it left a big hole in the life of her family, her community, and her church. Somehow, I am sure the two childhood sweethearts are together again in heaven and the lilt of their Scottish voices can be heard sharing a joke or telling a story. Who knows, perhaps Jim is entertaining them all with a Scottish Highland Jig and Ella is sitting on a cloud nearby singing hymns to her precious Lord and sewing costumes for the Angels to wear. This is the way I will always remember Ella.

– (Charlene's Freelance Publications, Barnard, KS)