Dance for the dogs in Bridgewater
On Saturday, July 24, the Bridgewater Historical Association is holding a dance to raise money for the purchase of protective vests for our area’s canine police officers. The dance will run from 8 p.m. until midnight. There will be live music. Tickets are $6 for one and $10 for two. Come on out and support our canine officers. All proceeds will go towards to vests. There will be some door prizes and a 50/50.
Don’t forget our Thursday night music with “Outside In” from 6-9 p.m. There is no cover charge however donations are appreciated. The donations on music nights are going towards sound system equipment for the hall.
Thank you to everyone who supports the BHA. For more information, contact BHA, PO Box 341, Bridgewater, ME 04735 or call Jann Votaw, president, at 425-7901
Purple Hat Society
by Lois Downing
Purple Hat ladies met at the Blue Moose Restaurant in Monticello for its Tuesday, July 13 meeting. It was the first meeting at this eatery. Sixteen members and one guest attended. Charlotte Marley, leader, was at the door to welcome everyone.
Everyone introduced herself with her Purple Hat name. It’s unusual for a purple hat lady to have a simple name! A humorous reading was given by Arlene Friel. Maureen Bird won the Purple Hat shoe, always a treat to see the different colors and style.
Linda Bartlett read “The New Alphabet,” letting us know that we are keeping 26 doctors fully employed with our many symptoms. A suggestion was made to have a recipe book. It was agreed by the membership. Please bring your favorite recipe to the next meeting in August.
Members attending were: from Cary, Jackie Colella; from Houlton, Paula Wyman, Betty Wyman, Gerry McAfee; from Dyer Brook, Marie Gillotti; from Hodgdon, Brenda Lacostic; from Oakfield, Evelyn Burpee, Maureen Bird, Janyce Roy, Sandra Holmes, Linda Bartlett and Ursula Levesque; from Island Falls, Mildred Gagnon, from Merrill, Arlene Friel, from Smyrna, Peggy Sanders and Charlotte Marley; from New Limerick, Doreen Messina.
The next meeting will be at Pine Grove Terrace in Oakfield at noon, Aug. 10. If you need information about Purple Hat, please call Charlotte Marley at 757-8483 or any of the above ladies. All ladies are welcome; the only criteria is a purple hat.
Happy Losers meet
By Shirley Sides
The Happy Losers held their weekly meeting on Wednesday, July 14, at the Congregational Church vestry in Island Falls. Our leader opened the meeting with our pledge and roll call. We had 11 ladies weigh-in and nine attended our class.
Jackie Pratt was the loser of the week, and Mary Shaw and Shirley Sides were runners-up. Great job ladies. Our secretary and treasurer gave reports for the week.
It was decided that for our summer outing that we would go to Gilmore’s in Lincoln on Wednesday, July 28. Riva Hawkes led the program for the week. Her topic was on an article called Diet Bets. The meeting was informative and interesting.
Please feel welcome to our group every Wednesday, 8-8:45 a.m. for weigh-ins and the meeting starts at 9 a.m. Call 365-4884 for more info.
TOPS #ME 0233, HOULTON
by Lois Downing
Take Off Pounds Sensibly, Chapter 0233, of Houlton met at the Aldergate building on High Street for its Friday, July 16 meeting. Seventeen TOPS were weighed and four KOPS (Keep Off Pounds Sensibly).
The loser of the week was Dale Holden with runners-up Linda Cassidy and Dellie Bennett. The skinny dish was held over. Barbara Grant led us in several minutes of exercises. The Ready Set Go challenge contest winners were announced: Joyce Estey for TOPS and Charlotte Marley for KOPS.
Elinor Harvey provided the program for the week. Her topic was shrinking muscles. She quoted some tips from Dr. Oz and Dr. Donahue, two well known and prominent doctors: as drink water, exercise, weight lifting with a can of veggies from your pantry. We always gain some information from our programs. Thanks, Elinor.
Dale Holden explained the Live to Thrive contest. Leader Joyce Estey read a letter from Janice Cote, representative for our group. Janice will make her annual visit to our chapter on Friday, July 23. The topic of her program will be “Managing Your Stress,” questions and answers also will be on the program.
The next meeting will be July 23. If you need more information on our chapter, you may call Charlotte Marley at 757-8483 or Betty Ivey at 532-9653. TOPS 0233 meets every Friday; weigh-in time is 8-8:45 a.m.; the meeting starts at 9 o’clock and usually ends an hour later.
Everyone is welcome, teens and seniors too.
Ricker Rumblings
by Lois Downing
Hello again. I’ve been scammed. The hacker tried to get into my computer account last week was successful, but no money was exchanged, as far as I know now. A form letter was sent out, unknown to me, and I was in Scotland, and needed $2,000.00 dollars. Beware, all those who have computer accounts. It could happen to you! More on this later.
We are having a heat wave. Some of us like it, others do not. Try to keep cool and drink lots of water. It’s important to your good health. Lavina Byron wishes to thank Pizza Hut and their manager for their pizzas recently. Several Ricker tenants were treated last week with their delicious meal. Thank you sincerely.
Bill Cogswell of New York is visiting his sisters, Gerry Dunn, Norma Bates and Lavina Byron. Bill usually stays for the summer. Welcome back, Bill! Visiting Lois Downing over the weekend were her brother Paul Phelan of Westbrook, sister Jean Cavanagh of Manchester, N.H., niece Bonnie Cavanagh of Manchester, N.H. and niece Laurie Dobbs of Manchester, N.H. We all attended sister-in-law’s Mavis Phelan’s 90th birthday party. Before we got there, she had a heart attack and spent a few days at Cary Medical Center. God was good as she is still with us. The party went on without the honoree. It proves that one never knows what is ahead of them.
Charlene has been on vacation and we missed her. Charlene Henderson and family spent a couple days in Moncton, N.B. then a few days at Prince Edward Island. Regis and his cohort Kelly Ripa were there, so there was a lot of traffic. They had a wonderful time. I reported Helena Dickinson’s name as Nickerson in a previous story. Sorry about that.
Fran Cunliffe of Park Street has been visiting one of her daughters in Arizona. She spent several months there and loved it. Fran said she will go back. Good for you. Kathy Hall of Bangor was a recent visitor of her mother, Lois Downing.
As far as I know, Carolyn Carmichael is waiting for a date for surgery. Good wishes to Carolyn in her waiting. Visiting Jeff Thibodeau, our manager, were his brother and two sisters. They were here and enjoyed a conversation on one of our swings. The family including mom and dad, the Thibodeaus, were meeting in Camden for a reunion.
Ron Brownlow is a patient at Gardiner Nursing Home Facility. Ron is the husband of Priscilla Brownlow, former Meals on Wheels manager in the dining room. Get well, Ron. Jane Hughes has spent some time at her aunt’s cottage at the lake and enjoying it. The Bible verse for this week is from Psalm 19:105: “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”
Have a wonderful week everyone and keep cool!
Bridge Club
By Bev Rand
In the early 1970s, Florence Hartin taught some of the ladies in the surrounding towns how to play bridge. At first, they met in the various houses for their lessons. I learned to play bridge back in the ‘30s and it was the “culbertson system.” Florence used a different system whereby the top cards were given numerical numbers and if they added up to a certain figure, it indicated what you might bid.
As a simple example, if you had the count of thirteen met, you had high cards enough to bid. This also told your partner that you had at least this number of high cards. If you had a high count of 21, a demand bid of two would be in order. This system was not foolproof. It opens itself to a lot of commitments when the cards are played out. Such as “you should of gone back into spades” or you should of bid “a no trump” as that is how they play it in Florida.
Bridge is notorious for its criticisms. In the end, the sizing up the way we play a hand is somewhat like the saying of beauty – “it is in the eye of the beholder”.
On one game that I was playing, I bid two hearts and my partner bid six hearts and when he laid down his hand, he did not have a single heart. This is another example of criticism. I said, “Vaardis, how dare you to bid six hearts when you don’t have a heart?” “Listen,” he responded. “If you have the hearts I have the rest of them”. True enough, I made a grand slam, that is, I took all of the tricks. Maybe that was not orthodox bidding but his judgment was good.
This loosely organized bridge club has been meeting each Tuesday for the past 40 years. It has no president, nor officers. Each member does whatever task needs to be done. However, at the present time, the one that seems to head it up is Marion Hoar.
The cost to play on Tuesday is 35 cents; 25 cents goes for the prize money each week. Ten cents buys the coffee and other supplies, as needed.
The scores are added up at the end of the day. The highest scorer gets the top dollar and the rest is divided between the second one and booby. We have from eight to 12 players each week. Nowadays, as part of the town activities, we meet in the municipal building. Over the years, there have been different people who played and today, it still has loyal members meeting each Tuesday.
This is a great bit of recreation for senior citizens and a brain stimulator, according to some medical authorities.
