Boothbay Harbor Rotary Club

Tue, 01/26/2021 - 10:00am

Well, winter is finally really here. It’s been quite mild (for Maine) so far, but old man winter has definitely found us now. So curl up by the fire with a good book or movie. But, don’t forget to join us on Thursday at 6 p.m. for our weekly Zoom Rotary meeting. In this time of continued social distancing we can still “connect” till we can safely meet in our clubhouse again.

Oh yes, the clubhouse. It is still there patiently waiting for us. But, luckily John Welsh is checking on it periodically. John noticed the water system was amiss. He called Mike Thompson and Doug Harley who repaired a leak in the well water system pump and replenished the tank so the pump doesn’t over cycle. A big thank you to John, Mike, Doug and anyone else working to keep our Rotary home intact till we can safely return. Oh, what a party we will have.

This Thursday we are replaying a presentation at last year’s Rotary Zone Conference called “Racism, Social Justice and Rotary.” It is a thoughtful and thought provoking presentation about racism and poverty in the United States. Carolyn E. Jones is the presenter. She is a past District Governor from District 5010 (All of Alaska). That’s a big territory. Her bio says she loves to salmon fish along with having practiced law in Alaska for over 31 years and being the recipient of numerous Rotary awards. She grew up in Tarrytown, New York, graduated from Yale School of Law. Join us for this timely conversation about racism in the United States.

Winter can be long and there are just so many reruns of “Third Rock from the Sun” you can watch. So join us on Thursday nights. We’re starting February off with a visit from Deborah Bronk, president of Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences. We are so fortunate to have Bigelow Lab as a neighbor. Deborah is an engaging speaker and he is going to talk about a project in the Arctic. A place even colder than Maine.

Then, on Feb. 18 we will meet Chip Griffin’s daughter, Betsy Griffin, as part of our “Meet the Family” series. Betsy works for the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts. She’ll tell us about her work there and how the museum is adjusting to these pandemic times.

Last Thursday we met Kathleen Collins, Judy deGraw’s daughter. She lives in New York City, is a librarian and the author of three books about television. She read an excerpt from her latest book “From Rabbit Ears to the Rabbit Hole: A Life with Television.” The chapter she read was about her early life at home with her mom, our Judy. As you can guess our Judy was a fun, kind and supportive mom. From my brief time with Kathleen, via Zoom, I think she has those traits too. Her book is funny and brought me back to the days of the big console television in the “den.” Remember those green plastic knobs. Kathleen reminded me of them. You can find her books anywhere, even the Boothbay Harbor Memorial Library.

The 200 Valentine treat bags were assembled last week and went to the Food Pantry and Food for Thought for distribution. Thank you Judi White for organizing this project.

Hope to see you Thursday at 6 p.m.