{"id":10860,"date":"2020-12-17T20:57:25","date_gmt":"2020-12-18T01:57:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stjindy.com\/?p=10860"},"modified":"2020-12-17T20:57:25","modified_gmt":"2020-12-18T01:57:25","slug":"features-147","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stjindy.com\/newindy\/?p=10860","title":{"rendered":"Features"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Enjoy the holiday lights of St. Johns<\/strong><br \/>\nby Maralyn Fink<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/sDVOS2CZ-F0\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>I took a drive around St. Johns to see what I could find for Christmas decorations.<\/p>\n<p>Here is what I found &#8211; many beautiful decorated homes.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Downtown windows by night<\/strong><br \/>\ncourtesy photos<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gvzUR8gBEOM\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Back to the 1970s and 1980s at FCCSJ<\/strong><br \/>\ncourtesy of Guven Witteveen<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/stjindy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/congregationalpano.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"550\" height=\"144\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-10869\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The Tuesday morning photo of the church worship floor triggered lots of vivid memories from Lynn Richards (class of 1972) and she said it was OK to share these with others curious about the changes since those days. Clearly our way of living and communicating with others has changed. At the same time, some things do not change when it comes to the way that food binds us together! Since Lynn asked of my own memories, I appended them, here. Maybe you have similar experiences of those days, or something similar.<\/p>\n<p> The photo of the church brought back lots of warm memories. When I was a child in the church there were so many activities. I particularly remember Christmas and receiving a netted stocking full of hard candy each year.<\/p>\n<p>I think a Santa Claus handed them out. We were so familiar with the church. We knew every corner of the building. When I grew up and came home there were so many familiar faces and everyone was always happy to see me. The church was a great community.<\/p>\n<p>Other memories: there were several people and families that stand out in my memory such as Mrs. Countryman who gave Jeff piano lessons and led the children\u2019s choir. She always took a great interest in the children of the church, even when they grew up. John Anderson sang in the church choir with his son John. Every Christmas he sang O Holy Night. Mrs Livingston, a tall beautiful statuesque woman, sang in the choir also.<\/p>\n<p>I was a child in the church from the mid fifties to 1972. The potluck dinners, mother and daughter banquets, and Sunday coffee hours were memorable and provided a community totally outside of our daily lives of school and neighborhood friends.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Wilcox and his wife Mary led the church when I was small. They lived in the manse next door. Dr. Wilcox and Mary retired and moved back to Duluth and they were followed by the Churchill\u2019s who were also very kind and memorable.<\/p>\n<p>My grandmother Helen went to church every Sunday and she was very active. Her husband, Bill Sr., rarely attended. However, when he did, he would walk up Brush Street from the dairy and leave his cigar on the fire hydrant outside the church and then pick it up and relight it following the church service.<\/p>\n<p>Bill Jr., took notes in church. He always had a little scrap of paper and a pencil in his pocket. I think he lived the ideas he garnered. His notes may still be in his files on Lindy Lane.<\/p>\n<p><em>Re: 1970s<\/em><br \/>\nWe arrived in SJ in the early 70s, and my mom soon offered to share the organist efforts with Fran Diebert, ,later Peterson.<\/p>\n<p>My dad soon got involved in Youth Group even though I was just 10. He found a natural place in the building committee since he liked using engineering contacts and expertise to work. The cornerstone on the &#8220;new&#8221; edition is 1974. I can dimly recall the manse tucked close to the church.<\/p>\n<p>Choir was a big thing socially and also Doublets. So every year or two our house was a host location and swarmed with a dozen couples. The 1970s was a time when Sunday Dinner was an event all by itself.<\/p>\n<p>I remember walking home since we were 4 blocks away and smelling something good in the oven. Casseroles were a weekly thing, it seems in hindsight. Easter and Christmas were in a league of their own for meals, sometimes with guests of out-of-town family or friends.<\/p>\n<p>I can remember the Youth Group doing spaghetti supper and other potlucks, too. There was a time at least once a year when the Knights Templar(?) showed up in wool uniforms, ostrich feather hats, and ceremonial swords and sat in a row. I did children&#8217;s choir with Mrs. Countryman at least for a little while. I can vaguely remember the slightly jumbled room where we practiced. I think those early memories were all linoleum; not the carpeting of today downstairs. I&#8217;m not sure of the sanctuary &#8211; would that have been all wood, or were runners\/carpet in the aisles always there, I wonder.<\/p>\n<p>Youth group memories are mostly a blur: high points were fall canoe trips (staying at your cottage on Higgins), winter ski trip (also based at Higgins), a worship service designed by youth, a spaghetti dinner\/fund-raiser. My kid-memories are, like yours, exploring the many nooks and crannies (at least once poking head into the bell tower), and typically full pews, most of all at Christmas\/Easter.<\/p>\n<p>So much of social patterns and expectations and rewards seems gone forever with boundaries and certainties dissolved by portable Internet, making every one an authority and not needing to be part of any organization or tradition. It is hard to say one way is better 1970 or 2020; each has its horrors and good points, too.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Cabaret band to offer streaming concerts<br \/>\ncourtesy of Bill Tennant<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/002gbrJZQWs\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>As some of you know, my son manages a world class music cabaret band that travels throughout the world, selling out in foreign venues as well as here in the United States. They are a most unique group of 11+ professional musicians, a group that I believe you will enjoy. The name of the group is Pink Martini.<\/p>\n<p>They have put together a couple of upcoming concerts, one entitled \u201cHome for the Hollidays,\u201d which will first air this coming Thursday, December 17 at 9:00 P.M.  The other entitled \u201cGood Riddance 2020\u201d  will air on New Years Eve, December 31, also at 9:00 P.M. Both concerts will be available 48 hours after they first air, so you will not need to watch them at the times they first air.<\/p>\n<p>These concerts will stream over a great website, Our Concerts Live. You can purchase tickets to access each\/either concert for $15, or you can view both concerts for only $20. You can purchase tickets at: <a href=\"https:\/\/ourconcerts.live\/pinkmartini\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><font color=\"#0000CC\">https:\/\/ourconcerts.live\/pinkmartini<\/font><\/a> you might need to copy and paste that link into your web browser?<\/p>\n<p>At this time, in our pandemic year, there are a lot of holiday concerts out there for viewing,\u2026 Pink Martini is very accessible &#8211; a fun group. If you\u2019d like to try something a little different this year &#8211; give them a try. Again, they have a very world wide appeal &#8211; truly a festive, international band.<\/p>\n<p>Everyone\u2019s favorite \u201clittle orchestra\u201d Pink Martini brings some much-needed holiday cheer to your living room this December with a pair of brand new streaming concert events.<\/p>\n<p>The performances, filmed in front of the 35-foot Christmas tree at Pink Martini\u2019s World Headquarters in Portland, include Pink Martini fan favorites alongside holiday classics old and new. Featuring lead singer China Forbes, with very special guest appearances by Storm Large, Ari Shapiro, Edna Vazquez, Jimmie Herrod, Sofia von Trapp, and Cantor Ida Rae Cahana, these shows are fun for the whole family, also make a great gift item for the Pink Martini fan in your life.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Remember When?<\/strong> &#8211; First Congregational Church observes Cornerstone Centennial<br \/>\nPosted in 1999<br \/>\nby Rhonda Westfall<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/stjindy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/congregational.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"304\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-10870\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Back in 1899, a news article from The Clinton Republican described the laying of the cornerstone for the new First Congregational Church in St. Johns as being an occasion to \u201ccharm the intellect, please the eye and ear, and gratify the soul.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When congregation members gather October 13 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the event, they will try to repeat that uplifting experience from October 13, 1899.<\/p>\n<p>The church invites all members of the community to join with them in an Open House from 6 to 7 p.m. in Wilcox Hall, and participate in the service that follows in the church sanctuary at 7 p.m. The celebration concludes at 8, with a reception and refreshments in Wilcox Hall.<\/p>\n<p>The actual assembly of the congregation dates to 1860, and the first church building was erected in 1865.<\/p>\n<p>Services connected with the laying of the cornerstone in 1899 included singing by the congregation and Sunday School children, prayer by the Rev. M.M. Martin of Ovid, greeting by the Rev. W.C. Allen of Salem who was a former pastor of the church, and separate addresses given by the Rev. J.L. Daniells of Olivet and the Hon. Bryon M. Cutcheon of Grand Rapids.<\/p>\n<p>At the conclusion of the service, the children of the congregation led a processional march to the site of the cornerstone where a box containing various documents and church artifacts was placed into the stone. The stone itself was placed into position by the Rev. William H. Warron of Lansing.<\/p>\n<p>The newspaper account concluded as follows:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe building will be pushed as rapidly as the weather will permit; and the enterprise needs the aid of every individual member of the church, YPSCE, Sunday School, and congregation. It will require sacrifice of time and money, but it will be richly worth all it costs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Construction proceeded throughout the coming year and the new church building was officially dedicated in 1901.<\/p>\n<p>Other important dates in the history of the congregation include: 1956, congregation votes to remain autonomous; 1975, first Christian Education classes are held in the new Carson Addition; 1996, renovations to Mildred Countryman Hall are completed.<\/p>\n<p>The church is located at 100 Maple Street, on the west side of the Clinton County Courthouse.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Maralyn&#8217;s Pet Corner<\/strong> &#8211; Tips for Pet Parents for Dealing With Holiday Stress<\/p>\n<p>The holidays have arrived, and that means there will be plenty of parties, dinners, gift exchanges and get-togethers. Whether you will be hosting one of these events, or packing up the family and pets to visit family and friends, know before you go how you are going to keep everyone calm and comfortable, so that everyone has a good time.<br \/>\nManaging Holiday Stress With Pets and Visitors<\/p>\n<p>If you are expecting visitors for the holidays, you will want to do a little preparation before the guests arrive. Many of us consider our pets to be members of the family, and we enjoy having them with us as we celebrate good times.<\/p>\n<p>But when our pets are not used to having more than a few people around, they can get overly excited, and things can stop being fun. If your dog is jumping, begging for food or barking, it can lead to some embarrassing situations, and can even frighten guests who are not accustomed to having animals around.<\/p>\n<p>In the weeks before the event, take some time to work on your pet\u2019s manners and to reinforce dog obedience training. You might try having small gatherings with some pet-friendly people who can help reinforce your pet\u2019s manners, so that when the bigger party night comes, your pet will already be prepared.<\/p>\n<p><em>Setting Up a Pet-Friendly Room<\/em><\/p>\n<p>If, on the other hand, you know that your pup will not be able to hold back his exuberance, or your cat is notorious for jumping on counters and getting into food dishes, or you are afraid a guest will let them outside, set aside a safe room where pets can stay for the duration of the event.<\/p>\n<p>Make the space comfortable with a comfy, large dog bed or cat bed, water, dog toys or cat toys, and maybe some cat treats or dog treats. Close this area off to the guests so that you can be sure that your pet and your guests are safe. Remember to either tell your guests that your pet should be left alone or tape a sign to the door saying &#8220;do not open&#8221; so that people know to keep out. The last thing you want is for a very excited pet to dash through the house, and possibly out the door.<\/p>\n<p><em>Traveling With Your Pet<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Leaving the familiarity of home can cause anxiety in people and animals. If you are traveling by car, be sure to bring along some of your pet\u2019s favorite toys, the pet\u2019s blanket or bed, and his regular dog food or cat food. If your dog is used to sleeping in a crate, bring it along so he can sleep in his familiar space.<\/p>\n<p>Keep pets in a travel-safe crate so that the animal is not able to move freely throughout the car. This covers a few bases. It prevents them from getting underfoot or on your lap while you are driving\u2014an obvious hazard; it prevents them from being thrown from the car should an accident occur; and it prevents them from getting free\/running away at rest stops or after minor accidents. If you cannot fit a crate into your car, you can use a dog seat belt, dog car seat, pet carrier or car barrier to keep your pet safe.<\/p>\n<p>If your pet will be flying with you, keeping them in a carrier is required. Make sure your pet is comfortable in that space before bringing them on a plane. Bring extra dog potty pads in case your pet has an accident.<\/p>\n<p>Even though your pet won\u2019t have the opportunity to urinate, do NOT restrict their water before a flight. Dehydration can make pets very sick, not to mention uncomfortable and irritable when they arrive at your destination.<\/p>\n<p>On that note, make sure your pet is wearing identification at all times, and pack an emergency cat first aid or dog first aid kit in case of an emergency. Don\u2019t forget to take frequent breaks to allow for rest and relief.<\/p>\n<p><em>Check Out Boarding Facilities<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Before choosing a boarding facility for your pet, take a quick tour of the facility to check out the accommodations. You will want to be sure that it is clean and well kept, and that there is ample space given for the animals to exercise daily.<\/p>\n<p>Have your questions ready before you go. Things you may want to know are: how many animals are kept together in one space; can you bring your pet\u2019s food so that his digestive system will not be upset by an abrupt change in food; will you be able to bring along toys and other familiar comfort objects from home?<\/p>\n<p>If you do not feel comfortable with a boarding facility, whether for your pet\u2019s emotional comfort or because of health concerns, and you do not have the option of taking your pet along with you, give yourself plenty of time to ask around the neighborhood for someone to pet sit in your home or theirs.<\/p>\n<p><em>Find Reliable Pet Sitters<\/em><\/p>\n<p>You can also do some research on local professional pet sitters that will come to your home to check in and care for your pet, or will take your pet into their home. Your veterinarian may be a good source for recommendations for in-home pet sitters.<\/p>\n<p>Whether your pet goes somewhere or someone comes to stay in your home, that person needs as much information as you can provide about your pet\u2019s daily needs. It is always helpful to write out instructions for both the daily routine and situations that may occur (such as a pet who doesn\u2019t want to eat or how to use the laundry machine if your pet has an accident).<\/p>\n<p>Provide your number, vet numbers, emergency vet numbers and backup phone numbers in case you are unreachable. The better prepared you are, the less holiday stress there will be for you and your pet, and the better your celebrations will be.<\/p>\n<p><em>Stick With the Usual Routine<\/em><\/p>\n<p>One of the best things you can do throughout it all is to stick to a familiar schedule. This means taking walks at the same time that you always do, and feeding at the same time as usual. It might help to set an alarm or reminder on your phone to remind you of daily pet tasks (like giving medications) during hectic holidays. Remember that it is important to take time to play with your pets and show affection, so that they aren\u2019t thrown off-balance by all of the activity and distractions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Enjoy the holiday lights of St. Johns by Maralyn Fink I took a drive around St. Johns to see what I could find for Christmas decorations. Here is what I found &#8211; many beautiful decorated homes. Downtown windows by night courtesy photos Back to the 1970s and 1980s at FCCSJ courtesy of Guven Witteveen The <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/stjindy.com\/newindy\/?p=10860\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stjindy.com\/newindy\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stjindy.com\/newindy\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stjindy.com\/newindy\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stjindy.com\/newindy\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stjindy.com\/newindy\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stjindy.com\/newindy\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10860\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stjindy.com\/newindy\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stjindy.com\/newindy\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stjindy.com\/newindy\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}