It was a beautiful day for our Rotary meeting: 72 degrees and sunny! The Peruvian cuisine from Tantay was yummy, including my favorite: La Diosa Kale Salad. What more could one ask for? Well, the great company of fellow Rotarians, of course, and today's meeting did not disappoint!  As someone relatively new to Lansing Rotary, being the Editarian at a Rotary Park based meeting was a wonderful way to meet and learn more about some amazing Rotarians. The question of the day: What was the highlight of your summer? Diane Sanborn has been renovating a house and working in the garden, and her highlight was still ahead of her: a visit with her niece and niece's husband from Wisconsin. A weekend of family time enjoying good food and conversation is what makes Diane smile, and she does have a great smile! Joel Hoffman's summer highlight was a 2-week trip to London capped off by a 4-day stay on Mackinac Island. The trip was extra special because he took his grandson Mitchell "Moose" McGaugh along. Moose just graduated from Okemos H.S. and is studying Engineering and Math at MSU this fall. While in London, they toured museums, enjoyed High Tea at the Ritz Carlton and a fabulous Sunday Roast, and took in St. Paul's Cathedral as well as Winston Churchill's office and Cabinet War Rooms. "Sailor" George Siegle concurred, St. Paul's Cathedral and Churchill's museum were highlights on his itinerary when he last visited London. "Sailor" Siegle? Why yes, George is a sailor and member of the Lansing Sailing Club founded in 1963 and located at Lake Lansing. Not to be confused with MSU's Sailing Club across the lake, the LSC's primary fleet includes Sunfish, Lasers, Wayfarers, and Lightning class sailboats.  The highlight of Hari Kern's summer also involved boating when she visited her son, David Gerlach, at his island house on Lake St. Clair. David is a Mt. Clemens Rotarian, and you may have met him when he accompanied Hari to a Lansing Rotary meeting featuring Elderly Instruments. He plays bass guitar in a band, and one of Hari’s summer highlights was the boat ride back to his house at 1:00 a.m. after one of his gigs. Hari’s also looking forward to celebrating friend Elizabeth Winder’s 103rd birthday! Speaking centenarians, did you know Irv Nichols turns 100 in September? Yes, Friday, September 20... I see birthday cake in our Rotary luncheon future... right?! Irv may be getting “up there”, but Kevin’s summer highlight was going “U.P. there” to a copper mine in the Keweenaw Peninsula. He said the mine was cold (42 degrees), wet, and dark... hmmm... sounds more like a low-light to me! At least he got a great Michigan Tech sweatshirt!  Evan Winter’s summer has been spent watching his son play soccer with the highlight being winning the State Cup Championship! For those of you who are or have been club soccer moms and dads, you know this is quite a big deal, and a proud soccer parent moment. His son is now a senior at Mason H.S. and visiting with college coaches... Sounds like he has a great career ahead of him on the pitch! (“On the pitch”, a soccer term, look it up!) Finally, to end this summer highlight commentary in a truly Rotarian way, Rebecca Bahar-Cook attended the Rotary International Conference in Singapore! She was joined by 14,000 of the 1.4 million Rotarians throughout the world, and was “inspired by what Rotary does all over the world.” She also visited Vietnam and Thailand to make it a truly fabulous 17-day trip! There’s no meeting this Friday, August 30, due to the Labor Day weekend. I hope your holiday turns into a wonderful summer highlight for you! Email for Phyllis Riley: rileyps@msu.edu |
