Knapsack 9-10

Notes From My Knapsack 9-10-09

Jeff Gill

 

Plenty To See, Plenty To Do

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This week in Granville is an embarrassment of riches, all for little or no cost, each with lasting value for you as a participant, and for our community.

 

Thursday night, Sept. 10, at Granville Elementary School, the Girl Scouts are signing up for a new year of activity with their programs in the Multipurpose Room, while Granville Cub Scout Pack 3 is signing up 1^st through 5^th grade boys in the gym.

 

Pack 3's program starts at 7:00 pm and offers an overview to everyone for the next year's activities; you can sign up for the year with your son or just get your questions answered. The older Boy Scout program, represented by Troop 65 in Granville, meets at Centenary United Methodist Church on most Tuesday nights at 7:00 pm, open to boys through age 18.

 

This February is the 100^th anniversary of the formal establishment of Scouting in the United States, and we'll have more to talk about with the BSA Centennial a little later in the year. But for younger girls and boys who want to get a taste of Scouting, Thursday evening at GES is the place to start.

 

Saturday, Sept. 12, there will be a happy throng gathered in the pedestrian mall between the Granville Public Library and the Avery-Downer House about 11:30 am. Years ago, especially during the summer, kids would come running out of the library just before the top of the hour to watch something delightful on the side of Robbins Hunter's lovely Greek Revival 1842 house.

 

As the ornate clock beneath an eagle-capped cupola struck the hour, a lady would merrily piroutte around a small balcony below the clock face and above a small plaque reading "V. Woodhull." This was Mr. Hunter's local share of the national bicentennial celebration he prepared in 1975, saluting the Licking County native who was the first woman to run for President of the United States.

 

After his death, the Robbins Hunter Museum found it nearly impossible to keep the clockworks running, and for over twenty years neither the clock nor the lady have been at work – but thanks to the work of the museum board and staff, Victoria Woodhull will again promenade on the hour, starting at Noon this Saturday.

 

Sunday, St. Edward's Catholic Church has their parish picnic running until 3 pm, which is handy, because 3 pm on Sunday, Sept. 13, Pilgrim Lutheran Church would like to invite their community friends and family to join them in a rededication of their steeple.

 

It was one year ago that the effects of Hurricane Ike pushed up into Ohio, and blew over their steeple, with the cross on top bending and insisting on standing erect even as the structure beneath bent low.

 

The entire front of the church and worship space inside took damage which needed repair, so they will "rededicate" it all, and you're invited to join them this Sunday.

 

The great medieval cathedrals often had a spire atop a steeple, with the symbolism of a great pointer directing the eyes of we on the ground to the heavens. A later, more mathematical age liked to add to that the point that parallel lines only intersect in eternity.

 

Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and supply preacher around central Ohio; ask him about who's signing up what at knapsack77@gmail.com, or follow Knapsack @Twitter.