January 2014 recap

Well, January 2014 has come and is almost gone and the Chinese New Year is in a few days. It will be the year of the Horse starting on January 31st. Gong Xi Fa Cai (Mandarin) and Gong Hey Fat Choy (Cantonese)!

Our daughter, Anna, was here for a week from the Monday after New Year. She was lucky that she was able to make it out of Newark (her flight was delayed for 2 hrs) and then Toronto (more than 1,000 flights were cancelled that Monday and Tuesday). She was able to get some rest while here and also watched a Winnipeg Jets game. They lost but she still had a wonderful time. She bought a Jets hoodie and a Jets flag which she will put up in her cubicle at the hospital. She's been doing 12 to 16 hrs shifts, overnights, weekends, etc. at Warren Hospital.

On the right is a picture Anna posted on facebook basically stating that a resident's life is eat (a few minutes), sleep (a few hours) and work (a lot of hours). She said that she cannot wait until she gets to her 2nd year in residency this coming July so that she is no longer at the "bottom of the ladder".

Early this month, we held a meeting of the Khartum Shriners Membership Committee. There is a lot of work to be done by the Membership Committee. Khartum is participating in the Pace Program: Setting the Pace for a Strong Future, a Membership initiative of Shriners International. We will hold the Kick-Off Meeting for the Pace Program on March 28 & 29. Illustrious Sir Randy Rudge, Director, Membership Development, Shriners International, and Illustrious Sir John Archer, Membership Development Specialist, will be here to facilitate the Kick-Off Meeting. We will also hold a Mini-Ceremonial (Cold Sands) on March 28.

We also held a meeting of the Grand Lodge Youth Services Committee. There is also a lot of work to be done by this Committee in encouraging Lodges to undertake youth and family-related projects.

On January 20, we installed the 2014 Officers of Cyrus Council No 2, Cryptic Rite. I am humbled to be appointed as the Steward. The Council meets five (5) times during the year.








This month, the Associate Matron of Queen Winnipeg Chapter No 1, Order of Eastern Star (OES), and I have started planning for our year in the East. If we are elected to do so, we will be installed on April 10.







April 10 is the same evening when Manitoba Sovereign Consistory, Scottish Rite, will confer the 31st Degree. As the 1st Lt Commander of the Consistory and the Coordinator for that Degree, I requested our Commander-in-Chief to move the date to April 24 so I can be there. That request was approved.

On January 25, Khartum Shriners held their Installation of 2014 Officers at the Khartum Shrine Centre.
In the picture is Illustrious Sir Rick Holberg, 2014 Potentate, and First Lady Georgette Holberg. Illustrious Sir Rick's theme is "Building for their future" (the children's future) while Lady Georgette's is the Dragonfly.

L to R: Illustrious Sir Jack Hooper, Recorder; Noble Alvin Allard, Oriental Guide; Noble Jack Hildebrand, Assistant Rabban; Illustrious Sir Rick Holberg; Noble Brian Terin, Chief Rabban; Noble Chibu Uson, High Priest & Prophet; and Noble David Lapp, Treasurer.
I am humbled to serve as this year's High Priest & Prophet. I look forward to serving Khartum in this capacity and also continue as Membership Committee Chairman.

Here is a picture of the MW Grand Master, the Potentate and their Ladies before the Potentate's Reception, which was also held at the Khartum Shrine Centre. L to R: MWB/Noble Doug Webster, Grand Master; Lady Valerie Webster; Lady Georgette Holberg; and Illustrious Sir Rick Holberg, Potentate and CEO, Khartum Shriners.

The Oriental Band in their very colorful garb played the most beautiful music this side of the world.

The Fife & Drum Corps escorted by the Patrol also performed at the Reception.

The Pipes & Drums with the Potentate and First Lady pose for this wonderful picture after their performance at the Reception.

At the Dinner after the Installation, Illustrious Sir Jack Hooper, Recorder, presented, on behalf of the Divan, to Illustrious Sir Rick Holberg, Potentate, a step ladder/stool as part of the tools and implements of his office. The said ladder will be used to ensure that the Potentate is seen by the audience when he is speaking behind a podium or rostrum.

Our distinguished visitors that day and evening were L to R, in front: Noble Scott Midstokke, High Priest & Prophet, Kem Shriners (Grand Forks, ND); his Lady Bernice Anderson; Illustrious Sir Ken Eskdale, Potentate, Wawa Shriners (Regina, SK); and his Lady Betty Eskdale. We are glad to learn that our visitors made it back to their homes safe and sound the day after the Installation. They were on the road before the highways were closed due to very severe weather and road conditions (white out).

For more pictures of the Potentate's Installation, Reception and Dinner, click on this.

Happy New Year!

It was a cold New Year's Eve. The temperature was in the low -30's C (with a windchill of about mid -30's C).

We welcomed 2014 at the home of RWB Junn Manalang. It was warm and comfortable once we got inside their house where, as usual. there was a lot of food for everyone. It seemed that the children never stopped eating. Well, even some of the adults also kept eating although there were hours between one eating session and the next one. Everyone had a wonderful time waiting for the New Year.

We called via facetime our daughter, Anna, who was working at Warren Hospital on the last night of her December Night Float rotation. She had her New Year come one (1) hour earlier as she is on Eastern Time and we are on Central Time. So we called her twice last night to wish her Happy New Year.

In the Chinese zodiac calendar, 2014 is the Year of the Horse which starts on January 31, 2014 (the Lunar New Year / Spring Festival of China) and ends on February 18, 2015. The spirit of the horse is recognized to be the Chinese people's ethos - making unremitting efforts to improve themselves. It is energetiv, bright, warmhearted, intelligent and able. Ancient people liked to designate an able person as "Qianli Ma", a horse that covers a thousand li a day (one li equals 500 meters).

A rare event happens on the very first day of the new year 2014 - a “Supermoon”.
The term “Supermoon” is kind of a made up term, as it really just means perigee moon. That means the moon is at its closest approach to the Earth within its orbit. We will have the first of two “supermoons” on January 1, with a second coming on January 30, 2014. A new moon or full moon has to come within 361,863 kilometers (224,851 miles) of our planet, as measured from the centers of the moon and Earth, in order to be a supermoon.

This month's supermoons will not be seen because both are new moons. However, they will still have impacts on the Earth. Because the moon is so close, its gravitational pull will be greater. Thus tides in the ocean run higher (these are called astronomical high tides these are called). The supermoons also always have a similar effect on the atmosphere. Full and new moons can make the the atmosphere thicker or thinner which can intensify areas of low and high pressure.

May 2014 be all that you wish it to be for you and your family. Have a wonderful year - safe, peaceful, fulfilling and prosperous.