Greetings!

Welcome to the July 2021 Crones Counsel Newsletter. The glory and bounty of summer is all around us. Enjoy.
Maggie Fenton
Things that keep me up at night
By Maggie Fenton

Climate change.
Collapsing infrastructure.

Whether my grandson’s new girlfriend will convince him to eat blueberries. This boy used to refuse eating them even while picking buckets to sell! Now, his girlfriend loves them and wants to come pick blueberries!! Ah, young love. And the irony.

Climate change.
Friends in ill health or exhausted by care giving.
How much weight will we gain if we eat all the jam I made.
Why beets won’t grow this year but the peach tree is loaded for the first time ever.

The Delta variant and why so many refuse to be vaccinated. How many of you were vaccinated for polio? Or have a small pox scar?

Climate change.
Fires in the west; floods in the south.
Should we keep the farm or move before we can’t maintain it? Or will maintaining it keep us going?

Did I feed the chickens too many blueberries?
My dogs and occasionally, my cats.
Climate change.
The infinity of space.
You?
Fall Equinox
Fall Equinox Virtual Gathering Via Zoom
Saturday, Sept 18, 2021

10:00 a.m. Pacific Time
11:00 a.m. Mountain Time
12:00 noon Central Time
1:00 p.m. Eastern Time
Other countries, please determine your time.

$25.00

Registration opens on August 1 and closes on September 11.

The Gathering will last approximately two hours.
CroneTimes
Check out the July 2021 Crone Times, the journal of Crones Counsel, Inc.

Here you will find some great stories of Friendship by Sandy Eno, Ria Coesel, Alicia Schilder, Marina Anderson, Raylene Houck, Barbara Test, Anita Hedlund and more!
Gay Medina
We were saddened to hear of the passing of Gay Medina on June 16, 2021. The celebration of her life will take place in Logan, UT on the day that would have been her 79th birthday, July 30, 2021. We will miss her presence in our lives.
Birch Bay
Crones Glamping

The Northwest Crones from the Bellingham, Washington area are sponsoring a glamping experience in Birch Bay, just north of Bellingham.
It will be from Friday August 20, 4 pm- to Sunday morning, August 22, 11 am.

The camp has single beds in socially distanced areas. You would need your own sleeping bag and pillow. You may choose to have one or two roommates. Food is included in the price, which is $95, for the weekend. To register, or for more details, contact Anne Richardson-Smith (360-483-7896), silicroneally@gmail.com
Kay Marie Bouma
Reintroducing our next Mother Board member, Kay Marie Bouma

Kay Marie is the Treasurer of Crones Counsel, Inc. After her work life slowed down, she began attending our annual gatherings regularly since 2014. Her first gathering in San Diego in 1997 was shared with her sister, Janet Osborne (one of the women who attended the first Crones Counsel gathering in 1993). Kay Marie and Janet together brought their mother to a couple of gatherings as well.

She recently turned 76 years old, and during the past year took to her heart and her life her now constant companion, Prince, an elderly miniature poodle.
She has lived in Arizona since 1949.

Kay Marie is responsible for maintaining the corporate details and financial records for Crones Counsel Inc. and handles registration for the quarterly zoom and in-person gatherings.

Kay Marie leads the commitment of the Mother Board to fiscal accountability. Her contribution to maintaining Crones Counsel as a viable elder women’s organization is valuable and appreciated. Thank you, Kay Marie.
Dear Elsie
Dear Elsie

Dear Crones, greetings from Pixler Hill. It doesn’t matter what stage of the Cronehood journey we are going through; we all have questions from time to time and appreciate a fresh perspective. There is an enormous amount of wisdom within Crones Counsel and I would like us to put it to good use.

So, my lovelies, please help make this a truly interactive feature. Send me your questions, and answers, serious or not. Let’s have some fun!

Here is a response to last month’s query from “Too old for exercise”:

“Dear Elsie, Curious how your thoughts might be different if, while watching those action videos or movies, we were able to raise our heart rates to an aerobic level for us and being able to sustain that for the required length of time, maybe we could do our hearts some good? We might even use romantic videos and movies with our long-lost heartthrobs from adolescence and accomplish the same things. Sounds much more attractive than the hated exercises!

Always looking for a way to find another route to physical fitness!

July’s question:

Dear Elsie, why do they have ¾ cup measures now? Have cooking and baking recipes changed a lot?

(Signed)
Just wondering

Dear Wondering,
The first standardized measuring cup was invented by Fannie Farmer in 1896. Not being much of a cook, I suppose it was to help those of us who don’t use the handful of this and a pinch of that method.

Elsie

Any other ideas will be in the following newsletter.

Elsie is a Crone of indeterminate age ... suffice it to say she’s been around the block a few times. Right now, she lives up on Pixler Hill in West Virginia but traveled around the world before she settled there. You’ll learn more about Elsie in the coming issues. She is gracing our newsletter to give us advice and occasionally make commentary. So, ask away... send your questions to Elsie.
Poetry Corner
Measuring Friendship
By Kaya Kotzen

The length of years
the quality of the time spent
the heart connections
the well of tears shared
the anger and frustrations shared and heard
Life experiences witnessed and celebrated
Moments- too few - wanting more
or too many to remember?
Never enough for the sisterhood we women feel,
for the heart connections that we share.

Child rearing a common experience
"Family" gatherings, even when all are not
blood kin of the family
Just as good as what we were born with,
sometimes deeper, this family of choice,
chosen carefully, with deep trust given and received

These are just some of what I treasure, what I value,
what is important in how I measure
who is indeed a really true and dear friend.

If you would like to submit a poem for the next newsletter, please send it to Kaya Kotzen.
Crones Counsel
Annual gatherings about women of age, for women of all ages, sharing stories, enriching connections to ourselves, each other, and the world.


Crones Counsel