Attending: Bob Allen,  President Keith Carpenter, April Clark, Charles Cohen, Keith Dahlgren, Shaun Dean, Katie Dugan, Eli Edwards, Ed Jefferson, Tori Scott, Shaio-yen Wu; guest Tim Weinhold and speaker Steve Lorton.

President Keith began the meeting with a gong, and led the pledge of allegiance.  President Keith spoke an invocation, and the meeting officially began.

President Keith started the meeting by being the last club member to add to the Rotary Foundation, making the Rotary Club of North Seattle 100%.

Eli Edwards, Steve Lorton and Tim Weinhold.  Photo by Bob Allen

The Happy Bucks basket was passed around by Shaun Dean, who was happy to be here.  Katie was pleased to be here with her friend Steve Lorton, but also asked for prayers for a friend who had had a stroke on Sunday.  Eli Edwards and April Clark were both happy to be at the meeting.  Bob Allen was pleased that the Rotary foundation giving was 100%.  Tori Scott had a great Mother’s Day weekend, and her husband is off riding a motorcycle across the country.  She also spent a nice day at Richmond Beach’s Strawberry Festival with her daughter.  Ed Jefferson reminds everyone that it’s Spring and we need shoes for the Shoes for Soles program, men’s and boys. Shiao-yen Wu says that life is wonderful, the weather is beautiful.  Tim Weinhold is pleased that he was within a day of a diet restriction, and could eat again soon.  President Keith planted lots of flowers over the weekend for Mother’s Day.

The Carol Baumann question was from Tori Scott, and was about Bill Haley and the Comets, whose big hit Rock Around the Clock was released this week in 1954.

President Keith’s words of encouragement were about the velodrome in Redmond. A friend of his rode his bike in it, and the ends are banked at a steep 45 degree angle.  In order to make the curve, one must speed up, not slow down.  Keith’s friend tried several times to ride this curve but would slow down and crash.  Once he took the leap and headed into the curb at a good clip, centrifugal force took over and he made the curve.  Keith says there are scary times when we want to stop or slow down, but sometimes we need to fully engage, to speed into the trouble and trust that we’ll get through.

Katie Dugan (whose birthday is May 17th!) introduced her neighbor Steve Lorton as the speaker (see related story).

Next week:  Student of the month!

Steve Lorton has the pleasure of being a neighbor of Katie Dugan.  He also spent 33 years as an editor and staff member of Sunset Magazine, after graduating from Oregon and serving in the Army.  Steve is a master gardener, and Katie says his garden is always lush and beautiful.

Steve began by saying that even if you aren’t a gardener, there are plants that are easy and low maintenance, and will make your garden look great.  He brought samples of plants from his garden. Native plants like the swordfern are easy to plant (in November) easy to care for, and look great when you trim back their old ferns in spring.  Maidenhair fern is another easy fern to have in one’s garden, and the Native Americans used it for basketry.   English Bluebell propagates itself all over your garden, as does mint.  Steve brought some mint and another type of ivy called Needlepoint ivy, both of which are descendants of plants brought back from Prince Charles’ Highgrove estate.

Katie Dugan and Steve Lorton.  Photo by Bob Allen

Steve fascinated the Rotarians with samples of feverfew, liriope, fuchia magellanica (named for Magellan) syrinthia (sp?), windmill palms, and others with long Latin names.  It was a wonderful talk about plants, and several Rotarians invited Steve to come back again soon and talk more about what grows in his garden.

Hey North Seattle Rotarians!  Got some news about you or your company?  Email the Bulletin Editor the copy, and it will be in a future edition!