November 29, 2008 From The Traveling Man

Brethren, is Masonry dead? In 1875 WB Albert Gallatin Mackey, a distinguished Masonic scholar, predicted that if apathy and a lack of Masonic education where allowed to grow that Masonry would deteriorate into social clubs or mere benefit societies and that as such would fail completely being that there is no lack of more interesting rivals for membership in that area. Many Grand Jurisdictions, including our own, are currently or have recently conducted research into why Masonry has reached the lowest point in membership in its entire history. Without exception the results seem to be that Masons must take ownership of an identity that distinguishes Masonry from other men’s organizations. But, what are we? What should we be? Standard business marketing approaches really don’t apply to Masonry (Masons are not marketing cars or closet organizers.) Don’t Panic. Your 2009 Officers and other members have been considering this and our Lodge’s future. I can assure you that Masonry at Green Lake Lodge No. 149 is not dead yet. We’ll discuss this topic and our plans more in our December 4 Step Up Night meeting.

Fraternally,
Bro Leeland Artra, Worshipful Master Elect

P.S. Don’t forget about the new parking pass. It is valid for lodge activities only and it is ONLY for the Republic Parking Lot located at 434 NE 72nd Street, Seattle, WA 98115 (one block South-East from the Lodge.)

November 23, 2008 From The Traveling Man

SEATTLE, WA (Nov 23, 2008) Green Lake Lodge’s Worshipful Master Al Luberts and myself, Worshipful Master Elect Leeland Artra, were surprised by Most Worshipful Grand Master Douglas E. Tucker awarding Green Lake Lodge No. 149 the 2008 Pillar of Progress Award for Technology. Both of us were quietly ticking off the list of what we might be able to do next year to win a Pillar of Progress award when we were floored by the announcement that our Lodge had won the 2008 Technology Pillar of Progress.

What did we do? It was almost exclusively based on this web site. The combined calendar, membership communications, regularly updated content and automated contact form for interested parties was seen as a major achievement.

Needless to say we are honored at this recognition of our labors. Here is the award:




Fraternally,
Bro Leeland Artra, Worshipful Master Elect

November 12, 2008 From The Traveling Man

SEATTLE, WA (Nov 12, 2008) Green Lake Lodge’s new elected officers will be on display in an interesting possibly even educational demonstration of “How to run a stated meeting” on Thursday December 4, 2008. The meeting will have a few surprises. The free dinner & fellowship before the meeting will be worth the trip alone!

The new officers will be officially installed in an Open Installation Ceremony December 12, 2008. There will be music, a lovely dinner and lots of pomp and ceremony to please all. Also there will be some baby sitters on hand to play with the younger kids during the meal and ceremonies. So please bring your whole family it will be a wonderful evening for all. Dinner starts at 6:00p.m. and the ceremonies will commence at 7:00p.m.

Don’t recycle your Green Lake Lodge December issue of “The Trowel” mailing the second you get it. If you inspect it carefully you’ll find there is a parking pass for the two December meetings. Green Lake Lodge has arranged to use the nearby Republic Parking lot for its stated and special communications. Each monthly issue of “The Trowel” will have a new parking pass that must be displayed on the dash of your vehicle if you choose to park in the Republic Parking area. The parking lot is located one and a half blocks South East of the lodge at 434 NE 72nd Street, Seattle, WA 98115.

For those who came to the November stated meeting we hope you enjoyed the Brazilian guitar duo by local artists Dennis Moss & Kevin McCarthy provided during dinner as well as the fine cuisine provided by Chef Ty Link. We have some very interesting local live music lined up for all of our upcoming stated meeting dinners.

That will be it for the meetings until the next year. Don’t forget that our January stated meeting will be on Thursday January 8th not on the 1st due to the holiday.

Wishing you a joyful and happy holidays and a very wonderful New Year!

Fraternally,
Bro Leeland Artra, Worshipful Master Elect

November 3, 2008 From The East

Our upcoming Stated Meeting, this Thursday, November 6, 2008 at 6:30 PM, is very important for the Lodge, as we will be electing a new slate of officers for 2009. There will be our usual complementary dinner before the meeting at 6:30 PM, accompanied by musical entertainment. We will be trying out a new caterer for the dinner, so we expect it to be exceptionally good. Bring you wives or girl friends, children, and any friends whom you would like to show what we do. This event is not to be missed, as there will be a number of surprises.

Do not miss the Past Master Night Gala on Thursday, November 20th. There will be a special dinner at 6:30 PM, followed by a short ceremony at 7:30 PM, followed by a special musical entertainment program by "The Bobs."

Last Saturday, October 25th, I was present at the District 4 Masonic Lodge Association monthly breakfast meeting at Greenwood Temple. All officers and members are invited to attend these meetings, where we get the opportunity to get to know brethren from the other Lodges in our district, find out what is going on in their Lodges, and to plan activities for the whole district. The meetings are always at 8:00 am on the 4th Saturday morning of each month except for June, July, August and December, and are hosted by the Lodges in numerical Lodge order. The next MLA meeting will be on November 22nd at Greenwood Masonic Center at 8:00 AM.

On Saturday, November 22rd, at 6:30 PM, Districts 4 and 5 will hold a Reception for the Grand Master, MWB Douglas Tucker at University Lodge No. 141. This is an opportunity to meet the Grand Master, for those who have not had the chance. Tickets may be obtained from our District Deputy, VWB Brian Hardy.

There will be another of our semi-annual District 4 Bowling Tournaments at 2:00pm Sunday, November 23rd at Robinhood Lanes in Edmonds. Green Lake Lodge No. 149 is the current champion, and has won the trophy all but one time in history. This is a fun event for families, and there will be lanes with bumpers reserved for children, and plenty of munchies.

Fraternally,
WB Al Luberts, Worshipful Master

October 12, 2008 From The IT Committee

Brethren,

I am extremely happy to receive the compliments and feedback from all of you. I have endeavored to answer all of the questions directly. However, we have some questions that continue to come up. So I am going to provide some information here.

First let me say that joining this site will NOT put you onto some advertising lists, nor will it cost you a penny. Once you have joined the site you can create messages in the forum section or on ANY page or ANY picture with your comments, funny stories and or feedback for corrections. This site is an open discussion and sharing location for Green Lake Lodge and associated brethren.

Second you can contribute to this site. We are still working out the details of who can have access to what. As it stands right now if you are:

• A Green Lake Lodge No. 149 F. & A.M. member in good standing you may have, at your request, Moderator rights to help keep unwanted messages and trash off of the site;
• A Past Master of any District 4 lodge or a Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Washington team member, you may have, at your request and with the approval of the standing Master and/or IT Committee, Writers' access, which will allow you to edit the content of any page (add, subtract and correct) as well as the ability to add to the picture galleries;
• An IT Committee member or a current officer, you may have, at your request Administrators' Access. which will allow you to control the pages, site content and membership permissions.
  

Third, we can pay to remove the advertising content on this site but we cannot control what is being displayed in the advertisements. This requires signing up for a subscription and we need to confirm the operating budget for this site. Since we can use it for free with our existing and approved expenses (domain names, email hosting, name server services and web hosting) we are currently running in free mode with the advertisements. This will be a topic for discussion under new business at the next stated meeting. If the new budget is approved we will cause the advertisements to be removed.

Finally let me request that if you are a Green Lake Lodge Member please join this site. We need your help in adding new content, policing the current content and discussing events here. Also there is an automated announcement once a week detailing changes to the site that you can only get if you join the site and provide your email address.

- Bro Leeland Artra
IT Committee Chairman

October 8, 2008 From The IT Committee

The new web site is up we'll get the Worshipful Master to pony up with a picture and some interesting updates here as soon as possible.

In the mean time browse around a little bit and feel free to join our web site, post some comments in the forum. Definitely look through the Becoming A Mason section we have added a lot of content there that I am sure needs a good proof read or three.

- Bro Leeland Artra
IT Committee Chairman

September 29, 2008 From The East

Fall is in the air, the days grow colder, the leaves turn brighter colors, and Green Lake Lodge "jus' keep rollin' along." Our new library should be almost complete. A team of Lodge brothers came down to the Lodge on Sunday, September 21st, and prepared the room for installation of the new bookshelves, which occurred the following week. They look great! The carpet should be installed by the time of our stated meeting. We look forward to many enjoyable times making use of this fine new facility. Many thanks to those who helped with this project, especially VWB Mike Cuadra, who led the effort.

On September 18th we raised Brother Bob Schalkle to the sublime degree of Master Mason. At our last stated meeting we elected Mr. Vasilios P. "Bill" Polimenakos to take the degrees of Masonry and become a member of Green Lake Lodge No. 149. He owns several restaurants in the area and is a good friend of Brother Tom Karvounarias. Due to his busy schedule, he will not be able to take the First Degree until probably December.

On Thursday, October 2nd 2008 we will assemble at the Lodge dining room at 6:30 pm for a delicious meal. Bring your ladies, if you are so inclined. Children are welcome, too. At 7:30 pm we will open Lodge. If any Fellowcrafts or Entered Apprentices are present, we will open on the lowest degree so that they may share in our Lodge activities.

Brethren, time is getting short to identify which brothers will lead the Lodge as officers next year. The election is just one month away, and some potential "holes" have cropped up in the officers corps. We could use some brethren, especially Past Masters, to step up to the plate.

Last Saturday, September 27th, I was present at the District 4 Masonic Lodge Association monthly breakfast meeting at Greenwood Temple. All officers and members are invited to attend these meetings, where we get the opportunity to get to know brethren from the other Lodges in our district, find out what is going on in their Lodges, and to plan activities for the whole district. The meetings are always at 8:00 am on the 4th Saturday morning of each month except for June, July, August and December, and are hosted by the Lodges in numerical Lodge order. The next MLA meeting will be on October 25th at Greenwood Masonic Center.

There will be another of our semi-annual District 4 Bowling Tournaments at 2:00pm Sunday, November 23rd at Robinhood Lanes in Edmonds.

Fraternally,
WB Al Luberts, Worshipful Master

P.S. My wife, Darlene, and I have found a nice house in Puyallup's South Hill, and will be moving on November 10th. In spite of the distance, we will still be active in Green Lake Lodge.