(Adding in the Moment of Gratitude thoughts that I left out of the September 3 recap!)

“There's no shortage of reasons to be grateful for Dolly Parton's 80 years on this earth — all those books she's put into the hands of preschoolers, the songs she's written that mean something, and the sheer number of smiles she's brought to people's faces on stage and screen.

And we can't forget what she told Larry King back in 2016, when she talked about catching flak for standing up for the LGBTQ community. Her message, in short: ‘we're all God's children, we should be accepting and loving, and everyone deserves to be who they are.’”

We had two visitors from The Villages in Florida join us: Todd Freeman (past co-president of the morning Rotary club, alongside Bob Cruickshank) and David Brothers (past president of the Lexington, MA club).

For today's actual Moment of Gratitude, Ed Smith dug up a classic bit of verse from the Ogunquit Rotary book of invocations — a cheeky little poem about Rotary fighting bigotry,

The world's a mess and quite jittery,

but Rotary's against all bigotry,

We try hard to reach

both all and each,

but some can't think beyond Kittery! 

Lunch was a hit: Jonathan's tomatoes made an appearance, paired with beef short rib, mashed potatoes, and julienned squash.

Happy Dollars:

• Susan had a fun weekend in Boston with her sisters.
• Tracy was thrilled about how well the kite festival went — big shoutout to Dr. Nii Lokko and everyone who helped out, and it even got some airtime on Spectrum News!
• Dr. Joe's Norwegian "son" Tor and family are coming to visit him and Vickie next summer — he's pumped.
• Barbara loved the kite festival too, plus had family in town.
• Nancy is just really into September this year.
• Big thanks to Tracy (daily numbers), Erin (calling winners), and Elizabeth (posting results on Facebook).
• Eileen's been out and about with visiting friends. Her husband Gary's car had a weird, serious malfunction, but thankfully he's okay.
• Erin had exciting news on two fronts: her daughter Lexi and husband are buying a home in Sanford, and her new job is going great.
• Rick gave Tracy props for all her kite festival work.

Pete's poem of the day was all about the kite festival buzz —

“Looking awesome from across the river,” said he,

   “The entire town was buzzing all day,” said she,

“What an incredible day we had today!” sums it up,

    So, what else can you possibly say about our kite festival day?

Card draw: Dr. Joe picked the 2 and 10 of Hearts — so close, even with the deck running thin! Better luck next time, Joe.

Reminders:

• Social gathering Thursday at 4:30 at Connie's place (105 Fraser Pasture Road) — email Susan or Connie if you're coming!
• Jim gave a big thank-you to everyone who made the September Calendar Raffle such a success.
• Board meeting: Monday, September 21 at 5:00, Bangor Bank.