The OWLs took advantage of the warm weather in April to make the drive to Sugar Creek for “Yesterday’s Youth.” We heard a great program by Dick Iverson about his travels with Habitat for Humanity. Dick took us to Portugal, Costa Rica and Nepal. We also enjoyed a nice lunch and musical program. The attached photo is of some of the group on the deck. The sun was shining, and the ride down and back along the river was beautiful, with many eagles sighted. For our potluck we enjoyed good food and a fun interactive discussion with Aliyah Richling about her teaching experiences at UWL.

As we look forward to more warm weather in May we will turn our thoughts and adventures to summer activities.  For our potluck it’s time again to get to know each other better through our stories.  With summer approaching the theme will be “Our Favorite Summer Activities”  Please come prepared to talk for 5 minutes about your favorite summer activity, a favorite summer you remember, a special trip or activity or event you are looking forward to this summer.  Please bring any photo’s you would like share.  The May potluck will be on Wednesday, May 20th at noon in the narthex.

After our fun trip to the museum in Winona this winter, several have asked for an encore to learn more about Winona. For our May outing, we will return to Winona and take the famous Trester Trolley tour. The tour will give us an historic and architectural overview of the city. The tour is narrated by Clarence Russell, who will delight us with facts and maybe some stretched facts (OK, stories) about the city and its colorful people. The trolley is handicap accessible and totally ours for the two-hour tour. Cost of the tour is $15 payable the day of the tour. After the tour, we will head to a local establishment for a fine lunch and conversation. But we are not done yet. Before heading home, we will stop at the historic and beautiful Pickwick Mill. The Pickwick Mill was built from 1856 to 1858 by Thomas Grant and Wilson Davis and is one of the oldest water-powered gristmills in southeast Minnesota. Just 5 miles south of Winona it will be a great way to finish our day. We will leave from the church at 8:30 AM on Thursday, May 28 and return about 3 PM. We need to know ahead of time how many people are coming. Please contact Brian Narveson at owls@firtlu.org or 608-526-9700 by Tuesday, May 26, if you plan to attend. Feel free to invite a friend. Our cost goes down to $10 each if we have more than 15 people.

Hope to see everyone in May!

The OWLs are a group at First that welcomes anyone, First Lutheran members or not, who are 55+. For information or to ask questions, contact Brian Narveson.