Happy New Year!
Greeting from the East
from Wor. Doug Ford
Happy New Year and welcome to the new Masonic year.
As we start the New Year, we are all busy with our families and friends, celebrating either with a large party or just with the ones we love. I hope that you had a wonderful New Year’s Eve and the new year will be prosperous, healthy, and wonderful for you.
This is my first article for the new year, and my term
The lodge needs your support… not with financial aid or anything like that, but with your time. You joined this organization for a reason, and I am hoping that you can donate some time to help the lodge be successful. Whether you donate your time by attending a degree, helping on a committee, or even by showing up for doughnuts and coffee, your participation is greatly appreciated.
The cover of the Trestleboard is a mash-up of two items – the first is a communicator pin used from the TV show Star Trek: The Next Generation, and the square and compass. I am using this mash-up of a symbol for several
Too many times, we live in the moment not thinking about the future of our own lives, of those around us or, in our case, the future of the fraternity. That’s not what we should be doing. We need to plan for the future so that we can be successful in our tasks as brothers and the events that we need to pull off to make Consuelo an active lodge.
Another aspect of the TV show Star
To the younger brothers who want to know how Masonry can make you better, it’s by learning that if you have a task to do, you do it! You learn the ideas of responsibility, as well as putting aside your own personal motives and realizing that you want the lodge to succeed.
January will be a slow month as it takes time to ramp up with a new changing of the guard. Check the web site for activity dates.
The list of dates:
14th – Stated Meeting & Dinner
21 – Dark (closed)
25 – Open House Pot Luck!!
28 – District 911 OSI
Again, thank you for your confidence and support in me running the lodge for the 2019 year.
Sincerely & Fraternally yours.
Christmas Holiday Fun!!
From the West
by Tracy Reynolds
This New Year brings new perspectives as time moves us forward. There is always the opportunity to reflect on the past to glean lessons that can help us with challenges that come our way.
From the West I saw the letter G suspended in East and thought about that beautifully distributed light. I reflect back on a time when I saw the silhouette of light bulbs within the framing of the G. It was something that I noticed but never mentioned because it didn’t seem to be bothering anyone. Then another Brother mentioned it to me and we set about on the adventure of resolving this challenge. This Brother found a piece of diffusion plate to fit in behind the G and since then the light has been beautifully distributed. The genius of the solution was in its’ simplicity and its’ execution. After contemplating the G in the East I started looking at the Brethren sitting in the sidelines.
From the West I had a view of all my Brothers, and Friends I might add, that were seated in the Lodge room. I thought about the thoughtful music played at the installation, the financial reports that are so important and well done, the important work that happens behind the scenes that leads to accurate reporting to us at Our Stated Meetings, hockey, the financial reporting of investments (which gives great insight to current financial investment climate), colonoscopy’s, nuts and bolts and dolly’s, Child ID, the Sound System, wireless connectivity, the beautiful doors to our lodge, the great ties a lot of us are wearing, the great music we hear during our degrees, the cool suspenders holding up my pants, the shoes on my feet, I could go on but this sentence is already too long.
The point here is that there is part of each of You in these memories. You are all permanently imprinted in my memories. But what about new Brothers that have not experienced Your presence yet? Or had the opportunity to know those who have passed on?
Recently, I had a great discussion with a really good Friend and Brother. It was rather sad though. We were discussing the question of: at what point do our memories of a Brother that no longer attends Lodge fade from our memory. Many of the memories I have, include Brothers that have moved to the Celestial Lodge above. We all have memories. Please share them?
From the South
by Bro. Jesse Middleton
New Year, New Ashlar?
Happy New Year Brothers. I would like to first start off by thanking Worshipful Doug Ford for nominating me to be this year’s Junior Warden, and all of you, for electing me to serve you. I give you my word, that I will serve you all with fervency and zeal. This coming year will be both a successful year, and a year of new achievements. This year, we will continue to make ourselves better, and in return, make each other better. Most Worshipful Stuart A. Wright, in his 2019 Grand Master’s Proclamations, wrote for the month of January to “Pledge to Make a Difference Every Month.” Because as Most Worshipful Wright says, “We make a difference.” Each and every one of you who is reading this makes a difference. You make a difference in each other’s lives, in your communities’ lives, and in Consuelo Lodges’ legacy.
Each New Year, we hear, “New Year, New Me!” Many of us start off with a New Year resolution to do something that is supposed to improve ourselves, throughout the year. We start off the year excited to break off the rough and superfluous parts of ourselves, hoping to reach that perfect ashlar, but when time and demands weigh us down, we set those resolutions aside, trying to find some peace in our hectic schedules. This year, I challenge you, my Brothers, to stand beside me in an attempt to live closer to those Masonic tenants we started our journeys with.
We should start the year with due restraint, allowing our minds to become as free as possible from the allurements of vice. This year, we should strive to find a balance in our lives, making sure not to succumb to excess or indulgences, the both of which will quickly derail any person from attaining any goal whether it be spiritually, professionally, or financially. This will take constant practice, and we will all suffer setbacks throughout the year, but ever remember our duty to promote each other’s welfare, and rejoice in each other’s prosperity. We are a Brotherhood, we fail and succeed together.
Prudence is something everyone should practice, in all of their dealings. This even includes social media! Before saying or doing something, take a moment to think of the benefit of what you are about to do or say. Use your wise judgement, as prudence should be a characteristic you hold both in Lodge, and when about in the community. If you wouldn’t say it or do it in Lodge, don’t post it on Social media, or say it elsewhere outside of Lodge. These transgressions, big or small, will always come back to us, and will affect our future happiness.
This year, let justice be our shinning beacon on the hill. Aim to show every person the due respect they deserve. Be that exemplary Brother! Hold no ill will towards anyone, especially a worthy Brother Mason, acknowledge a Brother’s hard work, let him know that it doesn’t go unnoticed, and refrain from gossip and the spreading of unverified information. These are just a few of the attributes which cement and support a strong and civil society.
Finally, we must acknowledge that working on our own ashlar is no easy task. Whether we could actually reach a perfect ashlar on this plane, would be both a great and lengthy conversation. Nonetheless, we should always strive to be better. Not better than the next person, but better than the you, you were yesterday. It will take a certain degree of mental toughness to push through the obstacles we will all individually face in the coming year, but fortitude allows us, when we have a fixed and steady purpose of mind, to break those barriers and continue to improve ourselves. It is those barriers, those mental obstructions that we place upon ourselves that is the rough and superfluous parts of our ashlar, and I have no doubt, everyone reading this, has a great year of growing and succeeding ahead.
I encourage everyone this year to lend a hand to a Brother, to work together in unity, and encourage each other to be the very best we can, as we all continue to improve ourselves and make a difference in the world around us. As I close, I will leave you with a quote from our first President, and Brother, George Washington,” Happiness and moral duty are inseparably connected.”
Attention everyone who is reading this:
Come join Consuelo Lodge with a Potluck Dinner!
Friday, January 25 – 6:30 PM.
It’s Free!!
The Officers will be preparing a meal to share with everyone!
We don’t care if you are current on your dues or not, just show up after sending an email saying that you are coming, and also include the number of people in your group.
All that is needed is to send an email to
[email protected].
Please let us know how many people are coming for that dinner!
We want to have everyone come out and meet the new officers, have fun, get reacquainted with your brothers and friends, play some games, and have fun on a Friday night. Bring your own libation,
if you desire something stronger than water!
Third Degree Anaversory
| Years | Name |
| 37 | George Acuna |
| 64 | Carl Bergman |
| 4 | Joshua Caldwell |
| 21 | John Crosthwaite |
| 39 | Ronald Cullins |
| 34 | Thomas Handell |
| 70 | Fred Larmie |
| 26 | Gary Long |
| 43 | James Miller |
| 7 | Nelson Norgell |
| 25 | Tracy Reynolds |
| 19 | Robert Smith |
| 2 | Jason Stone |
| 17 | Richard Van Overmeiren |
| 27 | Kit Vinson |
January Birthdays!!
| Birthday | Name |
| 01/02 | Richard Cook |
| 01/02 | Henry Evans |
| 01/02 | Herbert Harrison |
| 01/02 | David Steinmetz |
| 01/03 | Shawn Proffitt |
| 01/08 | Ryan Nasseri |
| 01/09 | Bobby Wagner |
| 01/10 | Thomas Handell |
| 01/12 | Allan Nanson |
| 01/14 | Stuart Morpeth |
| 01/19 | Randal Barlow |
| 01/21 | Christopher Clark |
| 01/21 | Fred Larmie |
| 01/21 | Robert Schwend |
| 01/21 | Jerel Tolentino |
| 01/26 | Gilliardo Victoriano |
| 01/28 | Avery Crespin |