(2-17-25) The Twenty First Century Club met on January 28, 2025 at the Tea Room of Rockford United Methodist Church, Rockford. Hostesses Rozann Maurer and Toni Bollenbacher prepared a yummy dessert. President Kim Carr welcomed everyone and called the meeting to order. Eleven members were present. Roll-Call was completed with everyone sharing their vacation packing habits.

Minutes from the meeting in November were read by secretary Cindy Canary and approved. Valerie Fritzinger’s treasurer’s report was approved.

Members had items for the Helping Hands Food Pantry in Rockford which still needs peanut butter (or member’s choice) to be collected at the next meeting.

Our theme “Adventures Await” was presented by two members: Karla Butler and Ann Gage. Karla presented a Powerpoint show with maps, photos and some video clips of the country of Sweden in the Arctic Circle. Karla gave us a geography lesson on Stockholm, Sweden, the capital of the City, their mountainous landscape, 2/3 forests and the arctic circle within their land mass. It is the land of 100 thousand lakes. Winters are dark and summers are sunny. The Nordic culture is the larger geographic area that includes the country of Sweden. Their culture is laid-back and simple. They live very simple due to high taxes. College and Health Care is all free, Nummerlapp means take a number and stand in line for everything, and no cash is used for purchases. Stockholm is built on 514 islands with 50 connecting bridges. There is a Viking Museum (their adventurous ancestors) and the official ABBA Music Museum. Karla explained that their ultimate comfort food is pea soup and pancakes, although an anchovy casserole is high o the menu along with their world-famous cinnamon rolls. Lutheran is their religion with 600 organized choirs. Karla ended with a lesson on a few of their Swedish words.

Ann Gage then presented her adventure to a couple spots in the Caribbean. On the Yucatan Peninsula is Cancun near St. Francis Island (French). St. Marten was the third stop (Dutch). In St. Francis and St. Martin, there are nude beaches, iguanas and handmade silver and turquoise jewelry for sale. Ann went on to tell about the fun all-inclusive Cancun resorts where May to December, hurricanes can threaten a vacation. The Mesoamerican barrier reef is a beautiful place to explore the bio-diversity and scuba dive, watching for sea turtles and searching for coral. There’s even an underwater museum there. Resorts are popular in Cancun where giant travel ships dock. A trip to the Mayan Ruins is also a popular activity as is scuba diving to underwater caves. Ann displayed her many unique refrigerator magnets from the trips of her children and grandchildren.

The next meeting will be on Tuesday, February 25, 2025 at 7 PM at Rockford United Methodist Church Tea Room. Karla Butler and Ann Gage will be evening hostesses. Members sharing their Adventures will be Julie Henkle and Janie Overley.

Contact Sheila Baltzell-Linn if you are interested in attending a meeting.
419-733-3326.