I guess we all know that we are anywhere from ankle to knee to waist deep and higher in snow, depending upon where we are at any given moment in Putnam ~ and many other locations this winter.
The sidewalks, where shoveled, are not wide. Lots of spots are not even shoveled. The roads are much thinner due to all the snow piled up along side them.
After doing a drive by yesterday, and not seeing much litter anyways, I thought it best to call off the clean up. Too dangerous!
But, being a creature of habit and routine, I still wanted to do something with our team in this time frame, to keep that bond growing.
So.... Price Chopper had some fabulously spring bunches of carnations available. I bought 2 bunches. Very small expense. (I bought a little less food this week, and we will certainly not miss it a bit). Last night I got out some neon green bright ribbon, cut the carnations up and tied up little mini-sunshine bouquets out of them. I now had 22 little bouquets!
This morning Team Putnamania met.
We started at Putnam Supermarket and handed out a few bouquets there. Then we went to DD and slowly but surely handed out the rest.
Lots of folks greeted our smiles and good wishes to brighten up their day with "what are you selling". It was hard for them to believe a few people were standing out in the chilly snow early on a Sunday morning. They relaxed considerably when we told them we just were handing out some sunshine! It was tremendous to see them walking away smiling with their mini-sunshine bouquets!
"Old John" in particular was very pleased with this transaction. He told us all that we must have had good parents to raise us all so well. And since 2 on our Team Putnamania today were under the age of 15, clearly their parents are doing a good job of it now.
Here is "Old John" with his mini-sunshine bouquet. from Spencer, MA. He comes down to Putnam for coffee with his pal Chico.
He told us he was a purple heart Viet Nam vet, and had a tough time of
it for a few years when he got back, but is doing just fine now. His
wife, Theresa, however is dealing with cancer, and "old John" asked for
prayers for her. See him and his tractor at the Woodstock Fair, always Labor Day weekend. His tractor will have 2 USA flags flying on it.
Going out and doing something like this on your own would be very hard, especially if you are a bit shy. With great teammates, it was a fun and easy thing to do.
I'll bet if you had your own little team that you could also do some fun things together, too! Start out with bi-weekly clean ups in an area near you, or that means something to you, or maybe that just needs a little good community action and tender loving care in it. One hour every other week. Make it a consistent day and time. People will join you!
I am a Putnamaniac that loved meeting "Old John", and could not have done it without Team Putnamania!
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