December 2011

Next Membership Meeting

Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2012Social 6:30 p.m.

Meeting 7:00 p.m.

Westminster Hall, 1420 W. Moss

Topic: traffic control in the neighborhood. Our guest will be

Mr. David Barber, Director of Public Works for the City of Peoria.

Monthly Messenger

Moss-Bradley Annual

Holiday Party Wednesday, December 7

6:30 p.m.

Join your neighbors for a fun evening with

appetizers and desserts at the home of James Adams,

1200 Moss Avenue.

Happy holidays!

PHO

TO B

Y TA

TIAN

A JO

HN

SON

2 – Monthly Messenger – December 2011

Meetings, meetings …

Though it has seven letters for some people the word “meeting” provokes re-actions as severe as one of the forbidden four-letter words. Mention a meeting and many of us have negative images of waiting for latecomers, boring speakers, and feeling like we’d give anything for a decent cup of coffee.

We worry about the things we might miss, perhaps another activity we regard as so much more fun, like doing laun-dry or changing the kitty litter. Early morning meetings are especially bad, and evening meetings may be the worst of all. Once home from work, many of us just want to hibernate, catch our favorite TV entertainment, fix a nice supper, or pick up a good book. Just mention the need to attend a meeting and many people go cold.

Knowing the above I will still try to convince you to attend Moss-Bradley Residential Association meetings. I’m sure that those who attend have many different reasons for doing so. For some, the social aspects are most important. For others there may be an interest in a particular program – a good example is the popular candidates’ forum held prior to local elections. Some members attend when they want to air a concern or a complaint, or get an answer to a question. All these are valid reasons.

One reason that may not have occurred to you is that attending MBRA meet-ings is one way you can help make a

better neighborhood. Knowing others in your neighborhood is a good thing for many reasons; you may find a com-mon interest you didn’t know existed. The MBRA Board can be more effec-tive in representing you if we know you and your concerns. The Board schedules programs on topics we believe may be of interest to residents or will help achieve a better-informed com-munity. Often however, we don’t know in advance that a specific issue will be discussed because a resident brings it to the membership. Whether or not a topic is planned, we still need your thoughts and opinions to reach the right decision.

In the coming months, we know our meetings will include discussions of traffic in the neighborhood and we may consider options for traffic calming. We’ll discuss potential opportunities for expanding our membership and moving our meetings to a new location. These are important topics and we need input from as many residents as possible. Other concerns that we don’t anticipate will also be heard.

I hope to see you soon. Don’t forget the December meeting is the Holiday Party. Join your neighbors for a fun evening at the home of James Adams, 1200 Moss Ave. on Wednesday, Dec. 7 at 6:30 p.m.

Happy Holidays!

Rod LorenzPresident, Moss-Bradley Residential Association

A Letter from the President

Support St. Mark’s School BookfairSubmitted by Bonnie Mason

Our neighborhood schools need our help. Available funding has changed, but our kids’ needs haven’t. Our neigh-borhood schools are turning to us for help through creative fundraising of all sorts and bookfairs are such fundraisers.

St. Mark Grade School is having a bookfair on Dec. 10 at Barnes & Noble Booksellers, located at 5001 N. Big Hollow Road in Peoria (Glen Hollow Shopping Center). Save the day and support the school! Make a list of the books you want or would buy between now and Dec. 10 and purchase them at the bookfair. Supporters of the bookfair must present a valid voucher or men-tion participation in the bookfair at the register for their purchases to count toward the in-store bookfair total.

Send us your observations, story ideas or feedback! Email Kelly at mossbradleynews@gmail.com

Monthly Messenger – December 2011 – 3

News from Courtyard Estates of PeoriaSubmitted by Amanda Hendricks

Upcoming events: Courtyard Estates of Peoria will hold a Christmas Walk and Open House on Saturday, Dec. 10 from 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and will feature Grand Tours (Walk of Homes of resident apartments). Enjoy live entertainment, spirits, hors d’oeuvres, and a visit from Santa, who will be available from 11:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. The public is invited to this free event.

Courtyard Estates of Peoria is hosting “The Geezers” Con-cert on Tuesday Dec. 13 from 3:00-4:00 p.m. The public is invited to this free event.

Courtyard Estates Celebrate Veterans Day: On Thurs-day, Nov. 10, Calvin Coolidge Middle School Band visited Courtyard Estates of Peoria for a Veterans Day program and lunch. The Band played a wealth of patriotic songs and said a few words in honor of our Veterans. Many residents at are veterans so this was a great opportunity for Calvin Coolidge Middle School to give thanks to those who have served. After the program subsided, the children ate lunch and visited with the residents of Courtyard Estates of Peoria.

For more information, contact Courtyard Estates of Peoria at 674-2400.

school notes

News from WhittierSubmitted by Doug Atkins

Whittier Primary School is holding its first-ever Craft Fair on Saturday, Dec. 10 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. We would love to see our surrounding community come out to support our school and the many central Illinois “crafting artists” showing and selling their wares at this inaugural event! Thank you so much for your continued support of Whittier. For more information: contact Principal Atkins at 672-6569.

News from Westminster Presbyterian ChurchSubmitted by the Westminster Church Office

Service of Lessons and Carols: Sunday, Dec.4, 10:00 a.m., Sanctuary. Celebrate the Advent season with readings and music. Free; all are welcome.

Advent Festival: Sunday, Dec. 4, 11:30 a.m., Fellowship Hall. Lunch, crafts, music, and fun for all ages. Free; free-will offer-ing accepted; all are welcome.

Intergenerational Study: “Christmas Gifts That Won’t Break” Sundays during Advent: Dec. 4, Dec. 11, and Dec. 18. 5:00-6:30 p.m., Fellowship Hall. During this all-ages event, we will explore and celebrate the gifts of hope, love, joy, and peace. Bring a snack to share. Free; all are welcome.

Christmas Eve Worship: Saturday, Dec. 24, carol sing at 4:00 p.m. and worship at 4:30 p.m., Sanctuary. Free; all are welcome.

Christmas Day Worship and Communion: Sunday, Dec. 25, 10:00 a.m., Sanctuary. Free; all are welcome.

For more information, call 673-8501 or visit www.westminsterpresbyterian.org

Submit your organization’s news and events to mossbradleynews@gmail.com

4 – Monthly Messenger – December 2011

1721 W. Barker

Peoria, IL

This spacious house is ready for new owners! Located on Barker Avenue, this home built in the 1920’s has lots of space for your family to live and grow in! Enjoy the open plan between the living room and the dining room, but take a moment for yourself in the parlor or separate office space. The house has a good-sized kitchen with bathroom and laundry facilities on the main floor. The large driveway and newer garage are convenient for today’s multi-car families. $114,900

4 Bedrooms Bathrooms: 1 full and 2 half-baths LARGE Rooms

o Parlor: 12' X 15' o Living room: 15' X 18' o Dining room: 12' X 15' o Office: 10 X 10' o (Additional measurements upon request or showing.)

Kitchen (Range/Oven, Refrigerator) Laundry on Main Floor (Washer/Dryer) Central Air, Whole House Fan 2-Car Garage

Moss-Bradley Revolving Fund

This house is being shown by the Moss-Bradley Revolving Fund, whose goal is the increase of owner-occupied properties on the West Bluff. The Fund enables home buyers to acquire properties through

sweat equity, regular payments and the support of neighborhood investment.

For More Information: Abbie Alexander (309) 674-8216 & Marjorie Klise (309) 674-6864

Visit us online at http://mossbradley.com/revolving_fund/

Monthly Messenger – December 2011 – 5

Malvern Musings

A monthly column about growing things and growing a great neighborhoodSubmitted by Dan Callahan

“Sound Check”

I am listening to sounds of the year that is drawing to its close. An owl’s wings flap as it swoops from our sassafras grove into the woods beyond. It’s at once a shock – I hadn’t known it was near – and a reassurance. This parcel has become its flyway and also its refuge.

We, in this extraordinary neighborhood, function both as a bustling interchange and also as a place of sanctuary and peace. We sit perched between campus and city center, blufftop and valley. Be-tween the oldest part of the city and the “middle-aged” sections. At this end of town and this end of the calen-dar, the contrast of extremes becomes all the more acute. Listen. There is much to hear.

Somehow, crickets have kept on chirping, though you would think they would be exhausted by now. It’s been a long season. They don’t seem to give up easily. Squirrels clamber over a wooden fence top and scamper through drifts of leaves. They make so much racket, you’d think it was a person walking up the lane. But they aren’t talking on a cell phone, so that is a clue. The beech and oak rustle in the slightest breeze and will resist dropping their leaves until quite late. Maybe that will happen in some com-ing snowfall; it’s always hard to know what will shake their vestments loose.

Students chant something that carries

across from campus on a Sunday evening not long ago. Are they angry? Are they cheering? Are they just screaming to hear themselves? I have never understood these sounds, but I know it carries farther once we get this late in the year. It’s an energetic rant; this I know for sure.

I remember the horrendous shrieks and bricks crashing, as Westminster House was torn apart a few weeks ago. A massive, monstrous assault with the biggest piece of equipment we’ve ever seen up here. More energy expended. Was this a kind of adolescent rage? I will never forget those sounds. Wind whistles across the empty lot where the house stood. For eleven decades, that mighty edifice stood up to the bluff’s mighty breezes. There is noth-ing to stop those now. It seems that we in our little “village” got caught in the crosshairs of a claim of religious freedom.

As I said, we in Moss-Bradley are an intersecting point in our city. We sometimes seem to be under siege.

Have you been by Cody Court lately? More monster machines at work. In these moments, I wish I could wrap my arms around this neighborhood and place it in protective custody. Shield it from the sounds and assaults and agony.

And then comes a mo-ment of quiet. I reflect on the positive things we’ve seen in this year

two thousand eleven. A whisper of hope for the Hale Memorial Church at High and Main streets. The new artist studios on Sheridan just off Main Street. New neighbors mov-ing in, and old ones showing their remarkable care and concern for one another. The steady repetition of hammering and paint scraping that really never stops up here in these parts. Those sounds may be traded in the coming days with holiday music and snow shovels hitting the pave-ment. But they will return in the spring.

Despite all the failures of this year and all the challenges that come from being “caught in the middle” as we are in our neighborhood, I will try to stay optimistic. It only takes a short walk in the area, with that white stuff crunching underfoot and perhaps a cardinal’s song in my ear to restore me.

Listen. And let us know what you hear.

PHOTO BY JOHN MARTER

6 – Monthly Messenger – December 2011

live Music corner

Sunday, Dec. 4 – The Peoria Pops Orchestra presents “Christmas at the Movies.” at 2:30 p.m. at Five Points (360 N. Wilmor Rd, Washington). Admission is $15/adults, $12 for seniors (62+) & youth (17 & under). Call 444-8222 for tickets or more information.

Wednesday, Dec. 7 – The Central Illinois Jazz Orchestra at the Field-house Bar and Grill in Campustown, 1200 W. Main St, from 7:00-9:00 p.m. Call 494-9600.

Tuesday, Dec. 13 – Courtyard Estates of Peoria is hosting “The Geezers” Concert from 3:00-4:00 p.m. The public is invited to this free event.

Dec. 16 – “A Little Noon Music”. A string quartet will celebrate the sea-son at the GAR Hall, 416 Hamilton, at noon. This is a lunch and listen event where people can bring a lunch and enjoy the holiday music.

Note: The Central Illinois Jazz Society does not have a program this month.

Motor Mites at FRC!Monday & Wednesday:

9:15-11:15 amFriday: 9:15-11:15 am & 1-3 pm

Let your energetic toddlers enjoy the fun of playing freely with scooters, balls, hula hoops, tumbling equip-ment, and more in our huge gym! It’s a great way for them, and you, to socialize. A parent or guardian must attend.

Franciscan Recreation Complex 908 Sterling Avenue in West Peoria

www.peoriaparks.org or call 677-6705.

The December ReviewSubmitted by Bonnie Mason

Preparation for the Christ-mas season seems to start earlier and earlier every year – I am exhausted, and it isn’t even Thanksgiving yet! All in all, what a fantastic fall. The weather has been delightful for the most part, the trees have been beautiful colors, now turned to those bare black branches against the gray cloud sky, and what a full moon – rather breathtaking in the early evening sky! I love it!

One of my favorite items this season is a sign posted at Nordstrom’s saying the store will be “decking the halls” after Nov. 27. “We prefer to celebrate one holiday at a time, so from all of us at Nordstrom’s, ‘Happy Thanksgiving!’” Hoorah, Nordstrom’s!! A store with a born semblance of elegance!

In keeping with the idea of elegance, and simple elegance at that, I found the new Martha Stewart book a delight to behold. Titled Martha’s Entertaining A Year of Celebrations, it is a “cof-fee table” book filled with beautiful things: beautiful table settings, beauti-

ful scenery, décor, linens, beautiful food, beautiful people and events, beauti-ful color schemes. What a charming escape … Page after page of beautifully shot

photographs. One could literally pour over this book for hours! Recipes for all of the celebration menus are in the back section of the book. If you have an appreciation of the simply beauti-ful, simply elegant in life do not miss at least glancing through Martha’s Enter-taining. It is truly an inspiration to put more into life and use the best that we have and enjoy! Published by Clarkson/Potter, 2011, the book sells for $75.00.

From a totally different perspective, yet elegant in its own right is the new American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition, “You are your words. Make the most of them.” appears on the front dust jacket. This dictionary has been 10 years in the making – a labor of love to all those involved. Note that the Art and Produc-tion Supervisor is Margaret Anne Miles, a native Peorian. “This beautiful new edition contains 2112 pages, but also includes a passkey code for a free down-load of a smartphone app that works

with iPhone or Android platforms. The app puts the entire dictionary at your fingertips anytime, anywhere, making this one of the most comprehensive and useful resources available on a mobile device.” A great family Christmas gift, published by Houghton Mifflin Har-court, 2011, the dictionary sells for $60.00.

My favorites, of course, are the kids’ books. William Joyce and Laura Geringer have begun a “juvie” series with a picture book titled, The Man in the Moon. The series is called “The Guardians of Childhood” and the first volume of epic adventure is available: Nicholas St. North and the Battle of the Nightmare King. It is the story of St. Nick before he was St. Nicholas. The next volume, out this spring, will tell the tale of the Easter Bunny. Not only are these well-written, creative adventure stories, fun to read aloud, but the books are truly little works of art. Published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers, Simon & Shuster, 2011, hardcover they sell for $17.99 and $14.99.

Peace and Love to you all – be good to each other! Merry Christmas!

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1Zoning Commission 1 pm City Hall Room 400

2Bradley Women’s Choir 7:30 pm - Dingeldine Music Center - $5/ Students Free

Plaza Suite 7:30 pm - Corn Stock Theatre Center

3Bradley String Chamber Music 3 pm - Dingeldine Music Center - Free

Bradley Jazz Ensemble 7:30 pm - Dingeldine Music Center - $5/ Students Free

Plaza Suite 7:30 pm - Corn Stock Theatre Center

4MSCS - Bradley Chorale & Chamber Singers 3 pm - Dingeldine Music Center - $5/ Students Free

Plaza Suite 2:30 pm - Corn Stock Theatre Center

5Colligium Musicum 7:30 pm - Dingeldine Music Center - Free

6Bradley Piano Student Recital 7:30 pm - Dingeldine Music Center - Free

7Moss-Bradley Annual Holiday Party 6:30 pm Home of James Adams,1200 W. Moss

8 9Plaza Suite 7:30 pm - Corn Stock Theatre Center

10Whittier School Craft Fair 9 am - 4 pm

Plaza Suite 7:30 pm - Corn Stock Theatre Center

11 12 13 14 15 16 17

18 19 20 21 22Last Day of School PSD 150 for Winter Break

23 24

25 26 27 28Historic Preservation Commiss3on

8:30 am City Hall Room 400

29 30 31New Year’s Eve

Happy Holidays from   

    and 

December 2011 Calendar compiled by Amy Blain

Moss-Bradley Residential Association1512 W Barker AvePeoria, IL 61606

DateD Material – Please Deliver ProMPtly PRST.STDU.S. Postage

PAIDPermit #1036

Peoria, IL 61601

officers & coMMittees

West Bluff Council Marjorie Klise 674-6864 Paul Masick 674-6365Bradley Univ. Robert D. Aviles 673-8896Moss Ave. Sale Jan Krouse 676-7900Neighborhood Pride AvailableSocial Dr. Lindsey & Kathy Ma 637-3271Historic Commission Paul Masick 674-6365 Sid Ruckriegel 303-0083Landscaping Dan Callahan 673-7348Greeter Skip Cravens 674-8037Greenway Project Peter Getz 673-0925Webmaster Steve Erke 678-0370TriCorn Park Jim Adams 256-1484

BoarD MeMBers

President Rod Lorenz 673-9520Vice President Jim Evenhuis 303-3245Secretary Brian Buralli 369-2037Treasurer Jim Adams 256-1484Director Margaret Cousin 676-2460Director Wayne Johnson 453-9436Director Marjorie Schwebel 672-2363Director Tim ShawDirector Rita Speck 453-6700

non-voting Past PresiDents

Sid Ruckriegel 303-0083 Andrew McGowan 677-9808 Paul Masick 674-6365 Joanne Bannon 676-0330

newsletter

mossbradleynews@gmail.com

Kelly Kolton, EditorSkip Cravens, Mailing and Subscription CoordinatorAmy Blain, CalendarMonthly Contributors and Photographers as credited

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