A visit with Jack

John Harris Watts is the Grand Secretary of the Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons of the State of Iowa. He is also the Grand Recorder of the Grand Council of Royal and Select Masters of the State of Iowa and when I was Grand High Priest (self-plug there) he was the General Grand Master of the Cryptic Masons, International.

We have been friends for years. He lives in Grand Junction, Iowa where he maintains the Office of the Grand Secretary Recorder. I had some books to take to him. (He is the recipient of many of my old books when I have finished with them and he always enjoys getting them.)

I e-mailed him the other day to see if I could come over to bring him books and we could have lunch. He doesn't reply by e-mail but when I got back from errands there was a message on the answering machine to come over.
We had a nice visit in his office before going to eat, and he showed me some of his treasures. He has been head of several national organizations and belongs to more things than I do so he has a lot of "stuff" and it was fun to see them.
The above is one of the neatest things he has. It is a Past Grand High Priest Jewel presented to Homer Hewlett Hemenway for service 1866-1868 - Iowa. It was presented to the Grand Chapter Royal Arch Masons of Iowa by his great-grandson, Robert Earle Hawthorne of Colorado Springs Colorado in 1986. I really enjoyed seeing Jack's treasures.
Jack has a lot of books on his shelves and he has many mementos displayed in front of them. It was fun to see some of the things that had been given at grand sessions. I recognized a lot of them. Jack gave me some old Chapter Medals from sessions and I appreciate them.
We went across the street for lunch and they had home made Chicken and Noodles. And I mean they were home made. Also had some home made apple crisp. Excellent. Not from "frozen food city" where many restaurants get their food. I decided to play with the salt shaker since it was the kind we used to play with when I was a kid...(Yeah I know what do I mean "was") - I can still do it. Balancing it on the edge is tricky. You are supposed to blow the salt away but I wanted to get the picture.
This is the restaurant. Not much business but good food and a nice waitress. I enjoyed myself.

That is the view down the street with Jack's Jeep in front ot his office. A small fut friendly town and I always like to visit there. - As I left the town I saw the tree in the picture below. You can tell it is just beginning to change. I imagine that a week from now they will be in full glory.
I hope you had as enjoyable a day as I did. Hugs, j-bear