The Monarch's Blog
October 11th 2008
Greetings Prophets,
Well it's been some time now since I
posted a Blog, your Monarch has been very busy with work and
life in general.
Tomorrow will be our Clam Bake /Steak Fry
I hope everyone has a great time. As you know in September
we had a Humanitarian Foundation Dinner in which we
generated just over 154.00 dollars. All of which went to the
foundation. I want to thank the Prophets for the generosity
extended to help the Foundation and to myself as well.
We have moved to forego our Lucky Dog
drawing until the end of the year in favor of putting those
funds towards the Children's Christmas Party, which I
believe is a great idea. Also all the profit from the Clam
Bake / Steak Fry will go to the Party.
We understand the economy is in trouble
at the moment but if you can see it in your heart to help a
needy child please consider contributing in whatever way
possible to the Christmas Party this year you may obtain a
Donation Flyer
Here
Also please remember that out
Thanksgiving Dinner will be on November 15th at 6pm, Oberlin
Masonic Temple, this is the same day as the Past
Masters Convocation.
The Following Saturday will be Stonington
Lodge's Installation of Officers in which (If so elected)
your Monarch will be installed as Worshipful Master of
Stonington Lodge #503 I would love to see you there.
El Rey Grotto will also be purchasing an
advertisement in the 22nd District Directory, we will have 2
- 3 versions to chose from at the November Session. Don't
forget November's Session will be a big night as we will
have Nominations, Tassel Award Elections and Move-Up Night!
Prophet David Kick has been ill again, I
know he is trying to make as many meetings as he can. But he
was not able to make our October Session. Please Keep him in
your thoughts and prayers
Monarch - James Tournas
June 1st 2008
Greetings Prophets,
Due to some personal and family
obligations, I had to cancel a few of my plans. I will not
be attending Supreme Council this year, however SCDD Todd
Lusher PM will be attending and Venerable Prophet David Kick
will be attending and will carry my vote.
Lady Erin was unable to attend the
Prophet at Sight event, but Prophet Kick and I had a very
nice time.
I have had to postpone a visit to a few
Grottoes I had planned on visiting. However, I will be
travelling the realm again very soon.
In June we do not have much planned in
the lead up to our Master Mason Night on July 12th and the
Grand Monarch's Official visitation on July 11th. Prophets
come out to The Oberlin Inn to meet the Grand Monarch and
Deputy Grand Monarch.
I ask that you also keep David and Nancy
Maiden in your thoughts and prayers during David's health
issues. As of now we know David had a brain bleed which led
to a stroke, he has been moved out of the ICU at this time.
Monarch - James Tournas
May 15th 2008
Travels In The Realm
Greetings Again Prophets!
Lady Erin and I are looking forward to travelling to
Achbar on Sunday to see MWB Winnet made a Prophet at Sight I will have an
update on Monday or Tuesday on that event.
I will also be updating the website in the coming weeks,
I hope to be able to get a lot of pictures up and some more links, what I
would really love is to be come a web-hub for Lorain County Web Masons, but
we will see how that goes!
Monarch - James Tournas
May 12th 2008
Greeting Prophets!
It was good to see a nice turn out for
our May Session this month. We had a bit of a long meeting
but got a lot accomplished. While also using this month to
Honor our Past Monarchs whom where re-obligated by myself It
had been a long time for some of them since they took their
obligation, each Past Monarch present was presented a
certificate signifying they had been presented honored and
re-obligated on May 9th 2008.
Well I will be at Achbar for the Prophet
at Sight ceremony for MWB Winnet on the 18th I hope to see
you there!
Unfortunately I missed the ceremonial at
Aut Mori on the 10th I am sorry to have missed that one, but
personal obligations got in the way. I hope to see the
Prophets of Aut Mori soon though.
Don't forget to come out to our
Summer-Kick Off Pot Luck just bring a dish to share and the
Grotto will take care of the rest!
See you soon
Monarch - James Tournas
May 4th 2008
Travels In The Realm
Greetings Prophets!
I travelled with my Lady Erin to the OGA
Meeting in Mentor Ohio yesterday, where PM Todd Lusher
nominated me for the OGA Sentinel Position with elections to
be held in August. We had a great time learning, eating and
enjoying good fellowship with Prophets from around the
Association and the Realm.
For those that missed the Dinner / Dance
you missed a great time and missed your Monarch being
"abused" with the permission of Lady Erin! (Pictures I'm
sure will be floating around the web shortly)
It was a great time shared with the
wonderful people of the Grottoes and I hope all of the El
Rey Officers and Prophets make a grand showing in August,
and hope that you will consider voting for me for OGA
Sentinel.
Here is your Monarchs schedule for the
two next months
-
May 13th Stonington Lodge
-
May 18th Achbar Grand Master Prophet
at Sight Ceremony
-
May 26th Caliph Grotto Visitation
-
May 25th El Rey Summer Kick Off Pot
Luck
-
May 27th Stonington Lodge
-
June 9th El Rey Executive Board
Meeting
-
June 10th Stonington Lodge
-
June 13th El Rey Stated Session
-
June 27th Special Olympics, Columbus Ohio
Monarch - James Tournas
April 18th 2008
Travels In The Realm
Greetings Prophets!
I am just back from a visit to Ali Baba
Grotto in Warren Ohio, I had a great time getting to know
the Prophets there and of course enjoying some Grotto Milk
with them.
We will be seeing them at the OGA Spring
Meeting in a few weeks now.
I know some of our Prophets travelled
with SCDD Todd Lusher PM to Baku Grotto to enjoy their Pork
Chop Dinner today and I'm sure they had a great time, I was
sorry to miss it but I simply can not make it to Mansfield
in time after work.
I will be at Oberlin Lodge's Inspection
tomorrow night and then of course David J Nye DeMolay
meeting on Sunday I hope to see all of you there!
Monarch - James Tournas
April 17th 2008
Prophets,
I have confirmation form 7 Prophets that they will be in
attendance on Sunday. I have a great many maybes at the
moment, but if everyone decides someone else will show up
for those boys, No one will show.
I want to show that the Grotto is the first appendant
body any Mason should join after being raised and this is
the way to do it Prophets!
I will see you on Sunday at 6:30pm at Amherst Masonic
Temple
Click here for Directions to the Temple
Monarch - James Tournas
April 12th 2008
Greetings Again Prophets!
David J Nye Demolay Visitation
I want to ask each of you to come
out to our Visitation to David J Nye DeMolay on April 20th
at 7pm, Amherst Masonic Temple. We need 10 Prophets there to
present our gift to the boys. We also will be wearing our Fezzes
to the meeting.
Click here for Directions to the Temple
If we can get 10 Prophets or
Master Masons out to their meeting we will be able to help
one of the boys receive his Masonic Attendance Service Bar.
More information on DeMolay here
If you do not attend ANY Grotto
events this year, I ask that you attend this one we need to
show these boys that they mean something to the Masonic
Fraternity.
Summer Kick Off Pot Luck
As you know we
cancelled the Easter Tureen due to weather, we have decided
to move the funds from this event to a Summer Kick Off Pot
Luck which will be May 25th at 4pm.
come out and enjoy some great
fellowship with your Grotto, the rules will be the same as
the Easter Tureen. The Grotto will provide the meat dish
which will be Hamburgers and Hot Dogs and you are asked to
bring a dish to share. I hope to see you all there!
Special Olympics
This year the Elyria Special
Olympics have been moved back to May 16th. I will not be
able to attend due to my work schedule. But Chief Justice
John Morris will lead the group at Ely Stadium. We ask that
you arrive about 8am and the event is generally over by 2pm.
The OGA Spring Meeting
Will be May 2nd - 3rd in Mentor
Ohio more info here
I hope to see a nice turn out from El Rey at the Meeting.
This year Past Grand Monarch Bernie Mitchell will host a
session on Membership I hope this continues for years to
come!
Monarch's Schedule -
-
April 18th Ali Baba Visitation
-
April 19th Oberlin Inspection
-
April 20th David J Nye DeMolay
Visitation
-
April 22nd Stonington Lodge EA Degree
-
May 1st El Rey Executive Board
-
May 3rd OGA Spring Meeting
-
May 9th El Rey Grotto Stated Session
Past Monarch's Night
-
May 10th Aut Mori / Caliph / El Kadir
Full Form Ceremonial at Aut Mori
-
May 13th Stonington Lodge
-
May 18th Achbar Grand Master Prophet
at Sight Ceremony
-
May 25th El Rey Summer Kick Off Pot
Luck
-
May 27th Stonington Lodge
And now for the big news, I have
dedicated a separate page for which you may access here
Monarch - James Tournas
March 20th 2008
Greetings Once Again Prophets!
Well as you know our Easter Tureen was cancelled
due to the weather, but other then that we are off to a great start for 2008
our Steak Fry served 75 people. Many thanks to all those that helped put on
that great event.
Our first Meeting in 2008, was this month and we
brought in 3 new Prophets! Please welcome Prophets Daniel Walker, Mark
Yorich, and Current DDGM, Prophet Bob Behner. We are so excited that
all of you have chosen to join our Enchanted Realm!
Singara Grotto came out to witness the conferring
of the Order which was done short form. I thank them for coming out and for
presenting our new Prophets with a Mokanna Head pin each.
I encourage you to travel to see a full form
Ceremonial put on, it is an awesome site, but don't take my word for it ask
Chief Justice John Morris about it.
April will be our Fish Fry, at 6pm prior to the
Stated Session on April 11th this is a Prophets only event. We will also
have a short presentation for all the Prophets there!
Don't forget about the OGA in May!
Monarch - James Tournas
March 2nd 2008
Travels In The Realm
Greetings Prophets!
I am just back from the
Tartan
Ball in Erie PA we had a great time. If you like Bag Pipes
you should make plans to attend next year. You can
read my full review over in the Forum and we can discuss it
as well
here.
Our Next Event is the Easter
Tureen. This will be on March 9th, 4pm at Oberlin Masonic
Temple that is a week from today! Come out a bring a
covered dish the Grotto will provide the ham!
I can not tell you how great it
is to travel, Some of our guys got a little taste when then
went to the OGA at Aut Mori So lets pass the word and get
even more El Rey Fezzes out to Caliph for the May OGA
Meeting. Look for more information on the OGA Meeting
here.
I also was informed of
Islam
Grotto's Monarch's Ball in October by Monarch Mike Trojan
which will be NASCAR themed, so all you race fans. This is
an event not to be missed!
Monarch - James Tournas
February 24th 2008
Greetings Prophets,
Our Steak Fry was a nice success
and now we approach the actual year for El Rey Grotto. Our
first meeting will be on March 14th we will be initiating
some new Prophets into our Enchanted Realm. But before that
our Easter Tureen will be held on March 9th at Oberlin
Masonic Temple. Bring a dish and enjoy fellowship with your
Grotto members
Officers, please remember that
some of you will have a part for the short form ceremonial
and we would like to make a good first impression on the
Neophytes.
Also O Ton Ta La and Aut Mori
Grottoes will be having a Full Form Ceremonial this year.
New Prophets you should all plan to go to one of the Full
Form Ceremonials. They are a blast and not to be missed.
Monarch - James Tournas
February 3rd 2008
Greetings,
I wanted to take a moment and report on the OGA
meeting at Aut Mori yesterday. We had 6 Prophets and Past Monarch's attend
the meeting which is the most El Rey has brought in a long time. I want to
thank John Morris, Carl Carlson, SCDD Todd Lusher PM, David Kick and PM
Larry Meadows Sr. for joining me at the meeting.
The May OGA Spring Meeting will be held in
Kirtland, Ohio at the Kirtlander, hosted by Caliph Grotto, this is only an
hour drive and I ask that each of you join us for the Lunch and Meeting
if you can not stay for the Dinner Dance that is fine. Make plans now for
this event.
No one threw their hat in the ring for the OGA
line at this meeting I would expect that they will in May. Two items where
presented the first item which was moved, 2nded and passed was that now ALL
Prophets attending the OGA Meetings have a vote, rather then only PMs and
Monarchs. The 2nd has to do with the OGA Dues which we will discuss at our
meeting.
Please remember that our Officers Meeting is this
Friday the 8th and that the Steak Fry is on Saturday the 9th . We will begin
setting up at 3pm, with the first meals served at 5pm - and dinner will be
server through 7pm.
Monarch - Jim Tournas
January 29th 2008
Greetings again Prophets!
I wanted to let you know about my
upcoming events and visitations. we have the Steak Fry right
around the corner now on the 9th and I hope everyone has a
good time.
- Feb 2nd OGA Conference
- Feb 8th El Rey Executive Board
- Feb 9th Steak Fry
- Feb 12th Stonington Lodge Meeting
- Feb 26th Stonington Lodge Meeting
- March 1st Erepa Tartan Ball
- March 7th El Rey Executive Board
- March 11th Stonington Lodge
- March 14th El Rey Stated Session
- March 15th Stonington Inspection
- March 25th Stonington Lodge
I hope to see you all out to all of these
events. I am currently Stonington Lodge's Senior Warden and we are Inspected in
the MM Degree this year, so please come out to see a great Degree.
That's all for now, more soon!
Monarch - Jim Tournas
January 19th 2008
Travels In The Realm
Greetings Prophets!
I travelled with First Lady Erin
to Caliph Grotto's Installation and enjoyed good fellowship
with the Prophets there. I extend my and El Rey's
congratulations to Monarch Chuck Lago PM
Thank you for the attendance you
showed at my Installation. I am sure we will be seeing more
of each other this year.
I travelled with Chief Justice
John Morris to Al Sirat's Installation we were unable to
stay for the meal but the Installation was well done and I
want to extend my and El Rey's congratulations to Monarch
Dave Darrling.
I hope to see you and your
officers out to one of our events this year!
I am just back from Islam
Grotto's Installation, with First Lady Erin and wow what a
turn out they had! 191 people attended at last count. I
extend my and El Rey's Congratulations to Monarch Mike
Trojan who brought nearly the entire Grand Line including
Grand Monarch Sam Lattin
Mike, Have a Great year and I
know we'll see you at an El Rey Event soon.
I am sorry I could not attend
more Installations, I will be travelling around the Realm
this year and hope to see you out there having a great time!
Monarch - Jim Tournas
January 9th 2008
Greetings Prophets,
Please remember our officers meeting this Friday
at Oberlin Lodge.
I wanted to thank
you for your thoughts for our pet Slink, but she did pass
away on January 2nd 2008, I know it may seem odd to report
on a pet here but she was truly a part of our family.
See you all in March.
Monarch - Jim Tournas
December 31st 2007
Happy New Year Prophets,
I wanted to take some time and
let you know that I am counting on having a great year in
2008 as the 61st Monarch and with this being Ohio Grand
Lodges Bicentennial there is sure to be lots of exciting
things to do.
I know a lot of officers talk
about their family here, so I will as well our pet ferret
Slink is very ill, please keep her in your prayers. We have
no children and she means the world to us.
I look forward to seeing the
officers at the officers meeting on Jan 11th and the rest of
the Prophets in March, have a great year.
Monarch - Jim Tournas
December 16th 2007
Greetings from the East!
Wow, Yesterday was our 61st Installation of officers at El Rey
Grotto in Oberlin Ohio. It was held at Oberlin Masonic
Temple and even though we have a winter storm a lot of
Prophets, Ladies, Daughters and Guests made it out to
support our officers this year. Thank you so much for all
the Love and Good Fellowship you have shown us.
We had a total of 46 people sign the
guestbook which for the weather was excellent.
This was my first Installation of any
Masonic related body and let me tell you, I had no idea how
much work went into these events. I want to thank the First
Lady of El Rey Grotto, my wife Erin Tournas for a great
meal.
I also need to extend a thank you to Erin and my
Mother in Law Linda for creating the gift baskets for my
officers and Installing officers. Thank you!
Also a thank you to my Mother El Rey D of M
Zulette Juanita Tournas for the decorations in the Dinning
Room
PM Mark McCombs: you did an excellent job as
my Installing Officer and I was proud to have you and
honored you agreed to this thankless duty way back in July.
PM Grumpy Thompson, If there is one man who
IS Grotto it's you. Thank you for
agreeing to be my Installing Chaplin.
PM Jim Kares, I was so happy to be able to
present you your Purple Tassel Award at my installation, you
truly deserve it, any time I have come to you. I have found
a friend and brother that always tries to help and never
turns away. Thank you for being my Installing Marshal
Daughter Donna Gnagy, I have come to think
of you as family, I was so honored to have you play the
beautiful music at my Installation, Thank you
El Rey is honored to have a Supreme Council
District Deputy in PM Todd Lusher and I want to thank you
Todd for always getting the answer to those questions I'm
always asking. I know you are there for the Grotto no matter
what.
There are two apologize I need to make, El
Rey's OGA Representative was in attendance last night, Larry
Harrison 1st Vice President and I forgot to ask for your
comments Larry. You are always at our events and I want to
thank you for coming out to my Installation, we've become
great friends and I apologize for not allowing you to
comment. If you would like we would be honored for you to
comment here on the website.
An apology is owed to Rosemary Lusher, I
forgot to make sure Mark knew you needed to be introduced,
so from the bottom of my heart I am very sorry and was
honored to have you Supreme Zulette of the Supreme Caldron
Daughters of Mokanna in attendance.
To the Monarch and Prophets of Al Sirat and
Caliph Grottoes for coming all the way out in the weather,
thank you. I was excited to have my first official duty as
Monarch be to sign your Road Runners and Man Miles!
We are looking forward to a great year and hope to see
all the Prophets out to many events. If there is something I
can do to get the Prophets back out to events, please let me
know at
gljimt@hotmail.com
Officers remember that our Officers meetings
for Jan & Feb have been moved to the 2nd Friday of the
month.
We will be having a Steak Fry on Feb 9th
2008 the cost will be 15 dollars come out and enjoy a
grilled Steak in the winter months have a taste of summer.
Prophets, my schedule for the following two
months is as follows
- Jan 5th Al Sirat Installation
- Jan 8th Stonington Lodge Meeting
- Jan 11th El Rey Executive Board
- Jan 19th Islam Installation
- Jan 22nd Stonington Lodge Meeting
- Feb 1st - 2nd OGA Conference
- Feb 8th El Rey Executive Board
- Feb 9th Steak Fry
- Feb 12th Stonington Lodge Meeting
- Feb 26th Stonington Lodge Meeting
Please make plans to join us for our
visitation to David J Nye DeMolay at Amherst Masonic Temple.
Chief Justice John Morris is now our Youth Coordinator and
he is setting up a date so that we may attend when the
Chapter is putting on a Degree.
I am going to try to put a Blog out there
often so keep checking back !
Monarch - Jim Tournas
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