Fine dining for lovers in Granite Falls

The Granite Falls Eagles aren’t messing around in the “best way to the heart is through the stomach” department.

If you want to take your special someone out to dinner on Valentine’s Day, this could be the hot spot. The menu? Filet mignon and lobster tails.

The Eagles Valentine’s Dinner is set for 5 p.m. Saturday at 402 N. Granite Ave. It costs $20 and you don’t have to be a member. You might even be named King or Queen for the night.

Patriotism comes in all forms — even on a stump.

Dexter Holmes of Marysville carved an American flag and a bald eagle onto a tree stump to honor his son.

His work may be seen from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday at Snohomish TOP Food &Drug, 1301 Ave. D. A bratwurst barbecue will raise funds for Operation Homefront Washington, which provides a variety of support for American troops and their families.

Columnist Julie Muhlstein wrote about the stump project July 4, 2007. She wrote about Brent Holmes, then 22, who serves our country in the U.S. Army.

Holmes, who served in Iraq, will be deployed to Afghanistan this month.

His father said a neighbor with a tractor helped him bring the cedar stump to his home from a nearby lot, which was being cleared. It’s about 7 feet tall. After counting rings, he believes the tree from which it came was at least a century old.

Dexter Holmes is always praying for his son, so he figured he might as well do something while he prayed. He loaded the stump on a trailer so it can be shown around the area.

His son plans to stay in the service until 2013.

Potentates are rulers from ancient Egypt, right?

That’s what I always thought.

Actually, we have a new potentate right in Oak Harbor.

Eugene Gilbert was recently installed as Potentate of Nile Shrine for 2009, succeeding out-going Potentate Richard Kovak. The Nile potentate serves the area from Federal Way to the Canadian border, and everything west of the Cascades.

Gilbert served in the U.S. Marine Corps and owned Bridgeway Cafe restaurant on Fidalgo Island.

Nile Shrine in Mountlake Terrace supports 22 Shriners Hospitals for Children, providing care for orthopedic conditions or burn injuries.

Gentlemen, start dancing.

And please ask a lady to join you.

Betty Dorotik knows too well how it feels to be at a dance and wait to be asked to waltz. She will be present when Camano Junction entertains at a Valentine’s Dance planned for 7 p.m. Saturday at the Camano Senior and Community Center, 606 Arrowhead Road on Camano Island.

It costs $7.

She’ll be gracious, and available, if you ask her to take a twirl around the floor. Her husband, Johnnie, won’t be doing the Lindy Hop.

He plays in the band.

Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451, oharran@heraldnet.com

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