June 12, 2017

Ridge Spring News

Harriet Householder

On June 16,  the Town of Ridge Spring along with The Saluda County Chamber of Commerce  will set up a movie screen on the lawn at the new town hall to show Monster Trucks, our first free outdoor movie.

AARS is excited to be a sponsor of "Monster Trucks".  The movie will start at 8:00 on Friday at the new Ridge Spring Town Hall.  Everyone is urged to bring blankets and chairs.  There will be concessions and some children activities available. 

The Ridge Spring Farmers' Market has begun.  You could purchase fresh tomatoes( 4 varieties),onions, peaches, cucumbers, string beans, three kinds of corn from four different vendors, squash, zucchini, peppers even white and green ones, fried apple or peach turnovers, cakes, breads, jams, and more.  Of course there was boiled peanuts too.   Flowers were available also.  It is just hard to make sure you tell all that was there.  Just come on by, we are open beginning around 7:00 - 8:00 and finished around 11:00 to 1:00. Sherald and I finished up by 11:00, and others did not.    It was great seeing the vouchers being given out at the gazebo.  AgSouth bags were distributed to many shoppers.  You can get Yon's fresh corn at the Nut House this week, too.

Ridge Spring Harvest Festival: With the Peachtree 23 behind us we are now focused on the Harvest Festival and BBQ Battle for the Ridge! This year we are inviting the BEST BBQ cookers in the state of South Carolina to have a knock down drag out fight to be deemed BBQ King of Ridge Spring!

  We wanted to do this right so we got the people that know best to help us out. The South Carolina BBQ Association will be sending 20+ bonafide BBQ judges and representatives down to the Ridge. We have the 2016 State Grand Champion -Backwoods Bar-B-Que signed up along with many of the top 20 teams in the state!

Jerusalem Baptist Church will celebrate its Father/Men's Day service Sunday, June 18th at 10:30 AM.  The speaker for the occasion will be Rev. Kenneth Waldo.  You are invited to join us as we celebrate men and fathers.  If you require additional information please contact Deacon Leon Kenner at 803-685-7805.  Rev. Sim  Murray is the pastor.

Pastor Christi Pursey - MOUNT CALVARY LUTHERAN CHURCH: Vacation Bible School will be June 19 through 23.  The theme is "Mighty Fortress-in Jesus the Victory is Won!!!"  Finnrt id sy 6:00 PM with VCS being from 6:30 to 8:30 PM.  All ages welcome! There will be adult classes too.

Two weeks ago Judy Adamick challenges us to define the following word.  I finally had to ask her the definition and how she had seven babies from 6 ewes without twins.  Here are the answers.  Thanks, Judy.  Knowledge is powerful!! Superfetation is when a ewe gets pregnant while pregnant, delivering lambs weeks apart, it is rare.

The Total Eclipse will be here before you know it.  August 21 is the date and we are to have a total eclipse lasting s little over two minutes.  You will be hearing more and more about it.  We are in the southern path limit. Get ready!!!!

Ridge Spring Rocks: The idea is to decorate rocks and hide them in various locations to brighten someone's day. You can use paint, chalk, sharpies, etc, as long as it has a clear coat of sealer over it to preserve the art. On the back of the rock write in sharpie - "Post a picture to Ridge Spring Rocks Facebook Page". You can also write - "Keep me or rehide me" for the finder to keep for themselves or leave for someone else to find.   This is meant to be fun for all ages and abilities! Get creative and rock on!

    Saluda County Library Summer Reading Program 2017:  Our Summer Reading Program It is for all ages (even adults).   Questions? Call 864-445-4500 x2264

Friday, June 16th, 10AM Porkchop Productions presents The Three Pigs! Not only will they be building houses, but will be building friendships too!

Friday, June 23rd, 10AM The Riverbanks Zoo is Coming! Come see some live animal ambassadors! 

Billy Rodgers and his wife Miriam of Ward have been involved with growing food crops for years. He now grows vegetables on a 2.5 acre lot on Hwy 39.  He was recognized as the "Vegetable Grower of the Year" in Greenwood.  He was presented with the award by the Emerald City Rotary Club at the first of June. .  His son Sherald is a vendor at the Ridge Spring Farmers' Market and continues the farming tradition.

Ann Hughes reminds all to keep the bird baths full of FRESH water for the birds to drink and bathe in. 

Josie Rodgers

So, what do teachers do the first week of summer break?  Well, this teacher got a whole lot of chores done, chores that had been neglected for a while!  I cleaned up and cleaned out!   The house will get perfectly organized again, and my sanity will return!  I’ll be coaching cheerleaders and getting my new English curriculum down pat for my new teaching assignment this year!  I’m headed to Nashville in July for a High Schools that Work conference and to Columbia College the next Monday for a Teacher Cadet Curriculum update.  I will also be spending lots of quality time with my kids and grandkids and other family.  That’s what is most important to me!  Many of my teacher friends are teaching summer school, taking classes, and attending conferences as well.  My lucky teacher buddies have already hit the beach this week!  One thing is for sure:  we will all need to take time to rest and relax and get rejuvenated before August hits us. 

Oh boy!  And girl!  Well, boys and girls!  So many young people we know are enjoying Palmetto Boys State and Girls State this week!  We are very proud of these young people and know they will represent their schools well!  Girls State Delegates include Savannah Rodgers (Wardlaw Academy) and Rachel Burger (RSM High).  Boys State Delegates include Tyler Berry (RSM), Tyler Johnson (Saluda High), Garrett Lake (Saluda High), Noah Westbrook (Strom Thurmond), and Michael Cumbee (Wardlaw).  There are many others; I just wanted to recognize these very special youngsters! From a Girls State alum (1986), I know they are learning a great deal about how our government works, and more importantly, forging lifelong friendships with other youth from all walks of life. 

RSM Middle:   The middle school cheer team is raising money for camp, uniforms, and other expenses.  You can help by purchasing from Pelican’s SnoBalls every Friday night (6-8 pm) until July 28.  Just tell them you are there for RSM, and they will donate a portion of your purchase to the middle school cheerleaders!  Contact Monica Johnson for more information. 

RSM High:  Congratulations to the Trojans varsity cheerleaders for 2017-18:  Kiowa Aimar, Rachel Burger, Tara Brim, Malaysia Morris, TeaLeah Garvin, Kelsie Storey, Kendra Storey, Destiny Stevens, Anissa Dean, and Alexis Gray. 

Review from David Marshall James: "Camino Island" by John Grisham

   A young female writer-- critically acclaimed yet commercially unsuccessful-- cannot pull her act together.

   Native Memphian Mercer Mann loses her adjunct professorship at Chapel Hill in the wake of state budget cuts, and then she's truly set adrift, owing sixty grand and amounting on student loans for her education at Sewanee.

   However, along comes an offer Mercer cannot refuse.  It's not from the Corleones, but there are oodles of strings attached.

   Nevertheless, Mercer can clear her debts and then some.  To clench it all in sachet-scented ribbons, she's headed back to her favorite place, (fictitious) Camino Island, Florida, near Jacksonville.

   There, she spent many an idyllic summer with her maternal grandmother, who was a year-long resident:  Endless beach walks, early risings to view sunrises, her first tastes of coffee and gin martinis.

   Now, her grandmother is deceased, having perished in a boating tragedy.  Mercer drifts from room to room of her grandmother's cottage, from the deck to the boardwalk, from the dunes to the Atlantic Ocean, touching the memories that drift around her like dust motes in spilled sunlight through faded blinds.

   Who, might you wonder, came up with this beach-story beach book?  If you couldn't spot the author's name at the outset, would you ever guess John Grisham?

   This novel proves a definite departure from his legal thrillers, beginning with a complex heist of F. Scott Fitzgerald's manuscripts from the Firestone Library at Princeton University.

   Rest assured, though, that Mercer is not one of the thieves.

   She becomes wrought up with the literary set on Camino Island, including some of Grisham's best-realized characters, such as a gay couple who have made a fortune off hetero-romance novels.  "Our crap was much better than her crap," the more flamboyant of the two women states in reference to a litigious rival.

   At the center of the island's literary circle is a charming bookstore owner and his wife, a dealer in antiques from Provence.  Such characters' voices provide the author with plenty of elbow room to expound on the publishing world, past and present.

   Grisham also gets off some of his best licks, many of them laugh-out-loud humorous.  When a character remarks to Mercer, "You should have been a lawyer," she responds, "I can't think of anything worse."

   Not that Grisham will abandon his legal thrillers anytime soon; there's another one due to be released this autumn.  However, here's hoping he has more beach-set beach books of this caliber up the sleeves of his literary dust jacket.

Harriet's Garden Tips:  I remember my grandmother buying a camellia plant that was about three or four feet tall and had to be at least 5 years old.  Mrs. Truluck asked her why she spent that much money on a plant when she could have just rooted it.  Grandmother replied that she wanted to see it bloom before she died.  That is the trick with cuttings.  Often it takes years for them to get to the size you want and to bloom.  Some cuttings are faster than others but patience is the key to all cuttings.

Old fashion roses are the same.  It takes time.  Do not use soft wood which means you need to get  your cuttings after new growth in the spring. Strip the leaves so there are only two left.  Some cuttings are put in pots with potting soil and vermiculite, some in sand, and some right into the ground.   Some are covered with a large jar to keep them moist and warm.  I hesitate for if it gets to moist it can rot the cutting.  So whatever you do it is a small gamble but do at least three so that one is bound to survive.

Look around and see what flowering plants are surviving the weather.  Make a note in your journal so you can plant those same flowers next year.

REMINDERS

June 16: Free outdoor movie at Town Hall

August 21: Total Solar Eclipse

Ridge Spring Library hours: Mon/Tues 8:30 am - 12 pm; Wed., 8:30 – 4:30; Thurs 8:30 am - 12:30 pm; Fri 8:30 pm -4:30 pm

Ridge Spring Post Office hours:  Mon-Fri. 7:30 am – 11:30 am; Sat 9 – 10 am

Saluda County Library Hours:  Mon/Wed 8:30 am-5 pm; Tues/Thurs 8:30 am – 6 pm; Fri 8:30 am – 5 pm; Sat closed

Recycling Center Hours: Mon/Wed/Fri 1-7; Sat 7-7; Sun 3-7; Tues/Thurs closed

First Thursday of the Month:  AARS meets at 6:30, 685-5783

Third Thursday of the Month: FORS at Library at 5:00