June 28,  2019

Ridge Spring News

Harriet Householder

Ridge Spring Farmers' Market is in full swing.  The produce is perfect because it is fresh and local.  Check out tomatoes, squash, cantaloupe, watermelon seeded and unseeded, free stone peaches white and yellow and more. Fresh corn is delicious.  David Day has Honey. Also, for the first time he will have chunk honey (honey comb in a jar surrounded by honey). Hope to have boiled peanuts and muffins to sell.  I will have boiled peanuts but this was my last Saturday.  Boiling peanuts has been getting harder and harder.  I have been doing it for over 10 years.  Boy has it been fun.  Thanks for the memories!!!!!!

Olde Treasures: Well folks, the excitement has just overwhelmed us. We can’t keep the secret anymore. We have to share with you our new name and logo! Check it out and let us know what you think. The change will take place on July 13th with a Grand Opening and Ribbon Cutting at 9:45. We sure hope you will be here to help us celebrate. The shop will be transformed by adding so many useable and gift-able product lines that will pair well with our awesome vintage and antique pieces and the Frenchic® Furniture Paint that is already in stock and selling. The other shops in Ridge Spring are joining in with specials in conjunction with this event. It is a Ridge Spring family event. Stay tuned because there is so much more to share. We just can’t do it all in one post. Remember, the best is yet to come!

The Friends of Ridge Spring is sponsoring a book signing July 13 for James Scott who authored the book Changing Faces which is a biography of James' growing up in Ridge Spring and his career in the Army.  He will have books for sale at the event that will be held in the old First Citizen's Building.

Josie Rodgers:

It’s a great time to remind everyone that we have our very own drive-in theater right here in Monetta. The Big Mo has 3 movie screens and show 3 double features each weekend. They also have a super concession stand. Gates open at 7 pm with movies beginning around 8:45; it is best to arrive early to get a good spot. The cost is $5 for ages 4-11 and $9 for ages 12 and up (kids 3 and under get in free). For more info, check out their Facebook page or call 685-7949.

RSM High Summer Hours: If you should need anything this summer, please note that our school will be open all summer, Monday through Thursday, with the exception of July 2-5.  Stop by any time from 7:15 am-5:45 pm for support with registration or for a tour of our school.

With our Nation’s birthday this week, I brushed up on some flag etiquette. According to the Farmer’s Almanac website, armed service members and veterans should stand at attention (if possible) and salute the flag when it’s in a parade or being raised or lowered. Civilians should place their right hand over their heart. It also states that “the flag should not be displayed on a float except from a staff, nor draped over the hood, top, sides, or back of a vehicle. When the flag is displayed on a vehicle, the staff should be fixed firmly to the chassis.”

I am fascinated by fireworks (the huge, colorful ones—not the loud ones!), but they also scare me to death when my people are shooting them! Our kids and their cousins always get together to enjoy the dads showing off their manly prowess by popping off those amazing light and sound displays (our dogs, however, hate it). Please remember to use safety precautions when shooting fireworks, especially with children around. Eye doctors say that the days after July 4 are fraught with patients with eye injuries caused by fireworks. Read the directions on the packages (yes, dads, this includes you!). Some fireworks, including those fun little sparklers, can reach 1,000 degrees! Adult supervision is key as well as not allowing children to ignite anything. If a firework doesn’t seem to be working, don’t get near it for at least 15 minutes and make sure to douse it with water before disposal. Always keep water on hand; a hose works best. Don’t light multiple fireworks unless you are professionally trained to do so. Buy your fireworks from a reputable vendor. And please don’t forget our veterans who may suffer from PTSD; fireworks sound just like enemy fire and can cause flashbacks and intense emotional crises. Many pets, especially dogs, are very frightened of these loud booms and cracks. Have fun, but be responsible and considerate.

Palmetto Dance Academy: Register for fall classes now! Spaces are still available for ages 4-9 but are filling up fast. Visit the Facebook page for the registration form link and to pay the $35 reg fee. Email the staff with questions at director@palmettodanceacademy.com. The latest FB post reads, “Dance isn’t just dance! It is friendships, memories, and moments worth of those selfies or ‘usies’! It is so much more than the technique learned and fitness gained. Perseverance, the value of practice, the importance of team work…there is so much that will be taken into the adult world! Never underestimate the values beyond the stage!”

Attention softball players: On Aug. 3, Annalee Rodgers and Davis Wash, recent graduates of Wardlaw Academy, will host a softball clinic from 8 am- 12 pm at the Edgefield Rec Baseball Fields. Participants will learn how to slide, how to bunt, basic hitting skilly, infielding and outfielding techniques, and those crazy chants and cheers players yell from the dugout. The day will also include an athletic devotional as well as snacks and drinks. Cost is $50 per girl and is open to girls in 2^nd to 6^th grade. Rodgers & Wash were starters for the varsity softball team that played for the SCISA state championship for the past 3 years. Oth have been consistently won athletic awards from the school and been recognized state-wide for their athletic skill. Text or call 803-480-4783 or 803-522-0586 to reserve your spot.

Tracy Bedenbaugh: We need volunteers to deliver Meals on Wheels in Saluda and a person or two to deliver once a week in Ridge Spring. We can always use people to volunteer at our site too calling bingo, helping serve food, etc.  It would be great to build up support from the Ridge Spring area. Janice Coleman is the new site manager and the office phone in Saluda is 864-554-5499.

AT THE ART CENTER OF RIDGE SPRING:

KID’S CLASS (6-12 yrs old) Joanne Crouch, instructor; the cost is $25 and will be held Saturday, June 29 from 1:30-3:30–Seashell make & take for kids 6-12.   Each student will make a wooden plaque with a one-of-a-kind design made from seashells.  To register, contact Joanne at Joanne.crouch26@gmail.com or at the Art Center of Ridge Spring on Fridays and Saturdays from 10-2.  Class limit:  12

July 15-6:30-8:30--Wacky Teapot class-Kim Ruff, instructor Cost will be $35.00 and will  includes all supplies and firing.  Ages 13 & up.  To register, contact Joanne at Joanne.crouch26@gmail.com at the Art Center of Ridge Spring on Fridays and Saturdays from 10-2.  Class limit:  10. There will be a basic quilting classes and a resin play classes in August.

Now that the free-stone peaches are in I thought you might like a recipe from the Ridge Recipes booklet sponsored by the Harvest Festival in 1982.

 Peach Ice Cream submitted by my mother-in-law, Florence Householder

3 cups mashed ripe peaches (blender)

2 cups sugar

1 can evaporated milk

1-3 oz.pkg. instant vanilla pudding mix

1 tsp. vanilla

Mix and pour in ice cream freezer.  Add enough fresh milk to fill freezer to 2/3 full.  Churn until frozen.  Makes i gallon

Review from David Marshall James:  "The Gifted School" by Bruce Holsinger

   Spark:  This novel will set every book club in America ablaze with heated discussions.  It will also consume non-clubbing readers with its character-driven story of parents obsessed with placing their progeny in a new magnet school for gifted children.

   The upshot is that the parents want their children to make the cut more than the children do themselves, except in the case of two best buds who don't want to be separated.

   A set of twins features prominently in the plot, too, raising cane as well as all sorts of other issues and conundrums.

   Well, we did say this is choice grist for the round table, whether the vino or the coffee is flowing.

   Author Bruce Holsinger-- a University of Virginia professor-- focuses on four female characters:  two wed, one widowed, and one divorced, who have bonded over their children, all close to the same age, since their infancy.  As close as the ties that bind the mothers, their personalities prove divergent:

   Rose, a go-getting Ph.D. neuroscience researcher at the local university, whose marriage has been hanging by a thread for the majority of its duration;  Azra, the divorced mother of the aforementioned twins, the den-Zen mother of the tribe; Lauren, the widow, a tight-A with a genius-geek son and a challenging teenage daughter who babysits for the mothers; and Samantha, the affluent Alpha, who rather correctly fancies herself the trendsetter and leader of the pack.

   Samantha and husband "Kev" can afford a three-day-a-week housekeeper, a Hispanic (by way of a Peruvian mother, who lives with her daughter and grandson) woman whose son also becomes a candidate for the magnet school.

   The book's most visible male character-- alpha-aggressive Beck-- is more into pushing his twins than his laid-back ex-spouse, Azra.  Beck's an aging "bro-man" who has pulled the marry-the-au-pair number while running through his trust fund.  He's hypertensively competitive about his twins' soccer league.  Why shouldn't they ace the new school's entry requirements as well?

   Author Holsinger-- a onetime resident of Boulder, Colorado-- creates a similar locale, called Crystal.  It's citified, though still small enough for the new-school brouhaha to become the veritable talk of the town.  The author switches perspectives among the four women, plus Beck and the Peruvian grandmother, as well as among the children involved.

  Holsinger drops some great shaker-uppers along the path of the school admission track, so the novel becomes less a matter of who gets in than of how everyone's life is radically changed because of the children's applications.

   Chalk up (or dry-erase-board mark) a sizzling spike for the author, who makes the cut all across the board.

Harriet's Garden Tips: Have you noticed the annuals that are doing well despite the range of weather?  I see that coleus are doing well if in the right location.   The begonias are doing well no matter where they are.  Add your observations to your journal so next year, you can put the right plants together in that pot or flower bed.  If your wave petunias are getting leggy, prune it back selectively or even layer.  There is time for the plant to rebloom and continue to grow.

REMINDERS

June 8 - Labor Day in September: Ridge Spring Farmers' Market

July 13: Book signing by James Scott

Ridge Spring Library Hours: Mon. Tues. 9:00 - 12:00; Wed. Thurs. Closed;

            Fri. 10:00 - 4:00; Sat. 10:00 - 1:00.

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

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

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

Fridays & Saturdays:  AARS hours 10:00-2:00 or by appt, free admission

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

Third Thursday: FORS at Town Hall at 5:30 PM

Every 1^st Thursday:  Audibel Hearing Center in the back room of Bank

Security Bank Hours: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Friday 9-12  1-5, Wed. 9-12

Ridge Spring Town Hall: Monday - Friday 8:30am - 5:00pm, Sat. 8:30am - 11:30pm