August 9,  2019

Ridge Spring News

Harriet Householder

 I am on vacation.  I appreciate the help with the article this week from all who contributed to it early.

The first Clinic event of the Community Cat Clean-Up with Fido Fixers of the Columbia Humane Society in Ridge Spring on August 5th was a huge success!!!  28 cats were spayed or neutered and all were given a rabies vaccine.  16 of the surgeries were spays and 12 were neuters with that kind of result eliminating the need for upwards of 100 homes for 100 kittens that won't be conceived in the coming year. And our work continues!  The Clinic was so popular some left their contact information about their cats until it was far too late.  We were already overbooked over the goal of 25 cats!  There will be another Clinic date next month and the date will be announced soon.  It is important that we finish obtaining our needed equipment before that date though.  We had a slight bump in the road the Clinic.  We were going to rely on inexpensive cardboard cat carriers to house the cats in after their surgeries.  These boxes were not acceptable to the Clinic.  They hardly contained some of the more rambunctious tomcats and we had to send out a quick SOS on social media for hard plastic carriers as loaners.  We promised Fido Fixers we would have hard plastic carriers for all our patients on our next Clinic date.  Here's a list of things we need donated:  New or used cat carriers ( or donations to purchase them, please send check to Town Hall with Animal Cat Carriers written on the check's memo line) AND raggedy towels or throws.  These are needed to cover the cats in their traps.  It was amazing to see how a simple throw calmed them while they waited on their turn with the Vet.  All in all it was a very productive day spent with good neighbors and teamwork!  Together we are going to do wonders for our local feline friends.  

Watson Reunion:  Aunt Elizabeth, 100 year old birthday lady, was a little late getting down, but she smiled and sang along to "You Are My Sunshine." Her ex son-in-law and her grandsons had made up verses about her life and sang with guitars and  banjos. She obviously recognized Daddy and told me the party was "wonderful."  Aunt Elizabeth is Joe Cal Watson's older sister.

In December, Mary Watson Edmonds and her son Michael are planning to take 96-year-old Joe Watson back to Belgium where he fought 75 years ago in the Battle of the Bulge. They have contacted museums in Belgium and he has been invited to participate in several events honoring the service of American soldiers. They have also arranged a tour of battle sites and villages that he helped to liberate from the Nazis. Michael has set up a “Go Fund Me,” site to help make this trip a gift to his grandfather.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/send-joe-cal-back-to-belgium?pc=em_dn_contacts_r&rcid=r01-156476947254-6546d72f95974f00&member=&utm_medium=email&utm_source=customer&utm_campaign=p_email%2Binvitesupporters

The Nut House and Country Market in Ridge Spring is also accepting donations. If you have any questions, you can email Mary Edmonds at marywedmonds@gmail.com.

RIDGE SPRING UNITED METHODIST CHURCH: The Big Red Box took the summer off but the members of Ridge Spring United Methodist Church did not.  

 In keeping with the legacy mission work in Haiti set forth by Mr. Joe Watson and his brother decades ago the members of RSUMC spent the summer months helping with the upcoming mission trip set to leave in October. 200 tarps were purchased and 60 personal hygiene bags were made. These were delivered to the Volunteers in Mission warehouse located in Batesburg. Also two significant monetary donations, one to help with the cost of shipping the container and one for the school lunch program, were made. Items collected by RSUMC and other churches will be delivered to the community of Jeremy. This community is located in a rural area away from large cities. This has been a ongoing Methodist mission and many personal and loving relationships have been developed. We are proud to be part of this and glad to be able to carry on Mr. Joe’s work.

Art Association of Ridge Spring

RESIN PLAY (16 & up):  Joanne Crouch, Instructor; no previous experience is required.
The class will be Saturday, August 17th 10:00-4:00 with 1 hour lunch break from 12-1.
Cost will be $75 Must pre-register!  In this class, students will explore and play within the world of resin.  Exercises will include mixing dry pigments, acrylics, and glitter in resin. Student provides:  apron, gloves, paper towels, 2-12x 12 canvases or 2-12 x 12 wooden supports or combination of both. Student will also create a resin jewelry piece and an ornament. Cost includes two-part epoxy (retail $30-will do multiple pieces), tutorial from artist, dry pigments, acrylics, glitter and assortment of items to embed in resin.

 Contact Joanne at joanne.crouch26@gmail.com to secure your spot.  Class is limited to 6 students.  If class fills, another class will be scheduled.  Pre-registration can also be paid at the Art Center of Ridge Spring on Fridays and Sat from 10-2.  

Barbara Yon won a merit ribbon and donation from the Anderson Guild  Members  Show.

Clemson Extension endowment continues legacy of ‘Queen of the Market’

RIDGE SPRING — Jeannette Carr passed away April 1, 2019, after a battle with cancer, but more than three months later as the Ridge Spring Farmer’s Market bustled with its regular Saturday crowd, her community spirit and passion for produce were still plenty palpable.

“I kind of feel her presence a little bit,” said Katie Pfeiffer, Carr’s granddaughter who has worked the market alongside her on summer visits since her teenage years. “It's just feels so much like her, like something she would enjoy doing, so it makes me happy to be here.”

And thanks to the Emma Jeannate Carr Memorial Endowment being established by her husband, Brig. General Chalmers “Hap” Carr (’60), the family is making certain that the legacy of the woman who has been called “The Veggie Lady” and “Queen of the Market” continues.

“It feels good to remember her and support her legacy, and customers will come up and ask about what happened and it makes them happy that we’re continuing to (sell produce at the market) too,” Pfeiffer said, “and they care about the endowment, as well, and what that's going to support.”

The endowment is to be used to advance vegetable gardening education and outreach through the Clemson Cooperative Extension Service, and all proceeds from the sale of produce from the flat-bed trailer overflowing with fruits and vegetables grown at nearby Titan Farms are to be donated to the endowment honoring her love of gardening.

“Jeannette was well known to those who knew her for her love of gardening fresh vegetables and fruits, and the Carr Family has been and continues to be tremendous supporters of Clemson Extension,” said Extension Director Tom Dobbins. “We’re excited and honored to partner with Jeannette’s family in working to continue her legacy and advance vegetable gardening across the state of South Carolina.”

 “That was back in the days where they grew everything in the summertime and would can everything that they eat for the wintertime; that was the way things were running back in small farms in the sand hills in North Carolina — and that's where she grew up,” Hap Carr said.

Jeannette met Hap in 1960 after graduating from nursing school, and with her husband joining the Air Force after they were married, she worked as a nurse in a succession of stops throughout his career — and, of course, tended to various gardens.

“Generally speaking, almost every place we were, we would find a way to have some kind of garden,” Hap said. “She used to be called ‘The Veggie Lady’ because she would go to her garden on the military base, and she'd take her vegetables and drop them off on people’s doorsteps every morning.”

Hap retired from the Air Force and the couple moved to Charlotte, N.C., where Hap worked for private industry, around the turn of the century. Soon thereafter, son Chalmers began running a farm in Ridge Spring and asked his father to help with the packhouse. While Titan Farms eventually grew into the largest peach grower on the East Coast — with over 6,200 acres of peaches in production, along with 600 acres of bell peppers and 1,000 acres of broccoli — Jeannette continued her own smaller-scale operation.

“Chalmer would build her a garden plot, and she and I kind of worked as a team, but then when it came to harvesting, she would harvest the stuff every morning,” Hap Carr said. “But her passion was growing Blue Lake bush beans and, even in her later years with a walker, she would go out there early in the morning, and it was her and God and her bush beans, picking her beans.”

That was in the early days of the Ridge Spring Farmer’s Market, conceived by the group Friends of Ridge Spring (FORS) in the late 1990s soon after the town had lost its grocery store as a way to not only allow locals to sell the produce from their gardens, but also to help draw visitors to the downtown stores, shops and restaurants.

But even once the market was started, Harriet Householder, one of the founders of the market and the owner of Harriet’s Garden, admitted it “really struggled” to get off the ground.

“It was small and we did not have a lot of variety, and somehow Jeannette found out we just didn't have enough produce,” Householder said. “So, next thing I knew, she was getting that wagon up here and it was loaded with produce. We even had fun figuring out which pepper it was and how to cook it — because she had such unique varieties.”

Jeannette and Harriet quickly built a connection — Harriet shared her boiled peanuts with Jeannette; Jeannette shared her white peaches with Harriet — and as their friendship grew, so too did the farmer’s market. But even now, after about two decades at the market and three months after the passing of her friend, Householder said Carr’s influence on the market is still plain to see.

Jerrold Watson has been part of those efforts since the inception, and the Ridge Spring resident is still an active part of the market — selling Titan Farms products out of the bed of a truck just a few feet from where Katie Pfeiffer manned the flat-bed trailer.

“I was here when (Jeannette) was in good health and was jumping around and crawling up on the trailer and picking up watermelons and throwing them out to people,” Watson said. “And then the next couple of years were kind of rough, and the cancer was very aggressive. So, they’re trying to keep her legacy going — and it’s worthwhile because she was a major part of this. She was a major player here, and we all thought the world of her.”

After Jeannette passed in April, there was some initial doubt about whether her produce — and in turn, her presence — would still be felt at the Ridge Spring Farmer’s Market on Saturdays. Hap said he quickly realized it was important to continue her legacy for at least another year, but also decided on one major caveat: that all the proceeds go toward her endowment.

“The first few weeks there was always somebody come by and say, ‘Where's Miss Jeannette?’” Hap said. “And we'd go through that and explain that. I think it's been nice to see that we're trying to do something in her memory, and this endowment will give us a legacy to create.”

For her granddaughter, Katie, the chance to continue working at the market during the summer was also a way to continue Jeannette’s legacy. But perhaps more importantly, it was also a chance to spend one more summer alongside her grandmother — even if only in spirit.

“I've been coming here for as long as I can remember and seeing all the familiar faces; they always come back around each summer and remember Grandma, and a lot of times it was just me and her working, and she always just loved it,” Katie said. “When I think about Grandma, I think about her gardening and harvesting and even her jarred items. She really did love it.”

Harriet's Garden Tips: Mulching materials do vary.  The box stores have quite a variety and in various colors.  Nothing is wrong with the natural stuff we rake up though.  Here is a list of mulching materials from the Clemson Extensions Service booklet: sawdust, wood chips, wood shavings, pine needles, peanut hulls (raw), cotton screenings, tree leaves, grass clippings, pecan hulls, gravel, newspaper, pine bark, shredded paper and compost.  Each has its pluses and minuses but mulching is needed with our HOT climate. 

REMINDERS

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

August 31: Town Wide Sidewalk Sale

August 31 Fall Gathering

Jeannette Carr Memorial: 864.656.5896, www.clemson.edu/isupportcu, Jeannette        Carr Memorial, Annual Giving Office, 110 Daniel Drive, Clemson, SC 29631

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

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

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

August 2,  2019

Ridge Spring News

Harriet Householder

The Ridge Spring Farmers' Market continues.  Do come and get some of those fresh fruits and vegetables. Peaches here are the best. Dixie Bell sponsored a Summer Time Social on the Ridge Spring Town Plaza. This family fun day included a “taste-n-see” of Dixie’s products. The Truly Scrumptious Creamy ice cream truck could not make it and no replacement could be found. By the way, figs are ripening.  My grandmother loved to peel figs, cover with cream and enjoy eating.  She always had to make all of us grandchildren leave the kitchen or else she never would get enough peeled.  We loved them too.

Magnolia Ridge Antique Festival was blessed with a beautiful day in May!! We were surrounded with beautiful people and an incredible energy that makes us look forward to September 21 for our next event! It will be our second fall event for a Magnolia Ridge Antique and Art festival. Last September we had such a great show with both vendors as well as buyers!!!!

Laura Walker: Community Cat Clean-up!!!!  The Town of Ridge Spring hosted a mobile unit from the Humane Society of Columbia on August 5 for the spading or  the neutering of our overpopulation of cats.

August 31Town-wide Sidewalk Sale.  Main Street will be lined with deals.  Check it out on facebook.  All the shops are participating.  There will also be a Fall Gathering at Ridge Antiques and Dry Goods. There will be fall decorations including hand crafted scarecrows, gourd garlands, pumpkins, sparkleberry and grapevine wreaths, handcrafted log cabins, and candles tot fill your home with the wonderful scent of fall. and  a great selection of quality primitive antiques.

RIDGE SPRING UNITED METHODIST CHURCH  BIG RED BOX: I’M BACCCCK! Yes and hungry for school supplies. RSUMC collecting school supplies for Ridge Spring Elementary School and we could use your help. Lists of needed items are placed in local retails stores. If you would like to help leave your purchased items on either porch of the church or FLC. Members will make sure they make to the BRB. Plan to deliver to the school mid -August so you have time.  Please join us on Sunday at 11 a.m. church service. Promise you will leave inspired and with a smile on your face. We will save you a seat.

Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church Homecoming & Revival with Evangelist Bobby Earls

Sunday, August 11th @ 11:00 am with Homecoming Dinner served immediately following the service.  Revival services continue Sunday evening @ 6:00 pm; Monday - Wednesday services held at 7:00 pm.  Come join us and prepare your hearts to receive a blessing.

Art Association of Ridge Spring

RESIN PLAY (16 & up):  Joanne Crouch, Instructor; no previous experience is required.
The class will be Saturday, August 17th 10:00-4:00 with 1 hour lunch break from 12-1.
Cost will be $75 Must pre-register!  In this class, students will explore and play within the world of resin.  Exercises will include mixing dry pigments, acrylics, and glitter in resin. Student provides:  apron, gloves, paper towels, 2-12x 12 canvases or 2-12 x 12 wooden supports or combination of both. Student will also create a resin jewelry piece and an ornament. Cost includes two-part epoxy (retail $30-will do multiple pieces), tutorial from artist, dry pigments, acrylics, glitter and assortment of items to embed in resin.

 Contact Joanne at joanne.crouch26@gmail.com to secure your spot.  Class is limited to 6 students.  If class fills, another class will be scheduled.  Pre-registration can also be paid at the Art Center of Ridge Spring on Fridays and Sat from 10-2.  

Please join us in supporting our own D.S. Owens with his upcoming show at the Arts & Heritage Center of North Augusta from August 15^th to October 6^th. He will be showing a special exhibition of Fine Art Photography. The show will include paintings by M. Drake as well as Pottery by “CASE” artist. The opening reception is on August 15^th from 5 to 7 pm. It is free and open to the public.

GOURD BOWL CLASS: Joan Crouch, Instructor will be hled on Saturday, September 7^th from 1:00- 4:00. Cost will be $35.00 and all Supplies will be provided. Sign up now, class size is limited! Contact Joanne at joanne.crouch26@gm

Review from David Marshall James:  "Finding Zsa Zsa:  The Gabors Behind the Legend" by Sam Staggs

   In the 1953 film version of "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes," Marilyn Monroe as Lorelei Lee quips, "You wouldn't marry a man just because he's rich-- but, my goodness, doesn't it help?"

   The speaker could just as well have been Magda (the oldest), Zsa Zsa (the middle), or Eva (the youngest) Gabor.  As captured in this en-famille biography, the three sisters could have become rich and famous sans husbands.  But my goodness, the fellas they accrued, like compounded daily interest, did help, in and out of matrimony.

   University of South Carolina graduate Sam Staggs, who has written four first-rate film studies and a champagne-corker of a biography of party giver Elsa Maxwell, acquits himself in plush-box style in his latest literary foray.  Staggs has been following the Gabor saga since Zsa Zsa's daughter and sole blood grandchild of Mama Jolie Gabor, Francesca Hilton, was alive and sharing her memories.  Staggs attended Zsa Zsa's funeral mass, which you'll read about here.

   Truth be told in Staggs style, the Gabors were secular Jews.  Magda, Jolie, and the sisters' father, Vilmos, who chose to remain in Budapest, almost met the fate of Jolie's mother and only brother, who were taken out and shot near the end of World War II.  Even so, all family members were required to wear the infamous yellow star when they ventured in public.

   Eva came to Hollywood in 1939, and made a few programmers for Paramount, whose founder, Adolph Zukor, was also a Hungarian Jew.  Zsa Zsa, married to a Turkish diplomat and residing in Ankara, fled to join Eva in the U.S.  During the height of WWII, it took her nearly three months to reach New York, via the Orient and the Panama Canal.

   Nevertheless, the Gabors, particularly Eva and Zsa Zsa, became devout Catholics, often worshiping several times a week at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills.

   With the help of Gabor relations, Staggs strips away the fake tinsel to get at the real tinsel.  You'll have to procure a copy to savor the scores of details.  Here's the thesis:  Jolie tried to create the daughters in the "Don't you want to be a star?" image that she craved for herself.  Instead, she became a successful businesswoman, a jewelry-store owner in Budapest and later in New York.  Magda, with that surname, couldn't avoid some of the limelight, yet the family considered her the sensible one, an even more acute businesswoman than her mother.

   Meanwhile, Eva aspired to be a serious actress.  Her sticktuitiveness-- in films, on TV, and in the theater-- ultimately made her a cultural icon, via 170 episodes of "Green Acres" during the late 1960s to 1971.  Incidentally, all the sisters loved pets, supporting many animal rights organizations.  Eva was even fond of the resident pig on "Green Acres," Fred and Doris Ziffel's TV-loving Arnold.

   And then there's Zsa Zsa, who epitomizes what Jolie thought her daughters should be:  An international cause celebre.  If she wanted to do movies, fine (among them, the classics "Lili" and "Moulin Rouge" [both 1953] ).  If she wanted to marry Conrad Hilton, fine.  Anything to contribute to that good cause.

   Zsa Zsa and Eva benefited from the huge audiences garnered by pre-cable TV.  You cannot be a Baby Boomer and not recognize their voices and images, although many viewers confused the two.

   All in the family, then.  To paraphrase George Sanders, Zsa Zsa's much-beloved third husband, as Addison DeWitt in "All About Eve" (1950):  "There never was and there never will be another family like them."

Harriet's Garden Tips: A good point was made by an author in "SC Gardener's Journal".   Don't be afraid to downsize or remove plants that  you find troublesome.  Do you dislike a certain shrub or tree.  Cut it down, dig it up or give it to a friend.  I love all of my mother's irises but when is the last time I had time to weed through them.  I am going to select a few of the best next time they bloom and give away the rest.  Day lilies need no help so I will keep them.  Even I am beginning to take my own advice.  Have a hot summer in which you protect yourself from that pesky sun.

I have been trying to write something about the two mass shootings in our country but words have failed me.  Is this censorship? These murders are pure evil that have been entering our civilization.

REMINDERS

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

August 31: Town Wide Sidewalk Sale

August 31 Fall Gathering

Jeannette Carr Memorial: 864.656.5896, www.clemson.edu/isupportcu, Jeannette        Carr Memorial, Annual Giving Office, 110 Daniel Drive, Clemson, SC 29631

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

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

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

July 26,  2019

Ridge Spring News

Harriet Householder

The Ridge Spring Farmers' Market continues.  Do come and get some of those fresh fruits and vegetables. Peaches here are the best.

The calendars are getting full with fall or near fall events.  Summer is ending, school shopping is beginning, and the circle of life continues.  Yes, I did go see the new Lion King Movie and the cinematography was brilliant.  I enjoyed the music and renewing acquaintances  with those characters, too.

August 3, Dixie Bell sponsoring a Summer Time Social from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm on the Ridge Spring Town Plaza. This family fun day will include a “taste-n-see” of Dixie’s products, face painting, and the Truly Scrumptious Creamy ice cream truck. They will also hold a book drive for the Ridge Spring Library; bring a book and be entered in a raffle to win a huge basket of Dixie Belle Products

Laura Walker: Community Cat Clean-up Coming Soon!!!!  The Town of Ridge Spring will be hosting a mobile unit from the Humane Society of Columbia on August 5. Due to the threat of rabies and the overpopulation Mayor Pat Asbill and many community-minded animal-loving individuals have made it possible to get your feral cat/barn cat spayed or neutered plus vaccinated for RABIES for a mere $19....right here in town!!!. Benefactors have provided the hardware for humane trapping and then carrying your post-operative patient home in a clean cat carrier in addition to that great deal of a reduced cost. Let's stop inviting the coyotes into town to feed on kittens, let's stop flirting with RABIES, let's show how we really want the best for our furry friends, let's start reducing our homeless pet populations and the spread of disease from wandering cats. It's $19 in 2019, August 5, if you want to reserve your cat's appointment call or write me Laura Walker at (803) 685-6189 tandwalker@comporium.net!  And don't worry if you are disabled or elderly, someone will help you with the traps and animals.

August 31Town-wide Sidewalk Sale.  Main Street will be lined with deals.  Check it out on facebook.  All the shops are participating.  If you would like to set upon the sidewalk or in town Square, let us know.  Information is located on facebook townwide sidewalk sale or town of ridge spring

Saturday August 31 there will also be a Fall Gathering at Ridge Antiques and Dry Goods. There will be fall decorations including hand crafted scarecrows, gourd garlands, pumpkins, sparkleberry and grapevine wreaths, handcrafted log cabins, and candles tot fill your home with the wonderful scent of fall. and  a great selection of quality primitive antiques with Ann Myers, High  Grove Farm, Marie Widener, Primitive Pickens. Stay tune. For more information you may contact Koonm0655@att.net or 202lillybell@gmail.com

Then on September 21st, we have the Magnolia Ridge Antique And Art Gathering. All the same vendors will be there and even a couple more.  The model T Fords and the tractor club will be there.

Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church Homecoming & Revival with Evangelist Bobby Earls

Sunday, August 11th @ 11:00 am with Homecoming Dinner served immediately following the service.  Revival services continueSunday evening @ 6:00 pm; Monday - Wednesday services held at 7:00 pm.  Come join us and prepare your hearts to receive a blessing.

Josie Rodgers

A couple of my favorite girls participated in the SC Distinguished Young Woman competition last weekend. Morgan Berry is a rising senior at RSM High and is North Aiken’s DYW. She is family and one of my Teacher Cadets this year as well as my Beta Club president. Reagan Creasy is a rising senior at Wardlaw Academy and is North Edgefield’s DYW.  Reagan is part of the Wardlaw cheer team that I coached. The young ladies spent a week with a host family in the Columbia area and attended various activities and rehearsals each day. Morgan’s host family was Harrison and Maggie Gray, and Reagan’s host family was DJ and Anna Mills Cox (Annalee’s host family from last year!). Some of the highlights included a luau, western dance night, Blowfish game, trip to the zoo, visits to state buildings, and a tea. On Fri evening and Sat afternoon, the ladies competed in the various categories including fitness, self-expression, and talent. Reagan performed a lyrical dance to the song “Held” by Natalie Grant in honor of people suffering from Lupus. Morgan performed a tap/clog routine to “Twelfth Street Rag.” On Sat evening, the 8 finalists competed once again for the winning title. Though our girls did not make the finals, their performances and experiences made memories for a lifetime. Morgan says she enjoyed the zoo and ropes course and going to the Supreme Court and State House. She also learned a lot about interviewing and met so many girls from across the state. Reagan says she had so much fun that she forgot there was a competition at the end of the week. She thanks her family, friends, Wardlaw Academy, and Chef Bob’s Café for the love and support throughout the experience. Both young ladies advise junior girls to find out more about the DYW program in their county so that they can participate next year.

Exciting news! Palmetto Dance Academy is introducing a new program in development. This class is for special needs children. My granddaughter Leagrace was the first student to participate in this type of class, and she LOVED dance! Miss Heather and her assistants spent hours working with LG and were touched by LG’s incredible love of movement and infectious laughter. PDA says, “She taught everyone that God uses us to show HIS love, no matter our age or abilities. Our newest program will help to bring LG’s light and love to other students with special needs all through our community.” Visit PDA’s Facebook page and find the post about this program. Click on the link to tell your story and help provide insight as they develop this class set to begin in the spring of 2020.

PDA will hold Open House Aug. 5. You can pre-register online! The fee for registration is $35 and is paid through the parent portal created when you complete the online form. If you have any questions, please email director@palmettodanceacademy.com.

Last week Wendy Arndt brought some free pears to the market.  Here is a recipe for Pear Preserves from Thelma Coleman that I found  in the Ridge Recipes Cookbook.  10 pounds of pears, 10 cups of sugar, 2 tbsp of cloves and 2 lemons.  Slice lemon thinly. Peal pears, slice in medium slices.  Place layer of pears, layer of sugar and lemons alternately in enameled saucepan.  Let set overnight.  Heat to boiling point, add cloves, reduce heat and simmer slowly, stirring occasionally until juice is of thick syrup consistence.  Put in hot sterilized jars and seal.  Yields about 10 half pints.

Review from David Marshall James:  "The Escape Room" by Megan Goldin

Four Wall Street high fliers-- coworkers at a prestigious, pedigreed financial firm-- are dropping everything on a Friday evening to participate in a mandatory team-building exercise.

   It's only supposed to last an hour, or so they're told.  There's a moral here about blindly following electronic messages.  In utter words, you're bigger than your phone, your tablet, and anything else with a touch screen.

   All of these corporate sheep have hefty plans for the weekend.  Being big shots, those involve jetting off to foreign shores.  Isn't anyone going to pipe up, "Sorry, I have to get to the airport-- on a Friday, yet"?

   Well, they're all in tenuous positions.  Several major deals of late have fallen through for this foursome.  On the flip side, there's a huge opening at the firm.  Could one of them possibly land this lolly, if they star-play on the team-building exercise?

   No one in this hyper-competitive quartet wants to be the one to miss out on a promotion, or to set themselves up for redundancy.

   So, team-building it is; specifically, in an escape room.  In an "ordinary" escape room, the participants seek clues, working together to find a way out before a prescribed time elapses.

   However, these four don't realize that their escape room is a stalled (read: dangling) high-rise elevator.  Talk about getting shafted.

   First-time novelist Megan Goldin weaves the escape-room narrative (hint:  rather "Lord of the Flies"-ish) with the back story of the foursome, as viewed through the eyes of Sara Hall, an up-and-comer at the firm.

   Sara-- as well as a savant-ish number-cruncher named Lucy-- exists on the perimeter of the team that includes the elevator quartet.  Lucy is leagues too smart for the group, while Sara is fathoms too ethical.  Sooner or later, someone's going to summon their inner Darwin; probably the one person who realizes they're bigger than their electronics.

   Goldin rolls out her story in a clear, direct style often reminiscent of John Grisham's.  The final third of the novel is particularly suspenseful, rife with plot revelations, while the ending is particularly Grisham-esque.

Harriet's Garden Tips: From my "SC Gardener's Journal" purchasing the best tools usually results in long- term savings.  Normally constructed of wood and metal, neither component is impervious to damp and dirt, so the golden rule is to KEEP TOOLS CLEAN. A useful idea for the oft-used spades and shovels it to fill a large pail with sand and pour in about a quart of motor oil;  the spade can then be plunged in and out after use, cleaning and oiling it in one fell swoop. The second rule is LEAVE IT DRY. Wood rots and metal rusts over time.  This includes the handles of the wheelbarrow.  This is experience talking to you. An aid to locating tools laid down and forgotten is to paint the handles a bright color.  This not only makes them easier to find but also protects wooden handles form the ravages of time.

REMINDERS

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

August 3: Watson Reunion

            Summer Time Social

August 31: Town Wide Sidewalk Sale

August 31 Fall Gathering

Jeannette Carr Memorial: 864.656.5896, www.clemson.edu/isupportcu, Jeannette        Carr Memorial, Annual Giving Office, 110 Daniel Drive, Clemson, SC 29631

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

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

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

July 19,  2019

Ridge Spring News

Harriet Householder

Laura Walker: Community Cat Clean-up Coming Soon!!!!  I am pleased to announce that the Town of Ridge Spring will be hosting a mobile unit from the Humane Society of Columbia on August 5. Why you ask? Well, we have a threat of RABIES on our doorstep after the rabid animals in Ward..PLUS we have real problems with overpopulations of feral cats. So love our Mayor Pat Asbill and so many more community-minded animal-loving souls for they have made it possible to get your feral cat/barn cat spayed or neutered plus vaccinated for RABIES for a mere $19....right here in town!!!. Benefactors have provided the hardware for humane trapping and then carrying your post-operative patient home in a clean cat carrier in addition to that great deal of a reduced cost.. So here's the deal. let's stop inviting the coyotes into town to feed on kittens, let's stop flirting with RABIES, let's show how we really want the best for our furry friends, let's start reducing our homeless pet populations and the spread of disease from wandering cats,, and let's stop feeling alone in dealing with this.  It's $19 in 2019, August 5, if you want to reserve your cat's appointment call or write me Laura Walker at (803) 685-6189 tandwalker@comporium.net!  And don't worry if you are disabled or elderly, someone will help you with the traps and animals.

FORS would like to give a big thank you to James Scott for speaking and signing his book, Changing Faces, in Ridge Spring. This book is about hardships, heartaches, having fun, working and growing up in and around Ridge Spring. He also goes on to tell of his career life in the military. This book can be bought from Amazon or checked out from the Ridge Spring Library. You want be disappointed. Thanks to James's family, Mayor Pat and Capers, and all others whom helped with this event. Mayor Pat reported that they did have 50   chairs, but quit counting the number of people at the signing when it reached 103. 

Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church Homecoming & Revival with Evangelist Bobby Earls

Sunday, August 11th @ 11:00 am with Homecoming Dinner served immediately following the service.  Revival services continueSunday evening @ 6:00 pm; Monday - Wednesday services held at 7:00 pm.  Come join us and prepare your hearts to receive a blessing.

The Ridge Spring Farmers' Market is a wonderful asset for our town.  We were so fortunate to have had Emma Jeannette Carr to be a great part of it.  Titan Farms is continuing to share the bounty of the land with customers each Saturday.  The Market is still going strong so visit the town square between 8:00 and 11:00 or 12:00

Mercantile 23: Just a note about our beautiful new-to-us French doors with individual beveled glass panes. They were black and rough when we purchased them but thanks to the dedication of my talented husband Pat, they are smooth and lovely. Painted with a special Blend of Frenchic Furniture Paint they make a statement of their own. Thanks, Pat for all the adjusting of the size to make them fit and the tedious scraping of the windows. You really made them shine. We have the formula for the paint color if you like it. Drop by to check out our complete line of Frenchic Chalk and Mineral Furniture Paint.  We are thankful for the many that came to the book signing in the old bank building. It was a huge success. So thrilled to meet Lieutenant Colonel James J. Scott and members of his family. I have known his mother, Ms. Rosa for quite a while. I found Mr. Scott to be very gracious. May God continue to richly bless you and your family. Thanks again and welcome to the next chapter of our business in Ridge Spring. We truly do believe the best is yet to come!!

Upcoming events in Ridge Spring include  August 3, Dixie Bell sponsoring a Summer Time Social and August 24Town-wide sidewalk Sale.  Main Street will be lined with deals.  Check it out on facebook.  All the shops are "rearing" to participate. 

Saturday August 31 there will be a Fall Gathering at Ridge Antiques and Dry Goods. There will be fall decorations and  a great selection of quality primitive antiques with Ann Myers, High  Grove Farm, Marie Widener, Primitive Pickens. Stay tune.

Then on September 21st, we have the Magnolia Ridge Antique And Art Gathering.

Watson Family Reunion, August 3, 2019:. If you will attend the reunion, please send a check for $16.97 by July 22 made payable to Mary Edmonds, 4202 Sequoia Road, Columbia, SC 29206. Please let Mary know if you have questions (803-790-7780 or marywedmonds@gmail.com.) We hope to see you there!

Josie Rodgers

(Leagrace was Josie's young granddaughter who had died. The family allowed her organs to be donated) . Just last week, Amber & Anthony received a letter from the parents of the two-year-old boy who received Leagrace’s heart. Jacob (whose mom’s name is also Amber!) lived for a year after he received Leagrace’s precious heart. Amber was so hoping to hear LG’s heartbeat again one day. Jacob’s parents have two other sons, and they want to meet Amber & Anthony. Please pray for them all because they have suffered such heartbreaking losses and meeting will be another emotional encounter but one full of love and healing.

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 sliding and bunting skills, basic hitting skills, 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. Both 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.

RSM High: Registration will be held Aug. 6 from 10 am to 6 pm.  We will also hold a make up day Aug. 7 from 8:30 am to 4 pm. Complete the online registration prior to your visit or get help from our staff using the computer lab.

Art Association of Ridge Spring

BASIC QUILTING:    Mackenzye Barfield will be the instructor and held August 3 from 12:00-3:00 pm.  $35 includes top cloth and batting.  Students will bring scissors, quilting thread, water soluble pen, safety pins, quilting needles, 10” embroidery hoop, pin cushion, thimble and backing for your practice piece. The focus of this class is the stitch work and basic quilt construction process.  Students will draw their own design and execute with stitching.  The project is intended to be a start in class to be finished outside of class.  Future classes will add additional stitches and techniques.  Pre-register is a MUST.  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:  8.

Review from David Marshall James:  "The Right Sort of Man" by Alison Montclair

   It's postwar London, still picking up the pieces from the Blitz.  Ration coupons are the order of the day.  A pair of black-market nylons will set milady back four pounds (about 50 bucks in today's $$$).

   Still, there's hope, springing eternal in the human breast if not the gams, and there're Miss Iris Sparks (never wed tho' much-loved) and Mrs. Gwendolyn Bainbridge (a war widow with a young son; both women in their late twenties).  They've set up the Right Sort Marriage Bureau in the midst of bombed-out Mayfair; indeed, all the neighboring edifices have been reduced to rubble.

   The two women have only recently met themselves, but they've made quite a match.  The event being a wedding reception, the idea for their biz has come quite naturally, particularly after repeated replenishment of their champers flutes.

   As for the Bureau:  What better way to get the general population back to populating?

   Things are going swimmingly until one young woman seeking the Right Sort's services turns up stabbed to death in an alley.  All ridiculously hyper-obvious clues point to the young man with whom the Bureau matched the deceased.  Not a good advert for business, that.

   "Sparks" and "Gwen" must save the day, the Right Sort, and the unfairly incarcerated young man who sought the Bureau's services.  Seeing as how Sparks is former Special Forces (she'll have to kill you after she tells what she did for King and Country during World War II) and Gwen is filled with righteous rage at her tyrannical mother-in-law, who has seized custody of Gwen's son, you had best believe that the duo are going to outfox Scotland Yard and spring their client from the clink.

   The dialogue fizzes like fine champagne in this delightful, caper-filled mystery-series debut, as irresistible as a bag of butter toffees at a West End matinee.  Iris and Gwen lead a cast of characters seemingly fresh out of some theatrical confection of the day.  A particular standout is the gargantuan, gangster-ish secretary/aspiring playwright/bill collector who met up with Iris in espionage-training at Cambridge and has carried something of a torch-- and we don't mean a flashlight-- for her since.

   It's full-up, all-out teatime throughout the novel, as if Dame Agatha Christie and Sir Noel Coward had devised a collaboration to lift London out of its postwar gloom.  Get yourself a copy, lie back, and think of England.

Harriet's Garden Tips: From Month to Month Gardening in the Carolinas The seeds of many perennials can be sown either in pots of directly in the garden.  It may take seed-propagated perennials from two to three years to bloom from seed, but some will bloom in less than a year. Start the seeds now outdoors in partially shaded location or in trays indoors. Some examples are Butterfly Weed, Maltese Cross, Purple Cone Flower, Shasta Daisy, and Yarrows.

REMINDERS

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

August 3: Watson Reunion

            Summer Time Social

August 24: Town Wide Sidewalk Sale

August 31 Fall Gathering

Jeannette Carr Memorial: 864.656.5896, www.clemson.edu/isupportcu, Jeannette        Carr Memorial, Annual Giving Office, 110 Daniel Drive, Clemson, SC 29631

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

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

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