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And now the sun in tinted splendor sank,
  The west was all aglow with crimson light;
The bay seemed like a sheet of burnished gold,
  Its waters glistened with such radiance bright. 

~ Olivia Ward Bush-Banks, excerpt from “Drifting” 

It’s the week of Thanksgiving, a time for gratitude and gathering. For the birds, I hang a brand-new suet cake with hot pepper to dissuade naughty squirrels. However, neither birds nor squirrels seem to like the gift. I have another one waiting in the wings (no pun intended) sans pepper. Maybe the raccoon will steal the offending treat before I send it to the garbage can. He raids everything else….

 

Inside, I’ve kept busy corralling those rampant dust bunnies unleashed from putting the Christmas tree up early. If you find one, that means 1,000,000 bunnies lurking. That’ll teach me, right? 

 

One thing sure does lead to another. After I dusted, swept, moved stuff and more stuff, and aired out loads of winter clothing outdoors, I smoothed fresh clean sheets on the antique-iron bed my Aunt Shirley gave me many years ago, added the 1930’s-era quilts made by my grandmother and my great-aunt Elizabeth, then topped it all off with a crocheted/tasseled bedspread my mother spent a year making, inch-by-inch, square-by-square. 

 

She crocheted one for each of us kids, back in the 70s, using a fine-cotton thread that came on cone spools. The spread is very heavy, despite the delicate needlework. 

 

All these family members are long gone now, yet every treasure is a warm hug, a memory. Hug your loved ones while you can, Dear Reader. Happy Thanksgiving, and here’s a hug from me to you. 

 

Saluda Winter Market is at Saluda Center, 64 Greenville Street, on 2nd and 4th Saturdays from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. through April. , 9:00-

Mountain Page Theater presents “Sound of Music” on November 26- 27 and December 3-4. Salzburg Festival cuisine will be available after each show. Get more information/tickets by visiting https://mountainpage.theater/

 

Potluck/bingo night at Saluda Center (64 Greenville Street) is November 28, at 6 p.m. 

 

Saluda Hometown Christmas returns December 9 from 6-8 p.m. There’ll be music and entertainment at McCreery Park, elf stations along Main Street; shops will be decorated and lit. At 8 p.m. Saluda’s churches will have an ecumenical service at the park’s Ella Grace Mintz stage. 

 

Saluda Pop-Up Pantry is Tuesday from 1 p.m. – 6 p.m. at Saluda Presbyterian Church, 54 Carolina Avenue (behind Saluda Library). To volunteer at the Pantry, call Saluda Church of the Transfiguration, 828-749-9740. The Pantry has doubled the clients it helps this year and needs your financial support: mail tax-deductible donations to Saluda Pop-Up Pantry, P.O. Box 428, Saluda, NC 28773 or donate online at www.saludapantrycom; or through Amazon Smile. The “Winter Closet” for adults, teenagers and children can use winter coats, sweaters, socks, hats, gloves, and blankets; you can email saludapantry@gmail.com to schedule a time to deliver; paper goods are needed too. Visit www.saludapantry.com to learn more.

 

Saluda Get-Well goes to Patricia Roskens and Lucy Holman.

 

Happy November Birthday to Jared Scott, Karen Johnson, Nancy Barnett, Dawn Pearson, Dusty Jespersen, Gwen Garren, Stoney Lamar, Jim Boyle, Tom Ellwood,  Wendy McEntire, Aaron Burdett,  Jane Thompson, Candy Oakes, Bruce Hunt, James Hrynyshyn, Hannah Jane Kirby, Shirley Chamberlain, Sam Woodbery, Glenn Morgan, Trish Carey, Sa Smith, and Karen Gabriel. 

 

Feel free to contact me at bbardos@gmail.com, (828) 817-6765, P.O. Box 331, Saluda, NC 28773, Facebook, or visit bonniebardos.com