The moon lives in the lining of your skin.  ~ Pablo Neruda

This past week, December’s early Frost Moon rose over gnarled limbs of ancient apple trees, painting a bright luminescence over fields and mountains, dancing in ripples of water below. For a while, as she swung up on the eastern sky, her cape was a soft pink lace until she shone silver overhead.

There’s always a sense of magic and wonder watching the moon.

Some things are never jaded or tiresome; moon watching and star gazing are timeless, perhaps reminding us that countless humans in another time did the very same thing, and felt the same wonder. Add in watching (and listening to) a wood fire’s flame, flicker and crackling telling mesmerizing tall tales, winding dirt roads with rhododendron walls on each side, and winter ferns mounding over lichen-kissed rocks. All part of what Mother Nature gifts us with each day and night, if we’d only take time to treasure it.

Saluda Welcome Table at Saluda Methodist Church is on December vacation and resumes Jan. 9.

Saluda Community Land Trust can use your generous holiday donations or volunteer help. Last week I was up on Judd’s Peak admiring all the hard work SCLT has done to improve that area, along with the wide-ranging mountain views. Contact SCLT at 828-749-1560 or visit www.saludasclt.org.

Saluda Historic Depot, 32 West Main Street, is open Monday – Saturday from 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Sunday 12-4 p.m.; saludahistoricdepot.com. The next Saluda Train Tales is Dec. 16 at 6 p.m. and will be movie night featuring “Polar Express.”

Saluda Police Department/City Hall are collecting unwrapped toys and donations to provide Christmas to Saluda’s children in need. To ‘adopt’ a child or two, stop by City Hall or call Jessica Desiano at 828-749-2581. Donations need to be in by Dec. 18.

The annual Saluda Hometown Christmas (sponsored by Saluda Business Association) is Dec. 8, 6-8 p.m. An ecumenical service will be at Saluda Presbyterian Church on Carolina Street at 8:15 p.m.

The Children’s Workshop is Dec. 9 from 9:30 a.m.-1 p.m. at Saluda Fire Department and it’s free for kids 5 and up. If you’d like to be a helper, call Laura Fields at 828-749-4521.

The annual Saluda Center Gala will be Dec. 9, 6:30-9 p.m.

Saluda Social Singles (all singles over 40) will have a potluck gathering at Saluda Center, 5 p.m. Dec. 14. For more information, contact Anita Moore at 749-3335.

Saluda United Methodist Church Choir will present “The Longest Night” musical on Dec. 21 at 7 p.m.

In the spirit of helping others this season, Heartwood Gallery is offering a pewter ornament by Cynthia Webb to raise funds for Thermal Belt Outreach Ministry (which has provided financial and food assistance to thousands of Polk County residents in need over the past 20 years). All proceeds are donated from Heartwood to Thermal Belt Outreach.

Saluda Get Well Wishes go to Cissy Thompson, Rita Igoe, Mary Ann Asbill and Becky Kennedy.

Saluda Sympathy goes to the family of Jennie Adams.

Happy December birthday to Judy Ward, Holly Wilkes, Theresa Wilkes, Perry Ellwood, Donnie Hunter, Jeff Bradley, Preston Mintz, Carolyn Morgan, Susan Casey, Jeff Jenkins, Nikki Ammerman, Cas Haskell, Mary O. Ratcliffe, Laura Fields, Lord Blanton, Beth Brand, Jim Carson, and Tom DeKay. Please add your birthday to the list, no ages mentioned unless you’re under 2 or over 100!

Thank you, dear readers, for reading this column. You can contact me at bbardos@gmail.com, 828-749-1153 or bonniebardosart.com.