Monday, October 17, 2011

Pumpkin Carving Time in Rugby

 Wednesday at 7 p.m.

By Rita Myers

The annual popular Rugby pumpkin carving is this Wednesday at 7 p.m. Eastern at the Community Building to help decorate for Rugby’s Ghostly Gathering events.  This really is a lot of fun.



 Everyone is invited to bring a pumpkin for carving to help us decorate. Bring a snack, too, if you wish.



Storytelling Event

Friday Oct. 21 at Rugby Theatre


The night before the first Ghostly Gathering, there will be Storytelling at the Rebecca Johnson Theatre at Historic Rugby - Friday, October 21 at 7 p.m. Eastern Time.

 The featured storyteller is Debbie Dunn, also known as D. J. Lyons. Debbie is a professional storyteller and a published author. She has had been actively telling stories and teaching storytelling in schools, workshops, teacher in-services and festivals since 1989. She is a freelance writer and has numerous books available, such as The Bell Witch Unveiled.  

She will also be the featured storyteller at the Ghostly Gathering events (see story below).

 The Friday event cost is $5 for adults, and $3 for students ages six through high school. The storytelling is suitable for all ages. This event is supported in part by a grant from the Tennessee Arts Commission Touring Arts program.

Call Historic Rugby toll free at 1-888-214-3400 for information, or email rugbylegacy@highland.net  More information about Rugby, including driving directions, is online at www.historicrugby.org


Photos of the Week


Top left shows Historic Rugby Board Member Mike Green with a large group he brought to see Rugby on Saturday, which turned out to be a beautiful day!  Bottom left shows Teresa Coker enjoying her birthday cake at a party in her honor.  The two right photos show friends at a goodbye party for Robin Sexton.  Robin’s last day with Historic Rugby was Friday.  He will be sorely missed, but he promises to visit and volunteer on a regular basis.



Ghostly Gathering  

 Saturday Oct. 22 and 29

Join the spirits of Rugby past at Historic Rugby's 18th Annual Halloween Ghostly Gathering on Saturday, October 22 and again on Saturday, October 29. Activities begin promptly at 6 p.m. Eastern Time (5 p.m. Central) and end around 10 p.m. Guests are welcome to come in costume.

The featured storyteller this year, Debbie Dunn, also known as D.J. Lyons. Debbie is a professional storyteller and a published author. She has been actively telling stories and teaching storytelling in schools, workshops, teacher in-services and festivals since 1989. She is a freelance writer and has numerous books available, such as The Bell Witch Unveiled. Ghostly Gathering is supported in part by grant support from the Tennessee Arts Commission Touring Arts program.
Ghostly Gathering participants will enjoy a homemade chili and cornbread dinner with slaw and fruit crunch at the Community Building followed by storytelling in the Rebecca Johnson Theatre. Then guests will tour several candle and oil lamp lit historic buildings. Ghostly Gathering will end with hot cider and more ghostly stories around the Druid's Bonfire at the old Tabard Inn site, weather allowing, or inside if raining.

Event cost, including dinner, is $19 for adults, and $10 for students ages six through high school. The event is not suitable for children under six. Reservations should be made as soon as possible since seating is limited and the event is usually a sell out.

 Literary News

Book Club

The next book club selection is the nonfiction book IN THE GARDEN OF THE BEASTS  by Erik Larson.  It is the amazing story of the U.S. ambassador to Germany and his family, largely set in Berlin during the buildup to World War II.  You can read reviews of the book and even order a copy at http://www.amazon.com/Garden-Beasts-Terror-American-Hitlers/dp/0307408841

 The meeting will be on Nov. 26 at Lisa Donegan's house at 7 p.m.


New Book by Rugby Friend Nancy Jensen Wins Major Endorsements

Nancy Jensen, a longtime visitor to and supporter of Rugby, had good news when she stayed at Pioneer Cottage earlier this month. Her first novel, THE SISTERS, will be published on Nov. 11 (her birthday, as it turns out) by St. Martin’s Press. She had with her a copy of the attractive dust jacket (above).

 In the November issue of O Magazine (now on newstands!) THE SISTERS is #7 in the article "10 Books to Pick Up Right Now." THE SISTERS will be the #1 IndieNext Pick in December. Nancy says the IndieNext list features 20 books every month in a brochure that goes out by the thousands to independent bookstores all over the country. Even the big chains like Barnes and Nobles and Borders pay attention to this list, since they don't want the Indies to get a jump on a book that may be a big hit with readers. It’s also supposed to be getting some sort of mention in the November issue of Good Housekeeping magazine. Find out more about Nancy and the book at: http://nancyjensen.org/


Congratulations to the Rugby Quilters!

By Jonell Hester

As of September 28, 2011, the Rugby Quilters have become certified card carrying members of the National Quilters Association Inc. We have a charter, a number, a handbook, and a copy of the bylaws.
The benefits of becoming a member of NQA are staylng in touch with other quilt guilds around the country and having a resource for information concerning education, craftsmanship, documentation, history, teachers and events.  It will be an advertising tool for our next quilt show and possible grants to help support the event.  AND it gives us validation in the "quilting world". 

Thanks to all who helped in this endeavor.
Anyone wishing to join our group should know we try to meet every Wednesday at 2 p.m.  Eastern Time and also Saturdays at the Friendly House, located just behind Rugby’s Christ Church Episcopal. Times may vary, so call Nora Meadows at 423-628-6475 or Dorcus McBrayer at 423-628-1282 to check.

 Neighborhood Watch
By Tiffany Terry

I thought it would be a good idea to try to keep a log of suspicious vehicles, but in order to keep down everyone's time I thought if it was alright with everyone I did not mind being the person to keep the log through e-mail. My e-mail address is supersport1@highland.net . If you would like for me to help keep track of any suspicious vehicle,  just send it to me and I will log it. You never know when it may be helpful for future reference.

BIRTHDAYS

Oct. 23 - Sam Stringfield



CALENDAR


Rugby is in the Eastern Time zone, just barely

Friday, Oct. 21 – Storytelling at the Rugby Theatre

Saturday, Oct. 22 - Bill Henry, wood carving demonstration, on the porch at the Commissary
Saturday, Oct. 22 – Ghostly Gathering

Saturday, Oct. 29 - Randy Wallace, chair caning demonstration, on the porch at the Commissary
Saturday, Oct. 29 – Ghostly Gathering

Saturday, Nov. 5 – Community Potluck - 7 p.m. Eastern

Saturday, Nov. 17 – Presentation by writers of book on Living With Bears 
Saturday, Nov. 26 – Book Club - The next book club selection will be the nonfiction book In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson. http://www.amazon.com/Garden-Beasts-Terror-American-Hitlers/dp/0307408841. The meeting will be at 7 p.m. at Lisa Donegan's house.

Quilters’ Group - Wednesdays and Saturdays, 2–4 p.m. Eastern, at the Friendly House

Rugby Yoga – Wednesdays, 8:30 a.m. Eastern, at the Friendly House.

NATURE NOTES

Conehead Alert!

 By Linda Konig

Yes, Coneheads have been seen in Rugby and the surrounding area.  Conehead Katydids, that is. Autumn is the season for them.  I haven't seen them at Thelma Frogge's buying six-packs of beer yet, but the one I saw last week (the only one, in fact, that I've ever actually seen) was on the wall of my carport.  Teresa Coker told me she's often seen them.  This particular one was a Round-Tipped Conehead (Neoconocephalus retusus), the smallest of its kind.

 These katydids, unlike the ones you start hearing about the first of July, don't start arguing back and forth with each other up in the trees about whether Katy did or Katy didn't. The Round-Tipped ones stay in the grass and weeds and make a soft, more-or-less buzzing sound. They begin playing their instruments in late afternoon and continue all night. The song is made by scraping the edges of their wings together, one wing having a sort of file on the edge and the other having a scraper to rub against the file. I've probably been hearing these all my life, since they're native all over Tennessee, but before now I'd always assumed the sound I was hearing was crickets. They begin playing their instruments in late afternoon and continue all night.

The Round-Tipped Coneheads do have cones on the front top of their heads, though they aren't as pronounced as some of the cones on other species of Conehead Katydids. Their cones have a black line across the front of the cone's tip. These insects are hard to spot  in meadows because their coloring blends in so well. Sometimes they're green and sometimes they're brown. The one I saw was green and was only about an inch long. The Round-Tipped ones don't seem to be afraid of humans at all.  You can see a good photo of one on the tip of a man's finger at http://jimmccormac.blogspot.com/2010/11/last-conehead-of-2010.html
Tennessee has three other kinds of native Coneheads. If you find minscule empty six-packs by the side of the road with all six cans still attached to the plastic rings, there might be Coneheads in your neighborhood, too.  Litterbug Coneheads!


This Week’s Editors: Rick Murphy and George Zepp