Staff and Volunteers Decorate Village

The Rugby decorators have outdone themselves again. Above are decorations inside and outside the Community Building. Rita Myers worked on a number of the decorations and supervised the pumpkin carving.  She said lots of folks have helped. She said Carman Roberson, Lisa Donegan and Cheryl Hodgkins even took decorations out of their own yards to help decorate at the Commissary and other buildings. And Barbara Mitchell and her helpers have done a great job at the Cafe.

Top, decorations inside the Community Room and outside the Visitor Centre.  Bottom, one of the amazing mantels in the Cafe. 

Church Invites Community to Hymn Singing
and Covered Dish Nov. 13

By Ron Jackson

Sunday, November 13 will be a special day at Christ Church. We are having a covered dish lunch at noon followed by an old-fashioned Hymn Sing. Members of Rugby Road Methodist Church will be our guests. Everyone in the community is invited to be part of this special time.

Bring your favorite dish to share and then join us for an afternoon of singing, singing, singing.

What’s Happening at the Commissary?

Rita Myers shows off some of the new notecards the Commissary has for sale.  The cards show the images of several historic buildings including the Thomas Hughes Public Library, Christ Church and Newbury House.

Wood carver Bill Henry demonstrated his skill on the Commissary front porch last Saturday.  Next Saturday will be a chair caning demonstration with Randy Wallace.

BIRTHDAYS

Oct. 27 - Nora Meadows

CALENDAR

Rugby is in the Eastern Time zone, just barely.

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

 Saturday, Oct. 29 – Ghostly Gathering – Sold out!

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

Sunday, Nov. 13 - Christ Church covered dish lunch at noon followed by an old-fashioned Hymn Sing. Rugby Road Methodist Church will be guests. Everyone in the community is invited. Bring your favorite dish to share and then join in for an afternoon of singing, singing, and singing.

Saturday, Nov. 17 – Presentation by writers of book on Living With Bears.

Friday, Nov. 25 – Thanksgiving Marketplace

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

Ladybug Season

By Linda Konig

Well, it's that time of year again when golds, reds, and oranges seem to be the prevailing colors, and we welcome them—with the possible exception of the red-orange Halloween ladybugs.  Another name for them is the Variegated Lady Beetle.  You may not know this, but there are approximately 450 kinds of lady beetles native to the U.S.  The Variegated Lady Beetle, however, isn't one of them.  Every year, Christ Church in Rugby is invaded with piles of them, and many other Rugby buildings are, too, but they're worse at the church because of all the cracks and crevices that allow them to move right in for the winter.  Also we have windows facing southwest catching the warm afternoon sun, and the prevailing color of the church is a light Suffolk pink.  (They're drawn to lighter colors.)

I've written about these little pests before, so I won't repeat what I said about them last year, but I've recently learned more about them.  You may have wondered, as I used to, why we don't see many of them in summer.  We've all been told that ladybugs, in general, eat garden pests such as aphids, so why aren't we seeing thousands of them in our gardens eating the aphids, etc.?  We might see one or two ladybugs occasionally, but these could be some other kind from the Variegated.  The Variegated ones and possibly others live in the trees!  I suppose some birds might eat them, but most don't because of their vile taste and smell which comes from an orange staining liquid that oozes from their knees when they're threatened.  It's their only defense, but an effective one.  (By the way, get rid of these stains because the scent of the stains draws more of the Variegated Ladybugs .)

Since their lifespan is one to two years, they overwinter, and where do they go in winter?  You guessed it.  Too bad they don't migrate south to Florida.  Benita Howell is experimenting with vanilla flavoring on cotton balls in the church, and I recently read that the smell of menthol will repel them.  I suppose that most strong odors would be something of a deterrent, causing them to be unable to smell each other and thus congregate en masse.  On the other hand, I've heard that they love the smell of house paint!  Someone told me this the other day.  That could explain why Boyd was practically carried away with them when he painted my house last fall and why I've only seen two of them this year.  Some tips: Remove all windows facing south.   Paint your house black, and wear black clothing.  Move to downtown Manhattan or the desert; they prefer to live near trees.  It might not hurt to wear Vicks salve every fall instead of perfume or aftershave.

Many thanks to Annie Patterson and Donna Heffner for the Walton Court pumpkin decorated with metal salvaged from the ruins of the original Walton Court. This is the fourth annual pumpkin they decorated with recycled 1988 fire debris. The photo with Annie does not do the winking pumpkin justice!




This Week’s Editors: Rick Murphy and George Zepp