Sue Duncan brought two easter bunnies to the Commissary Sunday – actually two angora rabbits. For the most part, the bunnies were content to let her pull their fur for spinning most of the afternoon. However, one of them took a death defying hop across Highway 52 at one point. It was retrieved by Butch Hodgkins and spent the rest of the afternoon cooling its heals in its cage.
KINDLING STONE CONCERT SATURDAY
Find a bit of musical balance in this fast-paced world of today with the musical group, Kindling Stone. Members Chris Moore and Mark Wingate whose decidedly eclectic bluegrass, folk, old-time, country, rock, sacred and several world music traditions, can be experienced to audience’s delight at Rugby’s Johnson Theatre on Saturday, April 10 beginning at 7:45 pm Eastern Time. The sound is that of a simpler time - fiddle, mandolin, and reed organ – while the voices sing of the ancient, timeless, poetic, and philosophical.
"The music is austere, calming, evoking centuries of prayer in tiny chapels...offers an uncorrupted witness to something better inside us." - The Tennesseean
The Rugby Commissary is open until 6:00 pm for pre-concert shopping and the concert begins at 7:45 pm Eastern. The Harrow Road Café will start serving dinner at 5:00 pm for guests who would like to enjoy dinner before the concert. Arrival for Dinner by 6:30 pm Eastern at the latest is recommended.
Concert tickets $12 with reserved seating now on sale - call locally 628-2441 or toll-free 1-888-214-3400 to purchase tickets or to make dinner or lodging reservations. Email is rugbylegacy@highland.net; website is www.historicrugby.org
HISTORIC RUGBY OFFERS 3RD ANNUAL OUTDOOR CONCERT
Historic Rugby will present the 3rd annual Classic Rock concert on Saturday, April 24 beginning at 7:45 pm Eastern Time. Call toll-free 1-888-214-3400 or locally 628-2441 for tickets and other information.
Historic Rugby brings back what many say is the Upper Cumberland’s finest classic rock band – Legacy. The band’s leader, Larry Edmondson, has been on Historic Rugby’s board for the past few years, and is joined by fellow Cookeville and area residents for this benefit concert to raise funds for Historic Rugby’s restoration and preservation.
Legacy will share old favorites from the 60s, 70s and 80s including songs from the Eagles, Moody Blues, Chuck Berry, Bob Seger and Eric Clapton. Showtime is 7:45 pm Eastern and reservations are not required. Bring you own seating - limited seating available. This is a benefit concert; tax-deductible donations will be requested. NO COOLERS - non-alcoholic beverages will be available.
The Harrow Road Café will start serving dinner at 5:00 Eastern each event evening. Arrival for dinner by 6:30 at latest is recommended.
Historic Rugby offers lodging in historic buildings year round. Call 1-888-214-3400 to purchase tickets or for lodging information or email rugbylegacy@highland.net. All public events and activities are featured on Historic Rugby’s website – www.historicrugby.org
RUGBY ARTIST TO TEACH IN LAS VEGAS
By Mara Trumbo
Mara Trumbo has won a teaching place in the prestigious Creative Painting Art Convention for 2011. The event, celebrating its 20th anniversary, will be in Las Vegas at the newly refurbished Tropicana Hotel from February 26th to March 3rd, 2011. Mara was asked to submit 12 entries for art classes varying from 2 to 6 hours in duration, in both oil and acrylic media. A 3 hour miniature oil painting attracted the eyes of the judges and guaranteed her a place. Classes are publicized in a catalog coming out in May and usually by July, the first class of up to 36 students fills up and a second slot is reserved during the week. It's a long way to fly for a 3 hour class from TN to NV, so here's hoping for a good response!
HOUSE SOLD
Last week we ran an article about Joe Reed trying to sell his home on Brewstertown Road. As many of you know Joe is one of the builders who has built some of the homes and buildings in Beacon Hill and around Rugby. He has also been a Morgan County Commissioner. With the housing slowdown Joe has accepted a job in Oak Ridge. While we will miss Joe we are happy to hear that he now has a sales contract on his home. Some folks from Syracuse, New York saw his listing on EBAY and came down to look at. They ended up signing a contract during the same visit. Best of luck to you Joe!
BIRTHDAYS
April 5 - Anna Joyce Walton Herr
April 6 - Lavonne Gibbs and Cynthia Johnson
April 7 - Gerald Hanwright
CALENDAR
April 10 – Kindling Stone Concert - Rugby’s Johnson Theatre on Saturday, April 10 beginning at 7:45 pm Eastern Time. Concert tickets $12 with reserved seating now on sale - call locally 628-2441 or toll-free 1-888-214-3400 to purchase tickets or to make dinner or lodging reservations. Email is rugbylegacy@highland.net; website is www.historicrugby.org
April 10 - History Club Dinner Meeting at Grey Gables - Howard Ray Duncan, local historian and Big South Fork ranger, will be the guest speaker, reenacting a member of the "Home Guard," in one of the local Union guerrilla units. The dinner will be $12 plus gratuity. This will include a salad, main course, dessert and drink. Be sure to make reservations by calling Linda Jones at 628-5252 by Wednesday, April 7. All are welcome.
April 17 – Historic Rugby Board of Directors Meeting – 10:30 a.m.
April 17 – Rugby Book Club at the home of Kit and Candy Howes in Armathwaite. Two popular books about Afghanistan: "A Thousand Spendid Suns" (2007) by Khaled Hosseini (who also wrote the popular "Kite Runner"), and "The Places in Between" (2006) by Rory Stewart. You can read either book or both. The Howes’ house is at 446 Big Creek Road in Armathwaite. Go west on Hwy. 52 approximately 3.5 miles from the Rugby bridge, look for Sam Smith Road and then Noah Buck Road. Scenic Bluff Road (on the left coming from Rugby – its Hwy. 52 gate will be open) is just west of Noah Buck. Take Scenic Bluff to Big Creek Road. Follow Big Creek Road to the end. Their wonderful fireplace will be lit and warming (if needed then).
May 1 - Grey Gables Bed ‘n Breakfast Inn Spring Vineyard Dinner. Five-course dinner, Highland Manor Wines and David Howard light mix of acoustic original music. 7:00 p.m. Eastern. $160.00 includes: Vineyard Dinner, Lodging, Country Breakfast, double occupancy (Does not include tax or gratuity on dinner) - $30.00 per person plus tax and gratuity. For Reservations: Linda Brooks Jones, 423-628-5252.
May 15 & 16 – Spring Festival
June 19 – Premiere – Rugby Play - “Emmy and Granny”
June 20 – Matinee Performance - “Emmy and Granny”
Quilters Group - Wed. and Sat. 2-4 p.m. Eastern at the Friendly House
WORKSHOP CALENDAR
For Workshop Registration contact Historic Rugby at 888-214-3400 - rugbylegacy@highland.net
Saturday, April 10 - Spring Wildflower Walk - Take part in one of the most diverse wildflower walks in Tennessee, led by instructor Jack Carmen, whose book Wildflowers of Tennessee is a definitive guide. Jack leads field trips and photo workshops for the Gatlinburg Spring Flower Pilgrimage, among others, and has won awards for his wildflower photos. Beginning at 10 am, attendees will caravan a short distance from Rugby to a very special Cumberland Plateau location for wildflower viewing and photographing. The fee is $25 and includes a picnic lunch and a plant list of expected sightings. The day will finish with a film presentation and book signing in the late afternoon.
Saturday, April 24 - Wet on Wet Iris Painting - Students will learn how to master the principles of the Jenkins “wet on wet” oil painting technique by following her personal step-by-step instruction. Instructor Mara Trumbo was born in Italy, raised in Southern Africa and now lives in Rugby. She has studied and acquired various techniques, which reveal themselves in her romantic paintings and pottery creations. Mara is a member of the Cumberland Art Society and displays her work in Crossville and Cookeville galleries. The fee is $60 and includes all materials and canvas.
Saturday, May 22 - Gardening With Herbs - From 10 am to 2 pm Eastern. Learn to plant an herb garden to be used for your culinary delight! A garden will be planted for the Harrow Road Café. Following the class join us for an herbal luncheon tasting some of the varieties used in the workshop. Bob always delights the group with having a selection of favorites from his 58-acre greenhouse nursery available for purchase. Bob Washburn is co-owner of Wolf River Valley Growers in Pall Mall, this area's largest greenhouse. Bob has served as the president of the Tennessee Flower Growers Association and past chairman of the Southeast Greenhouse Conference. Workshop fee $15 - $9 lunch at Café.
Saturday, June 5 - Crazy Quilting Rugby Style - Instructor Joyce Lantz. Try your hand at this Victorian and Appalachian patchwork pastime in your own style--silk, satin or velvet, cotton and denim, plain or fancy! Make a pillow, a picture, a wall hanging or a quilt. This class will start you off.
By Linda Konig
Every day now, there's some new wildflower coming up or blooming, and I'm so happy finally to welcome these old and new beauties around Rugby. This past week, I found the first spring beauties, bird's-eye speedwell, bloodroots, small bluets (different from the later Quaker ladies), chickweed, coltsfoot, common purple violets, sweet Betsy trilliums, dutchman's breeches (or should that be "Britches" in Tennessee?). Of course, that means I've also been seeing some of our pollinating insects hard at work. Wasps are quite busy now visiting the flowers. Charles Gibbs' and Boyd Mitchell's honeybees have been all over. Saw a couple of carpenter bees visiting flowers at The Lindens the other day. They were the first ones I've seen this year--easy to distinguish from bumblebees once you learn to look at their rear abdomens. The carpenter bees' rears are as shiny as black patent leather. I must be falling behind; I haven't seen any bumblebees yet.
As for the other wild bees, most are smaller than honeybees, and an article in the recent March-April Tennessee Conservationist said we have between 600 to 800 species of wild bees in our state! So much for my thought that perhaps someday I might learn them all! Other pollinators include hummingbirds, moths, and butterflies. However, my attention was caught the other day by a reddish medium-size ant busily carrying something away that looked like a seed in the front flowerbed against the Newbury fence. There were several Bloodroots blooming there, and it occurred to me that possibly the ant was carrying away a bloodroot seed with an elaisome attached. The possible seed did look as if it had two parts. Bloodroots, violets and trilliums, among some other early-blooming wildflowers, are spread by ants! Mother Nature is so clever in the way she arranges this. These particular wildflowers have seeds with either a sweet coating or a sweet attachment (elaisome) that ants just love. So the hunter-gatherer ants carry the seeds away and down into their tunnels where they eat the sweet goodie part and discard the rest. Well, what better place for a seed to germinate than underground?
This Week’s Editors: Rick Murphy and George Zepp
