“Do you love this world? Do you cherish your humble and silky life? Do you adore the green grass, with its terror beneath?”
~ Mary Oliver

Acorns, squirrels and more acorns…a flare of yellow leaves: mid-October brushes the cheek with balmy afternoons, cool-crisp-apple mornings.
Driving between Saluda and Tryon down 176, a favorite route to work, squirrels scamper in front of my car.
Not wanting to hit Squirrel Nutkin (thanks to Beatrice Potter), I slow: telling the squirrel to move it, make his mind up.
Confused, the round-eyed gray furry tails dance back and forth: not sure, maybe, could be. This reminds me of my own mind some days; I end up forgiving them every time.
When I was a kid, we had a menagerie: Siamese cats, dogs, rabbits, squirrels, pigs, chickens, a cow, turtles, guinea pigs and a boa constrictor. I was the one who discovered “Nipper” the baby squirrel in the woods one afternoon.
Blind and shivering, Nipper had lost his mother, and was clinging to a hickory tree for dear life. I brought him home, bottle-feeding him. He’d ride on my shoulder, in my shirt pocket, climb happily through my hair.
Krang, the boa constrictor, lay over my shoulders like an exquisite shawl. Krang stayed with us thanks to my dad who was on the administration staff at Wingate: we snake-sat one summer for a traveling student.
One day, my older brother’s cute friends drove up, and being a typical 13-year-old girl wanting to impress, I strolled out to greet them with a large 6-foot snake as thick as my forearm draped around my neck.
Windows closed and flew gravel wildly as the carload of teenage males backed out of the long driveway at break-neck speed. So much for those cute older males. Perhaps I didn’t make the impression I had meant to!
Community news: The Saluda tailgate market winds up this month, so get those last Fridays in while you can, 4:30—6:30 p.m.
Saluda Artists and Farmers Faire will be on Oct. 22 from 10-4. Proceeds benefit Saluda Community Land Trust and Mill Spring Agricultural Center.
Saluda Center: Dale McEntire’s ICC art students’ work is on display until Oct. 28. A community potluck with Sonya Monts and dance students is Thursday, October 27 at 6:00 p.m. Bring a dish to share; this is the last potluck of the year.
Oct. 27- Saluda School will have a spaghetti dinner from 4:30-5:45 and fall informance from 6-7 p.m. All are welcome!
Oct. 28 – Bring the kids for a Halloween Stroll downtown at 3:30 p.m.
Oct. 28-29 – Visions of Saluda Art Exhibit at the beautifully restored “Upper Floor” at Historic Thompson’s Store, 11-7. Local artists will have work available for sale; the opening reception is Oct. 28 at 5.
Friday, Oct. 28 will be the annual “Masquerade Ball” fund-raising event for Saluda Medical Center—tickets available for adults and children. Jack Roper will have a magic show for kids.
Oct.30 at 3 p.m. Meet city commissioner candidates Lynn Cass, John Morgan and Leon Morgan at Saluda Center.
Allen Haas tells me that Betty Anna Brown, who’s been a member of the Carolinas Dahlia Society for 10 years, had a winner in the September show celebrating the Society’s 25th Anniversary.
Her entry named “Pooh” which won Best Collarette; she’s been awarded a life membership in CDS. Congratulations, Betty Anna! I have to say that Betty Anna has always been of the best-dressed ladies around, and is a superb gardener with husband Joe!
Happy October Birthday to Patricia Case, Jo Dellinger, Aaron Bradley, Amanda Burrell, Lisa Orr, Marilyn Prudhomme, Bubba Dawson, Kirby Jackson.
Thank you for reading this column! Please feel free to contact me at bbardos@gmail.com; or 828-749-1153. You may also visit my website at bonniebardos.com for more writing and art, or find me on facebook.