“When we love, we always strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.”  ~ Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

The month of love brings wind gusts clattering nosily through bamboo stalks along the side street, a fallen oak leaf sailing over the fishpond surface, a fine boat. Nearby, velvet-purple pansies in a green pot nod their heads, promising ‘spring will come’. Flashes of tangerine float deep in green shadows, pond fish mysterious and peaceful in their little world.

Inside, slender branches of forsythia are finally springing tender yellow blooms. It’s my yearly ritual to gather a handful in the depths of January to bring inside, a promise that warmer days are around the corner. I’m not sure how that became a ritual, but every winter I pick forsythia branches to pluck in vases. Then I wait, wait, wait patiently for weeks until one day they surprise me. There’s just something ever-hopeful about seeing those tiny yellow blossoms on a gray winter day that lights the heart. It takes time for them to bloom inside, but like clockwork and a promise, they do.

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Saluda Welcome Table is every Tuesday at Saluda Methodist Church from 5:30-6:45 p.m. All are welcome, donations appreciated.

Learn more about Saluda Community Land Trust (SCLT) by visiting saludaclt.org or calling 828-749-1560. Monthly meetings are the first Wednesday each month, 3 p.m., at Saluda Presbyterian Church. Mark your calendar for SCLT’s annual meeting on April 26, 6 p.m. at Saluda Center.

Saluda Garden Club meets Feb. 20 at 10 a.m. at Saluda Library parking lot for trip to BB Barnes.

Ward’s Grill hosts a free veterans breakfast on the third Thursday of each month. All vets are welcome.

Saluda Downtown Foundation meets on the second Tuesday of the month at Saluda Library.

Calling all artists: the Saluda Business Association invites you to enter the juried Saluda Arts Festival on May 20, 2017. Entry deadline is March 17. Visit saluda.com to link to the arts festival page.

Donations to help support Saluda Historic Depot can be sent to P.O. Box 990, Saluda, NC 28773 or on the HistoricSaluda.org website. Saluda Train Tales returns March 17 with Bob Loehne. Visit saludahistoricdepot.com for more information.

There’s still time to order an engraved brick/paver for Pace Park in the alley by M.A. Pace Store. Drop off applications and payment to City Hall or mail to City of Saluda, 6 Main Street, Saluda, NC 28773. Proceeds will go toward building public restrooms. For information, contact Catherine Ross at 828-749-3534 or carnc@charter.net.

Happy February Birthday to: Wylie Rauschenbach, Wesley Pace, Biddie Dawson, Ginny Jones, Jenna Igoe, Suzanne Igoe, Pam Thompson, Catherine Raymond, Eva McCray, Ellen Rogers, Margaret Miller, Paul London, Ward Sandahl, Bill Klippel, Pat Bares, Dwight Smith, Ingrid Sandahl, Fred Baisden, Duane Bateman, and Ragan Thompson. Happy 136th birthday to the City of Saluda! Please add your birthday to the list. I promise no ages mentioned unless you happen to be under 2 or over 100!

Thank you for reading this column, dear readers. As ever, the goal is to make you feel like you’re enjoying small town life in a friendly mountain town called Saluda. Feel free to email me at bbardos@gmail.com or call 749-1153, find me on Facebook, or visit bonniebardosart.com.