Holy Week is next week -- April 5-12 -- and we have several opportunities to take time out of our busy schedules to reflect on this week in the life of Christ. . . . Sunday evening, April 5, the First Baptist Church will present the musical drama "Come, Touch the Robe" at the church at 7:00 p.m. The program will be directed by Patricia B. Burton. Soloists are Jim Caddell, Tom Duggan, Gail Duggan, Paige Eason, Shay Harris and Ann Tiller. . . . Monday through Friday, Wilkes Ministers United is sponsoring a series of luncheons and devotionals at 12 noon. The luncheons and devotionals will be held at a different church each day, but everyone is invited to every event. Monday will be at the Washington Presbyterian Church; Tuesday, Church of the Mediator; Wednesday, First United Methodist Church; Thursday, New Saints CME; and Friday, First Baptist Church. . . . Most churches in the county are planning Easter Sunrise Services with breakfast following, and then the usual Sunday morning worship service.

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The all-day showing of the movie "Gone With the Wind," originally scheduled for Retro Cinema, will instead be shown at the Chamber of Commerce on The Square all day on Saturday during the Tour. The Chamber staff invites visitors and anybody interested to stop by and see the movie. You can stay a long time or a short time.

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Gil Hearn and Patrick Vandiver were also members of the 4-H performing group, Clovers & Company, as high school students.

. Lawrence Hyde, who lives in Savannah but used to live in Washington Wilkes, travels the state in his job and always calls me when he finds somebody or some thing connected to Washington-Wilkes. This week he called to say that when he was in Louisville (Ga.) last week he met the director of the Chamber of Commerce and she told him that she had been impressed with what Washington-Wilkes has done in the past few years to bring the town to what it is today -- an interesting and progressive tourist town. She said that she visited Washington-Wilkes to see what we had done and told her co-workers that Louisville needs to do what Washington-Wilkes did "to save our town." . . . . We're glad somebody noticed the efforts of the Chamber of Commerce and others in our town.

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New hummers (hummingbirds) are showing up every day. Jim De- Weese had an early arrival on March 18; followed by Gail Stewart's on March 24. Emily Thornton had an arrival about that same time. . . . Hummingbird Queen Kay Nelms was a little "put-out" when her brother-in-law John Webster (who lives in the same neighborhood) had one of the beauties show up at his feeder March 25. and she had not had one even though she had had her feeders our for several days. But she told me Monday, March 30, that her little shivering beauty was at her feeder that morning with his coat on. It was 41 degrees at my house and that's pretty cold for a hummer. . . . . If you have told me about your hummer and I have not reported it, remind me.

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Heritage Health Care (Wilkes Health Care Center) held a backyard boogie for residents and community Friday night. Residents and staff say that Jason Crook played some great music and dancing was the main event. Even 100-year-old Fannie Smith made it onto the dance floor. . . . "It was a lot of fun," says Sherrye Denard, activities director at the center. The fun night was sponsored by Relay for Life.

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Susan Pope says that we have 19 couples who have announced plans for weddings to occur between now and the end of June.

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What did you do Saturday? Most folks stayed home out of the rain. I love the rain and love to get out in it. It WAS a rainy, gloomy day. . . . Norris Ware on Hill Street recorded 4.1 inches for last week, and 6.1 inches for the month of March. He says that's about two inches above normal, but we are still short for the year. . . . Sonny Johnson in the Tyrone area says he recorded 4.2 inches from Tuesday night until sunset Saturday. He recorded a total of 7.132 inches for the month of March which is three inches more than last March. From reports I get on the internet and my weather radio, we're in for some more rainy days this week. . . . Maybe it will rain enough that it won't have to rain Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, when we're trying to have the Tour of Homes.

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Some people have called to see if we know when the Georgia Bulldogs Baseball Team is going to be on television. We don't always know. Once in a while they are listed on the TV schedule in the Athens -- sometimes Augusta -- papers. Check SportsSouth and CSS for a listing. They were on SportsSouth Friday night. The Bulldogs swept Tennessee in three games over the weekend. It's refreshing to watch these young college students play. Tune them in. They are also on AM 960 on the radio.

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Since her marriage in November to Jeffery Roth, Alyssa Stewart has been a music major at Catawba College in North Carolina where they live. She has just returned from a tour with the Catawba College Choir. The tour took them to many interesting places, the most interesting and challenging being a performance at Carnegie Hall. Among other selections, they sang Felix Mendelssohn's "Elijah" with the New York City Chamber Orchestra and Catawba faculty soloists. The Catawba Singers opened the Carnegie Hall concert Sunday, March 8, with a solo performance of several pieces to celebrate the appointment of a new president and provost for the college.

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Be sure to take a second look at our beautiful Tour Supplement in this week's issue of The News- Reporter. It has a lot of information in it and lots of pretty color.

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Peg Simms, who lived in what is now the home of Roderick and Vinnie Dowling at Danburg, plans to be in Washington-Wilkes this coming weekend for the Tour of Homes. She and her son have compiled a scrapbook of pictures of Danburg people and places which they made when they lived in Danburg in the 1970s and 1980s. They will be presenting the scrapbook to the Mary Willis Library during the weekend and encourage Wilkes County folks to go by and check it out. Peg says it's an interesting compilation.

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