Features

By Mark Jankowski

Ingram Planetarium senior engineer

Autumn has sprung. Wait a minute. Can autumn spring? Well, maybe I should say autumn has fallen. The temperatures do not reflect the change of seasons but daylight is growing shorter, school buses are on the road again, and stores have winter coats on display. That is just the change here on the ground.

Like most expectant mothers, Chelsea Farmer is nervous about her new arrival.

The 22-year-old West Brunswick High School graduate is keeping the sex of the baby secret as she prepares for the Dec. 29 due date. She’s excited—but also nervous.

But sometime after Jan. 1, 2011, what could be mere days after the newest addition to the Farmer family arrives, Chelsea’s husband Patrick will be deployed, most likely to Northern Afghanistan.

 A 70th wedding anniversary is a celebration indeed.

Two couples in Brunswick County achieved that marital milestone in the same week.

Connecticut natives Nick and Lillian Szeszkowski were honored at a 71st anniversary party Sept. 9 at Shallotte Assisted Living.

New Jersey natives Matthew and Theresa’s 70th anniversary was Sept. 7. They were feted with an early surprise party by their family in July.

NICK AND LILLIAN SZESZKOWSKI

By Mark Jankowski
Ingram Planetarium

Cultures long ago that mapped out the sky with constellations did not include all the stars. 

The dimmer stars simply did not have any value. The gods saw them as unimportant so then the earliest sky watchers deemed those dim stars the same—unimportant. If the stars were unimportant then there was no need to include them in a figure of bright stars honoring a deity. 

Creativity and imagination, often with a playful edge, distinguish the work of two artists featured this month at Franklin Square Gallery in Southport.

Claire Sallenger Martin of Supply has spent a lifetime in the arts, developing her own unique style. Rebecca Pierre of Oak Island, a published poet and professional writer, turned to pottery for yet another form of artistic expression.

Martin and Pierre will showcase their newest original creations from Aug. 23 to Sept. 25.

Brunswick County’s summer concert series continues with a performance by Jim Quick & Coastline Band at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 20, in Ocean Isle Beach.

The free concerts always take place in the parking lot of the Museum of Coastal Carolina.

Described as an eclectic blend of blues, soul and rock, Coastline is renowned for “hard-driving Carolina backbeats, Georgia-Southern rock, Cajun-inspired grooves.”

BOLIVIA—Leave it to bear-lover Howard Loughlin to deliver the bear facts.

Shadow and Jerry, two bears who are the last residents of the former Faircloth Zoo, are still lovingly being cared for and returning the appreciation every time the Pender County resident visits them—at least once a week.

Now, he and two friends are trying to raise enough money to help Shadow, a Syrian Grizzly/black bear mix, and Jerry, a brown Grizzly, be relocated to Lynwood Park Zoo in Jacksonville.

Estelle Cartier celebrated her 107th birthday on July 29 at Autumn Care in Shallotte with family members.

Born in New Brunswick, Canada, she is the youngest of 13 children. Celebrating with her were her daughter and son-in- law, Claire and Gene Connelly, three grandchildren, Kevin, Greg and Dana Connelly, and three great-grandchildren, Kyle, Taylor and Sarah Connelly. She attributes her amazing longevity to ‘life on the farm with good fresh food and clean water.’ 

Opera House Theatre Company is electrifying the main stage of Thalian Hall with its rendition of “Anything Goes,” which continues Friday, Saturday and Sunday and next weekend in Wilmington.

The musical, which opened last week, is a classic screwball comedy aboard a transatlantic ship, the S.S. American.