Features

Now is a great time to launch a new shape-up program with the Brunswick County Parks and Recreation Department’s 2009 spring fitness schedule.

A variety of classes are slated throughout the county, kicking off this month and continuing in coming weeks. They range from Zumba fitness and Aido Shokai JuJutsu martial arts to cardio and strength training and dance classes.

For more information or to register, call 253-2670.

The schedule and fees are as follows:

Last year about this time, we looked at some attainable resolutions for gardeners, including enjoying the garden more and obsessing less, using soil and water samples and not trying to grow turfgrasses in the shade. Here are a few suggestions for garden resolutions for 2009:

If having a great looking lawn is high on your priority list, resolve to figure out what should be done and do it in a timely manner. The warm-season grasses we grow are different from cool-season grasses like tall fescue and Kentucky bluegrass that are commonly grown in colder climates.

We are already seeing the effects of early cold temperatures. Daffodils are blooming at the Brunswick Botanical Gardens and in my yard as well.

Plants become confused when temperatures fluctuate between warm and cold, especially at this time of year. It is nice to see the color but did you really want the bulbs to bloom this early? If you want to delay the flower set for bulbs, you may have to plant them in cooler spots in the landscape or perhaps plant them a little deeper next time.

Comedian Jon Reep will be the featured headliner in the first “Stand Up For Charity,” a fundraiser sponsored by the Shallotte Junior Women’s Club set for this Saturday, Jan. 3, at Odell Williamson Auditorium at Brunswick Community College.

Doors open at 7 p.m., and the show starts at 7:30 p.m.

Reep, originally from Hickory, is the 2007 winner of NBC’s “Last Comic Standing” and is also known as “the Hemi guy” in the Dodge commercials.

The show will also feature two opening acts—Brad Reeder and Brooklin Green.

What began as a senior project for West Brunswick High School seniors Ainsley Wood and Meredith Cox turned into a life-changing experience for an autistic 9-year-old boy and his family.

Wood and Cox each began their projects with a different subject area of research—Wood focused on autism and Cox on the therapeutic benefits of horseback riding.

“I thought it’d be interesting to know about [autism],” Wood said.

It’s that time of year when you are most likely to be hosting a party with friends or family.

Make that gathering a little more festive and special by extending the holiday spirit to the drinks and refreshments you offer your guests.

Here is what you need to prepare some of the more popular traditional holiday cheer and a few more.

Wassail Bowl

Drinking Wassail is an age-old winter custom. It is drunk at Christmastime, New Year’s and the 12th Night.

Camellias bloom late fall, winter and early spring when few other plants do and have beguiled southern landscapes for more than 100 years. Camellias are usually thought of as a southern plant; they have been adapted to extend as far north as Long Island, N.Y. They can generally withstand winter temperatures as low as 10 degrees; they can be grown anywhere if you protect them and keep the roots from freezing. Camellias are shallow rooted, like the shade, and do the best in loose, fertile soil that is slightly acid. They do not like poor drainage.

Christmas arrives in a flurry of anticipation and dashed expectations. Weeks of hype, whispered hopes and circled desires swiftly end in a heap of torn paper and crushed bows.

Gifts hoped for were not received. Unexpected presents did not always match desires.

Children, overwhelmed by the abundance of toys, cannot express their gratitude in the face of such bounty. Despite our best efforts to ignore the feeling, I think we all sense the death found in birth, the cross that shadows Christmas.

Holiday events continue in coming days in Brunswick County and the surrounding area, including Christmas Eve and Christmas Day services. The schedule includes:

•Nights of a Thousand Candles, 3-10 p.m. Dec. 18, 19, 20, Brookgreen Gardens, Murrells Inlet, S.C. Thousands of lights sparkle from live oak trees and illuminate garden paths as musicians perform, carolers sing and visitors experience the enchantment. Non-member tickets are $15 for adults and $6 for ages 6-12. (843) 235-6000 or 1-800-849-1931; www.brookgreen.org.