SOLID AS A ROCK.  ROCK ON.  ROCKIN’ THE ROOM.  All those great expressions fit the donations I write about today as I continue my quest to gather items for the Symphony League auction.  We have the mighty rocks that reach to the sky and the rocks that turn to gems from the pressure inside the earth.

Books, CDs, a lunch pail, t-shirt, calendar, REAL ROCKS and a very special envelope are in the basket donated by Crazy Horse Memorial.

The photo shows the basket donated by the folks at Crazy Horse Memorial.  When I asked Ruth Ziolkowski for a  “little something” like lunch and admission for a couple, she said, “Oh, Korczak just loved the symphony so much.  Let me have Anne (one of her daughters) put something really special together for you”.

You can easily discern the books, cds and shirt.  But a lunchpail?  Who knew there was a lunchpail with Korczak on the front? …and check out the ROCKS ; these are bookends created from the granite blasted off the mountain.  One of Ruth’s 23 grandchildren, Heidi, lovingly polishes the fragments and creates unique pairs.

THE REALLY SPECIAL ITEM is the little white envelope you see peeking out from the center. In that envelope is a  gift certificate for four people : admission to the site, lunch at Laughing Water Restaurant,  a trip to THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN during the day ..PLUS a re-admit pass  for the night “Legends in Light” laser show.   If you are planning to entertain someone special this year, this would be a terrific basket to bid on at the auction.

RUTH ROCKS is the expression I am using today!  Let me use this opportunity to help you pronounce that last name.  The Polish language is a little tough with all those consonants, but let me make it easy.  Say JEWEL (like the gem), CUFF (like a bracelet), SKI (like going down a mountain). All together now Jewel-cuff-ski.  OK!  ( Thank you Ruth - I’ll be up to play the Steinway grand soon.)

MORE JEWELS - as in diamonds - will be part of the Symphony League Auction on Sneak-a-Peek night.  That’s because THE CLOCK SHOP really got into the spirit of things.  When Chris Johnson found out that it was the Black Hills Symphony Orchestra’s 75th Anniversary - the Diamond Jubilee - he smiled at me and said, “Oh, I can really do something special for you.”

HOW’S ABOUT A GENUINE, WHITE ROUND DIAMOND? It’s just a little over a quarter carat.  Chris asked me to trot across the street and have it appraised at Landstrom’s.  Marty gave it his approval and said it is worth about $400.   Now that is a ROCK.   It is very difficult to take a decent photograph of this lovely, so I am going to show you the beautiful clocks that live in THE CLOCK SHOP.  When I first came to Rapid City I chanced to be in the shop on a winter day just before 5 p.m. – one of the most memorable moments of my life.  When all of those beautiful grandfathers and grandmothers and GRAND aunts and uncles began to chime I was mesmerized.

THE SENTINELS OF TIME