April PineStraw 2023

April ���3

FEATURES

DEPARTMENTS

Cover Photogra Ph by John gessner on the Cover: sPring is in bloom at

JACKSON SPRINGS • $499,900

32 WOODLAND CIRCLE

New golf front construction of a 4 BR / 3 BA home in desirable Foxfire Village East. Situated on a corner lot off the 11th tee of the Foxfire Resort and Country Club West Course.

JACKSON SPRINGS • $489,000

6 DICKINSON COURT

New Construction underway of a 4 BR / 2.5 BA home in desirable golfing community of Foxfire Village East.

SEVEN LAKES WEST • $69,000

113 BANBRIDGE DRIVE

Remarkable opportunity to own a triple golf front lot in sought-after 7LW community.

PINEHURST • $125,000

TBD RIVIERA DRIVE

Lot is located in a beautiful cul-de-sac and is convenient to shopping, dining and First Health hospital and medical facilities.

PINEHURST •$545,000

255 JUNIPER CREEK BOULEVARD

Wonderful, 3 BR / 2.5 BA brick home on a gorgeously landscaped corner lot, just under half an acre, in desirable Pinehurst No. 6. Home offers a great light and open floor plan.

CARTHAGE• $439,000

522 ABBEY ROAD

Lovely, 3 BR / 3 BA home in the Fox Grove Community offers an open and inviting floorplan with lots of nice features!

PINEHURST • $419,000

330 SUGAR PINE DRIVE

Nice, 3 BR / 2 BA brick home situated on a corner lot in the popular Lake Pinehurst area surrounded by mature landscaping. It offers a bright, open floor plan.

PINEHURST • $545,000

285 MERION CIRCLE

Marvelous, 4 BR / 3.5 BA home in nice Pinehurst location. Home offers a nice spacious layout with lots of space upstairs and down.

PINEHURST • $535,000

66 PINEWILD DRIVE

This charming, 3 BR / 2.5 BA brick home is nestled on a generous corner lot in a cul-de-sac in the desirable Pinewild Country Club.

Luxury Properties

Moore

Most Trusted Real Estate Team!

• $1,219,000

Discover your dream home and rare opportunity to own a brand new, 4 BR / 3.5 BA never-occupied home in the Forest Creek Golf Club community. Has a modern open floor plan with a light and bright palette, flush with natural sunlight.

PINEHURST • $125,000

Picturesque lot located on quiet street in desirable Forest Creek Golf Club.

PINEHURST • $298,000

TBD GRAHAM ROAD

Great corner lot in historic Old Town Pinehurst! It is just a few blocks from the heart of Village of Pinehurst with its quaint shops, pubs, and restaurants.

PINEHURST • $750,000

1 EVANS LANE

Tucked away in a hidden cul-de-sac in the Donald Ross area, this captivating one owner custom, 3 BR / 2 FULL BA / 2 HALF BA home offers a quiet, private lot and over 3700 square feet all on one story!

PINEHURST-OLD TOWN • $750,000 70 PAGE ROAD

Exquisitely renovated, 3 BR / 2.5 BA home nestled on a great lot in the Pinehurst Historic District and just minutes away from the heart of the Village.

CLARENDON GARDENS • $1,275,000

260 QUAIL RUN

Grand gated estate on 3.2 acres in a magnificent location, offering tons of privacy. Built in 1920, the 8 BR / 6.5 BA home has been elegantly restored – you have to see it to appreciate it!

PINEHURST • $859,500

Elegant 4 BR / 3.5 BA custom brick home in a prime location. Beautifully remodeled with lots of high-end finishes and exquisite details.

PINEHURST •$575,000

26 ABINGTON DRIVE

Lovely, 2 BR / 2 BA custom built brick home in Pinewild CC! Nicely updated with views of Pinewild Lake. Transferrable Prop. Privilege Pinehurst CC.

PINEHURST • $625,000

Nice, 3 BR / 2.5 home located in a quiet cul-de-sac overlooking the 1st Fairway of the Magnolia Course.

Browse Inventory, Get Pre-Approved, or Complete Paperwork

CURBSIDE PICK-UP & DELIVERY AVAILABLE FOR YOUR NEW CAR!

Check out our Advantage Plan that is guaranteed with every purchase.

PINEHURST TOYOTA ADVANTAGE PLAN

At Pinehurst Toyota, we’re more than just a dealership. We’re a family. Every time you step onto our lot, our goal is to make sure you are 100% satisfied with your visit, whether you’re looking to purchase a new ride, secure financing for that vehicle, have your current auto serviced, or buy genuine Toyota parts. You can count on our staff to make you the number-one priority. Interested in joining the family?

LIFETIME LIMITED POWERTRAIN WARRANTY

YEARS NO COST MAINTENANCE*

Keepin’ it Green.

Your source for fine fabrics & trims, drapery hardware, wallpapers & more.

MILL END

A Fayetteville Tradition Specializing in custom window treatments, pillows, bedding & more.

THE STORE Est. 1936

Tues. - Sat. 10 a.m. -

4:00 p.m.

MAGAZINE

Volume 19, No. 4

David Woronoff, Publisher david@thepilot.com

Andie Stuart Rose, Creative Director andiesouthernpines@gmail.com

Jim Moriarty, Editor jjmpinestraw@gmail.com

Miranda Glyder, Graphic Designer miranda@pinestrawmag.com

The story of Ardmore begins thirty seven years ago when in 1985 Fée Halsted started on a journey teaching ceramics to a talented group of rural people on a farm in a remote corner of the Kwazulu-Natal province, South

International recognition

See, Feel & Fall in Love

We are honored to be able to introduce these simply exquisite offerings by Ngala Trading. Founded in 2016, they collaborate with artisans across Africa who produce beautiful home goods crafted from richly textured materials.

Ardmore Design has emerged creating vibrant and elegant fabric collections sought after by leading interior decorators as well as working in collaboration with renowned French fashion house Hermès, producing a line of lavish scarves of the highest quality, and British wallpaper manufacturers Cole and Son.

Alyssa Kennedy, Digital Art Director alyssamagazines@gmail.com

Emilee Phillips, Digital Content emilee@pinestrawmag.com

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Jim Dodson, Deborah Salomon

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS

John Gessner, Laura L. Gingerich, Tim Sayer

CONTRIBUTORS

Jenna Biter, Keith Borshak, Tom Bryant, Susan Campbell, Bill Case, Mallory Cash, Wiley Cash, Tony Cross, Brianna Rolfe Cunningham, Mart Dickerson, Bill Fields, Meridith Martens, Mary Novitsky, Lee Pace, Todd Pusser, Joyce Reehling, Scott Sheffield, Rose Shewey, Stephen E. Smith, Angie Tally, Kimberly Daniels Taws, Daniel Wallace, Ashley Walshe, Claudia Watson, Amberly Glitz Weber

ADVERTISING SALES

Ginny Trigg, Advertising Director 910.693.2481 • ginny@thepilot.com

Samantha Cunningham, 910.693.2505

Kathy Desmond, 910.693.2515

Jessica Galloway, 910. 693.2498

Terry Hartsell, 910.693.2513

Erika Leap, 910.693.2514

ADVERTISING GRAPHIC DESIGN

Mechelle Butler, Scott Yancey

ADVERTISING COORDINATOR

Rebah Dolbow • pilotads@thepilot.com

PS

Henry Hogan, Finance Director 910.693.2497

Darlene Stark, Circulation Director 910.693.2488

SUBSCRIPTIONS

910.693.2488

OWNERS

Jack Andrews, Frank Daniels III, Lee Dirks, David Woronoff

In memoriam Frank Daniels Jr. 145 W. Pennsylvania Avenue, Southern Pines, NC 28387 www.pinestrawmag.com

The Sabie Tablecloth by Ardmore Design is a never-ending tapestry of lush foliage concealing camouflaged creatures, where light, movement and color constantly shift and change. 94”L x 63”W | Cotton Satinette | $275

UNDER CONTRACT

$1,850,000

7 bed • 5 bath

Jennifer Nguyen (910) 585-2099

Julia Lattarulo (910) 690-9716

MLS 100352455

Nestled in the heart of the Village of Pinehurst, This home is steps away from shops, restaurants, and the famous Pinehurst Resort and golf courses. This beautiful home has been lovingly renovated and remodeled throughout.

$950,000

4 bed • 3/1 bath

Marie O’Brien (910) 528-5669

MLS 100371296

$799,000

3 bed • 3 bath

Linda Criswell (910) 783-7374

MLS 100372622

Check out this beautiful all-brick home with a rocking chair front porch located in the Pinewild Country Club community. This home offers just over 3,000 square feet of luxury living with lots of outdoor entertainment spaces.

$750,000

3 bed • 2/1 bath

Jennifer Nguyen (910) 585-2099

Julia Lattarulo (910) 690-9716

MLS 100372444

Welcome to your new home in the pristine, gated community of Pinewild Country Club. This home welcomes you with the Southern charm of a front porch. Features include a location on a corner lot and 3,772 square feet.

$949,000

3 bed • 2/1 bath

Debbie Darby (910) 783-5193

MLS 100367230

$595,000

4 bed • 3/1 bath

Donna Ryals (619) 925-1201

MLS 100364346

Welcome to this meticulously maintained home located in a gated golf community! Features include 3,125 square feet, an updated kitchen, main floor primary suite, and walk-in storage!

$400,000

Linda Criswell (910) 783-7374

MLS 100363829

This wonderful home is a quick ride to the Village of Pinehurst. Features include hardwood floors, granite countertops, custom shelving, and more! Don’t miss the large patio with a built-in grill and the partially-fenced yard.

$749,500

3 bed • 3/1 bath

Jim Hurt (540) 798-1792

MLS 100368107

Welcome to “Blue Heaven,” a new, custom waterfront home on Lake Troy Douglas. This home makes you feel like every day is a vacation! Check out the panoramic lake views from every room.

Rare offering of a golf-front lot located in the Fairwoods, a premier course of Pinehurst Country Club. Located at the end of Firestone Drive with a gentle slope from front to back.

$219,000

Bess Giles (910) 639-5006

MLS 100358699

Beautiful golf-front home in the sought after Doral Woods subdivision! Each bedroom has its own separate full bath. This home has a wide view of the 13th fairway and green of an amazing Pinehurst course.

Beautiful double lot with a partial view of Lake Pinehurst! Combining these lots provides a generous building envelope. Lot dimensions and stated taxes consist of both lots together.

205 Cherokee Road, Pinehurst

55 McMichael Drive, Pinehurst

224 Beths Point, West End

10 Kinbuck Court, Pinehurst

55 McQueen Road, Pinehurst

22 Thunderbird Circle, Pinehurst

22 Deacon Palmer Place, Southern Pines Lot 271 Hearthstone Road, Pinehurst Lot 150 Diamondhead Drive S, Pinehurst

HappyBossman!Brickday,

Howell’s Masonry Brickday Cake Recipe

INGREDIENTS DIRECTIONS

65 bricks 1 level 1 grout bag 1 ft rebar

1 steel wire scrubber

1 cold chisel

1 trowel

1 qt water

1 lb bag of grout

Mix water & grout. Place rebar in center for stability. Fill grout bag for icing. Layer grout icing in between bricks. Chisel and use wire scrubber for smoothing. Use trowel to slice.

Celebrating Ken Howell’s Brickday

Since April 22, 19??

READY FOR HIRE.READY TO RETIRE.

FirstCarolinaCare members come from all over North Carolina and all walks of life. But they have one thing in common: They’re part of our community. And here, our community always comes first. That means having access to trusted providers, personalized help and a service team that resolves 97% of issues on the first call. From the mountains to the coast, we’ve got you covered.

Many members. One community.

FirstCarolinaCare.com/together

With their years of training and experience, our ENT staff has the expertise to treat a variety of ear, nose, throat, head and neck problems. Whether you have a surgical or non-surgical need, our specialists are ready to support you in Pinehurst, Raeford, Sanford, Troy and the surrounding areas with:

Expert local agents. Nothing compares.

Scarlett Allison

Christine Barrett

Maureen Clark

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Maribeth Hough

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Christian McCarthy

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Brenda Sharpe

Kate Shinkwin

Susan Ulrich

“The Birds of Paradise”

The bad news Birds help a tired journalist find good news

by Jim dodson

I hear a voice and look up. The face is much older, the voice deeper. But both are so familiar.

“Hey, Coach,” says Peter Gay, giving me what I used to call his sly fastball grin.

I stand up and we hug.

“You grew up, buddy.”

“And you grew old, Coach.”

“Funny how that happens.”

We both laugh.

Forty years ago, Pete and his brothers, Fred and Rodney, and their friend, Alvin, were the invincible infield of an innercity baseball team I coached for two spring seasons called the Highland Park Orioles. I nicknamed them the Birds of Paradise because most of the players came from a tough inner city neighborhood where, by agreement with their anxious parents and guardians, I dropped them off near a street named Paradise after every practice and game.

Atlanta, in those years, was anything but a paradise. Due to the infamous “Missing and Murdered” crisis that besieged the city between 1979 and 1981, in which 30 Black kids and young adults were abducted and murdered by an unknown person or persons, the city that declared itself “too busy to hate” earned the distinction of being the “Murder Capital of America” for several years running.

Looking back, going out at my editor’s suggestion to write a sweet little feature story about the hopefulness of spring baseball tryouts in my Midtown neighborhood and getting strongarmed by a frantic league director to take on a wild bunch of Orioles whose coach never bothered to show up was one of the most fortunate things that ever happened to me.

In the spring of 1982, I was the senior writer of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Sunday Magazine, the oldest Sunday magazine in the nation, where Margaret Mitchell worked when she

wrote Gone with the Wind.

During my six years there, I’d written about everything from unrepentant Klansmen to corrupt politicians, presidential campaigns to repo kings, a constant stream of violence and social mayhem. Upon reaching age 30, I decided that I was rapidly becoming a career burn out case. In a nutshell, I’d had enough of covering the sorrows of my native South.

An early tipping point came while working on a story about Atlanta’s famed medical examiner, Dr. Robert Stivers — reportedly the inspiration for the hit TV show, Quincy — when I actually saw my next-door neighbor, a med student, gunned down in his darkened backyard doorway by an assailant. The young man died as his hysterical girlfriend and I waited for the EMTs and cops to arrive. The cops took their own sweet time, shrugging it off as just another drug deal gone sideways. I followed the ambulance hauling my neighbor’s body downtown to the ME’s office to await his autopsy. Talk about art imitating life’s worst moments.

My editor, a charming true-blue Atlantan named Andy Sparks, who’d been on the magazine since the days of Margaret Mitchell, had spotted my brewing crisis and suggested I write about “lighter” subjects for a time. So I went over to the rutted ball field with pen and pad and not a lot of hope in hand.

Our first practice was chaos. The team horsed around and barely paid attention as I placed them into tentative playing positions. Somehow, I managed to get the four best players into key spots. Pete and Alvin would rotate between pitching and playing third; Fred at first base, and Rodney catching.

On the way home, I stopped at a popular neighborhood joint called Woody’s just two blocks from the ball field, foolishly thinking that if I bought them a milkshake and got to know them better, the four best players on the team might help me whip the Birds into shape. Instead, they hooted and hollered and made such a rude ruckus that the owners tossed us out and warned us not to come back unless we could learn to behave.

SIMPLE LIFE

“I remember how you gave us a lecture about being gentlemen in public places,” Pete says as we sit together at Woody’s 40 years later. The place is now owned by a Black couple. Its milkshakes and steak-and-cheese sandwiches are better than ever.

Peter Gay is 53 today, a hard-working father of three grown children, and a popular volunteer football coach and recruiter for Booker T. Washington High in the center city. He’s dressed in the bright blue colors of the Washington Bulldogs.

Two years ago, he called me out of the Bulldog blue.

“I remembered the story you wrote for the Reader’s Digest about us,” he explained on the phone that afternoon. “And I remembered that you left Atlanta to write books. That’s how I found you on the internet.”

“Tell me,” I said. “Is Woody’s still there?”

A day later, Pete sent me a photo of himself in front of the Woody’s sign. We made a plan to meet there when I came to Atlanta for my latest book research.

That first season, the Birds of Paradise never lost a game. Or if we did, I don’t recall it. We often won by football scores. Pete had a lethal fast ball. Alvin’s curve was unhittable. Rodney was an awesome catcher and Fred played first base like a pro. Even better, the Birds calmed down and became true gentlemen on and off the field, though I spent a small fortune on milkshakes once the other members of the team learned about my gambit and got in on the post-game treat.

“You kind of bribed us to behave with milkshakes,” says Coach Pete Gay today. “But I get that now. It really worked.”

Because of the Birds, I stayed for one more spring in Atlanta. In year two we went undefeated. A coach from the all-White northern suburbs even proposed a “Metro” championship game at his team’s immaculate facility north of the city. We set a date for the game, and I went out and purchased new orange jerseys with my own money. A few days before the match-up, however, my opposing coach called back to say that some of his parents were concerned that my kids might feel “intimidated about playing in such a nice facility.”

I assured him the Birds wouldn’t be intimidated. We both knew the meaning of his code words.

“Well,” he said uneasily, “maybe . . . next year.”

There was no next year.

After the season, the owners of Woody’s threw us a party and I left Atlanta for Vermont, where I learned to fly-fish, knocked the rust off my golf game and found a whole new career — and happiness — writing about people and subjects that enrich life.

I also realized that the Birds of Paradise gave me a gift those final two years — a healing glimpse of what real happiness is like.

As another spring dawns, I’ve seen Pete and Fred several times and even attended the beautiful wedding of Pete’s daughter, Petera, last summer. Very soon, on my next trip to Atlanta, I’m planning to take my entire infield to a very nice, grown-up dinner, with or without milkshakes. PS

415 FAIRWAY DRIVE KNOLLWOOD HEIGHTS

“DUNROSS” is an extraordinary estate built in 1929 by legendary golf course architect, Donald J Ross. Reminiscent of a Scottish manor, the present owners christened the property “DUNROSS” and proceeded to lovingly initiate a $1M restoration returning DUNROSS to its original glory. Exceptional grounds with outdoor kitchen and entertaining area. Over 2 acres. Carriage house and additional 3 bay garage

$2,230,000

170 EAGLE POINT LANE

MID SOUTH CLUB

Executive home on Arnold Palmer designed Golf Course with over 7000 square feet of living space.Gorgeous home, amazing detail throughout, 4 ensuite bdrms, wine room, home theatre, workshop, fitness room and more. Private, Golf front LOT. Puppy personal shower. High-end construction with “Superior Walls.” $1,585,000

1 INVERRARY ROAD FAIRWOODS ON 7

A coveted address in the gated Community of Fairwoods on 7. Surrounded by wildlife, pond, golf green, golf views and yes, PRIVACY! The waterfront and golf views are available in most every room of the home, plus large, screened porch, and patios for morning coffee or evening cocktails. First floor living area reconstructed in 2012. 48 KW Generator.

$1,495,000

If you want to KNOW Pinehurst,

WATERFRONT in beautiful McClendon Hills, an equestrian community surrounded by riding trails and rolling hills. Stunning home with nearly 5000 square feet of living space.Large gourmet kitchen with beamed ceiling, 5 burner gas cook-top, double convection ovens, Bosch appliances, island/bar with prep sink, and wood custom cabinetry. Home theatre and Fitness rm. Dock with fun

Custom home built on 10 acres. Choice of porches, and decks. Serenity. Privacy. Nature. Enjoy country living less than 15 minutes from the heart of the Village of Pinehurst and all that Pinehurst has to offer. Two story stacked stone fireplace with bead board ceiling on large screened porch overlooking private wooded area. PURCHASE PRICE OF $1,125,000 INCLUDES

STUNNING & MOVE-IN-READY! Situated inside the Gated Community of Pinehurst National on the 17th Green of the Jack Nicklaus designed Pinehurst No 9. Open floor plan with over 3700 heated square footage. A fabulous, enclosed porch with outdoor kitchen and cozy TV area, has a retractable screened wall overlooking the Green, extending the outdoor living space. Immediate Signature membership 1-9.

PinePitch

Heritage Day

Broadway the Callaway

Liz Callaway has played starring roles in Baby, Miss Saigon and Cats, and was the singing voice of Anya in the animated film Anastasia. Callaway is an Emmy Award winner; she’s been nominated for a Tony award; and, has just released her latest album, To Steve with Love: Liz Callaway Celebrates Sondheim. Sandhills Repertory Theatre brings Callaway to the Lee Auditorium stage at Pinecrest High School, 250 Voit Gilmore Lane, Southern Pines, on Saturday, April 29, at 7:30 p.m. for one performance only. Admission is $30, and premium seating is $95. A percentage of net profits will be donated to the Food Bank of N.C. Tickets are available at the Sunrise Theater box office, 250 N.W. Broad St., Southern Pines, or go to www.sandhillsrep.org.

No Strings Attached

The Paperhand Puppet Intervention, an awardwinning puppet troupe, presents “A World of Wonder” at the Fair Barn, 200 Beulah Hill Road S., Pinehurst, from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, April 16. The performance features Paperhand’s fantastical creatures and characters as animals of all shapes and sizes fill the stage. For information go to www.ticketmesandhills.com.

The Moore County Historical Association’s annual rite of spring on Saturday, April 15, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., showcases the furnished Bryant House, circa 1820, and the 1760s Joel McLendon Cabin, the oldest dwelling on its original site in Moore County. Both houses will be open, and there will be 18th and 19th century crafters, farm animal petting area, live music and food. There will also be “camps” of both American Revolution and Civil War re-enactors, demonstrations of activities like quilting, weaving, cooking and woodworking. Admission is free. The Bryant House is at 3361 Mt. Carmel Rd., Carthage.

Spring Strings

The Sandhills Community College Music Department will present its annual spring concert featuring students and faculty on Thursday, April 27, at 7 p.m. in BPAC’s McPherson Blackbox Theater, 3395 Airport Road, Pinehurst. Admission is free but seating is limited. For information and tickets go to www.sandhillsbpac.com or www.ticketmesandhills.com.

Art for Art’s Sake

The opening reception for the new exhibit — It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood — at the Artists League of the Sandhills, 129 Exchange St., Aberdeen, will be on Friday, April 7, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. For information go to www.artistleague.org.

Azalea Cottage by Jennifer Walker

Home & Garden Tour

The Southern Pines Garden Club is hosting its 75th Home & Garden Tour on April 15th with the proceeds supporting the restoration of pastureland surrounding the recently renovated barn and stable area at the 100-year-old Weymouth Center. From the dramatic color schemes of a remodeled kitchen to a recently completed two-level covered terrace, the tour features six “idea” houses and home gardens — including the home featured in this month’s PineStraw — bound to inspire. Tickets are $25 online at www.southernpinesgardenclub.com or $30 at selected locations that include Bella Filati Yarns, 277 N.E. Broad St., Southern Pines; the Sandhills Woman’s Exchange, 15 Azalea Rd., Pinehurst; and Eloise Trading Company, 111 W. Main St. Aberdeen.

Great Treks

The buzz is all about where you’ve been. Send your travel photos to our weekly newsletter, PineBuzz at PineBuzz@PineStrawmag.com.

Not Those Sopranos

It’s organized song, not organized crime. The Metropolitan Opera graces the screen three times in April at the Sunrise Theater, 250 N.W. Broad St., Southern Pines. Falstaff, which seems particularly well-suited to April Fools’ Day, will be shown at 12:30 p.m. on the first day of the month. Richard Strauss’ most popular opera, Der Rosenkavalier, can be seen on Saturday, April 15, at 12 p.m., and the operatic retelling of the story of Emile Griffith, Champion, will be shown Saturday, April 29, at 12:55 p.m. For more information call (910) 420-2549 or visit www.sunrisetheater.com.

Cultivate a Little Spring

The Sandhills Farm Tour, showcasing four farms in the Carthage and Cameron areas, takes place Saturday, April 15, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The tour is self-driving, rain or shine, and family-friendly with demonstrations, children’s activities and farm products for sale. The tour is sponsored by the N.C. Cooperative Extension and the Master Gardener Program of Moore County. It’s free but ticketed. For information and tickets go to sandhillsfarmtour2023.eventbrite.com.

China and the International Order

The James E. Holshouser Speaker Series continues with Gordon G. Chang, the author of The Coming Collapse of China and Nuclear Showdown: North Korea Takes on the Worl d, on Tuesday, April 4, from 4:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., at BPAC’s Owens Auditorium, 3395 Airport Road, Pinehurst. Chang, who lived and worked in China and Hong Kong for almost two decades, has contributed articles to Newsweek, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, among other publications. He is a frequent guest on Fox News, Fox Business Network, Newsmax, CNN and MSNBC. Tickets for his presentation “China Shakes the World: A Revolutionary Remaking of the International Order” are $50 per person for general admission or $75 per person, including a copy of his most recent book. There will be a reception and book signing after the program along with a Q&A. For information go to www.ticketmesandhills.com.

PHOTOGRAPH BY LAURA GINGERICH

218 Plantation Drive, Southern Pines • $860,000

5 Bed 4 Bath 3,276 sqft

T his classic Southern charmer is ready for you to call home! Take a walk up the brick pathway to the wide, covered front porch. As you step through the front door, you will find custom built touches through out! Your gourmet kitchen has a gas cooktop, range hood, wine chiller, stunning countertops, and built-in microwave and oven. The adjoining breakfast nook and window bench complete this comforting space. Upstairs, the secondary living space is ready for your next party or movie night. The wet bar is complete with refrigerator, ice maker, and beverage chiller. Adjoining the bonus space, via a Bubinga Wood sliding door, is a guest room with two custom, built-in Murphy bunks. A back deck with built-in grill, Invisible fence, and room for a pool make the backyard the perfect place to spend many a North Carolina summer. Conveniently located close to the Residents Only gate. Schedule your showing today!

Aries

(March 21 – April 19)

Life gives us what we need even if we don’t have the RAM to ask for it. In your case: lessons in patience. While you’ve been through the wringer this year in more ways than one, trust that it’s not been in vain. The big picture begins to clarify this month — you’ll see — and when Jupiter enters your sign on April 22, it may well inspire some monetary gain. Things are looking up. Never mind that you’ve got a spending habit to match your fiery temper.

Tea leaf “fortunes” for the rest of you:

Taurus (April 20 – May 20)

Cash in your chips.

Gemini (May 21 – June 20)

Beware of the Freudian slip.

Cancer (June 21 – July 22)

Open a window.

Leo (July 23 – August 22)

Embrace the liminal space.

Virgo (August 23 – September 22)

Two words: Tupperware upgrade.

Libra (September 23 – October 22)

Keep a light on for grace.

Scorpio (October 23 – November 21)

The silence will tell you everything.

Sagittarius (November 22 – December 21)

Mind where the roots run deep.

Capricorn (December 22 – January 19)

Loosen your grip.

Aquarius (January 20 – February 18)

The tension is palpable.

Pisces (February 19 – March 20)

Consider a digital detox. PS

Zora Stellanova has been divining with tea leaves since Game of Thrones’ Starbucks cup mishap of 2019. While she’s not exactly a medium, she’s far from average. She lives in the N.C. foothills with her Sphynx cat, Lyla.

The Great Escape

Silver Alert is a bewitching joyride

By A nne Blythe

Lee Smith, a treasure of the North Carolina literary world, takes you on an unusual journey in her newest novel, Silver Alert. She’s predictably funny in her typically marvelous, unpredictable way. Her characters are beguilingly quirky. Yet amid all the humor and occasional madness in this tale about an octogenarian’s “one last joyride,” Smith plunges her readers into the depths of tough topics such as aging, sex trafficking, emotional abuse, poverty and wealth.

There are two protagonists. One is Herb Atlas, a curmudgeonly but ever so lovable retiree on his third marriage who we meet in his lovely — and very pink — Key West home. In his golden years now, Herb is perpetually mining for the gold he really didn’t know he had in his youth as he does his best to care for his once lively, artistic, adventurous and beautiful wife, Susan. He longs for the fancy and fast cars of his earlier years, alluring courtships and an escape from the dementia that has relegated Susan to a rattan chair by the bay window, where she remains lost in her own world.

The other central character, Dee Dee, or Renee, or whatever name the victimized but optimistic woman from Appalachia decides to use, is a young pedicurist fleeing hard-knock days. She is whip-smart, resourceful and endearing. Her parents died when she was a child. She bounced from household-tohousehold, man-to-man, lives in a bread-shaped trailer with a pink roof and fends for herself in a world in which those she encountered rarely had her best interest at heart.

Dee Dee is running from her past with hopes of a brighter future. Herb wants little to do with his future and yearns for the

past. Their paths converge in Key West, a place with celebrated sunsets and a seize-theday vibe.

Key West is a character in the novel, too. Smith takes her readers down Duval Street and its offshoots, into shops, cafes, Laundromats, and the nooks and crannies where people come to remake themselves, start anew or sometimes disappear.

Herb is in his home at 108 Washington Street, “a primo address,” as Smith describes it, wearing red-and-black plaid pajama pants, lime green crocs and a Hawaiian shirt covering his considerable gut, when he opens the door, and his life, to Dee Dee.

Using Renee, instead of her real name, Dee Dee has come to give Susan a pedicure. “She looks like a kid, with those wide brown eyes beneath the blond bangs, her high, shiny ponytail swinging as she steps forward in her white, white tennis shoes,” Herb thinks to himself. He gives her an earful as he walks her back to his wife’s quarters. Susan’s daughter, Maribeth, “the hippy one,” as Herb calls her, and her partner Pat DeVine, “the bossy one,” who arranged the appointment, have come down to help care for his wife.

Herb is unenthusiastic. “I never asked them, you understand. I don’t need them, this is a classy operation. But this Pat, you can’t tell her no, you can’t tell her nothing.”

Dee Dee, dressed in jeans, a pink tunic and carrying a big bag of nail polishes, clippers and salon tools, is not just a pedicurist, it turns out. She has a knack for dealing with Susan. The “crazy whisperer,” as Herb dubs her, can make his Susan laugh, smile and even seem happy with colorful markers, a tablet and easel from the Walmart children’s section. For hours at a time, Susan sits in the garden in front of her easel, using only one color on each sheet of paper, drawing “crazy art.”

The makeshift art corner delights Herb as he tries to ignore the signs of aging thrust at him — the living wills, the health care power of attorney, confounding medical forms and that humiliating clock he had to draw for the nurse, showing the hands set at 7:15, to assess his mental acuity. Then there’s his constant urge

Spring is the Time for New Beginnings

to pee — “Old age is all about urine, who knew?” Smith writes.

Smith takes on some of the difficult topics of aging as she introduces her readers to the cast of adult children in Susan and Herb’s world. She shows the push and pull, and the sometimes painful juxtaposition, as children take on the difficult roles of being parents for their parents.

Smith craftily explores the wealth dichotomy so prominent in Key West as readers follow Dee Dee, whose hardscrabble beginnings have left her with few nickels to scrape together. Her travels take her from the trailer park where drug trafficking sometimes pays the rent to the affluence of the Atlas house and the “tree house,” where she has a romance with a well-to-do graduate student taking a break from his scripted life to live like a Bohemian and write poetry.

Herb and Dee Dee go about their business for much of the first half of the book at a pace that — like a child chomping at the bit to grow up — is not always as swift as desired.

Then Herb and Susan’s family stages an intervention and they can see their dreams unraveling. As the adult children talk about moving Herb into an assisted living facility in Del Ray with Susan, he fishes keys to his Porsche from his secret hiding place in a shoe and sets off with Dee Dee on a madcap adventure.

Herb’s last joyride is a joy for readers, as well. Even though there are cringing moments as the pair starts out along the streets of Key West, then on the highways north, eventually headed to Disney World, it’s difficult not to cheer them on.

Silver Alert will make you squirm over the wistfulness of aging, but it will leave you with a big smile from getting to know characters who worm their way into your heart. PS

Anne Blythe has been a reporter in North Carolina for more than three decades. She has covered city halls, higher education, the courts, crime, hurricanes, ice storms, droughts, floods, college sports, health care and many wonderful characters who make this state such an interesting place.

Welcome Spring

Come Sunday” Jazz Brunch

April 2 & April 30 • 11:30 am - 2 pm

April 2: Roland Barber, Trombonist (presented in partnership with UNCP)

April 30: Kate McGarry and Keith Ganz Ensemble. Bring lawn chairs and a picnic. Cash bar available.

Members/Non-Members: $25/$35

Series SubscribersMembers/Non-Members: $40/$60

Kids 12 and under: free

Chamber Sessions

April 16 • 2 pm

“A Forest Unfolding” in partnership with The Country Bookshop. A fusion of music and literature exploring the relations among people and trees.

Narrated by Richard Powers, author of Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Overstory. Held at: Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Southern Pines. Reception following at Weymouth Center.

$25 Members/$35 Non-Members

Sponsored by Penick Village

Arts & Humanities Series

Sunday, April 23 • 2 pm

Lumbee Life, Lore & Legacy

"Herbal Remedies of the Lumbee Indians.”

Speaker: Arvis Boughman, teacher & author

Members: $15

Non-Members: $20

Celebrate National Poetry Month! Poetry Slam Jam

April 19 • 5 pm

Local celebrities perform their favorite poems in a high-energy, fun competition.

Free Admission

Registration Required

Every Day in April

Follow us on Facebook, where we will be posting a poem a day written by NC poets.

Women of Weymouth present Ladies Wine Out

May 3 • 5:30-7:30 pm

Wine, Women, and Weymouth! Appetizers & desserts by Scott’s Table, wine bar, wine raffle, silent auctions, mystery boxes, and great music!

$40 Members /$45 Non-Members

Celebrate Derby Day!

Horses Benefit Kids

May 6 • 5-8 pm

BBQ, Bourbon, Bluegrass: Derby Day Watch Party to benefit Weymouth Equestrians. Held at: Lyell's Meadow, Walthour-Moss Foundation.

$100 Members/ $125 Non-Members

555 E. Connecticut Ave. Southern Pines

A 501 (c)(3) organization

For tickets and more information, visit weymouthcenter.org

Thank you to our sponsors: Cindy & Robert Candler, Richard J. Reynolds III and Marie M. Reynolds Foundation; Gerald Claude Kirby Trust; North Carolina Arts Council; Arts Council of Moore County; The Palmer Foundation; Penick Village; Marion Stedman Covington Foundation; The Cannon Foundation; Donald and Elizabeth Cooke Foundation; The Pilot

2022-23 series generously sponsored by the North Carolina Arts Council "Spark the Arts” program and FirstHealth Concierge Signature Medicine. April 30 concert supported by Aging Outreach Services.

April Books

FICTION

Homecoming, by Kate Morton

The highly anticipated new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Clockmaker’s Daughter is a sweeping saga with a thrilling mystery at its heart tracing a shocking crime whose effects echo across continents and generations. On Christmas Eve, 1959, a local delivery man makes a terrible discovery. A police investigation is called and the small town of Tumbeela becomes embroiled in one of the most shocking and perplexing murder cases in the history of South Australia. Sixty years later, Jess is a journalist in search of a story. Having lived and worked in London for almost 20 years, she now finds herself laid off from her full-time job and struggling to make ends meet. A phone call summons her back to Sydney, where her beloved grandmother, Stella, who raised Jess when her mother could not, has suffered a fall and been raced to the hospital. When Jess visits her in the hospital she learns Stella had been distracted in the weeks before her accident, and that she fell on the steps to the attic — the one place Jess was forbidden from playing when she was small. At loose ends in Stella’s house, Jess does some digging of her own. She discovers a true crime book, chronicling the police investigation into a long-buried tragedy: the Turner Family Tragedy of Christmas Eve, 1959. It is only when Jess skims through the book that she finds a shocking connection between her own family and this once-infamous crime — a crime that has never been resolved satisfactorily. For a journalist without a story, a cold case is the best distraction of all.

Symphony of Secrets, by Brendan Slocumb

From the author of The Violin Conspiracy comes a gripping page-turner about a professor who uncovers a shocking secret about the most famous American composer of all time — that his music was stolen from a young Black composer named Josephine Reed. Determined to uncover the truth and right history’s wrongs, Bern Hendricks will stop at nothing to finally give

Josephine the recognition she deserves. As one of the world’s preeminent experts on the famed 20th-century composer Frederick Delaney, Hendricks knows everything there is to know about the man behind the music. When Mallory Roberts, a board member of the distinguished Delaney Foundation and a direct descendant of the man himself, asks for Hendrick’s help authenticating a newly discovered piece, he jumps at the chance. With the help of his tech-savvy acquaintance Eboni, Hendricks soon discovers that the truth is far more complicated than history would have them believe. In Manhattan of the 1920s, Josephine Reed is living on the streets and frequenting jazz clubs when she meets the struggling musician Fred Delaney. She’s a natural prodigy who hears beautiful music in the sounds of the world around her. With Josephine as his silent partner, Delaney’s career takes off — but who is the real genius? In the present day, Bern and Eboni begin to uncover clues that indicate Delaney may have had help in composing his most successful work. Armed with more questions than answers they move heaven and earth in a dogged quest to right history’s wrongs.

NONFICTION

Without Children, by Peggy O’Donnell

Heffington

In an era of falling births, it’s often said that millennials invented the idea of not having kids. But history is full of women without children: some who chose childless lives, others who wanted children but never had them, and still others — the vast majority, then and now — who fell somewhere in-between. Modern women considering how and if children fit into their lives are products of their political, ecological, and cultural moment. History also tells them that they are not alone. Drawing on deep research and her own experience as a woman without children, Heffington shows that many of the reasons women are not having children today are ones they share with women in the past: a lack of support, their jobs or finances, environmental concerns, infertility, and the desire to live different kinds of lives. Understanding this history — how normal it has always been to not have children, and how hard society has worked to make it seem abnormal — is key, she writes, to rebuilding kinship between mothers and non-mothers, and to building a better world for us all.

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150 E. New Hampshire Ave Southern Pines, NC 28387

CHILDREN’S BOOKS

Hard Boiled Eggs for Breakfast, by Jack Prelutsky April is poetry month and what better way to celebrate than with some silliness by a poetry master? From tree-sitting cows to antelopes with fans, these fun poems, with illustrations by Ruth Chan, will delight and inspire young poets to create some of their own silliness. (Ages 5-10.)

Peek-A-Boo Haiku, by Danna Smith

This adorable board book is filled with haiku about hidden woodland animals with liftthe-flap illustrations on each page. It’s the perfect way to celebrate poetry month with little ones. (Ages 1-3.)

Twenty Questions, by Mac Barnett

What’s on the other side of the door? Who committed the dastardly deed? What happened here? These and other ponderances are presented in this fun book of questions from the Caldecott Awardwinning team of Barnett and Christian Robinson. (Ages 5-adult.)

Slow Down and Be Here Now: More Nature Stories to Make You Stop, Look, and Be

Amazed by the Tiniest Things, by Laura Brand

Frog tongues, dandelion puffs, snowflakes — all wonders of the world and all worth an extra minute of time in your day. This charming giftable nature guide/storybook encourages readers to slow down and enjoy all the amazing things in the natural world. (Ages 4-10.) PS

Compiled by Kimberly Daniels Taws and Angie Tally.

Hitting the Century Mark

Thomas Wolfe was wrong, you can go home again

By Bill Fields

For those who haven’t viewed my academic transcripts, a confession: I was not a math all-star. In teacher Juliana White’s advanced class during my senior year at Pinecrest High School, I excelled at reading the problems aloud. Solving them was a different story. I was flirting with failure. Mrs. White’s grading kindness, never forgotten, likely allowed me to get into the college I always wanted to attend.

But simple arithmetic I can handle, which matters this month. Unless I’ve tripled-bogeyed the count, you’re reading my 100th PineStraw column, which I began writing in 2014 when theneditor Jim Dodson invited me to become a regular contributor over lunch at a restaurant on West Pennsylvania Avenue across the street from the offices of PineStraw and The Pilot.

I had recently lost a longtime job at Golf World magazine when its print edition was eliminated and, after nearly a quarter-century in one place, was cobbling together a new professional existence in my mid-50s. Despite having a good track record in golf journalism, it was an uncertain time. I’m grateful for Jim’s confidence in my telling stories about growing up in the Sandhills and to the magazine’s readers for appreciating them.

Although golf — only occasionally my subject matter in the “Hometown” space — still gets most of my attention elsewhere, writing this column is an unanticipated pleasure of late middle age. The same goes for the longer features I’ve written, including articles about pro wrestler André the Giant, who settled in Ellerbe, or coach John Williams, a giant in the lives of so many of us from the 1960s through the 1980s.

Doing a hundred columns has spurred thousands of memories, significant and trivial, about Southern Pines and the surrounding area. If I ever get a memoir finished, the column will have played an important role.

When Arnold Palmer attended a high school reunion in his

native Latrobe, in western Pennsylvania, he told classmates that “your hometown is not where you’re from, it’s who you are.”

The golf icon made a great point. Roots matter, whether you savor where you come from or spend your life running away from it. Even though I’ve lived elsewhere longer than I resided in the Sandhills, this area is a big part of who I am. No doubt my strong connection was boosted by the fact that my mother lived to 95 and remained in her home until a couple of years before she passed away, and that I returned for regular visits.

In revisiting my formative years over the last decade for the purpose of this column, I’ve had to come to grips with how much the place has grown since I was a kid living in what I like to call a “sophisticated Mayberry,” or even as a young adult eager to see new horizons. The extent of change in Moore County over the last couple of decades — particularly in the last five to 10 years — has been astounding as more and more people have chosen to live here because of its distinctive, appealing qualities.

One only must spend a day driving through eastern North Carolina to see plenty of tiny towns that have dried up, that are sad vestiges of what they used to be. We’re the opposite of those places, with all the positives and negatives that come with it. I still recognize my hometown, but each time I return its evolution can be jarring to the senses.

When I moved to New York in the 1980s, I was eager to experience a world so different from the one where I’d grown up. At that time, there weren’t national chain stores or so many high-rise condos, and there seemed to be a stationery store on every other block. In my mind, I got to live in “old” New York. But people who had lived in the Big Apple of the 1950s likely thought the 1980s didn’t line up with their memories. When I was a kid, getting a Hardee’s — 15-cent hamburgers! — and seeing the Town and Country Shopping Center open on U.S. 1 in Aberdeen were cool, but I’m sure some longtime locals might have viewed those additions as abominations.

I’m glad I grew up where I did, when I did. And it’s fun to remember. PS

Southern Pines native Bill Fields, who writes about golf and other things, moved north in 1986 but hasn’t lost his accent.

PHOTOGRAPH BY JOSEPH HILL

Kelley Adams

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Bare Roots Salon

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WORKHORSE Fitness and Yoga

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The O’Neal School would like to thank the following supporters who gave so graciously to That 70’s Gala Benefit.

Creative Genius

The reclusive Mel Chin creates deeply engaging artwork at an international scale

By liz A RoBeRts

The only visual artist in North Carolina ever to win a MacArthur Genius award, Mel Chin manages to hide in plain sight in his home state, where only the most art-informed even know he’s here.

Tucked into Higgins, N.C., a distant corner of Yancey County near the Tennessee border, this world-renowned artist has space and time for his creativity to expand and his engagement with the wider world to ignite. His massive public sculpture, augmentedreality, subversive video, collage and interactive installations address issues as wide-ranging as climate change, political division, the envi-

ronment, community health and the Black Lives Matter movement.

Chin says his conceptual work is a tool for civic engagement and a way to raise awareness of social issues. Through art, he believes questions can be asked and possibilities raised in uniquely effective ways. “I have always described the practice of art as providing an option, as opposed to an answer,” he says, sitting back in the shade of a porch at his stone house. Ivy and overgrown shrubs blur its edges as the Cane River rushes nearby.

He was here in 2019 when the MacArthur people called to tell him of his remarkable award, including its no-strings-attached check for $650,000. Chin “is redefining the parameters of contemporary art and challenging assumptions about the forms it can take, the issues it can address, and the settings it can inhab -

Wake, 2018 PHOTOGRAPH BY LISSA GOTWALS

it,” the Foundation said in announcing its decision.

“When people ask about what inspires you,” Chin says, “I no longer speak in terms of inspiration, but of being compelled. Because how could you not?” The issues that compel him are not necessarily new, he points out, but they’re in the news, which provides new opportunities.

Remote as he is, much of Chin’s work is done in collaboration with others, near and far. His 60-foot-tall animatronic sculpture Wake, which resembles both a shipwreck and a whale skeleton, was created with University of North Carolina Asheville students and was installed in Asheville’s South Slope after forming the focal point of a larger installation in Manhattan’s Times Square. There it was accompanied by Unmoored, a mixed-reality mobile app he designed with Microsoft that depicted the square as if it were 26 feet under water, submerged by rising sea levels. It was one of several installations in a New York City-wide survey of Chin’s works in 2018.

The creative expression of scientific information and the use of technology to inspire empathy is a Chin hallmark. One ongoing project uses plants to remediate toxic metals from the soil; a Mint Museum installation used oceanographic data to create “cinematic portraits” of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans; and a viral, community-based work circulates hand-drawn hundred dollar bills to draw attention to lead contamination in soil, water and housing. “You could say that I’m involved with the process of bridging science and community,” he says.

Community in the traditional sense seems far removed from his remote corner of the world, but Chin’s dogged social conscience,

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regular travel, wide network and the connected reality of 21stcentury life keep him plugged in. He’s turned the stately 1931 stone mansion at the center of his compound into a rambling archive and workshop for his many artistic pursuits. The mansion was originally built as a library and community center for the creation and distribution of local crafts. It became part of a regional study on poverty and was visited in 1934 by Eleanor Roosevelt; it also served as a school and was used as a birthing hospital. The place had fallen into disuse and disrepair when Chin acquired it in the late 1990s as an inexpensive place to store his work. A few years later, he left New York, where he had lived for many years, and moved here himself — not into the mansion, but into the

relatively modest house a few feet away, one originally built for the hospital’s chief doctor.

Chin says he was drawn to this part of the country not just for space and the chance to live deeply within the natural world, but also by the region’s history of racial injustice and his own lifelong commitment to fighting it. The American-born child of Chinese immigrant parents, Chin grew up in Houston in the 1950s, worked at his parents’ grocery store in the city’s predominantly African-American Fifth Ward, and became aware of and thoughtful about issues surrounding race from an early age.

“To be engaged in the world,” he says, “it’s OK to be in places where the engagement is very real and uncomfortable.” Lately, that engagement transcends geography. “It’s an important time,” Chin says. “We’re at this bridge. It’s about consolidating a commitment to actually begin again, listen more and reorient actions, and respond.” The role of an artist, he says, is to “excavate” the questions such issues provoke, provide a starting point and draw collective attention. Still, Chin points out that from his perspective, the “job description of artist” is constantly evolving: “People think it’s kind of funny when I say that I’m still trying to be one, to be an artist. But I mean it, actually.” PS

This is an excerpt from Art of the State: Celebrating the Art of North Carolina, published by UNC Press.

Here, I Am

Revival Field (Diorama), 2019, mixed media, 40 x 66 x 8 in

Mademoiselle Brioche

A sweet bread for Easter

stoRy A nd PhotogRAPh By Rose shewey

If“brioche” conjures up images of burger buns, and little else, have you even lived yet?

Sure, brioche can be a party girl. She makes fabulous burger and sandwich bread, no doubt, but that’s just scratching the surface of what brioche is capable of. Yes, she can be your flipflop-wearing, tank top-sporting drinking buddy, but if you ever had chocolate-glazed diplomats, you know she can also be your sophisticated wedding date in a lacy dress with kitten heels.

Or, as I am about to show you, brioche can effortlessly turn into your folksy, linen-trousered best friend with dangling earrings, one that is always full of surprises. Brioche is truly multifaceted but rarely ordinary.

For those of you who don’t geek out over baked goods, allow me to explain: Brioche is a delicate, buttery yeast bread (technically, it is a Viennoiserie), similar to everyday yeast breads, but picture a downy cloud made of fine-spun cotton and you have yourself some epic brioche. It also happens to be one of the easier bread recipes to make — if you own some sort of kneading gadget, which I do not.

I stubbornly hand-knead my dough. Nothing is quite as meditative and grounding as using your bare hands to make bread; feeling the texture transform between your fingers from powdery, gooey and slippery to a satisfyingly malleable shape. Making dough is the grown-up equivalent of a toddler’s sensory bin, if ever I have seen one. Bonus points if your dough later doubles in size, which it hopefully will, and you have passed the halfway mark to a feathery brioche, whichever shape or form you decide to process it into.

With Easter, or Ostara, on the horizon — you know, that time of the year that marks the awakening of the earth and colors the land in lovely shades of pastel — many cultures celebrate with the tradition of braided yeast bread. The interpretation of its symbolism is wide-ranging and differs significantly, depending on the Kulturkreis. For me, it’s simply a family tradition that brings back memories of my grandma’s kitchen; the sweet perfume of freshly scraped vanilla beans, the earthy scent of fermenting yeast and us kids sticking our fingers into the sugar-lemon glaze bowl,

which ultimately got us banished from the room. We didn’t call it brioche then; I didn’t connect the dots until later on, when I went on my own baking journey, and of all the things brioche can be, the Easter braid will forever be my favorite.

Mocha Hazelnut Brioche Braid

(Makes 1 braided loaf)

(Basic dough recipe adapted from Bouchon Bakery)

For the dough:

270 grams all-purpose flour

6 grams instant yeast

30 grams granulated sugar

7 grams salt

130 grams eggs (roughly 3 medium sized eggs)

45 grams milk

120 grams unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

For the filling:

150 grams finely ground hazelnuts

30 grams sugar

30 grams chocolate spread

5 grams cinnamon

50 grams grated apple

60 grams brewed coffee

8 grams freshly squeezed lemon juice

Place flour and yeast in a large mixing bowl and whisk to combine. Add remaining ingredients except for the butter and mix for 5 minutes by hand, or with the help of a stand mixer with dough hook. Continue kneading for 30 minutes while slowly adding in small chunks of butter. Fully incorporate each chunk of butter before you add the next. The dough will be slightly sticky at this point; remove it from the bowl (use a scraper if needed) and place it on a lightly floured surface. Pat, stretch and fold the dough, then place it back in the bowl, cover and allow to rest for 1 hour at room temperature. Repeat the pat, stretch and fold before moving the dough to the refrigerator and chilling overnight.

Combine all ingredients for the mocha hazelnut filling and set aside. Take the dough out of the fridge and set on a lightly floured surface. Roll out the dough to form a rectangle (about 30x45 centimeters) and cover evenly with the mocha hazelnut filling. Roll up the dough tightly lengthwise, then cut it in half lengthwise and entwine both strings to form a braid. Move your braid to a baking sheet and allow to rest at room temperature for 30-45 minutes. Preheat oven to 325F, apply egg wash, if desired, and bake for 30-35 minutes or until braid turns a light golden color. . PS

German native Rose Shewey is a food stylist and food photographer. To see more of her work visit her website, suessholz.com.

Tips and Tricks

Arsenal for your cocktail Rolodex

By tony CRoss

I love to learn new tricks when it comes to making drinks. Whether it’s from a cocktail book or a YouTube post by a bartender, some of these tips have become mainstays in how I construct a cocktail. Though I could write a year’s worth of columns on everything from “washing spirits” to “how to make your own bitters,” like Sesame Street, I’ll begin with the letter S — from syrups to saline — and finish at the “bitter” end. Relatively easy to make, these tips go a long way if you love making cocktails at home.

Rice Water Simple Syrup

Before you say “Eww, gross!” hear me out on this one. I was intrigued when I first heard about this for two reasons. First, I meal prep every Sunday and make a ton of rice. Second, I love velvety textures in shaken drinks (one of the main reasons I usually make a simple syrup with a 2:1 ratio). If you have any concerns about rice being a flavor in your syrup, don’t fret — any notes from the starch will be masked by the sugar.

To make: Soak your rice in water until cloudy. Measure 1 cup of starchy water and put it in a saucepan while adding 1 cup of sugar. You can use white sugar, you can use turbinado (I use cane) — it doesn’t matter. Let the mixture simmer, or stir quickly until the sugar is completely dissolved. Let cool and bottle. Holds for two weeks.

Super Juice

Super juice will save you money and time. By taking the peels from lemons, limes, oranges or grapefruit, and adding acids, water and just a little bit of juice from the peeled fruit, you’ll be able to multiply your juice margins tenfold. Even better, it’ll last weeks. Say goodbye to daily juicing.

To make lemon super juice: Weigh lemon peels on scale (start off with the peels from 3 lemons). Use the same amount of citric acid by weight (if you have 40 grams lemon peel, use

40 grams citric acid). Multiply the weight of the lemon peels by 16.66 to determine the amount of water. Combine citric acid with peels in a container. Seal, shake to coat peels with acid, and let sit for 2-3 hours. A sludgy/oily substance will fill the bottom of the container. Put everything from the container into a blender and use the water to get out the rest of the oils in the blender. (You can use an immersion blender, if you’d like.) Blend water, oils and peels together. Strain through a nut milk bag or cheesecloth. Juice the peeled citrus, strain it, and add to oleo citrate. Stir, and refrigerate. You’ll notice that lemon will last the longest before tasting any subtleties with the flavor profile. The juice will start to taste a bit metallic and bitter as the weeks go on, but all juices will be great for the first week. Make sure to taste before using/serving.

Salt Solution

This one is a no-brainer. Salt makes food taste better, whether it’s chocolate, soup or fruit. The same applies to cocktails. Try making a daiquiri with a pinch of salt — it’ll make the flavors pop. Or, you can make a simple saline solution. One or two drops will make all the difference.

To make: 20 grams salt mixed with 80 grams of water. That’s it. Put it in a tiny glass dropper bottle and you’re good to go.

Combining Bitters

While I won’t break out the specs on making your own bitters from scratch, I will share a quick and easy tip that I learned from my first Death & Company book way back when. It’s the recipe for their house orange bitters. It wasn’t the first time I’d combined bitters — I previously used Employee’s Only’s recipe for Absinthe bitters — however, the recipe for this orange bitters is much easier. What I love about this simple trick is how you get the sweetness from the Fee Brothers orange bitters, the spices of angostura’s bitters, and the bitterness of Regans. This is a great balance. Try a few dashes in your next old fashioned.

Death & Co.’s House Orange Bitters: Take 100 grams Fee Brothers West Indian orange bitters; 100 grams Angostura orange bitters; 100 grams Regans orange bitters, transfer to an empty glass bottle, seal, and shake. Keep at room temperature; the bitters will hold for one year. PS

Tony Cross is a bartender (well, ex-bartender) who runs cocktail catering company Reverie Cocktails in Southern Pines.

Sandhills Photography Club: Arches Competition

The Sandhills Photography Club meets the second Monday of each month at 7 p.m. in the theater of the Hannah Marie Bradshaw Activities Center of The O'Neal School at 330 Airport Road in Pinehurst. Visit www.sandhillsphotoclub.org.

PHOTO CLUB

Tier 1, 1st Place: Through the Archways

By Julie Hansen

Tier 1, 2nd Place: Legislative Building 4886

By Susan Capstick

By Dee Williams

PHOTO CLUB

Tier 2, 1st Place: Forde Abbey

Tier 2, 3rd Place: Yellow Not Gold

By Jacques Wood

Tier 2, 2nd Place: Stairway to Heaven By Bonny Henderson

Tier 2, Honorable Mention: Welcome to My Garden By Susan Bailey

By Pat Anderson

Tier 3, 1st Place: Can You Hear Me

Now By Dale Jennings

By John German

Tier 3, 3rd Place: Charleston Market

Tier 3, 1st Honorable

Mention: The Kasbah

Tier 3, 2nd Honorable

Mention: Walkway to the Mountains By Diane McCall

Tier 3, 2nd Place: Templo de Santo Domingo By Gisela Danielson

Tier 3, 3rd Place: Union Station By Donna Ford

Forever, My Lucky

Elegy to a black cat

By deBoRA h sA lomon

Abouteight years ago I began dedicating January columns to my two cats — their habits, antics, stuff like that. In each, I reprised our history: Lucky, a sleek all-black male with talking eyes and a brain borrowed from Einstein had been left behind when his family moved. Neutered, front claws removed . . . somehow he fended for himself until the day he peeked into my front door. Black cats are my weakness. I established a feeding station on the porch. He dug himself a nest under the bushes.

After an adulthood of befriending needy animals, I had retired, not anticipating the loneliness.

That was December 2011. On July 4th I invited him in. He strolled to the kitchen, sat down, waited for his supper, hopped onto the couch and fell asleep.

I named him Lucky, for obvious reasons. He was calm, quiet, stoic, intuitive and totally affectionate.

A year later, a wide-bodied gal with a nasty temper and a clipped ear signaling a spayed feral tried the same trick. I learned she was a neighborhood kitty, fed by many, housed by none. I let her in, too. She repaid me by hissing for a week so I named her Hissy, modified to Missy when she came around. But she lacked Lucky’s intelligence, his communication skills. He tolerated her, more so after she became his handmaid. They formed a bond.

A cat’s age is hard to ascertain. The vet and I estimated that, as of 2022, they were both 12-14.

I suspected Lucky might have early-stage diabetes last fall, when he began drinking and peeing a lot, so I made an appointment. Then in October, I broke my wrist. Managing my large carrier was almost impossible. I put off the exam until my pain subsided. Lucky seemed fine — ate well, enjoyed a nightly tussle with his gal-pal.

The kitties had a routine. Lucky pawed me awake at about 4 a.m.

I got up soon after, fed them, then weather permitting, they went out, rarely beyond the yard. On the morning of January 12 Lucky refused breakfast, ran directly to the door with an insistent cry. I let him out.

He never returned.

I called him all day. I put up signs, talked to the neighbors, inquired about predators, contacted the Humane Society. Lucky didn’t like rain or cold.

A friend put a notice and photo in the paper. About once a year Lucky would take a “vacation day” but always came home at dark. He would never go into another house.

I slept in a chair by the door for three nights.

I felt lost, panicky, then desperate. I missed seeing him in the many “nests” he had made throughout the house. I missed him leaning on my shoulder in bed, hopping onto my lap while I watched TV, sitting on the windowsill guarding the house until I came home. Missy followed me, clung to me, went in and out, in and out, looking for her buddy. She hardly ate for a week.

I have never had an animal companion disappear. They all led long, healthy, happy lives and went to that final sleep in my arms.

Missy is adjusting. I am not. My eye spots something black in a pile of sweatshirts, or on a porch chair. I imagine him licking my ear, another surefire wake-up tactic. But I accept, through my tears, that he is gone.

Perhaps he left to die, as some animals do. If so, something good died with him.

I pity people who cannot form a relationship with an animal. They are missing the unconditional love not always available elsewhere.

Missy will be my last kitty. I could not inflict what happens to pets when their human dies. But of all the dogs and cats I have rescued, placed in homes or adopted myself, Lucky stands out. We understood each other. He made me laugh. He needed me. I loved him.

Good-bye, my sleek, handsome friend. The hurt may fade, but you will live forever in my heart. PS

Deborah Salomon is a contributing writer for PineStraw and The Pilot . She may be reached at debsalomon@nc.rr.com.

The Early Bird

American robins usher in spring

By susA n CA mPBell

It is early spring in central North Carolina and few migrants are this far north, let alone back and ready to breed. Flocks of American robins have been evident all winter, feasting on dogwoods, hollies and other berryladen shrubs. But now they are less interested in eating and ready to start a new family. They are, indeed, the “early birds.”

American robins are found throughout most of the United States and Canada. They are one of the most familiar birds on the continent. In winter, thousands from across Canada and the northern tier of states move southward, not as a response to the drop in temperatures but in search of food. Although robins are insectivorous during the warmer months, they become frugivorous in winter. Flocks of thousands are known to forage and roost together here in the Southeast.

Both male and female robins have long black legs, orangey-red breasts and dark gray backs. Males, however, have a darker head and more colorful breasts. Robins use their thin, yellow bills to probe the vegetation and soft ground for invertebrates in the warmer months. Spiders and caterpillars are common prey as well. These birds use both sight and sound to locate prey. It is not unusual to see a robin standing still and then cocking its head as the bird zeroes in on a potential food item just under the soil surface.

Here in our area, come March, male robins return to the territories they have defended in past summers. In bright, fresh

plumage, they will sing most of the day from the tops of trees and other elevated perches, attempting to attract a mate. Their repeated choruses of “cheer-ee-o, cheeree-up” echo from lowland mixed woodlands to high elevation evergreen forests as well as open parklands in between. Females will accept a male for the season, but once summer draws to a close, so does the pair bond.

Females are the ones who select a nest site and build the nest. Suitable locations are typically on a branch lower in the canopy and support a hefty, open cup nest. Twigs and rootlets are gathered and then reinforced with mud, often the soft castings of the very earthworms they love to eat. The nest will then be lined with fine grasses before the female robin lays three to five light blue eggs. Constant incubation by the mother robin takes about two weeks, followed by two more weeks of feeding by both parents before the young fledge. Robins can potentially raise four broods in a season — although rarely do all nestlings survive. And fewer yet (about 25 percent) will make it through their first year, to breeding age.

Surviving young of the year will wander, often with siblings or a parent, until late summer, when they will flock up with other local birds. Small groups in North Carolina may move farther south if winter food here is scarce or if competition with larger northern flocks is too great. But not long after the New Year dawns, the same birds will be on the way back. Increasing day length triggers their return journey. And thus, the cycle will begin anew. PS

Susan Campbell would love to receive your wildlife sightings and photographs at susan@ncaves.com.

stoRy A nd P hotogRAPhs By todd P usseR

Theyear was 1860, and an industrious biologist was busy conducting experiments on a strange carnivorous plant in his backyard greenhouse in Downe, England. Plants that trapped and fed on other living organisms flamed the imaginations of 18th century biologists and the general public alike. Having traveled the world and written about many of its natural wonders, the biologist had recently become enthralled with a carnivorous sundew that grew in a forest near his home. He questioned how such a plant came to rely on the tissues of insects captured within its sticky tentacles for sustenance.

What began as a simple scientific hypothesis quickly blossomed into an obsession. When a friend, Dr. Joseph Hooker, director of the worldfamous Kew Gardens, provided him with another botanical bestiary for study, his obsession became all-consuming.

The plant in question had been discovered 100 years before in the piney woods near Wilmington, North Carolina. The Colonial governor of the Tarheel state at that time, Arthur Dobbs, penned its first description in 1759 and marveled how the “great wonder of the vegetable world” possessed the ability to catch a fly between its modified leaves, like a spring trap. Several years later, that vegetable wonder became known as the Venus flytrap.

And the biologist who was working diligently trying to understand the mechanics of the flytrap’s carnivorous behavior in that backyard greenhouse? His name was Charles Darwin.

Lying flat on my belly, beneath towering pines and the brilliant blue sky of a humid August afternoon, I couldn’t help but think of

Darwin as I closely examined a small grasshopper struggling within the vise-like grip of a large flytrap. With each twitch of the leg, the flytrap pressed its toothy green leaves more tightly around the struggling insect.

The ambient air temperature was somewhere north of ridiculous. Wiping sweat from my brow, I intently focused my camera lens on the miniature drama unfolding down on the forest floor. Grasshoppers had been particularly abundant that day, with hundreds of young nymphs hopping about my feet as I carefully walked across a Brunswick County pine savannah, searching for orchids to photograph. Flytraps had not been on my radar, but when I noticed the botanical carnivory playing out beneath a golden clump of wiregrass, I couldn’t resist snapping a few frames.

The young grasshopper finally stopped struggling, seemingly resigned to its fate. Magnified many times larger by the optics of my macro lens, the fanged snarl that clamped tightly around the doomed insect instantly reminded me of Audrey, the sentient man-eating plant from 1986’s musical/ horror/comedy Little Shop of Horrors, a movie whose lead character design was inspired by the very plant I was currently photographing. It would take days for the flytrap to produce enough enzymes to fully digest this large meal.

It was likely Charles Darwin’s father, Erasmus, who planted the seed, so to speak, for his son’s obsession with carnivorous plants. The elder Darwin

had examined, firsthand, the workings of Venus flytraps, not long after the species had been described. Writing in a 1789 poem titled The Botanic Garden, he described how the plant’s leaves possessed “a wonderful contrivance to prevent depredations of insects,” later elaborating “that when an insect creeps upon them, they fold up, and crush or pierce it to death.”

Decades later, his son would place small pieces of meat and drops of sugar water on a flytrap and eventually discover that it took a stimulation of two hair-like structures, nestled on the interior lobes of its leaves, within 20 seconds of each other, to trigger the closing of the trap.

Growing in acidic, nutrient-poor soils where other plants struggle to survive, Venus flytraps are found only within a 100mile radius of Wilmington, North Carolina, and nowhere else on the planet. The reasons for this extreme limited distribution are not known. What is more certain is the fact that these charismatic perennials are becoming more and more rare across the landscape. In North Carolina, Venus flytraps once grew naturally in 20 counties. Today, they are found in just 12. The primary reason for their decline is habitat loss. That portion of the state is rapidly being converted into housing developments, fast-food restaurants and strip malls. Despite carrying a felony offense, poaching also contributes to the flytrap’s demise.

Nevertheless, where populations of the plant persist, their numbers can be surprisingly high. Years back, I had the unique

opportunity to visit one such spot deep in the heart of Fort Bragg. Accompanied by a group of biologists and munitions specialists with the United States Army, I was able to examine a sloping hillside literally carpeted with hundreds upon hundreds of flytraps. The plants thrived there due in large part to the persistent fires caused by the frequent bombing of the land by the military.

In 1875, Charles Darwin published his decades-long research on the Venus flytrap and other carnivorous plants in a book titled Insectivorous Plants. Though the volume did not shake the foundations of scientific thought the way his earlier book The Origin of the Species had, it did serve as a template for future studies on carnivorous plants. In the chapter describing the flytrap, the normally reserved biologist and progenitor of the scientific theory survival of the fittest declared the plant “one of the most wonderful in the world.”

Back in the Brunswick County pine forest, I get up off the ground with camera in hand. Flipping through the images on the LCD, I pause at a close-up of a green toothy maw wrapped around the body of the tiny grasshopper and am instantly filled with childlike wonder of this botanical carnivore. I smile and shake my head, trying in vain to process how such a plant evolved. A Venus flytrap is indeed the most wonderful plant in the world. PS

Naturalist and photographer Todd Pusser grew up in Eagle Springs. He works to document the extraordinary diversity of life both near and far. His images can be found at www.ToddPusser.com.

April 16 • 3 pm

A Forest Unfolding

This magical fusion of music and literature exploring the relations among people and trees will be performed by a chamber ensemble of 8 musicians — voice, strings, harp, wind, and piano — including members of the renowned Ciompi Quartet.

Selected prose passages and poems will be narrated by its co-creator Richard Powers, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel

The Overstory

This event will be held at Emmanuel Episcopal Church 350 E. Massachusetts Ave., Southern Pines with a reception immediately following at Weymouth Center, 555 E. Connecticut, Southern Pines

Members/Non-Members: $25/$35

Visit: weymouthcenter.org

Promoted in partnership with The Country Bookshop. Sponsored by Penick Village and other individual donors.

A Masterful Gift

The memories of Augusta in April

By lee PACe

Thismonth, for the 65th time, Lou Miller will enter the gates off Washington Road in Augusta, Georgia, buy a ham and cheese on rye sandwich for $3, and begin his annual treks up the hills and through the dogwoods of Augusta National Golf Club, sometimes clocking as many as 27,000 steps in a day. The grass will tweak his nostrils, the sun warm his face as he remembers jostling to watch Arnold Palmer back in the day, and seeing a limping Ben Hogan make birdie on his final hole in the 1967 Masters.

“There’s nothing like smelling Augusta National on Monday morning,” he says. “From there it’s a very special week. There’s nothing like it.”

The 79-year-old Miller attended his first Masters in 1958 at the age of 14 and has been to every one since (even wrangling access on the Saturday of the 2020 tournament held in November, when public attendance was suspended in wake of COVID-19). He grew up in Augusta, so to a golf-minded youngster the rite of spring known as the Masters was a big deal.

“I first played the golf course when I was still in high school,” Miller says. “The superintendent at Augusta National at the time

was from our county, so he got us on. We played with no pins, but we still felt like we were playing in the Masters.”

What a first Masters experience that was, following a young Palmer around the course as he won the first of his four Masters, edging Doug Ford and Fred Hawkins by a shot.

“I like to say I was a ‘private’ in Arnie’s Army my first year,” Miller says. “By the time he won his second Masters in 1964, I was a ‘lieutenant colonel.’ I saw most every shot he hit those two weeks. Then you had Jack Nicklaus come along and challenge him. They fought it out for years, and Jack took the throne.”

Tickets weren’t difficult to come by in those days. He found various avenues into his early Masters and in 1965 started buying them himself — and he’s been on the list ever since.

“I had no money and couldn’t afford it, but I bought those Masters tickets anyway,” he says. “They were like $25 a ticket, and that was for the whole week. Shortly after, they announced they were oversubscribed and closed ticket sales. I was lucky.”

Miller in the early 1990s was moved by the awe and wonder on the faces of some guests he brought to their first Masters. He began a tradition of using his tickets on at least one tournament day to introduce first-timers to Augusta National. This month, he’ll escort two of his grandchildren onto the grounds. Over the years, he’s invited employees at clubs where he’s worked (today he’s president of Old Edwards Club in Cashiers, North Carolina), various friends and family members, and a few hard-luck stories of people whose lives would be brightened by a venture to the Masters.

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY LOU MILLER

GOLFTOWN JOURNAL

“There’s nothing like taking somebody and seeing the awe and excitement and thrill of that person getting there the first time,” Miller says. “It’s seeing the excitement of the first thousand people on Monday morning. Every single time, it exceeds their expectations — whatever those were.

“I just love watching these first-timers smile. That thrill never grows old.”

By now some of you Pinehurst oldtimers are going, “Lou Miller . . . where do I know that name?”

Miller was vice president and director of golf at Pinehurst from 1976-81. This was five years into the ill-fated Diamondhead era of Pinehurst’s history (the founding Tufts family sold the club and resort to Diamondhead on the last day of 1970), and one of Miller’s first jobs was figuring out why there were never enough tee times on Pinehurst No. 2 when the hotel was rarely at full capacity.

“The previous spring they were sending 150 people a day to other courses in the area,” Miller says. “The first people we fired were the starter on No. 2 and the guy working the starter tower over the clubhouse. We figured out they had direct phone lines and were selling tee times to golfers and pocketing the greens fees. We also had guests and members doublebooking times. They would make one for first thing in the morning and another for later in the day. If they were too hung over, they’d show up for the second one.

“It was a mess.”

Miller was the first in an official capacity at Pinehurst to begin dreaming of a U.S. Open contested on No. 2 and actively courting USGA officials about the idea. He traveled to Baltusrol Golf Club for the 1980 U.S. Open to press flesh, and visited with USGA officers P.J. Boatwright and Frank Hannigan when the association conducted the World Amateur Team Championship on No. 2 and the U.S. Amateur at the Country Club of North Carolina later in the summer.

He even arranged a meal function with the USGA brass and Pinehurst’s new general manager.

“This guy was new to the job

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GOLFTOWN JOURNAL

said, ‘Oh, we don’t want outside events,’” Miller remembers. “‘We don’t need them.’ You talk about taking a nice warm shower and having cold water dumped on you. I wanted to throw him through the window.”

Miller left Pinehurst just as the banks were taking control of the distressed resort (later to be resurrected by the Dedman family and elevated gradually to its current status with three Opens already in the books, five more to come, and the USGA less than a year away from opening Golf House Pinehurst). Today he’s busy in Highlands overseeing a luxury inn and spa, a Tom Jackson-designed golf course, and a new 12-hole short course called The Saddle. He attended the Carolinas PGA annual meeting and trade show in Greensboro in February, then drove to Pinehurst the next day.

He played The Cradle short course, which was in part the impetus for building a similar venue at Old Edwards. “We wanted an amenity where three generations could play golf together, where you could be serious or play hit-and-giggle,” Miller says.

He sought out guys he’d hired nearly half a century ago, like Larry Goins at the resort clubhouse bag drop, and David Stancil downstairs working the carts and storage. He inspected the recently refurbished lobby and public area of the Carolina Hotel — quite the contrast from when Miller left in 1981 and the hotel was decorated with the greens and golds and shag carpet of the era.

“I love to hug the guys I know, smell the place, check everything out,” Miller says. “That hotel is gorgeous. They did an unbelievable job.”

Lou Miller’s a lucky man indeed. Seventy-nine and still going strong with memory banks full of Augusta and Pinehurst. PS

Lee Pace’s first book on the history of golf in the Sandhills, Pinehurst Stories, was published in 1991. Follow him @LeePaceTweet and write him at leepace7@gmail.com.

Farmlife

If I were a farmer now I would name my hoe Samson to move the dirt near my cow

that moos the meadow for nose discharges worthy of respect, some lows with lots of excesses

pouring like rain flattery cannot know so thin and bare when we wag our tails and say Nature’s cruel enough to please

any milker named Grace or Paul or Brown. May pings of milk stream

into the bucket between knees. The cow chews her cud with contentment of a Christian without honor

or the noise from the garden my mother tends. Discretion is the council of remembrance. Sometimes a tower is by itself a watch.

If needs be, grant mercy, then climb to the top, a mile from the dirt.

— Shelby Stephenson Shelby Stephenson was North Carolina’s ninth poet laureate.

Julia’s Garden

A traveling treasure of daylilies

By Claudia Watson Photogra Phs By l aura gingeriCh

Her grandmother’s old rambling garden was dense with daylilies, irises and roses — all bought with saved-up egg money and purchased through mail order.

As a young girl, Julia Connelly visited her maternal grandparents’ farm in Calypso, in eastern North Carolina, where rural life was rich with sensations reaching every direction. She’d spend hours scrambling through the farm’s massive pecan groves and the grapery, watching the livestock, and learning to loop tobacco. But none of that compared with the delight she found in her grandmother’s garden.

“I’d cut flowers for her kitchen table,” she says, looking into the distance. “She taught me how to separate the daylily and iris clumps, and we’d plant them where she wanted them. I’d have dirt under my nails for days.”

Gardening became a constant thread in Julia’s life, and daylilies followed her. She attended Peace College and later graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in art and interior design. While working as a designer in High Point for Burlington Industries, she met Dan Connelly, a financial executive working in Greensboro for Westinghouse Credit Corporation. They enjoyed a long courtship, but when the company offered Dan a quick transfer to Orlando, they decided to marry and move — all within a month.

“I finally gave up trying to work,” she says of the frequent challenges of relocations, first with Westinghouse and then when Dan joined Citibank. But she didn’t give up her daylily collection — the precious cargo moved with her to their homes in Orlando, Pittsburgh, Atlanta and then, California.

“I dug every clump and boxed them up for the moving truck when we moved to California,” she recalls. “I amassed quite a collection.”

Soon, Dan’s career with Citibank took the family, with three babies, overseas. Korea was the first of 27 consecutive years of international postings, including Indonesia, Russia, Kazakhstan and Africa.

“We always had a garden because Dan knew that was really important to me. They were gardens with lots of grass for the dogs and kids to play,” Julia says. “Our family always had a great house because he made sure of it.”

Her overseas gardens were as diverse as the locations. Their home in Jakarta was set under the dense shade of tropical heat-loving clove, mango and rambutan (Nephelium lappaceum) trees. There, a family of civets, native to the tropics, took up residence in the ceiling of their home, undoubtedly enjoying the proximity to food, including the fruit and seeds in the garden, and snakes and lizards.

Russia offered a dacha for a year in the exurbs of Moscow, which sparked Julia’s impetuous style. “It was a fun garden and raw dirt, and I took it from top to bottom in one year,” she says, savoring the accomplishment. “It was fun to research what plants would live there.”

Later they moved to an apartment overlooking Patriarch’s Ponds, a welcoming patch of green surrounded by a wide footpath and benches in central Moscow. “I

missed my garden there, but I walked that park every day with the dog,” she says.

Then onto landlocked Kazakhstan, where its ancient mountains were the source of rich soil. With an arid climate, the location offered an ideal environment for planting irises and roses, and a yard full of fragrant lilacs.

Their compound in Nairobi, Kenya, had massive old trees, including travelers palms (Ravenala madagascariensis) spreading their large fan-like leaves; and fruit-bearing guavas and mangos that attracted monkeys. “Despite the best intention of our security patrols and their dogs, a troop of monkeys would jump from the trees onto our roof and keep everybody crazy,” Julia laughs.

Of all the locations, Nairobi became her favorite. “The flowers were beautiful. We had lily of the Nile (Agapanthus africanus), showy bromeliads, lots of colorful orchids, and the indigenous bird of paradise (Strelitzia),” she says. “I loved growing the huge sexy staghorn ferns (Paltycerium bifurcatum) that I’d tie up in the trees. They were amazing.”

While still living in Moscow, the Connellys were determined to find a place to provide American roots for their children. So they purchased land and a large cabin at the top of a mountain near Deep Gap, not far from Boone, North Carolina, accessible only by a winding rough logging road.

“It was so remote and so beautiful,” recalls Julia. “I was excited to finally have my own garden. But deer were everywhere. They had the forest to eat but ate my garden. Little did I know. So I adapted and didn’t have a garden.”

The quiet country life, beautiful scenery and laid-back lifestyle made their mountain place a respite through their many years on the move. Then, in 2015, they began searching for a home in Pinehurst. They drove up a short asphalt access road to a house in the Country Club of North Carolina. “You couldn’t see the house from the street or the access road; it was heavily landscaped and overgrown,” she says. “But when we drove up to the entry, saw the house and those massive willow oaks, we both stopped and looked at each other.”

Forever home.

“We moved every two to three years and lived all over the world and in other people’s houses,” Julia says, looking out at the land. “This was the first place in my life, and Dan’s, because he loved it, that we called our own.”

When they settled into their home, located on 5 acres between the sixth tee and 14th green of CCNC’s Cardinal course, they wanted to rejuvenate the landscape to reclaim the beauty of the mature trees and existing azaleas, rhododendrons, camellias, cryptomeria (Cryptomeria japonica) and hollies. They hired out for tree removal, but soon realized they needed knowledgeable and regular help with the landscape. So they hired Lawrence and Elizabeth Brown to renovate the wildness that had become too much of a good a thing.

“There was a 25-year-old master plan for the grounds, and it was planted very purposefully by the previous owner. But these plants had been here from forever and long ago,” says Elizabeth, who holds a Bachelor of Science degree in horticulture and

landscape design from North Carolina State University. “There was no plant maintenance to control growth, and somewhere in all those years there was a lot of random planting, particularly of invasive vines and other plant species.”

She and Lawrence, a graduate of Sandhills Community College’s horticulture program who also holds a certification in turfgrass management from the University of Massachusetts Extension, took their time carefully assessing each area of the property.

“There is so much land that it took a year and a half,” says Elizabeth. “We looked for the value that was already invested in the landscape.”

The Browns worked to rejuvenate and reshape plants rather than simply replace them. “Most areas needed restorative pruning as well as improved soil,” she says, adding that the effort took patience. “We carefully retained the large structural plants and trees, but in some cases, we edited, stripping out entire sections of overgrowth or unhealthy plants, to give us a clean canvas.”

With that action plan underway, the Connellys set a path to restore the landscape and bring it a fresh vision. But then, their forever home forever changed.

Dan was diagnosed with cancer and died in 2019.

Julia, now alone, says, “You just do what you have to do,” referring to moving forward in life. While walking through the backyard one day, she says, “I realized what I had going on in the yard was not interesting, and I decided to make it into what I wanted.”

She had always loved gardening, but also the water. “I wanted a lap pool and a place for my kids, grandkids and me to kick around for some exercise. I also wanted to give my daughter, who is handicapped, a place to enjoy with me.”

She met with Ricky Britt of Spa and Pool World in Fayetteville, who assessed the area. He recommended she enlist the assistance of Matt Ramsey, a well-known landscape architect, due to the problematic dimensions of the site.

Ramsey says of their first meeting, “She knew precisely what she wanted, but unfortunately, there were issues with setbacks on the

golf course, fences, permits, and things like that. It gets involved.”

But Julia was determined, and Ramsey made it work. The extensive plan included the pool with sloped beach access to make entry more accessible, a spa, fire pit, pergola and a formal garden — all within view from the back of the home and framed by zoysia turf to give the grandchildren and dogs plenty of play space.

Then COVID hit. “It took the wind out of everything,” says Ramsey. “Between the loss of workforce, manufacturing delays and supply chain issues, it was a difficult time.”

The project took about a year and a half. Landscaper Richie Cole, the owner of Knats Creek Nursery in Jackson Springs, was tapped to construct the hardscapes. The Browns’ work continues as they plant the new beds around the pool and maintain the home’s landscape. Julia says working alongside Elizabeth each week for a couple of hours is the best part of the day. “We talk about family, work hard, and laugh a lot.”

Despite Julia herself being diagnosed with cancer late in 2021, the project continued. “She’d sit at her window watching us or go out and piddle around in her garden,” says Ramsey, also a cancer survivor. “I think having us bang on her door every day was therapeutic to her. I really admire her. She didn’t sit around feeling sorry for herself. Instead, she stayed actively involved with the project.”

It’s sunrise, and a single fluffy cloud glows red, casting a rosy-hued blush on the Connelly landscape.

Sipping her morning coffee, Julia sits on a porch swing on the covered breezeway framed by fragrant evergreen confederate jasmine (Trachelospermun jasminoides) vines. It’s a retreat that overlooks her garden, where she plays with her two dogs, Ace and Tripod, and listens to the songbirds, watching them fly tree to tree.

The breezeway garden is the showiest of the garden rooms. It offers a relaxed and tousled vibe with a canvas of brilliant yellows and oranges, pinks and reds, and blues to match the sky.

“We moved our entire life. So, this is my garden, my way, and I love it,” she says with certainty while showing me the way. With a

clean bill of health, Julia is plotting changes to her spring garden and new ways to annoy the deer.

“I’m going to remove those,” she says, pointing to lifeless limelight hydrangeas munched on by the resident herd. “Those aren’t going to work here, despite my fence. I’ll find something their tastebuds don’t like.”

Here, annuals are interspersed with perennials and shrubs for continuous color throughout the growing season. Carefree daylilies, not surprisingly, have made their way back into Julia’s life. She combines the vigorous perennial with other plants rather than in separate beds.

With daylilies, Julia’s a bit like a kid in a candy store. When she sees one she likes, she’ll buy it or, in some cases, dig it out of a ditch. A self-confessed “country girl” and plant forager, she says with a wink, “It’s more fun.”

The botanical name for the daylily, Hemerocallis, means “beauty for a day.” Most daylily flowers open in the morning and die by nightfall. However, all daylilies have a rapid growth rate, including the ubiquitous tawny orange “ditch lilies” (Hemerocallis fulva).

“One of the reasons I moved inside the fence with my garden was so I could have my daylilies, but the deer found them, too, and ate all the flowers,” she says, adding that she uses a liquid deer repellent weekly, which helps. “I do love my daylilies, especially when I’m the first one to discover them.”

A good-sized daylily plant can produce hundreds of blossoms over several weeks. Its foliage appears in early spring and remains for months before the flowers bloom. After flowering, all daylily foliage goes through a tatty phase and can be trimmed by half. Soon, new leaves replace the old, conveniently filling vacancies in the garden.

Annuals and a diversity of native perennial and pollinatorfriendly plants known for their exquisite colors, fragrance and hardiness fill Julia’s garden. “Look, these are huge,” she says of her zinnias.

“I love cutting and bringing them into the house every day,” she says while clipping the stem above the leaf node to encourage new flowers.

Within view of her porch swing is a bright orange flower that she says is a favorite of her hummingbirds, a blackberry lily (Belamcanda chinensis or Iris domestica). “I got the seeds from Elizabeth and scattered them,” she says. “Now I keep the pods to share seeds,” offering me a pod. Also referred to as leopard lily, blackberry lily is a perennial iris with wiry stems that may grow up to 4 feet and sprout bright orange and red-spotted flowers, hence the nickname.

An asymmetrical island bed near the breezeway is anchored by azaleas and a newly planted lilac chaste tree (Vitex angus-castus), a replacement for a faltering old Japanese maple. Fritillaries and swallowtails make arcs around the showy coneflowers, lantana, scarlet bee balm (Monarda) and zinnias, alighting, again and again to feast on the abundant nectar.

Nearby, the blue-green pool looks inviting. Still, only tiny sea turtles, mosaic tiles on the bottom of the pool, are enjoying it.

Along the curved bluestone walk adjacent to the pool is an herb garden, deemed the hottest spot in Moore County by Elizabeth due to the full sun exposure and the heat radiating from the stone. Here, a graceful teak Lutyens bench purchased decades ago in Indonesia offers a relaxing spot to watch the native bees and skippers buzz with affection over the fragrant lavender, rosemary, ornamental onion and salvia.

It’s a short stroll to the side of the home, where a dreamy allée of majestic crape myrtles (Lagerstroemia indica) provides a cooling retreat. These trees, planted 25 years ago, form a towering canopy bent low by the weight of their pink blooms. “You don’t see this often,” says Elizabeth. “They’re magnificent, especially when they’re in bloom.”

Julia’s daughter took this path in her wedding gown on the way to the home’s terrace where she was married. “You can’t imagine how beautiful that moment was for me,” says Julia, later sharing the wedding photo with me.

In the moist-to-dry woodland area of the allée, azaleas, periwinkle (Vinca minor), Lenten roses (Hellebore) and ferns co-exist with a tropical-looking Asian native plant that resembles a hosta. “Take a peek in here,” Julia says while pushing aside the broad green leaves of a Japanese sacred lily (Roheda japonica). “The fruit looks like a tiny pineapple with red berries.”

The upright vase-shaped clumps of the lily are slow-growing, making it a perfect stand-in for hostas in a shady area, and as Julia says with glee, “It’s not deer food!”

The full-sun areas of the landscape are a gardener’s paradise. The thick green carpet of zoysia grass gives character and dimension to the home, the plantings and the structures around it. Soft boxwoods, flowering camellias (Camellia sasanqua), dense spreading yews, ferns and liriope form the foundation plantings. Flanks of yaupon hollies line the poolside and golf course edge of the property, providing a background of dark green for the colorful flowers.

“We hand-tip them as needed and don’t use the hedge trimmer,” says Elizabeth. “That type of care keeps the plant healthy and gives it a much softer, natural appearance.”

The space is filled with native purple beautyberry (Callicarpa americana), red twig dogwood (Cornus sericea), redbuds, and tough

beardtongue (Penstemon), which Julia lets spread in this wild area of the property. In addition, Mexican bush sage (Salvia leucantha), a shrubby perennial prized for its dense, willowy arching stems and lavender flower spikes, lights up areas closer to the access road.

“It’s what I’ve always wanted for a garden. If I see something I like, whether it’s at Walmart, a garden center or a catalog, I’ll plant it and give it a try,” she says. At that moment, I look down and see several blooming daylilies at our feet — surprisingly undiscovered by the deer — and look up to see her smile.

Daylilies are strong, adaptable, and vigorous, like Julia.

Claudia Watson is a frequent contributor to PineStraw and The Pilot and finds joy in each day, often in a garden.

What’s in a Name?

Cattleya Penny Kuroda and Cattleya Hawaiian Fantasy: Two Splash-Petal Enigmas

By Jason h ar Pster

What if your birth certificate was wrong? Yikes! You need it to get married, register for school, obtain a driver’s license or a passport. It verifies your age and citizenship. If it’s not the most important document you have sitting in your safety deposit box, it’s in the top three. But if a flower has a mistaken “birth certificate” it’s no big deal, right? This isn’t Little Shop of Horrors. It’s not like you’re going see Audrey II in line behind you at the DMV.

Just as the DMV tracks names and addresses for drivers, Kew Royal Botanical Gardens maintains the Kew World Monocot Checklist, which tracks currently accepted names for over 30,000 orchid species in the wild. The Royal Horticultural Society is the international authority for orchid hybrids and maintains the International Orchid Register that lists over 100,000 orchid hybrids with their seed and pollen parents. Orchid hybrids must be registered to be eligible for shows and awards.

In her article “Cattleya Penny Kuroda By Any Other Name,” published in the April 2014 issue of Orchids, Laura Newton details how Cattleya (C.) Penny Kuroda was originally registered with the wrong parentage. When C. Penny Kuroda was registered in 1976 by Mary Hernlund, the parents were listed as C. Summer Snow x C. guttata. Given that virtually all splash-petal cattleyas have C. intermedia var. aquinii in their background, Newton rightfully questioned where the distinct, peloric, splashed petals of C. Penny Kuroda and its progeny originated. The Royal Horticultural Society found Newton’s argument convincing and subsequently updated the registration to C. Summer Stars x C. guttata that year.

Michael Blietz, an accomplished Hawaiian orchid grower, has uncovered new evidence that shows the registration change for C. Penny Kuroda is incorrect. In his letter to the American Orchid Society in February 2022, Blietz recounts how he recently received

the cross book from the Mary Hernlund nursery which shows the parents of C. Penny Kuroda as C. Summer Snow x C. guttata var. alba. Interestingly, the alba form of C. guttata was not found until the early 2000s; only C. tigrina var. alba would have been available in 1976.

After reviewing the many progeny of C. Penny Kuroda and the inventory from Hernlund’s stud book, Blietz concluded that the color, splashing and spots exhibited could only come from C. Interglossa, not C. Summer Snow or C. Summer Stars as Newton espoused. It is not a coincidence that all of the selfings and original plants from the C. Penny Kuroda were bifoliate due to the influence of C. amethystoglossa, C. intermedia, and C. tigrina which are all bifoliate species. The size of the spots and lavender color on the tips of the side lobes of the lip are in line with C. amethystoglossa and its hybrids. The size and length of the splashes on C. Penny Kuroda also match C. Interglossa since the peloric petals are mirroring the color and pattern on the lip.

Prior to the registration change of C. Penny Kuroda in 2014, C.

PHOTOGRAPHS: FRED CLARKE, STEVE MCNERNEY, PLATO PETER MATHEWS

C. Penny Kuroda 'Spots'

Summer Snow had five F1 offspring with C. Penny Kuroda, by far being the most prolific with 143 F1 offspring and 837 total progeny. A closer examination of C. Summer Snow’s offspring is warranted as it appears a registration error similar to that for C. Penny Kuroda has occurred with C. Hawaiian Fantasy, another prolific splash-petal hybrid with 25 F1 offspring and 114 total progeny as of this writing.

Cattleya Penny Kuroda was registered in 1976 by Hawaiian grower Mary Hernlund while C. Hawaiian Fantasy was registered by Benjamin Kodama of Waianae, Hawaii in 1982. The parents of C. Hawaiian Fantasy are listed as C. Summer Snow x C. Wayndora, though this registration is suspect as neither parent has C. intermedia in their background. Unfortunately, Kodama passed away in 2017, which makes determining the exact parentage of C. Hawaiian Fantasy exceedingly difficult. An attempt to obtain clarification from Kodama Orchids has not been successful.

Correspondence with Roy Tokunaga from H&R Orchids, another longtime orchid grower and breeder in Oahu, in December of 2021 was especially helpful. Tokunaga confirmed that he and other older Hawaiian growers knew C. Hawaiian Fantasy had C. intermedia var. aquinii in its background, though they were unsure of the exact parentage. These hybridizers understood that the peloric form of C. intermedia var. aquinii is dominant and passed on to its progeny.

In discussing Newton’s findings regarding the correct parentage of C. Penny Kuroda and how this would relate to the lineage of C. Hawaiian Fantasy with Tokunaga and Fred Clarke, both gentlemen agreed that the current registration for C. Hawaiian Fantasy is incorrect. The question then becomes what, if anything, should be done about the incorrect registration?

Reviewing Hernlund’s cross book reveals another curious surprise: C. Hawaiian Fantasy and its reciprocal cross were made

by Hernlund. Despite being registered by Kodama in 1982, it appears Hernlund made, or at least attempted to create, C. Hawaiian Fantasy as detailed by crosses No. 1247 and 1257. Blietz reached out to Ben Kodama Jr. who confirmed that his father, Benjamin Kodama Sr., received the C. Hawaiian Fantasy flasks from a grower on the Big Island. Blietz agrees that these plants had to come from Hernlund.

Although it is impossible to prove with 100 percent certainty that C. Interglossa is the correct parent of C. Penny Kuroda and C. Hawaiian Fantasy, we can conclude that the registrations for both hybrids are incorrect as C. Summer Snow does not have C. intermedia in its genetic background. It is unlikely that C. Summer Stars is in the background of either of these crosses since Stewart Orchids used alba parents to create C. Summer Stars. Considering the state of hybridizing in Hawaii during the 1970s and ’80s and the push to bring new crosses to market before they were registered, it is easy to see how these errors occurred. Given the new evidence that has come to light since 2014 when the Royal Horticultural Society revised the parentage of C. Penny Kuroda from C. Summer Snow x C. guttata to C. Summer Stars x C. guttata, the registration should be updated to C. Interglossa x C. tigrina, or, alternatively, change the C. Summer Snow parentage to unknown. Moreover, the registration for C. Hawaiian Fantasy should also be updated accordingly since the same parent was used to make C. Penny Kuroda.

Correcting the record and establishing the proper lineage helps honor the numerous contributions of Hernlund, Kodama, Tokunaga and other Hawaiian growers. Thanks to the Hernlunds’ cross journal and Ben Kodama Jr., we know that Hernlund used C. Summer Snow to make both C. Penny Kuroda and C. Hawaiian Fantasy. Blietz agrees that Hernlund’s stud plant that was labeled C. Summer Snow was mislabeled and was actually C. Interglossa. Updating the registrations of C. Penny Kuroda and C. Hawaiian Fantasy would highlight the contributions of this Hawaiian community and ensure that the knowledge they shared is not lost. Mary Hernlund passed away on April 19, 2022 at the age of 103. PS

Jason Harpster is an accredited American Orchid Society judge and works at his family’s business, Central Security Systems. He hopes to share his collection of 2,000-plus orchids by starting a botanical garden in Southern Pines.

C. Interglossa

C. Wayndora

C. Hawaiian Fantasy

The Pursuit of the Old Hot takes on a venerable craft

By Cara M athis • Photogra Phs By Cara M athis & John gessner

Have you jumped on the thrifting bandwagon yet? Thrifting — or secondhand shopping — has become increasingly popular in the last few years, both for clothing and home furnishings. Not only is the vintage aesthetic back en vogue, but post-pandemic supply chain delays, coupled with rising material costs and record high inflation, have made thrifting all but necessary for a lot of people. Plus, the pursuit of old has become a popular way to not only cut costs and avoid lengthy production timelines, but also reduce carbon footprints and create long-term sustainability. And those are things every generation can put their money behind.

Believe it or not, there are many of us who have been part of the thrifting world since long before it was cool. If you’re just now developing your secondhand savoir faire, your pre-owned prowess, your nostalgia know-how (shall I go on?), I’ve got a few tips for making the most of your thrifting endeavors.

Develop a Discerning Eye

In the world of thrifting, you’ll inevitably hear one line over and over: If you don’t buy it when you see it, it won’t be there when you come back. And for the most part that’s true. But there’s a fine line between being a collector and becoming a hoarder. My number one tip for avoiding the latter: Shop. Seems counterintuitive, right? But I’m not talking about buying. I’m talking about good ol’ fashioned window shopping Browse internet sites, peruse department and antique store aisles, and really get a feel for what’s out there — and what it costs When you do, you’ll eventually develop an understanding of value (both assigned and perceived), and you’ll be able to spot a real treasure when you see one. Like that $85 Henkel Harris dresser that runs for $3,000 outside of your local Goodwill. Get to know high-end brands, if only so you can easily identify them out in the “wild.” When you’ve developed an eye, it makes it that much easier to decide when to jump on a deal and when to leave it for the next treasure hunter.

Get Creative

One of the best things about secondhand goods, especially the vintage kind, is that they’re usually of a higher quality than most of what’s produced these days. After all, it’s widely agreed that “they just don’t make ’em like they used to.” But shopping secondhand also offers the opportunity to repurpose vintage goods into new and unexpected uses.

Crystal ashtrays become the perfect paint palette or jewelry holder for the non-smoker (use those notches as paintbrush rests or to keep necklaces from getting tangled); brass or ceramic toast racks make the perfect mail holders or letter organizers; vintage books add texture and interest to shelf styling; and vintage flower frogs let you display paintbrushes and pens in an accessible aesthetic. Don’t overlook that special treasure just because you don’t need it for its intended purpose. Instead, breathe new life into outdated-yetlovely finds.

Pro-tip: Repurpose once-loved treasures into new uses to give them a new raison d’etre.

Skirt the Trends

Along with its environmental impact, fast fashion has meant the downfall of a personalized aesthetic. Not only do we seldom tailor clothes anymore, but the home and fashion industry is forever dictating which styles are trendy and modish, thrusting them into our vantage point on carefully calculated trestles and shelves. That means that your home looks every bit like the one down the street and the one down the street from that. Same goes for your wardrobe. Thrifting gives us access to unique items we’d never encounter in department stores, from countries we’ve never visited and eras we weren’t even alive to see.

Pro-tip: Mix vintage and modern if you’re trying to avoid making your home look like grandma’s (unless that’s your thing; no judgment). Don’t be afraid to complement masculine black furniture and modern lines with a few feminine pieces. Heck, even ruffles and bows can feel subdued with the right surroundings.

Support Local Businesses and Charities

Although thrifting is now considered mainstream, the big box stores haven’t yet figured out how to break into the market. And that’s a good thing. It means that thrifting is still a local industry. So when you shop secondhand, you’re supporting local small businesses, independent sellers, and important local charities. When you shop at local charities’ retail arms like Habitat ReStore and Coalition Resale Shop, you improve the whole community by providing both monetary donations and opportunities to local residents in need. And don’t forget to check Facebook Marketplace, eBay and Etsy for local deals, as well as local sellers like ReSouled Vintage in Southern Pines and Aberdeen’s House of York. Not only will you help put food on their tables, you’ll keep the local economy rolling.

Pro-tip: When searching resale sites like eBay and Facebook Marketplace, remember that people don’t always know what they have. Search brand names as well as ‘adjacent’ terms. For example, “Henredon dresser,” “cabinet,” “hutch,” “shelves,” and “dresser.”

A Vintage Lover’s Mecca and a Chance to Give Back

Moore County is practically overflowing with opportunities to donate, consign and shop secondhand. Some personal favorites include Antiquely Chic, Bees Knees, Medleyanna’s, Habitat ReStore, A Bit of Couture, Design Market, The Rusty Pelican, Old Hardware Antiques, Sullivan’s, This Old House, Practical Posh, Pastimes, Community Thrift Store, Emmanuel Thrift, Helping the Orphans, Whispering Pines Thrift Store, and Coalition Resale Shops, to name just a few. And don’t forget the biannual Cameron Antiques Fair, hosted every April and October in Cameron, N.C. People flock to MoCo from all over the state because of its reputation for high quality vintage and resale, and being able to contribute to many of these stores’ missions is a privilege we locals tend to overlook. After all, one of the most gratifying parts of shopping secondhand is knowing you’re helping locals and creating a cycle of sustainability — and that’s especially true if you also donate used items back to the same shops and charities where you shop.

Whether you’re looking to save money or save the world, thrifting is a fun way to furnish your home or zhuzh up your wardrobe. After all, as Macklemore and Ryan Lewis delicately crooned in their 2012 song Thrift Song, “One man’s trash, that’s another man’s come up.” PS

Cara Mathis is a Pinehurst local and a lover of all things historic, with a special affinity for vintage treasures and beautiful architecture. She lives in the historic village with her husband and young son.

Horton Smith and his abbreviated Pinehurst employment

By Bill Case • Photogra Phs froM the tufts a rChives

An above-the-fold headline in The Pinehurst Outlook on May 30, 1941, screamed, “HORTON SMITH SIGNS PINEHURST CONTRACT.” Smith, regarded as one of the brightest stars in professional golf’s galaxy, would soon be making his way to the Sandhills to work in a promotional capacity for the Pinehurst Country Club. He was coming in hot, having won one official and two unofficial events, all in the South, earlier that year. By accepting the position, he immediately became the highest profile employee in the club’s history with the exception of his new supervisor, Donald Ross, the club’s manager.

“There will be plenty for Horton to do here,” said the venerable Ross. “He will have what might be termed a roving assignment to aid us in making our golfing friends enjoy their visits in Pinehurst.” This meant the 33-year-old native of Joplin, Missouri, would primarily be golfing and hobnobbing with resort guests and playing occasional exhibition matches.

Smith would not be giving lessons. “That assignment,” Ross explained, “will be handled by Harold Callaway and Bert Nichols, who have been here for many years.”

Horton and his wife of three years, Barbara Bourne Smith, had committed to making Pinehurst their “permanent” home from November until May — the months the resort was then open for business. For the 1941-42 winter season the couple resided at the Carolina Hotel. In the immediate wake of their newfound affiliation, Smith would continue to play on the PGA circuit, where the man nicknamed the “Joplin Ghost” would be introduced as representing Pinehurst Country Club.

Although the article made no mention of his involvement, it is certain that Bob Harlow, the owner and editor of The Outlook, played a key role in orchestrating the relationship. A born salesman and promotor, Harlow had previously managed the PGA’s rather

loosely organized “tour” and served as business agent for several top pro golfers, most notably Walter Hagen. Though busy running The Outlook, Harlow kept his hand firmly in the promotional game as the director of publicity for the Pinehurst club and resort.

Harlow and Smith first encountered one another in 1929, when Horton, only 21, won an eye-popping nine tournaments — eight PGA tour titles and the French Open — just three years after turning professional. His collection of victories that year included Pinehurst’s prestigious North and South Open, then contested on sand greens. Hagen, pro golf’s ultimate showman, took note of the young phenom’s early successes and decided he would make an ideal exhibition opponent. The Haig’s agent, Harlow, signed Smith to play 100 matches against Hagen at courses ranging from New York to Missouri and across the border in Canada.

As Marian Benton, Smith’s biographer, puts it in her book The Velvet Touch, it would be difficult to “imagine two more diverse personalities than those of the ‘golden boy’ of golf (Smith) and the ‘crown prince’ of the links (Hagen).” At 6 feet, 2 inches tall and handsome as a Hollywood leading man, the mannerly and teetotaling Smith was typecast as the quintessential All-American Boy. In contrast, Hagen played the roguish and carefree carouser, though it is believed he poured more drinks into potted plants than he consumed — at least during his playing days. Despite vast differences in style and personality, the two stars became lifelong friends, hopscotching, along with Harlow, from course to course.

After the far-flung exhibition tour, Smith continued his winning ways, gaining a reputation as the tour’s finest putter. During the 1930s, he won 20 times (two were unofficial), capturing a second North and South title in 1937 — this time on No. 2’s new grass greens. But his greatest triumphs came in Augusta, Georgia. In 1934, he won the first Masters Tournament, then known as the Augusta National Invitation Tournament. Atop the leader-

board all four rounds, Smith’s total of 284 was one stroke better than Craig Wood, who would be victimized the following year by Gene Sarazen’s “Shot Heard ‘Round the World” on the 15th hole. Smith’s lengthy birdie putt on the 17th hole of the final round proved to be the clincher.

Two years later, he won the tournament again, edging “Lighthorse Harry” Cooper — the nickname invented by Damon Runyon — when poor weather forced 36 holes on Monday. In the afternoon Smith chipped in for birdie on the 14th, then birdied the 15th and finished with two pars to win the first prize money of $1,500.

Like Harlow, Smith segued into business activities related to golf. President of his local PGA section in 1935, Smith served as an active member on an array of PGA committees. The Missouri native also arranged exhibitions for the Spalding Company’s stable of professionals that included himself, Lawson Little, Jimmy Thomson and Cooper. He rarely passed up an opportunity to promote golf. Typical was Smith’s appearance at the Sandhills Kiwanis Club six months prior to his hiring by Pinehurst Country Club. In his remarks, the two-time Masters champion urged the Pinehurst, Southern Pines, Pine Needles and Mid-Pines golfing communities to “pull together to make this the golfing center of the world.”

When Horton and wife Barbara arrived in Pinehurst early in November ’41, they made an immediate splash. Harlow saw the Smiths in the Carolina Hotel dining room and gushed that they were “the most striking couple on whom my eyes ever have feasted.” Barbara was more than just vivacious — she was heiress to Singer sewing machine money. Grandfather Fredrick Gilbert Bourne’s savvy investments and long tenure as president of the Singer Manufacturing Company had built generational wealth for the family.

Alfred Severin Bourne, Fredrick’s son and Barbara’s father, was an excellent amateur golfer. As upper-crust society often does, the Bournes moved with the seasons: summers at their 40-room estate in Washington, Connecticut; and winters in Augusta, Georgia, where Alfred became a charter member of Augusta National Golf Club and a friend of Bobby Jones.

When Augusta National was in danger of failing during the Great Depression, it was Bourne who furnished lifeline funds to keep the strapped club afloat. Barbara also became an avid golfer, good enough to have once bested the legendary Babe Didrickson. Introduced to one another during the 1936 Masters Tournament — the year of Smith’s second victory — the couple dated intermittently during the ensuing two years before marrying in 1938.

The Smiths were happy during their winter stay in Pinehurst, immersing themselves in Pinehurst golf. Barbara joined the Silver Foils — the oldest existing women’s golf society in America — and quickly made her presence felt, winning a better-ball competition

when she and her partner carded a score of 72. Meanwhile, the Joplin Ghost joined the Tin Whistles, the Pinehurst Country Club’s pre-eminent men’s golfing society. His father-in-law, Alfred, had become a member of the society the previous year. As a regular dues-paying Tin Whistle, Smith was eligible to play in the society’s frequent tournaments, though he had to spot a daunting number of handicap strokes to his fellow members. In his initial competition with the society, he partnered with S.A. Strickland (grandfather of Pinehurst mayor John Strickland) to win a four-ball event. He would later set his sights on capturing one of the Tin Whistles’ major tournaments, the James Barber Memorial. Playing Course No. 2, Smith carded a brilliant 67. However, his plus-4 handicap required adjusting his net upward to 71, tying the net score of Charles Murnan, a 21-handicapper from Leesburg, Virginia.

Several days later, Smith and Murnan settled the deadlock with an 18-hole playoff over Course No. 3. On the front nine, Smith shot a sensational 32 to Murnan’s 45, making up 13 of the 25-stroke handicap differential. Smith charged home on the back with another 32 (his best-ever score on No. 3) but it wasn’t enough. Matching shots with a two-time major champion, Murnan posted a 42 on the back nine. His resulting net score of 66 beat Smith by two strokes.

In January 1942, with America now on a war footing, Smith traveled to California, where he played in the Los Angeles Open and the Bing Crosby National Pro-Am. He led the field early at L.A. before fading from contention. During his trip, Smith wired reports to Pinehurst regarding happenings on tour, and Harlow published the musings in The Outlook. “They charged $2.50 per 18 holes and $1.00 for practice for caddies at the L.A. Open,” complained Smith, a notorious penny pincher. “If my caddie starts putting better, I will trade places with him.”

In another dispatch, Smith noted that “there is surprisingly little evidence of war here,” though he acknowledged that the government’s decree prohibiting manufacture of golf balls was already being felt. “Players have been scrambling a bit for golf balls, being more careful and not using new ones for practice rounds.”

The Smiths returned to Pinehurst for the remainder of the season. Barbara completed her stay in style, capturing the first flight title (one rung below championship flight) at the Women’s North and South Amateur. Donald Ross presented the trophy to a delighted Mrs. Smith.

Despite the war, the PGA tour continued operating throughout the spring and early summer of ’42. Smith, along with other big stars like Ben Hogan, Sam Snead and Byron Nelson, competed in April’s Masters Tournament. Smith finished fifth, seven shots behind Nelson.

On Thursday, April 30, the Smiths hosted three other couples

Walter Hagen and Horton Smith

at a farewell dinner party at the Carolina Hotel. The following day they left Pinehurst and headed south to Augusta to visit her parents. The Outlook reported that while Smith planned on playing a few tournaments during the summer, he anticipated being in the Army by fall. Though it was suggested that Mrs. Smith might make Pinehurst her winter residence if Mr. Smith was in the service, there were no foreseeable circumstances likely to result in Smith’s returning to his job at Pinehurst. With all of America’s resources, including golf courses, subordinated to war needs, Pinehurst had as much use for a goodwill ambassador as it did a lamplighter.

In December 1942, Smith enlisted in the Army Air Corps, receiving his basic training at Jefferson Barracks in Missouri, then attending Officers Candidate School in Miami Beach. A fellow graduate of the school, Pinehurst friend and 1940 U.S. Amateur champion Dick Chapman, arranged for Smith’s assignment to Knollwood Field near Pinehurst, where the two-time Masters champion served as a general’s aide. He and the general didn’t get along, however, and Smith requested and received a transfer to Seymour Johnson Field in Goldsboro, North Carolina. In the role of special services officer he managed that base’s entertainment facilities, booking U.S.O. shows and managing the archery range, bowling alleys and golf range.

Barbara became pregnant in the fall of ’42 and wanted to be in Goldsboro with her husband, but Horton claimed the spartan conditions at the base weren’t suitable. She acquiesced and stayed with her parents. Though the Smiths rejoiced over the birth of their son, Alfred Bourne Smith, on June 30, 1943, Barbara resented Horton for insisting on what she considered an unnecessary separation.

After the Allies recaptured France and began the final advance to Berlin, Lt. Smith was redeployed to Paris, where he managed professional and amateur golf tournaments involving fellow professional athletes like boxer Billy Conn and golf standouts Lloyd Mangrum, Chick Harbert and his old cohort Hagen. The Outlook published a message from Smith reporting his “very interesting experience seeing much of southern Germany, France, England and Scotland and assisting in two big Army tournaments in Paris and St. Cloud.”

Smith sailed home in November 1945. Prior to his return, the unhappy Barbara had obtained a divorce in Reno, Nevada. The Smiths were far from alone in experiencing marital discord in the aftermath of the war. Breakups of G.I. marriages occurred with startling frequency. In 1946, the New York Times disclosed that one-fourth of the returning soldiers were “entangled in divorce proceedings.”

In March 1946, Smith became the golf professional at the

Detroit Golf Club, succeeding Alex Ross, Donald’s brother. Immersing himself in the affairs of the club and the Michigan PGA, Smith greatly reduced his tournament schedule. By the time he turned 40 in 1948, having faded from the ranks of top touring pros, he was content with his club job and relatively unperturbed with the decline of his play.

Meanwhile, Barbara, who had relished golfing in the Sandhills, moved into a stately home in Pinehurst’s Old Town area, residing there during the cooler months with 2-year-old Alfred. Living nearly 700 miles from Pinehurst, Smith seldom visited his son. When Barbara married local Sandhills businessman John von Schlegell in 1948, it became increasingly difficult for Smith to sustain a lasting relationship with Alfred, who was ultimately adopted by von Schlegell.

Smith never remarried, confiding to his biographer Benton, “I don’t know whether I’m too lazy, too old, too tired, or afraid (to get married again), but perhaps that is why I take on so many other things.” Those other things included a three-year stint as national secretary of the PGA of America, and beginning in 1952, another three years serving as the organization’s president. In the latter capacity, Smith received credit for his diplomatic balancing of the conflicting interests of the club pros and the touring professionals.

But Smith’s presidential tenure proved far more controversial than the competing interests of the membership. Shortly after assuming the presidency of the PGA, Smith became embroiled in a dispute at the San Diego Open that would have long-lasting implications. A tournament sponsor, the San Diego County Chevrolet Dealers, invited former heavyweight boxing champion (and avid amateur golfer) Joe Louis to play in the event. The sponsor figured the presence of the popular “Brown Bomber” would hype attendance.

Louis was no slouch as a player. The beneficiary of excellent instruction from Black professionals Teddy Rhodes and Bill Spiller, the champ often scored in the mid-70s. The 39-year-old Spiller also expected to be in the tournament having survived a 36-hole qualifier.

But Smith and the PGA blocked Louis’ and Spiller’s entries, invoking the “Caucasian-only” clause in the organization’s bylaws. An irritated Louis, generally reticent in decrying racial discrimination during his long reign as champion, took a firm stand. “I want the people to know what the PGA is,” he complained. “We’ve got another Hitler to get by,” he said, referencing Smith.

In a national broadcast, radio commentator Walter Winchell added fuel to the growing conflagration, excoriating the PGA and Smith for their treatment of both Louis and Spiller. Winchell pointed out that the champ had honorably served

Horton Smith with his wife, Barbara Bourne Smith.

his country during the war, but was now being branded as unqualified to wield a golf club in San Diego.

Now the target of a media firestorm largely of their own making, Smith and the PGA backpedaled, construing the “Caucasians-only” provision to apply only to professional golfers. This revised interpretation would allow Louis, an amateur, to compete. But the ruling was no help to Black pros like Spiller, still victimized by the PGA’s Catch 22 reasoning: To be eligible to play in a PGAsanctioned event, a professional golfer had to join the PGA, but Black pros were not allowed in. Spiller remained barred from the San Diego field.

When tee times were announced for the first round at San Diego, it caught everyone’s attention that Smith and Louis would be playing together — a pairing surely suggested by Smith himself. The recent antagonists chatted amiably throughout the round. Louis surprised many onlookers by carding a respectable 76. Smith shot 73. The champ’s 82 in the second round resulted in his missing the cut by eight strokes.

But the brouhaha was far from over. The grievances of Spiller and his fellow Black pros were still unresolved. Smith hastily proposed a new rule that would allow a local tournament sponsor and host club to submit a supplemental list of players to invite to their tournament. If a sponsor and club chose to include Black pros on its list, they could compete. The PGA board adopted the policy prior to the following week’s Phoenix Open, and several African Americans, including Spiller, teed it up in the tournament. This incremental step still left Black pros in the unenviable position of needing to lobby tournament sponsors and host clubs just to have a chance to play. Moreover, many private clubs hosting tournaments had no interest in inviting Black players.

Smith publicly indicated he would seek to eliminate the “Caucasian-only” provision. But when his presidency came to an end in 1954, the discriminatory rule still remained. Smith was not alone among PGA higher-ups in slow walking its elimination. It took legal action by the California state attorney general before the PGA leadership relented and dropped the blatantly discriminatory clause in 1961. Only then did pros like Charlie Sifford experience a degree of freedom in planning their schedules, but the change came too late for aging Black golfers like Spiller and Teddy Rhodes, whose best playing years were behind them.

Unfortunately for Smith, he was no Branch Rickey — the Brooklyn Dodgers’ magnate who in 1947 defied his fellow baseball owners by elevating a Black player, Jackie Robinson, to the major leagues. Smith, even if he had wanted to, likely would have had difficulty persuading a majority of the PGA Board of Directors to drop the Caucasian-only clause. But irrespective of his mindset, Smith’s failures to act as a strong advocate for the interests of Black pros and to lay the groundwork for their eventual admission to the PGA’s ranks would significantly damage his legacy.

Pete McDaniel, who wrote for Golf World and Golf Digest for

nearly 20 years and is the author of Uneven Lies: The Heroic Story of African-Americans in Golf, had this simple thought to offer: “Smith missed his chance to be a civil rights hero.”

In 1957, Smith started suffering from Hodgkin’s disease. The onset of his illness did not prevent him from working as the professional at Detroit Golf Club, where he was beloved by the membership. And, as a former Masters champion, he continued to play the tournament. In his final Masters appearance in 1962, he labored through two rounds in significant pain. A concerned Bob Jones offered him the use of a golf cart, which he declined.

Smith passed away in 1963 at the age of 55. His ex-wife and his son would likewise die young — Barbara at age 63, and Albert (who became an engineering graduate of Georgia Tech and an airline pilot) in a private plane crash at age 38.

In 1961, Smith received the Ben Hogan Award, presented to a golfer who overcomes a physical handicap while continuing to contribute to the game. In 1962, he was named recipient of the United States Golf Association’s Bob Jones Award, its highest honor. Following his death, the PGA of America established the Horton Smith Award, designed to honor members rendering outstanding contributions to professional education. The Joplin Ghost was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1990.

Thirty years later, in 2020, the Horton Smith Award was renamed the PGA Professional Development Award. PGA President Suzy Whaley explained why: “In renaming the Horton Smith Award, the PGA of America is taking ownership of a failed chapter in our history that resulted in excluding many from achieving their dreams of earning the coveted PGA member badge and advancing the game of golf.”

Sixty years after Smith’s death, the simple act of changing the name of an award would be the last ripple in the pond of those things done, and left undone, in the lifetime of a champion. PS

Pinehurst resident Bill Case is PineStraw’s history man. He can be reached at Bill.Case@thompsonhine.com.

arly morning grays glom onto Southern Pines like a dull watercolor. Around a corner, at the foot of the town, where Broad Street’s one-ways become less sure of themselves, brushstrokes of fiery orange, bronze and manganese pierce through the fog.

Applied with roller brushes and aerosol cans, the warm colors explode from a horse’s flank in the mural at Harbour Place. Beneath a soaring hawk, the stallion sprints for the edge of his 40-foot pasture but never closes the gap. Since Nick Napoletano completed the composition — before fall’s green turned winter brown — the horse has galloped for the future but stays forever in the present, immortalized on concrete block.

Last November, when Napoletano was still summoning the mural from paint cans and brushes, he would break for lunch just after noon. Abandoning the scissor lift, the 30-something artist explained his composition over a hamburger and a ginger beer. “It’s based off the first stop motion, which is a horse running,” he said, referring to Eadweard Muybridge’s 19th century version of a GIF. “And it’s playing with the idea of time.”

Between bites, and in less than a sentence, Napoletano speeds through a theory on time, connecting the dots between something like Einstein’s relativity, quantum physics, and his mural in the Sandhills.

“I am not trying to pigeonhole viewers into the experience,” he said. “Some people just want to see horses, and that’s beautiful, too.”

Back up in the air at Harbour Place, Napoletano secured a hot pink respirator over his mouth, preparing to re-enter his kaleidoscopic world. He maneuvered the scissor lift, ascending to an uncharted block. “Stairway to Heaven” blared from the portable speaker beside him.

The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

Next. Napoletano hit the forward arrow.

“How do you turn off Zeppelin?” Steve Harbour, an owner of the plaza, yelled from below.

Napoletano pulled down his respirator. “This isn’t your show,” said the voice from above, grinning like the kid who had just scribbled on the living room wall.

Tool came on, and the artist thrummed his fingers on the lift’s handrail. His even rhythm and a well-worn tour T-shirt gave away a musical history. He’d been a drummer, playing in bands since he was 12. But later, music took a backseat to an interest in architecture.

“I really wanted to build buildings — and now I paint them.” Napoletano said. “Growing up, my grandmother owned a gallery and, as little kids, we used to fiddle around

with watercolors and what have you, but I didn’t take it seriously.”

It was a high school art teacher who convinced Napoletano to create a portfolio over the summer after junior year. “I was like, ‘Well, let’s roll the dice and see if we can do this,’” Napoletano said.

While studying at the University of Hartford, barely a morning’s commute away from his hometown of Colchester, Connecticut, he collected credits in painting, design and sculpture, collaging them together into an unconventional Bachelor of Fine Arts.

With the quick chh of an offhand spray — as if he understood brevity was the key to the beauty that came from his hands — Napoletano hopped down from the lift and backpedaled to size up his colossus. “We’re going to mood-up that corner,” he said mostly to himself, motioning in a general direction before climbing back to work.

“My style has shifted, and I feel like I’m a little bit manic, and I get bored really easily,” Napoletano said, as if trying on the theory. “Not actually manic, but I have a tendency to want to see if I can do new things.

“When I lived in Italy, I was seeing all the art there and learned that Michelangelo and all these brilliant minds were

PineStraw

really young when they were making their paintings and sculptures,” he said. A deep breath transports him in place and time, back to a young man asking a young man’s question. “I’m 19, 20 years old. If I can’t paint like them at this age, and we have more technology, then what the hell am I doing?”

In an attempt to touch the hem of the Italian masters, Napoletano asked his thengirlfriend to teach him how to paint with oils and poured money into a canvas the size of a billboard.

“And that was all the money I had,” he said with his eyebrows raised, taken aback by his naivete until he remembered he already knew the ending. “I took the painting, shipped it out to Michigan to a gallery and, within two weeks, it sold and gave me the money to start my career.”

But galleries and private collections were only a way station for Napoletano. He supersized his art, upgrading to public works large enough for the gods but meant to be viewed by the masses. With each surface, he experiments with mediums, tools and composition, an aerosol version of the 30-something artist who stared at the ceiling of a chapel in the 1500s. “So then, it was like, ‘OK, can I teach myself how to paint with spray cans?’”

Napoletano has finished dozens of murals, combining spray and exterior paints into layers, from his first commission in Athens, Georgia, to the hyperrealist portraits and bodies in motion that dance across Charlotte and Denver, to a blue eye in central Pennsylvania so big it could pierce the heavens.

“Every year or two, I get bored and frustrated and need to do something else,” Napoletano said. “I want to build this giant stained-glass piece, so I’m trying to put that out into the ether. I feel like if I’m not in the unknown, then it’s not worth it, right?” PS

View Nick Napoletano’s artwork at napoletanoart.com.

Jenna Biter is a writer and military wife in the Sandhills. She can be reached at jennabiter@protonmail.com.

Adam’s Garden of Eatin’

The dark side of delicious

By deBorah saloMon

Photogra Phs By John gessner

Black coffee: Sophisticated. Black beans: Ole!

Black-eyed peas: Happy New Year, y’all. The little black dress may be a classic, but a kitchen with matte black cabinets, textured black granite countertops and black floormats? Stunning. Just what family chef Adam Wimberly wanted. His goal: “Something masculine.”

Black isn’t the only surprise at Adam and Jessica Wimberly’s home — a charming cottage in a gated golf community, its exterior belying the scope and originality within. Just inside the front door, Adam’s home office has navy blue walls and ceiling. The front hallway is sized to accommodate an ancestral European armoire, big as a British schooner, which houses a bar, Adam’s g-g-g-g-great grandfather’s sword and other military artifacts. The 280-year-old behemoth was a gift from Adam’s mother before she passed away.

In this house the master suite opens onto the living room, with 20-foot ceilings bisected by a second-story balcony. Then, the living room opens onto a terrace where water splashes from two fountains, the larger a COVID project.

Upstairs, a guest bedroom and a home gym are above-average size. And a big, comfy home theater, circa Tony Soprano, has a sectional sofa, blackout window curtain, wall-mounted screen and professional projector, plus posters from their favorite flicks.

Besides suiting the Wimberlys’ requirements and tastes, the house and its location represent a lifestyle adjustment for the vibrant family. “We were pioneers in Seven Lakes West, lived there for 20 years in a traditional two-story across from the lake where we had a pontoon boat,” Adam says. Eventually, the boat lost its thrill.

Events had them driving to town often. Son Asher would

soon attend Pinecrest High School. Time for a change, not to be confused with stilldistant retirement.

Adam, a corporate headhunter for the pulp and paper business, could locate his home office anywhere. Jessica no longer taught middle school. A visit to friends at National Golf Club sparked interest. “We could see ourselves enjoying this neighborhood,” Jessica says.

They found a house built in 2007, with yellow walls and a traditional kitchen. Jessica liked the central vacuum. Adam liked the small yard requiring minimal care. They both liked the movie room. A good omen: The house was occupied by the same family friends who had hosted their engagement party. And, its dimensions (4,000 square feet) and unusual layout provided options for displaying family artifacts with Jessica as docent, sharing the history of ancient oars and the 48-star American flag on the staircase landing.

They took the plunge, trading lake view for a fairway in 2017. Out with pastels and broadloom, in with soothing (now trendy) shades of gray, sand and beige framed by vanilla crown moldings. Informal, comfy and contemporary characterizes most furnishings, with an emphasis on dark woods, leather and other textures, including a rug woven from cowhide. Lamps and ceiling

fixtures double as conversation pieces, along with a battered barn door rising from the living room mantel, representing Jessica’s Moore County farm connections. She was born here and has lived here, or nearby, practically forever.

Certain pieces, however, steal the show. The bed dominating the master suite is fashioned from inlays employing centuries-old wood. This massive piece, made to order for the Wimberlys in Italy, took a year from inception to delivery.

A round dining room table commemorates their 25th wedding anniversary. Battlefield art and family crest speak to Adam’s heritage. A bowl received as a wedding gift, later serving as baptismal font for their son, holds chocolates. A cabinet that belonged to Jessica’s grandmother contains her written canning recipes. And a milk jug speaks to the dairy farm history.

Some spaces were repurposed to suit the family’s active lifestyle. “We like to entertain,’’ Jessica says. Not just cookouts and holiday banquets. The breakfast nook became what Jessica calls a friends’ corner, with chairs around a low table for drinks and hors d’oeuvres or a coffee break. A main-floor walk-in closet, where former owners stored their Christmas tree, is now a workshop.

Systems were sufficient except for the AC. “We keep the house like a refrigerator in the summer,” Adam says.

The only major construction took place in the kitchen. Adam’s avocation surfaced young. “I was my mother’s sous-chef,” he says, before graduating to cooking

shows where best-quality ingredients demand superior implements. “Some guys buy boats. I bought a kitchen.”

Adam had a design in mind — quasi-industrial with a floating island — but the black came from something he saw online. The galley kitchen footprint suited the industrial mode, but the black cabinets, black countertops and black foam floor mats begged for illumination. At one end, a tall, undressed window rises over the sink, while along the brick sidewall, three small, paned windows at ceiling height provide both light and another design element. Open shelves hold antique or interesting hand tools. Weathered wooden boxes scattered throughout accommodate larger implements. The Sub-Zero is left metallic silver. Black panels might have been overkill.

On the counter, a planter growing half a dozen herbs speaks of Adam’s culinary requirements. Over it all hangs an old-timey butcher shop sign.

As expected, his ideas were met with resistance. “But I had no Plan B,” he confesses.

Adam, glowing with pride, demonstrates how one of eight burners on his Wolf range is retrofitted for delivering maximum heat to a wok. “I’m thrilled. I wouldn’t change a thing,” he says. “This is my happy place.”

Jessica concurs: “I feel everything we need or want is in this house.”

Enter Asher, home from school. Before heading for his second-floor domain between the movie room and gym the 17-year-old greets his parents with a familiar phrase:

“What’s for dinner, Dad?” PS

AUTHOR EVENTS

APRIL

Admiral McCraven (virtual)

April 18 at 1pm

Adrianna Triggiani

April 19th, 11am

Brendan Slocumb

April 19th 6pm

Terry Virtz (kids and adult)

April 20

Patrick Dougherty and Liza Roberts

April 21, 6pm

Martha Hall Kelly

Bookclub Event

April 27th, 10 am

SC Gwynn

May 4th, 1pm

Patti Callahan Henry

May 6th, 1pm

Daniel Wallace

May 10, 5pm

Susan Gravley(with ETC)

May 16, 5pm

Joy Callaway

May 17, 11am

APRIL 16

Paperhand Puppets

Noon

Richard Powers

The Overstory 3pm

Check

easter basket items!

ALMANAC

April

By a shley Walshe

The Blushing Maiden

The Full Pink Moon rises on Thursday, April 6. Native Americans named this moon for the creeping phlox now blushing across the tender earth. This year, the Pink Moon also happens to be the Paschal Moon — the first full moon of spring.

April is a quivering brood, a bellyful of earthworms, a fledgling’s maiden flight.

The sun is out. A banquet of wild violets glistens in the wake of a spring rain. The birdbath runneth over.

In the garden, a pair of robins scurry from worm to worm, flit from soft earth to wriggling nest, from wriggling nest to soft earth. There are mouths to feed. Four beaks, bright as buttercups, open and urging for more, more, more.

Born pink and blind, the robin hatchlings know nothing of rat snakes or corvids; nothing of cold winds or the bloodthirsty cat by the birdbath. By some miracle, the chicks emerged from pale blue eggs into a world that is soft, safe and kindly. By some miracle, they know only the warmth of their mother, the warmth of the nest, the warmth inside their plump, translucent bellies.

Days from now, everything will change. First, tiny quills will appear on the nestlings’ feeble bodies. Next, their eyes will crack open, the sudden light revealing a world of color and danger and new horizons.

In two weeks, when the dandelions have multiplied and the earliest strawberries blossom, the speckled fledglings will jump the nest.

What happens next?

For the young robins: peril or miracle.

For the robin pair: another nest, another clutch, another thousand trips from quivering brood to soft earth.

Also called moss phlox, the fragrant blossoms of this herbaceous perennial make it a butterfly magnet.

But it’s not the only pink flower in bloom. Tulips come in 50 shades of it.

There’s the pink-flowering dogwood, the eastern redbud (pardon the misleading name) and the showstopping cherry.

Don’t forget the pink azaleas, coming soon. Easter (aka, the moveable feast) always falls on the first Sunday following the Paschal full moon. This year, Easter is celebrated on Sunday, April 9. If you’re planning to hide eggs, careful where you stash the pink ones.

Today has been a day dropped out of June into April.

April Shower

According to Smithsonian magazine, the Lyrid meteor shower is one of the 10 most “dazzling” events for stargazers in 2023. This year’s shower peaks on Saturday, April 22 (Earth Day).

“Observers are usually able to see about 18 meteors per hour in a clear, dark sky,” the article states, “though on rare occasions, the Lyrids can surprise viewers with as many as 100 meteors in an hour.”

At 6 percent illumination, the waxing crescent moon should make for favorable viewing conditions.

As for a clear sky? We’ll see. Or, we won’t. PS

— L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Windy Poplars

HOME MAKEOVERSpring

Find inspiration for your next home makeover project in the following pages. Whether you’re looking to beautify the inside your home or add a touch of luxury to your outdoor living, the Sandhill’s portfolio of resources will help you enjoy the place you call home.

Cordless indoor outdoor lighting

Photo by: Rachel Garrison Photography

Photo by: Rachel Garrison Photography

A Better Way to Buy a Shed

arts & entertainment

Although conscientious effort is made to provide accurate and up-to-date information, all events are subject to change and errors can occur! Please call to verify times, costs, status and location before planning or attending any events.

TAX HELP. AARP will provide free tax help on Saturdays and Mondays until April 17. Contact the library for more information about making an appointment. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: www.sppl.net.

TECH HELP SESSIONS. SPPL offers one-on-one Technology Help Sessions. A library staff member will sit with you to assist with accessing eBooks, learning how to use a new device, navigating a computer, and to answer any other basic technology questions. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. To make an appointment come into the library or visit www.sppl.net.

PHOTO HISTORY. 8:30 a.m. - 5 p.m. The historical association will host a new exhibit, “Southern Pines Then and Now,” featuring photographs taken 100 years ago and what the same area looks like today. Free admission. Water Department, 180 S.W. Broad St., Southern Pines.

EXPERIENCE POETRY. April is national poetry month. Follow Weymouth Center on Facebook where a poem written by a North Carolina poet will be posted each day of the month. Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities, 555 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: www.weymouthcenter.org.

APRIL EVENTS

Saturday, April 1

GOAT YOGA. 9 - 10:30 a.m. Get outdoors and do some yoga with goats. Bring your own mat, towel and water. Ithika Acres Creamery, 4273 Gainey Road, Raeford. Info: www.ticketmesandhills.com.

EGG HUNT. 10 a.m. The Easter Bunny will be joining us for his Egg-travaganza. Kids 12 and under will have fun with crafts, egg hunts, and more. Children must be accompanied by an adult. Campbell House Park, 482 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

ART EXHIBIT. 10 a.m. Members of the Garden Club of the Sandhills will usher in the spring flowering season by hosting the “Blooming Art” exhibit. Campbell House Gallery, 482 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: www.ticketmesandhills.com.

BRAND REFRESH PARTY. 12 p.m. Come celebrate the new Southern Pines Brewing Company logo and can designs with us. There will be giveaways and activities throughout the day. Southern Pines Brewing Company, 565 Air

04.01

admission. Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities, 555 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: www.weymouthcenter.org.

Tuesday, April 4

BRAIN FITNESS. 10 - 11 a.m. Adults 55 and older are invited to a Brain Fitness class. Eve Gaskell will be the instructor. Free of charge. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

Egg Hunt

Tool Drive, Southern Pines. Info: www.southernpinesbrewing.com.

MET OPERA. 12:30 p.m. Falstaff. Sunrise Theater, 250 N.W. Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 4202549 or www.sunrisetheater.com.

EGG HUNT. 1 - 2:30 p.m. Join the Sandhills Trolley Company for games, an egg hunt and the Easter Bunny. Pollywog’s Play Pad, 155 Hall Ave., Southern Pines. Info: www.ticketmesandhills.com.

DANCING. 7 - 11 p.m. The Moore Area Shag Society hosts DJ Gene Hensley for its monthly social. Tickets are $10. Attendees must be 21 or older. Down Memory Lane, 161 Dawkins St., Aberdeen. Info: (910) 215-4054.

HORSE SHOW. March Magic Dressage Show. The show continues through April 2. Carolina Horse Park, 2814 Montrose Road, Raeford. Info: www.carolinahorsepark.com.

DANCE PARTY. 8 p.m. Come to a retro costume party with dance hits from the ’80s and ’90s. Create Studio, 105 West South St., Aberdeen. Info: www.ticketmesandhills.com.

Sunday, April 2

JAZZ SERIES. 11:30 a.m. - 2 p.m. Enjoy live jazz music from Roland Barber. Bring your own blanket, chairs and picnic. Cost for members is $25 and non-members is $35. Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities, 555 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: www.weymouthcenter.org.

WRITING GROUP. 3 p.m. Interested in creating fiction, nonfiction, poetry or comics? Connect with other writers and artists, chat about your craft and get feedback on your work. All levels are welcome. The session will meet at the library. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: lholden@sppl.net.

POETRY. 4 p.m. Weymouth invites you to “ExperieNCe Poetry” during national poetry month with readings by acclaimed North Carolina poets. Bring your own chairs and drinks. Free

TEEN HOMEWORK SPACE. 4 p.m. Working on a group project, homework, or just looking for a space to commiserate? Visit our Teen Homework and Collaboration Space. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: www.sppl.net or email: kbroughey@sppl.net.

SPEAKER SERIES. 4:30 - 7 p.m. Come listen to Gordan G. Chang and his presentation on “China Shakes the World: A Revolutionary Remaking of the International Order.” BPAC, Owens Auditorium, 3395 Airport Road, Pinehurst. Info: www.ticketmesandhills.com.

Wednesday, April 5

DOG EGG HUNT. 10:30 - 11:30 a.m. Join the Southern Pines Parks & Recreation staff for fun with paw painting, activities, treats and pictures with the Easter Bunny himself. Event will conclude with the Dog Egg Hunt. Don’t forget to bring your own basket. Martin Park, 350 Commerce Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

Thursday, April 6

GUITAR CONCERT. 6 p.m. The Radford University Guitar Ensemble performs featuring soloist Dr. Robert Trent (Radford University guitar professor). General public tickets are $12, Sandhills Community College students, staff and faculty are free. BPAC, McPherson Blackbox Theater, 3395 Airport Road, Pinehurst. Info and tickets: www.sandhillsbpac.com or www.ticketmesandhills.com.

SOUL FLOW. 6:30 p.m. For adults 55 and older. Join a gentle flow guaranteed to soothe the mind, body, and soul. A mixture of yin and restorative yoga. Great for all levels. Cost is $12 for residents and $17 for non-residents. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

Friday, April 7

LUNCH BUNCH. 11:30 a.m. Adults 55 and older are invited to dine on different cuisines each month as you visit different restaurants in the area. Carpool with friends or meet at the restaurant. Dining locations will be chosen the week before. Info: (910) 692-7376.

ART RECEPTION. 5 - 7 p.m. Come to the opening

reception for It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood The exhibit will be on display through April 29. Artists League of the Sandhills, 129 Exchange St., Aberdeen. Info: www.artistleague.org.

HORSE SHOW. Southern Pines Combined Driving Event and CT. The event continues through April 9. Carolina Horse Park, 2814 Montrose Road, Raeford. Info: www.carolinahorsepark.com.

Saturday, April 8

HISTORY CRUISE. 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. The Sandhills Trolley Company offers a history cruise around downtown Carthage, departing from the Pine Crest Inn, 50 Dogwood Road, Pinehurst. Info: www.ticketmesandhills.com.

LIVE MUSIC. 7 p.m. Becca Rae hosts a showcase of hit songwriters from Nashville. Sunrise Theater, 250 N.W. Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 420-2549 or www.sunrisetheater.com.

Monday, April 10

PHOTO CLUB. 7 p.m. The Sandhills Photography Club monthly meeting will be a competition. The topic is solitude and the judge will be David Morring. Guests are welcome. Sandhills Horticultural Gardens Visitors Center, 3245 Airport Road, Southern Pines. Info: www.sandhillsphotoclub.org.

Tuesday, April 11

AARP TALK. 12 - 12:30 p.m. Adults 55 and older are invited to join AARP for a fraud talk. Free of charge. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

MUSICAL. 12:30 p.m. The Alfred Moore Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution is hosting a series of events including a showing of the movie musical 1776. There will be an evening showing at 7 p.m. Sunrise Theater, 250 N.W. Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 420-2549 or www.sunrisetheater.com.

TEEN WRITING CLUB. 4 p.m. Are you interested in creative writing and storytelling, connecting with other writers, and getting feedback on your work? Join us for the Teen Creative Writing Club. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: www.sppl.net or email: kbroughey@sppl.net.

Wednesday, April 12

SENIOR TRIP. 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. Adults 55 and older are invited to get close to some of the most majestic animals on our planet at the Asheboro Zoo. Cost is $25 for Southern Pines residents and $35 for nonresidents. Info: (910) 692-7376.

FIRE SAFETY. 11 a.m. - 12 p.m. The Southern Pines Fire Department will teach you helpful safety tips that could save your life. Free of charge. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

Thursday, April 13

GATHERING AT GIVEN. 3:30 p.m. Krissy Yoder of Be our Guest Travel agency will answer all of your

questions about travel this season along with some of her own tips and tricks for your upcoming vacation. Given Memorial Library, 150 Cherokee Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 295-3642.

LISTENING PARTY. 7 - 9:15 p.m. Join the worldwide listening party and experience the new Metallica album before its release. Cameo Art House Theatre, 225 Hay St., Fayetteville. Info: www.ticketmesandhills.com.

Saturday, April 15

HERITAGE DAY. 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Heritage Day showcases the Bryant House and McLendon Cabin. Both houses will be open, and there will be live music, storytellers and demonstrations. Free admission. Bryant House, 3361 Mt. Carmel Road, Carthage.

READER’S THEATER. 11 a.m. Reader’s Theater will be hosted by Senior Moments from the Moore County Senior Enrichment Center. The Senior Moments troupe will be visiting the library once a month to share a reader’s theater work and interact with children and families. Given Memorial Library, 150 Cherokee Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 295-3642.

COFFEE TASTING. 11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. The Sandhills Trolley Company will have a coffee tasting cruise. Pine Scone Cafe, 116 Brucewood Road, Southern Pines. Info: www.ticketmesandhills.com.

CORVETTE SHOW. 11 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. Come view and vote on Corvettes. There will be door prizes, music and food trucks. Entry fee for cars is $20 with registration from 9 - 11 a.m. Southern Pines Chevrolet GMC, 10722 US 15-501, Southern Pines. Info: www.corvettesofsandhills.com.

MET OPERA. 12 p.m. Der Rosenkavalier. Sunrise Theater, 250 N.W. Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 420-2549 or www.sunrisetheater.com.

RELEASE PARTY. 12 p.m. Come celebrate the launch of Southern Pines Spirits and Ready to Drink Cocktail. The first two “cocktails in a can” are the Vodka Transfusion and a Gin and Tonic. There will be giveaways and activities throughout the day. Southern Pines Brewing Company, 565 Air Tool Drive, Southern Pines. Info: www.southernpinesbrewing.com.

PAINTED PONIES AUCTION. 5 - 6:30 p.m. The 14 Painted Ponies will be auctioned off during a live online auction. All proceeds benefit the Carolina Horse Park. Info: www.eventgives.com/paintedponies.

DANCING. 6 p.m. Carolina Pines Dance Club invites you to a fun evening of swing, line, ballroom, shag and Latin. Doors open at 6 p.m. Dance lessons at 6:30 p.m. Dancing until 9:30 p.m. Beginners and experienced dancers, couples and singles all welcome. Cost is $15 per person; cash at door. National Athletic Village, 201 Air Tool Drive, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 331-9965.

HORSE SHOW. Longleaf Pine Horse Trials. The event continues through April 16. Carolina Horse Park, 2814 Montrose Road, Raeford. Info: www.carolinahorsepark.com.

Sunday, April 16

PUPPET TROUPE. 1 - 2:30 p.m. The Paperhand Puppet Intervention presents “A World of Wonder,” Fair Barn, 200 Beulah Hill Road S., Pinehurst. Info: www.ticketmesandhills.com.

STEAM. 2:30 p.m. Elementary-aged children and their caregivers are invited to learn about topics in science, technology, engineering, art and math and to participate in STEAM projects and activities. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or www.sppl.net.

POETRY PERFORMANCE. 3 p.m. Pulitzer Prizewinning author Richard Powers narrates an innovative work of prose, poems and music. Cost is $25 for members and $35 for non-members. Emmanuel Episcopal Church, 350 E. Massachusetts Ave., Southern Pines. Info: www.weymouthcenter.org.

SIDECAR SOCIAL CLUB. 7 - 9 p.m. Sidecar Social Club performs with its energetic sets. There will also be a dance floor, food and drinks. Fair Barn, 200 Beulah Hill Road S., Pinehurst. Info: www.ticketmesandhills.com.

MOVIE. Cameo Art House Theatre will be showing The Lost Weekend: A Love Story. Cameo Art House Theatre, 225 Hay St., Fayetteville. Info: www.ticketmesandhills.com.

Monday, April 17

WOMEN OF WEYMOUTH. 9:30 a.m. The Women of Weymouth will host guest speaker Kevin Lewis, a newspaper and magazine journalist. Free admission. Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities, 555 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: www.weymouthcenter.org.

ADULT STORY TIME. 12 - 1 p.m. Meet in the Eric Nelson Room for an adult short story readaloud. Bring your lunch, snacks or coffee and sit back to listen. No prep work required. Given Memorial Library, 150 Cherokee Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 295-3642.

Tuesday, April 18

BRAIN FITNESS. 10 - 11 a.m. Adults 55 and older are invited to a Brain Fitness class. Eve Gaskell will be the instructor. Free of charge. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

LUNCH N’ LEARN. 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. The Sandhills Woman’s Exchange will host Jon Davis of Wild Birds Unlimited, who will speak on “Attracting Birds to Your Yard.” Cost is $30 and includes lunch, dessert and a drink. Sandhills Woman’s Exchange, 15 Azalea Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 295-4677 or www.sandhillswe.org.

BINGO. 11 a.m - 12 p.m. Adults 55 and older are invited to play 10 games of bingo. Cost is $4 for residents and $6 for non-residents. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

BOOK CLUB. 2 p.m. The James Boyd Book Club meets for this month’s book. Free admission, reg-

Now Under New

istration required. Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities, 555 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: www.weymouthcenter.org.

TEEN BOARD GAME NIGHT. 4 p.m. BYOG (Bring Your Own Game) or use one of ours. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: www.sppl.net or email: kbroughey@sppl.net.

Wednesday, April 19

BOOK EVENT. 11 a.m. - 12 p.m. The Country Bookshop welcomes Adriana Trigiani with her book The Good Left Undone. The Country Bookshop, 140 N.W. Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: www.ticketmesandhills.com.

WHITEHALL BOOK CLUB. 2 p.m. Southern Pines Public Library’s book club for adults meets to discuss this month’s book. The book club is open to the public. Whitehall Property, 490 Pee Dee Road, Southern Pines. Info: mmiller@sppl.net.

POETRY SLAM. 5 p.m. Weymouth Center celebrates National Poetry Month with a highenergy event featuring local “celebrities” performing their favorite poems. Free admission, registration required. Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities, 555 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: www.weymouthcenter.org.

Thursday, April 20

BOOK EVENT. 3 - 4 p.m. The Country Bookshop will have author and astronaut Terry Virts speaking about space travel and his book The . The Pilot, 145 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info:

READ BETWEEN THE PINES. 5 p.m. SPPL’s book club for adults meets to discuss this month’s Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. To join email:

CIVIL WAR ROUND TABLE. 6:30 p.m. The guest speaker will be historian and author Kevin Pawlak with a presentation on Harpers Ferry during the Civil War. Meeting starts at 7 p.m. Open to the public. Civic Club, corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and Ashe Street, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 246-0452 or

TEA AND TECH. 11 a.m. Are you interested in learning about the different technology services provided by SPPL? Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info:

trucks, activities for kids, live music from Whiskey Pines, and plenty of beer. Southern Pines Brewing Company, 565 Air Tool Drive, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 947-1703.

TROLLEY PARTY. 7 - 9 p.m. The Sandhills Trolley Company will have a 1920s party cruise. Southern Pines Brewing Company, 565 Air Tool Drive, Southern Pines. Info: www.ticketmesandhills.com.

Saturday, April 22

GARDEN PROGRAM. 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. Join Savanah Laur from the Moore County Cooperative Extension for “Planning with Permaculture,” a program about strategically designing your own garden to best fit the soil and space. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: www.sppl.net.

PLANT SALE. 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. Join us for the annual spring fundraising plant sale. Open to the public for one day only. Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities, 555 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: www.weymouthcenter.org.

PARTY FOR THE PINE. 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. Come to the Weymouth Woods Boyd Tract meadow for a free festival to celebrate the oldest longleaf pine in the world. Learn about the native habitat, see turpentine demonstrations, play games, and watch a live prescribed burn demonstration. Food trucks onsite. Boyd Tract, 555 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2167.

HORSE SHOW. Prime Time Dressage Show. The event continues through April 23. Carolina Horse Park, 2814 Montrose Road, Raeford. Info: www.carolinahorsepark.com.

BAR PAR. 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. Join the Sandhills Trolley Company for a fun game built around beverages and golf. Southern Pines Brewing Company, 565 Air Tool Drive, Southern Pines. Info: www.ticketmesandhills.com.

Sunday, April 23

LECTURE SERIES. 2 p.m. Arvis Boughman will speak about “Herbal Remedies of the Lumbee Indians.” Cost is $15 for members and $20 for non-members. Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities, 555 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: www.weymouthcenter.org.

HISTORY PRESENTATION. 2:30 p.m. Come to a presentation by Andrew Diemer on “The Tory War in North Carolina.” Free admission. Civic Club, 105 S. Ashe St., Southern Pines.

Sandhills Christian Women’s Connection for a special, uplifting morning with a brunch, music and inspirational speaker. Cost is $20. Cannon Park Community Center, 210 Rattlesnake Trail, Pinehurst. Info and reservations: (910) 215-4568

FUN RUN. 6 p.m. The Rock N’ Run 5K is an annual fun run hosted by Friend to Friend to bring awareness to sexual assault. There will be food

CONCERT. 4 p.m. The New Horizons Band will have its spring concert with pop, jazz and classic band entertainment. Cameron Presbyterian Church, 600 Carthage St., Cameron. Info: (910) 986-0352.

Tuesday, April 25

TEEN WRITING CLUB. 4 p.m. Are you interested in creative writing and storytelling, connecting with other writers, and getting feedback on your work? Join us for the Teen Creative Writing Club. Southern Pines Public Library,

170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: www.sppl.net or email: kbroughey@sppl.net.

MUSICIANS’ JAM SESSION. 6 - 9 p.m. Bring your own instrument and beverage or just come and enjoy the music. Attendees must have the COVID vaccination. Free admission, registration required. Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities, 555 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: www.weymouthcenter.org.

OPERA. 7 p.m. Local Ukrainian opera singer Alina Cherkasova will perform a program with a variety of Italian and Ukrainian songs. Tickets are $25. BPAC, McPherson Blackbox Theater, 3395 Airport Road, Pinehurst. Info and tickets: www.sandhillsbpac.com or www.ticketmesandhills.com.

Thursday, April 27

BOOK EVENT. 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. The Country Bookshop is hosting an event featuring author Martha Hall Kelly and her book The Golden Doves Country Club of North Carolina, 1600 Morganton Road, Pinehurst. Info: www.ticketmesandhills.com.

DOUGLASS CENTER BOOK CLUB. 10:30 a.m. Multiple copies of the selected book are available for checkout at the library. The Douglass Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: mmiller@sppl.net.

The Easter Bunny Shops at High Cotton!

SOUL FLOW. 6:30 p.m. For adults 55 and older. Join a gentle flow guaranteed to soothe the mind, body and soul. A mixture of yin and restorative yoga. Great for all levels. Cost is $12 for residents and $17 for non-residents. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

CONCERT. 7 p.m. The Sandhills Community College Music Department’s Annual Spring Concert features the students and faculty of the music department. Seating is limited and tickets are required. Free of charge. BPAC, McPherson Blackbox Theater, 3395 Airport Road, Pinehurst. Info and tickets: www.sandhillsbpac.com or www.ticketmesandhills.com.

Friday, April 28

HORSE SHOW. Sedgefield at the Park Spring NCHJA “C” Hunter/Jumper Show. The event continues through April 30. Carolina Horse Park, 2814 Montrose Road, Raeford. Info: www.carolinahorsepark.com.

Saturday, April 29

CRAFT DAYS. Children and their families can come by the library for Drop-in Craft Days and work on crafts at their own pace. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or www.sppl.net.

Homestyles

SPRINGFEST. 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Enjoy arts, crafts, food and entertainment, along with bike races. Don’t forget to bring your child’s electric vehicle for the Big Car Race. Downtown Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

SMOKIN’ IN THE PINES. 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. The inaugural Kansas City Barbeque Society is having a sanctioned cooking competition. Moore County Airport, 7825 Aviation Drive, Carthage. Info: www.SmokinInThePines.com.

MET OPERA. 12:55 p.m. Champion. Sunrise Theater, 250 N.W. Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 420-2549 or www.sunrisetheater.com.

Sunday, April 30

JAZZ SERIES. 11:30 a.m. - 2 p.m. Enjoy live jazz music from the Kate McGarry and Keith Ganz Ensemble. Bring your own blanket, chairs and picnic. Cost for members is $25 and non-members is $35. Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities, 555 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: www.weymouthcenter.org.

CHOIR SHOW. 4 - 6 p.m. The Moore County Choral Society will perform Requiem. Brownson Memorial Presbyterian Church, 330 S. May St., Southern Pines. Info: www.ticketmesandhills.com.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Tuesday, May 2

GARDEN PARTY. 4 - 6 p.m. The Village Heritage Foundation will host its Spring Garden Party with food and refreshments. Timmel Pavilion, 105 Rassie Wicker Drive, Pinehurst. Info: www.ticketmesandhills.com.

Friday, May 5

CONCERT. 12 p.m. The New Horizons Band will join Bach’s Lunch Concerts. Emmanuel Episcopal Church, 350 E. Massachusetts Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 986-0352.

Friday, May 12

CONCERT. 3 p.m. The New Horizons Band will have its final concert with pop, jazz and classic band entertainment. Senior Enrichment Center, 8084 U.S. 15, West End. Info: (910) 986-0352.

WEEKLY EVENTS

Mondays

WORKOUTS. 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Adults 55 and older are invited to get their workout on. Open Monday through Friday. Cost for six months: $15/ resident; $30/non-resident. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

CALENDAR

SING FOR FUN. 9 - 10 a.m. Adults 55 and older can sing for fun while reaping the physical and mental benefits of a choir experience. Learn various songs from all genres. Cost per month is $36 for residents and $52 for non-residents. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

CHAIR YOGA. 9 -10 a.m. For adults 55 and older. Help offset body aches encountered with desk work. This is an accessible yoga class for bodies not able to easily get up from and down to the floor. Do standing or sitting in a chair. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

STRENGTH AND BALANCE WORKOUT.

11 - 11:45 a.m. Adults 55 and older are invited to enjoy a brisk workout that focuses on balance and strength. Free of charge. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

RESTORATIVE YOGA. 12 p.m. For adults 55 and older. Practice gentle movements that may help alleviate pain and improve circulation and general wellbeing. Bring your own mat. Free of charge. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

TAI CHI. 1 p.m. Come learn tai chi. There is no age limit and the classes are open to the public. Aberdeen Parks and Recreation Station, 301 Lake

Park Crossing, Aberdeen. Info: (910) 944-7275. GAME ON. 1 p.m. For adults 55 and older. You and your friends are invited to come out and play various games such as corn hole, badminton, table tennis, shuffleboard, trivia games and more. Each week enjoy a different activity to keep you moving and thinking. Compete with friends and make new ones all for free. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

BRIDGE. 1:30 - 4:30 p.m. For adults 55 and older. Enjoy games of bridge with friends. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

SOUTHERN SOUL LINE DANCING. 6 p.m. No experience necessary, put on your comfy shoes and groove to some funky tunes with funk master Terry Julius. For adults 18 and older. Cost is $6 for Southern Pines residents and $9 for non-residents. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

MUSIC BINGO. 6 p.m. Music bingo with DJ Mike. Come have a blast and try to identify the tune before the next song starts. Southern Pines Brewing Company, 565 Air Tool Drive, Southern Pines. Info: www.southernpinesbrewing.com.

Tuesdays

TEEN TUESDAYS. 4 - 5 p.m. Teens in middle and

6 TH SEMI-ANNUAL

5.7.23

11 AM to 4 PM

SOUTHERN PINES BREWERY

565 AIR TOOL DR.

COMMUNITY SHOPPING EVENT

POP-UP FAIR DEDICATED TO BRINGING:

THE BEST BOUTIQUES HANDMADE GOODS ARTISANS FOOD TRUCKS AND MORE TO THE AREA

It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Featuring

Mary

Featuring the art of neighbors, Courtney Herndon, Mary O’Malley and Jennifer Walker

April

Opening Reception: Friday, April 7, 5:00 – 7:00

Gallery Hours: Monday - Saturday 12-3pm

Gallery Hours: Monday - Saturday 12-3pm

OIL AND ACRYLIC: Paint Like Chardin - Harry Neely - April 3, 4, 5, 10:00-1:00 $115

OIL AND ACRYLIC: Paint Like Chardin - Harry Neely - April 3, 4, 5, 10:00-1:00 $115

Next Step Acrylic Pouring - Meredith Markfield - April 19, 12:00-2:00 $27

Next Step Acrylic Pouring - Meredith Markfield - April 19, 12:00-2:00 $27

Impressionist Landscape Land & Sea - Courtney Herndon - May 8, 9, 10:00-3:30 $108

Impressionist Landscape Land & Sea - Courtney Herndon - May 8, 9, 10:00-3:30 $108

Explore Abstraction - Linda Bruening - May 12, 13, 9:30-3:30 $132

Explore Abstraction - Linda Bruening - May 12, 13, 9:30-3:30 $132

Using Cold Wax Medium with Oils to Paint Abstracts and Abstracted Landscapes - Jude Winkley - August 26, 9:30-3:30 $81

Using Cold Wax Medium with Oils to Paint Abstracts and Abstracted Landscapes - Jude Winkley - August 26, 9:30-3:30 $81

WATERCOLOR: Multi Dimensional Silkscreen Watercolor/Level II - Cathy Brown - May 10, 11, 10:00-12:00 $58

WATERCOLOR: Multi Dimensional Silkscreen Watercolor/Level II - Cathy Brown - May 10, 11, 10:00-12:00 $58

Watercolor on Rice Paper - Pat McMahon - May 15, 16, 10:00-12:00 $48

Watercolor on Rice Paper - Pat McMahon - May 15, 16, 10:00-12:00 $48

Exploring Gouache - Christine Stackhouse - October 16, 12:30-3:30 $46

Exploring Gouache - Christine Stackhouse - October 16, 12:30-3:30 $46

DRAWING: Intro to Calligraphy - Cathy Brown - April 11, 12, 10:00-12:00 $56

DRAWING: Intro to Calligraphy - Cathy Brown - April 11, 12, 10:00-12:00 $56

Watercolor Pencil /Wax Colored Pencil - Betty Hendrix - April 14, 10:00-4:00 $67

Watercolor Pencil /Wax Colored Pencil - Betty Hendrix - April 14, 10:00-4:00 $67

Drawing Basics II - Laureen Kirk - April 17, 18, 10:00-3:00 $101

Drawing Basics II - Laureen Kirk - April 17, 18, 10:00-3:00 $101

OTHER MEDIUMS: Beginning Scratchboard - Emma Wilson - May 2, 10:00-2:00 $53

OTHER MEDIUMS: Beginning Scratchboard - Emma Wilson - May 2, 10:00-2:00 $53

Intro to Encaustic Wax - Pam

Intro to Encaustic Wax - Pam Griner - May 18, 1:00-3:00 $40

Mix It Up! - Carol Gradwohl - May 24, 25, 10:30-3:00 $104

Beginning Alcohol Ink - Pam Griner - Wednesday, August 23, 11:30-2:30 $46

Intermediate Alcohol Ink - Pam Griner - September 6, 11:30-2:30 $46

Advanced Alcohol Ink - Pam Griner - October 18, 11:30-2:30 $46

Mix It Up! - Carol Gradwohl - September 18, 19, 10:30-3:00 $104

Mixed Media Mania - Carol Gradwohl - October 4, 5, 9:30-12:30 $92

160

E New Hampshire Ave, Southern Pines, NC 28387

high school can join us every week to connect with other teens in a fun and safe space. Each week is a different topic or activity. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: www.sppl.net.

PLAYFUL LEARNING. 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. Come for a drop-in, open playtime for ages 0 - 3 years to interact with other children and have educational play. Given Memorial Library, 150 Cherokee Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910)295-3642.

HATHA YOGA. 10 - 11 a.m. For adults 55 and older. Increase your flexibility, balance, stability and muscle tone while learning the basic principles of alignment and breath of yoga. You may gain strength, improve circulation and reduce chronic pain as we practice gentle yoga postures and mindfulness. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

BABY RHYMES. 10:30 a.m. Baby Rhymes is specially designed for the youngest learners (birth - 2) and their caregivers. Repetition and comforting movements make this story time perfect for early development and brain growth. There will be a duplicate session at 11 a.m. Dates this month are April 11, 18 and 25. An active library card is required. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or www.sppl.net.

CALENDAR

HEALING YOGA. 11 a.m. - 12 p.m. Adults 55 and older can try an entry-level class, for a mind and body workout that fuses dance moves with gentle aerobics, tai chi, and yoga. Free of charge. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

GAME DAY. 12 p.m. Enjoy bid whist and other cool games all in the company of great friends. For adults 55 and older. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

SPARK STORYTIME. 2:30 p.m. This Spark Storytime at Fire Station 82 is for ages birth through 2 and kids will have a chance to see firetrucks. Dates this month are April 11, 18 and 25. Fire Station 82, 500 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or www.sppl.net.

DANCE. 7 p.m. Take a group salsa class with Carolina DanceWorks. Info: (910) 725-1846 or carolinadanceworks@gmail.com.

TRIVIA. 7 p.m. Trivia with DJ Mike. Current events and pop culture. Winner gets a brewery gift card. Road Southern Pines Brewing Company, 205 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: www.southernpinesbrewing.com.

TABLE TENNIS. 7 - 9 p.m. Enjoy playing this exciting game every Tuesday. Cost for six months is $15 for residents of Southern Pines and $30 for

non-residents. For adults 55 and older. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

Wednesdays

CHAIR YOGA. 10 - 11 a.m. For adults 55 and older. Help offset body aches encountered with desk work. This is an accessible yoga class for bodies not able to easily get up from and down to the floor. Do standing or sitting in a chair. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

LEARN AND PLAY. 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. Come in for an open play date with your toddler or preschooler where there will be developmental toys and puzzles as well as early literacy tips on display for parents and caregivers to incorporate into their daily activities. Dates this month are April 5, 12, 19, 26. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or www.sppl.net.

LINE DANCING. 12 - 1 p.m. Looking for new ways to get your daily exercise in and care for yourself? Try line dancing. For adults 55 and older. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

SLOW AND STRETCHY. 12 - 1 p.m. Adults 55 and older can flow through yoga poses slowly and intentionally, moving breath to movement,

stretching everything from your head to your toes. Free of charge. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

CHAIR VOLLEYBALL. 1 - 2 p.m. For adults 55 and older. Get fit while having fun. Free to participate. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

BRIDGE. 1:30 - 4:30 p.m. For adults 55 and older. Enjoy games of bridge with friends. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

DANCE. 2 - 2:30 p.m. For adults 55 and older. Instructor Maria Amaya will introduce you to dance fitness in this class designed for anyone who wants to gently and gradually increase their cardio function, mobility, and balance and have fun at the same time. Free of charge. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

SANDHILLS FARMERS MARKET. 3 - 6 p.m. The Sandhills Farmers Market features some of the many wonderful farms, nurseries, bakeries, meat and egg providers, cheesemakers and specialty food producers our area has to offer. You will find this incredible mix of vendors through October 1. Tufts Memorial Park, 1 Village Green Road, Pinehurst. Info: www.vopnc.org.

CALENDAR

LIBRARY PROGRAM. 3:30 p.m. At The Library After School (ATLAS) is an after-school program for kindergarten through second graders who enjoy activities, crafts, stories and learning. Dates this month will be April 5, 12, 19 and 26. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or www.sppl.net.

TAI CHI. 6:30 p.m. Come learn tai chi. There is no age limit and the classes are open to the public. Cost is $10 per class. Seven Lakes West Community Center, 556 Longleaf Drive, Seven Lakes. Info: (910) 400-5646.

YOGA. 6:30 - 7:30 p.m. Grab your yoga mat and head to Hatchet for a yoga session with Brady. Session cost is $10 and includes a pint of our DILLIGAF lager. Hatchet Brewing Company, 490 S.W. Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: www.hatchetbrewing.com.

DANCE. 7 p.m. Take a social foundations group class with Carolina DanceWorks. Info: (910) 725-1846 or carolinadanceworks@gmail.com.

Thursdays

MOORE COUNTY FARMERS MARKET. 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. The year-round market features “producer only” vendors within a 50-mile radius providing fresh, local and seasonal produce, fruits, pasture meats, eggs, potting plants, cut flowers and local honey. Crafts, baked goods, jams and jellies

are also available. Market is located at the Armory Sports Complex, 604 W. Morganton Road, Southern Pines.

GIVEN STORY TIME. 10 a.m. Bring your preschooler to enjoy stories, songs and activities. Given Memorial Library, 150 Cherokee Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 295-3642.

BALANCE AND FLEXIBILITY. 10 - 11 a.m. Adults 55 and older are invited to enjoy a class that will help reduce the risk of taking a tumble and increase your ability to recover. Free of charge. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

CROCHET CLUB. 11 a.m. - 12 p.m. Adults 55 and older are invited to come with friends to create fun designs and memories. Free of charge. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

MUSIC AND MOTION. 10:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Does your toddler like to move and groove? Join us for outdoor “Music and Motion” to get those wiggles out and work on gross and fine motor skills. For 2 – 5-year-olds. Dates this month are April 12, 20 and 27. An active library card is required. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or www.sppl.net.

ADAPTIVE YOGA. 12 - 1 p.m. Adults 55 and older can enjoy yoga that meets you where you are. We’ll

be creating a sense of balance and ease by slowly increasing your range of motion and mobility while maintaining your natural abilities. Free of charge. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

CHESS AND MAJHONG. 1 p.m. For adults 55 and older. All levels welcome. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

CABIN TOURS. 1 - 4 p.m. The Moore County Historical Association’s Shaw House grounds, cabins and gift shop are open for tours and visits. The restored tobacco barn features the history of children’s roles in the industry. Docents are ready to host you and the cabins are open Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Shaw House, 110 W. Morganton Road, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2051 or www.moorehistory.com.

TRIVIA. 6 p.m. Trivia with Hallie. Current events and pop-culture. Winner gets a brewery gift card. Southern Pines Brewing Company, 565 Air Tool Drive E., Southern Pines. Info: www.southernpinesbrewing.com.

DANCE. 7 p.m. Take a master group class focusing on technique with Carolina DanceWorks. Info: (910) 725-1846 or carolinadanceworks@gmail.com.

TRIVIA NIGHT. 7 - 9 p.m. Come enjoy a beer and some trivia. Hatchet Brewing Company, 490

S.W. Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: www.hatchetbrewing.com.

Fridays

AEROBIC DANCE. 9 - 10 a.m. For adults 55 and older. Enjoy this low-to-moderate impact class with energizing music for an overall cardio and strength workout. Free of charge. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

TAP CLASS. 10 - 11:30 a.m. For adults 55 and older. All levels welcome. Cost per class: $15/resident; $30/non-resident. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

QIGONG. 1 p.m. For adults 55 and older. Classes will consist of chair and standing movements that can help soothe achy feet, tight hips, lower back pain and ease restriction in mobility. Free of charge. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

BRIDGE. 1:30 - 4:30 p.m. For adults 55 and older. Enjoy games of bridge with friends. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

LINE DANCING. 3 - 4 p.m. For adults 55 and older. If you’re interested in learning dance moves and building confidence on the dance floor, this class is for you. Leave your inhibitions

at the door and join in. Cost is: $36 for residents and $52 for non-residents per month. Cost is for a monthly membership. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

DANCE. 7 p.m. Take a newcomers group class focusing on cha cha and tango. Info: (910) 725-1846 or carolinadanceworks@gmail.com.

DANCE. 8 - 9:30 p.m. Enjoy a dance social with Carolina DanceWorks. Info: (910) 725-1846 or carolinadanceworks@gmail.com.

Saturdays

MOORE COUNTY FARMERS MARKET. 8 a.m. - 12 p.m. The market features “producer only” vendors within a 50-mile radius providing fresh, local and seasonal produce, fruits, pasture meats, eggs, potting plants, cut flowers and local honey. Crafts, baked goods, jams and jellies are also available. Downtown Southern Pines, 156 S.E. Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: www.moorecountyfarmersmarket.com.

SANDHILLS FARMERS MARKET. 10 a.m. - 1 p.m. The Sandhills Farmers Market features some of the many wonderful farms, nurseries, bakeries, meat and egg providers, cheesemakers and specialty food producers our area has to offer. You will find this incredible mix of vendors through October 1. Tufts Memorial Park, 1 Village Green Road, Pinehurst. Info: www.vopnc.org. PS

Apr 4

Gordon G. Chang: China Shakes the World

BPAC’s Owens Auditorium

Apr 6

Radford University Guitar Ensemble featuring Dr. Robert Trent

BPAC’s McPherson Theater

Apr 13

Metallica: 72 Seasons Global Premiere

Cameo Art House Theatre

Apr 16

Paperhand Puppet Intervention presents “A World of Wonder”

Fair Barn

Apr 19

Adriana Trigiani “The Good Left Undone”

The Country Bookshop

Apr 20

Terry Virts “The Astronaut’s Guide to Leaving the Planet”

The Pilot

Apr 25

An Intimate Evening with Alina Cherkasova: Italian and Ukrainian Favorites

BPAC’s McPherson Theater

SandhillSeen

Hounds on the Grounds

Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities

Saturday, January 21, 2023

Photographs by Diane McKay

Shelly Talk and Christina Boucher Reynolds

Ashley Van Camp and a hound TJ and Doug Watson

Kennelsman Bill Logan and Julian Alexander

Sara Hoover

Isabelle Jones

Colin MacNair

Amy Warren

Guy Cooper, Tayloe Moye, Molly ThompsonHopton, Cameron Sadler, Sara Hoover

Huntsman Lincoln Sadler

John Wagstaff & Deb Taylor

SandhillSeen

Young People’s Fine Arts Festival

Campbell House

Friday, March 3, 2023

Photographs by Diane McKay

Elizabeth, Libba, Leo & John Oettinger

Ava Wilson

Russell, Andrew & Anita Miller

Gracie Holt

Olivia Johnson

Caleigh & Karen Conlin

Jaxson Spivey

Ashley Lee

Madison Bliss, Mackenzie Swanson, Ava Weber

Braden, Sloane, Alex, & Leigh Amigo

Brianna Scott, Judy Browne

Jeremy Marsh, Zarriyah McCrimmon & Reneé Thomas

Annalee & Audrey Harman

SandhillSeen

Pinehurst St. Patrick’s Day Parade

Village of Pinehurst

Saturday, March 11, 2023

Photographs by Diane McKay

Pinehurst Elementary - Parks & Recreation Bike Club

‘Lucky’ Joe Jimenez, Dave Morton

The Murphy Family Emma Jennings, Beda & Kristen Ballard Frances & Ray Bosworth

Stu ‘St. Patrick’ Heilman

Pinehurst Pack 7 Cub Scouts

Matthew English

Cheryl Monette

Pinehurst Garden Club Magnolia Branch Bell Starnes, Brendan Ramroth

The Cross Creek Pipes & Drums

Moore County Citizens’ Pet Responsibility Committee

April Pine Needler –OPHILES

61. Pull (sweaters)

1. Level

5. Pay off 10. Baseball plate 14. LOVER OF CATS

63. Opposite of westerner 69. Bass horn

70. Remove laces 71. Corn syrup brand 72. Astringent 73. Shopping spot 74. Austin novel

Scottish girl 76. Quaking tree 77. College head DOWN

1. Loosen

2. Bowed stringed instrument

3. Women’s magazine

4. Elbow

5. Afghan for one

6. River float

7. False god graven image

8. Transparent gem

Vane direction

Indonesian island

SUNSETS

Hair removal brand

Las Vegas’ main road

ailment initials

48. Sweet age

Fib

Add up

Throat dangler

Picture puzzle

62. Los Angeles football team

64. Sitting on 65. Father

66. Appoint

67. Writer Bombeck

68. Horse color

70. America

Puzzle answers on page 130 Mart Dickerson lives in Southern Pines and welcomes suggestions from her fellow puzzle masters. She can be reached at martaroonie@gmail.com.

Sudoku: Fill in the grid so every row, every column and every 3x3 box contain the numbers 1-9.

A Happy Discovery

The Google machine reveals all

By Tony RoT hwell

Our son Max, down from Washington, D.C., for a visit, pointed to a large portrait in a gorgeous gold frame hanging near the fireplace and asked, “Who is that anyway?” I said we had no idea, that we just liked it when we saw it in an antique show years ago and bought it. When people ask, we usually say it’s the Fifth Earl of Rothwell. With this he took out his phone, went to Google and took a picture.

“Looks like it’s William Pitt the Younger,” he said, in the blink of a facial recognition app.

“You must be joking,” I said. “Let me have a look.”

Sure enough, there was “our” portrait with the William Pitt caption, going on to detail his years, 1759-1806. The portrait was practically identical to one by George Romney, who painted many contemporary notables.

We were amazed to suddenly find ourselves in the presence of one of Britain’s most famous prime ministers. Comparing the two pictures, the facial expression of quiet confidence, the hair, the stock at the neck, the high-collared coat, yellow waistcoat and buttons were all virtually identical, but the Romney was a little more finished and showed more of the body.

This, however, did not lessen our excitement. William Pitt the Younger was so-called because his father was also named William Pitt and had been prime minister in the 1760s. The Younger became prime minister of Great Britain at the age of 24, the youngest ever to do so, before or since.

He was an outstanding administrator and surrounded himself with competent ministers. In all, he held the position for 18 years (38 percent of his life!), during which time he reformed the Tory Party, dealt with the war against Napoleon and the French, re-established trade with America after independence, and reduced the national debt. Although somewhat colorless, he was seen as a minister who was determined to cut out corruption in politics and was nicknamed “Honest Billy” by the general public. He worked extremely hard but found solace in port wine. Indeed, he became known as “a three bottle man,” but the combination of port and hard work did little for his health, and he died in office at the age of 47.

The irony of finding out who was in the painting was that for years it had been hanging over our large book of 18th century prints by the famous English caricaturist James Gillray, over 80 of which featured the self-same William Pitt. We didn’t tie them together, probably because Romney was kind to his sitter when he painted him. Pitt had a long, sharp nose which, while blunted in the portrait, was a signature feature exaggerated — as caricaturists are wont to do — in Gillray’s prints.

Was our portrait a trial run by Romney or a copy by another artist done in his style? We may never know. But the painting, still hovering over Gillray, has taken on a whole new meaning. So much for the Fifth Earl of Rothwell. Alas, we hardly knew ye. PS

Tony Rothwell, a Brit, moved to Pinehurst in 2017, exchanging the mindnumbing traffic of Washington, D.C., for better weather and the vagaries of golf. He writes short stories, collects caricatures, sings in the Moore County Choral Society, and with his wife, Camilla, enjoys their many friends in the Sandhills.

Photo by Tim Sayer