December PineStraw 2017 by PineStraw Magazine

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Jamie McDevitt ... ALWAYS working for YOUR lifestyle. Lisa and Bill Case moved from Columbus, Ohio in 2014. Both retired lawyers, they wanted a home in The Village where they could walk their dog, Angus to town! Jamie helped them find the perfect place and they have lovingly restored The Rose Cottage, one of the six original cottages built by Leonard Tufts in 1895. Today, they love playing golf and enjoying all the village and Pinehurst Country Club have to offer. Lisa and Bill are living their dream.

Let Jamie help you live yours ...

95 Lake Shore Drive PinehurSt are you looking for the perfect place in Pinehurst? this adorable brick home near Lake Pinehurst has just been beautifully renovated with hardwood floors, new kitchen and baths, screened in porch and so much more! MLS # 185040 | $329,000

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December 2017 92 Priceless

By Jim Moriarty Jump-starting a financial giant

Features 81 December

Poetry by Sam Barbee

82 The Untamed Lady

By Bill Case Film star Gloria Swanson dazzled the Sandhills, making a movie here in 1926

88 The Night Before Christmas, Yâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;all

94 Sandhills Photo Club 96 A Light Touch for Christmas

By Deborah Salomon Creating a Scandinavian Yuletide

108 Botanicus

By Ross Howell Keep poinsettias under wraps

113 Almanac

Illustrations by Laurel Holden

By Ash Alder Peppermint, the Geminid meteor shower and stocking stuffers

Departments

53 In the Spirit

73 Sporting Life

23 Simple Life

57 The Kitchen Garden

77 Golftown Journal

61 Character Study

63 The Pleasures of Life Dept.

65 Evolving Species

By Jim Dodson

28 PinePitch 31 Instagram Winners 33 Good Natured By Karen Frye

35 The Omnivorous Reader By D.G. Martin

39 Bookshelf 45 A Writerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Life By Wiley Cash

49 Hometown By Bill Fields

51 True South

By Tony Cross

By Jan Leitschuh By Haley Ray

By Tom Allen

By Joyce Rheeling

67 Out of the Blue

By Deborah Salomon

69 Mom, Inc.

By Renee Phile

By Tom Bryant By Lee Pace

114 133 141

Arts & Entertainment Calendar SandhillSeen PineNeedler By Mart Dickerson

143 The Accidental Astrologer By Astrid Stellanova

144 SouthWords By Haley Ray

71 Birdwatch

By Susan S. Kelly

By Susan Campbell

Cover Art by L aurel Holden

December 2017 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

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10 Village Green Road, Pinehurst

134 Lawrence Overlook, Seven Lakes West

60 Braemar Road, Pinehurst

Old town. World class golf, world class living. Stately and refined residence on the 1st fairway of the world-renowned Pinehurst #2. 5 bedrooms, 4/2 bathrooms.

Lakefront home with optional Pinehurst Country Club membership. Property has 2-acres, gym, workshop, and guest quarters with kitchen over garage. 5 bedrooms, 6/1 bathrooms.

Golf front home at Fairwoods #7. 1.25-acres lot, over 4,700sf, pool, and open floorplan. 4 bedroom, 4/2 bathrooms.

75 Linville Drive, Pinehurst

60 Apawamis Circle, Pinehurst

240 Frye Road, Pinehurst

CCNC golf front with great curb appeal. Spacious master with 2 large walk-in closets, sunroom, office, formal dining, living room, wet bar, updated kitchen, and pool. 3 bedrooms, 3/1 bathrooms.

CCNC. Main level living at its finest with 3 upper bedrooms. Great room with fireplace and wet bar. Formal dining, large kitchen, sunroom, and more. 4 bedrooms, 4/1 bathrooms.

Just steps from The Village of Pinehurst this home is compact on the outside and expansive on the inside. Beautifully landscaped with a koi filled pond and waterfall. 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms.

545 Airport Road, Whispering Pines

29 Devon Drive, Pinewild

125 Quail Hollow Drive, Pinehurst

Quiet living on over 17-acres. Stately home with great living and entertaining space. Bonus room, home office, 2-car garage, and detached woodworking shop. 4 bedrooms, 4/1 bathrooms.

Timeless home on the 17th hole of the Magnolia golf course with beautiful appointments and a stately appearance. 3 bedrooms, 3/1 bathrooms.

CCNC golf front contemporary with water views. Great room with cathedral ceilings and lots of light. 2 master suites, formal dining, mature landscaping. 4 bedrooms, 3/1 bathrooms.

130 Quail Hollow Drive, Pinehurst

4 Royal Dornoch Lane, Pinehurst

215 Quail Hollow Drive, Pinehurst

Amazing brick ranch in CCNC with open floorplan. Living room with fireplace, formal dining, kitchen/family room combination, nice master, and 2 ensuite bedrooms. 3 bedrooms, 3/1 bathrooms.

Overlooking 11th green of Dogwood, beautifully updated villa. Kitchen with granite, stainless, plantation shutters, 2 fireplaces, generator, covered slate porch. 2 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms.

5th hole of CCNC’s Cardinal Course. Ranch with great views. Main level living with a living/dining combination, eat-in kitchen, family room, amazing master suite, and more. 3 bedrooms, 4/1 bathrooms.

$3,297,500 MLS 182223 Emily Hewson 910—315—3324

$1,725,000 MLS 182888 Linda Criswell 910—783—7374

$685,000 MLS 177261 Scarlett Allison 910—603—0359

$639,000 MLS 184890 Scarlett Allison 910—603—0359

$575,000 MLS 184936 Mav Hankey 910—603—3589

$595,000 MLS 178697 Kay Beran 910—315—3322

$544,000 MLS 184587 Kay Beran 910—315—3322

$480,000 MLS 184723 Scarlett Allison 910—603—0359

Pinehurst Office

$969,000 MLS 183368 Frank Sessoms 910—639—3099

$499,500 MLS 171144 Scarlett Allison 910—603—0359

$475,000 MLS 183367 Carolyn Hallett 910—986—2319

•

42 Chinquapin Road •

Pinehurst, NC 28374

$449,000 MLS 175932 Scarlett Allison 910—603—0359

•

910–295–5504

675 Valley View Road, Southern Pines

10 Lakewood Court, Whispering Pines

2 Norfolk Court, Pinehurst

Light filled home on 10-acres of land surrounded by mature pecan trees. Located near Moss Foundation and a short drive to downtown Southern Pines. 3 bedrooms, 2/1 bathrooms.

All brick home on 2.3-acres in Whispering Pines. Convienent location in a private setting. 4 bedrooms, 3/1 bathrooms.

Beautiful custom brick on quiet cul-de-sac on Pinehurst’s #6. Convenient to The Village of Pinehurst and easy commute to Fort Bragg. 4 bedrooms, 2/1 bathrooms.

80 Redtail Lane, Pinehurst

180 Baker Circle, Seven Lakes West

25 LaGorce Place, Pinehurst

Serene “Lake Home” waterfront lot in CCNC. This picturesque lot has distant golf views across Lake Dornoch of the Dogwood Course #4. A perfect location to build a dream home.

Spacious home in gated community with tons of storage. Hardwood floors, arched entryways, crown/chair moldings vaulted ceilings are just some of the features. 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms.

Cul-de-sac home on single level, beautiful baths. Perfect for full time home or golf get away second home. 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms.

$425,900 MLS 184744 Linda Criswell 910—783—7374

$349,000 MLS 181341 Deb Darby 910—783—5193

$415,000 MLS 184854 Casey Barbera 910—639—4266

$360,000 MLS 184261 Bill Brock 910—639—1148

$319,000 MLS 182572 Linda Criswell 910—783—7374

$298,000 MLS 180501 Carolyn Hallett 910—986—2319

Peace on earth and goodwill to all. 188 North Erfie Drive, The Pines $285,000 MLS 184224 Deb Darby 910—783—5193

Immaculate single level with large below grade patio with firepit, hardwood flooring. Rear deck off living, dining, master. 3,200sf. Lower level workshop. New 2017 roof. 3 bedrooms, 2/1 bathrooms.

from all of us at

10 Rutledge Lane, Pinehurst $234,900 MLS 183054 Carolyn Hallett 910—986—2319

Custom-built single level home. Kitchen with granite and stainless. Sunroom, new roof August 2017, rear fencing for privacy. 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms.

Southern Pines Office

• 105 West Illinois Avenue

•

Southern Pines, NC 28387

•

910–692–2635

Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices and the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices symbol are registered service marks of HomeServices of America, Inc.® Equal Housing Opportunity.

Martha Gentry’s H o m e

S e l l i n g

T e a m

Moore County’s Most Trusted Real Estate Team!

Din

Pen

Pinehurst • $480,000

22 stoneykirk Drive Lovely all brick 4 BR / 3.5 BA home located on .9 acres on a quiet street in nice, private setting. The master suite features tray ceiling, a sitting room w/deck access and over 200 square feet of closet space while the main level features beautiful updated kitchen.

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seven lakes West • $449,000

104 sunrise Point Gorgeous 4 BR / 3.5 BA home sits high w/breathtaking views of Lake Auman. Interior is bright and open with lake views from almost every room. Family room features corner fireplace and window walls and opens to the kitchen and informal breakfast area.

Din

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WhisPering Pines • $440,000

915 rays BriDge roaD Beautifully renovated 3 BR / 2.5 BA lakefront home featuring oversized living room w/fireplace and French doors to the spacious deck as well as gourmet kitchen w/marble countertops and stainless steel appliances. Charming gazebo and private lake…a must see!

Pinehurst • $429,000

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Pinehurst • $448,000

10 Pomeroy Drive Alluring 4 BR / 3.5 BA brick home on the 1st and 9th hole of the Holly course of Pinewild CC. Interior offers great kitchen, oversized living/dining room combo w/windows looking out to spacious screened porch. Pinewild CC membership available.

Din

Pen

Pinehurst • $399,000

30 Walnut creek roaD Lovely 4 BR / 3 BA brick and stucco home located on quiet, wooded street in Fairwoods on 7. Open interior features large dining and living combination w/ two sided fireplace. The kitchen opens to the family room as well as onto a private screened porch.

80 DalrymPle roaD Spacious 3 BR / 3 BA home w/wonderful flow. Living room features hardwood floors and crown molding. Kitchen has recessed lighting, Corian countertops, a center island and pantry. Enjoy the private, fenced backyard from the patio in this classic home!

Pinehurst • $369,000

southern Pines • $355,000

Din

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seven lakes West • $375,000

105 leeWooD court Beautifully maintained 4 BR / 4.5 BA home located in the gated community of Seven Lakes West. Perfect for a large family, this home offers a bright and open floorplan w/a great kitchen, sunny Carolina Room and an abundance of living space.

26 lassWaDe Drive Appealing 3 BR / 2.5 BA home on the 16th fairway of Magnolia course at Pinewild CC. Split bedroom plan offers gas fireplace, built-in book cases and vaulted ceilings. Kitchen has granite countertops and eating area that opens to the great room.

360 FairWay Drive Unique 5 BR / 3.5 BA Cape Cod style home in desirable Knollwood. Main living area has wood burning fireplace and flows nicely as natural light pours in. This home offers lots of space and is truly one of a kind. Just minutes from downtown Southern Pines!

Pinehurst • $318,500

Pinehurst • $389,000

Din

Pen

Pinehurst • $339,000

60 horse creek run Attractive 3 BR / 2.5 BA home on 1.6 beautifully landscaped acres in Clarendon Gardens. The home speaks of quality throughout w/split bedroom plan, smooth ceilings, custom built-ins, and private backyard w/brick patio. Tons of curb appeal!

31 DeerWooD lane Immaculate 5 BR / 3 BA home in Pinehurst #6 w/great upscale features and lots of storage! Bright and open, it offers high ceilings, hardwood floors, and lots of windows. Kitchen features custom cherry cabinets and granite countertops.

14 scioto lane Classic 3 BR / 2.5 BA home on the 18th fairway of Pinehurst #6. Interior has spacious living room w/entrance to the covered patio area, formal dining room and nice in ground pool! Enjoy great golf course views in this private location.

December 2017P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

IN MOORE COUNTY REAL ESTATE FOR OVER 20 YEARS!

Luxury Properties maRTHa genTRY’S Home Selling Team

Moore County’s Most Trusted Real Estate Team!

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seven lakes West • $689,000

122 mccracken Drive Gorgeous 3 BR / 3.5 BA lakefront home on Lake Auman. The floorplan is very open with great views from almost every room. The kitchen features custom cabinets, granite countertops, walk in pantry and a butler prep area; a wonderful place to relax and enjoy lake views!

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Pinehurst • $599,000

11 village lane Appealing 4 BR / 3.5 BA Old Town Home complete with white picket fencing and fully fenced back yard. The interior is light and bright with an open living plan and an upstairs that flows beautifully. PCC membership option available for transfer.

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Pinehurst • $549,900

745 s. DiamonDheaD Drive Beautiful 4 BR / 4 BA Lake Pinehurst waterfront home with ninety feet of waterfront and private dock on a quiet cove. Spectacular view of Lake from a grand foyer that opens into a spacious living room. Impeccably maintained landscaping with irrigation system from the lake.

Pinehurst • $1,795,000

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Pinehurst • $615,000

175 miDlanD roaD Private 4 BR / 3.5 BA cottage across the street from Pinehurst #2 and within walking distance to the historic Village of Pinehurst. This home has timeless beauty and is designed for casual yet elegant entertaining. The spacious living room opens to a sun-filled Carolina room overlooking the gorgeous in ground pool. A must see!

sol

seven lakes West • $549,500

105 vanore roaD Lovely custom built 3 BR / 3 BA home. The floorplan offers a large living room that opens to the screened porch and deck area to enjoy the views. The main floor features a large master suite, separate dining room, super kitchen with great views and lots of cabinets. This house is immaculate!

Pinehurst • $999,000

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Pinehurst • $515,000

205 national Drive Gorgeous all brick 3 BR / 2 BA home w/views of the 7th and 8th holes of Pinehurst #9. The home features split bedroom plan, private den/office off the foyer, lots of living space and centrally located close to shopping and dining….a must see!

Pinehurst • $925,000

215 inverrary roaD Spectacular 5 BR / 6.5 BA home located between the 13th tee box and 14th fairway of the #7 course in Fairwoods on 7. Interior is open and sun-filled with 9ft. ceilings on 2nd level and 11ft. ceilings on main level. This home has over 4 acres of beautifully landscaped grounds w/privacy and panoramic golf views.

80 Braemar roaD Incredible golf front home in Fairwoods on 7. This beautiful 4 BR / 5.5 BA home features top of the line finishes, mouldings, marble and hard-wood slate flooring. Wow guests with the gourmet kitchen, luxurious bedroom suites, wine cellar or cascading terrace overlooking the 15th green.

145 Brookhaven roaD Stunning custom brick 5 BR / 5.5 BA home in Fairwoods on Seven is located on an oversized, private lot and overlooks the 15th fairway of the #7 course. This beautiful home offers lots of upscale features and is a must see!

seven lakes West • $850,000

seven lakes West • $749,000

Pinehurst • $698,500

106 cook Point Gorgeous 3 BR / 3.5 BA waterfront home on Lake Auman, located on a point lot at the end of a private cul-de-sac. Beautiful panoramic views on three sides of the property and great orientation to the sun insures optimum enjoyment of morning sunrises and evening sunsets!

114 ButterFly court Exquisite custom 3 BR / 3.5 BA home on one of the most beautiful lots on the lake! Floorplan offers lots of living space w/gourmet kitchen and beautiful panoramic water views from almost every room.

85 aBBottsForD Drive Marvelous contemporary 4 BR / 2.5 BA home was honored as home of the year in 2006 in their price bracket. Located on the 13th green of the Holly Course, this is one of the most beautiful home sites in Pinewild, overlooking both golf and water with long views.

Re/Max Prime Properties, 5 Chinquapin Rd., Pinehurst, NC 910-295-7100 • 800-214-9007

PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December 2017

MARThAGENTRY.COM •

910-295-7100 • Re/Max Prime Properties 5 Chinquapin Rd., Pinehurst, NC

ComfoRtaBle eleGanCe

in CCNC

M A G A Z I N E Volume 13, No. 12 David Woronoff, Publisher Jim Dodson, Editor

910.693.2506 • jim@pinestrawmag.com

Andie Stuart Rose, Creative Director

910.693.2467 • andie@pinestrawmag.com

Jim Moriarty, Senior Editor

910.692.7915 • jjmpinestraw@gmail.com

Lauren M. Coffey, Graphic Designer

910.693.2469 • lauren@pinestrawmag.com

Alyssa Rocherolle, Graphic Designer

910.693.2508 • alyssa@pinestrawmag.com Contributing Editors

Deborah Salomon, Staff Writer Mary Novitsky, Sara King, Proofreaders Contributing Photographers

John Gessner, Laura Gingerich, Tim Sayer

Contributors Tom Allen, Harry Blair, Tom Bryant, Susan Campbell, Bill Case, Wiley Cash, Tony Cross, Al Daniels, Annette Daniels, Mart Dickerson, Clyde Edgerton, Bill Fields, Jan Leitschuh, Meridith Martens, D.G. Martin, Diane McKay, Lee Pace, Jeanne Paine, Romey Petite, Renee Phile, Joyce Reehling, Stephen E. Smith, Astrid Stellanova, Angie Tally, Ashley Wahl, Janet Wheaton

PS Advertising Sales

Pat Taylor, Advertising Director

70 Cypress Point Drive ~ Pinehurst A commanding presence on 5 acres overlooking the 9th Fairway of the Cardinal Course in CCNC, the residence at 70 Cypress Point is a testament to fine taste and comfortable elegance in a Southern setting. Highlights include imported finishes, antique wide plank floors, lovely chandeliers, sconces and lighting throughout, 19 ft. ceiling height in the great room, beautiful window treatments, three indoor fireplaces and one in the garden house and exquisite high end detail in every room. No opportunity for beauty has been ignored from the family room bar to the fireplace walled with antique pine shutters in the sitting room. Master wing has a paneled library, exercise room, separate full baths and closets. Gourmet kitchen, spacious laundry, large studio, golf mudroom are also featured. Offered at $2,775,000.

To view more photos, take a virtual tour or schedule a showing, go to:

Ginny Trigg, PineStraw Advertising Director 910.693.2481 • ginny@thepilot.com Deborah Fernsell, 910.693.2516 Terry Hartsell, 910.693.2513 Perry Loflin, 910.693.2514 Darlene McNeil-Smith, 910.693.2519 Patty Thompson, 910.693.3576 Johnsie Tipton, 910.693.2515 Advertising Graphic Design

Mechelle Butler Brad Beard, Scott Yancey, Trintin Rollins

PS Darlene Stark, Circulation Director 910.693.2488 Douglas Turner, Finance Director 910.693.2497

www.clarkpropertiesnc.com

Maureen Clark when experience matters

Pinehurst • Southern Pines BHHS Pinehurst Realty Group • 910.315.1080

145 W. Pennsylvania Avenue, Southern Pines, NC 28387 pinestraw@thepilot.com • www.pinestrawmag.com

December 2017 P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

285 N Bethesda Road

140 Pinegrove Road

Enchanting 1920’s country home in a garden setting on 4.09 acres. 4 BR, 4.5 BA with a guest cottage. Exquisite master wing, updated kitchen, 3 fireplaces. $998,000.

Exceptional renovated cottage in premier location. Beautifully designed in character with original architecture. 4BR, 3.5BA. $845,000.

101 Kirkhill Court

85 Lake Dornoch

49 Chestertown Drive

310 Crest Road

120 N Highland

44 Royal County Down

New Listing. Home constructed by Huntley Design “Homewood’’ is a landmark Southern Pines estate Build in 2010, overlooks the 3rd hole of the Forest on 7.4 acres of the most beautifully landscaped Creek’s South Course. 5BR, 5.2BA $1,999,000. gardens in the state. 6BR, 7.5BA $1,675,000.

The best of everything in Pinehurst #9, National. Golf front CCNC with lake view. 4023 main New Listing. Delightful Colonial Revival was designed by A premier golf from setting on 11th hole of Pinehurst Spacious light-filled rooms, antique heart pine floors house, 763 guest house addition. One floor, #9 completes the perfection of this beautifully Aymar Embury II for the Boyd family in the 1920’s. Slate roof, on three levels, 6BR, 6BA, 2 half BA. $785,000. 3 BR, 3.5 BA main, 1 BR, 1 BA guest. $995,000. 5 fireplaces, hardwood floors, charming guest house. $889,000. conceived and executed golf retreat. $669,000.

Maureen Clark

910.315.1080 • www.clarkproperties.com

110 N Highland Road

91 W McKenzie Road

60 Manigault Place

177 Cross Country

25 Maple Road

920 E. Massachusetts

30’s Dutch Colonial, restored in ’06 adding two The 100 year old Rambler Cottage has a premier Historic Southern Pines 1920’s Colonial Revival Charming cottage in the woods offers the ultimate on 1.91 acres inWeymouth Heights. 6 BR, 5.5 BA, in a private location in Old Town. 3 BR, 2 BA, location in the Village with an endearing garden. Exudes wings. 4 BR, 3.5 BA, walled patio with courtyard, guest house, main floor master. $790,000. hardwood floors throughout. $380,000. signature Pinehurst charm. 4BR, 3.5BA. $795,000. 5227 sq ft. Slate roof,3 fireplaces. $898,000.

Private Horse Country estate on 16.7 acres This desirable 3BR, 3BA home located in Middleton Place is perfection on one level. Backing up to a large woodland area is very including lovely lake. Faulk designed 4BR, 4.5BA, 5640 sq ft home built in 1970. $1,425,000. quiet and a choice location in the walled community. $358,000.

230 Inverrary Road

A bit of golf heaven offering exceptional one-floor living on a premier golf front location. 3BR, 3BA. $610,000.

4 Sherwood Court

Nestled on a quiet cul-de-sac near Lake Pinehurst. 4BR, 2.5BA, ground floor master. $328,000.

Berkshire Hathaway HomeSercies and the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices symbol are registered service marks of HomeServices of America, Inc.® Equal Housing Opportunity.Housing Opportunity.

always a step ahead new listing

10 MErion CirClE

Pinehurst • Amy Stonesifer 3 bed • 2 bath • $250,000

new listing

280 Pinyon CirClE

Pinehurst • Amy Stonesifer 3 bed • 2 bath • $250,000

new listing

265 s. BEthEsda dr

southern Pines • Amy Stonesifer 4 bed • 2.5 bath • $315,000

35 turtlEPoint dr

Pinehurst • Amy Stonesifer 4 bed • 4 bath • $450,000

new construction

26 ColdstrEaM ln

Pinehurst • Amy Stonesifer 4 bed • 3.5 bath • $335,000

428 PinECrEst Ct rd aberdeen • Amy Stonesifer 3 bed • 3 bath • $375,000

110 MastErs Way

693 ashE st

Pinebluff • Amy Stonesifer 2 bed • 2 bath • $138,000

southern Pines • Amy Stonesifer 3 bed • 2.5 bath • $292,000

407 MCrEynolds st

10 MEdlin rd

carthage • Amy Stonesifer 4 bed • 2 bath • $149,000

Pinehurst • Amy Stonesifer 4 bed • 3 bath • $465,000

195 lakE hills dr

Pinehurst • Amy Stonesifer 3 bed • 2.5 bath • $300,000

10 GoldEnrod dr

whisPering Pines • Amy Stonesifer 3 bed • 3 bath • $345,000

under contract

155 Fox hunt ln

southern Pines • Kelly Curran 5 bed • 3.5 bath • $345,000

4 loWEll Ct

jackson sPrings • Kelly Curran 4 bed • 2.5 bath • $182,000

589 EquEstrian Way raeford • Kelly Curran 4 bed • 3.5 bath • $255,000

50 kittEry Point sanford • Kelly Curran 3 bed • 3 bath • $182,500

serving Moore County and surrounding areas!

www.maisonteam.com Traci James We are proud to announce this month’s featured agent, Traci James! Traci started with us over a year ago after being a happy client of Amy’s. She was so pleased after her experience with Maison that she wanted to pursue the Real Estate industry herself. With her determined attitude and positive outlook, she consistently impresses our firm and all her clients. Traci is a great advocate in finding her clients the ideal rental property, and equally effective in helping her buyers find their dream home. Also, she is a military spouse and able to easily relate to the changes that military families face in this area. Congratulations Traci! She can be reached at 281-808-8539 to help with your Real Estate needs!

Jacob Sutherland

Stewart Thomas

Bridget Hussey

Kati Hovarth

Kristin Hylton

There are over 600 real estate agents in Moore County. amy stonesifer is among the top 3. Award-winning REALTOR® Amy Stonesifer got into the business of selling homes because she wanted to get out on her own. Six years ago, she realized she was becoming restless and needed new challenges beyond managing the household while her husband served in the Army in some of the most dangerous parts of the world. What started out as a simple midlife-career change quickly became one of Moore County’s fastest growing real estate firms. That’s because she realized there was an unmet need, one that she could intimately identify with: Soldiers and their families who need specialized individuals to take care of their homes while they’re away — and to sell them quickly when their assignments changed. As business boomed, she recruited the best of the best and built the Maison Real Estate Team – a team of highly talented, client-focused professionals who have the ability to meet military families where they’re at. Stonesifer’s disciplined, results-focused approach to buying and selling homes has become as much a mission as a business, one that gives back to the community and expresses deep appreciation for our men and women in uniform.

Buy, sell or rent through us- we do it all!

910.684.8674 | 135 E PEnnsylvania avE | southErn PinEs, nC 28388

December 2017P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

123 years of planning. One serious night of celebration.

When you’ve been ringing in new years since 1895, you learn a thing or two about how to throw a party. Our New Year’s Eve party includes dinner, dancing and more. Get your 2018 off to a legendary start at America’s most historic golf resort! Party in the Pines $125* Gourmet dinner buffet Music by The Band of Oz Champagne toast and party favors Midnight breakfast buffet Ask about our four-course dinner in the Carolina Dining Room option. Overnight package available.

Purchase tickets at Pinehurst.com/events

The Carolina Hotel • Village of Pinehurst, North Carolina • 855.541.0068 • pinehurst.com

PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . * . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December 2017 Ticketing fees apply.

Framer’s Cottage

162 NW Broad Street • Downtown Southern Pines • 910.246.2002

Featured Homes 1 Dunedin Circle

Pinehurst No. 6, Pinehurst Gorgeous water front home on a beautifully landscaped corner lot. Features a covered back porch with gas heater, covered patio off the kitchen, office with fireplace, wet bar, 3 car garage, solar panels, and more. 4 Bedrooms, 3.5 Baths, 3,500+ Sq.Ft.

MLS# 184211 $545,000

1215 E Indiana Avenue

Southern Pines Located near the heart of Downtown on 1.78 acres, this cottage style home features hardwood floors, double ovens and farmhouse sink in the kitchen, family room with a wood burning fireplace, master suite with sitting area, and private backyard. 4 Bedrooms, 2.5 Baths, 2,600+ Sq.Ft.

MLS# 183281 $315,000

210 Grove Road

Pine Needles, Southern Pines Beautiful home with a fenced in backyard, large deck, and wrap around front porch. Hardwoods throughout, gourmet kitchen with double ovens, fireplace in living room, formal dining, office/study, large rec area, and bonus room. 4 Bedrooms, 3.5 Baths, 4,000+ Sq.Ft.

MLS# 183524

$539,000

86 Plantation Drive

Mid South Club, Southern Pines Large kitchen with island and semi-formal eating area, main level master suite, large rec room, screened porch and patio with views of the golf course, and many upgrades. 4 Bedrooms, 3.5 Baths, 3,000+ Sq.Ft.

MLS# 179730 $359,900

414 Meyer Farm Drive

Forest Creek, Pinehurst Custom built golf front home with open floor plan, featuring an expansive kitchen with large center island, screened in porch off the main living area overlooking the golf course, and guest suite over the garage. 10 Bedrooms, 10.5 Baths, 6,500+ Sq.Ft.

MLS# 183388 $875,000

360 Lake Dornoch Drive

Country Club Of North Carolina, Pinehurst Located on the 12th hole of the Dogwood Golf Course! This all brick home offers a grand entrance and lovely living room with French doors to a private deck and screened in porch. 3 Bedrooms, 3 Bathrooms, 5,000+ Sq.Ft.

MLS# 184245 $730,000

Call today for a private showing of these beautiful homes!

Coldwell Banker Advantage 100 Magnolia Road, Suite 1 Pinehurst, NC 28374 Toll Free: (855) 484-1260 (910) 692-4731 PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills . . . . . . . . . . . www.HomesCBA.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December 2017 21 130 Turner Street, Suite A Southern Pines, NC 28387 (910) 693-3300

115 Davis Road • Southern Pines, NC 28387 • 910-692-2210 Visit our showroom online at www.hubbardkitchenandbath.com

simple life

My Pre-Geezer

Christ masList Wishing for the intangible

By Jim Dodson

Earlier this month, my lovely

grown-up daughter living in faraway Chicago phoned to ask what I want for Christmas.

“Can’t think of a thing, Honey,” I replied, then said what I say every December when we do this routine. “I don’t need a thing, Mugs. Just seeing all of you kids come home is my Christmas present. Oh, wait, I know — a pair of new white socks and a pen that doesn’t run out of ink.” “Dad, be serious.” I was being serious. For better or worse, come winter I go through white socks like tissues, and there’s nothing worse than a pen that runs out of ink when you’ve had a sudden brilliant thought. The trick of living, I’ve discovered over three score years plus four is to know what’s enough and to need (and better yet desire) less and less of this world’s material stuff, whittling down life until you’re traveling light enough to someday join the dust from whence you came. On this same note, it was a shock to discover the other day that I own 23 very nice sports coats. Where on Earth did they all come from? And more to the point, do I really need 23 sports coats in my life, only two or three of which I might wear over the course of a year? Ditto neckties, golf clubs, various hats and caps, even books I used to think I would someday read but never got around to. So I had a brilliant idea. For the first time in decades, I made out a Christmas list, putting “give away at least half your very nice sports coats for Christmas” at the top of it. Like my working hero Thomas Jefferson — who claimed to be an “old man but a new gardener” — I tend to make lists of things I mean to do on any given day. As any pre-geezer knows, the older you get, the better it is to write stuff down before you forget it. Unfortunately, I’m always finding old lists of things I meant to do stuffed in the pockets of my sports coats and gardening pants, things I somehow forgot to do. This is just another good reason to get rid of half my very nice sports coats. That way, I’ll probably only forget to do half the tasks I put on my daily list of things to do.

In this spirit, I decided to revisit making a Christmas list since I was about 11. That year my buddies and I used to ride our bikes to the downtown Sears and Roebuck store to check out toys we wanted to see under the Christmas tree. I wanted a new Alamo set that year and a Redskins football jersey. Also to kiss Della Hockaday who rode my bus and lived just around the corner. She wouldn’t give me the time of day. But that’s an old story of youthful yearning and unrequited love. Back to my current pre-geezer Christmas List: Time. Don’t tell anyone, least of all my literary agent, but I have at least three novels half-written that I just can’t find the time to finish. I don’t know if the world needs to read my unfinished novels or not. I just know I need to someday finish writing them — though “someday” really has a scary way of creeping up on you. Time is the one thing that always seems to be in short supply, running out like the ink in your pen when you least expect it. I’d also like enough time to see my children settled down and happy with how their lives are working out. While I’m on the subject, wouldn’t mind being in the Grandpa Club some day. But no rush, Kids. Hopefully I still have a little time yet. Those new grandpas seem to have all the fun, though. Something spicy and blue. Thanks to several careers in writing, I’ve been fortunate enough to travel abroard a great deal, exploring faraway places I only dreamed or read about as a kid. Most of my wanderlust has been spent. But there still are a few places I’d like to go before I’m scattered among the wildflowers. One is the spice market and Blue Mosque of Istanbul. I can’t really tell you why — maybe because on an attempt to see the wonders of the ancient world with my 10-year-old son many years ago, we failed to reach Constantinople or explore the Holy Land. In a nice development, next summer that grown-up son — now a reporter for a famous newspaper in northern Maine — plans to marry a beautiful Palestinian Christian girl from Jaffa, Israel. The sacred sights of the Holy Land await. And just maybe, on the return leg, something spicy and blue in old Constantinople. Another rescue dog. Please don’t share this with my wife, but I’d love another rescue dog or two. Rescue dogs make the world a better place. They’re all about love and joy at finally having a home to call their own. Mine found me.

PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

December 2017

Happy Holidays from

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simple life

Her name is Mulligan. Best dog ever. I’ll cry like a baby when she’s gone. Then I’ll go get myself another rescue dog or two. A politician to admire. Frankly, I’m tired of the ones we have. All they do is bicker, call names and point nasty fingers at each other. If my mother were running this country, she’d send them all to their bedrooms without dessert until they could learn to speak with a civil tongue in their mouths. If you can’t tweet something nice, she would add, don’t tweet anything at all. We could sure use a guy like Thomas Jefferson or my mom for president. Tickle the ivories. Sure wish I could play the piano. Actually, I can play the piano. It just doesn’t sound like it. Looking back, I should have taken more than two weeks of lessons. You can probably put the blame directly on Della Hockaday. She was all I could think about the year my mom (see above) suggested I take piano lessons. The teacher smelled like moth balls so I quit and took up playing guitar, planning to become the next George Harrison. Sadly, Della wasn’t impressed. More Saturday mornings. Look, I could really use an extra Saturday morning. That’s when I get my errands and garden work done. While the world sleeps in, I get down and dirty. Thus I hereby propose a constitutional amendment introducing the four-day work week and renaming Friday “First Saturday.” Just imagine what we could all do if we had two Saturday mornings! An extra day for golf, gardening, sleeping in, reading a book, meeting a friend for lunch, writing a letter by hand, taking a walk with the dogs in the park, or just doing nothing but noticing what a beautiful world we’re briefly inhabiting. What’s Up, Doc? And since we’re on the subject, would someone please bring back those classic Bugs Bunny cartoons that once made Saturday morn-

ings so sublime – Elmer Fudd, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Foghorn Leghorn, Tweety and Sylvester, Yosemite Sam, Pepé Le Pew, the whole Looney Tunes gang. Sure loved those guys. They made the world a better place — or at least a whole lot funnier. We should all lighten up, especially the cartoon characters we’ve elected to public office. Besides, I have it on good authority that Tom Jefferson was a huge Rocky and Bullwinkle fan. A Revised Eleventh Commandment. Here’s a final thing I wish we could do: learn to listen to each other with a closed mouth and an open mind. During the years I wrote about life in Washington, D.C., Ronald Reagan publicly embraced an Eleventh Commandment: “Thou shalt not speak ill of another Republican.” I propose we update that to “Never speak ill of another American, even if they look or sound different from you.” We’re the most diverse nation on Earth, after all, made up of a polyglot of souls who mostly came from someplace else far, far away — yet a country constitutionally founded on the timeless principle of free exchange of ideas, civil discourse and respect for a neighbor’s opinions, even if we don’t agree. If we get to know that neighbor, we just might be reminded that far more unites than divides us. So there it is, neighbors, eight modest items on my pre-geezer Christmas Wish List. I can almost hear what you’re thinking — What a dreamer, pal. You must have sugar-plums dancing in your head. I suppose that’s true. But the older I get, the more I dream about such things, not unlike the way, long ago and far away, I wished for a new Alamo set and a kiss from Della Hockaday. One of those things, I can safely report, Santa delivered. In the mean time, can anyone use a very nice sports coat or two? PS Contact Editor Jim Dodson at jim@thepilot.com.

Lin Hutaff’s Pinehurst Realty Group 57 POMEROy dR • PinEwild Custom neo Craftsman on Golf course overlooking Green. Open rms. 3/4 acre. 3 Bay garage w/huge bonus rm above. new price $529,000.

110 E Mccaskill Rd • Old TOwn Custom Built in 1997 with all of the character expected in the historic District of pinehurst. Carriage house over garage. Gourmet kitchen. new price $550,000.

23 wEllingTOn dR • FOREsT cREEk

205 OakMOnT ciR • PinEhuRsT

perfect ‘’lock-it and leave-it’’ weekend getaway, seasonal 2nd home or year round residence. new sun room and new guest suite above the garage. ample storage! 4BdRM, 3 1/2 Ba. nEw PRicE $399,000.

Charming cottage with large open rooms in the heart of pinehurst. the deep front and back porches add lots of outdoor living space. Oversized garage. 3BDrm, 2 1/2 Ba plus Bonus rm. Offered at $315,000.

i F y O u wa n T T O k n O w P i n E h u R s T

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20 idlEwild • PinEhuRsT mOVE-In rEaDY. Gourmet kitchen with 3 ovens. all brick and rebuilt from top to bottom! lower level has man cave, workshop, 4th bedroom and en-suite bath. 4BD, 3Ba. new price $419,000.

1 BuR cT • PinEhuRsT • waTERFROnT all BrICK home with granite counter tops, cherry cabinets. Private cul-de-sec with protected Pond/wetlands. 6 BDrm, 5 Ba. Offered at $485,000.

lin hutaff, broker/owner, sps. ecertified • 910.528.6427 • www.linhutaff.com 9 1 0 . 2 9 5 . 0 0 4 0 O F F I C E | l I n h u ta F F @ p I n E h u r s t. n E t E m a I l | 2 5 C h I n Q u a p I n r D

PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December 2017

Retro Studio Bar 155 East Pennsylvania Ave. Southern Pines, NC 28387 910.725.0588 www.retrostudiobar.com

Voted Best New Boutique

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Women’s Apparel, Jewelry & Gifts Something for everyone in style and price

Hours: Monday-Saturday 10a-6p | Sunday 1p-5p Across from Pure Barre and beside Duck Donuts and Lowes Foods 1752 Old Morganton Road/ Southern Pines

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

PinePitch

The Lighting of the Trees The Village of Pinehurst Christmas Tree Lighting celebration will take place on Friday, December 1, from 5 to 7:30 p.m. The festivities will include hay rides through the Village center, musical entertainment and photo ops with Santa. The Christmas tree lighting is at 6:30 p.m. Admission is free. Food and beverages will be available for purchase. Please bring canned goods and non-perishable items for the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina. The fun takes place at Tufts Memorial Park, 1 Village Green Road W., Pinehurst. Kirk Tours will provide free shuttle service from the Village Hall, 395 Magnolia Road. Info: (910) 295-1900. If you miss Santa in Pinehurst on the 1st, be at the Depot in Historic Downtown Aberdeen Tree Lighting on Thursday, December 7, at 6 p.m. Santa is sure to make an appearance there, as well. For more information, call (910) 944-7275.

Homes for the Holidays The Boyd House will be all dressed up for the Christmas Open House at Weymouth Center from Thursday, December 7, to Sunday, December 10. Take a walk through the 25 rooms and the stables decorated with live greenery artfully arranged by designers and community organizations. Enjoy complimentary refreshments and music in the Great Room. Hours are 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, and 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are available at the Weymouth Center Office, Campbell House, Country Bookshop, Lady Bedford’s Tea Parlour, Given Memorial Library and Eloise Trading Co. The Weymouth Center is located at 555 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. For information and ticket prices, call (910) 692-6261 or visit www.weymouthcenter.org. The Christmas Open House at the Shaw House will be Friday through Sunday, December 8, 9 and 10, from 1–4 p.m. Take a tour of the historic house, decorated as it would have been in the 1800s; and slip back

Spiderella on the Shelf Written and illustrated by Southern Pines residents, Romey Petite and Laurel Holden, Spiderella is the first book in a three-part series about Eleanor, the girl who could sew faster than any seamstress in the kingdom — thanks to the secrets she learned from her friends, the spiders. Trapped in an attic and forced by her boss, Minerva, to work without pay, Eleanor has three days to make all the costumes for a birthday ball being thrown for the moody young prince. With some help from the spiders and little bit of magic, Eleanor just might finish the costumes and manage her escape. Perfect for ages 7–10, Spiderella teaches young girls and boys to believe in their ideas and their own talents. Teased and misunderstood, Eleanor’s gifts take her soaring toward marvelous adventures. Spiderella is available at The Country Bookshop, 140 NW Broad Street, Southern Pines.

The Murphy Family Christmas Show The Murphy Family will be back at the Sunrise Theater on Sunday, December 10, at 3 p.m. Expect to hear American popular standards, jazz, rock, and gospel-inspired Christmas arrangements as Paul Murphy and his family carry on a Pinehurst tradition that Paul and his father started decades ago. Cost: $18 general admission; $15 children 12 and under; and $22 VIP. Sunrise Theater, 250 NW Broad St., Southern Pines. For more information, call (910) 692-3611 or visit sunrisetheater.com.

in time with music, warm apple cider and homemade cookies. Peruse the Gift Shoppe for unique items and collectible treasures. Free admission. The Shaw House is located at 110 W. Morganton Road, Southern Pines. For information, call (910) 692-2051 or www.moorehistory.com. The Episcopal Day School Candlelight Tour of Homes invites you into five historic houses on Sunday, December 10, from 1–5:30 p.m. Each dwelling will be decked out in holiday finery, unique in spirit and character. Tickets are $20 in advance in the Episcopal Day School office (340 E. Massachusetts Ave., Southern Pines) or at The Given Library, The Estate of Things, Country Bookshop, Lady Bedford’s Tea Parlour, Thyme & Place, and Eloise. Tickets will be $25 on the day of the event. For more information, call (910) 692-3492.

December 2017P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

The Rooster’s Wife

There Once Was a Girl from Aberdeen… Fire up the Google rhyming tool. Against the advice of the wisest legal minds in Moore County, PineStraw magazine is soliciting your finest, original, unpublished Valentine’s Day–themed limericks. The best of breed, after being subjected to the grueling, gimlet-eyed scrutiny of a Blue Ribbon committee (think Pabst), will appear either in the pages of the February edition or in the dumpster behind Chef Warren’s. We’ll rely on the good taste and discretion of the citizenry at large to keep both the libidinous and libelous content to an absolute minimum. Deadline for all submissions is January 1, though we feel certain we’ll be able to recognize the ones written late on the evening of December 31st. Email your best efforts to: pinestrawpitch@gmail.com.

Rounding out the season’s delights are these stellar performances: Sunday, Dec. 3: Celebrate the season with a very special evening of bluegrass performed by Joe Newberry, prize-winning guitarist, fiddler, banjo-player and singer; and the captivating April Verch, a champion fiddler and step dancer. $20. Friday, Dec. 8: Keeping themselves in the best of company, Anthony da Costa and Kimber Ludiker are usually found on stage with Sarah Jarosz and Della Mae, respectively. Huge guitar and fiddle chops underpin great songs on this rare duo show. $10. Sunday, Dec. 10: Jonathan Byrd and Corin Raymond tell stories with their guitar, mandolin and fascinating words. The poetry in their songs will open your mind and your heart to amazing possibilities. $20.

11th Annual Reindeer Fun Run A community event for everyone from serious runners to recreational walkers, families and pets. The 5k Reindeer Fun Run/Walk on Saturday, December 2 begins at 9:30 a.m. and curves through Aberdeen’s historic downtown neighborhoods with rolling hills and wide turns. The 12ks of Christmas Run beginning at 9 a.m. incorporates the 5k route along with a scenic tour of Bethesda and the Malcolm Blue Farm. Both courses finish on a sloping downhill toward downtown and the historic Union Station. For kids, the 1/2 Mile Egg Nog Jog & Kids Zone at 10:30 a.m. is a holiday must and fan favorite. All proceeds go to the Boys & Girls Club of the Sandhills. For more information, www.reindeerfunrun.com.

A Medieval Frolic The lords and ladies of the Congregational Church of Pinehurst invite you to their 4th Annual Madrigal Dinner on Friday, December 8, or Saturday, December 9, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. You will be entertained by choristers, jokesters, dancers and raconteurs. The Peasant’s Repast will include homemade stew, vegetable soup, hearty breads and apple crisp. Costumes are welcome, but not required. Tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for children under 12 and are available at Given Outpost and The Country Bookshop, or from Nancy at (910) 6956727. Advance purchase required. The festivities take place at the church, located at 895 Linden Road, Pinehurst. For more information, contact Anne at (910) 639-9096 or www.youarewelcomehere.org.

Doors open at 6 p.m. and music begins at 6:46 at the Poplar Knight Spot, 114 Knight St., Aberdeen. Prices given above are advance sale. For more information, call (910) 944-7502 or visit www.theroosterswife.org for tickets.

The Holiday Parades Saturday, December 2, from 11 a.m.–12 p.m.: The Annual Southern Pines Holiday Parade features local marching bands, festive activities and an appearance from Santa Claus! The parade begins at Vermont Ave. and proceeds down the west side of Broad St. in the historic district of Downtown Southern Pines. For more information, call (910) 315-6508. Saturday, December 9, from 11 a.m.–12 p.m.: The Aberdeen Christmas Parade will proceed through historic downtown Aberdeen. For more information, call (910) 944-7275. Saturday, December 9, at 1 p.m.: Head over to Southern Pines for the delightful Christmas Carriage Parade. Members of the Moore County Driving Club decorate their horses and carriages for this annual ride through the historic district of downtown Southern Pines. For more information, call (910) 639-2359.

PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

December 2017

I n s t a g r a m W inn e r s

Congratulations to our November Instagram winners!

Theme:

Patterns

#pinestrawcontest

Next monthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s theme:

Parties! (Show us your fun side) Submit your photo on Instagram at @pinestrawmag using the hashtag #pinestrawcontest (Submissions needed by Tuesday, December 14th. It is an early deadline because of the holiday. Yes again!)

PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December 2017 31

4921 Raeford Road, Fayetteville • 910-423-0239 • Tues. - Thurs. 9:30-5 • Fri.-Sat. 9:30-6• Sun- 1-6

goo d n at u r e d

Going Against the Grain

By K aren Frye

he holiday season has begun. There will be family gatherings, parties, dinners and more, and the main event is always the food. Come December, we give ourselves permission to eat and drink as much as we want — as we should, because we know that come January we are going to go on that diet, exercise more, and take better care of ourselves. But wouldn’t it be amazing to make it through the holidays without gaining a single pound? Perhaps even losing a few extra? It doesn’t have to be difficult; in fact it’s just the opposite. You can learn how to feel confident and at ease as you maneuver your way around the table, laden with all the delicious food, and never once feel like you are missing out on anything. Of course it may take a certain amount of willpower and determination. I like to think of this type of challenge as an adventure, one I went on seven years ago myself. I had heard Dr. Joseph Mercola speak at a natural food expo, and got his book The No Grain Diet. I read it but didn’t practice his message until the timing seemed right. I joined a gym, went religiously and did various fad diets, constantly trying to remove the 20 pounds I didn’t need — with minimal success. The words of Dr. Mercola came to me, “if you want to lose weight you must stop eating grain.” It wasn’t that hard to do. For the record I started this in October, seven years ago. I made it through the holidays eating grain-free, never once feeling sorry that I wasn’t consuming all the sugary, heavy foods that normally I would eat. After the first 30 days I’d only lost a few pounds. The outstanding thing was the clarity of mind that I experienced. That inspired my dedication to continue, and by the fourth month eating this way I had lost the 20 pounds. A no-grain diet is simple and easy to follow. It’s a lifestyle change more than a diet — that’s a four-letter word. I can live with it and keep the weight off. It’s not like the Atkins Diet, or low-carb diet. Paleo is similar, but a bit more restricted. Simply avoid anything made from a grain — no pasta, rice, bread, crackers, cookies, oatmeal, or cake (unless it’s made with almond flour). One question I am often asked is, “What do you eat?” My reply, “Everything else.” You can have sweet potatoes, beans, chicken, fish, meat, eggs, healthy fats (avocados, for example) salads and quinoa (which is used like a grain, but is actually a seed). You never have to count calories, or be hungry. You just have to be prepared to have food with you when you are in situations that might leave you without the right choices. Following this plan can help you feel better in many ways. Your self-esteem improves when you’re in control of your life (and your clothes aren’t so tight). Often, health issues clear up like allergies or digestive problems. Come January, you will have already made the changes in your life in a positive way. Once you’ve reached your desired weight you will never have to diet again. If you make this your way of eating, occasional cheats will be OK. Just don’t do it too often, and always get back on the no-grain path. PS Karen Frye is the owner and founder of Nature’s Own and teaches yoga at the Bikram Yoga Studio.

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Welcoming artists, designers, floral enthusiasts and garden clubs from around the region. Preview party, competition, exhibition, hands-on workshops, and afternoon tea overlooking the garden.

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T h e O m n i v oro u s R e a d e r

A Carolina Classic Revisiting Cold Mountain

By D.G. Martin

Charles Frazier’s clas-

sic novel, Cold Mountain, was published 20 years ago and more than three million copies have been sold. The book inspired a popular epic film and an opera staged in Chapel Hill in September. As North Carolina’s most admired work of literary fiction since, perhaps, Look Homeward Angel, it should be on the bookshelf of every home in our state.

The book’s great success has made its story and its characters familiar and memorable. When the name of Inman is mentioned, we think of a tired, warworn, wounded Civil War soldier walking across the Piedmont and foothills determined to make his way back home to Cold Mountain and to Ada, the lovely Charleston-reared Ada, whom he hardly knows, but deeply loves. She is out of place, struggling, and starving on a mountain farm. Ruby, an uneducated mountain girl, full of energy and grit, rescues and restores Ada and the farm, where the two women await Inman’s poignant return and the accompanying tragedy. As in Homer’s Odyssey, the returning soldier’s travel toward home provides the framework for a series of adventures and contacts with a variety of compelling characters. The book opens with the battle-wounded Inman recovering in a Confederate hospital in Raleigh. Outside the hospital a blind man is selling boiled peanuts. When Inman asks what he would give for just a few minutes of sight, the peanut man replies, “Not an Indian head penny.” He explains there are things he would never want to see. Inman understands, because he remembers vividly the horrors of war and the battles he experienced and wishes he had never seen them. As Inman’s condition improves, he resolves to desert, leave the hospital, and begin his walk toward Cold Mountain. Not long after his trek begins, in the woods near a river, he sees a fallen preacher bent on killing a woman he has impregnated. Inman rescues the woman and brutally punishes the preacher. Soon afterwards, he encounters and angers some armed and dangerous locals. They follow him to a river crossing. As he canoes across the swollen river they fire a barrage of bullets that destroy the canoe and almost kill him. After Inman’s escape, he meets a deceitful redneck named Junior, a farmer

and bawdyhouse keeper, who drugs Inman and sells him out to the Home Guard. After marching its prisoners in chains for several days, the Home Guard loses patience and executes its captives. Inman survives miraculously and goes on the road again, but only after returning to extract vicious revenge on Junior, whom he finds salting ham in his smokehouse. Frazier describes the brutal details. “Junior raised up his face and looked at him but seemed not to recognize him. Inman stepped to Junior and struck him across the ear with the barrel of the LeMat’s and then clubbed at him with the butt until he lay flat on his back. There was no movement out of him but for the bright flow of blood which ran from his nose and cuts to his head and the corners of his eyes. It gathered and pooled on the black earth of the smokehouse floor.” The fight with Junior is only the beginning. Along the way to Cold Mountain are encounters at every stop, many of them bloody. Inman’s travel home, like the Civil War battlefields, is marked by violence and death. Frazier writes, “He could not even make a start at reckoning up how many deaths he had witnessed of late. It would number, no doubt, in the thousands. Accomplished in every custom you could imagine, and some you couldn’t come up with if you thought at it for days. He had grown so used to seeing death, walking among the dead, sleeping among them, numbering himself calmly as among the near-dead, that it seemed no longer dark and mysterious.” But Inman has another, softer side. He loves nature and carries with him Bartram’s Travels, William Bartram’s description of his travels in the American South in the 1770s. In Inman’s view, “the book stood nigh to holiness and was of such richness that one might dip into it at random and read only one sentence and yet be sure of finding instruction and delight.” Bartram’s description of a mountain scene that reminded Inman of Cold Mountain was his favorite selection. “Having gained its summit, we enjoyed a most enchanting view; a vast expanse of green meadows and strawberry fields . . . companies of young, innocent Cherokee virgins, some busy gathering the rich fragrant fruit, others having already filled their baskets, lay reclined under the shade of floriferous and fragrant native bowers of Magnolia, Azalea, Philadelphus, perfumed Calycanthus, sweet Yellow Jessamine and cerulean Glycine frutescens, disclosing their beauties to the fluttering breeze, and bathing their limbs in the cool fleeting streams; whilst other parties, more gay and libertine, were yet collecting strawberries, or wantonly chasing their companions, tantalising them, staining their lips and cheeks with the rich fruit.” When Inman read this passage aloud to Ada at their reunion, “he could

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T h e O m n i v oro u s R e a d e r

not wait to reach its period for all it seemed to be about was sex, and it caused his voice to crack and threatened to flush his face.” Alternating with the chapters describing Inman’s travels are reports of Ada’s and Ruby’s growing friendship and success in managing the farm together. The superstitious Ruby gives us a picture of farm life 150 years ago. Frazier writes, “The crops were growing well, largely, Ruby claimed, because they had been planted, at her insistence, in strict accordance with the signs. In Ruby’s mind, everything — setting fence posts, making sauerkraut, killing hogs — fell under the rule of the heavens . . . November, will kill a hog in the growing of the moon, for if we don’t the meat will lack grease and pork chops will cup up in the pan.” Inman finally makes his way back to Cold Mountain. His homecoming and reunion with Ada are joyful, but short lived, as Inman dies in a firefight with the Home Guard. Giving away the closing is not a spoiler. After 20 years in print, the book’s ending is no secret. But people still ask Frazier, why didn’t you let Inman live and make a happy ending? Frazier explained to me that the real Pinkney Inman died in a gunfight with the Home Guard. Therefore, he said, “having that knowledge in my mind, I wrote the character to go with that ending without really fully accepting it. But at that point, where I had to decide, then I realized, it’s going to feel fake if I come up with a way for him to survive this.” Frazier continued, “I got to the point toward the end of the book where I had to decide. And I drove all the way from Raleigh up to Haywood County. There’s a cemetery there, in a little town called Clyde, where Pinkney Inman is buried, but there’s not a marker. And I just walked around, looked at the view, and I just thought, you know, there’s only one way to end this, that I knew what happened from the first page of writing this book, to the real character, and it’s built in.” Frazier’s decision resulted in the classic that has stood the test of time. Reading it cover to cover is still a moving experience. But also, like Bartram’s Travels for Inman, we can pick up Cold Mountain and “read only one sentence and yet be sure of finding instruction and delight.” PS Charles Frazier tells much more about Cold Mountain and his experiences writing the book in his interview on UNC-TV’s North Carolina Bookwatch at: https://video.unctv.org/ video/3004954333/ D.G. Martin hosts North Carolina Bookwatch, which airs Sundays at noon and Thursdays at 5 p.m. on UNC-TV.

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B oo k sh e l f

December Books Our Town

Biography

Southern Sunrises, by Tom Bryant An endearing collection of Bryant’s "Sporting Life" columns, originally appearing in PineStraw magazine, captures what it is to be Southern and true in these stories of fishing, bird hunting, friends and family.

Bunny Mellon: The Life of an American Style Legend, by Meryl Gordon The story of the trendsetting Bunny Mellon, the designer of the White House Rose Garden, is full of family secrets, politics, art and fashion among America’s 20th century elite.

The Hamlet Fire: A Tragic Story of Cheap Food, Cheap Government and Cheap Lives, by Bryant Simon A look at the 1991 fire at the Imperial Foods processing plant in Hamlet reveals much about the state of the food industry in America. The investigative reporting by Simon suggests local lore surrounding the tragic fire is incorrect. Worth a read. Spiderella: The Girl who Spoke with Spiders, by Romey Petite and Laurel Holden This is a surefire gift for little ones of all ages. A collaboration of two Southern Pines artists and storytellers, it’s a modern version of the Cinderella theme with illustrations and costumes that stay with you long after the book is closed.

Coffee Table The Authentics: A Lush Dive Into the Substance of Style, by Melanie Acevedo and Dara Caponigro The best coffee table book of the year by the founding editor of Domino magazine. The photographs of the graceful spaces and the people who inhabit them are beautiful, but this book is made readable by the interviews with each “Authentic.” A wonderful addition in your living room. Vogue Living: Country, City, Coast edited, by Hamish Bowles and Chloe Malle This collection of Vogue homes from 2008 to 2016 showcases the magazine’s brilliant and varied photography. Similar to the Vogue Weddings: Brides, Dresses, Designers from 2012, this is sure to be a staple for appreciators of elegance.

Churchill and Orwell: The Fight For Freedom, by Thomas E. Ricks A dual biography of Winston Churchill and George Orwell, two of the most important people in British history who shared the vision and courage to campaign tirelessly, in words and in deeds, against the totalitarian threat from both the left and the right. Leonardo Da Vinci, by Walter Isaacson The author of Steve Jobs and Einstein takes a spellbinding look at history’s most creative genius, weaving a narrative that connects Da Vinci’s art to his science. He shows how Leonardo’s genius was based on skills we can improve in ourselves, such as passionate curiosity, careful observation, and an imagination so playful that it flirted with fantasy. Sisters First: Stories from our Wild and Wonderful Life, by Jenna Bush Hager and Barbara Pierce Bush Much more than a tale of politics, the girls who saw both their grandfather and father serve as President of the United States co-author a thoughtful memoir about their lives and American history over the last 30 years. Grant, by Ron Chernow The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Washington and Alexander Hamilton delivers a brilliant account of Ulysses S. Grant’s life. Chernow provides a deeper understanding of the often misunderstood and frequently caricatured Civil War general and post-war president.

Nonfiction

You Look Better Online: Your Life in 150 Unfiltered Cartoons, by Emmet Truxes This stocking-sized book is full of truths about modern life that will have adults, young and old, giggling through Christmas morning and beyond.

Overload: Finding the Truth in Today’s Deluge of News by Bob Schieffer The legendary television broadcaster examines today’s journalism and those who practice it. Based on interviews with over 40 media leaders from television, print media, and the internet, Schieffer surveys the perils and promises of journalism’s rapidly changing landscape.

365 Days of Firsts: A Daily Record of Baby’s First Year A little book to help new parents record each memorable milestone. Attractive, with quick dates and a few lines to fill in as the newborn grows up, this is a fantastic (and easy) way to chronicle the treasures of life.

The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia, by Masha Gessen A brilliant book by the biographer of Vladimir Putin, Gessen follows the lives of four people to chart the path of a Russia from the doorstep of democracy to a virulent autocracy.

Stocking Stuffers

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Light her r a e Y s i h t e Fir

B oo k sh e l f

The Last Castle: The Epic Story of Love, Loss and American Royalty in the Nation’s Largest Home, by Denise Kieran The fascinating true story behind the magnificent Gilded Age mansion Biltmore — the largest, grandest residence ever built in the United States. The story of Biltmore spans world wars, the Jazz Age, the Depression, and generations of the famous Vanderbilt family, and features a captivating cast of real-life characters including F. Scott Fitzgerald, Thomas Wolfe, Teddy Roosevelt, John Singer Sargent, James Whistler, Henry James, and Edith Wharton.

Fiction The Last Ballad by Wiley Cash The chronicle of an ordinary woman’s struggle for dignity and her rights in a textile mill, The Last Ballad is a moving tale of courage in the face of oppression and injustice. Cash tells the story of Ella May Wiggins and brings to life the heartbreak and bravery of the labor movement in 20th century North Carolina, paying tribute to the thousands of heroic women and men who risked their lives to win basic rights for all workers.

Cookbooks The Farmhouse Chef: Recipes and Stories from My Carolina Farm, by Jamie DeMent From the owner of Piedmont Restaurant in Durham. Cúrate: Authentic Spanish Food From an American Kitchen, by Kate Button From the owner of Cúrate in Asheville.

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Poole’s: Recipes and Stories from a Modern Diner, by Ashley Christensen From the owner of Poole’s Downtown Diner in Raleigh.

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B oo k sh e l f

CHILDREN’S BOOKS

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Brinkley Boyd of Weymouth, by Annie Hallinan From the author of the Sandhills best-selling title The Sweetest Christmas Eve comes this new tale of Brinkley Boyd. A small, quiet mouse, Brinkley enjoys living at the Boyd House at Weymouth. There are rooms to explore, animal friends to make, stories to hear, and adventures to be had. This special edition of Brinkley Boyd also includes a Weymouth Center guided scavenger hunt and special photographs from James and Katharine Boyd’s wedding. Ages 4-9. The Very Very Very Long Dog, by Julia Patton Bartelby is a very long and lovable dachshund who lives in a bookstore. He has a lovely set of friends who take him for walks through the city, but he has no idea that his bumbling backside leaves a trail of destruction and accidents behind him. Embarrassed that he has no control over his back end, Bartelby vows to never leave the cozy bookstore again. Can his friends help him find a way to help himself? Ages 3-7. Top Elf, by Caleb Huett Ollie and Celia think they know what the life of an elf is supposed to be like: make toys; help Santa; make more toys; help Santa; try out a new icecream flavor; help Santa. However, after 20 years, the current St. Nick is ready to pass the torch to the next Santa who will be chosen in a rather unusual way — a contest! Let the Santa trials and the fun begin. Ages 7-12.

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Nyxia, by Scott Reintgen Nyxia — an amazing substance that can be transformed into a ring, a sword, a life-saving vest, a wall. Nyxia — sought out by the Babel Corporation. Nyxia — the thing that just might transform Emmett Atwater from an underprivileged teen into a millionaire if only he can earn a spot on the team traveling to the planet Eden to extract more Nyxia. Hunger Games meets Enders Game, this first installment of the Nyxia trilogy leaves the reader begging debut author Scott Reintgen to hurry please with book two. Ages 14 and up. PS Compiled by Kimberly Daniels Taws and Angie Talley.

December 2017P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

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W R I T E R ' S LIFE

Have Yourselfie a Merry Little Christmas In search of a family tradition

By Wiley Cash

Our oldest daughter was only 2

months old the first time we made her cry while showing her the importance of family traditions. It was a chilly late afternoon on the day after Thanksgiving in 2014, and my wife and I had already unloaded all the Christmas decorations from the attic while our daughter napped. Now we sat on the living room sofa in nervous silence, watching the daylight slip away and wondering if we should dare commit the cardinal sin of waking a sleeping baby. After all, we were going to get our first Christmas tree as a family, and we needed high-quality photos to prove that a tradition had been forged.

I cannot quite remember what my wife or I were wearing, but in my memory it seems that we were decked out in our winter, Christmas tree-searching finery. I picture myself in a red flannel shirt with one of those leather hats with the flaps folded down over my ears, and I imagine my wife was wearing a cream-colored sweater with a beret that matched, but these are just bits of speculation. I do, however, remember our daughter’s outfit, can still picture it where it was laid out on the coffee table: a white onesie with a Cubist-inspired Christmas tree on it and, of course, a tiny red Santa hat that we planned to perch perfectly atop her bald baby head. At the first sound of her stirring, we flew upstairs. We slipped her out of her non-holiday clothes and into the Christmas tree onesie with ease, but we hit a serious speed bump once the Santa hat was installed on her head. She shook it loose, and when we put it back on she actually reached for it and

removed it. My wife did her best to distract our daughter while I fumbled with the tripod so we could snap a few casual photos in front of our garlanded, lit fireplace before setting out in search of a tree. By the time the camera was ready, our daughter was in tears. The photos show our strained faces, her tearstained cheeks and a tiny Santa hat that is alternately atop her head, in midair as it falls toward the floor, then absent altogether. With dusk coming on and our normally relaxed newborn newly fitful, we made a dash for the closest Christmas tree lot we could find, which, unfortunately, sat on a narrow strip of grass between the fire department and a busy road. The sun had sunk below the tree line and an icy chill had settled over the late afternoon by the time we arrived at the lot. We immediately set about the task of having and photographing our tree-hunting experience instead of actually hunting for a tree. Our daughter showed no more interest in wearing her Santa hat than she had shown at home, and the cars and trucks that sped past us only a few feet away did not assist us in our attempts to keep the hat on her head. However, what the speeding automobiles did do well was force the cold air deep into our eyes so that tears streamed down all our faces. After we had taken all the pictures the three of us could stand — none of which actually featured the three of us together — we realized that we had not yet spent a moment considering any trees on the lot. We made a hasty selection, tied a tree to the top of the car and headed home. We got the tree inside and set it up in its stand, but we did not decorate it that evening. We did not decorate it the next day either. Perhaps we were not yet in the Christmas spirit. Perhaps we were busy decorating other parts of the house. But what is most likely is that we were silently pouting due to the fact that the experience of getting the tree had not been captured in a way that felt sufficient to memorialize it as a family tradition. A few nights later, after an early dinner, I found my wife going through a box of ornaments. Many of them had been given to us while we were dating or during the first year of our marriage. We considered each ornament, talked about the people who had given it to us, recalled the first Christmas tree we

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W R I T E R ' S LIFE

decorated as a couple when we were living in the northern panhandle of West Virginia in 2009. That year, my wife had come home late from work, and snow had begun to fall. It was early December, and there was already a thin layer of snow on the ground. Both of us being Southerners, we were excited by the idea of getting a Christmas tree in the falling snow. Although we had not yet unpacked ornaments or even considered decorating our tiny apartment, we set out on the dark, snow-covered roads that wound through our mountain village and headed for the small town of Wellsburg, on the banks of the Ohio River. The only Christmas trees we could find were in the parking lot of a Rite-Aid, and there were only a few trees available. But we took our time, imagining each one crammed inside our living room in front of the window that looked out on the main street of the village. We talked about how high our ceiling was, what kind of tree topper we would buy, which ornaments would hang where. The snow kept falling, and I have vivid memories of seeing flakes caught in my wife’s dark hair. I can remember reaching out and touching the pine boughs on the various trees where the soft snow had settled. We finally agreed on a short, fat tree, and as we paid for it and loaded it onto the roof of our car we discovered that the owner of the tree lot knew some friends of ours. We had only recently moved to West Virginia, and we were thrilled by the knowledge that we had just met someone who was friends with our friends. We felt like we belonged in this distant place that was so far from our lives back home in North Carolina. We were forging a life together. Five years later we stood in a new house with a new baby and looked through old ornaments. I opened a few boxes of lights and began snaking them through the tree. We made a fire and hung our old ornaments one by one. We were so caught up in our decorating that we did not notice that our daughter had fallen asleep on the little pillow where she often rested, the light from the fire and the light from the tree causing her soft baby face to glow. I looked at my wife. She reached for her cellphone, and I reached for our daughter’s tiny Santa hat and, as carefully as I could, placed it on her head. We knelt behind her, gazed down upon her with all the love one could ever feel for such a sweet, innocent thing. And then we looked up at my wife’s cellphone and snapped a selfie. That night, I knew that we were a family with a Christmas tradition. But I also knew something else: We always had been. PS Wiley Cash lives in Wilmington with his wife and their two daughters. His forthcoming novel The Last Ballad is available wherever books are sold.

December 2017P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

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H o m e tow n

Batteries Not Included A plugged-in and powered-up Christmas

By Bill Fields

There were some Christmases grow-

ing up that Carolina Power and Light and Eveready Battery must have loved. The same would go for the manufacturers of those flimsy extension cords whose “U.L. approved” tag didn’t inspire a lot of confidence.

It is tempting to think that the popularity of high tech gifts is a relatively recent development, but anyone of a certain age knows that isn’t true. Of course, high tech of 40 or 50 years ago must be considered for its day, the way a 260-pound offensive tackle would then have seemed only slightly smaller than Godzilla. Still, Christmas was juiced long before Major League Baseball. Along with “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” there were other words unique to the season.

Photographs by Bill Fields

“TO PROTECT FROM ELECTRIC SHOCK, DO NOT OPEN COVER OR BACK. NO USER-SERVICEABLE PARTS.” That caution came on one of the best presents with a cord I ever got, a reel-to-reel tape recorder from Santa/Western Auto that allowed me to pretend I was one of those basketball play-by-play announcers I heard on the radio so many winter evenings from distant locales. The machine should have come with a different warning: Until you go through puberty and start pronouncing “Fayetteville” with three syllables, you have absolutely no chance of sounding like them. I could amuse myself with simple things — a ball of crumpled foil and a hanger shaped into a hoop taped to a doorframe, anyone? — but there was a period when I was attracted to something that powered up like bream to a cricket. Take indoor putting. I could groove my stroke just fine by rolling a ball toward a chair leg or coffee mug, but the “Electric Putt Return” from Sears took living room practice to a higher plane. In form it resembled a dustpan, but in function the device was positively Jetsonian in how a golf ball was propelled after an attempt, only rarely failing to make it back to your feet. The distinctive click occurring when a ball began its return is on the soundtrack of my childhood.

The putting trainer had a single purpose, but the glory of another of my 120-volt holiday delights from Sears was its multi-purpose utility. Shaped like an oversized loaf of bread about two feet long, there was a clock — with alarm — on the left, a tiny television — VHF and UHF — in the center and a radio — AM and FM — on the right. Despite my most creative antenna directing, the TV picture was usually snowy, sometimes rolling and never fully satisfying. Still, the clock and radio worked well and the whole “solid state” combo sat on my desk, leaving enough room to do homework. Owing to its faux mahogany top and sides, it was even handsome in its early-’70s way. The appearance certainly trumped the value “entertainment system” my parents gifted themselves one year. It wasn’t lacking in functions with an 8-track, radio and turntable, but the lift-off plastic lid covering the record player made it a leisure suit of electronics. Year over power corded-gizmo year, I would say I made out better than the adults. There was the matter of the irons, blemished but numerous, in the years when Dad worked at Proctor-Silex, which manufactured them. A steam iron, no matter how good or how much of a bargain, should be purchased when necessary, like new sheets, and never adorned with a red bow. One Christmas there was an electric knife under our tree. I’m sure it came with a warning, too, but wasn’t as useful or as much fun as my tape recorder. The man who is credited with coming up with the idea of an electric knife, Jerome L. Murray, also developed boarding ramps to get people onto airlines and a pump essential in open-heart surgery. Two serrated blades going through a ham or a turkey a couple of times a year — the noise of the contraption sometimes punctuated by the jarring contact with a platter — surely doesn’t measure up to Murray’s other accomplishments. But those were the times and, as sure as kitchens were done in avocado, those were our things. PS Southern Pines native Bill Fields, who writes about golf and other things, moved north in 1986 but hasn’t lost his accent.

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December 2017

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T r u e so u t h

Did She Say That Out Loud? Favorite utterances I have known and used

By Susan S. Kelly

Southerners are big on sayings that are

peculiar, well-worn, and whose origins — never mind meanings — are vague. “Bless her heart” comes to mind. We also love our book-or-movie lines that translate well to reality: “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.”

For my money though, nothing beats the casual comments friends and family have unwittingly uttered in the presence of a writer — me — who keeps entire notebooks of minor observations such as new wallpaper smells like Band-Aids, and what people have in their Costco cart. Herewith, a few of my everlasting favorites. Scene: Driving my 87-year-old mother on the Interstate. Mother: “Do you ever use the left lane?” Me: “When I need to pass a car, but otherwise, you’re supposed to stay in the right lane. The left lane is for speed, and for passing.” Mother: “I drive in the left lane all the time.” Pause. “I consider it my privilege.” Ensuing jaw drop. Scene: Discussing acquaintance X with my friend Trish. Trish: “Anyone with hair that long at her age is bound to be tough.” Ensuing fall off the chair laughing before wryly agreeing. Scene: Charlestonian pal Ginny visiting Greensboro, wandering through the rooms of my house: Ginny: “I forget how much stuff y’all have up here.” Interpretation: It’s so tropical in Charleston that rugs and objets are superfluous and just make you feel even sweatier. Ensuing anxious reassessment of household décor previously considered cozy and now viewed as cluttered. Scene: Someone my friend Sarah and I slightly knew in college moves to town. Me to Sarah: “You and I should probably have some kind of welcome gettogether for her. Sarah, with slow blink: “I have all the friends I need.” Ensuing appreciation of Sarah’s chop-chop ‘tude freeing me from entertaining responsibility. Scene: Dressing room of bathing suit marathon try-on with sister Janie.

Janie: Big sigh, followed by: “I just look better with a few clothes on.” No interpretation needed. Scene: Discussion with friend Marsha about recent debatable behavior of hers, mine, and others’. Marsha: “Well, who cares? I’d rather be controversial than boring.” Ensuing decision to be controversial rather than boring. Scene: My great-aunt comes to pick up my grandmother for a luncheon in early April. My grandmother is dressed in a lavender crepe suit and, as frequently happens in April, it’s 48 degrees outside. Great-aunt: “Jewel, aren’t you freezing?” My grandmother Jewel: “Sure, but I look good, don’t I?” Ensuing decision upon being told this story: Never to name anyone Jewel. Scene: My mother-in-law telling her friends that her son is getting married to “just the nicest girl.” Friends: murmurs of assent and congratulations. Mother-in-law: “And the best part of it is, she’s already Episcopalian!” Ensuing gratitude for whatever makes my mother-in-law happy that I didn’t have to work at. Scene: Famous writer turns to me at a dinner party, and out of the blue asks, “Have you ever had a serious operation?” Scene: Friend Anna’s withering riposte to being wronged by others: “I have a big mouth and a wide acquaintance and intend to use both to your detriment.” Ensuing decision to: 1. Stay on Anna’s good side, and 2. Adopt this adage myself. And, in the spirit of the season, a couple of Christmas-themed favorites. My older son to his sister: “I’m outsourcing my Christmas thank-you notes this year. Interested?” His sister: Withering look. My sister to me: “I’m giving my children electric blankets for Christmas this year. Do you think it will give them cancer?” Me: Withering eye-roll. Morals: 1. You can’t make this stuff up, and 2. Sooner or later, a writer is going to bite the hand that feeds it, and use your unforgettable utterances. PS Susan Kelly is a blithe spirit, author of several novels, and proud new grandmother.

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I n T h e S pi r it

A Bitter Little Christmas Treat your cocktail enthusiast to the perfect stocking stuffer

By Tony Cross

Photograph by Tony Cross

I first met Craig Rudewicz two years ago at

Fair Game Beverage Company’s spirit release party. Craig and I (along with two other bartenders from Raleigh) were asked to create cocktails with FG’s Apple Brandy and Sorghum Rum. Craig was in his third year running Crude Bitters, North Carolina’s first cocktail bitters company. We briefly chatted, and he sent me off with his staple bitters to see what I thought. Since then, we’ve both been busy boys, but finally reconnected at this year’s Pepperfest in Chapel Hill. A few weeks later, I was able to drive up to Raleigh, and check out his new facility, as well as his new cocktail supply shop and classroom, The Bittery. Craig and his wife moved to Raleigh six years ago from Cambridge, Massachusetts. He spent the next few years slinging behind a few restaurant bars, while managing as well. “It was a wonderful way to associate cocktails with food and the relationships with the kitchen,” Craig says about how he

gained inspiration for coming up with his first bitters recipes. You see, bitters is usually an enigma to those that aren’t into cocktails, or are just learning. It’s pretty simple, actually. Bitters is to a cocktail like salt and pepper are to food. Bitters can also bring cocktail ingredients together that, without it, wouldn’t be a perfect fit. Bitters is used in food too, but I’ll save that for when I start a food column. In addition to creating bitters at the restaurant bar he managed, Craig and his wife started making their own syrups and extracts at home. “To get away from using products with high fructose corn syrup, chemicals and preservatives,” he says. “We appreciate a good cocktail, and wanted our drinks to be just as great as our meals . . . so Crude grew from that. I wanted bitters to be appreciated as a craft product just as much as spirits and beer.” Crude Bitters was launched in 2012 while Craig was still working his restaurant gig; he started selling his homemade bitters at local farmer’s markets. If you head over to their website, www.crudebitters.com, you’ll see that Craig takes every step to make sure his bitters are as authentic as possible. “Our bitters are crafted in small batches from 100 percent maceration in organic, non-GMO alcohol, with no glycerin, chemicals or dyes,” he says. “Glass pots or wood barrels are used exclusively in the storage and aging of our products.” His attention to detail on all fronts hasn’t gone unnoticed. He’s won many awards, including the Good Food Award (twice) and the Southern Living Food Award. His bitters also found its way into Mark Bitterman’s Field Guide to Bitters and Amari that came out in 2015. In it, Craig explains the origin of his company’s name. “The name is in reference to the rudimentary origins of bitters. Exotic (and undocumented) roots, herbs, and spices were aged in various liquids and

I n T h e S pi r it

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beneficial (and unverified) claims attached to them. Hence, crude,” he says. When Craig is coming up with a new elixir, he focuses more on what blend of flavors will work with a certain spirit or cocktail than narrowing in on a single flavor of bitters. “It can be difficult putting the right blend of flavor and aroma together,” he says, “but I always start with what spirit I would like the bitters to be used in.” This shows in his Rizzo bitters, with flavors of citrus, pepper, and rosemary — perfect for a gin and tonic, or even someone who is cutting calories with a vodka soda. Personally, I love adding his Sycophant Orange & Fig bitters to my Old-Fashioned. It pairs well with an aromatic bitter, giving the cocktail a slight candied orange and vanilla undertone. Crude is the first North Carolina bitters company, but Craig foresees growth from other businesses with bitters and mixers on the horizon. “There is not much competition (at the moment).

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There are a couple of small companies around the state, and bars/restaurants always have great bar programs that produce their own house bitters,” he says. “I expect there to be a boom of cocktail bitters and mixers soon.” You don’t have to drive up to Raleigh to grab a bottle — or multiple bottles — of Crude Bitters. Stop into Nature’s Own and ask about which bottles are currently being represented. You can also check out the new whiskey bar, The Leadmine, and ask Orlando to concoct a cocktail with the local bitters. It’s amazing what bitters can do for a cocktail, and the more you understand this, the better you’ll appreciate Craig’s passion. Don’t take my word for it, stop into his new space and take a cocktail class. In addition to being educated on bitters, and doing tastings, Craig will guide you on how to use his bitters in cocktails, and why different ones work better with different spirits. You can go online and subscribe to his mailing list, where you’ll be privy to Crude’s up and coming classes. PS Tony Cross is a bartender who runs cocktail catering company Reverie Cocktails in Southern Pines.

December 2017P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

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December 2017P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

T h e k itc h e n g a r d e n

Fruit of the Gods December pomegranates

By Jan Leitschuh

Ruby red

Art by Jan Leitschuh

pomegranates are starting to appear in groceries now as a seasonal item. Their cheerful rosy husks evoke a sense of Yuletide feasting and decoration. Their origins are Mediterranean, and exotic.

Pomegranate fruits are actually berries, filled with hundreds of jewel-like seeds, usually dark red. The sweet, fleshy, juicy coating surrounding each seed, often referred to as the aril, is the edible portion. Are you surprised to learn that these juicy, seedy delights are not only wildly healthy — more so than red wine or green tea — and have even been grown in our area by devoted gardeners? Who knew? That info sent me scurrying to research. Generally thought of as a fruit of hot, dry climates, I was excited to learn of certain specimen pomegranates growing in our area. While no farmer would undertake to push the envelope on a marginally hardy and less-than-productive Mediterranean fruit, lots of backyard gardeners might want to experiment with a lovely and exotic “pet” that actually produces fruit and gorgeous flowers. An old pomegranate used to grace the Southern Pines backyard of Beth Carpenter, local resident and North Carolina native. “We live on Orchard Road, and we had an old pomegranate and a big fig tree on our property when we bought the house 30 years ago,” said Carpenter. “Someone told us this is called Orchard Road because it was the orchards of the old Boyd estate. It makes sense. Who else would have done it?” The Boyds were noted for their interest in local agriculture, and horticulture. Local gardeners wishing to experiment, as the Boyds did, may not get the heavily laden crops found in Mediterranean climes. Carpenter said, “It was a normal pomegranate, and had fruit just like you find in the store. But not many, only one or two a year.” The best chance for fruit production and ripening is in areas south and east of Raleigh. Though this old tree had weathered many a Sandhills season, it is no longer. A winter storm got it. A wonderful fruit-bearing specimen continues to thrive in the slightly colder climate in Raleigh at the North Carolina State Arboretum. Though pomegranates often take the shape of a large shrub, this one is trained into a small tree shape, well over 8 feet tall. It blooms with exotic, hibiscus-like red flowers before

setting fruit. Hummingbirds and butterflies love the highly attractive, open red flowers. There are even double-flowering varieties that resemble carnations. A third pomegranate specimen has grown on the farm of my friend Linda Fisher of Red Oak, near Tarboro. She remembers the bush — likely planted by her mother or aunt in the ’50s — from her childhood and says it still produces a few fruits every year. Fisher told me it gets no care, water or attention, lives in dry, poor soil, and still thrives. She said they have a little year-end ritual, eating a few of the seeds every winter “like the Greeks.” In Greece, the fruit is closely associated with winter and the Demeter myth. Persephone, Demeter’s daughter, was captured by Hades and stolen away to the Underworld. Demeter, goddess of agriculture and spring, begged for her daughter’s return. Alas, Persephone had been tricked into eating six pomegranate seeds in the land of the dead and was permitted to come back for only part of the year, in spring and summer. The quiescence of fall and winter is recalled in the ritual of the seed eating. Many pomegranate varieties can tolerate temperatures as low as 10 degrees Fahrenheit, which certainly makes growing in the Sandhills a possibility. Timing of the hard freeze is critical, though — if they are in the stage of producing new growth, a frost can kill them. Some cultivars are specifically bred to cope with this possibility of late spring frosts. Plants are not uncommon in South Carolina, often found around old home sites and plantations, especially in the Midlands and Coastal Plain. While they grow and flower well there, just like in North Carolina they tend to fruit poorly in our humid climate. Pomegranates (Punica granatum) have been popular fruit throughout human history. They are experiencing a surge in popularity now due to the health benefits associated with their juice. Pomegranates, high in vitamin C, also produce a unique and powerful antioxidant called punicalagin. There are also several useful phytochemicals in pomegranates. The juice has been shown to have greater antioxidant capacity than such common health beverages as green tea, red wine, grape juice, cranberry juice or acai juice. If you want your own pomegranate “pet,” there are internet sources for plants. I’d suggest calling the company to discuss your growing conditions. Ask for a cultivar recommendation. I planted the variety “Wonderful” when we began our cottage garden, and while it did not survive that first hot summer, it may have not had optimum attention and water to establish it. In good conditions a mature tree can grow approximately 10-15 feet tall and 5-10 feet wide. Pomegranates love to sucker with slender, thorny stems, but could also

T h e k itc h e n g a r d e n

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be trained into a tree like the North Carolina State Arboretum specimen. First, the growing basics. Your tree will need at least 8 hours of direct sun in the growing season (and more is better) in well-drained soil and a sunny area. You’ll probably need to add lime, phosphorus and potassium to your soil. A pH of 6.5 is about perfect. Pomegranates are self-pollinating, so you only need one, but fruit production is greater with two plants. You could also grow one in a pot like your pet citrus, or in a sheltered area. Inquire about the more compact forms, if a pot is the ultimate home. Growth is moderate, and should bear well three years after planting. While some European pomegranates are over 200 years old, vigor may decline into the second decade. In the fall during years that climatic conditions allow good fruit set, the globe-shaped fruits can be striking, resembling Christmas ornaments. Fruit typically ripen in September to November. Pomegranate plants are said to be well-suited for the shrub border. They make a great backdrop for small shrubs and perennials and good screens. They benefit from a 2-to 3-inch layer of organic mulch. If fruit production is desired, irrigating to provide even soil moisture will reduce fruit drop and prevent fruit splitting. Additionally, fertilizing plants in March and July with 1 pound of 10-10-10 for every three feet of plant height will aid in fruiting. Or, you could just buy the attractive fruits in stores right now, and enjoy their sweet health benefits yourself. The pomegranate season is short, so grab them this month while you see them.

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3 cups green leaf lettuce, rinsed and torn 1 Bartlett or Anjou pear 1/3 cup pomegranate seeds 1 tablespoon vegetable oil 1 tablespoon lemon juice 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard 1 tablespoon pomegranate juice 1/2 tablespoon honey Fresh-ground black pepper, to taste Divide the lettuce between two bowls. Halve and core the pear, then cut each half in slices. Divide the pear slices and pomegranate seeds between the two bowls and mix gently. Combine the vegetable oil, pomegranate juice, lemon juice, mustard, honey and pepper in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat; reduce heat and simmer, stirring frequently, until the dressing thickens slightly, about 2 minutes. Pour the warm dressing over the salads and serve. PS Jan Leitschuh is a local gardener, avid eater of fresh produce and co-founder of the Sandhills Farm to Table Cooperative. PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

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December 2017P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

C h a r act e r S t u d y

The Fabric of Life

In room 104 at the Pinehurst Resort, seamstress Wanda Capel holds forth, one stitch at a time By Haley R ay

In the Carolina Hotel,

Photograph by John Gessner

on the ground floor of the east wing, a sewing machine clatters. The hum comes from room 104, the last stop at the end of a hallway full of guest accommodations. It’s the office where hotel seamstress Wanda Capel holds court daily with fabrics that need her mending.

She’s saved weddings like Cinderella’s fairy godmother from bridesmaids dresses gone bad and put more stitches in golfers’ pants than there are range balls on Maniac Hill. Boxed in by three sewing machines, surrounded by spools of colorful thread and cloth, Capel has spent 26 years working at the Carolina. An Employee of the Month trophy sits high on a shelf among pictures of her children and grandchildren. She grasps a piece of fabric with a fashionably gloved right hand. More utilitarian than stylish, the glove helps manage the pain in her palm, the arthritic remnant of a car accident. Capel nonchalantly explains the quick fix for the pain. “I just put some numbing medicine on it because it hurts right there, and the more I cut the worse it feels,” she says, pointing to her palm. “So, I just put the glove on there and the medicine to work my hands. Just the sewing is OK, but it depends on how much cutting I do. Sometimes at night my hands will ache and I know it’s nothing but arthritis. But once I get them going in the morning they’ll last all day. I refuse to let them shut down on me.” Before taking over room 104, Capel had a gig at Quality Mills in Carthage, drove a school bus, picked up the odd sewing job here and there, and taught an evening sewing class at Sandhills Community College. “I had a girlfriend who worked here . . . and she kept telling me that the lady they had was leaving and they were looking for somebody,” says Capel. “She kept telling me to go and apply. I said, ‘I’m not going over there. I won’t get that job.’ I was in one of those times where you don’t think anything is going to work out for you.” Finally, frustrated with her daytime boss, one Friday afternoon she plucked up the nerve to submit an application at the Carolina. Four days later she had the job. Flying solo on a sewing machine is about as far from workplace drama as a human being can get. Capel mends alone and couldn’t be happier. “When I came here it was like the best thing that could have ever have happened to me,” she says. “Now I don’t have to concentrate on nothing but what I’m doing. I don’t have to worry about anybody that don’t like me, because it don’t even matter.” Peaceful surroundings are not all Capel gained from the job. She also found

her husband, Walter. He was working in transportation at the hotel and needed his uniforms fixed. After bringing them to room 104, he kept pestering her for a date. “I wouldn’t talk to him, though,” Capel remembers with a smile. “I don’t date people I work with.” He quit his job to work elsewhere, and before long they were married. Capel mends and cares for family members as carefully as she stitches a frayed collar, working through personal tragedy and long-term illnesses. It was a car accident in 2000 that left her with a broken arm, a broken pelvis and the injuries to her skilled hands that would eventually turn arthritic. Recovering at home, in traction, Capel stubbornly refused to miss the high school graduation of her daughter, Alycia. Her doctor told her she wouldn’t be able to attend the ceremony unless she obtained the proper medical transportation. Talk about an entrance. “My youngest sister, she got up with the rescue unit and she got me a rescue squad,” she says. “The nurses came out and showed her how to take me out of traction and put me back. So that graduation morning she came and she got me dressed and everything. The rescue unit came to get me, and I went to the graduation by ambulance. They rolled me out on the ball field and that’s where I watched her graduate.” While the accident forced Capel out of work for a time, not much else has. A two-year battle with an illness required her to take a handful of pills a day and have a shot once a week. One of the medications caused memory loss and Capel still feels the effects, admitting to randomly forgetting names or stories she’s known her whole life. In 2005, Capel lost one of her three children, the daughter whose graduation she rode in an ambulance to watch, when 22-year-old Alycia McKinnon was babysitting at her half-sister’s home. A vengeful boyfriend hired a man to kill the sibling that night. Neither the boyfriend nor the hit man had accounted for Alycia’s presence, and she was the one murdered. The killer was sentenced to life in prison. Only months before the tragedy, Capel’s mother had succumbed to cancer. To cope with the twin losses, she turned to her work, making the mends and alterations of a hotel seamstress. “I worked through the whole time,” she says. “It’s like, after I lost my daughter, all I could hear her saying was, ‘Mama, you know you gotta work. You know you gotta work.’ From that point on, I have needed something to keep my mind occupied because I don’t need to think about certain things. Concentrating on my work is like my way out.” So Capel stitches a life together, clattering away at her machine in room 104, fixing what others cannot. PS Haley Ray is a Pinehurst native and University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill graduate, who recently returned from the deserts of Southern California.

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December 2017P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

T h e P l e as u r e s of L if e

Sacred Spaces

Across life — and death — the places where we connect

By Tom Allen

What makes a place sacred is often a matter of experience and memory.

Our daughter married this summer, in a historic Raleigh church, repurposed earlier as a bluegrass venue, then restored, once again, as a church. The founding congregation moved to a suburban location in 2001. Religiousthemed, Tiffany-styled stained glass windows traveled with them. Simpler patterns remained. When a developer purchased the building, he filled the empty spaces with stained glass fitting a more secular venue — a colonial-era vineyard, a maestro conducting a symphony. When a new congregation purchased the building, they set out to restore the space to its original intent as a house of worship. Some rooms were left open for artists’ displays. The church also agreed the sanctuary could be used occasionally for concerts. They’ve done an amazing amount of work in a short time — updating antiquated HVAC systems, refinishing hardwood floors, and preserving decades-old pews. Finding a new home for the current windows and replacing them with stained glass depictions of the faith is planned but costly. So when I walked Hannah down the aisle on August 19, instead of depictions of the Good Shepherd or the Christmas story, a couple, straight out of Colonial Williamsburg, was strolling through a vineyard. Above a wooden cross a conductor raised his baton, ready to give the downbeat. Although some of the visuals seemed to contradict the setting, the day, we all agreed, was a high and holy occasion, a pull-out-all-the-stops celebration with lots of grand memories. For many, a church, a synagogue, a temple, is sacred space. The words and rituals echoing there connect people to something beyond themselves, something transcendent, mysterious, yet something very real. Babies are baptized, vows are spoken, the sick are anointed, the dead are remembered. Some spaces house relics and saintly figures. Holy books, altars, and tables become enshrined. Whether an upright piano donated in memory of a dear granny or

the tomb of a beloved saint buried for centuries in an undercroft, crypts and crevices enhance the sacredness of these spaces. Westminster Abbey, a simple rural sanctuary or an outdoor chapel canopied by oaks — all places where sacred spaces abound. But people need not enter a temple or church to feel the holiness. The delivery rooms where my children were born, occasions that took my breath away, became sacred places. The room in a nursing center, where I held my parents’ hands as they breathed their last, was just as sacred as the churches where I embraced a belief that something was beyond those final breaths. I know a couple in their 80s who have walked the same path, weather permitting, every afternoon since they retired. She is stooped. He holds her hand. The path has grown shorter and the walk takes longer, but that trail is, for them, a sacred and holy space. Places of horror can be sacred as well. Sites of the unfathomable — Ground Zero in Manhattan, Dachau, Auschwitz, the Killing Fields of Cambodia — these places, where innocents were slaughtered, become shrines to the sanctity of life and the hope that “never again” will prevail. You probably have personal sacred places, beyond walls and steeples. The space might be the chair where loved ones used to sit, a car they drove, a garden they once tended, a kitchen table where life was shared, or a grave that confirms that they lived and loved and mattered. Sometimes I fear we’ve lost our capacity to see wonder where true wonder lies, to see the sacred in the everyday, the holy in the mundane. Perhaps the story of the first Christmas — the birth of a baby in a cow stall — reminds us all, whether we embrace the story as our own or not, that beauty and wonder often come to us simply, quietly and in the most unexpected times and places. For one and all, may these days be merry and bright, blessed with peace and graced with wonder. And may you find a place, a time, or just a moment, that simply takes your breath away. PS Tom Allen is minister of education at First Baptist Church, Southern Pines.

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T h e E v ol v i n g sp e ci e s

Trial by Bottle Cap

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By Joyce R eehling

Eyes open and all the thoughts that start the

day begin a race in her brain to see which will get there first. She will stumble in a fog of sleep with a hint of a dream. And thus it begins, a series of questions and answers and challenges.

Up she gets to wash hands and face and brush her teeth. An almost ridiculous task as she will have tea and toast or cereal and have to brush all over again. It’s a ritual — to be followed by the ceremony of opening things. At the intersection of age and the half-life of jars, boxes of tea, bandages and condiments, there have been developments — no, conspiracies — to demonstrate that youth has taken a bus out of town. Twice a week the day begins with replacing her hormone replacement patch. The “glue” that will attach to her skin has a cover on it which must be removed. A glue that will, before the next time it is to be replaced, not fully adhere to her body like it stubbornly adheres to that cover now. She takes a deep breath and tries not to scream. Padding down the hall and into the kitchen, there is a new box of tea to open. Such boxes have a “Tear Here” tab with the vague promise that it will actually tear here or somewhere near the line of the cutout guides. It almost never happens that way. No, she must first put her finger on either side of the “guides” in the hope that the tab will begin to tear at least a little, then reroute her efforts down that line. This never works. And it is now that her first thoughts of murder, or at least a tribunal to try, convict and sentence the designers of these tortuous schemes, takes hold. Perhaps death by perforation. Somewhere, leading otherwise innocent lives, are the people who devised the “Push Down and Turn” tops of this world, the ones that never quite catch correctly. Or the bandage string that she is convinced was never intended to

really work. Or the tiny tops of small objects that are screwed on so tight that she dreams of having a tiny vice for them in the garage. Perhaps death by vice. Tea brewed, she must now confront the milk carton plug with a circle on top that would cut the finger off a Navy SEAL. She reaches for the chopstick that has become her way of wrenching this diabolical thing off. And she hasn’t even had her first sip of tea. FedEx has left a small box, probably sometime yesterday, but they never seem to ring the bell anymore, so she discovers it through the kitchen window. Again the dreaded “Tear Here.” This tab, obviously designed by a particularly malevolent person, always breaks off and never goes beyond the first 1/8 of an inch. Screwdrivers or a box cutter must be carefully employed. With the box finally open, there is a plastic bag with no visible way to open save cutting it. Should she need to return the object they will tell her that it must be returned as shipped. They never say how, since it will never fit back into the bag or into the box. They have, it would seem, developed packing methods similar to sea monkeys, starting tiny and then exploding. Perhaps death by shrinking. No sip of tea has been had, nor toast, but by now she is boggled in the brain and her blood is running hot. Others must surely feel these frustrations but the fact that she is not alone is, oddly, no comfort. She looks out the window for her reset button or a “Push Down and Turn” to begin this day all over again. And then she sips her tea. And sighs with dreams of a courtroom with these designers at the defense table and a jury of women over 50. Finally, a smile. PS Joyce Reehling is a frequent contributor and good friend of PineStraw.

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December 2017P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

Out of the Blue

A Case of Twitter Jitters Forever is a long time in the electronic world

By Deborah Salomon

During end-of-year holidays,

whichever you chose to celebrate, people tend to ruminate on this and that, especially what’s wrong with the world and how to make it better. Well, ruminate no more because I’m going to tell you what’s wrong with the world: Twitter. Twitter represents TMC (too much communication), related to TMI (too much information). Not all is accomplished with words, a good thing since Twitter, once limited to 140 characters has doubled to 280. Text messages arrive littered with emojis, essential if one assumes that one emoji is worth, well, a cliché or two. But the problem lies not with Twitter and text alone. Information — whether printable or not — lives forever. Surveillance cameras are everywhere. Cellphone positioning reveals your location. Emails never die, even though they bow to texting. These days, when I want to send my grandson a newsy email I must text him to check it, since communication between young adults employs only essential words, often phonetically spelled minus capitalization and punctuation.

To wit: Secrets no longer exist. Hiding anything — impossible. This creates a dependence foreign to love letter and diary writers. Your IT guy is more important than dentist, hair stylist, car mechanic, plumber or obstetrician. Because when a system’s down, life, even in the slow lane, comes to a halt. Not that life before the information super highway (ISH) was much smoother: First off, we wouldn’t be singing “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” Mary and Joseph lived in Nazareth but, by Caesarean decree, traveled to Joseph’s birth-

place for the census. How accurate could it have been? Now, although some census information is gathered on foot everything else happens electronically. Nobody treks back to Ohio. Then, had Julius utilized electronic eavesdropping he wouldn’t have been blindsided by Brutus. Then again, the world might lack the treasures in King Tut’s tomb had he not suffered (pre-genetic counseling) abnormalities resulting from his mother and father being siblings. The boy pharaoh died at 19, more likely from these abnormalities than a chariot accident, since his club foot would have made the rough ride impossible. Poor boy, the potentates intoned. Let’s bury him surrounded by gold. With Twitter in place, no need for Paul Revere to take that midnight ride “through every Middlesex, village and farm” immortalized by Longfellow. On the dark side, Twitter and other instant communications have enabled people to speak “off the cuff.” Incidentally, this expression originated in the 1800s, when men’s shirt cuffs were made of stiff paper — handier for taking notes than even an Apple iPad Air2. The problem is, folks attached to cellphones will devour the tweet immediately, then re-tweet the juicier ones. This spontaneity has proven more ruinous than Prince Charles’ late night phone sex with Camilla. Wars have been fought over less inflammatory remarks than what POTUS tweets daily. Maybe another one will. Besides, “tweet” (remember Tweety Bird?) is a silly word to be bandied by serious newscasters or in U.S. Senate chambers. To speak of a president’s tweets sounds vaguely disrespectful, as though describing an undergarment. Perhaps this flippant title gives license to insult or demean or threaten. You think? Therefore, looking back over 2017, I can postulate that without Twitter, mankind wouldn’t be in such a dither. Humans won a few wars, conquered polio and smallpox, transplanted hearts, cracked genetic codes, broke the sound barrier, landed on the moon and Mars with nary a tweet. The Ten Commandments require more than 140 characters, as does the Pledge of Allegiance. And most political pooh-bahs have learned to count to 10, at least, before pressing “send.” That said, I’m wishing you all a sweet, tweet-free holiday season and a more conscionable New Year — or else heaven help us all. PS Deborah Salomon is a staff writer for PineStraw and The Pilot. She may be reached at debsalomon@nc.rr.com.

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December 2017P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

Christmas Q&A

M om , I n c.

Some local translation required By Renee Phile

I asked my boys to help me write this.

At first, I was met with “Ugh,” and “I don’t like to write — you do,” and “I already have enough homework.” After I coerced them with Christmas music and hot chocolate with marshmallows, they obliged, sort of.

Nestled in, armed with my questions, pens, and Christmas ambiance, here’s what they had to say:

David — age 14.

What does Christmas mean to you? To me, Christmas is a time to see family and eat good food. It’s also fun to spend time and do activities with people. Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without Grandma Jean spinning around the house making dinner. What he really meant: I like to eat. What do you like about Christmas? I like the snow and the feeling where you just relax and have fun watching Christmas movies. The Christmas church service. All of it is a good time. I like seeing Grandma Jean getting ready for dinner. She makes good dinner. What he really meant: I like to eat. Speaking of movies, do you have a favorite Christmas movie? Elf. What he really meant: Elf is funny and it’s not in black and white and old like It’s a Wonderful Life. What foods do you like to eat over Christmas? Ham, corn, beans, turkey, potatoes, stuffing, and candy canes. Sometimes overcooked ham. What he really meant: I’m omnivorous. Do you have a favorite Christmas memory? My favorite Christmas memory is being at Grandma Jean’s and having everyone there and eating and having fun. What he really meant: I really, really like to eat. What is another favorite memory? Another one is being at Pop’s church at nighttime when it snowed and we ate dinner at the church. Also, one time Nanny overcooked the ham and it was hard to eat, but I still ate it. What he meant: I will eat absolutely everything in sight.

What about a funny memory? Hmmm . . . I can’t think of one. Wait, one time my dad gave me a present and accidentally wrote “dad” instead of Santa, so he crossed it out and it looked like this: Dad Santa What he really meant: It’s still worth giving Santa the benefit of the doubt. What are your thoughts on Santa? Well, I don’t like him because he’s fake. What he really meant: I may still believe in Santa . . . a little.

Anything else you want to add? I will be glad to be away from school for three weeks. What he really meant: I’m stuck with my brother for three weeks. I’ll miss my friends and maybe even my math class.

Kevin — age 9.

What does Christmas mean to you? Critmas means to me that Jesus was born. What he really meant: Critmas means to me that Jesus was born. What do you like about Christmas? I like that you are able to have time off school (of course) and that you get to spend time with family and get presents and that reminds me this year could you get me Minecraft Legos? What he really meant: I really really want some Minecraft Legos. Do you have a favorite Christmas memory? When I was in kinder garden we got to make an ornament and watch the polar ‘spres and have hot chokolet. What he really meant: I like hot chokolet. Do you have a funny Christmas memory? There aren’t anything funny about Christmas that I know of. What he really meant: There aren’t anything funny about Christmas that I know of. Is there a food you enjoy over Christmas? Yes, I like Critmas cake and Critmas cookies. What he really meant: I like Critmas cake and Critmas cookies. Do you have a favorite Christmas movie? Yes it is the polar ‘spres. What he really meant: Polar ‘spres is the best movie in the world. What are your thoughts on Santa Claus? The only thout about Santa Clause is that he is nice and caring. What he really meant: I hope Santa Clause brings me Minecraft Legos. Do you have anything else you want to add about how you feel about Christmas? Yes the fackt that I like carol of the bells song. What he really meant: The fackt is that I like carol of the bells song. I tried to sneak in a few questions after they had finished their “assignments,” but they thought that would mean extra credit, which meant more hot chocolate and as Kevin suggested, Critmas cake. PS Renee Phile loves being a mom, even if it doesn’t show at certain moments.

memories...

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December 2017P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

B i r d watc h

Northern Bobwhite Diminished in number, the bird with the distinctive call is making a comeback

By Susan Campbell

For those fortunate enough to live

in open piney woods or adjacent to large farm fields, the whistled call of the bobwhite quail may be a familiar sound. But, as with so many of our bird species, this once prolific songster has diminished in the Piedmont. And anyone in search of winter partridge for the table is increasingly likely to be disappointed.

Bobwhite quail measure between 8 to 11 inches beak-to-tail and have very cryptic brown, black and white markings that make them all but impossible to see in the grassy habitats they call home. The male has a bright, white eye-stripe and throat marking, and is the one who announces his territory through a repeated “bob-white” call. The female is not only smaller but drabber, with an eye-stripe and throat that are a buffy color. This stout bird’s short sharp bill, strong legs and feet with sharp claws, make it well adapted to foraging at ground level for insects, berries and soft vegetation. Northern bobwhite males attract a mate using their loud repetitive calls in the spring. The female will reply with a four-syllable whistle of her own. Following breeding, the pair creates a domed nest concealed in tall grasses, and the hen lays up to 20 pure white eggs. It takes about 25 days of incubation for the young to hatch. Hens will renest if the eggs are eaten or destroyed. Upon hatching, the chicks will immediately follow their parents, learning how to hunt bugs and which shoots are the most nutritious. As a group they are referred to as a covey. They will stay together through the win-

ter and may join other families to form coveys of thirty or more birds. When alarmed at an early age, the young will scatter and freeze to avoid predators. Once they can fly, they will take to the air in a loud blur of wings if they are startled by a potential predator. Quail were a very popular game bird throughout North Carolina until not that long ago. Since the 1980s, when their numbers began to decline, they’ve been much harder to find. A combination of factors is believed to be responsible. Not only have open woodlands and agricultural fields with hedgerows become more scarce but ground predators such as foxes, coyotes, raccoons and free roaming cats have increased. Also, the timing of rainfall can significantly affect breeding productivity. Too much rain too early may inundate nests and dry conditions when chicks hatch may result in insufficient food. These days, hunters search for coveys in the forests and fields that comprise the patchwork of Game Lands in our portion of the state or they go to private game reserves. Their pursuit requires a well-trained bird dog and a good deal of patience. However, active quail management is occurring locally. Two strategies are at work: opening up forested habitat using prescribed burning and replanting undesirable vegetation with quality cover. Recent efforts by biologists with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission and at Fort Bragg (along with assistance from local Quail Unlimited chapters) are resulting in gradual increases in northern bobwhite. We certainly hope this trend continues so that in the not too distant future, sightings of winter coveys will be once again commonplace throughout central North Carolina and the song of the bobwhite will return to the South. PS Susan would love to receive your wildlife observations and photographs at susan@ncaves.com.

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December 2017P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

S po r ti n g Li f e

The Old Home Place Visiting memories of days gone by

By Tom Bryant

It was one of those

rare, late fall days with the wind quartering out of the southeast. Too late to be called Indian summer, and yet the soft warm breeze had a semblance of days past when summer was holding on with a real purpose, not wanting to let fall have the upper hand. We Southerners take days like this as a blessing, knowing that right around the next bend a frosty wind will drop all the remaining tree leaves, with the exception of the live oaks, and winter will arrive in earnest.

I was sitting in the swing on the long rain porch of the old home place, and Mom was in her favorite rocker, wrapped in an afghan. We were talking about nothing much, just rambling about days gone by and plans for Christmas that was a short time away. Thanksgiving had recently been celebrated by our immediate family: my sister who lives with Mother; my other sister who had come up from Florida; my brother, who had built a small cottage right behind the big house; along with Linda, my bride; our son, Tommy; and me. It was a grand occasion, and Mom was recalling days past when everyone would descend on the farm to celebrate. Mother’s 98th birthday was last April. She is the last surviving child of Austin and Hensalie Fore. There were eight children, and when the family got together with aunts, uncles, great aunts and great uncles, and numerous first cousins and twice-removed cousins, we had a passel of people. Every now and then, Mother’s memory slips, but she can still recall holidays and long-gone relatives as if they were sitting on the porch with us. “Tommy, you remember your daddy used to drive you down here a few days before Thanksgiving to hunt with your granddad. Your granddaddy loved that.” “Those were great times, Mom. It seems as if it was just yesterday, but you know that was a long time ago.” “It’s my old age, and my mind plays tricks, but I can still see you with that great big shotgun your dad gave you. The gun was bigger than you were. I used to worry, but he assured me that you could hold your own in the woods. And

your uncle Tommy, I was just talking to him the other day, and he was asking if you were going to deer hunt with the club this year.” “Mom, Uncle Tommy has been gone a long time now. You were just remembering funny.” My uncle Tommy had passed away 10 years ago. “See what I mean about my mind playing tricks?” She looked out across the fields in front of the old house. The crops had recently been harvested by the farming conglomerate that leased most of the farms in the area, and there was a tractor plowing under cornstalks. “Is that your granddad coming across the field?” “No, Mom. He’s been gone a long time, too.” She looked at me and smiled. “I think I’ll go in and lie down a bit. I’m feeling right tired.” “OK, Mom. Let me help with your walker.” I pulled it out for her and helped her down the hall to her bedroom. “Enjoy that weather on the porch, son. It’ll probably be frosty in the morning.” She sat on the side of her bed, and I pulled a blanket closer. “I love you, son. You be careful in those woods tomorrow.” I went back out to the swing. The rest of the family was enjoying the side porch off the kitchen. I could hear them laughing. The tractor was still working, getting closer to the road in front of the house. Dogs barked somewhere across the back pasture. I sat in the old swing and remembered the special days Mother’s mind had been tricking her about. I was 12 or maybe 13 and loved the time spent on the farm, squirrel hunting in the little swamp way back behind the west pasture. It was my time. I had the best of both worlds. Pinebluff, where I lived, was an ideal place for a youngster who enjoyed the outdoors. I had a relatively new bicycle, a Christmas gift from the year before, a loyal companion in a black curly-coated retriever named Smut, and many friends of the same bent as I. On Granddad’s farm, I had him and uncles who let me roam in the woods with them, and they treated me with good humor, not like the kid I really was. Those were wonderful times. An old ramshackle pickup truck rolled into the side yard amongst a blue cloud of burning oil. Ed Junior eased out of the driver’s side and looked up at me on the porch. “Hey, Tommy, I thought you’d be out there squirrel hunting.” “I’m too full, Ed. Too much of Bonnie’s cooking.” My sister had cooked a ham and fixins for dinner and we had eaten our fill. Ed Junior’s family has lived on the farm as long as I can remember. He and

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his folks were mostly tenant farmers, in other words they helped provide the labor for a crop; and my grandfather provided the seed, fertilizer, and land. Both parties shared equally in any profits that came along. They also suffered almost equally any crop disaster. My uncle Tommy bequeathed Ed and his family lifetime rights to 10 acres on his farm. Ed and I were the same age, almost to the day, and we grew up on the farm together. I ate many meals at Aunt Mary Greene’s table. She was Ed’s grandmother and ruled her house with an iron hand. “I brought Miss Evelyn a mess o’ collards. Where you want me to put ‘em?” “She’s resting right now, Ed. We’ll put them on the back porch.” I walked out to the pickup and helped Ed with two bushel baskets of greens. We toted them to the back porch steps and left them there. “They gonna need washing,” Ed said. “I just picked them from the back garden.” We walked back to the truck and sat on the tailgate. “How’s the family?” I asked. “They’s doing OK. The daughters are helping me at the store, and the boys are in the army.” Ed had started a little truck garden store on a side street in town where he sold the many vegetables he harvested from his extensive garden. My granddad always said that Ed could grow anything. All he had to do was stick it in the ground. ”How you been doing? Miss Evelyn talks about you a lot.” “I’m just like you, Ed. A lot older and a little fatter.” I patted him on his rotund belly and we both laughed. We sat and talked and reminisced a little about coon and squirrel hunts we went on as youngsters. “Yassa, a whole lot o’ water has flowed down Black Creek since them days, Tom. I best be going. It’s getting on up in the day and I got to close the store.” He shook my hand and then impulsively we hugged. “You look after Mama,” I said as he hoisted himself in the truck. “And you and your family have a Merry Christmas.” “You, too, Tom. I check in on Miss Evelyn about every week. She has good days and some not so good.” He fired up his old pickup and rattled off in a cloud of blue smoke. I went back to the swing. The sun was heading to the tree line and there was a noticeable chill in the air. The tractor was nearing the last row in the field, getting ready to quit for the day. PS Tom Bryant, a Southern Pines resident, is a lifelong outdoorsman and PineStraw’s Sporting Life columnist.

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December 2017P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

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Go l f to w n J o u r n a l

Strokes of Fame Shots heard ‘round the Sandhills all of the final day gallery of 4,000, and these two big hitters traded birdie punches from start to finish of the last 18 holes,” said one newspaper account. Snead had a one-shot lead coming to the final hole and ripped his 4-iron approach to within inches, securing a three-shot win. “As he broke through the ring of galleryites to tap the ball in, he got a hand such as few golfers ever receive,” the newspaper continued. Snead would win three North and South titles.

By Lee Pace

Payne Stewart’s 20-

foot putt to win the 1999 U.S. Open on the last stroke of the championship on Pinehurst No. 2 is certainly one of the most famous strokes in golf history, let alone the annals of this little Sandhills burgh. Films have been made, books have been written about Stewart’s masterful stroke under enormous pressure; the photo of him extending his fist in celebration just as the ball trickles into the hole with thousands of spectators packed around the green is an image for the ages.

Denny Shute

But let’s face it: That was a putt, a whack that any 8-year-old could replicate through a lion’s mouth at Myrtle Beach. What about full shots or at least chips and pitches, strokes that require the ball to at least get airborne and some fusion of multiple moving body parts? Golf has been played at Pinehurst since 1898 on as many as three dozen courses if you include all Moore County. Here, then, are 10 of the best shots ever made in the Sandhills.

Photographs from the tufts archives

Denny Shute’s 3-wood, 1936 — The PGA Championship was Pinehurst’s first taste of major championship golf when the match-play event came to No. 2 in November 1936. Favorites for the title like Walter Hagen, Gene Sarazen, Paul Runyan and Tommy Armour lost earlier matches, leaving Denny Shute, the 1933 British Open winner, to face Jimmy Thomson in the 36-hole championship match. Shute was 2-up over Thomson through 33 holes coming to the par-5 16th hole in the afternoon round. He nailed a 3-wood second shot on the 475-yard par 5 to five feet and was conceded the eagle putt, giving him a 3 and 2 victory. Ben Hogan’s sand wedge, 1940 — The 28-year-old Texan was winless on the PGA Tour and seriously considering giving it up when he came to Pinehurst in March 1940 for the North and South Open, a tournament considered one of pro golf’s top events of the era. In the opening round, Hogan holed out a shot from a greenside bunker on the par-4 11th for a birdie, fueling him to a 6-under 66. He led by seven shots after 36 holes and wound up beating Sam Snead by three for his first professional victory. He went on to win consecutive tournaments in Greensboro and Asheville, and the match for a Hall of Fame career was lit. “I had finished second and third so many times I was beginning to think I was an also ran. I needed that win,” Hogan said. Sam Snead’s 4-iron, 1941 — It was a heavyweight threesome if there ever was one — Snead, Hogan and Charlotte’s Clayton Heafner in the last group of the final round of the 1941 North and South Open on No. 2. Hogan faded early, leaving Snead and Heafner in the spotlight. “They were trailed by almost

Harvie Ward’s sand wedge, 1948 — Harvie Ward had no designs on winning the North and South Amateur when he traveled to Pinehurst from Chapel Hill in April 1948. In fact, the Tarboro native and University of North Carolina golfer didn’t even pack a change of clothes. But he advanced day by day in match play until he reached the final against Frank Stranahan. The big shot came with a 1-up lead through 34 holes. Ward hit into the front bunker on the par-3 17th, then into the back bunker. Then Ward hit a magnificent recovery from that bunker to inches away for a tap-in bogey. Rattled, Stranahan missed a 3-footer for par and the hole was halved. Ward collected his 1-up win with a par on 18. Hobart Manley’s run of threes, 1951 — It wasn’t just one shot from the 24-year-old Savannah amateur that makes the archives of great golf in Pinehurst — it was 15 of them. Manley and Billy Joe Patton were locked in a tight battle for the North and South Amateur title, and Patton was 2-up through the 13th hole of the afternoon round of the 36-hole finale. Patton would play the last five holes 1-under par, but he lost to Manley, who ripped off five straight threes, which were four-under with birdie, par, eagle, par, birdie. “Just watching the drama unfold made my heart pound and left me limp,” Bill Campbell remembered. Manley won the title, 1-up. Billy Joe Patton’s 4-wood, late 1950s — The career amateur known for his uncanny recovery ability and gregarious nature hit any number of outstanding shots on No. 2 in winning three North and South Amateurs, but it was a certain 4-wood shot from a troubled lie in the late 1950s that summarized his gift to golf. Patton was in a playoff against Dr. Bud Taylor in the North and South and they came to the second hole. Patton’s tee shot came to rest in a bunker to left of the fairway, near Palmetto Road. He addressed his shot with one foot in the sand, one above it and his ball hung up in tall grass. At that very moment a woman stopped in her car and called out to no one in particular, “Does anyone know where I can get a room for the night?” Nonplussed, Patton continued to address the ball and said, “Lady, if you can wait a few minutes you can probably get mine.” He made bogey, lost the match and vacated his room for a trip back home to Morganton. Tom Watson’s 8-iron, 1973 — Executives at the Diamondhead Corp., Pinehurst’s new owners since late 1970, conceived the idea of the World Open — a 144-hole marathon on the PGA Tour for a $100,000 first prize. The first one was held on No. 2 in November 1973, and twice a new course record was set. Gibby Gilbert shot a nine-under 62 in the first round and Watson followed with

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another 62 in the second round. The key shot for Watson was his 8-iron approach for eagle on the 14th hole, and he followed that with four straight birdies. “I was in a daze after that,” Watson said of the eagle. “I felt I could make everything after that.” Alas, the 24-year-old Watson had not quite learned to win and faded with rounds of 76-76-77 as Miller Barber collected first prize. Mark O’Meara’s 6-iron, 1980 — O’Meara burst onto the national golf scene with a runaway 8-and-7 win over John Cook in the 1979 U.S. Amateur at Canterbury in Cleveland and came to the Country Club of North Carolina the following year as the defending champion. But he almost missed match play as Houston golfer Fred Couples shot rounds of 69-70 to collect the medal and O’Meara was one of 12 players who tied for 57th place, necessitating a playoff to determine the last seven spots in match play. The playoff started at 10 and, on the par-4 11th hole, O’Meara hit his 3-iron into the hole from the fairway. He promptly turned and walked back to the clubhouse. O’Meara lost to Willie Wood in the first round. Annika Sorenstam’s 3-wood, 1996 — The young Swedish golfer won her first major in the 1995 U.S. Women’s Open at the Broadmoor in Colorado and came to Pine Needles in Southern Pines as the defending champion. Her coach, Pia Nilsson, accompanied her and spoke of golfers in Sweden as looking “at things differently — we’re trying to find ways to shoot 54, make birdies on every hole.” Sorenstam made it look that easy with a final-round 66 that staked her to a six-shot win over Kris Tschetter. The key shot was a 220-yard 3-wood on the par-5 10th and the ensuing 25-foot eagle putt. “I was in a zone today,” she said. “It was like I could close my eyes and hit. Whatever I did, my shots went straight, my putts went in. It was unbelievable.” Payne Stewart’s 6-iron, 1999 — Everyone remembers Stewart’s U.S. Open winning putt on the last hole. But the shot that staked Stewart to a one-shot lead on the last hole was his 6-iron to four feet on the 17th hole. Caddie Mike Hicks said the roars when Stewart hit his ball and when Phil Mickelson knocked his to six feet were greater than anything he’d ever heard on a golf course — including the Ryder Cup. “It’s getting kinda wild out here,” NBC’s Roger Maltbie said. Mickelson missed his putt and Stewart made his. “It was a gimme,” Hicks said. “He hadn’t missed inside four feet all week.” PS Chapel Hill writer Lee Pace has chronicled many of these memorable shots in Pinehurst lore in three of his books—Pinehurst Stories (1991), The Spirit of Pinehurst (2004) and The Golden Age of Pinehurst (2012).

December 2017P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

The Carolina Philharmonic presents

Handel’s Messiah!

the

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Inspiring. Uplifting. Joyous. Tuesday, December 19, 2017

Owens Auditorium at Sandhills Community College Imagine the sound of a symphony orchestra surrounded by 100 choristers and four stellar vocal soloists, with the audience invited to join in singing Handel’s immortal “Hallelujah Chorus” at the end. It’s glorious! Experience it live when Maestro David Michael Wolff and The Carolina Philharmonic present Handel’s Messiah in all its splendor. Join us for this one hour performance.

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CCNC

Masterworks: Beethoven’s Fifth and Schubert’s “Unfinished” Symphonies

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Forest Creek

Wednesday, January 10, 2018

Owens Auditorium at Sandhills Community College Photo by John Gessner

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December 2017

December

December orphans the dove permits growing pains flight whispers this is why you fought —

in a wrap of bright cerements weans solstice with a mutter and a kiss bestows sparkle to ruined promises.

December lends diamonds spins a symphony in crackling trees waltzes us to the whistle of sleet —

seizes the ripple in my weary stream warns a feral life knows no end argues reasons to abridge the verdict.

December chaperons chill points out the joy in an ashen sky bends all light across the gaunt branch —

she liquors my lips with her tongue allows secrets loosed on a smile re-pours the bitter vintage till it is gone.

December is a confession knocking down the tell-tale curtain promising weakness will set you free —

directs congealed communions palming our dead leaves as wafers proffers intinction in a frosty spirit and glazes gravestones so I can sleep.

— Sam Barbee

The

Untamed Lady Film star Gloria Swanson dazzled the Sandhills, making a movie here in 1926 By Bill Case

Harry Ransom Center. The Univeristy of Texas at Austin

ell before the clock struck midnight ushering in the new year of 1926, Pinehurst was abuzz with the report that a film crew from Paramount Pictures would be visiting the Sandhills in short order to film several scenes for a new movie. Even more electrifying was the news that Gloria Swanson, arguably Hollywood’s biggest star, had been cast in the film’s lead role. The presence of Swanson’s name on theater marquees had guaranteed blockbuster profits for Paramount in the 26 silent films she had made for the company. Most of these movies were produced and directed by the studio’s legendary filmmaker Cecil B. DeMille. It was DeMille who had lured Swanson to Paramount in 1918, having been mesmerized by young Gloria’s alluring screen presence, first noted in Mack Sennett comedies, and then wasted in worse than mediocre films made by a lesser studio. DeMille realized that the 4-foot-11 Swanson was not a prototypical bombshell beauty. Much of her appeal stemmed from the unmatchable glamour and elegance she naturally projected on screen. DeMille capitalized on these qualities by branding Swanson as the ultimate clotheshorse. Women focused on Swanson’s attire and appearance and flocked to the cinema to see Gloria adorned in the latest (and sometimes over-the-top) styles. Whether ornamented in peacock or ostrich feathers, turbans, jewels or beads, she defined chic. Swanson’s haute couture attire definitely influenced women’s fashions in the ’20s. Her captivating appearance coupled with torrid on-screen romances with heartthrob actors like Rudolph Valentino and Wallace Reid made for an irresistible combination for moviegoers. Swanson’s success had given her considerable leverage in dealings with Paramount, which now compensated her upward of $20,000 weekly. The Hollywood star’s love life also provided considerable grist for the movie tabloids. The 26-year-old had already been married three times — the first at age 17 to fellow actor Wallace Beery, who subsequently became an A-list star himself. She separated from Beery a year later, asserting in her memoir that Beery physically abused her. Swanson’s second marriage, in 1920, to film producer Herbert Somborn seemed more a business arrangement than the product of a love affair. The couple did parent a daughter, also named Gloria, and adopted a son, Joseph, during

December 2017 P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

their union. But that marriage crumbled also. The ink on the divorce decree was barely dry when in January 1925, Gloria married her third husband in France. A member of French nobility, Henri de la Falaise, Marquis de la Coudraye, had met Gloria while serving as her interpreter during the filming of Madame Sans-Gene. Handsome, attentive and multilingual, Henri was an authentic war hero, having demonstrated valor fighting for France in the trenches during The Great War. His status as a marquis allowed Swanson to enhance her already regal stature in show business with a title of her own. The only marital box that Henri could not check was the one marked “finances.” He had very little money of his own despite the fact that his mother was a scion of the Hennessy cognac family. Still, it seemed the couple was well matched and that Gloria’s heretofore turbulent personal life would culminate in a fairy-tale ending. Henri would accompany his wife, the “Marquise,” to Pinehurst for the filming. Preceding the glamorous couple was the film’s director, Frank Tuttle, who arrived on Monday, the 4th of January, and promptly scouted the area for potential scene locations. Better known in Hollywood circles as a writer, Tuttle had recently directed a handful of movies for Paramount, but had not previously directed Gloria Swanson. The 30-member Paramount troupe, along with Gloria’s co-star, Lawrence Gray, trailed Tuttle into town. On Thursday evening, an eight-piece band, which included legendary Pinehurst caddie Robert “Hardrock” Robinson, greeted Gloria and Henri upon their arrival at the Southern Pines railroad station platform. The stage was set for the shooting of the film eventually to be called The Untamed Lady. Swanson described the plot of the movie as a “story about a spoiled rich girl (St. Clair Van Tassel) who almost ruins her life with her willfulness but who is rescued before it is too late by a young man who truly loves her in spite of her faults.” The script called for scenarios involving car wrecks and gallops on horseback. Given that Swanson was an experienced horsewoman, Tuttle presumed he would have no need for a double for the heroine’s riding scenes. Even Pinehurst golfers, who normally displayed scant interest in cinema, were intrigued by the arrival of Swanson and the Paramount production crew. The Pinehurst Outlook reported that even the best players had “changed their playing schedules in order to be thoroughly acquainted with the doings of the small movie company that has come to this resort.” And interest in the production extended well beyond the Sandhills. The Elizabeth City Daily Advance reported “scores flocked into the Carolina Hotel to get a glimpse of the famous screen actress. Parties of girls, all ‘Swanson fans’ drove in from High Point, ninety miles away . . . Charlotte and other nearby points sent their unofficial and curious delegations. All in all, Pinehurst seethed with an activity such as is common only in boom towns.” Though Swanson may have appeared happy and carefree to her adoring fans, she was beset with turmoil regarding her future in filmmaking.

Frustrated by what she deemed to be Paramount’s poor script selections as well as the heavy workload demanded of her by the studio, Swanson had decided the previous July not to renew her contract with the company. Instead, she had inked a new deal with United Artists (UA), where she anticipated that she, like fellow UA superstars Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford, would have the freedom to choose scripts she liked. UA would also afford Swanson the opportunity to independently produce movies herself, and do so on a less demanding schedule. But before beginning her new association, she was contractually obligated to make two final movies for Paramount, the first of which was The Untamed Lady. Swanson believed that Paramount intended to make as much money as it could in these last two films by stripping the production expenses to the bone with “no big directors, no expensive stories, (and) no large casts.” She was particularly displeased with the studio’s selection of Frank Tuttle as the director of The Untamed Lady, later suggesting that “out of insecurity . . . he (Tuttle) pretended to be utterly confident at all times, the dapper Ivy League type who always had the answer ready before the question was asked.” While Gloria was initially inclined to “breeze through” the filming without making any special effort, it occurred to her that she soon would be producing her own movies so, “if the studio was determined to throw me into rote parts . . . I would take all the extra energy I might have used in more demanding roles, and devote it in learning how to make pictures. In other words, I would turn Paramount into my producing school if I could.” And she did, redirecting scenes that Tuttle had already approved, making changes to the script, and consulting one-onone with the crew’s technicians. Swanson would reflect that Tuttle (who would ultimately enjoy a successful directing career) may have come to regard her as “more willful than the girl in the script.” Nevertheless, Swanson considered the filmmaking knowledge gained during her two weeks in Pinehurst to have been invaluable preparation for the more active production role she undertook in later movies. Tuttle chose the Sandhills Woman’s Exchange cabin as the location for one scene. McKenzie’s Pond (near what is now Juniper Lake Road) was selected for another in which the obstinate St. Clair Van Tassel insists on driving across an unsafe bridge in flagrant disregard of a warning sign. At the time, McKenzie’s Pond teemed with activity. Picnickers and folks out for a brisk walk enjoyed the serene atmosphere where farmers brought their grain to Jesse McKenzie’s mill, formerly known as Ray’s Mill. Within a decade of the filming of The Untamed Lady, the dam collapsed, and all vestiges of McKenzie’s Pond would disappear. Later the dilapidated remnants of the old mill burned to the ground. Today, visitors would be hard-pressed to envision the site’s once idyllic setting. Not surprisingly, the marquise and marquis were feted during their stay in Pinehurst. Swanson and her husband were guests of honor at a dinner dance held at Pinehurst Country Club arranged by Mr. and Mrs. Arthur N. Pierson Jr., of Westfield, N.J. Mr. and Mrs. Frank Tuttle, Mr. and Mrs. Richard Tufts, and Lawrence Gray were among the attendees. Charles Picquet, the general manager of Pinehurst’s Carolina Theatre, hosted the couple at the theater for

December 2017 P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

Harry Ransom Center. The Univeristy of Texas at Austin

Lawrence Gray and Gloria Swanson in The Untamed Lady PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December 2017

the biggest crowds ever drawn by a single attraction came flocking into the two Carolina theatres” to attend the movie, and to see how the area’s familiar points appeared on the big screen. The report concluded that “the show was all right. The crowd was pretty near the whole population.” But when the film made its grand opening the next week, reviews were tepid at best. The New York Times’ review described the film as “a sort of farfetched, modernized conception of The Taming of the Shrew, but as Miss Swanson does not look like a shrew, and never acts as if she really needed taming, one may gather that, taking it by and large, William Shakespeare’s play has somewhat the better of the film.” Gloria Swanson’s rueful observation that Paramount sought to punish her imminent departure with a substandard production may not have been far off the mark. After completing an obligatory final movie for Paramount, Swanson plunged into her eagerly anticipated association with United Artists. For a while, she became something of an entrepreneurial trailblazer for women in cinema, employing the technical knowledge she acquired in Pinehurst to not only act in her films but produce them and assume the financial risks involved. She looked to Henri for advice, but the marquis’ skills did not really run in that direction. For the most part, Gloria was on her own. And though she now had a good working understanding of the filmmaking process, she had yet to learn how to control costs by keeping shooting on a tight schedule. By the star’s own admission, her first production effort took “nine months to make instead of six weeks.” Far over budget, The Loves of Sunya depleted an unhealthy portion of Swanson’s cash reserves. Undaunted, she undertook the task of bringing Sadie Thompson to the screen. The story featured a puritanical minister attempting the reformation of Sadie — a prostitute (played by Swanson). Instead the minister falls in love. Swanson cleverly maneuvered the then controversial project past the objections of the censors, and made what was subsequently regarded as one of the best of the silent movies. Swanson felt that Sadie was a potential box office hit, but she harbored a concern that many theater owners might refuse to exhibit the film. If that happened, she could be financially ruined. To make matters worse, Sadie had run over budget and Swanson needed cash, both for her own needs and for financing her next picture. So it was a beleaguered Swanson who met banker Joseph P. Kennedy (father of U.S. President John F. Kennedy) for lunch to seek financial assistance and advice. It was the start of a star-crossed relationship. After reviewing her finances, Kennedy informed Gloria that her affairs were a mess. He offered to take charge and restore order. Worn down by her debts, and Gloria Swanson and husband Henri de la Falaise, impressed by Kennedy’s Marquis de la Coudraye

December 2017P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

Photograph upper left from the tufts archives

a Friday evening affair. Gloria also made a splash at the Gun Club, which had invited members of the film troupe to take part in the club’s weekly shooting competition. Showing dead-eye proficiency, Swanson took home first prize among the female contestants. The Sandhills had been chosen as a venue for the January filming with the belief that the location would be southerly enough to be snow-free. But on the eve of the climactic scene in which Gloria was to make a dash on horseback to a log cabin to warn Lawrence Gray’s character that the movie’s villain was in hot pursuit, snow blanketed Pinehurst. With a costly delay beckoning, Tuttle scrambled to find the nearest suitable snow-free location. He found one on Drowning Creek, 15 miles south of Pinehurst, complete with a log home called Mosagiel Cabin. The 3,000acre site, which later became part of Camp Mackall, was then owned by local attorney J. Talbot Johnson. Tuttle made arrangements with Johnson for access to the property late on a Sunday night. By 9 a.m. the next morning, the crew, together with Gloria, her horse, and 10 Packard automobiles, had made the journey to Mosagiel Cabin. An hour later the day’s shooting began. The Pilot reported that Swanson soon was engaged in “riding the pine woods at more than the speed limit and tearing up the turf in the effort to rescue the unsuspecting fellow at the house.” Then, after 10 minutes in the saddle, Swanson suddenly stopped the horse in its tracks. Dismounting, she walked it back to the corral and informed the nonplussed Tuttle that she could not go through with any further riding. She made no further explanation for her sudden decision, nor did Tuttle ask for one. In her autobiography, she explained that, “I had the clearest premonition of tragedy as I rode, a voiceless warning that I must never ride again. I knew that Henri’s father had died after a riding accident, but the feeling I had admitted of no logical connection. It was a command of terrifying force . . . I couldn’t dream of ignoring it. Moreover, I knew that nothing would induce me to ever ride again.” Swanson’s double completed the shooting. The Carolina Hotel prepared sumptuous dinners for the film company at Mosagiel Cabin both Monday and Tuesday nights. At the conclusion of filming, a reception was held at the cabin where some of the locals savored the chance to chat with Swanson and the rest of the troupe. The Pilot reported the impression of one guest who gushed that “Gloria is a peach,” and that the cast was “chummy as if they were home folks.” Gloria was effusive in her flowery praise of the Sandhills. She expressed her love of Pinehurst, Mosagiel, the climate, the delicious atmosphere, the pine trees, the elegant pine straw carpets to ride over, and the wonderfully clean water. After final editing was expeditiously completed, The Untamed Lady was set for release on March 22. The well-connected Charles Picquet finagled prerelease world premiere showings at the two Carolina Theatres, by having the film air-freighted from Los Angeles at the cost of $200. Two presentations were scheduled for March 17 in Pinehurst with two more scheduled the following day at the theater in Southern Pines. The Pilot reported that “probably one of

business acumen and takecharge persona, Gloria agreed. Before long Joe Kennedy had taken over Swanson’s entire life. He would urge her to sell her distribution rights to Sadie to get clear of her mounting debts. Despite misgivings, she did so. As she expected, the movie became a hit, and Gloria would regretfully watch as the buyer amassed large profits. As Kennedy was making a concerted effort to wriggle his way into the film business himself, he cajoled Swanson into making a picture in a joint venture with his own fledgling operation, RKO Pictures. Kennedy insisted that the talented Erich von Stroheim direct the movie. But Von Stroheim was notorious for causing interminable delays and that unfortunately occurred on their project, Queen Kelly. Saddled with staggering overruns, the movie was never released in the U.S., though a modified version was shown in Europe. Swanson’s reliance on Kennedy’s judgment as a movie mogul seemed misplaced. To complicate matters, the two had become lovers. Gloria would later write that though she enjoyed a happy marriage with Henri, she “knew perfectly well that whatever adjustments or deceits must inevitably follow, the strange man beside me, more than my husband, owned me.” Kennedy managed to lure Henri away from Gloria’s side by hiring him to fill a position in Paris as European director for Pathé Studios. The Swanson-Kennedy film collaboration coincided with the advent of “talkies.” Many silent movie stars were unable to make the transition to sound, but Swanson possessed a clear and pleasing voice and had little difficulty. Her first talking picture, The Trespasser, was a major success, but a second effort was less so. Her professional and personal relationship with Kennedy came to an abrupt end after Gloria questioned Joe’s attribution of certain expenses connected to Gloria’s individual account. The end of their affair came too late to salvage Swanson’s marriage to the marquis and the two divorced. Swanson continued to acquire husbands and make movies thereafter, but her star definitely waned as she entered her 30s and the moviegoing public’s tastes changed. By 1949, she was reconciled to the fact that she would never make another movie, having been off the screen altogether for over eight years. But then director Billy Wilder cast the 50-year-old actress as a faded silent motion picture star who dreams of a comeback in Sunset Boulevard. Swanson’s knowing, on-the-mark performance won an Oscar nomination and capped a remarkable comeback that the character she played — the delusional Norma Desmond — failed to achieve. Today, Sunset Boulevard is regarded as one of the all-time film noir classics. Swanson considered most of the roles offered her after Sunset Boulevard to constitute pale imitations of her Norma Desmond character, and she turned them down. She made only three films thereafter, though she performed often on stage and in television productions. She busied herself as a nutritional advocate, writing her autobiography, and painting and sculpting. She died in 1983 at age 84. But what became of the film of The Untamed Lady? Like those who had attended the picture’s March, 1926 sneak preview at the two Carolina Theatres, I had hoped to view how McKenzie’s Pond, the Sandhills Woman’s Exchange cabin and Mosagiel Cabin appeared on screen. However, as is the case with many of the old silent movies, no reels of the film are known to presently exist. In the early days of filmmaking, a studio rarely retained a movie in its library unless someone in charge felt there was a prospect the film might be rereleased in the future. Often, the last exhibitor in a run was not even asked to return the

movie to the studio. “There was no market for a film after its theatrical run,” explains Todd Berliner, professor of film studies at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. “Studios made a practice of retaining their movies only after television and video became potential ancillary markets, allowing the studios to reap benefit from an existing film.” The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded by Martin Scorsese and dedicated to film preservation, estimates that 90 percent of American films made before 1929 are lost. The Library of Congress believes that 75 percent of all silent films are lost forever. Nonetheless, there remains a slim chance that The Untamed Lady could turn up one day. In 1978, a cache of silent movie reels was discovered beneath an ice rink in the Yukon. The films were in good condition having been protected by the permafrost from decomposition. Today North Carolina is no stranger to the cinema. The Color Purple, The Last of the Mohicans, Dirty Dancing and Talladega Nights were all filmed here by major studios. But Paramount’s production of The Untamed Lady stands as Hollywood’s first feature film shot on location in the Tar Heel State. So it was that North Carolina’s film debut and the Golden Age’s greatest female movie star joined to captivate the Sandhills for a fortnight. PS Pinehurst resident Bill Case is PineStraw’s history man. He can be reached at Bill.Case@thompsonhine.com.

The Night Before Christmas, Y’all Illustrations by L aurel Holden

‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all thro’ the towns, Not a creature was stirring, not even the hounds; The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there; The children were nestled all snug in their beds, While visions of barbecue danc’d in their heads, And Mama in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap, Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap- When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter, I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.

December 2017P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

Away to the window I flew like a flash, Tore open the shutters, and threw up the sash. When, what to my wondering eyes should appear, But a miniature sleigh, with briskets and beer, With a little old driver, so lively and quick, I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick. More rapid than beagles his sauces they came, And he whistled, and shouted, and call’d them by name: “Now! Salsa, now! Garlic, now! Curry, and Poblano, “On! Chili, on! Cumin, on! Mustard and Diablo; “To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall! “Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!” As pine needles before the hurricane fly, Twist in the wind and mount to the sky; So up to the house-top the sauces they flew, With the sleigh full of ribs - and St. Nicholas too: And then in a twinkling, I heard up above The clatter and clang of a labor of love. As I drew in my head, and was turning around, Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound:

He was dress’d in an apron, from his head to his foot, And the front was all tarnish’d with grease marks and soot; A sack full of ribs was flung on his back, And he look’d like a smoker just opening his stack: His eyes - how they twinkled! his dimples how merry, His cheeks were like RedHot, his nose like a cherry; His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow, And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow; The stump of a pick he held tight in his teeth, And the aroma of smoke hung around like a wreath. He had a broad face, and a little round belly That shook when he laugh’d, like hot soup in a deli: He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf, And I laugh’d when I saw him in spite of myself;

December 2017P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

A dash of wasabi and a twist of his head Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread. He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work, And laid out the ribs; then turnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d with a jerk, And putting his finger aside of his nose And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose. He sprung to his sleigh as fast as a missile, And away they all flew to the Pig and the Whistle: But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight- Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night. PS

Priceless Jump-starting a financial giant

By Jim Moriarty • Photograph by Tim Sayer

f the U.S. Postal Service has to use a forklift or your internet provider has to double its bandwidth to deliver your MasterCard bill after the holiday season you really have no one to blame but yourself. However, if you did feel the need to look around for a convenient scapegoat, look no further than Gary Southard. It wouldn’t be strictly accurate to say that Southard invented MasterCard, but it wouldn’t be entirely wrong either. It’s a bit like asking which Wright Brother invented manned flight. At the end of the day, the hang time is what really mattered — even if decades down the line you end up hoisting your credit limit on Southard’s petard. Southard, who has lived in Pinehurst with his wife, Sue, for the past 20 years, was the first president of the operating company that administered Master Charge, an infant venture of four California banks that would eventually metamorphose into the MasterCard behemoth that employs something in the neighborhood of 12,000 people today. Southard strolled into the picture somewhere at intersection of serendipity, salesmanship and destiny. “In November of 1966 I was hired from State Street Bank in Boston to go and do the start up, bring this company operational,” says Southard. “So I was the first employee and had the great title of president.” Today, MasterCard ads saturate TV and its billboards are ubiquitous in airports around the world. When Southard saw one in Dubai, his reaction was positively grandfatherly. “I didn’t feel it was my child,” he said, “but I have a warm place in my heart.” Born in Joplin, Missouri, in 1929 (yes, the man who helped get MasterCard off the ground was born the same year the stock market crash rang in the Great Depression) and grew up in Robinson, Illinois, home of the Heath candy bar. He attended the University of Illinois, was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Marine Corps and is a veteran of the Korean War. In March of 1953, he joined IBM where he quickly found himself seated on the same dais with Tom Watson Sr., the company’s benevolent dictator, and his successor, Tom Watson Jr., being fêted as their salesman of the year. After a brief stint with RCA where he and 18 other IBM refugees made a mostly unsuccessful attempt at starting their computer division, he joined State Street Bank in its mutual fund group. The four California banks that ultimately moved him from one coast to the other — Wells Fargo, Crocker, UCB and Bank of California — didn’t want to be in the credit card business at all but felt they couldn’t avoid it since Bank of America introduced its card,

BankAmericard, in 1959. Rather than issue cards separately, they wanted something with a common card face. With Southard’s help, they formed a company to accomplish just that. Its success kicked off a lot of begetting. The California Bank Card Association (the first venture of the four banks) begat Western States Bank Card Association, which begat Interbank Card Association (when the big Eastern banks joined in), which eventually morphed into MasterCard. The entire process took something in the neighborhood of a dozen years and left a footprint in the buying and selling of goods as big as Sasquatch’s. “The actual first Master Charge card went in the mail on July 7th, 1967. They issued cards to all their checking account holders in good standing,” says Southard. “Theft from mailboxes became a problem. When we started out, we had four Keystone Cops from L.A. as our security.” One of the banks even issued a card to: Jesus Christ, Church of the Latter Days Saints, Alameda, CA. “To the best of our knowledge, it was never used,” says Southard. It wasn’t just security that was primitive. Merchants had to physically look in a printed ledger to see if a card was still good. “What MasterCard is today, they handle 68,000 transactions a second. They do all the authorizations,” says Southard. “Visa and MasterCard are technology companies. We started with punch cards. Young people never heard of punch cards. It was pushing a lot of paper.” The now famous interlocking circles on the face were the design product of a Los Angeles ad agency, Foote, Cone and Belding. “Then they had the colors of burnt orange and ochre,” says Southard. “Our board of directors was five at California Bank Card Association at the time. The vote was 4 to 1. The one against was me. I would never have made it in the advertising world.” If Southard was a Wilbur or an Orville, Karl Hinkey, a top executive at Marine Midland Bank from Buffalo, New York, was the Godfather. He wanted his cardholders to be able to use them when they traveled to California. Enter Interbank and all the big boys — Midland, Chemical Bank, First National City Bank (Citibank), Manufacturers Hanover. “Because Master Charge had been so well accepted throughout the west, they decided it would become the common card for Interbank Card Association,” says Southard, who left his home a block from the Presidio Wall in San Francisco to move to New York to run it. And the rest is history, or at least commerce. Mexico, Japan, Canada and Great Britain all began accepting the card. “The growth was amazing,” says Southard. By 1973, Southard had moved on to form his own consulting business which he kept up until he retired. Why not? By then he knew most of the big bankers at most of the big banks in the U.S., if not the world. He had three children, Gary (Ry), Susan and Jonathan who rarely lived in the same place long enough to learn their teachers’ names. “Military families stayed put more than we did,” says Ry jokingly, who has moved to Moore County and is a fund-raiser for the Boys & Girls Club of the Sandhills in Southern Pines. “I lived in 18 homes before I graduated from high school. Nine states. Twelve school systems.” If anything, this nomadic existence seems to have had a distinctly artistic influence on Southard’s three children. Ry went to the San Francisco Art Institute where he majored in photography and minored in sculpture and painting. “I’m an artist,” he says, “but I didn’t want to be a starving artist.” Susan, who moved to Southern Pines last year, is the founder and director of the Phoenix-based Essential Theatre, now in its 28th season. She has a Master of Fine Arts from Antioch University and is the author of Nagasaki: Life After Nuclear War for which she received the Dayton Literary Peace Prize and the Lukas Book Prize, both in 2016. And Jonathan, the youngest, has a degree in theater from Trinity University in San Antonio. “I was a child actor starting at 6 or 7 years old,” he says. “Never anything big. In Rogers and Hammerstein musicals or Damon Runyon comedies I was ‘the kid.’” Now, the kid’s resume includes being first assistant director on somewhere between 75 and 80 feature films, including Titanic. “I’m about to start my 10th film with a company called Emmett Furla Oasis, very prolific action filmmakers,” he says. It’s a movie starring

Sylvester Stallone. “I just did one with him last spring, Escape Plan 2.” That the children of someone who spent a lifetime in the financial world would find their way into the arts may not be all that odd. Following his divorce in the early ‘70s, Southard was working with First National Bank of Chicago as a consultant when he met Sue who has four children of her own. They would marry 10 years later. “She found a lovely apartment for me on the Gold Coast,” says Southard, so he moved from Manhattan to the shore of Lake Michigan. While he lived in Chicago, if he wasn’t busy walking the city’s famous baseball announcer, Harry Caray, home from a routine pit stop at Sage’s, a local watering hole, Southard became a patron of the arts for the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, using his business acumen to take it from a glorified community theater to regional and national success. “I was asked to join the board and got involved with fund-raising,” says Southard. “We had these great actors, but we didn’t have enough money to pay them. A lot of them were working two, three jobs trying to stay alive. Gary Sinise. John Malkovich. John Mahoney, who played the grandfather on Frazier. Jeff Perry who’s now with Scandal. Terry Kinney who is directing a play on Broadway. Laurie Metcalfe who’s got a Tony. Sue and I used to take them out to dinner to feed them. We had an open house at the little theater, and we’d bring gallons of jug wine. You’d have guys like Roger Ebert there. We started raising money. AT&T had a big headquarters in Chicago. Eventually, they wound up giving $500,000 and that really put them on the map.” Since Gary and Sue moved to Pinehurst, a village they remembered from a trip to take tennis lessons, Gary has served as president of the board of the Ruth Pauley Lecture Series for four years and another six on the Arts Council of Moore County. Apparently, he had lots of credit to go around. Like Jonathan says, “I didn’t understand, really, until my adulthood the impact of what he was doing.” If you need a reminder, all you have to do is check your statement. PS Jim Moriarty is senior editor of PineStraw and can be reached at jjmpinestraw@ gmail.com.

Sandhills Photography Club

Selective Focus CLASS A WINNERS

1st place: Dominance - Pat Anderson

2nd place : Concrete Safari - Matt Smith

3rd place : Life is Better at the Beach - Jim Brown

1st HM: Cathedral Rock at Sedona - John German

2nd HM: Red Tail on Display - Dave Powers

December 2017 P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

CLASS B WINNERS 2nd place: Spilled Pearls - Bonny Henderson

3rd place : Blackberries - Bonny Henderson 1st place: Call Me Scarlet - Teresa Bruni

2nd HM: Dinnerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Ready Dale Jennings

1st HM: I Will Support and Defend - Daniel Dodd

CLASS C WINNERS

2nd place : Temptation - Matt Smith 1st place: Battle Cry - Donna Ford

3rd place : Reflecting - Donna Ford

S t o r y Of A H o us e

Christmas A Light Touch for Creating a Scandinavian Yuletide

By Deborah Salomon • Photographs by John Gessner

eck the halls with boughs of holly? Probably not. Chestnuts roasting on an open fire? Old school. Little drummer boys? March on by. At this echelon Christmas theme parks — Victorian, teddy bear, monochromatic — become passé. Instead, Southern Pines floral designer Matthew Hollyfield befriends his client, studies her home, her furnishings, her art and personality, even her clothes. He interprets these clues into his plan. Since Marilyn Grube, a retired federal judge with sparkling eyes and smile, is all about gardening, Matt goes au naturel — local greenery framed by many lights shaped like berries or, flanking the front door, tiny flowers. The result tiptoes a line between ho-ho-ho basic and bouffant, as in faux snow and glitter. At Chez Grube, a quiet elegance rules while allowing a few wow moments — a single 9-foot Christmas tree placed on the covered terrace but visible through windows and French doors, decorated entirely with painted glass pine cones, crowned by a bird’s nest rather than a star. This organic style invites onlookers to come closer, touch, marvel at details.

December 2017P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

arilyn presents interesting material for Matt’s personality profile. Marilyn and her husband James, both golfing Californians, had visited Pinehurst for 30 years. The East Coast posed an adventure, first Atlanta, then Pinehurst, where they retired in 2008 for familiar reasons: “I felt a connection because Pinehurst was open to outsiders from all over the country. They live here because they want to,” says Marilyn. She sought a house with gardening potential but wasn’t interested in the elongated red brick built in 1969 and hidden from the road by an overgrown berm. The Realtor had never been inside. Let’s have a look, she convinced them. Not only did the garden (“A forest, really.”) have possibilities, but Jim and Marilyn could envision stripping the house down to its studs and rebuilding with a light, airy, California presence — exterior brick painted white, archways instead of doorways, miles of crown moldings, and wall space for an impressive art collection, from Abraham Lincoln to Morgan horses bred by her father to splash-dash contemporaries, portraits of her sons and mother and a few fanciful photographs. The ceilings are high, the rooms, oversize. “My husband was a big man . . . he wanted elbow room,” Marilyn says. Once ensconced, she joined, volunteered, entertained and, of course, gardened. “It is my passion and frustration,” the latter meaning insects and varmints. “I never heard of voles. And the deer! In California, I grew roses; here, camellias and hydrangeas.” For the first few years, Christmas décor remained traditional. “I was used to family Christmases, a very special time. We went all-out heavy reds and greens.” After Jim died in December, 2013, “I ran away for four years. This is the first Christmas doing it my way.” How so? She chose Swedish, knowing nothing of bearded gnomes, only that Scandinavian décor is spare and well-designed — also that it might suit her collection of painted and lacquered figurines on Yule themes, exquisitely hand-carved from smallleaf linden or birch, brought from Russia by Ilana Stewart of Old Sport & Gallery in Pinehurst Village. PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December 2017

“Look at the expression in his eyes,” Marilyn says, lifting a Santa, lovingly. “I design them, then they are painted by families with acrylic paint I bring from the U.S.,” explains Russian-born Ilana, a longtime Delta flight attendant. “Children do the sanding. (These skilled jobs) support many families so the kids can attend university.” No duty is imposed on hand-carried craft art. Most of the figurines are displayed in the sunken library, which Marilyn calls a bridge between the kitchen/dining room and the contrasting contemporary living room. The library also houses a grand piano with inlaid panels, built for royalty in 1898 by Bluthner of Germany, purchased and rebuilt for Marilyn’s mother, a concertworthy pianist, by her father. “This is my most valuable possession, emotionally,” she says. Other appreciative Bluthner owners have been Tchaikovsky, Liberace, Debussy and The Beatles.

hat living room is from another world. Sleek, angular retro Scandinavian designs are done in white, turquoise and kelly green except for an heirloom bureau holding family Christmas photos and Jim Grube’s carved desk table, used during his entire legal career, now spread with a puzzle which the family works on during the holidays. Matt has shifted the Christmas palette accordingly to white and pastels, his population from Santas to angels; all melt into the aura of a cool, bright space created by Marilyn after her husband’s death.

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“Matt is bold, fearless,” this devoted client says. Their relationship is one of trust. Matt listens, then plans, then installs without sharing many particulars with Marilyn. Ordinarily, a floral designer works from a concept, a color, a collection or even a price point and presents his or her ideas for approval. The assignment could be one room or an entire house, billed by the hour or job. Services usually include installation and, if desired, deconstruction and packing. Matt and four elves readied the Grube residence for Christmas in about five hours. Back in the dining room, “Matt made my table magical,” Marilyn beams, by juxtaposing Papa, Mama and Baby polar bears leading Santa on his journey against red silk amaryllis and paper whites. Must not discount the decorative value of the table itself — large, round, dark, deeply grained wood reminiscent of a mountain lodge, here surrounded by molded acrylic chairs in brilliant turquoise. Matt follows the natural path into the kitchen where he expresses Noel through fruit — a citrus wreath and rusticus vine over the sink, lemongrass from Marilyn’s garden, an old armature holding apples, garlands of smilax. “Matt and I debated over the oranges and lemons, since they’re not red,” Marilyn says. “But they’re seasonal now in California, which reminds me of home.” PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December 2017

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She makes a point for regional icons. An authentic Christmas tree would be a Judean date palm, not spruce or balsam, whereas dinner might feature spit-roasted lamb or goat, maybe chicken, but certainly not turkey — and never ham.

gingerbread cottage from The Bakehouse in Aberdeen, an antipasti plate with green olives and tiny red peppers complete Christmas in a kitchen both glamorous yet restrained. One full-sized oven, a warming drawer mounted under the island and a narrow Sub-Zero supplemented by wine and cold drink storage in the butler’s pantry suffice. In the front hallway a flat metal tree holds Marilyn’s collection of mini-ornaments, some vaguely Scandinavian, including delicate painted eggshells. The entrance now makes sense given Marilyn’s leanings toward light, fresh and natural. Wired ribbons and tiny bulbs seem to float through greenery. The door wreath is oval and the mat says, simply “Hello.” With the job done, Marilyn awaits children, grandchildren, other family and guests. “I have happy memories of Christmas, as a child,” she says. “When the ornaments are unpacked, I feel they are my sentimental friends; they have personalities that go back 30 years.” Beginning now, she will take them forward against a new background, perhaps in a different language: A God Yul (Merry Christmas, in Swedish) to all … and to all a God Natt. PS

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- B o ta n i cus -

Their Darkest Hours

For brilliant red poinsettias, keep them under wraps

By Ross Howell Jr.

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or years as a grad student and later as an itinerant bachelor, I put off buying Christmas decorations because I didn’t want to move them from one apartment to the next. Holiday decorating for me meant buying poinsettias — usually in foil-wrapped containers — to get instant seasonal cheer with minimal effort. Besides, poinsettias have a cool history. Indigenous to Mexico, Euphorbia pulcherrima owes its popular name to Joel Poinsett. Born in 1779 to a wealthy family in Charleston, South Carolina, Poinsett was a world traveler. President John Quincy Adams appointed him as the first Minister to Mexico in 1825. While visiting south of Mexico City, Poinsett saw a plant known among locals as Flor de Nochebuena, or “Christmas Eve flower.” An amateur botanist, Poinsett sent samples back home. Propagated and sold, the plants by 1836 had become known in the States as “poinsettias.” So what did I do with my once-lovely poinsettias after the holidays were over? I dumped the then-desiccated plants into the trash. As time passed, my lazy approach to

holiday decorating left me feeling guiltier and guiltier. All those plants I’d tossed. What if I’d tried to winter them over, do whatever mysterious things needed to be done to have them erupt in scarlet again the following Christmas? Then one evening a message popped up on my neighborhood listserv. “Is anyone in the area trying to force poinsettias? We are trying to do it but have to travel during the ‘dark time’ and need someone to tend them for us.” The sender was Tom Krissak. Surely Krissak could give me a shortcut to poinsettia success. I mean, he already knew there was something called “dark time.” Turns out, Krissak — retired from the funeral business — had sent the message on behalf of his partner, Samuel Johnson, who’s the gardener in their household. Krissak gave me Johnson’s number. “Oh, I really just took up plants after I retired a couple years ago,” Johnson confesses over the phone. He tells me he grew up in northern Virginia but has lived all over the world. A mathematician, Johnson first came to Greensboro to teach at Guilford College. After years at Guilford, he left Greensboro for a time and studied the law, became a practicing attorney and returned to Greensboro for a second time. “I like trying to keep plants alive,” Johnson says, “but I have just the opposite of a green thumb. If you want to talk about poinsettias, you need to call Esther Maltby.” Maltby is a neighbor who recently stepped down after seven years as director of the Dunleith Community Garden on Chestnut Street. “Esther and I worked out a deal,” Johnson continues. “She’s caring for the poinsettias while we’re away. If they live, we’ll split the plants between us.” So what’s Maltby’s take on the poinsettia project? “It’s really Samuel who’s done all the research,” Maltby says. “I just agreed to babysit.” Maltby tells me she grew up in Pakistan, the daughter of Protestant missionaries. Her father was an engineer; her mother a teacher. Poinsettias were prolific where they lived in Pakistan, growing into bushes 8 to 12 feet tall. “I never gave a thought to cultivating little ones,” Maltby says with a laugh. Her strategy for forcing the poinsettias to bloom is to keep them in light— but not direct sunlight — for eight hours a day. Then she plunges them into darkness — under cardboard boxes covered by blankets — for the remaining 16 hours of the day. When Maltby sees red bracts sprouting, she’ll stop the “dark time.” She began the process in mid-October, a little concerned about having enough time to bring the plants to full Christmas glory. “Samuel messages me every day, asking how the poinsettias are doing,” she says. “I tell him they look good; they’re putting out lots of green leaves.” She pauses. “I sure hope this works,” she says. Me, too. Regardless, I realize now keeping poinsettias holiday-to-holiday requires way more mindfulness than a lazy guy like me can muster. PS Ross Howell Jr. is getting ready for Elon University’s January term, when he’ll be teaching a general studies course entitled “A Brief History of Truth.”

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December 2017i�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

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December 2017i�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

A L M A N A C

December n

By Ash Alder

Winter Is Here

Deadhead the rose bush. Prune the wild muscadine. Move the front porch pumpkins to the compost pile. The days grow shorter, yet from darkness comes light. Behold phlox and hellebores, snowdrop and iris, camellia and winter-flowering crocus. This month, while the soil is cool, plant spring bulbs and fruit trees, harvest edible weeds and winter greens, and when the work is done, create sacred space to enjoy the season. And beaucoup peppermint. First cultivated in 1750 near London, England, as an experimental hybrid between water mint and spearmint, this perennial herb has long been used for its magical and medicinal qualities. According to The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets, however, the candy cane came before its flavor. Sometime around 1670, a choirmaster in Cologne, Germany, asked a local confectioner to come up with a special candy stick to help pacify the young folks during the live Nativity on Christmas Eve. Shaped like a shepherd’s staff, this sugary creation surely kept them quiet (and buzzing) until the Magi arrived. Want to grow your own? If you’re going for potency (read: high oil content), go with black peppermint, named for its dark purple-green leaves and stems. White peppermint has a milder flavor, but crush the leaves between your fingers and feel an instant calm throughout your entire being. Because this aromatic herb can quickly take over an entire garden, and because it craves rich soil and good drainage, container gardening is recommended. Full sun increases its medicinal qualities (and makes for stronger, spicier tea).

Stocking Stuffers • Pear tree seed • Bird food • Binoculars

Peppermint Tea for Two 2 cups water 14 peppermint leaves 2 teaspoons honey

Bring water to boil Place leaves in teacups; cover mint with hot water Steep for 5 minutes Remove leaves (or not) Add honey Steep with fresh tarragon leaves and a quarter-inch slice of vanilla bean to enter a new realm. Add lemon wedge to continue the journey.

Celestial Shower

As we approach the winter solstice — the longest night of the year — we look to the stars to celebrate a new season, and the final hours of the year. The Geminid meteor shower peaks on the night of Wednesday, Dec.13, until the earliest hours of Thursday, Dec. 14. Sky-watchers may see as many as 60 to 120 shooting stars per hour predawn. Watching with friends or loved ones? Steep a pot of peppermint tea or keep the cocoa simmering on the stovetop for this enchanted celestial event. PS

In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy. — William Blake

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Arts Entertainment C a l e n da r

Christmas Tree Lighting 12/

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 an event. To add an event, email us at pinestraw.calendar@gmail.com OUTPOST BOOK SALES. The December monthly sale at the Given Book Shop features Holiday, Crafts, Religion and Christmas. The author sale features Mary Higgins Clark & Janet Evanovich. Buy one, get one free. Stop by and stock up and help support community programs. Given Outpost/Book Shop, 95 Cherokee Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 585-4820 or 295-6022.

Continuing through December 14

Supper with Santa 12/

Campbell House Galleries, 482 E Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2787 or mooreart.org.

Continuing through December 17 THE BEST CHRISTMAS PAGEANT EVER. 7:30–9:30 p.m. In this hilarious Christmas classic, a couple struggling to put on a church Christmas pageant is faced with casting the Herdman kids, probably the most inventively awful kids in history. A highlight of Fayetteville’s holiday season for more than 25 years. Admission: $10–15. Cape Fear Regional Theatre, 1209 Hay St., Fayetteville. Info: (910) 323-4233 or www.cfrt.org.

Friday, December 1

Continuing through December 16

CANDY CANE HUNT. 5 p.m. Bring the whole family for holiday fun. Activities include crafts, games, photos with Santa, and of course the Candy Cane Hunt (for ages 4–10). Free admission. Children must be accompanied by an adult. Memorial Park and SP Recreation Center, 210 Memorial Park Court, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2463 or www.southernpines.net.

ART EXHIBIT. 9 a.m.–5 p.m. weekdays, 2–4 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 16. “Art 5 Ways.” The Arts Council of Moore County presents this exhibit showcasing Susan Edquist (jewelry & mixed media), Laura Frazier (wool sculpture), Jenny Gorman (fiber art), Donald A. Parks (paintings) and Jim Tripp (pottery).

CHRISTMAS TREE LIGHTING. 5–7:30 p.m. The Village of Pinehurst Christmas Tree Lighting Celebration will include photos with Santa, hay rides through the Village center, cookie decorating and musical entertainment. Tree lighting at 6:30 p.m. Admission is free. Food and beverages will be available

ART EXHIBIT AND SALE. Artists League of the Sandhills will hold its 23rd Annual Art Exhibit and Sale through December 14 during gallery hours (Mon.–Sat., 12–3 p.m. 129 Exchange St., Aberdeen. Info: (910) 9443979 or www.artistleague.org.

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First Eve Celebration 12/

for purchase. Tufts Memorial Park, 1 Village Green Road W., Pinehurst. Kirk Tours will provide free shuttle service from the Village Hall to the event. Info: (910) 295-1900. HOLLY JOLLY HOLIDAY PAINTING. 12:30–2 p.m. Each student will paint two 5 x 5 canvas paintings with a holiday theme. These make a beautiful and unique decoration for your tree or as a special gift. Cost: $10, all supplies included. Artists League of the Sandhills, 129 Exchange St., Aberdeen. Info: (910) 944-3979 or www.artistleague.org.

Friday, December 1 & 2 HOLIDAY ART SALE & JEWELRY EXTRAVAGANZA. 10 a.m.–4 p.m. Campbell House Galleries Art Sale: Select art on sale at 10–50 percent off. Carol Shannon & Perfect Presents: Fashion jewelry inspired by creations of noted jewelry designers. Silent Art Auction bidding ends on Dec. 2 at 3 p.m. Campbell House, 482 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2787.

Friday, December 1—3 THE 21ST ANNUAL SANDHILLS CHILDREN’S CENTER FESTIVAL OF TREES. 10 a.m. daily. A winter wonderland of decorated trees, wreaths, gift baskets to be auctioned via online. Proceeds benefit children with developmental needs. Admission is by any monetary donation at the door. Carolina Hotel, 80 Carolina

December 2017 i��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

ca l e n da r Vista Drive, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 692-3323 or www. SandhillsChildrensCenter.org.

Friday, December 1—31 JOY OF ART STUDIO. Joy Hellman offers classes and workshops for all ages in journaling, painting, drawing, fiber and multimedia. She also holds retreats and other events for women to support, nourish and encourage creativity and personal development. Class times and prices vary. Please see Joy’s website for a complete list of events this month. Unless otherwise stated, classes are held at Joy of Art Studio, 139 E Pennsylvania Ave., B, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 528-7283 or www.joyof-art.com.

Saturday, December 2 REINDEER FUN RUN. 7:15 a.m.–12 p.m. A community event for serious runners, recreational walkers, families, and pets. Join in the holiday cheer with the 5K Reindeer Fun Run/ Walk, 12K Christmas Run, and Kids Egg Nog Jog to support the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Sandhills. 100 E Main St., Aberdeen. Info: (910) 693-3045 or reindeerfunrun.com. JR FLEA MARKET. 9–11 a.m. (Set up: 8–9 a.m.) Young people (ages 7 to 16, accompanied by a parent) will set up their stores (crafts, toys, clothes, etc.) and put their bargaining skills to the test. Sellers must pre-register (space is limited). Downtown Park. For more information and prices: (910) 6922463 or nc-southernpines.civicplus.com. THOMAS POTTERY’S CHRISTMAS OPEN HOUSE. 9 a.m.–5 p.m. Enjoy holiday decorations and refreshments; tour the studio; and shop handmade pottery, items from the Winter Scene Collection, handmade ornaments and lit Christmas trees. 1295 S. NC Hwy 705, Seagrove. Info: (336) 879-4145 or explorepinehurst.com. STARWORKS HOLIDAY ORNAMENT SALE. 10 a.m.–4 p.m. Select from more than 2,500 handcrafted glass and ceramic ornaments in all colors, shapes and sizes. Starworks Gallery, 100 Russell Drive, Star. Info: (910) 428-9001. MAKE YOUR OWN GLASS ORNAMENT. 10 a.m.–3 p.m. Make your own glass ornament at STARworks with the help of one of our qualified instructors. Starworks Gallery, 100 Russell Drive, Star. Info: (910) 428-9001. SATURDAY KIDS PROGRAM. 10 a.m.–12 p.m. “Wonderful Winter.” Learn about different books, characters and activities to read and do this winter. Bring a friend and sign up for a free library card. Given Memorial Library. 150 Cherokee Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 295-6022 or www. giventufts.com. ANNIE HALLINAN READING. 10:30 a.m. This beloved author of children’s books will be at the 1810 historical log cabin reading her new book Petrith Pin. Chef Katrina has planned a special kid-friendly menu for those who might like to stay for lunch. Sandhills Woman’s Exchange, 15 Azalea Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 783-5169.

Annual Southern Pines Christmas Parade. 11 a.m. Enjoy local marching bands, festive activities and an appearance from Santa Claus. The parade begins at Vermont Ave. and proceeds down the west side of Broad St. Historic District, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 315-6508. POTTERY RECEPTION AND SALE. 6–8 p.m. “A Potter’s Christmas.” The Northern Moore Family Resource Center (NMFRC) will host a closing reception and sale. Fifteen percent of the proceeds from sales and all proceeds from tickets will benefit NMFRC. Tickets: $20/Individual; $100/ Patron. Hastings Art Gallery at the Boyd Library, Sandhills Community College, 3395 Airport Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 695-3879. LIVE MUSIC. 7–10 p.m. Jen Hillard performs at the Wine Cellar & Tasting Room, 241-A N.E. Broad St., Southern Pines. Free to the public. Info: (910) 692-3066. FAYETTEVILLE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA. 7:30 p.m. “A Carolina Holiday Concert.” FSO will be partnering with the Fayetteville Academy Chorus for this family-friendly concert featuring both traditional and popular holiday pieces. A preconcert talk at 6:45 p.m. Tickets: $28/adults, $25/seniors & military; $11/students or children ages 6-18. Children 5 and under are free. Tickets can be purchased online or by phone. Due to possible sell-out, tickets are not guaranteed to be available for purchase at the door. Huff Concert Hall, Methodist University, 5400 Ramsey St., Fayetteville. Info and tickets: (910) 433-4690 or www.fayettevillesymphony.org.

Saturday, December 2 & 3 CHRISTMAS CONCERT. 4 p.m. Saturday, 7 p.m. Sunday. Celebrate Christmas with a choir and orchestra performing traditional Christmas favorites, jazz, Southern gospel, and classic Christmas anthems. Come early for good seats. Pinehurst United Methodist Church, 1411 Airport Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 215-4559 or www.pinehurstumc.org.

Sunday, December 3 THE FESTIVAL MARKETPLACE. 10 a.m.–4 p.m. Shop over 75 vendors offering unique gift ideas for your holiday shopping. Admission is free. At the Festival of the Trees, Grand Ballroom, Carolina Hotel, 80 Carolina Vista Drive, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 692-3323 or www.SandhillsChildrensCenter.org. CHRISTMAS OPEN HOUSE. 1–4 p.m. The Moore County Historical Association and Friends of the Bryant House invite you to get a taste of how early settlers celebrated Christmas. Along with old-timey decorations, there will be refreshments, live music and lots of Yule cheer. No admission charge. Bryant House and McClendon Cabin, 3361 Mount Carmel Road, Carthage. Info: (910) 692-2051. HOLIDAY JUBILEE. 1–5 p.m. Enjoy the traditions of holidays past with music, cooking on the 1902 stove and a Victorian caroling concert on the Poe House front porch with The Coventry Carolers (at 1:30 & 3:30). Museum of the Cape Fear Historical Complex, 801 Arsenal Ave., Fayetteville. Info: (910) 486-1330.

TUSCA SATURDAY, JANURAY 27 AT 1PM NUTCRACKER SUNDAY, DECEMBER 17 AT 1PM ROMEO AND JULIET SUNDAY, JANUARY 21 AT 1PM

LE’ELISIR DE’ AMOUR SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 10 AT 1PM LABOHEIM SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 24 AT 1PM

MILL PRONG HOLIDAY OPEN HOUSE. 2–5 p.m. The Mill Prong House (circa 1795) will be filled with music and natural decorations reminiscent of the early 1800s. Refreshments will be recipes found in the Keepers of the Hearth, ($15), a collection of the foods, stories and recipes found in notes and ledgers from Mill Prong House. Docents dressed in early Scottish period attire offer tours. 3062 Edinburgh Road, Raeford. Info: (910) 692-7272 or 466-9008. NATURE STUDY PROGRAM. 3 p.m. “Wreath Making on Make a Gift Day.” Come out to Weymouth Woods and make a natural wreath for a loved one. The park will provide ecologically harvested limbs and vines for you to turn into a work of art for the holiday season. Weymouth Woods-Sandhills Nature Preserve, 1024 Fort Bragg Road, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2167 or www.ncparks.gov. BUILD COMMUNITY @ YOUR LIBRARY. 3–4 p.m. Explore the history of our Town. Join Carley Sutton of A Step in Time Walking Tours for an in-depth look at the amazing history, architecture and culture of Southern Pines. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235. THE ROOSTER’S WIFE. 6:46 p.m. (doors open at 6). April Verch and Joe Newberry perform. Cost: $20 in advance. Poplar Knight Spot, 114 Knight St., Aberdeen. Info: (910) 944-7502 or www.theroosterswife.org.

Monday, December 4 ANNUAL HOLIDAY PUPPET SHOW. 5:30 p.m. Children of all ages and their families are invited to enjoy holiday songs, a puppet show and an ornament-making session. Refreshments will be provided. Children are invited to wear their PJs for a comfy and fun end to the day. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235. SANDHILLS COMMUNITY COLLEGE CHRISTMAS CONCERT. 7 p.m. Come one, come all and join the SCC students and faculty to celebrate the holiday season through traditional and new music. The concert is free and open to the public. Owens Auditorium, Sandhills Community College, 3395 Airport Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 695-3828.

Wednesday, December 6 HOLIDAY CRAFT FAIR. 10 a.m.–2 p.m. Local and regional artisans displaying and selling their handmade crafts. Dempsey Student Center, Sandhills Community College, 3395 Airport Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 695-3766. ALZHEIMERS WORKSHOPS. 1–2:30 p.m. In honor of Alzheimer Awareness and Caregiver month, Chris Engelfried presents a four-part educational series for family caregivers or people interested in learning about Alzheimer’s disease or related dementias. Space is limited. Given Memorial Library, 150 Cherokee Road, Pinehurst. Info and reservations: Chris at (910) 235-4242.

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December 2017i��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

ca l e n da r REC-ING CREW SOCIAL CLUB. 4–5:30 p.m. This inclusive program gives young adults a chance to unwind and socialize with their friends. The group will meet each month for a different activity. Light refreshments will be served. December activity: Christmas Movie and Ornament Making. Cost: $15/ resident; $30/non-resident. Recreation Room, 300 Kelly Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 295-1900 or pinehurstrec.org.

tradition of music and Christmas stories in The Great Room and hear poet Shelby Stephenson read “Why the Chimes Rang” by Raymond MacDonald Alden. This family-friendly event is free and open to the public. No reservations required. Weymouth Center for Arts & Humanities, 555 E Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-6261 or www.weymouthcenter.org.

members, $20. At the door: $20/members and active duty military; $25/non-members. Available at Weymouth Center Office, Campbell House, Country Bookshop, Lady Bedford’s Tea Parlor, Given Memorial Library and Eloise Trading Co. Weymouth Center for Arts & Humanities, 555 E Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-6261 or www.weymouthcenter.org.

CHRISTMAS HOUSE PREVIEW GALA. 6–9 p.m. Dress up and enjoy a glamorous evening of music and dancing. There will be heavy hors d’oeuvres from Elliott’s on Linden, cocktails, and a boutique. Tickets: $75/member and active duty military; $85/non-member. Reservations required. Weymouth Center for Arts & Humanities, 555 E Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-6261 or www.weymouthcenter.org.

ABERDEEN TREE LIGHTING. 6 p.m. See the lighting of the Christmas tree and the arrival of Santa Claus, with a reading of “Twas the Night Before Christmas.” The Depot in historic downtown Aberdeen. http://www.townofaberdeen.net.

CAROLINA HORSE PARK HOLIDAY EVENT. The Triangle Sandhills Holiday Classic- Triangle Farms “Winter to Spring” ‘A’ Circuit. Carolina Horse Park, 2814 Montrose Road, Raeford. Info: (910) 875-2074 and http://www. trianglefarms.com.

Thursday, December 7 SENIORS’ DAY OUT. 10:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m. Holiday Tea at Carolina Inn. Enjoy the magnificent decorations of the season, festive music, delightful teas, savory tea sandwiches and delightful sweets. Cost: $52/residents; $104/non-residents. Assembly Hall, 395 Magnolia Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 295-1900 or www. pinehurstrec.org. MUSIC AND MOTION STORYTIME. 10:30 a.m. For all children, especially ages 2 through 5. This event incorporates stories and songs along with dancing, playing and games designed to foster language and motor-skill development. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or www.sppl.net. TRADITIONAL CHRISTMAS CAROLS PROGRAM. 5:30–8:30 p.m. You are invited to enjoy this annual holiday

LIVE AT THE CAMEO ARTHOUSE. 7:30 p.m. (doors open at 7). Anthony da Costa and Kimber Ludiker perform. Cost: $15 in advance. The Cameo Arthouse Theater, 225 Hay St., Fayetteville. Info: (910) 486-6633 or www.cameoarthouse.com.

Thursday, December 7—9 31ST ANNUAL SANDHILLS TEEN CHALLENGE CHRISTMAS BANQUET. 6:30 p.m. Enjoy an evening of music by the Teen Challenge Choir, inspiring testimonials and a delicious dinner. Cost: $75/table of 8 people or $10/person. Adults only please. Sandhills Teen Challenge Center, 444 Farm Life School Road, Carthage. Info and reservations: Jamie @ (910) 947-2944.

Thursday, December 7—10 WEYMOUTH CHRISTMAS OPEN HOUSE. 10 a.m.–3 p.m. Thursday through Saturday; 1–4 p.m. Sunday. See the decorated Boyd House and Stables and enjoy complimentary refreshments and music in the Great Room. Tickets: Advance Purchase Members & Active Duty Military/$15; Non-

Thursday, December 7—January 11 SALON-STYLE EXHIBITION AND RECEPTION. 3–5 p.m. opening reception. Sandhills Community College Visual Art Students are having a Salon-Style Exhibition in the Hastings Gallery at the Boyd Library, Sandhills Community College, 3395 Airport Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 695-3879.

Friday, December 8 NATURE STUDY PROGRAM. 10 a.m. Owls on the Prowl (For Wee Ones). Come learn about these night flyers through activities (a book, games and crafts) geared towards 3- to 5-year-olds and meant for parents to do with their children. Weymouth Woods-Sandhills Nature Preserve, 1024 Fort Bragg Road, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2167 or www. ncparks.gov. SUPPER WITH SANTA. 6–7:30 p.m. Join Aberdeen Parks and Recreation for a catered dinner from Texas Roadhouse, enjoy holiday crafts and watch Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

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ca l e n da r as you hang out with Santa. Tickets: $5/child; $10/adult resident; $15/adult non-resident. Tickets on sale at and event held at the Aberdeen Recreation Center, 301 Lake Park Crossing, Aberdeen. Info: (910) 944-7275 or www.townofaberdeen.net. THE ROOSTER’S WIFE. 6:46 p.m. (doors open at 6). Anthony da Costa and Kimber Ludiker perform. Cost: $10 in advance. The Poplar Knight Spot, 114 Knight St., Aberdeen. Info: (910) 944-7502 or www.theroosterswife.org. LIVE MUSIC. 7–10 p.m. Becca Rae performs at the Wine Cellar & Tasting Room, 241-A N.E. Broad St., Southern Pines. Free to the public. Info: (910) 692-3066.

Friday, December 8 & 9 FOURTH ANNUAL MADRIGAL DINNER. 6:30-8:30 p.m. A Medieval frolic of choristers, jokesters, dancers, raconteurs and a peasant’s repast of homemade stew, vegetable soup, hearty breads and apple crisp. Costumes encouraged, but not required. Tickets: $20/adults; $10/children under 12. Available at Given Outpost and The Country Bookshop, or from Nancy at (910) 695-6727. Advance purchase required. Congregational Church of Pinehurst UCC, 895 Linden Road, Pinehurst. www. youarewelcomehere.org. Info: Anne at (910) 639-9096.

Friday, December 8, 15 and 22 GINGERBREAD HOUSE DECORATING CLASSES. Participants decorate and get to take home their own madefrom-scratch gingerbread house (about the size of a full-sized cake). Hot chocolate will be served. $40 pp. The Flavor Exchange, 115 E New Hampshire Ave., Southern Pines. Info and menus: (910) 725-1345 or www.theflavorexchange.com.

Friday, December 8—10 CHRISTMAS OPEN HOUSE AT THE SHAW HOUSE. 1–4 p.m. Tour the house and enjoy old-time decorations, music, warm apple cider and homemade cookies. Visit our Gift Shoppe for unique gift items including books of local interest, soaps, note cards, and collectible treasures. Free admission and parking. Shaw House, 110 W. Morganton Road, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2051 or www.moorehistory.com.

Friday, December 8—10, 1 4—17, 21—23, and 26—30 7TH ANNUAL HOLIDAY LIGHTS IN THE GARDEN. 5:30–9 p.m. Attractions and festivities include a synchronized show of lights and music shimmering over the Cypress Pond, thousands of lights aglow, photos with Santa, S’mores over the fire pit, free crafts for children and holiday selections from the Garden Gift Shop. Call for admission price. Cape Fear Botanical Garden, 536 N. Eastern Blvd., Fayetteville. Info and registration: (910) 486-0221 ext. 20 or www.capefearbg.org.

Saturday, December 9 STEAM SATURDAY. All day. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math). Experiment and craft tables will be out all day. From 11 a.m. to noon, join the library staff for a special Hour of Code event. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or www.sppl.net. CHRIS ENGELFRIED AND JILL JOHNSON READING. 10 a.m. These popular North Carolina children’s book authors will read their stories at the 1810 historic log cabin. Surprise visitors Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus will arrive at 11:30 a.m., and from 12 until 1:30 p.m., pony rides will be offered in the cabin parking area. Sandhills Woman’s Exchange, 15 Azalea Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 783-5169.

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115 N Poplar St., Aberdeen. Info: (910) 944-7275. LIVE AT THE MET. 12:55 p.m. Hansel and Gretel, in HD via satellite, HD Holiday Encore. Cost: $10. Sunrise Theater, 250 N.W. Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8501 or sunrisetheater.com. CHRISTMAS HORSE CARRIAGE PARADE. 1 p.m. Members of the Moore County Driving Club decorate their horses and carriages for this annual Christmas parade through the historic district of downtown Southern Pines. Info: (910) 639-2359. CANDLELIGHT WINE AND CHEESE TOUR. 5:30–8:30 p.m. Enjoy a wine and cheese reception and an intimate look at Christmas House in candlelight. Cost: $35/member; $45/nonmember. Please RSVP by December 6. Weymouth Center for Arts & Humanities, 555 E Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-6261 or www.weymouthcenter.org. USA DANCE. 6:30–9:30 p.m. The Carolina Pines Chapter will hold its holiday dance at the Southern Pines Elks Lodge. Doors open at 6:30. Complimentary dance lesson begins at 7. Dancing continues until 9:30. You do not have to be a member to attend. Admission is $10 at the door. Elks Lodge, 280 Country Club Circle, Southern Pines. Info: (919) 770-1975. LIVE MUSIC. 7–10 p.m. Abigail Dowd performs at the Wine Cellar & Tasting Room, 241-A N.E. Broad St., Southern Pines. Free to the public. Info: (910) 692-3066. OLD FASHIONED CHRISTMAS AT MALCOLM BLUE FARM. 1–5 p.m. Celebrate Christmas in the spirit of the 1820s with music, decorations, children’s activities and light refreshments. The farmhouse, pack house and museum will be open to visitors. Malcolm Blue Farm, 1177 Bethesda Road, Aberdeen. Info: (910) 944-7275 or www.townofaberdeen.net.

Sunday, December 10 SUNDAY FILM SERIES. 2:30 p.m. This movie for adults is about eight different couples dealing with their love lives during the frantic holiday season. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235. NATURE STUDY PROGRAM. 3 p.m. Prescribed Fire. Learn why, when and how controlled burns are conducted at Weymouth Woods. Weymouth Woods-Sandhills Nature Preserve, 1024 Fort Bragg Road, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2167 or www.ncparks.gov. MURPHY FAMILY CHRISTMAS CONCERT. 3 p.m. In this Sunrise tradition, the Murphys fill the theater with rich talent that will keep you coming back for more. Cost: $18 general admission; $15 children 12 and under; and $22 VIP. Sunrise Theater, 250 N.W. Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 6923611 or sunrisetheater.com. EPISCOPAL DAY SCHOOL CANDLELIGHT TOUR OF HOMES. 1–5:30 p.m. The tour includes five gorgeous homes decked out in holiday finery, each with its own spirit and character. Tickets: $20 in advance in the Episcopal Day School office (340 E. Massachussetts Ave., Southern Pines) or at The Given Library, The Estate of Things, Country Bookshop, Lady Bedford’s Tea Parlour, Thyme & Place, and Eloise. Tickets will be $25 on the day of the event. (910) 692-3492. THE ROOSTER’S WIFE. 6:46 p.m. (doors open at 6). Jonathan Byrd and Corin Raymond perform. Cost: $20 in advance. The Poplar Knight Spot, 114 Knight St., Aberdeen. Info: (910) 944-7502 or www.theroosterswife.org. MOORE COUNTY CHORAL SOCIETY HOLIDAY CONCERT. 7–8:30 p.m. The Choral Society will be joined by Moore Brass, the premier brass ensemble of the Sandhills, in this performance of both sacred and secular tunes. Tickets: $15 (Children’s rates available). Tickets available through members,

ABERDEEN CHRISTMAS PARADE. 11 a.m.–12 p.m. Parade registration deadline is December 1. Forms can be found at townofaberdeen.net. Aberdeen Parks and Recreation, December 2017i��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

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the Arts Council, Seven Lakes Winery, Kirk Tours and at the door. Owens Auditorium, Sandhills Community College, 3395 Airport Road, Pinehurst. Info: (919) 920-4621.

Monday, December 11 EVENING STORYTIMES. 6 p.m. Children ages 3 through 3rd grade and their whole families are invited to enjoy a session that incorporates stories and activities that foster a love of books and reading, with tips for winding down after dinner and getting the week off on the right track. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or www.sppl.net. SANDHILLS PHOTO CLUB MEETING. 6 p.m. Meeting and Holiday dinner. TBA. Theater in the Hannah Center at The O’Neal School, 3300 Airport Road, Southern Pines. Info: www.sandhillsphotoclub.org.

Monday, December 11 & 12 Music, refreshments, and lots of shopping in the relaxing atmosphere of days gone by.

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BILTMORE CHRISTMAS. This overnight tour includes one night’s stay at the Village Hotel on the Biltmore Estate, in Asheville; breakfast; lunch; ticket to a self-guided tour of the Biltmore Estate; a guided tour of the Winery at Biltmore, with wine tasting; and transportation. Cost: $628/single, $488pp/ double, 448pp/triple, and 429pp/quad. Reserve by Dec. 5. Kirk Tours and & Limousine. 90 Cherokee Road, #2f. Info and reservations: (910) 295-2257.

Tuesday, December 12 GIVEN HAPPY HOUR AND MIXER. 5:30–7:30 p.m. “Light Up the Night — Hanukkah & Christmas Traditions and Legends,” starring Dolores Muller and Joyce Reehling and co-sponsored by The Sandhills Woman’s Exchange and the Given Memorial Library. Includes wine and hors d’oeuvres and a Chinese auction. Tickets: $25, available at and in support of the Sandhills Woman’s Exchange and Given Memorial Library. Given Outpost and Book Shop, 95 Cherokee Road. Seating is limited. Info: (910) 295-4677.

Wednesday, December 13 ART CLASS (ALL MEDIA PAINTING). 1–4 p.m. Wednesdays through Jan. 24 (6 sessions). For all levels of experience, artist Eileen Strickland covers basic information on materials, techniques, color theory and composition. Cost: $52/resident; $104/non-resident. Pinehurst Parks and Rec, Recreation Room, 300 Kelly Road, Pinehurst. Info and preregistration: (910) 295-1900 or 295-2817. WINE AND WHIMSEY ART CLASS. 6–8 p.m. “Snowman.” A perfect date night or girls’ night out. All supplies and instruction provided. Wine, beer and snacks available for purchase. (All snacks and alcoholic beverages consumed during this class must be purchased on site.) Cost: $20/ member; $25/non-member. Cape Fear Botanical Garden, 536 N. Eastern Blvd., Fayetteville. Info: (910) 486-0221. Register online at form.jotform.com/51666115773964.

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BALLROOM DANCING. 6:30–10 p.m. Cape Fear Ballroom Dancers Holiday Ball. Formal Dinner Dance. Cost: $50/ members; $60/guests. Tuxedo attire. Highland Country Club, 105 Fairway Drive, Fayetteville. Info: (910) 987-4420 or www. capefearballroomdancers.org.

Thursday, December 14 ART CLASS (OIL PAINTING). 1–4 p.m. Thursdays through Jan. 25 (6 sessions). For all levels of experience, artist Eileen Strickland covers basic information on materials, techniques, color theory and composition. Cost: $52/resident; $104/nonresident. Pinehurst Parks and Rec, Recreation Room, 300 Kelly Road, Pinehurst. Info and pre-registration: (910) 295-1900 or 295-2817.

December 2017i��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

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Friday, December 15 CAROLINA OPRY AT MYRTLE BEACH. “The Christmas Special.” Take a day trip to Myrtle Beach for this show featuring over 35 professional dancers, singers, a clogging group, and orchestra. Cost: $130/person, including show admission, buffet dinner at the Original Benjamin’s Seafood Buffet and transportation. Lunch before the 1 p.m. show will be dutch treat lunch at a nearby cafe. Reserve by Dec. 9. Kirk Tours & Limousine, 90 Cherokee Road, #2f, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 2952257 or kirktours.com. DAYTRIPPERS. 5–9 p.m. Christmas Lights Tour. This Pinehurst Parks and Rec program is designed for teens and young adults (ages 14+) to get out and explore North Carolina. This month the group will have dinner at Cracker Barrel before touring the Christmas lights around town and caroling with one another. Cost: $20/resident; $40/non-resident (includes admission, transportation and snack — bring money for lunch). Group departs from and returns to Village Hall, 395 Magnolia Road, Pinehurst. Info: (919) 295-2817 or pinehurstrec.org. LIVE MUSIC. 7–10 p.m. Becca Rae performs at the Wine Cellar & Tasting Room, 241-A N.E. Broad St., Southern Pines. Free to the public. Info: (910) 692-3066.

Friday, December 15—17 AMAHL AND THE NIGHT VISITORS. 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 4 p.m. Sunday. Three wisemen bearing gifts for a newborn baby come upon a home with a mother and her child, and the next morning a miracle occurs. Produced by Touching Humanity and the new Sandhills Repertory Theatre Company. Tickets: $28/adults; $20/children under 18, includes free treats

from Thyme and Place. Limited tickets at Given Library and the Country Bookshop. Dine at Ironwood using your ticket for a discount. All proceeds benefit musical programming and children with special needs. Presented at the Hannah Theatre, O’Neal School, 3300 Airport Road, Southern Pines. Info and tickets: (347) 385-4207 or www.touchinghumanityinc. org. For reservations at Ironwood: (910) 255-0000.

Saturday, December 16 NATURE STUDY PROGRAM. 10 a.m. Wildings: Hibernation Stations. Join the Wildings program series (geared for 6 to 10-year-olds) this weekend to learn how different animals make it through these cold winter months and build your own little hibernation den. Weymouth Woods-Sandhills Nature Preserve, 1024 Fort Bragg Road, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2167 or www.ncparks.gov. TRAIL. 3 p.m. All 6th–10th graders are invited to join the Library Crafts & Cocoa event. Relax, sip hot cocoa, and create your own snow globe and other crafts at this holiday edition of TRAIL (Teens Reading and Investigating Life). Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or www.sppl.net. LIVE MUSIC. 7–10 p.m. Ethan Hanson performs at the Wine Cellar & Tasting Room, 241-A N.E. Broad St., Southern Pines. Free to the public. Info: (910) 692-3066.

Sunday, December 17 BOLSHOI BALLET SERIES. 1 p.m. The Nutcracker, in HD via satellite, Christmas would not be the same without the enchanting tale of Marie and her handsome Nutcracker prince

and Tchaikovsky’s timeless musical score. Cost: $25. Sunrise Theater, 250 N.W. Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 6928501 or sunrisetheater.com. SUNDAY KIDS MOVIE. 2:30 p.m. In this movie, an 8-yearold troublemaker must protect his house from a pair of burglars when he is accidentally left home alone by his family. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235. NATURE STUDY PROGRAM. 3 p.m. Winter Bird Walk. Enjoy an afternoon bird walk to learn about which feathered friends from the north will be spending their winter here. Weymouth Woods-Sandhills Nature Preserve, 1024 Fort Bragg Road, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2167 or www. ncparks.gov. FAYETTEVILLE SYMPHONY YOUTH ORCHESTRA. 4–6 p.m. Winter Concert. Students of the FSYO program, led and conducted by Dr. Larry Wells, perform their winter concert showcasing the pieces they worked on during the fall semester. The concert will feature the FSYO concert band, FSYO string orchestra and FSYO full orchestra. Free Admission. Huff Concert Hall, Methodist University, 5400 Ramsey St., Fayetteville. Info: (910) 433-4690.

Monday, December 18 HOLIDAY JAZZ CONCERT. 6–8 p.m. Enjoy the music of the season at this intimate concert, featuring a quintet of excellent North Carolina jazz musicians. Holiday punch, wine, hors d’oeuvres, chocolate chip cookies and gingerbread will be served at the reception. Tickets: $50/members and active duty military; $55/non-members. Reservations

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ca l e n da r required. Weymouth Center for Arts & Humanities, 555 E Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-6261 or www.weymouthcenter.org.

Tuesday, December 19 LIT WITS. 5:30 p.m. Join the Library’s newest book club, the Lit Wits, for 11- to 15-year-olds. You can check out your copy of the book, The Wild Robot, by Peter Brown at the library from Dec. 1–17. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or www.sppl.net. JAMES BOYD BOOK CLUB. 2 p.m. Something Rich and Strange, a collection of short stories by Ron Rash. Free and open to the public. Weymouth Library, Weymouth Center for Arts & Humanities, 555 E Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-6261 or www.weymouthcenter.org. HANDEL’S MESSIAH. 7:30–8:30 p.m. The Carolina Philharmonic Chorus and Orchestra perform this musical portrait of the birth of Christ, which culminates in the glorious Hallelujah Chorus. Maestro David Michael Wolff is joined by tenor Daniel Shirley, mezzo soprano Jami Rhodes, soprano Young Mee Jun and a bass-baritone. Tickets: $30–$60 (student and active military discounts available) and can be purchased at www.carolinaphil.yapsody.com; by phone; or at Heavenly Pines Fine Jewelry, the Artists League of The Sandhills, the Arts Council of Moore County, Nature’s Own, Sandhills Winery, The Country Bookshop or The Given Outpost & Book shop. Owens Auditorium, Sandhills Community College, 3395 Airport Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 687-0287 or www.carolinaphil.org.

Wednesday, December 20 BASIC HATHA YOGA. 9–10 a.m. (Wednesdays through Jan. 31) Instructor Darlind Davis teaches this course for adults 18+ who may have had no previous experience with yoga. Cost: $40/resident; $80 non-resident. Pinehurst Parks & Rec, 300 Kelly Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 295-1900 or pinehurstrec.org. TAI CHI. 10:30 a.m.–11:30 a.m. (Wednesdays through Jan. 31) This course is taught by Tai Chi Master Instructor Lee Holbrook for adults 18+ and focuses on three styles of Tai Chi: Yang, Wu, and Beijing. Cost: $33/resident; $66 non-resident. Pinehurst Parks & Rec, 300 Kelly Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 295-1900 or www.pinehurstrec.org. EARLY RELEASE FROM SCHOOL BOWLING TRIP. 11:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m. For ages 5-13. Cost: $18/resident; /$36/ non-resident (includes 2 games of bowling and shoe rental). Meet at Train House, 482 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2463.

Thursday, December 21 MUSIC AND MOTION STORYTIME. 10:30 a.m. For all children, especially ages 2 through 5. This event incorporates stories and songs along with dancing, playing and games designed to foster language and motor-skill development. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or www.sppl.net. INTERMEDIATE TAI CHI. 11:45 a.m.–12:45 p.m. (Thursdays through Feb. 1) Instructor Lee Holbrook focuses on refining the Yang style for participants who already have a basic knowledge of Tai Chi. Cost: $33/resident; $66/non-resident. Pinehurst Parks & Rec, 300 Kelly Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 295-1900 or www.pinehurstrec.org. NORTH CAROLINA SYMPHONY. 8–10 p.m. “A Classic Holiday Pops.” A spectacular holiday celebration with joyful symphonic arrangements of Christmas classics. Tickets available at Arts Council of Moore County, The Country Bookshop, or concert hall 1 hour before performance. Lee Auditorium, Pinecrest High School, 250 Voit Gilmore Lane,

Advent & Christmas Schedule Advent Penance Service ~ December 5 ~ 6:30pm

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ca l e n da r Southern Pines. Info: (877) 627-6724 or www.ncsymphony.org.

Thursday, December 21 & 22 WINTER DAY CAMP. 8 a.m.–5:30 p.m. Session 1. For ages 5–13), games, sports, arts & crafts, trips, & innovative activities to make school breaks fun. Cost: $40/resident. Southern Pines Recreation Center, 160 Memorial Park Court, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2463.

Friday, December 22 LIVE MUSIC. 7–10 p.m. Cousin Amy Deluxe Old Time String Band performs at the Wine Cellar & Tasting Room, 241-A N.E. Broad St., Southern Pines. Free to the public. Info: (910) 692-3066.

Saturday, December 23 LIVE MUSIC. 7–10 p.m. Tim Wilson performs at the Wine Cellar & Tasting Room, 241-A N.E. Broad St., Southern Pines. Free to the public. Info: (910) 692-3066.

Tuesday, December 26 MUSICIANS JAM SESSION. 7 p.m. Bring your instrument and your beverage, or just come to enjoy. Free and open to the public. Library, Weymouth Center for Arts & Humanities, 555 E Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-6261 or www.weymouthcenter.org.

Wednesday, December 27—29 WINTER DAY CAMP. 8 a.m.–5:30 p.m. Session 2 (For ages 5–13). Games, sports, arts & crafts, trips, and innovative activities to make school breaks fun. Cost: $55/

resident. Southern Pines Recreation Center, 160 Memorial Park Court, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2463.

Wednesday, December 27—30

BASIC HATHA EVENING YOGA. 5:30-6:30 p.m. (Tuesdays through Feb. 2) Instructor Darlind Davis teaches this course for adults 18+ who may have had no previous experience with yoga. Bring your own mat. Cost: $40/resident; $80/nonresident. Pinehurst Parks & Rec, 300 Kelly Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 295-1900 or pinehurstrec.org.

70TH DONALD ROSS JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP. 9 a.m.–5 p.m. daily. Male and female golfers age 18 or under, and who have not completed high school compete. Pinehurst Resort and Country Club, 1 Carolina Vista Drive, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 235-8140.

Saturday, December 30 & 31 and Tuesday, January 2 CRAFT DAYS. All day. Get ready for the New Year with New Year’s Eve crafts. Kids and their families can participate in making a variety of fun and festive crafts. And if you can’t make it New Year’s Eve, stop by and catch the crafts on Tues., Jan. 2. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or www.sppl.net.

Sunday, December 31 FIRST EVE CELEBRATION. 6–8:30 p.m. Bring family and friends for a Winter Wonderland for all ages. Ring in the New Year early with live music, carnival games, face painting and much more. The Pinecone Drop is at 8 p.m. This event is free and open to the public. 235 N.W. Broad St., Downtown Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2871.

UPCOMING EVENTS Tuesday, January 2

p.m. For ages K-13. Cost: $32/resident; $64/non-resident (includes admission). Meet at Train House, 482 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2463.

WEEKLY EVENTS Sundays—Saturdays PRIVATE AND GROUP COOKING CLASSES. 6:30 p.m. (most classes). Private classes available Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Group classes held Wednesdays through Saturdays, providing hands-on instruction for pasta, Moroccan ravioli, sweet potato gnocchi, sushi, eggplant parmesan, pierogis and charcuterie and knife skills. Vegetarian, vegan, or gluten-free options. On Fridays, Dec. 8, 15 and 22, the class will be “Gingerbread House Decorating” at $40. Brunch classes (from Eggs Benedict to French Toast) on Saturdays. See website for specific menus and prices. Reservations and pre-payment required. Prices: $45–$55/ person, includes meal, instruction and recipes. Brunch: $35. The Flavor Exchange, 115 E New Hampshire Ave., Southern Pines. Info and menus: (910) 725-1345 or www.theflavorexchange.com.

Mondays

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BRIDGE. 1–4:30 p.m. A card game played by four people in

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December 2017i��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

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December 2017i��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

ca l e n da r two partnerships, in which “trump” is determined by bidding. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

registration: (910) 486-0221 ex. 36 or capefearbg.org. (Must register one day prior). Email questions to mzimmerman@ capefearbg.org.

Tuesdays

BRIDGE. 1–4:30 p.m. A card game played by four people in two partnerships, in which “trump” is determined by bidding. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

BABY BUNNIES STORYTIME. 10:30 and 11 a.m. (two sessions) This storytime, reserved for ages birth to 18 months, will engage parents and children in early literacy practices. Programs will be offered Dec. 5, 12 and 19. Limited to 20 babies per session. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or www.sppl.net. BROWN BAG LUNCH/GAME DAY. 11:30 a.m. Bring your lunch and enjoy fellowship and activities, including card games, board games and the Wii. The Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376. TAI CHI FOR HEALTH. 10–11:30 a.m. Practice this flowing Eastern exercise with instructor Rich Martin. Cost for single class: $15/member; $17/non-member. Monthly rates available. No refunds or transfers. Cape Fear Botanical Garden, 536 N. Eastern Blvd., Fayetteville. Info and registration: (910) 486-0221.

Wednesdays YOGA IN THE GARDEN. 6–7 p.m. Improve flexibility, build strength, ease tension, and relax through posture and breathing techniques for beginners and experts alike. Free for CFBG and YMCA members, $5/non-members. Cape Fear Botanical Garden, 536 N. Eastern Blvd., Fayetteville. Info and

READ TO YOUR BUNNY PRESCHOOL STORYTIME. 3:30–4 p.m. Especially for children ages 2–5, this storytime focuses on stories, songs and fun, with a special emphasis on activities that build skills for Kindergarten. Dates this month are Dec. 6, 13, 20 and 27. Stay for playtime. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235.

Thursdays MOORE COUNTY FARMERS MARKET. 9 a.m.–1 p.m. Fruits, vegetables, meats, crafts, flowers, plants, baked goods and more. Armory Sports Complex, 604 W Morganton Road, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 947-3752 or www.moorecountync. gov or www.localharvest.org. GIVEN STORY TIME. 10:30–11:30 a.m. For ages 3 to 5. Wonderful volunteers read to children, and everyone makes a craft. Free and open to the public. Given Memorial Library, 150 Cherokee Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 295-6022. MAHJONG (Chinese version). 1–3 p.m. A game played by four people involving skill, strategy and calculation. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W.. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

CHESS. 1–3 p.m. Don Hammerman instructs all levels of players. You need a chess set to participate. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376. TAI CHI FOR HEALTH. 6–7:30 p.m. Practice this flowing Eastern exercise with instructor Rich Martin. Cost for single class: $15/member; $17/non-member. Monthly rates available. No refunds or transfers. Cape Fear Botanical Garden, 536 N. Eastern Blvd., Fayetteville. Info and registration: (910) 486-0221.

Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays HISTORY OF PINEHURST TOUR. 11 a.m., 2 and 4 p.m. (1 hour & 15 minutes each). Also by request. Experience the Home of American Golf on a guided windshield tour with Kirk Tours and learn about Mr. Tufts and some of Pinehurst’s celebrity patrons. Cost: $20/person. Departs from Pinehurst Historic Theatre, 90 Cherokee Road. Info and registration: (910) 295-2257 or kirktours.com.

Fridays PRESCHOOL STORYTIME. 10:30 a.m. Reading selections are taken from the shop’s inventory of children’s literature, from the classics to modern day. The Country Bookshop, 140 N.W. Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-3211. BRIDGE. 1–4:30 p.m. A card game played by four people in two partnerships, in which “trump” is determined by bidding. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

Worship Services CAMERON PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH WWW.CAMERONPRESBYTERIAN.ORG 600 CARTHAGE ST. CAMERON NC 28326

ADVENT WORSHIP SERVICES Dec. 3, 10, 17, 24 11:00 a.m.

CAKES AND CAROLS

immediately after 11:00 a.m. worship Dec. 3, Light refreshments and special music

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“What Child is This?” by Joel Raney Dec. 17, 5:00 p.m. with Sanctuary Choir; Moore Brass; Cheryl Bacon, bassoon

CHRISTMAS EVE CANDLELIGHT SERVICE Dec. 24, 5:00 p.m. All are welcome!

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“Tons” of new items

JAZZY FRIDAYS. 6–10 p.m. Enjoy a bottle of wine and dancing with friends under the tent with live jazz music, provided by The Sand Band (Dec. 1), The Holiday Band (Dec. 8), The Sand Band (Dec. 15), The Entertainers (Dec. 22) and TBA (Dec. 29). Cost: $15/person. Ages 21 and older. Reservations and pre-payment recommended for parties of 8 or more. Food vendor on site. Cypress Bend Vineyards, 21904 Riverton Road, Wagram. Info: (910) 3690411 or www.cypressbendvineyards.com.

Saturdays THE ARTIFACT SHACK. 10–11:30 a.m. Painting Classes for Kids ages 5–12. The subject on Dec. 9 will be “Grinch Hand.” And on Dec. 16 it will be “Dove With Holly.” (No class on other Saturdays.) Cost: $18, all supplies included. Classes held at Rugg Rats, 125 E. Illinois Ave. in Southern Pines. Info and advance registration (required): (540) 4543641 or www.theartifactshack.com.

Saturdays and Sundays

1650 Valley View Road • Southern Pines, NC Adjacent to Hyland Golf Course on US 1

HOLIDAY OPEN HOUSE IN SEAGROVE. Take a selfguided pottery tour and enjoy special events on Dec. 2, 3, 9, 10, 16, 17, and 23. Pottery Shops of Seagrove, NC Pottery Highway 705, Seagrove. Info: (336) 707-9124 or www. discoverseagrove.com/holiday-open-house.

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November PineNeedler Answers from page 141

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December 2017i��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

Arts & Culture

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12 9

en •

944-3979

Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities

Street e g n a h c Ex Gallery ls

andhil of the S e u g a e Artists L nual Fall Show 23rd An and Sale Exhibit 1 ecember Friday, D ber 14, 2017 y, Decem Thursda

Instructors’ Demonstration Day Instructors of the Artists League of the Sandhills demonstrate their techniques Sunday, 7 January 2017 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Upcoming 2018 Workshops: Conquering the Mystery of Color taught by Laine Francis - March 5-7, 2018

C h r i s t m aChristmas s O p e n HHouse ouse Weymouth December 6 –l10, and Stab e 2017 Tour

Figures with Watercolor and Gouache taught by Kate Worm - March 26-28, 2018

Weymouth invites you to celebrate the 100th wedding anniversary of Katharine Lamont7-10 Boyd & James Boyd December

Contact the League for details and to register!

A Christmas Love Story a Century Old Thursday, Friday & Saturday 10am-3pm

Like Us!

Sunday 1pm-4pm

www.artistleague.org

Carols at Weymouth

Thursday, December 7th at 5:30 p.m. Free family friendly event, Open to the public No reservations required

Candlelight Wine & Cheese Tour Saturday, December 9th from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. $35 Members / $45 Non-members Active Duty Military Discount Reservations Required. RSVP by December 6th 910-692-6261 THE NUTCRACKER*

Open House & Stable Tour

SUN DEC 17

ROMEO AND JULIET

December 7th – 10th Thursday, Friday & Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Sunday from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

SUN JAN 21

THE LADY OF THE CAMELLIAS* SUN FEB 04

Complimentary refreshments & music in the Great Room Advance Tickets: $15 Members / $20 Non-Members Tickets at the Door:$20 Members / $25 Non-Members Advance Ticket Locations:

GISELLE*

SUN APR 08

COPPÉLIA

SUN JUN 10

250 NW BROAD ST. SOUTHERN PINES SUNRISETHEATER.COM 910-692-3611 FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM: SUNRISE.THEATER TWITTER: #SUNRISETHEATER #BOLSHOIBALLET

*RECORDED

For more information: (910) 692-6261 or website at www.weymouthcenter.org

SUN MAR 04

Weymouth Center, 555 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines Campbell House, 482 E. Connecticut Ave, Southern Pines Country Book Shop, 140 N.W. Broad St., Southern Pines Lady Bedford’s Tea Parlor, 21 Chinquapin Rd., Pinehurst Given Memorial Library, 150 Cherokee Rd., Pinehurst Eloise Trading Co., 111 W. Main St., Aberdeen

THE FLAMES OF PARIS

SUNRISE PRESERVATION GROUP INC IS A 501 C3 TAX-DEDUCTIBLE NON PROFIT ORGANIZATION

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Arts & Culture

Pictures at an Exhibition THUR, JAN 11 | 8PM

LEE AUDITORIUM, PINECREST HIGH SCHOOL, SOUTHERN PINES

Rune Bergmann, conductor

CONCERT SPONSOR

Few works match Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition for orchestral color and sonic impact—paired here with Beethoven’s cheerful Symphony No. 4.

ARTS COUNCIL HOLIDAY ART SALE December 1 & 2, 2017 | Campbell House Galleries

Tickets start at just $18!* Tickets also available at: Campbell House | 482 E. Connecticut Avenue The Country Bookshop | 140 NW Broad Street

ncsymphony.org 877.627.6724 *Price does not include tax.

Upcoming Events DEC 1-16 “Art 5 Ways” featuring Susan Edquist (jewelry/mix ART

media),

Laura Frazier (wool sculpture), Jenny Gorman

(fiber art), Donald A. Parks (paintings), & Jim Tripp (pottery)

Campbell House Galleries

JAN 5-26 “Stitches & Clay” featuring Freeman Pottery, ART

Experience the magic!

Needlework by Rita Regan, & Sandhills Quilters Guild Campbell House Galleries

FEB 10 Heart ‘n Soul of Jazz 2018 starring Delfeayo Marsalis JAZZ

8pm, Carolina Hotel at Pinehurst Resort Tickets go on sale Dec. 1!

FEB 26 Escher String Quartet MUSIC

8pm, Sunrise Theater

Become an Arts Council member today. It’s an easy way of meeting other arts lovers. Join now at MooreArt.org or call us at 910.692.ARTS (2787).

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December 2017i��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

Arts & Culture

Make your Mark

N OUTPO VE

ENTS

recycled reading

RENTA

Christmas,

To advertise here, call 910-692-7271

N E H U RST

Holiday, Religion & Craft Books

Holiday

Sale

P LU S AUT H O RS

Mary Higgins Clark & Janet Evanovich

BUY-ONE-GET-ONE FREE SALE RUNS THROUGH DECEMBER 31st (excludes new books and unique finds)

MONDAY MONDAY -- SATURDAY SATURDAY 10AM 10AM -- 4PM 4PM

95 Cherokee Road, Pinehurst | 910.295.7002

VISIT WWW . GIVENTUFTS . ORG FOR PROGRAMS & BOOKSHOP RENTALS

Happy Holidays from GPAC! Gift Certificates make the perfect gift or stocking stuffer! Upcoming shows: Jan. 9 - Derik Nelson & Family Jan. 23 - Well Strung - String Quartet March 13 - Amazing Grace: The Musical March 19 - The Wizard of Oz April 6 - On Golden Pond April 24 - Nugget and Fang

Givens Performing Arts Center

Call 910.521.6361 or visit uncp.edu/gpac

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Arts & Culture