December PineStraw 2018 by PineStraw Magazine

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DENTISTRY

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

McDevitt The perfect Christmas present isâ&#x20AC;Ś

town & country properties

...Royal Fox Farm at 195 Fox Trail Lane, Southern Pines, NC Nestled on 11+ acres with lush pastures and a beautiful five stall barn in one of the most private locations at Pine Ridge Farms, this amazing three bedroom farm was custom built in 2015. Surrounded by the Walthour Moss Foundationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s North Country, it is the perfect place to spend Christmas and each and every day of the year!

$1,225,000 MLS #190920

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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 • $439,000

21 THUNDERBIRD CIRCLE Live the Pinehurst lifestyle in this beautiful 3 BR / 2 Full BA 2 half BA brick home on two beautiful lots! All rooms are spacious w/hardwood flooring in most of the downstairs area. In back there is an extensive brick patio featuring a stone water feature w/small pond and running waterfall!

IN END

FOXFIRE • $426,000

178 GRANDE PINES COURT E. LIVE GRANDE in beautiful gated Equestrian community in Foxfire! Two-story 5 BR / 4.5 BA home on large 2.5 acre lot w/ low maintenance exterior. Interior offers an abundance of living space w/two master suites on the main level. Totally immaculate and a must see!

ABERDEEN • $315,000

428 PINECREST COURT ROAD Adorable 3 BR / 3 BA home on over 3 acres in quiet location. Home has been remodeled w/new kitchen, new baths and lots of outdoor areas. Outside is beautifully landscaped and has 3 large detached garages….a car lover or outdoor sportsmans dream!

35 GLASGOW DRIVE All brick 3 BR / 2.5 BA home on large flat lot w/mature landscaping and gorgeous golf views of Pinewild’s practice course. Well designed floorplan w/flowing living areas and spacious living room w/wood burning fireplace. A must see!

Y SO

TL CEN

PINEHURST • $415,000

WHISPERING PINES • $378,000

25 PAR DRIVE Custom 4 BR / 3 BA home – immaculate and well maintained! Home offers peaceful water views, gourmet kitchen w/new appliances and great floorplan. Recent renovations include hardwood floors, new carpet and paint as well as new HVAC and new roof!

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WHISPERING PINES • $315,000

31 SHADOW DRIVE Rustic 3 BR / 3 BA waterfront home on Shadow Lake in Whispering Pines. Lower level features a walkout leading to the waters edge and large backyard while the inside offers lots of widows for those lovely lake views!

TLY

EN REC

SEVEN LAKES NORTH • $320,000

SEVEN LAKES WEST • $349,000

169 FIRETREE LANE Waterfront ranch style home on beautiful Lake Sequoia - 3 BR / 2 BA. Spacious floorplan w/cathedral ceilings, bright Carolina room and nice master suite w/walk-in closet. Enjoy gorgeous lake views from the large wood deck in the back!

102 BANBRIDGE DRIVE Beautiful golf front home on 14th green and 15th tee of Beacon Ridge CC - 3 BR / 2.5 BA. The home offers bright and flowing floorplan w/Brazilian Cherry hardwood floors throughout the main living areas.

CARTHAGE • $475,000

PINEHURST • $349,800

700 SHADY LANE ROAD Beautiful 4 BR / 4.5 BA farmhouse style home on 8 private acres including a pond at the front of the property. Floorplan is open and spacious w/gorgeous wide plank pine flooring that was milled out of trees from the property!

3 BRUNSWICK LANE Charming, beautifully maintained 4 BR / 2.5 BA brick home located on quiet, wooded cul-de-sac in popular Pinehurst #6. Floorplan is open and inviting w/beautiful hardwood floors, large master suite on main floor and nice kitchen w/center island and granite countertops.

SOL

PINEHURST • $349,000

4 ROYAL DORNOCH LANE This 2 BR / 3 BA home sits on two lots and offers stunning views of the 11th green of CCNC’s Dogwood course and beautiful water views from the front of the property. Great floorplan w/lots of windows throughout the home to enjoy the scenic views.

CAMERON • $375,000

121 CARTHAGE STREET Gorgeous historic 4 BR / 2.5 BA home on over an acre next to beautiful Phillips Park. The front of the home was built in 1893 while the back portion was added in 1847. Tasteful and functional updates have been made throughout while still maintaining many historic details that make this home one-of-a-kind.

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!

SEVEN LAKES WEST • $993,000

108 LOGAN COURT Amazing 4 BR / 4 full BA 2 half BA lakefront home located on two premium wide water lots. Open floorplan with water views from almost every room. Truly one of the most beautiful homes on Lake Auman.

PINEHURST • $895,000

91 ABBOTTSFORD DRIVE Magnificent 5 BR / 3 full BA 2 half BA Tuscan Villa with THE best golf course and water views in Pinehurst. Thoughtfully styled to reflect the grace of European life; this home offers incredible high end finishes and large spaces for luxurious living

PINEHURST • $879,000

102 STRATHAVEN COURT Elegant 4 BR / 3 Full BA 2 half BA golf front home. Home is located on the signature hole of Pinehurst #9. House was custom built w/fine finishes, great attention to detail and has been well maintained and cared for.

SEVEN LAKES WEST • $675,000

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

PINEHURST • $795,000

115 BLUE ROAD Gorgeous 4 BR / 4.5 BA home in the Village of Pinehurst – truly a special property. With over 4500 square feet, this property has large and open rooms, lots of windows and high ceilings. Beautiful home inside and out….lots of living space and space for entertaining.

VASS • $740,000

5 DIXIE DRIVE Alluring 3 BR / 3 BA lake front home in beautiful setting. Home has been well maintained and sits high with spectacular views of Lake Thagard. Main level displays open and inviting floorplan w/great kitchen and stunning views.

1000 LAKEBAY ROAD Unique, yet stunning 3 BR / 2 Full BA 2 half BA custom dream home! Home sits on just under 12 acres of flat pasture perfect for horses. Escape to this one of a kind property where you will also find a picturesque river stream behind the home. A must see!

PINEHURST • $639,000

PINEHURST • $659,000

80 FIELDS ROAD Quintessential 4 BR / 3.5 BA Old Town Cottage with all the charm and style expected in a vintage 1920’s property. Home has been beautifully renovated and features original fixtures, hardwood floors throughout and in-ground chlorine pool.

37 STRATHAVEN DRIVE Elegant 3 BR / 3 Full BA 2 half BA French Country home overlooking the 11th hole of the Holly course. Spacious floorplan offers gorgeous kitchen and large master suite. Built by Step One, this exceptional home displays stunning architectural details throughout.

PINEHURST • $599,000

PINEHURST • $585,000

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WHISPERING PINES • $515,000

OLD

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SEVEN LAKES WEST • $751,000

103 SUNRISE POINT Gorgeous 4 BR / 3 Full BA 2 half BA waterfront home on Lake Auman. It encompasses all one would ever want in a lakefront property - beautiful lake views and an exceptionally well appointed floorplan. Truly an amazing home!

25 MAPLE ROAD Charming 4 BR / 3.5 BA cottage in the Village of Pinehurst w/beautifully landscaped yard, outdoor seating areas under flowering trees and an artist studio tucked away in the garden. The interior of the home is inviting w/elegant living and dining area and cozy kitchen and breakfast room. A must see!

14 GLENBARR COURT Lovely 4 BR / 3.5 BA new construction underway on the 3rd hole of the Challenge Course of Pinewild CC Floorplan is bright and open w/lots of space, beautiful fixtures throughout and a great covered porch that overlooks expansive golf views.

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

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

December ��

DEPARTMENTS 27 Simple Life

FEATURES 83 Christmas Poem Poetry by Stephen E. Smith 84 Our Christmas Sing By Margaret Maron

32 PinePitch 35 Instagram Winners 37 Good Natured

67 Out of the Blue

86 The Return of the Light By Jim Dodson

39 The Omnivorous Reader

90 Little Big Man By Bill Case

43 Bookshelf 47 Drinking with Writers

A tradition that measures the years

A celebration of food and faith at Pinehurst’s Temple Beth Shalom

How mighty mite Alfred Moore became our county’s namesake

By Jim Dodson

By Karen Frye

By D.G. Martin

By Wiley Cash

94 Same Time, Last Year By Deborah Salomon

51 Hometown

105 Almanac By Ash Alder

53 In the Spirit

A Tudor manor steeped in Yule for a special occasion

Cover Illustration by Romey Petite Inspired by “Christmas Poem” on page 83

By Bill Fields

By Tony Cross

65 Crossroads

By Claudia Watson

By Deborah Salomon

69 Character Study By Tom Allen

71 Birdwatch

By Susan Campbell

73 Sporting Life By Tom Bryant

77 Golftown Journal By Lee Pace

106 117 125

Arts & Entertainment Calendar SandhillSeen PineNeedler By Mart Dickerson

57 Wine Country

59 The Kitchen Garden

63 The Pleasures of Life Dept. 128 SouthWords

By Angela Sanchez By Jan Leitschuh

By Beth MacDonald

127 The Accidental Astrologer By Astrid Stellanova

By Susan S. Kelly

Tis the Season for All Things Opulent…

NOVEMBER 23 – DECEMBER N OVEMB 31, 2018 ER 23 – D ECEMB ER 31, 2018

Opulence of Southern Pines and DUXIANA at The Mews, 280 NW Broad Street, Downtown Southern Pines, NC 910.692.2744

at Cameron Village, 400 Daniels Street, Raleigh, NC 919.467.1781

at Sawgrass Village, 310 Front Street Suite 815 Ponte Vedra Beach, FL 32082 904.834.7280

www.OpulenceOfSouthernPines.com Serving the Carolinas & More for Over 20 Years – Financing Available

Storybook Cottage

M A G A Z I N E Volume 14, 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

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, Brianna Rolfe Cunningham, Mart Dickerson, Clyde Edgerton, Bill Fields, Laurel Holden, Jane Lear, Jan Leitschuh, Meridith Martens, D.G. Martin, Lee Pace, Romey Petite, Renee Phile, Joyce Reehling, Stephen E. Smith, Astrid Stellanova, Angie Tally, Kimberly Taws, Ashley Wahl,

PS ADVERTISING SALES

430 South Ridge Street • Downtown Southern Pines ‘’San Souci’’ is a wonderful opportunity to live in downtown Southern Pines in a storybook cottage glowing with warmth and charm. Built in 1930, the cottage has been lovingly updated to perfection while maintaining the original features: heart pine hardwood floors, original glass in double hung windows, antique wrought iron air vents, true stucco exterior, brick hearth on wood burning fireplace and stunning glass front kitchen cabinetry with plate shelf in kitchen. Nine ft. ceilings throughout. Interior stairway to full attic and basement affording generous storage and expansion space. Granite counter tops, stainless appliances and hardwood floors in kitchen. 2BR, 1BA with over-sized shower and updated vanity in bath. Dream deck overlooks private back yard with 7-9 ft. fences. Natural gas. Offered at $325,000.

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

www.clarkpropertiesnc.com

Maureen Clark when experience matters

Pinehurst • Southern Pines BHHS Pinehurst Realty Group • 910.315.1080

Ginny Trigg, Advertising Director 910.693.2481 • ginny@thepilot.com Terry Hartsell, 910.693.2513 Perry Loflin, 910.693.2514 Dacia Black, 910.693.2519 Patty Thompson, 910.693.3576 Johnsie Tipton, 910.693.2515 ADVERTISING GRAPHIC DESIGN

Mechelle Butler Scott Yancey, Trintin Rollins

PS Darlene Stark, Circulation Director 910.693.2488 Steve Anderson, Finance Director 910.693.2497 145 W. Pennsylvania Avenue, Southern Pines, NC 28387 www.pinestrawmag.com

December 2018 P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

1495 W. Connecticut Avenue • Southern Pines Knollwood House, a Southern Pines landmark, is set on a knoll overlooking the Donald Ross designed Mid Pines Golf Course. 5BR, 5.5BA, 5,212 sq. ft. Offered at $998,000

451 Old Mail Road • Southern Pines

The jewel of Moore County’s horse country, Fox Hollow Farm is secluded on 10.52 acres with easy access to thousands of acres of equestrian land. 4BR, 4.5BA 5,276 sf. Offered at $2,200,000

Maureen Clark

910.315.1080 • www.clarkproperties.com

55 Shaw Road • Old Town

‘Centerwood’, the log cabin in the Village. An enchanting property built at the turn of the century, this 5BR, 5.5BA cottage represents a genuine piece of Pinehurst’s history. Offered at $1,398,000.

14 Cumberland Drive • Pinehurst

Poised on 2.45 acres in the exclusive Forest Creek Golf Club, this elegant residence exhibits design perfection in the concept of one-floor-living. 3BR, 3/2BA. Offered at $1,550,000

949 Sheldon Road• Southern Pines

Occupying a premier 10.31-acres in Horse Country, this pristine hunt box borders a private and beautiful corner of the W.M. Foundation. 2BR, 2BA, 2,625 sq. ft. Offered at $1,085,000

292 Old Dewberry • Horse Country Peaceable Kingdom Farm situated on 6.2 acres just 2 miles from downtown. Grandfathered horse farm with total privacy on iconic sand road. 4BR, 2BA. Offered at $765.000.

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

Get to Know Us! Bridget Hussey Sutherland

• Moore County Native • Customer Service Extraordinaire • Newlywed with two fur babies, Chloe & Zoom • Serving with Maison/MCL since 2014

Jacob Sutherland

• US Army Veteran • Specializes in development and new construction • Loves turning clients into friends • Serving with Maison/MCL since 2013

Kate Horvath

• Helping others makes her happiest • Dynamic, patient, positive • Goal oriented • Moved to Southern Pines in the 90’s to work towards Learning a position on the US Equestrian Driving Team.

Kristy Rooney

• Military spouse of nearly two decades • Loves working with first time home buyers • Enjoys making lifelong friends and neighbors • DIY addict

Stewart Thomas

• Relocated with his family from Charleston, SC • Driven by goals and a passion for life • Part owner of CrossFit Baile • Serving with Maison/MCL since 2016

Serving Moore County and Surrounding Areas!

www.maisonteam.com Traci James

• Military spouse of 15+ years and mother of three • Loves working with military families transitioning to the area • Former client turned agent

William “BJ” Leuenberger

• Active Army with numerous military awards • Lives in Seven Lakes with wife, Laura, and sons, Cody and Collin • Proud owner of faithful dog, Cooper

Kathy George

• Spent 20+ years in corporate business • Passionate about helping clients find the perfect home • Loves building relationships with clients • Enjoys gardening, shopping local, and going to the beach

Amy Stonesifer

• Consistently ranked among the top 5 real estate agents in Moore County, NC • Proud Army Wife • Enjoys meeting new people and getting to know her clients • Started Maison/MCL in 2011 Maison Realty is closely knit with our military community because we all have a personal connection - retired, spouse, or family member. Soldiers and their families need specialized individuals to take care of their homes while they’re away… and to sell them quickly when their assignments change. Amy’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. We love sharing with our clients on why this area is the perfect place to live!

Buy, Sell or Rent through us- we do it all!

910.684.8674 | 135 E PENNSYLVANIA AVE | SOUTHERN PINES, NC 28388

DEADLINES

y r n o s a M s Let Howell’ . s r u o Y th i Help W

Pinehurst Brewing Co. 80 foot Smokestack Restoration

BRICKWORK STONEWORK FIREPLACES OUTDOOR LIVING

910-944-0878

www.howellsmasonry.com 10327 Hwy 211 • Aberdeen, NC 28315

Featured Homes

24 Colonial Pines Circle

360 Lake Dornoch Drive

Colonial Pines, Pinehurst

Country Club Of North Carolina, Pinehurst

Charming townhome in a quiet subdivision across from Lake Pinehurst. Numerous recent updates, including new hardwood flooring in the living room and formal dining room, new carpeting in the bedrooms, all new stainless steel appliances in the kitchen, and more. Private backyard with deck and grilling patio. 3 Bedrooms, 3 Baths, 2,200+ Sq.Ft.

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 Baths, 5,000+ Sq.Ft.

MLS# 191142 $190,000

235 Woodland Drive Pine Grove Village, Pinehurst

Prominent home located on a large corner lot in a great neighborhood. Features many updates, including beautifully sanded and re-stained hardwoods on the main floor! 4 Bedrooms, 3.5 Baths, 4,000+ Sq. Ft.

MLS# 190106 $539,900

MLS# 184245 $730,000

15 Melrose Drive

The Ponds, Pinehurst Breathtaking brick home on 1.4 acres near Historic Old Town Pinehurst, offering a gourmet kitchen with double ovens, 2 dishwashers, and custom cabinets, formal dining room, 2 gas log fireplaces, a game room, in-ground pool, and more! 5 Bedrooms, 4 Baths, 6,000+ Sq. Ft.

MLS# 190933 $1,200,000

Call today for a private showing of these beautiful homes! 130 Turner Street, Suite A Southern Pines, NC 28387 (910) 693-3300

Coldwell Banker Advantage Toll Free: (855) 484-1260 www.HomesCBA.com

100 Magnolia Road, Suite 1 Pinehurst, NC 28374 (910) 687-4022

The Carolina Philharmonic presents

Handel’s Messiah! With The Carolina Philharmonic Chorus and Guests Soloists

Monday, December 17 at 7:30pm

Robert E. Lee Auditorium • Pinecrest High School • 250 Voit Gilmore Ln. • Southern Pines, NC

Experience the most moving musical portrait of the birth of Christ ever imagined. A musical rite of the holiday season, the Baroque-era oratorio still awes listeners more than 250 years after the composer’s death. Handel, upon completing the score of the Hallelujah Chorus, exclaimed, tears streaming down his face, “I did think I did see all Heaven before me, and the great God Himself.”

Parisian Salons The Carolina Philharmonic presents

Saturday, January 12, 2019 at 7:30 PM Robert E. Lee Auditorium • Pinecrest High School 250 Voit Gilmore Ln. • Southern Pines, NC

David Michael Wolff in recital on the piano, exploring the Paris of Chopin, Liszt, Baudelaire, Debussy and Monet.

Tickets starting at $30

with discounts for active military and students (910) 687.0287•www.carolinaphil.org The Carolina Philharmonic is a 501(c)3 non-profit

Arts Council of Moore County Campbell House, S. Pines Nature’s Own 95 Bell Avenue, S. Pines Sandhills Winery West End The Country Bookshop Southern Pines The Given Outpost and Bookshop Pinehurst Box Office 5 Market Square in Pinehurst Village

Pines Sothebyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s International Realty 177 W. Pennsylvania Ave Southern Pines, NC 28387 o. 910.725.2550 info@pinesSIR.com www.pinessothebysrealty.com

Let us LIGHT UP your holidays

Residential Lighting LED · Chandeliers · Pendants · Ceiling Fans Residential Lighting Shop local...we’ll remember your name!

LED · Chandeliers · Pendants · Ceiling Fans 115 Davis Road • Southern Pines, NC 28387 910-692-2210 Visit our showroom online at www.hubbardkitchenandbath.com

Shop local...we’ll remember your name!

SIMPLE LIFE

Silent Nights

Holding infinity in the palms of our hands

By Jim Dodson

When I was a kid, Christmas Eve

couldn’t get here fast enough, the night I eagerly awaited all year. Mine was a visceral excitement fueled in part by the happy torture of unopened gifts beneath a heavily tinseled fir tree, and the crazy notion that if and when I somehow dropped off to sleep, a jolly bearded housebreaker would enter our premises and leave behind fantastic things I’d coveted from the pages of America’s holiest book — the Sears Catalog.

My excitement was also fueled by the other mythic theme of that singular night — the enchantment of a candlelight church service that always ended with congregants passing a small flame hand-to-hand as everyone sang “Silent Night” before filing out into a cold and silent night. The flickering candles, the mingling scents of burning wax and well-worn hymnals, the ancient readings from Isaiah and St. Luke of a savior babe born in a barnyard stable, the sight of whole families bundled into creaking pews with squirming kids and yawning grandpas, O Magnum Mysterium — somehow it blended together into a delicious stew of magic and wonder that I felt — nay, believed — in my very bones. To this day, it’s the only time I intentionally stay up past midnight, stepping outside with a wee nightcap of bourbon or aged port to savor what may be the truest of silent nights. Biblical scholars have long debated (and most disputed) the commonly assigned date of the historical Jesus’ birth (neither Luke nor Matthew makes mention of it happening in winter), leaving believers to accept the early Roman Church’s artful grafting of the birth of Jesus Christ onto pagan Rome’s popular feast of Saturnalia, a major holiday that coincided with the winter solstice that was known for its feasting and gift-giving in celebration of the returning of the sun god, Sol Invictus. For what it’s worth, ancient Persians assigned that same day, December 25, to be the birthday of their own returning sun god, Mithra. While in the Hebrew Calendar, the celebration of Hanukkah — the “Festival of Lights” that memorializes the restoration of the Second Temple of

Jerusalem following a revolt by the Maccabeans and the miracle of a menorah that burned for eight days — begins on the 25th day of Kislev, which happens to fall anywhere from late November to late December in the Gregorian calendar. Just to make things more interesting, the Eastern Orthodox Christian Church accepts January 7 as the true birth date of Jesus Christ, the proper date of “Old Christmas.” Some leading Biblical scholars even maintain that the birthdate of Christ was in March, the start of spring. Whatever else might be true, the Christmas-loving kid in me has never required a proof-of-authenticity label or even an official “start” date in order to believe in the transformative magic of the holiday season — whether it’s the lights of Hanukkah or lovely myth of Father Christmas or even lovelier myth of a virgin birth in a barn. I embrace the true meaning of the word “myth,” by the way, an ancient word that has been stripped of its spiritual power by modern misuse, originally denoting a traditional story meant to convey an important message, often based on historical events, revealing an important belief, practice or phenomenon — all of which perfectly explains why we human seek the light in whatever form on the longest nights of the year. Here’s my own favorite Christmas story. During the years we lived on a wooded hill in Maine — deep in a forest of birch and hemlock that almost always had a dusting of snow by Christmas Eve — the Episcopal church we attended put special emphasis on its annual Christmas Eve pageant, an ambitious staging of the Nativity complete with angels, wise men and watchful shepherds guarding their flocks by night. One year our prodigies, Maggie and Jack, snagged important roles as attending sheep, while my good friend and regular lunch pal, Colonel Robert Day, debuted as the archangel Gabriel. Colonel Bob was an ideal Gabriel, a lovely giant of a gent who’d lost two sons through tragedy and disease but somehow turned his unspeakable grief into counseling families grappling with their own personal tragedies. In his former life, Bob had been one of the first to lead his unit of army engineers across the Rhine into Nazi Germany during the closing days of the Second World War and was on his way to lead a similar invasion into Japan when the Japanese capitulated. The rest of his military career was spent at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, where he served as admissions director for many years, laying the foundation for the admission of women to the Academy.

PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December 2018

SIMPLE LIFE

Someone kitted out Colonel Bob with a massive pair of papier mâché wings for the pageant, which he sported with the dignity of Laurence Olivier until one wing detached and conked one of the baby cows on the head, bowling over the poor little creature. For a moment, the glory of Jesus’ birth was upstaged by anxious gasps as the little cow was righted and Bossie’s head removed. Beneath was a laughing kid. The audience broke into spontaneous applause. The kidcow beamed. “Now that’s a small miracle,” one of the sheep-moms whispered to me with relief. And onward we went to the big finale of gifts from the Magi. That particular year, the Christmas Eve family service that followed was held at the Settlemeyer family’s barn in the hills west of town. The Settlemeyers had real sheep and cows and a horse or two that were undoubtedly amused by the dozens of shivering families that crowded into their freezing barn to light candles and hear about a savior being born on a Midnight Clear. It was my job, as it happened, to provide the musical accompaniment on my guitar, fingers stiff with cold. Fortunately Colonel Bob showed up with a flask of good Irish whiskey. As a live chorus of sheep bleated, I plucked out a respectable “First Noel” followed by “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing!” and “Silent Night” as candlelight passed from hand to hand, illuminating one face at a time. Up to that moment, worth noting, it had been a snowless winter in Maine — always an anxious thing for the locals (and yours truly) who counted on decent snows to insulate their foundations and garden beds and provide a pristine landscape for their favorite wintertime activities. But as we blew out candles and stepped out of the Settlemeyers’ barn, a second small miracle took place — or maybe just good theatrical timing by the universe. “Look, everybody,” someone cried, “it’s snowing!” Indeed it was — a curtain of beautiful silent snow falling like an answered prayer over the darkened landscape. During the short drive home, my ever-wise lamb of a daughter wondered if the sudden appearance of snow might really be a miracle.

“Absolutely,” I assured her with the faith of a mustard seed, recalling Albert Einstein’s quote that there are two ways to live your life — as if there’s no such thing as miracles, or that everything is a miracle. For the record, a third miracle occurred that silent night, one involving her proud papa and brilliant Scottish grandmother, Kate, a professed agnostic who cried once when I took her to Evensong at King’s College in Cambridge. I nicknamed her our “Queen Mum.” Together, we managed to put together a German dollhouse that looked more like a Rhine river castle and came in 4,000 pieces with a dozen pages of instructions in medieval German. In truth, I abandoned the quest around 2 a.m. leaving Mum to her third pot of tea, the rest of the Drambuie and a dying fire. I was certain the task was beyond us both. In the morning, however, Maggie’s dollhouse looked worthy of a Fifth Avenue toy shop window. “How’d you do that?” I discreetly quizzed the Queen Mum. “The power of faith, James,” she came back with a prim smile. “And good Scottish tea.” Sadly, I think the town fire marshal may have put the kibosh on any more Christmas candlelight services in a livestock barn, that old spoilsport. But I carry the sweetest memories of many such Silent Nights in my heart, that one above the rest. Like Einstein, you see, I’ve come to believe everything is a small miracle — the oil that lighted lamps for eight days, a prince of peace born in a freezing stable, an angel with a broken wing who mended broken hearts, an agnostic’s tears and people of every race and creed who gather on the darkest night to celebrate the return of the light. Besides, as Mother Theresa reportedly pointed out, nothing is small to God — only infinite. PS Contact Editor Jim Dodson at jim@thepilot.com.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays As families gather to celebrate Christmas, it is reassuring to know that your loved one will be in a comfortable and caring environment at St Joseph of the Pines. Christmas is a time to celebrate God’s love, and Christmas dinner with family is one of the most popular events at Pine Knoll. Families, be sure to make your reservations early! Msgr. Steve Worsley, MD, SJP, pictured with Lin Hutaff, Broker/Owner Lin Hutaff’s Pinehurst Realty Group 25 Chinquapin Rd, Village of Pinehurst 910.528.6427 – www.linhutaff.com When considering a move to Belle Meade or Pine Knoll, call Lin, one of the area’s top selling Realtors, to assist in selling your home. 28

December 2018P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

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PinePitch Open House Tours

Enjoy the beautiful decorations and holiday music in the Great Room at Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities, 555 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines, from Thursday, Dec. 6 though Saturday, Dec. 8 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and on Sunday, Dec. 9 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The cost is $20 in advance, $25 at the door. Tickets are available at www.ticketmesandhills. Also decked out for the season, the Shaw House, Garner House and Sanders Cabin will be open to visitors from Friday, Dec. 7 to Sunday, Dec. 9 from 1-4 p.m. at the corner of Broad St. and Morganton Road in Southern Pines. For more information call (910) 692-2051 or visit www.moorehistory.com.

Winter Wonderland Celebrate the New Year early and often with live music, carnival games, face painting and the countdown to the Pinecone Drop on Dec. 31 in downtown Southern Pines from 6-8 p.m. For more information call (910) 692-7376 or go to www.southernpines.net/136/Recreation-Parks.

Handel’s Messiah

Carriage Parade The members of the Moore County Driving Club decorate their horses and carriages for a spectacular holiday season drive through downtown Southern Pines. The parade begins at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 8. For further information go to www.moorecountydrivingclub.net.

The Carolina Philharmonic will celebrate the season with Handel’s Messiah, a moving musical portrait of the birth of Christ, from 7:30-8:45 p.m. at Lee Auditorium, Pinecrest High School, 250 Voit Gilmore Lane in Southern Pines on Monday, Dec. 17. For additional information call (910) 6870287 or visit www.carolinaphil.org.

It’s a Party The Country Bookshop is turning 65 and wants to turn back the clock, too. Help celebrate the occasion with a 1950s theme on Thursday, Dec. 6 from 6-8:30 p.m. The event kicks off at the The Country Bookshop, 140 N.W. Broad Street in Southern Pines and continues just down the road at 305 Trackside. The cost is $25. For tickets and more information go to www.ticketmesandhills.com.

December 2018P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

The Rooster’s Wife Tour of Homes Visit six homes decorated in holiday splendor during the Episcopal Day School Candlelight Tour of Homes from 1-5 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 9. Tickets are $20 in advance; $25 the day of. For information call (910) 6923492 or visit www.epicopalday.org.

Sunday, Dec. 2: The Grandsons, an eclectic whirlpool of New Orleans rhythm and blues, rockabilly, swing and country two-steps. Cost: $20.

Friday, Dec. 7: Matt Munisteri and Sam Lewis. Munisteri is a sparkling guitarist, critically lauded songwriter and nimble lyricist while Lewis’ songs work to celebrate and elevate with the tones of rock and roll, rhythm and blues and country folk. Cost: $20.

Everyone Loves a Parade The Aberdeen Christmas parade takes place on Saturday, Dec. 8 from 11 a.m. to noon in downtown Aberdeen, 115 North Poplar Street. If Santa needs directions he can call (910) 944-7275 or go online at www.townofaberdeen.net.

Sunday, Dec. 9: The Gravy Boys, a band that makes acoustic Americana music by adding a cup of country, a pinch of roots rock, a handful of honky-tonk, a splash of bluegrass, a dash of hobo folk and stirring vigorously. Cost: $10

Sunday, Dec. 16: Martha Bassett Holiday Special. Classically trained, Bassett is blessed with a crystalline tone, a remarkable range and sultry delivery. Her performances are known for their emotional honesty and visceral impact. Cost: $20.

It’s a Very Murphy Christmas Come and enjoy the Murphy Family Christmas Concert, a Sandhills tradition, on Sunday, Dec. 9 at 3 p.m. at the Sunrise Theater, 244 N.W. Broad St., Southern Pines. For more information call (910) 692-3611 or go to www. sunrisetheater.com.

Doors open at 6 p.m. and music begins at 6:46 at the Poplar Knight Spot, 114 Knight St., Aberdeen. Prices above are for members. Annual memberships are $5 and available online or at the door. For more information call (910) 944-7502 or visit www.theroosterswife.org.

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G O O D NAT U R E D

Frankincense and Myrrh

Gifts of the Magi that keep on giving Holiday Gift Guide blockade-runner.com/christmas/

By K aren Frye

Whatever your religion, you most likely know the story of the three Wise Men who followed the star to the manger in Bethlehem the night Jesus was born. Two of the precious gifts they brought with them were frankincense and myrrh. Thousands of years ago, these herbs were worth as much as silver and gold, and they’ve retained their value, medicinally and spiritually.

The popularity of aromatherapy and the great success stories using the oils and extracts are well known. Myrrh is extracted from the Mukul myrrh tree, which grows in dry climates in the Middle East. The myrrh gum is used in preparations for teeth, gums and skin conditions. In Ayurvedic medicine (native to India) the extract from the myrrh, “gugul,” is especially effective for lowering bad cholesterol and improving the function of the thyroid gland. Frankincense oil is prepared using hardened gum resins from the Boswellia sacra, a tree native to India, Africa and the Middle East. One of the main components of frankincense oil is boswellia, an herb with major anti-inflammatory properties. Boswellia (as a supplement) has been around a very long time and, while it isn’t as well known for its anti-inflammatory power as turmeric, it’s certainly on the way. Inflammation doesn’t just cause joint pain; it contributes to disease throughout the body, including cancer and heart disease. In the case of asthma, allergies, bronchitis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, boswellia helps reduce inflammation in the lungs. Inflammation damages our brain cells, and may increase the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. Taking boswellia may boost brain function, as well as reduce inflammation. In addition to quelling joint pain, there are benefits to the digestive tract, assisting in relief from irritable bowel syndrome, colitis, even rheumatoid arthritis. Frankincense oil is a lovely fragrance that has been used throughout the ages in perfumes. Its warm, pungent, sweet notes bring about feelings of peace and balance, helping to ease anxiety. Cleopatra is thought to have used frankincense oil in her beauty regimen. The pure oil used topically has been found to improve skin conditions. Frankincense is one of the most effective oils for skin care with remarkable rejuvenating and healing properties. These gifts given many, many years ago are now gifts for those who seek better health through the wonders of nature. May you have a wonderful holiday season filled with peace, love and laughter. PS Karen Frye is the owner and founder of Nature’s Own and teaches yoga at the Bikram Yoga Studio.

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THE OMNIVOROUS READER

A Masterpiece that Matters To Kill a Mockingbird continues to resonate

By D.G. Martin

Last October, on the final episode of

PBS’s The Great American Read, Harper Lee’s 1960 Southern classic To Kill a Mockingbird was named “America’s Best Loved Novel.”

From a list of 100 candidates and a total of 4 million votes cast over several months, Mockingbird was a clear winner, receiving 242,275 votes. What explains the popularity of Mockingbird and its staying power more than a half century after its publication? The host and leader of the The Great American Read, Meredith Vieira, said she was not surprised with the result. “Mockingbird,” she said, “is a personal favorite of mine — one that truly opened my eyes to a world outside of my own. Harper Lee’s iconic work of literature is cherished for its resonance, its life lessons and its impact on one’s own moral compass.” Vieira told USA Today that she would have picked Mockingbird if it had been solely up to her. “I read it when I was 12. Of course it holds up; it’s a brilliant novel, and all of the lessons I learned then resonate deeply now. I think the reason I picked it is because I read it at a pivotal time in my life. I was a young kid growing up in Rhode Island and I didn’t know anything, really, about bigotry or racism, and that book pointed it out in the voice of a little girl, which appealed to me. And her dad (Atticus Finch), his ability to fight the good fight and step into other people’s skin. When you’re trying to determine your moral code moving forward, in that time in your life, your parents are influential, teachers are as well, but books are, too. And that book said to me, ‘You can do the right thing, or you can do the wrong thing.’” For me, the book’s lasting success comes from its poignant story of Jean Louise, or Scout, whose love and respect for her father, Atticus, and his example gave her the courage to face the dangers and unfairness of a flawed world. It is also Atticus himself, the small town lawyer in the Jim Crow South of the 1930s, with his example of dignity, kindness and courage. But it is much more complicated according to a new book, Why To Kill a

Mockingbird Matters: What Harper Lee’s Book and the Iconic American Film Mean to Us Today, by Tom Santopietro. That staying power is remarkable, according to Santopietro, because in “the nearly sixty years since Mockingbird was originally published, the world has changed much more than the previous three hundred years combined.” Santopietro gives us a biography of the Mockingbird phenomenon. He takes us to Harper Lee’s hometown, Monroeville, Alabama, and introduces us to the friends, family and neighbors who were models for the characters of her book, to her gentle home life, and the town’s oppressive segregated social system. In Mockingbird, Monroeville becomes the fictional town of Maycomb. Harper Lee as a child is the basis for the central character, the tomboy nicknamed Scout. Lee’s father, A.C. Lee, is the model for Atticus Fitch. Her childhood friend, Truman Capote, becomes Scout’s good friend, the irrepressible Dill. Her family’s troubled neighbor, Sonny Boulware, is the inspiration for the mysterious, frightening and, ultimately, heroic Boo Radley. Santopietro explains how Mockingbird was first written and then rewritten. Lee’s early drafts focused on Jean Louise as a grown-up. The revisions eliminated the adult woman from the book and only told Scout’s childhood story. When the revised work was sold to a publisher, it took the country by storm and won the Pulitzer Prize. Then came the movie staring Gregory Peck as Atticus. Santopietro devotes twice as many chapters to his account of the production of the movie as he does for the making of the book. On UNC-TV’s North Carolina Bookwatch recently, Santopietro explained how Peck’s star power enhanced the role of Atticus. “Peck was also a smart Hollywood star, and he thought, ‘I’m producing the film, I’m starring in the film, there’s gonna be a big courtroom scene in there.’ He was protecting his territory.” In that powerful courtroom scene, Atticus defends the black defendant, Tom Robinson, who is accused of the rape of a white woman. Atticus demonstrates Robinson’s innocence, but the all-white, all-male jury convicts him nevertheless. Mockingbird’s powerful message of racial injustice and oppression was clear, in the book and the film. Certainly, race is an important factor in the book’s continuing importance.

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THE OMNIVOROUS READER

But Santopietro believes that something else explains why the book “still speaks to such a wide range of people.” On Bookwatch, he explained, “What the book to me is about that’s so extraordinary — and I tried to write about this — it’s about what I call the ‘other,’ the concept of anybody who does not feel like they fit in. Every one of us in this room, every human being at some point, feels like the ‘other.’ You talk differently, you walk differently, you act differently, and that’s the journey through adolescence, which is universal. We all have felt that way sometimes. And, what Harper Lee is saying is that when we’re children, we think of the world as black and white, all good, all bad, but it’s so many different shades of gray. That’s our journey through adolescence, and she makes us realize that the people we fear, the monsters in our life, in fact can be our saviors. So, there are two people who fit the construct of the ‘other’ in Mockingbird. One is Tom Robinson, the African-American man unjustly accused of raping a white woman, and the other is Boo Radley. So, Scout and Jem think of Boo Radley as this monster in that dark house and, in fact, he’s their savior at the end, and I think that universal journey through adolescence — as we all learn those lessons — that to me is why the book still matters.” In 2015, shortly before her death, the publication of Harper Lee’s Go Set a Watchman gave us a different and disturbing look at Atticus in the 1950s, set 20 years after the events in Mockingbird. On a visit home, Jean Louise sees Atticus leading a meeting of the local White Citizens’ Council, one of many established throughout the South in the wake of the Brown v. Board of Education decision to resist the Supreme Court’s and the NAACP’s efforts to destroy “the Southern Way of Life.” Confronting Atticus, she says the Citizens’ Council contradicts everything he had taught her. Do we now, like Jean Louise, have to push Atticus Finch out of our pantheon of heroic images? Even though he is on the wrong side of history, Atticus’ core human values win out as they lead Jean Louise to confront him and to make him proud of her for doing so. Many of our parents and grandparents who lived in Atticus’ times, like him, would never fully accept the changes the civil rights revolution brought to our region. But the core values of human kindness and respect for all people that they taught prepared their children to welcome and even work for those changes. And for that, they and Atticus are for me, although imperfect, still heroes. PS D.G. Martin hosts North Carolina Bookwatch, which premiers Tuesdays at 8 p.m. on the North Carolina Channel and airs on UNC-TV Sundays at 11 a.m. and Thursdays at 5 p.m.

December 2018P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

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BOOKSHELF

A Holiday Season of Suggestions The New Yorker Encyclopedia of Cartoons: A SemiSerious A-To-Z Archive, by Bob Mankoff This is a huge, literally, two volume, 1,600-page hardcover set with a beautiful red slipcover box — the ultimate collection for the witty irreverent person in your life. Mankoff, the cartoon editor of The New Yorker for two decades, organizes nearly 3,000 cartoons from 1924 to the present into more than 250 categories of recurring themes and visual tropes, including banana peels, meeting St. Peter, being stranded on a desert island, snowmen, lion tamers, Adam and Eve, the Grim Reaper and, of course, dogs. The result is hilarious and Mankoff's commentary throughout adds both depth and whimsy. The collection includes a foreword by New Yorker editor David Remnick. Smithsonian: History of the World Map by Map More than 140 detailed maps tell the story of pivotal episodes in world history, from the first human migrations out of Africa to the space race. Broad, sweeping introductions provide a chance to step back and look at entire periods, like World War II, or to explore overarching themes, like the Industrial Revolution. Custom regional and global maps chart how events traced patterns on land and ocean — patterns of exploration, discovery or conquest that created empires, colonies, or theaters of war. Hip Hops: Poems about Beer, edited by Christoph Keller From the ancient “Hymn to Ninkasi” (the Sumerian goddess of beer) to eighth century Chinese poet Li Bai’s “Bring in the Ale” to Robert Graves’ “Strong Beer,” the poems attest to humankind’s long attraction to the foamy and intoxicating product of malted grains. A surprising variety of poets have penned tributes to the brew; their tantalizing offerings include Robert Burns’ “John Barleycorn,” Edgar Allan Poe’s “Lines on Ale,” Frank O’Hara’s “Beer for Breakfast,” Sylvia Plath’s “The Beer Tastes Good,” Muriel Rukeyser’s “Beer and Bacon,” and Tom Waits’ “Warm Beer and Cold Women.” Whether pulling up to the celestial bar in Keats’ “Mermaid Tavern” or to the grittier, jazzier one in Carl Sandburg’s “Honky Tonk in Cleveland, Ohio” (where “the cartoonists weep in their beer”), lovers of beer and poetry are sure to find something to celebrate in these tantalizing pages. Money Diaries: Everything You’ve Ever Wanted to Know about your Finances . . . and Everyone Else's, by Lindsey Stanberry The most popular and beloved Refinery29 franchise, Money Diaries combines the very best of the work and money content their readers know and love — the fun voyeurism of all-new diaries combined with 52 weekly challenges and highquality advice from some of the best female financial advisers around. Complete with worksheets, this is the go-to financial guide for millennial women. The Hidden Life of Trees: The Illustrated Edition, by Peter Wohlleben With compelling selections from the original book and stunning, large-format photographs of trees from around the world, this gorgeous volume distills the essence of Wohlleben’s message, showing trees in all their glory and diversity.

Through rich language highlighting the interconnectedness of forest ecosystems, the book offers fascinating insights about the “wood wide web,” the difficult life lessons learned in tree school, the hard-working natural cleanup crews that recycle dying trees, and much more. Beautiful images provide the perfect complement to Wohlleben’s words, with striking close-ups of bark and seeds, panoramas of vast expanses of green, and a unique look at what is believed to be the oldest tree on the planet. The Spy and The Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War, by Ben Macintyre If anyone could be considered a Russian counterpart to the infamous British double agent Kim Philby, it was Oleg Gordievsky. The son of two KGB agents and the product of the best Soviet institutions, the savvy, sophisticated Gordievsky grew to see his nation’s communism as both criminal and philistine. He took his first posting for Russian intelligence in 1968 and eventually became the Soviet Union’s top man in London, but from 1973 on he was secretly working for MI6. For nearly a decade, as the Cold War reached its twilight, Gordievsky helped the West turn the tables on the KGB, exposing Russian spies and helping to foil countless intelligence plots. Desperate to keep the circle of trust close, MI6 never revealed Gordievsky’s name to its counterparts in the CIA, which in turn grew obsessed with figuring out the identity of Britain’s obviously top-level source. Their obsession ultimately doomed Gordievsky — the CIA officer assigned to identify him was none other than Aldrich Ames, the man who would become infamous for secretly spying for the Soviets. “The best true spy story I ever read,” says John Le Carré. The Tango War: The Struggle for the Hearts, Minds and Riches of Latin America During World War II, by Mary Jo McConahay A flow of raw materials in the Southern Hemisphere — at a high cost in lives — was key to ensuring Allied victory, as were military bases supporting the North African campaign, the Battle of the Atlantic, the invasion of Sicily, and fending off attacks on the Panama Canal. As rival spy networks shadowed each other across the continent, the Allies secured loyalty through espionage and diplomacy ― including help from Hollywood and Mickey Mouse. Mexican pilots flew in the Philippines and 25,000 Brazilians breached the Gothic Line in Italy. The Tango War also describes the machinations behind the greatest mass flight of criminals of the 20th century, fascists with blood on their hands who escaped to the Americas. A true, shocking account that reads like a thriller. Becoming Mrs. Lewis, by Patti Callahan When poet and writer Joy Davidman began writing letters to C. S. Lewis, she was looking for spiritual answers, not love. Everything about Joy seemed ill-matched for an Oxford don and the beloved writer of Narnia, yet their minds bonded over their letters. Embarking on the adventure of her life, Joy, the woman Lewis called “my whole world,” traveled from New York to England and back, facing heartbreak and poverty, discovering friendship and faith and, against all odds, finding a love that even the threat of death couldn't destroy.

BOOKSHELF

Promises

JEWELRY COLLECTION

CHILDREN’S BOOKS The Broken Ornament, by Tony Di Terilizzi Every family has a favorite holiday decorating story — the time the cat climbed the tree or Dad fell in the bushes hanging lights. The Broken Ornament stemmed from a DiTerlizzi family Christmas when his daughter broke a holiday ornament and learned the truth: When a beloved ornament is broken, a Christmas fairy is born. Sure to be a holiday classic, The Broken Ornament should be the first request on every Christmas list this year. Children and their families are invited to join New York Times best-selling and Caldecott Honor-winning author/illustrator Tony DiTerlizzi on Thursday, Dec. 6, at 4 p.m. for an ornament making workshop and Ugly Sweater Contest at The Country Bookshop. (Ages 3-10.) Harold Loves His Woolly Hat, by Vern Klosky Harold loves his woolly hat so much because he knows having it makes him special among all the bears. So when his hat is stolen, Harold pulls out all the stops to retrieve it . . . until he discovers someone else needs hit more than him. A sweet story of sharing, giving and letting go, Harold Loves his Woolly Hat is perfect for holiday giving. (Ages 3-6.) The Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide for the World’s Most Adventurous Kid, by Dylan Thuras, Rosemary Mosco and Joy Ang. With its cataloging of the weirdest and wildest places on Earth, the original Atlas Obscura absolutely changed the way people travel. Now adventurous kids have a chance to get in on the fun. Arranged in categories to allow kids to dig deeply into the strange and wonderful, Atlas Obscura Explorers Guide will be the hottest thing for young readers this fall. (Ages 6-12.)

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Dry, by Neil Schusterman If the human body is 60 percent water, just what exactly is the rest? The remainder is determination and steadfastness and loyalty and the will to live. The remainder is hope. When the “tap out,” the complete drying up of all water sources, happens one California afternoon, the lives of five kids — a brother and sister, a survivalist, a genius loner and a rogue — are forever changed. Mesmerizing, fastpaced and terrifying in its realistic possibility Dry will awaken appreciation for functioning kitchen water spigots and awareness of global climate change for a long, long time. (Ages 14 and up.) PS Compiled by Kimberly Daniels Taws and Angie Tally.

December 2018P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

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DRINKING WITH WRITERS

Poetry and Protest The gravity of the written and spoken word

By Wiley Cash • Photographs by Mallory Cash

Khalisa Rae is a star, and like a

star her presence bends the fabric of the universe in a way that draws creative people into her orbit: writers, activists, choreographers and artists. But it is not simply people who are drawn to Khalisa. Justice projects, writers’ workshops and femme empowerment movements have all found their way to her. Or maybe I have it wrong. Perhaps she is not the star but the explorer drawn to burning centers of mass where historical infernos rage hot and bright, where smoke burns the eyes, and where the good work of community building can begin once the fire is sated.

Khalisa Rae is a poet, feminist speaker, performance artist and educator who holds an MFA from Queens University in Charlotte, North Carolina. Her first collection of poems, Real Girls Have Real Problems, was published in 2012, and she has been a finalist for the Furious Flower Gwendolyn Brooks poetry prize. Her collection Outside the Canon: Poetry as Protest is forthcoming. I first entered Khalisa’s orbit when my friend Lori Fisher told me the two of them had joined forces to start Athenian Press and Workshop in Wilmington. Along with a few others, the two women envisioned Athenian as an “anti-racist, feminist, creative organization” that would offer space for writers, artists and activists to work alone, together, and with their communities to effect change. According to their mission statement, the organization is based on core values that include social justice, feminism, accessibility, community building, sustainability and independence. Before long they had found a home they called Athenian House, where they regularly hosted open mics, readings, meetings and other community events. When I met Khalisa at Drift Coffee in Wilmington’s Autumn Hall neighborhood in early November, I quickly learned that Athenian was only one of the many projects she had initiated, joined or planned to start, all of them centered on the writer’s role in social justice and community organizing. Drift Coffee has done an exquisite job marrying the laid-back feel of Wilmington’s beach community with the city’s upscale tastes in fine coffee and food. The menu is focused and healthy, combining standard breakfast

fare with surprises like the Acai Bowl that features house-made granola and the Za’atar Spiced Chicken Sandwich with apple and tomato chutney and a tahini spread on sourdough bread. Drift’s light-filled interior is bright and welcoming with white walls, slate-colored cement floors, and comfortable tables and chairs where people are just as likely to be holding business meetings as catching up with friends. Khalisa and I ordered some coffee and found seats in a sun-drenched corner. I asked her what had brought her to Wilmington from her native Chicago. “I wanted to write films,” she says. “And this was the place to do it, so I came to UNCW.” But it was not long until Khalisa’s passion for writing turned toward poetry, and she found an opportunity to work with activist poets in Greensboro. She left the Port City for an undergraduate degree at North Carolina A&T. A few years after graduating, she found herself in Wilmington again, working in community outreach and programming for the YWCA, leading workshops in writing and diversity training around the city, and eventually discovering the literary and cultural home she had not found as an undergraduate. The more time Khalisa spent in Wilmington, the more she uncovered painful remnants of the city’s racial strife, strife that is grounded in events like the wrongful convictions of the Wilmington 10 and the 1898 coup d’état, which is the only successful coup in American history and an event that would greatly affect Khalisa’s work as a poet and activist. While working at the Cameron Art Museum as part of their Kids at Cam initiative, Khalisa met Brittany Patterson, an artist and social worker who had just seen the 1898 documentary Wilmington on Fire. Patterson and Khalisa began a discussion about how to use art to repair the racial rifts that had run through Wilmington for more than a century. “We wanted to curate something that was a medley of poetry and dance

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DRINKING WITH WRITERS

to focus on how 1898 affects people today,” says Rae. But the goal was not simply a performance. “The first thing we did was to have the cast sit in a circle and talk about what it means to be a person of color, what it means to be a white person moving around in spaces with people of color who were all affected by 1898.” The outcome was the Invisibility Project, a performance that reaches across racial lines and combines dance choreographed by Patterson and spoken word poetry written and performed by Khalisa. The group’s first performance was in 2017, and their work has continued since with a

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special production to commemorate the 120th anniversary of the 1898 coup. “It’s been interesting,” she says. “I’ve learned so much about this community, about what certain public spaces mean to certain groups of people, about how the past can push down on you without you understanding why.” Khalisa and I finished our coffee. Nearly two hours had passed, and our conversation had run from our early fascinations with the written word to our hopes for our city’s racial reconciliation. As we got up to leave I could not help but feel pulled toward her energy and passion. I could say it was gravitational, but perhaps my feelings were anchored by the gravity of this generation’s struggle to reach through Wilmington’s painful past in the hope that, once the fire is out, there will be a hand to grasp. PS Wiley Cash lives in Wilmington with his wife and their two daughters. His latest novel, The Last Ballad, is available wherever books are sold.

Welcomes Dr. Peter L. Mattei

Fellowship trained in Mohs Micrographic Surgery & Dermatologic Oncology Dr. Mattei is happy to partner with Carolina Skin Care after serving the community for the past 2 years. He is fellowship trained in Mohs Micrographic Surgery and Dermatologic Onocolgy and is a fellow of the American College of Mohs Surgeons. Mohs surgery is the most effective treatment for certain skin cancers. The Mohs procedure removes skin tissue layer by layer. Dr. Mattei examines each layer microscopically to ensure the skin cancer is completely removed. He has performed the procedure thousands of times.

125 Fox Hollow Rd., Suite 101 | Pinehurst, NC 28374 | 910-684-5211 PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December 2018

HOMETOWN

Citizen’s Arrest, Citizen’s Arrest Finding a key to the past

By Bill Fields

After a lifetime

PHOTOGRAPH BY BILL FIELDS

of watching Barney Fife — and more to the point, laughing at his foibles — I was beyond due.

Not too long ago, I think the lovable but bumbling deputy left Mayberry and drove the squad car to Southern Pines. And once he arrived, he was intent on making me pay up. I should have been viewing a rerun of The Andy Griffith Show instead of having the channel on MSNBC and Lawrence O’Donnell, but Barney still had the last word. It had been a long day — sweaty and muscle-achy tiring — of lifting and sorting, saving this and tossing that as my sisters and I emptied the old homestead. We combed through stuff at the house that had been tucked away for many years. Some of the items had belonged to our father, who passed away in 1980 after a work life of various pursuits but that, in his last decade, had been in law enforcement. As a policeman and deputy sheriff in the 1970s, Dad accordingly had the tools of the trade. Arriving home at the end of a shift, he would remove his duty belt just like the Cartwrights did when they stepped inside the front door of the Ponderosa. Off came his service revolver in its holster, a case with extra .38 caliber bullets, lead-filled leather sap and handcuffs. I hadn’t seen any of those items in nearly 40 years but there, in a drawer undisturbed for nearly as long — along with a desk caddy containing pictures of his grandchildren, cufflinks, tie clips and loose change — something shiny glinted from the bottom. At first I thought it might be one of his PaperMate ballpoint pens — he always carried two in his shirt pocket when setting out on an eight-hour shift — a shoehorn, cigarette lighter or stray metal golf spike. Then I got a closer look: handcuffs. The restraints, like the rest of Dad’s police accessories, had been off limits way back when. It was a thrill to discover them. “Hey, look what I found,” I said, loud enough for my sisters to hear in another room. “Handcuffs.”

They were heavy and scratched. A six-digit number was etched on the top of each. My father’s initials were on one ring, his name on the other. It was a busy day, about noontime. I set the handcuffs aside. Ten hours later, in the living room looking at the TV — I think I was too weary to really watch — I recalled the handcuffs, retrieved them from a banker’s box and came back to my chair to give them a closer look. I hadn’t expected to find them among all the stuff and I was curious. One cuff appeared broken, disabled by age or intent when my father was forced to retire because of illness, its half-ring swinging back and forth freely like a mini Ferris wheel. The other metal ring, though, was functional and lockable, its teeth clicking audibly as I held it and clasped it closed several times just to hear the sound, which got my sisters’ attention as they went through photo albums at the other end of the room. The working cuff was the one I put on my right wrist. All I needed was Gomer Pyle’s wrist in the other metal ring and it would have been full Barney, because there was no key to go with the cuffs. There was laughter, the way there had been laughter when Dad got a drive-in cheese dog in Archdale that came sans dog, or when my cap had been snagged by the treble hook of a lure and cast off my head and into Badin Lake. Then there was a bit of panic. I do not have a dainty wrist, and it was being pinched pretty hard. I decided to drive to the Southern Pines police station, steering with my free hand and resting the other on my leg. I was grateful the car was not a stick-shift model, and as I set out, I thought: Do not speed. It being late at night, the station door was locked. I pushed the intercom button and got a dispatcher. I explained. She laughed. Once inside, I heard the dispatcher reach an officer on the radio. Within 10 minutes, she had entered the building and was walking down the hall. I stood up and held out my right arm. She laughed. I explained. I can report that a handcuff key circa 2018 will unlock a handcuff circa 1978. Unshackled, I drove home and went to bed. PS Southern Pines native Bill Fields, who writes about golf and other things, moved north in 1986 but hasn’t lost his accent.

IN THE SPIRIT

Beer on Whiskey

Not so risky. And sometimes surprisingly delicious

By Tony Cross

PHOTOGRAPH BY TONY CROSS

In holidays

past, I would have a moment of clarity when visiting my loved ones. It would come on suddenly, and always within 12 hours of arriving. Like clockwork. “I’ve got to get out of here and get a drink.” The members of my family are not big drinkers. I would have a beverage or two around them, but I always craved my escape drink. It’s not because my folks are hard to be around — they’re amazing. It’s because this time of year stresses me out and I turn into Mr. McJerkface after a few hours of sitting around. Mom and Pops live near me now, but for almost a decade they didn’t. There were no close bars that could whip up a decent drink, so off to the dive bars I went. One of my favorite things to order was a beer with a whiskey back. It did the trick every time. So, for this month’s column, I teamed up with Jason Dickinson, a certified Cicerone — think sommelier for beer or, as I like to call him, “beer nerd.” We had fun pairing up a few different styles of beer with spirits. And by we I mean that I texted him the three spirits I was bringing, and he used his expertise to bring a few pairing sug-

gestions for each. You can find Jason over at Triangle Wine, if you have any questions or recommendations. Use these pairings anytime of the year, of course, but give these a shot when you’re out of town and are drawing a blank when you run away from your family.

Sour/Blanco Tequila For our pairing, Jason brought Dogfish Head’s Sea Quench Ale Session Sour, and I provided El Jimador. Right off the bat, I sensed this would work. I spied a picture of a lime wheel on the can, and immediately saw the word “salt” in the description. That’s a margarita all day. “I chose this because of its year-round production,” Jason said. “It’s one of the few sours that we’re going to see on draft in more places pretty soon.” The first sip was all we needed. Tart and salty. Perfect with a blanco tequila — just make sure the label has “100 percent Agave” on it. If it doesn’t, I don’t think any beer will save you. If the spot you’re frequenting doesn’t have any sour-style beers, grab a Mexican lager. As I’ve mentioned before, a can of Modelo and tequila have been good pals of mine during the summer. However, I wouldn’t discriminate against them in winter.

Milk Stout/Spiced Rum We combined a Nitro Merlin Milk Stout with Gosling’s Black Seal Rum, and it went together quite nicely. The Merlin is light, creamy and smooth. The Nitro comes from the beer having more nitrogen gas than carbon dioxide (like most traditional beer). This also gives the beer a touch of sweetness.

IN THE SPIRIT

CONTEMPORARY • TRADITIONAL • HANDWROUGHT

I picked Gosling’s because there’s more likelihood of finding it behind a bar than other rums that I would drink straight (e.g., Smith & Cross, or rhum agricole). With that said, I never drink Gosling’s on its own. The distillery owns the trademark for “Dark ‘N’ Stormy,” so there’s that. But never on its own. But boy, oh boy, these two are yummy together. The sweetness of the rum and spice complement the chocolaty creaminess of the Merlin. I would pour my shot into the beer next time. Again, the chances of your finding the Merlin at a dive bar might be slim, so if you don’t see it anywhere, grab a Guinness. “A Guinness has a dry and roasty flavor profile, so adding the sweetness of the Gosling’s will bring a nice counterbalance,” Jason says. If they don’t have a Guinness, walk out.

Porter/Whiskey “If someone asks what an American porter is, this is it to a T,” says Jason. “This is the beer a lot of people point to as the classic one in this category. There are a couple of producers that do one — Sierra Nevada makes a good porter. But Deschutes Black Butte Porter is generally thought of as THE porter for American style. They’re usually low ABV too.” That’s news to me. And if you’re as ignorant about porters as I am, keep reading. “Because bourbon and rye have been really popular over the past decade, the breweries rest their porters in bourbon and rye barrels. So, for me, this is a no-brainer.” This is one of the reasons I like Jason. Out of the park. One gulp of the Black Butte followed by a swig of Maker’s Mark (again, pretty much a trademark whiskey in myriad bars) pulls Jason’s theory together. The porter was dry on the end and having whiskey in between sips lent an oakiness to my palate. We both agreed that this was our favorite of the night. Bourbons tend to be sweeter than rye, but rye has spice. Me likey the spice. So next time, I’m having a porter with rye, that’s a what’s up, for sure.

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In the pre-Jason era, when I paired beer and spirits, I’d make up my own boilermaker — by definition a shot of whiskey dropped into a glass filled halfway with beer. It was usually an IPA and a rye whiskey. Why? Because at the time, those were my favorite styles of beer and whiskey to drink on their own. As soon as I arrived at my getaway drink spot, that’s all it took to wash my Scrooge demeanor away. Now, as the saying goes, I got options. PS Tony Cross is a bartender who runs cocktail catering company Reverie Cocktails in Southern Pines.

December 2018P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

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December 2018P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

WINE COUNTRY

Holiday Pairs

The best of the best at Christmas

By Angela Sanchez

The Christmas season is a

PHOTOGRAPH BY JOHN GESSNER

cornucopia of traditions, great and small, and food and wine are among them. Children learn to leave cookies out for Santa as soon as they can walk. Revelers have been buying, making and drinking eggnog for hundreds of years. For my family, it’s wine and cheese on Christmas Eve.

When pairing wine with cheese or a dish, I find it is much easier to pick the food first. A cheese tray is one of the easiest and best ways to start a meal. Building a tray is an activity you can share with others — one person slicing cheese while someone else cuts salami or drains a container of olives or pickles — all the while enjoying one another’s company. In our family I choose the cheeses, meats and other accompaniments. My mom picks her favorite platter and together we slice the cheese and meats. My brother and nephew decide which jams or chutneys work best with the cheeses and which mustards bring out the flavor of the meats. One of our favorite soft choices is Lenora, a bloomy rind, soft Spanish goat cheese. For a classic cheddar I like Beecher’s Flagship Cheddar from Seattle. Both of these pair well with a nice fig spread. Our blue cheese this year is the “king of blues,” Stilton. Only six producers are allowed to produce Stilton in England, a traditional style of blue. A local friend of ours makes Miss Kelly’s Jelly Christmas Jam. It’s bright with a little acidity and allspice notes and goes well with the rich, robust punch of Stilton. For something

special add Red Lion, a young English cheddar that has whole-grain horseradish mustard and Welsh brown ale added. Bold and full of flavor, it pairs well with all types of charcuterie, from speck (smoked prosciutto) to salami Milano with white wine and black pepper. Now that we know the cheeses, the wines are much easier, and will accompany the meal itself. Because it is Christmas, I lean toward the best of the best. This year for white wine, we will be drinking Southern Right Sauvignon Blanc from Walker Bay in South Africa. It’s clean and crisp with tropical notes and a flinty finish and is great with soft cheese, hard cheese and seafood appetizers. My rosé preference is Italy’s Dama Rosé of Montepulciano, a deep pink rosé with a rich berry and cherry palate — perfect for all cheeses, balancing the spicy bite of Red Lion and the richness of cream-based dishes like casseroles and au gratins. For red, my choice is a bold cabernet from Angulo Innocenti, a rustic, Old World-style cab, from La Consulta, Mendoza, Argentina. The high elevation and cool nights of the Andes Mountains growing region produce a beautifully balanced cabernet with ripe briar fruit, tobacco and leather notes. It’s a natural to pair with prime rib. For our sparkling wine, we’ll be drinking Champagne. It is Christmas after all. Taittinger Brût La Française from Reims Champagne, France, is a classic, traditional negotiant style Champagne that is 40 percent chardonnay, 35 percent pinot noir and 25 percent pinot meunier. Elegant, round and with a structured backbone, it can carry all cheese pairings and is perfect with chocolate desserts and cream pies. There is always time to try something new, but at Christmas keep it traditional. The time with friends and family is the best tradition of all. PS Angela Sanchez owns Southern Whey, a cheese-centric specialty food store in Southern Pines, with her husband, Chris Abbey. She was in the wine industry for 20 years and was lucky enough to travel the world drinking wine and eating cheese.

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December 2018P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

THE KITCHEN GARDEN

That Old Chestnut Making a comeback in the skillet

By Jan Leitschuh

Hot, roasted

chestnuts have probably not been part of your holiday treat repertoire, despite the ubiquitous Christmas reminder in song. I would have been the same, except I first tasted chestnuts in Wisconsin, as my mother, a nostalgic World War II bride, roasted some for us kids in our living room fireplace. This was a time (cough) before gas logs.

The nuts were tasty, sweet and surprisingly soft, like a baked potato, very good with salt and the heat of the fire warming our faces. But chestnuts are neither a common nor everyday produce item, so the cold-weather treat drifted to the back burner. The idea of chestnuts resurfaced again when our local Sandhills Farm to Table Co-op attended the international Slow Food Festival “Terre Madre” in Torino, Italy, in the fall of 2010. There we saw pushcart vendors roasting chestnuts on the streets, dumping the hot nuts into paper funnels for munching on the go or on the nearest park bench. Chestnut flour-based pastries and candied marron glacés graced bakery shop windows. Cafés featured a hot bowl of zuppa di castagne, sometimes with a grappa kicker. Late October was the season of the chestnut harvest. As our bus drove us through the Italian countryside to our lodgings an hour south, neat farms began to sport tidy little groves of trees. Over 90 percent of Italy’s chestnuts are produced in Tuscany, and this little northern countryside had some lovely examples. Edible chestnuts grow worldwide, including in North Carolina’s Piedmont and Sandhills regions. My first exposure to Tar Heel chestnuts came when the late environmentally active couple, Joyce and Len Tufts, gifted a generous bounty of homegrown Chinese chestnuts for Sandhills Farm to Table box subscribers. The nuts were as good as I remembered. I used them in a chestnut-sage stuffing. This fall, local resident Ellen Marcus brought chestnuts back onto my radar. She and her family recently moved onto a property with four wellestablished chestnut trees bordering their front yard. It was a love-hate relationship from the start. “The trees are perfectly climbable, picnic-worthy on a nice carpet of lush centipede grass, rich green foliage giving way to gold in autumn,” she says. “The tree’s beauty is mesmerizing and inviting.” Sounds heavenly, except for one factor Marcus hadn’t counted on: the spiny husks of the nuts that tumble each fall. “The sharp chestnut spines can pierce soft-soled shoes,” she said. “ I can’t imagine why anyone would plant a chestnut in the front yard. The husks are mean and unforgiving, making the work of getting at the sweet meat all the more rewarding.” And it is work. “The nuts have to be collected before the worms drill in,”

she says. “They have to be refrigerated for storage. The nuts have to be scored and roasted to get them to peel easily. It almost gets to the point where you want to say, ‘Forget it, get an ax!’” But then she relents. “The tree is reminiscent of the native chinquapin I grew up with as a kid. Chestnuts are so versatile, and make delicious cream soups, great flour, crispy toppings, and meaty stuffings.” Chestnuts were much loved in ancient times. In fact, the Greeks and Romans used to transport an incredible amount of chestnuts in the stowage areas of ships to sell later. Before the chestnut blight in the early 20th century, the stunning American chestnut tree dominated forests of the eastern United States, blanketing the Appalachian mountains with their blossoms in the spring. Known as the “Redwood of the East,” the American tree often reached towering heights of 150 feet. Experts estimate that at one time, one in every four hardwood trees in the East was an American chestnut. An important food source for natives, pioneers and wildlife, the American chestnut is making a small but determined comeback thanks to backcrossing efforts to introduce blight resistance. According to the website “The Art of Manliness,” (cough, cough), one roasts chestnuts over an open fire, just as the song suggests. “Yes, you can roast chestnuts in the oven. But what would be the fun in that? A man never misses a chance to build a fire and cook over it,” the website suggests. Instructions as follows: To roast your chestnuts, you’ll need a pan that you can put into the fire. Long-handled popcorn or chestnut roasters make the ideal vessels for open fire chestnut roasting, as they allow you to roast the nuts without burning your face off. And their lids let you shake the chestnuts around for even roasting, instead of having to turn them over yourself or losing a few when flipping them in a lid-less pan. If you don’t have a long-handled roaster, you can get by with a 12-inch castiron skillet or some other pan. Just be careful not to burn yourself. If you have an old beat-up skillet, you can turn it into a bona fide chestnut roaster by drilling 30 or so holes in the bottom. If you don’t have a chestnut roaster or a skillet, you can also use a fireplace shovel. And I suppose you could even try sticking them individually on skewers . . . if you’re the patient type. You can buy chestnuts at some grocery stores, but you may want to call ahead to make sure they have them. While dozens of chestnut varieties exist, most people roast Castagne and Marroni chestnuts at the holidays. Castagne are more common, while the Marroni are a more expensive specialty. The nut of the Marroni is sweeter and plumper, and it peels away from the skin more easily. When choosing your chestnuts, look for those that are plump, smooth, shiny, and blemish-free. Moldy chestnuts are a common problem, so squeeze and shake the chestnut to see if the nut has shriveled up and pulled away from the shell. Keep in mind that the larger the chestnut, the longer it will take to roast. Pick

THE KITCHEN GARDEN

chestnuts that are fairly uniform in size and will thus be done at the same time.

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Chestnuts are traditionally scored, their brown skin sliced to allow steam to escape when roasted. Simply take a sharp knife and cut an “X” into the flat side of each chestnut. Once your chestnuts are clean, dry and scored, roast over a nice bed of hot embers, shaking the pan to prevent burning. The brown exterior is peeled off after roasting and the hot nuts dipped in salt. Chestnut trees prefer good drainage — avoid standing water and low-lying areas. To produce fruit, trees will also need lots of sunlight and plenty of regular watering to become established. Fall and winter are great times to add a couple of chestnut trees to your property, for wildlife and personal consumption. Revival, Carolina and Willamette are three suggested varieties that do well in North Carolina. All require pollination from another variety. Plant at least two cultivars of the same type to ensure optimal size and production, and probably best away from where children and dogs might play, given the spiny husks. Most Chinese and hybrid chestnuts are highly resistant to the chestnut blight fungus. Many people prefer the hybrid chestnut cultivars, citing superior quality over the straight Chinese cultivars. Management is low. If you are lucky enough to have your own chestnut tree, sort nuts for mold. Either use fresh nuts immediately or store unpeeled chestnuts in the refrigerator. To keep your chestnuts in good shape for a little longer, place them in a plastic bag and stick a few holes in the bag for airflow. Chestnuts should then keep for two or three weeks. Place them in the fridge’s crisper or vegetable storage bin. Store freshly purchased or picked, unpeeled chestnuts at room temperature for up to one week only. Keep them in a well-ventilated and dry place. In case you want to go beyond roasted chestnuts this holiday season, just add chocolate:

Chestnut-Chocolate Pudding 1 1/4 pound chestnuts 5 ounces dark chocolate, chopped 4 ounces butter 4 ounces sugar Salt Cook the chestnuts in salted water, peel and then process or sieve them. Melt the chocolate and add to the still warm chestnuts together with the sugar and butter. Stir for some time. Line a rectangular mold with greaseproof paper and grease with butter, lay in the mixture, level off and cover with more greaseproof paper. Leave in the fridge for at least 4 hours. Serve with cream on the side. PS Jan Leitschuh is a local gardener, avid eater of fresh produce and co-founder of the Sandhills Farm to Table Cooperative.

December 2018 P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

WISHING YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR

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December 2018P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

PLEASURES OF LIFE

The Look

With a little help from my friends

By Beth MacDonald

You know those characters on the TV

show Alien Nation? You know how, at first, you can’t quite put your finger on what’s missing, but then you realize they have no eyebrows? I, too, have several rather invisible features that throw off the aesthetics of a face. Since I have a fair complexion and very blonde hair, my eyebrows and eyelashes are imperceptible without a little AA, artificial assistance. When I apply even a light layer of makeup I often find myself narrating the process like a National Geographic documentary. “Here we see the oneeyed morning sloth searching for light hairs to shade in for others to see. The furrowed brow means the female of the species is frustrated, unable to locate any indigenous hairs.” If I don’t go through the process of trying to make these features evident to other humans, I am frequently mistaken for a 19th century influenza patient that won’t make it through the winter. That’s just the beginning. My hair is unruly in its natural state, with so many irregular curls that it serves as a near-perfect hair hygrometer. Scientific tools aren’t required anywhere within my ZIP code since my head produces uncannily accurate relative humidity readings. I often try to soften the look by essentially destroying it with a straightening iron set on “nuclear power” mode. A friend invited me to one of those parties most of us have reluctantly supported where you are gathered for a demonstration of the best cookware, makeup, leggings, and home/car organization kits that will all simplify and improve your life and looks. This particular party was an amalgam of all of those salespeople selling their cutting-edge wares, turning my friend’s home into a virtual department store. I didn’t want to go because I already have four

of most these items. I just wanted to sit at home in my buttery leggings, eating 5-minute fondue from my state of the art, personalized pot, while wearing the only vegan-organic-coconut-volcano-cherry-seaweed face mask on the market that would get rid of my wrinkles-lift my eyelids-plump my lips-strengthen my marriage, while I binge watch Netflix. I tried to stick to the snack table, where I’m most comfortable, for long periods of time, but the makeup lady found me. She must have taken one look at my sickly face and thought she should rescue me from “the ugly.” I relented and followed her to the other side of the living room/department store. I observed a moment of insanity, when I considered the necessity of a 137th finely woven pair of leggings. I sat down in her chair as she read off an extensive list of makeover options ending with “natural bronze goddess.” I chose that one. Who doesn’t want that look? I’m pretty sure no one walks up for a makeover and says, “I’ll have the ‘pale haunted house clown face’ please.” After an eternity (measured by increasing back pain in the uncomfortable chair, not actual real time) she was finished. She handed me a mirror to see my new, improved look. I tried to keep a straight face. I politely thanked her, hoping she couldn’t hear the horrified squeak in my voice. Blue eye shadow, bright pink cheeks, and red lipstick were not what I imagined a “natural bronzed goddess” looked like unless she was named Chuckie. I made a mistake by going with a friend who drove, leaving me no easy escape option. I was waiting outside, hiding behind her car when she came out eons later, measured in beauty chair-time. On the way home she decided it would be a good idea to chain smoke with her windows shut. I opened my window to catch some fresh air approximately 15 seconds before a torrential downpour hit. I couldn’t close the window fast enough. I was in a lose-lose situation. Failure was not an option; it was a certainty. At home, I realized I had forgotten my keys, and had to ring the doorbell. As I waited for my husband, Mason, to answer the door, I felt around my now sticky, wet face and knotted hair. Eau d’Ashtray was overpowering the Chanel No. 5 I had put on earlier. I looked like Dee Snider from Twisted Sister getting off his party bus. My husband opened the door and stared at me, wide-eyed. “Sir, do you have a moment to hear my testimony of the greatest poet of our time, Alice Cooper?” I asked. PS Beth MacDonald is a Southern Pines suburban misadventurer that likes to make words up. She loves to travel with her family and read everything she can.

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December 2018P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

CROSSROADS

Mistletoe Tree A tradition of transition

By Claudia Watson

Strapped high up in a tupelo gum

tree that was obviously more native than I was, the treetrimmer set his pruning saw against a limb and said, “So, how’d ya get here?”

“Well, it’s the tree you’re in,” I said. He looked down through the limbs. “This tree?” “Yep,” I said. “That’s why I take good care of it.” My husband, Roger, and I were tidying up the house he was selling in Fayetteville — his home for nearly 30 years with the Special Forces — and he suggested we take a ride to Southern Pines for my birthday lunch and to look at some property. I jumped at the chance for a day trip but wasn’t interested in settling any place other than Virginia. For the better part of 25 years, I’d been building a life and business there. But as we traveled the back roads from Fort Bragg to Southern Pines, the desolate beauty spellbound me. Just as we arrived in Southern Pines, a CSX train blasted its horn and crawled down the center of town. As we waited for our lunch, fluffy snowflakes began to fall. “So, it snows in North Carolina?” I teased. Roger’s eyes flashed over the rim of his glass of sweet tea. He detested the winters and the traffic in northern Virginia. Afterward, we walked down Broad Street enjoying the sound of new fallen snow, as soft as the train whistle was loud. That’s when I saw an old, dented red pickup truck with a cardboard sign leaned against its fender and the hand-scrawled words, “Mistletoe $5.” I thought the sign was a scam. Mistletoe comes in little white boxes tied with a red ribbon. It’s in the produce section in the grocery stores in northern Virginia during the holidays. “What is this?” I asked the owner of the truck as I eyed the clumps of greenery that looked more like the remains of a lousy pruning job. The man shifted his eyes to my husband. “It’s mistletoe,” he said. “No way,” I challenged. “Where are the berries?” He looked me up and down, reassuring himself that I was not from the South, pulled out a clump and showed me the waxy berries. “Where’s it from?” I asked.

“Treetops,” the mistletoe man said. “What do you mean, treetops?” I asked. “We shoot it out.” “Huh?” I groaned. “With a shotgun,” he said, whirling away from me and raising his eyes and hands to the sky. I looked at Roger, the North Carolinian, holding back laughter. He handed the man a five, and we walked away with a clump of mistletoe and headed back to Fayetteville. Weeks later, Roger asked me to go back to look at the property he’d been researching while on work trips from Virginia to Fort Bragg. Over dinner, he eased a map toward me. Three lots were circled, accompanied by cryptic notes I took to be some sort of indecipherable Special Forces code. He insisted we go back to Pinehurst. The drive down I-95 was unbearable as I sat glumly in the truck while he told me about the pros — no cons, of course — of each lot and of his home state. We looked at all three sites. At the last one, he sprinted to the back edge of the property line and waved his arms, pointing to the golf course view, and then where the sun would rise. He pointed out the abundance of dogwoods, the old-growth longleaf pine, the sassafras, native blueberry plants, inkberry and the red-tailed hawks in the sky. I was not impressed. While he used red string to plot out a home site, I dug in my heels under the shade of a nearby tree. It was one of the few that looked like a real tree to me. I thought, “How did this happen?” I don’t want this. I want our home in Virginia. I looked up through the canopy of the tree. Then, I saw it, not in the top of the tree, but jutting out from the trunk only inches from my head. I saw the glossy dark green leaves and the palest berries. If the ancient Druids thought it possessed mystical powers, warded off evil spirits and brought good luck to the household, it was good enough for me. We moved to Pinehurst a year later, built our home, and for 14 holiday seasons, I clipped a sprig of real mistletoe for our doorway from that tree. “You know,” my tree-trimmer said, picking up his saw, “it’s interesting you saved this tree being it’s so close to your house. It’s a tupelo gum, a native tree. Most folks rip ’em out.” Instead, its roots grew deeper. PS Claudia Watson is a Pinehurst resident and a longtime contributor to PineStraw and The Pilot.

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December 2018 P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

OUT OF THE BLUE

Look Both Ways Janus sees two sides to every story By Deborah Salomon

As the year winds down and

Christmas draws nigh, I think of Janus, the Roman god of transitions for whom January was named, the god pictured with two faces — one looking forward, the other, back. This timing works for me since I was born soon after New Year’s Day, that year being 1939. So many years, so many experiences. Some make me feel old, others, like a feisty youngster.

Old: Seeing a close-up of Robert Redford — McDreamy before Patrick Dempsey was even born. Now his face — untouched by plastic surgery — is craggier than the Utah topography where he hides out. There it is, promoting a new movie called, no less, The Old Man & the Gun. Young: Remembering how he looked at the Vermont grocery store when visiting his daughter and grandchildren — tousled, cute, short. Old: Resorting to jeans with a stretchy waistband. Young: Doing something about it, then burning the stretchy jeans on a funeral pyre. Old: Preferring my desktop PC to any of the newfangled laptops. Young: Knowing my treasured photos are safe in a box, not on a cellphone memory chip. Old: Remembering that I was the first, after his parents, to hold my 10-minute-old grandson. In May, he graduates from law school. Young: Knowing he thinks I’m still tolerably cool. Old: Associating (w)rappers with what encloses a candy bar. Young: Knowing, deep down, that Paul Simon, Billy Joel and Elton John are better than any of them. Old: Preferring to receive bills printed on paper, by mail. Young: Paying them electronically. This way, I always have financial records at hand, filed in — horrors! — a brown accordion folder. Old: Having lived through at least three cycles of bell-bottoms. Pants can only be cut so many ways, extremes being stovepipe and palazzo. Young: Wise enough to shelve a few pairs until fashionable once again. Leggings can’t last forever, as evidenced by Melania Trump, whose designer palazzos currently flap in the breeze. Old enough: To miss every answer in certain Jeopardy! categories. I don’t even understand the clues. Young enough: To know every answer the young ’uns miss. And then some. Old enough: Remembering when elected officials were respected for their service and behavior. Young enough: To express outrage when they disappoint. Me too, baby. Old enough: To like my coffee plain and black. Young enough: To laugh at a $4 cup of froth.

Old enough: To like plain, unsweetened tea. Young enough: What is chai, anyway? Old: Remembering when Life and Look were much-anticipated weekly magazines and fifth-graders cut up National Geographic for projects. Young enough: To follow blogs. Old enough: To miss power steering. Young enough: To mistrust self-driving cars. Old enough: To have stayed in locally owned motels, cabins and “tourist homes.” Young enough: To appreciate Airbnbs. Old enough: To yen for Howard Johnson’s 28 flavors. Young enough: To understand Ben & Jerry’s message-laden flavors. But really, guys: “Bernie’s Yearning?” Old enough: To remember when Miss America was a big deal, and the biggest deal was the (one-piece) swimsuit competition. Young enough: To appreciate why emphasis has shifted, along with ratings. Old enough: To remember, shudder, when old ladies wore old-lady shoes. Young enough: These boots are made for walkin’. Old enough: To remember when family doctors made house calls. Young enough: House calls? They don’t even go to the hospital anymore. Smart. Might catch a nasty virus. Old enough: To remember life as perfectly acceptable before McDonald’s, Costco, Amazon and Hulu. Young enough: To binge-shop at Whole Foods. Enough enoughs. C’mon, Janus. Let’s go have a beer. No, not a Rheingold. One of those local crafty brews with names like “Sweet Baby Jesus Chocolate Peanut Butter Porter.” 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 2018 P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

C H A R AC T E R S T U DY

Catalog of Memories No room at the inn for the Wish Book

By Tom Allen

Say it ain’t so. Not at the most wonderful

time of the year.

Recently, Sears announced they were closing 142 stores before the end of this year. At its height, America’s largest retailer boasted over 4,000 stores. Decades of lagging sales and plummeting revenues reduced the number to less than 1,000. Fingers point at everything from out of touch CEOs to blasé brands. I beg to differ. The reason? They messed with the Wish Book. In 1993, Sears stopped publishing beloved big-book catalogs and reduced the size of the Christmas Wish Book, a holiday tradition since 1933. My generation circled Rock’em Sock’em Robots, Chatty Cathys and Electric Football games with vibrating, metal fields. We showed our parents pictures of Milton Bradley games like Barrel of Monkeys, Mousetrap and Twister. Remember Operation and “Cavity Sam,” with his red light bulb nose? Sam’s “Adam’s Apple” was easy to remove. Likewise his “Wrenched Ankle.” Going for the “Bread Basket,” worth $1,000 in play money, was the real test of hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills. Touch that metal with those tweezers — the buzzer sounded and Sam’s nose lit up. Doggone it! But we loved it. “Batteries Not Included” meant our stockings held an 8-pack of double-A Evereadys. Years later, we’d slip the same 8-pack, along with bubble gum and a pair of socks, into our kid’s stockings, just like our parents did. Thanks to the Wish Book, boys might pull out Hot Wheels; girls, Easy Bake Oven accessories. Eventually, we ditched the Wish Book. Thought we’d outgrown it. Clothes, no longer frowned on, became acceptable under the tree. Who needed a Wish Book, we thought, when slick mail order offerings hollered at us from October until early December. As young adults we circled item numbers from Lands’ End catalogs, underlining sizes and colors to make sure whoever filled out the order form or called toll-free would get it right. We had to be at least as preppy as our best friends. We dog-eared pages from L.L. Bean’s collection of duck boots and flannel shirts, ’cause if you didn’t go for poplin and prep, try rugged and woodsy. For some, toll-free ordering from folksy towns like Dodgeville, Wisconsin, or Rockport, Maine, added to the mystique of the purchase. Am I really talking to someone who lives in Dodgeville? How cool was that? Then along came the internet. Who needs toll-free numbers and mail

order forms when you can shop online? Quick and convenient. Yes, I saved that credit card number, but they always ask for the security code. “Honey, will you hand me my wallet?” Need more choices? Hello Amazon Prime. For 120 bucks a year, get everything from toilet paper to toffee in two business days. But with convenience came overwhelming choices. Clothes shopping? Scroll through page after page of stonewashed denim or polo shirts and you still can’t find what you want. Narrow that search. Surely a middle-aged man, with a receding hairline and slight belly bulge, can find an alternative to skinny jeans. All I want is a short-sleeved navy polo — no pockets, hemmed sleeves or, Lord forbid, a monogram. Just a few colors, please. I’m fine not receiving a sweater on Christmas morning in “light beetroot red.” In 1886, Richard Sears, a railroad worker, started selling watches through fliers and mail order catalogs. The business morphed into Sears Roebuck, selling everything from shoes to furniture to musical instruments. You could even buy a house from Sears. Exclusive brands like Kenmore, Craftsman and Diehard proliferated in American kitchens, tool sheds and cars. The Sears Tower, built in 1973 in Chicago, was once the tallest building in the world as well as the retailer’s headquarters. By the 1980s low-price competitors like Walmart, Kmart and Target were opening big box stores. Sears tried to snag the dot-com market, acquired Lands’ End to beef up their apparel, and merged with Kmart. Nevertheless, decline continued. Sell-offs increased. The company became a shadow of itself during the ’70s and ’80s. Last year, after listening to customers recount Christmas Wish Book memories, Sears brought the catalog back. But the print version, as well as online and mobile editions, failed to attract baby boomers who remember waiting for the iconic Christmas catalog to arrive by mail, months before Santa slid down the chimney. Everything has its season. Sadly, perhaps Sears has had theirs. Still, memories of finding everything on my Wish Book list under the tree are priceless. Or, at least they beat the necktie with three Wise Men riding camels. I know. It’s the thought that counts. Good luck, Sears. At Christmas, miracles still happen. PS Tom Allen is minister of education at First Baptist Church, Southern Pines.

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December 2018P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

B I R D WA T C H

O, Tannen-Bird! The feisty red-breasted nuthatch flocks to North Carolina’s evergreens in winter

By Susan Campbell

Every few years, certain species of birds

show up in the South when their food supply to the north becomes scant. This winter seems to be one of those years for the red-breasted nuthatch. Weighing in at only a few ounces, these feisty songbirds travel in small groups, typically moving during the cooler months from Canada’s 1.5-billion-acre boreal forests into the northern coniferous forests of the United States. As long as they can find enough seeds to sustain them through the season, they may not travel very far. But this fall, the red-breasteds’ favorites, found in spruce and fir cones, are already hard to come by. Therefore, they have begun to move well southward in search of suitable alternatives and can now be found in forested areas across North Carolina.

Red-breasted nuthatches are easy to recognize with their white eyebrows and rusty colored undersides. Like all nuthatches, they have gray backs and short legs and tails, along with a distinctive pointed, upturned bill. It’s great fun watching these birds crawling forward, sideways or upside down in search of food. And they are experts at clinging on the tippy-tops of branches as they hunt for their next meal. Strong legs and sharp claws enable red-breasteds to

navigate the challenging terrain of evergreens, and their specialized bills work well to pry out seeds that other birds cannot reach. They adeptly are able to ferret out seeds from the smaller cones of cedars, hemlocks and larches. Here in our area, the sizable cones of loblolly and longleaf are easy pickings for these ravenous little birds. This species has a very distinct vocalization, like its cousins, the whitebreasted and brown-headed nuthatches, which are common here in the Sandhills and Piedmont. Red-breasted nuthatches do not sing but rather call frequently. Listen for a horn-like “yank, yank” coming from the treetops. You are much more likely to hear this bird before you see it. But individuals may be mixed in with chickadees and titmice traveling through the area. Any location with abundant pines, such as Weymouth Woods Sandhills Nature Preserve or the edge of Fort Bragg or the Sandhills Game Lands, is prime territory for these little birds from now through February. I am hoping that our winter banding activities will include capture of at least a few individuals in the next couple of months. We have only been fortunate enough to study a couple close-up one winter in 2012, which was the last big invasion of the species this far south. Red-breasted nuthatches readily do come to bird feeders. They are attracted to oil-rich sunflower seed above all else. They will, however, also take advantage of suet especially if it contains peanut butter (as mine always does). You may find them attempting to monopolize your feeding station and bullying other birds — even larger birds such as cardinals. Defending food sources is a big part of daily life for these small guys and gals who year round live much of their lives on the edge. Regardless, I am looking forward to a few of these winter visitors finding my offerings this winter. Their colorful appearance and feisty behavior always make me smile. PS Susan would love to receive your wildlife sightings and photos. She can be contacted by email at susan@ncaves.com.

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December 2018P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

SPORTING LIFE

The Champion Holiday Memories that stretch across the seasons

By Tom Bryant

shotgun, whistle up Smut, who was napping under the car, and hunt the tracks back to The best of all gifts around any Pinebluff. I would get home just about dark Christmas tree is the and clean what game I had harvested, which could be anything from squirrels to doves to presence of a happy family all rabbits. Mother would put the day’s catch in wrapped up in each other. the freezer, and later we would have a wild game feast to rival Davy Crockett’s, or so I — Burton Hills thought at the time. Christmas morning with the Bryant family. Thanksgiving opened another whole avenue of excitement. This holiday brought holidays played a huge part in my life. It seemed, in those with it quail season, and to add to that special event, the opening of deer season. Now, to be truthful, I didn’t hunt deer in my confined areas around Moore early pre-teen years, I was always in a dither, wanting to County. I never saw a deer or any sign that a whitetail was about. But down on move time forward to celebrate one special occasion or my granddad’s farm in South Carolina, they were plentiful and hunted, and I was part of that great adventure. another. The biggy, of course, was summer, when we The family would always celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter at were paroled from the forced halls of learning to days of the home place. On Thanksgiving, as soon as I was out of school for the holiday, Dad would take me down to the farm, and for a couple of days I would fun: swimming and fishing at the beach; camping with follow my grandfather around like a yearling puppy, asking interminable questhe Scouts on Mr. Troutman’s farm; bicycling across the tions with the main one being, “Can I hunt this year on my own deer stand?” Typically, my grandfather’s hunt club of about 10 or 15 members would wilds of Pinebluff with my loyal companion, a curly coated hunt a different farm every week; and in the past, I could only accompany retriever I named Smut. The lazy days seemed to stretch on Granddad as a spectator. Finally, one special Thanksgiving, I was allowed to forever. It was a wonderful time, until on the horizon I saw have my own deer stand, and on that day, I considered myself almost grown. I didn’t shoot a deer that season but I saw one, and it is still etched in my approaching interminably, like a major storm, autumn and memory like a spectacular painting and has just grown more beautiful over back to school. the years. Thanksgiving was a wonderful holiday, but the champion of all holidays But with fall and the days of regimentation in classrooms where new and the one I started thinking about when the first frost whitened the broom subjects expanded our knowledge came dove season and another good reason straw fields of Pinebluff and the “bible” of toys, the Sears Roebuck catalog, to be in the woods. It was a wonderful time; and as a result of my being a year arrived in the mail, was Christmas. older, my parents extended my borders of responsibility to let me venture into It was a magical occasion. What I remember most about that amazing time the wilds and hunt from Aberdeen to Pinebluff. It worked something like was the smell of newly cut cedar, wood fires, freshly baked cakes and turkeys this: I would catch the bus to school, and Dad, who was the superintendent in the oven. The excitement and anticipation of the wonderful days ahead at the ice plant in Aberdeen, would carry my shotgun and Smut to work with were almost more than I could stand. him. After school, I would hike the couple of miles to the plant located on the I was champion of the roost during that time and roamed far and wide in railroad tracks just south of Aberdeen, do my homework in his office, grab my

PHOTOGRAPHS BY TOM BRYANT

As a youngster,

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December 2018P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

SPORTING LIFE

my quest for just the right Christmas greenery, which included holly with bunches of red berries and mistletoe that had to be shot down with my shotgun from the highest trees. This was quite a feat for me in those days when I would buy shotgun shells from Burney Hardware for a nickel apiece. I didn’t waste ammunition very often. There was no one who loved Christmas more than Mom and Dad. I found out later that they would begin early in the fall to locate just the right presents for Santa to bring my sisters, brother and me. There would always be something thrilling under the tree, a shiny bicycle, a shotgun, new hunting boots or a duck hunting mackinaw. One year, the year I was working on my Boy Scout photography merit badge, Santa brought me a Kodak box camera and all the fixings to develop my own film. I made, developed and printed photos that year and still have one in our collection. On Christmas Day, after seeing all the loot that Santa had brought, we loaded the car and headed south to the farm to celebrate with my grandparents and all the numerous uncles, aunts and cousins. A magnificent feast was prepared with roasted venison, turkey, ducks, hams and barbecue. There were all kinds of vegetables and casseroles and sweet and baked potatoes. The sideboard seemed to creak under its heavy load of pies and cakes and puddings and the most important, Grandmother’s fruitcake. After dinner, the entire family moved to the living room, where a giant Christmas tree filled the corner, its top nearly touching the 16-foot ceiling. Presents were piled high, and particular cousins were assigned the task of passing them around. It seemed to take forever for all the presents to be opened and all the oohs and aahs to be shared before we could get back on the road to home. I mean, after all, I had a brand new bike I had to check out, and time was wasting. We needed to hurry. Those pre-TV days were simpler, and we made the most of them. It seemed I lived outdoors more than in, and when I wasn’t creating my own adventures, I was reading about others in books such as Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and another one of his classics, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. And truth be known, those fellows really didn’t have a leg up, as far as I was concerned. Their only advantage was they had the Mississippi River in their neighborhood. And me? I had Manly Wade Wellman’s book, Haunts of Drowning Creek, and Drowning Creek was my big river. Yessir, I had a grand time as a youngster, especially at Christmas. PS Tom Bryant, a Southern Pines resident, is a lifelong outdoorsman and PineStraw’s Sporting Life columnist.

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December 2018P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

G O L F T OW N J O U R NA L

Miller Time Pinehurst played a starring role

By Lee Pace

PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE TUFTS ARCHIVES

Johnny Miller is

perhaps best remembered around Pinehurst for his stirring playoff victory over Jack Nicklaus and Frank Beard for the 1974 World Open title. That was the year the blond bombshell from Northern California scorched the PGA Tour with wins in three straight tournaments to open the season, took first in five others and banked $353,021. He drove the ball long and straight, smothered flagsticks with his irons and seemed to have magnets drawing his putts to the cup.

He’s also known in this golf-happy burg for his insight, candor and color he delivered for some three decades as a golf analyst for NBC. Now 71, Miller announced in October that he’d retire from broadcasting in early 2019 to spend more time with his family, which includes 24 grandchildren. Golfers coming in from their rounds at 4:30 on Sunday afternoon will see and hear Paul Azinger on NBC’s broadcasts instead. “I’ve had two lives,” Miller said in breaking the news. “The golfing part . . . the younger generation sort of heard about me, but maybe didn’t realize I wasn’t too bad at times. Then the announcing part. But I’ve been on the road for 50 years.”

Still quite significant but virtually forgotten is that Pinehurst, in a sense, gave the world of golf the second coming of Johnny Miller. Four nostalgic days in the Colgate/Hall of Fame Classic in 1979 helped Miller shake a threeyear slump and bounced him into a stretch in the early 1980s when he won five tournaments and finished among the Top 30 money earners four times. Miller didn’t win (Tom Watson beat him in a playoff), but he left town a champion in his own mind. “That tournament single-handedly got me out of my slump,” Miller reflected years later. “It was like signaling to the rest of the PGA Tour that Johnny Miller could play golf again. It was a weight off my shoulders. Pinehurst’s been very good to me. I haven’t played it that many times, but it’s the kind of course I wish we played every week on the tour if I was still active.” Miller was the incumbent U.S. Open champion with his mind-boggling 63 at Oakmont when the PGA Tour came to Pinehurst in November 1973 after a 22-year hiatus. Richard Tufts of the founding family discontinued the North and South Open in 1951 after financial squabbles with the tour pros, and Bill Maurer, the president of the new owners in the early 1970s, the Diamondhead Corporation, made it a priority to bring pro golf back to Pinehurst and its esteemed No. 2 course. He did so in the form of the 144-hole World Open, played over two weeks in November 1973 on the No. 2 and 4 courses. The purse was an unprecedented total of half a million dollars, with $100,000 to the winner (collected by Miller Barber). Miller entered the event but withdrew at the last minute because of an illness.

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The following year, the format was trimmed back to 72 holes and was moved up to late September to coincide with the grand opening of the World Golf Hall of Fame, which sat for nearly two decades on ground to the east of the fourth green and fifth tee of the No. 2 course. “The World Open in ’74 was the biggest money tournament of the year,” Miller said. “First prize was $60,000, which was unheard of at the time. Obviously, it was a big tournament and had a tremendous field. It was like a Players Championship of today.” Miller shot a 63 in the second round, missing the course record 62s fired by Watson and Gibby Gilbert the year before. The round featured five birdies on the first six holes (including a 60-footer on the fifth hole). “It was like one of those old Johnny Miller blitzes,” he said. “I dominated the course and scored a fairly easy 63, if there is such a thing.” Miller and Nicklaus were tied at 209 after three rounds, with Charles Coody and Bruce Devlin two back and Bob Murphy and Beard trailing by three. The 27-year-old Miller, winner of $256,383 that year, reveled in the challenge of going head-to-head against the 34-year-old Nicklaus, who had earnings of $208,307 and a Tournament Players Championship that year. “I wouldn’t be surprised if both of us shot in the 60s head-to-head,” Miller said after round three. “I’ve held him at bay recently and I’ve had a lot of success against Jack, but I don’t talk much about it. I know he’s a better player than I am, but I’m not afraid of him. He’s going to try to beat my brains out, but he’s got to respect me because I’ve had such great success against him.” It turned out that Miller and Nicklaus each shot one-over 72s, allowing Murphy and Beard to force a four-way playoff with 69s and 281 totals, threeunder for 72 holes (only eight players beat par for the tournament). The playoff started on 15, where TV cameras were set up. Beard scored a routine par on the par-3, leaving a birdie putt dead short that could have ended it there. Miller and Nicklaus got up-and-down from the fringe, and Murphy was eliminated after his tee ball found a greenside bunker. Miller won the tournament with a two-putt birdie on 16 after Beard three-putted and Nicklaus missed a 12-footer for birdie. Miller hit a 3-wood to eight feet — “The best shot under pressure I’ve ever hit,” he said — and went from thinking he had to make an eagle to simply needing to two-putt. “To beat Jack Nicklaus in a playoff sort of capped off the year for me,” he said. “I enjoyed playing No. 2. It was perfect for my game. It gave you enough room off the tee, you had extremely difficult approach shots, and if you hit it real bad off the tee, you had broom grass, sand and trees. To me that course is the perfect course for my game. It’s the perfect test

December 2018P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

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of golf because it’s got difficult putting, it accepts the approach shot fairly, and it penalizes the poor shot.” A different Johnny Miller came to Pinehurst in 1979. He had been the talk of the tour in the early 1970s for his good play but now had become the talk of the tour for his bad play. He slid to 48th on the money list in 1977 and 111th in 1978, with only $17,400 in winnings. Miller hadn’t won a tournament since early 1976. “What’s wrong with Johnny Miller?” the world wanted to know. Miller responded that there wasn’t anything wrong that a bunch of birdies and a little confidence couldn’t solve. “Before Pinehurst I played in the Lancôme in Paris and won against a good field, and that signaled that maybe I was ready to play well again on the U.S. tour. I came home a week or two later and continued my good play,” he said. Miller opened with a 69 and then equaled his 1974 heroics with another 63. “It was amazing. It was like it was ’73 or ’74 all over again.” he said. Watson moved into contention after three rounds, shooting a 65 to stand at 203, one behind Miller. The leaders talked about the confidence Miller was gaining on the eve of the final round. “Confidence isn’t something you get from reading a book,” Miller said. “You can’t have confidence if you’ve just hit four bad shots in a row. It comes from hitting a lot of good shots. Confidence is Seve Ballesteros hitting all those shots from the trees and making pars because he knows he’s going to. That’s the way Arnold Palmer used to be. “The difference between 63 and 73 is so little it’s scary. It may be the distance between the ears.” Miller hit a 3-iron on the 17th hole to one foot away and went one ahead of Watson, but a hooked tee shot on 18 led to a bogey and a playoff after a closing round of 70 and a 272 total. Watson won on the second playoff hole after Miller’s approach went over the green. But Johnny Miller was back. Pinehurst has always been special to him for those weeks in 1974 and 1979. “I almost can’t tell you how good the golf course is,” he said. “It might not be the hardest golf course in the world, but for pleasure, for going out and having a pleasurable time with a smile on your face, it can’t be beat. It’s hard to get mad when you play Pinehurst. “The town reeks of golf, it has a definite golf spirit, very similar to a Pine Valley or Augusta National or Cypress Point. It’s very blessed with that golfing spirit.” PS Chapel Hill-based writer Lee Pace has written about hundreds of memorable rounds of golf in Pinehurst over some three decades.

December 2018 P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

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Christmas Poem

December ��

I cannot write a Christmas poem for you, not with all those slick verses oozing through the mail, the schmaltzy music whining on the radio. But what I can do is tell you of a December afternoon in 1957 when I sat in Miss Cohee’s fourth grade class listening to the radiators clank and staring at my scarred desktop and how Eddie Morgan, hunched in the seat beside me, looked up suddenly and whispered, “It’s snowing!” I looked up too, along with the rest of the class, out the tall warped windows, across the empty playground, to Idlewild Avenue, and saw that it was true: the first gray-white dust just drifting the blue cedars. If you are an old believer, even on this bluest of December days, I would give you that pale afternoon, the chalkdust scuffle of shoes on the worn floor, those children’s faces eager as light. — Stephen E. Smith (From A Short Report on the Fire at Woolworths.)

Our Christmas Sing A tradition that measures the years

By Margaret Maron • Illustrations by L aurel Holden

ohn thought it was probably the Christmas of 1978. Scott said, “No, I think it was earlier.” “Maybe 1976?” asked Celeste. Carlette thought that sounded about right. After hearing them puzzle over when it all began, I finally went through some of my old journals and found this entry: “First time all five Honeycutts here for dinner since the summer. By candlelight, firelight, and tree lights, we sang carols till midnight.” It was December 23, 1977. As farm girls growing up amid the tobacco fields of Johnston County,

Sue Honeycutt and I had sung in our church choir. I can carry a tune as long as it is pitched no higher than B♭, but Sue’s voice soared like an angel’s. After school and marriage, we were separated first by an ocean and then hundreds of land miles, yet we kept in touch; and once my husband and I moved down to the family farm where I grew up, the friendship became even stronger. There were eight of us that first Christmas: Sue and her husband, Carl, had two nearly-grown daughters and a teenage son; my husband and I had a 13-year-old boy. That evening together had been so much fun that we did it again the following December.

December 2018P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

Do something twice in the South and it immediately becomes a tradition. The first three or four years, our ritual was to sing every seasonal song we could remember, from “Silent Night” to “Silver Bells” to “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus,” followed by a sit-down dinner, and ending in an exchange of gifts. We eventually scrapped the gift exchange — boring and too time-consuming. Instead, everyone is now encouraged to perform a party piece. This might be a dramatic scene from a school play, an original comic skit with hand puppets, an operatic aria by a granddaughter who has inherited Sue’s voice, or a Christmas poem. (I have to be restrained from reading A.A. Milne’s “King John’s Christmas” every year.) Early on, our sons made us laugh with their take on the classic “Who’s On First?” routine. This past year, Sue’s 6-yearold great-granddaughter donned a blue shawl and shyly mimed “Mary, Did You Know?” When her father was that age, he came with a stash of Christmas riddles: “What do snowmen eat for breakfast? Frosted Flakes, of course.” Getting measured soon became another part of the tradition. One end of our kitchen wall is thick with dated lines that mark the years. Off come the shoes and everyone who’s still growing stands up straight, heels against the baseboard. A granddaughter will proudly announce that she’s grown two full inches since last year, while her cousin is delighted to see that he’s almost as tall as his uncle was when that uncle was 10 years old. Sue and Carl’s newest greatgrandchild went on the wall this past Christmas. She was only six weeks old and her daddy had to straighten out her little frog legs to get an approximate measure.

or several years, as people began to put on coats and hats and look for their car keys, the evening would wind down with a child’s whisper, “Is it time to get silly yet?” I would nod and slip her a handful of clothespins, which she quickly shared with equally mischievous cousins. Looking like innocent angels, they maneuvered among their elders, surreptitiously clipping a clothespin on the back of an uncle’s shirt, a grandparent’s sleeve, the hem of an aunt’s skirt. Soon everyone would be laughing and slapping their clothes to find the clothespin, which they immediately transferred to someone else’s scarf or hat. More than one clothespin went home on the coattail of an unsuspecting victim. There are 26 of us now and our sit-down dinner has devolved into little plates of finger foods. The meal still ends with coffee and a Yule log elaborately decorated with meringue mushrooms, but I’ve passed the recipe on to our older granddaughter. Some songs are dropped as new ones are added, but we’ll never drop “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” Everyone joins in on all the words except for the “gift” itself, which becomes a solo or duet, depending on how many people are here. Early on, Carl croaked out “two turtledoves” in a distinctly tone-deaf baritone, which so cracked us up that he was awarded permanent possession of the second day. With her beautiful voice, Sue was a natural for “five golden rings.” The rest of us split up the remaining days in no particular order, although my husband is rather fond of “three French hens.” Carl left us last year and his pitch-perfect son inherited those two turtledoves. It breaks our hearts to know that this year someone else will have to sing Sue’s five golden rings. It will be a bittersweet continuation and more than one pair of eyes will glisten in the candlelight. But laughter has always been a huge part of our tradition, too. As the first generation of grandchildren matured, their slapstick silliness faded away, but two of Sue and Carl’s great-grandchildren are now 10 and 7. I think it’s time to slip them some clothespins. PS

A native Tar Heel, Margaret Maron has written more than 30 novels and dozens of short stories. She was inducted into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame in 2016. PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December 2018

The Return of the Light A celebration of food and faith at Pinehurst’s Temple Beth Shalom

PHOTOGRAPH BY MARK WAGONER

By Jim Dodson

December 2018 P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

ne morning not long ago, as shorter days and darker nights began to settle over the Sandhills, we dropped by Pinehurst’s Temple Beth Shalom to visit with the women of Carol Pierce’s cooking class. In the aftermath of the tragic attack on the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh during which 11 worshippers were murdered as they prayed on a Saturday morning — the worst recorded attack on Jewish people in American history — Beth Shalom’s congregation held a prayer and healing service that filled its sanctuary with people of all faiths from across the Sandhills. On the Sunday before Thanksgiving, the Temple also hosted the 13th annual interfaith service with half a dozen Christian churches from the area. As one member of the Temple family put it, “This was exactly the spiritual lift we needed, an outpouring of fellowship from our neighbors and friends — a way to bring back the light.” Indeed, with the lights of Christmas shining brightly everywhere these days, we couldn’t think of a better moment to grow that light and celebrate the timeless messages of Hanukkah, the beloved Jewish Festival of Lights that begins on Dec. 2 and ends Dec. 10, a family-centered holiday observed by the sharing of traditional foods, ritual lighting of a special nine-candle menorah and reciting of prayers, playing games and offering gifts over eight nights and days to commemorate the restoration of the Second Jerusalem Temple in 167 BCE. At that time, the Holy Land was ruled by the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire of Syria that forced the people of Israel to accept Syrian Greek culture and spiritual beliefs in place of their own Hebrew God. Against all odds, a small band of faithful Jews, led by a freedom fighter named Judah the Maccabee, defeated one of the mightiest armies on Earth, drove the Syrian Greeks from their land and reclaimed the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, rededicating it to the divine light of God. When the victors sought to relight the temple’s menorah in celebration (the seven-branched candelabrum), they found only a single cruse of olive oil that had escaped contamination by the Syrian occupiers. Miraculously, they lit the menorah with a one-day supply of oil that somehow lasted for eight days until new holy oil could be prepared under conditions of ritual purity. To commemorate this miracle, Jewish sages instituted the festival of Hanukkah. At the heart of the festival is the nightly lighting of a special nine-candle menorah called the Hanukkiah, using the shamash (“attendant”) candle to light one candle each night until all nine candles are ablaze. Special blessings and traditional prayers accompany the lightings, and songs of praise are sung after the candles are lit. Families also exchange “gelt” (everything from jelly beans to coins made of chocolate) and play “dreidel” (a game of chance played with a four-sided top), exchange small gifts and share special holiday foods cooked in oil to symbolize the endurance of the Jewish people. In observant households, lighted menorahs are placed in windows to bring light to the darkness. “The thing that really brings people together and best symbolizes Hanukkah is the traditional foods,” Carol Pierce explained as her students – Elaine, Nancy, Harriet, Sheila, Bonnie and Audrey — filtered into Beth Shalom’s cozy kitchen area, chatting away about the sudden turn in the weather and their own holiday preparations. “The foods of Hanukkah are fried, symbolic of the miracle of the oil that lit the lamp in the temple.” “In other words,” someone quipped, “a heart attack on a plate.” “Hanukkah brings back the best memories,” Elaine Schwartz was moved to say. “Everyone tends to have their own recipes for these foods, but my late mother made the best potato latkes ever. She served them warm from the oven with homemade applesauce and sour cream, and we always played the dreidel game for M&Ms. Unfortunately, she never wrote down her latke recipe and I’ve never quite found one to match it.” These days, Schwartz added, she observes the holiday by sending her two grandchildren in Colorado gelt-filled dreidels and a nice gift for one of the nights of Hanukkah. “The holiday has changed in some respects. When I was young, my mother would give my sister and me coloring books and crayons for each night and a larger gift on the last night. But kids these days are competing with Christmas, in a way. Hanukkah has been somewhat Americanized,” she reflected. “That’s OK. The holidays share things in common — gifts, food and lights. It’s really about family time.”

Holiday traditions mean everything. As Sheila Rappaport placed her premade potato latkes on a cookie sheet to heat up (“You can make them well in advance and freeze them wrapped in paper towels — they keep wonderfully!”), her daughter, Audrey Shalikar, mused how her own children are now in their 30s, but she has kept her Hanukkah decorations at the ready for the expected birth of her first grandchild that is due soon. “So someday when they come to visit,” she says, “I’ll be ready with my mother’s latkes and dreidel games and the full experience of Hanukkah.” Nancy Jacobs has a lovely story about the ecumenical appeal of a well-made latke. “My late husband, Bob, loved to make latkes,” she remembers. “Every year he spent an entire Saturday making two to three hundred latkes for the open house we always held after the Christmas tree lighting in the village of Pinehurst. Bob sang in the village chorus. He loved both holidays and the people who came to our house — always a hundred or so folks. They loved Bob’s latkes. It was a special evening.” Over the next full and lively hour, the women of Beth Shalom traded laughs and sweet memories of their own Hanukkahs past as they learned an easy technique from Carol Pierce for making jelly doughnuts, latkes and a special panettone pudding from Fresh Market. There was talk of classic brisket recipes and chicken and matzo ball soup; homemade applesauce and Hanukkah cookies. At one point Barbara Rothbeind, Beth Shalom’s energetic vice president, stuck her head in to see how the cooking group was faring. “It’s been a difficult year for Jewish people,” she reflected, “but the outpouring from people of faith across this community has been such a blessing. It shows how we stand together in a darkened time — letting our light shine. Hanukkah is all about that —food and family and fellowship.” As we sampled a second warm and delicious jelly doughnut fresh from the kitchen’s oven, we couldn’t have agreed more.

Fresh Market Panettone Bread Pudding 1 box of Fresh Market Panettone Bread 1 cup heavy cream 1 cup whole milk 2 whole eggs 2 egg yolks 1/4 cup sugar 1 teaspoon grated orange zest 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut panettone into 1-inch cubes and place in a 9-by-9-inch greased pan. In a large bowl whisk together remaining ingredients. Pour liquid mixture onto panettone cubes. Press cubes gently until all are saturated. Soak for five minutes. Bake for 60 minutes. Allow bread pudding to cool for 5 minutes before serving. Drizzle with caramel sauce or top with fresh whipped cream.

Easy Potato Latkes

2 cups raw grated potatoes 1/2 cup grated onion Pinch of baking powder 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 1 tablespoon of flour or matzo meal 2 Eggs Peel potatoes and soak in cold water for several hours, then grate and drain. Beat eggs well and mix with other ingredients, add a little pepper if desired. Drop spoonfuls on hot greased skillet and cook until golden brown, both sides. Keep warm in oven until ready to serve with warm applesauce

3 Golden Delicious apples, peeled, cored and quartered 3 Fuji apples peeled, cored and quartered 1 cup apple juice 2 tablespoons cognac or brandy (optional) 2 tablespoons butter 3 tablespoons honey ½ 1 teaspoon cinnamon Combine apples and all other ingredients in microwave-safe container. Microwave uncovered for 10 minutes. Use blender or potato masher to blend to desired consistency. Serve warm or chill for later use.

Amazing Brisket

1 4–5 pound first cut brisket 1 cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed 1 package Lipton Onion Soup Mix 1 bottle Heinz Chili Sauce Potatoes and carrots Heat oven to 350 degrees Place brisket in deep roasting pan. Combine sugar, soup mix and chili sauce; spoon over meat and cover pan. Cook for 2 1/2 hours, remove and cool for one hour. Slice meat against grain, cover and cook brisket for another 2 hours, or until brisket is tender. Add quartered red bliss or Yukon Gold potatoes (unpeeled) plus a small bag of baby carrots and cover with sauce, for the last hour.

Pour mixture in greased casserole and bake in preheated 350-degree oven 35 to 40 minutes. Can be frozen — defrost completely before warming in a 350-degree oven 10 minutes.

Matzo Balls

1 cup water 1 stick butter 1 cup matzo meal Parsley, sugar, salt, paprika, ginger, nutmeg and grated onions to taste 3 eggs, separated In a medium sauce pan combine water and butter. Heat until butter dissolves. Add matzo meal and stir until water is absorbed. Season to taste with parsley, sugar, salt, paprika, ginger, nutmeg and grated onions. Mix well. Beat egg yolks until lemony and add to matzo mixture. In a clean bowl, with clean beater, beat egg whites until stiff; fold into matzo mixture. Chill well in covered container for at least 4 hours To make the matzo balls, dip fingers in warm water and roll chilled mixture into balls. If you wish to freeze, place on a cookie sheet and freeze. The frozen balls can be placed in a plastic bag until you need them. When ready to use them, drop them in boiling chicken broth and cook for 30 minutes on medium heat. Add to your favorite soup! Yield: 27 medium/ small matzo balls

Simple Chicken Soup

Kugel

12 ounces noodles 1 cup cottage cheese 1 cup sour cream 3 eggs, beaten 1 stick butter, softened Salt and pepper to taste.

3 chicken breasts 4 carrots, halved 4 stalks celery, halved 1 large onion, halved Water to cover Salt and pepper to taste 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules (optional)

Cook and drain noodles according to package directions. While still hot, add the other ingredients and stir well. Pour mixture in greased casserole and bake in preheated 350-degree oven 35 to 40 minutes.

Put the chicken, carrots, celery and onion in a large stock pot and cover with cold water. Heat and simmer, uncovered, until the chicken meat falls off of the bones (skim off foam every so often).

For variety (and to make it sweet), you can add 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon and a handful of raisins, To make it savory, add only 1/2 stick of butter. Then sautée one medium chopped onion, 1/2 cup chopped mushrooms and 1/4 cup

chopped celery When veggies are browned, add to noodle mixture and bake as above.

Take everything out of the pot. Strain the broth. Pick the meat off the bones and chop the carrots, celery and onion. Season the broth with salt, pepper and chicken bouillon to taste, if desired. Return the chicken, carrots, celery and onion to the pot, stir together, and serve.

December 2018 P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

PHOTOGRAPHS LEFT BY TIM SAYER

Easy 10-minute Applesauce

PHOTOGRAPHS BY TIM SAYER

Left to right: Elaine Schwartz, Bonnie Gillman, Nancy Jacobs, Carol Pierce, Harriet Ecker, Sheila Rappaport, Audrey Shalikar

Mandelbrot

Mix until blended, adding the nuts as the dough starts to come together.

3 eggs 1 cup sugar 1/3 cup vegetable oil 1 teaspoon vanilla 2 3/4 cups flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup walnuts Optional: chocolate chips, dried cranberries. Beat the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the oil and vanilla and mix thoroughly.

Briefly knead the dough on a floured surface. Divide into 2 pieces and shape each into a log about 3 inches wide. (Add chocolate or cranberries at this point.)

(A sweet bread similar to biscotti)

Sift the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon together and add to the sugar mixture.

Place logs on greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 30–35 minutes, until golden. Remove from oven and let stand until cool enough to handle. Slice logs diagonally into 1/2inch slices. Lay them on the cookie sheet cut side up and return to oven. Bake on the top shelf for 10 minutes and then on the bottom shelf for 10 minutes until toasted and brown.

Sweet Sufganiyot

(Traditional jelly doughnuts)

3 cups flour 2 teaspooons baking powder

2 tablespoons sugar 1/2 teaspoon vanilla 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg (optional) 2 eggs 2 cups sour cream Oil for frying Jelly (any preferred flavor — black raspberry a favorite) Powdered sugar In a bowl, blend together the flour, baking soda, sugar, vanilla, nutmeg, eggs and sour cream. In a skillet, heat the oil, and when very hot, drop tablespoons of batter into it. When the batter puffs up and turns light brown, turn it over and cook the other side. Set doughnuts on paper towel to cool. Make a small hole and fill with jelly. A cooking syringe can make this easy. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve immediately. PS

Little Big Man

How mighty mite Alfred Moore became our county’s namesake By Bill Case

y 1781, the Revolutionary War had raged in America for five years. North Carolina had mostly escaped armed conflict since the spring of 1776 when early Patriot successes caused Loyalist militia to disperse and British soldiers to vacate the Cape Fear area. Wilmington was a hotbed of independence, controlled by Patriots devoted to their cause. But in the first month of 1781, British general Lord Charles Cornwallis, seeking to restore hegemony in North Carolina, ordered a contingent of 300 redcoats commanded by Maj. James H. Craig to sail from Charleston to Wilmington and occupy the city. Immediately after stepping onshore at the city’s wharf on January 28, 1781, the ruthless Craig ordered Wilmington citizens to declare their allegiance to King George III or face the plundering of their possessions and a possible death sentence. As historian James Sprunt put it, Craig mercilessly employed “fire and sword” in his dealings with leading Patriots, burning their homes and jailing the most prominent while imploring Loyalist sympathizers to join militia units and assist in his scorched earth campaign to destroy “every Whig (Patriot) plantation.” Many Cape Fear Tories who supported English rule but had been laying low since 1776 became emboldened to take up arms against their fellow citizens. This turn of events alarmed 25-year-old Alfred Moore, who lived with wife Susannah at “Buchoi,” their rice plantation 7 miles from Wilmington. He

reckoned himself a target for Major Craig’s wrath since several Moore family members, including Alfred himself, had played key roles in the Patriot victories of 1776. Now, after a five-year hiatus, they again confronted the prospect of fighting forces antagonistic to independence. Indeed, Alfred’s family had been a dominating presence in the Carolinas almost since colonization began. In the late 1600s, his great-grandfather of Irish ancestry, James Moore, acquired by dint of marriage vast amounts of land in the Carolinas. From 1700 to 1703, James served in Charles Town (today’s Charleston) as royal governor of Carolina — the colony would not be split into two until 1712. One of James’ six sons, James Jr., a noted Indian fighter, would later serve briefly as provisional governor of South Carolina. With further land acquisitions by James Sr.’s sons, the combined Moore families amassed ownership of 83,000 acres by 1731. One of those sons, Maurice, chose to settle not far from Wilmington, founding the now defunct town of Brunswick on the Cape Fear River. Maurice’s son, Maurice Jr. (Alfred’s father), would become a wellknown attorney, and one of three royal judges in North Carolina. In 1766, Maurice Jr. authored an inflammatory pamphlet denouncing the hated Stamp Act, imposed by the British Parliament on the colonies. His provocative writing so angered the royal governor that Maurice Jr. was briefly stripped of his judgeship. Despite his disapproval of English policy, Maurice Jr. tended to vacillate on the issue of whether the colonies should make a

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total break from the mother country. His son Alfred held no such reservations. After the opening shots of the Revolutionary War were fired on the outskirts of Boston, at Lexington and Concord in April 1775, Alfred, recently admitted to the bar, postponed his legal career and joined the newly formed Continental Army. Boston was where Alfred had been sent for schooling after his mother died when he was 9 years old. While there, he rubbed elbows with soldiers from the British garrison, impressing the commander sufficiently that he saw fit to offer the by then 13-year-old an ensign’s commission. Moore was now eager to fight the foe that had attempted to recruit him as a boy. Moore was appointed a captain in the North Carolina First Regiment, led by his uncle Colonel James Moore — a canny leader the nephew held in high esteem. The regiment became a true family affair when Alfred’s brother Maurice III and brother-in-law Francis Nash signed up, too. The regiment’s most memorable encounter came the following February against 1,600 Tory militia, mainly Scottish Highlander immigrants. The militia was on the march from Cross Creek (subsequently Fayetteville) to Wilmington, intending to link up with Sir Henry Clinton’s redcoat army en route from the north. The Tories never reached Wilmington. Led by Colonel Moore, the Tories were routed at the Battle of Moore’s Creek Bridge. Those not killed or wounded scattered into the woods. Captain Alfred Moore and his regiment distinguished themselves by cutting off the Tories’ retreat and rounding them up. The Patriots’ smashing victory meant that North Carolina would be effectively rid of active Loyalist militia for the time being. The two most important men in Alfred’s life, his father, Maurice Jr., and uncle James (who had been promoted to brigadier general by General George Washington), died in the same house on the same day — January 15, 1777 — victims of a plague. Compounding the family tragedies were the deaths in battle of Maurice III and Nash. The resulting turbulence in family affairs necessitated Alfred’s attention at home, so he resigned his commission and stayed behind in North Carolina after Washington ordered the First Regiment to New Jersey in March 1777. Moore remained involved in the independence cause as the leader of his local militia. With hostilities ebbing for the moment in the Carolinas, he was able to devote time to his legal career and resume his role as the master of Buchoi. So, when Major Craig stormed into Wilmington four years later, issuing an ultimatum that those of Patriotic leanings must pledge unswerving loyalty to King George — or else — Alfred Moore faced a dilemma. If he swore, he would betray his cause. If he refused he faced the loss of all material possessions, a life on the run and perhaps his own death. Some Patriot supporters submitted to Craig’s demands, but Moore would not bend. Instead, he and his band of militiamen became guerrillas, making themselves a “thorn in the side” of the British. The exasperated Craig softened his stance a bit, indicating that if Moore would simply agree to take no further part in the war, he and his property would be left undisturbed, but Alfred rejected this entreaty. In retaliation, Craig dispatched a raiding party to Buchoi. The plantation’s buildings and crops were burned, Moore’s livestock removed, his family’s personal possessions plundered, and his slaves freed. Meanwhile, British Gen. Lord Cornwallis had been active in the interior of the Carolinas fighting engagements against Gen. Nathaniel Greene’s army, including the Battle of Guilford Courthouse near Greensboro, on March 15, 1781. Though the British were deemed the victors of that encounter, Cornwallis’ provisions and troops were greatly depleted. When he and his soldiers marched southeast to Wilmington for resupplies, Moore’s militiamen made life miserable for them. Disappointed with the lack of his campaign’s progress in the Carolinas, Cornwallis moved north into Virginia, where his troops were trapped at Yorktown, ultimately surrendering to Washington on

October 19, 1781. The despised Craig would hang on in Wilmington until November 18, when he, his remaining troops and any Loyalists who wanted to accompany them evacuated the city. The war was over. Moore’s defiance of the British left him “ruined in fortune and estate,” wrote one observer, “his family almost destitute of food and clothing.” On the plus side, he still possessed his law license, and the admiration of his fellow citizens. That would prove to be enough to begin a career that would carry him all the way to the United States Supreme Court. In January 1782, while traveling in the company of Judge John Williams and fellow attorney William Davie, on a stopover in Hillsborough, the three men learned that seven Loyalist militiamen were languishing in custody at the local jail awaiting trial for treason and other grave misdeeds during the war. Annoyed that the trials of the seven defendants had yet to occur, authorities in Hillsborough implored Judge Williams to hold an immediate special session to try the captives. Williams was agreeable, but Attorney General James Iredell, who normally would bear responsibility for prosecuting, was elsewhere. Williams persuaded the 26-year-old Moore to stand in for Iredell. Davie agreed to undertake the Loyalists’ defense. According to Robert Mason’s biography of Alfred Moore, Namesake, Davie pithily summarized the trials this way: “Moore prosecuted all, I defended all and Williams convicted all.” While previously recognized as a patriot and war hero, Alfred’s successes in Hillsborough brought recognition as a highly capable lawyer. The combination of his military accomplishments and legal victories provided an ideal steppingstone for a political career and Moore took advantage. After his bravura legal triumphs, he became a Federalist Party state senator in North Carolina’s General Assembly. In 1783, when Iredell resigned as attorney general, Moore expressed interest in the post, and the General Assembly unhesitatingly confirmed him. During his eight-year tenure in that position, Moore’s friend, Davie, often served as opposing counsel. Their legal tussles provided entertaining theater for the onlookers who regularly packed courtrooms to observe the talented lawyers engage in forceful forensic battles. Their oral argument styles differed — Davie adopted a lofty, florid, flowing style, while Moore spoke with “plainness and precision.” Moore was described in an 1899 speech by Junius Davis as having “a dark singularly penetrating eye, a clear sonorous voice . . . a keen sense of humor, a brilliant wit, a biting tongue [and] a masterful logic [that] made him an adversary at the bar to be feared.” Moore and Davie along with James Iredell (who would in 1790 join the United States Supreme Court) constituted a brilliant legal triumvirate, unquestionably the giants of the early North Carolina bar.

t should be noted that the term “giant” cannot be applied in any literal sense to Alfred Moore. He was a man of the slightest stature. Accounts vary as to whether he stood 4-feet-5-inches or 5-feet-4-inches. Perhaps a dyslexic historian mistakenly transposed the 5 and 4 somewhere along the way. But the late William Rehnquist, former chief justice of the Supreme Court of the United States and a fastidious researcher, says in his book, The Supreme Court, that Moore “apparently looked much like a child, being only four and a half feet tall, and weighing between eighty and ninety pounds.” Though he endured suffering inflicted by Tories during the war, Moore declined to pursue a path of vengeance against them in post-war prosecutions. In an article written for the North Carolina History Project, Willis P. Whichard says that Moore “was realistic about the prospect of jury nullification in these largely political prosecutions; he accordingly often pursued lesser charges and by doing so achieved a higher conviction rate than Iredell’s.” In the aftermath of the war, many Tories fled North Carolina. Their land

The Old Supreme Court Chamber — home of the court from 1801 to 1860 was seized by the government and sold to bidders at “confiscation sales.” To aid these purchasers, the General Assembly passed a law in 1785 denying courts the authority to hear cases involving challenges to titles granted by the sales. Nonetheless, Mrs. Elizabeth Bayard, a British subject and the daughter of a deceased Tory whose property had been confiscated and sold over her objection, filed suit claiming that the seizure and sale were unlawful and that, by virtue of inheritance from her father, she should be acknowledged the rightful owner of the property. Mrs. Bayard further asserted that the aforementioned 1785 law was in conflict with her rights under the North Carolina Constitution, which guaranteed to her the right of trial by jury in matters pertaining to the recovery of property. Essentially, Mrs. Bayard was requesting that the court declare the 1785 legislation unconstitutional — something that had never happened before in America. Alfred Moore represented North Carolina. His friendly rivals William Davie and James Iredell appeared on behalf of Mrs. Bayard in the case styled Bayard v. Singleton. Ultimately, the judges hearing the case agreed with Mrs. Bayard that she was entitled to a jury trial, declaring the 1785 legislation “unconstitutional and void.” Though she won this battle, Mrs. Bayard lost the war. At the trial, the jury found against her claim because, as a British subject and enemy alien, Mrs. Bayard possessed no rights to hold property in the state. Thus, Moore’s advocacy upheld the legality of the confiscation sales. Of more lasting import was the fact that the Bayard case represented the first time an American court declared a legislative act unconstitutional due to its conflict with a written constitution. It was during Moore’s time as attorney general that the General Assembly named a county in his honor. Realizing in April 1784 that the western part of Cumberland County was too remote from that county’s political hub — present day Fayetteville — the General Assembly carved out that portion for a separate governmental entity, naming it Moore County just prior to Alfred’s 29th birthday. It is unknown whether he ever actually set foot there. Other counties were likewise named for his legal cohorts, Davie and Iredell. Both Moore and Davie urged the General Assembly to give birth to a public university in North Carolina. After an unsuccessful legislative attempt to do so in 1784, the two lawyers continued the drumbeat for founding one. Finally, in

1789, the University of North Carolina was chartered with Moore and Davie named to its first board of trustees. According to Mason’s namesake, Moore “helped to select the university’s site at New Hope Chapel, seat of an Anglican parish, which became Chapel Hill. Also, he was on the committee that chose a seal, and one of the three trustees who drafted a regulation disallowing the sale of intoxicants within two miles of the campus.” In addition, Moore was a benefactor to the school, gifting it $200 along with two globes to be employed as teaching aids.

he middle 1780s were a time of passionate dispute over how much power the states should delegate to the new federal government. Federalists like Moore fervently believed his state should ratify a new constitution that would greatly enhance the weak powers provided to the United States government by the Articles of Confederation. But many North Carolinians, mindful of their former colony’s oppression by King George III and Parliament, feared the concept of a remote centralized government controlling their lives. Following an initial rejection, North Carolina approved a revised constitution after it was amended to include a Bill of Rights, and Moore’s unstinting support of the ratification effort contributed to its ultimate success. Miffed that the General Assembly had created a new office of solicitor general that essentially duplicated the powers and duties of the attorney general, Moore resigned from the latter post in January 1791. By this time, Moore’s Buchoi rice plantation was thriving once more. A man of his time, he acquired more slaves. He also purchased 1,200 acres in Hillsborough, residing in a second home there called “Moorefields,” which stands today. Alfred and his family relished summer interludes at Moorefields, invigorated by the area’s cooler air, a particularly welcome relief to wife Susannah, an asthma sufferer. Moore couldn’t resist governmental service for long. By 1792, he was seated again in the General Assembly. Later, he would accept President (and fellow Federalist) John Adams’ nomination to serve as one of the United States commissioners entrusted “to conclude a treaty with the Cherokee Nation of Indians.” But Moore yearned for a more prestigious position and set his sights

December 2018P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

on becoming a United States senator. In the early days of statehood, North Carolina’s General Assembly selected the senators. Alfred twice stood for election by the Assembly. In 1794, he was edged by a one-vote margin favoring Jeffersonian candidate Timothy Bloodworth. His 1798 run for the Senate sputtered after his friendly rival, Davie, withdrew his support of Moore’s candidacy as part of a strategy to secure his own election as governor. Moore’s wounds were salved by his appointment to a state court judgeship. The appointment made possible his following in the judicial footsteps of his father, Maurice Jr. There is a split of opinion regarding Alfred’s performance during his short-lived tenure as a state court judge. Historian Samuel A.C. Ashe faulted him for habitually disregarding precedents, but North Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice John Louis Taylor praised Moore’s service, saying that “the acuteness of his intellect and his experience in business enabled him to decide very complicated cases with great promptitude and general satisfaction.” When the 48-year-old Iredell, who was among President Washington’s first appointees to the United States Supreme Court, died suddenly in Edenton on October 20, 1799, it was anticipated that the resulting vacancy would be filled by a lawyer from the Carolinas, given that Supreme Court justices of the era doubled as circuit riders, presiding over federal criminal trials and lower court appeals emanating from their particular geographic area. Iredell’s circuit responsibilities had required backbreaking horseback rides to distant towns in the Carolinas and Georgia as well as the nation’s capital — exhausting rigors that contributed to his early demise. Given his steadfast support of the Federalist Party and his negotiation of a treaty with the Cherokees, Moore stood in good graces with John Adams. Still, it seemed improbable that the president would consider him to fill the high court vacancy. Moore had been a judge less than two years, and there were many able Federalist jurists in the Carolinas who possessed experience far exceeding his own. According to Whichard, Moore and Davie were the only candidates seriously considered by Adams. The president, while undoubtedly appreciating both men’s loyalty to the Federalist Party and status as war heroes, had recently appointed Davie as special envoy to France. Moore emerged as the choice to join what was then a six-member Supreme Court and became just the 12th justice to be confirmed by the Senate on April 21, 1800. To Moore’s relief, the Federalists passed legislation that eliminated the justices’ circuit-riding duties shortly after he joined the court. After Moore’s ascension to the high court, John Marshall became its chief justice. Marshall, still considered the greatest and most influential justice in the long history of the court, dominated it, overshadowing Moore and the other justices. He assigned to himself most of the court’s written opinions, which were relatively few because, according to Rehnquist’s book, “the principal source of its appeals — the lower federal courts — had not been in existence long enough to decide any cases that could be appealed to the Supreme Court.” All of this explains why Moore authored only a single written opinion during his time on the court. In that case, Bas v. Tingy, a privately owned American ship, the “Eliza,” had been captured by the French (who were then engaging in hostile activities toward America), and then subsequently recap-

tured by an armed American ship. The amount to be paid by the owner to the salvager increased exponentially if the recapture was of a ship that had been seized by an “enemy.” Because no formal state of war existed between the United States and France, the owner maintained that he was not required to pay the higher fee to the Eliza’s salvager. Justice Moore disagreed with this contention, finding that the owner needed to pay the higher salvage fee because a state of “limited, partial war” existed between the United States and France. Perhaps the most important case in Supreme Court history was decided during Moore’s tenure. In Marbury v. Madison, Justice Marshall, speaking for the court, held that the Supreme Court possessed authority to void an Act of Congress because of unconstitutionality. This momentous decision marked the second time any American court had claimed authority to void legislation for that reason. The first was the Bayard decision in which Moore had played a starring litigation role. Ironically, Moore was the lone justice not to participate in Marbury v. Madison. It is unknown why.

t appears Moore did not particularly enjoy his time on the United States Supreme Court, serving less than four years. Events occurring in 1802 had much to do with his dissatisfaction. First, the United States Treasurer failed to pay his modest salary in a timely manner. Second, the Jeffersonians who had come to power in both Congress and the presidency enacted legislation reviving the grueling circuit riding by the justices. Moore was appalled. “Can it be believed,” he would write a friend, “I can ride 2,840 miles a year with any regularity to attend to business on the seat of justice — the number of cases to be determined is by no means so disturbing as getting to them?” Moore told his friend that for the short term he would endure the hardships, not wanting an “uncharitable conclusion” to be drawn from an abrupt departure. But after what he considered a suitable wait, he announced his departure and left the court on January 26, 1804. He and his friend Iredell remain the only North Carolinians to have served as justices on the Supreme Court of the United States. The circuit riding had already taken its toll on Moore’s frail body. He retired to the Bladen County plantation of his daughter, Anne, and her husband, Hugh Waddell, where Moore’s health continued to decline. He died at age 55 in his daughter’s home on October 15, 1810. His public service legacy was carried on by son Alfred, who was a member of the General Assembly and served as mayor of Wilmington. It is noteworthy that Moore directly followed Iredell into the two most important positions of his illustrious life: as North Carolina’s attorney general and as a Supreme Court justice. It was said about them in one testimonial that “[a]t the bar they ever disdained the small arts of the pettifogger, and upon the bench blindfolded, they ever held the scales of justice with an even hand, treating with equal impartiality the rich and the poor, the guilty and the innocent.” Though slight of build, for a man who may never have walked in the county named for him, Moore left a large footprint. PS Pinehurst resident Bill Case is PineStraw’s history man. He can be reached at Bill.Case@thompsonhine.com.

Same Time, Last Year A Tudor manor steeped in Yule for a special occasion By Deborah Salomon • Photographs by John Gessner

December 2018P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

ever again will Le Berceau be as lavishly adorned for Christmas as in 2017: dozens of poinsettias, two fresh Carolina-grown trees, nutcracker guardsman, heirloom ornaments and the piece de resistance, a wreath of white orchids cascading from the dining room chandelier. Thus embellished, Lucille and Jim Buck’s home bearing the French name for cradle — arguably Pinehurst’s most elegant residence — provided the setting for an event Neil Simon could have scripted for Broadway: 10 couples, married to each other for at least 50 years, celebrate with a dinner party near the host’s anniversary date. Jim and Lucille were married on Dec. 26, 1960, surrounded by poinsettias. Logical, then, they should go lavish, albeit with a Scottish theme arising from Lucille’s heritage not discovered until moving to North Carolina. She wore her Clan Morrison tartan sash to the black tie dinner. Thistles, the Scottish national flower, appeared in floral arrangements. A bagpiper played during cocktails. Unicorns, the official Scottish beastie, decorated the dining table. The menu, served on Spode Christmas china, debunked the notion that UK food is mostly forgettable: smoked Scottish salmon, roasted quail with Scotch eggs, tenPineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December 2018

December 2018 P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

derloin of beef with whiskey sauce, neeps (a root vegetable) and rumbledethumps (cabbage and mashed potatoes), frisée with Scotch vinaigrette and, for dessert, a wedding cake topped with bride and groom, he in kilt, she with an arm reaching around to lift it. Single malt flowed like beer at Oktoberfest As Lucille put it: “This was a big deal.” Guest and “club” member Mary Gozzi elaborated: “OMG awesome, spectacular, so festive I was speechless. I’ve never seen so many orchids in one place. Lucille is a party giver who’s got it down to the jelly beans!”

…

But a dress is only a dress until draped on a stunning model. Even bare-naked Le Berceau seems Christmas-y, with multiple nooks, seating and dining areas, sun porches, mantels, paned windows, staircases, a tiny telephone cubby begging decoration. The tone is classic with red dominating since, Lucille says, “For Jim it’s either red or ugly.” The elevator bears a touch of Yule, as does the carousel horse prancing on the landing. Jim’s office, arranged around a desk belonging to movie star Loretta Young, doesn’t escape the red wave. Here resides memorabilia from his career as an attorney, senior vice-president of the New York Stock Exchange and author of its definitive history. Lucille has her “pouting” room hung with accolades from a career in education at fine New York schools. “I had an absolutely unqualified dream that I would live in a house like this,” Jim decided, as a boy growing up in Ohio. In 2000, while living in a soigné Manhattan apartment with a house in the Hamptons, they contemplated retirement. But where? Let’s drive over to Pinehurst, they decided, while visiting a daughter who lived in Charlotte. Lucille fell in love. “I felt at home,” among the longleaf pines, azaleas and gardenias that grew in East Texas, her childhood home. The Tudor-style manse with swimming pool and a servants’ wing suited for guests satisfied Jim’s goal. Imagine that, within sight of the Carolina Hotel.

…

This central location mattered to its first occupant. James Tufts lured Bostonian Dr. Myron Marr to Pinehurst, as resort

Under the mistletoe left to right: James Buck, Richard Verrilli, Randall Phillips, Wayne Peterson, Bill Gozzi, Billie Ann Peterson, Mary Gozzi, Lucille Buck, Sandra Phillips, Donna Verrilli.

physician. The house, designed by a Boston architect and built in 1921, probably sweetened the deal for the Marr family, who remained there until the 1950s. The Bucks are only the fourth owners. Their imprint on the house, however, is indelible, starting with the walls, wallpapered throughout. Not just commonplace florals and geometrics. In the kitchen, giant Delft-blue platters against a red background reflect the blue Viking range. Fashion drawings for a granddaughter’s bedroom, English teacups for Lucille’s dressing room, birds in the laundry room, a rubber ducky bathroom, toile and Asian motifs in the master and other bedrooms. In the salon, especially for Jim, a solid red textured paper provides a backdrop for sofas covered in a red, cream and green Brunschwig et Fils fabric chosen by Jackie Kennedy’s White House interior designer for Brooke Astor’s library. “I’ve had my eye on that fabric for years,” Lucille says, but only now found a suitable setting.

…

The Bucks’ Christmas ornaments and decorations form a family scrapbook of places and events. Into the hand of a tall nutcracker (a window decoration purchased from a store going out of business) Lucille

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would tuck tickets to the ballet at Lincoln Center for their daughters, who eventually danced in the Christmas production. A grandson later danced the part of Fritz, garnering a glowing review in The New York Times, which Lucille proudly reads aloud. Then, the prank concerning green balls on the tree — Lucille’s choice — which the Bucks’ son said didn’t show up well enough. Through a complicated long-distance adventure that included snitching a giant green ball from the trunk of his parents’ car and hanging it from the top of the house on the Fourth of July, Lucille was proven wrong. Now, Moravian stars, pine cones and cardinals represent their relocation to North Carolina. “In every house we’ve lived in, I always wanted a bigger Christmas tree — to touch the ceiling,” Jim says. Lucille decorates the tall living room tree and a smaller one in the bedroom, needing help only with attaching the angel on top. She commemorates Jim’s Swedish background with a Santa Lucia doll wearing a crown of candles — but marinated herring isn’t for Christmas dinner.

…

Christmas holds one poignant memory for Lucille: “My mother and father took me into the woods to cut a tree . . . it was a great outing. One time we even chose a holly (bush).” Lucille’s father died when she was 12. “The year after that our minister went with us, so I wouldn’t miss it.” PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December 2018

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Their decorations remain in place until Feast of the Epiphany, Jan. 6. But last year, overriding all memorabilia and decor, was that wreath of anniversary orchids — a veritable canopy over the dining room table — designed and implemented by Carol Dowd of Botanicals. “We started planning in July,” Dowd says, inspired by a hanging orchid arrangement Lucille remembered from a dinner party in New York. Surprisingly, the two dozen white orchids, FedExed from Miami, proved long-lasting with only water tubes. The wreath hung for more than two weeks. More important, rather than obstructing guests’ sightline, the wreath, suspended over a low centerpiece, created a bower effect. What a Christmas. What memories. “My Scottish heritage found me,” Lucille says. Sharing it with close friends was a blessing. “We’re the same generation. We’ve lived this long and have been successful, career-wise and in marriage. The party was a big job but I didn’t mind. In fact, it invigorated me.” PS

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A L M A N A C

December n By Ash Alder

It’s been a while since you’ve come to visit, and when you see her, you gasp. She looks different. And not just the kind of different one looks from the passing of an ordinary spring, summer and fall. She has stories. In the sweeping meadow, the weeping cherry is the axis about which all of life revolves. It’s always been this way, at least for as long as you have known her. Which is why you’re so shaken to discover the woodpecker drillings along her trunk and branches. Signs of decay. As you sit beneath her trunk, comforted by her silhouette in purple twilight, three, four, five white-tailed deer slip through the longleaf veil in the distance. Either they do not see you, or they recognize you as one of their own. Six deer. Seven. You watch them graze in the meadow — just feet away now — and as the last doe brushes past, you exhale a silent prayer. Grace is here. You place your hands on the weeping cherry’s trunk, honoring this perfect moment, this bare-branched season, the vibrancy among decay. It’s time to go home now. It won’t be the same. But there are stories to share. And grace.

Comet and Cupid

According to National Geographic’s Top 8 Must-See Sky Events for 2018, the comet eloquently named 46P/Wirtanen will travel past the luminous Pleiades and Hyades star clusters as it makes its closest approach to the Earth on Sunday, December 16 — the comet’s brightestever predicted passage. Whether or not you catch the celestial show, don’t miss the chance to celebrate the “rebirth of the Sun” on Friday, December 21 — the day before the full cold moon. Call it winter solstice, Yule or midwinter, the longest night of the year is a time for gathering . . . and ritual. In Japan, it’s tradition to take a dip in the yuzu tub, a hot bath filled with floating yellow yuzu fruit, to ward off the common cold. Not a bad way to welcome winter. Or around a fire with dearest friends, sharing stories and cider beneath the near-full moon.

The simplicity of winter has a deep moral. The return of Nature, after such a career of splendor and prodigality, to habits so simple and austere, is not lost either upon the head or the heart. It is the philosopher coming back from the banquet and the wine to a cup of water and a crust of bread. – John Burroughs, The Snow-Walkers, 1866

Spirit of the Deer

As a child, Christmas Eves were spent at my grandparents’ house, where all the cousins hoped to be the first to spot the shiny pickle ornament Papa had hidden in the tree. After evening Mass, then dinner, where soft butter rolls, pumpkin bars and scalloped potatoes were first to vanish from the spread, gifts were exchanged. Whoever found the pickle got theirs first. And then, the hour drive home. “Watch for deer,” Papa would say before we left. We always saw them, frozen in the headlights on the roadside. Three, four, five . . . six deer, seven. I counted until drifting off to sleep. Many ancient cultures believe that when an animal crosses your path, its spirit has a special “medicine” for you. The deer is a messenger of gentleness and serenity. If you happen to see one in the thicket of holiday hustle and bustle, even if it’s the one you recall snacking on your hosta and pansies last spring, consider the ways you can bring more grace and kindness to yourself and the world.

In the Garden this Month

• Rake fallen leaves for compost. • Plant hardy annuals

(snapdragon, petunia, viola). • Take root cuttings from cold-sensitive perennials and plant them indoors. • Order fruit trees and grape vines for latewinter planting. • Dream up, then plan for your spring garden.

PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December 2018

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Arts Entertainment C A L E N DA R

Reindeer Fun Run Aberdeen

North Carolina Symphony Concert at Robert E. Lee Auditorium

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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. BOOKWORMS BOOKCLUB. Are you in grade K–5 and want to join a book club? Find the Bookworms display in the library to take home the book of the month, pick up your discussion questions and grab some activities. December’s book is The Nutcracker. When you have finished reading the book, fill out the book review to post on the library’s wall. Can’t read yet? Read along with a grown-up. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235. OUTPOST BOOK SALES. 10 a.m.–4 p.m. Monday– Saturday. Christmas and holiday books — buy one, get one free, some exclusions apply. Given Outpost and Book Shop, 95 Cherokee Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 585-4820 or 295-7002. JOY OF ART STUDIO. Celebrate your creative self and holiday arts all through the month with Joy Hellman. Classes are for children, teens and adults. Joy offers holiday parties, private lessons, art classes and painting parties for groups. Class times and prices vary. Unless otherwise stated, classes are held at Joy of Art Studio, 139 E. Pennsylvania Ave., Suite B, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 528-7283 or Facebook link www.facebook.com/Joyscreativespace/ for a complete list of events this month.

Saturday, December 1

REINDEER FUN RUN. 8 a.m. - 12 p.m. The 5K run and walk is for everyone from serious runners to recreational walkers, families and pets. Downtown Aberdeen, 100 E. Main St., Aberdeen. Info: (910) 693-3045 or www.reindeer-

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funrun.com. JUNIOR FLEA MARKET. 9 - 11 a.m. Young business people ages 7 - 16 will sell their handmade crafts, toys, clothes and more. Booth spaces are $5 for residents of Southern Pines and $10 for nonresidents. Sellers must pre-register. Downtown Park, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376 or www.southernpines.net/136/Recreation-Parks. POTTERY OPEN HOUSE. 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Enjoy holiday decorations, tour the studio and shop while enjoying refreshments. Pieces from the Winter Scene Collection will be available. The open house runs through Dec. 8. Thomas Pottery, 1295 S. N.C. Hwy 705, Seagrove. Info: (336) 879-4145 or www.thomaspottery.com. HOLIDAY OPEN HOUSE. 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Join the Seagrove Potters on a self guided pottery tour Dec., 1, 8 and 15. Pottery shops will have special events planned. Enjoy decorations and complimentary refreshments. Seagrove, 1295 S. N.C. 705, Seagrove. Info: www.discoverseagrove.com. KIDS PROGRAM. 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. Wonderful Winter. Join us to learn about different books, characters and activities to read and do this winter. Bring a friend and sign up for a free library card. This event is free and open to the public. Given Memorial Library & Tufts Archives, 150 Cherokee Road, Pinehurst. Info: www.giventufts.org. HOLIDAY ORNAMENT SALE. 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. More than 2,500 glass and ceramic ornaments will decorate the gallery for the ornament sale. STARworks, 100 Russell Drive, Star. Info: (910) 428-9001 or www.starworksnc.org. FESTIVAL OF TREES. 10 a.m - 8 p.m. Stop by the 22nd Annual Sandhills Children’s Center Festival of Trees. Admission is by any monetary donation at the door. Stroll

Bolshoi Ballet's The Nutcracket HD at the Sunrise Theater

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among 200 trees, wreaths and gift baskets, all of which are available for bids. Join Christmas Karaoke and the Ultimate Ugly Christmas Sweater Party from 5 - 8 p.m. Carolina Hotel, 80 Carolina Vista, Pinehurst. Info: www.festivaloftrees.org. HOLIDAY PARADE. 11 a.m. Enjoy local marching bands, activities and more. Santa Claus will make an appearance. Downtown Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376 or www. southernpines.net/136/Recreation-Parks. MEET THE ARTIST AT WORK. 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. Visitors are invited to stop by Hollyhocks Art Gallery to visit with the artists while they paint. Enjoy the fine selection of original art by four local artists. Hollyhocks Art Gallery, 905 Linden Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 639-4823 or wwwhollyhocksartgallery.com. THEATER. 2:30 p.m. “Feels Like Home: A Sandhills Christmas.” An all Broadway cast of singers and musicians will be singing some of your favorite Christmas songs arranged by singer/songwriter, Todd Murray. Tickets can be purchased at www.sandhillsrep.org, The Given Library, The County Bookshop or The Pilot office. The Hannah Center Theatre at The O’Neal School, 3300 Airport Road, Southern Pines. Info: www. sandhillsrep.org. SATURDAY MARKETS. 3- 7 p.m. Come celebrate the makers of fine things at the Saturday markets. Art, clothing, local wine, cheeses and much more available for purchase. Free gift wrapping. Poplar Knight Spot, 114 Knight St., Aberdeen. Info: (910) 944-7502 or www.theroosterswife.org. AN EVENING AT BETSY’S. 6 - 8 p.m. A Stroke of Patriotism is hosting an open house gallery and art sale for the My America contest entries. Pieces include paintings, draw-

December 2018 i��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

ings and photography. Light snacks and refreshments will be served. Free and open to the public. Betsy’s Crepes, 127 S.W. Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: www.strokeofpatriotism.org. SYMPHONY. 7:30 p.m. “Home for the Holidays symphony featuring award winning vocalist and songwriter,” Gabrielle Stravelli. Seabrook Auditorium, Fayetteville State University, 1200 Murchison Road, Fayetteville. Info: (910) 433-4690 or www.fayettevillesymphony.com.

Sunday, December 2

Tuesday, December 4

ART CLASS. 1 - 3:30 p.m. Finger-paint poinsettia offered by the Artists League of the Sandhills. Exchange Street Gallery, 129 Exchange St., Aberdeen. Info: www.artistleague.org. EVENING WORKSHOP. 4 - 8 p.m. Make planters for greenery or beautiful ornaments for the holidays out of old books. Just bring a glue gun and sign up. Refreshments available. Limited space. Cost: $20. Given Bookshop, 95 Cherokee Road, Pinehurst. Info and reservations: (910) 295-7002.

FESTIVAL MARKETPLACE. 10 a.m - 4 p.m. Stop by the Festival Marketplace, featuring over 75 vendors for your holiday shopping pleasure. Carolina Hotel, 80 Carolina Vista, Pinehurst. Info: www.festivaloftrees.org.

UGLY SWEATER CONTEST. 5 p.m. Come join the fun and find your ugly Christmas sweater. Winner will receive a $100 gift card. The Sly Fox Pub, 795 SW Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: www.theslyfoxpub.com.

OPEN HOUSE. 1 - 4 p.m. The Bryant House and McLendon Cabin will be open for visitors to tour and visit the gift shop. Enjoy holiday cheer, hot cider, tours and entertainment. The Bryant House, 3361 Mount Carmel Road, Carthage. Info: (910) 692-2051 or www.moorehistory.com.

Wednesday, December 5

BOLSHOI BALLET. 1 p.m. Don Quixote live from the Bolshoi stage. Sunrise Theater, 244 N.W. Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-3611 or www.sunrisetheater.com.

PREVIEW GALA. 6 - 9 p.m. Join us for a holiday party to get the first looks at the Weymouth Center decorated for Christmas. Black tie optional. Heavy hors d’oeuvres and a full bar available. Reservations are required in advance. Cost: $85/ members; $95/non-members. Tickets available at www.ticketmesandhills.com. Weymouth Center for Arts & Humanities, 555 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-6261 or weymouthcenter.org.

SANTA EXPRESS. 2 - 4 p.m. Santa Express visits Pinehurst. The Given Book Shop partners with the Woman’s Exchange to have your picture taken with Santa, take a trolley ride, make some crafts and watch the Polar Express. Signup required, seating is limited. Cost: $20 for one child or $40 for two or more. Tickets can be purchased at www.sandhillswe.org. Aberdeen, Carolina and Western Railway Company, Route 5 at the entrance to the Pinehurst Clubhouse. Info: www. sanhillswe.org. KID’S MOVIE. 2:30 p.m. A free showing of a sequel to a children’s favorite animated superhero movie. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or www.sppl.net. WINTER BIRD WALK. 3 p.m. Join us for an afternoon bird walk to learn about which feathered friends from the North will be spending their winter with us. Free and open to the public. Weymouth Woods-Sandhills Nature Preserve, 1024 Fort Bragg Road, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2167 or www.ncparks.gov. HOLIDAY LIGHTS IN THE GARDEN. 5:30 - 9 p.m. Grab your golden ticket and celebrate the season on the Polar Express. There will be a show of lights and music over the Cypress Pond, a mile-ong stroll of thousands of lights, a hayride, photos with Santa, entertainment and kids crafts. The event also runs on Dec. 7 - 9, 14 - 16, and 19 - 23. Cape Fear Botanical Garden, 536 N. Eastern Blvd., Fayetteville. Info: www.capefearbg.com. THE ROOSTER’S WIFE. 6:46 p.m. Doors open at 6 p.m. The Grandsons. Tickets: $20/members; $25/ new member or guest. Poplar Knight Spot, 114 Knight St., Aberdeen. Info: (910) 944-7502 or www. theroosterswife.org. Tickets: ticketmesandhills.com. WREATH MAKING. A wreath-making event is being hosted by Southern Pines Brewing Company and The Sway. Southern Pines Brewing Company, 565 Air Tool Drive, Suite E, Southern Pines. Info: www.southernpinesbrewing.com.

Monday, December 3

DECK THE HALLS. 11 a.m. Seniors 55 and older are invited for the annual Deck the Halls event. Ring in the season with coffee, hot chocolate and Christmas cookies as we decorate for the holidays. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376 or www.southernpines.net/136/Recreation-Parks. HOLIDAY PUPPET SHOW. 5:30 p.m. Children of all ages and their families should enjoy this program that features holiday songs, a puppet show, and an ornament making session. Children are invited to wear their PJ’s for a comfy and fun end to the day. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or www.sppl.net.

ART EXHIBIT. 3 - 5 p.m. Sandhills Community College Art Student Exhibition will be open. Hastings Art Gallery, Sandhills Community College, 3395 Airport Road, Pinehurst.

CRATE SOME LOVE. 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. Build and take away a container of your choice filled with culinary goodies. Tickets: $25. Tickets price includes the basket, filler, wrapping material and a 20 percent off coupon to use on items to fill your basket. The Purple Thistle, 105 Cherokee Road, 1-G, Pinehurst.

Thursday, December 6

COUNTRY BOOKSHOP CELEBRATION. 6 - 8:30 p.m. The Country Bookshop is turning 65. Help celebrate with a 1950s themed birthday party. The event will kick off at The Country Bookshop and then continue at 305 Trackside, 305 N.W. Broad St., Southern Pines. Cost: $25. Tickets and info: www.ticketmesandhills.com. MUSIC & MOTION STORYTIME. 10:30 a.m. This storytime, especially for children 2-5 and their families, will incorporate stories and songs along with dancing, playing and games to foster language and motor skill development. Capacity is limited to 25 children and their accompanying adult per session. Check-in is required with a valid SPPL Full or Limited Access cards. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or www.sppl.net. ART CLASS. 1 - 3 p.m. Holly Jolly Holiday Painting offered by the Artists League of the Sandhills. Exchange Street Gallery, 129 Exchange St., Aberdeen. Info: www.artistleague.org. BOOK EVENT. 4 p.m. Author and illustrator Tony DiTerlizzi will visit for an ornament-making workshop, ugly sweater contest and to discuss his newest book, The Broken Ornament. Children ages 3 - 10 and their parents are invited to join. Free and open to the public. The Country Bookshop, 140 N.W. Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: www.thecountrybookshop.biz. CAROLS IN THE GREAT ROOM. 5:30 - 7:30 p.m. Sing along and listen to a story or two. 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 weymouthcenter.org. TREE LIGHTING. 6:15 p.m. Witness the lighting of the Christmas tree in Aberdeen and the arrival of Santa. Enjoy light refreshments and music. Aberdeen Depot, 100 E. Main Street, Aberdeen. Info: (910) 944-7275 or www.townofaberdeen.net. THEATRE SHOW. 7 p.m. Join us for the Christmas classic, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. Tickets: $15/adults; $10/ children. Show dates and times are as follows: Dec. 7, 8, 13, 14, 15, 19, 20, 21 and 22 at 7 p.m. and Dec. 8, 9, 15, 16

and 22 at 2 p.m. Cape Fear Regional Theatre, 1209 Hay St., Fayetteville. Info: www.cfrt.org.

Thursday, December 6 - Sunday, December 9

OPEN HOUSE. Enjoy beautiful Weymouth decorations as you walk through each room. Holiday music in the Great Room. Open house times as follows: Dec. 6, 7 and 8 will be from 10 a.m. - 3 p.m., Dec. 9 from 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. Cost: $20 tickets in advance; $25 ticket at the door. Tickets available at www.ticketmesandhills.com. Weymouth Center for Arts & Humanities, 555 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-6261 or weymouthcenter.org.

Friday, December 7 - Sunday, December 9

OPEN HOUSE. 1 - 4 p.m. The Shaw House will be open for visitors to tour. Homemade cookies, warm cider and live music will be provided. The Shaw House, the Garner House and the Sanders Cabin will be decorated. The Shaw House, Corner of Broad St. and Morganton Road, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2051 or www.moorehistory.com.

Friday, December 7

THE ROOSTER’S WIFE. 6:46 p.m. Doors open at 6 p.m. Matt Munisteri and Sam Lewis. Tickets: $20/members; $25/new member or guest. Poplar Knight Spot, 114 Knight St., Aberdeen. Info: (910) 944-7502 or www.theroosterswife.org. Tickets: ticketmesandhills.com. CHRISTMAS SHOPPING. 8 a.m. Seniors 55 and older can travel to The Streets at South Point Mall and then go to lunch at Skipper’s Fish Fry. Cost: $8 for Southern Pines Residents; $16 non-residents. Depart from the Campbell House Playground parking lot at 8 a.m. and return by 5 p.m. Campbell House Playground, 482 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines.. Info: (910) 692-7376 or www.southernpines. net/136/Recreation-Parks. STORY WALK. 10 a.m. Join us for a stroll along our 0.3 mile Bower’s Bog trail as we read the book Henry Hikes to Fitchburg. This program is geared toward ages 3 - 5 and meant for parents to do with their children. Free and open to the public. Weymouth Woods-Sandhills Nature Preserve, 1024 Fort Bragg Road, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2167 or www. ncparks.gov. POT LUCK LUNCHEON. 12 p.m. Seniors 55 and older can participate in a free potluck lunch. Bring a small dish and enjoy great food and fellowship. Texas Roadhouse will be dropping off food as well. Ten games of bingo will follow the lunch with prizes for winners. Cost: $2 for Southern Pines Residents; $4 non-residents. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 6927376 or www.southernpines.net/136/Recreation-Parks. SUPPER WITH SANTA. 6 - 7:30 p.m. Join the Aberdeen Parks and Recreation Department for a catered dinner from Texas Roadhouse, holiday crafts and watch Frosty the Snowman as you hang out with Santa. Cost: $10/adults; $5/ kids; $15/Nonresident adults. Aberdeen Recreation Center, 301 Lake Park Crossing, Aberdeen. Info: (910) 944-7275 or www.townofaberdeen.net. WAR STORIES. 6 p.m. Join the Moore County 4-H Performing Arts Club for war stories of past and present generations. Vass United Methodist Church, 111 Alma St., Vass. Info: (910) 691-2810.

Saturday, December 8

STAR CHRISTMAS FESTIVAL. Come out and enjoy some Christmas time fun. There will be guided tours of nearby places, kid’s activities, a Christmas Parade and the Miss Merry Christmas Pageant. Festival sponsored by Halcyon Women’s Club, Star Heritage Association and Star Elementary School. Main Street, Star. PAINT YOUR OWN ORNAMENT. 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. Come and paint your own ceramic ornament as a holiday keepsake. All supplies are provided. Cost: $10. Tickets can be purchased through www.eventbrite.com. STARworks, 100 Russell Drive, Star. Info: (910) 4289001 or www.starworksnc.org.

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Give a little

MEET THE ARTIST AT WORK. 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. Visitors are invited to stop by Hollyhocks Art Gallery to visit with the artists while they paint. Enjoy the fine selection of original art by four local artists. Hollyhocks Art Gallery, 905 Linden Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 639-4823 or wwwhollyhocksartgallery.com.

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ABERDEEN CHRISTMAS PARADE. 11 a.m. Come and enjoy a Christmas parade. Downtown Aberdeen, 115 N. Poplar St., Aberdeen. Info: (910) 944-7275 or www.townofaberdeen.net.

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CHRISTMAS CARRIAGE PARADE. 1 - 2 p.m. Members of the Moore County Driving Club decorate their horses and carriages for Christmas and drive them through downtown. Rain date is Dec. 16 at 1 p.m. Downtown Southern Pines, 125 S.E. Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: www.moorecountydrivingclub.net. OLD-FASHIONED CHRISTMAS. 1 - 5 p.m. Come celebrate Christmas in the spirit of the 1820s. Music and light refreshments will be provided. The pack house will be open with children’s activities such as letters to Santa with feather pens and making bird feeders. Malcolm Blue Farm, 1177 Bethesda Road, Aberdeen. Info: (910) 944-7275 or www. townofaberdeen.net. CANDLELIGHT TOUR. 6 - 9 p.m. This evening event sparkles. Light hors d’oeuvres, wine and beer. Reservations required in advance. Cost: $55/ members; $65/non-members. Tickets available at www.ticketmesandhills.com. Weymouth Center for Arts & Humanities, 555 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-6261 or weymouthcenter.org. DECEMBER DANCE. 6:30 p.m. Join us for an evening of dancing at the Elks Lodge. Free dance lesson at 7 p.m. Dance until 9:30 p.m. Admission: $10. Call to reserve tickets. Carolina Pines Chapter of USA Dance. Southern Pines Elks Lodge, 280 Country Club Circle, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 331-9965. SPEAKEASY PARTY. 9 - 12 p.m. Join us for our Speakeasy Celebration. There will be live music, delicious food, a lot of dancing and of course a password to enter. Tickets will be available on www.eventbrite.com and are limited. Southern Pines Brewing Company, 565 Air Tool Drive, Suite E, Southern Pines. Info: www.southernpinesbrewing.com.

Sunday, December 9

THE ROOSTER’S WIFE. 6:46 p.m. Doors open at 6 p.m. The Gravy Boys. Tickets: $10/ members; $15/new member or guest. Poplar Knight Spot, 114 Knight St., Aberdeen. Info: (910) 944-7502 or www. theroosterswife.org. Tickets: ticketmesandhills.com. TOUR OF HOMES. 1 - 5 p.m. Come view six unique homes decked out in holiday decor during the Episcopal Day School Candlelight Tour of Homes. Tickets: $20 in advance; $25 day of. Episcopal Day School, 340 E. Massachusetts Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-3492 or www.episcopalday.org.

Over 40 Local Artisans Clay, Metal, Wood, Fiber, Glass, Jewelry Pottery Classes Shop Local & Handmade Monday-Saturday 10 to 5 • 336-465-1776 260 W. Pennsylvania Ave • Southern Pines, NC

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CONVERSATION CAFE. 3 p.m. The topic will be Traditions: How does the past influence our present and shape the future? This event will be an open, hosted dialogue, lasting approximately an hour and a half. Anyone interested in the opportunity to listen, reflect, and share ideas is welcome to join. Call or come by the Library for more information. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or www.sppl.net. NATURE HIKE. 3 p.m. Join us for a one-mile hike through the wetlands of Weymouth Woods to visit areas frequented by one of North America’s most beautiful and unique ducks.

December 2018 i��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

CA L E N DA R Free and open to the public. Weymouth Woods-Sandhills Nature Preserve, 1024 Fort Bragg Road, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2167 or www.ncparks.gov. CHRISTMAS CONCERT. 3 p.m. Come enjoy local musician Paul Murphy in the treasured Sandhills tradition, the Murphy Family Christmas Concert. Cost: $18/general admission; $15/children 12 and under. Sunrise Theater, 244 N.W. Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-3611 or www.sunrisetheater.com. TEDDY BEAR TEA. 3:30 - 5:30 p.m. Family time tea party in the Great Room. Crafts, games and treats. Bring a favorite teddy bear to tea. Cost: $15 per person. Children age 4 and up must be accompanied by an adult. Tickets available at www.ticketmesandhills.com. Weymouth Center for Arts & Humanities, 555 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-6261 or weymouthcenter.org.

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CONCERT. 4 p.m. Sandhills Community College Christmas Concert. Free admission. Bradshaw Activities Center at the O’Neal School, 3300 Airport Road, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 695-3828. WREATH MAKING. A wreath-making event is being hosted by Southern Pines Brewing Company and The Sway. Southern Pines Brewing Company, 565 Air Tool Drive, Suite E, Southern Pines. Info: www.southernpinesbrewing.com.

Monday, December 10

EVENING STORYTIME. 5:30 p.m. Children ages 3 through third grade and their families will enjoy stories and activities that foster a love of books and reading, plus tips for winding down and getting the week off on the right track. Capacity is limited to 25 children and their caregivers per session, and check-in with a valid SPP Library card is required. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or www.sppl.net.

Tuesday, December 11

ORIGINS OF CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS. 2:30 p.m. Dolores Muller will talk about favorite Christmas traditions and discuss the history, origins and folklore surrounding traditions. Lunch will follow. Cost: $30. Call for reservations. Lady Bedford’s Tea Parlor, 21 Chinquapin Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 255-0100 or tea@ladybedfords.com. LIT WITS. 5:30 p.m. Join the Library’s teen book club. You can check out your copy of the book, The Prince and the Dressmaker, from Dec. 1 through Dec. 10. For ages 11 - 15. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235. CHRISTMAS BEER TASTING. 6:30 p.m. Taste three Christmas beers paired with three Yuletide bites. Cost: $20. The Sly Fox Pub, 795 S.W. Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: www.theslyfoxpub.com.

Wednesday, December 12

SYMPHONY. 8 - 10 p.m. Join us for carols and traditional holiday favorite performed by the North Carolina Symphony. Lee Auditorium, Pinecrest Hight School, 250 Voit Gilmore Lane, Southern Pines. Info: (877) 627-6724 or www.ncsymphony.org.

Thursday, December 13

UGLY SWEATER MIXOLOGY. 6 - 8 p.m. All of your favorite Yuletide beverages in a not so innocent way. Get a $50 gift card if you win the ugly sweater contest. Cost: $20. Elliotts on Linden, 905 Linden Road, Suite A, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 215-0775.

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AVAILABLE ATBookshop WWW.TICKETMESANDHILLS.COM LOCAL TICKETS TICKET OUTLETS The Country (Southern Pines) ★ Heritage Flag Co. (Southern Pines) OR AT: The Country Bookshop (Southern Pines) Heritage Flag Co. (Southern Pines) Old Sport Gallery (Pinehurst) Old Sport Gallery (Pinehurst) ★ The Villager Deli (Pinehurst) ★ Pinehurst Resort Members Services Desk (Members only) The Villager Deli (Pinehurst) Pinehurst Resort Members Services Desk (Members only)

Find VIP Concert Seating, Military & OtherL Special Oﬀers Online Only www.FestivalDAvion.com O C A L TICKET

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Happy Holidays! Senior Living at its Best • NO ENTRANCE FEE! • Own your own home • New transitional rehab facilities • Age in place with many levels of care • Abundant arts & cultural activities • Gated Country Club Community • World class medical minutes away

• Fitness & indoor aquatic center

Saturday, December 15

WILDINGS PROGRAM. 10 a.m. This month’s program is about Busy Beavers. Seek out evidence of our local beavers busily preparing for winter. It will be a 1.75 mile hike down to Pine Island to see beaver activity. Designed for kids 6 - 10 years old. Free and open to the public. Weymouth WoodsSandhills Nature Preserve, 1024 Fort Bragg Road, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2167 or www.ncparks.gov.

Sales and Marketing 336-998-6539 BermudaVillage.net

109

CA L E N DA R MET OPERA. 1 p.m. La Traviata (Verdi). Sunrise Theater, 244 N.W. Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-3611 or www.sunrisetheater.com.

a moving musical portrait of the birth of Christ. Lee Auditorium, Pinecrest Hight School, 250 Voit Gilmore Lane, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 687-0287 or www.carolinaphil.org.

A VILLAGE CHIRSTMAS. 4 - 8 p.m. Pinehurst Business Partners invite you to sip and shop local during this holiday open house. Participating businesses will be offering exclusive sales as well as wine and food sampling. Tickets can be purchased through Eventbrite or in participating local businesses. Village of Pinehurst, 1 Chinquapin Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 420-8655 or www.pinehurstbusinesspartners.com.

Tuesday, December 18

Sunday, December 16

THE ROOSTER’S WIFE. 6:46 p.m. Doors open at 6 p.m. Martha Bassett Holiday Special. Tickets: $20/members; $25/new member or guest. Poplar Knight Spot, 114 Knight St., Aberdeen. Info: (910) 944-7502 or www.theroosterswife.org. Tickets: ticketmesandhills.com. SUNDAY FILM SERIES. 2:30 p.m. This series will show the sequel musical about a woman on a quest to learn more about her family. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235. WINTERTIDE. 7 P.M. Moore County Choral Society Holiday Concert. Lee Auditorium, Pinecrest High School, 250 Voit Gilmore Lane, Southern Pines. RUSTIC WREATHS. 3 p.m. Celebrate the holidays by making a natural wreath. We will provide harvested limbs and vines for you to turn into a work of art. Free and open to the public. Weymouth Woods-Sandhills Nature Preserve, 1024 Fort Bragg Road, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2167 or www.ncparks.gov.

Monday, December 17

CAROLINA PHILHARMONIC. 7:30 - 8:45 p.m. Celebrate the reason for the season with Handel’s Messiah. Experience

JAMES BOYD BOOK CLUB. 2 p.m. Long Hunt by James Boyd. All welcome. Weymouth Center for Arts & Humanities, 555 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-6261 or weymouthcenter.org. TRIVIA NIGHT. 6:30 p.m. Trivia based on the Christmas favorite, Elf. Cost: $20. The Sly Fox Pub, 795 S.W. Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: www.theslyfoxpub.com.

Wednesday, December 19

THE CHRISTMAS STORY DINNER. 5 p.m. Come enjoy the Chop Suey Palace Christmas tradition, Peking duck and all the trimmings. Elliotts on Linden, 905 Linden Road, Suite A, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 215-0775.

Thursday, December 20

MUSIC & MOTION STORYTIME. 10:30 a.m. This storytime, especially for children ages 2-5 and their families, will incorporate stories and songs along with dancing, playing and games to foster language and motor skill development. Capacity is limited to 25 children and their accompanying adult per session. Check-in is required with a valid SPPL Full or Limited Access cards. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or www.sppl.net.

Friday, December 21

Hollyhocks Art Gallery, 905 Linden Road, Pinehurst. Gallery is open Monday - Saturday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Sunday, 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. Info: (603) 966-6567 or wwwhollyhocksartgallery.com.

Saturday, December 22

Sunday, December 23

BOLSHOI BALLET. 1 p.m. The Nutcracker live from the Bolshoi stage. Sunrise Theater, 244 N.W. Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-3611 or www.sunrisetheater.com.

Monday, December 24

SANTA AT THE FOX. 2 - 4 p.m. Come see Santa and get some treats for the kids. Free and open to the public. The Sly Fox Pub, 795 S.W. Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: www. theslyfoxpub.com.

Saturday, December 29

Sunday, December 30

CHILDREN’S WORKSHOP. 9 a.m. Children can create a hand painted ornament and gift bag. Children ages 8-12 meet from 9 - 11 a.m. and the cost is $20. Children ages 5-8 meet from 11 a.m. - 12 p.m. and the cost is $10. Children ages 12-17 meet from 1 - 3 p.m. and the cost is $20. Costs include materials. Workshop taught by Ellen Burke.

FOOD TRUCK. 12 - 6 p.m. Cousins Main Lobster Food Truck is visiting our taproom. Southern Pines Brewing Company, 565 Air Tool Drive, Suite E, Southern Pines. Info: www.southernpinesbrewing.com.

141 BROOME SEDGE LANE – SOUTHERN PINES

$370,000 – Amazing Space in the Arboretum. This 5BR/3.5BA home even includes extra space for office & bonus room. 3-car garage fenced back yard to enjoy covered porch, patio & fire pit! MLS#189847

280 HILLSIDE ROAD – SOUTHERN PINES

$628,000 – A Rare Jewel in the Heart of Weymouth Heights. This 5BR/3.5BA home is hidden on 2.6+ acres, Plenty of room for family & friends! Has 3 levels and a 3-stall barn/workshop in back! MLS#188987

Left to Right: Bonnie McDonald, Lisa Whitescarver, Donna Shannon, Kelly Peele, Sandy Hubbard (back row) Lucretia Pinnock, Jana Green, Melinda Ringley

PINNOCK REAL ESTATE & Relocation Services, Inc. “THERE’S MORE, MUCH MORE, TO THE HOLIDAYS THAN CANDLELIGHT AND CHEER; IT’S THE SPIRIT OF SWEET FRIENDSHIP THAT BRIGHTENS ALL YEAR. IT’S THOUGHTFULNESS AND KINDNESS, IT’S HOPE REBORN AGAIN, FOR PEACE, FOR UNDERSTANDING, AND FOR GOODWILL TO MEN!”

915 DEVONSHIRE TRAIL – ABERDEEN

$199,000 – Beautiful traditional tri-level 4BR/3BA home is located in the peaceful neighborhood of Bethesda Farm. Freshly painted, new carpet, new electrical, plumbing & roof! MLS#191098

269 N KNOLL ROAD – SOUTHERN PINES

$187,000 – Desirable end unit with carport offers lovely views of the golf course from private deck! This 2BR/3BA townhome sits on cul-de-sac. Beautifully landscaped with lots of storage! A MUST SEE! MLS#190011

~ Author Unknown

Every Home has a Story, a Beginning, a Middle and an End.

Let us help you with all your Real Estate Stories.

www.SearchMooreCountyHomes.com 110

PINNOCK REAL ESTATE & Relocation Services, Inc.

(910) 692-6767 | 115 E. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines, NC 28387

www.PinehurstHomeSearcher.com

December 2018i��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

Come check out Moore County’s newest EST.

DIY WORKSHOP!

2016 Transform unfinished wood into wall worthy pieces Instructor guided classes make it fun and easy Bring a friend and your favorite beverage!

HAMMER DIY WORKSHOPS

110 NW Broad Street Southern Pines, NC 28387

910-692-2388

www.hammerandstainsp.com • 1150 Old US Hwy 1, Suite 5 Southern Pines

Thank You To all MerrY ChrisTMas & happY new Year

Paul Blake

& Associates

ESTATE LIQUIDATION & TAG SALE SERVICES Serving buyers and sellers in Moore and surrounding counties for over 30 years.

LICENSED & BONDED

& HAROLD

LOCKLEAR CABINET & WOODWORK SHOP, INC.

Kitchens - Closets - Baths - Storage Solutions 910-521-4463 • locklearcabinets.com • Showroom at Kees • 104 E. Main St. • Aberdeen NC

Refer to The Pilot Newspaper for current sale dates & locations or go to ThePilot.com or estatesales.net

ESTATE LIQUIDATORS Paul Blake 910.315.7044 Chuck Helbling 910.315.4501

Happy Holidays Voted Best Estate Sales Team Two Years In A Row!

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CA L E N DA R Sunday, December 30 - Monday, December 31

NEW YEARS EVE CRAFTS. All day. Kids and their families can participate in making a variety of fun and festive crafts. If you can’t make it New Year’s Eve, stop by and catch the crafts on Jan. 2. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235.

Monday, December 31

WINTER WONDERLAND. 6 - 8 p.m. Join us as we ring in the New Year early. The event will feature live music, carnival games, face painting and much more. The highlight of the evening will be the countdown to the Pinecone Drop at 8 p.m. Downtown Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376 or www.southernpines.net/136/Recreation-Parks.

UPCOMING EVENTS Sunday, January 6

THE ROOSTER’S WIFE. 12:46 p.m. The Gibson Brothers. Tickets: $35; Brunch is $8. Get tickets as a holiday package for two people that includes: two meals, two drinks per person, two Kleen Kanteen cocktail cups, gift wrapped and delivered locally for free. The holiday package is $99. There will also be an evening show at 6:46 p.m. Poplar Knight Spot, 114 Knight St., Aberdeen. Info: (910) 944-7502 or www.theroosterswife. org. Tickets: ticketmesandhills.com.

Mid-State Furniture

WEEKLY EVENTS

of Carthage

Mondays

CONTRACT BRIDGE. 1–4:30 p.m. A card game played by four people in two partnerships, in which “trump” is determined by bidding. Ages 55 and up. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

403 Monroe St. Downtown Carthage

910-947-3739

Paul E. Gauthier D.D.S. Thank you for shopping at the

MOORE COUNTY FARMERS MARKET in 2018 Winter Season

Smiles Bring JOY to the world Merry Christmas 1650 Valley View Road • Southern Pines, NC Adjacent to Hyland Golf Course on US 1

910-692-0855

www.WindridgeGardens.com Hours: Wed. - Sat. 10AM-5PM and Sun. 1PM-5PM

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Our office has been serving the Sandhills since 1947

Southern Pines Family Dentistry

655 SW Broad St Southern Pines 692-6500

November thru mid-April Thursdays at The Armory 604 W. Morganton Rd. in Southern Pines 9am-1pm Local (within 50 miles) in-season produce, Kale,Apples, collards, Swiss chard, turnips, winter squash, Greens, lettuce, sweet potatoes, greenhouse tomatoes, Grass fed beef, free range pork and chickens, eggs, baked goods, Jams, prepared foods, plants, crafts, Micro Greens, Ostrich Meat, Goat Cheese, plus other FirstHealth and Downtown Southern Pines locations are closed for the season and will re-open mid-April 2019

Call 947-3752 or 690-9520 for more info. hwwebster@embarqmail.com www.moorecountyfarmersmarket.com Moore County Farmers Market Local Harvest www.facebook.com/moorecountyfarmersmarket SNAP welcomed here

December 2018i��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

CA L E N DA R MASTER GARDENER TRAINING. 6 - 8 p.m. Receive a high level of training in all aspects of horticulture. Training fee is $85 for those accepted into the program. Moore County Agricultural Center, 707 Pinehurst Ave., Carthage. Info: (910) 947-3188.

Tuesdays

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 language and socialization skills to prepare for kindergarten. Dates this month are Dec. 5, 12 and 19. Stay for playtime. This event is limited to 25 children and their accompanying adult per session. Parents or caregivers must check in to storytime sessions at the circulation desk up to an hour before the start time of each session with their valid SPPL full or limited access cards. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235.

BABY BUNNIES STORYTIME. 10:30 and 11 a.m. (two sessions). This storytime, reserved for ages birth to 24 months, will engage parents and children in early literacy brain-building practices. Dates this month are Dec. 4, 11 and 18. Programs are limited to 25 children and their accompanying adult per session. Parents or caregivers must check in to storytime sessions at the circulation desk up to an hour before the start time of each session with their valid SPPL full or limited access cards. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or www.sppl.net. TAI CHI FOR HEALTH. 10–11:30 a.m. Practice this flowing Eastern exercise with instructor Rich Martin. Cost per 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 registration: (910) 486-0221, ext. 36 or www.capefearbg.org. (Must register one day prior). Email questions to mzimmerman@capefearbg.org.

Thursdays

MAHJONG (Chinese version). 1–3 p.m. A game played by four people involving skill, strategy and calculation. Ages 55 and up. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376. CHESS. 1–3 p.m. All levels of players welcome. You need a chess set to participate. Ages 55 and up. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

some of Pinehurst’s celebrity patrons. Cost: $20/person. Departs from Pinehurst Historic Theatre, 90 Cherokee Road. Info and registration: (910) 295-2257 or www.kirktours.com.

Fridays

GAME FRIDAYS. Stop by the library throughout the summer for interactive games, each week a new one that will provide challenges for kids, teens and adults to enjoy: Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or www.sppl.net. CONTRACT BRIDGE. 1–4:30 p.m. A card game played by four people in two partnerships, in which “trump” is determined by bidding. Ages 55 and up. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376. JAZZY FRIDAYS. 6–10 p.m. Enjoy a bottle of wine and dancing with friends under the tent with live jazz music. Cost: $15/person. Must be 21 years of age or older. Food vendor on site. No outside beverages (alcoholic or nonalcoholic), coolers, picnic baskets or cooking devices permitted on premises. Birthday cakes, cheese trays and small items are acceptable. Cypress Bend Vineyards, 21904 Riverton Road, Wagram. Info: (910) 369-0411 or www. cypressbendvineyards.com. PS

Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays

HISTORY OF PINEHURST TOUR. 11 a.m., 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. (1 hour and 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

PineNeedler Answers from page 125

AT THE BARN

Community Worship Services: Family Service - 3:00 pm Candlelight Communion Services - 5:00 & 7:00 pm PINEHURST FAIR BARN - 200 Beulah Hill Rd.,S. / Rt. #5 Offering will go to Habitat for Humanity HOSTED BY

PINEHURST

N E T O R E D R E A N W H E T Y E T I N T H K E E P E R R O N O S E

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U N ITE D M E TH O D I S T CH U RCH

Energy Efficient Air Conditioning Units • Economic • Reliable • Powerful Oil • Natural Gas • LP Gas • Boiler Steam or Hot Water

Sales • Service • Repairs New Installations & Replacements Serving the plumbing, eating & air conditioning needs of the Sandhills since 1948! License # 670

Homes, Churches, Businesses, Schools

Plumbing & Heating Co., Inc

949-3232

Call us for all your commercial and residential HVAC and plumbing needs. PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . December 2018

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Dining Guide

HIBACHI STEAKHOUSE AND ASIAN CUSINE

SUSHI, ASIAN CUISINE

Little River Golf & Resort

– AND –

HIBACHI

CHRISTMAS BRUNCH $24.95 Sunday, Dec. 23rd 11am-3pm Reservations requested! NEW YEAR’S EVE DINNER from 5-9pm Complimentary Glass of Champagne

WWW.MAGUROASIANFUSION.COM MON-FRI LUNCH 11AM-2:30 PM | MON-THU DINNER 5PM - 10PM FRI DINNER 5PM - 10:30PM | SAT 11AM - 10:30PM | SUN 11AM - 9PM

190 BRUCEWOOD RD | SOUTHERN PINES | 910-246-2106

15/501 4 miles north of the traffic circle For reservations visit www.fillyandcolts.com or call 910-692-4411

We FISH you a Merry Christmas!

HEALTHY BODY + STRONG SPIRIT 910-944-0826 9671 Hwy 211 East Lower Aberdeen, NC Tues-Thurs 12-9pm Fri & Sat 12-10pm Eat In or Order Out Serving Lunch & Dinner Beer & Wine List Available 114

JUICES • SMOOTHIES • PROTEIN SMOOTHIES AÇAÍ BOWLS • TOASTS • COLD PRESS JUICES

Mon-Fri: 6:30am – 8pm • Sat: 8am – 8pm • Sun: 9am – 6pm 118 Brucewood Rd • Southern Pines, NC (910) 725-2077 • www.cleanjuice.com

December 2018i��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

Dining Guide

Restaurant Authentic Thai Cusine

U.S. Hwy 1 South & 15-501 1404 Sandhills Blvd. Aberdeen, NC 28315

Open 7 Days

Smoke Free Environment

Lunch

Tuesday - Friday 11:30am - 2:30pm Sunday 11:30am - 2:30pm

Dinner

Monday - Sunday 5:00pm - 9:30pm See our menu on MooCo under Oriental Restaurants

(910) 944-9299 Carryout and Vegetarian Dishes Discover Rockingham

Happy Holidays from All of Us at Our Southern Roots Bring in this ad and receive 20% OFF any regular priced item

Featuring: Brighton • Tribal Gretchen Scott • Lulu-B • Fresh Produce Hatley • Simply Noelle • Escapada

YOUR LOCAL SIMPLY NOELLE BOUTIQUE!

Tis the season for

(910) 434-7150

1305 East Broad Ave Suite 7 | Rockingham, NC 28379 Mon - Fri 10am - 6pm | Sat - 10am - 2pm

Where Our Food is Simply Fresh & Tasty

Mediterranean with a Lebanese Bring in this ad for flavor, spiced to perfection from the freshest local ingredients

1 OFF

• Salads • Sandwiches • Kabobs • Shawarma • Falafel • And More! • Beer & Wine Available Mon-Thurs 11am - 9pm | Fri-Sat 11am - 10pm | Closed Sun

Dine-In or Pick-Up at 910.246.2468 TEXT GrapeLeaf to: 71441 for updates & specials!

GrapeLeafBistro.com Next to Olive Garden

n Mentio r fo d a is th F O 10% F

Cosmetics • Skin Care • Hair Services Professional Makeup Application Bridal Packages • Lessons • Nail Services

SHOPPING! LOCATED DOWNTOWN 302 East Washington St | Rockingham, NC 28379 (910) 817-7494 www.simplychiconline.shop Hours: Tues-Fri 10:00-5:30 | Sat 10:00-1:00

Richmond Plaza Shopping Ctr. 1305 E. Broad Ave Suite 29 • Rockingham, NC

Call 910-997-4005

We Will Ship For Free!

www.merlenormanofrockingham.com

115

Arts & Culture

ARTS COUNCIL HOLIDAY ART SALE

December 7 & 8, 2018 | Campbell House Galleries Discounts on selected art Wearable Art by Susan Edquist

Upcoming Events DEC 3-15 “Paintings & Pots; Horses & Hounds” featuring art by ART Anne Crabbe, Paula Montgomery, Morgen Kilbourn

Campbell House Galleries “A Celebration of the Journey!” featuring

JAN 4-25 art by Evelyn Dempsey, Carmen Gordon, ART Anne Jorgensen, Joanne Kilpatrick Campbell House Galleries

JAN 21-26 “Robin Hood” directed by Missoula Children’s Theatre YOUTH Auditions: Jan. 21 (3:45-5:45p); Penick Village THEATRE Shows: Jan. 25 (7p) & 26 (3p); Aberdeen Elem.

JAN 24 Artists Meetup, 4-6 pm

MEETUP One of a Kind Gallery in Southern Pines

Become an Arts Council member today. It’s a great way to help our community flourish. Join now at MooreArt.org or call us at 910.692.ARTS (2787)

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December 2018 i��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

SandhillSeen Informal Hunting

of the Moore County Hounds

October & November 2018 Photographs by Jeanne Paine

Gerald Movelle, Bill Logan & Biscuit Sue Buckley, Joan Addison, Judy Kelly

Angie Tally

Mel Wyatt Pam Wagner

Moore County Hounds

Mike Russell, David Carter Lefreda Williams, Betsy Rainoff

Neil Schwartzberg

Laura Lindamood

117

Arts & Culture

EXCHANGE STREET GALLERY

ARTISTS LEAGUE of the SANDHILLS

24th Annual Fall Exhibit Show & Sale Nov. 2 - Dec. 13

ENROLL NOW FOR WINTER CLASSES Fingerpaint Poinsetta • December 4, 1- 3:30 p.m. Holly Jolly Holiday Canvas • December 6, 1- 3 p.m. Instructor Demo Day • January 6, 2- 4 p.m. Torn Paper Portraiture • January 9 - 11, 10 -3 p.m. daily Oil Painting• January 14-15, 9 - 3 p.m. Advanced Alcohol Ink• January 17, 12:30 -3 :30 p.m. Critique • January 18, 10 a.m. Movie Day • January 18, 12:15 p.m. Acrylics• January 24 -25 , 1 - 4 p.m. Colored Pencil & Watercolor Crayon •January 30, 9-3 p.m. Watercolor • February 6-7, 10 - 3 p.m. Drawing Part 1 • February 13-14, 10 - 3 p.m. Critique • February 15, 10 a.m. Movie Day • February 15, 12:15 p.m. Collage Out of the Box • February 18-19, 10 - 3 p.m. Pastel • February 20, 9 - 3 p.m. Int. Encaustic Wax • February 21, 1 - 3 p.m Beginning Alcohol Ink • February 22, 12:30 - 3:30 p.m. Critique • March 8, 10 a.m. Movie Day • March 8, 12:15 p.m. Barbara Jaenicki Workshop • March 12 -14, 9 - 3 p.m. Barbara Jaenicki Workshop • March 15-17, 9 - 3 p.m. Colored Pencil • March 20, 9 - 3 p.m.

To register: 910.944.3979

s y a d i l o H WITH THE

MEYMANDI CONCERT HALL, RALEIGH

Cirque de Noel FRI, DEC 21 | 8PM SAT, DEC 22 | 3PM & 8PM Wesley Schulz, conductor

Stunning aerial feats, mind-boggling contortions, and jaw-dropping juggling acts accompany your favorite festive music.

NEW YEAR’S EVE

Vienna with a Twist

MON, DEC 31 | 8PM Wesley Schulz, conductor North Carolina Jazz Repertory Orchestra

Welcome the New Year with an evening of unforgettable Viennese waltzes, selections from The Nutcracker, and Big Band classics.

129 Exchange Street, Aberdeen N.C. artistleague@windstream.net • artistleague.org

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Don’t get left out in the cold! BUY NOW!

MEDIA PARTNER

ncsymphony.org 919.733.2750

December 2018 i��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

SandhillSeen Leadmine Anniversary Party Belvedere Courtyard, Southern Pines

Wednesday, October 24, 2018

Photographs by Routine Expedition Photography

Orlando Jinzo Christy Rayner, Michelle Jordan

Renee Schouwenaars Christine Martin, Melanie Adcox

Melanie Holt Lori West, Tammy Joiner, Mendy Lewis

Angela Sanchez, Ann McCainnon

Connie Ruckert Mitchell, Linda & Philip Moneymaker, Karen Ruckert McDonald

Nicole Dunstan, Dawn Phillips

Hector Perez

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Arts & Culture

128 W. Pennsylvania Ave. Belvedere Plaza Southern Pines, NC 28374 (910) 725-0465 www.oneofakindgalleryllc.com

For those who appreciate fine art

December’s Spotlight on JEAN WALLEN, Fiber Artist

Fabulous Finds in Fayetteville

From Decorating to Gift Giving

Silhouette ~ Tom Ford Jimmy Choo~~Tom Calvin Klein Silhouette Ford Christian Dior ~ Hugo Boss

Jimmy Choo ~ Calvin Klein & other Luxury Eyewear

Christian Dior ~ Hugo Boss

& other Luxury Eyewear

www.metrospecs.us

high cotton CONSIGNMENT

910.483.4296

2800-4 Raeford Rd., Fayetteville, NC 28303 Follow us on

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201 South McPherson Church Road /

910.221.0191 McPherson www.metrospecs.us Square Suite 105 in Fayetteville

910.221.0191

December 2018i��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

Catherine Delavergne, Cathy Carter

SandhillSeen

James Kyburz, Dan Kyburz, Jaime Wedel

Annual Trick and Treat Trail Ride & Drive The Walthour-Moss Foundation

Sunday, October 28, 2018

Photographs by Diane McKay Ginger Wright, Mika Duggins, Brooke Maiello, Montgomery Maiello Karen Barbour, Laura Molzon Karin Draxl, Sharon Mumma, Helen Thomas, Donna Gump, Curt Meadows, Rebecca Stone

Kerry Kaylor, Cameron Lowe, Linda Emerson

Sami Norman Chris Peckham

Pat Bandy

Natasha Faircloth, Debbie Crocker

Shirley Gaither

Maddy Lemhen, Liz Rose Makyla Alexander, Gordon Talk, Amara Baker

Janine Schroeder, Landon Russell

Holly Rocherolle

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Bersa Thunder 380 and Ruger LCP

Over 2000 Guns in Stock! Kendale Pawn Shop

2715 Lee Avenue Ext., Sanford, NC 27332 Hours: Mon. - Fri. 9am-6pm • Sat. 9am-4pm (919)774-7195 • www.kendalepawn.com

Tara’s Jewelry

Inside Kendale Pawn

Come see our full line of gold, silver, and platinum jewelry.

(919)774-7196 Special Orders Available

December

Sunday, Dec. 2: The Grandsons

Friday, Dec. 7: Matt Munisteri and Sam Lewis Sunday, Dec. 9: The Gravy Boys

Sunday, Dec. 16: Martha Bassett Holiday Special

Poplar Knight Spot 114 Knight St., Aberdeen 910•944•7502 theroosterswife.org

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December 2018i��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

SandhillSeen

Miriam Cunningham, Bruce Cunningham, Ann Petersen, Mary Scott Harrison

Man & Woman of the Year Benefit Moore County Community Foundation

Thursday, October 25, 2018

Photographs by Corinne and George Walls

Emil & Penny Johnson, Bob & Peggy Raney, Marge Bailey

Marilyn Grube, Pam Wase, Peggy Sarvis Luis Garcia, Anna Hagedorn, James Jefferson, Kea Capel

Kay Beran, Marianne Kernan

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December 2018i�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

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December 2018i�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

T H E A C C I D E N TA L A S T R O L O G E R

Brilliant and Batty A cold moon rising ramps things up for the ramped-up December born

By Astrid Stellanova

My Grandpa talked about the Cold Moon, which is what the old-timers used to call the

Yule Moon. The Cold Moon falls on December 22, just as Old Man Winter tightens his grip over the Old North State. So, baby, it’s going to be a cool Yule. Winter Solstice is just 19 hours earlier, with the full moon sitting just above the horizon in a show we won’t forget. What people do forget is how tough it is being a December child and competing with the biggest holiday season of the year. Brilliant or batty, December babies bring it: Ozzy Osbourne is a December baby. Ditto for Samuel L. Jackson and Taylor Swift. Stalin, Sinatra, Spielberg, Walt Disney, Jane Fonda and Pope Francis, too. That’s the short list. — Ad Astra, Astrid Sagittarius (November 22–December 21) Here you are, Birthday Child, with a bucket list that is slap full of ink. Stop making lists and start making memories. After the holidays, go to what calls you: Graceland or Dollywood. Get a gee-tar. Back talk somebody who scares you. Pick a bone with the smartest one in the room. Be too big for your britches. Don’t hold your taters. Have a hissy fit with a tail on it, or get as nekkid as the day you came into this world and take the Polar Bear Challenge. Just don’t fiddle fart around, ’cause a birthday reminds us to make the time count before we kick that bucket slap over. Capricorn (December 22–January 19) You owe a debt to Saint Nick Nack for your love of the holidays. Sugar, nobody can outdo you at the high altar of tackiness. If there is a corner in the house you haven’t put a bow or geegaw on, it wasn’t for lack of trying. Sprinkle all the fairy dust you can; in this big old world, more than a few are grateful to you for the smiles.

Gemini (May 21–June 20) True, life can suck. True, you seem to have managed to jam a straw right down in it and pulled from the very bottom. Act like you have got some raising, child. What happened has happened. As for the sucky part, what you do with it is up to you. Cancer (June 21–July 22) Have fun, but try to be home before zero-dark-thirty. This is no time to be taking chances. Grandpa used to say when you finally get your ducks in a row, first be sure that all of them are yours once you start counting them little tail feathers. Leo (July 23-August22) If the saying is true, that there is an ass for every seat, then you are in luck. You have something important in the wings and need everybody that ever waved or winked at you for support. They will be there, Sugar, both gems and asses, too.

Aquarius (January 20–February 18) Sugar, as much as you want to come clean, this ain’t the time to air your dirty laundry. Things could get nastier, faster. So make nice, bake something yummy for the neighbors and get into the spirit without taking the cap off the spirits.

Virgo (August 23 – September 22) A dog may bark, but it is definitely not the same as a hyena. And bluebirds know better than to take up with a buzzard and build a nest. Somebody has already warned you — don’t get into the Jell-O punch at the office party and forget that.

Pisces (February 19–March 20) Yes, you have a taste for the good things in life. But Darling, life in a gated community — like, say, a jail — wouldn’t be your cuppa tea. You have got to stop allowing some wildchild impuls es to get the better of you. Take a shine to normal.

Libra (September 23–October 22) Cuss and fuss if you want to, but you are going to enjoy the holidays a lot more than you expected. Keep your superstitions tamped down and your wet shoes out of the oven. Don’t matter what temperature you set them on, shoe leather won’t turn into biscuits.

Aries (March 21–April 19) Honey, sometimes you just have to slam the gol dang door! This is that time. You want to believe the best. Someone walked back into your life with sass and attitude. Also, a sense of entitlement. You are being far too kind and generous.

Scorpio (October 23–November 21) If you drank act-right juice with the same determination you gulped down the Jack Daniels Root Canal Remedy, you might not have to face the long list of people you have ticked off. Make amends. Send some fruit baskets. Like Mama said, try to act right. PS

Taurus (April 20–May 20) You are on the highway to the danger zone, Baby. Yeah, you want to buy the world a Coke and shower it with love, but try reining in your impulse to pull out the wallet. Splash out on kindness, not dollars and you will be more than loved.

For years, Astrid Stellanova owned and operated Curl Up and Dye Beauty Salon in the boondocks of North Carolina until arthritic fingers and her popular astrological readings provoked a new career path.

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SOUTHWORDS

Holiday Fantasies

By Susan S. Kelly

My mother was having a Christmas cull one

year and asked if I wanted the toilet lid cover. As one does.

This piece of church bazaar finery was my first claim as a child when the box of decorations came out every Christmas: a forest green, glitter-glued felt oval adorned with a ho-ho-hoing Santa face of pink, white and red felt with sequin eyes, a tufted cotton beard, and a clever drawstring to tighten the cover just so around the commode lid. I thought it was divine. I have it still, the outlined shapes of eyebrows becoming visible as it disintegrates, revealing the crafts-by-numbers kit it originally was. In the attic, Santa’s slowly getting de-flocked and de-felted somewhere under the Advent wreath candles that became a waxy purple unicandle during the 100-degree days of August. The good news about Christmas, besides the obvious Good News, is that tastemakers and arbiters of Tacky are banished, or at the very least, muffled. That’s the bad news as well. Everyone is permitted his or her holiday indulgences and eccentricities. Last year my neighbor had an egg-shaped wreath on her door, and I have no idea whether it was accidental or intentional. Flannery O’Connor famously said of William Faulkner, “Nobody wants his mule and wagon stalled on the same track the Dixie Limited is roaring down.” This sentiment applies to Christmas as well. Either get with it, or get mowed over by it. But we can agree on this sentiment: Without women, there would be no Christmas as we know it. Females are out there in the trenches, responsible for every holiday fantasy promulgated in mags and ads — caroling, cookies, gingerbread houses, the works. “I see more of the Salvation Army ringers than I do my husband,” a friend once remarked to me. Another friend drew the line in the sand, er, carpet. “I shopped, wrapped, mailed, decorated, planned, cooked, cleaned and organized,” she told her husband and two sons. “You guys have to take down the tree.” They took down the tree all right. They took it down at Easter. Another friend buys herself an additional piece of her Christmas china every time her ex-husband mentions his new wife’s name in her presence. I suspect she’s on finger bowls by now. As for that gingerbread house fantasy, here’s what I have to say about doing that with your children: Go for the pre-fab kits. I actually made gingerbread from scratch, spread it thinly on parchment-paper-lined baking trays, then cut it into wall shapes. Like many activities, it was cuter in the planning than the execution, never mind unappreciated. I’m still digging peppermint candy slivers out of the kitchen heating vents. Instead, keep an illustrated Hansel and Gretel book, complete with candy-covered fantasy gingerbread house, on the

128

coffee table along with ’Twas the Night Before Christmas. Point out what really happens to bad little boys and girls, not getting switches in stockings. I don’t understand the Fairness Doctrine of today, when couples routinely alternate Christmas between families. I get Christmas Eve, you get Christmas morning, they get Christmas Day dinner . . . logistics alone are on a par with the Normandy invasion, not to mention the emotions, prompting my next-door neighbor to wryly refer to the comings, goings and schedules as “the prisoner exchange.” To counter this trend, I had a third child after two boys — fully aware that the baby would likely be another boy — just to increase the odds that someone, someone, would come home to me at Christmas. Still, the in-laws have a powerful draw, in part because my sister-in-law concocts eggnog with five kinds of liquor, which she totes around during the holidays in a wheeled cooler. I don’t mean that the cooler holds containers of eggnog. I mean that the cooler actually holds the eggnog itself, sloshing around. Open the lid, and enticing clumps of a substance I’m afraid to ask about — Ice cream? Whipped cream? Egg whites? Butter? — float whitely on the surface. Five kinds of liquor soften, not to mention blur, the blow of absent family. And it was my mother-in-law who taught me the value of smilax at Christmas. I wrap the supple stems all through my (so-called) chandelier, and suspend papiermâché angels from that green and leafy heaven. Ivy will not do that for you. I’ve also nurtured two smilax shrubs for years, for no other reason than to use their bright berries at Christmas, and have concluded I have two males or gender-neutral plants. Whatever their sexual preferences, they aren’t producing and I’m still using fake red berries. Still, if I haven’t been able to fulfill every Christmas fantasy, I’ve managed to produce a few of the Christmas food fantasies out there. Clove-studded oranges: Check. Apples dipped in egg whites, then coated with granulated sugar so they appear to glisten: Check. On my friend Ginny’s birthdays, her mother would hand her some cash and say, “Run uptown and buy yourself a bathing suit for your birthday.” It’s not surprising, then, that Ginny’s ongoing fantasy for her own daughter was that she’d dash downstairs on Christmas morning, see wall-to-wall presents, and fall over in a dead faint at Santa’s largesse. If this is your fantasy, point your compass toward the North Pole of IKEA. Last I checked, a cloth tepee that covers 10 square feet of living room space was $5.99. Same for the fabric playhouse you drape over a card table. Never mind their two-hour shelf life; they come in desert browns and beiges, and jungle browns and greens. Because nothing says Christmas like camo. PS Susan Kelly is a blithe spirit, author of several novels, and proud grandmother.

December 2018i�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

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