February PineStraw 2016 by PineStraw Magazine

Welcome Home! Independent LIvIng

Including independent living and garden cottages situated on 18 acres and convenient to local golf courses, shops, & the Village of Pinehurst; Quail Haven Village is also located close to major medical facilities & unique arts and cultural centers. Residents have access to all levels of care offering security for the future and enabling residents to live independently longer.

ContInuIng Care retIrement CommunIty There may come a time when you require additional care or assistance. Here we strive to make this transition as east as possible through a number of services. HOME CARE Our Licensed Home Care services range from medication reminders to personal care assistance FAMILY CARE HOME Our cottages create a small residential home in an intimate environment. Our staff is on-hand 24 hours a day and is trained to provide Memory Care support as needed. SKILLED CARE The Inn at Quail Haven Village provides health and nursing care in addition to personal care and support. REHABILITATION Our dedicated, highly experience team works one-on-one with our patients to provide in- and out-patient physical, occupational and speech therapies.

For more information contact Lynn Valliere.

155 Blake Boulevard, Pinehurst, NC 28374 910.295.2294 | www.qhvillage.com

McDEVITT

“I love old things, old houses, old cars.” “I love Pinehurst and Southern Pines.” “I love being a Realtor.” “Let me introduce you to this wonderful area so you too can fall in love.”

- Jamie

Jamie McDevitt Broker/Owner 910.724.4455

Come home to 33 Deacon Palmer Drive! You will love this fabulous golf-front home at Mid-South. Offered at only $369,000. McDevittTownAndCountry.com | Jamie@JamieMcDevitt.com | 107 NE Broad Street, Southern Pines, NC

READY TO MAKE YOUR MOVE? START WITH THE RIGHT MORTGAGE.

Whether this is your first time shopping

FE ATU RI N G

for a home or youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re looking for great rates on refinancing, a First Bank mortgage

ADJUSTABLE- OR FIXED-RATE LOANS

expert can help you sort through the loan

FHA, RURAL HOUSING AND VA LOANS

options available to find the best fit for

CONSTRUCTION-TO-PERMANENT DWELLING LOANS

your situation and needs.

JUMBO LOANS

LEARN MORE AT

LOCALFIRSTBANK.COM/MORTGAGE AB E R D E E N 9 1 0 - 9 4 4 - 2 9 5 5 | C A RT H A G E 91 0- 94 7- 25 61 | P I N E C R E S T P L A Z A 91 0- 69 2 - 2 9 9 2 P I N E H UR ST 9 1 0 - 2 9 5 - 4 8 1 0 | PIN EHU R S T V I L L A G E 9 10 - 2 95 - 5 52 4 | R O B B I N S 9 10 - 9 4 8 - 2 1 7 7 SE V E N L AK E S 9 1 0 - 6 7 3 - 9 2 1 1 | S O U T H E R N P I N E S 91 0- 69 2- 62 22 | VA S S 91 0- 24 5- 40 1 7 Loans subject to credit approval | NMLS 474504 |

Equal Housing Lender | Member FDIC | First Bank operates as First Bank of Virginia in the state of Virginia

The first round after a great round starts here. The Ryder Cup Lounge Just off the porch of the historic Carolina Hotel, the Ryder Cup offers a generous selection of draft beers, scotch and bourbon as well as a mouth-watering menu with everything from Carolina Burgers to Broiled Atlantic Salmon. So after your last putt drops, pick up a glass at the Ryder Cup.

Menu Features • Lobster Crab Cake Sliders • Pinehurst BLT • Grilled Fish Tacos • BBQ Pork Nachos • Chicken Meatballs • Ryder Salad

Drink Features • Carolina Peach Tea • Eight beers on tap • Twenty bottled beers • Specialty martinis • Premium scotch and bourbon

The Carolina Hotel • Village of Pinehurst, North Carolina • 855.601.4079 • pinehurst.com

Cheryl & Pat Spears Fayetteville, N.C.

All the right pieces When Pat Spears was diagnosed with aortic stenosis, he and his wife, Cheryl, made the right move by choosing the Reid Heart Center and Clara McLean (hospitality) House at FirstHealth Moore Regional in Pinehurst. With the combination of the excellent team of cardiologists and surgeons and the compassionate care they received, all the pieces fell into place for the Spears family. “We had victory over heart disease.” To learn more about Pat and Cheryl’s story, visit www.firsthealth.org/PatsStory

1136-20-15

EXCLUSIVE. TIMELESS. CHIC. A UniqUe SpeciAlty Store FeAtUring WeSt coASt liFeStyle clothing

VILLagE of PInEHUrST 910.295.3905 raLEIgH gLEnwood VILLagE 919.782.0012 wrIgHTSVILLE BEaCH 910.509.0273

Valentin e’s Day i s Februar y 14th

February 2016

Volume 12, No. 2

Features

67 Sheller

Poetry by Terri Kirby Erickson

68 How I Met the Love of my Life Every romance has a story

74 The Art of the Kill

By Serena Brown The ancient field sport of Falconry, in which man and bird become the ultimate hunting team

78 Not Your Grandpaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Camper By John Gessner High-tech meets back country

51 Pappdaddy

By Clyde Edgerton

80 Creature Comforts

53 Birdwatch

By Deborah Salomon Dogs shape the life and home of this Southern Pines advocate

By Susan Campbell

55 A Novel Year By Wiley Cash

87 Almanac

By Rosetta Fawley The origin of crepe myrtles, the year of the monkey, and a little poem to grow on

Departments 15 Simple Life

By Jim Dodson

57 Sporting Life By Tom Bryant

61 Golftown Journal By Lee Pace

18 PinePitch 21 Instagram Winners 23 Cos and Effect

88 99 107

25 The Omnivorous Reader By Brian Lampkin

109 The Accidental Astrologer

By Kimberly Daniels Taws & Angie Tally

111 PineNeedler

By Cos Barnes

29 Bookshelf

33 Proper English By Serena Brown

35 Hometown

Arts & Entertainment Calendar SandhillSeen Thoughts from the Manshed By Geoff Cutler

By Astrid Stellanova By Mart Dickerson

112 SouthWords

By Joyce Reehling

By Bill Fields

37 Vine Wisdom By Robyn James

39 In the Spirit

43 The Kitchen Garden

By Tony Cross

By Jan Leitschuh

47 Breathing Lessons Cover Photograph and this page by L aura Gingerch 8

By Ashley Wahl

49 Out of the Blue

By Deborah Salomon

February 2016 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

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

www.OpulenceOfSouthernPines.com

Serving the Carolinas & More for 18 Years â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Financing Available

8 hospitals. 7,000 skilled professionals. more than 850 physicians. with one focus... our patients

M A G A Z I N E

verified THELEAPFROGGROUP

2015 leapfrog safety score

quality The region’s only leapfrog “a” rated hospital Keeping patients safe from errors, infections and injuries is not easy. It takes a true team effort to earn a grade of “A” on the LeapFrog Hospital Safety Score, the gold standard for patient safety.

Jim Dodson, Editor 910.693.2506 • jim@pinestrawmag.com Andie Stuart Rose, Creative Director 910.693.2467 • andie@pinestrawmag.com Serena Brown, Senior Editor 910.693.2464 • serena@pinestrawmag.com Lauren Shumaker, Graphic Designer 910.693.2469 • lauren@pinestrawmag.com Alyssa Rocherolle, Graphic Designer 910.693.2508 • alyssa@pinestrawmag.com Contributing Editors Deborah Salomon, Staff Writer Mary Novitsky, Sara King, proofreaders Contributing Photographers John Gessner, Laura L. Gingerich, Tim Sayer Contributors Cos Barnes, Tom Bryant, Susan Campbell, Geoff Cutler, Tony Cross, Kimberly Daniels Taws, Mart Dickerson, Rosetta Fawley, Bill Fields, London Gessner, Robyn James, Jan Leitschuh, Meridith Martens, Lee Pace, Joyce Reehling, Astrid Stellanova, Angie Tally, Janet Wheaton

The Joint Commission an independent organization that accredits and certifies more than 20,500 healthcare organizations across the nation

Cape Fear Valley is recognized as a top performer in 6 areas: heart attack :: heart failure :: pneumonia surgical care :: stroke :: perinatal care Top Performer status means Cape Fear Valley Health provides the most up-to-date, scientifically based care as compared to anywhere in the country. The Joint Commission is the gold standard for recognizing hospitals that provide exceptional care.

best hospitals 2016 Cape Fear Valley tops the list of Best Hospitals in North Carolina in US News and World Report rankings with five quality distinctions.

David Woronoff, Publisher Advertising Sales

Pat Taylor, Advertising Director

Ginny Trigg, PineStraw Sales Coordinator 910.693.2481 • ginny@thepilot.com Deborah Fernsell, 910.693.2516 Terry Hartsell, 910.693.2513 Kerry Hooper, 910.693.2489 Perry Loflin, 910.693.2514 Darlene McNeil-Smith, 910.693.2519 Johnsie Tipton, 910.693.2515 Advertising Graphic Design

Kathryn Galloway 910.693.2509 • kathryn@thepilot.com Kirsten Benson, Mechelle Butler, Scott Yancey Subscriptions & Circulation

Darlene Stark, Circulation Director 910.693.2488

PineStraw Magazine

145 W. Pennsylvania Avenue Southern Pines, NC 28387 pinestraw@thepilot.com • www.pinestrawmag.com ©Copyright 2015. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. PineStraw magazine is published by The Pilot LLC

When seeking a hospital to care for your family, choose one with quality that’s verified by trusted outside sources. You won’t find another health system from the triangle to the coast with the quality and scope of services offered at Cape Fear Valley. And you won’t find one as committed to your family’s health.

A Joint Commission

top performer

February 2016P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

We are a dental practice devoted to restoring and enhancing the natural beauty of your smile using conservative, state-of-the-art procedures that will result in beautiful, long-lasting smiles!

As Seen in The Scout Guide

3 Regional Circle • Suite C • Pinehurst, NC 28375 • 910.295.5980 • carolinasmile.com

EXPERTISE...when it matters most

Lakota Farm a Magnificent Estate: For the golf or horse

“Homewood”: Described as one of North Carolina’s finest

National Pinehurst #9: “Founder’s Point” is the premier

enthusiast, this property has it all. Turn-of-the-Century elegance with modern conveniences! 1896 Farmhouse restored in 2000. 5BR/5.5BA. $1,950,000 Debbie Darby 910.783.5193 Judy & Jerry Townley 910.690.7080

residences. Situated on 4.66 acres in Knollwood Heights, with extensive gardens designed by E.S. Draper. Stunning estate! $1,590,000 Bill Smith 910.528.4090

location for this stunning home with golf course & lake front views. Extraordinary detail in every room! 4BR/4.5BA. $1,198,000 Maureen Clark 910.315.1080

Knollwood Heights: A true Southern Pines treasure built & designed by Donald Ross in the 1920’s. Sun filled rooms with charm in every detail. Carriage House has 2BRs/2BAs, & Kitchen. Brilliant remodel! 4BR/7.5BA. Broker/Owner. $1,295,000

CCNC: Spacious, open rooms with comfortable living spaces

Bill Smith 910.528.4090

CCNC: Dramatic views of 2 fairways on Cardinal Course. Residence transformed in ‘09. Elegance is exhibited in every detail of this dream golf front home. Pool with waterfall feature. 3BR/3.5BA. $997,000 Maureen Clark 910.315.1080

Old Town Pinehurst : Comfortable elegance abounds in this fine home featuring 5Bdrms/3.5BAs, a chefs kitchen, formal areas, cozy study, Carolina Room, & Guest Apartment w/ frplc & ktchn. $798,000 Maureen Clark 910.315.1080

Pinewild CC: Absolutely beautiful water front setting! Lovely interior/exterior architectural features. Cathefral ceiling living room w/frplc & picturesque lake views. More than 4,500 sq.ft. of elegance! 3BR/3Full2Half Baths. $700,000 Linda Criswell 910.783.7374

Pinewild CC: All brick, golf front, 3BR, 3.5BA home with

an office, bonus room and many upgrades. More than 4,500 sq.ft. of comfortable living space. Peruse this home at www.34LasswadeDrive.com $650,000 Frank Sessoms 910.639.3099

CCNC: Beautifully renovated home on the 9th fairway of Dogwood Course with 418’ of golf frontage. Renovated with attention to detail, and of the highest quality. Open design overlooks gardens & golf course. 4BR/4BA. $599,000 Bill Smith 910.528.4090

in this charming home which overlooks the 6th Hole of the Dogwood Course. Beautiful terrace with heated swimming pool. 5BR/3.5BA. $849,000 Maureen Clark 910.315.1080

Taylorhurst: Quality craftsmanship defines this stunning colonial estate. Almost 4,000 sq.ft. of comfortable elegance. Gourmet kitchen, Living & Family Rooms open to one another. 4 Bedrooms, 2 Full & 2 Half Baths. Call today for your viewing! $670,000 Kay Beran 910.315.3322

CCNC: Great view of Dogwood’s 2nd Tee! 4BR/5.5BA single

level home; Carolina Room, Pool Table, Office. Totally Renovated! Walk to practise range & Clubhouse! On CCNC’s Rental Program. $595,000 Carolyn Hallett 910.986.2319

Southern Pines: 910.692.2635 • 105 W. Illinois Avenue • Southern Pines, NC 28387 ©2015 BHH Affiliates, LLC. An independently operated subsidiary of HomeServices of American, Inc., a Berkshire Hathaway affiliate, and a franchisee of BHH Affiliates, LLC.

www.BHHSPRG.com

CCNC: Spectacular views of the 4th green on Cardinal Course & the pond. Renovated & enlarged in ‘07-’08. Stunning Kitchen w/ Wolf gas cooktop, Wolf oven, 2-drawer dishwasher & more. Selling as Furnished. 3BR/2.5BA. $580,000

Old Town Pinehurst: Charming cottage, circa 1920, 2 blocks from the heart of the village. Beautiful gardens, pool with waterfall. Beautifully maintained & updated. Pinehurst Country Club membership available for transfer. 3BR/3BA. $495,000 Emily Hewson 910.315.3324

Seven Lakes West: One of the last few water front lots available on Lake Auman with 180 degree views - Build Your Dream Home! Bulk-head, 2-Docks w/boat lift & swim ladder in place. $350,000 Linda Criswell 910.783.7374

Old Town Pinehust: “The Pink House” is a charming cottage built in 1930. New roof in 2009 and a new split sytem heat pump & water heater in ‘09. 2 Bedrooms, 2.5 Baths. $350,000 Emily Hewson 910.315.3324

Emily Hewson 910.315.3324

Old Town Pinehurst: Reduced for Quick Sale - $30,000 Reduction! Great Investment Opportunity! 2,600 sq.ft. home is move-in ready! Priced BELOW tax value! PCC membership available at 50% discount! 3BR/3BA. $295,000 Bill Smith 910.528.4090

Pinehurst: Beautifully wooded 4+acre piece of property on Midland Road, 1/2 mile from traffic circle going towards Southern Pines. House on property is uninhabitable & not to be entered. Land is rolling with beautiful pines. Perfect building site. $200,000

Emily Hewson 910.315.3324

Lamplighter Village: Pristine Home with Upgrades Galore! Like New - This unit has been used as a part-time residence! Full PCC Membership is available. 3 Bedrooms, 2 Baths. $289,900 Debbie Darby 910.783.5193

Whispering Pines: Golf Front! 2,400 sq.ft., 3 Bedrooms, 2.5 Baths, patial renovations completed! New roof, windows and heat pump! A MUST SEE! $179,000 Eva Toney 910.638.0972

Broad Street Towns: A true masterpiece! Urban townhome

community for those who love the feel of downtown living. Hardwood, 10’ ceilings, tile baths, custom designed cabinetry. See: www.BroadStreetTowns.com $384,900 to $399,900 Kay Beran 910.315.3322

Sandhurst South: Exquisite home on a quiet cul-de-sac in a park-like setting. No expense has been spare to make this a true showplace! Beautifully maintained. 3BR/2.5BA. $325,000 Bill Brock 910.639.1148

Old Town Pinehurst: Charming home w/brick sidewalk, front porch, Carolina Room, & private backyard. Updated with hardwood, new carpet & paint. Only a short walk to the Village! PCC Mbrshp, too! 2BR/2BA. $289,000 Carolyn Hallett 910.986.2319

Bretton Woods: Charming down to the white picket fence! Living room has vaulted ceiling and fireplace. Kitchen has granite and stainless appliances. Front Courtyard & back deck. 2BR/2BA. $160,000 Bill Brock 910.639.1148

Pinehurst: 910.295.5504 • 42 Chinquapin Road • Pinehurst, NC 28374 Berkshire Hathaway HomeSercies and the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices symbol are registered service marks of HomeServices of America, Inc.® Equal Housing Opportunity.Housing Opportunity.

PINEHURST

$535,000

This custom built golf front home offers an open, sun-filled floorplan with floor to ceiling window walls, crown moldings and high ceilings. Located on the 8th Fairway at Pinehurst #9, the home has expansive golf views with privacy from surrounding homes. There is a huge covered porch with a fireplace and the kitchen features custom cabinets, high end appliances and a walk-in pantry/butler. The master bedroom is on the main floor and has a beautiful master bath with a soaking tub and marble shower. All three bedrooms have private baths. 3 BR / 3 BA 18 Dungarvan Lane

PINEHURST

$574,900

PINEHURST

$349,000

$319,000

“Talent, Technology & TEAMWORK” Moore County’s Most Trusted Real Estate Team

Gorgeous golf front views of holes #7, #8 and #12 of Pinehurst Country Club course #1 plus water view of the pond from the large deck and fenced back yard. This completely remodeled Doral Woods home features fabulous granite, marble floors, glass stones and mother of pearl tile throughout. The master bath is spectacular! Roomy and comfortable..... What a nice retreat! 3 BR / 2.5 BA 32 Thunderbird Circle

SEVEN LAKES WEST

This beautiful brick home in desirable Pinehurst #6 was built by Hickman Builders and offers many upscale features such as oak hardwood floors, crown molding and 3 zone heating and air conditioning. The sunroom overlooks a very private backyard with a charming water feature. There is a Pinehurst CC membership with this property. 3 BR / 2.5 BA 9 Kahkwa Trail

349,500

$258.000 $179,000 Southern Pines Pinehurst $199,900 Foxfire Lovely and pristine in Longleaf CC Lovely updated golf-front home Cute cottage w/nice renovations 3 BR / 2 BA 3 BR / 2 BA 4 BR / 4.5 BA www.205HunterTrail.com www.4DogwoodCourt.com www.17ChestnutLane.com Gorgeous custom built Contemporary home on Lake Pinewild in Pinewild Country Club. Beautifully maintained home with trey ceiling and gas log fireplace in living room, formal dining room with stunning, contemporary chandelier and glass block wall, kitchen with built-in breakfast bar, double ovens, double dishwashers, pantry and eat-in-area. Two guest suites with ensuite baths. Downstairs recreation room with kitchenette/wet bar and access to rear patio. Beautiful views of the lake. 3 BR / 3 Full 3 Half Baths 31 Abington Drive

PINEHURST

$1,099,000

$585,000 Aberdeen $145,500 Pinehurst Fantastic, all-brick golf front home Cute home on large corner lot 4 BR / 3.5 BA 3 BR / 2 BA www.80LakewoodDrive.com www.110RavenswoodRoad.com

Wonderful custom built home sits on a beautifully landscaped site with long lake views of Lake Auman. The interior has a great open floorplan with a spacious great room and stone fireplace. A glass wall Carolina room overlooks the wooded back yard. Finished lower level with a kitchenette, bar and flex area. There is an insulated work shop under the porch. 3 BR / 3.5 BA 176 Simmons Drive

Incredible Golf Front Home in Fairwoods on 7! This stunningly beautiful home features top of the line finishes, mouldings, and marble, hardwood, and slate flooring! Wow your guests with the gourmet kitchen, 2-story ceilings in the living and great rooms, luxurious bedroom suites, custom wood bar, and even a wine cellar! Finally, relax on the cascading terrace of your choice overlooking the 15th Green! This home could also be purchased fully furnished; price available upon request. 4 BR / 5.5 BA 80 Braemar Road

$329,000 $890,000 Longleaf CC $449,000 Pinehurst $239,000 CCNC Pinehurst $75,000 Pinehurst Custom Built Villa Overlooking Water Custom built all brick golf-front home Brick single story w/view of 17th green Covered porch & large fenced lot Updated Immaculate Golf View Condo 3 BR / 2 BA$381,800 & 2 Half Baths 3 BR / 2.5 BA 1 BR / 1 BA PINEHURST $959,000 3 BR / 2.5 BA PINEHURST $384,000 4 BR / 4 Full SEVEN LAKES WEST www.16SteeplechaseWay.com www.110HearthstoneRoad.com www.8RoyalDornoch.com www.210StAndrewsCondo.com www.1340BurningTreeRoad.com

$1,295,000 $189,000 Pinehurst $269,000 Pinehurst $475,000 Pinebluff 7 Lakes West $635,000 Pinehurst Stunning custom home in Fairwoods on 7 Charming brick ranch home GorgeoustownhomeintheheartoftheVillage Open plan, gourmet kitchen, pool & more! Stunning All Brick Water Front 4 BR / 4 BA & 2 Half BA 3 BR / 2 BA BR / in2.5 BA 3 BR / 2.5 BA Stunning brick and hardiplank home3located / 4.5 BA in Pinewild Country Club with spectacular Stunning custom home3onBR Lake Pinewild Clarendon Gardens with immaculate Enjoy water views from the front porch of this beautiful two story home! The foyer and views of thewww.135AndrewsDrive.com lake. Open floor plan with 10 -12 foot ceilings and fabulouswww.6HollyHouse.com light throughout www.170InverraryRoad.com www.145SugarPineDrive.com www.105MastersWay.com manicured yard. Two tiered back deck creates atmosphere of privacy. Large great room, living room both feature two-story ceiling height and hardwood floors. The kitchen offers

the home with an abundance of window walls. The home has three fireplaces. There is a bulkhead and dock for lake usage. Built by Blackman Builders, this was the 2003 Home of the Year. This home does have it all! 3 BR / 5 BA 24 Loch Lomond Court

FOXFIRE

$295,000

great gourmet kitchen, spacious master and office on first floor. Beautiful loft and a bonus room upstairs and much more! 4 BR / 3.5 BA 65 Quail Run

PINEHURST

$239,000

custom wood cabinets, granite countertop and walk-in pantry. In the master suite you will find two walk-in closets and an ensuite bath with separate vanities, garden tub and large walk-in shower. This home is immaculate and shows beautifully! 4 BR / 3.5 BA 150 Morris Drive

PINEHURST

$289,900

$269,900 $187,900 Pinehurst $185,000 Southern Pines $225,000 Pinebluff Pinehurst $375,000 Foxfire Great home in family- friendly neighborhood Stunning new construction condo Golf front new construction in The Pines Immaculate all-brick w/golf views Elegant & luxurious w/spacious rooms 5 BR / 3 BA 3 BR / 2.5 BA 3 BR / 2 BA 2 BR / 2 BA 4 BR / 3 BA www.23BerylCircle.com www.100CypressCircle.com www.153LaurelOakLane.com www.18ShamrockDrive.com www.10StantonCircle.com

This gorgeous new construction in Foxfire has a great location that enjoys sweeping golf Well maintained cottage within walking distance to parks, trails, elementary school and Gorgeous new construction in desirable Pinehurst #6. The open floor plan has vaulted views from the front of the house and backs up to the park, complete with walking trails, the Village shops and restaurants. Charm abounds in this quaint but functional home. The ceilings, gas fireplace, wood floors, custom cabinets, granite and stainless steel appliances. playground and picnic area. The home enjoys wonderful curb appeal with a stone and stucco master $241,000 bedroom/bath suite is oversized with plenty of space for$895,000 a cozy sitting area. The large bedroom planSeven with 2.5Lakes baths. Upstairs a bonus Southis more than just $279,500 Seven Lakes WestMain level has split $298,000 Pinehurst Pinehurst Seven Lakes South $199,000 exterior and the inside features high ceilings, lots of windows, hardwood floors and anopen floor and level yard offers many opportunities for outdoor living space. The shed is excellent for space for multiple possibilities, but also has a bedroom and bath High end extra features Completely renovated Wonderful 2-story home on cul-de-sac Gorgeous in the Old Town Greatgranite family home w/private back yard Charming golf front w/panoramic viewtile floors, plan. The kitchen is really special with painted beamed ceiling, countertops, storagehome or a workshop. throughout with a beautiful screened in porch.golf front home recessed lighting and decorative backsplash. Screened porch and large deck. 24BR 4 BR / 3.5 BA 3 BR / 3.5 BA 4 BR / 3BA BR/ 2/BA 3.5 BA 4 BR / 3 BA 3 BR / travertine 2.54BA BR / 3 BA 25 Woods Road 240 Kingswood Circle www.117OxfordCourt.com www.108Rector.com www.50OrangeRoad.com www.11GraysonLane.com www.122DevonshireAvenue.com 8 South Shamrock Drive

View Floor Plans and Tours of ALL OurMoore Listings and Seeand ALL MooreInformation County at View Floor Plans and Virtual Tours of Virtual Our Listings and See County Listings Community Listings and Community Information at

www.MarthaGentry.com www.MarthaGentry.coM

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

Military?!Check out our Military Advantage Program at www.MarthaGentry.com

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

simple life

The Heart’s Memory

By Jim Dodson

As a surprise New Year’s gift — or an early

February birthday gift — my wife Wendy gave us both Fitbit activity trackers.

These are nifty digital fitness bracelets that calculate everything from your heart beat to nightly sleep patterns. Linked to your smart phone, they can also measure your daily number of steps and average caloric intake; calculate your proper age and weight targets; balance your checkbook and determine your likely Oscar picks. For all I know, they may even be able to explain Donald Trump’s continued popularity in the polls and maybe why anyone really needs to keep up with the Kardashians. They reveal, in short, lots of information about your human biology and general state of health in hard numbers, revealing who you are, moment to moment, in this physical world. I like my new Fitbit. With the diet and exercise routines my bride has carefully plotted out for us both in 2016, our hearts ought to be in pretty good shape by summer. This month, I suddenly find myself at the age of my father when he and I began to have deep and thoughtful conversations about life, faith and the complex affairs of the world. Not everybody is fortunate to have the kind of extraordinary father I had, though in truth it took me almost three full decades to appreciate his grace and elegant wisdom. Owing to his unsinkable optimism and love of quoting longdead sages and poets when you least expected it, I gave him the nickname “Opti the Mystic.” By the time I began to realize what a true gift he was to us, Opti was a youthful 62 and I was an anxious overworked 29. He was the Southern contractor for the largest industrial advertising firm in the world, beloved by his half-dozen employees, an adman with a poet’s heart; I was the senior writer for the largest magazine in the South, the Atlanta Journal Constitution Sunday Magazine, trying to earn my way to the Boston Globe or the Washington Post and not look back. We shared a love of books, especially history, poetry and philosophy. That winter of 1983 he was reading MacKinlay Kantor and Joaquin Miller, the colorful frontier poet of the Sierras; I was reading Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail and Robert Frost, wondering what it might be like to live in real snow country. Opti was moderating the Men’s Sunday morning class at First Lutheran Church in Greensboro and helping organize an ecumenical feeding program

called Urban Ministry. When I wasn’t writing about sensational murders in Atlanta — designated as the nation’s “Murder Capital” that year — I was chasing after New South conmen and empire builders, drug lords and repo kings, unrepentant Alabama grand dragons and presidential candidates. Suddenly, though, I’d lived long enough and written about enough disturbing things to realize that I was actually more interested in what my funny old father Opti the Mystic had to say about the state of the world than my aspirations in it. “The world is always coming apart at the seams. Be sure you don’t do the same,” he once calmly counseled me over the phone on a sleety afternoon in March of 1981. I was standing in a mob scene of frightened commuters at LaGuardia Airport, returning from an interview at the Yale Club with a remarkable man named Morris Abram, a small-town boy from Georgia who grew up to become a leading civil rights lawyer who argued the constitutional guarantee of one-man, one vote before the Supreme Court and went on to serve as the first president of Brandeis University and work for five presidents in the realm of human rights. The day I met him, Abram was suffering from acute myelocytic leukemia, which had prompted him to begin working on his memoirs. The doctors weren’t terribly hopeful, he explained with an almost stoic shrug, the winter light falling on his handsome face from a nearby window. Snow was in the forecast for the city that day. “So what keeps you going?” I asked. Abram smiled. “Life. Family. Lots of interesting friends. Also work I believe in, good jokes, a sense of humor and a keen curiosity about what I may find on the other side.” We talked about the Other Side. He meant “life after death.” He wasn’t sure what awaited him — awaits all of us — but he was curious to finally find out what, eager to discover what has obsessed sages, poets and philosophers across the ages. We talked for almost three hours in a beautiful room with tall windows overlooking a garden and he was kind enough to send me off to catch my flight home to Atlanta with a finished chapter about his Georgia youth under my wing, explaining that he planned to call his book The Day is Short, from a quote in the Torah that goes: “The day is short, the work is great.” Morris Abram reminded me of my own funny, philosophical father. That’s what I was thinking, at any rate, when I stepped out of the cab into the sudden sleet and mayhem waiting at LaGuardia Airport. Ronald Reagan, it emerged, had been shot that afternoon, 61 days into his presidency, and the airport was locked down, all flights grounded. Queues were huge. People were frantically milling about. Stepping into a crowded bar where every face was aimed at the TV screen over the bar, I heard a couple of scotchsippers murmur something about a coup. So I called my dad to say hello and just

PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . February 2016

simple life

hear another calming voice. He assured me Reagan would be OK and so would America — suggested I go grab another cab back into the city, find a nice warm hotel room, have a nice dinner and maybe take in a play. I took his advice and did just that. I found a room at the University Club and called a friend named Larry Ashmead on the spur of the moment to see if he might be free for supper. Ashmead was the executive editor at Harper & Row, a gracious, witty legend who gave dozens of best-selling authors their start. Susan Isaacs and Tony Hillerman are two of the literary giants Larry launched. He was famous for spotting literary talent and for taking photos with the Instamatic camera he carried everywhere. He took me to a crowded restaurant in Midtown where, he said, we were sure to see someone famous. Sure enough, right over Larry’s left shoulder sat Carly Simon, dining with some guy who looked like Al Pacino in Scarface. We also saw, as I recall, a young Donald Trump, all hair even then. Larry asked the waiter to take our picture. Somewhere I have the photo of us smiling like truant schoolboys. That’s Carly Simon’s fluffy head behind us. Larry offered me a small contract to write a novel about the South. The next day, he even arranged for me to meet a top agent. Her name was Virginia Barber. She took me on based entirely on Larry’s recommendation and became my agent until she retired and moved home to Virginia a decade ago, passing me off to her gifted protégé, a young Duke -educated fellow named Jay Mandel, my agent at William Morris Entertainment to this day. The book I wrote for Larry was called Union Grove, a novel about a struggling farm family in deep South Georgia. In was a disaster. I rewrote it twice but it never worked and Larry was kind enough to let me out of my contract. It gave me pleasure to burn the manuscript at our annual New Year’s Eve bonfire on our snowy hill in Maine many years later. “You’ll write the novel you should have written someday,” he told me. “Just

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

hope I’m still around to publish it.” A short time after this, Larry introduced me to Jud Hale, the beloved editor of Yankee Magazine, and I moved to a small solar cabin on the Green River in Vermont to become the first Senior Writer in that magazine’s illustrious 80-year history. It’s funny how this life works, connecting one soul to another. Had I not gone to New York to see Morris Abram and gotten stuck at the airport, I probably wouldn’t have phoned my dad to see if the world was going to end and been urged by him to spend another night in the city, whereupon I wouldn’t have been taken to dinner by a lovely literary giant and seen Carly Simon and her new boyfriend (and maybe young Donnie Trump) and eventually wound up finding my spiritual equilibrium and true calling on a beautiful river in Vermont, about to meet the beautiful woman who would become the mother of my children. In Vermont, I got myself a yellow dog and a second-hand fly rod and resumed playing golf again after almost eight years of too much work and not enough play. My heartbeat slowed and my life seemed to find its proper direction. Gratitude, Opti used to say, is the heart’s memory. It’s an old French saying, one of his favorites. Opti the Mystic passed away in March of 1995; I was by his side in Greensboro at the time. He was 80 years old. Morris Abram lived far longer than his doctor expected and published his beautiful memoir in 1982. He passed away in March of 2000 at age 81. I hope he found what he was looking for on the Other Side. Larry Ashmead passed away in September that same year; he was 78. I’m sure he took his famous Instamatic with him. And now, I’m the same age as Opti when all of these things began to happen. I don’t need a Fitbit to tell me what a lucky fellow I’ve been. PS Contact editor Jim Dodson at jim@pinestrawmag.com.

Let us help you with all your Real Estate Stories. SearchMooreCountyHomes.com

Happy Valentine’s Day The Pinnock Team

PINNOCK REAL ESTATE & Relocation Services, Inc.

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

PinehurstHomeSearcher.com

February 2016P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

BECAUSE EVERYTHING

PinePitch P h

If you’d prefer your green thumbs to be a little less submerged in the dirt, sign up for the Growing Air Plants Workshop at the Sandhills Horticultural Society, Tuesday, February 16, at 10 a.m. Yes, plants that need neither soil nor water. Members Linda Hamwi and Dolores Muller will instruct on air plant varieties and care and give suggestions for displaying them. If you feel inspired to begin right away, containers and air plants will be available for purchase. Ball Visitors’ Center, Sandhills Community College Horticultural Gardens, 3395 Airport Road, Pinehurst. For information and reservations, call (910) 695-3882. Tickets are $25 for Sandhills Horticultural Society members, $30 for non-members. Please register in advance, as space is limited.

Play of Letters

Patch It Up

Spin a yarn at 11:30 a.m. on February 11 at the Communities In Schools Patchwork Luncheon. This is an opportunity for knitters, sewers and crafters to get together and share their work and experiences over lunch. The event will benefit Communities in Schools, whose mission is to surround students with a community of support, empowering them to stay in school and achieve in life. Storytellers will provide entertainment, and mentors from Communities in Schools projects will speak too. Penick Village, 500 East Rhode Island Avenue, Southern Pines. Tickets are $50 and are available at The Country Bookshop, Bella Filati, Linderella’s Quilt Works or online at www.cismoore.org. For more information, email Bryana Nelson at admin@cismoore.org

Hello, Molly!

Molly Ringwald has made a lifelong study of jazz and the singers who have inspired her. Ringwald will treat her audience to some of her favorites at this year’s Heart ’n’ Soul of Jazz on February 13 at 8 p.m. Expect smoky lyrics and the smoothest tunes. The evening includes a Meet The Artists dessert reception and the chance to win some great door prizes. Unmissable. Carolina Hotel, 80 Carolina Vista Drive, Pinehurst. For tickets ($70) and more information call (910) 6922787 or visit www.mooreart.org.

Fresh Air

At 7 p.m. on February 18, the Weymouth Center for the Arts and Humanities will present a readers’ theater production, A Thousand Things Time Will Never Let Us Say, drawn from the Boyd letters, which now reside in renowned research libraries around the country. The letters offer an intimate insight into the lives of the Boyds, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Thomas Wolfe, Sherwood Anderson, Maxwell Perkins, Paul Green and other literary luminaries. The production will be narrated by Marsha Warren, director of the Paul Green Foundation. Readers include Shelby Stephenson, poet laureate of North Carolina; Chris Dunn, director of the Arts Council of Moore County; Reagan Parsons, town manager of Southern Pines; Denise Baker, Sandhills Community College art professor emeritus; Ray Owen, former Weymouth board member; and Stephen Smith, former board member. Lydia Gill will provide musical accompaniment. Seating is limited. Tickets are available at the Weymouth Center, $10 for members and $15 for non-members. Weymouth Center for the Arts and Humanities, 555 East Connecticut Avenue, Southern Pines. For more information, visit weymouthcenter.org or call (910) 692-6261.

February 2016P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

Story Time

Everyone has a story to share. Using smartphone technology, record your own story or talk to a family member and record theirs. Then you can upload it to the StoryCorps archive at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. Simply download the StoryCorps app from Apple iTunes or Google Play. Then choose your interviewee and ask away (don’t forget to record). When you’ve finished, follow the instructions on the screen to upload your interview: Take your photo, tag it with the keyword “sopines” and share your interview with the world. If you’d like to hear other stories from our area, visit storycorps.me/search and enter SoPines in the search box to hear local stories. If you need help or more information, drop by the Southern Pines Public Library, where the staff will be happy to assist. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 West Connecticut Avenue, Southern Pines. Or you can email lib@sppl.net or call (910) 692-8235.

Lights Up on Broadway (And Airport Road)

Two of the brightest young stars of musical theater will be shining with the Carolina Philharmonic on Saturday, February 6, at 7 p.m. Tony-nominated Josh Young (Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, Les Miserables and Amazing Grace) and Emily Padgett (Legally Blonde, Grease, Flash Dance. Side Show and Bright Star) join forces for an evening of modern and classic Broadway, backed up by David Michael Wolff and the Carolina Philharmonic. Owens Auditorium, Sandhills Community College, 3395 Airport Road, Pinehurst. For tickets and more information call (910) 687-0287 or visit www.carolinaphil.org.

In and Out

Pop in to the Given Outpost on Thursday February 25 at 7p.m. Local author J.D. “Dusty” Rhoades, leading writer of the genre known as “redneck noir,” will be discussing his new comic heist novel Ice Chest, why death is easy and comedy is hard, and, most likely, current events too. The Given Outpost, 95 Cherokee Rd, Pinehurst. The event is free and open to all. For more information call Lisa Richman at (910) 585-4820. PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the

Kiss a Frog

You may remember that in January you could submit your amphibious artwork to the Disappearing Frogs project for exhibition around the state. Now those exhibitions are beginning, and a whole leaping lot of other froggy fun too. For in-depth information on the Disappearing Frogs project, go online and visit disappearingfrogsproject.org. Here’s what’s happening in the Sandhills — and keep in mind as you enjoy these events that we must look after our very own Pine Barrens tree frog. For an in-depth look at the delicate ecological balance of our world, and of the park ranger’s role in its preservation, watch BBC documentary The Frog Photographer, featuring Robin Moore, author of In Search of Lost Frogs followed by A Thin Green Line, at the Sunrise Theater on February 11 at 7 p.m. Ranger Sean Willmore of Warrangine Park in Australia spent a year traveling the globe interviewing fellow rangers across six continents and nineteen different countries. His journey took him to some of the most remote and difficult places on the planet. Both films are a must for anyone interested in travel, ecology and the wider world. The Sunrise Theater, 250 North West Broad Street. Tickets are $8. For more information call (910) 692-8501 or visit www.sunrisetheater.com. Hop along to see the Disappearing Frogs exhibition, which will be on show at the Weymouth Woods — Sandhills Nature Preserve from February 12—29. Also at the Preserve on February 14 & 21 at 3 p.m., there will be talks about our local frogs and salamanders. On February 21 there will be an art sale and reception from 1–4 p.m. and at 2:30 p.m. Robin Moore will give a presentation explaining our connection with amphibians. Weymouth Woods — Sandhills Nature Preserve, 1024 Fort Bragg Road, Southern Pines. For more information, call (910) 692-2167 or visit www.ncparks.gov/ weymouth-woods-sandhills-nature-preserve. On February 18 at 5:30 p.m. it’s Froggy Fun Night at the Southern Pines Library. Gather the whole family at the library for a ribbit-roaring good time. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 West Connecticut Avenue, Southern Pines. For more information, visit www.sppl.net or call (910) 692-8235. If time at the library has whet your appetite for frog knowledge, visit The Country Bookshop on February 28 at 2 p.m. Robin Moore will be discussing his extraordinary book In Search of Lost Frogs. Listed by The Guardian as one of the best nature books of 2014, In Search of Lost Frogs is a beautifully photographed story of Moore’s quest to find the world’s rarest amphibians. The Country Bookshop, 140 North West Broad Street, Southern Pines. For more information visit www.thecountrybookshop.biz or call (910) 692-3211. Sandhills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . February 2016

The good things in life are better with you!

Eric & Linda Christenson, Residents since 2013

A Faith-Based Not For Profit Life Plan Community

500 E. Rhode Island Ave. Southern Pines, NC (910) 692-0300 www.penickvillage.org

Instagram Winners

Congratulations to our February Instagram winners!

Theme:

New Year’s Resolutions #pinestrawcontest

Next month’s theme:

“Exotic Pets”

Submit your photo on Instagram at @pinestrawmag using the hashtag #pinestrawcontest (submissions needed by Monday, February 15th)

FALL IN LOVE WITH THE SISTERS OF PROVIDENCE ST. JOESPH’S OF THE PINES Pictured are Sr. Mary Caritas SP, supporting the Mission of the Sisters of Providence at St. Joseph of the Pines and Lin Hutaff, providing real estate experience and guidance with a true commitment to the Sandhill’s community.

LIN HUTAFF’S PINEHURST REALTY GROUP When transitioning to Belle Meade or Pine Knoll call Lin, one of the area’s top selling Realtors, to assist in selling your home.

910.528.6427 www.linhutaff.com linhutaff@pinehurst.net RE/MAX Prime Properties

Cos and Effect

Something Borrowed

The second part — and third, and fourth — of a wedding dress saga

By Cos Barnes

When my second daughter elected

to wear my wedding dress, she wanted it completely redone — made strapless, with no vestiges of the mandarin collar, the long sleeves or the flowing veil. Luckily, my good friend Jan Staub is a pro with needle and thread, and she took on the task. Honestly, she could’ve done it with one hand tied behind her. She’s that good.

Any seamstress will tell you it is much easier to make a new garment than to alter an older one. First Jan removed the collar and lace that covered the bodice. She removed the long sleeves and replaced them with off-theshoulder cap sleeves. She reinforced the bodice and added boning. Then she added string and casing to create a bustle. Sounds like a piece of cake, huh? When she finished it was a work of art. Then she tirelessly added the sequins and seed pearls back to the bodice, and from a picture in a bridal magazine, she fashioned a headpiece that was a stunning bunch of fluff worn off the face. Since we are not only frugal people but also sentimental ones, my mother wore the ensemble she wore to my wedding to my first daughter’s wedding, twenty-eight years later. How is that for weight control? I have often wondered what my wedding gown cost. There is no one to ask now. I talked with a friend recently, and she said she married in 1951 and her dress came from Bergdorf Goodman and was priced at $100. I figure mine was about the same. Back then, $100 was a lot of money. As we speak, a seamstress in Bethesda, Maryland, who specializes in bridal alterations, is working on the dress to fit my granddaughter, who will wear it in her March wedding. My other granddaughters are 5’8”, so we may have to add longer skirts if they too desire to wear my dress. PS Cos Barnes is a longtime contributor to PineStraw magazine. She can be contacted at cosbarnes@nc.rr.com PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . February 2016

An Invitation to.. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23 AT 5:00 PM NORTH CAROLINA AUTHOR

TRAVIS MULHAUSER SWEETGIRL Sixteen-year old Percy searches for her meth addicted mother, but finds instead a baby girl in the den of a violent and drugged induced petty thief. Knowing all too well the wretched life that is in store for the child, Percy endeavors to save her.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11 AT 5:30 PM ROSS HOWELL, JR. FORSAKEN Young Reporter Charles Mears tells the story of the 1912 trial of Virginia Christian and its aftermath.

“A deep and powerful discourse on racism. Not since Atticus Finch have we met a character spun from the threads of integrity as beautifully as Charlie Mears.” – Jennie Fields, author of The Age of Desire Winter 2016 Okara Pick by the Southeastern Independent Bookselling Association (SIBA)

“ This book is as wise as it is suspenseful, as funny as it is tragic. A novel written with guts, grit, and grace, Sweetgirl is the book you want to keep you company on a cold winter’s night. “ – Amy Jo Burns

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 23 AT 5:00 PM SCOTT ELLSWORTH THE SECRET GAME:

A WARTIME STORY OF COURAGE, CHANGE, AND BASKETBALL’S LOST TRIUMPH

Named one of the Top Ten Books of 2016 by The Chicago Tribune A Sports Illustrated 2015 sports book of the year On the 2015 Longlist for the PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing

A ll Books are on sale NOW at The Country Bookshop

The Country Bookshop 140 NW Broad St, Southern Pines, NC • 910.692.3211 www.countrybooskhop.biz

The Omnivorous Reader

Indie Picks Shorts you won’t want to put down by women who know the recipe for a compelling read

By Gwenyfar Rohler

Since 2005, Winston-Salem based Press 53

has steadily built a reputation for nurturing great debut authors. Not to say they don’t publish established authors, because they do, but their annual collections continue to cultivate writers at the beginning of their career.

According to Kevin Watson, founder of Press 53, the 2015 Award for Short Fiction had over 250 entries. “After selecting our winner, which was difficult enough, I had three other manuscripts I couldn’t get out of my mind, so I offered contracts.” One of those manuscripts was Gerry Wilson’s short story collection, Crosscurrents and Other Stories. For weeks after I read it, I couldn’t get it out of my head either. Compelling story is conflict, and Wilson’s title lives up to its promise: Her characters are caught in the cross-currents of internal and external conflicts, some quite literally — drowning is a reoccurring theme (“Crosscurrents, Pieces”, “Book of Lies”) — others metaphorically. But the characters are haunting. “Book of Lies”, chronicling Robin’s crisis raising her unwanted niece, Molly, following a suicide, looks not so much at the immediate trauma of the suicide but the fractal-like pain that seeps and permeates their lives for years to come. For days I wandered

around different scenarios for Molly’s outcome in my head: If her father had just . . . What about her cousins? . . . Will she ever understand that sometimes you just give children a simple answer (a lie) to an impossible question? But harder to shake was “The One to Go” and the horrific wake of Mallory’s life. The re-emergence of now-pregnant Mallory, a runaway presumed dead, rattles the walls of her father and stepmother’s lives. Wilson deftly shows us the struggles of two generations of women, Mallory and the stepmother who sees too much of herself in the frightening younger woman. Both ache for something that neither can explain to the other. The author’s execution is exquisite to encounter. Wilson’s author bio notes that she is the grandmother and step-grandmother of ten. The heartache of family life is clearly closely ingrained in her consciousness and permeates most of the stories. Even “Appendix”, which ostensibly is about an affair, reflects the pain of not belonging, of not being the chosen one, with the affirming title of wife. It makes a nice juxtaposition for “Wives’, a first-person account of the first wife sharing the birth of a grandchild not only with her ex-husband but with his fourth wife as well. Perhaps what makes Wilson’s writing so unexpected is the surprising yet unspoken — and often overlooked — strength in her female characters. She creates horrid adversity for them and surrounds them with people who undermine them and then shows them having greater wells of strength than their male counterparts comprehend. Wilson combines an arrow-sharp aim for the heart with an evocative vocabulary to create memorable tableaux of human experience. Alternately

The Omnivorous Reader

distressing and compelling, Crosscurrents is one of my favorite story collections I have encountered in a very long time. The winner of the 2015 Press 53 Award for Short Fiction, The Universal Physics of Escape by Elizabeth Gonzalez, is a very different collection from Crosscurrents. Though both are debut collections by women, they approach the world through disparate lenses. The Appalachian Mountains and rural Pennsylvania provide the specific, restricting settings that Gonzalez’s characters seek and fear, escape to and from. The title story parallels an octopus’ survival strategies with a suburban housewife slowly dying from self-repression. It’s not an abusive relationship, it’s a series of narrowing choices and compromises that slowly, successfully cause the protagonist to not exist in any definable, real way. Without saying as much, Gonzalez presents the lament of many mommies: I no longer have an identity except as “so-and- so’s mom.” “Half Beat”, set in Ohio, again works with parallels: a young girl and a spinster music teacher. Perhaps that is where Gonzalez is strongest — that mirror of fear and hope we see in each other, a theme she returns to over and over again: the tough coal miner grandparents in “Shakedown”, and most heartbreakingly with Zeke and Lanie in “Weather”. Zeke is famous in their small town for killing his brother in a hunting accident at age 14. Lanie’s methaddled son killed himself, Lanie’s granddaughter and two other innocent people in a car accident. Gonzalez doesn’t preach for or about either character, nor does she resolve either of their pain. Instead, she lets these two lonely people find in each other a mutual recognition of something no one else can understand — not even their grieving family members. Reading the description of Lanie teaching her granddaughter to recognize the signs that her father was high on meth — and how to leave him, to find another adult and ask the stranger to call her grandmother to come pick her up — was rending. The passage haunted me for days. How do you even begin to have that conversation with a child — to come to a point that any stranger is a safer alternative than Dad? Then to have the worst fears borne out in such mythic proportions. The addict’s cry of “It’s my life!” coming to a screeching halt as he kills three other people with him. In a few spare paragraphs Gonzalez gives us this picture to sit, to contemplate, and to read with caution. Crosscurrents and The Universal Physics of Escape are both worthy investments from your local independent bookstore. North Carolina is lucky to have an independent publisher like Press 53 to seek out and recognize such talent. PS Gwenyfar Rohler spends her days managing her family’s bookstore on Front Street in Wilmington.

February 2016P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

Homes NOW Available! WALKER STATION Newest Neighborhood in Pinehurst! Several floor plans ranging from 2,000+ sq.ft. to 2,200+ sq.ft. Townhomes starting in the $260,000’s & homes starting in the $300,000’s Located in Pinehurst on the Greenway Trail System www.WalkerStationPinehurst.com

Call today for a private showing!

Meadow Ridge

Juniper Ridge

9 Sold and 3 Pending! Homes starting in the $210,000’s Several floor plans ranging from 1,900+ sq.ft. to 2,500+ sq.ft.

190 Turner Street, Suite D Southern Pines, NC 28387 (910) 693-3300

www.HHHomes.com

2 Sold and 1 Pending! Homes starting in the $260,000’s

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

Several floor plans ranging from 2,300+ sq.ft. to 3,500+ sq.ft.

100 Magnolia Road, Suite 1 Pinehurst, NC 28374 (910) 692-4731

Dreaming of a new kitchen? Let Reico Kitchen & Bath help.

Knowledgeable People. Professional Design. Expert Installation. Since 1952. Come see how easily Reico can make your dream come true. Download our ‘Getting Started’ guide at www.reico.com.

Raleigh 2728 Capital Blvd., Suite 100 Raleigh, NC 27604 (919) 878-7744

Southern Pines 265 Pinehurst Ave., Suite B Southern Pines, NC 28387 (910) 693-0162

Reico KITCHEN & BATH

www.reico.com

Fayetteville 1111 Ireland Dr., Suite 108 Fayetteville, NC 28303 (910) 484-2300

B oo k s h e l f

February Books By Kimberly Daniels Taws

The Secret Game, by

Scott Ellsworth. The Chicago Tribune named the hardcover one of the best books of 2015, it is on the long list of the PEN/ESPN awards and is Sports Illustrated’s Sports Book of The Year. The Secret Game details the story and circumstance surrounding a secret basketball game played in the fall of 1943 in Durham, North Carolina. It is the riveting true story of how a group of forgotten college basketball players, aided by a pair of refugees from Nazi Germany and a group of daring student activists, blazed a trail for the new kind of America to come and created one of the most meaningful moments in basketball history. Indentured: The Inside Story of the Rebellion Against the NCAA, by Joe Nocera and Ben Strauss. The author of All the Devils are Here returns with a book about the fight for fair play for college athletes. Nocera, an op-ed columnist for The New York Times and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, reveals how schools, networks, coaches and sponsors all profit while the vast majority of athletes receive little real education and face discouraging futures. On My Own, by Diane Rehm. The beloved host of NPR’s The Diane Rehm Show speaks out about the long drawn-out death, caused by Parkinson’s, of her husband of fifty-four years and her struggle to reconstruct her life without him. Black Rabbit Hall, by Eve Chase. Londoners in search of a whimsical country-wedding venue stumble across the decrepit Black Rabbit Hall. While husband Jon is weary, Lorna is inexplicably drawn to the house and enticed by the family’s past, which is revealed to her over a brief stay. The Arrangement, by Ashley Warlick. The fictionalized life of the legendary food writer M.F.K. Fisher is a treat. Starting in Los Angeles in 1934, moving to France and the Swiss Alps, the story follows Fisher as she is encouraged, in writing and life, by the man for whom she will eventually leave her husband. The Ramblers, by Aidan Donnelley Rowley. A young ornithologist finds love with an older hotel owner but has trouble adjusting into a successful

relationship due to her mother’s mental illness. Her former Yale roommate searches for ways to untangle herself from her family while simultaneously seeking her successful father’s approval. There is something fun about a New York WASP romance, especially one that includes bird — watching tours in Central Park. Ginny Gall, by Charlie Smith. The Jim Crow South in the 1920s and ’30s is a brutal place for the brilliant young Delvin, born to a prostitute who leaves town when he is 5, running from the law. Delvin is separated from his siblings and taken in by a wealthy funeral director, apprenticing for a promising career. In the face of a lynching and church burning, Delvin leaves town, riding trains and seeing near-Depression era America and meeting a brilliant supporting cast along the way. The one constant in the book is Ginny Gall, the African-American term for “the hell beyond hell, hell’s hell.” The Black Calhouns: From Civil War to Civil Rights with one African American Family, by Gail Lumet Buckley. The daughter of actress Lena Horne follows her family tree, beginning with great-grandfather Moses Calhoun, a house slave who used his rare advantage of education to become a businessman. The six generations that follow illuminate our nation’s history and the family dramas that keep the reader enthralled. The Struggle for Sea Power: A Naval History of the American Revolution, by Sam Willis. This is a sweeping book by renowned British naval historian Sam Willis that examines the unprecedented action of the Colonies to raise a Navy, the function of that Navy and France’s real sacrifice in the name of America. Children of Paradise: The Struggle for the Soul of Iran, by Laura Secor. This intellectual history of Iran from the 1979 uprising to today illustrates the political thinking that has shaped this complex country. You Could Look it Up: The Reference Shelf from Ancient Babylon to Wikipedia, by Jack Lynch. Jack Lynch, a professor of English at Rutgers University, dives into the history of reference books and tells the stories of several that are especially odd or significant. Lynch illuminates the human stories behind them and offers new insight into the value of knowledge. One Dough, Ten Breads: Making Great Bread by Hand, by Sarah Black. We think of bread as a special treat — so why not learn to make it yourself? In One Dough Ten Breads, Lynch takes us through the process and makes it surprisingly accessible.

B oo k s h e l f

CHILDREN’S BOOKS By Angie Tally Love Monster, Love Monster and the Perfect Present and Love Monster and the Last Chocolate, by Rachel Bright. Life is hard when you are a slightly hairy googlyeyed monster trying to find your place among the soft and cuddly residents of Cutesville, but sometimes love finds you just when you least expect it. The adorable “Love Monster” books are the perfect way to tell someone you love them this Valentine’s Day, just the way they are. Ages 2-6. Passenger,

by Alexandra Bracken. Together, Etta, a violin prodigy thrust into a world not her own, and Nicholas, newly freed from servitude with a powerful family, embark on a perilous journey across centuries and continents. A time travel romance with heavy doses of adventure, intrigue and pirates. Perfect for teens who want to read

Outlander. Ages 12 and up. Salt to the Sea, by Ruta Sepetys. Between Shades of Gray meets Titanic in this epic World War II-era novel that shines a light on one of the war’s most devastating — yet unknown — maritime tragedies. Set in 1945 in East Prussia on board the Wilhelm Gusloff, a former cruise ship that had promised salvation to Joana, Emilia, and Florian: each one born of a different homeland, yet equally desperate to escape a life marked by brutality and war. The three are forced by circumstance to unite, and with each step closer toward safety, their strength, courage and trust in each other are tested. Master of historical fiction, Ruta Septys shares this remarkable story of the fortitude of humans even in the darkest hours. Perfect for fans of All the Light We Cannot See. Ages 12 and up. PS

February 2016P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

We Can Find It For You. Whatever Your Dream Home,

Stunning Lake Auman Home Your Dream Home is Waiting 122 McCracken Dr. 3 Bedrooms, 3.5 Baths Completely Rebuilt in 2012! Reduced. - $799,000 Call Dawn: 910-783-7993

Walk into the Village of Pinehurst 1 E. McDonald Rd. 4 Beds, 3 Baths New Construction Pinehurst Country Club Membership Attached, Reduced $415,000 Call Pete: 910-695-9412

Lake Auman Water Front Lot Build Your Dream Home 103 Mace Pt, Seven Lakes W Stunning Views - Premium Location Cul-de-sac Lot, Asking $368,000 Call Dawn: 910-783-7993

It Doesn’t Get Any Better than This! Private 5 Acre Estate in the Center of The Fairwoods on 7 – Call Margaret for a Private Tour and Details of the Special Property with an Attached Pinehurst Country Club Membership – 910-690-4591

New Listing in Pinehurst Manor Pinehurst Manor 20A Nicely Updated 2 Bedroom 2 bath with Pinehurst Country Club Membership Options. Asking $127,900 - Under Contract. Call Dawn: 910-783-7993

CCNC Vacation Get Away Home 14 La Gorce Place 2 Bedroom, 2 Bath + a Bonus Room Great Price! $209,000 Call Cathy: 910-639-0433

Pinehurst resort realty Pinehurst Resort Realty is the preferred real estate company of Pinehurst Resort and Country Club, giving you direct resource into this Your Best Choice for Moore County world-renowned destination and Pinehurst Membership

The Preferred real esTaTe ComPany of The PinehursT resorT and CounTry Club. Visit Us in the Carolina Hotel in Pinehurst 1.800.772.7588 | www.PinehurstResortRealty.com | homes@PinehurstResortRealty.com

Town & Country Independently Owned and Operated

Life in Pinehurst/Southern Pines Pinehurst has been chosen to host the US Open Golf Championship in 2024, a record fourth time in 25 years! Let me show you why we are not only “The Home of American Golf,” but the perfect place to live.

Golf Front Masterpiece! Exquisite 5000+ SF home perfect for gracious entertaining. Endless possibilities for guests or family with 5 BR, 3.5 BA, plus private entrance for home office or au-pair use. Every amenity, luxury detail and more… Must see! PCC Membership. $889,000.

CO U N N D TR ER AC T

Single level luxury! Custom golf front home in Mid-South Club. Fine appointments, soaring ceilings, open kitchen, hardwood floors and Club Membership. $529,000.

Curb Appeal Award 2015 by 7 Lakes! Solid all brick 3 BR with fully fenced back yard. One level. Separate workshop. $249,900

Rare find! 4 BR & 4 Full Baths. Golf Front with great view. Stacked stone FP, vaulted ceiling, separate workshop. Seven Lakes South. $235,000.

CO U N N D TR ER AC T

Immaculate home in the Heart of the Village; beautiful grounds, 3 car garage, by original owners. $498 ,000.

Waterfront home on Lake Auman… A permanent vacation! Solid home, 4 BR, 3000 SF. Huge lower level workshop & cart / boat storage. $450,000.

SUZANNE COLMER BROKER/REALTOR® sccolmer@gmail.com | 910.639.9494

Please call for a free buying or selling consultation or to see any home in Moore County. • Active Duty and Veterans -Thank you for your service! Inquire about military discounts • Certified Residential Specialist • Relocation/PCS Specialist • Multiple National Sales Awards • Thirteen Years of Happy Clients

30 Chinquapin Road, Village of Pinehurst

Let’s connect on Linked

P r op e r E n g l i s h

Love, American Style Just won’t do to litter kisses all over the page

By Serena Brown

We British

have a reputation for being somewhat cold, formal and phlegmatic. In a social situation this is often well-deserved. As an Anglo-American I have to admit I still find the old country’s upper-class double-air kiss — upgraded to a cheekbone clank with the dearest of acquaintances — a lot less awkward than the triangular only-arms-andshoulders-touching hug to which I’ve become accustomed here in the South. In truth, I’m all for bringing back bowing to the Western world. Why did we abandon that most civilized of greetings? Let’s return to it.

It might surprise you to learn that in many ways Americans are more formal than the British. I’ve noticed this particularly in written correspondence. As we approach the feast of St. Valentine, I’m reminded that we differ most when it comes to use of the “L” word. Where the British lavish their affections on the recipient, Americans tend to send best wishes. Americans are very good at saying, “I love you,” but not so forthcoming when it comes to writing it. In just the same way, the British mean those stray x’s at the bottom of the page or sneaked in after their names, often without a space. I think it’s an outlet for their natural reticence. Love is not something to put into spoken words in any scenario — that would be embarrassing to everyone. And there’s nothing a Brit works harder to avoid than either experiencing or inflicting embarrassment. The sceptr’d isle rejoices (quietly, of course) in a rigorous system of etiquette that is built around

ensuring embarrassment is kept to a minimum. It doesn’t mean the British don’t love, just that they don’t want to talk about it. Watch them with their animals — where the relationship is silent, they’re on much more comfortable ground. Putting “loads of love” at the end of a letter or note is the equivalent of a quiet scratch behind the ears. And there’s no higher display of regard than that. In the UK emails to colleagues and texts to acquaintances will be finished with plentiful xxxx’s. “Lots of love” is a perfectly acceptable sign-off to a hostess you’ve only met once. Americans are less effusive: Friends I’ve known for twenty plus years still sign “love,” perhaps an xoxo. What? Not “Masses of love”? Not kisses running off the page? “How do I sign off?” asked my American husband of an email he was writing to an acquaintance. “Umm,” I replied. “Love?” “Love?!” he cried. “But I only write that to you!” Crikey, I thought. It’s true. I need to scale back here or I’m going to frighten people. I’ve been careful not to litter kisses all over quick emails to co-workers. I stopped smooching at the end of text messages. I made an effort to send best wishes instead of big kisses. I’ve been in the States a few years now and I’ve got more comfortable. Perhaps it’s just too much like hard work to re-write the letters to which I’ve inadvertently added xxx after my name, but my new-found written formality has been slipping. More likely it was an adopted veneer. The x’s are popping back into work emails, probably to the alarm of my colleagues. Perhaps around the 14th I’ll sign off with a question mark to make them really nervous. PS Serena Brown sends lots of love to you all xxx

One of a Kind

One in a Million for your

148 East New Hampshire Ave., Southern Pines Tues - Fri 11 to 5, Saturday 11 to 4• (910) 692-3749 Breaking Ground with Bowness Custom Homes

New Homes & Remodeling | Value Makes the Difference www.bownesscustomhomes.com | 910-692-3782 34

February 2016P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

Ho m e tow n

No Day Like a Snow Day The excitement of the Sandhills transformed into a Currier and Ives snow scene

By Bill Fields

My dad didn’t believe the telephone was for

Photograph Courtesy of Bill Fields

frivolous conversation. That was fairly common thinking for someone of his generation, born before many people even had a phone in their home. Still, like no singing at supper, it was a rule best remembered.

Only in winter when there was an overnight forecast of precipitation did I test his patience on the phone front, but my calls were the antithesis of gabby. In fact, I didn’t say a word. I was dialing Time and Temperature — emphasis on the latter — to see if it was cold enough for a rare snow, which would mean school was out and sledding was in. My right index finger would get a workout dialing the number that came to me as easily as the alphabet: 692-2121. For a couple of months a year The Carolina Bank, which sponsored the service, was as familiar as the Carolina Tar Heels. Weather wasn’t such a sure thing in those days. No matter what the lovably corny weatherman Frank Deal of WGHP in High Point predicted on the evening news, there was no guarantee. And just because it was below freezing in the Piedmont Triad didn’t mean it was going to dip that low in the Sandhills. My theory was, the more often you called, of course, the colder it would get and the better chance that Southern Pines would resemble a Currier and Ives scene on the Hobbs Insurance Agency calendar that hung by the phone. If Deal had planted the possibility of snow, I would call after we ate and several more times before going to bed. If nothing was yet falling outside, I would slip out of the room for another check. Since the phone was in the hall outside my parents’ bedroom, this had to be a stealth operation, the dialing equivalent of tippy-toes. When the voice on the other end of the

surreptitious call said it was, say, 29 degrees, I could gently put the receiver back in its cradle and go to sleep happy and hopeful. If snow had materialized by morning, canceling school and justifying the extra milk and bread in our kitchen, the fun would begin. Before anyone called snow an “event,” it was one for us. We knew all about hazy, hot and humid summers and comfortable springs and falls, but winter, when it appeared in full, brought the excitement of a holiday. A couple of inches of snow were all it took. On the very infrequent occasions when the accumulation had to be measured with a yardstick instead of a ruler — usually from a March storm — the joy was increased. As we got ready for a day in our wonderland, as we put on our toboggans and gloves and boots, it was as if we’d gone to a foreign land without getting on a plane. Upon stepping outside, we’d make a snowball or two before quickly going out front to examine the sledding potential. Our street was a far cry from the notoriously steep “Suicide Hill” across town, but there was enough slope — with a good push — for a decent ride, though we were never going to be mistaken for bobsledders at Grenoble. A snow day was spent mostly outside, with just enough time indoors midday to thaw out with tomato soup and a grilled cheese. Between sledding and snowball fights, we would play football, pretending to be the Vikings and Bears at a snowy Metropolitan Stadium. Building a snowman seemed more boring than our other activities, but we created a few, once, in a pinch, substituting a Swisher Sweet from someone’s older brother for a corncob pipe. As sunset approached, our parents would come out on their steps to summon us home, their voices penetrating the particular stillness of a snowcovered neighborhood. Later, warm and worn out, I wouldn’t be too tired to make a phone call. PS Southern Pines native Bill Fields never lived on Connecticut Avenue but has lived in the actual Connecticut for a long time.

YOUR TRANSITION TEAM 125 Kings Ridge Ct.

New Construction in Mid South Club A beautiful home that has all of the features you would expect from Blackman Builders: a spectacular kitchen, hardwood floors, crown molding, wainscoting, coffered ceiling, beautiful tile designs in kitchen and baths, two laundry rooms (one up and one down) and five bedrooms and four baths. All this on a golf front site in the private and conveniently located Mid South Club community. $550,000

103 McDonald Point

SOLD

Lake Front Seven Lakes West Spectacular views of the whole lake from this home. Beautifully landscaped and maintained, the home has 3 bedrooms on the main floor and one downstairs. The living room has large windows overlooking the lake, as does the eat-in area of the kitchen and the master bedroom. Step out to the screened porch to enjoy the view and breeze. This private retreat can be yours at a very attractive price. MLS #170661 $495,000

Matchbox Cigars and Pipes

1608 Sandhills Blvd. (US 1) Aberdeen 910-944-7665

FUENTE FUENTE OPUS X Ashton • Romeo y Julieta Montecristo • Olivia • Punch • Rocky Patel • Kristoff • Padron Anniversary Pipes By Savinelli • Bulk Tobaccos and much more!!

16 Lochwinnoch Lane

SOLD

New construction in National Located on the 14th hole of the Pinehurst Country Club #9 course, formerly National Golf Club. Enjoy the all brick cottage style home with its 4 bedrooms and 3.5 baths--great for family or guests. The master bedroom is located on the main floor with three bedrooms and office/study/exercise room upstairs. All hardwood flooring, Navion tankless water heater, wood with vinyl clad windows, gas/electric range, 500 gallon propane tank. MLS # 171938 $425,000

225 Lake Dornoch Dr

Very private setting in CCNC This immaculate single story, all brick home offers over 3100 sq. ft. with three bedrooms and two baths on over one acre of beautifully landscaped grounds. With a water view and convenient location near CCNC’s entrance, this home is truly a one-of-a-kind private retreat. It offers high ceilings and an amazing room that’s filled with natural light and a magnificent water feature. You have to see it to fully appreciate it. $520,000

Homes presented by the Transition Partnership Team at Keller Williams Realty, Peggy Floyd and David Ainslie "Partnering with you on your transition to a new place, home and lifestyle" www.PinehurstLuxuryProperties.com

Peggy Floyd 910.639.1197

David Ainslie 910.690.6777

February 2016P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

Vine Wisdom

Perfectly Pink Bubbles Celebrate true love with the most romantic of wines: rosé Champagne

By Robyn James

Normally when I write

my column, I feel sensitive to write about truly affordable, everydaypriced wines. However, sometimes it’s simply worth it and necessary to throw out the extra bucks to treat yourself to something special whenever you can afford it.

Rosé Champagne, in my opinion, is the perfect fit for that treat. During this month of Valentine’s Day I always think of two things: the color pink and bubbles! I am speaking of the real deal, because Champagne can only be labeled Champagne if it is blended with chardonnay, pinot noir or pinot meunier grown within the boundaries of the Champagne region, following a rigorous set of rules for blending and aging. Situated in the northern tip of France, Champagne is much cooler than other wine-growing regions. The grapes are picked earlier. All this contributes to the beautiful acidity of the wine. Since contact between juice/grape skins is what makes the wine turn red, the grapes are typically crushed and separated from the skins immediately, causing the wine to be perfectly clear. There are two fermentations, the first turning the juice into wine. The second fermentation traps carbon dioxide in the bottle for glorious bubbles. Non-vintage champagne is then aged for twelve months in the bottle. During the aging it is “riddled”: turned by hand each day by professionals. Perhaps now the price is starting to make sense. Next is “disgorgement,” where the neck of the bottle is frozen and a plug of yeast cells removed, and then the final “dosage,” adding some more wine to top off the bottle and raise the alcohol level. Although rosé Champagne accounts for less than 10 percent of the exported bubbly, it is still a huge increase in demand from twenty years ago. It has proven to be a challenge for winemakers because it’s a little bit of a reversal of the traditional process. There are two ways they can choose to make the pink bubbles. The first is called rosé de saignee. This is simply leaving juice in contact with the skins longer, causing the color to progress from clear to either a deep pink or a light salmon color. This is a traditional method for still rosé as well. The second method is one unique to Champagne producers, the blending of separately fermented still red wine

with the clear Champagne until the desired color is achieved. Consumers find the appearance classy, sexy and romantic, and the added flavors of strawberries and raspberries are delicious! These rosé sparklers are usually richer and bigger in the mouth, perfect accompaniments for all kinds of exotic cuisine such as Asian, Indian and Japanese, or oysters on the half shell and caviar. I am recommending three non-vintage rosés that are my favorites. Nearly all Champagne houses have declared vintage rosé Champagnes that are truly gorgeous but priced in the hundreds of dollars. We’ll stick to non-vintage for now.

Barnaut Grand Cru Rosé Authentique, approx. $57

I had this wine on New Year’s Eve, so it is fresh in my mind how fabulous it is and a bargain price for a grand cru. Barnaut may be the oldest grower/producer in Champagne and uses 85 percent pinot noir, blending 15 percent chardonnay in after-fermentation. Stephen Tanzer’s International Wine Cellar gives it 91 points and describes it as “Bright orange-pink. Red berries, citrus zest, brioche and smoky minerals on the deeply scented nose. Chewy and broad on entry, then tighter in the mid-palate, offering focused strawberry and bitter blood orange flavors and a hint of dusty minerals. The finish lingers with very good smoky tenacity.”

Billecart-Salmon Brut Rosé, approx $86

Managed today by the seventh generation of the Billecart family, this champagne is 20 percent pinot meunier, 30 percent pinot noir and 50 percent chardonnay. One of the first houses to debut their Rosé in 1954, The Wine Enthusiast awarded them 94 points: “Such an elegant, ethereal wine, this orange-pink wine is dry and crisp with fruity raspberry flavor at the fore. It makes a great food Champagne now.”

Piper-Heidsieck Rosé Sauvage, approx. $65

Blended with a small amount of chardonnay and 100 different crus of pinot noir, Wine Spectator rated this wine 91 points: “Very concentrated and vibrant, this Champagne delivers cherry, cranberry and spice notes on a broad swath of cashmere-like texture. The structure emerges on the finish, but it remains focused and balanced throughout.” PS Robyn James is proprietor of The Wine Cellar and Tasting Room in Southern Pines. Contact her at robynajames@gmail.com.

Protect Your Investment

With our fully stocked truck and trailer, we come to you for all your detailing needs!

• Luxury Car Care • Fleet Management • Headlight Restoration

• Full Details • Hand Wax • Wax

Steven J. Menendez Senior Vice President – Investment Officer PIM Portfolio Manager

Michael D. Ritter

Get Your Shine On

• Polish • Scratch Removal • And More!

Quality. Convenience. Every Time.

910-603-5379 | www.jsmobiledetailing.com

It’s never too late for a second opinion

Senior Vice President – Investment Officer PIM Portfolio Manager

The financial advice you’ll receive comes with:

Susan C. Parry CFP ® Financial Consultant

- A Financial Advisor who takes the time to listen and understand your individual needs

Jenn Kissinger

- Support from a talented force of market analysts, investment planning specialists, and portfolio managers

Assistant Vice President Financial Consultant

Call us today to start a conversation.

- Personalized financial strategies with a broad range of investment choices

110 Turnberry Way | Pinehurst, NC 28374 | 910-693-2430 | www.mrrg.wfadv.com Investment and Insurance products:

NOT FDIC-Insured

NO Bank Guarantee

MAY Lose Value

February 2016P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

In The Spirit

That’s Amari! Fall in love with Italian bitters

By Tony Cross

Photograph by Pinehurst Photography

While I’ve been in the cocktail busi-

ness, it’s the little things that have had me marveling: building clientele slowly, watching the gleeful expression on someone’s face after tasting a new cocktail for the first time after patiently waiting for me to construct it, the myriad stories exchanged with guests, some of whom have gone from strangers to become my good friends. One of my favorite moments occurs when making a drink for a patron who grimaces at first sip. I love being turned on to new things, whether it be food, wine or spirit; so, of course, I love paying it forward when I have the chance, even if it’s a spirit that may require some to seek a sense of adventure with their taste buds. And honestly, many of those guests never returned to

the exotic spirit. But the times when a patron would leave that night converted, that’s when it’s really felt good to be in this profession.

One of my hardest sells has always been amari. If you know bitters, then you know amaro (Italian for bitter). Bitters are rich and potent; They comprise herbs, bark and/or citrus that are mostly steeped in high proof alcohol, making them too bitter to drink alone. Bitters can act like the salt and pepper to a cocktail, or can bring two flavors together that would not work at all without it. Usually, a few dashes of bitters will suffice for your Old-Fashioneds and Manhattans. Bitters bring what every perfect cocktail strives for: balance. Unlike bitters that is used to season a drink, amari is a bitters that you can drink. Originally employed for its digestive properties, amari is usually consumed neat, over ice, or mixed in a cocktail. It’s not hard to remember the difference between the two: Dash the bitters and drink the amari. I guarantee you’ve seen and probably tasted amari before. Campari is a staple at every restaurant bar in town and possibly one of the most popular beverages around the globe. Pimm’s No. 1 is another that you may be familiar with. Here in the Sandhills, we have a limited supply of amari available, but time is proving to be on our side; more and more bottles are popping up in our state’s ABC system. Here are three accessible bottles in Moore County, at least one of which should be an

NEW LOCATION: SIDE ENTRANCE • 97 MARKET SQUARE • SUITE 211 • PINEHURST

In The Spirit

J E W E L S O F

P I N E H U R S T

Designing and creating individual handmade jewels for over forty years. Where metal meets mind. Let my imagination create your enduring treasure of precious metal and ﬁne gemstones...your gift of eternal love.

910 295 2824

www.jewelsofpinehurst.com

Winter Hours : Wed-Th ur s -Fr i 1 1 -5 o r by a p p oi nt m e nt at you r conve ni e n ce

JOP Pinestraw-Jan16.indd 1

1/11/16 7:48:47 AM

Have a Heart Food Drive

Please help us support the Coalition. Feb 1st - 13th We’ll be collecting your favorite brands of cereal and deliver just in time for Valentines! Bring 4 boxes and enter to win a $100 gift card!

166 NW Broad St. | Southern Pines|910.692.5356 | Mon - Sat 10-5 shopmorganmiller.com Instagram us at shopmorganmiller • Like us “Morgan Miller” on Facebook for up to date info on what’s in the store right now.

essential in your home bar. Cynar: Pronounced “chee-nar,” this artichoke-based amaro gets its moniker from the artichoke’s Latin name (cynara scolymus). Don’t squirm just yet; Cynar tastes nothing like artichokes. Trust me, I’ve had more of this amaro than I’d like to admit. In addition to artichoke leaves, there are thirteen herbs infused in its alcohol base. Cynar has a slight sweetness, with vegetal flavors, as well as orange peel and caramel. Cynar has helped me a ton when balancing out a drink that might be too boozy, or even too sweet. Try it in place of Campari in a Negroni, or Fernet Branca in the classic Toronto cocktail. (NC Code 00-710) Rabarbaro Zucca Amaro: In 1845, Ettore Zucca created this amaro with Chinese rhubarb roots (hence the name Rabarbaro, even though Zucca is Italian for “squash”) and other secret botanicals. Zucca is a mainstay in Milan, where you can find it at none other than the popular café, Zucca in Galleria, which opened in 1867. With notes of cardamom, vanilla and a slight smokiness, experiment with Zucca in scotch, mezcal, or even coffee. (NC Code 63-863) Cardamaro: If you’re still hesitant to grab a bottle of amaro, Cardamaro will change your mind. This is more of a vermouth (wine infused with herbs and fortified with alcohol) than an amaro, but still full of flavor and versatility. Produced in Canelli, Cardamaro is prepared by infusion in blessed thistle and cardoon. It then sits in new oak for up to six months. This brief repose gives the vermouth a slight touch of spice. Make sure to store Cardamaro in your fridge after opening or it will spoil within the week. Earlier last year, I met Jake Parrott, sales manager for Haus Aplenz, when he hosted a vermouth seminar in Raleigh that was put on by wine distributors Bordeaux Fine & Rare. It was there I enjoyed my first taste of Cardamaro. Jake recommended substituting the wine-based amaro in place of other popular vermouths, such as Dolin Rouge. His next recommendation got me thinking. “Swap out your rye whiskey and sub this in,” he offered. Indeed, it was a great idea. A Manhattan may be too much spirit for some to handle, but with this sleight of bottle you have a smooth little brother to one of the best cocktails ever created. (Cardamaro is available at Nature’s Own.) PS Tony Cross is a bartender who runs cocktail catering company Reverie Cocktails. He can also recommend you a vitamin supplement for the morning after at Nature’s Own.

February 2016P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

For the Love of Lilly Clothing • Bags • Accessories Children’s • Shoes

LIFETIME WARRANTY

HIGHER QUALITY AND 30-50% LESS THAN BIG BOX STORES!

204 NW Broad Street Southern Pines, NC 28387 Mon.-Sat. 10:00 am - 5:30 pm 910-725-0546 www.pinkofthepines.com

Don’t waste money on new cabinets. REFACE and SAVE! Our premium SOLID WOOD REFACING SYSTEM is a great alternative to the mess and headache of a tear-out remodel. – Bruce Zaidman, President

• 1/4” solid wood facing is far superior to competitors’ • NEW Amish-crafted solid wood doors • Huge selection of style and finish in 8 woods

• Completed in 1-3 days • Roll-outs and other storage options • Modify or add cabinets, change layout • No maintenance Cambria® countertops

Get 10% of estimate toward

FREE UPGRADES!

On full kitchen reface. Not valid with other offers or previous sales. Does not apply to Countertops or Custom Cabinets. Expires 3/15/2016.

FINANCING AVAILABLE

More photos online!

FREE in-home consultation

910-255-0090

Monday-Saturday 10 to 5 • 336-465-1776 260 W. Pennsylvania Ave • Southern Pines, NC

SA N D H I L L S

Est.1979

ALSO SERVING TRIANGLE, TRIAD, CHARLOTTE, ASHEVILLE, COLUMBIA, UPSTATE SC, CHARLESTON, HILTON HEAD, SAVANNAH

Over 30 Local Artisans Clay, Metal, Wood, Fiber, Glass, Jewelry Pottery Classes Shop Local & Handmade

www.woodreface .com

PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . February 2016

Let Your Kitchen Make a Statement... with a Statement piece from

104 Bradford Village, Southern Pines

(910)692-2825

www.thehaircottage.com Please visit our website for location and directions.

s• Burger Sandwich es •

e Ice Cream

OFFERING A VARIETY OF ORGANIC STYLING PRODUCTS.

mad me Ho

Using Dikson Italian Hair color technology for less damage, zero fade, complete gray coverage and no carcinogens.

aily Specia ps • D ls • u o S Sh • ak s p e ra

s•

CLASSIC AMERICAN FOOD AND DRINKS!

176 NW Broad St, Southern Pines, NC 28387 (910) 692-7273 Monday-Saturday 10:30am-9:00pm Sunday 10:30am-8:00pm

February 2016P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

The kitchen garden

Twitching Thumbs February is time to dream and scheme

By Jan Leitschuh

February, the dreaming month. Green

thumbs everywhere start to twitch — last year’s deer, drought and drown be damned! Kitchen gardeners are nothing if not resilient. We’re blind optimists, especially the month before spring. We have produce hunger, and we crave freshness.

February is also a doing month. It’s the best time to prune summer-flowering shrubs (avoid spring bloomers if you like the flowers), crepe myrtles, grapevines, blueberry bushes and fruit trees such as apple, pear, peach and plum. The plants are still dormant, and the structure is easily seen. Sharpen those clippers, and get nipping. Your local county Cooperative Extension often has free workshops this time of year. But beyond pruning, the dedicated gardener can also get to work growing good things to eat. Yes, there is actually some produce you can plant this month. In fact, with a few items, they actually have a better chance if started mid-month. Sure, a hard cold spell may do some damage. But there are ways to mitigate this, seed is cheap and, says Moore County Cooperative Extension agriculture agent Taylor Williams, “By mid-Feb the risk of a 20 degree event is diminishing.” How to enjoy the garden in February? Several ways. Besides planting new seed, some overwintered herbs, bulbs and greens, planted last fall, may well give you enough freshness for a flavorful and healthy salad now and again, especially if the month turns out mild. And you can tweak your own garden’s microclimate to your favor with a few tricks, say experts. Here are some ways to satisfy any number of garden itches:

See What’s Already Out There

In our winter garden, fall-planted collards are king. Their leathery leaves stand up to much cold. While they look pitiful and droopy on a winter’s morning, by late lunch they have often perked back up. They continue to grow new leaves, even as we harvest a few to cook or toss into soups. Last fall, if you planted such winter-stout items as Siberian kale, arugula, cabbage, mâche or corn salad, even spinach, you probably have a decent stand from which to harvest a few garden-fresh meals a week by judiciously selecting leaves. While these items grow slowly in cold weather, and may even get knocked back by deep freezes, they all rebound somewhat on any nice day. Though I’ve never grown them, rutabagas and kohlrabi are said to be similarly tough. Fall-planted onions, garlic, scallions and shallots are pretty hardy too, and continue to grow slowly through winter. Judicious selection can give your salads a little allium zing. One great way to use fresh small alliums is to pull a bulb and its green top, trim off roots and any frost damage, and then toss the whole thing in the blender with olive oil, lemon or vinegar, salt, pepper and a few spices. Voila! You have the world’s freshest salad dressing, full of allium health and goodness. Speaking of spices, I see plenty of fresh herbs that can be used, especially thyme and rosemary. Parsley is also tough, and will often rebound to give fresh winter sprigs. A few spring of those snipped into salad dressings, stews, over potatoes and other veggies go a long way to assuage our fresh-veggie hunger, and contain wonderful elements for good health. Some folks grow carrots, then leave them in place, burying the row in deep straw before hard cold sets in. To harvest, lift the straw and dig a few roots as needed.

February is “Gum disease awareness” month

Learn how problems like: Bleeding gums • Bad breath • Gum recession • Tarter build-up affect the health of your whole body

Visit PerioNC.com

“Healthy mouths lead to healthy bodies.”

240 Davis Street, Suite A | Southern Pines, NC (910) 692-6270 | www.PerioNC.com Follow us on Facebook 44

STEVEN M. VAN SCOYOC, DDS, MS

The kitchen garden

Plant Something — Yes, You Heard Right

One of my favorite treats is fresh snow peas. Lucky for me, they do well with mid-February and beyond planting. They don’t call them “snow peas” for nothing! Beloved of gourmet chefs, the sweet, crisp snow peas are harvested as edible green pods. Marvelously crunchy in salads and perfect for stir-fries, when they bear in abundantly — and in late April, they will — they make a terrific sauté on their own. Some useful varieties are “Sugar Ann,” “Alaska,” “Sugar Snap” and more. Just make sure the seed you buy is of an edible-podded variety. Miraculously, you can plant snow peas directly into the cold soil once the ground is unfrozen and dry enough to work. In the Sandhills, that’s pretty much all the time. So it’s mid-February, and we might get a truly hard freeze? Go for it anyway! Seed is cheap enough, what do you have to lose if you are willing to replant? Unless you are selecting dwarf varieties, be sure to give them a structure to ramble up. I like to push those old crepe myrtle and peach tree prunings into the soft ground and wind a few grape vine prunings horizontal to them to make a crude-but-charming little fence to climb. It uses up otherwise wasted prunings, and the rustic twigs give the garden a little English country charm. Snow pea germination may be spotty, depending on weather. To enhance your chances of success, ag agent Williams suggests germinating the snow peas indoors, and then transplanting out. “You don’t want long roots, of course,” he says, “but starting them indoors will get you a good stand when the ground is still icy.” Some use egg cartons on the windowsill to do this, he notes. Others plant in used garden containers for later planting out. For a longer season of these sweet, crunchy treats, divide your seed packet into thirds, and sow ten days apart for continuous harvests. I first make sure my planting spot is ready. Next, I soak my first small handful of peas for six to ten hours indoors, then drain them, and roll them up into a damp paper towel for a day or two. I tuck the damp seed roll right back into the nowempty cup, and set on the counter for germination, keeping it evenly moist as needed. When I see signs of life stirring, I plant the swollen seeds in a hole 2-3” deep, about 3” apart. If the forecast is favorable, that means directly into the soil. If a truly hard freeze is on the cards within the next ten days, I might sow that first planting in a shallow container of soil, getting extra days of vigorous growing indoors before hardening off and transplanting outside as a block. Be sure the young

February 2016P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

The kitchen garden

seedlings get plenty of light to avoid legginess. The next two successive plantings, I may soak and germinate, but sow directly in the ground. They will likely succeed, barring freakish weather. One good reason for getting an early start, notes Williams, is that “everything likes pea seedlings — rabbits, ground beetles, crickets. Once the pea seedlings have expanded their first set of true leaves, they are not nearly as palatable. Germinating indoors lets you get a jump on that.” Peas are legumes, meaning they enrich your garden by fixing nitrogen from the air in partnership with special rhizobium bacteria. If you’ve planted snow peas before and have had a good crop, chances are your soil has these special bacteria. But, notes Williams, if you are planting in a raised bed with virgin soil, it may lack this essential co-factor. “Most garden stores will sell this garden inoculation; just dust the seeds with it,” he advises.

What Else To Plant?

A small row of radish seeds is worth a try. Turnips and mustard greens often succeed. Come President’s Day, I start my sweet bell and hot pepper seeds indoors on warm mats (and sometimes on the top of the water heater) under lights. The seed likes bottom heat. I baby these sets, transplanting into larger pots until I can set them out mid-May. You may find it easier to skip this step and purchase strong plants at the end of April. Who doesn’t like spinach? If you planted this tough little tender green last fall, you can harvest a few leaves as the weather allows. Then, the next warm spell, the strongly rooted plants will come alive and grow with a vengeance. But if you didn’t plant last fall, start mid-February. Spinach can handle cold soils. “Spinach doesn’t even germinate well above 60 degrees,” says Williams. “It doesn’t germinate at all at 85 degrees, so to plant in fall, gardeners roll the seeds in damp paper toweling in the fridge to simulate spring temperatures. This technique is called the ‘rag doll.’ You can do the same for this spring’s planting, or plant directly in the soil.” It may get knocked back by extreme cold — but it may not. “Cold below 20 degrees can harm the plant,” says Williams. “The optimum germination temperature for spinach is 41 degrees.” Again, divide your seed packet into thirds and plant ten days apart for usable and continuous quantities. Onions can be planted mid-to-late February, along with their cousins leeks, bunching scallions and shallots. Fava beans, though a Mediterranean favorite, can take the cold too. Kale varieties, arugula, chard, even lettuce, can follow. Immature

plants tend to be a bit more cold-hardy, especially when grown under protection. See below. Irish potatoes can get a head start in late February, and be ready to plant out by St. Patrick’s Day or so. Ensure success by pre-sprouting — it can save you a couple of weeks. Garden centers sell certified potatoes for this purpose. Spread out on paper in a warm spot and expose to light. When you see the sprouts emerge, cut the potato into chunks containing several “eyes.” Try not to knock off any sprouts. Let the cut side “heal” for a day or two, and plant 4-6 inches deep in soil that did not grow tomatoes, eggplant, peppers or potatoes in the year or two previous. I often grow potatoes in deep containers with a little soil, adding more soil as the sprouts lengthen, until the container is full. Earlier planted potatoes are generally more successful because they have a longer time to grow. Because of the potato’s short growing season, “you have to throw the fertilizer to them,” says Williams. “Once they start to bloom, you’re reaching the end of things.”

You Mentioned Tricks?

You mean tricks besides the excellent head starts of pre-sprouting and pre-germinating? April 6 is our last frost date in Pinehurst. That means a frost is possible till then. What if an Arctic Clipper comes roaring down from the Great White North, breathing frost on your tender sprouts in late February or early March? The traditional home gardener method is to pull out old quilts and tarps to spread over the garden patch, to trap the heat coming up from the soil around the plants. Strawberry producers use floating row covers on their precious crop. Local extension agents are also promoting the use of such season extension devices for gardeners too. Floating row covers and/ or low tunnels — fabric stretched over short hoops — use opaque, non-woven fabrics of an ounce or so as a light blanket. “You will get up to 5 degrees of warmth,” says Williams, the difference of which could mean life or failure for a crop. “These coverings also increase rates of growth in cold weather,” a metabolically slow time for life. These covers can be ordered online or through some garden centers. To protect individual plants, you can also use cloches. Sometimes I just upend a flowerpot over a plant, but if you do this, remember to remove it in the morning. Turns out, green thumbs actually have plenty to do in “the dead” of winter. Sweet dreams! PS Jan Leitschuh is a local gardener, avid eater of fresh produce and co-founder of the Sandhills Farm to Table Cooperative.

always

Well, you’ve wanted one.

What’s Next? That’s where we come in.

For the last 35 years, First Casualty Insurance Group has met even the most complicated, unusual insurance needs with the right coverage at the right price. We represent over three dozen companies and offer a virtually unlimited range of options. At First Casualty, we always strive to deliver the right coverage at the right price. First Casualty Insurance Group is fully committed to your peace of mind. Just imagine what we can do for you. Better still, give us a call or stop in. We’d love to meet you and become your source for all things insurance.

190-A Turner Street, Southern Pines NC 28387 910-692-8303 fciginfo@fcignc.com www.fcignc.com

ECLECTIC BEAUTY IN SOUTHERN PINES

CONTEMPORARY • TRADITIONAL • HAND WROUGHT

460 S Bethesda Rd $329,900 MLS #166046 4bd/3ba 2500sf Large deep lot in SoPines CC neighborhood. Well maintained home with many updates. Easy commute to Ft Bragg or short distance to Downtown. Must see to appreciate this wonderful property. Call Kim for details & appointments.

Kim Stout 910-528-2008

110 West Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines, NC 910-695-HARK (4275) PaulHarknessJewelry.com

February 2016P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

B r e at h i n g L e ss o n s

The Harp From Dreamland Discovering the Sacred Infinity Inside Each Song

By Ashley Wahl

It’s simple, really. Not something I

thought much about. I just woke up one morning with an impulse to learn to play the harp.

Of course I knew nothing about the instrument. I’d never even touched one. But the vision of playing one haunted me like a Siren’s song and before I knew it, I was on a quest of fulfilling a dream that had seemingly materialized out of thin air. Plink. I knew I wasn’t looking for a harp so large it would require a dolly or a minivan to transport. I wanted something small, approachable. An instrument you might imagine in the lap of a traveling bard. After watching countless YouTube videos, many posted by a nymph of a woman who adapts contemporary tunes for her metallic blue electric lever harp, my heart was set. I, too, wanted to play seaside, beneath the twisted branches of a quiet forest — enveloped by the natural world. Within a matter of weeks, FedEx delivered a 19-string pixie folk harp to my front door. She’s a beauty. Thirty-one inches high with an inlaid rosewood frame that looks like something straight out of Middle-earth. I admired her with the wonder of a child looking upon a newborn sibling. Although it took me an hour to replace the string I broke during my first attempt at tuning, I promised to be patient with myself. Besides, I hadn’t played an instrument since sixth grade, an awkward year spent navigating the middle school hallways with a trombone and a mouthful of braces. In

high school, I joined the chorus. Which leads me to what sparked this crazy impulse in the first place: singing. For as far back as I can remember, singing has been my tonic of choice. And so it was on my last visit to Asheville when, having spent the night picking out harmonies during a jam session with my ukulele-playing brother, I woke from a deep sleep on the living room couch with a desire to learn how to play an instrument. Yes, the harp. And I wanted to sing while playing it. We are still learning one another, my pixie harp and me. Mostly I play chords to familiar songs, but remembering how to read music is on the horizon. The beauty of this venture is that it’s all my own — and all at my own pace. My favorite song to play is still the first one I learned, a contemporary folk song with wistful lyrics and a plaintive melody that has the lulling effect of a carousel. I picked out the simple piano riff, and once I had the notes down, was ready for the next leg of the journey: playing and singing at the same time, a meditative practice that feels, to me, a bit like flying. I have spent hours in this seemingly timeless state. One summer evening, while I was practicing beneath a stand of pines in a nearby park, the wind began playing my harp, creating the most ethereal sound I’d ever heard. I dropped my fingers from the strings, closed my eyes and listened, grateful to have a glimpse into a world that felt both distant and omnipresent. In that short, sacred infinity, I felt like the harp had chosen me. PS When she isn’t playing among the trees, Salt Magazine senior editor Ashley Wahl is prone to wander.

Home Care Confidence From The Name Built On Trust. You want the best for mom and dad. Talk to us. After all, we’ve been building a foundation of trusted companionship for over 60 years, so you can be confident of our care and comfort. Call us. We’re here when you need us. Always.

910.246.1011 Nurse aides, companions & registered nursing services

A Trinity Senior Living Community continuing the legacy of the Sisters of Providence Moore • Hoke • Cumberland • Robeson • Harnett • Lee Counties sjp.org

Ready, Set, Spa. Relax, Rejuvenate & Renew

Botox • Facials • Restylane • Waxing • Massage • Anti-Aging Peels Cosmetic & General Dermatology • Body Treatments Laser Hair Removal • Microdermabrasion • Laser Vein Treatment Laser Facial Rejuvenation • Steam Treatments • Vichy Rain Shower

Full Service Studio

Coolsculpting Now Available! David I. Klumpar, MD Duke Trained Dermatologist & Medical Director, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Methodist University

Hair • Make-up • Champagne

Mia Piazza, LE Licensed Esthetician

Erica Garner, LMBT Licensed Massage & Body Therapist

Jamie Schweigert, LE Licensed Esthetician

Valentine’s Day Special February 9 -13

Spa

The

25% OFF All Makeup, Spray Tans & Facials

at Carolina Skin Care 125 Fox Hollow Road

The Science Behind Beauty. Pinehurst NC 910.235.SPA1 (7721)

February 2016P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

Out of the Blue

Hey, Neighbor...

It can be difficult to love the person next door, but when it counts they’ll make it easy By Deborah Salomon

Love thy neighbor as thyself, the Bible instructs. Do not bear false witness against thy neighbor nor covet his possessions.

I’ve never testified in court against a neighbor, nor been jealous of his Beamer, let alone his ox or his donkey. But, after living in thirteen full-time residences during my 77 years, I marvel at what I learned from them. From ages 2 to 10 (during and after World War II) I lived in an apartment in upper-Upper West Side Manhattan — a family neighborhood near a park. My parents befriended a 30-ish German Jewish couple, Kurt and Elsa, and Elsa’s mother, who somehow escaped Hitler’s onslaught. On their kitchen wall hung a map of Europe, stuck with colored pins, representing . . . what? Battles? Relatives? Hometowns? Concentration camps? They were highly educated, he an accountant, she a violinist, but spoke little English. Kurt asked to borrow my Dick-and-Jane readers, for practice. This family, always tense, rarely smiling, put a face on the Holocaust. Also on our floor lived Pat Collins, a gravelly voiced, chain-smoking Irish-American spinster and long-distance operator for Ma Bell. Pat never stopped smiling. She sneaked me Fleer’s Dubble Bubble gum and Archie comics. Early every Sunday morning our phone would ring. When the supervisor went on break, Pat connected us, gratis, to my mother’s parents, in Greensboro. Don’t ask, don’t tell. When I was 11 we moved to Asheville, located somewhere on Mars. Schoolgirls wore plaid cotton dresses from Sears, not navy blue uniform jumpers. Lo and behold, across the street resided the Sears store manager, with his wife and twin daughters, just my age. Sally and Susan had a closet full of these very dresses; my mother refused to buy even one, branding them sleazy and difficult to iron. Oh, how I suffered. Then one day the twins’ father brought home some “samples” which he said were too big for his gang. Would I like them? Kindness comes in many colors, including plaid. Ironing, an archaic skill, will forever be mine. The second house in Asheville shadowed the bungalow of a cockeyed 90-year-old belle of the Old South, racist to the core, with an accent thicker than gumbo. Her decor and dress were totally lavender; her permed hair, blue; her husband, cowed. Plantation Pauline raved that her great-grandfather had been governor of South Carolina during the Civil War, which she was still fighting, tooth and lavender-lacquered nail. After she died, I did some research. Damned if he wasn’t. As a young bride I lived in a small apartment in Montreal, where the winters were brutal and my college French inadequate. Our neighbors, mostly young couples from yet another planet. My husband took the car to work every day so I grocery-shopped by bus. One icy afternoon as I disembarked, the paper bag broke, sending cans rolling into the street. A neighbor, even younger than I but with a car, was walking her dog. She saw me struggling and rushed to help. That was fifty-five years ago. We are both grandmothers. I see her occasionally, at funerals. “Remember the time . . .” she always laughs. On to a lower duplex, with three kids under 4. Scrooge, the landlord, lived upstairs with his mail-order Moroccan bride. He decided that heating season

ended April 1 — never mind the lingering snow. He turned the furnace off. I turned it on. He turned it off. We had a screaming match. He padlocked the furnace room. I got even, never mind how. Trust me, justice was served. Then, we bought a house. On one side, a multi-generation Italian family. Nonna and Mama spoke no English, just smiled and waved. Papa and the four kids communicated with gusto. Their flowers were gorgeous; Mama brought me picture-perfect tomatoes from her small kitchen garden. Every morning, Nonna and Mama — dressed in black — walked to Mass, a replica of the scene in The Godfather when Michael and his doomed fiancée stroll through the streets of Corleone, the family’s namesake village. Across the street lived a little boy named Jack, born on the same day, in the same hospital as our daughter Jill. Jack and Jill. What are the odds? On the other side — not so good. One day that family’s 3-year-old wandered from his yard into the busy street, curious about a broken bottle. I dashed out, scooped him up and returned him to his mother, who blasted me for meddling. We never spoke again. However, years later, when Stevie attended summer camp for a week, he begged me to keep his pet snake in my garage, since his mother refused. I did, of course. In Vermont I resided on a charming cul-de-sac bordering the university. Every cottage but mine belonged to faculty. Outstanding among them, the American-born professor of Russian history and language who lived with his much-younger partner, an auto mechanic, and three shar-peis. The main floor of their house was mostly kitchen. They loved to cook. I remember one dinner with a refugee guest who affirmed that the professor spoke absolutely unaccented, colloquial Russian — a rarity. The professor traveled frequently to the Soviet Union, ostensibly for research, also to support the emerging gay rights movement. Nobody knew until later that his “research” was CIA-affiliated. OK, I suspected. I shared a foundling cat with another neighbor. We devised a signal: a bandanna tied to the door meant kitty was inside. This helped, but somehow I always ended up with the vet bills. Back to Western N.C., in 2007. A home-based writer needs dependable, affordable tech support. Just my luck to find an apartment where the neighbor’s son was studying computer science at the local community college. His goal: a house calls repair business. He needed practice. And then my hard drive died. But my very best neighbors were a Master Gardener couple whose shrubs, trees, planters, grass and flower beds filled my window views with beauty. The gorgeous September afternoon when the police came to notify me of my son’s death, Penny ran over. She remained in the background during that terrible week, doing all the little things that were beyond me, including shopping and cooking for out-of-towners. It’s called being there. You think I’m making this up? Not even Brian Williams could invent such a roster. These neighbors — and many less colorful — brought lessons in life right to my doorstep. I would never bear false witness to that. PS Deborah Salomon is a staff writer for PineStraw and The Pilot. She may be reached at debsalomon@nc.rr.com.

Old Golf Shop

Introducing The Culture of Golf

Antique and Historic art, artifacts, prints, autographs, clothing, balls, clubs, trophies, flags, silver, gold, tees, bronzes, statuary, medals, tournament prizes.

Founded in 1970. 41 Chinquapin Rd., Pinehurst, NC 28374 • 910-420-8440 • Wednesday thru Saturday or by appointment.

Pinehurst Medical Clinic

February is American Heart Month Taking good care of your heart every month since 1952. Advanced Medicine/Geniune Compassion

Cardiology - Pinehurst

Cardiology - Sanford

205 Page Road Pinehurst, NC 28374 910.295.9211

110 Fields Drive Sanford, NC 27330 919.777.9005

For more information and a complete listing of our physicians and services visit our website www.pinehurstmedical.com 50

February 2016P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

papa d a d d y ’ s M i n d f i e l d

Blue Apron Special By Clyde Edgerton

My buddy Charlie Garren and I are

visiting Beaufort, North Carolina, staying in a waterfront condo, our boat docked outside. We’re supposed to be fishing — but it’s a cold and wintry night.

“What do you think about staying inside and cooking up that Blue Apron meal?” I ask. “Great idea,” says Charlie. Blue Apron is a fad you may know about — meals shipped by UPS, uncooked, in a large cardboard box. Ingredients are packed inside the box with ice that will last, I’m guessing, up to thirty days in the Sahara Desert. Illustrated directions are included, written on a laminated piece of paper. These instructions say — now remember this — 10-minute prep, 25 to 35 minutes to cook. “Charlie,” I say. “Let’s time this. I’m a little suspicious.” “It’s seven thirty-five,” he says. “I’ll keep time.” Our meal is shrimp and cheesy grits with collards and green tomato chutney. From the refrigerator I get the eleven ingredients, individually wrapped in eleven separate packages: 1 1/8 pounds shrimp 1 1/4 cups yellow grits 4 ounces Monterey jack cheese 1 bunch collard greens 1 green tomato 1 yellow onion 1 ounce pea shoots 2 tablespoons butter 2 tablespoons golden raisins 1 tablespoon light brown sugar 1 tablespoon Cajun spice blend Remember I said individually wrapped? I wrestle, pinch, pull, scissor, blowtorch, and sledge-hammer open each individual package. Next come six steps for completion of the meal: 1. Prepare the ingredients 2. Make the cheesy grits 3. Make the chutney 4. Cook the collard greens 5. Add the shrimp 6. Finish and serve your dish Each step is followed by a paragraph of instructions. People. When I finish step one, prepare the ingredients, we are 25 minutes in. I will not write out directions for each of the six steps, but listen, I’m at the end of step ONE on a meal that is supposed to take ten minutes to prep and it’s already 8 p.m. Charlie is looking for pots and pans in this strange kitchen, and I’ve been reading these little paragraphs aloud, and we have begun to laugh. Here’s what step one — prepare the ingredients — says:

Wash and dry the fresh produce. In a medium pot, combine 5 cups of water and a big pinch of salt; heat to boiling on high. Think about it — how long is that going to take? Grate the cheese. It keeps crumbling. The only grate we can find is full of holes that are each the diameter of a hair. Core and medium dice the tomato. Peel and small dice the onion. Remove and discard the collard green stems; slice the leaves into 1-inch-wide strips. This is a mess of collards, y’all. Picture yourself doing all that. What I’m thinking is that the directions meant ten-minute preparation if you have a large church choir to prepare everything all at once. I say to Charlie, “What?! Remove and discard the collard stems?” I then look ahead to number four (of the six steps), which is “Cook the collard greens.” Here’s what it says: In the pan used to make the chutney, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil on medium-high until hot. Add the collard greens, remaining onion and 1/4 cup water; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, 5 to 7 minutes, or until the collard greens have wilted and the onion has softened. I keep having to jump from step one to step four to step two and then to step three. I say, “Cook these collards for 5 to 7 minutes?! My lord. My mamma cooked collards all day.” I do not remove and discard the collard green stems. No way. That would take another twenty minutes at least. Charlie, behind me, at the electric flat-top stove, is trying to figure out how the eyes work. He burns himself. Then back on step two, I realize I need to stop to do step three, else we will be forty-five minutes in before we even think about what to do with the collards and beyond that, I’m not sure which number I’m on now. Charlie comes over, reads, and says, “It looks like you have to cook everything in a pan that has already had something cooked in it — and we only have clean pans.” That sets us off again. Laughing. I lose the spice mix under the collards and then find it. Charlie says the cheese is grated so thin he can’t see it. “The stove fan sucked it up,” I say. We don’t remove the grits from the heat soon enough. Smoke. Now we’re supposed to set the grits aside “in a warm place.” We are silly laughing. Charlie puts the grits in the oven, then comes over and finds a brown raisin among the golden ones and wonders if we should discard it. At the end of the chutney cooking we are supposed to find another “warm place.” For the chutney. We sit down to eat at about an hour and a half in, at just after 9 p.m. I say, “I’m looking forward to breakfast — to cracking open one egg, frying it. Then cracking open another one and frying that one.” Charlie says, “I’ll do some toast.” PS Clyde Edgerton is the author of ten novels, a memoir and a new work, Papadaddy’s Book for New Fathers. He is the Thomas S. Kenan III Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing at UNCW.

Fun & Healthy is proud to be an Independent Authorized Ideal Protein Weight Loss Clinic serving the Sandhills since 2011

Ideal Protein

top diet in America

Quality Pet Supplies Offering the highest quality in: Dry & Can Food, Frozen & Dried Meats, Supplements & Vitamins and Pet Supplies. No food or treats from China

We only look ! expensive

brought to you by DietsInReview.com Let Susan Lee coach you through our safe, medically designed weight loss protocol.

It’s Time for a Diet That WORKS! 175 W. Pennsylvania Ave. Southern Pines, NC 28387 www.funandhealthyweightloss.com 910-246-3438

Located in Cam Square 1150 Old US Highway 1S, Southern Pines

HOURS: M to F 10-6 • Sat 10-5

910-693-7875

www.caredforcanine.com

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

910-692-0855

www.WindridgeGardens.com Winter hours are: Friday & Saturday 10AM-5PM Sunday 1PM-5PM or by appointment

February 2016P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

B IRD WA T CH

Keep Your Eye on the Fox Sparrow

The winter visitor is known for its beauty and brawn

By Susan Campbell

Sparrows are a common sight all over North

Carolina throughout the winter. Historically, eight different species could be found in a day across most of the Piedmont. The house sparrow, one of the most gregarious, prolific and adaptable of sparrows, was added to the mix in the 1800s by early settlers, who yearned to see a bird from the Old Country.

At this time of year, the largest and, to my eyes, the handsomest of all the sparrows is the fox sparrow. But how frustrating that so beautiful a species also happens to be one of the hardest to spot. That’s because it is so easily camouflaged in thick vegetation. It is typically over 8 inches in length and very stocky, with bold and distinctive rufous streaking on its underparts. From the top of its head down to the very tip of its tail, the fox sparrow sports a “foxy” reddish hue. A number of subspecies groups exist all across the United States and Canada, differing in plumage, traits, range and voice. Those found farther west tend to be brown all over. The fox sparrows that we see this time of year are true winter visitors. They breed from northern Ontario east to Newfoundland and south into parts of Nova Scotia. When they move south in the fall, they often end their long journey in North Carolina around October. They seem to flock loosely

with other sparrows and finches during the colder months. They prefer habitat immediately adjacent to water. Although they eat mainly insects during the summer, during the winter seeds and berries tend to make up the majority of their diet. Because of their size, fox sparrows are quite strong. As a result, they can uncover food that is buried deep in the forest floor. They will actually use both feet together to scratch and dig beyond the reach of other small birds. Your best bet for seeing a fox sparrow is in the expanses of bottomland forest, where you should look for them kicking up vegetation and debris for food. However, there are lucky backyard birdwatchers that regularly observe them taking advantage of millet and other small seeds under their feeders. During very cold and wet weather, they may move further into drier areas in search of a meal. For years, I rarely saw them unless it snowed. That’s because the lakeside property where we lived at the time was too open to appeal to them. Nowadays, in our new abode near bottomland forest, I’m in the middle of prime fox sparrow habitat. I hear their warbling song on warm days and catch them searching for small seeds under my bird feeder. So keep your eyes peeled if you are out in wet habitat or under your feeders after a mid-winter snowfall — you may be treated to a glimpse of one of these handsome and powerful birds. PS Susan would love to receive your wildlife sightings and photos. She can be contacted by email at susan@ncaves.com.

casual living redefined

lavender

INCLUDES: EVENT ENTRY AND LUNCH (EAT HERE OR TAKE IT TO-GO)

( ENTRY

F OR

MORE INFORMATION , EMAIL : PROFESSIONALWOMENSNETMC @ GMAIL . COM

All proceeds benefit the Sandhills Community College PWN Award

ONLY LUNCH NOT INCLUDED )

new * vintage * restyled furniture, gifts & objects of interest Follow us on Instagram @ lavender_restylemarket T-F 10:30-5:30, S 10:30-4:30 157 NE Broad Street, SP (910) 315-1280

February 2016P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

A Novel Year

The First Time Again Good words and friendly advice from one who has been there

By Wiley Cash

My friend Taylor Brown’s new novel, Fallen

Land, is now available wherever books are sold. It’s about an endangered couple on horseback heading south through the burned-out landscape in the wake of Sherman’s March. It’s a great book that has been compared to novels by Cormac McCarthy and Charles Frazier. It was released on January 12, so there’s a good chance you’ve already heard of it.

But at this moment, January 12 remains in the future. Right now, as I take down the notes that will eventually comprise this article, Taylor and I are eating lunch at SeaLevel City Gourmet in Wilmington. It’s midNovember, almost two months before the official release of Fallen Land. The copies of the novel that sit on the shelf at a bookstore or library near you are not yet printed. On this November afternoon, Fallen Land is a book that doesn’t quite exist, even though Taylor thought it was over and done with the minute his editor accepted the final revision. “That’s what surprises me,” Taylor says. “I spent years writing this book, and I’m still waiting for people to read it. No one’s read it but my agent and my editor.” My mouth is full of a spicy California roll, but if it weren’t I would tell him that what he’s just said isn’t quite true. I’ve read it, and I wrote a blurb for the cover that says something to the effect of “Holy moly, this book is great.” Critics from Kirkus Reviews, Library Journal and Booklist have read it too, and they all gave it starred reviews, the industry version of my “holy moly” praise. But I understand what Taylor means, and I know how he feels. My agent sold my first novel, A Land More Kind Than Home, in November 2010; it was published in April 2012. What does one do with the time between the final revision and publication day? Start a new book? Figure out ways to promote the book that’s about to be released? Worry? If you’re Taylor Brown, you do all three. Taylor didn’t start writing a book after he completed his novel. He started and finished two books, and both of them have been sold to the same editor who purchased Fallen Land. If he wanted an indication of how his work and career are being projected by his publisher, he’s been given the best indication he could have ever received. The editor was wise to invest in Taylor; not only is he a talented writer, but he’s also a hustler. He’s already visited with dozens of independent booksellers across the South, introducing himself and handing out review copies of Fallen Land. Commonly referred to as a galley or an advanced reading copy (ARC), a review copy is the pre-

publication version of a book that’s specifically printed for booksellers, reviewers and bloggers. It’s how the industry is made aware of books a full season before their release. Most writers hoard their review copies, or they hand them out to family and friends. Taylor gave his copies to booksellers who hadn’t yet heard of his novel. They’ve heard of it now, and their readers will hear of it soon. But even with all he’s done to keep busy, Taylor has still found time to worry. “Writing a book is a very private, personal experience that becomes a very public offering,” he says. “Soon, anyone could read my book and have opinions of it. That never crossed my mind while I was writing it. It’s terrifying.” What can also be terrifying is the specter of the book tour. Writers have varied opinions on the topic. Some say tours boost sales. Others say they’re a waste of time. I’ve heard one seasoned writer say that he believes book tours are designed to humiliate authors. I decide it’s best not to tell Taylor about the first event of my first book tour, a Wednesday afternoon reading at a public library in Huntington, West Virginia, a rapt audience of four people, three of whom were librarians who worked at the library. The fourth attendee was a former student of mine who was there to witness the tragedy of my career firsthand. I try my best to give Taylor advice that will lift his spirits: Don’t read your reviews, aside from the good ones. If you read bad reviews, lie and say you didn’t if anyone asks. Say, “No one reads reviews anymore,” then hide your tears. Pack your toothbrush, deodorant and a change of clothes in your carry-on luggage. My luggage was lost when I flew to an event in Portland, Maine. I showed up at the bookstore in a T-shirt and a baseball hat. It was February. In Maine. During the book tour, if you’re staying on an air mattress in a friend’s basement, be sure to leave the air pump plugged into the electric outlet. You never know when that air mattress is going to need a little juice during the night. Always ask people how to spell their names before you sign their books. There are a lot of Aimees and Elisabeths and Ashlees out there. We finish our lunch, pay the bill, step out into the bright November sun. The afternoon is warm. “There’s a lot more to writing books than just writing them, isn’t there?” I say. Taylor pulls his sunglasses out of his breast pocket, puts them on. “That’s true,” he says. “I never imagined any of this — promotion, book tours, public speaking — when I was sitting at my desk, writing a book that I thought no one would ever read.” “Are you afraid of this ever feeling like a job?” I ask. “No,” he says. “There’s too much mystery and magic in the act of writing for any of this to ever feel like a job. I have to remember that.” I agree with him. It’s the best advice I’ve heard all day. PS Wiley Cash is a New York Times best-selling author whose second novel, This Dark Road to Mercy, was released last year. He lives in Wilmington.

Indulge in our customized Chocolate Covered Strawberry Facial. Let the chocolate fill your face with Antioxidants and Vitamins while the Strawberries hyloronic acid plumps and hydrates your face. Chocolate never tasted so good! With any facial in February receive a free eyebrow waxing. February Botox special $10/ unit

Forever Young Aethetics & Day Spa 125 Murray Hill Road Suite B, Southern Pines NC 910-692-0882 www.foreveryoungsouthernpines.com

Southern Pines OMFS Center 125 Murray Hill Road Suite C, Southern Pines NC 910-725-1403 www.southernpinesncoms.com

ALLOW US TO

UNCORK A LITTLE ROMANCE Join Us for Valentine’s Day

February 14th Let our exceptional cuisine and awardwinning wine list sweep your special someone off their feet.

RESERVE YOUR TABLE NOW AT

www.southernprimesteakhouse.net or www.opentable.com Private Dining • Reservations 910.693.0123 | 270 Broad Street | Southern Pines Monday-Thursday Open at 5:00pm Follow us! Friday & Saturday Open at 5:00pm Sunday Brunch 11:30am to 2pm • Dinner Open at 4:00pm

February 2016P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

Sporting Life

All Is Not Lost Don’t leave your compass at home when traveling in unfamiliar mountain territory

By Tom Bryant

Lost. Most of us have been lost

at one time. It could be as simple as looking for a friend’s home in a strange town, or trying to find a particular store in an unfamiliar shopping center, or driving on a road trip to another part of the country. It’s not a regular occurrence in today’s world of GPS, Mapquest, and smartphones, but it still happens; most of the time it’s only an inconvenience made right by asking directions. Many males have a hard time inquiring how to get somewhere, but in the end and to save a lot of miles, I have pulled the car over to the side of the road and reluctantly asked whoever was handy how to get where I’m going.

Getting directions. Now there’s another real grin. Have you ever noticed how people give directions? One helpful Samaritan offering advice is funny enough, but two at the same time can turn into a stand-up comedy routine. Three willing advisers might send you back to the car to find your destination by dead reckoning. A good example would be a road trip way back one summer when I was a college student. It started out innocently enough, and as most good trips, it was a spur of the moment thing. Cliff Blue and I were lounging around, killing time at his father’s cabin in Pinebluff. It was a typical Moore County summer day, soft breezes swaying the pines and cumulus clouds floating like so many cotton balls. We were kicked back, feet up on the railing of the screen porch, watching the lake right in front of the cabin. Fish made little breaks in the surface, feeding on the latest hatch of the day. “We should break out the fly rods and go down there and catch some of those fish. I mean, they’re aching to bite a good fly.” “It’s too hot,” Blue replied. He got up, went in the cabin and grabbed a beer from the cooler. “You want a beer?” “Nah, I’m good.” He came back, sat down in a rocker, sighed and said,

“Bryant, I’m bored.” “Well, what do you want me to do about it? I said we should go fishing.” “It’s too blasted hot. We would melt out there.” He took a big slug of his beer and said, “I got it. We need a road trip. The weekend is coming. We can leave Friday afternoon when we get off work and go up to see Charlie Merrill. You know the railroad moved him to the mountains, I think to a little town called Saluda. It’ll be a lot cooler on the Blue Ridge.” Charles Merrill, a former high school classmate, worked for the Southern Railroad Company and was based at Saluda Mountain right outside Asheville. “That could be a good trip,” I agreed. “Your car or mine?” “Let’s take mine. I don’t feel like buying fifteen quarts of oil.” My old ’40 Chevrolet had a penchant for using oil. I was scheduled to get the engine rebuilt later that summer. On this trip we were high in the mountains, as lost as the proverbial Southern boy on his first adventure in New York City. “Blue, you’d better stop and ask somebody where we are. We’ve been roaming around these mountains for hours. It’ll be morning soon.” Blue slowed to a stop at an ancient coin laundry. Two old guys sitting in slat-back chairs were leaning against the building. We hesitantly approached them and Blue said, “’Evening, folks. We’re on the way to Saluda and seem to be lost. Wonder if you can point us in the right direction?” Both of them looked at us as if we were aliens from another planet. One leaned over, spat out a huge chaw of tobacco, stared at Blue and said, “We knowed you was lost. You drove by here three times. Which way is your machine a-facing?” Blue looked at me with his mouth open, then back at the old mountaineer and then at the car. He pointed at it and said, “It’s facing that way but it can turn around.” Dave Gardner in one of his comedy routines could have used the directions given by those two old guys. We made it to Saluda just in time for the Coon Dog Festival, sort of a county fair with rides, good food, square dancing and all kinds of fun. We had a great time until some of the local good old boys accused us of “messing around with their women folk.” We left town in a hurry, but that’s another story. I’ve only been really lost a time or two. I’m talking the gut-wrenching, scared-to-death lost that can only occur in the middle of a vast wilderness.

Big or Small , Customiz ed Care For Them All!

Check Out Our Google Reviews

Celebrating 12 Years!

Book Now for 2016 Travels

195 Montrose Rd. Raeford, NC • (910) 904-5787 Tours welcome or check out our virtual tour at fivepointspetresort.com

Sporting Life

One experience was in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah. Four of us were on a mule deer hunt adventure for about eight or ten days. We were using a small cabin in a little valley next to a looming rugged range of peaks that seemed to go on forever. Our routine was to get up before dawn, split up, individually choose a section of the range to climb, and hunt while we explored. For the first three or four days, I would walk south on the valley floor until the early gray daylight of the morning would give me enough light to help me climb toward the top of the rise. Each day I would try to go farther into the wild, building stamina as I progressed toward what I thought was the top of the ridge, which would hopefully allow me to look down into another valley. The sixth day dawned cloudy and cold with a touch of sleet and snow in the air. It was exciting, and we were optimistic that one of us would surely be lucky and get a deer. I didn’t understand I had a problem until late in the morning. After topping the sixth ridge and not finding a spot to set up and hunt, I decided to backtrack to a likely clearing I’d discovered on my early morning climb. Then I could hunker down for the rest of the day. But which way was the clearing? I had been using the sun as a compass while hunting. The morning sun was in my face when I climbed, and the afternoon sun was in my face on the way back down the mountains. On this day, however, because of the clouds and promising bad weather, there was no sun, and suddenly I realized that I was turned around and didn’t know which direction would lead me back to the little valley and the cabin. Fortunately, my Boy Scout training came in handy. The number one rule when lost in the wilderness is not to panic. I remembered the directions in the Scout handbook and decided to sit, drink some water, have a little snack and see if I could recognize any landmarks. Easier said than done when snow is falling and possible help, in the form of a search party, wouldn’t come until nightfall. Like an idiot, I’d forgot and left my compass at home, meaning to pick up another during the trip. That hadn’t happened. My bleached bones could still be weathering on top of a ridge of the Wasatch, but as luck would have it, along with many silent prayers and some not so silent, the sun peeked out from a dark cloud bank long enough to enable me to follow shadows all the way to the valley floor and the cabin. Older and wiser by the experience, I’m never in strange woods without a compass anymore. But I still have a hard time asking directions. PS Tom Bryant, a Southern Pines resident, is a lifelong outdoorsman and PineStraw’s Sporting Life columnist.

February 2016P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

What A Girl Wants! Find the perfect gift at Denker’s

Denker’s Southern Pines

150 NW Broad Street | Southern Pines | 910-692-9322

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways ...

Unique, Afforable, Floral Expressions of Your Love. 500 S. Sandhills Blvd. Aberdeen, NC 28315 910-944-7826 125 NE BROAD STREET DOWNTOWN SOUTHERN PINES 910-246-0552

Go to aberdeenflorist.com to see some of our Valentine’s Day creations.

February 2016 P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

G o lft o w n J o u r n al

Pete Dye Turns 90 The Diabolical One is still going strong

By Lee Pace

The news of Pete

Dye turning 90 years old in late December kindled one of my favorite memories from some three decades of lurking about the golf world with tape-recorder and notebook in hand. In the spring of 1991, I was researching and writing Pinehurst Stories, a book largely built around eighteen iconic figures in golf and their experiences at Pinehurst. I knew Dye had extensive history and connections to the Sandhills, to Pinehurst No. 2, to Richard Tufts of the Pinehurst founding family, and to the Bell family, the proprietors of Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club in Southern Pines.

I believed it well worth the effort to prime that pump, but little did I know the gusher of color, opinion and perspective I’d find. I left a message on an answering machine at his home in Delray Beach, Florida, one day in April, this a precursor to the Dye modus operandi — no secretary, no office, no overhead. He called back and suggested I come to Kiawah, where he’d set up temporary residence while designing and building The Ocean Course prior to the 1991 Ryder Cup matches. “Come on down,” he said to a perfect stranger. “I’ll leave a key under the mat.” I found the villa in the West Beach Village which Dye was using, let myself in and waited through the evening. About the time the 11 o’clock news was coming on, in popped a wiry little man dressed in sneakers, khaki pants, a windbreaker and white driving cap. “Hi, I’m Pete Dye,” he said cheerfully, extending a vise-like handshake.

He was carrying groceries, most of them the makings for his signature breakfast bowl — carrots, yogurt, bran, grapefruit. Dye had made a trip to Hilton Head that day to see the professional golfers on one of his most famous courses, Harbour Town Golf Links, and had a long to-do list ahead the next day continuing to shepherd The Ocean Course toward its opening. But there was plenty of gas in his tank, and he talked into the wee hours on a kaleidoscope of subjects. I’d not met many people as blunt, funny and sharp as Dye. He waxed pleasantly about his early 1940s days stationed at Fort Bragg and frequent trips on the back roads through Moore County to Pinehurst. “The lieutenant colonel was an avid golfer and had a car,” Dye said. “It was a lot easier to drive over to Pinehurst and play golf for three bucks than stay on the base and do KP duty. I had the greatest time going over there. I’ve played that golf course more than the law should allow. I’ve looked at that thing ’til I’m blind.” As he talked, he played the course in his mind, walking the ebbs and flows of the sandy terrain. “The first hole you’ve got a nice little change of elevation downhill,” he said, motioning with his hands as if to conduct an orchestra. “The next hole, a little down. The fourth hole, a magnificent natural elevation change. Down on five, then back up. Nice roll on eight. Nine and 10, wonderful changes of elevation. Eleven, nothing. Twelve, nothing. Thirteen, you get a break. Sixteen, seventeen and eighteen — wonderful natural elevation. “With all due respect to Donald Ross, I never in my life ever had a piece of inland ground like Pinehurst or remotely like Pinehurst. Pinehurst must have 30 or 40 feet of change. It’s just the right change of pace for a golf course. And the drainage. Hell, that sand is perfect for a golf course. Early in my career, I tried to do some of those hollows and dips around a green, but they won’t drain in clay like they do in sand. Ray Charles could have built a course in Pinehurst.” Dye shook his head in wonderment over a round in the North and South

LAKEFRONT COMMUNIT Y

Live. Play. Enjoy.

119A M A LL A R DS COV E Town Home Waterfront with private boat dock 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, New HVAC

94 4 WAT ER OA K PL Water front with private boat dock 3 bedrooms 3.5 bathrooms Basement, Pool

$120,900

$455,000 For sales information call 910-245-2911 or visit

www.woodlakecc.com For rentals | 910-245-2911 Extention 209

681 R I V ER BI RCH DR 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms 5 Minute walk to the boat ramp Side lot included, Hardwood floors, Bonus room

Betty Howard, GRI and MRP Broker/REALTOR™ Woodlake Properties, Inc.

150 Woodlake Blvd, Vass, NC 28394

910.639.9004 Cell 910.245.2911 Ext 232

$205,000

February 2016P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

G o lft o w n J o u r n al

Amateur just after World War II’s conclusion: “Two older guys were walking the golf course, watching and having a word here and there with the golfers,” he said. “One was J.C. Penney, who owned all the department stores. The other was Donald Ross. After the round, we were in the bar and everyone was excited about having met J.C. Penney. I can’t remember a single person thinking it was special he’d met Donald Ross. That’s hard to believe looking back.” He ruminated at length about what technology had done with balls and clubs and how many classic old courses like those designed by Ross were now out-of-date (and this was 1991, mind you, before the Pro V1 and titanium drivers). He lamented having made recent changes to one of his favorite designs, Crooked Stick, to accommodate the modern ball.

“If I couldn’t go and dig some dirt, you might as well put me in a box,” Dye said. “Maybe I’m crazy, but it’s the only way I know how to do it.” “I wonder about all this talk about the ‘subtleties’ of Mr. Ross,” he said. “I don’t think when he built that thing in the early ’30s that he felt the golf course was subtle at all. I think he thought he built a golf course that was severe and challenged the hell out of the great professionals at that time.” Dye nodded in the direction of The Ocean Course and spoke of building unheard-of distance into the course, a gold-tee measurement of up to 7,785 yards, and of the distances golf balls were traveling. “If Donald Ross saw that little girl, Brandie Burton, hit a driver and wedge on the first hole of Pinehurst No. 2, he’d jump out of that box and come out fighting and put the first tee back in the parking lot.” (The 1991 LPGA Rookie of the Year had done just that, at 18 years old, en route to winning the 1990 Women’s North and South Amateur Championship.) He told of his beginnings in golf design. “I was just a hayseed from Urbana, Ohio, selling life insurance,” Dye said. “My wife, Alice, and I both played golf all our lives and thought it’d be fun to try to build a golf course.” He and Alice both treasured their relationship with Tufts, who encouraged the Dyes to visit the great classic courses of Scotland when they spoke seriously of wanting to design golf courses. Pete

e v Lo TRAVELING CHIC BOUTIQUE 143 NE Broad Street Southern Pines Mon-Sat: 10am-5:30pm 910.992.2787

www.travelingchicboutique.com

Combining New Traditions & Classic Cuisine

Locally Owned & Operated for Over 25 Years

Vale ntin es S P r Din ime pecial ner Rib for T M wo Your a R ke ese Nowrvations !

Make Beefeaters a part of your Healthy New Years Resolutions We offer Fresh & Health Conscious Cuisine

– All You Can Eat Salad Bar with All Dinner Entrees – Great Burgers & Sandwiches in our Lounge Too!

Mon.-Sat. 5:00pm-10:00pm • 910-692-5550 672 SW Broad St. • Southern Pines, NC www.beefeatersofsouthernpines.com

“WE’VE GOT YOUR BACK”

The Most Highly Recommended Bed In America

Voted the World’s Most Comfortable Recliner

160-L Pinehurst Avenue | Southern Pines, NC

comfortstudio.net | 910-692-9624

Located on Pinehurst Avenue between Arby’s and Lowe’s Home Improvement 64

G o lft o w n J o u r n al

entered the 1963 British Amateur, and he and Alice tied that trip into a whirlwind tour of some thirty courses—including St. Andrews, Dornoch, Turnberry, Prestwick and Carnoustie. “On the airplane to Scotland, I sat with Mr. Tufts,” Dye said. “He told me all about the legendary courses there. Since I greatly respected Mr. Tufts’ opinion, I listened with strong interest. He vividly described intriguing courses that I had only seen in pictures, and his colorful stories only heightened my interest in visiting the home of golf course architecture.” Several years later, the Dyes designed their first course, a track south of Indianapolis called Eldorado. “It was very amateurish,” Dye remembers. “There was a creek that ran through the property, and we drew these holes. We had it put on a Christmas card and sent it out. Mr. Tufts wrote back to say how delighted he was to hear we’re going into golf design, that we’d do a great job, that we’d be a credit to the game, that kind of thing. “Then he said, ‘Don’t you think that crossing the creek thirteen times in nine holes is a little too much?’” The next day, Dye took me around The Ocean Course, dissecting every hole, explaining how it should play for the pros and then the high-handicappers once the Ryder Cup left. On one hole he said, “This is a green Mr. Ross might have built.” On another, “Now this something Tillinghast might have done.” And on yet another: “I have no idea who this looks like. It’s just a damn green.” In the ensuing twenty-five years I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Dye again in many locales, often in Pinehurst or Southern Pines. A few years back, I had returned to Kiawah and Dye happened to be there as well to make a few tweaks, and that day he jumped into a hole just scooped out by a backhoe. He ran a cup through the water, tasted it and announced it was fresh water, suitable for building a horizontal well for irrigation purposes. “If I couldn’t go and dig some dirt, you might as well put me in a box,” Dye said. “Maybe I’m crazy, but it’s the only way I know how to do it.” With a half dozen projects in the works as 2016 opens — either restorations, additions or new construction — Dye remains busy. Sadly, though, his shingle doesn’t hang anywhere in the Sandhills, though he talked with the Bell family in the late 1980s about a second course at Pine Needles. But that idea was shelved in the recession of 199092 and shortly afterward, the Bells and several partners bought Mid Pines Inn & Golf Club and haven’t needed a third course. Too bad; that would have been worth another great conversation. PS Lee Pace’s book, The Golden Age of Pinehurst—The Story of the Rebirth of No. 2, is available onsite and online at Pinehurst Resort & Country Club.

February 2016P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

#wfw2016

Wilmington Fashion Week March 28 - April 2, 2016 Wilmington's showcase for local talent in fashion, jewelry, and accessory design.

Photo: Ethan Gaskill

Now seeking local talent in fashion design, independent apparel retail, accessory design, web design, hair styling, and makeup artistry.

[FB] Wilmington Fashion Week [IG] @wilmington_fw

www.wilmingtonfashionweek.org

PAul BlAke

& AssociAtes

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

LICENSED & BONDED.

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

ESTATE LIQUIDATORS Paul Blake 910.315.7044 Chuck Helbling 910.315.4501

110 NW Broad Street • Southern Pines, NC • 910-692-2388

A R O M AT H E R A P Y BEGINS WELL BEFORE

YOU E N T E R OU R D O O R S The sweet scents of Southern magnolia, fragrant gardenia and Long Leaf pine engulf you when you arrive at Pinehurst. And then our Spa transports you to another place and time.

February 2016P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills Located adjacent to the historic Carolina Hotel • Village of Pinehurst, North Carolina • 866.791.7152 • pinehurst.com

RECEIVE $25 OFF MONDAY - THURSDAY

February 2016

Sheller

for Mary Ann Eskridge Though her skin has turned to rice paper, her breathing shallow and sometimes labored, she climbs the weathered stairs and crosses the long boardwalk that leads to sand and sea. At her back, the old lighthouse rises from the grassy ground surrounding the Coast Guard station, emitting every ten seconds, four one-second flashes of light. And scattered across the dunes, sea oats bob their blades to the crash of waves while gulls wheel and cry above the sheller’s bowed head, her slight frame covered by a coat so heavy she staggers at first, beneath its weight. Yet she keeps going, buffeted left and right by a chill wind, winding her way to where a thin layer of shells — angel wings and Scotch bonnets, pen shells and olives — rests near the shoreline. And some days, if she’s lucky, she finds a whole sand dollar with its Star of Bethlehem pattern, the five doves hidden within this delicate disk released only after the shell is broken, but she will not break it. She will carry it home in her pocket, picturing all the while those unseen birds — their fragile wings spread as if they are, already, in flight. —Terri Kirby Erickson

How I Met the

Love of My Life Photographs by Tim Sayer

Love at First Bite A

colleague recently asked me how I met my amazing wife, Wendy. “You don’t want to know,” I said. “It involved surviving two of the worst blind dates ever recorded.” “Do tell!” she demanded gleefully. Here’s the short version. While on a national book tour, I’d agreed to come to Syracuse, New York for a three-day golf tournament and fundraiser for the Lung Association of New York. Aware that I was divorced, my evil host — a witty lawyer — decided that I needed a suitable female companion for the three nights of my visit. He even went so far as to send me a breakdown sheet listing the names and “attributes” of six local divorced women, insisting that I select three. I told him he was nuts. Not to mention insulting to the women, the equivalent of a romantic police lineup. My evil host told me that I had to pick three or his wife would murder him in his sleep and I would be held complicit in a capital crime. Reluctantly, I picked a “good looking” poet-professor from the local university, the “very attractive” head of the local historical society and — least known of all — an “extremely pretty neighbor who has two small boys and lives at the end of the block.” The first date was a comic disaster. The poet-professor showed up for a dinner at the country club swearing like a drunken sailor, offending everyone in earshot. The next selection was even worse, a divorcee who loved history but loathed every man she knew, including me after the first 15 minutes. I wondered if the dates were being secretly filmed for a hilarious roast before my big speech. I tried my best to cancel the date No. 3 but my evil host refused to oblige. “Everyone in the neighborhood adores Wendy. They’ll kill me if I let you do that.” When she walked through the front door, smiling and bearing a plate of still-warm cookies, I could swear time stopped in its tracks. Eight other guests attended the dinner but we hardly spoke a word to them. A week later, I drove seven hours to take Wendy on our first date. A month after that, we decided to get married. Our evil host and his wife were delighted to attend to the wedding. On a lark this Valentine’s Day, we invited our faithful PineStraw readers to tell us how they met the love of their life. Did they ever. — Jim Dodson

Santa’s Litte Helper

hen I was a college senior I was asked to play Santa Claus at a senior citizens’ center near the Notre Dame campus. (Typecasting, you might say.) A delightful side benefit was that from behind my beard I was able to flirt with the “little elves” from St. Mary’s College who had come to help Santa deliver his presents. One of those elves was Evelyn Condon, of Charleston, South Carolina. In April we will celebrate our 48th anniversary. God, I love Christmas! — John Dempsey

Love on the Run

t was 1994 and I was in charge of a shuttle service for a radiation therapy clinic in Little Rock, Arkansas. We had a rotation of students who came through yearly. When the new “crop” of students got there I would take them on the shuttle, picking up patients for their treatment and returning them home. This cute girl jumped in the van and told me that she was supposed to go with me on this run. I said, “OK.” She was very talkative and I was very shy, but she was able to get me to open up a little. As the year went by, I got the nerve to tell her that if she ever wanted to do something to give me a call. She called one night shortly after. We hung out and talked for a long time. We started hanging out more and more. Employees were not supposed to date students, so we were very hushed. She was only going to be in school for two more months after that first phone call, so neither of us thought anything would last. The goodbye was hard. My phone bill was higher than my rent. So I packed up everything I owned in the back of my pickup and moved (jobless), to an apartment about half a mile away from hers in Mississippi. Since we knew no one, and had no family there, we relied on each other and our relationship blossomed and strengthened. Two years later we got married at a small chapel in Tennessee and have been together ever since. I found out after we were married that she had been stood up the night she called me. She is my once in love-time! — Jason Thomas

February 2016P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

The

Lovely Linda I

met Linda the way most guys meet new girls, especially in the ’60s. She was a blind date. I was a student at Elon College, fresh out of the Marine Corps with something of an attitude. Linda was a student at UNCG, an education major. My apartment-mate made the arrangements. That evening, when I arrived to pick up Linda at her sister’s home, where she was spending the weekend, my life changed forever. She was a vision in loveliness, a petite, smoking hot brunette, with blue eyes the color of a Carolina summer sky. She stole my heart and has kept it safely for the last fifty years. — Tom Bryant

How Cackie Met Charlie

ow my parents met is one of my favorite “Crazy Cackie Stories,” and such a perfect reflection of my mom’s one-of-a-kind personality. When Mom was working as a nursing student at Duke Hospital, my dad was a young PA completing his residency. She was familiar with him, but I’m not sure she had ever caught his eye. One afternoon he called up to my mom’s floor and she answered the phone. He was hoping to speak to one of her female co-workers. My mom told him that she wasn’t working that shift, to which he replied, “That’s too bad, I was hoping to ask her to see a movie with me tonight.” My mother, in true Cackie fashion, quickly responded, “Well, I’m free and would love to go see a movie tonight!” My dad was such a polite man he agreed to the date. They were married for 26 years before he passed away. Side note — she proposed to him. Are you surprised? — Ginny Trigg

Brown-Eyed Girl

remember the first time I saw her. I lived on the corner of Clark and Vernon Street behind the Goodyear tire store. She lived catty-corner — both of us in rented homes, both located north of Skin Creek. We were too young to cross the street, so we would stand on the very edge of fair territory and talk to one another. She had big brown eyes. Too soon we moved to Milwaukee as a continuation of my father’s training program with Goodyear. After a couple more moves we were back in town, but she and I went to different elementary schools — me still living north of Skin Creek and she moving downtown, attending the posh elementary school. As a result, we didn’t meet again until junior high and didn’t hit it off well at all — both of us forgetting we knew one another. I thought she was snooty, she thought I was immature and unsophisticated. But she had big brown eyes. Sophomore year in high school, lightning finally struck, and after a long mutual apprenticeship we married in college almost forty-five years ago. It was the eyes. — Craig Pryor

Father Knows Best

he story of Shane and Elizabeth Adams: In February 2004 I met the love of my life. I was on my way to Raleigh for a conference and ran into a local restaurant to speak to a friend of mine. Sitting at the bar were two men, a father and

The Philadelphia Story

tories have a beginning, sometimes unexpected. The adventure of this love story began in 1967. Christmas in Philadelphia found him (Sam) in the last year of graduate school and found her (Beth) in senior year of college. She’d come to visit her sister. He needed a date for a holiday party. So it began. After four days of being nearly inseparable, he asked her quietly in a hallway at a noisy gathering. She calmly said, “Yes.” Later they walked quietly arm in arm around the city block as the snow fell. Today the story continues. — Sam Walker

son, having a cold drink. The three of us struck up a conversation. The very attractive young man excused himself, and while gone his father leaned to me and said, “My son would be a fool not to ask you for your number. I know my son. He is a fool! Please write it down and I’ll make sure he gets it.” Later on that evening I received the phone call I’d been waiting for. We’ve been married over ten years now, and haven’t missed a day talking since! — Elizabeth Adams

True

Puppy M

Love

y husband and she fell in love at first sight. He could have had his pick of any of the furry pups scampering around him. A roly-poly creature with a thick blue-black coat and beseeching brown eyes waddled up and talked to him in a throaty, wruffling language. Everything else disappeared for them both. For a moment, in the gathering dusk in a yard in Gloucester County, Virginia, they only saw, heard and smelled each other. She was the one. Rosetta and Paul have shared sofa, studio, bed and plate ever since. — Serena Brown

Any One Will Do

grew up in the same small town as my husband. He is a year older than me, the same age as one of my four sisters. When he asked my parents if we could get married he said, “I’d like to marry your daughter; it doesn’t matter which one.” NO ONE laughed. At least, not then. We’ve been laughingly and happily married for thirty-nine-plus years. — Beth Carpenter

The Way the Ball Bounces

was seventeen. She was the most perfectly formed girl I ever saw. Look closely. No makeup. None needed. No blemishes to hide. Perfection personified. Purely herself. But she must be taken. No way for me. Unreachable. Undateable. Uneverythingable. Only a dream girl. Huis clos. For-get-it. Then a basketball teammate said his girlfriend Ginny told him Beth Kelley would like me to ask her out. So we “met” on a double date to eat pizza and “scout” a high school basketball opponent. And we’ve played one-on-one for forty years since. To Ginny, who is now our sister-in-law — have I thanked you lately!? — David Carpenter

Love Dawning

aura was living in Atlanta and I was living in Pinehurst. We were both on solo road trips exploring out West in October 2012 and met in Arches National Park in the pre-dawn darkness. We were the only two people at North Window Arch to take sunrise pictures and talked for nearly an hour in the dark before we could even see each other. We got in touch a few weeks later and then travelled to one another (Pinehurst to Atlanta) every weekend for a year before Laura moved here. I married my partner and friend under the longleaf pines in October 2014. — Brady and Laura Beck

Love By The Book

Love at First Yell

he night I met TJ, we were in a crowded area with lot of music. He literally yelled at me when I walked by him to get my attention! I can’t say that I truly believed in “love at first sight” at the time, but I knew God had placed an angel in my life that night, even if it was short term. We have been married for five years now and he has given me the most amazing little girl in the world. He still gives me butterflies! — Taylor McCaskill

y husband, David, and I graduated from our high school in 1992, yet we never even held a conversation! Who knew that the antithesis would occur, causing us to become high school sweethearts some eight years later when we both began teaching at our former high school. He was a biology teacher, and I taught English and journalism. Today, not only are we still in education and enjoying limitless conversations, but we have nearly thirteen years of marriage in which we strive for a grade of A+ with each exam we take! — Johnnerlyn Johnson

Worst Pick-Up Line,

EVER!

e slipped a small note to me across a large conference room table. It said, “I’ve put together an econometric model of the Spanish economy. Call me and we can get together to go over the results.” Thirty-six years of marriage and two children later, I still haven’t seen that econometric model — but it sure produced some outstanding results! — Pam Bradley

February 2016P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

Love, Peace, Doughnuts M

y wife, Audrey, and I crossed paths on a number of occasions between the ages of 14 and 21. Her charitable description of these occurrences would be “forgettable” though she might be more inclined toward “annoying” in less sunny moments. We began to date seriously following a surprise party for her 21st birthday. It was an event fueled by the consumables of the late ’60s, so fueled, in fact, that when she was delivered to her own party, the people already gathered there forgot they were supposed to say, “Surprise!” Our eyes met across a comatose room. So moved was she, she turned to a friend and said, “What’s he doing here?” The galloping lethargy of the bell-bottom and shaggy hair set was my opening. I asked if she’d like to get a cup of coffee. We left for Dunkin’ Donuts in the rain. Overcome with guilt at having absconded with the guest of honor, we later returned with a large bag of assorted doughnuts. Tragically, when she got out of the car, she picked the bag up at the bottom, spilling the powdery, glazed and chocolate frosted contents into the wet curbside gutter. A lifelong devotee of the three-second rule, she scrambled to scrape the dunked doughnuts back into the bag. Entering the front door and surveying a torpid party overcome with the munchies, she extended the arm of fellowship and goodwill, offering up the soggy pouch and yelling, “Doughnuts!!!!!!” The rest is history. — Jim Moriarty

Luck of the Irish

eturning home from a business trip on St. Valentine’s Day, my husband, Harry, sheepishly handed me a card. He had arrived home so late the drugstore had sold out of valentines, so he was forced to substitute a card that had no hearts decorating it. It had no shamrocks or leprechauns either. Instead it bore a picture of an enormous jolly green giant. “Let me be the first one to wish you a happy St. Patrick’s Day,” Harry said. — Cos Barnes

My Kind of Town, Chicago

ell ... we kinda met in a bar, but my friend knew Tom, and I had seen him at parties and at his store. He was supposed to go to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. With some hot babes ... I’m sure. That’s what we did when u lived around Chicago ... the drinking age in Wisconsin was 18 and only an hour away... but he had a bad cold and decided to just stay home, but still go to the bar to get some medicine ... hey ... we were 21 ... so we just hung out and talked ... the rest is history as they say ... we have been married for almost thirty-nine years. He is the best husband, father, brother, Oompah, friend and all around good person that I have ever met. — Micky Konold

Birds of a Feather

e met in first grade in Audubon School. For eight years we never had a conversation although we were in the same room. We never saw each other in high school and graduated in 1966. Years later, in l998, I opened my email, Audubon42@aol.com, to read a question: Are you the Gayle who attended Audubon? So when he was in town, we had lunch together. Lunch became dinner, and dinners became intimate, until we braved an ice storm to marry in the courthouse on Valentine’s Day, 2000. We still eat lunches and dinners together. — Gayle Parker

My Official Love

don’t have a husband, but a boyfriend as the love of my life. I met Chris on June 7, 2006, at Sandhills Community College. I was a student at UNC Pembroke at the time and was home for the summer. I decided to go visit my best friend at Sandhills on this particular day. A week before this, we went to the beach. She told me about him and thought we should meet. Before meeting, we talked on AIM and by phone. After a week or so, we made it “official.” — Samantha Garrison

Footloose

y parents wanted to provide the experience of a lifetime when they signed me up at the age of 14 to travel with a group of students for a ten-day tour of Germany and Austria. I boarded a plane at New York’s JFK Airport minutes after meeting my travel cohorts. Settling into my seat on the plane bound for Frankfurt, I kicked off my shoes and decided to embrace this experience I was told I would never regret. My thoughts were interrupted by the voice of a lanky teenage boy with a Southern accent one row back and across the aisle saying, “What’s that smell?” while motioning toward my shoeless feet. I faked a smile, thinking, “If I have to endure this guy for ten days, I just might regret this trip.” As it turned out, I spent a lot of time with that lanky Southern boy, who eventually became my husband. Thirty years later, I can assure my parents they did provide the experience of a lifetime, which I certainly don’t regret. — Nicole Worley

A Table for Two

e walked into the restaurant, someone I had not seen in three years, and was seated two tables away. He approached the table. “How are you guys?” “Fine, we’re getting a divorce, how are you?” We dated, lived together for eight years, married now for twenty-two. Thirty years together this coming March. Best brunch ever. — Joyce Reehling

Ski Pass

met my darling man Matt McKenzie on the ski slopes of Snowmass in Colorado. It sounds more glamorous than it was. In fact, I was beginning my solo backpacking trip around the world and at the time Matt was consciously NOT going to university. We were working in guest services on the mountain and very romantically met in the communal locker room. Ahh, the smell of dirty socks and forgotten sandwiches. I asked him out for a beer because I thought he had beautiful eyes and a great smile. Apparently Southern ladies don’t ask gentlemen out on first dates, so he had no choice but to go. We played pool (I whupped him). Fast-forward sixteen years. Married, daughter, bliss. — Fiona McKenzie

Well Connected

ichael and I were destined to meet! My father was his father’s commanding officer in the Navy during World War II, introduced his parents, was best man in their wedding, and was Michael’s godfather! And it turns out that my stepfather hired Michael’s father when he joined the legal department of the C.I.A. We, however, had never met until our mothers reconnected years later (both had remarried — that is a story for another time). We now have to fast-forward to 1967, Fourth of July weekend, when we both arrived on Martha’s Vineyard, Michael from Detroit and me from D.C., to visit with our mothers. We met that very first night and stayed up until the early hours of the next day enjoying and getting to know one another. That was when Michael told me that he wanted to have a daughter named Natasha. I did wonder why he had shared that? However, I awoke the next morning happy in the knowledge that I had met the man I was going to marry — but, as it turned out, not for another three years! It has now been forty-six years since we were married in D.C. on a bright November day. But wait, this story would not be complete without mentioning the two daughters (yes, the older is Natasha), two sons-in-law, and six grandsons that now round out and fill our lives. Who knew all those years ago when our fathers first met? I call that destiny! — Hope Price

A Hidden Smile W

henever I would see Eric walk down the ramp at Pinecrest High School, I would get that fluttery feeling you could only get from being a crazy teenager in love. I would be so excited just to see him that I couldn’t contain my smile and would have to quickly look away to hide it. Turns out, he would do the same thing. He passed me a note in the courtyard, and seventeen years later we’re married with two beautiful boys, and every day when I hear him come into the house, I still have to look away to hide my smile. — Kathryn Galloway

Playing Post Office

was working at a local lumber company. One of my daily duties was to pick up mail at the post office at 10 a.m. Jere was always there leaning on the counter nearest to the P.O. box, reading the paper. He would talk with me a bit and sometimes walk me to my car. One night I went to the Five O’clock Club, and he asked to take me home. He stopped his car on the Morganton Bridge, took me by the shoulders and kissed me. He said, “I’ve been waiting six months to do that!” Sometime later he said, “Marry me, I’m the best you are going to do.” That was forty-eight years ago! — Mary McKeithen

The Man With No Name

eptember 1971: Shuffling along with sneakers underneath my feet and a fist full of Twinkies, I was standing in line to pick up a freshman English course at ECU. It was hot and my Twinkies were making me sick. I asked the guy in front of me if he would watch my sneakers as I went to throw the Twinkies away. We talked for over two hours. I picked up my class and we parted ways, only to have him chase me down and ask me to dinner. I told my roommate I had a date and she asked me his name. I didn’t know . . . I never thought to ask him. Later, Phil told me he liked my Twinkies, and we’ve been together ever since. — Judi Hewett

February 2016P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

Stagestruck C

ircumstance plucked a young soldier from the ranks of the 264th Engineers Co. at Fort Bragg and reassigned him to the Fort Bragg Playhouse as the assistant director. Not long after the reassignment, we were producing the musical Carousel. In addition to my assistant director duties, I was cast as Jigger, the villain. During a dress rehearsal I was standing in the wings watching the Dream Ballet sequence when one of the dancers dropped his partner (an SCC student at the time) during the carousel lifts. He did not pick up the poor girl, but continued the carousel movement oblivious to her writhing on the floor. I dashed out and carried her off stage; her knee and ankle were badly bruised, We started talking and continued talking. Three months before I separated from the Army we were married. My mother-in-law liked to say we met on a carousel and were on a merry-go-round ever since. — Rodney Harter

On the Record

was beginning my freshman year at the University at Albany, New York. My friend Cheryl and I went looking for Karl, a cute freshman guy we had recently met. He had gone home for the weekend, so we started talking to his suitemates. I started talking to Tom because I was so impressed with all the records (yes, it was a while ago!) he had. We started talking about music, and ended up talking all night long about . . . everything. We were married four years later to the day and have been married for thirty eight-and-a-half years now. (Your loss, Karl!) — Trish Dykeman

By the Book

had lived in Southern Pines for four months when I met my now-husband. It was my birthday, and my cousin and I were on the couches at Ashten’s. He walked in with son Reed to meet his parents for dinner and joined us for a quick drink. Reed was young and played on his phone the whole time and John and I argued. Then John started buying books at the bookshop, where I work. He would pop into the bookshop and we would have long conversations in different sections of the store. We had our first date five months after we met and our first kiss three months later. John asked me to marry him while we were on a walk, under the Southern Pines sign at the railroad station, less than a block away from where we first saw each other. — Kimberly Daniels Taws

A Fateful Exchange I t was a typical day at the phone company. Then, it wasn’t. A new employee showed up — polite, cute, did I say adorable? I said hi, then kept on walking — heh, I was busy! The buzz on the floor was that he was single — the competition was fierce. Mike was straight out of Columbia University — out of my league. One morning I was drinking coffee and about to discard a fat-inducing chocolate donut when a voice said, “If you don’t want that doughnut, can I have it?” Thirty-five years later we are still in love. — Annie Hallinan, married to Mike Jones

What Mama Wants

y mom and Melissa worked at the same school in Raleigh. Since Melissa was new to the Raleigh area my mom thought it would be nice for her to meet me and for me to show her around Raleigh. So yes, my mom set me up on a blind date to meet Melissa. At first I was not thrilled with the idea because the No. 1 rule of blind dates is that Your Mom Doesn’t Set You Up On One! But then, I thought, what one person in the world knows you better than any other: YOUR MOM! So I gave my mom one chance. When Melissa opened the door to her apartment on the night of our blind date, as soon as I saw her, I knew I owed my mom a huge hug! I was speechless, and people that know me know that is something. Melissa took my heart that night and has had it ever since! — Mike Murphy

Dough-Eyed

ow an esteemed business owner and college professor, once upon a time (in the year 2000), I worked as a manager of a Papa John’s Pizza. One day a handsome young soldier came in needing a part-time job to make extra money. It was love at first sight, at least for me it was. I spent the next several months flirting and asking the young delivery driver/soldier to go out on a date with me. After nearly six months and being stood up multiple times, he agreed, and we haven’t been apart since, except for deployments and schools (of which there were many). Sixteen years later we are still together, married with four children, ages 7, 9, 12 and 18. We have lived in Washington, D.C., Alexandria, Virginia, Columbia, South Carolina, Fort Huachuca, Arizona, Augusta, Georgia, Schweinfurt, Germany, and now finally in Aberdeen, North Carolina. This is the abridged love story of Heather and Kevin Silvis. — Heather Silvis

The Art of the Kill

The ancient field sport of Falconry, in which man and bird become the ultimate hunting team By Serena Brown • Photographs by L aura Gingerich

“

he beautiful thing about falconry is it is the purest of all hunting sports. The playing field is completely level,” said Chip Gentry, master falconer, who had just released two Harris’s Hawks from their trailer. We stood at the edge of the woods. The birds perched on branches above us, tense with the anticipation of an afternoon’s hunting. It was a gorgeous, bright day in late fall. We had come out on a guided hunt, just one of the falconry experiences available through Gentry’s company, Hawk Manor Falconry. Our party was made up of two of Gentry’s clients, who had seen a Hawk Manor falconry demonstration and expressed an interest in hunting; photographer Laura Gingerich and me; and Gentry’s wife, Sommer, and daughter, Charli, who had come along to assist him. Of all the ancient working associations between man and beast, the most awe-inspiring is surely that of the falconer and his raptor. The intrigue lies in the relationship between man and bird. This is nothing like the domesticated work of the gundog, no fawning spaniel, nor happy-go-lucky Labrador. The bird on the falconer’s glove thinks only of the kill that will fill her stomach. It is ferocity not tamed but harnessed. “She doesn’t like me, she doesn’t love me, she doesn’t want me to pet her. And the hunting part of it is more a co-operation and a relationship than it is a bond between us,” Gentry explained. “‘Feed me.’ That’s it. ‘Then put me away and leave me alone.’ That’s all they want.” Yet for all the birds’ indifference and his own cool expertise, Gentry’s respect and affection for his birds was clear. He spoke to them softly, smoothing ruffled feathers, handling them with the deft care of one who has spent years in the company of his charges. Talking of the birds, his speech is punctuated with pitch-perfect whistles, hoots and squawks. Ask him about the birds’ movements and he will mimic them exactly. Up in the trees Eli and Weezy waited for Gentry to move. Harris’s Hawks are social birds, and as such will work together during a hunt. Eli is 13 years old, named for the luxurious dark brown of Elijah Craig whiskey that his plumage resembles. Eluise, Weezy for short, is the grande dame of the mews at 24. That day our quarry was squirrel. The birds kept their eyes on Gentry as we set off into the woods. “I’m their dog,” Gentry explained. “I’m where the action’s going to be. I could be 200 yards away and shake a vine and the bird’s coming that fast. Because they’ve done it enough.” He told us that in the wild a hawk will eat between 2,000 and 4,000 rodents a year. With regard to squirrel, the only training required is in teaching the birds to shift their gaze from the ground to the trees. It is not so

February 2016P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

much training as refining their instincts. “It’s the same thing with people,” Gentry philosophized. “People who walk around staring at their shoes all day like they’re going to change colors any minute, nothing good happens for them. The people you see with their heads up, their shoulders back, positive things happen. So we teach the birds that: Start looking up and good things will happen. And when I say good things — the only good thing to a bird is getting a bellyful.” “If you are familiar with classical versus operant conditioning: Classical conditioning by definition is a stimulus that causes an involuntary response. So Pavlov’s dog — if he rang the bell the dog couldn’t help but salivate.” In this way, if Gentry whistles, the bird will look to his glove: “That’s where food is and the whistle indicates food.” The remainder of the training is operant conditioning — the stimuli are introduced and the action is a voluntary action that produces a positive result. “So now the bird is in a tree and when I hold my glove up and I whistle, the classical part of that conditioning is the bird looking at the glove. The operant part is her coming from point a to point b, that’s voluntary. And the reward is her food. “When we start the training process, they very quickly learn if they follow me and stay with me — they do that voluntary action — and I’m shaking vines, and all of a sudden they see a squirrel where I was and where that vine was shook, so now they catch that squirrel, they get their belly filled and they’ll repeat that behavior.” We set off into the woods, Weezy’s bells ringing into the silence; most falconry birds wear bells so that their falconers can locate them. Gentry had told us that for a square mile every squirrel would know the hawks were there. It was unnaturally quiet. Occasionally a leaf would tatter from the branches. Our footsteps crackled through the forest floor, a strange harmony with the clacking of stick on tree trunk and the rustle of vines shaking through branches. If we saw a squirrel we were to shout out, “Ho!” the traditional alarm for quarry sighted. If unsure where to look, it was best to watch the birds. Following their line of sight, one felt the woeful inadequacy of merely human vision.

We crossed a little creek that swept through green moss and golden leaves. “Ho!” hollered Gentry. “Ho-Ho! Ho-Ho!” Everyone looked to the canopy. A squirrel was racing through the skeletal branches, leaping from tree to tree. Weezy followed with deadly determination. In a silent swirl of feathers and reaching talons, squirrel and hawk dropped to the ground. Weezy mantled over her kill for a moment, eyes blazing, before hopping obediently onto Gentry’s glove for a mouse. “She doesn’t get to eat the squirrel,” he explained. “They’re trained: You catch, you get a reward for what you catch … The birds have to molt every summer and have to eat throughout the year. During the molt they’re not hunting, so everything they catch during the hunting season we just start packing the freezer.” However, Gentry is an accomplished cook: On request he will prepare squirrel for people as well as birds. With one squirrel in the bag and a jubilant Weezy hopping from foot to jingling foot above us, we set off on the next stage of the hunt. Eli doesn’t wear bells; he simply doesn’t care for them. He soared and swooped in the air and dashed from tree to tree, sometimes gliding on ahead, sometimes — if he thought something was worth keeping a watch — waiting a great distance behind us. Then he’d fly on, catching up where he saw fit. Harris’s Hawks’ sociability allows for easy training, but Gentry is careful to avoid the pitfalls of contact too early on. His birds are either wild-caught or carefully raised with their parents at the mews. “I don’t want imprint birds here; it’s just a personal preference … Once they’re imprinted on people you can’t release them back to the wild, number one. Number two, they don’t have that instinctual fear. So if they get upset with you they’re going to take it out on you like they would another bird. Talons to the face. “What we do is called chamber raising. When the babies are born they have no human contact whatsoever until they’re about 16 weeks old. When we go into the pen to catch them they’re just as wild as if we were out in the wild catching them.” We traveled to a different part of the woods and Gentry released Payton, a Red-tailed Hawk. Her hunting style was just as voracious as the Harris’s Hawks’.

February 2016P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

She hunched with infinite patience by squirrels’ dreys, waiting for the tiniest movement that might betray the occupants, ready to exercise her beak and talons at a moment’s notice. Plunging through the bone-white branches, she took down a squirrel with instinctive, practiced ease. At times as we moved through the woods she would saunter along with us, eschewing the trees for a ground-level view. It was rather like walking a wolf. As the paths turned us back toward our starting point, she hopped onto Gentry’s fist and rode there companionably at intervals during the journey back. The two were silhouetted in the early evening light, a partnership of thousands of years. Part of Hawk Manor Falconry’s business involves bird abatement. The nuisance of pigeons or starlings in urban areas, warehouses and suburban lots is entirely dissipated by Gentry’s raptors. “There’re other bird deterrent companies out there. I’m the only one using birds of prey. “Most people you can call and they’ll throw corn that’s laced with a chemical that will kill the pigeons … They’ll sell you noise-makers and fake owls and all that kind of stuff. But I’ve got pictures of fake owls with pigeons sitting on them. You’ll never see a pigeon sitting on my real owl.” After working with Gentry, clients who have been plagued by birds find that years go by without the problem returning. “So it works,” said Gentry, laughing ruefully. “That’s not always that good for me because I’d love for them [clients] to say, ‘Let’s do a yearly contract.’” Education programs, demonstrations and corporate work make up other parts of an astonishingly multi-faceted business. Gentry travels to schools and daily welcomes parties at his mews for in-depth falconry experiences. If a client wants a talking point at their cocktail party, they can rent a raptor as live art. When Eli isn’t busy hunting, he’ll swoop down the aisle at weddings and deliver the rings. And then there is the hunting. The reason we were all there that day, and Gentry’s raison d’être: “I love the hunting part of the sport. Love it. And that’s really where the backbone of what I do came from and where the base of it is.” High up on a hickory branch, Payton spotted movement. She concentrated her vision, bobbing her head in a murderous figure-eight movement. A squirrel made a break from its nest and fled for the refuge of a neighboring tree. The hawk followed, a talon’s length behind. This time the squirrel had the advantage of reconnaissance. It shot up a hollow tree trunk and stayed there. The sporting thing to do was to leave it alone. “They know the rules,” said Gentry of both raptor and quarry. “It’s a level playing field because they’ve got as much chance of getting away as they do of getting caught.” This extends to any other animal he might choose to hunt with the birds: game birds, rabbits and other small game. Evening was drawing in. It had been a splendid afternoon’s sport. We had bagged two squirrels and one had eluded us, not counting the many others who had hidden themselves away. Gentry allowed us to feed the hawks, giving us the opportunity to witness their majestic lines close up, to feel their weight on the glove and the lethal grip of their sinewy feet. The sun had dropped low behind the hills and the trees were turning purple-grey. The hawks flew from glove to glove, eating rapaciously, exuding the savage quality that makes them so compelling. After a few years Gentry releases his wild-caught birds back into the wild. “Red-tailed Hawks in the wild have almost a 90 percent mortality rate their first year of life . . . And the four main causes of death: People shoot them, they get electrocuted, they get hit by cars, and they starve because of lack of habitat. Those causes of death have one thing in common, and that’s us. So when I take birds out of the wild my thought process is, ‘This bird wasn’t going to live much longer,’ and statistically I’m probably right. “So after we teach them how to hunt very effectively and efficiently . . . we keep them three, four, five years — whatever the case may be — I’ll take her and I’m going to release her back to the wild someplace I feel confident she’s going to be safe . . . That’s kind of one thing that I feel like I’m giving back to the sport, maybe. It gives me so much.” PS PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . February 2016

Not Your Grandpa’s Camper Latitude Camper Company: Base Camp Aberdeen Story and Photographs by John Gessner

This ingenious high-tech camping rig does not come packed in cotton. It is a rugged, neatly designed trailer that, according to designer Sean Goggin, was not available anywhere until recently. Moore County businessmen are blazing the trail with this go-anywhere, locally designed and assembled Swiss Army Knife of campers. Think Arnold Schwarzenegger meets The Transformers. PineStraw: Who is involved with the company? Latitude: Latitude Camper Company was established in November by local businessmen Sean Goggin, Jim Saunders and Rick Hall. PineStraw: How did the idea to make this camper come about? Latitude: Sean Goggin, the senior business partner, general manager and designer of the camper trailer, lived in Australia for four years with his family. They traveled the outback and camping areas, often using an Australian-style soft top camper trailer. After returning to the USA, Sean looked into purchasing another trailer, similar to the ones in Australia, but there were none to be found. So he formed Latitude Camper Company and began to design and engineer them himself. PineStraw: What is your demographic for potential customers? Latitude: Family campers, outdoor enthusiasts and off-grid campers. PineStraw: Where are the campers being made, and what other Moore County companies are involved? Latitude: All of the design work, final assembly, and some powder coating and metal work are performed in Moore County. Protech Metals of Pinehurst performs some powder coating and metal work for the trailer. PineStraw: Is there one model or several, and can they be customized? Latitude: Right now there is one basic model, the Everest I. However, two other models are in design and prototype. Our trailers can be customized with a variety of options from our website.

PineStraw: What sets it aside from other campers? Latitude: This is the first production line of Australian-style, soft top, off road camper trailers in the USA. Latitude Campers introduced the Everest I Series camper, built to provide a rugged, simple design that allows the heartiest of campers to challenge the outdoors and enjoy quality camping, with all the comforts and features of home. PineStraw: What are its features? Latitude: Key features and benefits include: Standard: 110v power inverter, 12v DC power, three large storage boxes, stainless steel tailgate kitchen that includes an Atwood double burner stove with lid, 12v water faucet and sink, a preparation table, fully articulating Lock-n-Roll hitch, 18 gallon water tank, powder coating, gas bottle, full spare tire and LED lights inside the tent. Some great options include: Solar power, extra battery, canoe/kayak rack system and much more. PineStraw: How long does it take to set up and how many people are needed to do it? Latitude: Ten to fifteen minutes with two people. PineStraw: Where can it be seen? Latitude: We are located at 303 Fields Drive, Aberdeen. PineStraw: What are your company’s plans for the future? Latitude: Latitude Camper Company plans to grow the business to make the first Australian-style camper trailer available throughout the USA. PS John Gessner is a local photographer and always looking for something interesting to talk about.

February 2016P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

Story of a house

Creature Comforts Dogs shape the life and home of this Southern Pines advocate By Deborah Salomon • Photographs by John Gessner 80

February 2016P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

“If the Queen of England came to visit and she didn’t like the dogs on the couch, she could leave.” 82

February 2016P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

“A

nd the lion shall lie down with the lamb …,” a phrase cobbled from Isaiah, inspired peaceable kingdom paintings by Henri Rousseau, Edward Hicks and others. At A Peaceable Kingdom Farm deep in Southern Pines horse country, Nancy Moore has neither lion nor lamb, although growing up in St. Louis as the daughter of a much-loved physician she rode horses, kept a skunk, boa constrictor and other unlikely pets. “The rule for me and my brothers and sisters was we could have whatever animals we could take care of.” The list starts with alligator. This devotion, however, did not spawn a zoologist, veterinarian or breeder. Instead, after majoring in economics (and studying art in Florence), Moore became a hedgefund analyst/investment banker sought by A-list clients. She lived in a Manhattan apartment, employed a full-time dog-walker, kept a

weekend house in posh Westchester County with one unwavering purpose: “Everything’s about the dogs.” Some residences resemble art galleries — others, magazine layouts. Many showcase family heirlooms. Gadgets trick out $100,000 kitchens. Fitness equipment, theaters with recliner seating, solaria are not unusual in Sandhills’ mansions. Instead, Nancy Moore’s otherwise unremarkable, sprawling ranch-style house has been adapted to the needs and comforts of four mixed-breed rescues — Jilly-Dill, Delilah, Bonnie and Matlock — to the extent other homes retrofit for wheelchairs. Enter at your own risk: Moore suffers animal detractors poorly. “If the Queen of England came to visit and she didn’t like the dogs on the couch, she could leave.” Moore first learned of the Southern Pines equestrian community through the magazine The Chronicle of the Horse. Wall Street had become

Moore insisted on white high-gloss oil paint throughout because the surface reflects bold colors . . . 84

February 2016P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

too hectic so, in 2002, she looked to relocate, telecommute from home and return to New York when necessary. “I read The Pilot for a year. Southern Pines seemed like a good climate, especially since I first came down in April, when the air was crisp and the azaleas in bloom.” Summer proved a shock, softened by an elegant swimming pool with a lapis — not aquamarine — lining. Moore added a floating plank for frogs. But she and the dogs prefer a pond. The house she found was designed and built in 1970 on six acres by Margaret Windsor of Philadelphia, who came for the hunt and stayed. Architectural style didn’t matter to Moore, only that the house was single-

story, spacious, structurally suited to adaptations and with enough land for privacy. The kitchen fireplace was a plus. But Moore’s ideas had contractors raising more than eyebrows. She wanted entire walls removed and replaced with framed glass panes, floor to ceiling, so the dogs could see outside — also a sliding glass door in each room to facilitate exit into the fenced acreage dotted with wading pools. “They tried to talk me out of (the glass),” she says. No view is obstructed by blinds, shutters or drapes. The effect: living outdoors minus bugs and weather. Besides glass walls, skylights and installation of heart pine flooring, little else required adjustment. Moore insisted on white high-gloss oil paint throughout because the surface reflects bold colors, also prisms bouncing

Should the dogs prefer al fresco naps, beds are available on a rear deck stretching the width of the house. off a Steuben vase. Exception: the doggie day room (a former garage, perhaps) with paneling in leprechaun green, her favorite color. Here the four dogs, lounging on low beds, watch deer and visitors approach the brick patio. Box springs and mattresses in the master suite and guest rooms also rest directly on the floor to facilitate canine access. Should the dogs prefer al fresco naps, beds are available on a rear deck stretching the width of the house. The enormous country kitchen with fireplace has new appliances but traditional U-shaped layout and cabinetry. Over the sink, a window looks out upon a fenced-off sanctuary for bird and squirrel feeding, lest the dogs disturb them. Almost every decorative object — from counter-top canisters to paintings and sculpture, even shower curtains — embrace animal themes. Pigs are a favorite. “I love the way they look. Pigs are highly intelligent and sensitive,” Moore maintains. African animal figurines recall her Harvard-sponsored tent safari, where she observed wildlife in its native habitat. She proudly announces that only two of the paintings she has collected since age 12 include human forms. One shows her on horseback, painted by a friend of Jacqueline Kennedy. “My only disappointment is that great artists (of the Renaissance) did people, not animals.” Massive dog-friendly leather sofas dominate Moore’s living room, where her mother’s Queen Anne breakfront faces off against a contemporary sculpture table glowing that same leprechaun green. Beyond, standing alone like a statue, is Moore’s choice piece: a folk-art painted dining room table with turned legs purchased at Mabel’s, a Manhattan boutique specializing in animal themes. Area rugs mix Oriental with fanciful dhurries and, in Moore’s bedroom, an alphabet block print that speaks to her love of children’s things. Equestrian motifs may dominate Southern Pines homes and hunt boxes but Nancy Moore’s single-mindedness outpaces them all. At this peaceable kingdom, dogs rule. “I’m a happy person,” Moore says. With her companions ever by her side at home or in the SUV, “I’ve never felt alone a day in my life.” PS

February 2016P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

The Chinese Year of the Monkey dawns on February 8. People born in a monkey year are gregarious, witty and highly intelligent. Of course they’re also mischievous and fond of practical jokes.

By Rosetta Fawley

Crepe myrtle blooms are said to be lucky flowers for Year of the Monkey people. Late winter/early spring is a good time to plant a crepe myrtle while they’re dormant, so add some to your garden for the Monkeys that you know. Single crepe myrtles make wonderful focus points, or invest in a large number and plant an avenue for a floral, shaded walk or driveway. There’s a wide array of choice out there, from dwarf varieties to 30-foot-high giants. Be sure to choose plants that are appropriate to the space you have available. All crepe myrtles need full sun and good drainage. Even a few hours of shade will encourage mildew. Make sure plants are well watered before you put them in. A little mulch will help them retain moisture as they adjust to their new home. In the long term please remember that it is completely unnecessary – and unsurprisingly also harmful – to prune crepe myrtles back into pathetic stumps each year. If you’re in a city center or your garden is on the miniature side there are small varieties that do well in containers. Acoma is a graceful white tree that reaches about 10 feet tall and will grow in a large container. Pocomoke, a bright pink dwarf variety, gets to about three feet high and wide and makes for a colorful accent when planted in a pot. How about a picnic under the Muskogee? It sounds romantic, doesn’t it? Indeed it is, being a vigorous growing tree with pale lavender-colored flowers and leaves that turn red in the fall. Muskogee is a variety that will top 25 feet if left to its own devices. If it’s the peeling bark you enjoy, look at Tuscarora, Biloxi, Miami and Natchez. Whichever you choose, put it in a good spot for an outdoor feast. If you’re in the market for something in-between-sized, opt for semi-dwarf varieties, which grow up to about 12 feet and come in a glorious spectrum of whites, pinks, reds and purples. Our recent cold snaps and our heavy humidity suggest that those gardening inland might want to look at cold-hardy, disease-resistant types: Try Zuni for gorgeous purple blooms, great fall coloring and that lovely peely bark for which crepe myrtles are famous. Zuni is a hybrid of the subspecies indica and fauriei. The latter is a Japanese subspecies, and perhaps it is no coincidence that the Japanese word for the tree is saru saberi, meaning “monkey slip,” because of that attractive shiny bark.

Here are some Monkeys with February birthdays. There are eight of them listed, because that’s a lucky number for Monkeys. Johnny Cash (February 26, 1932) Charles Dickens (February 7, 1812) Christina Ricci (February 12, 1980) Molly Ringwald (February 18, 1968) Elizabeth Taylor (February 27, 1932) François Truffaut (February 6, 1932) Alice Walker (February 9, 1944) John Williams (February 8, 1932) For a more unusual primatethemed plant, consider Araucaria Araucana, better known as the monkey puzzle tree. Native to Chile, its charming name coined in the eighteenth century by Charles Austin, was who commented of its spiny form that it would puzzle a monkey to climb it. Monkey puzzles are suited to North Carolina’s hardiness zones, being intolerant to extreme cold. They like full sun and even moisture. Their dramatic shape makes a great focal point in a large garden. Keep in mind that they reach over 70 feet tall and have a spread of around 35 feet. They’re slow growers, though, so plant one to puzzle future generations of Chinese zodiac Monkeys. Putting the monkey business aside for a moment: February is the month to start planting vegetable seeds. Keep them indoors or covered until they’re established and spring has sprung. You can sow cabbage, carrots, leaf lettuce, green and bulb onions, radishes, rutabagas, spinach, turnips and dwarf and trellis peas. Tomatoes too. It’s easy for trays to dry out quickly in arid winter air, especially indoors, so do remember to keep soil moist.

In February by Alice Meynell (1847-1922)

Rich meanings of the prophet-Spring adorn, Unseen, this colourless sky of folded showers, And folded winds; no blossom in the bowers; A poet’s face asleep in this grey morn. Now in the midst of the old world forlorn A mystic child is set in these still hours. I keep this time, even before the flowers, Sacred to all the young and the unborn.

To all the miles and miles of unsprung wheat, And to the Spring waiting beyond the portal, And to the future of my own young art, And, among all these things, to you, my sweet, My friend, to your calm face and the immortal Child tarrying all your life-time in your heart.

Arts Entertainment C a l e n da r

Intro to Letterboxing

Monday, February 1 CLASSICAL CONCERT SERIES. 8 – 9:30 p.m. British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor is widely recognized for his electrifying performances, penetrating interpretations, exquisite technique, and ingenious flair for tonal color. Cost: Included in 2015-16 subscription series; single tickets: $30 (if available). Sunrise Theater, 250 NW Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 6922787 or mooreart.org.

Tuesday, February 2—4 PAINTING CLASS. 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. Watercolor. Irene Dobson teaches the use of pigments and water to achieve a loose, transparent watercolor; color theory; and composition painting from photos. Cost: $120. Artists League of the Sandhills, 129 Exchange St., Aberdeen. Info: (910) 944-3979 or artistleague.org.

Wednesday, February 3 LITERARY EVENT. 5:30 – 6:30 p.m. Writer in Residence Monthly Reading. Caroline Burns Bass will be the reader. Weymouth Center for Arts & Humanities, 555 E Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-6261 or weymouthcenter.org.

Thursday, February 4 NATIONAL AFRICAN-AMERICAN READ-IN. 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. In celebration of Black History

Tai Chi Class

Month, community members will read aloud from their favorite selections of African-American literature. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235. SHAG DANCE LESSONS. 6 – 7 p.m. Four sessions for beginners (every Thursday in February). Instructors Nanci Donald and Bud Hunter. No partner required. Please bring shoes with smooth soles. Cost: $30/ resident; $60/non-resident. Pinehurst Parks & Rec, Recreation Room, 300 Kelly Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 295-1900 or pinehurstrec.org. SHAG DANCE LESSONS. 7 – 8 p.m. Four sessions for advanced beginners (every Thursday in February). Instructors Nanci Donald and Bud Hunter. No partner required. Please bring shoes with smooth soles. Cost: $30/resident; $60/non-resident. Pinehurst Parks & Rec, Recreation Room, 300 Kelly Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 295-1900 or pinehurstrec.org.

Friday, February 5 NATURE EVENT. 10 a.m. “Art for Amphibians (For Wee-Ones!)” Part of the “Disappearing Frogs Project,” this event raises amphibian awareness through books, artwork, and crafts. Activities are geared toward 3-to5-year-olds and meant for parents to do with their children. Weymouth Woods-Sandhills Nature Preserve, 1024 Fort Bragg Road, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2167.

Guided tour of “The Battlegrounds” exhibition

LIVE MUSIC AT THE ROOSTER’S WIFE. 6:46 p.m. Doors open at 6:16 p.m. The Kennedys perform. Cost: $10 in advance, $15 at the door. The Poplar Knight Spot, 114 Knight St., Aberdeen. Info: (910) 944-7502 or theroosterswife.org.

Saturday, February 6 LIBRARY PROGRAM. 9:30 a.m. “Take Your Child to the Library Day.” A love of reading and books starts with pictures, stories, and rhymes. Bring your children to the library and sign them up for their first library card. Given Memorial Library, 150 Cherokee Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 295-6022. NATURE TALES. 10 – 10:45 a.m. for ages 2 through 4, and 11 – 11:45 a.m. for ages 5 and 6. “Who Lives in Trees?” Preschool storytime and nature time. No cost for program, but please pre-register two business days in advance. (Admission to garden not included in program.) Cape Fear Botanical Garden, 536 N Eastern Blvd., Fayetteville. Info: (910) 486-0221 (ext 20) or capefearbg.org. NATURE EVENT. 3 p.m. “Nature’s Notebook Hike.” Ranger assistant Lindsey leads a 1.5-mile hike to point out seasonal plant life-cycle changes and teach you how to collect phenological data for your scientific nature journal through the year. (Approx. 90 min.) Weymouth Woods-Sandhills Nature Preserve, 1024 Fort Bragg Road, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2167.

February 2016 P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

ca l e n d a r

INTRO TO LETTERBOXING. 1 – 3 p.m. This class will introduce you to basic terminology and materials used in letterboxing. Basic materials and clues will be given out so you can explore the Garden for hidden treasures. For all ages, but children must be accompanied by an adult. Cost: $5/member; $15/ adult and $10/child for non-members (includes admission). Cape Fear Botanical Garden, 536 N Eastern Blvd., Fayetteville. Info: (910) 486-0221 (ext 20) or capefearbg.org.

SANDHILLS PHOTO CLUB MEETING. 7 p.m. Member Competition on Curves and Spirals. Guests are always welcome. Hannah Theater Center at The O’Neal School, 3300 Airport Road, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-6920 or www.sandhillsphotoclub.org. BOOK LOVERS UNITE. 7 p.m. This month’s discussion is on non-fiction. Bring your favorite nonfiction books to share. Given Outpost, 95 Cherokee Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 295-7002.

POPS: A NIGHT ON BROADWAY. 7 p.m. An evening of modern and classic Broadway with two of Broadway’s hottest young stars, Josh Young and Emily Padgett, along with David Michael Wolff and The Carolina Philharmonic. Call or visit website for prices. Owens Auditorium, Sandhills Community College, 3395 Airport Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 697-0287 or shop.carolinaphil.org.

Tuesday, February 9

LIBRARY CELEBRATION. All day. Take Your Child to the Library Day. Stop in for games and book prizes and enjoy sharing the library with your children. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W Connecticut Ave, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235.

SENIORS DAY OUT. 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. NC Museum of Art. An event for ages 50+. Spend the day enjoying and admiring the art exhibits. The group will lunch at one of Raleigh’s hot spots. Cost: $16/residents; $32/non-residents (cost of lunch not included). Meet at Pinehurst Parks and Rec, Assembly Hall, 395 Magnolia Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 295-1900 or pinehurstrec.org.

Sunday, February 7 NATURE EVENT. 3 p.m. “Siskins & Sapsuckers: Birdy Visitors from the North.” Join a ranger to learn about birds that come to the Sandhills in winter and then take a short hike to look for some of these visiting birds. Meet in the Auditorium, Weymouth WoodsSandhills Nature Preserve, 1024 Fort Bragg Road, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2167. ART EXHIBIT OPENING RECEPTION. 5 – 7 p.m. “Nature’s Prism from Sea to See,” by Donald Parks. Exhibit continues through February 26. Artists League of the Sandhills, 129 Exchange St., Aberdeen. Info: (910) 944-3979.

YOGA CLASS (ADV BEGINNER). 10:30 – 11:30 a.m. (Every Tuesday through March 15). Carol Wallace leads this co-ed course for individuals who have a basic understanding of yoga and wish to advance their skills. Cost: $35/resident; $70 non-resident. Pinehurst Parks and Rec, Recreation Room, 300 Kelly Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 295-1900 or pinehurstrec.org.

NATURE TALES. 10 – 10:45 a.m. for ages 2 through 4, and 11 – 11:45 a.m. for ages 5 and 6. “Who Lives in Trees?” Preschool storytime and nature time. No cost for program, but please pre-register two business days in advance. (Admission to garden not included in program.) Cape Fear Botanical Garden, 536 N Eastern Blvd., Fayetteville. Info: (910) 486-0221 (ext 20) or capefearbg.org.

EXPLORATIONS SERIES FOR ADULTS. 3 – 4 p.m. “Dancing Stories.” Dancer and performer April Turner performs traditional dances, stories, and songs from West Africa that affirm community-building concepts and represent African culture. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or sppl.net.

NATURE EVENT. 5 p.m. Nature Book Club. “In Search of Lost Frogs: The Quest to Find the World’s Rarest Amphibians,” by Dr. Robin Moore, combines narrative and photography to describe his 2010 endeavor that sent over thirty teams across the globe in search of amphibians not seen in decades. (Moore will visit Weymouth Woods on Feb 27. Receive 20 percent off this book at The Country Bookshop.) Weymouth Woods-Sandhills Nature Preserve, 1024 Fort Bragg Road, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2167.

Monday, February 8

Wednesday, February 10

COLORED PENCIL CLASS. 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Beginners’ Colored Pencil, taught by Betty Hendrix for beginners. Students will learn about the various types of pencils, supplies, and application techniques. Bring a small box (24 pencils) of Prismacolor artist quality, regular colored pencils (not watercolor pencils or Verithin pencils). All other supplies will be provided. Cost: $55. Artists League of the Sandhills, 129 Exchange St., Aberdeen. Info: (910) 944-3979 or artistleague.org.

PIZZA PARTY AND VALENTINE CRAFTS. 4 – 5:30 p.m. This program gives young adults a chance to unwind and socialize with their friends. Light refreshments will be served. Cost: $15/member; $30/ non-member. (Must pay club dues in advance to participate. Dues payment covers all 6 sessions.) Pinehurst Parks and Rec, Recreation Room, 300 Kelly Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 295-1900 or pinehurstrec.org.

PUCCINI’S MANON LESCAUT SATURDAY, MARCH 5TH 1PM SPARTACUS SUNDAY, MARCH 13TH 1PM

Thursday, February 11 PATCHWORK LUNCH BENEFIT. 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. “Spin a Yarn with Communities in Schools.” Come enjoy the food, entertainment, and crafting. Cost: $50 and all proceeds benefit Communities in Schools of Moore County. Tickets available at The Country Bookshop, Bella Filati, Linderella’s Quilt Works, and online. Penick Village, 500 E Rhode Island Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 295-1072 or Bryana Nelson at admin@cismoore.org. GARDEN WORKSHOP. 2 – 5 p.m. “Seeds of Knowledge: Grafting.” Participants will learn about the different techniques of grafting woody plants from our director of horticulture and get to practice some of the techniques and take home a grafted plant they produce. Cost: $50/member; $60/ non-member. Cape Fear Botanical Garden, 536 N Eastern Blvd., Fayetteville. Info: (910) 486-0221 (ext 20) or capefearbg.org. GATHERING AT GIVEN. 3:30 and 7 p.m. Dan Maples will be the speaker and will be talking about Old Tom Morris and the Donald Ross and Maples family lineages. This event is free and open to the public. Given Memorial Library (3:30 p.m.), 150 Cherokee Road, Pinehurst; or Given Outpost (7 p.m.), 95 Cherokee Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 295-6022. MEET THE AUTHOR. 5:30 p.m. Ross Howell, Jr. discusses his debut novel, Forsaken, just named a Winter 2016 Okara Pick by the Southeastern Independent Bookselling Association (SIBA) and on sale Feb 1. This story is based on a real life 1912 trial and execution of a young black girl in Virginia. Book signing to follow. The event is free and open to the public. The Country Bookshop, 140 NW Broad Street, Southern Pines, NC 28387. Info: (910) 692-3211.

Thursday, February 11 and 12 PAINTING CLASS. 1 – 3 p.m. “Watercolor on Rice Paper,” taught by Pat McMahon. An exciting new technique with watercolor — drawing on rice paper with a felt tip pen and wax to achieve an awesome effect! Cost: $40. Artists League of the Sandhills, 129 Exchange St., Aberdeen. Info: (910) 944-3979 or artistleague.org.

Friday, February 12 ART EXHIBITION OPENING. 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. “Disappearing Frogs Project.” Through February 29, this amphibian art exhibit displays work by regional and local artists and students to celebrate amphibians and help raise awareness about their global disappearance. Artwork is available for purchase. Museum at Weymouth Woods-Sandhills Nature Preserve, 1024 Fort Bragg Road, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2167.

Ticket s on ! Sale Now

at the

Located in Beautiful Downtown Southern Pines

250 NW Broad Street, Southern Pines, NC • 910-692-8501

ca l e n d a r

COOKING CLASS. 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. “Indian Gastronomy Night.” Join professional chef Sonia Middleton as she brings a little international culture to cooking. Cost: $40/resident; $80/non-resident. Pinehurst Parks and Rec, Program Room, 300 Kelly Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 295-1900 or pinehurstrec. org.

HEART ’N’ SOUL OF JAZZ. 8 – 10 p.m. Golden Globe-nominated actress Molly Ringwald performs in this great jazz experience. Cost: $70, which includes a Meet-the-Artists Dessert Reception following the concert and a chance to win a door prize. Pinehurst Resort, 80 Carolina Vista Drive, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 692-2787 or mooreart.org.

FAYETTEVILLE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA. 7:30 – 9 p.m. “Love Stories: A Date with the Symphony.” Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, featuring FSO’s own Fabian Lopez (Concertmaster), and Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Scheherazade.” Cost: Call for prices. Huff Concert Hall, Methodist University, 5400 Ramsey St., Fayetteville. Info: (910) 433-4690 fayettevillesymphony.org.

VALENTINE’S DAY CELEBRATION. All day. Stop in the children’s area at the Library for special Valentine’s Day crafts and activities. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or sppl.net.

VALENTINE’S DAY BOWTIE BALL. 6 p.m. Sandhills Classical Christian School fundraising event. This exceptional evening includes dinner catered by Elliott’s on Linden, a silent and live auction, music by the Carolina Philharmonic String Quartet, special student performances, champagne and sweets, and dancing. Cost: $100/person. The Fair Barn, 200 Beulah Hill Road S., Pinehurst. Info: (717) 507-5384 or bidpal.net/sccsbowtieball.

Saturday, February 13 MEET THE ARTIST AT WORK. 12 – 3 p.m. Visit with artist Louise Price and learn about her techniques and background in art. Hollyhocks Art Gallery, 905 Linden Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 255-0665 or hollyhocksartgallerycom.

Atrium Antiques Furniture

MAKER SATURDAY. 11 a.m. “Magnetism.” Maker Saturdays allow students to explore technology in a relaxed environment. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or sppl.net. DANCING. 7 – 10 p.m. The USA Dance Carolina Pines Chapter monthly dance. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., free lesson at 7 with Arthur Murray instructor Glen Lovelace, dancing from 8 to 10. Dressy casual. Open to the public. Cost: $10. Southern Pines Elks Club, 280 Country Club Circle, Southern Pines. Info: (919) 770-1975.

Sunday, February 14 NATURE EVENT. 3 p.m. “We Frogs!” Hop on over and discover twenty species of frogs and toads of the Sandhills. In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, participate in a game matching the frogs with their calling mates. This program kicks off the “Disappearing Frog

LIVE MUSIC AT THE ROOSTER’S WIFE. 6:46 p.m. Doors open at 6:16 p.m. “Songs for the Fall,” performed by Geoff Smith. Cost: $15 in advance, $20 at the door. The Poplar Knight Spot, 114 Knight St., Aberdeen. Info: (910) 944-7502 or theroosterswife.org.

Monday, February 15 PAINTING CLASS (OILS). 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. “Follow the Leader,” for beginning and intermediate painters. Joan Williams provides step-by-step instruction in completing an oil painting. Send a clear photo of your favorite dog or cat in the pose you wish to paint to the instructor by February 5. All materials provided. Bring your lunch; dessert provided. Cost: $75. Artists League of the Sandhills, 129 Exchange St., Aberdeen. Info: (910) 944-3979 or artistleague.org. PROJECT LEARNING TREE (PLT) WORKSHOP. 9 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. PLT is an interdisciplinary environmental education program for educators of any background. This workshop focuses on the PLT K-8 Guide and includes hands-on activities and workshop materials at no cost. Please bring a bag lunch and dress for outdoors. Pre-registration by email to beamick@ capefearbg.org is required. Cape Fear Botanical Garden, 536 N Eastern Blvd., Fayetteville. Info: (910) 486-0221 or capefearbg.org.

Encore

BARGAIN BOX II NON-PROFIT THRIFT SHOP

Primitives Collectibles Old Toys Decoys Silver Handmade and Antique Jewelry

Visit us: The Atrium 125 Murray Hill Road Southern Pines Monday - Saturday 10- 5

Bene fits Moore Cou nty Cha rities & Nu rsing Schol a rships for SCC Stude nts Donations Accepted During Regular Business Hours

Tuesday-Saturday 10am-4pm 7299-A, 15-501 in Eastwood (Behind Wylie’s Golf Cart) 910-235-5221

Buying Vintage

Sunshine Antique & Mercantile Company Buy, Sell or Trade Specializing in Primitive & Country Furnishings Thursday- Saturday 10 to 5 Monday-Wednesday by appointment or chance 115 N. Sycamore St., Aberdeen, NC (910) 691-3100 shop • (919) 673-9388 or (919) 673-9387 cells

Project,” which runs through February and includes an exhibit. Weymouth Woods-Sandhills Nature Preserve, 1024 Fort Bragg Road, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2167.

and Military Watches

ROLEX & TUDOR Especially 1950s-1980s era GMT & SUBMARINER WARPATH MILITARY COLLECTIBLES 819 Hope Mills Road, Fayetteville Ed Hicks (910) 425-7000 edhicks82@aol.com • warpathmilitaria.com

Antiques & Newtiques 5336 NC Hwy 211, West End, NC 27376 (at the traffic light)

910-673-2065

Tues-Sat 11am-4pm • Sun 1pm-4pm www.westendpastimes.com

Rustic, Retro, Funky, Shabby Chic & Antique The Vintage Barn Unique Hand Picked Finds 108 McReynolds St • Carthage

919-924-7260

February 2016 P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

ca l e n d a r

Tuesday, February 16 DRAWING CLASS. 9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. “Figure Drawing” (with a live model), taught by Linda Bruening. This class, for both beginners and more advanced students, focuses on body proportions and the relationships between body parts and different body positions. Cost: $40. Artists League of the Sandhills, 129 Exchange St., Aberdeen. Info: (910) 944-3979 or artistleague.org. GROWING AIR PLANTS. 10 – 11:30 a.m. Instructors Linda Hamwi and Dolores Muller lead this workshop about houseplants that can be grown in containers or bowls without soil or water and kept indoors. Take home an air plant and display vessel of your choice. Cost: $25 Horticultural Society members; $30 non-members. (Pre-registration and pre-payment required.) Ball Visitors Center, Sandhills Community College Horticultural Gardens, 3395 Airport Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 695-3882 or sandhillshorticulturalgardens. LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF MOORE COUNTY MEETING AND LUNCHEON. 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. “Medicaid: Close the Gap,” with guest speaker Janet Hoy, LWVNC. The public is welcome to attend, but reservations are required. Cost: $13, payable by check to LWVMC. Table on the Green Restaurant, 2205 Midland Drive, Pinehurst. Info and reservations: Charlotte at (910) 944-9611. JAMES BOYD BOOK CLUB. 2 p.m. Join us in the Library as we discuss The Landbreakers, by John Ehle.

Weymouth Center for Arts & Humanities, 555 E Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 6926261 or weymouthcenter.org. CITIZENS ACADEMY. 6 – 8 p.m. (Light supper at 5:45) This session is conducted by the Southern Pines Planning Dept. SP Police Dept., Police Community Meeting Room, 450 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or sppl.net. Please call the Library to sign up. EXPLORATION TRAVEL LECTURE AND SLIDES. 6 – 7:30 p.m. “An Amazon Odyssey.” This presentation chronicles a family’s eight-year quest to navigate the Amazon River in their 47-foot wooden boat. Free to the public, but reservation requested. Cape Fear Botanical Garden, 536 N Eastern Blvd., Fayetteville. Info: (910) 486-0221 (ext 20) or capefearbg. org.

Wednesday, February 17 TAI CHI CLASS. 10:30 – 11:30 a.m. Wednesdays through March 9. Tai Chi Master Lee Holbrook leads this peaceful workout for people of all levels to increase body awareness, coordination, and longevity. Cost: $21/residents; 42/non-residents. Pinehurst Parks and Rec, Recreation Room, 300 Kelly Road, Pinehurst. Info and pre-registration: (910) 295-1900 or 295-2817 or pinehurstrec.org. NATURE EVENT. 2 – 3 p.m. “Meet the Garden’s Reptiles!” Learn the basics about reptiles and how to identify some common ones in our area, and meet a live turtle and snake in person. Free with Garden

admission or membership. Children must be accompanied by an adult. Registration required two days in advance. Cape Fear Botanical Garden, 536 N Eastern Blvd., Fayetteville. Info: (910) 486-0221 or capefearbg.org.

Thursday, February 18 DAY TRIPPERS. 9 a.m.– 5 p.m. Museum of Natural History and Museum of Natural Science. This program offers teens and young adults the chance to get out and explore various things that NC has to offer. Cost: $16/resident; $32/non-resident. Group departs from and returns to Pinehurst Parks and Rec, Assembly Hall, 395 Magnolia Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 295-1900 or 295-2817 or pinehurstrec.org. PAINTING CLASS (OILS AND ACRYLICS). 9:30 a.m. – 3 p.m. “Paint Like a Flemish Master.” Harry Neely leads this one-day class looking at paintings and techniques by van Aelst, Cuyp and van Eyck. You will start the steps of a Flemish-style painting and paint most of the day. Costs: $43/$48/$52. Artists League of the Sandhills, 129 Exchange St., Aberdeen. Info: (910) 944-3979 or artistleague.org. WINE AND WHIMSY PAINTING CLASS. 5:30 – 7 p.m. Enjoy a glass of wine or beer while painting your masterpiece. Cost: $20/CFBC member; $25/nonmember (includes canvas, paint, brushes, palette, and easel). Wine, beer, and snacks available for purchase. Cape Fear Botanical Garden, 536 N Eastern Blvd., Fayetteville. Info: (910) 486-0221. Register online at form.jotform.com/51666115773964.

Fabulous Finds in Fayetteville

Come see us today to find what you need and sell what you don’t

high cotton CONSIGNMENT

910.483.4296

Silhouette ~ Tom Ford ~ Ferragamo ~ Porsche Design ~ Valentino Calvin Klein ~ Christian Dior ~ Gucci ~ John Varvatos other Luxury Eyewear

www.metrospecs.us

910.221.0191

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

201 South McPherson Church Road / McPherson Square Suite 105 in Fayetteville

Dining Guide ca l e n d a r

LITERARY EVENT. 7 p.m. Staged reading of the Boyd Letters. Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities, 555 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-6261 or weymouthcenter.org. DOUGLASS CENTER BOOK CLUB. 10:30 a.m. Meeting held at the Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376 or (910) 692-8235.

195

FAMILY FUN NIGHT. 5:30 – 6 p.m. “Froggy Fun Night.” Children grades K through 5 and their families are invited to participate in frog-themed games, readings, and crafts while learning about these amazing amphibians and the “Disappearing Frogs Project.” Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or sppl.net. OUTPOST ARTISTRY SONG AND POETRY CIRCLE. 7 p.m. All singers, musicians, and poets are invited for an evening of creative exchange. Bring your musical instrument, voice, and words. Given Outpost, 95 Cherokee Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 295-7002.

american fusion cuisine supporting local farmers

lunch tues-sat 11-3 dinner wed-sat 5:30-9:30 chef prem nath

195 bell avenue southern pines 910.692.7110 www.195americanfusion.com

Friday, February 19 28 Balsamics • 25 Olive Oils

Specialty Oils • Pastas • Herbs & Spices

ThePinehurstOliveOilCo.com 105 Cherokee Rd. • Village of Pinehurst

910.986.0880

FUN FRIDAYS. 5 – 8 p.m. “Karaoke Night.” A group outing for young people ages 14 and up. Cost: $15/ member; $30/non-member. Pinehurst Parks and Rec, Recreation Room, 300 Kelly Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 295-1900 or pinehurstrec.org.

Saturday, February 20 MEET THE ARTIST AT WORK. 12:30 – 3:30 p.m. Visit with artist Charlie Roberts and learn about his techniques and background in art. Hollyhocks Art Gallery, 905 Linden Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 2550665 or hollyhocksartgallerycom.

Restaurant Authentic Thai Cusine

Live Music & Entertainment

Reservations Suggested

Elegant dining in a family-friendly atmosphere, pairing American Cuisine with exotic tastes of Thailand.

Thank you for

10 Great Years! Banquet Rooms Available

Tues - Sat 11:30am-2:30pm • 5:00pm-9:00pm Sunday 9:30am - 1:30pm

910-295-3240 • 910-295-4118 Midland Country Club • Midland Road

www.tableonthegreen.com

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

Smoke Free Environment Lunch

Closed Monday Tuesday - Friday 11:00am - 2:30pm Saturday Closed for Lunch Sunday 11:30am - 2:30pm

Dinner

Tuesday - Sunday 5:00pm - 9:30pm Saturday 4:00pm-9:30pm See our menu on MooCo under Oriental Restaurants

(910) 944-9299

www.thaiorchidnc.com Carryout and Vegetarian Dishes

ART CLASS (INK) 12 – 3 p.m. “Go with the Flow: Basic Alcohol Ink.” Spend a relaxing afternoon with Pam Griner exploring the process of painting with alcohol ink. Learn about different inks and paper and how to create abstract and landscape paintings. For beginners. Cost: $40, supplies included. Artists League of the Sandhills, 129 Exchange St., Aberdeen. Info: (910) 944-3979 or artistleague.org. YOUNG MUSICIANS FESTIVAL. All day. Judging. Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities, 555 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 6926261 or weymouthcenter.org.

Sunday, February 21 EMPTY BOWLS. 12 – 3 p.m. Enjoy soup, bread and desserts from local chefs with live music and pottery demonstrations at this fundraising event to help end hunger. Sponsored by Sandhills/Moore Coalition for Human Care. Call for ticket and sponsor prices. Southern Pines Elks Lodge, 280 Country Club Circle, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 693-1600 or sandhillscoalition.org. NATURE EVENT. 3 p.m. “Tis the Season for Salamanders.” Because many salamanders breed in late fall or early winter, February is a great time to find egg masses or hatching larvae. Come learn about salamanders and their unique life cycles and browse the “Disappearing Frogs Project” art exhibit. Weymouth Woods-Sandhills Nature Preserve, 1024 Fort Bragg Road, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2167.

February 2016 P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

HomeStyles ca l e n d a r

the

YOUNG MUSICIANS FESTIVAL. 3 p.m. The winners of the Young Musicians Festival will present a concert. Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities, 555 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-6261 or weymouthcenter.org. SUNDAY KIDS MOVIE. 2:30 – 4:30 p.m. A military dog from Afghanistan is adopted by his late handler’s grieving family in the U.S., where his close bond with the soldier’s brother leads to a life-altering revelation in this family-friendly adventure. Free to the public. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or sppl.net. LIVE MUSIC AT THE ROOSTER’S WIFE. 6:46 p.m. Doors open at 6:16 p.m. Carrie Newcomer performs. Cost: $20 in advance, $25 at the door. The Poplar Knight Spot, 114 Knight St., Aberdeen. Info: (910) 944-7502 or theroosterswife.org.

ANTIQUES of

Cameron ARTIGA DESIGN Residential & Custom Home Design Technical Drafting Home Additions Historic Renovation 3-D Rendering

Monday, February 22 NATURE EVENT. 9 a.m. Nature Book Club. “In Search of Lost Frogs: The Quest to Find the World’s Rarest Amphibians,” by Dr. Robin Moore, combines narrative and photography to describe his ambitious 2010 global search for amphibians not seen in decades. Moore will visit Weymouth Woods on February 27. Receive 20 percent off this book at The Country Bookshop. Weymouth Woods-Sandhills Nature Preserve, 1024 Fort Bragg Road, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2167. DRAWING CLASS. 6 – 8 p.m. “Introduction to Drawing: A Continuum for the Beginner,” with Sharon Stabile. Five Mondays through Mar 21. Students will learn about key drawing materials, how to create line and tonal drawings, and how to draw basic forms. $100. Artists League of the Sandhills, 129 Exchange St., Aberdeen. Info: (910) 944-3979 or artistleague.org.

Monday, February 22 and 23 WOMEN OF WEYMOUTH MEETING. 9:30 – 11 a.m. Coffee and meeting. The guest will be from Gulley’s Garden Center. Weymouth Center for Arts & Humanities, 555 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-6261 or weymouthcenter.org.

Enrique J. Artiga (910) 315-2710 e.artiga@yahoo.com

ATTENTION REALTORS! offers quick, comprehensive floorplans for your listings! Field Measurements Personalized Sales Flyers Saves you time! We do it for you!

Harriet Dowd-Wicker Medleyannas II

11 Antique Shops 2 Great Lunch & Coffee Spots All in the Historic Village of Cameron Off Hwy 1 Between Sanford & Southern Pines on Hwy 24/27

910.245.7001

www.antiquesofcameron.com

We are busy

feathering our

“new” nest

CHAMBER MUSIC. 8 – 9:30 p.m. The grand finale of the 2015-16 Classical Concert Series features the Met Opera Rising Stars. Cost: Included in the season subscription; single tickets: $30 each (if available). Sunrise Theater, 250 NW Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2787 or mooreart.org. SANDHILLS NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY MEETING. 7 p.m. “Frogs of the North Carolina Sandhills,” presented by Jeff Beane of the NC Museum of Natural Sciences. Visitors welcome. Weymouth Woods Auditorium, 1024 Fort Bragg Road, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2167 sandhillsnature.org. ART CLASS: COLLAGE. 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. “Collaging Out of the Box” with Sandy Stratil. This two-day workshop introduces students to collage using tissue paper, found objects/materials, and photo transfers. No special experience is required. Cost: $105. Artists League of the Sandhills, 129 Exchange St., Aberdeen. Info: (910) 944-3979 or artistleague.org.

Re-opening in March!

Come see us at our new location…

710 S. Bennett Street Southern Pines 910-944-1181 www.one11main.com

PineServices ca l e n d a r Where European Tradition meets Southern Charm

The Bakehouse & Cafe Established 1948

Chocolate covered strawberries and other Valentine’s and special occasion treats

Tuesday, February 23

Giving families

AUTHOR EVENT. 5 p.m. NC author Travis Mulhauser discusses and signs his new novel, Sweet Girl (on sale February 2). The story follows an impoverished 16-year-old girl, Percy, who finds herself in the den of a violent man while searching for her methaddicted mother in the harsh, frozen landscape of the Midwest. The Country Bookshop, 140 NW Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-3211.

a brighter future with

compassionate home care.

Bakery

Tues-Sat 8am-3pm Sun 11am-3pm

Lunch

Tues-Sun 11am-2:30pm

Breakfast

Tues - Sat 8 - 10:30am

910.944.9204 120 N. Poplar St. Aberdeen

24 hour, 7 days a week availability

NC Licensed & Nationally Accredited Home Care Agency

780 NW Broad Street • Suite 410 Southern Pines, NC

Window Treatments • Furniture Lighting • Consultations

910-246-0586

(910) 585-2674 • PINEHURST 20+ YEARS EXPERIENCE

Get Ready for

Yankeegal Landscaping

Winter

OPEN

Mon. - Thurs. 8:30am-6pm Fri. & Sat. 8am-6pm Sunday 9am 5pm

Gif Certifictsate Available!s

since 1995

Garden design, all maintenance, hand pruning Specializing in resurrection of old forgotten gardens Let me bring them back to life for you! Painting, Wallpapering & Wallpaper Removal Reasonable Rates • Free Estimates

910.692.0767 Tuesday - Saturday 10-5:00 WWW.GRACEFULLYRUSTIC.COM

223 NE Broad St. Southern Pines, NC

Will work with your budget No job too small - References available

11085 Hwy 15-501 Aberdeen

910-695-1256

JAM SESSION. 7 – 9 p.m. Acoustical Musicians Group. Acoustical musicians welcome to bring instruments and join in. Bring something to drink and enjoy the music. Public is welcome. Weymouth Center for Arts & Humanities, 555 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-6261.

Wednesday, February 24 PAINTING CLASS (ACRYLIC). 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. “Rocks with overlapping waterfalls.” Andrea Schmidt demonstrates how to give energy to your painting while displaying movement with explosion waiting to happen before your eyes. Cost: $32/$36/$40. Artists League of the Sandhills, 129 Exchange St., Aberdeen. Info: (910) 944-3979 or artistleague.org.

By the Project

New Client Special: 3 privates for $99

YOGA CLASS (INTRO). 9 – 10 a.m. (Wednesdays through Mar 30) Instructor Darlind Davis teaches this course for individuals who are either new to the practice of yoga or wish to refresh their skills through a review of the basic tenets. Cost: $35/resident; $70 nonresident. Pinehurst Parks & Rec, Recreation Room, 300 Kelly Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 295-1900 or pinehurstrec.org.

By the Hour

Pilates • Barre • Suspension

Thursday, February 25

katherine rice, instructor

GARDEN WORKSHOP. 2 – 3:30 p.m. “Seeds of Knowledge: Terrariums.” Learn how to properly care for your terrarium and create an open terrarium to take home! Supplies and plants provided. Bring trinkets to personalize your terrarium. Cost: $35/member; $40/ non-member. Register online. Cape Fear Botanical Garden, 536 N Eastern Blvd., Fayetteville. Info: (910) 486-0221 or capefearbg.org.

Call for appointment

910.690.6548

Pinehurst

studio at plantation house 155 legacy lakes way aberdeen, nc 28315 www.artofmotionpilates.com

910-315-3206 vickieaumaninteriors@yahoo.com

COTE TIMEWORKS Watch & Clock Specialist

STAY CONNECTED – WITH –

HIS & HER WATCHES www.CoteTimeworks.com

910.303.8346

106 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines

www.facebook.com/Yankeegal54 Lindsay Michaels 910-495-5954

YOUNG AFFILIATES MEETING. 6 – 7:30 p.m. The Young Affiliates of Weymouth is a group of young professionals in Moore County that support the centers’ membership, development, and outreach programs. Weymouth Center for Arts & Humanities, 555 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-6261 or weymouthcenter.org.

ART CLASS (INK). 12:30 – 4 p.m. “Ink-Tastic— Intermediate Alcohol Ink” with Pam Griner. Expand your knowledge of working with alcohol inks and discover various painting techniques to create a more advanced look to your work. Pre-requisite: “Basic Alcohol Ink.” Cost: $55 (Supplies included). Artists League of the Sandhills, 129 Exchange St., Aberdeen. Info: (910) 944-3979 or artistleague.org. IN & OUT AT THE OUTPOST. 7 p.m. Local author, columnist, and attorney J.D. “Dusty” Rhoades discusses his new comic heist novel, Ice Chest; why death is easy and comedy is hard; and, most likely, current events, because let’s face it, he just can’t help himself. Free and open to the public. Given Outpost, 95 Cherokee Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 585-4820.

February 2016P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

ca l e n d a r

LITERARY EVENT. Join Scott Ellsworth, historian, professor, and author of The Secret Game: A Wartime Story of Courage, Change, and Basketball’s Lost Triumph, for cocktails and dinner. The Secret Game is the story of a 1944 illegal basketball game between the NC College for Negroes in Durham and the Duke University medical school team. This event is ticketed — call for cost and details. The Country Bookshop, 140 NW Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-3211.

TRANSIT— Family-Owned DAMAGE FREIGHT Since 1966 — A unique, one-of-a-kind furniture store selling new and transit-damaged furniture and new bedding at prices you can afford.

Friday, February 26 LADIES NIGHT OUT. 6 – 9 p.m. The evening includes chef demos, makeovers, product samples, door prizes, shopping, and a salon/spa lounge. Food and beverages will be available for purchase. Cost: $10 advance, $15 at the door. Tickets available in advance at Pinehurst Village Hall or pinehurstlno.com. Pinehurst Fair Barn, 200 Beulah Hill Road S., Pinehurst. Info: (910) 295-2817 or vopnc.org. PRESCHOOL STORY TIME. 10:30 a.m. Author Kathy McGougan and her Jack Russell terrier, Buddy, will share a few of their amusing adventures together, and McGougan will read from her Buddy series. McGougan is a retired teacher and reading interventionist with 18 years of Reading Recovery experience. The Country Bookshop, 140 NW Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-3211.

Saturday, February 27 SENIOR TRIP. 8:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. International Civil Rights Center and Museum in Greensboro. Explore the history of the American civil rights movement with a guided tour of “The Battlegrounds” exhibition. Cost: $20/resident; $40/non-resident. Lunch on your own following. Info: (910) 692-7376 or nc-southernpines.civicplus.com.

BROYHILL UPHOLSTERY PRODUCED IN LENOIR, NORTH CAROLINA 346 Grant Road | Vass, NC | Just off US 1 North (Next to Carolina Storage) 910-245-4977 | Monday-Saturday 10:00am - 5:30pm www.transitdamagedfreightnconline.com

MEET THE ARTIST AT WORK. 12 – 3 p.m. Visit with artist Diane Kraudelt and learn about her techniques and background in art. Hollyhocks Art Gallery, 905 Linden Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 255-0665 or hollyhocksartgallerycom. MAKER SATURDAY. 2 – 3 p.m. “Stop-Motion Animation.” Maker Saturdays allow students to explore technology in a relaxed environment. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or sppl.net. NATURE BOOK SIGNING RECEPTION. 1 – 4 p.m. Join award-winning National Geographic photographer Dr. Robin Moore for a unique presentation of his book In Search of Lost Frogs, The Quest to Find the World’s Rarest Amphibians. Refreshments will be served. Weymouth Woods-Sandhills Nature Preserve, 1024 Fort Bragg Road, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2167.

Sunday, February 28 NATURE EVENT. 3 p.m. “Wiregrass to Wetlands.” Hike with a park ranger on a 2-mile exploration of Weymouth Woods Sandhills Nature Preserve and learn what makes this habitat unique and special for amphibians. Coincides with closing of the “Disappearing Frogs Project” art exhibit. Wear comfortable shoes. Weymouth Woods-Sandhills Nature Preserve, 1024 Fort Bragg Road, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2167.

Maintenance-Free Living

Spacious Cottage Homes from $339,900 3-4BR/3B • Double Garage • Carolina Room Golf Front • Study • Hardwood • Granite Visit Longleaf Sales Office

Furnished Model

Longleaf Golf & Country Club on Scenic Midland Road

910-692-3111 800-522-9426 www.longleaflifestyle.com Lifestyle Communities of NC, Ltd.

ca l e n d a r

WEYMOUTH CHAMBER MUSIC SERIES. 3 – 4:30 p.m. The Ciompi Quartet, founded at Duke University in 1965 by the renowned Italian violinist Giorgio Ciompi, projects the heart and soul of the music in a repertoire that ranges from well-known masterpieces to works by today’s most communicative composers. Cost: Chamber Music season membership: $50/for Weymouth members; $100/non-member. Individual concerts: $10/member; $20/non-member. Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities, 555 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-6261 or weymouthcenter.org. LIVE MUSIC AT THE ROOSTER’S WIFE. 6:46 p.m. Doors open at 6:16 p.m. I Draw Slow performs. Cost: $20 in advance, $25 at the door. The Poplar Knight Spot, 114 Knight St., Aberdeen. Info: (910) 944-7502 or theroosterswife.org. STORYTELLING. 1 – 4 p.m. “First Annual Hunter Stovall Memorial Storytelling Event and Bonfire to Benefit The Sandhills Coalition for Human Care.” Come and tell a story, hear a story, enjoy Wild Fire pizza, coffee, beer, s’mores and more! Enter the storytelling competition. See our Facebook page for more details. Cost: $5 donation suggested. Paradox Farm, 449 Hickory Creek Lane, West End.

Monday, February 29 SIP & PAINT WITH JANE. 5 – 7 p.m. Join resident artist Jane Casnellie for an evening of sipping and painting and take home your own masterpiece! No experience necessary. All materials provided, including a glass of wine. Cost: $35. Hollyhocks Art Gallery, 905 Linden Road, Pinehurst. Info and registration: (910) 255-0665.

WEEKLY HAPPENINGS Mondays PLAY ESCAPE. 10 a.m. Storytime. For all ages. No cost. Play Escape, 103 Perry Drive, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 246-2342 or playescapenc.com. PLAY ESCAPE. 3:30 p.m. Mommy & Me Yoga. For ages 2 and up. Cost: $10 and $8 siblings. Includes admission. Play Escape, 103 Perry Drive, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 246-2342 or playescapenc.com. BRIDGE. 1 – 4 p.m. A card game played by 4 people in 2 partnerships, in which “trump” is determined by bidding. Douglass Community Center, 1185

W Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

Tuesdays—Saturdays SANDHILLS WOMAN’S EXCHANGE. 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. Lunch served 11:30 a.m. – 2 p.m. Gift shop features local artisans’ crafts. If interested in volunteering, call (910) 783-5169. Sandhills Woman’s Exchange, 15 Azalea Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 295-4677.

Tuesdays BABY BUNNIES STORYTIME. 10:30 a.m. This storytime, intended for babies from birth to 18 months, will engage parents and children in early literary practices. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 6928235 or sppl.net. BROWN BAG LUNCH/GAME DAY. 11:30 a.m. Bring your lunch and enjoy fellowship and activities, including card games, board games, and the Wii. The Douglass Community Center, 1185 W Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376. TAI CHI FOR HEALTH. 10 – 11:30 a.m. Practice this flowing Eastern exercise with instructor Rich Martin at the Cape Fear Botanical Garden. Cost: Single class: $15/member; $17/non-member. Monthly rates available. No refunds or transfers. Cape Fear Botanical Garden, 536 N Eastern Blvd., Fayetteville. Info and registration: (910) 486-0221. PLAY ESCAPE. 3:30 p.m. Arts & Crafts. For ages 3 to 10. Cost: $10 and $8 siblings. Includes admission. Play Escape, 103 Perry Drive, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 246-2342 or playescapenc.com.

Wednesdays TAX HELP FOR SENIORS. 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. A.A.R.P. trained volunteers are available at the library all month to assist middle- and low-income seniors in preparing tax returns, free of charge. You must come in person—no appointments given by phone. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235. BRIDGE. 1 – 4 p.m. A card game played by four people in two partnerships, in which “trump” is determined by bidding. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

PRESCHOOL STORYTIME. 3:30 – 4 p.m. Stories, songs, fun, and activities to build skills necessary for kindergarten. For all children through age 5 and families are invited. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or sppl.net.

Thursdays PLAY ESCAPE. 9 a.m. Mommy & Baby Yoga. For ages 6 wks to 12 mos. Cost: $10 and $8 siblings. Includes admission. Play Escape, 103 Perry Drive, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 246-2342 or playescapenc.com. STORY HOUR! 10:30 – 11:30 a.m. For ages 3 to 5. Wonderful volunteers read to children, and everyone makes a craft. Given Memorial Library, 150 Cherokee Road, Pinehurst.Info: (910) 295-6022. MOORE COUNTY FARMERS MARKET. 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. Produce only, fresh and locally grown. Armory Sports Complex, 604 W Morganton Road, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 947-3752 or moorecountync.gov or localharvest.org. MAHJONG (Chinese version). 1 – 3 p.m. A game played by 4 people involving skill, strategy, and calculation. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376. CHESS. 1 – 3 p.m. Don Hammerman instructs all levels of players. You need a chess set to participate. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376. PLAY ESCAPE. 10:30 a.m. Lego Learning. For ages 3 yrs and up. No cost. Play Escape, 103 Perry Drive, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 246-2342 or playescapenc.com.

Fridays PRESCHOOL STORYTIME. 10:30 a.m. Join us in the reading of children’s stories that take you around the world and beyond. Selections are from our current inventory of children’s literature and span the genre, from the classics to the newest imagined stories in print. The Country Bookshop, 140 NW Broad St., Southern Pines, NC 28387. Info: (910) 692-3211. PLAY ESCAPE. 10:30 a.m. Zumba Kids Jr. For ages 2.5 yrs and up. Cost: $10 and $8 siblings. Includes admission. Play Escape, 103 Perry Drive, Southern Pines.

BOLTON HOME IMPROVEMENT Over 35 Years

No Job Too Big or Small Additions • Repairs Free Consultation

4317 Seven Lakes Plaza • West End, NC 27376 910-673-3603 • PO Box 880

www.BoltonBuildersInc.com

boltonbldrs@boltonbuildersinc.com

February 2016 P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

ca l e n d a r

Info: (910) 246-2342 or playescapenc.com.

or pasta). Reservations and pre-payment required. Call for prices and specific menu. The Flavor Exchange, 115 E New Hampshire Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 725-1345 or the flavorexchange.com.

BRIDGE. 1 – 4 p.m. A card game played by 4 people in 2 partnerships, in which “trump” is determined by bidding. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376. FREE COOKING DEMO. 5 p.m. A great way to start off the weekend and get scrumptious ideas. No reservations needed. The Flavor Exchange, 115 E New Hampshire Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 725-1345 or theflavorexchange.com. COOKING CLASS. 6:30 p.m. Chef Maria DiGiovanni leads hands-on preparation of menu items (gnocci, Thai, ravioli, Moroccan, Lebanese, cannolis, or pasta). Reservations and pre-payment required. Call for prices and specific menu. The Flavor Exchange, 115 E New Hampshire Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 725-1345 or the flavorexchange.com.

Saturdays TAX HELP FOR SENIORS. 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. A.A.R.P. trained volunteers are available at the library all month to assist middle- and low-income seniors in preparing tax returns, free of charge. You must come in person—no appointments given by phone. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235. COOKING CLASS. 6:30 p.m. Chef Maria DiGiovanni leads hands-on preparation of menu items (gnocci, Thai, ravioli, Moroccan, Lebanese, cannolis,

To add an event, email us at pinestraw.calendar@gmail. com by the first of the month prior to the event. Or go to www.thepilot.com and add the event to our online calendar.

Show me the LOVE!

February PineNeedler Answers from page 111 Solution:

F E T A

E A R L S

R A S P

I S L E

M A R C

I D O L

T R O O P

E A L A N C O N D E A T O F M I R I G S T R A Y A L E C E H D I A M E O V E N N C A N O N S E T E T H I L H E R A M E M O T S R E N E G

R E E L S

O R E C O T E

M A Y K N A A N H O W M E S A B N D A F P A L S L O T W N E E R W S

V A L E N T I N E

O R A L

W O R K

A N O N

L E W D

P A P A L

S I E G E

N E E D

8 1 2 4 7 6 9 5 3

5 7 6 3 8 9 1 2 4

3 4 9 2 5 1 6 8 7

9 8 4 5 2 3 7 1 6

2 6 1 7 9 8 4 3 5

7 5 3 1 6 4 8 9 2

4 3 5 9 1 7 2 6 8

1 2 8 6 4 5 3 7 9

6 9 7 8 3 2 5 4 1

Arts & Culture

DISCOVER SOMETHING

NEW!

Make your Mark To advertise on PineStraw’s Arts & Culture page, c a l l 9 1 0 - 6 9 2 - 7 2 7 1

AND DON’T MISS

Open through

June 5!

944-3979

Arts & Culture

en •

TUES, MAR 22 | 8PM

r be Exc hange St. • A

12 9

Vivaldi's Four Seasons LEE AUDITORIUM, PINECREST HIGH SCHOOL, SOUTHERN PINES

Classes and Workshops

Grant Llewellyn, conductor Karen Strittmatter Galvin, electric violin Dovid Friedlander, violin Rebekah Binford, violin Elizabeth Phelps, violin Jacqueline Saed Wolborsky, violin

Oil • Watercolor • Drawing and More!

Contact the League for details and to register! www.artistleague.com

Evening class now available!

Introduction to Drawing: A Continuum for the Beginner – Sharon Stabile Mondays 6:00-8:00 PM February 22 thru March 21

Exchange Street Gallery “Nature’s Prism From Sea to

Donald Parks

See”

Opening Reception February 7, 5:00 – 7:00p m Show runs through February 26th

Aaron Jay Kernis: Musica celestis Nico Muhly: Seeing Is Believing Vivaldi: The Four Seasons Tickets are also available locally at: Campbell House | 482 E. Connecticut Avenue The Country Bookshop | 140 NW Broad Street

Tickets on sale now! ncsymphony.org | 877.627.6724

HEART’N SOUL OF JAZZ Starring our favorite 1980s teen queen

MOLLY RINGWALD $70 EACH Includes concert, Meet-the-Artist, Dessert Reception and Chance for Great Door Prizes. Tickets/Information

Call 910-692-2787 or Visit www.MooreArt.org

FEBRUARY 13TH 2016 Concert at 8:00pm • Doors Open at 7:30pm

SATURDAY

Cardinal Ballroom, Pinehurst Resort

Sponsors : American Airlines, Duke Energy, King Fisher Society, Pinehurst Resort, BB&T and Wells Fargo

February 2016P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

SandhillSeen

Jim & Glinda Hildebran

Ron & Lori Walters

Phi Gam Holiday Party Pinehurst, NC Saturday, December 19, 2015

Photographs by London Gessner Dave & Susie Roeder

Jim & Buff Dawson

Stu & Norma Kilpatrick

Rob Menzies, Walter & Inge Hersman Betsy & Nick Pry

Tom & Claire Nacca

David & Barbra Ewing, Rob Menzies, Charlie Eichhorn Bill & Barbara Graning

Lulu & Charlie Eichhorn

Carol & Ted Thomas

Chad & Sharyl Gross

Arts & Culture

RAISING THE ROOF

A VA RIE TY SH OW TO BE NE FIT TH E

SU N R IS E T H EA T ER ANNUAL FUNDRAISER 02/20/2016 FEATURING

FEBRUARY 20

JO GORE BECCA RAE GOSPEL CHOIR BAXTER & FRIENDS

ANNUAL FUNDRAISER

WWW.SUNRISETHEATER.COM FOR MORE INFO

TICKETS: $15 REGULAR SEATING - VIP $20 DOORS OPEN AT 6:30 - SHOW STARTS AT 7:30

910-692-3611 DURING BSUINESS HOURS - 250 NW BROAD ST. SOUTHE RN PINES, NC 28387 SUNRISE PRESENTATION GROUP INC IS A 501-C3 TAX DEDUCTIBLE ORGANIZATION

100

February 2016i��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

SandhillSeen Brushes, Pencils & Clay Campbell House Galleries Friday, January 8, 2016

Photographs by Al and Annette Daniels Tony Hill, Shannon & Brent Decker

Joe & Sarah Smolinski

Lyn Glynn, John Oliver Dale & Duane Erickson

Carolyn Alli, Marge LaVoie

Ron Sickenberger, Skip Ragland Paul Murphy, Katherine MacCrae

Frank Cyr, Laurel Stanell

Joyce White, Laura & Bob Pitts

Nell Judge, Ed Auman

Melody & Alan Curtis

Dave & Kathy Leuck

Susan LaGraff

PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . February 2016

101

Arts & Culture “Off-the-charts energy.” -The New Yorker

“The entire company looks terrific. Clearly, the future is their’s.” -The New York Times

“Wistful and often wondrous in its artful simplicity, Once brims with aching beauty, melody and tenderness.” -The Columbus Dispatch

Thursday, March 3

A Fundraiser for the Arts

Casino games! Live music by The Band PUNCH! Raffle, food & spirits! Friday, February 12 University Center Annex 7 - 11 p.m.

Saturday, April 23

Tuesday, May 3

Givens Performing Arts Center

All tickets on sale now! For tickets: 910.521.6361, or www.uncp.edu/gpactickets Join our Email Club online at: www.uncp.edu/gpac

80th Anniversary

Crown Theatre Fayetteville, NC

Friday, March 11, 2016

The #1 group of the 90’s is back.

For Tickets go to: CapeFearTix.com at 1-888-257-6208 or Visit the Crown Box Ofﬁce:

www.CrownComplexNC.com

Friday, April 15, 2016 Tonight Show Comedy Legend

102

For Info Call:

(910) 303-3996 or (910) 303-3513

www.community-concerts.com

February 2016i��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

SandhillSeen Junior Hunts Moore County Hounds Saturday, December 19 & 26, 2015

Photographs by Diane McKay Stephens Anne Webb, Janie Boland, Tammy Leber

Nancy, Fred, & Julian Dufour

Montgomery Maiello, Dick Webb

Janie Boland, Cindy Pagnotta, Sparky Jones, Mel Wyatt

Campbell Jourdain, Dr. Jock Tate, Colin McNair

David Raley

Shirley & John Gaither

Ginny Thomasson, Neil Schwartzberg, Angela Roual

Laura Lindamood, Caneron Sadler, Tayloe Compton, Shelly Talk

Madison Elliott, Allison Johnson, Jenna Taylor

103

SandhillSeen

Mike & Arwen Elders

The Story of Everything Sunrise Theater Thursday, January 14, 2016

Photographs by London Gessner

Craig & Beth Pryor, Brooke & Geoff Cutler

Paul Murphy, Lisa Gessner

Lois Holt, Deirdre Newton

Aimee Rotting, Nolan Lea

Chandler & Louisa Stewart Cynthia Norwood, Beth Cunningham

Mitch Capel, Jadie Fuson, Shelby Stephenson, Gale Buck

Tony & Victoria Temple Paula & Michael Barrett

Sandy & Jeff Donovan

Eric & Linda Christenson

Betsy & Roger Mitchell

104

February 2016i��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

SandhillSeen

The Pinehurst FORUM Presents The Lettermen Cardinal Ballroom of the Carolina Hotel Thursday, January 14, 2016 Photographs by Al and Annette Daniels

John & Jo Williams

Trudy & Dean Engebretson Lorraine & Bob Tweed

Paula & Perry Youngblood, Kathy & Mike Fiske David Kilarski, Jon DeVault, Teri Kilarski, Martha DeVault.

Ron & Sara Sutton

Jerry & Yvonne Taylor, Judi & Jack Wood

Bill & Carolyn Fitzgerald

Isabel & David Oppen

Brenda Blackwell, Cathy Roofe, Sharon Lawson

Tina & Jack Maisano

JoAnn & Randy Turner

105

THE FAIR BARN, PINEHURST Entertainment 3:00-5:00

African Drum Circle Processional Welcome/Introduction MLK, Jr. Choir Ravon Sheppard- singer SCC “Poetry Speak-Easy “ Murphy Family Mitch Capel, “Granddaddy June Bug”

Children’s Activities

Hay Rides, 2:00-3:00 Photo Booth, 2:00-3:00 & 5:00-6:00 “JumpMoore” Jump Ropers 5:15- 6:00 Corn Hole Putt-Putt Arts & Crafts Horseshoes

Food

Barbecue chicken & ribs Wings • Turkey legs Collard green sandwiches Fried fish • Gelato cups Fruit sticks

Booths

Sandhills Community Action Program League of Women Voters-Voter Registration Early MC African American Jockeys “Southern Culture”- Ray Linville “Moore Memory Lane” Photo Display Moore County 4-H Clubs West Southern Pines Good Food Sandhills Addor Community Habitat for Humanity Town of Carthage Taylortown

Photo: Demus Taylor circa 1946, Taylortown

Sponsored by: Village of Pinehurst, MC Arts Council , Duke Energy, Given Memorial Library & Tufts Archives , ThePinesTimes.com, McDonald’s (The Butler Family), Ward Productions, Karen Reese May- KW Realtor, McNeill Oil and Propane, Cabinetry of Pinehurst, Aberdeen Coca Cola, Pinestraw

T h o u g h ts F r o m T h e Ma n s h e d

The Pinball Wizard Gets a Hillbilly Makeover

By Geoff Cutler

At a recent Sunrise Preservation Group

monthly board meeting, Herb Cameron — the man who, along with the SunEvents committee, brings The Blues Crawl and other great concerts to Southern Pines — said he had gotten onto a bluegrass band called The HillBenders, and that since they were going to be performing in the area, he was going to try to book them for the Sunrise Theater. The HillBenders, he said, do a wicked bluegrass rendition of The Who’s rock opera Tommy.

Blank stares gazed across the table at Herb like maybe all the loud music he’d been listening to all his life had at last backed out a few screws. “You mean, Pete Townshend’s Tommy?” I asked. “Yup, that’s what I mean,” he said, his eyes getting all crinkly like they do when that big smile of his lights up a room. “Y’all probably think that sounds a little nutty, but I’ll send you a YouTube sample, and you can check it out for yourself.” I got home that night and clicked on the link. I listened and thought ... can this be? Are these guys pickin’ a British rock opera, and it sounds as good or better than the original? I kind of looked over my shoulder when I thought this, on account of what I was thinking was bordering on sacrilege. Suppose Pete Townshend’s guitar materialized out of thin air and came crashing down on my head because I was loving on a bluegrass version of his vision come true? Turns out, Townshend, whose twisted squash conjured up the original rock opera some forty years ago, had been sent the master recording of The HillBenders doing Tommy. He loved it. And when The Who played Nashville, The HillBenders were invited backstage. When Townshend came in, he looked around the room at the hillbillies and said, “OK, which of you sang ‘The Acid Queen’?” Songs in Tommy are iconic. They’re the kind of tunes (if you were born some time back) whose lyrics are embedded in your head like multiplication tables. See me, feel me, touch me, heal me ... Listening to you, I hear the music. Gazing at you, I get the heat.

Following you, I climb the mountain. I get excitement at your feet. I was moving to Connecticut to begin secondary school by the time The Who was selling millions of copies of Tommy. In those days, every kid had a stereo. Big speakers, turntables, tape decks, and 100-watt amps. No, we didn’t listen to music on our telephones. And along with our stereos, which could take up the whole ass end of your mother’s station wagon, every kid came with milk-carton crates full of albums. Albums were these things made of vinyl. They looked like Frisbees, only thinner. Music, in those days, wasn’t siphoned off the cloud to a hand-held. You had to have this physical recording. And to get an album, you had to schlep to a music store to buy it. Most of my albums were bought before I had a license to drive, so I walked to the mall for all the latest hit records. And you had to be careful of these things because they were fragile, and easily scratched. If you didn’t soft-cloth wipe them, or keep them in their jackets, they’d skip, crackle or otherwise sound like shit. But that’s the way we listened to music, and I’ll bet there were 200 copies minimum of The Who’s Tommy on campus. This was an unprecedented story told through imaginative music performed by one of rock’s greatest bands of all time. Tommy was one of the albums a generation grew up on. So Thoughts From the Manshed got wondering: How the hell did a group of bluegrass musicians get the idea of covering a British rock opera? Herb and I called up The HillBenders’ producer, Louis Jay Meyers, to find out. Louis was extra generous with his time, and after an hour on the horn with him we found that it was Louis’ idea and germinated when he was a member of a punk bluegrass band called Killbilly. (Punk bluegrass? Who knew?) And as part of that band’s warm-ups and sound checks, they’d often play Who songs. In the back of his mind, Louis had been percolating for years with the idea of a bluegrass band doing Tommy, but Killbilly, and most other hillbilly bands he’d heard, just weren’t right. “Nobody had the huge voice of The Who’s lead singer, Roger Daltrey. And then I stumbled across The HillBenders. I knew in twenty seconds listening to lead singer Nolan Lawrence, I’d found my Roger Daltrey.” When you hear banjo, dobro, mandolin, bass and guitar doing Tommy at the Sunrise — oh … did I mention The HillBenders are booked for one night only? April 1 — you are going to hear something truly unique and amazing. The match-up between Nolan Lawrence’s operatic voice, and Chad Graves’ dobro bring such a fresh, accurate, and beautifully melodic interpretation to Pete Townshend’s rock opera, you’re just not going to believe your ears. See you at the Sunrise! PS Geoff Cutler can be reached at geoffcutler@embarqmail.com.

107

Easy d ical! annom Eco 90 plus MPG

Drivers License Not Required

Mon-Sat, 10am - 5pm 910-246-0387

Scooters ATV’s Dirt Bikes Helmets & Goggles Professional Repair

J&B

TRADING

1515 US Hwy 1 South Southern Pines

Cranial Scarring Alopecia Areata Trichotillomania Menopausal Disorder Men’s Hair Loss CALL FOR FREE CONSULTATION!

BEFORE

AFTER

TESLA

HAIR REPLACEMENT CLINIC

Anna Rodriguez

125 Fox Hollow Road, Suite 103 Pinehurst, NC 28374 910-684-8808 | 919-418-3078 | teslahrc@gmail.com Confidentiality is ensured.

Polka Dot Heart by Pippin

Your choice for

NEEDLE ARTS IN THE SANDHILLS!

910-295-3727 • www.moorethanneedlepoint.com 850 Linden Road • Pinehurst, NC Tuesday-Saturday 10:00am-4:00pm

108

February 2016i�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

T h e A c c i d e n ta l A st r o l o g e r

Fault Lines

My obsession with monkeys’ paws and rattails By Astrid Stellanova

According to the Chinese zodiac, the Year of the Monkey begins

officially on February 8. Let me also share another astrological tidbit. According to my Eastern mystical sources, those born in the Year of the Monkey are attracted to Rat people. I don’t know if this explains my attraction to Beau, who is a true Rat person, but it sounds about right to my ear. After all, I do have the famous Monkey mind, which is why my business ideas are prone to fizzle before they get going. Shakespeare was wrong. The fault lies in our stars, dear readers. — Ad Astra, Astrid

Aquarius (January 20–February 18) When the New Year rang in last month, you had a sobering time (well, didn’t we all, Sugar?) making sense of the previous evening. Some of your actions took you by surprise. Some of them took everybody at the party by surprise. In the heartache department, seems you set your cap for someone who is a hard dog to keep on the porch. Let’s just say give them free rein and see if they’re truly worth the worry. As Grandpa H. says, if that dog caught the car it couldn’t drive it anyway. They may not deserve you; you definitely deserve every good thing. Give yourself the kindness you grant others all year long. Pisces (February 19–March 20) When you finally realized what your true purpose in life is, you grew as sober as a Mormon preacher on Sunday morning. It has been a time of awakenings for you, Muffin, and some of them were rude. You have all the skills to cope; your true journey will take you places you never expected to go, doing things you never foresaw. Fasten your seat belt. Aries (March 21–April 19) You’re the first person friends turn to when they want to whine and dine, because your first inclination is to entertain and make others laugh. But what you need most is to surround yourself with a few truth-tellers who will help you on your soul’s journey. You don’t need an audience; you need counsel and a better road map for the quest ahead. Taurus (April 20–May 20) One thing you will like about 2016 is that money comes easier than normal for you. In fact, you are going to find yourself with enough greenbacks to burn a wet mule. The fat bank account you are going to enjoy is not going to compensate for some of the worries you have had, but it sure as the dickens will make them a little lighter. Gemini (May 21–June 20) You happen to befriend someone who is about as country as a bowl of grits this month; they wind up being a lot wiser than they sound and have some important wisdom to share. If you can keep your smarty-pants ego in check, you will be the wiser for it. They are a real gift from the universe, Baby. Cancer (June 21–July 22) Mama had a saying that I have never gotten over: Good girls don’t tat, smoke, chew, or date boys who do. Well, I’ve broken at least two of those rules. Does that make me a bad girl? Does breaking the social rules make anyone bad? I say it’s high time we all were less judgmental and more tolerant. You probably know exactly why I’m saying so, Honey.

Leo (July 23–August 22) You’re just a sittin’ duck on the water and somebody has you in their sight line. Who have you trusted that didn’t deserve it? And how come you keep paddling out to the same pond? Your chart suggests this is unusual — if anything you are normally slow to trust others. Examine your motives, my Ducky. Virgo (August 23–September 22) Child, in my family, we have a running joke about the three-legged dog who traveled a minute in thirty seconds. But you are no joke — you are faster to the draw and the first to connect the dots this month. In business, this is going to give you a real advantage. In relationships, you will hold the aces and stun yourself. Libra (September 23–October 22) You are admired, and feared, for your integrity. But someone in authority needs to think they have the upper hand over you, even though they don’t, Sweet Cakes. This may require you to be a little careless with the truth and excessive with praise. To work, let me offer you this: Flattery is best laid on with a shovel, not a hand trowel. Scorpio (October 23–November 21) Everybody else sees it: Someone close to you never tires of singing their own praises. This poor soul is about as loud as a rooster and subtle as a bag of hammers. What they want most is your approval. Give in, Sugar. In order to have a little peace, let them know you hear them and stroke their frail little ol’ tail feathers and sagging ego. Sagittarius (November 22–December 21) Pepsi or Coke? Oreos or chocolate chip? Bourbon or beer? Why do we want what we want? And is there a right or wrong preference? Honey, it’s wonderful to say what we require in life, and don’t fear stating your wants, needs, or likes. It isn’t necessary to deny yourself of whatever floats your boat — stake your claim. Capricorn (December 22–January 19) A surprising journey is going to take you to some conclusions you don’t even have to jump to get to — this time they are real ones, as a matter of fact. This adventure could change old ideas about yourself, and open something new. Or, you can avoid change altogether and get more of what you already have. Ask yourself: Do you like the status quo that much? PS 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.

109

the

CLOTHES HORSE

Sweater by Elliott Lauren

Featuring

FRANK LYMAN JOSEPH RIBKOFF MING WANG TRIBAL SPORTSWEAR AND MANY MORE!

Casual to Dressy

CELEBRATING WOMEN OF ALL AGES!

LADIES CLOTHING & ACCESSORIES • Beside The Fresh Market • 163 Beverly Lane, Southern Pines, NC 28387

910.693.2111

Monday-Saturday 10am-5pm facebook.com/ClothesHorseofSPines

110

February 2016 i�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

February PineNeedler me the LOVE! Show Me the Show Love 1

21 25

22 26

29 35

37 41

49 51

58 65

60 66

8 5

ACROSS

39 40 41 43

27 29 32 35 38

1 5 10 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 22 24 25

2 4 9 4 1

lavish party Warning bell affirm Make money _____Island, ny Corn syrup brand Plodded eroded Winged standoffish Italian city deer relative small bunch of thyme or rosemary Glittered brightly homeless animal steel, for example Japanese staple southern Pines brewery offering ___ Women, roman Captured Fire remains February gift today in time

5 3

5 6 1 3 8 4 1 7

ACROSS 1 Lavish party 5 Warning bell 10 Affirm By Mart Dickerson 14 Make money 8 9 10 11 12 13 6 rich dirt 15 _____Island, NY 16 Corn syrup brand 7 negative (prefix) 16 Plodded 8 brings in a17fish 19 18 9 talking bird Eroded 19 Winged 10 Precedes an alias, abr 23 24 20 Standoffish 11 February gift 27 28 22 Italian city 12 spoken 24 Deer relative 32 33 34 13 labor 25 Small bunch of thyme or 21 ____ and able 39 rosemary 23 Wanderer27 Displayed 42 43 26 Wheat, ie 29 Homeless animal 28 spider's net 47 32 Steel, for example 30 ___ ___ carte 35 Japanese staple 50 31 asian nation 38 Southern Pines Brewery 33 soon 54 55 56 offering 34 obscene 39 ___ women, Roman 61 62 63 35 File captured 67 68 40 Fire remains 36 ____of Wright 41 February gift 37 February gift 71 43 Today in time 39 Metal fasteners 74 44 Untidy person 41 thick, as fog 46 Historic period 42 Miner's yield 47 Ward off Puzzle answers on page 9745 Moving truck 48 Pie nut Mart Dickerson lives in Southern 144 untidy person 47 February gift 49 Asian nation Pines and would welcome any 50 alternative (abbr.) historic period 3 246 51 Beginning suggestions from her fellow 52 puzzle sleep anesthetic 47 Ward off 54 Sloshes, or pigs’ foods masters. She can be reached53at Motif 48 Pie nut 57 Cubic centimeter, abbr. gdickerson@nc.rr.com. 55 of the pope 49 asian nation 59 Moral principle 56 Military attack 51 beginning 62 Huckleberry Finn author 57 artist Chagall 54 sloshes, or pig.s foods 64 Eden dweller 58 teen hero66 Blue ___, water bird 57 Cubic centimeter, abr. out sword 60 take the wrinkles 59 Moral 68 Dueling 2 principle 61 dove coop69 Decays 62 huckelberry Finn author Fill in the grid so 63 require 70 Act out anger, hatred or glee 64 eden dweller every row, every 65 Chinese flavoring, 66 blue ___, water bird 71 Furyabr. column and every 6 768 dueling sword 67 not old 72 Horse fly 3x3 box contain 73 Regenerate decays 8 69 the numbers 1–9. 74 Luge 70 act out anger, hatred or glee

Sudoku:

71 72 73 74

DOWN 1 Soft cheese from Greece 2 Noblemen 3 Boy Scout unit 4 Back, as a candidate 5 Card above King 6 Rich dirt 7 Negative (prefix) 8 Brings in a fish 9 Talking bird 10 Precedes an alias, abbr. 11 February gift 12 Spoken 13 Labor 21 ____ and able 23 Wanderer 26 Wheat, e.g. 28 Spider’s net 30 ______ carte 31 Asian nation 33 Soon 34 Obscene 35 File 36 ____of Wight 37 February gift 39 Metal fasteners 41 Thick, as fog 42 Miner’s yield 45 Moving truck 47 February gift 50 Alternative, abbr. 52 Sleep anesthetic 53 Motif 55 Of the pope 56 Military attack 57 Artist Chagall 58 Teen hero 60 Take the wrinkles out 61 Dove coop 63 Require 65 Chinese flavoring, abbr. 67 Not old

Fury horse fly regenerate luge

DOWN 1 2 3 4 5

soft cheese from Greece noblemen boy scout unit back, as a candidate Card above King

111

southwords

Home Cured

By Joyce R eehling

His hat came over the

hill before I saw him. His fineboned and handsome face atop a thin body always in overalls. He had big hands. These hands did hard garden work on his own farm and for others. The long and elegant fingers of those hands could cure bacon and hold the reins of horses that pulled the plow that broke the ground for our garden. Those big hands could hold a little girl’s to teach her how to drop a line in the stream to catch wee little fish that would mean she could while away a day dreaming.

John Howard would walk around town to let folks know his bacon was just about ready to buy. He had a way about him. Languid but never lazy, with a loping walk that got him where he needed to go, he seemed, at least to me, to be taking all of life in. He called my twin and me “half a dozen girls” because we talked enough for six. He missed nothing but often said little. He had a wonderful wife, Coralethia (a name I had never heard before or since), who was petite in height with a Pouter Pigeon chest. She was always in a dress, her hair up and tidy. She hugged you into her bosom and through her amplitude you got warmth and love. Together the Howards fostered more than thirty children over the years. Once I went over to play with some of the kids. We ran under fences and jumped from the hayloft, and I tore the seam in my brand-new sweatshirt. I ran crying to Mrs. Howard, who promptly stitched it up and swore my mother would never know. When I went back out, she called my mom to explain. Mom never mentioned it until years later. Mrs. Howard’s house was simply the cleanest house I have ever seen and, given the number of kids running in and out, I cannot imagine how

112

she did it. She canned and cooked and cleaned. She was a pillar of the church. And she watched out for John, who was known to take a nip from time to time. He wore a crumpled and dusty fedoralike hat, which enhanced his style and dignity. John was a mocha color. He claimed that he was part Cherokee. His beautiful face with high cheekbones led me to believe him. I had such love for these kind people. They lived across the road in what was called the Black Settlement. It had sprung out of free blacks having settled there, owning the land and having farms, houses, a church and a life. This was Maryland in the ’50s, and such places existed. We lived across the road and down a long lane. I remember as I grew up that John would wax more and more philosophical, often about finding the right man in my life. “You bring him t’me and we’ll talk and then I’ll tell ya if he is right. You need a good man or have a bad life.” I wish he had met my first husband; he could have saved me a lot of time and money. He would’ve loved my darling husband of today. A straight shooter with a big heart, he is right up John’s alley. And he loves good bacon. John died many years ago. He went out of the house after dinner, sat on his glider and just fell over. It hit a lot of folks hard, Coralethia the hardest. His death broke my heart. We went to the funeral in their church across the road, nearly the only white folks there. We walked up the center aisle to the open casket. I simply did not recognize him. No hat and in a suit. My sadness was magnified by not seeing the man I loved dressed as he was in life, but gosh, he looked handsome in this Going Home outfit. The weeping and wailing that day was a wonder; nothing was held back. Everyone there mourned from the top of their heads to the tips of their toes and it taught me to let grief out, his last lesson for me. Every year coming into winter, when I begin to crave bacon and a wood fire, I think of John Howard and his beautiful soul, and those slabs of bacon the like of which no one has ever equaled. I wish his was still just about ready. PS Joyce Reehling is a veteran actor of stage and screen and an old friend of PineStraw.

February 2016i�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

Illustration by Meridith Martens

A paean to the finest of folk and the very best bacon

In loving memory of George Wesley “Wes” Parker Jr. May 14th, 1974 - December 26th, 2015

Buyer, Purveyor & Appraiser of Fine and Estate Jewellery 229 NE Broad Street • Southern Pines, NC • (910) 692-0551 • in-House Repairs

STEWART CONSTRUCTION

THE DIFFERENCE IS IN THE DETAILS

Quality is not expensive but it is priceless. Our standards mean more value for you.

Call us today to discover the difference.

Look for the “Mark” of a Great Builder 910-673-1929

mark@stewartcdc.com