February PineStraw 2023

PINEHURST • $869,500

110 HIGH POINT

Stunning, custom brick 4 BR / 3.5 BA home in prime location. Brilliantly remodeled with lots of high-end finishes and exquisite detail throughout.

PINEHURST • $419,000

330 SUGAR PINE DRIVE

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

SEVEN LAKES WEST • $1,125,000

105 BANCROFT COURT

Luxurious, 4 BR / 4/5 BA home situated on a marvelously landscaped lot off the 4th green of the Beacon Ridge CC golf course.

PINEHURST • $945,000

10 BECKETT RIDGE

Impeccable, 4 BR / 3.5 BA waterfront home with an open design and amazing view from nearly every room in the house! Transferrable PCC Membership!

CARTHAGE • $439,000

522 ABBEY ROAD

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

JACKSON SPRINGS • $499,900

32 WOODLAND CIRCLE

This charming, 4 BR / 3 BA home is situated nicely on a corner lot in the beautiful golf community of Foxfire Village.

JACKSON SPRINGS • $489,000

6 DICKINSON COURT

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

PINEBLUFF • $385,000

201 ERFIE DRIVE NORTH

Beautiful two-story, 3 BR / 2.5 BA home on a double lot in private location in the lovely Pines community. Home offers bright, open floorplan.

PINEHURST • $525,000

66 PINEWILD DRIVE

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

Photogra Ph this Page by todd P usser

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Remember Your Valentine With A Gift Card On February 14

MAGAZINE

Volume 19, No. 2

David Woronoff, Publisher david@thepilot.com

Andie Stuart Rose, Creative Director andiesouthernpines@gmail.com

Jim Moriarty, Editor jjmpinestraw@gmail.com

Miranda Glyder, Graphic Designer miranda@pinestrawmag.com

Alyssa Kennedy, Digital Art Director alyssamagazines@gmail.com

Emilee Phillips, Digital Content emilee@pinestrawmag.com

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Jim Dodson, Deborah Salomon

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS

John Gessner, Laura L. Gingerich, Tim Sayer

CONTRIBUTORS

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

ADVERTISING SALES

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

Samantha Cunningham, 910.693.2505

Kathy Desmond, 910.693.2515

Jessica Galloway, 910. 693.2498

Terry Hartsell, 910.693.2513

Erika Leap, 910.693.2514

ADVERTISING GRAPHIC DESIGN

Mechelle Butler, Scott Yancey

ADVERTISING COORDINATOR

Rebah Dolbow • pilotads@thepilot.com

PS

Henry Hogan, Finance Director

910.693.2497

Darlene Stark, Circulation Director

910.693.2488

SUBSCRIPTIONS

We will be open Valentine’s Day from 12-5 Sun-Mon: Closed. Tues: Private Appointments Only. Wed-Fri: 12-5. Sat: 12-4. Email info@knickers-lingerie.com or call 910-725-2346 150 E. New Hampshire Ave Southern Pines, NC 28387

910.693.2488

OWNERS

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

In memoriam Frank Daniels Jr.

145 W. Pennsylvania Avenue, Southern Pines, NC 28387

www.pinestrawmag.com

$1,950,000

7 bed • 5 bath | MLS 100352455

Julia Lattarulo (910) 690-9716

Jennifer Nguyen (910) 585-2099

Nestled in the heart of the Village of Pinehurst, The Cottage Colony School House is steps away from shops, restaurants, and the famous Pinehurst Resort and golf courses. This beautiful home has been lovingly renovated and remodeled throughout with original heart pine floors, updated windows, and more.

$599,000

3 bed • 4 bath

Debbie Darby (910) 783-5193

MLS 100354707

You won’t believe the space and storage in this Middleton Place Townhome! Single level with a finished basement plus an additional in-law suite off garage with an 597 aditional square feet. Enjoy the versatility that this amazing home offers!

$325,000

3 bed • 2/1 bath

Jennifer Nguyen

(910) 585-2099

Stacey Caldwell

(910) 391-4199

MLS 100346763

Enjoy southern living from this rocking chair front porch. Wood floors flow throughout the home. Relax on the covered porch that overlooks a beautiful backyard for everyone to enjoy. This home is in a perfect location! It is centrally located to all shopping and restaurant amenities.

$1,355,000

4 bed • 5 bath

Debbie Darby (910) 783-9716

MLS 100360852

Get whisked away to another time and place upon entering this charming country estate. Fondly named Buttonwood, the nickname for the American Sycamore Tree. This unique home was built in 1930, and is filled with cherished details of heart pine, oak and brick flooring, high ceilings, detailed moldings, and discoveries around every corner. Sitting on over two acres, the entire property is fenced with electric gate. An in-ground salt water pool and pool bath offer a relaxed lifestyle with versatile outdoor spaces.

81 Stoneykirk Drive, Pinehurst

$575,000

3 bed • 2 bath

Marie O’Brien (910) 528-5669

Beautiful one-level home in Pinewild! This spacious three bedroom, two bathroom home is nicely situated on .81 acres.

1290 E Indiana Avenue, Southern Pines

32 Ashley Court, Southern Pines

205 Cherokee Road, Pinehurst

15 Dry Springs Court, Cameron

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Where Does the Light Go?

Reflections on a beloved friend’s passing — and growing older

by Jim dodson

In an early time, according to the late Irish bard and spiritual thinker John O’Donohue, Medieval mystics loved to pose the beguiling question: Where does the light go when the candle is blown out?

I couldn’t help but think of this conundrum one recent Saturday morning as I sat in a pew of the First Presbyterian Church in downtown Atlanta, having taken a redeye flight from Los Angeles in order to attend a dear friend’s funeral service.

Celetta Randolph Jones — Randy as she was affectionately known by hundreds, if not thousands of people — was one of my oldest and closest friends. She walked into my life in 1977 at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution two days after I arrived at the oldest Sunday magazine in the nation. Editor Andy Sparks believed we needed to meet because we were both single, students of American history and Randy knew the city like the back of her most elegant hand.

I’d just turned 24, a wide-eyed bumpkin from North Carolina. Randy was almost 30, the sophisticated media officer of The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation. I think perhaps Editor Sparks believed sparks might fly between us, which they did. Just not the kind he envisioned.

We discovered instead a friendship for the ages. During my nearly seven years in Atlanta, Randy became my frequent dinner companion during which no subject was out of bounds

— God, politics, my literary ambitions and her string of colorful boyfriends who could never keep up with her. By the time my career carried me off to New England, Randy had started her own public relations firm and was quickly becoming a megastar representing the likes of Coca-Cola, British Airways and dozens of other A-list regional and international clients. Despite the distance, our friendship only deepened and grew. When my daughter, Maggie, was born in 1989, Randy, who never married, was delighted to become my daughter’s godmother. She came to New England and North Carolina many times for holidays and family occasions, and I never failed to stay with her whenever I passed through Atlanta. She truly was one of the great lights — and gifts — of my life.

It was lovely to learn from the words of remembrance from her adoring brothers, Harry and Powell Jones, that “Aunt Randy” actually had a dozen or more godchildren she faithfully lavished attention and wisdom upon over the decades, even after a freakish illness destroyed her immune system and forced her to sell her thriving company. She moved to a high rise apartment in Atlanta’s Four Seasons Hotel where she became a tireless fundraiser for Emory University Hospital, The Woodruff Arts Center, her church and many other charities. According to brother Harry, everyone in the building, from the hotel doorman to her neighbor, Charles Barkley, considered Randy their best friend. Her generosity to friends and strangers alike knew no bounds.

SIMPLE LIFE

I saw Randy a month or so before she passed away. She was frail but mentally vibrant and connected to people as ever, wanting to hear about my latest book project and her goddaughter’s life in L.A. We sat together for almost two hours. When I got up to go and bent to kiss her cheek, she remarked, with her wonderful, sultry, deep Georgia accent, “We have traveled pretty far together, haven’t we?”

“And we’re not done,” I replied. “You helped light the way.”

She patted my hand. “Don’t worry. That light will never go out.”

I think she knew we would never see each other again in this world. But had no doubt whatsoever about the next.

So where does the light go when the flame is blown out? I’ll leave that debate to the Medieval mystics and take my friend Randy at her word that the light will never go out.

The passing of one you love, however, inevitably calls up thoughts of your own brief mortality.

This month, with not a lot of fanfare, I reach my Biblically proscribed threescore years and ten, a phrase popularized by Psalm 90, which was read at Randy’s service. Seventy was considered a ripe old life in ancient times.

Fortunately, I have two best buddies — Patrick and Joe — who are also reaching 70 around the same time I am: Joe in January, Patrick in March. At our regular luncheons of the Stuffed Potato Philosophy & Adventure Club, we often talk about how pleased we are to be “older” dudes who are still working at jobs we love and appreciating life more than ever. True, body parts don’t work

as fluidly as they once did, but it’s amazing what we never worry about anymore, including death, taxes, career ups and downs, and the inevitability of growing older. This spring, Patrick and I plan to celebrate 58 years of playing golf together in America and Britain by setting off for a final roving match across Ireland, Scotland and England for perpetual bragging rights. Our legs may grow weary, but, I assure you, not our spirits.

A recent study shows that we are not alone, revealing that the vast majority of older Americans are as happy — and busy — as they have ever been in American society. As anti-ageism activist Ashton Applewhite recently pointed out in her outstanding TED Talk, older people tend to become more optimistic as they age, worry far less than younger folks, and really only have two things to be concerned about — that someday the people you love will die, and that parts of your body will eventually quit working. Fear of death doesn’t even make the list. Remaining open to new adventures and connected to people turns out to be a path for a long and meaningful life. Applewhite calls it the U-Curve of Happiness.

Was it simply the hand of sweet synchronicity that I happened to hear her inspiring TED Talk on the radio during the long drive home to North Carolina following Randy’s memorial service, or maybe something only a mystic could explain?

I’ll probably never know. But in the meantime, I’ll happily follow the flame wherever it leads next. PS

If you want to KNOW Pinehurst,

much more. $1,895,000

PinePitch

Think Tank Thoughts

The James E. Holshouser Jr. Speaker Series will host Mike Howell, director of the Heritage Oversight Project, for “An Afternoon with the Heritage Foundation,” from 2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 5, at BPAC’s Owens Auditorium, 3395 Airport Road, Pinehurst. The event features updates from a leading conservative public policy think tank, including a presentation on the border situation between the U.S. and Mexico. For information and tickets, go to www.ticketmesandhills.com.

Southern Gothic in the Sandhills

Painted Ponies Running Wild — Again

They may not be Misty’s foal, Stormy, but you’re sure to fall in love with more than one of Broad Street’s very own wild horses. These 14 painted beauties will be decorating the town of Southern Pines until early April to capture the imagination of the horse-crazy among us. The event culminates in a live online auction of the ponies on Saturday, April 15, with proceeds benefiting the Carolina Horse Park Foundation. Last year’s herd brought in over $125,000. Info: www.carolinahorsepark.com.

No Strings Attached

Get in the Valentine’s spirit with music that’s good for the heart and soul. On Thursday, Feb. 2, at 7:30 p.m., the North Carolina Symphony will perform Felix Mendelssohn’s String Symphony No. 7 at Robert E. Lee Auditorium, 250 Voit Gilmore Road, Southern Pines. It’s one of 12 string symphonies Mendelssohn wrote between the ages of 12 and 14. Busy boy. For more information, go to www.ncsymphony.com.

On Wednesday, Feb. 22, Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities writer-in-residence Valerie Nieman will read from her latest novel, In the Lonely Backwater, a gripping and graceful mystery in the Southern gothic tradition released in May 2022. When Maggie becomes a prime suspect in the prom-night murder of her cousin, we learn she has secrets not even a detective can unravel. Admission is free at the Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities, 555 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Reading begins at 5:30 p.m. For information, go to www.weymouthcenter.org.

The Four Freshmen

You don’t need a trip down Route 66 to find The Four Freshmen: Just grab a seat at BPAC’s Owens Auditorium, 3395 Airport Road, Pinehurst, at 7 p.m. on Friday, March 3, when the group that has recorded over 75 albums, 70 topselling singles and received six Grammy nominations performs live on stage. The integrity of the sound created by the “original guys” (the group was formed in 1948) has been meticulously maintained, with a modern twist of elegance to the time-honored sound that The Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson once called his favorite band to watch live. For more information and tickets, go to www.ticketmesandhills.com.

An Affair to Remember

Just in time for the paperback release, University of North Carolina Wilmington creative writing professor and author Nina de Gramont will talk about her book The Christie Affair on Wednesday, Feb. 15, from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m., at The Country Bookshop, 140 N.W. Broad St., Southern Pines. For information and tickets, go to www.ticketmesandhills.com.

Learning about the Lumbee Tribe

Heart and Soul

Vocalist Clint Holmes headlines the Heart of Carolina Jazz Orchestra under the direction of Dr. Gregg Gelb at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 11, at BPAC’s Owens Auditorium, 3395 Airport Road, Pinehurst. Holmes’ 40-year career has taken him from the top of the charts to an Emmy award for his own TV show and from a Grammy nomination to headlining in Las Vegas. For information and tickets, go to www.ticketmesandhills.com.

The first of three parts in the spring lecture series “Lumbee Life, Lore & Legacy” features Harvey Godwin Jr. discussing “The Background and Local History of the Lumbee Tribe” at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 19, at the Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities, 555 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Cost is $15 for members and $20 for non-members. For information, go to www.weymouthcenter.org.

Aquarius

(January 20 – February 18)

You’ve heard the tale of the two wolves, right? The good wolf and the bad wolf at battle within each of us? The one you feed is the one who wins. This wisdom is particularly applicable for you this month, Water Bearer. Although your wolves may have different names — visionary and fool, perhaps — the message is the same. Which animal will you feed?

Tea leaf “fortunes” for the rest of you:

Pisces (February 19 – March 20)

It’s time to shake some dust.

Aries (March 21 – April 19)

Rainbows and sunshine, baby.

Taurus (April 20 – May 20)

Say it with flowers.

Gemini (May 21 – June 20)

Probiotics with the assist.

Cancer (June 21 – July 22)

You can’t rush your own spring.

Leo (July 23 – August 22)

The cake is not done.

Virgo (August 23 – September 22)

Just use what you’ve got.

Libra (September 23 – October 22)

Trust your inner compass.

Scorpio (October 23 – November 21)

Don’t forget to claim your prize.

Sagittarius (November 22 – December 21)

Sometimes the shortcut isn’t a shortcut.

Capricorn (December 22 – January 19)

Shake it and start over. PS

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

Hitting the High Notes

A debut novel delivers a musical thriller

By A nne Blythe

Brendan

Slocumb’s literary debut, The Violin Conspiracy has been billed as a mystery, a musical thriller that takes readers across continents on a page-turning hunt for a valuable Stradivarius violin. While the story is suspenseful enough, the whodunnit is not much of a mindboggler in the end. The true hair-raiser revealed in this coming-of-age story is the institutional racism that persists in the classical music world and the talented musicians of color these stubborn customs threaten to mute.

Slocumb is familiar with the story. He grew up in Fayetteville, received a degree in music education from the University of North Carolina Greensboro, and has performed in symphonies, where he typically is one of few Black men playing a violin.

Only 1.8 percent of musicians performing in classical symphonies are Black, Slocumb writes in an author’s note attached to the end of the novel. Only 12 percent are people of color.

“Music is for everyone,” Slocumb writes. “It’s not — or at least shouldn’t be — an elite aristocratic club that you need a membership card to appreciate: it’s a language, it’s a means of connecting us that’s beyond color, beyond race, beyond the shape of your face or the size of your stock portfolio.

“Musicians of color, however, are severely underrepresented in the classical music world — and that’s one of the reasons I wanted to write this book.”

Readers are plunged into the story of Rayquan “Ray” McMillan, Slocumb’s protagonist, in a New York hotel room “the morning of the worst most earth-shattering day” of his life.

The aspiring violinist orders scrambled eggs, juice and coffee from room service for him and his girlfriend. Lost in thought in the shower, he ponders the fingering of Tchaikovsky’s Concerto, the piece he plans to play almost a month later at an international competition. When he prepares to leave New York on a flight home to Charlotte, he discovers that inside the case that typically

holds his nearly priceless violin — a Stradivarius his grandmother (unaware of its immense worth) had given to him as her grandfather’s old fiddle — was a white Chuck Taylor shoe with a ransom note on a sheet of paper folded in thirds.

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Not only does the note launch an international investigation into the whereabouts of the violin, it serves as the instrument to delve back into Ray’s boyhood and the school music classes that changed the trajectory of his life.

Like Slocumb, Ray grew up in North Carolina in a family that expected him to “get a real paying job” instead of taking a path toward a classical music career in a world where few people looked like him. Instead of encouraging her son to follow his dreams, Ray’s mother told him to “stop with that noise,” take the GED and get a job at Popeyes so he could help with the family expenses.

Ray meets a music teacher who becomes a mentor who pushes him beyond such confining expectations and encourages him to join a world where he would be the quintessential underdog, an endearing and hardworking protagonist who is easy for readers to rally behind.

Ray’s grandmother, Nora, recognizes his affinity for music and pulls out an old “fiddle” from her closet for him to practice on in the summer, when the school rentals were not available. It had belonged to her grandfather, a former enslaved man, who had a musical gift, too.

That “fiddle,” spruced up and revealed for what it was, quickly drew interest from extended family members who were more interested in its value than in Ray — until he became a rising star in the classical music world and a bit of a media darling able to coax a better living than they had imagined from its strings. Not only does his own family seek to share in the value of the instrument, Ray has to fend off claims of ownership from the family that had enslaved his great-great-grandfather. None of them appreciates the questioning they face when Ray’s dilemma casts suspicion on them all.

As Ray frets over the whereabouts of his kidnapped violin, leaving most of the investigation to law enforcement and an insurance agent, he also has to continue practicing for the interna-

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tional Tchaikovsky competition. His musical talent transcends the bow and strings in his hands. Even without his prized hand-me-down, the unlikely competitor is a real contender, one who will not be held back by ransom notes and side dramas.

Through a cast of characters, some better developed than others, readers learn about the jockeying of musicians in the classical world, vying for bragging rights that come with lucrative invitations to perform solos and lead prestigious symphonies. Ray describes the difficulties that a Black artist — especially one from humble roots without exclusive connections from famous conservatories — faces as he pursues his passion.

“You work twice as hard,” Slocumb writes. “Even three times. For the rest of your life. It’s not fair, but that’s how it is. Some people will always see you as less than they are. So you have to be twice as good as them.”

Ray didn’t need his PopPop’s instrument on the international stage. Though the kidnapped Stradivarius remained missing during the competition, his talent shone brightly. As opportunities from around the world came his way, he got the clue that helped him — not the team of investigators he’d relied on — discover who slipped the sneaker into the violin case.

There’s a crescendo when Ray opens a door, testing his theory about who made off with the family heirloom. “PopPop’s fiddle — his own most prized Stradivarius violin — grinned up at him unharmed,” Slocum writes. “Perfect.”

In the end, without totally spoiling the whodunnit, it really doesn’t matter where the violin is throughout the pages of Slocumb’s mystery. Its presence and absence string together a tale that will strike a chord. PS

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

February Books

FICTION

The Woman with the Cure, by Lynn Cullen

In 1940s and ’50s America, polio is as dreaded as the atomic bomb. No one’s life is untouched by this disease that kills or paralyzes its victims, particularly children. Outbreaks of the virus across the country regularly put American cities in lockdown. Some of the world’s best minds are engaged in the race to find a vaccine. The person who succeeds will be a god. But Dorothy Horstmann is not focused on beating her colleagues to the vaccine. She just wants the world to have a cure. Applying the same determination that lifted her from a humble background as the daughter of immigrants, to becoming a doctor — often the only woman in the room — she hunts down the monster where it lurks: in the blood.

The Devil’s Ransom, by Brad Taylor

Conducting a routine cover development trip to Tajikistan, Pike Logan learns that Afghanistan has fallen, and there’s a man on the run — one who has done more for the United States in Afghanistan than anyone else. Pulled in to extract him, Logan collides headlong with a broader mystery: His covert company, along with every other entity in the Taskforce, has been hit with a ransomware attack, and there’s some connection between the Taliban and the hack. Given the order to track down the perpetrators, he has no idea that the problem set is much, much larger and more dangerous than a simple attack on his organization. That hack was just a test run, and the real one is coming soon.

NONFICTION

All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me, by Patrick Bringley

Millions of people climb the grand marble staircase to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art every year. But only a select few have unrestricted access to every nook and cranny. They’re the guards

who roam unobtrusively in dark blue suits, keeping a watchful eye on the 2 million-square-foot treasure house. Caught up in his glamorous fledgling career at The New Yorker, Bringley never thought he’d be one of them. Then his older brother was diagnosed with a fatal cancer and he found himself needing to escape the mundane clamor of daily life. He quit The New Yorker and sought solace in the most beautiful place he knew. To his surprise, and the reader’s delight, this temporary refuge becomes Bringley’s home away from home for a decade. We follow him as he guards delicate treasures from Egypt to Rome, strolls the labyrinths beneath the galleries, wears out nine pairs of company shoes, and marvels at the beautiful works in his care. All The Beauty in the World is an inspiring portrait of a great museum in the tradition of classic workplace memoirs like Lab Girl and Working Stiff

B.F.F.: A Memoir of Friendship Lost and Found, by

Christie Tate

After more than a decade of dead-end dates and dysfunctional relationships, Tate has reclaimed her voice and settled down. Her days of agonizing in group therapy over guys who won’t commit are over, the grueling emotional work required to attach to another person tucked neatly into the past. Or so she thought. Weeks after giddily sharing stories of her new boyfriend at Saturday morning recovery meetings, Christie receives a gift from a friend. Meredith, 20 years older and always impeccably accessorized, gives Christie a box of holiday-themed scarves as well as a gentle suggestion: Maybe now is the perfect time to examine why friendships give her trouble. “The work never ends, right?” she says with a wink. With Meredith by her side, she embarks on a brutally honest exploration of her friendships past and present, sorting through the ways that debilitating shame and jealousy have kept the lasting bonds she craves out of reach. But when Meredith becomes ill and Christie’s baggage threatens to muddy their final days, she’s forced to face her deepest fears in honor of the woman who finally showed her how to be a friend.

CHILDREN’S BOOKS

Evergreen, by

Matthew Cordell

There comes a point in every squirrel’s life when they have to face their fears. So it is for Evergreen. Thunder, predators, hawks! Evergreen faces them all on the mission to care for the ailing Granny Oak. With the charm of the beloved “Little Bear” books, this one’s sure to become a classic. (Ages 6-8.)

Love, Escargot, by

Dashka Slater

Oooh la la! Escargot, the adorable French gastropod, is back for another adventure. It’s Snailentine’s Day, and Escargot is (slowly) on the way to a très bonne fête with canapés, crudités, dancing and beautiful cards to exchange with the one who makes you feel magnifique! Silly, fun, and just a little French, Escargot is sure to become a giggle-inducing read-together favorite for any day of the year. (Ages 3-7.)

A Is for Aretha, by

Leslie Kwan

Aretha Franklin, Billie Holiday, Chaka Khan, Diana Ross. Read through the alphabet with famous Black women in this history lesson disguised as a lovely picture book. Get it for Black History Month, keep it for an everyday reminder of the powerful women who shaped our world. (Ages 3-8.)

The Labyrinth of Curiosities, by

Faye Moss Rider

Information junkies, listen up. This is the book you’ve been waiting for. From one fact-filled rabbit hole to another, The Labyrinth of Curiosities dives into everything from flying lemons to hidden salt mines in a clever new way. (Ages 7-12.) PS

Compiled by Kimberly Daniels Taws and Angie Tally.

A Welcome Place

Arts & Humanities Series: Lumbee Life, Lore & Legacy

February 19 • 2 pm

“Part 1: The Background & Local History of the Lumbee Tribe.” Speaker - Harvey Godwin Jr. Former Chairman of Lumbee Tribe NC.

Series continues on March 19, “Part 2: Performance & Symbolism in Costume & Dance” featuring speaker Kaya Littleturtle; and on April 23, “Part 3: Herbal Remedies of the Lumbee Indians” featuring speaker Arvis Boughman. $15 Members/$20 Non-Members

Women of Weymouth Meeting

February 20 • 9:30 am

This month’s featured speaker is Sundi McLaughlin owner of “Mockingbird on Broad” who will talk about entrepreneurship. Free Admission

James Boyd Book Club

February 21 • 2 pm

This month’s book selection: Sunflowers Beneath the Snow by Teri M Brown who will be in attendance.

Free Admission / Registration Required

Musician’s Song Circle

February 28 • 6 - 9 pm

Bring your own instrument and beverage or just come to enjoy the music!

Free Admission/Registration Required

Writers-in-Residence

Reading

February 22 • 5:30pm

Valerie Nieman will read from her latest mystery novel, In the Lonely Backwater.

Free Admission / Registration Required

For tickets and more information, visit weymouthcenter.org

Thank you to our sponsors: Anonymous, Cindy & Robert Candler, Richard J. Reynolds III and Marie M. Reynolds Foundation; Gerald Claude Kirby Trust; North Carolina Arts Council; Arts Council of Moore County; The Palmer Foundation; Marion Stedman Covington Foundation; The Cannon Foundation; Donald and Elizabeth Cooke Foundation; The Pilot 555 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines, NC A 501 (c)(3) organization

A Hardwood Homily

A gym is no place for badminton

By Bill Fields

I don’t look back on my days in the Southern Pines school gymnasium without angst. There were some miserable moments in physical education class. Activities like boxing, climbing rope, mounting a pommel horse and jumping on a trampoline weren’t my thing, regardless of how they were supposed to help me grow up and become a strong, upstanding citizen. I am not ashamed to have probably performed the lamest seat drops in Moore County history. Daydreaming classmates on the perimeter of the bounce mat didn’t inspire confidence that they would save the day if something went wrong. Nor did the limp of our wonderful teacher, Mr. Wynn, whose disability had been caused by a tumbling accident years earlier.

The pursuits of P.E. period would have been dreaded regardless of where they occurred — the only thing worse was tetherball during a cold recess. That they were forced upon me within those walls, on that shiny maple floor, made them more regrettable. Even badminton and volleyball, which could be fun, seemed miscast there. A gym was for basketball.

This was so because in the winter, in the land of the Atlantic Coast Conference, basketball was my reason for being during a good portion of childhood. Watching it on television. Listening to it on the radio. Playing it, as often as possible.

Most hoops time happened in our backyard on a dirt “court” whose dimensions were decidedly cramped on the left side due to trees and the property line. My first goal was attached to an old swing set. The backboard was just a grade above cardboard, and the rim wobbled after the first week. Then, one day after I got home from school, the old set-up was gone, replaced by a new goal with a backboard of thicker wood mounted on an honest-to-goodness utility pole. Dad didn’t volunteer any details about how such a sturdy support came our way, but I privately theorized that it was paid for with a case of beer or the largest bottle of Canadian Club

sold at the ABC store on Connecticut Avenue. Whatever the payment, it was worth it, because the pole survived well beyond the afternoons when I dribbled a ball in its shadow.

But despite the upgrade, it was still outdoors, a far cry from the indoor surfaces played upon by my heroes in college and the pros. Once I got a little older, the hard surface courts at the downtown park were a better substitute, but the chain nets were a long way from the real thing.

Thanks to pictures in yearbooks belonging to my older sisters, I knew what the gym at East Southern Pines High School looked like before I started first grade in 1965. I dreamed of dressing for the Blue Knights in one of those uniforms with the short shorts and satiny material, the kind the players wore in the team pictures and the posed action shots.

I signed up for midget league basketball as soon as I was eligible. We had only colored T-shirts, but those Saturday mornings in the gym weren’t diminished by lack of a complete basketball outfit. With multiple games being played on the three-quarter courts, there was a cacophony of sounds: the thud of basketballs bouncing; referees’ whistles; sneakers squeaking on the hardwood; coaches yelling for a player to pass; a player who wanted to shoot hollering for the ball. When the games were over, stepping outside to walk home was as close to cryotherapy as I’ve experienced, so jolting was the temperature after hours spent in the cozy confines.

A few years later, I made a desultory exit from that building one weekday afternoon after being cut from the junior high team. The only times I would get to shoot at the competition goals on the fiberglass backboards was during half-court games in Mr. Fitch’s ninth-grade P.E. class and later when the gym would be open during Christmas break.

Not having a gymnasium when it opened in 1969, Pinecrest played in the Blue Knights’ former space for half a dozen seasons. The Patriots of Charles Waddell, Ricky Goldston and Dexter Pride rocked the place on their way to the state 3-A title in 1971 and a runner-up finish the following year. Those were great teams and good times. If there had been a home game the evening before us squirts showed for youth play, you could still smell the popcorn. If there was a better building in town, I didn’t know about it. PS

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

Just Working

Antoine Williams forged his own path to bring his art to light

By liz A RoBeRts

Antoine Williams was in his early 20s when he made an important decision: If he wanted his work to be seen, he’d have to take matters into his own hands.

He’d earned a fine arts degree from University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 2003 and was busy making mult-media work including drawings, paintings and collages that responded to the world around him: about politics, about the war on terror, about “how ridiculous all of it was.” But to Williams, the traditional gallery route seemed impenetrable. Not only to him, but to the other young artists he knew, many of them also young, politically active Black men without a network in the established world of art. “People were literally afraid of us. We were walking into galleries, and I remember one gallery. I asked: Can we do an art show? And they were like: We don’t have metal detectors,” Williams says. His friends, including multimedia artists and illustrators Marcus Kiser, John Hairston Jr. and Wolly Vinyl, had another hurdle, too. Traditional art venues weren’t the obvious places for the audiences they sought. They wanted to connect with likeminded people who were also influenced by art, comics, music and culture. They were eager for dialogue and weren’t sure they’d find it in a traditional venue. “A museum can be a scary place if you’ve never been there,” Williams says.

Williams knew that from experience. A first-generation college student from “rural, working-class, conservative” Red Springs, North Carolina, Williams never knew an artist or much about art growing up — but his imagination was allowed to flourish. “It was cool to be a creative kid growing up in a place where you could run outside and go in the woods and play,” Williams says. “I was always daydreaming, and I was always either drawing or making stuff.”

He tapped into that wellspring when he cofounded the art collective God City in 2005 with Kiser, Hairston, Vinyl and a few other artists. The group rented industrial spaces, put together pop-up shows and got the word out with flyers. “We were really into hip-hop, politics and comic books,” says Williams. “We would do exhibitions . . . in any place that would take a bunch of young Black dudes.” Over a seven-year run, the group forged collaborations with poets, filmmakers, dancers and DJs. “It was

There Will Be No Miracles Here, printed material and acrylic on wood panel, 2021

all these groups of Black and brown people making art outside the major institutions,” says Williams. “It became a community in Charlotte . . . It was this really beautiful time.”

The establishment took notice. Kimberly Thomas, a curator at the Mint Museum, became a God City regular. In 2008, she included work by Williams and Hairston — as well as art from nationally recognized Black North Carolina artists like Juan Logan and the late Romare Bearden — in a 2008 exhibition about contemporary portrayals of Black masculinity called Scene in America. The exhibit included Williams’ I Wanna Kill Sam, a graphite and acrylic representation of a Black man shouting before a backdrop that could be part of an American flag. It’s about “the frustration of being caught within the system, the system that you don’t fully understand, but that you do know is not working,” says Williams.

Since then, Williams has not struggled to get his art seen. Addressing cultural identity, signifiers of class, race and power, and the stories and myths society tells about them, his work incorporates drawing, painting and collage. Most recently, Williams says, he is focused on “Black folklore and other narratives” and is making art that “relates to Black people and movement to spaces of liberation.” The works shown on these pages incorporate these themes and will be exhibited at the Turner Carroll Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico, later this year. Also in 2023, Williams will have four murals installed in Washington, D.C,. as a recipient of the

There Will Be No Miracles Here, printed material and acrylic on wood panel, 2021

Othered Suns, ink on vellum, 2020

Putting Breath in the Body #1, ink, printed material, transfer, acrylic, 23.5"x 28", 2022

National Academy of Design’s Abbey Mural Prize.

A Moment of Rest While Convincing Monsters That I Am Human, a drawn mural created for a giant wall at the entrance to the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art (SECCA) in Winston-Salem last year, was made following the nationwide uprisings over the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, an effort to depict both the injustice and the exhaustion of that fight. “Those marches were for the bare minimum, just so that the justice system would work,” Williams says. “Not that it would do anything extraordinary — just work.” The mural depicts a man hunched over beneath a mountain of clothes, which Williams says indicates “how absurd it is, but also how exhausting it is.” Hoodies, jeans and sneakers refer to the distorted, negative stigma society puts on these signifiers of young Black men; the enormous pile indicates how they “constantly have to deal with the piling on of these perceptions.” The burdened figure persists, but pauses, “needing to take a break, and reclaim humanity,” says Williams.

Williams’ work has been exhibited at the North Carolina Museum of Art, Greensboro’s Weatherspoon Art Museum and at Raleigh’s Contemporary Art Museum (CAM). He has had prestigious residencies and fellowships at Duke University and the McColl Center. Most recently, he was an artist in residence at the Joan Mitchell Center in New Orleans, where he created sculptural work inspired by a quote from the author Octavia Butler: “There’s Nothing New / Under the Sun / But There Are New Suns.” Last July, Williams took a tenure-track job teaching art at the University of Florida. PS

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

Putting Breath in the Body #2, ink, printed material, transfer, acrylic, 23.5"x 28", 2022

Cutting Corners

A quicker way to homemade croissants

stoRy A nd P hotogRAPh By Rose shewey

The ink on my freshly issued driver’s license hadn’t dried yet when four of my friends and I piled into my newly acquired VW Polo to pop across the border for a casual breakfast in France. A swift hour-and-a-half later, we sat in the courtyard of a little boulangerie in Wissembourg, France, sipping café au lait while enjoying freshly baked, oven-warm butter croissants.

Ah, such sweet memories. These trips were a weekend ritual for many years with an ever-changing cast of friends, and while I no longer drink milk coffees (espresso macchiato all the way), I am still, some 25 years later, utterly obsessed with flaky, buttery croissants.

Fortunately, the Sandhills have ramped up their offering of artisan croissants, I’m happy to report. But not all croissants are created equal, and truly authentically crafted ones sell out faster than you can get out of your pajamas to drive across town to snag a few. So, what’s a girl with a passion for properly laminated butter croissants to do? Make your own, of course. But therein lies the rub.

If you read any recipe for traditional butter croissants, you could easily be led to believe that making these pastries is simple. Time consuming, perhaps, but simple. Make a dough, fold in butter, refrigerate, bake, done. Well, I am here to tell you that a decent amount of practice goes into making croissants (for the casual baker, that is), and every single mistake will affect the end result. Many years back (when cupcakes were the height of sophistication for me), my first batch leaked copious amounts of butter in the oven, and the croissants came out oily and sad looking.

While I have dramatically improved my baking skills, why invest two or even three days of your life when you can have the same delicate, honeycomb-structured butter croissants in just a few hours with a simplified method?

Necessity is the mother of invention. With a toddler taking up most of my time, I searched, tried and failed, and searched some more until I found the perfect shortcut to making perfect croissants. In a nutshell, you can make delicious croissants with one easy alteration: Instead of laminating repeatedly (folding butter into the dough), you spread butter in between layers of dough, which miraculously gives you the same flaky, pull-apart texture of the time-honored but decidedly more tedious method. The best part is, nobody will know you cut corners. Unless you tell.

Easy Butter Croissants (Yields 10 croissants / Imperial measures are approximate)

Basic Dough

500 grams (4 cups) all-purpose flour or T65 (preferred)

50 grams (1/4 cup) sugar

1 egg

5 grams (1.8 teaspoons) active dry yeast

20 grams (1.5 tablespoons) butter

10 grams (1.75 teaspoons) salt

210 milliliters (0.8 cups) water

Butter Layers

225 grams (8 ounces) butter

Place all ingredients for the dough into a large bowl and knead until a ball forms and no longer sticks to the side of the bowl. Allow the dough to rest in a warm place until it doubles in size; about 1-2 hours.

Place dough on a lightly floured surface, shape into a log and cut into 10 pieces. Roll out the first piece to a rectangle, approximately 8x10 inches, and cover with a generous amount of butter. Roll out another piece of dough, set on top of your first dough-butter layer and repeat, alternating dough and butter to create a dough stack, ending with a layer of dough. Refrigerate the dough stack until fully chilled, about 2 hours.

Roll out dough into a large rectangle, about 10x20 inches. Cut dough in a zig-zag pattern to create 10 triangles and, starting with the base of the triangle, roll into croissant. Tuck the tip under so the croissants won’t come undone while baking. Refrigerate once more for at least 1-2 hours (or overnight), then allow to rise at room temperature for 1-2 additional hours before baking.

Preheat oven to 400F, apply egg wash if desired and bake for 20-22 minutes. PS

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

BY JOHN GESSNER

Manhattan Variations

Subtle twists, refined tastes

By tony CRoss

While I was

at work last week, I saw a bottle of vermouth that I enjoy and immediately realized that it had been a minute or so since I’ve made and enjoyed a Manhattan. I vowed to make myself one that night.

It was getting a little late by the time I was heading home, and I remembered I was out of Grand Marnier. A quick detour to the local ABC store aaannnddd . . . they’re closed. “Damn it!” I pouted, furious that I had literally missed the window by five minutes. I’ve done that maybe twice in my life. When I got home I went to my cabinet to get a bottle of rye and a bottle of Angostura bitters. As I was reaching for the bitters, my hand was drawn to a small bottle of Angostura cocoa bitters. “This could be good,” I thought. I grabbed the bitters, retrieved my vermouth from the fridge, and away I went whipping up the cocktail. It was so good I’ve been making one every night since.

Those of you who know how to make a Manhattan might wonder why the hell I would need an orange liqueur — it’s not even an ingredient in the drink. And you would be right. Until you try it. I’ll explain. But first, let’s KFC this thing and look at the original recipe.

Manhattan

2 ounces whiskey (bourbon or rye)

1 ounce sweet vermouth

2 dashes Angostura bitters

Bourbon or rye will do, just make sure that the proof is 90 or above. It truly does make a better Manhattan. As far as vermouth goes, my go-to is always Carpano Antica, but other vermouths such as Cocchi, Cinzano, Dolin, etc., will do. As always, make sure your vermouth has been refrigerated after opening. Vermouth that has been sitting in your liquor cabinet is trash — throw it out. The bitters, in my opinion, must be Angostura. There are other aromatic bitters available if you’d like to switch it up, and there is nothing wrong with that, though I still think Angostura reigns supreme. When you are using bitters, make sure that the dashes are not drops. Don’t be scared to give that bottle a shake.

Now, the orange liqueur. When I first got into mixing drinks, I followed Dushan Zaric from Employee’s Only in New York City. His cocktail book was my Bible. In it, he has a recipe for a Manhattan that goes something like this:

Manhattan (Employee’s Only version)

1 1/2 ounces rye whiskey

1 3/4 ounces sweet vermouth

1/2 ounce Grand Marnier

3 dashes Angostura bitters

Right off the bat you’ll notice that there is more vermouth in this version of a Manhattan. Back in the 1800s in legendary bartender Jerry Thomas’ day, this was a vermouth cocktail and it did have orange curaçao. The folks at EO like to honor the cocktail and make it the way it was done 150 years ago. Truth be told, I would do a 2:1 ratio of rye and vermouth but keep the Grand Marnier at 1/2 ounce. It is delicious and a must-try for any whiskey fan.

The next variation was created by bartender Todd Smith when he worked at Bourbon & Branch in San Francisco in 2005. By swapping out the sweet vermouth with amaro (an Italian liqueur), the drink leans more toward the bitter end.

Black Manhattan

2 ounces rye whiskey

1 ounce Amaro Averna

1 dash Angostura bitters

1 dash orange bitters

Last but not least, my latest nightly treat. There’s nothing to it, just the addition of cocoa bitters. I did, however, play around with the specs a little. For instance, I always use a rye when making Manhattans, but it just so happened I had a bottle of Old Scout straight bourbon whiskey that had been gifted to me, so

on my second night of making Chocolate Manhattans, I gave it a shot. The Old Scout is a whopping 121 proof (yikes!), but the sweet vermouth takes the edge off and the cocoa bitters makes the cocktail come together. If you don’t have a high proof bourbon, a 90 proof (or higher) rye whiskey will most definitely do. As for garnishes, I usually use a lemon peel — expressing its oils over the cocktail — but, as luck would have it, I purchased and opened a bottle of Luxardo Maraschino cherries and hot damn, does it make that last sip taste like dessert! Cherries, chocolate . . . am I still talking about a grown-up cocktail? You betcha.

As with all of these Manhattan cocktails, the setup and execution are the same: Make sure your drinking coupe is cold. Add all liquid ingredients into a chilled stirring vessel. Use good ice (if possible) and stir until the cocktail is cold and enough water is diluted, then strain your cocktail into the cold coupe.

Chocolate Manhattan

2 ounces Old Scout 6-year straight bourbon whiskey

1 ounce Carpano Antica vermouth

2 dashes Angostura Cocoa bitters

1 dash Angostura bitters PS

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

The Nose Knows

Sniffing down memory lane

By deBoRA h sA lomon

That’s because the holidays extending from late January to late February maintain food links: Chinese New Year, Jan. 22; Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14; President’s Day, Feb. 20; Mardi Gras, Feb. 21. Black History Month is celebrated throughout February, often with soul food dinners, proof that food carves out a place in the brain’s memory centers.

The aroma of meatloaf or apple pie baking, coffee brewing or chicken frying might do the trick. Lacking the aroma, I have seen a grown man cry at the mention of his mother’s strawberry jam simmering on the back burner.

Olfactory memories die hard, or not at all. Who knows, maybe cavemen wept recalling wild beasts on the spit.

Of all the ethnic cooking in January and February, Chinese revs my engine the most. The memory is as clear as what happened yesterday — maybe clearer.

I grew up in New York City in the 1940s. My parents weren’t much for restaurants. However, since my mother was not an enthusiastic cook, I practically grew up at the Automat. PBS recently aired a two-hour documentary about these landmark cafeterias that, I’m sure, left a great many grown men crying.

Once a year, on my birthday, my parents took me to the original Ruby Foo’s, in the Theater District, not Chinatown. We had soup, rice and pressed duck. The French call these succulent ovals quenelles. To me, they were pure heaven, but what did a 7-, 8- and 9-year-old know about Asian cuisine?

I clearly remember wearing my dress-up coat and leggings (January is cold in Yankeeland), the dark restaurant interior with leather banquettes, how the waiters presented each dish with a flourish, especially to the birthday girl. I didn’t mind that I never once had a birthday party with friends. Nor did I figure out that going to Ruby Foo’s was so much easier for my mother.

She liked pressed duck, too.

For lunch at the Automat, it had to be a liverwurst sandwich and baked beans in a small brown crock. Weep, Boston, weep. This crock contained beans baked in a sweet, tomatoey sauce

which formed a crunchy crust. Decades later, I spotted a similar crock in an antique shop. Everything came rushing back as the dealer ran for the Kleenex.

My husband grew up in Brooklyn. We met at Duke. What fun, recalling our favorite Automat dishes, except his were hamburger steak and mashed potatoes, mine fried scallops and creamed spinach, not an encouraging sign.

I doubt subsequent generations display such emotional attachments to food. How could they, with such a variety? Where is the purism, the authenticity? The old aunties with specialties are dying out. The local Chinese buffet is an international smorgasbord of spring rolls, French fries, mac and cheese, corn on the cob, sesame chicken, apple cobbler and chocolate pudding. Pizza concocted from a cauliflower crust topped with kale has lost its Italian accent. Valentine’s Day may still suggest filet mignon and cheesecake, but fading fast are happy memories of chitlins.

Yet Groundhog Day felt the need to field a commemorative dish called Groundhog Pie, which, thank goodness, contains beef, not ground groundhog.

I almost threw up, learning that Turducken (chicken stuffed inside duck stuffed inside turkey) gets a boost at Thanksgiving.

What must that smell like, roasting?

No . . . I want my turkey stuffed with homemade cornbread laced with celery, onions and fresh sage. Ah, the aroma, the memories that smell triggers, both sad and happy. Make some this February; it’s never too late. PS

Mmmmm — something sure does smell good.

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

The Eagles Have Landed

America’s bird is on the rebound

By susA n CA mPBell

Anyone who has had the good fortune to spot a bald eagle, whether soaring overhead or perched along a waterway, cannot help but be awed by their handsome appearance. This large raptor is not only our national symbol but the only eagle found solely in North America.

Benjamin Franklin supposedly lobbied for the wild turkey, the only endemic bird species to the United States, to be our national bird. But Congress decided on the bald eagle in 1782, as a result of its perceived fierce demeanor. In actuality, bald eagles are mainly carrion eaters but will attack wounded mammals, birds and aquatic animals as well. They are very opportunistic and will also snatch prey from crows if they get the chance.

During the first half of the 20th century, eagles were erroneously persecuted by raptor hunters, often by ranchers who were attempting to protect their investments. They were also affected by metal toxicity as a result of feeding on game containing lead shot. Additionally, during the period of broad-scale DDT application, as most people know, the toxin accumulated in carnivores at the top of the food chain. And, as was the case in several bird species, it caused eggshell thinning such that eagle eggs broke long before they could hatch.

Bald eagles were declared an endangered species in 1967. Following the ban on DDT and the passage of the Endangered

Species Act in 1973, their numbers began to rebound. On June 28, 2007, the species was declared recovered. Here in North Carolina they are being closely monitored by state biologists. Although the number of nests and young has been increasing, they are still considered threatened here.

In the Sandhills, there are year-round sightings of individuals, most commonly on larger lakes such as Lake Surf (Woodlake) or Lake Pinehurst. At least one pair has been nesting in Moore County for a few years now: in (wait for it) Eagle Springs. Farther north, they can be frequently spotted around Falls or Jordan Lake in the Triangle or Lake Townsend in Greensboro.

In mid-winter, birdwatchers and endangered species biologists are on the lookout for eagle nests. Bald eagle pairs return to their breeding territories and lay eggs ahead of most other raptors (the exception being great horned owls, which begin breeding activities a bit earlier). Their sizable platforms of dead branches and large sticks may or may not be easy to spot. Eagle nests, if they are reused from year to year, will be gradually enlarged but not massive affairs. Newer nests can be well concealed in the top of a live evergreen or large snag.

Eagle young, who typically fledge in April, take three to four years to mature. They will not successfully attract a mate until they have a fully white head and tail. Should you see an adult in the weeks ahead, keep an eye out for a second bird. A pair of adults may mean there is a nest somewhere nearby. If you suspect that you have found a nest, definitely give me a holler! PS

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

Pick Your Poison

Everyone needs a go-to

By lee PACe

Pick one: Beach or mountains? Charcoal or gas? Dog or cat? Coke or Pepsi? Thin crust or thick? Sweet tea or unsweet? Forged or cast? Draw or fade? I lean toward the former in each pair but admit to some negotiating room when Linville beckons in the heat of August. But certainly cast in stone are charcoal, dogs and the idea that a golf ball hit with a slight right-to-left flight pattern for a right-handed golfer is by far the Rolls-Royce of golf shots.

“You only hit a straight ball by accident,” the great Ben Hogan once proffered. “The ball is going to move right or left every time you hit it, so you had better make it go one way or the other.”

History and the Hall of Fame can present arguments on both sides of the issue, but without question many of the finest players in the game have preferred the fade, among them Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods. Perhaps it was not as much liking the left-to-right shape as it was abhorring the extreme version of the opposite curve — the snap hook.

“I hate a hook,” Hogan said. “It nauseates me. I could vomit when I see one. It’s like a rattlesnake in your pocket.”

Davis Love Jr. taught his son Davis III an upright swing, “and you’ll never have to worry about a hook,” he said. Bruce Lietzke won 13 times on the pro tour wielding a power fade that earned him the nickname “Leaky.” Lietzke prided himself on saying, “I play one shot. That’s all I need.”

Lex Alexander played collegiately at Wake Forest University in the mid-1970s and made friends with Lietzke, a University of

Houston golfer. Alexander was a young assistant pro to Claude Harmon at Winged Foot Golf Club in the late 1970s when Lietzke would come through when the PGA Tour was in the New York area.

“The 17th at Winged Foot is a long par-4, dogleg right,” Alexander says. “I would give him the line and he would then unleash one of his long towering fades to that exact target, and I will never forget how far his ball went. With a good drive, I’d have 200 yards into the green. Bruce started his tee shot toward the left rough, it curved right-center and left him an 8-iron.”

In Pinehurst, for many years one of the great ambassadors of the fade was Harvie Ward, the two-time U.S. Amateur champion from Tarboro who spent the last 15 years of his life living in the village of Pinehurst and playing a lot of golf at Forest Creek Golf Club.

“One of the nicknames we gave Harvie was ‘Carvie Ward,’” says Chuck Cordell, one of Ward’s best friends and a frequent golf companion. “He had a very weak left-hand grip, and his duck hooks were in the left side of the fairway. Most of the time he hit it straight down the middle with just a whisper of fade. He had a very compact swing, but pound-for-pound he could hit it as far as anyone, only straighter.”

Ward began working with Payne Stewart in 1985, and they had a productive four years, but in 1989 Stewart said he wanted to master both shapes in the manner of Seve Ballesteros, certainly one of the great shotmakers of all time.

Ward didn’t agree.

“I told him I thought it was good to know how to work the ball, but you still needed to have the one shot that you could depend on,” Ward said. “I told him you don’t want to go around the golf course hitting one left-to-right and the next one right-to-

PHOTOGRAPH BY JOHN GESSNER

left. You go down that road and one day you’ll come to the last hole and not have anything to depend on, that it would jump up and get you.”

To my personal sense of feel and style, there’s nothing like a draw. There’s nothing as mouth-watering as a left-side hole location or a dogleg left hole. There’s nothing like the crisp slice of turf and the tiny speck flying high against the blue sky, turning ever so lovingly and gently from right to left. A 3-wood picked off the ground is perhaps the litmus test of a well-oiled and precise swing, and a 3-wood cleanly struck with a gentle draw is golf’s utopia. Real men hit a draw. Drawers of the ball eat steak, faders get quiche.

A draw is the offspring of a good grip, an athletic address, an on-plane path, the proper closing of the clubface at impact and extension down the line afterward. Gads, man, but you’re standing inside your swing, so how else can you hit the ball?

Hank Haney, who began his golf instruction career at Pinehurst in the late 1970s and later acquired clients as diverse as Woods and Charles Barkley, says a perfectly on-plane swing can do nothing but produce a draw for that every reason.

“You want to contact the inside part of the ball with the clubface closing as it comes through in order to start your little draw to the right of the target,” Haney says. “This is a fact. I’ve never heard a teacher dispute this point.”

John Gerring won the Atlantic Coast Conference golf title in 1957 for Wake Forest and went on to become a longtime club pro in Atlanta, Detroit, Asheville and Spartanburg, and a well-respected golf teacher. He carried the nickname “Dr. Hook,” borne of his proclivity to play and teach a right-to-left ball flight.

“The hook has two advantages,” says Gerring. “It’s longer and it’s more forgiving. It’s more forgiving because the angle of approach is shallower.”

Jack Burke Sr. used to teach that “you only own the inside half of the ball,” that you had to find a swing that let you come from inside to square to the target. Harvey Penick once told Don Wade of Golf Digest

that he thought it was a myth that a draw would not stop as quickly as a fade if — and it’s a big if — the ball was struck cleanly and properly and not pulled.

Of course, many will argue these points, mainly because if you over-cook a draw, you’re left with a screaming hook that is bereft of backspin and any sense of direction. Have more careers been sidetracked over too much Old Crow or too many duck hooks? It’s probably a dead heat.

“You can talk to a fade, but a hook won’t listen,” Lee Trevino once famously observed.

Trevino was haunted as a young man on the hardscrabble Texas public courses by an out-of-control hook, and he marveled one day in 1963 when he was invited to Shady Oaks Country Club in Fort Worth while watching Hogan hit practice balls. Hogan had exorcised the demon hook in the mid-1940s by finding what he called “the secret.” The essence of that mystical panacea has been debated for decades, but two elements certainly were a grip adjustment and the cupping motion Hogan developed with his left wrist, an action that put the brake on his lightning quick hand action that earlier produced so many hooks.

Trevino, a driving range attendant at the time and still four years removed from his first foray onto the PGA Tour, didn’t dare approach Hogan that day at Shady Oaks. But what he saw stayed with him for life, and he took the image of Hogan’s soft fades back to the practice tee.

“The only way I could figure out was just to grab the club and hold on for dear life,” Trevino says, inferring that the extra grip pressure from the middle two fingers of his left hand helped keep the clubface open at impact.

So there you have it, proof positive that either way works. It’s all a matter of taste. Meanwhile, I’ll look forward to pulling my 5-wood on a 185-yard par-3 with the pin hugging the left. PS

Lee Pace has written Golftown Journal since 2008. Contact him at leepace7@gmail.com and follow him on Instagram at @leepaceunc and on Twitter @leepacetweet.

COME HOME TO

STRESSLESS RECLINERS FROM EKORNES

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spring and some

the woman coming toward me wears a red cape. she smiles she likes my red hat and she says so. the temperature is dropping rapidly, the wind is rising. they had predicted rain and possibly snow; i had not believed them. still my red hat threatens to blow away and her red cape swirls about her. she says i like your red hat, i smile and say i like your red cape. spring is coming by the calendar, a red letter day, but this day the temperature drops, the wind blows up, rain and possibly snow loom, and we pass. red hat. red cape.

— joel oppenheimer

The assignment was simple. Well, maybe not so simple. Write a love story in 100 words or less. As the old saying (often attributed to Mark Twain, because if we don’t know where stuff comes from, we always attribute it to Twain) goes, “I apologize for the length of this letter. If I’d had more time it would have been shorter.” The story could be about a significant other, or not. It could be fact or fancy. It just had to be short. As it turns out, wonderful things come in small packages.

— Jim Moriarty

Design by K eith borsha K

It happened on a frigid winter morning, probably sometime around 1965. I was 12. My father was an early riser who loved to cook breakfast. I was too. One morning I wandered out to the kitchen, where he was stirring some kind of white goop in a saucepan.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“It’s called SOS.”

“What’s that?”

“In the Army we called it shit on a shingle. It got me through the war. See if you like it.”

He brought me a plate with the white goop on toast. I’d never tasted anything so wonderful in my life.

Still haven’t.

— Jim Dodson

She floated through a series of ports over the years, stitched together by a singular guiding thread. A short stretch in her life when she taught piano coincided with a suspended moment in mine when I was in need of a teacher. Shy, stubborn, a fish out of water, piano was my solace. Pat took me in, a boy of 7, sensed a spark and painted a vista of my life in music, as if peering back nostalgically from some future shore. When the time came, she untethered me and set my sail. She loved me. And I loved her.

— David Michael Wolff

In 1999 I was a flight attendant. Returning from Stuttgart, I told a fellow flight attendant about a dream I’d had the night before. In it, I met my husband, who had dark hair, dark eyes and was of foreign descent. We looked all through the plane before take-off but didn’t see him. Before landing, as I was changing my shoes, a man walked up and said, “Excuse me, would you ladies happen to have a lint brush?” The man from my dream was standing right before me. Black hair, brown eyes, of Greek descent. We married 10 months later.

— Cherry Amanatidis

I was recovering from knee replacement surgery and had been sleeping in a recliner in the den. One early morning, just as dawn was starting to gather in the East, Evelyn got up and for some reason came out to check on me. My eyes were closed and she thought I was sleeping. Very gently she tousled my hair and stroked my arm. It felt like I was being touched by an angel. Nearly 56 years into “us” she is still my girlfriend.

— John Dempsey

He reaches a raisiny hand for hers, squeezes the knotted fingers. The wheelchairs are too far apart for kissing. Second best will have to do. She’s different than six decades ago but still the same. He smiles a golden retriever grin at the blue sky, sunny day. Hibiscuses spill onto the patio. A breeze whistles by. “Oooh.” He winces, like the chill took a bite. Concern lines his forehead. “Is it warm?” He raises a crooked pointer at her bare, bony arms. The words aren’t quite right — but close — momentarily resurfaced from tired gray matter by the habit of love.

— Jenna Biter

I see Mom’s footprints in the sand, her arches so high only the impression of her toes, the ball of her foot and the heel appear. Her feet turn out at a 5 degree angle, as though she wants to go somewhere else — left? Right? I see her sun-kissed and windswept walking away from me, alone, kicking at sea foam, crouching to admire a shell. She is getting smaller and smaller until she’s a dot on the horizon, and then I see her reappear through wavy heat, returning, defined, getting larger and larger, until she is here with me again.

— Marilyn Barrett

Early in our relationship, Lisa came with me on a Scottish golf trip — a big stretch for a relatively new player. I got wind of a golf tournament we could play in while there. Lisa was game, provided we would be playing together. “No problem,” I said. Upon arriving, we discovered (to my chagrin) she was on her own, paired with three excellent female players. Had Lisa refused to play and ditched me forever, I wouldn’t have blamed her. Instead she played — as good-natured, endearing and romantic a round of golf as ever there was.

— Bill Case

She watched him from the chair that he placed by the window so that she could “keep an eye on” him. Watch him shovel the snow from the front steps. The kids, he told her, were “coming for the occasion.” What occasion? Was it her birthday? She would ask him later.

“No, my sweet darling, it’s not your birthday yet,” he smiled as he came to her chair side. “It’s the luckiest day of my life, 50 years ago today we said I do.”

Tenderly he cradled her face in his cool hands and kissed her. “Forever, I do.”

— Neville Beamer

“I was there,” Myra said.

“I was there,” I said.

That was our last phone call. Feeling the crush of being a first-year med student, Myra was unsure about the relationship with “my favorite sportswriter,” her label on a balloon bouquet I received at the paper.

We talked after she got out of class. I waited at one door of Stone Hall. She waited at another. Each of us left not knowing the other had shown up.

I carried the frustration of that missed connection for 17 years, to another door in another city. When I arrived, Myra was waiting.

— Bill Fields

It was July 3, 2020. Despite COVID cancellations, restrictions and military orders, I had convinced my fiancé to keep our original wedding date. Four days before, he agreed. We secured vendors, rings and cake. The venue? Our apartment.

More than 75 screens with our loved ones’ faces joined our officiant and musicians on Zoom. Two friends used roaming and static cameras to capture it all. I walked down the aisle in our kitchen. We shared our vows in the living room and had our first dance in the dining room. Hope and love found a way. It was virtually perfect.

— Lorelei Colbert

Jackson’s a chocolate Lab. I’ve always wanted a dog, but he’s more for Wylie. We stand under the willow with the water running out the hose, Jackson, Wylie and me. Dandelions cover the lawn: a yellow rebellion.

When Wylie was 4, a pit bull took a tiny chunk of his left cheek.

Wylie turns the bottle of soap upside down and squeezes. You can rub it in, I tell him. It’ll feel good. Wylie’s hand hovers above the river of shampoo, hesitant, and Jackson sits on the wet grass, covered in strawberry-scented soap, straight, still, waiting for my son’s hand.

— Katrina Denza

Having gone on without any rehearsal to cover an actress who had to be out that night, I was shattered from stress. I was dating a fella who said to come “home” to his place after the show.

I rang the doorbell and collapsed into his arms. He led me to the bedroom, where he had a robe and a hot bubble bath all drawn for me. He settled me in and came back with two glasses of Champagne. He perched on the tub, handed me a glass and said, “Now, tell me everything.”

Why would I not marry him?

— Joyce Reehling

There is a Japanese art of repairing broken pottery by joining together the cracks with gold. It is a reminder to celebrate flaws and missteps in life. Last year every single aspect of my life turned to a misstep. Then slowly, one day at a time, the cracks began to fill with gold. The cracks were filled by little surprises and unexpected moments. Things I would have never conjured up myself. Now I welcome the flaws and missteps because we need to be cracked open! That’s how the light gets in.

— Brady Gallagher

He was 96, drifting in and out of awareness, in a hospital bed in the downstairs of the home he built with his own big hands, the home where I asked him almost 50 years before if I could marry his daughter. She and I were leaving in the morning. As her brother and sisters watched, she took one of those hands in both of hers and, knowing she would never see him alive again, squeezed it softly and said, “I love you, Daddy,” and my heart broke, for her, for him, for us.

— Jim Moriarty

We met in Chapel Hill, on a drizzly Wednesday morning. I tried to postpone, thinking a few more months could do us both good, but you wouldn’t wait. I imagine we were both scared — I certainly was. You were tiny, but that first cry was strong and clear. Every day since then, little girl, I’ve loved you more. Your fearlessness, your voice that has learned to speak and sing and say Mama. I had explored before, across mountains and deserts, combat zones and tourist traps. Now, my favorite adventure is rocking chairs and read-alouds and rainy days with you.

— Amberly Weber

On break from Howard University, I went to a Pinecrest basketball game, where I saw the most beautiful woman in the world. Her cocoa skin, her million-dollar smile, her almondshaped eyes made time stand still. One of my brother’s friends said, “Don’t waste your time, she won’t give you the time of day!” Not only did she give me her time but she gave me her unconditional love, her hand in marriage, and two wonderful sons. If I could live my life all over again, I would try to find her sooner so I could love her longer.

I could live my life all over again, I would try to find her sooner so I could love her longer.

— Mitchell G. Capel

I was hosting that morning. I wasn’t supposed to be. Usually I served in the evenings. But not today.

The restaurant was empty that morning. It wasn’t supposed to be. Usually Saturday mornings saw lines out the door. But not today.

I saw him when he entered. The man of my dreams. We chatted. I had his server bring him a birthday treat. As he left, I hastily wrote my number on a piece of receipt paper.

That was 2011.

One day, it might sink in that I get to spend my whole life with this man. But not today.

— Cara Mathis

Not all things begin at the end, but our love story does. After one has their heart shattered into a million tiny pieces, the kind that are so delicate and scatter, like a glass ornament that fell on a hard floor, you don’t ever expect to recover. In a way you don’t. But, if you take two people who suffer the same grief and put them together — much like a punchline — what you end up with is a hopeful and beautiful beginning. You have unbreakable, insane and unexpected love. This I know.

— Beth MacDonald

He’s been gone more than four decades, a victim to that three-packs-a-day habit that snared so many in the mid-1900s. But I loved everything about my dad, Thomas Aiken Pace. He introduced me to Tar Heel sports, Dizzy Dean, Sonny Jurgensen, Frederick Forsyth, a cold Falstaff, a marinated steak, the curveball and a Stingray bicycle. On rainy days, he’d drive me on my paper route, and I think he knew full well I was sneaking looks inside the Playboy magazines in his drugstore. And from this most gentle man I learned there was no good reason to ever raise your voice.

— Lee Pace

I make a big deal of birthdays. Ryan is a Leo, so his comes first between the two of us. “It’s just another day,” he’d say. Naturally, I ignored that for his 23rd and made it my mission to make it the best birthday ever. Giddy was the only way to describe him that day. That’s the smile I hold on to. He repaid the sentiment on my 21st. It’s still the best one. In two more years I’ll catch up to his age, 25, and when I blow out my candles I’ll wish for him.

— Emilee Phillips

YOU SAW MY FACE AND ASKED ME, AS YOU OFTEN DO

whyare you smiling?

We got home from a night at the neighbors. The house was glowing with warm light as we hurried to escape the cold. The dog needed to go out, so I lingered as you went inside. New lights came on and you appeared in the kitchen window in full pajamas and favorite robe. I watched as you danced your funny little dance in the light of the open refrigerator. The dog and I soon returned inside to hear there was no music playing at all. You saw my face and asked me, as you often do, “Why are you smiling?”

— Anthony Parks

1971, London, Soho, lunchtime. I see a large rubber plant walking toward me with attractive, female undercarriage. As it got closer, I recognized its carrier – none other than the beautiful girl in the office I fancied from afar. I asked her if she had had lunch. Two minutes later we were sitting down in an Indian restaurant talking away over the poppadoms like we’d known each other all our lives. Three months, and quite a few curries later, we were engaged. We just got back from London celebrating our 50th. The Indian is still there. Rubber plant, not so much.

— Tony Rothwell

The curtain rises (if there is one). The stage is set for a love affair unlike any other. The performers rehearsed for this moment when they use their energy and passion to act their hearts out. Tonight’s audience doesn’t care how good you were last night! Something special happens: an electric connection between performer and audience. For well-trained and well-prepared actors, craft and technique disappear. We’re living the performance together. Our love affair transcends time and space. Thriving, flourishing, and changing every night, every matinee . . . everywhere there’s a stage and an audience. Surrender. Let love change us.

— Morgan Sills

You still sport that boyish grin, the same one you used when, after a lovely dinner and seemingly endless tour of Raleigh Christmas lights, you plucked up the courage to ask if I’d “bear your children.” High school, college, Greek parties, Crazy Zacks, and Jimmy V wins. We danced to beach music with sand between our toes, and “With This Ring” still means forever. Sometimes 44 years feels like a lifetime ago until that grin brings me back to our first kiss — stolen while gathering Spanish moss for a Christmas float, when I was 17 and you were 18.

— Kathryn Talton

He was leaning in for a kiss. Should I turn away? I had a boyfriend, after all. Sort of. Everything was happening in slow motion. I’d had a crush on Alan since the day we met, almost three years earlier. As friends, we’d watched each other bend for relationships that never seemed to fit. But love wasn’t supposed to be simple, was it? Being with Alan never seemed like an option. His lips were so close mine were buzzing. Now we were living 300 miles apart. This wasn’t exactly convenient. Yes, it’s what I wanted, but — contact.

— Ashley Walshe

SAVING THE White Rhino

Using technology to defeat poachers in Kruger National Park

By Jim moriarty

One of them is called Kokwane and the other is Nyeleti. They’re not characters out of The Lion King. Kokwane is Randy Roy, and his African name means grandpa. Nyeleti is Jimmy Larsen, and his African name means night star — the star used for navigation. Together, and with a little help from their friends, they’re doing about as much as two guys nearly 8,900 miles away can do to save the white rhino from extinction.

Last October, in the dark of the new moon, the pair visited Kruger National Park in South Africa to pass along some of the expertise they’d gained in the military to the park rangers who are the sole line of defense between the largest remaining population of white rhino in the world and the people who would destroy them for profit. Roy, a former policeman who worked as a dog trainer for Special Operations on Fort Bragg, made his first trip to Kruger in that advisory capacity in 2016 (though now he’s involved in drone mapping as well), while Larsen, recently retired from the Air Force, was attached to Special Operations and is an expert in telemetry.

It’s not unusual for advances of all types, be they technological or medical, made in war fighting to find peaceful uses, too. “The problem they have in South Africa is very similar to the problem we had in the military: Where the hell is everyone? Where should I go and what should I do?” says Larsen. The phases of the moon are critical because it’s during the full moon, and the days just before and after, when the barbaric poaching of rhino horns is most prevalent, so prevalent, in fact, that it’s called the Poachers Moon.

“Sixty percent of the white rhinos left in the world are located on Kruger National Park. The rhino horn is still the most lucrative commodity on Earth — more than gold, more than drugs,” says Roy.

Rhino horn is coveted both for its rumored — though debunked — medicinal properties and as a status symbol, using the circular logic that possessing something so valuable is a value in itself. The poaching problem was particularly egregious during the pandemic. The national park was closed, but the poachers were open. “You’ve got the most expensive substance on the planet surrounded by some of the poorest places on the planet, protected by a few dozen people with a budget of next to nothing and a salary of about $500 a month. The fact that there are any rhino left at all is a testament to how good

these guys are at their job,” says Larsen. “It’s a wicked problem.”

Kruger National Park is 7,523 square miles, 600 square miles larger than the states of Connecticut and Rhode Island combined. The poachers generally work in teams of three. One carries a rifle, one carries an ax, and one is a runner who carries water. Sometimes they enter the park on foot, easily overcoming fences, and other times they come into the park in one or two private vehicles, pretending to be a family on a day’s outing, then jumping

out of the cars to stalk the animals.

The park is not unprotected. Kruger has helicopters donated to it by Warren Buffett, and roughly 300 rangers work in shifts to defeat the poachers. There are sensors that alert the rangers to the sound of a gunshot and seismic cables that can tell them if poachers are in the area. Still, it all comes down to the rangers finding the poachers — hopefully before they’ve downed a rhino and cruelly chopped off most of its face — in the dark, over great distances, when they know the people they’re about to confront are armed.

“The poachers are hardened bushmen themselves,” says Roy. “The park is full of lions. It’s full of leopards. It’s full of cape buffalo. Those are dangerous animals. They don’t care. They go in there on foot with the chance of getting a horn. With a poached horn, all of them will make more than they would working at the gas station or working at a restaurant for an entire year.”

During the Poachers Moon park rangers sleep in tents in the bush in teams of their own waiting for an alert. Their dedication to their work is legendary. Two years ago one of them was attacked by a leopard but managed to fight it off. “He shoved his COVID mask into his jugular, wrapped the seatbelt around his neck and drove two hours to a clinic. And came back to do his job when he was healed,” says Larsen.

Once the rangers have received an alert is when Roy, Larsen and the company they work for now — Tough Stump Technologies — come into play. “The way the guys were operating, they had the equivalent of a paper map on a table. They say, ‘Go to a point here, a point there,’” says Larsen. With the technology Roy and Larsen left behind on a trial basis, requiring neither Wi-Fi nor cell service, the operations center can send a specific point to a ranger on his cellphone, and he can navigate to it from his position. “Before, there was a guy who talks to another guy who has two radios and one of them is talking to the operations center and the other one is talking to the closest ranger. One is speaking English and one is speaking Swahili. They don’t have coordinates; they’re talking about reference points. Based on what we’d seen (with the new equipment) during a false alarm it went from about 90 minutes to 30 minutes for them to interdict.” In fact, in December, on an actual poaching alert, the response time was five minutes.

The technology leapfrogs language barriers — most of the rangers speak English, but it’s a second or third language to their native

Employing and mastering new technology in Kruger National Park.

Shangaan, Tsonga, Swahili, Afrikaans, etc. — because it’s not necessary to talk. It also minimizes the risk of injury from friendly fire, since all the rangers know where all the other rangers are.

To prosecute the poachers in South African courts, the rangers need to retrieve the gun, the horn and, of course, the poacher. The technology makes the forensics easier, too. “There’s a rhino, there’s a weapon, there’s a horn. Picture, picture, picture. It plots it on the map. There’s no disputing anything,” says Larsen.

The project came about at the suggestion of Stephen Lee, a senior scientist at the U.S. Army Research Laboratory in the Research Triangle Park. Lee, who has a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Emery University, has traveled to and from Africa for the past 15 years engaged in educational projects and in research, mostly with elephants, whose acute sense of smell led to ways to detect the presence of explosives, narcotics and chemical and biological agents. He became active in both anti-poaching and animal conservation and, because of his Army connections, was aware of the technology Roy, Larsen and Tough Stump had. “I thought this would be ideal,” says Lee. “I thought it would revolutionize how they do counter-poaching.”

The entire technology kit fits in a backpack at a cost of roughly $50,000, money the national park doesn’t have to spare. Because of that Roy and Larsen have begun fundraising, with the help of Southern Pines Rugby Club, for both the technology and the rangers themselves. To help, go to their website, ruggersagainstpoachers.com, where contributions can be channeled through a nonprofit 501(c)3.

The illegal trafficking of rhino horns is done, essentially, by organized crime syndicates. As a result, park rangers and their families can be in extraordinary danger. Their children need to be educated far away from their villages. In this story, as in all communications about the park rangers, their faces are blotted out to protect their identities.

Just like the technology Roy and Larsen left behind, it’s a small step to protect the protectors. And maybe save one of the planet’s most needlessly endangered species. PS

For more information about the poaching of rhino horns, watch the gritty, tough documentary Stroop: Journey into the Rhino Horn War. Jim Moriarty is the Editor of PineStraw and can be reached at jjmpinestraw@gmail.com.

Randy Roy and Jimmy Larsen

Gathering with the park rangers, their faces obscured for their own protection.

Monarchs of the Forest

The wonder of champion trees

story anD Photogra Phs by toDD P usser

It was a tip from a local hunter that first alerted Gary Williamson to the presence of the tree. Standing near the edge of a plowed field, just across the North Carolina line in Chesapeake, Virginia, the tulip poplar dwarfs all other trees nearby. Well over 100 feet tall and 32 feet in circumference, it is the largest of its kind anywhere in the United States.

The tree, while alive and healthy, is hollow on the inside, making it impossible to accurately age. Tulip poplars can live for several hundred years, and it is likely this giant was alive long before the United States declared its independence from Great Britain. Once, while leading a field trip of big tree enthusiasts, Williamson managed to crowd 15 people inside the tree at one time with room to spare. The tree is a survivor, having lived through droughts, wars, hurricanes, and the unrelenting pressure of the saw blade.

Mankind has long been fascinated by trees, especially large trees. The fascination reached a fever pitch in the early 1800s when explorers, searching for gold in California, reported the

first encounters with coastal redwoods and giant sequoias, those blue whales of the plant kingdom. Reaching heights of over 350 feet, with diameters well north of 19 feet, these gargantuan trees are the largest living organisms on Earth. It has been estimated that one particular giant sequoia, appropriately nicknamed “The President,” holds over 2 billion leaves among its branches

When Europeans first colonized America, they set about the task of felling the continent’s vast virgin forests with axes and handsaws, using the wood to make houses, barns, ship hulls and railroad ties. The advent of steam-powered logging machinery, followed later by gas-powered chainsaws, served to increase the efficiency of logging, and by the mid-20th century, virtually no acre of forest in the United States remained untouched by the saw blade.

Around this time, in the early 1940s, the American Forestry Association (now called American Forests) created The National Register of Champion Trees to encourage members of the general public to find, document and preserve the largest remaining

Gary Williamson and National Champion Tulip Poplar in Chesapeake, VA

specimens of this continent’s (approximately) 750 species of trees. The program (www.americanforests.org) created a unique scoring system to help determine if a tree qualifies as a champion.

The formula is straightforward: Take the circumference of the tree (in inches) at breast height, add the height of the tree (in feet), and then add one-quarter of the average crown spread (in feet) for a total point score. The program is active in all 50 states as well as American territories like Puerto Rico. Each state maintains its own list of the largest trees found within its borders, crowning them state champions. If a state champion tree proves exceptionally large, it may qualify for the Register as a national champion.

Anyone can nominate a tree for the National Register. There is no need to be a botanist, forester or professional arborist. All it takes is a keen eye and a sense of curiosity for the natural world.

Few people have nominated as many champion trees to the National Register as Virginia natives Gary Williamson and Byron Carmean. For the past four decades, both men (each in their mid-70s) have traversed the backwoods of North Carolina and Virginia, searching for superlative trees. Most weekends will find them kayaking rivers, walking floodplain forests, driving remote backroads, and searching old cemeteries and estates for the next champion.

In that time, the pair have nominated some truly extraordinary trees. Among them are North Carolina’s largest tree, a rotund bald cypress (with a total score of 558 points) growing along the Roanoke River in Martin County; the national champion Darlington oak tree (which stands alone in a farmer’s field near Rocky Mount); the national champion silky camellia, whose broad, fragrant flowers brighten up the springtime forest in Merchants Millpond State Park; a state champion Hercules club

(an unusual looking tree covered in large thorns) in the town of Duck in the Outer Banks, and a state champ Shumard Oak growing along the nutrient rich soils of the Deep River. Over 142 feet tall, with an average crown spread of 110 feet, the oak can easily be seen on Google Earth.

I recently joined Williamson on a cool winter’s day to see and photograph the national champ tulip poplar growing in Chesapeake. Bearing similarities to European poplars and having white, tulip-shaped flowers gives the tree its common name. However, the tulip poplar is in no way related to poplars or tulips. Instead, it’s a member of the magnolia family and is the tallest hardwood tree in North America.

Taking pictures of a champion tree is inherently difficult. There is simply no way to sufficiently capture the essence of “bigness,” that wow factor, within a two-dimensional frame. No matter what lens is used or at which angle you shoot, the resulting image will inevitably diminish the size of the tree. Nevertheless, I persisted for well over an hour, posing Williamson at various positions around its trunk and even inside the tree.

Finally, as the sun was sinking below the horizon, I stopped taking photos and simply stood at the base of the living monarch, staring up toward its immense crown. Running my hands over its furrowed bark, I thought of what the forests looked like at the time my ancestors first set foot on this continent. Here, standing before me, was a shining example of that bygone era and one of the true wonders of the natural world. PS

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

National Champion Darlington Oak Tree in Edgecomb County, NC State Champion Flowering Dogwood in cemetary in Clinton, NC

King Trees

The champions of Moore County

by tom LiLLie • Photogra Phs by John gessner

Moore County has what it takes to produce champions. The environment is ideal for building endurance and dominating the competition. Four individuals currently living in the Sandhills achieved state, national or world recognition without ever leaving the very spot where they took root and blossomed. They did not seek this recognition. In fact, they were discovered by local admirers and nominated for the crown.

The individuals I am referring to are trees. Three are famous for their size, and one is legendary for its age.

When it comes to size, a tree’s height, trunk circumference and crown spread are used to establish its position in arboreal prominence. The nonprofit group American Forests has the final say. A different process is used to document and recognize the oldest trees. Scientists called dendrochronologists extract a core sample with a special drill bit and count the growth rings to determine a tree’s age.

The nation’s largest turkey oak (Quercus laevis) stands at the intersection of N.C. 211 and state Road 2077 in Aberdeen. Worn and weathered, the tree is 64 feet tall with a circumference of 126 inches and a crown spread of 41 feet. Most motorists drive past the deciduous standout every day without knowing they are within sight of a titleholder, but news of plans to widen the road put the tree in the spotlight. The State Department of Transportation considered various alternatives, including rerouting the road to avoid the tree, but decided removal is the only viable option.

DOT is in the process of acquiring the necessary right of way for the project, including land occupied by the champion turkey oak. As a mitigation measure, the DOT will remove and preserve a 10-foot section of the tree for documentation and study. This champion sustained decades of automobile exhaust and inclement weather, but it will be dethroned by human progress and the chainsaw.

Our next pair of champions are about 15 miles north of the turkey oak on property near Carthage. Both trees are recognized by the North Carolina Forest Service as the largest member of their species in the state. One is a 105-foot Florida maple (Acer barbatum) with a circumference of 113 inches and a crown spread of 70 feet. The other is a Shumard oak (Quercus shumardii) that measures 142 feet tall, 237 inches in circumference, and has a 110-foot crown

Turkey oak (Quercus laevis)

Florida maple (Acer barbatum)

Shumard oak (Quercus shumardii)

spread. The future of the Florida maple and Shumard oak is relatively certain, since both grow on property that is managed by the Three Rivers Land Trust.

Another Moore County tree of special note is the oldest living longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) in the world. It sprouted in 1548 and became firmly rooted in the sandy soil of what is now the Boyd Tract of Weymouth Woods Sandhills Nature Preserve in Southern Pines. During 474 years of existence, this multi-centenarian somehow managed to escape predation, disease, recurring fires, storms, the ax, the chain saw, resin gathering and growth of a nation. Its age was determined by scientists from the University of North Carolina Greensboro in 2007. Each year, the state pays special tribute to the elderly evergreen by hosting an annual birthday celebration called Party for the Pine, complete with cake, games and other activities.

Last year had special meaning for the champion trees of Moore County and all native trees in North Carolina. The Department of Parks and Recreation designated 2022 the Year of the Tree. Displays and educational material recognized the importance of all trees to the natural environment. Details about champion trees can be found at https://www.americanforests. org/champion-trees/ and the North Carolina database of champion trees is posted online at https://www.ncforestservice.gov/ Urban/nc_champion_big_trees_database_search.asp PS

Tom Lillie is a military veteran and resident of Pinehurst. He received his Ph.D. in medical entomology from the University of Florida and served 26 years as a medical entomologist in the U.S. Air Force.

Longleaf pine (Pinus palustris)

To the Manor Reborn

A historic hotel transformed

by Deborah sa Lomon

gessner

Photogra Phs by John

historica L Photogra Phs from the tufts a rchives

To be memorable, a Christmas pudding needs soaking in brandy. Likewise, a sojourn at Pinehurst’s famed golf courses benefits from après golf immersion: lodgings, décor, potables, camaraderie with fellow-sojourners ready to rehash the day’s round from deeply upholstered chairs at inns where history comes alive via photographs and memorabilia.

The Manor — a luxury lodge, clubby without being uber-masculine, with a staff imbued with Southern hospitality — is part of this culture. It’s fair to say that, before its massive redo, The Manor had aged to the point it was considered little more than “overflow” lodging for the larger resort. Now it’s an attraction all its own.

Tucked behind The Pine Crest Inn and almost completely reimaged, The Manor suits groups who require gathering space as well as couples and weekend golfers in search of a game. It’s just far enough from the village center to claim quiet yet close enough to walk to virtually everything, including the wildly successful Pinehurst Brewery just down the hill. It’s intimate enough — 43 rooms — to feel homey yet part of the Pinehurst Resort family giving guests access to pool, spa and all hotel amenities.

And, like her cousin inns Magnolia and Holly, The Manor is steeped in history.

By the early 1900s Pinehurst was gaining popularity as a winter resort, accessible by rail, boasting mild temperatures and upper-crust guests who rented cottages for “the season” or stopped at a hotel. These facilities required staff, and staff required affordable lodgings. In 1899 the Tufts family announced, “A fine new hotel, The Lexington, for employees of the village is being erected.” Here, a single room in the four-story walk-up cost from $17 to $28 monthly; a double, some with bath, $32 to $40. Tufts hired New England hotelier Emma Bliss — also the force behind The Pine Crest Inn — to manage the project. Emma, who is often compared to the Unsinkable Molly Brown, had loftier ideas. In 1922 she applied for a loan to raze, rebuild and gentrify The Lexington. Bankers, aghast at this cheeky woman, finally relented. The Manor opened in 1923 with a sprinkler system, private bathrooms and steam heat. The Pinehurst Outlook described it as “luxuriously furnished, catering to an exclusive clientele with an elevator, also a phone in each room.”

Build it and they will come. “Mrs. H. Guggenheim of New York City has arrived for a week,” the Outlook society page announced.

Over the years, The Manor has changed ownership and undergone several renovations. Nothing compares to the last one, begun in 2019, when the building was stripped down to its studs, space reallocated, spa bathrooms installed along with décor based, surprisingly, on blue — a soothing smoky shade midway between UNC Tar Heel pastel and Duke Blue Devil electric. Playing off the blue is a sandy-beige plaid fabric, hereafter dubbed Manor tartan, that appears in both public and guest rooms. Miles of moldings, tray ceilings, multiple columns and a graceful staircase divide the lobby into conversation areas, one with a built-in Scrabble board. Another, The Marketplace, stocks breakfast sandwiches sent over from the hotel kitchen, snacks and beverages.

The frontal exterior, however, remains mostly intact with its circular drive, porte-cochère, and foundation trimmed with Kellarstone, a rough surfaced-material touted for endurance.

The North & South bar anchors the lobby, boasting more than 100 bourbons, whiskeys, craft cocktails plus beer from neighboring Pinehurst Brewing Co., with charcuterie boards to temper absorption. Look up and you’ll see an illustration (circa 1920) of Donald Ross’ first four courses. Look out and you’ll find decks outfitted with fire pits for chilly evenings.

COVID interrupted its introduction, but by mid-January The Manor opened, drop-dead gorgeous, still informal enough to raise Mrs. Guggenheim’s eyebrows.

No matter how comfy the sofas are or how many oversized TVs tuned to sports channels hang from the walls, nothing makes a better first impression than the enthusiastic welcome of Kathy Capel, front desk manager, problem solver, sympathizer, advice giver. Her knowledge of the area becomes crucial during junior competitions, when families arrive from around the globe. After 36 years, first at The Carolina Hotel, then The Manor, Capel’s laugh and twinkle have made her popular with locals and repeat guests alike.

Oh, the tales Capel could tell were she not so discreet. The hands she’s shaken include Sidney Poitier (“He was so handsome.”), Dean Smith, Bobby Knight, Oprah Winfrey, Roy Williams and her buddy Arnold Palmer, whose photograph, with father Deacon Palmer, hangs over the front desk.

Palmer could have stayed anywhere, but The King chose The Manor. “He always had suite 401. He would sit on the porch for hours and sign autographs,” Capel recalls. When Palmer passed away in 2016, “I cried like a baby,” says Capel. “But his daughter came down last year to see our pictures of him.”

In the 1980s central air conditioning, then warmer winters extended the “sea-

son,” attracting a clientele seeking a more contemporary setting. In April 2020, the resort’s owner, Bob Dedman Jr., told Business North Carolina magazine: “We’ve always gone back, tried to be more authentic, restore the character of Pinehurst but at the same time, contemporize so that its legacy will last. Part of it is looking backward but another part is always looking forward.”

It means rocking chairs on the porch, craft beers on tap, Wi-Fi, and Kathy Capel calling out “Welcome to The Manor” from her forever position at the front desk. PS

ALMANAC

by a shLey Wa L she

Bridge Between Seasons

February knows you’re weary. She can tell by the longing in your eyes, the ache in your chest and shoulders, how you carry the cold like a burden.

On these frost-cloaked mornings, you dream of soft earth and tender blossoms, spring peepers and swallowtails, songbirds and sunny afternoons.

February knows. She cannot give you what she does not have. And yet, she offers hope.

At dawn, the frigid air nips your face and lungs, stuns you with its jarring presence. It’s hard, at first, to see beyond the dense clouds of your own breath. This is where you start: Breathe into the mystery. Let the formless take form. Watch your own warmth shape the world around you.

As the pink sky slowly brightens, two silhouettes appear in the glittering distance.

A pair of rabbits.

Something about their gentle presence softens the very landscape, softens your edges and your gaze. Weeks from now, their quiet stirrings will have conjured the first of many quivering litters. Something deep within you stirs.

February offers contrast.

Suddenly, you notice early crocus, jewel-like petals drenched with more color than you’ve seen in months. For now, this luscious purple is enough.

But there’s more.

When the first golden daffodil emerges from the frozen earth, a sunbeam lights upon your face. You close your eyes, basking in this subtle warmth, this fleeting glimpse of what’s to come.

The cold becomes quiet. As you walk the icy bridge between the harsh clutch of winter and the tender kiss of spring, you carry yourself differently. Hope is gleaming in your eyes, glittering on the horizon, tucked inside your chest like a sacred gift.

The ancient Celts looked to the Wheel of the Year to celebrate and honor nature’s cycles, drawing wisdom from the turning of each season. Imbolc (observed on Feb. 1) marks the midpoint between the winter solstice (Yule) and the spring equinox (Ostara). In other words: Imbolc is a bridge between death and rebirth. Also known as Candlemas or Brigid’s (pronounced Breed’s) Day, this festival honors the return of the sun and celebrates the Celtic fertility goddess Brigid.

The days are growing longer. The sun, stronger. The earth opens to a quickening rhythm. Soon, the seeds from last year’s harvest will be sown. As spring awakens within and around us, the great wheel turns and turns.

While it is February one can taste the full joys of anticipation. Spring stands at the gate with her finger on the latch.

— Patience Strong

Crocus Pocus

Perhaps you know that saffron, the complex and costly spice, comes from the red stigmas of the autumn-blooming saffron crocus (C. sativus), not the snow crocuses you see now, bursting through the frozen earth. And yet, these winter-blooming beauties offer something of even greater value: the ineffable promise of spring.

Plant your own corms this fall. They’ll need full sun, moist but well-drained soil and a quiet winter to unlock their incomparable magic. PS

Highly skilled and well-trained, your personal chef will entertain you while cooking such favorites as steak, chicken, seafood and fresh vegetables in traditional Japanese style on a hibachi table. Come Join Us

Occasions, because every occasion is Special, and Experience the excitement and tasteful show!

It

and when not. With PCS, you know you are getting the Best!

We strive for perfection and professionalism in all that we do. Our company is fully insured because we care about the safety of our clients and employees. PCS is much more than a business. We are a Family and take pride every day in our work. We care about our community and are grateful to be able to serve Moore County.

The best Italian dishes and pizza in Moore

For the Past 42 years, Vito’s has been offering the best Italian pizza and dishes in Moore County, providing the region with a taste of hospitality that mirrors that found in Southern Italy. In addition to the delicious Italian food, Vito’s grows many of their own vegetables in a garden out back and has an extensive wine collection in a temperature controlled cellar in Southern Pines. A family establishment through and through, the Gironda family welcomes regulars and brand new visitors to the restaurant with open arms and full plates.

arts & entertainment

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

TAX HELP. AARP will provide free tax help on Saturdays and Mondays from Feb. 4 to April 17. Starting Feb. 1, contact the library for more information about making an appointment. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: www.sppl.net.

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

FEBRUARY EVENTS

Wednesday, February 1

WOMAN’S EXCHANGE. 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. The Sandhills Woman’s Exchange will reopen for the spring season with chef Katrina lunches served from 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. Join us for lunch and shopping for new gifts in the shop. Sandhills Woman’s Exchange, 15 Azalea Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 295-4677 or www.sandhillswe.org.

Thursday, February 2

SYMPHONY. 7:30 p.m. The North Carolina Symphony presents “All Strings.” Robert E. Lee Auditorium, 250 Voit Gilmore Road, Southern Pines. Info: www.ncsymphony.com.

Friday, February 3

JAZZ MUSIC. 7 - 8:15 p.m. La Fiesta Latin Jazz Quartet performs. McPherson Theater at BPAC, 3395 Airport Road, Pinehurst. Info and tickets: www.ticketmesandhills.com.

GROUP DANCE CLASS. 7 p.m. Come to a newcomers’ dance class to learn the waltz and rumba. The dance class will be held every Friday in February. Carolina DanceWorks, 712 S.W. Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 725-1846 or www.carolinadanceworks.com.

Saturday, February 4

KID’S SATURDAY. 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. Families are invited to a monthly themed craft event at the library to socialize and get creative. Geared toward ages 3 - 10. Given Memorial Library, 150 Cherokee Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 295-3642.

PAINTED PONIES. Enjoy a day of dining and

shopping while checking out the 2023 Painted Ponies Art Walk. The 14 painted ponies will line Broad Street in Southern Pines until early April. Info: www.carolinahorsepark.com.

BOOK EVENT. 2 - 3 p.m. The Country Bookshop welcomes Brad Taylor to talk about his book The Devil’s Ransom. The Country Bookshop, 140 N.W. Broad St., Southern Pines. Info and tickets: www.ticketmesandhills.com.

Sunday, February 5

VALENTINE’S BRUNCH. 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. The Moore Free and Charitable Clinic hosts their Hearts and Hands Brunch to honor their staff, providers and volunteers. Cost is $75 per person. Carolina Hotel, 80 Carolina Vista Drive, Pinehurst. Info and tickets: www.ticketmesandhills.com.

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

SPEAKER SERIES. 2:30 - 5:30 p.m. The James E. Holshouser Jr. Speaker Series will host “An Afternoon with the Heritage Foundation,” featuring updates from one of the nation’s leading conservative public policy think tanks and a presentation on the problems at the Southern border crisis by Mike Howell, director of the Heritage Oversight Project. Owens Auditorium, 3395 Airport Road, Pinehurst. Info and tickets: www.ticketmesandhills.com.

Tuesday, February 7

DATING AWARENESS. 4 p.m. February is Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month. Join Friend to Friend for a program series focused on healthy relationships and safety. Registration is required. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut

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

Thursday, February 9

GATHERING AT GIVEN. 3:30 - 4:30 p.m. Ariel Matthews will be walking patrons through what NoveList, one of the NC Live resources, can do to expand your tailored book recommendations. Given Memorial Library, 150 Cherokee Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 295-3642.

Friday, February 10

DANCE SOCIAL. 8 - 10 p.m. Come enjoy a Valentine’s dance social hosted by Carolina DanceWorks. Carolina DanceWorks, 712 S.W. Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 725-1846 or www.carolinadanceworks.com.

Saturday, February 11

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

CHOCOLATE FESTIVAL. 9 a.m. - 2 p.m. Savor chocolate treats of all kinds, including our “church fudge.” Enjoy a gift boutique, doughnut and hot chocolate bar, a cake walk, chocolate demonstrations, silent auction and Children’s Chocolate Chase. Pinehurst United Methodist Church, 4111 Airport Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 215-4559 or www.pinehurstumc.org.

HEART N’ SOUL OF JAZZ. 7:30 - 9:30 p.m. Vocalist Clint Holmes will headline with the Heart of Carolina Jazz Orchestra, under the direction of Dr. Gregg Gelb. Opening this concert will be the Triangle Youth Jazz Ensemble. Owens Auditorium, 3395 Airport Road, Pinehurst. Info and tickets: www.ticketmesandhills.com.

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

BOOK EVENT. 5 - 6 p.m. The Country Bookshop welcomes Nina de Gramont to talk about her book The Christie Affair. The Country Bookshop, 140 N.W. Broad St., Southern Pines. Info and tickets: www.ticketmesandhills.com.

Thursday, February 16

BRUNCH. 11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Join the Sandhills Christian Women’s Connection for a special, uplifting morning with a brunch buffet, music and inspirational speakers. Cost is $20. Cannon Park Community Center, 210 Rattlesnake Trail, Pinehurst. Info and reservations: (910) 215-4568 or patsyrpeele@gmail.com.

READ BETWEEN THE PINES. 5 p.m. SPPL’s book club for adults meets to discuss this month’s book. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. To join email mhoward@sppl.net.

CIVIL WAR ROUND TABLE. 6:30 p.m. The guest speaker will be Bob Graesser with a presentation on the usage of the railroad as a weapon of war. Meeting starts at 7 p.m. Open to the public. Civic Club, corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and Ashe Street, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 246-0452 or mafarina@aol.com.

Saturday, February 18

READER’S THEATER. 11 a.m. - 12 p.m. Reader’s Theater will be hosted by Senior Moments from the Moore County Senior Enrichment Center. The

Senior Moments troupe will be visiting the library once a month to share a different reader's theater and interact with children and families. Given Memorial Library, 150 Cherokee Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 295-3642.

HORSE SHOW. Come see the Pipe Opener II (Dressage and Combined Test). Carolina Horse Park, 2814 Montrose Road, Raeford. Info: www. carolinahorsepark.com.

DANCING. 6 p.m. Carolina Pines Dance Club invites you to a fun evening of swing, line, ballroom, shag and Latin. Doors open at 6 p.m. Dance lessons at 6:30 p.m. Dancing until 9:30 p.m. Beginners and experienced dancers, couples and singles all welcome. Cost is $15 per person, cash at the door. National Athletic Village, 201 Air Tool Drive, Southern Pines. Info: (724) 816-1170.

Sunday, February 19

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

ARTS AND HUMANITIES SERIES. Part one of the series will begin with a presentation on “The Background and Local History of the Lumbee

Tribe.” Cost is $15 for members and $20 for non-members. Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities, 555 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: www.weymouthcenter.org.

Monday, February 20

WOMEN OF WEYMOUTH. 9:30 a.m. The Women of Weymouth will have guest speaker Sundi McLaughlin, owner of Mockingbird on Broad, to speak about becoming an entrepreneur. Free admission. Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities, 555 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: www.weymouthcenter.org.

ADULT STORY TIME. 12 - 1 p.m. Meet in the Eric Nelson Room for an adult short story read-

aloud. Bring your lunch, snacks or coffee and sit back to listen. No prep work required. Given Memorial Library, 150 Cherokee Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 295-3642.

Tuesday, February 21

BOOK CLUB. 2 p.m. The James Boyd Book Club meets with this month’s book, Sunflowers Beneath the Snow, by Teri M. Brown. Free admission, registration required. Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities, 555 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: www.weymouthcenter.org.

DATING AWARENESS. 4 p.m. February is Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month. Join Friend to Friend for a program series focused on healthy relationships and safety. Registration is required. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: www.sppl.net or email kbroughey@sppl.net.

Wednesday, February 22

WRITER IN RESIDENCE. 5:30 p.m. Valerie Nieman will read from her latest novel, In the Lonely Backwater. Free admission. Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities, 555 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: www. weymouthcenter.org.

Thursday, February 23

LUNCH N’ LEARN. 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. The

An Independent, Interdenominational Church

Welcoming Christians of All Denominations

Unifying all Christians through the Word of God

Three Distinct Sunday Worship Services

Three Distinct Services

Holy Eucharist

11:00am

Family Service with Children’s Sermon

11:00am

Traditional Worship

10 Azalea Road • Pinehu st • 910-295-6003 ww rst.com www.facebook.com/tvcpinehurst

s provided for all services. us to discover makes us unique.

Three Distinct Services

8:15am - Holy Eucharist

9:30am - Family Service with Children’s Sermon

Sandhills Woman’s Exchange will host Maggie Smith for a flower arranging demonstration using natural materials. Cost is $30 and includes lunch. Sandhills Woman’s Exchange,15 Azalea Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 295-4677 or www.sandhillswe.org.

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

Friday, February 24

DANCE SOCIAL. 8 - 9:30 p.m. Come enjoy a dance social hosted by Carolina DanceWorks. Carolina DanceWorks, 712 S.W. Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 725-1846 or www.carolinadanceworks.com.

Saturday, February 25

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

CASINO NIGHT. 6 - 10 p.m. The Women of the Pines is hosting a Casino Night with live shows, music, drinks, hors d’oeuvres and casino games. Cost is $75 per person. The Fair Barn, 200

Beulah Hill Road S., Pinehurst. Info and tickets: www.womenofthepines.org.

Tuesday, February 28

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

MUSICIANS’ JAM SESSION. 6 - 9 p.m. Bring your own instrument and beverage or just come and enjoy the music. Attendees must have the COVID vaccination. Free admission, registration required. Weymouth Center for the Arts &

Humanities, 555 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: www.weymouthcenter.org.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Friday, March 3

CONCERT. 7 - 8:45 p.m. The Four Freshmen are in concert at BPAC’s Owens Auditorium, 3395 Airport Road, Pinehurst. Info and tickets: www.ticketmesandhills.com.

Saturday, March 4

PERFORMANCE. 5 - 6 p.m. A Sick Day for Amos McGee is adapted for the stage at BPAC’s Owens Auditorium, 3395 Airport Road, Pinehurst. Info and tickets: www.ticketmesandhills.com.

WEEKLY EVENTS

Mondays

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

SING FOR FUN. 9 - 10 a.m. Adults 55 and older can sing for fun while reaping the physical and mental benefits of a choir experience. Learn various songs from all genres. Cost per month is $36 for residents and $52 for non-residents. Douglass

Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

STRETCH AND MOVE. 10 - 11 a.m. Adults 55 and older are invited to do a gentle, low-impact dance with inspirational music. Cost is $36 for residents and $52 for nonresidents per month. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

STRENGTH AND BALANCE WORKOUT.

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

GAME ON. 1 p.m. For adults 55 and older. You and your friends are invited to play various games such as corn hole, badminton, table tennis, shuffleboard, trivia games and more. Each week enjoy a different activity to keep you moving and thinking. Compete with friends and make new ones all for free.

Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

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

SOUTHERN SOUL LINE DANCING. 6 p.m. No experience necessary, put on your comfy shoes and groove to some funky tunes with funkmaster

CALENDAR

Terry Julius. For adults 18 and older. Cost is $6 for Southern Pines residents and $9 for non-residents. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

DANCE. 8 p.m. Take a Ballroom Bubbles class. The class is held online through Carolina DanceWorks. Info: (910) 725-1846 or carolinadanceworks@gmail.com.

Tuesdays

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

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

BABY RHYMES. 10:30 a.m. Baby Rhymes is specially designed for the youngest learners (birth- 2) and their caregivers. Repetition and comforting movements make this story time perfect for early development and brain growth. There will be a duplicate session at 11 a.m. Dates this month are

Feb. 7, 14, 21 and 28. An active library card is required. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or www.sppl.net.

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

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

TAI CHI. 1 p.m. Come learn tai chi. There is no age limit and the classes are open to the public. Aberdeen Parks and Recreation Station, 301 Lake Park Crossing, Aberdeen. Info: (910) 944-7275.

SPARK STORYTIME. 2:30 p.m. This Spark Storytime at Fire Station 82 is for ages birth through 2 and kids will have a chance to see firetrucks. Dates this month are Feb. 7, 14, 21 and 28. Fire Station 82, 500 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or www.sppl.net.

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

Photo by Rachel Garrison

TABLE TENNIS. 7 - 9 p.m. Enjoy playing this exciting game every Tuesday. Cost for six months is $15 for residents of Southern Pines and $30 for non-residents. For adults 55 and older. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

Wednesdays

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

LEARN AND PLAY. 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. Come in for an open play date with your toddler or preschooler where there will be developmental toys and puzzles as well as early literacy tips on display for parents and caregivers to incorporate into their daily activities. Dates this month are Feb. 1, 8, 15 and 22. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or www.sppl.net.

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

CALENDAR

SLOW AND STRETCHY. 12 - 1 p.m. Adults 55 and older can flow through yoga poses slowly and intentionally, stretching everything from your head to your toes. Free of charge. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

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

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

LIBRARY PROGRAM. 3:30 p.m. At The Library After School (ATLAS) is an after-school program for children ages kindergarten through second grade who enjoy activities, crafts, stories and learning. Dates this month will be Feb. 1, 8, 15 and 22. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or www.sppl.net.

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

Homestyles

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

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

DANCE. 8 p.m. Take a Ballroom Bubbles class. The class is held online through Carolina DanceWorks. Info: (910) 725-1846 or carolinadanceworks@gmail.com.

Thursdays

MOORE COUNTY FARMERS MARKET. 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. The year-round market features “producer only” vendors within a 50-mile radius providing fresh, local and seasonal produce, fruits, pasture meats, eggs, potting plants, cut flowers and local honey. Crafts, baked goods, jams and jellies are also available. Market is located at the Armory Sports Complex, 604 W. Morganton Road, Southern Pines. GIVEN STORY TIME. 10 a.m. Wonderful volunteers share their love of reading with children. Stop by and join the fun. Given Memorial Library, 150 Cherokee Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 295-3642. MUSIC AND MOTION. 10:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Does your toddler like to move and groove? Join us

for outdoor Music and Motion to get those wiggles out and work on gross and fine motor skills. For ages 2–5. Dates this month are Feb. 2, 9, 16 and 23. An active library card is required. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or www.sppl.net.

ADAPTIVE YOGA. 12 - 1 p.m. Adults 55 and older can enjoy yoga that meets you where you are. We’ll be creating a sense of balance and ease by slowly increasing your range of motion and mobility while maintaining your natural abilities. Free of charge. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

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

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

ORCHESTRA REHEARSALS. 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. The Moore Philharmonic Orchestra has weekly

CALENDAR

rehearsals. Membership is open to youth and adult community members and there is no fee to join. Wellard Hall at Sandhills Community College, 3395 Airport Road, Pinehurst. Info: www.mporchestra.com or email moorephilharmonicorchestra@gmail.com.

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

TRIVIA NIGHT. 7 - 9 p.m. Come enjoy a beer and some trivia. Hatchet Brewing Company, 490 S.W. Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: www.hatchetbrewing.com.

Fridays

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

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

RESTORATIVE YOGA. 1 p.m. For adults 55 and older. Practice gentle movements to improve well-being. Practice movements that may help al-

leviate pain and improve circulation. Bring your own mat. Free of charge. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

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

LINE DANCING. 3 - 4 p.m. For adults 55 and older. If you’re interested in learning dance moves and building confidence on the dance floor, this class is for you. Leave your inhibitions at the door and join in. Cost is $36 for residents and $52 for non-residents for a monthly membership. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

DANCE. 8 p.m. Take a Ballroom Bubbles class. The class is held online through Carolina DanceWorks. Info: (910) 725-1846 or carolinadanceworks@gmail.com. PS

present

March 11 10am - 5pm

Friday, Feb. 10 - 6:30 PM

SCC Jazz Band

Directed by Dr. Larry Arnold

Free concert - No ticket required

Saturday, Feb. 11 - 7:30 PM Triangle Youth Jazz Ensemble opening for Heart of Carolina Jazz Orchestra

Directed by Dr. Gregg Gelb

with guest star Grammy-nominated vocalist

Clint Holmes

Tickets: $35-$69

Available at www.TicketMeSandhills.com

For Information, call 910-692-2787

Owens Auditorium at Sandhills Community College 3395 Airport Road • Pinehurst, NC

Sponsors include:

Katherine & Bryant Bozarth

Durant Holler

Linnea Lockwood & Richard Norland

teawithseagrovepotters

www.teawithseagrovepotters.com

Feb 3

FEB 5

La Fiesta Latin Jazz Quintet: Fiesta In Sound

BPAC’s McPherson Theater

Hearts & Hands Valentines Brunch benefiting Moore Free & Charitable Clinic Carolina Hotel

FEB 5

Southern Border Crisis Coming to North Carolina: An Afternoon with The Heritage Foundation

BPAC’s Owens Auditorium

FeB 11 Heart n’ Soul of Jazz 2023

Feb 15

BPAC’s Owens Auditorium

The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont

Author Event The Country Bookshop

Please visit TicketMeSandhills.com for more Sandhills Trolley Company and Cameo Art House Theatre events

910.693.2516 • info@ticketmesandHills.com

Blue Hen Pottery, Dean and Martin Pottery, Eck McCanless Pottery, From the Ground Up Pottery, Red Hare Pottery and Thomas Pottery. Enjoy samples from Carriage House Tea and The Table Farmhouse Bakery.

SandhillSeen

Southern Pines First Eve Pinecone Drop

Downtown Southern Pines

Saturday, December 31, 2022

Photographs by Diane McKay

Officers Guerrero, Washington, Byloff, Jimenez

Stephanie & Shane Kolb, Hank (dog)

Sarah Brown, Russell Page

Kent, Arthur & Brianna Quinn

The Cole-Mattson Family

Brooke Gilbertson, McKenzie Blake, Hadley Zeh

Sydney Harber, Francisco Rosado

Tia Chick, Tommy Doonan

Sidney Braeckel, Kim Kirkpatrick

The Barnes & Fox Families Ayder & Krystle Villano, Katrina & Kegan Deffenbaugh

Rodee Bennett, Caelyn Rosinha, Noelle Gillian, Gavin Armstrong

5, 10:00-1:00 $115

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

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

WATERCOLOR

Intro to Watercolor - Jean Smyth - February 6, 7, 10:00-3:00 $96

Exploring Gouache - Christine Stackhouse - February 13, 12:30-3:30 - $46

More Watercolor - Jean Smyth - March 13, 14, 1:00-4:00 $72

Watercolor Paint - Along with Ellen - Ellen Burke - March 31, 10:00-1:00 $42

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

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

PASTEL

Portrait or Still Life in Pastel on PastelMat - Betty Hendrix - February 22, 10:00-4:00 $67

DRAWING

Watercolor Pencil and Wax Colored Pencil on Watercolor Board - Betty Hendrix - March 27, 10:00-4:00 $67

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

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

OTHER MEDIUMS

Intermediate Alcohol Ink - Pam Griner - February 8, 11:30-2:30 $46

Mixed Media Mania - Carol Gradwohl - February 20, 21, 9:30-12:30 $92

Collaging Out of the Box - Sandy Stratil - February 23, 24, 10:00-4:00 $120

Advanced Alcohol Ink - Pam Griner - March 15, 11:30-2:30 $46

Silk Painting Introduction - Kathy Leuck - March 22, 23, 9:30-12:30 $117

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

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

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

Ask Us About Becoming a Member - Members Receive a Class Discount! 129 Exchange Street in Aberdeen, NC www.artistleague.org • artistleague@windstream.net

SandhillSeen

Moore County Arts Council Reception, Cloth, Canvas & Clay

Campbell House

Friday, January 6, 2023

Photographs by Diane McKay

Dale & Darlene Skinner

Danny & Erik McKeithen

Jennifer & Marge Holmquest

Beverly & Bob Wetherbie

Mary Abbott Williams

CJ & Rebecca Dunn

Sharon & Paul Murphy

Pat Stack, Lynette Crosby

Donna Traylor, Margaret Hayes

Patricia & Julianne Thomas, Anne Phillips

Madeline & Alice James

February Pine Needler

Hot Breakfast Month!

Georgia

Foot

Puzzle answers on page 113 Mart Dickerson lives in Southern Pines and welcomes suggestions from her fellow puzzle masters. She can be reached at martaroonie@gmail.com.

Sudoku:

42. Jocularity 43. Gym units 45. Continues 47. in the hat (2 wds) 48. Continent 50. __ days

53. Nova

54. South of the border crazy

55. Sweet potatoes

57. Decorative needle case

58. Opp. of few

60. Behold

62. Shirt protector

Eau d’Adventure

By: EmilEE P hilliPs

They say smells are the strongest links to memory. A whiff of something can transport you instantly through the years. Perfumes are like people, each complex and unique. One may sing a melancholy song but you can’t help but love her voice. Another might wrap you up in a big hug and hold you there no matter how long it’s been. A third can pull you into a hallway you haven’t dared walk down in years.

A new year is a chance to try on new versions of yourself as simply as changing your scent. You can have a signature perfume, or you can have the world at your door with the touch of an atomizer. I could smell like a girl who spends her days arranging flowers, drinking afternoon tea and wearing a pearl necklace. Or I could have a sultry scent and create mystery in the air as if, just walking past, it is possible to imagine being inside a luxurious yacht.

And I adore fragrance bottles. While many may be ornate, uniquely shaped vessels with ridiculous names on their labels, they’re my prized little possessions.

I have a round glass bottle of Chanel I got my senior year of high school. I use it sparingly, mostly on special occasions. Every pink spritz takes me back to seeing the world as an adult for the first time. Back to

prom, my cap and gown, and first dates.

I have a bottle that’s yellow and cylindrical and reminds me of a trip I took to Ohio one winter, my white boots in the snow and my cousin, Maddy. We walked all around Cleveland, shivering with coffees in hand, finding unique storefronts and taking dramatic photos we dubbed “album covers.” A whiff brings us back together again.

People associate red roses with Valentine’s Day, as do I, though I prefer the look of peonies or carnations. Still, I opt for rose-scented spray on the 14th. Once, on my way out for dinner, I sprayed so much of it my coat held onto the scent deep into spring. My date rolled the car windows down, terrified, I suppose, that no automobile air freshener could ever put it right.

I secretly love walking through department stores with beauty bars and fragrance counters. The haze that hangs between the door and the shoe department is a fog bank I welcome. Even though most perfumes are overpriced and overly pungent, I enjoy over-sampling them all, sniffing test papers until my nose can no longer distinguish patchouli from pine.

I even keep a small gold metal bottle my mother bought in Paris back in the ’80s. It’s never been opened. She wanted to save it for a special occasion. Maybe one day I’ll test it out and cross my fingers that it doesn’t smell terrible. Maybe we’ll even wear it out together to create an aromatic memory all our own. PS

Emilee Phillips is PineStraw’s director of social media and digital content.

A little spritz goes a long way