June 2012 PineStraw by PineStraw Magazine

PINEHURST TOYOTA A Great Deal And A Great Deal More!

LEAN DESIGN. IMPROVED SAFETY AND SECURITY. BETTER GAS MILEAGE: 25CITY/35HWY.*

US HWY 15-501 • SOUTHERN PINES, NC • (800) 581-0519 *2012 EPA-estimated mileage. Actual mileage will vary.

SHOP ANYTIME 24/7 AT:

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The Heart of Hunt Country

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Water Front! Beautiful rustic contemporary on 2 lots. Updates & Renovations. Spectacular Views! Text T368102 to 85377

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Old Town Pinehurst

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ÂŠ2012 BRER Affiliates Inc. An independently owned and operated broker member of BRER Affiliates, Inc. Prudential, the Prudential logo and the Rock symbol are registered service marks of Prudential Financial, Inc. and its related entities, registered in many jurisdictions worldwide. Used under license with no other affiliation with Prudential. Equal Housing Opportunity.

June 2012 Volume 7, No. 6 Departments

29 Out of the Blue Deborah Salomon

7 Sweet Tea

Jim Dodson

10 PinePitch 13 Cos and Effect Cos Barnes 15 The Omnivorous Reader

Stephen E. Smith

19 Bookshelf 23 Hitting Home

Dale Nixon

25 The Kitchen Garden Jan Leitschuh 27 Vine Wisdom Robyn James

31 Birdwatch Susan Campbell 33 The Sporting Life Tom Bryant

37 Golftown Journal Lee Pace

70 Calendar 83 SandhillSeen 93 Thoughts From the Man Shed

Geoff Cutler

95 PineNeedler Mart Dickerson 96 SouthWords Laurie Birdsong

Features

Poem: Midsummer

The Power of Enchantment

By Ashley Wahl By Jim Dodson

In the spirit of Midsummer, get lost in the tangled web of your own wild imagination 46

Cover Photograph by Tim Sayer Photograph this page by Cassie Butler 2

Hidden in Plain Sight By Cassie Butler

Art is all around us, look and see

The Grand Dame By Maureen Clark

The redemption of artist Dani Devins

The Other White House By Deborah Salomon

Designed by the darling of local architecture, a 1917 cottage sings the tune of a bygone era. Owners John and Alice Wilson wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have it any other way.

69 June Almanac

By Noah Salt

The transit of Venus and the longest day of the year

June 2012 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

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PineStraw M A G A Z I N E Jim Dodson, Editor

910.693.2506 • jim@pinestrawmag.com

Andie Stuart Rose, Creative Director 910.693.2467 • andie@pinestrawmag.com

Cassie Butler, Photographer/Graphic Designer Kristen Clark, Graphic Designer Ashley Wahl, Editorial Assistant Editorial

Deborah Salomon, Staff Writer Stephen E. Smith, Staff Writer Sara King, Proofreader Mary Novitsky, Proofreader Contributing Photographers

Tim Sayer John Gessner Hannah Sharpe

Contributors

Laurie Birdsong, Maureen Clark, Cos Barnes, Tom Bryant, Susan Campbell, Geoff Cutler, Mart Dickerson, Robyn James, Pamela Powers January, Jan Leitschuh, Dale Nixon, Lee Pace, Jeanne Paine, Noah Salt

PS David Woronoff, Publisher Advertising Sales

Michelle Palladino, Sales Representative 910.691.9657 • mpalladino@pinestrawmag.com Terry Hartsell, 910.693.2513 Kerry Hooper, 910.693.2508 Perry Loflin, 910.693.2514 Peggy Marsh, 910.693.2516 Darlene McNeil-Smith, 910.693.2519 Johnsie Tipton, 910.693.2515 Karen Triplett, 910.693.2510 Pat Taylor, Advertising Director Advertising Graphic Design

Mechelle Butler, Kristen Clark, Clay Culberson, Scott Yancey, Stacey Yongue Circulation & Subscriptions

Darlene Stark, Circulation Director 910.693.2488

PineStraw Magazine

910.693.2467 173 W. Pennsylvania Avenue Southern Pines, NC 28387 pinestraw@thepilot.com • www.pinestrawmag.com ©Copyright 2012. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. PineStraw magazine is published by The Pilot LLC

You may have slowed down, but your life sure hasn’t.

You’ve always been active, but you’ve reached the point in life where you want to spend less time doing yard work and housework and more time doing the things you love. The scenic communities of Belle Meade and Pine Knoll offer a healthy, engaged lifestyle with the added security of the St. Joseph of the Pines continuum of care should you ever need it. So don’t waste another second, call 910.246.1008 to schedule a visit today.

Where life just keeps getting better. Southern Pines, North Carolina

•

www.sjp.org

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A member of the St. Joseph of the Pines Aging Service Network sponsored by the Sisters of Providence.

The Ryder Cup Lounge D ri nk I n The G a m e

iscover a whole new dining experience at the

Ryder Cup Lounge located just off the porch of the historic Carolina Hotel. From the BBQ Pork Two Ways to the Pretzel Panini, our menu is as unique as Pinehurst itself.

We d n e s d a y S p e c i a l

Li v e Mu s i c

Get complimentary Deconstructed Nachos –

Bob Redding

tortilla chips, pulled pork

Friday & Saturday nights

BBQ, queso sauce, hoop cheese, refried beans, cilantro cream, salsa and guacamole – with the

Sunday brunch

purchase of one entrée. *

The Carolina Hotel • Village of Pinehurst, North Carolina • 910.235.8415 • pinehurst.com

* Limit one appetizer per table.

SweeT TeA chronicleS

The Shoe

An ode to nettleton shoes and the golden age of haberdashery

BY JIM DODSON

not long ago, my

friend Ron Crow dropped into the PineStraw world headquarters with something in a bag.

“I have something special to show you,” he said. “You may have never seen anything quite like them.” With this, he opened the bag and withdrew a pair of two-toned, black and white Nettleton tassel loafers. They were in mint condition, containing their original shoe trees, no less. In a word, I was speechless. Growing up in Greensboro, where Nettleton tassel loafers enjoyed iconic status among men of style and ambition, it was impossible not to know of — and dream of someday owning — a pair of real Nettleton loafers. My first pair came when I was 15. But more on that in a Broad Street minute. As I admitted to Ron, who now calls the Sandhills home, I knew Nettletons came in an array of famous colors — black, brown, British tan and Cordovan. But I had no clue they came in two-toned black and white as well. He smiled. “They even came in alligator.” “Did you have those, too?” “Nope. I had black and the British tan and these. These were very special, maybe a one-time deal, I don’t quite recall. I bought them around 1966 or so. Funny story about them, though. Tells you about the appeal of Nettletons.” Crow was a rising young executive for J.P. Stevens in those days. Not long after he bought his two-tone Nettletons he wore them at a business convention at the posh Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach, Florida. “I was walking beside the pool when a well-dressed fellow said to me, ‘I know this may sound strange but I want to buy your shoes.’ I thought he was kidding but he was dead serious. ‘In fact,’ he said, ‘I’ll give you five hundred dollars for those shoes right now.’ I laughed and told him I’d have to think about it. Ironically, the next day, I saw the guy again and he made the same offer.” “He really wanted those shoes,” I said, marveling at his resolve. I’m not sure I’d have been so resolute. Five hundred dollars was five hundred dollars in 1966. “He did. But these were my Nettletons and I couldn’t let them go.” He held them up for me to examine, almost forty years after that encounter. “Beautiful, aren’t they?” he mused. “Such workmanship. And almost like the day I bought them.” Ron’s Nettleton reverie took me back to the early summer of 1968 when I was cutting grass along Dogwood Drive and about to start the 10th grade. All my neighborhood pals owned Nettleton tassel loafers, and I decided I

needed my own pair. The ones I wanted at Younts-DeBoe Clothiers on North Elm Street in Greensboro cost $33.50, a small fortune to me. But it was money I was ready to invest. One Saturday afternoon in June, I rode my bike all the way downtown and went to see Planet of the Apes at the Center Theater. Afterwards, I went up to Younts-DeBoe to see if the store had my size in British tan Nettletons. Stepping into Younts-DeBoe was like entering another world, a world of well-dressed men of distinction. Fine handmade shirts and neckties were displayed under glass and stocked in elegantly crafted wooden drawers. Suits and sports jackets hung in alcoves of finely crafted wood. Sporting attire, custom fitting and tuxedos were on the second floor, as I recall, and fine footwear shoes had a separate alcove of their own. An elegant fellow in a tailored suit measured my foot and accepted my hard-earned $33.50 lawn mowing funds, writing down my customfitted order for one pair of size 10 �medium-width Nettleton tassel loafers in British tan. “How long will they take to get here?” I asked, vaguely disappointed not to be able to wear them that very day. “No more than a few weeks,” he replied. “Are you in a rush for an event?” “Not really,” I was forced to admit, thinking Planet of the Apes probably didn’t count. “Just high school at the end of summer.” In those days, Greensboro was a city full of fine men’s clothing shops. “It was a golden age of men’s and women’s fine clothing,” insists Gordon Turner, who arrived from Chapel Hill to work for The Hub on Jefferson Square not long before Ron Crow found his sweet Nettleton two-tones. “This was the crossroads of the South, teeming with lawyers and doctors and businessmen, and there were great clothing shops on just about every corner of downtown.” Turner, 68, who runs Gordon’s Menswear Ltd., remains one of the Gate City’s last independently owned and operated full-service men’s clothiers along with The Hub and Lindsay Odum, both on Battleground Avenue. He’s something of a menswear historian and ticks off a list of Greensboro’s venerable men’s shops. “Several were real institutions, almost legendary. Johnson and Albert, Hall-Putnam, Vanstory’s, and of course Younts-DeBoe. You also had Gene Lashley and Wright’s Menswear and The Hub. There was also the National Shirt and Hat Shop and eventually out in Friendly Center you had Bernard Shepherd, Joel Fleishman’s and Guy Hill. The department stores along Elm Street were booming, too — Meyers, Ellis-Stone, and Thalheimers. They all had great men’s departments. Greensboro was where everyone for fifty miles or more came to buy their clothes.”

PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . June 2012

sweet tea chronicles

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There was great pride in the classic clothing these shops sold, he notes, and the competition served everyone well. “Most of it was well-made American clothing and shoes that were made to last — Nettletons being the shoe here in Greensboro.” I asked him why this was the case. “To begin with, they were beautifully made and excellent leather, hand-stitched, with a last [the form each shoe is made around] that was outstanding. The signature toe seam and tassel were almost unique in the shoe industry. A.E. Nettleton was a fine old company that dated back to the days of the Civil War. Teddy Roosevelt, Charles Lindbergh and the Wright brothers wore their shoes. A.E. Nettleton was actually the first [in 1937] to patent the word ‘loafer,’ which they aggressively defended. I know this from direct experience.” When Hall-Putnam and Younts-DeBoe closed its doors in the late 1970s, victims of a rapidly changing menswear marketplace, the Hub where Turner worked was able to briefly pick up the Nettleton loafer line. “I made a trip up to the plant to see how they were made,” he remembers, “and was very impressed by the quality of their shoes. The only thing that surprised me was that the tassel so loved by men in this town — the Greensboro Shoe, as they even called it up there — was well-named. Greensboro was really the only place the shoe was a best-seller — and here, of course, it was an icon.” The beginning of the end for this golden era of haberdashery, he thinks, really began when Belk bolted for the new Carolina Circle Mall in the early 1970s, causing the other anchor stores downtown to follow suit. The Hub and Vanstory’s eventually moved to Four Seasons mall and elegant YountsDeBoe closed its doors downtown. Over the next two decades, imported cheaper clothing and outlet retail stores finished off the classic men’s (and women’s) clothing stores just about everywhere. A changing American workforce and more relaxed styles also played a major role in their demise. “The relaxed cultures of Silicon Valley and casual Friday were bad for our business. Suddenly folks were going to work in blue jeans and polo shirts, dressing down, as they liked to say, and well-made high quality clothing — which used to go hand in hand with a man’s working life — weren’t of such importance.

sweet tea chronicles

“In 1982,” Turner adds, “roughly 75 percent of the stock of a quality men’s store was American made. Today it’s probably ten percent, if that.” He notes that even premium quality giants like Brooks Brothers and Polo do their largest business in outlet shops these days — selling products made to sell at a lower cost to bargain-minded consumers. Lindsay Odum quite agrees. “You really saw a cheapening of consumer clothing by the 1990s with the arrival of outlet malls and discount stores, most of which relied on clothes made inexpensively overseas. Suddenly cost rather than quality became a determining factor in many consumer minds — and the fine men’s shops (women’s too) paid a price for that.” Ironicically, about this same time, the famous A.E. Nettleton’s factory closed its operation on East Willow Street in Syracuse, New York, a decade or so before I began courting my wife Wendy in the nearby village of Fayetteville. After learning that the company’s logo was still visible on an old building in North Syracuse, I set off on a lark to see if I could find the factory that once made the loafer I wore for all of my high school and half my college days. That original tan tassel loafer I wore got resoled at least twice and probably wore out three different sets of leather heels. It was a nice surprise to find not only the factory building still intact and bearing a ghost sign of Nettleton Shoes, but also an independent shop in part of the building run by a former employee of the company who still had dozens of leftover used and new Nettletons for sale. These included several pairs of the beloved shoe of my youth, but sadly none in my popular 11-medium size. According to Gordon Turner and other Nettleton addicts, there have been several attempts to replicate the beloved tassel loafer — including by Turner himself. “None have been very successful,” I’m afraid. The problem is the workmanship. The company destroyed its original molds and nobody has been able to perfectly copy the toe seam and last, including the fine Italian shoemaker I contracted with to try and make the shoe.” “In other words,” I told him, thinking of a far-off summer night when I took Ginny Sikworth to the Cinema Theater to see Romeo and Juliet and had them on sans socks — my first official date, happening just weeks after I acquired them — or when I cruised the Boar and Castle with friends on our way to the late-great Piedmont Drive-in, “I guess the Greensboro Shoe belongs only to the ages now.” “Yes,” he agreed solemnly. But then gave a sly smile. “But I’ll bet if you could see into the men’s closets of Greensboro and other places in North Carolina, you’d find at least a hundred pairs of genuine Nettleton loafers, some with several pairs, probably most of them in great condition — ready to put on and wear just like the golden age was still here.” PS

race to recovery

joint replacement program

capeable of getting you back in the game Whether your passion is golf, tennis or even taking walks with your spouse, when the pain of arthritis makes you consider hip or knee replacement surgery, there’s really only one choice. Only one joint replacement program in the Sandhills has been awarded two Gold Seals of ApprovalTM from The Joint Commission, the nation’s premier accreditation agency. And Cape Fear Valley is designated a Blue Distinction CenterSM for Hip and Knee surgery by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina. Just two of the many reasons we’re CAPEable of keeping you in the game. For a referral to an orthopedic surgeon who is part of Cape Fear Valley’s award-winning Race to Recovery joint replacement program, please call Carelink at (910) 615-link (5465) or toll free at 1-888-728-well.

Cape Fear Valley has earned The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval TM

www.capefearvalley.com

PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . June 2012

who Done it?

On June 1, an opening reception will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Campbell House Galleries for Art Anonymous, an exhibit featuring anonymous works of art done on 5 x 7 postcards by local artists. Every piece on display will be available for $50. The artist’s identity will be revealed once his or her artwork is purchased. Proceeds benefit the Arts Council of Moore County’s programs and services. Exhibit on display through June 29 (weekdays, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. & Sat., June 16, 2 – 4 p.m.) Campbell House Galleries, 482 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2787 or www.mooreart.org.

nineteenth hole

Join PineStraw Editor Jim Dodson in a conversation about his recently published book, American Triumvirate: How Ben Hogan, Sam Snead and Byron Nelson Created the Modern Age of Golf. Dodson has authored numerous bestselling golf books including Final Rounds, A Golfer’s Life (with Arnold Palmer) and A Son of the Game.. Discover how his latest book evolved. This intimate event, which is limited to 50 guests, is part of the Art Council’s Appetite for Art series and is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. on June 5. Tickets: $25. Reservations required. Proceeds benefit the Arts Council of Moore County. Campbell House, 482 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines Info: (910) 692-2787 or www.mooreart.org.

Summer nights

The Rooster’s Wife Summer Concert Series presents four straight Sundays of live music this month. All shows begin promptly at 6:46 p.m. at Poplar Knight Spot, 114 Knight St., Aberdeen. Info: (910) 944-7502 or www.theroosterswife.org. The details: 6/3 – Fan Modine, an indie pop band from Carrboro, North Carolina; Brett Harris, fellow pop musician from Durham, opens. Tickets: $12-$15 6/10 – Twangtown Troubadours and Tres Chicas — Bluegrass, anyone? Tickets: $12-$15. 6/16 & 6/17 – Featuring John Cowan, the voice of Newgrass. Tickets, $20-$23. 6/24 – Featuring Tony Furtado, a slide guitar king from Portland, Oregon; Laurelyn Dossett, a folk singer/songwriter based in Greensboro, opens. Tickets: $20-$23.

Pool Sharks

The Southern Pines Recreation Pool opened for Memorial Day Weekend, and will be open daily (minus Sundays) from 12:30 to 6:30 p.m. beginning June 9. But you can take a dip before then if you go on June 2 or 3, when the pool is once again open for special weekend hours, 12:30 to 6:30 p.m. Pool admission fees for children 12 and under are $1 for Southern Pines residents, $2 for non-residents. For ages 13 and up, fees double, respectively. Children 6 and under must be accompanied by a paying adult. Free Swim is held the first hour of everyday, so come early. Pool registration forms may be filled out upon arrival, or online at www.southernpines.net/recreation. Southern Pines Pool, 730 S. Stephens St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2463.

June 2012 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

in other words

The Moore County Historical Association presents a free lecture by Mary Wayne Watson on “Women’s Attitudes Toward Secession and the Civil War.” The lecture, which is scheduled for Sunday, June 24 at 2 p.m., focuses on unpublished manuscripts and correspondence by North Carolina women whose perspectives of the Civil War period show the impact of Sherman’s scorched earth policy on the area, following the first period of idealism, followed by sadness and loss during the four years from 1861-1865, as North Carolina and the rest of the South continued to suffer loss and misery into the post-war period. Location: May Street entrance of the First Baptist Church of Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2051 or www.moorehistory.com.

The Sun Also rises

Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris (2011) offers a romantic glimpse of the young Ernest Hemingway as played by actor Corey Stoll. But see Jordan Rhodes’ interpretation of Hemingway in a play-turned-film that chronicles forty years of the writer’s life — and reveals a vulnerable, deeply troubled man. Conceived and written by Ken Vose and Jordan Rhodes, Papa: The Man, The Myth, The Legend recently won The NY International Independent Film Festival Award for Best Historical Drama. Told in flashback, Papa begins and ends on the morning of July 2, 1961, the last day of Hemingway’s life. Catch it at the Sunrise Theater on Tuesday, June 12 at 2 or 7 p.m. Tickets: $10/general admission; $8/seniors, military and students. Info: (910) 692-2787 or www.mooreart.org.

Prize-winning Goulash

Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities recently presented 35 awards to local wordsmiths at a ceremony held to honor winners of the Moore County Writers’ Competition, an annual contest open to students and adults in Moore County. The 2012 publication of winning entries — a compilation of short fiction, nonfiction and poetry that was judged by members of the North Carolina Writers’ Network — is available at the Weymouth Center, The Country Bookshop, and the Arts Council of Moore County in bound booklet form. Info: www.weymouthcenter.org or (910) 692-6261.

Two larks-a-Singing

On the first day of June, sister duo Larkin Poe is scheduled to perform in the grassy knoll adjacent to the Sunrise Theater in Downtown Southern Pines for First Friday, a monthly community nonprofit event that’s fun for the whole family. Rebecca and Megan Lovell, who toured internationally as The Lovell Sisters until 2010, named their new band after their great-great-great-grandfather, Larkin Poe, whom they call “a legend, a tall tale, a truly everlasting story. Just the thing that we hope to become.” Don’t miss the chance to see two of the freshest faces in the folk music scene on June 1 from 5 to 8:30 p.m. Free admission with food donation. Info: www.firstfridaysouthernpines.com; Listen: www.larkinpoe.com.

Project runway Matchmaker, Matchmaker…

Looking for love? Find it at The Country Bookshop on June 8 during a dog speed dating pet adoption event that features a string of one-on-one interactive sessions with several eligible bachelors and bachelorettes, most of whom don’t mind kissing on the first date. Five-minute meet-and-greets start at 6 p.m. and allow potential foster parents to ask questions about and test their chemistry with each fur child. A pet adoption fee of $65 includes spay or neuter, rabies vaccination and microchip. Location: 140 NW Broad Street, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-3211 or www.mcprc.org.

Since 1954, the Boys & Girls Homes (B&GH) of North Carolina has been a safe haven for hundreds of abused and neglected children in the Sandhills. To help meet the needs of these children, an annual B&GH fundraiser will be held at noon on June 11 at the Country Club of North Carolina which features a luncheon, silent auction and fashion show. Residents of the B&GH will model the latest trends in clothing and accessories from two local boutiques — The Faded Rose of Pinehurst and Eve Avery of Southern Pines. “The girls love it,” says B&GH Chairman Hartley Fitts. “And the audience really likes to see that.” Tickets: $35. Reservations/Info: Hartley at (910) 295-4790.

PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . June 2012

7 LAKES WEST

PINEHURST

Stunning waterfront home on Lake Auman built by Harris and Son, one of the area’s outstanding builders. The home has an upscale gourmet kitchen, oversized screened porch, generous master bedroom and so many special touches. Beautifully landscaped. 4 BR / 3.5 BA $650,000

Beautifulallbrickhomewithmuchsought-afteropenfloorplanwithsplitbedrooms!Gorgeoushardwoodfloors,exquisitedetailsthroughout.Spaciousdeckintheveryprivatebackyard completes this great home. Hardwood floors & deep tray ceiling are featured in the master bedroom. 3 BR / 2.5 BA $299,000

All brick home in Pinehurst #6 is move-in ready with fresh paint & professional staging. Open the front door and you are introduced to a large open dining room with hardwood flooring. Living room features hardwood flooring, cathedral ceiling, two-sided gas fireplace, and large picture window which brings in great light. 3 BR / 3 BA $332,000

7 LAKES WEST

WHISPERING PINES

Located on one of the most impressive point lots on Lake Auman with 272’ of prime lake frontage, this beautiful, custom built by Harris and Son, is all brick with over 3400 sq. ft. all on one level. Almost every room has a lake view! 3 BR / 3 BA $735,000

Located on a cul-de-sac, this spacious home has plenty of room with two separate levels for great family privacy. Well appointed with stainless steel appliances, granite counter tops, upgraded kitchen, hardwood floors and much more. Private back yard! 3 BR / 2 BA $239,000

This beautiful family home is located at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac & offers an open floor plan with vaulted ceilings, crown molding, hardwood and tile floors and smooth ceilings throughout. Upper level offers wonderful space including an additional guest bedroom, full bath, office and bonus room. 4 BR / 3.5 BA $339,000

FOXFIRE

7 LAKES WEST

SOUTHERN PINES

This home is a perfect golf front getaway on the 16th fairway of Foxfire West! Solid brick home with high ceilings, big spacious rooms and an open and inviting floor plan! Upgraded features of this all golf front home include irrigation system, security system, central vacuum, inviting spacious deck, beautifully landscaped yard and much more! 3 BR / 2 BA $249,900

Lovely custom home with breathtaking views of Lake Auman. This home is gorgeous with openfloorplan,tonsofwindowsoverlookingthewater,hardwoodfloors,deepcrownmolding, gourmet kitchen, oversized laundry, screened porch & full sized swimming pool. 3 BR / 2 BA $359,000

This great family house was custom built by owners who spared no expense. Open floor plan, gourmet kitchen, great yard. This house has four attached garages – two on the main level & two on the ground level – the perfect man cave! 3 BR / 3.5 BA $425,000

PINEHURST

7 LAKES WEST

PINEHURST

Prime location & one not to miss! Charming with many updates, This home shows like a dream and has a vibrant & current color palette. Master Suite is staged to perfection adding more "Wow" factor, complete with a newly customized closet for impeccable organization. 2 BR / 2 BA $209,000

Fabulous golf views from this brick golf front home! Living areas have hardwood floors and there are granite counter tops in kitchen. The Carolina room has wonderful entertainment center built-ins. 3 BR / 2.5 BA $299,000

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June 2012 P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

C o s a n d E f f ect

How do you want to retire?

Home Is Where the Grass Is Greener

By Cos Barnes

When I was visiting my daughter

and her family during Easter vacation, she purchased a new container for her kitchen table and said she wanted to plant rye grass in it. Remembering that my friend Sara Hemphill had slipped a small bag of rye grass seed in my lap while I was admiring her accents of it at a dinner party at her home, I said, “Let’s go to the nursery and get some.”

The nurseryman looked askew at me when he tried to sell us a 10-pound bag of rye grass seed and I said I just wanted a handful. He sized me up as the country bumpkin I am. I told my daughter I would go to the feed store when I returned home, which I did, and purchased 50 cents worth of grass seed. Wondering if it was legal to send grass through the mail, I did. I won’t tell you what the postage was, but it was on its way. My daughter called a few days later to tell me the seed arrived. “I am going to plant it Saturday,” she said. “Why wait till Saturday?” I asked, as it was only Tuesday. “You didn’t send the dirt,” she said. I had a friend who was redoing her kitchen floor and needed a certain product she had searched the Internet for. “Go to the hardware store,” I told her. And there it was, sitting on the shelf, waiting to be purchased. And the wonderful employees told her exactly how to apply it and what to expect from it. Shortly after these episodes, I went to Weymouth’s plant sale. I was helped by the rose aficionado Bill Shore who told me what to buy — including the annual hostas for my deer friends, how to plant my selections, where to plant them, and kindly delivered them to my car for me. I know about the TLC that is showered on the Weymouth plants by the dirt gardeners, so I was pleased with my purchases. Home is where the heart is, and my heart is overflowing with the kindness and care given to me by local people who know what they are doing and encourage me to benefit from their expertise. PS Cos Barnes is a longtime contributor to PineStraw magazine. She can be contacted at cosbarnes@nc.rr.com.

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June 2012 P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

THE omnIvorouS rEAdEr

music to our Ears A trio of deﬁ nitive works on the lost and beloved stringed instruments of America

By sTePHen e. sMITH

It’s a familiar story: A

Southern boy growing up in the 1920s or 30s hears Big Bill Broonzy or Charley Patton on the radio and decides to take up the guitar or mandolin. He flips through the Sears, Roebuck and Montgomery Ward catalogues or visits the local music or dry goods store and picks out an instrument, hands over the $20 he earned working in tobacco, and the rest is, as they say, a sizable chunk of American musical history.

The fretted instruments purchased by the majority of Americans during the last century weren’t crafted by Martin or Gibson, both high-end producers, but by Lyon and Healy, Regal, Kay, Harmony, all of Chicago, or by Oscar Schmidt of New Jersey. These large manufacturers supplied mail order companies and mom-and-pop stores with instruments that were sold under the distributors’ trademarks — Supertone, Concertone, Tonk Brothers, Wurlitzer, etc. (American Fretted Musical Instrument Makers lists 1,800 such trademarks that existed between the Civil War and World War II.) Reference works on Martin and Gibson abound — Philip F. Gura’s C.F. Martin and His Guitars, Dick Boaks’ Martin’s Masterpieces and Spann’s Guide to Gibson 1902-1941 are worth a careful read — but there’s always been a dearth of information concerning the manufacturers whose medium- and low-end instruments were ubiquitous in America — and especially in the South — during the last century. Centerstream Publications (Centerstream-usa.com) now offers detailed histories of at least two of the larger Chicago manufacturers — Lyon and Healy (better known as Washburn) and Regal. Available in hard- and paperback, each volume draws upon period trade magazines, distributor catalogs and, when available, oral histories — and each edition contains a generous number of color photographs that document examples of the manufacturers’ finest work. Hubert Pleijsier’s Washburn Prewar Instrument Styles: Guitars, Mandolins, Banjos, and Ukuleles 1883-1940 is the history of Lyon and Healy, the music company that produced the majority of American stringed instruments in the early part of the 20th century. Given Lyon and Healy’s production figures from 1887 to 1940, one in every 60 Americans (the population of the United States was 79 million in 1900) purchased an instrument from the company or one of its distributors. Before World War I, the firm prospered and expanded its offerings, and with the onset of the Jazz Age the demand for stringed instruments soared, establishing Lyon and Healy as the dominant American manufacturer. Its products sold well because they were reasonably priced — $10 to $40 — but the instruments weren’t cheaply manufactured. Assembly-line guitars and mandolins were

constructed of Brazilian rosewood, mahogany and ebony, all pricey, quality materials, and the workmanship was often of the highest quality. But most of these cheaper instruments received heavy use, and the company often stretched its resources by constructing lighter instruments that tended to crack or warp with wear and age. Most surviving Lyon and Healy guitars and mandolins contain a written, stamped or branded trademark and/or serial number that identifies the style, the year of production and the retail price, but the company’s files have long been lost. The rumor, which Pleijsier refutes, is that the records were destroyed in a fire, and for many years collectors were unable to date their instruments. By examining thousands of surviving Lyon and Healy guitars and mandolins, Pleijsier has deciphered the serial numbers, providing a service to collectors and establishing approximate production numbers for each style of instrument. During the Great Depression, the company fell on hard times and the Washburn trademark was taken over by other manufacturers. By the onset of World War II, production of stringed instruments had shifted to smaller, quality shops or to mass-production manufacturers who offered cheap, poorly made instruments. Lyon and Healy exists today as a retailer of harps and autoharps, and the Washburn name has been appropriated by an American-based company that does the majority of its manufacturing in China and Indonesia. Bob Carlin’s Regal Musical Instruments 1895-1955 is the definitive reference work on the establishment and evolution of Regal, an Indianapolis manufacturer of stringed instruments that moved its operation to Chicago in the early 1900s. Regal and Lyon and Healy were at times in their separate histories the same or cooperating entities. In 1904, Lyon and Healy purchased the assets of the Regal Co. and sold them off to dealers, but by 1905, Lyon and Healy was producing guitars and mandolins under the Regal trademark. The mark was transferred back to the Regal Musical Instrument Co. in 1924, and many of Lyon and Healy’s better craftsmen went with the re-established Regal company. What sets Carlin’s research apart from that of Pleijsier’s is a lengthy and revealing oral history by a knowledgeable Regal employee, Joseph A. Phetteplace,

PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P June 2012

T he O m n i v o r o u s Rea d e r

who began work in the inlay department in 1927 and completed a lengthy apprenticeship in all aspects of producing stringed instruments. His recollections provide an invaluable insight into the workings of the factory in the early years of the 20th century, including an example of compassion necessitated by the onset of the Depression. “Now, about this time work began to slack off at the factory,” Phetteplace says. “Every so often one or two fellows would be laid off. One day the bookkeeper from the office, a fellow named Frank, came out and said, ‘Joe, we’re having a little problem. We’ve got to lay off one more man this coming week and as far we can figure it has to be between you and the Polish gentleman back there. . . .’ I told him, ‘Frank, I don’t think there should be any question here who

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should be laid off because, after all, he has five or six children. I’m single and just have myself to support and I certainly can find something to do, so I think you’d better lay me off.’” Phetteplace went on to establish his own inlay shop that produced piecework for Regal. As with Pleijsier’s study of Washburn instruments, Carlin’s history offers color photographs of Regal’s fretted instruments and traces the company’s evolution to its demise in the 1950s. The Regal trademark now appears on instruments produced in China. The Larsons’ Creations by Robert Hartman is the story of Carl and August Larson, Swedish brothers who immigrated to Chicago in the 1890s. Their two-man operation crafted about 2,000 instruments between 1900 and 1940. And their guitars and mandolins, lavishly appointed and meticulously crafted, are highly sought after by collectors. A playable example of a Larson instrument will cost from $3,000 to $60,000, if you can find one to buy.

June 2012 P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

THE omnIvorouS rEAdEr

Hartman’s book goes into meticulous detail, explaining the role of the guitar in America, the lives of the Larson brothers, and the qualities that made Larson guitars, harp guitars and mandolins extraordinary. The key paragraph reads: “The Larson brothers lived their lives in the same manner as they ran their business. That is to say, in good times they enjoyed the fruits of their labors but only to moderate degree and never flaunted their success. They were not interested in getting rich, which was quite evident by the prices they charged for their product. The satisfaction of the customer and the pride derived from their work was [sic] their biggest reward.” Gene Autry, Patsy Montana, Rusty Gill and Carolyn DeZurik, Lloyd Perryman, Joan Baez, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Les Paul, and almost every musician on Chicago’s WLS and WJJD radio programs owned and played Larson brothers’ instruments. Unfortunately, there are no “Larson” stringed instruments. The brothers’ product was sold under a variety of brand names: Maurer, Euphonon, Prairie State, Meyers, Dyer, Stahl, Stetson, Knutsen, Leland, Mayflower, Bradbury, Southern California Music and the occasional Regal. Chapter three of Hartman’s book is devoted to the Larsons’ innovations — laminated bracing, cutaways and semi-cutaways, laminated necks, a rod system (tone bar) to stabilize the instruments, and to qualities such as the woods used in construction, the various body designs, the finishing and inlays, and the stunning tree-of-life fingerboards. To help with the identification of Larson instruments, Hartman includes advertising illustrations and 32 pages of quality color photographs of the Larsons’ high-end instruments. Hartman’s chapter on harp guitars will be of special interest to both vintage guitar collectors and shade-tree musicians. In the early years of the last century, harp guitar orchestras performed in towns and cities across America — friends and neighbors entertaining one another — and the Larson brothers, under the Dyer trademark, were the premier producers of such instruments. Because of the tension exerted by the heavier harp strings, surviving examples are extremely rare and much sought after. So when you come across that dusty half-busted guitar or mandolin in Grandpa’s attic, you might want to examine it carefully. In addition to being a manifestation of your ancestor’s aspirations, it might be worth a pile of money if sold to the right collector. OH Stephen Smith’s most recent book of poetry is A Short Report on the Fire at Woolworths. He can be reached at travisses@hotmail.com. PS

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Stephen Smith’s most recent book of poetry is A Short Report on the Fire at Woolworths. He can be reached at travisses@hotmail.com. PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P June 2012

June 2012 P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

BooKSHELf

new releases for June By THe CoUnTry BooKsHoP

FICTION

NON-FICTION

THE CHAPERONE by Laura Moriarty. Cora is a housewife in Kansas (pre-Roaring ’20s) who is about to shake up her mundane life by volunteering to chaperone the young Louise Brooks in New York City. Cora’s sense of propriety is challenged as she digs through secrets of her own past and is forced to reckon with the wild Louise Brooks on her path to stardom. This may be the best hardcover fiction of the summer.

COCKTAIL HOUR UNDER THE TREE OF FORGETFULNESS by Alexandra Fuller. This is a multilayered narrative around the perfectly lit, Happy Valley-era Africa of her mother’s childhood; the boiled cabbage grimness of her father’s English childhood; and the darker, civil war-torn Africa of her own childhood. We accompany Tim and Nicola Fuller as they hopscotch across the continent, restlessly trying to establish a home for their family. War, hardship and tragedy follow the Fullers even as Nicola fights to hold on to her children, her land and her sanity. But just when it seems that she has been broken by the continent she loves, the African earth revives and nurtures her. Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness is a beautiful read.

HEADING OUT TO WONDERFUL by Robert Goolrick. How many people really exist in a love triangle? This book is pure literary craft, rips your heartstrings and describes a small Southern town with accuracy. It is a beautiful novel by the author of The Reliable Wife. VOLUME ONE: FROM THE EPIC OF GILGAMESH TO SHAKESPEARE TO DANGEROUS LIAISONS by Russ Kick. This graphic novel is an anthology of the literary cannon until 1700. Artists chose the novel they wanted to illustrate and the selections include The Odyssey, Beowulf and The Divine Comedy, Lysistrata by Aristophanes, Native American folktales, a Japanese play, Chinese poetry and The Tibetan Book of the Dead, a selection from Seymour Chwast’s adaptation of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and R. Crumb’s rarely seen adaptation of James Boswell’s London Journal. Fantastic! Give to a college or high school student familiar with the works! THE BOOK LOVER by Maryann McFadden. McFadden’s third work is a tale of love, loss and books. Trying to bury her past in a bookstore, Ruth Hardaway is suddenly faced with truths she thought were lost forever. This is a lovely read you can really fall into! THE LITTLE WOMEN LETTERS by Gabrielle Donnelly. Lulu feels like a failure compared with her accomplished sisters Emma and Sophie. When her mother asks her to find a book of old family recipes in the attic of her childhood home, Lulu stumbles across a stack of letters written by her great-great-grandmother Josephine March. As Lulu delves into the lives and secrets of the March sisters, she finds solace and guidance in Jo’s words, discovering that she and Jo share many similarities, even though they are worlds apart. SEA CHANGE by Karen White. At 35, Ava still feels stymied by her family. When she meets child psychologist Matthew Frazier at a conference, she thinks her days of loneliness are behind her. After a whirlwind romance and elopement, Ava soon discovers that it may be impossible to escape the past.

TRINITY: A GRAPHIC HISTORY OF THE FIRST ATOMIC BOMB by Jonathan Fetter-Vorm. Well researched, this book tells the history of the A-bomb: the race to build it, the development of it, the ethical questions around it, and the decision to drop it. Explained in a graphic novel format, it’s fun to look at, intriguing to read, and a fantastic present for boys ages 12 to 35. A GOOD MAN: REDISCOVERING MY FATHER SARGENT SHRIVER by Mark Shriver. Sargent Shriver was known for creating the Peace Corps and crafting President Johnson’s War on Poverty, to name a few. Following Shriver’s death in 2011, his son Mark was touched and amazed by the notes lauding his father’s small acts of kindness, and Mark realizes (after a lifetime of attempting to understand and emulate his father’s succes) that it was three little principles that made the man: faith, hope and love. This is a moving book about a son coming to terms with his father’s legacy. BRIGHAM YOUNG: AMERICAN MOSES by Leonard J. Arrington. This is an authoritative biography on Young. It encompasses both successes and failures and enlightens curious readers about the Mormon religion and its former leader. Brigham Young: American Moses looks at Mormonism against the unique culture of the Western frontier and how Young still affects it today.

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BooKSHELf

CHILDREN AND YOUNG ADULT BON APPETIT! THE DELICIOUS LIFE OF JULIA CHILD by Jessie Hartland. Most people know Julia Child as famous chef, author and television personality, but few are aware that she painted the toilet seats in her dorm room red, worked for a spy agency during World War II and wore a size-12 shoe. Foodies of all ages will enjoy this fantastic picture book biography in time for the 100th anniversary of Julia Child’s birth. YOU ARE A LION & OTHER FUN YOGA POSES by Taeeun Yoo. A playful introduction to yoga for young children, this delightful picture book includes fun illustrations and gentle instructions on how to perform a number of simple yoga poses that mimic familiar animals. Ages 2-8. EMERALD ATLAS by John Stephens. After Harry Potter and Hunger Games, what is a fantasy lover to read next? Emerald Atlas will keep young readers on the edge of their seats as they follow three siblings, Kate, Michael and Emma, to dangerous and secret corners of the world in a quest to discover if they are actually the fulfillment of an ancient prophesy. Both frightening and funny, this fantastic novel is the first in a planned trilogy. ROBIN, WHERE ARE YOU? by Harriet Ziefert. As a girl and her grandpa explore their neighborhood park on a search for a robin, they discover a menagerie of winged friends. Nature fun for ages 3-8. THREE TIMES LUCKY by Sheila Turnage. At the downtown café in Tupelo Landing, North Carolina, the special of the day is Carnivore’s Delight: baloney and cucumber sandwiches. Served up by Miss Mo Lo Beau, age 11, a budding waitress and part-time detective, who washed ashore during a hurricane and now lives with the owners of the café. Full of wisdom, humor and grit for ages 8-12. PS PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P June 2012

h i tt i n g h o m e

iLost

Modern electronics are a mystery to me

By Dale Nixon

I have fought elec-

tronics ever since there were electronics. I can work a computer enough to do what I have to do and that ain’t saying much.

But my 26-year-old washer and dryer quit washing and drying, the screen on my 8-yearold cellphone went black, the football scores and trailers that ran across the bottom of our 28-yearold television had more curves than Marilyn Monroe (we listened to the television more than we could see it), and the brand new Kindle I had received for Christmas was still in the box. I had no choice. The first purchase was the washer and dryer. The instruction manuals were foreign to me. Actually, I didn’t understand the English version any better than I understood the Japanese or Hispanic versions. And that ain’t saying much. I had to stand in the middle of the appliance store and argue with the salesman about front loading versus top loading. Geez. I wanted a top loading. He wanted me to have a front loading. I told him I would get a front loading only if he would come to my house every day and do the laundry. He quickly agreed that the top loading was for me. Well ... the top loading washer proved to be a little deeper than I had anticipated, and I have to get on a stepladder to get the clothes out of the bottom of the tub. (If you are 5 feet 2 inches or under, you might want to look at the depth of the washer tub before you make a purchase.) At the end of the cycles, the machines make little tinkling noises like music you would hear to introduce wood nymphs or fairies. All I wanted was a sound akin to a fog horn so I would know when the cycles were through. The next purchase was to replace our cellphones. Bobby opted for the “smart” phone. All I wanted was a dumb phone for a dumb

person. Those were not in stock. The 21-year-old salesperson was patient and kind. He showed me how to download apps, how to take a picture, shoot video and how to surf the Internet. I got home with this device to realize that he had taught me everything except how to turn it on, turn it off, answer it, text or leave a voice mail. (These young sales people take a lot for granted.) I missed my first five phone calls because I didn’t know you had to unlock it. My first text read: l r m. My second one read: j. I forgot to press the Send button on my third text and was miffed at my daughter all day because she didn’t respond. But I could take a picture and play Angry Birds. Then there was Siri. I’ve never met her, she is not my friend, but she knows everything there is to know about me. She is familiar with my husband, knows all of my contacts and is far too personal for me. Overwhelmed with technology, I opened my Kindle because I thought that would be easy for me. I ordered a book and it arrived in my mailbox two days later. There were passwords for everything. Why can’t I just use my name? It’s one of the few things I can remember these days. At night I have to plug in a phone and a book. During the day, I have to stand vigil by the new washer and dryer waiting for tinkling sounds to let me know when the cycles are finished. I am trying to make friends with my iPhone, but we haven’t bonded as of yet. At least I don’t have to study and fret over the new television. I just handed my husband the advanced remote, knowing he would figure it out before the first trailer ran across the bottom of the screen. I’m trying. I’m really trying. And Siri, I DO NOT WANT OR NEED YOUR HELP! PS Columnist Dale Nixon may be contacted at dalenixon@carolina.rr.com.

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June 2012 P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

The kitchen garden

Summer Squash “The Waltons” of summer vegetables

By Jan Leitschuh

When someone challenges me to the

“Five Things Everyone Should Grow” game, summer squash is always one of the five. My reasoning: cheap seed, small space, bushy plants bear healthy veggies prolifically, only need a few to feed a family. It even looks lush and spillover-chic. You could grow it in a pretty pot on the porch, and admire the yellow flowers flowing over the side. With mild fertilization — fish emulsion, for you organic types — it could be the gift that keeps on giving this summer.

In fact, porch-growing might just eliminate some of the most persistent squash pests in the Sandhills: the annoying and destructive squash bugs and squash borers. The deck: the (sub)urbanite’s answer to crop rotation. With relatives like the melon and the cucumber, you can see that this family Cucurbitaceae is chock-full of summer garden staples. In fact, summer squash is “The Waltons” of warm-weather veggies: homespun, simple, humble, salt-of-theEarth good. The term “summer squash” includes yellow squashes both straightand crook-neck, the dark green zucchini, goofy little squashes shaped like cue balls or space ships, and more. Some varieties of summer squash even produce edible flowers. I have a hiking buddy, Clyde, who grows lots of yellow squash in his Jacksonville, Florida, home garden “for medicinal purposes only,” he claims. He’s a late onset Type 2 diabetic, and he freezes 365 half-cups of yellow squash each year. That’s a lot of squash! Clyde swears it stabilizes his blood sugar. “It doesn’t fix it, it doesn’t cure it, it stabilizes it,” he says. “Under normal circumstances, if I’m working hard and I take my medicine, my blood sugar will swing, and fall off — and I run out of gas, get shaky, and have to eat something. If I eat the squash each night as a before-bed snack, I can work physically hard the next day and not fall out — it makes my blood sugar a lot easier to keep within range.” These statements have not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, by the way. On the other hand, what can it hurt? Veggies are good for us anyway. Simple little squash is actually a surprisingly fantastic source of antioxidants and key nutrients, including the mysterious-yet-potent carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin. The tender skin is particularly antioxidant-rich, so rinse well and leave it on to eat. Steaming is the best method for retention of squash’s terrific nutrients. Even after being frozen, steaming is a good way to hang on to squash’s hidden goodness. As for blood sugar control, there is evidence in animal studies that shows improvement in blood sugar and insulin regulation following intake of cell wall polysaccharides from winter squash and other Cucurbita foods, so maybe it’s no stretch to include summer squash. Likewise, we’ve seen research pointing to

other nutrients found in winter squash as beneficial for blood sugar control. These nutrients include the B-vitamin like compound d-chiro-inositol — a nutrient we expect to see gaining more attention with respect to blood sugar regulation. And while we tend to think of squash as a starchy-type vegetable, many of the carbohydrates in it consist of polysaccharide and pectin compounds which do show a benefit in diabetes protection and better regulation of insulin. Toss in anti-inflammatory benefits, prostate benefits, anti-cancer actions and healing to the gut. But enough of that! You just wanted some squash and onions like Mama used to make, right? I plant seeds in early May, and just keep planting every two weeks if I want squash. The bugs are so bad around here, there’s no neighbors locking their car doors against my gift incursions of zucchini left on the back seat. No, we’ll get about a round, maybe two, off a planting and then one day we wander out to the garden, trug in hand, visions of sauté dancing in our heads and ... the plant looks wilted. The evil squash vine borers have arrived. Though I have had some success spraying the base of the stems with Surround, a kaolin clay barrier, it’s cheaper just to replant in succession. But you porch-planters may just escape all that. Unlike their tougher-rinded winter cousins, summer squashes are relatively fragile. They are best picked when the skin is thin and tender, unmarked by bumps — about six to eight inches. The rind is edible and vitamin rich at this stage. Summer squash nick easily, which is one reason I wear a glove when weighing and handling them for the produce boxes of the Sandhills Farm to Table Co-op. Not long from the blossom stage, the young squashes dehydrate quickly under hot, dry conditions, so take them inside soon after picking. And unlike winter squashes, you have to freeze them to preserve them — they will melt into mush in storage. Blanch in boiling water or steam before freezing. Summer squash, if picked fresh and young, are delicious raw. Cut “coins” for dipping as a grain-free alternative to chips. Grate raw squash on a salad, or use squash “ribbons” as a pasta substitute. What would ratatouille — a garlicky summer mixture of sautéed summer veggies, including tomatoes, eggplant, onions and sweet bell peppers — be without their warm-weather friend, the summer squash? One of the easiest ways to enjoy your squash abundance is to grill it — cut off the very ends, slice in half, brush with oil or melted butter and grill. We like to dress it with the more delicate toasted sesame oil after they are off the heat. Another very tasty prep method is to slice squash as above, lay in a roasting pan, then sprinkle with chopped onions, and a crack of fresh pepper or cayenne. Place in a hot oven — 400 or 425 degrees — and roast for 15 minutes until lightly browned. Eat, enjoy, then walk out to the porch and pick another for tomorrow’s meal. Everybody settle down now, and get some sleep! Goodnight, John-Boy... PS Jan Leitschuh is a local gardener, avid eater of fresh produce and cofounder of the Sandhills Farm to Table Cooperative.

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June 2012 P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

Vine Wisdom

The Comeback Can

Good for the environment and better-tasting, too. Who needs another can of beer?

By Robyn James

Back in the day

Photograph by Cassie Butler

when we talked about canned beer, we had a vision of the redneck guy with a 12-pack of cheap domestic beer and a bag of ice at the gas station, gunning his pickup home to cheer on his favorite monster truck team.

Times have changed, and I gotta tell you. Now, the can is cool. In the 1930s, Kruger Brewery in New Jersey introduced the first canned beer that wouldn’t explode because they created a vinyl liner inside the can, which would prevent that. The traditional debate has centered on factors including taste, convenience and cost. Beer is a sensitive beverage and exposure to both light and oxygen results in off-flavors. The caps on bottles are not completely airtight, creating a chemical reaction between oxygen and the hops, whereas cans are impervious to both light and oxygen, protecting the flavor, reducing chances of creating a “skunky” aroma, and extending the shelf life. Although proponents of bottles have remained steadfast in the claim that cans produce a metallic taste, there has been little evidence to support the claim. Today, cans are epoxy-lined, making the contact between beer and can impossible. Without boring you with numbers, believe me, the can leaves a mere fraction of a carbon footprint than bottles. Extremely more recyclable than glass, it is also tremendously lighter and cheaper to ship. Check out craftcans.com, a cool website that rates the best beers produced in cans, Breckenridge Brewery in Colorado is the reader’s No. 1 choice. We have had many requests for beer from the 21st Amendment Brewery

(homage to the repeal of prohibition) from San Francisco, also included in the list, an incredible microbrew that only sells beer in kegs and cans because of the wastefulness of bottles. Their new, typically California mantra: “We love it in the can.” Many mainstream breweries have produced canned beers in the past for the niche of country clubs, golf courses and hotel poolsides that will not allow any glass products of any kind. Now, canned beer has become the badge of honor for the environmentally correct brewery. New Belgium Brewery in Colorado is clearly the most environmentally conscious brewery on the scene today. They give each employee a Fat Tire Cruiser Bike on their one year anniversary to ride to work and their entire brewery is designed for organic sustainability. They just introduced Fat Tire Beer in cans, and the latest addition to the New Belgium lineup, Shift Pale Ale, a homage to the bicycle, is only available in cans. Boddingtons Pub Ale and Guinness Stout, from England and Ireland, introduced cans decades ago with “widgets,” little nitrogen-filled capsules floating inside the cans to ensure a pretty, creamy head on the beer when opened and poured, mimicking their draft. Bear in mind that so many of these little craft breweries may not be in distribution all over the United States, but here is a list of cool, canned beers you should be able to find in Moore County. Just remember for the future: Don’t kick the can. PS Robyn James is proprietor of The Wine Cellar and Tasting Room in Southern Pines. Contact her at winecellar@pinehurst.net.

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Running Out of Time I’ve lowered the speed and taken to a four-mile treadmill. But oh, how I miss the open road

By Deborah Salomon

My mother

lived by “never stand if you can sit, never run if you can walk, never walk if you can ride and always, always take the elevator.” Despite this allegiance to sedentarianism, she lived to 98. Needless to say, my mother was shocked — no, horrified — when, after producing three grandchildren in three½ and a half years, I put on a pair of funny-looking shoes, did some unladylike stretching exercises and took off running.

“Why, Deborah, you need to rest yourself, honey, after taking care of those babies all day,” she objected from the recliner. My mother couldn’t understand the physics behind exerting yourself because you were tired, so next go-round you’d have more strength. Neither could I, but something had to be done. I was a dishrag. Don’t misunderstand. I didn’t find running enjoyable. Most of the time I hated it, which was good. By performing this single activity I improved my stamina while practicing self-discipline. Best of all, increased blood flow to the brain enabled me to develop ideas and solve problems on the road. I didn’t just run. I trained as an aerobics instructor (dance-y exercising to great pop music) and taught for 25 years. That was too much fun to qualify as exercise. I ran three miles a day, at least six days a week, unless life got in the way. My shoes went into the suitcase first. I’ve run in Manhattan, in Rome, Paris and Tel Aviv. Denver’s altitude was a killer. So are running tracks. I’m a street warrior, a morning loner, never a time-keeper. A nine-minute mile (sometimes eight) suited me fine. Mostly I ran on a windswept road high on a hillside overlooking mountains and lake, in Vermont. I ran to California and back on that stretch. January was unspeakable. I ran through rain and cold and snow but not ice. Hey, I may be nuts, but I’m not stupid. Ironically, I had just returned from a morning run when the nursing home called to say my mother had passed away. For several years, I ran a 30K (18 miles) event, hating every step. Two of the 18 wound up a steep mountain. Running it wasn’t as hard as the recovery. The chafing took weeks to heal. Once I ran a charity 5K with

my daughter. I beat her so badly she wouldn’t try again. I recall a time when my car broke down and I ran for transportation. I had the legs, the lungs. I turned a deaf ear and a 45-beats-per-minute heart rate to the graybeards who complained about their ankles, their knees, their feet. Sure, I knew what tendonitis and shin splints felt like, but the only bone I ever broke was while stepping off a curb in high heels. Oh, the withdrawal I endured for six weeks in a cast. And then it happened, overnight, like the 12-year-old girl who wakes up one morning with boobs. I couldn’t run anymore. Everything ached. My feet were lead. Granted, I was over 60, but runners aren’t stamped with an expiry date. So I bought a treadmill and walked, fast, four miles a day, seven days a week — reasonably pleasant with TV or music. That worked for almost 10 years. Then I broke my ankle in a car accident. The orthopedist who pinned and plated the bones shook his head. Be careful, he said. I was back on the treadmill a few days after the cast (12 weeks this time) came off. Then I tore cartilages in both knees followed by painful plantar fasciitis in a foot. The guilt was killing me. I forgot the hate, remembering only that first October morning when I could see my breath and the endorphin high after warm-down. I wanted it all back for what it represented: youth, strength, will power, orneriness, bragging rights. (Runners can be so obnoxious.) I wanted to break in a new pair of shoes every six months. I missed the stretchy pants, the turtleneck, ratty Duke sweatshirt, earmuffs and cashmere gloves of many frigid dawns. Well, lo and behold, my bones have healed, my pains have abated. They will return, probably worse. But for now, I’m up before the birds, walking on the treadmill in an air-conditioned room, since heat is harder to walk through than cold. I’ve lowered the speed but increased the incline, not that I’ll ever reclaim that heart rate or those legs. Still, four miles a day is four miles a day. I guess if you must have an obsession, a compulsion, a love-hate relationship, running’s better than poker or soap operas or chocolate cake. Except with a gym full of machines replacing unfettered body movement, with treadmills replacing asphalt, temperature-controlled environments replacing the seasons and excuses replacing guilt, today’s bodies may never know the glory, the accomplishment of feeling the rubber meet the road — mile after mile after mile. PS Deborah Salomon is a staff writer for PineStraw and may be reached at debsalomon@nc.rr.com.

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Great Blue Heron Beautiful, graceful and unafraid of humans

By Susan Campbell

The great blue heron is a bird that will get

anyoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s attention: bird lover or not. It is the largest of all the species found here and is second in wing span only to the bald eagle. Also, the way it ever so slowly stalks its prey in the open is unique. Great blues are colonial nesters gathering often very close together in trees in wet environments where terrestrial predators are not a threat.

Great blues can be found in the Sandhills year-round. However, nesting habitat here is scarce. Most of the wet areas are too shallow to preclude raccoons, opossums and other climbing animals. A nest has been frequently occupied on an old beaver pond along the Little River. But this spring a rookery was initiated on the island in the middle of Thagard Lake. There are only two nests but in true fashion, they are close together: on different branches of the same tree. If the two pairs are successful at raising young in this location, it is likely that the number of nests on the island will grow each year. The pines that were planted when the island was created from dredge spoil some fifty years ago are indeed tall enough to support the nests of larger birds. The bond between a pair of great blues is very strong during the breeding season. Male and female are both involved with rearing the next generation. Herons build a large stick nest and lay up to five eggs. The male will gather the nesting materials and the female will place them to form a wide platform deep enough to hold the eggs. Both adults incubate and then brood the

young. The male spends most of the daylight hours at the nest while the female is there overnight. Herons are very good parents, able to defend their young with not only their heavy, sharp bills but with very powerful wings. It will take a year or more for young to reach maturity. While they are young they are fed mainly fish by their parents. But as they begin to forage for themselves, they will become opportunistic, eating everything from large aquatic invertebrates (such as crayfish) to frogs and even the eggs of other bird species. Some individuals will not breed until their third summer. Sexually mature birds will sport long plumes on their neck and back. They may be seen displaying to their mates by raising their crests and clapping bills together at or near the nest site. The loud raspy croaking of herons is territorial and can be heard day or night at any time of year. They will defend rich feeding areas as well as their nest from competitors. Great blues also call when in flight: perhaps to maintain contact with family members. In the air, these big birds have a very characteristic profile with slow deep wing beats, their necks coiled, and legs trailing out behind them. These huge birds are amazingly unafraid of humans. Although they seldom tolerate a close approach, they are frequently found feeding from bulkheads, farm ponds, and even small backyard water features. Many great blue herons have learned that people may provide an easy meal â&#x20AC;&#x201D; even if it is in the form of fish remains or table scraps. So keep an eye out, you may find one of these huge birds even closer than you think! PS Susan would love to receive your wildlife sightings and photos. She can be contacted by email at susan@ncaves.com, by phone at (910) 949-3207 or by mail at 144 Pine Ridge Drive, Whispering Pines, NC 28327.

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On the Waterfront Aberdeen Lake is a living treasure. Just ask this old duck

By Tom Bryant

Our unseasonably warm, early spring

disappeared overnight with a strong northeaster. Unfortunately for the snowbirds heading back home from Florida to roost for the summer, the same front that was bringing snow to the mountains of North Carolina was also gearing up to hammer the folks in the North. It was as if Mother Nature was saying, “You can run, but you can’t hide.”

I was at Aberdeen Lake preparing to take a walk around the hiking trail that the Aberdeen Recreation Department had built along the shore. The lake and I, along with most of the natives of Moore County — I should say natives over 60 — go back a long way. Recently, the Aberdeen Lake area has been renewed and looks terrific. I stepped out of the truck into a blustery overcast day, zipped up my coat a little tighter and walked north. The wind was not as strong as earlier, but the lakeshore was almost deserted. A bedraggled old Canada goose was watching me closely from the bank. A young drake mallard and a pair of white farm ducks were sleeping right beside the trail. The ducks had their necks tucked under their wings and peeked at me as I walked by them. The mallard opened one eye as if to say, “Don’t bother me, it’s cold out here.” A couple of days before my visit to the lake, I had stopped by City Hall to chat with Bill Zell, the town manager, and get the scoop on what was happening at their updated new facility. Bill has been the manager for several years and without a doubt is one of the better things to happen to Aberdeen in a long time. He, along with Mayor Betsy Mofield and the other leaders on the Town Council, has moved Aberdeen into the twenty-first century. It is a village to be proud of; not that it wasn’t when I was a youngster, but today it’s one of the stars in Moore County. Bill was a wealth of information. He said that the town was able to finance

over half of the new lake building construction with a grant from the state. The timing was fortunate because they applied for the grant known as the Parks and Recreational Trust Fund before the current crunch occurred in the state budget. The matching grant, amounting to $500,000, was enough to enable the town to turn an eyesore into a beautiful anchor for the area, providing incentive for the rest of the village to follow suit. Now when visitors ride through downtown, they can see pride in owners’ storefronts. Pedestrian traffic has increased measurably as people from all over tour the town. Leigh Baggs, the parks and recreation manager, was justifiably proud to talk about the impact the lake park has had on the citizens of Aberdeen. She said the park is celebrating its fourth anniversary and that numerous clubs and organizations have used the facilities. In the four years since the new building has been completed, over 1,200 recreational programs have been held along with 200 community meetings and training events. The building is in great demand for public rental. She mentioned that Johnny Burns and Jimmy Whitlock were the latest to inquire about using it. They are planning a reunion for all Aberdeen High School alumni who played football or were cheerleaders. There is a pedestrian bridge that crosses the headwaters of the lake; and when I got to the middle of the long structure, I paused and looked south to the fountain that is located approximately where the diving tower was when I was a youngster. I leaned back against the rail and remembered the ’50s and ’60s when the lake was a major rendezvous for teenagers from all over the county. It was the mecca for Aberdeen High School students, especially in the summer when the only other major gathering point was the Clam Box, a drive-in located halfway between Aberdeen and Southern Pines. There’s no telling how many miles were driven by young folks cruising from the lake to the Clam Box, seeing and being seen. Water spray from the fountain was being whipped around by the chilly north wind like a runaway fire hose. Two cars pulled up in front of the new lake building, and I watched as a couple got out of one car with a small child and headed to the kiddie park. They won’t be there long, I thought, not in this weather. I con-

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June 2012 P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

The SPorTing Life

tinued my walk across the pedestrian bridge toward the west side of the lake. As I approached the bank where the trail split into two avenues, a drake mallard duck came quacking over the trees and landed in the water right close to the shoreline. He swam around preening and quacking with that long reepreep call that indicated he was happy to be there. I took a break at the old Boy Scout hut, which was secured with a chain link fence and locked gate. The old building looked as if it hadn’t been used in years. I later found out from Ms. Baggs that the structure was owned by the city but was in such disrepair, they had put it off limits for safety’s sake. “The restoration would be a great project for a Scout troop,” she said. The hiking trail ended at the dam; and after a short conversation with a young fisherman, who was really battling the wind, I meandered on around and stopped at the location of the pavilion I had been so familiar with back in the late ’50s. Grass grew down to the water, and there was no vestige of anything of the old structure. I tried to remember exactly how the place had looked. There had been benches spaced evenly between trees, poplars, I think, and there was a concrete slab that served as a dance floor. Dressing rooms and lockers were immediately behind a long counter where employees sold soft drinks and snacks. Right in front of that was a jukebox housed in its own box with a door that could be closed and locked during off-hours. The jukebox was probably the most important piece of equipment on the site and was rarely silent. It’s gone now, all gone. The imposing new building, the center of the new park, sits more toward the highway and the kiddie play area. On the south side is a new covered shed with several picnic tables that can be reserved by the public. All in all, the whole area has been spruced up and squared away, and I was happy that Aberdeen has such a great facility. A light rain had started again, and back to the west I could see black clouds as a squall line approached. I hustled on back to the truck just as the rain started in earnest. I jumped in and turned on the satellite radio that Linda had given me for Christmas. It was appropriately tuned to the ’50s station. The storm looked as if it would be active for a spell so I took one last look at the old pavilion site and fired up the truck. I flipped the wipers to medium and pointed the Cruiser toward Southern Pines. Ironically, the radio was playing “Moments to Remember” by The Four Lads. I noticed that the old goose still stood on the shore looking toward the young ducks that had disappeared into the mist. PS Tom Bryant, a Southern Pines resident, is a lifelong outdoorsman and PineStraw’s Sporting Life columnist.

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Haney’s Big Hit

Before Tiger Woods, there was Pinehurst

By Lee Pace

The number

of luminaries in golf who’ve headquartered in the Sandhills or leaped a major career milestone here is indeed profound. Donald Ross crafted his name as golf’s foremost architect of the early 1900s from an office in Pinehurst. Richard Tufts of the Pinehurst founding family touched every crevice of USGA operations in the 1940s and ’50s. Peggy Kirk Bell pioneered the business of teaching women golfers from the practice tee at Pine Needles. Charles Price wrote for The Pinehurst Outlook as a cub reporter in the 1940s, about the time Ben Hogan blossomed from caterpillar to butterfly on the sandy expanses of Pinehurst No. 2. And as the name Hank Haney was rising up The New York Times best-seller list for his book The Big Miss, some still around Pinehurst think back 30 years ago to when Haney spent his days on the practice tee at Pinehurst Resort & Country Club, teaching swing plane to guests and members and running the resort’s golf schools. “Hank walked into one of the first staff meetings and said, ‘I’m going to be the best teacher you’ve ever had here,’” remembers Rich Wainwright, an assistant pro at the time who is now on the Pinehurst executive staff. “He had plenty of confidence. And he was good. He could back it up.” Ken Crow was another young member of the golf staff in the early 1980s. He remembers working the teaching center desk one day around noon and Haney asked about his lesson schedule for the afternoon. Crow answered that Haney was “wide open — nothing on the books.” Thirty minutes later, Haney came back and told Crow to enter three lessons that afternoon into the schedule. “Hank went and worked the lunch room,” says Crow, today club manager at

National Golf Club. “He found three people and convinced them he could help them on the lesson tee. He knew in order to get better and work his craft, he had to stay busy and work with as many people as he could. He was passionate about teaching 24-7. He was that way with Tiger Woods. But he was that way with Mrs. Jones thirty years ago.” Haney was 25 years old and working his way up the ladder on the John Jacobs Golf Schools staff when he came to Pinehurst for a school in 1980. He made the acquaintance of Pinehurst Director of Golf Mike Sanders, who soon offered him a job as the resort’s lead instructor. “It was my first opportunity to do things my own way,” Haney says. “What an opportunity for a young kid.” Haney gleaned teaching insight from Jacobs and other instructors who came through Pinehurst — guys like Jim Flick, Jack Lumpkin, Davis Love Jr. and Bob Toski. He particularly remembered one comment from Jacobs: “In competitive golf, it’s not so much where the good ones go — it’s where the bad ones go. You’ve got to build a swing that will eliminate the big miss.” He subscribed to Jacobs’ dictum that ball flight told an instructor everything he needed to know, and he developed his own theories on swing plane by watching tapes “a hundred times” of Ben Hogan’s 1964 match against Sam Snead in Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf and actually drawing lines on the video screen in his Pinehurst office to trace Hogan’s club path. Haney was in that office late the September Friday afternoon of the 1982 Hall of Fame Classic when Crow said there was a struggling young golfer out on the range. The player had missed the cut and was totally lost with his golf swing; he was desperate for some help. Haney walked outside and was surprised to find Mark O’Meara, the 1979 U.S. Amateur champion. Haney introduced himself and asked, “What’s the problem?” “Well, I can’t find my golf ball, that’s the problem,” O’Meara snipped back. “Let me watch you hit a few,” Haney said. He watched O’Meara hit balls for a few minutes. He saw an inside takeaway and a handsy and loose motion throughout. He was upright at the top — “Everyone was trying to copy Jack Nicklaus at the time,” Haney says. He saw inconsistent tempo. O’Meara’s shots were left, high and right and everything in between — “All over the lot,” Haney says.

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June 2012 P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

Located next to The Carolina Hotel • Village of Pinehurst, North Carolina • 888.435.6957 • pinehurst.com

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This was Haney’s first opportunity to consult with a Tour-caliber player. He decided to go slowly and carefully. “I wasn’t going to botch it by giving him a Band-Aid analysis on the practice range,” Haney says. Meanwhile, O’Meara kept waiting for the lanky young instructor to say something. “But he just kept watching,” O’Meara says. “He didn’t say, ‘Move your stance,’ or ‘Change your grip,’ or ‘Move the ball back’ or anything like that. After about 20 minutes, he says, ‘Let’s go in and get a drink.’ I’m like, ‘Wow, I don’t have time for a drink. I need to figure this out.’” Over the next half hour, Haney presented the marketing pitch of his life — a reasoned, analytical overview of his philosophy of the golf swing, what was wrong with O’Meara’s and what Haney could do to help. Something inside told O’Meara that Haney knew what he was talking about. “Let’s get started,” O’Meara said. They worked the rest of the weekend and O’Meara scraped by enough to make four cuts that fall. But there was much work to do. He slipped in and out of Pinehurst as often as he could to see Haney, and the teacher visited the Tour at times as well. O’Meara had just missed the cut in Greensboro the following spring when he drove to Pinehurst and they hit balls in the sleet and 30-degree temperatures. Eventually, it clicked. By 1984, O’Meara won almost half a million dollars and was No. 2 on the Tour money list. He won the Masters and British Open in 1998 with Haney in the gallery. “This is where it all started,” Haney said at the 2005 U.S. Open at Pinehurst. “I owe a lot to this place. The three years I spent in Pinehurst were probably the most instrumental of my career.” Haney moved to Houston’s Sweetwater Country Club in 1984 and later opened the Hank Haney Golf Ranch outside Dallas, and was men’s golf coach at SMU. His path and that of Tiger Woods crossed in the 1990s through mutual friends in the golf world, in collegiate golf circles and later when Haney visited O’Meara at O’Meara’s home at Isleworth Country Club in Orlando, where Woods also lived after turning pro in 1996. Haney and Woods developed a friendship, and Woods asked Haney in 2004 if he’d become Woods’ new swing coach. The six years Haney spent working with Woods were the subject of The Big Miss, ghosted by noted golf writer Jaime Diaz, a longtime Golf Digest/Golf World staffer who lives in the country north of Southern Pines. The book has been lauded by some for the fascinating glimpse it offers into Woods’ world and the tensions and pressures of performing at the top echelon of the golf universe — not only for Woods but his coach, caddie, trainer and agent. It’s been panned by others for violating some unwritten code of silence that the inner workings of PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . June 2012

Fresh fashion meets classic style at The Cupola.

June Dining Events June 4th-7th A New Region Help us shape our new menu! We will feature dishes from two different regions. Sample the goods, then vote on which region’s cuisine that will be featured on our new menu.

June 18th Piedmonte Wine Dinner

The Carolina Hotel s Village of Pinehurst s 910. 235.8474 s pinehurst.com

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5/7/12 7:51 AM

A five course wine dinner featuring wine and cuisine from Northern Italy, specifically the region of Piedmonte. Wine importer Manuel Magnani will discuss five of the wines he chose from this spectacular region.

Monday - Saturday Lunch: 11:30 - 2:30 Dinner: 5:00 - 9:30 290 W. Pennsylvania Ave. Southern Pines, NC 28387 www.ruethirtytwo.com 910.725.1910

June 2012 P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

G o l f t o w n J o u r n al

athletes’ lives should remain private — not that Jim Bouton and Jerry Kramer didn’t begin the genre four decades ago with Ball Four and Instant Replay. There are a few inside details that elicit a tsk tsk, such as Woods’ habit of leaving the dinner table as soon as he was finished, no matter how far along wife Elin or anyone else at table was with their meal. But there are no broad brush strokes we don’t already know; we know of Woods’ tight fists, his selfishness and his lack of depth on any subject away from the golf course. There are no salacious details of Woods’ serial philandering. The book has been called a “tell-all.” Hogwash. It’s a “tell-a-little.” Haney had a front-row seat for six years to one of golf’s finest talents. He simply wanted to preserve for posterity the experience. “When you’re in a position to observe greatness like I was for six years, you’re asked about it every day,” Haney says. “I wanted to share it; that was the overriding factor in writing the book. These are Tigers’ memories. They are my memories, too. I wanted to talk about it, I wanted to write about it. I’m not the first coach or manager who’s ever written a book. I wanted to write about what makes Tiger so great, how he is as a person and what contributes to him being such an incredible golfer.” The book chronicles the angst Haney had from the beginning dealing with Woods’ mercurial demeanor. “I was never going to be able to relax with Tiger Woods,” Haney writes. “He was going to be complicated, and he was going to surprise me with his moods.” It reveals Haney’s constant fear of Woods’ propensity to hit “the big miss” with the driver and Haney’s worries that Woods didn’t spend enough time practicing his short game and let his obsession with the military wear on his body to the detriment of his golf. And it provides a crystal clear view of the dichotomy of Woods’ immense talent. The things that made him so great were also his chief weaknesses. Haney termed it “The Package.” “Those qualities,” Haney observes, “foremost among them an extraordinary ability to focus and stay calm under stress, also included selfishness, obsessiveness, stubbornness, coldness, ruthlessness, pettiness, and cheapness. When they were all at work in the competitive arena, they helped him win. And winning gave him permission to remain a flawed and in some ways immature person.” The Big Miss is a terrific read — even better if you know the back story of Hank Haney’s early days in golf. PS Lee Pace will write about hickory golf and other vintage topics in his forthcoming book, The Golden Age of Pinehurst, due out later this year.

You’ll fi nd more than 50 of the best brands here, including one you can’t find anywhere else. Adidas • Peter Millar • Sport Haley • Tail • Tehama • Puma • Titleist • Tommy Bahama • Under Armour • FootJoy • Straight Down Pinehurst Collection • SDI • Zero • Maui Jim • Oakley • Brighton • Dooney & Burke • Putterboy Collection • Vera Bradley • Isda Cole Haan • Lilly Pulitzer • Iliac • Aveda • La Bella Donna • J. Lindeberg • Ashworth • Oxford • Polo • Ashworth • Adidas • Ahead American Needle • Bobby Jones • Callaway • Cutter & Buck • EP Pro • Fairway & Greene Gear • Greg Norman • Imperial • Nike

The Pinehurst Shops are full of shirts, shoes, jackets, spa products, bags, gifts and accessories from brands like Vera Bradley, Adidas, Nike, Peter Millar and Cole Haan. So come in and find your favorites. Village of Pinehurst, North Carolina • 910. 235.8154 • pinehurst.com

June 2012

Midsummer Funny how differently two people can see the same thing Like that old tire swing Which, to me, is a time portal To us, in summer, beneath a thick blanket of stars — A haze of cicadas and red wine and nightjars — And those impossibly long evenings that faded so slowly That nights seemed mere extensions of the day. When the fireflies came out to play I’d pretend they were woodland fairies Dancing like dandelion seeds beneath the weeping cherry As we sang the poems we made together About Junebugs and tangerines and sparrow feather Then you’d touch my wine-stained lips With calloused fingertips And tell me why lightning bugs glow And that, like everything, love is about chemistry. I remember it clearly: “The summer solstice is an instant in time,” you said, Like the moment you realize you’re in love Or have just awakened from a dream. — Ashley Wahl

nchantment E The Power of By JIM DoDSon

nchantment can be confusing business. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, William Shakespeare’s comedy of confused identity and sexual hijinks, the Fairy King Oberon attempts to discipline his rebel lious wife Titania by having the mischevious Puck place drops from an aphrodisiacal flower in the eyes of four Athenian lovers who, under the light of a midsummer moon, are soon hopelessly tangled in their passions. Among other things, Queen Titania falls for a donkey-headed actor named Bottom and emotional chaos ensues. It’s only through reversed spells, a triple wedding and frank revelations that all is finally resolved by dawn’s first light, as the lovers retreat to their beds and their rest is blessed by the enchantment of true love. Hinting at the mayhem of human ego and the folly of ambition, analyzed across the ages for everything from its mystical eroticism to its modern feminist message, the play remains perhaps the Bard’s most popular and enchanting comedy. These days, even a cursory glance at the daily headlines reveal modern life to be no laughing matter – revealing what a disenchanted world we creatures still inhabit. For the moment at least, a bickering and profoundly dysfunctional government, rampant Wall Street greed, staggering debt, indecision in the face of genocidal despots, and mindless obsession with celebrities all seem to add up to a nation – and world – that appear to have been beaten down by a loss of innocence and holy imagination. More the reason, some would argue, for a return to a garden of pure enchantment. “Enchantment is an ascendancy of the soul,” writes priest and psychologist Thomas Moore in his splendid book The Re-Enchantment of Everyday Life, “a condition that allows us to connect, for the most part lovingly and intimately, with the world we inhabit and the people who make up our families and communities.” Among the leading complaints of modern life, Moore points out, is that American family life is disintegrating before our eyes, eroded by everything from violent video games to a spiraling divorce rate. Nostrums like North Carolina’s recently constitutional “Marriage Amendment” attempt to prop up an ailing institution but really hint at a much deeper problem: a steep decline in our cultural intimacy with our immediate surroundings and respect for the natural world of the senses. Neighborhood life is vanishing and nature is in retreat. A national poll of American teenagers recently showed that fewer than a third expect to enjoy a life more interesting and fulfilling than those of their parents. Imagine such a thing? Perhaps our children simply can’t. Imagination requires a desire for personal enchantment — an ability to see beauty where it is most obvious, and create it where it’s not. “An enchanted life,” adds Moore, “has many moments when the heart is overwhelmed by beauty and the imagination is electrified by some haunting quality in the world or by a spirit or voice speaking from deep within a thing, a place, or a person.” For this reason and others, when my children were very small, I made up elaborate stories about a pair of roguish bears who inhabited the hemlock forest around our home on the coast of Maine. Their names were Pete and Charlie, and they were always up to funny business that resulted in comic mayhem. My logic was that the most valuable thing I could give my children was a vivid imagination — a childhood, if you will, rife with interesting stories. To this end, their mom and I frequently packed up baskets and hauled them to our favorite beach at the end of a sandy peninsula jutting into the magically cold and blue Casco Bay, a gorgeous sandy half-mile ending at the feet of historic Fort Popham, the place where European explorers first set foot on Maine’s fabled shores, ironically the same beach used in the filming of Message in a Bottle a few years back. Summer is a greatly valued commodity in the Pine Tree State, its warmest

days as precious as a fire in winter, and we always savored most the longest days of midsummer when the light lingered until 10 o’clock before melting away into the western hills and Popham’s own fabled waving sea roses — reputed to have been planted in the surrounding dunes by returning captains of the exotic China trade. Whoever actually planted them, these mystery roses from a faraway empire, they nearly overwhelm the boardwalk now, and we were grateful in a true but unspoken way to those mythic travelers who came before us, half expecting our own cryptic messages in a bottle to wash up at any moment on an incoming tide. One of my favorite photographs of this beach, not surprisingly, taken in the magical light just before sundown on perhaps the longest day of summer, shows the tranquil shimmer of the ocean exactly at dusk, a place hovering between two worlds, with Shell Island rising up in the near distance, a piece of the moon already riding the eastern horizon, and a pair of tiny dots far down the beach — a boy and his older sister taking a final barefoot stroll hand-in-hand before heading home to bed. Predictably, half our team of adventurers would be asleep in the back seat before we were halfway home, undoubtedly dreaming of rosetangled empires beyond the sea. Even as our children grew into teenage beachcombers, that old beach held an irresistible enchantment to each and every one of us. At low tide you can actually wade out to the Shell Island, which is essentially what we nicknamed the elongated unnamed dorsal of rock where lovers and lonely beachcombers and kids of all shape and size invariably migrate, though when the tide is coming in it can be a bit of a challenge to reach, requiring careful footing and legs stout enough to handle the current. Sometimes the water is as gentle as a summer bath, other times a tempest worthy of the magician Prospero. We still go back to admire its enchanting moods — and remember. In his 2005 groundbreaking book The Last Child in the Woods, journalist Richard Louv introduced the phrase “nature-deficit disorder” to illuminate the growing gap between modern children and the vital lessons of nature. Louv’s argument was that as childhood exposure to the natural world steadily declines, owing to modern lifestyles and growing technology, the very future of civilization itself may hang in the balance. As a potential means of heading off this dire fate, Louv makes a persuasive case in his latest book, The Nature Principal, that the simple restorative power of nature — submitting our children and selves to the enchantment of nature, to cultivated gardens and wild fields, to the soulful quiet of forests and cleansing magic of rushing streams and starry plateaus where our ancestors once stood in awe of the vast dome of the world — can not only restore vital mental, physical and family bonds, but will ultimately redeem the planet for future generations. “Today,” he writes, “the long-held belief that nature has a direct positive impact on human health is making the transition from theory to evidence and from evidence to action.” Nature therapy, he notes, is among the fastest growing medical practices designed to treat a vast range of human illness, an ancient cure for what ails the modern world. “True fitness,” Louv says, “is radical amazement.” In other words, a moment that amazes all the senses and stokes the fires of holy imagination, like a beautiful midsummer night when the crickets sing sonnets and lovers spin their tangled webs, may do wonders to stir the heart and heal a broken and disenchanted world around us. It’s quite possible William Shakespeare had just such natural healing in mind when he penned A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a moonlit warning to future generations to keep the fires of imagination well-tended. Across human time, after all, through countless tumultuous ages of man, the summer solstice has been lavishly celebrated as a festival of community rebirth, a magical fete honoring of the power of enchantment and the liberating spirit of nature found in each of us — reason enough to head for a mythic beach on the longest day of the year, it seems to me, or tell stories of comic bumbling bears in the forest, and give chase to fireflies on a slowly darkening lawn. Our lives, as poets and sages of every faith have noted, are like passing dreams from which we’ll soon awaken. But luckily, for a lovely moment or two, wonder makes children of us all. PS

In Plain Sight

Southern Pines Post Office, 190 Southwest Broad Street, Southern Pines. Next time you’re caught waiting in line to buy stamps, look to your left and see this great mural that’s too high for your peripheral vision. Artist unknown.

Hidden in Plain Sight

Story anD PhotograPhS By CaSSIe Butler

ot long ago on a seven-day visit to New York City, I managed to take in four famous museums and see several of my favorite pieces of art, including Van Gogh’s beloved Starry Night and Monet’s Four Trees. In a word, I was amazed by what my eyes drank in, yet it puzzled me how some other museum-goers interacted with such world-class artwork — or, as it seemed to me, failed to. A lot of people seemed to miss the glory that was right in front of them. They strolled by paintings with their smartphones out and snapped a picture here or there, lingering but a moment before moving on to the next famous piece of artwork for another quick snapshot. Why take the trouble to go to a famous art museum, I couldn’t help but wonder, and see it all through a three-inch LCD screen when you can Google the famous paintings in the comfort of your living room on a 17-inch computer? Of course, as the saying goes, art really is in the eye of the beholder, a difficult concept to define at best, and museums in a sense aid and encourage such superficial viewing by classifying and categorizing certain works of art. Learning to look closely at a painting or piece or artwork is in itself a form of art, it seems to me, at least more art than science. As Andy Warhol once observed, “I’m afraid that if you look at a thing long enough, it loses all of its meaning.” Perhaps this is why Warhol noted that everything and everybody would be famous for at least fifteen minutes. Fortunately, great artwork doesn’t just exist in famous museums.

The truth is, look a little closer and you’ll realize its all around you — even here in the Sandhills. Maybe especially here. I’ve lived here all my life, for instance, and never knew there was a magnificent 36-foot fox-hunting mural in First Bank on Southeast Broad Street. But I certainly do now — because I recently photographed this beautiful piece of art hidden in plain sight. Ditto to a Pinehurst-born astronaut who made Robbins his hometown and lives on in a vibrant mural on the side of a building in the quiet north Moore town. Art is supposed to slow us down, and all the great masters believed this. “The principle of art is to pause, not bypass,” noted Jerzy Kosinski. “The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls,” Pablo Picasso added. Maybe if we weren’t busy texting in the line at the Southern Pines post office we would see the magnificent mural of our farming forebears spanning an entire lobby wall, or the beautiful and haunting paintings by famed illustrator N.C. Wyeth that hang mere feet from where locals are paying their water bills just one doorway up the street. With my camera in hand, I set off recently to see what other treasures hidden in plain sight I could find. What I found, I hope, will both surprise and delight you the way it did me — and maybe make you stop and take a closer look at the beauty that lies before our eyes.

In Plain Sight

First Bank, 205 Southeast Broad Street, Southern Pines. “The Hunt” by Danila Devins, 1978.

Southern Pines Water Billing building, 180 Southwest Broad Street. Wyeth original paintings. Wyth, who is considered to be one of America’s greatest illustrators, was a realist painter, sometimes seen as a melodramatic. His illustrations were designed to be understood quickly. “Painting and illustration cannot be mixed — one cannot merge from one into the other,” he said in 1908, speaking of the difference between being a painter and an illustrator.

In Plain Sight

art In ChurCheS Left: Trinity AME Zion Church, 972 West Pennsylvania Avenue, Southern Pines. This stained glass window inside the African Methodist Episcopal Church was presented by two families in 1973, indicated at the bottom of the window. The window has an opened Holy Bible with the symbol of Alpha and Omega inside its pages, the first and the last letters of the Greek alphabet, which is a title for Christ or God in the Book of Revelation. Below: Page Memorial United Methodist Church, 115 West Main Street, Aberdeen. This dome church was built in 1913 and is a National Register Property, indicated by the pale blue slate sign by the church’s front door.

Above: Brownson Memorial Presbyterian Church, 330 South May Street, Southern Pines. The characteristics of both modern and ancient rose windows are its circular form, story depiction and Jesus at the center. The inner circle of this rose window illustrates the risen and welcoming Christ. Its outer circle is marked by Christ’s eight ministries: leader, teacher, friend of sinners, miracle worker, healer and giver of life, counselor, man of sorrows and king. Right: Emmanuel Episcopal Church, 340 South Ridge Street, Southern Pines. This stained glass window reflects the Episcopal Church’s history, which is rooted with the Church of England and Scotland. The white shield with the red cross is the Cross of Saint George, England’s patron saint. During the first Crusade, the Pope decided that knights of different nationalities should be distinguished by different colors of the cross, and the English crusaders were to be distinguished by a white cross on red — Saint George’s Cross. In the left corner of the shield is the Cross of Saint Andrew, Scotland’s patron saint.

art In the hoSPItal

In Plain Sight

Whenever FirstHealth of the Carolinas has a donation of a million dollars or more, the hospital commissions a piece of art to be done in honor of the generous gift. Above is an employee appreciation wall, which was designed by LDDK Pottery of Seagrove for the employees of the Comprehensive Cancer Center. This piece recognizes the contributions of employees of FirstHealth of the Carolinas for the “In Love and Service” capital campaign.

The mobile above is hanging high in the entrance of the Moore Regional’s Outpatient Center and represents the contributions of the Moore Regional’s Hospital Auxiliary for the “In Love and Service” capital campaign. The moving disks provide a source of distraction and pleasure for patients, families and hospital employees.

Below: David Hewson’s painting “Connections,” took jim six months to create on three 6x4 foot wood panels. The piece also has free-flying butterflies, which are on either side of the installation in the hallway connecting Moore Regional’s main lobby with the Community Hospital Comprehensive Cancer Center. Honoring the late Bruce and Helen Miller of Pinehurst, the butterfly is a symbol of regeneration and transformation, connected by strands of DNA and the ring of eternity.

This terra-cotta face is hidden by a bronze hand holding a mask. Recognizing the contributions of the late Ruth Lyman Watkins, a longtime member of the FirstHealth Hospice Foundation Board, Watkin was a major supporter of patient advocacy, especially in the area of cancer. “The Mask” was sculpted by Whispering Pines resident Doris Catullo and is displayed in Moore Regional’s main lobby.

In Plain Sight

Above: North Carolina Feed and Seed, 3737 U.S. Business 1, Vass. This newly painted mural is by Scott Nurkin, a Charlotte native and Chapel Hill graduate who studied under a master muralist. The mural celebrates the storeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leading consumers: horses, deer, pigs, chickens, dogs, cattle and goats. The mural is even illuminated so it can be seen at night while driving through Vass via U.S. Business 1.

Pinehurst-born astronaut Captain Charles E. Brady considered Robbins his hometown. In downtown Robbins, he lives on in a vibrant mural that salutes him, which was painted by Hunt Cole of Image Designs, based in Elizabethtown.

This 768-square-foot Carthage buggy mural was recently painted by Bambi Schelske in time for the Carthage Buggy Festival in May. Bambi Schelske, a 14-year veteran of mural painting, lives in Panama City, Florida, but visits friends in Carthage on a regular basis.

In Plain Sight

Sunrise Theater, 250 North West Broad Street, Southern Pines. Jeffrey Mims, a painter and muralist, works in Southern Pines and focuses on the classical realist tradition. He painted an optical illusion on the side of the Sunrise Theater, where people passing by can put their feet on the faded paint footsteps on the sidewalk and see half building, half painting.

The infamous â&#x20AC;&#x153;Painted Barns of Cameronâ&#x20AC;? are fading now, more than ten years after a New York/Tokyobased artist collective that called themselves Barnstormers traveled for this barn-painting project over several years, sometimes 30 at a time, for creative expression alone. The colors and images of the painted barns are peeling now, but they are still there and have grown with the landscape of the old tobacco fields.

In Plain Sight

Tucked beneath a conifer, this ancient stone head is a permanent sculpture in the Atkins Hillside Garden at Sandhills Community College’s Horticultural Gardens. The stone eyes keep watch over the butterfly garden.

Jeanette Brossart’s beautiful pitcher plant is a glass mosaic on polystyrene form. She has been intrigued with the pitcher plant, a native North Carolina botanical species, even before its endangered status.

The Interception of “U” by William Moore is made from marble red stone. Moore describes his piece: “River run or tumbled in the surf, the natural elements of erosion are wrapped and suspended in the transept of ‘U’.”

This Jim Gallucci sculpture, “Oak Leaf Garden Gate with Planters”, is made from galvanized steel. Gallucci is based in Greensboro and focuses on creating metal gates, doorways and benches in order to give the public access to his art. “It’s an entry for the public to embrace art,” he says.

In Plain Sight

Sandhills Farm Life Elementary, 2201 Farm Life School Road, Carthage. A wise owl, painted by parent Julie Hinton, keeps watch over parents, students and visitors at the front entrance of Sandhills Farm Life. Nearest left: Art teacher Jill Hartsell’s mural. West End Elementary, 4483 N.C. Hwy 211, West End. A colorful ceramic tile wall painted by students is in the front entrance hallway.

Pinehurst Elementary School, 100 Dundee Road, Pinehurst. PES has a plethora of murals painted by both teachers and parents over the years. The front office ceiling is transformed into a blue sky filled with kites. Art teacher Sally Hale Adams painted the kites using different art styles of famous artists that her class studied, and the students painted the sky and clouds. And, “The Golden Rule” by Carol Butler.

Southern Pines Elementary School, 255 South May Street, Southern Pines. Home of the Blue Knights, Mary Wright’s castle scenes can be found throughout the school.

The Grand Dame By Maureen Clark

From war and chaos, Danila Frassinet i Devins found redempt ion - and a rewarding life - in her love of art and horses

ani Devins, known locally as an equestrian artist, sculptor and art teacher, is a woman with a story that she has carried in her heart and in her art for a lifetime. Her childhood involved the glamour, romance and danger that vintage Hollywood movies were drawn from, films that might have starred Greta Garbo and Laurence Olivier. Ocean voyages, an Italian villa in the Tuscan hills, and the Nazi Army of World War II all played parts in the young life of Danila Frassineti Devins. But for Dani, the characters and settings are real. They are her family, her history, and the tale is her true story.

A young Danila Frassineti on horseback with her brother, Giordano, and father.

June 2012 P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

Old photos illustrate happy years for the Frassineti family prior to World War II, in addition to their shared love of horses.

Above: Villa le Querci, located in the hills overlooking Florence.

Dani and husband, Capt. He rb Devins, stand in front of Villa le Querci.

Above: Dani’s handiwork. A detail shot of “The Hunt,” a 36-square-foot mural at First Bank in Southern Pines.

Dani with her dog (Liaka), Arabian horse (Nicole) and at work in her studio.

June 2012 P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

“The Carabinieri,” an awardwinning painting of the Italian elite mounted police, a drum and bugle corps. Painted by Devins in 1979.

In 1925, a beautiful young Philadelphian stood on the deck of an ocean liner pulling away from the mooring in New York Harbor. Helen Gill was embarking on a trans-Atlantic voyage and tour of Europe in the fashion of young women from wealthy families in her day. She waved good-bye to her fiancé standing below on the crowded dock. Standing nearby was a handsome young man, Guido Frassineti, an officer in the Italian Navy, on board for the crossing. He introduced himself. By the time the ship docked in Venice, 30 days later, the Italian and American were engaged to be married.

he years before World War II were happy ones for the Frassineti family. Danila was born two years after her brother, Giordano. They lived in Villa le Querci in the hills outside of Florence overlooking the city. “We were south of the Arno (River) up in the hills,” Dani recalls. A sepia-tinted photograph shows her parents, her father in white tie, dining formally with Ubaldino Peruzzi and his wife. “He was the architect who designed our home,” Dani explains. “His ancestors designed for the Medici family in Florence.” Another photo shows Dani as a toddler looking up at her mother in front of a massive fireplace. The early years, she said, “were very nice. My parents were gorgeous and popular. They had lots of friends. We had servants. And we traveled a lot. I remember the Lido.” She also remembers an early trip to Southern Pines as a big disappointment. She was about 5 years old. “My brother and I were looking for Indians,” she explained. “Buffalo Bill and the Wild West Show had been touring Europe with cowboys and Indians. We

Resting Fox, bronze sculpted by Dani.

Dressage Rider, in pen and ink.

could not find a single Indian in the United States.” The memories most treasured by Dani involved a love of horses she shared with her father. “I remember the horses the best. My father was in the Navy but he was into horses. He bred an old mare to a famous racehorse in Florence. The foal was meant for me.” Again, the old family pictures depict the passion, with Dani and her family posing in a variety of carts and carriages pulled by ponies, a burro and horses. One shows the four on the back of a cart wearing knee boots. “Old Ferragamo, the father of Salvatore Ferragamo, used to come to the house like Sam Bozick to measure and make boots for us,” Dani said. “He also made shoes for my mother.” Her father’s early death from an aneurysm ushered in the war years and a change in Dani’s idyllic life. Her mother married a British citizen born in Italy, Edward Gordon-Mann. There were two more children in the family in the early years of the war. “The worst day of my life was when the Facists came and took all the horses,” Dani reflected. “No one had a lot to eat then. I thought they were probably going to be slaughtered.” The colt bred for Dani by her father was also confiscated. Later, in 1942, her mother, stepfather and baby sisters were declared “foreign enemies” and taken to a concentration camp. They were released in Switzerland as part of a prisoner exchange for captured German soldiers and relocated to the United States. Dani and Giordano, natural born Italians, remained in Florence. “We lived in the bottom of the villa,” she explained. “Upstairs was empty because of the bombing.” The teenage siblings were looked after by family friends and servants. The chaos of war, however, did not diminish Dani’s early development as an artist. “I attended the Royal Institute of Art and would have gone on to the Royal Academy had I stayed. I started in

Dani, the artist, teaching a watercolor class in her studio at Paint Rock Farm.

Become Part of Our History

Visit Pine Needles Lodge & Mid Pines Inn to become part of the legacy of the Pine Needles Club. Inquire about vacation packages or membership opportunities at 800.706.3660 or membership@pineneedlesclub.com

1005 Midland Rd. Southern Pines, NC 28387 | www.pineneedles-midpines.com

the sixth grade. It was very tough. We did academic work in the mornings and art in the afternoon. It was a full day’s work. I won my first award for art there.” Shellings and shrapnel were also a part of life. “You got used to it,” Dani said. “You just hoped you didn’t get hit.” In August of 1944, there was a siege of Florence and the Germans retreated from the city. “We were right in the middle of the siege,” Dani remembers. “When the Germans pulled out they blew up all the bridges on the Arno except the Ponte Vecchio. But you couldn’t cross it because they blew up so much rubble around it.” One particularly chilling experience stays with Dani. “It was dusk and I was sitting outside at the place where we ate with the family. A retreating German soldier took one last shot through our garden gate. I felt the bullet go by my face. I was just lucky.” Dani’s mother, working through the U.S. Consul in Florence, helped arrange for the American Field Service volunteers to stay at Villa le Querci for a year. Dani remembers one particular member of the AFS. “Gordon Buchan Forbes, the son of the founder of Forbes magazine, was very kind and helped us communicate with our family, saw that the drivers were respectful and took care of the surroundings.” A year after the end of World War II, Dani and her brother boarded the S.S. Gripsholm, the same Swedish ship that brought her mother to the United States during the prisoner exchange. “I will never forget that moment in Naples,” Dani reminisced. “There was a candy machine and Cokes. We had never tasted Coke. Mainly, I remember the British song ‘As Time Goes By’ playing. It was my happiest time.” Helen Gordon-Mann never returned to Italy. The wartime memories were too painful. She sold Villa le Querci and the family farms. It was twenty-five years before Dani returned, posted to Italy with her husband, Capt. Herb Devins, a West Point graduate. They met at a dance at Fort Bragg arranged by the commanding general for cadets involved in summer training at the base. Back in Tuscany, Dani learned the fate of the family horses confiscated during the war. “My father had farms in the wine country,” she explained. “One of the managers told me what happened. He heard about the horses being taken. He found a military uniform and came to Florence dressed as a soldier. He showed them a paper and took all the horses back to a farm. I found out that my foal and all the horses lived out a good life.” Today, Dani, the Grand Dame of Sandhills art, lives on a horse farm, teaches watercolor and continues to paint, having woven the strands of her childhood in Florence into a lifelong engagement with horses and art. She taught at Sandhills Community College for almost 30 years. Her daughter, Dorian Devins, is a lyricist and lives in New York. Her brother, Giordano, is a lawyer, is married and has two children. He also lives in the Northeast. Over the years, Dani has amassed an impressive list of awards for art with over twenty first-place designations. Her work has been on the cover of magazines, bought for permanent collections and featured in numerous prestigious exhibitions. “I know it is not professional to keep your work, but there is one piece I can’t let go of,” Dani admitted. She pointed to a large equestrian painting hanging in her studio. “It’s the Carabinieri. They are the Italian elite mounted police drum and bugle corps. They open big horse shows in Rome.” The piece, done in gouache, a watercolor without transparency, earned a first place award from the Accademia Italiana. PS

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The Other White House John and Alice find wonderland in their classic cottage By Deborah Salomon • Photographs By John Gessner

hose were the days, all right. Families of means with their trunks and servants boarded the train in Boston, New York and Philadelphia for the overnight journey to Southern Pines. The most affluent maintained seasonal homes. Some stayed at the Carolina Hotel or its guest cottages. Others preferred Highland Pines Inn — a glorious new resort on Massachusetts Avenue. Just outside its wall, in 1917 that darling of local architecture, Aymar Embury II, designed a duplex guest cottage — prime lodgings for a family vacation. The elongated white clapboard house with a portico at each end and circular drive illustrated Embury’s trademark symmetry.

Embury’s inn burned in 1957. The cottage, built on James Boyd land, lives on. “I call it the Other White House,” Alice Wilson says. As First Lady, Alice and her husband, John Wilson, have preserved its aura, updated only to the 1950s. Expect no glamour kitchen, no workout space or spa bathrooms — although the cedar deck looks current. A spacious paneled den/library (added, along with a kitchen in 1930) serves endangered pastimes like conversation and reading. Walls glow with forgotten pastels. In the parlor traditional sofa and chairs wear multicolored flowers against a yellow background, circa Ladies Home Journal. A 200-year-old primitive

June 2012 P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

Alice and John Wilsonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s plants are local â&#x20AC;&#x201D; but planters come from around the globe.

Highland Pines Inn during its glory days, with cottage (right).

Floral upholstery, phoenix mirror and 1930s radio speak softly of a more relaxed era.

June 2012 P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

Alice has a passion for flowers and miniatures, as in her collection of boxes (right).

pine grandfather clock, handed down through Alice’s family members who carry the name Parker, fills a nook beside the fireplace. Creaky hardwood floors gleam under sunlight streaming through paned windows, most with wavy, original glass. Turn on the floor-model 1937 Philco radio when it’s time for Jack Benny. The overall effect: relaxing, tasteful, lovely déjà vu.

ot every couple would select an outdated floorplan or an unsung decór period to glorify. Yet the house proved the perfect oeuvre for Alice and John, who lived very different lives before meeting on a blind date at Ashten’s, in 2006. Even their love story invokes a happy-ending ‘50s film: Both of their fathers graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy. Both grew up traveling. “The longest I had ever lived in one place was five years in Saudi Arabia,” John says. After graduate school John entered the U. S. Foreign Service, handling agricultural affairs in France, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Vietnam and points east. Rather than appearing incongruous, his travel trophies spice up furnishings, beginning with the elephant-headed Hindu god Ganesh welcoming guests in the tiny foyer and a Vietnamese foo dog who wards off evil spirits in the garden. During college, John visited his parents at their vacation condo in Southern Pines. Later, his children learned to play golf in Pinehurst. The area was just cosmopolitan enough. “This is where I wanted to settle down,” John decided long ago. PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . June 2012

The “Alice pink” room (above) and dogwood guest room are simple, uncluttered and airy, with window treatments sewn by Alice.

June 2012 P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

Alice’s family traveled the U.S., then enjoyed the life of a high-ranking Naval officer in Washington, D.C. “Wherever we went, my mother’s house was her castle,” Alice recalls. As a hobby her parents built doll houses with delicate miniature furnishings — an art Alice displays with pride. The tall blonde beauty married, moved to New Hampshire and taught kindergarten for 28 years.

ohn and Alice, still unknown to one another, arrived in Southern Pines in 2005. “Before my (last) posting in Vietnam I came for a weekend to buy a house,” John begins. “The Realtor drove down South Valley Street — I saw a for sale sign on this house. She said it was too run down but I fell in love with the layout, with bedroom suites on either end — perfect for when my kids visit.” Furthermore, the house was walking distance to downtown shops and cafés, another habit picked up in Europe. John bought the cottage in 2003 as a rental property and hired a master carpenter to begin repairs and renovations, ever-respectful of Embury’s imprint. John himself removed and refinished the original shutters with pine-tree cutouts. Same with doors from the kitchen cabinets, which he carted to Washington for refinishing. After life-changing experiences, Alice, now single, fled New England winters for Southern Pines, where she planned to take up golf. “I didn’t know a soul.” Alice found Episcopal Day School through a Chamber of Commerce brochure, was hired and, as the beloved “Miss Alice,” taught 4-year-olds for several years. Then the blind date at Ashten’s arranged by a friend. Nine months later, in 2006, John and Alice were married. For four years they lived on South Ridge Street, moving to the Other White House in 2010.

Exquisitely detailed doll houses collected by Alice and her family mimic traditional decór in the cottage.

The dining room — Alice’s favorite — furnished in family antiques, will be a gathering place for the blended family.

“T

he outside is my territory. The inside is up to Alice,” John says. “But basically we have the same taste.” “I learned a lot from John about simplicity,” Alice adds. “I did some major decluttering from my first life.” Their blend struck a balance. “We wanted the furnishings to reflect the beauty of the house,” Alice continues. Each painting, family antique and flower arrangement is spaced for maximum impact. Embury would appreciate the pointed window treatments made by Alice that appear identical from outside although of different fabrics facing inside. The rustic brick porch leads into the small entrance hall with doors to the left and right, opening into the original two apartments. Except now the right-hand door reveals

the parlor and the left, a formal dining room — Alice’s favorite space in the house. She conceived it in a Williamsburg mode, with soft celery-green walls, polished dark wood table, Limoges china, pearl-handled knives, needlepoint chair cushions. “I never had a home with a beautiful dining room,” Alice explains. “This is so important for family occasions. It was important to me to have a home for John’s (young adult) children. We’ve both spent the time and energy to feel like we are a family.” The paneled den with bookcases and bar is “Mad Men” suburban retro, the kitchen even more so. What a relief to see function outpace frivolity. The vinyl floor, laminate countertops, painted cabinets, white faux brick

June 2012 P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

A statue of the Hindu god Ganesh, half man, half elephant purchased in Cambodia, greets guests in the foyer.

soffit trim, harvest table with extension leaves, standard two-door refrigerator and decorative antique wooden ice box make Alice’s countertop microwave an anachronism. But the owners did appropriate space alongside the kitchen for a pantry and powder room. The master and guest bedrooms (one done in a dogwood fabric to match a quilt acquired, prophetically, before Alice’s move) are as refreshing as any Nantucket B&B — vanilla white, pale turquoise, mint green and a wall color John calls “Alice pink.” Floors are mostly bare with a few small rugs. Over the master bedroom fireplace hangs a painting reminiscent of Monet, by Greensboro artist Barbara Glover. The scene resembles Provence, where the Wilsons honeymooned, depicting a waterfront café with one empty table awaiting the newlyweds. Case pieces are vintage but the white iron bed is pure L.L. Bean. Alice has her pink day room filled with treasures, where closets have been converted to alcoves suitable for children to play dolls. John’s study blares Southeast Asia with artifacts brought back from postings: a Vietnamese credenza, hand-woven Tunisian rug, a map of Africa drawn in Paris, in 1650. A Moroccan musket with silver trim hangs high on the wall, and an urn purchased in Hanoi bearing the three Chinese wise men rests on the floor.

his White House sits crosswise on an acre of land facing away from the Highland Pines Inn wall. John, the “outside” man, installed every plant, he says proudly. Besides the deck he has added sheds and a freestanding one-car garage with storage area designed to match the house, right down to the pine-tree shutters. Blending households and lifestyles — especially colorful, active retirement lifestyles — takes work. John, a fitness enthusiast, cycles the back roads. Alice has joined a book club. Eventually, they plan to live abroad part of each year, leaving the house for John’s children to enjoy. “We are still finding out about each other,” John admits. “But we’re both very respectful of each other’s opinions,” Alice adds. Even though John owned and partially renovated the house before meeting Alice, finishing and furnishing it was their project. Alice selected the serene colors. John preserved the historical integrity. He collects paperweights, postcards and memorabilia from the inn as would a Titanic aficionado. Family mementos are everywhere, including a charming painting of giraffes Alice did as a teenager. Inside and out, refinement lingers from an era predating futons and great rooms, Sub-Zeros and entertainment centers. Alice feels contentment here. “I wake up in the morning, hear the train go by and the birds singing … what else could you want?” PS

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“And so with the sunshine and the great bursts of leaves growing in the trees, just as things grow in fast movies, I had that familiar conviction that life was beginning over again with the summer.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

Transit of Venus

By Noah Salt Howling at the summer moon is always fun. But even if you happen to miss the North Carolina Botantical Garden’s splendid “Carolina Moonlight Gala” on June 2 — a lively fundraiser featuring great music and dancing, food and drink, all under a full Carolina moon — be sure to try to catch its Organic Rose Gardening seminar the very next day, Sunday, June 3. A four-session class in Summer Flora kicks off on June 23, and various seminars, display garden walks and classes are ongoing. 100 Old Mason Farm Rd., Chapel Hill. Contact NCBG for more details at (919) 962-3882 or visit the garden’s website at www.ncbg.unc.edu. Not to be outdone by the effect of a full summer moon, the Sarah. P. Duke Gardens in Durham offers “Walk on the Wild Side,” an exploration of native plants on June 7 at 11 a.m. Visit the garden’s website, www.gardens.duke.edu, for more information. The most interesting summer solstice event in the state takes place on June 23 at the Greensboro Arboretum. Last year’s Greensboro Summer Solstice Party drew thousands to Lindley Park dressed in fairy wings and various other forms of mythic garb. It’s a great family-fun day that stretches from morning to night, featuring live musical performers, artists and vendors galore, and a fine pagan fire dance after dark. For more details, visit www.greensborosummersolstice.org. Finally, closer to home, we’re hoping to catch a useful “Cooking with Herbs” program hosted by the Sandhills Horticultural Society at 10:30 a.m. June 30, Sandhills Horticultural Gardens. The cost for non-members is a bargain $10. The gardens are open daily from 8 a.m. until dusk. Ball Visitor’s Center is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. For more information on upcoming events and tours, see Sandhillshorticulturalgardens.com or visit on Airport Rd. (910)695-832.

Ten Things We Love About Midsummer No chance of snow Fireflies Swimming in a mountain lake Fried oysters and cold beer Late afternoon thunderstorms Trashy beach novels Napping in the shade Mowing the lawn Flip-Flops Real peach pie

Summer’s celestial highlight is easily the transit of Venus, a true once-in-a-lifetime event, among the rarest of astronomical happenings in which the planet Venus crosses the face of the sun and may be seen — using proper protective lenses or precautions taken to view a partial eclipse — with the naked eye. The first known viewing of the transit took place by a young English astronomer on Dec. 4, 1639, and was used to approximately determine both the diameter of Venus and also its relative distance from the sun. Thirty years later, Capt. James Cook observed the phenomenon during his maiden voyage to the Pacific. According to Sky and Telescope Magazine, the transit occurs only four times every 243 years. The last time it took place was June 8, 2004, and the next one will not happen until December 2117 — so don’t miss out. Asia and the western Pacific will enjoy the best views of the six-hour event, but all of North America — particularly the Pacific Coast — will be able to catch the action, weather permitting, on June 5, roughly around 5:30 p.m. Across the centuries, a host of leading astronomers have chased the transit in quest of more precise solar calculations. The most unfortunate case belongs to Frenchman Guillaume Le Gentil, who was persuaded by Edward Hailey (of comet fame) to pursue favored spots for viewing the transit for eleven years — only to return home and discover that he’d been officially declared dead, his wife remarried and his estate plundered by greedy relatives. Litigation persuaded the King of France to restore his lost income as well as his forfeited seat in the prestigious Royal Academy of Sciences. He remarried and reportedly lived happily for another 21 years, proving Venus rules all in matters of science and love.

“June gardens are so bright and shining and clear that they seem incapable of aging. Their physicality is everywhere beguiling and as much as they are demanding, as much as the gardener must be swift with all of his work, there is so much joy in it, the stripling growth so responsive to the smallest of ministrations that his fatigue seems to get submerged by elation and is at most a fugitive thing. It is satisfying to bend and tie the first long cane of the roses, plot and space a little park of sticky cleome, try new plantings in new beds, see last year’s seed-grown clematis take off and throw bloom after bloom.” — “Summer” by Robert Dash, from The Writer in the Garden

PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . June 2012

June

Sunday

Monday

Tu e s d a y

We d n e s d a y

3 4 5 6 10 11 12 13 17 18 19 20 24 25 26 27

WEYMOUTH WOODS. Nature Preserve, Info: (910) 692-2167. ART EXHIBIT. 5 – 7 p.m. Info: (910) 944-3979 or www. artistleague.org. ROOSTER’S WIFE CONCERT. 6:46 p.m. Fan Modine; Brett Harris opens. Info: (910) 944-7502 or www. theroosterswife.org.

AUTHOR EVENT. 5:30 p.m. Russ Kicks. The Country Bookshop. Info: (910) 692-3211 or www.thecountrybookshop.biz. FLORAL DESIGN CLASS WITH ALDENA FRYE. 6:30 p.m. Reservations: (910) 944-1071 or (910) 944-1073.

EVENING WITH JIM DODSON. 6 – 8 p.m. American Triumvirate: How Ben Hogan, Sam Snead and Byron Nelson Created the Modern Age of Golf. Reservations required. Campbell House, 482 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines Info: (910) 692-2787 or www.mooreart.org.

LUNCH & LEARN. 12:30 – 1:30 p.m. The Laser Institute of Pinehurst. Info/ RSVP: (910) 295-1130 or www. pinehurstlaser.com. PRESCHOOL STORYTIME. 3:30 – 4 p.m. Southern Pines Public Library SPOLETO FESTIVAL. Info: (910) 692-2787 or www. mooreart.org.

WEYMOUTH WOODS BUTTERFLY HIKE. 3 p.m. 1-mile hike while hunting for hairstreaks. Free. Info: (910) 692-2167. ROOSTER’S WIFE CONCERT.6:46 p.m. Twangtown Troubadours and Tres Chicas. Info: (910) 944-7502

BOYS & GIRLS HOMES OF NC BENEFIT. 12 p.m. Pinehurst. Reservations/Info: (910) 295-4790. SCC JAZZ BAND CONCERT. 6:30 p.m. Sandhills Community College. Info: (910) 692-7966. SUMMER CAMP BEGINS. Registration/Info: (910) 692-2463

JOY OF ART CAMP. 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. Joy of Art Studio, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 528-7283. BOOK BUNCH MEETING. 11 a.m. Southern Pines Public Library, Info: (910) 692-8235 LITERARY FILM. 2 & 7 p.m. Papa: The Man, The Myth, The Legend, Sunrise Theater, Info: (910) 692-2787

FATHER’S DAY RIB EXTRAVAGANZA. 11:30 a.m. The Sly Fox Pub, Info: (910) 725-1621. WEYMOUTH WOODS HIKE. 3 p.m. Info: (910) 692-2167. ROOSTER’S WIFE CONCERT. 6:46 p.m. Music from John Cowan. Info: (910) 944-7502

PIEDMONTE WINE DINNER. 6:30 p.m. Rue 32 Info: (910) 725-1910. KINDERFUN CAMP. Registration/Info: (910) 6922463 or www.southernpines. net/recreation. ALLSPORTS SUMMER CAMP. Registration/Info: (910) 692-2463 or www.southernpines.net/recreation.

HISTORY LECTURE. 2 p.m. First Baptist Church of Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2051 or www.moorehistory.com. WEYMOUTH WOODS DISCOVERY HIKE. 3 p.m. Info: (910) 692-2167. ROOSTER’S WIFE CONCERT. 6:46 p.m. Music from Tony Furtado, Info: (910) 944-7502

NATIONAL THEATRE LIVE. 24th–26th. Encore: One Man Two Guvnors by Richard Bean. Based on The Servant of Two Masters by Carlo Goldoni. Sunday at 2 & 7 p.m.; Weekdays at 7 p.m. Tickets: $15. Sunrise Theater, 250 NW Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8501 or www. sunrisetheater.com.

Friday

1 8 15 22 29

ART GALLERY RECEPTION. 6 – 8 p.m. Art Anonymous. On display through June 29 Campbell House Galleries, 482 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2787 or www.mooreart.org. FIRST FRIDAY. 5 – 8:30 p.m. Sunrise Theater. www.firstfridaysouthernpines.com SUMMER READING. Southern Pines Public Library. (910) 692-8235 or www.sppl.net

Thursday

7 14 21 28 SPOLETO FESTIVAL. Info: (910) 692-2787 or www. mooreart.org. GATHERING AT GIVEN. 3:30 p.m. How to get back to doing things you though you had given up forever. Free and open to the public. Given Memorial Library, 150 Cherokee Rd., Pinehurst. Info: (910) 295-6022.

AUTHOR EVENT. 11 a.m. Maryann McFadden. The Country Bookshop DOG SPEED DATING PET ADOPTION. 6 – 8 p.m. The Country Bookshop JAZZY FRIDAYS. 7 – 10 p.m. Live jazz music and hors d’oeuvres. Cypress Bend Vineyards & Winery. Info: (910) 369-0411. MOORE PUNS COMEDY SERIES. 8 p.m. Comedy Night at the Railhouse Brewery, 105 East South St., Aberdeen. Info: (910) 692-2787 or www.mooreart.org.

BAND OF BOOKIES MEETING. 11 a.m. Southern Pines Public Library, Info: (910) 692-8235 or www.sppl.net. A FARMER’S SERIES DINNER. 6 p.m. Goat Lady Dairy. Elliott’s on Linden, Info: (910) 215-0775. MEN’S NIGHT AT RUE 32. 6:30 p.m. Rue 32, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 725-1910.

READER RABBITS. 11 a.m. Southern Pines Public Library, Info: (910) 692-8235 OLDIES & GOODIES FILM. 2:30 p.m. High Noon (1952). Southern Pines Public Library, Info: (910) 692-8235 AUTHOR EVENT. 4 p.m. Gabrielle Donnelly, The Country Bookshop, Info: (910) 692-3211

SENIOR ACTIVITY. 11:15 a.m. International Picnic Day at Reservoir Park. Meet at Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376. AUTHOR LUNCH EVENT. 12 p.m. Karen White, The Country Bookshop, Info: (910) 692-3211 or www.thecountrybookshop.biz. SEAGROVE SUMMERFEST. Museum of NC Traditional Pottery, 127 E Main St., Seagrove. Info: (336) 873-7887.

WOMEN’S GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP. 18th-19th. Wood Lake Country Club, Vass. Applications available in local pro shops or at (910) 673-3240. SUMMER THEATRE CAMP. 18th-22nd. 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. Sunrise Theater, Registration/ Info: (910) 692-2787 or www. mooreart.org.

LOBSTER AT SLY FOX PUB. 6 p.m. Presenting the very best flavors of this notable crustacean. Special beer pairings available for each course. The Sly Fox Pub, 795 SW Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 725-1621.

SENIOR ACTIVITY. 11 a.m. – 6 p.m. Travel to Selma,Register by June 1. Info: (910) 692-7376. FAMILY FUN NIGHT. 5:30 p.m. Southern Pines Public Library, Info: (910) 692-8235 or www.sppl.net. GUEST BARTENDING FUNDRAISER. 7 p.m. The Sly Fox Pub. Info: (910) 692-5954.

JAZZY FRIDAYS. 7 – 10 p.m. Live jazz music and hors d’oeuvres, rain or shine. Admission: $10. Cypress Bend Vineyards & Winery, Riverton Road, Wagram. Info: (910) 369-0411. MID PINES JR. INVITATIONAL GOLF TOURNAMENT. 22nd–24th. Mid Pines Inn and Golf Club, 1010 Midland Road, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-9362.

DRAMA CAMP. 25th-29th. 9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. “Coming to the Stage.” A fiveday creative arts mini-camp. Learn fun vocal warm-ups, drama and mime technique, plus set and costume design. Ages 6-12. Kids Kastle Childcare Center, Registration/Info: Aleacia at (910) 476-0433 or atl. kidskastle@gmail.com.

SENIOR ACTIVITY. 11:30 a.m. Celebrate Country Cooking Month with a trip to Cracker Barrel. Transportation fee: $1/residents; $2/nonresidents. Sign up by June 25. Depart from Campbell House, 482 E. Connecticut Ave, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

SEAFOOD & HOT WEATHER BEER AT SLY FOX PUB. 7 p.m. An Evening at the Shore Beer Dinner. Cost: $38+. The Sly Fox Pub, 795 SW Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 725-1621.

BLUEGRASS IN THE PINES. 6 – 8 p.m. Live music from the South Ridge bluegrass band. Bring a chair, blanket and dancing shoes. Concessions will be available on site. Free concert. Downtown Park, Southern Pines. Info: Southern Pines Recreation and Parks at (910) 692-2463.

Saturday

2 9 16 23 30

RUN FOR THE LEGEND. 8 a.m. Course begins and ends on Hay Street in Fayetteville. COOKING DEMO. 12 & 2 p.m. Elliott’s on Linden, 905 Linden Rd., Pinehurst. Info: (910) 215-0775. FREE WINE TASTING. 12 – 4 p.m. Elliott’s on Linden BLUE JEAN BALL. 6:30 – 11 p.m. Pinehurst Fair Barn. Reservations/Info: (910) 695-7510. BENEFIT DINNER & CONCERT. 6:46 p.m. Poplar Knight Spot, 114 Knight Street, Aberdeen. Info: (910) 944-7502 or www.theroosterswife.org.

WEYMOUTH WOODS BIRDWALK. 8 a.m. 2-mile hike to look for these winged gems. Free. Weymouth Woods Nature Preserve, 1024 Fort Bragg Rd., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2167. LUMBER RIVER HORSE TRIALS. Three-phase competition, Carolina Horse Park, 2814 Montrose Rd., Raeford. Info: (910) 875-2074 or www.carolinahorsepark.com. FREE COOKING DEMO. 12 & 2 p.m. Elliott’s on Linden, 905 Linden Rd., Pinehurst. Info: (910) 215-0775. FREE WINE TASTING. 12 – 4 p.m. Elliott’s on Linden, 905 Linden Rd., Pinehurst. Info: (910) 215-0775.

SEAGROVE SUMMERFEST. Museum of NC Traditional Pottery, 127 E Main St., Seagrove. Info: (336) 873-7887. FREE COOKING DEMO. 12 & 2 p.m. Steak. Local beef. Elliott’s on Linden, 905 Linden Rd., Pinehurst. Info: (910) 215-0775. FREE WINE TASTING. 12 – 4 p.m. Maipe Malbec. From the foothills of the Andes Mountains in Argentina, made from hand-selected grapes. Elliott’s on Linden, 905 Linden Rd., Pinehurst. Info: (910) 215-0775. SUMMER TIME BLUES DRESSAGE. Pinehurst Harness Track, Hwy 5, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 692-8467.

FREE COOKING DEMO. 12 & 2 p.m. Fresh from the farm milk from Maple View Dairy. Elliott’s on Linden, Info: (910) 215-0775. FREE WINE TASTING. 12 – 4 p.m. Elliott’s on Linden, Info: (910) 215-0775. MOORE PUNS COMEDY SERIES. 8 p.m. Tommy Moore, Sunrise Theater, 250 NW Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2787 or www.mooreart.org. HUNTER/JUMPER SHOW. Carolina Horse Park, 2814 Montrose Rd., Raeford. Info: (910) 875-2074 or www. carolinahorsepark.com.

WEYMOUTH WOODS BIRDWALK. 8 a.m. 1024 Fort Bragg Rd., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2167. COOKING WITH HERBS. 10:30 a.m. – 12 p.m. Sandhills Horticultural Gardens, Ball Visitors Center. Info: (910) 695-3882. BRINGING ARTS TO LIFE FESTIVAL. 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. Kids Kastle Childcare Center, 4018 N. Highway 1. Info: Aleacia at (910) 476-0433 FREE COOKING DEMO. 12 & 2 p.m. Elliott’s on Linden, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 215-0775. FREE WINE TASTING. 12 – 4 p.m. Elliott’s on Linden

Arts & Entertainment Calendar June 1

June 3

ART GALLERY & OPENING RECEPTION. 6 – 8 p.m. Art Anonymous. A fundraiser featuring mini-masterpieces donated by anonymous artists. Art available for purchase; proceeds benefit Arts Council of Moore County. On display through June 29 (weekdays, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. & Sat., June 16, 2 – 4 p.m.) Campbell House Galleries, 482 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2787 or www.mooreart.org.

WEYMOUTH WOODS PROGRAM. 3 p.m. Ticks, Chiggers and Spiders. Learn how to identify various arachnids that are prevalent in the Sandhills. Free. Weymouth Woods Nature Preserve, 1024 Fort Bragg Rd., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2167.

FIRST FRIDAY. 5 – 8:30 p.m. A family-friendly community event featuring live music from Larkin Poe. Food & beverages available for purchase. Free admission. The grassy knoll adjacent to the Sunrise Theater, Broad Street, Southern Pines. Info: www. firstfridaysouthernpines.com. SUMMER READING REGISTRATION BEGINS. Summer reading programs available for all ages and abilities (elementary school, middle school, high school and adult). Each reader sets a goal for the number of age-appropriate books he or she will read between June 1 and August 17. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or www.sppl.net.

June 2 RUN FOR THE LEGEND. 8 a.m. The Airborne & Special Operations Museum Foundation (ASOMF) holds its fifth annual 5K/10K Run for the Legend. Sanctioned by USA Track & Field (USATF). Course begins and ends on Hay Street in Fayetteville. Registration: www.active.com/running/ fayetteville-nc/4th-annual-asomf-run-for-the-legend-2011 FREE COOKING DEMO. 12 & 2 p.m. Discover how easy it can be to make cheese at home and taste wonderful cheeses produced by North Carolina creameries. Elliott’s Provision Company, Elliott’s on Linden, 905 Linden Rd., Pinehurst. Info: (910) 215-0775. FREE WINE TASTING. 12 – 4 p.m. Chateau Bellevue La Foret Rose. From Fronton in Southwest France, an elegant, dry rosé made with the distinctive Negrette grape. Strawberry, rhubarb, mineral and spice. Elliott’s Provision Company, Elliott’s on Linden, 905 Linden Rd., Pinehurst. Info: (910) 215-0775. BLUE JEAN BALL. 6:30 – 11 p.m. Live country bands, down home barbecue buffet and refreshments. Sponsored by FirstHealth Hospice Foundation. Tickets: $60. Pinehurst Fair Barn, Pinehurst Harness Track, Route 5, Village of Pinehurst. Reservations/Info: (910) 695-7510. SUSTAINABLE SANDHILLS BENEFIT DINNER & CONCERT. 6:46 p.m. Dinner on the lawn and live forró music from the inestimable Clay Ross trio, Wheel of Choro. Tickets: $60. Poplar Knight Spot, 114 Knight Street, Aberdeen. Info: (910) 944-7502 or www.theroosterswife.org.

June 2 – 4 SUNFLIX MOVIE. Weekdays at 7:30 p.m.; Sat. & Sun at 2:30 & 7:30 p.m. Jeff, Who Lives at Home. Starring Jason Segel and Ed Helms. Running time: 1 hr. 27 min. Sunrise Theater, 250 NW Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8501 or www. sunrisetheater.com.

Key: Art

Music/Concerts

Dance/Theater

Film

ART EXHIBIT & OPENING RECEPTION. 5 – 7 p.m. Absolute Art. Annual judged show featuring works by Full and Associate Members. Awards will be presented. Art on display through June 28; Monday through Saturday, 12 – 3 p.m. Artist League of the Sandhills, 129 Exchange St., Aberdeen. Info: (910) 944-3979 or www.artistleague.org. ROOSTER’S WIFE CONCERT. 6:46 p.m. Live music from Fan Modine; Brett Harris opens. Tickets: $12-$15 (Children under 12 free). Poplar Knight Spot, 114 Knight St., Aberdeen. Info: (910) 944-7502 or www.theroosterswife.org.

June 4 AUTHOR EVENT. 5:30 p.m. Russ Kicks discusses his new book, Volume One: From the Epic of Gilgamesh to Shakespeare to Dangerous Liaisons, which covers the earliest literature through the end of the 1700s. The Country Bookshop, 140 NW Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-3211 or www.thecountrybookshop.biz. FLORAL DESIGN CLASS WITH ALDENA FRYE. 6:30 p.m. All materials included. Cost: $50. Aldena Frye’s, 107 South St., Aberdeen. Reservations: (910) 944-1071 or (910) 944-1073.

June 4–7 FOUR COURSE DINNER AT RUE 32. Help Rue 32 shape its new menu. Featured dishes are from two different regions. Sample the goods and vote on which region’s cuisine should be featured on the menu. Cost: $35+. Optional wine pairings: $15. Rue 32, 290 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 725-1910.

June 4–8 SENIOR DAY CAMP. 1 – 3 p.m. Monday: Get to Know the Town of Southern Pines; Tuesday: Game Day; Wednesday: Puzzle Day; Thursday: Wellness Day; Friday: Picnic. All events will take place at the Douglas Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

June 5 AN EVENING WITH JIM DODSON. 6 – 8 p.m. Join awardwinning and best-selling author Jim Dodson in a conversation about his recently published book, American Triumvirate: How Ben Hogan, Sam Snead and Byron Nelson Created the Modern Age of Golf. Event is part of Art Council’s Appetite for Art series. Proceeds benefit the Arts Council of Moore County. Cost: $25. Reservations required. Limited to 50 guests. Campbell House, 482 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines Info: (910) 692-2787 or www.mooreart.org.

June 6 LUNCH & LEARN. 12:30 – 1:30 p.m. Topic: Fighting the Elements. Includes lunch, gift bag and specials. The Laser Institute of Pinehurst, 80 Aviemore Court, Suite A, Pinehurst. Info/RSVP: (910) 295-1130 or www.pinehurstlaser.com.

Literature/Speakers

Fun

History

Sports

P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P June 2012

ca l e n da r PRESCHOOL STORYTIME. 3:30 – 4 p.m. Bring infants and toddlers (ages birth through 5) for stories, songs and fun. Playtime follows. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 6928235 or www.sppl.net.

June 6–9 SPOLETO FESTIVAL USA. Arts Council of Moore County presents an ARTour featuring an impressive lineup of events for all art lovers against the backdrop of historic Charleston, South Carolina. Highlights include Chamber Music Series at the Dock Street Theater, jazz & gospel vocalist Mavis Staples, a concert by the Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra, and free time to explore historic Charleston, visit the Gibbs Gallery of Art, and enjoy some of the many events of the Piccolo Spoleto Festival. Info: (910) 692-2787 or www.mooreart.org.

June 7 GATHERING AT GIVEN. 3:30 p.m. Sally Means and Ashley Taylor will discuss human movement and how to get back to doing things you thought you had given up forever. Free and open to the public. Q & A period and refreshments follow. Given Memorial Library, 150 Cherokee Rd., Pinehurst. Info: (910) 295-6022.

June 8 AUTHOR EVENT. 11 a.m. Maryann McFadden discusses The Book Lover, her third book. The Country Bookshop, 140 NW Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-3211 or www.thecountrybookshop.biz. DOG SPEED DATING PET ADOPTION. 6 – 8 p.m. Adoption event organized for people to ask questions about, and check out the chemistry with lovable animals in a string of one-on-one interactive sessions lasting five minutes each. Meet eligible Bachelors & Bachelorettes and the furry love of your life. Adoption fee: $65 (Includes spay or neuter, rabies vaccination and microchip). The Country Bookshop, 140 NW Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-3211 or www.mcprc.org. JAZZY FRIDAYS. 7 – 10 p.m. Live jazz music and hors d’oeuvres, rain or shine. Admission: $10. Cypress Bend Vineyards & Winery, Riverton Road, Wagram. Info: (910) 369-0411. MOORE PUNS COMEDY SERIES. 8 p.m. Arts Council of Moore County and Dogwood Dental present Comedy Night at the Railhouse Brewery, 105 East South St., Unit C, Aberdeen. Must be 21 years or older to attend. Info: (910) 692-2787 or www.mooreart.org.

June 9 WEYMOUTH WOODS BIRDWALK. 8 a.m. Many species of birds spend their winter in the tropics, but nest in the Sandhills for spring. Join for a 2-mile hike to look for these winged gems. Free. Weymouth Woods Nature Preserve, 1024 Fort Bragg Rd., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2167. LUMBER RIVER HORSE TRIALS. Three-phase competition including dressage, cross-country and show jumping. Free for spectators. Carolina Horse Park, 2814 Key: Art Music/Concerts Dance/Theater Film Literature/Speakers Fun History Sports

June 2012 P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

ca l e n da r Montrose Rd., Raeford. Info: (910) 875-2074 or www.carolinahorsepark.com. FREE COOKING DEMO. 12 & 2 p.m. Pastry Basics; make stock, release essential oils and sear meats and fish. Elliott’s Provision Company, Elliott’s on Linden, 905 Linden Rd., Pinehurst. Info: (910) 215-0775. FREE WINE TASTING. 12 – 4 p.m. Hand harvested grapes from the Mosel Valley, Germany, home of cobbled towns and storybook castles. Pineapple, white peach and flintstone. Elliott’s Provision Company, Elliott’s on Linden, 905 Linden Rd., Pinehurst. Info: (910) 215-0775.

June 10 WEYMOUTH WOODS BUTTERFLY HIKE. 3 p.m. Hairstreaks are small, fast-flying butterflies. Red-banded, Great Purple, Coral, King and Edward’s Hairstreaks fly this time of year. Wear comfortable shoes, tick repellant and sunscreen for a 1-mile hike while hunting for hairstreaks. Free. Weymouth Woods Nature Preserve, 1024 Fort Bragg Rd., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2167. ROOSTER’S WIFE CONCERT. 6:46 p.m. Live music from Twangtown Troubadours and Tres Chicas. Ticket: $12-$15. Poplar Knight Spot, 114 Knight Street, Aberdeen. Info: (910) 944-7502 or www.theroosterswife.org.

June 11 BOYS & GIRLS HOMES OF NC BENEFIT. 12 p.m. Luncheon, silent auction, and fashion show to benefit Key: Art

Music/Concerts

Dance/Theater

Film

the Boys and Girls Homes of North Carolina. Cost: $35. Country Club of North Carolina, Pinehurst. Reservations/ Info: (910) 295-4790. SCC JAZZ BAND OUTDOOR CONCERT. 6:30 p.m. Bring a lawn chair and picnic. BBQ by Jordan’s is available at 5 p.m., $7/plate. Rain site: Owens Auditorium on the SCC campus. Free concert. Sandhills Community College, Airport Road, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7966. SUMMER EXPLORERS DAY CAMP BEGINS. Full day camp for ages 5-7 and 8-13 begins its first of ten sessions. Southern Pines Recreation & Parks Department. Registration/Info: (910) 692-2463 or www.southernpines. net/recreation.

June 11–15 JOY OF ART STUDIO ART CAMP. 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. Students ages 9-11 will sketch downtown and at the park, draw from nature and learn the basics of seeing and drawing like an artist. Painting and exploration of techniques, styles and media happens in the afternoon. Small sketchbooks and drawing tools supplied. Cost: $90. Student work will be exhibited in a First Friday Meet the Artist event in the fall. Joy of Art Studio, 139 E. Pennsylvania Ave., Suite B, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 528-7283.

June 12 BOOK BUNCH MEETING. 11 a.m. Summer Reading Club for children entering grades 3-5. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Literature/Speakers

Fun

History

Info: (910) 692-8235 or www.sppl.net. LITERARY FILM. 2 & 7 p.m. Papa: The Man, The Myth, The Legend, an award-winning film of the critically acclaimed play in tribute to the life of Ernest Hemingway. Tickets: $10/general admission; $8/seniors, students and military. Sunrise Theater, 250 NW Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2787 or www.mooreart.org.

June 13 BAND OF BOOKIES MEETING. 11 a.m. Summer Reading Club for students entering grades 6-8. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or www.sppl.net. A FARMER’S SERIES DINNER. 6 p.m. Goat Lady Dairy. Details TBA. Elliott’s on Linden, 905 Linden Rd., Pinehurst. Info: (910) 215-0775. MEN’S NIGHT AT RUE 32. 6:30 p.m. A three course wine dinner that finishes with a single malt scotch and a cigar. Ladies are welcome, but must enjoy a cigar and scotch. Cost: $50+. Rue 32, 290 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 725-1910.

June 14 READER RABBITS MEETING. 11 a.m. Summer Reading Club for children entering grades K-2. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or www.sppl.net.

Sports

ca l e n da r OLDIES & GOODIES FILM. 2:30 p.m. High Noon (1952). A classic Western starring Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or www.sppl.net. AUTHOR EVENT. 4 p.m. Gabrielle Donnelly discusses her book, Little Women Letters. The Country Bookshop, 140 NW Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-3211 or www.thecountrybookshop.biz.

June 15 SENIOR ACTIVITY. 11:15 a.m. Celebrate International Picnic Day at Reservoir Park. Coolers and grills available. Cost: $5/residents; $10/non-residents. Meet at Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376. AUTHOR LUNCH EVENT. 12 p.m. Karen White discusses her new book, Sea Change. Lunch provided by Southern Whey. Ticketed event includes book with lunch. The Country Bookshop, 140 NW Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-3211 or www.thecountrybookshop.biz.

June 15–16 SEAGROVE SUMMERFEST. Summerfest will kick off at the Museum of NC Traditional Pottery in downtown Seagrove with demonstrations and refreshments. Pick up a list of participating potters and visit the shops to purchase new summer wares. Museum of NC Traditional Pottery, 127 E Main St., Seagrove. Info: (336) 873-7887.

June16 FREE COOKING DEMO. 12 & 2 p.m. Local beef producers including Hilltop Angus and Cane Creek provide EPC with grass-fed beef, which is not only delicious, but healthier and easier on the environment. Elliott’s Provision Company, Elliott’s on Linden, 905 Linden Rd., Pinehurst. Info: (910) 215-0775. FREE WINE TASTING. 12 – 4 p.m. Maipe Malbec. From the foothills of the Andes Mountains in Argentina, made from hand-selected grapes. Elliott’s Provision Company, Elliott’s on Linden, 905 Linden Rd., Pinehurst. Info: (910) 215-0775.

June 16–17 SUMMER TIME BLUES DRESSAGE. Pinehurst Harness Track, Hwy 5, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 692-8467.

June 17 FATHER’S DAY RIB EXTRAVAGANZA. Starting at 11:30 a.m. A prix fixe rib extravaganza and selected beer flights. The Sly Fox Pub, 795 SW Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 725-1621. WEYMOUTH WOODS HIKE. 3 p.m. Amazing Adaptations. Join for a short hike and learn about some of the amazing adaptations that local plants and animals have developed in order to thrive in this region. Free. Weymouth Woods Nature Preserve, 1024 Fort Bragg Rd., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2167. ROOSTER’S WIFE CONCERT. 6:46 p.m. Live music from John Cowan. Tickets: $20-$23 (Children under 12 Key: Art Music/Concerts Dance/Theater Film Literature/Speakers Fun History Sports

June 2012 P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

cA l e n dA r free). Poplar Knight Spot, 114 Knight St., Aberdeen. Info: (910) 944-7502 or www.theroosterswife.org.

June 18 PIEDMONTE WINE DINNER AT RUE 32. 6:30 p.m. A five course wine dinner featuring wine and cuisine from Northern Italy, specifically the region of Piedmonte. Reservations Required. Cost: $65+. Rue 32, 290 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 725-1910. KINDERFUN CAMP BEGINS. Summer camp for ages 3-6 begins its first of six sessions. Southern Pines Recreation & Parks Department. Registration/Info: (910) 692-2463 or www.southernpines.net/recreation. ALLSPORTS SUMMER CAMP BEGINS. Athletic camp for ages 6-12. Focuses on responsibility, respect, leadership, sportsmanship, time management and the love of the game. Southern Pines Recreation & Parks Department. Registration/Info: (910) 692-2463 or www. southernpines.net/recreation.

June 18–19 MOORE COUNTY WOMEN’S AMATEUR GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP. Two-day gross, stroke play. Cost: $100/player (includes green fees, cart range balls and Tues. luncheon) Wood Lake Country Club, Vass. Applications available in local pro shops or via Ginny Siedler at (910) 673-3240.

Key: Art

Music/Concerts

Dance/Theater

Film

June 18–22 SUMMER THEATRE CAMP. 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. (Monday – Friday) Theatre Camp for ages 5 to rising 5th graders featuring The Adventures of Peter Rabbit & Friends, as directed by the East Carolina University Theatre Dept. Performance will be Friday, June 22 at 7 p.m. Tuition: $150/Arts Council members; $175/Nonmembers. Sunrise Theater, 250 NW Broad St., Southern Pines. Registration/ Info: (910) 692-2787 or www.mooreart.org.

June 18–29 SUMMER THEATRE CAMP. 10:30 a.m. — 3:30 p.m. (Monday – Friday) Theatre Camp for rising grades 6 to 12 featuring Disney’s Mulan, Jr., as directed by Adam Faw and Judy Osborne. Auditions will take place during the camp on June 18. Performance will be Friday, June 29 at 7 p.m. Tuition: $225/Arts Council members; $250/Nonmembers. R.E. Lee Auditorium at Pinecrest High School. Registration/Info: (910) 692-2787 or www.mooreart.org.

June 20 LOBSTER AT SLY FOX PUB. 6 p.m. Presenting the very best flavors of this notable crustacean. Special beer pairings available for each course. The Sly Fox Pub, 795 SW Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 725-1621.

June 21 SENIOR ACTIVITY. 11 a.m. – 6 p.m. Travel to Selma, North Carolina for the American Music Jubilee, a music Literature/Speakers

Fun

History

Sports

variety show. Cost: $36/residents; $72/non-residents. Register by June 1. Meet at Douglas Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376. FAMILY FUN NIGHT. 5:30 p.m. Explore the night sky with tales of constellations. Free dinner follows. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or www.sppl.net. GUEST BARTENDING FUNDRAISER. 7 p.m. Moore County Literacy Council Celebrates 25 years of teaching Moore adults to read at a guest bartending fundraiser. All tips and birthday checks benefit MCLC students. The Sly Fox Pub, 795 SW Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-5954.

June 22 JAZZY FRIDAYS. 7 – 10 p.m. Live jazz music and hors d’oeuvres, rain or shine. Admission: $10. Cypress Bend Vineyards & Winery, Riverton Road, Wagram. Info: (910) 369-0411.

June 22–24 MID PINES JR. INVITATIONAL GOLF TOURNAMENT. Mid Pines Inn and Golf Club, 1010 Midland Road, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-9362.

June 23 FREE COOKING DEMO. 12 & 2 p.m. Fresh from

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ca l e n da r into the post-war period. First Baptist Church of Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2051 or www.moorehistory.com.

the farm milk from Maple View Dairy. Elliott’s Provision Company, Elliott’s on Linden, 905 Linden Rd., Pinehurst. Info: (910) 215-0775. FREE WINE TASTING. 12 – 4 p.m. Andre Scherer Pinot Blanc. From Alsace, France. Elliott’s Provision Company, Elliott’s on Linden, 905 Linden Rd., Pinehurst. Info: (910) 215-0775. MOORE PUNS COMEDY SERIES. 8 p.m. Arts Council of Moore County and Dogwood Dental present professional comedian, Tommy Moore (a.k.a. The Professor of Fun). Tickets: $10/adults; $5/students. Material appropriate for ages 14 and up. Sunrise Theater, 250 NW Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2787 or www.mooreart.org.

June 23–24 HUNTER/JUMPER SHOW. Summer Classic. NCHJA & SCHJA “C” Hunter/Jumper Show. Carolina Horse Park, 2814 Montrose Rd., Raeford. Info: (910) 875-2074 or www. carolinahorsepark.com.

June 24 HISTORY LECTURE. 2 p.m. “Women’s Attitudes Toward Secession and the Civil War.” A free lecture by Mary Wayne Watson that focuses on unpublished manuscripts and correspondence by gifted North Carolina women whose perspectives of the Civil War period show the impact of Sherman’s scorched earth policy on the area, following the first period of idealism, followed by sadness and loss during the four years from 1861-1865, as North Carolina and the rest of the South continued to suffer loss and misery Key: Art

Music/Concerts

Dance/Theater

Film

WEYMOUTH WOODS DISCOVERY HIKE. 3 p.m. Look at any flowers, shrubs, bugs, birds, frogs, toads, lizards, snakes, turtles and mammals encountered along a two mile hike. Learn how to identify various species and the ecological connections between various plants and animals. Free. Weymouth Woods Nature Preserve, 1024 Fort Bragg Rd., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2167. ROOSTER’S WIFE CONCERT. 6:46 p.m. Live music from Tony Furtado; Laurelyn Dossett opens. Tickets: $20-$23 (Children under 12 free). Poplar Knight Spot, 114 Knight Street, Aberdeen. Info: (910) 944-7502 or www. theroosterswife.org.

June 24–26 NATIONAL THEATRE LIVE. Encore: One Man Two Guvnors by Richard Bean. Based on The Servant of Two Masters by Carlo Goldoni. Sunday at 2 & 7 p.m.; Weekdays at 7 p.m. Tickets: $15. Sunrise Theater, 250 NW Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8501 or www.sunrisetheater.com.

June 25–29 DRAMA CAMP. 9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. “Coming to the Stage.” A five-day creative arts mini-camp. Learn fun vocal warm-ups, drama and mime technique, plus set and costume design. Ages 6-12. Kids Kastle Childcare Center, 4018 N. Highway 1, Hoffman. Registration/Info: Aleacia at (910) 476-0433 or atl.kidskastle@gmail.com.

Literature/Speakers

Fun

History

June 27 SENIOR ACTIVITY. 11:30 a.m. Celebrate Country Cooking Month with a trip to Cracker Barrel. Transportation fee: $1/residents; $2/non-residents. Sign up by June 25. Depart from Campbell House, 482 E. Connecticut Ave, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

June 28 SEAFOOD & HOT WEATHER BEER AT SLY FOX PUB. 7 p.m. An Evening at the Shore Beer Dinner. Cost: $38+. The Sly Fox Pub, 795 SW Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 725-1621.

June 29 BLUEGRASS IN THE PINES. 6 – 8 p.m. Live music from the South Ridge bluegrass band. Bring a chair, blanket and dancing shoes. Concessions will be available on site. Free concert. Downtown Park, Southern Pines. Info: Southern Pines Recreation and Parks at (910) 692-2463.

June 30 WEYMOUTH WOODS BIRDWALK. 8 a.m. Participate in a 2-mile hike to look for newly arrived summer and transient visitors from the tropics. Free. Weymouth Woods Nature Preserve, 1024 Fort Bragg Rd., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2167. COOKING WITH HERBS. 10:30 a.m. – 12 p.m. A workshop with Shawna Smith. Learn how to grow and use herbs in cooking; sample several dishes. Recipes will be handed out. Cost: $5/Horticultural Society members;

Sports

June 2012 P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

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ca l e n da r $10/non-members. Sandhills Horticultural Gardens, Ball Visitors Center. Info: (910) 695-3882. BRINGING ARTS TO LIFE FESTIVAL. 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. Family-friendly fun, food, music and entertainment. Free admission. Kids Kastle Childcare Center, 4018 N. Highway 1, Hoffman. Info: Aleacia at (910) 476-0433 or atl. kidskastle@gmail.com. FREE COOKING DEMO. 12 & 2 p.m. North Carolina Tomatoes. Discover how to take advantage of this fresh, local summer abundance with some seriously sophisticated combinations. Elliott’s Provision Company, Elliott’s on Linden, 905 Linden Rd., Pinehurst. Info: (910) 215-0775. FREE WINE TASTING. 12 – 4 p.m. Altano from the Douro Valley in Portugal. Elliott’s Provision Company, Elliott’s on Linden, 905 Linden Rd., Pinehurst. Info: (910) 215-0775.

St. Lewis, Lula Smith, Shawn Morin, Rachel Clearfield, Judy Cox and Jason Craighead. Meet-the-artist opportunities are available. Tuesday-Friday, 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., and Saturday, 1-4 p.m. (910) 295-4817, www.broadhurstgallery.com.

 Sanford

ART NUTZ AND RAVEN POTTERY, 125 SW Broad St., Southern Pines. Come see the potter at work. Features art, local pottery from many potters, handmade jewelry, glass and more. Monday-Saturday 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. (910) 6951555, www.ravenpottery.com. Artist GAlleRy OF SOUTHERN PINES features art and fine crafts from more than 60 North Carolina artists, 167 E. New Hampshire Ave., Southern Pines. 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Monday-Saturday. (910) 692-6077. Artists League of the Sandhills, located at 129 Exchange St. in historic Aberdeen. Exhibit hours are noon - 3 p.m., Monday-Saturday. (910) 944-3979.

Weekly Happenings

Saturdays ARTIST AT WORK. 12 - 3 p.m. Meet artist Jane Casnellie (6/2); Morgen Kilbourn (6/9); Caroline Love (6/16); Carolyn Rotter (6/23 & 6/30). Hollyhocks Art Gallery, 905 Linden Rd., Pinehurst. Info: (910) 255-0665 or www.hollyhocksartgallery.com. Tuesdays FREE YOGA FOR PTSD VETS. 6 p.m. Yoga for retired veterans who suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. No previous yoga experience necessary. Yoga Massage in the Sandhills, 5374 Niagara Carthage Rd., Southern Pines. Info: Mary Ann at (910) 949-2162.

Wednesdays CHILDREN’S STORY TIME. 1:30 p.m. Given Memorial Library, 150 Cherokee Rd., Pinehurst. Info: (910) 295-6022.

Thursdays STORY/ACTIVITY TIME. 10:30 a.m. Stories and activities at The Country Bookshop, 140 NW Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-3211 or www.thecountrybookshop.biz.

Art Galleries Broadhurst Gallery, 2212 Midland Rd., Pinehurst, showcases works by nationally recognized artists such as Louis Key: Art Music/Concerts Dance/Theater Film Literature/Speakers Fun History Sports

FINE ART

& Photography

Art Classes Custom Framing Fine Art Printing Graphic Design 275 NE Broad Street Southern Pines 910-246-2266 Meet the Artist

Nancy Rawlinson Friday, June 1st 6:00-9:00 pm

Casey Schuck CD Launch Party! Well Wishers & Wishing Wells Saturday, June 16th

7:00-10:00 pm

ca l e n da r The Campbell House Galleries, 482 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines, is open 9 a.m. - 5 p.m., Monday-Friday, and every third weekend of the month from 2-4 p.m. (910) 692-4356, www.mooreart.org. The Gallery at Seven Lakes, a gallery dedicated to local artists. The Gallery is open on Wednesday and Thursday each week from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. 1145 Seven Lakes Drive, The St. Mary Magdalen building. Just 9 miles from the Pinehurst Traffic Circle up 211. Hastings Gallery is located in the Katharine L. Boyd Library at Sandhills Community College, Pinehurst. Gallery hours are 7:45 a.m. - 9 p.m., Monday-Thursday; 7:45 a.m. - 5 p.m. Friday; and 8:30 a.m. - 2 p.m. Saturday. Hollyhocks Art Gallery, 905 Linden Road, Pinehurst, features original artwork by local artists Diane Kraudelt, Carol Rotter, Morgen Kilbourn and artist/owner Caroline Love, Deane Billings, Jane Casnellie. Meet the Artists, Saturdays, Noon to 3 p.m. Open Monday-Saturday 10:30 a.m. - 9:30 p.m. (910) 255-0665, www.hollyhocksartgallery.com. The Old Silk Route, 113 West Main St., Aberdeen specializes in Asian original art, including silk paintings, tapestries, Buddhist Thangkas and Indian paper miniatures. Open Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. (910) 295-2055. Seagrove Candle Company, 116 N.W. Broad St., Southern Pines, showcases the arts and crafts of the Sandhills and Seagrove area. Open 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Monday, Wednesday-Saturday. (910) 695-0029. SKY Art Gallery, 602 Magnolia Dr., Aberdeen, is open 10 a.m. 5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. (910) 944-9440, www.skyartgallery.com.

Personalized assisted living

MoM always took such good care of Me. Now I caN take eveN better care of her.

Call or stop by today and take home a complimentary copy of the “Parent Care Conversation”

“When I was a child, Mom always looked out for me and saw that all my needs were met. Now it’s my turn and I’ve found an even better way to look out for her.” As a leading provider of Personalized Assisted Living and Alzheimer’s and dementia care we understand the needs of seniors and their families. We provide assistance with activities of daily Your story continues here... living such as bathing and dressing, as well as personalized levels of service designed to meet the unique needs of your loved ones. Carolina HoUse PineHUrst We also help them to live as independently as possible. So all your Personalized assisted living time together will be quality time. alzheimer’s & dementia Care Call (910) 235-0700 today to schedule a personal tour. Let us show you how we can help improve your loved one’s quality of life – and maybe yours as well. 18270-ROP03-0312-GB

17 Regional Drive Pinehurst, North Carolina 28374 www.brookdaleliving.com

Studio 590, located in a historic log cabin, is the working studio and gallery of artists Betty DiBartolomeo and Harry Neely. Studio 590 offers fine oil paintings, commissions and instruction. Located by the pond in the Dowd Cabin, 590 Dowd Circle in Pinehurst South. (910) 639-9404. White Hill Gallery, 407 U.S. 15-501, Carthage, offers a variety of pottery. (910) 947-6100. The Downtown Gallery (inside Flynne’s Coffee Bar) is located at 115 NE Broad St. in downtown Southern Pines. Ever-changing array of local and regional art, pottery and other handmade items. (910) 693-1999. Lady Bedford’s Tea Parlour, located at 25 Chinquapin Road in Pinehurst, is featuring local artist Nancy Campbell. Original oil and watercolor paintings are on display inside the tea shop. Open Tuesday - Saturday 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. (910) 255-0100, www.ladybedfords.com.

Nature Centers Sandhills Horticultural Gardens (32 acres of gardens). The Sandhills Horticultural Gardens are handicapped-accessible. Daylight hours year-round. (910) 695-3882. Weymouth Woods Sandhills Nature Preserve (898 acres). 1024 Ft. Bragg Road, Southern Pines. (910) 692-2167. VILLAGE ABORETUM. 35 acres of land adjoining the Village Hall on Magnolia Road, Pinehurst. (910) 295-1900.

Historical Sites Bethesda Church and Cemetery. Guided tours for groups by appointment. 1020 Bethesda Road, Aberdeen. (910) 944-1319.

June 2012 P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

ca l e n da r Bryant House and McLendon Cabin. Tours by appointment. (910) 692-2051 or (910) 673-0908. Carthage Historical Museum. Sundays, 2-5 p.m. or by appointment. Located at Rockingham and Saunders streets, Carthage. (910) 947-2331. House in the Horseshoe. Open year-round. Hours vary. 288 Alston House Road (10 miles north of Carthage), Sanford. (910) 947-2051. Malcolm Blue Farm and Museum. 1-4 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday. Group tours can be arranged by appointment. (910) 944-7558 or (910) 603-2739. North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame. 10 a.m. - 2 p.m., Monday-Friday, at the Weymouth Center for Arts and Humanities, 555 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. (910) 692-6261. Shaw House Property. Open 1-4 p.m. TuesdayFriday. (910) 692-2051. Tufts Archives. 9:30 a.m. - 5 p.m., Monday-Friday, and 9:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Saturday. (910) 295-3642. Union Station. Open 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. Located in downtown Aberdeen. (910) 944-5902. Sandhills Woman’s Exchange Log Cabin Open 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. (910) 295-4677 To add an event, email us at pinestraw@thepilot.com by the first of the month prior to the event.

PineNeedler Answers From page 95

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Tomatoes, Strawberries, Fruits, Veggies, Baked Goods, Jams, Meats, Flowers & Plants Food Demonstration by The Sly Fox Saturday June 23 • 9:30-11:30am

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Thursdays- Morganton Rd

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(Fitness Center) Facility courtesy of First Health 170 Memorial Dr • Pinehurst 2pm-5:30pm (Armory Sports Complex) Facility courtesy of Town of Southern Pines Southern Pines 9am-1pm

Saturdays - Downtown Southern Pines Facility courtesy of Town of Southern Pines Broad St & New York Ave 8am-Noon

Call 947-3752 or 690-9520 for more info

Websearch: Moore County Farmers Market Local Harvest

facebook.com/moorecountyfarmersmarket

Don’t forget our

Summer Concert Series June 15th • July 13th • August 10th September 21st Concerts begin at 7pm Gates open at 6pm

Midland Country Club, Midland Road PUBLIC WELCOME www.tableonthegreen.com

Live Music & Entertainment Please call for info

Sunday Brunch Menu 10-2pm Lunch 11:30 - 2:30 Tues. - Sat. Dinner 5 - 9 Tues. - Sat. Closed Monday Reservations Suggested | Banquet Room Available Elegant Dining with Family Friendly Atmosphere

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Important Natural 14.47 carat Sapphire and Diamond Ring with GIA certification Estimate: $40000 - 60000

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New Construction, Remodeling and Additions

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June 2012 P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

SandhillSeen First Friday in Downtown Southern Pines Friday, May 4, 2012 Photographs by Cassie Butler

David & Kevin Price, Claire Phillips

Fred Root, Beth Kaufman, Mary Ann Root, Ben Wheaton

Dick & Colleen Orman

Brett Williams, Kathy Madsen

Monica Hawke, Cathy Middleton

Bill, Brie & Colby Virtue, Jenny Thompson

Ted & Amy Chavis, Angela Ivey

Chris Larson, Mike Fields, Dean Molde

Dave & Mynde Nielsen with dogs Claire & Lucy

Amelia & Alicia Sue Butcher, Pat Mattoon, Peter Butcher Brinton

Bianca & Scott Hausauer with kids Mya & Dominic

Chris Kearney, James Costigan

Fenton Wilkinson, Tim Wilson, Kathe Taylor

Jenna Hensley, Norm & Sara Shaver

Value & Service.

Cremation Cremation Services have increased as a way of final disposition. Whether the motivation is cost, convenience, or greener persuasions Cremation is occurring more frequently. Pines Funerals, Moore County’s family of funeral service centers, provides Cremation with Service. Service, the key to closure, can be as simple or elaborate as the family wishes. Our purpose is to serve each family to make the parting as easy as possible and provide a sense of comfort, closure and relief. To learn more about Cremation with Service, contact: Pines Funerals - Fry & Prickett - 947-2224 Kennedy - 948-2221 Powell - 692-6161

PINES FUNERALS www.pinesfunerals.com

POWELL 692- 6161 16 E. New Hampshire Southern Pines

FRY & PRICKETT 94 7-2 2 24

K E N N E DY 9 4 8-2 2 21

402 Saunders Street 241 N. Middleton Street Carthage Robbins

June 2012 P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

SandhillSeen

The Garden Club of the Country Club of North Carolina Wednesday, April 25, 2012 Photographs by Cassie Butler

Sally Phelps, Kitti Pyne, Ann Blackwell, Pamela Burkett, Jane Waldemar Libby Currie, Sharlia Ragan, Mary Lack

Standing: Jan Fisher, Matti Jakobsen; Seated: Mary Anne Tosh, Judy Gemme, Lynn Dunn

Kelly Ward, Paula Brown

Gail Seidensticker, Sue Kelly, Rae Glotfelty, Nancy Reid, Mary Rammes, Vickie Rose, Brigid Ketner

Sharon Kane, Cindy Johnson

BuyiNg goLD & SiLVer We Are NoW BuyiNg

• Sterling Flatware • U.S. Paper Money & Notes

Free Appraisals • Buy/Sell rare Coins & Bullion Locally owned & operated • Full Time experienced Professional

Pinehurst Coins 1420 Highway 5 | Pinehurst, NC

Standing: Kayda Tyson, Judy Carpenter; Seated: Jody Gilmore, Patsy Brasington, Sarah Harrington

Front: Craig Alford, Carolyn Baker, Elizabeth Landry, Pam Gantt; Back: Elizabeth Bode, Erin Lancaster, Kristen Groner

CUTLER TREE

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• Gold & Silver Jewelry • Scrap Gold & Silver

Standing: Myrtis Morrison, Marian Schillerstrom; Seated: Ruth Wheliss, Nancy Rumery

910.235.CoiN (2646)

Tree Pruning • Removal Plant Site Consulting Stump Grinding • Shrub Care Tree Conservation for New Home Sites Free Estimates Geoffrey Cutler Fully Insured 910-692-7769 910-690-7657

Open Father’s Day from 1pm-8pm Our Father’s Day gift: $20 GIFT CERTIFICATE that may be redeemed during the months of July & August

MLS 148119 • 3BR/2BA Southern Pines • $240,000

MLS 148314 • 3BR/2BA Village Acres • $198,500

MLS 147911 • 3BR/2BA • 7.9 Acres Horse Country • $499,000

MLS 142890 • 2BR/2BA • 10.29 Acres Horse Country • $575,000

Jo-an DeSell

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Audrey Wiggins

910-315-3032 Audrey@DeSellandCo.com

www.DeSellandCo.com ~ 910-692-0770 730 S Bennett St Ste. A ~ Southern Pines, NC

SandhillSeen Southern Pines Combined Driving Event at the Carolina Horse Park Friday, April 13 — Sunday, April 15, 2012 Photographs by Jeanne Paine

Wendy Ying

Christiane Rowley, Marsoe Larose, Dr. Tom Daniel

Andrew Diemer, Katie Mintz

Lisa Stroud Nancy Breedlove Ray & Suzanne Sinclair

Linda Long, Sandy Nelson

Vivian & Conner Creigh, Lefreda Williams

Marged Harris, Susie Cook, Edie Overly

Lisa Stroud

Claire Reid, Linda McVicker

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June 2012 P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

Parker Minchin

SandhillSeen

Parker Minchin, Shellie Sommerson, Gina Fiore

Companion Animal Clinic Foundation, “Quest for Best” at Reflections Farm in Vass Saturday, April 14, 2012

Photographs by Little River Farm Equine Photography Gina Fiore

Nick Ellis riding Lizzie

Shellie Sommerson riding Steel Smile Amy Bresky riding Welkin

Shellie Sommerson, Parker Minchin, Gina Fiore, Nick Ellis, Rose George, Amy Bresky

   Fayetteville

VBS 2012:Layout 1

5/21/12

3:23 PM

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Vacation Bible Schools 2012 • Vacation Bible Schools 2012 • Vacation Bible Schools 2012

Join me OCHO the OCTOPUS for VBS!

OPERATION OVERBOARD! Go Deep with God during Vacation Bible School June 18th - 22nd 9:00 am - Noon

brownsonchurch.org

Brownson Memorial Presbyterian Church 330 South May St. • Southern Pines

910.692.6252

Page Memorial UMC Downtown Aberdeen

2012 VBS • July 9-13 5:30 - 8:30 pm

910-944-1093

Vacation Bible Schools

overboard.cokesburyvbs.com/pagememorialumc

Spark Summer Splash in God’s Word!

Our Savior Lutheran Church Southern Pines

June 25 - June 29 9:00 am until Noon Ages 4 –10 years old Please call 692-3171

Emmanuel Episcopal Church 340 South Ridge Street Southern Pines, NC 28387

June 25-29 Dinner 5:15 - 5:45 pm

Call 910-692-2662 for More Information

VBS 6:00pm - 8:00pm

(Age 3 through 5th grade) & Adult Classes Offered

Vacation Bible Schools 2012 • Vacation Bible Schools 2012 • Vacation Bible Schools 2012 • Vacation Bible Schools 2012 • Vacation Bible Schools 2012

June 2012 P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

SandhillSeen Habitat for Humanity’s Spring Gala, “Raising the Roof for Patsy’s House,” at CCNC Saturday, April 14, 2012 Photographs by Al and Annette Daniels

Cricket & Curtis Crickmore

Katie & Brian Thwaites

Marilyn & Jim Grube

Wayne, Lindsay & Henry Robbins Penny & Keith Junk

George Lynch, Julie Sanford

Charles Jackson, Jackie Garris, Nelson Neil, Jane Jackson

Jess & Judith Krall

Bob Lovell, Beth & Sam Walker

Jack & Diane McCarthy

Paul & Emily Davis

Pat & Al Beranek

Franceska & Dan Aaron

Support S upport tthese hese llocally ocally owned owned reputable reputable businesses businesses for for all all of of your your home home improvement improvement needs! needs! HOUSE & HOME SERVICES

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Concie rge & Prope rty Ma nagem ent Service s “At home - when you can't be...”

Mary Lou Vecchione 910-639-1387 Joey Vecchione 910-639-0385 houseandhomeservices@mindspring.com

West End, NC

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Tracy's Carpets Hardwood Floors

Shaw Anso-Premier Carpet Area Rugs • Furniture Vinyl • Tile

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KITCHENS BATHS CUSTOM CLOSETS

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designstudioforcabinetry.com closetsnc.com

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Countertops Granite • Quartz Marble

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T h o u g h ts f r o m T h e Ma n S h e d

Time To Move On

Our firstborn prepares to unfurl his wings, and fly

By Geoff Cutler

We were in the car and on our

way out to a Sullivan Island beach house for one of the many parties of his graduation weekend. He said that as of late, he’d been noticing just how beautiful Charleston, South Carolina, and its surrounding environs were, and how much he was going to miss living there. And then this. “But as beautiful as it is, I recognize that it is time to leave this place and move on, and I want to thank you for sending me here.”

It’s the kind of statement from a child that brings a proud smile to a parent’s face, and the unwanted welling of tears. It is a sign from the child of maturity, and a momentary reward to us. We want to bottle the moment. To uncork it later, perhaps if trouble and uncertainty strike. Should that occur, we can sip from this brief moment and say what a good job we had done with this child. On Saturday, and at the graduation exercise, the commencement address speaker was talking about public service, and encouraging our students to consider careers in it. This seemed a rather odd speech to deliver to the undergraduates of business, especially while the parents were in the quadrangle and so many of us had just spent king’s ransoms to give our children educations we hoped might put them into some area of business, some realm of profit. Selfish as it may sound, I couldn’t help but wonder how the noble exercises of public service would afford my old age secretly hoping that the success of my child’s education might one day help to support us should we begin to dodder. I also thought about public service as such an individual choice, something engrained in the heart of the individual, and probably not something to lecture graduates about at their commencement exercises. So as she spoke, I began to daydream. A traipse across the life of this graduate, my firstborn, and for parents who have not had a child graduate

from college yet, one thing sticks out above all others. Where in God’s name did the time go? Because it seems like just yesterday this handsome young man was asking us if it was OK if he spent the night over at his best friend’s house. “Will, you are 4 years old. It’s a little early to be spending the night at Jonathon’s house.” He begged. We talked with Jonathon’s mom. She said it was unusual, but that she was OK with it, so we agreed. Expecting a midnight phone call that he was homesick and wanted his mum and dad and his own bed … the call never came. Our boy established independence early. And this has continued all the way through his young life. There was nothing he would not try. No new adventure scared him, and no matter what it was, whether wanting to scuba dive as a pre-teen, or ride his bike through Colorado, or jump out of an airplane, which he did the morning before his graduation ceremony, he has attacked life with vigor and enthusiasm. Every school, every camp, every trip he has taken, he completes it and says it was the best time of his life and how he’ll miss whatever it was he had been doing and then he moves blissfully on to the next adventure. As graduation approached, he told us that he and his friends had been talking about how difficult it was going to be to leave one another. I can only imagine this sentiment is magnified by these uncertain economic times and the difficulties our college graduates are having to secure jobs. College is a marvelously insulated place to be for our young right now, and so I sympathize with them. But I am encouraged by what I’ve seen in my son and feel confident that he will, based on his independent nature and excitement for all things new, be just fine. We’ll have him for the summer before he returns to China to finish learning Mandarin. He will teach English to young Chinese students while he does this at the school he attended there last summer. And then with luck, he will secure a job down the road in something closer to his chosen field of international business. At this juncture, his parents have no worries that he will make a success out of his life no matter what he ends up doing. We want him to know just one thing. How proud we are of him. PS Geoff Cutler is owner of Cutler Tree LLC in Southern Pines. He is a regular contributor to both The Pilot and PineStraw. He can be reached at geoffcutler@embarqmail.com.

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49 54 60

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57 Pup 60 Beverage at O’Donnell’s, Neville’s, Bell Tree 62 __ hoop (child’s toy) 63 Vehicles 64 Cereal ingredient 65 Danish cheese 66 It bugs me.... 67 Professional football team, or UNC athletic club 68 It bugs me....

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DOWN 1 Visitor 2 Japanese city 3 Property 4 Pine, for example 5 Devourers 6 Salesperson 7 In possession of 12 Danish Cheese 865 Upon 966 Gander It bugs me...... 10 with oars football team, or Professional 67Propel 11 America UNC athletic club 12 Bugs Matlock me....... 68TVIt lawyer 15 Metric liquid units 20 Weight of a container DOWN 22 Demean 28 26 Not allowed Visitor 271Maned animals Japanese city 2 28 Thrill Property 293Car speed inits. Pine, for example 304Assumed name 315Deadbolt Devourers 336Brainy Salesperson 347Hot In chocolate possession of 358Swimming Upon mammal 36 It bugs me.... 9 Gander 39 Concerning 52 10 Propel with oars 40 It bugs me.... America 11Crouches 42 TV (as lawyer 12Snug 43 a bug)Matlock Metric liquid units 15Spurns 46 Weightoperator of a container 20Airplane 48 49 angle to a ship’s Demean 22Right Contact length 26 Not allowed 50 Red waxed cheese 27 Maned animals 51 Book of maps 28 Thrill 52 Postage Car speed 54 Inits. 29 meaning shorteninits. Assumed name 30 56 Gnaw 31 Dead bolt 57 Tail wiggle Brainy 58 Attila33 the __ 59 Airport Hot chocolate 34abbr. 61 Historical period mammal 35 Swimming

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JUNE BUGS! 1

By Mart Dickerson

Michelle! 910-693-2481

It bugs me..... Girl in Wonderland Billy or nanny Typeface 1 Part of a play 5 Reverberate To go stealthly or furtively 9 It bugs me.... 36 It bugs me...... Near by 13 Russian Inits. 39 Concerning Fish eggs 14 Actor Alda me..... 40 It bugs Fill in the grid so every row, every column What Celestial Seasonings 15 Baggy Crouches 42 and every 3x3 box contain the numbers 1-9. makes 16 Comfort 43 Snug (as a bug) 17 Quiz 46 Chinese sauce 46 Spurns Puzzle answers on page 79 18 Midwestern state denizen 47 Large sport fish 48 Airplane operator Society 19 It bugs me....(slang) 49 American MartCancer Dickerson lives in Southern Pines and would angle to a ships length 49 Right (abbr.) 21 Fine dining on Youngs Rd. welcome any suggestions from her fellow puzzle masters. waxed cheese 50 Red 23 Make lace 50 Fuel She can be reached at martaroonie@gmail.com 51 Book of maps 24 Noah's boat 53 Small particle PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 . . . .Postage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . June 2012 25 It bugs me..... 55 Refuse patronage of 54 Inits meaning shorten 29 Mr..'s wife 57 Pup 56 Gnaw ACROSS

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What, Me Quirky? Let me explain it to you over some nice investment pancakes

By L aurie Birdsong

To the bearer, id-

iosyncrasies are the behavioral norm. To the rest of the world, they are endearing markers of character embraced by the bearer alone. Have you ever put some routine act of personal practice on display, only to have an audience who knows your quirky side all too well crack an amused, head-shaking smile? What a cute zoo creature you are. Chin up, you smile forth a “don’t we all do that?” probing look that begs some kind of peer affirmation. The effort falls flat, and your audience again smilingly shakes his/her head, sympathetically extends a peeled banana through the cage bars … and then suggests you both go for ice cream.

The idiosyncrasies we declare to the world can leave us feeling like the misunderstood zoo creatures we all are. Nonetheless, these quirks are the very party-of-one behaviors that form the backbone of the well-oiled, 24-hour machines we believe ourselves to be. Non-transferable to the next person’s style, they are the practices that glean the fat from our daily pace. They allow us to conjure unthinkable efficiency and frugality as grown, goal-oriented beings, give definition to what makes us tick, and are wellwoven into our weekly routine. In children who are establishing their personalities, quirky behavior is overlooked and forgiven. In adults, however, idiosyncrasies acquire a public face because convention wins out over grown-up declarations of how to do things differently. In my adult life, a streak of frugality is easy to identify among the idiosyncrasies that have some degree of display in my home and beyond. My pronounced domestic quirks find their stage in the kitchen and are as ready-to-wear as an apron. There was an era when I held Ziplocs to the standard of reusable tote bags, running them inside-out through the dishwasher at least once before discarding. While I was in the dishwasher flipping bags inside out, I must’ve discovered that once-used drinking glasses needed only pass the sniff test and display something between transparency and translucency to qualify for second-use status. Edibles, to varying degrees, also get an easy shot at a second life in my kitchen. For a while, I hoarded fast food mustard packets in the fridge to add to homemade salad vinaigrette. Bread

loaf heels were also fair game to amass, for they cubed and toasted ever so nicely into flattened little croutons. In my 20s, my quirky side found purpose via the “investment” potential of certain activities on my daily, weekly or monthly agenda for getting things done. Saturday mornings offered a prime opportunity to invest my appetite in an oversized diner breakfast with companions who never took on the first meal of the day with such voracity. Delving solo into what I’d dubbed an “investment breakfast,” my calorie-packed ritual might as well have been at a table for one. Finishing off a stack of pancakes with a side of bacon, or a loaded omelet competing for plate space with home fries, I could ease into my day with lunch factored well into a stuffed belly. I spent down my investment breakfasts in the ensuing weekend daylight hours, assuming a spirit of peak efficiency that wound down just in time for my appetite to resurface later that evening. In this younger adult era of eliminating redundancy, my “investment haircuts” also wove a dividend of efficiency into my routine. I opted for three-inch chops over one-inch trims, and any stylist brought in on the investment plan owed me a noticeably lopped, but stylish look. My investment lops always left me satisfied that I’d bucked the cautious trim, had preserved the budget for styling my coif, and had successfully avoided returning to the salon for a solid three months. Social conditioning often compels grown persons to share with others, solicited or not, those personal habits that make life run more smoothly and seem tailored for broad application. In my own experience, however, broadcasting the economic genius driving my household, dietary and grooming routines has unfortunately proven a public service unacknowledged in its own time. When my mother tried to walk several freshly dish-washed Ziplocs straight to the trash on a visit to my orderly kitchen, my efforts to enlighten her on extending the shelf life of disposable products fell flat. I think she promptly filled one of them with dry cereal and began throwing bits to me across the kitchen to catch mid-air. Oddball police be damned, the idiosyncratic behaviors of this world deserve just as much recognition for their service to the individual as for their peculiar nature. The self-driven practices that save time or money can boost anyone’s confidence in getting ahead, but they’re unlikely to have any application to the routine of the close observer. Next time you advertise to the world some beloved way of going about your routine, ignore the raised eyebrows and the labeling that you’re up to your antics again. Our own quirky behavior should be embraced, for it speaks to the beauty of individuality. PS Laurie Birdsong is a regular contributer to PineStraw magazine. Illustration by Pamela Powers January

June 2012 P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills