March PineStraw 2024

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FEATURES

61 Julian Poetry by Joseph Bathanti

62 First in Flight By Todd Pusser

A lifetime in the company of birds

72 Sun-Raised Sheep By Jenna Biter Farming at the bleating edge

76 The French Connection By Bill Case The heroic life and death of James McConnell

82 Divine Downtown Digs By Deborah Salomon Life on Another Level

91 March Almanac By Ashley Walshe

Cover photograph (purple gallinule) and photograph this page (great horned owl) by Todd Pusser

PINEHURST • $478,000

325 PINEHURST TRACE DRIVE

Wonderful 3 BR / 2 BA home in popular community! One of the newer homes in Pinehurst Trace, this home is spacious w/fenced back yard and loads of privacy.

SEVEN LAKES WEST • $474,900

172 MORRIS DRIVE

Delightful 4 BR / 3 BA home in beautiful 7LW location. Home has been nicely updated to include remodeled kitchen, new flooring and has been freshly painted!

SEVEN LAKES WEST • $68,000

110 OTTER DRIVE

Beautiful corner lot in desirable Seven Lakes West. Lot offers a nice water view and is convenient to the main gate entrance.

PINEHURST • $498,000

1250 MONTICELLO DRIVE

Attractive 4 BR / 3 BA brick home situated on large corner lot in convenient location. Included in this listing is lot on Forest Hills Drive for Pinehurst CC membership.

PINEHURST •$417,500

120

Luxurious 2 BR / 2 BA townhome with nice open floorplan and fine finishes throughout. Home has spacious living area, gourmet kitchen and secluded primary suite. A must see!

PINEHURST • $395,000

138 LOVE THIRTY LANE

Beautifully renovated 2 BR / 2 BA townhome in popular Lawn and Tennis. Hardwood flooring throughout main living areas and great inset wet bar in formal dining room.

JACKSON SPRINGS • $455,000

15 SADDLE LANE

Great 4 BR / 2.5 BA home situated on nearly 3 acres in quiet cul-de-sac. Home was built in 2021, has LVP flooring throughout and is conveniently located near Foxfire CC.

PINEHURST• $175,000

TBD QUAIL RUN

Nice 1.05 acre lot in popular Clarendon Gardens. Location convenient to shopping, dining and the First Health hospital and local medical complex.

PINEHURST • $345,000

6 GLEN EAGLES LANE

Charming 3 BR / 2 BA home on nice cul-de-sac in Pinehurst #6. Home is being sold AS-IS and has wonderful potential with a little TLC.

Luxury Properties

PINEHURST • $1,995,000

855 LINDEN ROAD

Beautiful 5 BR / 4.5 BA French Country home on 2.99 acre lot w/spacious interior, saltwater pool and separate accessory dwelling in back. Home is impeccably maintained w/fine finishes and touches throughout!

SEVEN LAKES WEST • $675,000

124 CARRIAGE PARK DRIVE

Lovely two-story 4 BR / 4.5 BA home on generous lot overlooking a peaceful pond across the street. Spacious upper level and oversized 3-bay garage!

PINEHURST • $573,000

25 GRAY FOX RUN

Lovely 3 BR / 2 BA single-level brick home in great location. Home has been extensively remodeled and beautifully updated throughout. A must see!

PINEHURST • $950,000

16 INVERSHIN COURT

Gorgeous 4 BR / 3 Full BA, 2 Half BA GOLF FRONT home in quiet cul-de-sac overlooking the 6th green of the Azalea course w/transferable Pinewild CC membership.

PINEHURST • $573,000

10 POMEROY DRIVE

Custom 4 BR / 3.5 BA brick home on 1st and 9th holes of the Holly course in Pinewild CC. Interior boasts oversized living area and primary suite overlooking the golf course.

PINEHURST • $620,000

2 HOBKIRK COURT

Splendid 3 BR / 2.5 BA single-level home on generous corner lot in Pinewild CC. Bright, open floorplan w/nice, raised patio in back overlooking a private backyard!

CARTHAGE • $568,000

704 FLEMING COURT

Wonderful 4 BR / 3.5 BA Craftsman style home in the Ravensbrook community. Built in 2020, this beautiful home offers tons of space and nice finishes throughout!

PINEHURST • $545,000

70 SAWMILL ROAD E.

Beautiful 4 BR / 2.5 BA new construction in Village Acres. Cozy floorplan with nice finishes throughout. A must see!

SEVEN LAKES WEST • $550,000

333 LONGLEAF DRIVE

Single level 3 BR / 2.5 BA brick home a street back from the lake. Home sits high with unobstructed, picturesque views of Lake Auman!

THI S MARCH @ WEYMOUTH

Survivor of Suicide Support Group

Tuesday, March 5, 6-8 pm

For family and friends who have lost a loved one to suicide. A discussion group guided by suicide survivor Iris Angle.

WOMEN OF WEYMOUTH MEETING

Monday March 18, 9:30 am

The Women of Weymouth meet monthly from September to May and each meeting features an invited speaker or program. Social time begins at 9:30.

Free Admission/Registration Required

James Boyd Book Club

March 19 -  2 pm

The James Boyd Book Club meets the third Tuesday of the month at 2PM in the Boyd House Library.

This month’s book selection: The Girls We Sent Away by Meagan Church

Free Admission/Registration Required

Weymouth Equestrians Volunteer Day and Tack Sale

March 24, 2:30-6:30 pm

Join Weymouth Equestrians program participants for a day of volunteering at the Weymouth Center barn!

Musicians’ Circle Jam Session March 26  6-9pm

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

Free Admission/Registration Required

Come Sunday with HornHeads’ Kenni Holmen, Saxophone April 7 11 am - 1 pm

Join us outdoors on Weymouth Center’s beautiful grounds for live jazz on the last Sunday of the month.

MAGAZINE

Volume 20, No. 3

David Woronoff, Publisher david@thepilot.com

Andie Stuart Rose, Creative Director andiesouthernpines@gmail.com

Jim Moriarty, Editor jjmpinestraw@gmail.com

Miranda Glyder, Graphic Designer miranda@pinestrawmag.com

Alyssa Kennedy, Digital Art Director alyssamagazines@gmail.com

Emilee Phillips, Digital Content emilee@pinestrawmag.com

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Jim Dodson, Deborah Salomon, Stephen E. Smith

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS

John Gessner, Laura L. Gingerich, Diane McKay, Tim Sayer

CONTRIBUTORS

Jenna Biter, Anne Blythe, Keith Borshak, Tom Bryant, Susan Campbell, Bill Case, Wiley Cash Tony Cross, Brianna Rolfe Cunningham, Mart Dickerson, Bill Fields, Meridith Martens, Mary Novitsky, Lee Pace, Todd Pusser, Joyce Reehling, Scott Sheffield, Rose Shewey, Angie Tally, Kimberly Daniels Taws, Daniel Wallace, Ashley Walshe, Claudia Watson, Amberly Glitz Weber

ADVERTISING SALES

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

Samantha Cunningham, 910.693.2505

Kathy Desmond, 910.693.2515

Jessica Galloway, 910. 693.2498

Terry Hartsell, 910.693.2513

Erika Leap, 910.693.2514

ADVERTISING GRAPHIC DESIGN

Mechelle Butler, Scott Yancey

PS

Henry Hogan, Finance Director 910.693.2497

Darlene Stark, Circulation Director 910.693.2488

SUBSCRIPTIONS

910.693.2488

OWNERS

Jack Andrews, Frank Daniels III, David Woronoff

In memoriam Frank Daniels Jr.

145 W. Pennsylvania Avenue, Southern Pines, NC 28387 www.pinestrawmag.com ©Copyright

DOWN ROOTS.

PUTTING DOWN ROOTS.

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GERRY O'NEILL

By Jim DoDsoN

Every day

between 3:30 and 4 a.m., I take a cup of coffee outside to an old wooden chair beneath the sky where I sit, look, listen, think and pray.

Coffee with God

Faith beneath the stars

If you’ll pardon the expression, it’s something I’ve done religiously for at least two decades, regardless of season and weather, bitter cold or bright summer night. Fog, rain, snow or sleet — almost nothing keeps me from my early morning rendezvous with the universe.

I call it coffee with God.

Between you and me, it’s probably the only time in my day when I can be assured, with the faith of a mustard seed, that I and the world around me are reasonably OK.

Between God and me, you see, it’s something very personal.

After sipping coffee and eyeballing the night sky for a bit (I’ve seen several shooting stars over the years, probably a few UFOs, too), I listen to an app on my smart phone called “Pray As You Go,” a daily scriptural meditation produced by the Jesuits in Britain.

That puts me in the mood to chat with God about whatever is on my heart or mind.

Sometimes it’s worries about the state of the world, which always seems to be coming apart at the seams and can clearly use as many healing prayers as it can get. The news out of Israel this year has been like watching the Old Testament come to life. It’s eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth until everyone is blind and toothless, as Mahatma Gandhi supposedly said. Dear God, I ask, will we ever learn to give peace a chance?

Sometimes it’s thoughts and worries about our far-flung children that occupy my coffee time with God. One of them is always up to something that tends to keep the old man up at night. The

good news is, they’re all smart kids with very good hearts. I have faith they’ll figure it out in time. They may even learn that praying is good for the soul, and usually works wonders. Some atheists even pray — just in case.

Most of my morning prayers, however, are focused on simple gratitude. I give thanks for my amazing wife, our goodhearted kids, and the possibly undeserved good fortune I’ve enjoyed in this life. I often give thanks for other things great and small, including, but not limited to, unexpected blessings, birds at the feeder, good Samaritans, golf buddies, wise book editors, phone calls from old friends, rain for my garden, our crazy young dogs, our cranky old cat, afternoon naps and people who say thank you.

Meister Eckhart, the 13th century German mystic and priest, said that if your only prayer is “thank you,” that will be enough.

I rarely ask God for stuff, except maybe a little help finishing a book or finding patience with idiots who run red lights or drive too fast through the neighborhood. The world is moving much too fast. The truth is, I probably need to slow down, too.

Critics of faith like to say there’s no such thing as a personal relationship with God.

They argue that we human beings are simply a collection of random molecules floating aimlessly through a cold and empty universe. I’ve lived long enough to know that’s simply not the case. I can’t, frankly, think of anything more personal than a relationship with a divine source whose name is different in every language but the same in loving spirit.

This probably explains why I’ve naturally felt God’s presence since I was a little kid growing up across the rural South. In the absence of playmates, I spent most of my time alone outside immersed in nature, looking at birds and bugs, taking hikes through the woods, building forts, watching clouds pass

overhead, listening to the love songs of the bullfrogs and the crickets, reading adventure stories on hot summer days beneath shady trees. I never felt alone for an instant. In fact, I felt accompanied by a large and loving presence that clearly cared for me and probably kept a sharp eye on whatever funny business I was up to.

Maybe this is why Jesus was so keen to have little children come near him. As we age, we lose that sense of natural wonder.

It also may explain why, as an adult, I’ve never been terribly keen on public praying, even the lovely prayers and familiar creeds we recite at church every week. They’re written by other well-meaning people and meant, I suppose, to help us catch God’s ear.

Between us, I don’t think God has a hearing problem.

Besides, as Jesus advises in Matthew 6, when you pray, go into a dark closet, shut the door and pray in secret, for God sees you and knows your heart and will openly reward you.

With coffee in hand, I like to think of my early mornings outside beneath the stars — which are always there, even if you can’t see them (kind of like God) — as my own great, big private prayer closet. No need to even shut the door. The world at that hour is normally so dark and quiet that I can whisper to God about anything on my mind. And the strangely wonderful thing is, God whispers back.

One of the worst things that’s happened to faith and prayer across the ages is the unholy marriage of religion and politics. Both are manmade institutions that thrive on telling people what is the correct thing to believe, and what isn’t. Often, when the two get

together, all hell can break loose for anyone who dares to believe differently. Near as I can tell from many years of whispering to and being whispered to by some large and loving divine source, God is probably not a member of any particular denomination, sect, tribe, religion, political party or NFL booster club.

I happen to be a follower of Jesus, but find deep inspiration and comfort from the prayers of every faith tradition, a reminder that we’re all just ordinary folks down here on an ailing planet trying to help each other find the way home.

One of my favorite books is called Heaven on Earth: Timeless Prayers of Wisdom and Love by Stephanie Dowrick. I found it a decade ago in a London bookshop and have probably purchased half a dozen copies since to give friends who regularly pray — or ought to.

It’s a marvelous collection of prayers from every spiritual tradition.

One of my favorite prayers comes from the ancient Bhagavad Gita: “Whichever God you worship, I will answer your prayer. Whatever path you take, I will welcome you.”

Funny how similar that sounds to Isaiah 41: “Do not be afraid, for I am with you. From wherever you come, I will lead you home.”

Easter arrives on the last day of March this year, a month named by the Romans for the God of War. Easter’s message is one of rebirth and forgiveness.

I pray it’s time we forget war and find peace at last. PS

Jim Dodson can be reached at jwdauthor@gmail.com.

NEWONMARKET

45 CAMPBELL ROAD – OLD TOWN

Nestled in the heart of Pinehurst on a quiet street in Old Town. Location is perfect for all things Pinehurst. All brick, corner lot with a circular driveway and a beautifully landscaped private back yard. The home is a stately residence with handsome double entry doors, hardwood floors in main areas and gorgeous kitchen. Seller will give a $ 7,500 concession to buyer at Closing. $1,300,000

30 BROOKHAVEN ROAD - PINEHURST

PINEHURST NO 2! Own a home on the WORLD FAMOUS NO 2 COURSE, hosted by Pinehurst for the 2024 US OPEN. SItuated at the end of the 4th green along with views of the 5th tee. Unique opportunity! Built by Breeden Construction, the home has an open floor plan with floor to ceiling windows and an expansive patio across the back of the home.

$950,000

55 BEULAH HILL ROAD

- OLD TOWN

LOCATION, LOCATION, OLD TOWN! This 3 bedroom, 3 bath 2,541 sq ft home is situated on .64 acres, along with lush views and complete backyard privacy. An absolutely stunning move-in ready home. Natural light abounds with walls of windows throughout, vaulted ceilings, fireplace, and 3 decks. Beautiful hardwood floors grace the entrance, living room, dining room and kitchen. Granite counter tops in the kitchen, large Master Bedroom, ensuite with radiant heat flooring, a study with handsome built-ins and a large secluded Carolina room. The basement offers 500 sq ft for storage or a workshop, New HEAT PUMP in January 2024, six skylights replaced in 2020, exterior stained in 2022. A must see spectacular offering. $899,000

23 LAKE PINEHURST VILLAS – LAKE PINEHURST

Seller to help pay down 2 points of interest rate with accepted offer. Seller will also give a $10,000 concession to buyer at Closing. NEW CONSTRUCTION, HIGH END, NY STYLE. The best materials and quality make this home spectacular starting with its 8” block firewall. Stunning detail throughout this 4BR, 4BA, 3248 square foot home. Open floor plan, gourmet kitchen, fireplace, wide deck with fabulous water views, and a Master ensuite with private deck also with water views.

22 LAKE PINEHURST VILLAS – LAKE PINEHURST

NEW CONSTRUCTION! Fantastic 3 level HIGH END style, 4 BR, 4BA, open floor plan, 2 full kitchens, perfect for multigenerational vacation home. Sleek kitchen cabinetry, Zline appliances, wine cooler, fireplace, cedar closets, solid wood doors, blue tooth speakers. Both the main living area and the 3rd level Master ensuite have decks with views of the lake.

$799,000

linhutaff@pinehurst.net

2690 LONGLEAF DR SW - VILLAGE ACRES

New Construction. Pinehurst Country Club Property Privilege Membership Option. Open airy floor plan, bright, sunny kitchen with island, granite countertops and stainless steel appliances. First floor Master with ensuite and large

PinePitch

Curtain Call

Home Sweet Home

If you own a home in Pinehurst that’s 90 years old, or older, why don’t you put your castle up for consideration in the Historic Plaque Program? Sponsored by the Village Heritage Foundation, whose mission is to encourage the recognition, preservation and restoration of the village’s historic buildings, nominations are being accepted through April 15 for the class of 2024. Candidates may include residences, commercial, institutional or public buildings. Forms and information are available online at www.villageheritagefoundation.org and at the Tufts Archives, in the Given Memorial Library, 150 Cherokee Road, Pinehurst.

Eggstravaganza

Kids 12 and under will get a chance to meet and greet the Easter Bunny at his (hers? its?) egg hunt, beginning on Saturday, March 23, at 11 a.m., at the Campbell House Park, 482 E. Connecticut Avenue, Southern Pines. Baskettoting little ones must be accompanied by an adult. The EB will be posing for pictures. For more information call (910) 692-7376.

There’s still time to get tickets for the Judson Theatre Company’s production of the coming-of-age, feel-good comedy Butterflies Are Free, starring Morgan Fairchild, at BPAC’s Owens Auditorium, 3395 Airport Road, Pinehurst. Opening night is Thursday, March 7, at 7 p.m. There are additional performances on Friday, March 8, at 8 p.m.; Saturday, March 9, at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.; and Sunday, March, 10 at 3 p.m. For information and tickets go to www. judsontheatre.com or www.ticketmesandhills.com.

The Fab Four

Mon Dieu, C’est Mort

Parisian private investigator Aimée Leduc has been framed for the murder of her daughter’s father — now she’s on the lam and must find the real killer to clear her name. New York Times bestselling author Cara Black will clue you in on her latest novel at The Country Bookshop, 140 N.W. Broad Street, Southern Pines, on Saturday, March 16, from 5-6 p.m. For information go to www. ticketmesandhills.com.

Take a walk down Penny Lane and experience The Beatles any way you want at “Yesterday and Today: The Interactive Beatles Experience,” at BPAC’s Owens Auditorium, 3395 Airport Road, Pinehurst, on Friday, March 15, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.. The audience gets to choose the songs from the lads from Liverpool’s oeuvre as the show is happening. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da. For information and tickets go to ticketmesandhills.com.

You’re Killing Me

Women’s History Month

Buy some buttered popcorn and a white wine spritzer — or a shot of tequila — and settle in for a fourbagger of movies by female directors at the Sunrise Theater, 250 N.W. Broad Street, Southern Pines. How could you not start with Barbie, directed by Greta Gerwig? It shows on Thursday, March 7, at 7 p.m. Then, on Wednesday, March 13, watch Clueless, directed by Amy Heckerling. On Wednesday, March 20, American Honey, directed by Andrea Arnold, will run at 7 p.m. And last, but not least, on Thursday, March 28, Marie Antoinette, directed by Sophia Coppola, will light up the screen at 7 p.m. For information call (910) 420-2549 or visit www.sunrisetheater.com.

And speaking of women . . . the Sandhills Woman’s Exchange will present a dinner theater murder mystery titled “Drop Dead Disco” by the Encore Theatre Players on Wednesday, March 6, at 5 p.m., and again on Sunday, March 10, also at 5 p.m., at the Pine Crest Inn, 50 Dogwood Road, Pinehurst. The cost is $60 per person, and there will be a cash bar. For additional information call (910) 295-4677 or visit www.sandhillswe.org.

Bad Bogeys for a Good Cause

The 2024 Kelly Cup Golf Championship benefiting the Sandhills Children’s Center takes place on Monday, March 25, at 9 a.m., at the Forest Creek Golf Club, 100 Forest Creek Drive, Pinehurst. Teams must register, and space is limited. There will a lunch following golf, along with auctions of golf rounds and trips. For more information call (910) 692-3323.

Doing 40 in a 25 Zone

Rondell Sheridan will have you laughing out loud when BPAC’s comedy series continues on Friday, April 5, at 7 p.m. at Owens Auditorium, 3395 Airport Road, Pinehurst. Best known for his role of Victor Baxter on the Disney Channel sitcom That’s So Raven, his one-man show, “If You’re Over 40 and You Know It, Clap Your Hands!” takes a hilarious look at the hurdles of life and love when you reach, you know, that age.

Knocking Out a Nocturne

Award-winning concert pianist Dr. Dominic Muzzi will highlight “Sunday with Chopin,” presented by Break a Leg Studios, on March 3 from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., at the Village Chapel, 10 Azalea Road, Pinehurst. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased in advance or at the door. For more information go to www.tickettailor.com/events/breakalegstudios.

League of Women Voters

On Tuesday, March 26, the Moore County League of Women Voters will host its 40th anniversary celebration at 11:30 a.m. at Forest Creek Country Club, 200 Meyer Farm Drive, Pinehurst. The luncheon will feature guest speaker Jennifer Watson, a former mayor of Charlotte and co-lead for the Carter Center’s Strengthening Democracy Project honoring the life and legacy of Rosalynn Carter. Tickets are $55. For more info go to www.lwvmc.org

STRETCH your body & your experiences

On any given day, you’ll find a range of options to fuel your passions, meet new friends and enjoy a lifestyle rich with interesting and exciting educational and engaging programs. Learn more about senior living at QuailHavenVillage.com or schedule a visit at 910.537.6812

INDEPENDENT LIVING | ASSISTED LIVING SKILLED NURSING | REHABILITATION

Pisces

(February 19 – March 20)

They say the average person has three to five dreams per night.

The average Pisces, on the other hand, exists in a perpetual dream state, operating from a realm of consciousness akin to a bowl of kelp-laden miso soup. Be gentle with yourself this month, especially when a high-pressure deadline threatens to derail you.

Should you find yourself floating on a cube of silken tofu, consider it your life raft from a kind and loving universe.

Tea leaf “fortunes” for the rest of you:

Aries (March 21 – April 19)

Suffice it to say that the eagle has landed.

Taurus (April 20 – May 20)

Try rearranging the houseplants.

Gemini (May 21 – June 20)

Worrying won’t change the outcome.

Cancer (June 21 – July 22)

Note the spice level warning.

Leo (July 23 – August 22)

Mustard versus vinegar, baby.

Virgo (August 23 – September 22)

A dull knife is most dangerous.

Libra (September 23 – October 22)

Drop the act.

Scorpio (October 23 – November 21)

A splash of lemon goes a long way.

Sagittarius (November 22 – December 21)

They don’t need to understand.

Capricorn (December 22 – January 19)

Invest in a nail brush.

Aquarius (January 20 – February 18)

More tree pose. PS

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

A Gift to Art and Us

The legacy of Fred Chappell

By Stephen e . Smith

Courage.

That noun rarely comes to mind when considering the attributes a writer should possess in abundance. But what a writer does — the act of creating through fiction, poetry, drama, etc. — is something anyone could do who has the heart, the skill, and the courage to do it. And courage is what Fred Chappell, North Carolina’s former poet laureate and career-long creative writing teacher, instilled in his students during his 40 years as a professor in the Master of Fine Arts program at UNC Greensboro.

Fred died on Jan. 4 at age 87, and I suspect he would find this highfalutin’ courage stuff a trifle excessive. He would laugh and shrug it off as so much puffery. But in fact, courage was Fred’s greatest gift to his students. They had to demonstrate the fortitude to survive his graduate writing workshops. If you couldn’t take the criticism, you had no business pursuing a writing career. Moreover, you’d be unlikely to take the chances necessary to produce art that’s compelling in its originality.

Midquest was a startling achievement following Fred’s first volume of poetry, World Between the Eyes. When other poets were playing it safe with carefully controlled collections of verse, Fred suddenly expanded the national poetic palette by employing a startling range of forms. Reviewers labeled Midquest “a verse-novel,” but such descriptions don’t capture the variety of exploration and the sense of adventure evident in each “poem” in the collection.

The arrival of Midquest had an effect on late 20th century audiences similar to that of Leaves of Grass on 19th century readers. Within a familiar format, there’s an explosion of energy and constant exploration, all of it mingled with Fred’s depth of knowledge, range of diction, and implacable intellectual curiosity. Fred lays it all on the line and he makes it work. Midquest could only have been written by a poet of extraordinary courage.

Fred taught by example, demonstrating great courage as a writer from his early Southern gothic novels to his last line of poetry, taking his readers into unexpected precincts, exploring new ground within the context of traditional verse and prose, while always challenging and surprising and delighting his readers.

Of the more than 30 books and hundreds of uncollected stories, poems and literary essays that might be reviewed in this space, one book stands out as both traditional, experimental and uniquely ambitious — Midquest: A Poem — for which Fred was awarded the Bollingen Prize.

Originally published as four chapbooks — River, Wind Mountain, Bloodfire and Earthsleep — the poems (each volume is presented as a single poem composed of shorter poems) appeared from 1975 through 1980, when Fred was in his 30s. Constructed around the elements of water, wind, fire and earth, the work that comprised

The poem “Firewood,” which appears in Bloodfire, is nothing less than astonishing. A stream-of-consciousness foray through the mind of a persona who is chopping wood, it’s demanding of readers in its humorous wordplay and levels of philosophic allusions. As the persona hacks away at the heart of oak, he muses in some of the densest language imaginable. Here’s a bit of “Firewood”: . . . we can even half read the dark that sucks the fire away & swallows, hearth being dug out of earth & overpowering entropy of earth clouds from the beginning the wild root mass of fire, it was sun jammed into dirt that raised the tree, Lucretius’ seed of fire ignis semina is seed semina mortuis (dirt we rose from, dirt we’ll never forget) of death in that same split second, moment split by the man’s hand hard as an iron wedge . . . .

And so the poem goes for more than 450 lines that engage, delight, mock, question, enlighten, challenge, amuse, and

Are “Teeth of the Dog” the same as Canines?

Dr. Craig Allison & Dr. Shannon Allison playing in the Dominican Republic Casa De Campo

‘Teeth of the Dog’ course

Allison and Associates recently researched this question. The decision was made to send our ACE team of researchers, each member having had a hole-in-one, to the Dominican Republic to investigate.

Results are as follows: Human canines, those very pointed teeth, are named after fangs of dogs as they are similar in shape but are larger. The canines are the cornerstone of the human dentition and should be removed only as a last resort.

Speaking of resorts, Casa De Campo is where “teeth of the dog” can be found. “The Teeth,” as it is referred to by the locals, was named for the sharp coral reefs (diente de perro) which abut 7 of the golf holes bordering the Caribbean Sea. The course was designed by the late Pete Dye, whose ashes are buried in a grass bunker on the 8th hole. “The Teeth of the Dog” is rated the #1 course in the Caribbean.

The above information was gleaned after three 18-hole rounds on “The Teeth.” Immediately following each round, tooth sensitivity was evaluated while drinking the world’s best Pina Coladas.

OMNIVOROUS READER

befuddle the determined reader, all of it sustained by an energy that’s part elegiac, folkloric, spiritual, and droll. If “Firewood” is a trifle demanding of the reader, it’s emotionally immersing and immensely satisfying as a work of art.

I was out of the MFA program and publishing books of poetry when I read “Firewood.” The sheer brilliance of the work left me with the knowledge that I’d never achieve such excellence but that I’d be compelled to try, even if it took forever. Fred’s Midquest had relegated me and my fellow poets to the status of neighborhood rhymesters.

If “Firewood” demonstrates a degree of exclusivity, “Cleaning the Well” from River is generous and inclusive — a narrative poem about a boy lowered into a well to clean out years of accumulated detritus:

Two worlds there are. One you think

You know; the Other is the Well

In hard December down I went.

“Now clean it out good.” Lord, I sank

Like an anchor. My grand-dad leant

Above. His face blazed bright as steel. . . .

Beginning his descent into the unknown, the persona imagines:

Ribcage of drowned warlock gleaming, Rust-chewed chain mail, or a plangent

Sunken bell tolling to the heart

Of Earth. (They’d surely chosen an artless child to sound the soundless dreaming . . . .

What does the poet find? He discovers random objects right out of the possibilities of life:

Twelve plastic pearls, monopoly

Money, a greenish rotten cat Rubber knife, toy gun, Clock guts, wish book, door key, An indescribable female hat.

Hauled back to the surface, the poet muses:

I had not found death good.

“Down there I kept thinking I was dead.”

“Aw, you’re all right,” he said.

Fred followed Midquest with more than 25 books — novels, short story collections, and volumes of poetry — material crafted with his unique combinations of precision, intellect, generosity, and courage. But Midquest remains a singular masterpiece, a poem every lover of great literature should read and cherish. PS

Stephen E. Smith graduated with an MFA in creative writing from UNC Greensboro in 1971. He was one of Fred Chappell’s students, and a friend. Apprentice House Press will publish Smith’s memoir, The Year We Danced, on May 7.

March Books

FICTION

Finding Margaret Fuller, by Allison Pataki

Young, brazen, beautiful and unapologetically brilliant, Margaret Fuller accepts an invitation from Ralph Waldo Emerson, the celebrated Sage of Concord, to meet his coterie of enlightened friends. There she becomes “the radiant genius and fiery heart” of the Transcendentalists, a role model to a young Louisa May Alcott, an inspiration for Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Hester Prynne and the scandalous Scarlet Letter, a friend to Henry David Thoreau as he ventures out to Walden Pond . . . and a muse to Emerson. From Boston to the gritty streets of New York she defies conventions time and again. When the legendary editor Horace Greeley offers her an assignment in Europe, Margaret makes history as the first female foreign news correspondent, mingling with luminaries like Frédéric Chopin, William Wordsworth, George Sand and others. In Rome she finds a world of passion, romance and revolution, taking a Roman count as a lover — and sparking an international scandal. With a star-studded cast of characters and sweeping, epic historical events, this is a story of an inspiring trailblazer, a woman who loved big and lived even bigger.

Memory Piece, by Lisa Ko

In the early 1980s, Giselle Chin, Jackie Ong and Ellen Ng are three teenagers drawn together by their shared sense of alienation and desire for something different. “Allied in the weirdest parts of themselves,” they envision each other as artistic collaborators and embark on a future defined by freedom and creativity. By the time they are adults, their dreams are murkier. As a performance artist, Giselle must navigate an elite social world she never conceived of. As a coder thrilled by the internet’s early egalitarian promise, Jackie must contend with its more sinister shift toward monetization and surveillance. And as a community activist, Ellen confronts the increasing gentrification and policing overwhelming her New York City neighborhood. Over time their friendship matures and changes, their definitions of success become complicated, and their sense of what matters evolves. Memory

Piece is an innovative and audacious story of three lifelong friends as they strive to build satisfying lives in a world that turns out to be radically different from the one they were promised.

James, by Percival Everett

When the enslaved Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he decides to hide on nearby Jackson Island until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck Finn has faked his own death to escape his violent father, recently returned to town. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and too-oftenunreliable promise of the Free States and beyond. While many narrative set pieces of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn remain in place, Jim’s agency, intelligence and compassion are shown in a radically new light. Brimming with electrifying humor and lacerating observations James is destined to be a cornerstone of 21st century American literature.

Olivetti, by Allie Millington

Being a typewriter is not as easy as it looks. Surrounded by books (notorious attention hogs) and recently replaced by a computer, Olivetti has been forgotten by the Brindle family — the family he’s lived with for years. The Brindles are busy humans, apart from 12-year-old Ernest, who would rather be left alone with his collection of Oxford English Dictionaries. The least they could do was remember Olivetti once in a while, since he remembers every word they’ve typed on him. It’s a thankless job, keeping memories alive. Olivetti gets a rare glimpse of action from Ernest’s mom, Beatrice, only for her to drop him off at Heartland Pawn Shop and leave him helplessly behind. When Olivetti learns Beatrice has mysteriously gone missing afterward, he believes he can help find her. He breaks the only rule of the “typewriterly code” and types back to Ernest, divulging Beatrice’s memories stored inside him. As Olivetti spills out the past, Ernest is forced to face what he and his family have been running from, The Everything That Happened.

CHILDREN’S BOOKS

Luigi The Spider Who Wanted to Be a Kitten, by Michelle Knudsen

Oh, Luigi. The temptation of tasty breakfasts and getting tucked into bed have Luigi thinking kittens must live magical lives. So, a kitten he will be! But how long can he keep up this façade, and what might be at stake pretending to be something you’re not? This is a super sweet pet story from the author/illustrator team that created Library Lion. (Ages 3-6.)

Treehouse Town, by Gideon Sterer

Just below the canopy built on sticks and stilts, that’s where you’ll find treehouse town. With sunset lookout towers, nooks for books, and soft willow tree beds, treehouse town has something for everyone. Snuggle up! This sweet story with illustrations that have stories of their own is the perfect read-together. (Ages 3-7.)

Escargot and the Search for Spring, by Dashka Slater Bonjour! It is the end of winter and time for Escargot to venture back into the world but . . . do his tentacles look a little droopy? His trail not quite so shimmery? Je suis désolé! It’s time to embrace sunshine. And flowers! And bunnies! Follow everyone’s favorite snail and enjoy the delights of spring. (Ages 2-6.) PS

Wm. Scott Athans, OD

• Michele P. Keel, OD

Dianne and Sadie

Growing up in the sisterhood

By Bill FieldS

I consider myself a “semi-only child” because I came into the world so long after my sisters — 14 1/2 years after Dianne and 12 1/2 after Sadie. They were both off at college before I started first grade.

If what they say about an adult’s first memories is correct — that they usually go back to when someone was 3 or 4 years old — my recollections of Dianne and Sadie date to their teenage days in the early 1960s, about the time we posed in our Sunday finest in the backyard in the accompanying snapshot taken shortly after my fourth birthday. (They look more comfortable in their nice dresses than I do in a bowtie.)

gave Sadie’s roommate a ride to her hometown of Valdese in the North Carolina foothills. It was about a 100-mile trip but seemed like an exotic journey for a little boy who hadn’t seen much beyond Moore County.

My sisters’ college experiences netted me much more than the Wake and UNCG sweatshirts I got from them for Christmas. If they could go to college, why couldn’t I when the time came? That was a lesson more valuable than anything I was learning at East Southern Pines Elementary. And it didn’t hurt that both were fine students, applying themselves in school. Dianne was high school valedictorian, her name on the wall for years next to a painting of the Blue Knight, which was always a source of family pride as I matriculated through those same halls and classrooms until going to Pinecrest as a sophomore.

I remember wanting to play — and them not wanting me to in equal measure — with their lipstick and fountain pens, and being intrigued when they utilized the upstairs bathroom sink to change the color of a sweater with Rit dye. There was often music, from their tickling the ivories on the upright piano in our living room to 45s spinning on a record player.

One vivid musical memory makes me think I have some earlier-than-average recall. As much as “Moon River” and “Chances Are” were a soundtrack to those days on East New Jersey Avenue, a silly pop song in my sisters’ record collection stands out in my mind. “Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini,” by Brian Hyland, came out in June of 1960, and I’m convinced its lyrics were among the building blocks of my early vocabulary.

When Dianne and Sadie set out to further their educations at Wake Forest and UNC Greensboro, respectively, I tagged along on rides to and from campus. This proximity gave me a backseat vantage point to our father’s frustration upon taking the wrong exit in Winston-Salem or Greensboro, and fatigue after helping haul his daughters’ stuff to their dorm rooms. Once, our family

My sisters weren’t sportswomen, but I could coerce them into shooting a basket. They tolerated my obsession with miniature golf and joined me for countless games on the carpet, although under oath they would confess to not sharing my sadness when the ball disappeared down the chute on the 18th hole.

The difference in our ages mimicked the gaps between our mother and her two older siblings. Mom always hoped the chronology wouldn’t adversely affect our relationship as we aged, that her children would stay connected as they got older, after she was gone.

Five years after our mother passed away not long before her 96th birthday, we are doing what she hoped. My sisters and I haven’t lived in the same area since they left Southern Pines, but despite the geography we remain in touch. Sometimes we talk on a three-way call, a Jetsonian advance from the days when my sisters were lining up to use the party-line phone to speak to a pal, my little self likely tugging on their hemlines. PS

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

Penick Village has prominent plans underway to expand its Independent Living options while enhancing the community with a new Pavilion dedicated to fitness & wellness. A vibrant community of engaging and friendly people, Penick Village residents are energized by the dynamic spirit of challenge, learning, and creating. Throughout the aging process, we are dedicated to supporting each other holistically at the highest level of independence, and to growing older, better.

Chapel Hill Magic

Daniel Wallace and a community of writers

By Wiley Ca Sh p hotograph By m allory Ca Sh

It’s January, and I’m at the bar inside The Crunkleton on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill, where the winner of the 2023 Crook’s Corner Book Prize is about to be announced. Intrigue is high, but not for me. I served as judge for the prize, so I already know how the evening will turn out. I’m just thrilled to be among so many writers and book people for the first time since COVID shut down the public announcement of the prize not long after the 2020 winner was announced.

I’m also excited to be hanging out with my friend Daniel Wallace, who I met exactly 10 years before. How do I know it’s been 10 years? Because this is the 10th year of the Crook’s Corner prize, and I was the inaugural winner, and I met Daniel for the first time at the awards ceremony back in 2013. He’s been one of my favorite writers and people ever since.

In 2013 my wife and I had just moved back to North Carolina after my debut novel was published, and to win what has become an iconic Southern book prize meant the world to me, as did the kindness of the writers I met the night of the award ceremony, including Daniel, Lee Smith, Allan Gurganus, Elizabeth Spencer and Jill McCorkle. They made me feel like I belonged among them, and they set the tone for how I would treat and support the writers who came after me.

In the moments before this year’s prize winner is announced — it’s Texas native Bobby Finger for his excellent novel The Old Place — Daniel and I stand around the bar and catch up. I ask

him about the upcoming March release of the paperback of his latest book, This Isn’t Going to End Well: The True Story of a Man I Thought I Knew, a nonfiction portrait of his brother-in-law William Nealy, who was well known as an impossibly cool outdoorsman who made a name as a cartoonist who drew paddling guides to countless white water rivers throughout the South. Daniel first met William when he was 12 and William was the cool, mysterious guy dating Daniel’s older sister Holly. To say that Daniel looked up to William is an understatement.

William died in 2001, and after Holly passed 10 years later Daniel discovered William’s journals while cleaning out their house. What he read inside changed his perception of William forever. Daniel’s book is the result of his attempts to make sense of William’s life and the effect it had on so many people, including Daniel.

I ask him what it was like to write a book of nonfiction after forging a career as a novelist. The crowd is growing in the bar, and we are talking over the noise of other conversations.

CREATORS OF N.C.

“I never wanted to do nonfiction,” Daniel says. “The joy for me in writing fiction is putting the characters in motion and seeing what one of them does, and how it affects the rest of the characters in the story. There’s this joy that I get from making discoveries while following my characters.”

“In writing about William, were you also discovering something?” I ask. “Was it similar to creating a character and getting to know him as you went along?”

Daniel sips his drink and thinks for a moment. “The process was similar to writing a novel even though I had all this material that was already there that I could just pick up and read. The character I was writing about — and I have to say that when I talk about William as a character I’m also talking about a person who was my brother-in-law and someone I grew up with — but when that person is part of your narrative, they do become a character. And even I became a character in this book.” He smiles. “Although I like to think of myself as being real. I don’t know what your impression of me is.”

My impression of Daniel Wallace has always been that he is not only real, but that he is also very kind and funny. Every time he sees my two daughters he has some type of trinket to give each of them, and he’s always gone out of his way to offer opportunities to other writers, including in 2015 when he invited me to serve as the Kenan Visiting Writer at UNC-Chapel Hill. As to his sense of humor, when I asked him for a sample syllabus,

he sent me what he referred to as the “required syllabus for all creative writing students.” His novels were the only books on it.

My niece Laela, who’s a junior at the nearby North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, is interested in publishing, so I’ve brought her along for the evening. When I introduce her to Daniel I tell her that I met him 10 years ago at the first Crook’s prize party and how that evening felt like the beginning of my career.

“It was a special night,” Daniel says wistfully. “Of course Wiley’s novel was the only submission that year, but we were all still really happy for him.”

We all laugh, but the conversation takes a serious turn when we reflect on what seems like the constant changes in Chapel Hill’s cultural landscape. Crook’s Corner is a great example. The restaurant opened just down Franklin Street in Carrboro in 1982 and quickly became a staple of the Southern food movement, garnering praise and culinary awards from publications and juries around the country. But, like many restaurants, Crook’s closed its doors during the pandemic, and for now they’re still closed, although there are rumors that it might reopen sooner rather than later.

Daniel followed William and Holly to Chapel Hill and moved there permanently in the early ’80s around the time Crook’s opened. He’s seen so many changes over the decades in a place that he chose because of its creative vibes and how welcoming it

was to writers and artists.

CREATORS OF N.C.

“There was a simplicity to it then,” Daniel says. “Part of it I’m sure has to do with youth, but when you live in a place that doesn’t have a building over one-and-a-half stories tall, you feel bigger in that town, and you feel more real in a way that you might not feel now.”

Daniel had begun his undergraduate studies at Emory University, and when he transferred to Chapel Hill to be closer to William and Holly he found himself in a creative writing class led by Lee Smith.

“It was at 8 o’clock in the morning,” he says, “and of course Lee brought her trademark power, personality and joie de vivre to it, which made writing fun. And she was fun. I loved how she taught. It was an adventure with language and story and character that was very appealing to me.”

Daniel left UNC before receiving his degree and went to work for his father for two years in the import industry. But he couldn’t shake his desire to write, and he couldn’t forget his love for Chapel Hill.

“I moved back here because of the community,” Daniel says, “and because, of course, Holly and William were here, too. But a major part of that decision was that it’s hard to exaggerate the importance of going to Harris Teeter and seeing Lee Smith shopping. The life of a young writer looking out from this hole that they’re in is made so much brighter when you can see that real

people have this real job, just like you want to do. You’re not intimidated as much by the possibility of entering that world when you have these roving mentors, these mentors that you haven’t even necessarily met yet, but you see them walking around. You see Doris Betts on the street corner, waiting for the light to change. It’s human, it makes writing a human act.”

The evening is almost over. The announcement has been made, and winner Bobby Finger has said a few words to the audience, as have I. I speak about the power of recognizing debut writers and how important it is to be a member of a community like the one Crook’s Corner and Chapel Hill’s writers have built over the years.

Daniel is gone by the time I step back into the audience. My niece and I find our coats and walk out onto Franklin Street, the cold winter air hitting our cheeks. I can see wonder in her face as we walk back to the car, something I’ve heard people refer to as the “Chapel Hill Magic,” the same thing Daniel felt in the early ’80s after riding his bike to The Cave to play pool with William.

The buildings are taller now, some of the old places have closed, and some of those old people are gone. But this little town, and people like Daniel Wallace, can still make you feel big. PS

Wiley Cash is the executive director of Literary Arts at the University of North Carolina at Asheville and the founder of This Is Working, an online community for writers.

BY JOHN GESSNER

Portrait of an Artist

Getting the expression right

By emilee p hillipS

Wet hands glide across a lump of drab earth. They’re sticky and itching to go to work. It takes 2,200 degrees to transform clay into a sculpture, firing it into a form waiting to be finished, then seen.

The main studio is in the basement. Light coats of dust cover the floor, and buckets line the walls holding the raw materials of creativity. It’s utilitarian, not glamorous. The beauty lies in the fingertips of the artists.

Luke Huling, a professor of visual arts at Sandhills Community College, is always making something. Originally from Pennsylvania, Huling has moved wherever his jobs take him. He earned his Master of Fine Arts in ceramics from Indiana University, followed by residencies at the LUX Center for the Arts in Nebraska and the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Tennessee. He’s been teaching at Sandhills for three years.

“I feel like I’m never 100 percent complacent with what I’m doing, but I feel like that makes a good artist because it means you’re always working. Always creating,” says Huling, who spends 12 hours a day teaching, sculpting or grading his students.

Ceramic art involves first sculpting the work, and then finishing it with paint and glazing. “I love being in the moment — having the ability to change whatever I want,” says Huling. He’s made everything from tabletop-sized works to life-sized sculptures. Neither texture nor detail is

Passion and Power

www.carolinaphil.org

Molted Mindset IV. Stoneware, underglaze, glaze. 18 x15 x16 inches.

overlooked. Each piece evolves as Huling labors over the tiniest area until he achieves his desired effect. He often creates in series where repetition forms the connective tissue, distinguishing each individual sculpture by its emotion. Depending on its size, a piece can take him up to a month to complete.

Fascinated by human psychology, Huling explores the “emotional façades” most people hide behind. Being authentic is something he strives for. He uses a mirror to get the micro details just right in the expressions he’s modeling. “Humans are compli-

cated,” he says with a grin, not discounting himself.

While he laughs about it now, Huling admits his mother put him in art classes as a child because his brother was athletic and he wasn’t. “Art stuck with me,” he says. “That was what I was good at.”

Prior to pursuing a career in the arts, Huling studied dental hygiene and credits the experience with helping him portray facial anatomy in his work. That’s nothing new. Sculptors from Michelangelo to Rodin to the present day have relied on anatomical research in their art.

March

March

CHARACTER STUDY

In his most recent work, “Molted Mindset,” you’ll see faces being pinched by lobsters and other crustaceans. He uses the sea creatures to convey that even in times of stress you’re growing. The stimulus for a lobster to grow is stress or pain. He leaves the analogy open for the viewer to interpret, with each sculpture having a slightly different facial expression.

Walk into his studio at Sandhills Community College, and there’s a chance you’ll hear podcasts playing in the background. “I’m a figurative artist,” he says, “so any insight into other’s psyche is interesting to me.”

To find a measure of success in the art world, you have to be willing to go where the work is. Huling and his creations — along with 10 other ceramic artists — were recently featured in Indiana University’s Grunwald Gallery of Art in an exhibition called “Derivations.”

“The way the exhibition came together was lovely,” says Grunwald Gallery’s director, Linda Tien, adding that IU’s ceramics program is well known for its figurative work. “There was quite a range of ways the figure was represented in the gallery. Luke’s work added to the diversity.”

Some pieces can be heavy, both in the literal and metaphorical sense. Huling is known to flip the script when asked about his art.

“I usually ask people to tell me what they see first,” he says. “There’s no right or wrong answer in art. That’s the beauty of it, it doesn’t necessarily have to add up.” PS

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

Molted Mindset III. Stoneware, underglaze, glaze. 18 x15 x16 inches.

PHOTOGRAPH

Dissecting a Cocktail

The Daiquiri

TONY CROSS

By tony CroSS

It’s hard for me to pick favorites in the cocktail realm, but I would be lying through my teeth if I didn’t say that the daiquiri is near and dear to my heart. It will forever be underrated. One of the simplest, yet most complicated cocktails to master, the daiquiri is a telltale way of judging how good (or satisfactory) your bartender is.

Dating back to 1898 in Cuba, the daiquiri was created by Jennings S. Cox, a mining engineer from New York. Cox threw the drink together with Bacardi rum, lemon, sugar and ice. He first called the drink a “rum sour,” but at the suggestion of a fellow engineer, later changed it to “daiquiri,” the name of a beach near Santiago de Cuba. The daiquiri recipe that is used today was printed in Charles H. Baker’s 1939 book, The Gentleman’s Companion, and is made using white rum, lime juice and sugar.

For a classic daiquiri, you need light Cuban rum, which is impossible to get here in the U.S., so use whatever rum you prefer. With that said, a quick word on the specs: Whether you’re using light or dark rum, try to opt for something higher proof, especially if you’re using simple syrup as the sugar. Simple syrup contains water, so watering down an 80 proof rum will yield, in my opinion, lackluster results. If you only have access to a lower proof rum, use a 2:1 ratio simple syrup or use granulated sugar instead.

Specifications

2 ounces rum

3/4 ounce lime juice

1/2 ounce simple syrup (2:1) or 1 tablespoon granulated sugar

4 drops salt solution (4:1) (optional)

Directions

In a cocktail shaker, combine all ingredients, add ice, and shake until vessel is ice cold. Strain into a chilled coupe glass. No garnish is necessary. If using granulated sugar, you may shake ingredients first without ice to dilute sugar into liquids. PS

Tony Cross owns and operates Reverie Cocktails, a cocktail delivery service that delivers kegged cocktails for businesses to pour on tap — but once a bartender, always a bartender.

Sláinte to Stew

The king of Irish cuisine

Story and photograph By roSe SheW ey

At the height of the Celtic Tiger, a time when Ireland’s economic growth was the envy of every Western nation, I was offered a job on the Emerald Isle. It was a no-brainer. I packed my bags, said my goodbyes and off I went to live and work in Ireland. To be more exact, I set up shop in picturesque Dún Laoghaire just south of Dublin, a town with a pretty port and a laid-back vibe and, as it turned out, right around the corner from Bono’s seaside residence — true story.

After my two-year stint there I can confidently share that a bunch of stereotypes floating about Ireland and the Irish have at least a couple of grains of truth to them. For one, Guinness does taste different on the island. Take this from a wine enthusiast. If I can tell the difference, you can, too. And, yes, drinking is a Celtic national sport. It is socially acceptable to drink at pretty much any point in time, with the exception of the time spent at your place of work — a minor constraint, but fear not, there is always lunch hour. So, that’s that.

More importantly — and this is a delicate one as far as stereotypes go — let’s talk about the legendary Irish cuisine. You’ve never heard of it? My point exactly. If the choices were soda bread and colcannon, I’d say Irish cooking was completely lost on me. But, fortunately, there is one dish the Irish know how to pull off. Their one saving grace — subjectively speaking, of course — is a hearty stew.

A purist at heart and always in search of the most authentic and original version of a dish, I made a couple of discoveries. To begin with, Ireland has as many “classic” and “traditional” Irish stew recipes as it has pubs. That’s a lot. Andrew Coleman, author of The Country Cooking of Ireland, probably nailed it with his attempt to capture the true nature of this recipe. His version simply calls for four ingredients: mutton, potatoes, parsley and onion. Irish stew, in days long gone, would have consisted of what people had on hand — mainly potatoes. If they were fortunate enough to have meat to add to the stew, they’d call it a feast.

That said, the most memorable Irish stew I have tasted was at the Guinness brewery in Dublin. A little bit richer and bolder than its rural counterparts, the Guinness beef stew may not be the most historically accurate rendition of this celebrated dish, but it is by far the most satisfying.

Irish Beef Stew with Guinness

(Adapted from The Official Guinness Cookbook , serves 4-6)

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 pounds chuck steak, cubed

2 onions, sliced

2 celery stalks, finely chopped

5 carrots, cut into large chunks

2 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1 bottle Guinness Draught Stout (440 milliliters)

1 cup beef stock

2 tablespoons apple jelly

2 tablespoons tomato paste

2 teaspoons prepared mustard

2 sprigs fresh thyme

2 bay leaves

8 ounces baby potatoes

Salt and pepper, to taste

In large skillet, heat oil and brown meat in batches, about 10 minutes per batch. Set meat aside, then add onion, celery and carrots to the skillet and cook until slightly softened, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle vegetables with flour, stir and cook for about 2 minutes, add Guinness and beef stock along with the remaining ingredients, except for the potatoes. Add meat back to the skillet, cover with a lid and simmer for 2 hours. Lastly, add potatoes and continue to simmer for an additional hour. Serve with chopped parsley and bread. PS

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

The Cat Who Came to Dinner

A welcome guest makes herself at home

By deBorah Salomon

In the past year both Lucky and Missy, my precious companion kitties, entered a pain-free eternal sleep. I estimated their ages at 15-16; I adopted them from the street 12 years ago. Coal-black Lucky had golden eyes and more dignity/intelligence than some politicians. Missy, my devoted dingbat, was happiest anchoring my lap.

I’m an animal person, a lifelong rescuer, whether a skittish retired racing greyhound or a starving mama trying to feed her kittens.

Finally, I was finished. Friends urged me to adopt again. But a young cat would outlive me — never a happy situation — and an older cat might incur massive health care bills.

“No,” I joked. “The only way I’ll adopt is if a homeless kitty knocks on my door one freezing night.”

The thermometer read 28 degrees that night in January. Crouched against the front door as though to draw warmth was the most beautiful cat I’ve ever seen: long, thick white fur, blue eyes, pink nose and mouth. I had noticed her outside several times but didn’t worry because she was wearing a collar. But I offered food anyway, which she gobbled.

And now, in dire straits, she turned to me. How could I refuse?

I opened the door. She scampered in, checked out the apartment and sat down where Lucky and Missy’s bowls had been. Poor baby wolfed down a whole can of cat food. While I prepared the litter box she curled up on the couch, exhausted, and fell asleep.

I named her Snowball, after my grandfather’s Samoyed.

I asked around. Several neighbors had seen her; nobody knew where she belonged.

Tests, inoculations and $200 later the vet certified her a healthy female, 2-3 years old, not microchipped.

I could feel her rib bones.

Cats have personalities as distinct as humans. I’m used to

plain-Jane short-haired tabbies. This Princess Diana is a feisty little madam. Her primary activity is eating, which includes her mealtimes and mine. If food appears, she’s on it.

Mmmm, scrambled eggs. Grilled cheese. Tilapia. Tiny bits of baked potato with butter. She jumped on the counter and, with a delicate Barbiepink tongue, pre-washed the vanilla ice cream dish.

At bedtime, she leans on my legs but, so far, doesn’t paw me awake, for which I am thankful. But you can’t jump on the computer, honey. That usually ends in disaster.

So far, Snowball shows no interest in going outside. Bad memories, I guess. No fear of strangers, either. My previous two dived under the bed when the doorbell rang.

Then, the litter box, a Charlie Chaplin tragicomedy. She’s not satisfied with fulfilling its purpose. Afterwards she performs an Irish Riverdance routine, which sends litter flying every which way. But so far scratch damage appears only on an old wicker chair.

Finally, after three weeks, Snowball has started to play with Missy’s ball-on-a-string, which makes me sad. Missy loved that toy. I will tuck it away and buy a new one.

Snowball is my first talking kitty. She talks almost constantly, with appropriate inflections, usually plaintive, as she follows me room to room. I thought food was her objective but maybe she is lonely, like I was before she leaned on the front door. But nothing — and I mean nothing — would tempt me to provide a playmate.

Lucky and Missy had a loving if subservient relationship. He was the boss, she the handmaiden. I can’t see Snowball bowing to any tomcat or sharing her new turf with another female.

So for now, the lady rules. She has found a “nest” in a closet corner where an old sweater fell. She takes long naps, enabling me to work. She chatters at the birds pecking the cornbread I throw on the grass under the window. I presume she means no harm when swiping me with those super-sharp little claws.

Maybe this mysterious princess is just what I needed. PS

Deborah

An Unlikely Visitor

The rare sight of a western tanager

By SuSan CampBell

In the Sandhills and beyond we occasionally find western wanderers soaring overhead, perched in the treetops, or even at a feeder. Birds have wings and so they can (and do) end up anywhere. One of the most exciting parts of watching birds is that you never know who might show up.

Some birds are quite prone to vagrancy. Whether this condition is a result of wandering, getting lost or blown off course, we cannot usually say. Species that are long-distance migrants are, not surprisingly, at risk for mishaps en route. Though studied a great deal, very little about migration is understood. The fact is birds do migrate and most individuals are successful at it, allowing their genes to be passed on to the next generation.

This is not to say that those birds that end up off track are bound to stay lost forever or perish as a result of a wrong turn along the way. In fact, it’s believed that these out-of-place individuals, in some cases, represent the beginning of a range expansion for their species. Records have been kept long enough that we have documented bird populations moving into new areas of the United States.

A species that has been observed in the winter more and more frequently, well outside of its normal range, is the western tanager. This small but colorful songbird is found in the warmer months throughout most of the western U.S. in a variety of wooded habitats. They head for Mexico and Central America come fall. However, in the early ’90s, one showed up at a feeder in Wilmington and stayed — not just one winter but returned

for two more. It fed on suet, shelled seeds and fruit. Since then, more than a dozen other individuals have been documented along the southern coast of North Carolina. What does this mean? It is probably too soon to tell. But bird lovers in our southeastern counties are keeping their eyes out for westerns each year.

It has been more than a decade since the first western tanager appeared in the Sandhills. But this winter, a male western tanager once again turned up in a Pinehurst yard. The hosts, being bird people, realized they had something out of the ordinary at their feeders. It was tricky seeing the necessary field marks on him given his secretive nature. All tanagers molt twice a year and happen to be drab from early fall through early spring, so identification is a bit tricky when these birds do appear in the East. Unlike our more familiar summer and scarlet tanagers, westerns have noticeable barring on their wings and are brighter yellow on their underparts.

Interestingly, there was also a western tanager in Apex (outside Raleigh) this season. It, too, was a male, but he arrived with lots of orange and red on his head and face already — clearly an adult bird. Like the Pinehurst tanager he was rather shy at first, but within a few weeks, settled in and began strutting his stuff several times a day, enjoying mealworms and bits of fruit from the big platform feeder.

Though sightings of western tanagers are rare, it pays to be prepared with binoculars and a good field guide should something “odd” show up. The unusual is always possible, whether you are visiting a large wildlife refuge, local park, a McDonald’s parking lot or even in your own backyard. PS

Susan Campbell would love to hear from you. Feel free to send questions or wildlife observations to susan@ncaves.com.

Making the Fleet Shipshape

Taking advantage of a little downtime

By tom Bryant

“Like the Old Man said, there is nothing like being alone on the water in a boat of your own to learn the value of peace, quiet, and responsibility.”

— Robert Ruark, The Old Man and the Boy Linda and I call March the Bryants’ transition month. Toward the end of February, we would normally leave for Florida in the little Airstream, hoping to be far south before March roared like the proverbial lion.

We liked the west coast the most because it seemed to be more like the old Florida we used to know. Fishing was the put-up reason for turning into snowbirds, but really I think it was just escaping the fickle month of March, and enjoying a little warmth and salt water that really sent us on our way. Later, around the first of April, our wanderlust temporarily sated, we would hook up the compact camper, fire up the Cruiser and make a leisurely trip back to North Carolina, until it was time to head to the beach.

This year, though, was gonna be different. My right knee had given up the ghost, so I was to have replacement surgery and then be as good as new. Only problem was the time involved in getting everything back to working the way it should. So, what to do while healing and learning to walk again? I decided I’d do a little inventory, maybe get rid of some stuff that was outdated, if there is such a thing. Linda, my bride, accuses me of never throwing anything away. I disagree. If I’ve used it once, I’m liable to use it again, and there is nothing worse than needing an item and realizing I disposed of it long ago. So I always think long and hard before any of my stuff hits the scrap pile.

A good example would be my ancient, beat-up Grumman canoe resting in the backyard on a couple of sawhorses right up next to the fence. Now the great thing about an aluminum boat

is it’s almost indestructible. To prove the point, just look at old SS Haw River. Every boat has to have a name, so I named the canoe Haw River. She saved a friend and me from drowning a time or two in deadly white water rapids on the Haw. Her very first adventure was on that river up in Alamance County where she proved her worth on a river at flood stage.

Three of us were on what Linda calls another misadventure. The plan was to float the Haw River until it merges with the Cape Fear and comes out in Wilmington. Good plan, except the misnomer float would be like comparing a bull ride to a soft canter on a well-disciplined Tennessee walking horse.

To keep a long, almost deadly, story short, somewhere down close to Pittsboro, old Haw became lodged between two massive boulders, where she promptly tossed her passengers out in the raging current, luckily close enough to a narrow island to be able to scramble up the bank.

We saved what gear we could that evening and spent the night on the little spit of land. The next morning, we swam off to safety. All the little adventures that happened during our rescue is another tale, one that was picked up by the local newspapers. But I diverge from the real point: Old Haw was rescued, and her broken keel was fixed, almost good as new. She ushered us down many more rivers, lakes and bays.

So during this time of rest and recuperation, I’m going to dig her out from under the persimmon tree vines, dust her off (well, it’s gonna take a little more than dusting), and get her recommissioned in the fleet.

The fleet is what the bride calls an accumulation of watercraft resting in our backyard. There’s the old SS Haw River. Then a 16-foot aluminum skiff that my dad gave me early in my fishing days; and resting right close is a 12-foot, wide-beamed, low-to-thewater duck boat named the Widgeon. There is also a Keewaydin canoe designed especially for whitewater. I bought this canoe

late in my whitewater paddling career when it seemed as if I was “determined to kill myself” — a direct quote from the bride.

I did spend a lot of my outdoor time on rivers, creeks, lakes, bays, and even the ocean, but mostly on waters that would not be too much for a canoe to handle. If I was to blame anyone for my obsession with a love of rivers and creeks, it would have to be my grandfather.

Granddad’s place in South Carolina has been in the family for generations. It’s a working farm that is still part of the family, and its borders ranged from the banks of Black Creek to the dark waters of the Little Pee Dee River and all points in-between. In a youngster’s mind it was a lot of land. And with Black Creek and, more importantly, Little Pee Dee River, there were lots of opportunities to paddle.

There was one adventure on the Little Pee Dee where I was able to help Granddad add to his own personal watercraft. It was a day like many others on the river. We were up and at ’em early, motoring up the river 4 or 5 miles, then floating back down to Granddad’s river shack, fishing all the way.

Late in the day and a little over halfway back to our put-in point, we decided to take a side trip and investigate a small pond in a cut off the main flow of the river. There are a lot of those in some stretches of the Pee Dee, and now and then we would check them out, sometimes catching a boatload of redbreast fish.

This one, though, proved to be a disappointment, and Granddad said, “One more cast there, Bubba, and then let’s head to the barn. It’s getting late and we’ve got to clean these fish for supper.”

I threw my favorite lure under a low-hanging cypress limb, started reeling in and got hung up on something solid just under the surface of the black water. When we paddled over to where the lure was hooked, I could see that my favorite lure was securely snagged to what looked like a log.

Granddad checked it out after I dislodged the lure and said, “I’m gonna get help from your uncles and we’re coming back to get this thing. If I’m not mistaken, son, you’ve hooked a dugout boat.”

Sure enough after my Uncle Hubert and Uncle Tommy helped Granddad drag the ancient dugout boat back to the fish camp, it proved to be an amazing vessel. It was 16 feet long and about 5 feet in the beam, and carved out of an amazingly old cypress. After sitting on dry land for an entire year, it was as seaworthy as the day the long-ago Indians carved it from a felled tree. My uncle’s children still have the prehistoric craft resting in one of the outbuildings on their farm.

Having boats is a tradition in our family, and during this down time, I’m determined to get my fleet shipshape. PS

Tom Bryant, a Southern Pines resident, is a lifelong outdoorsman and PineStraw’s Sporting Life columnist.

For Campers 8 and Older

Week 1: June 10-13th--In My Crafty Era

Week 2: June 17-20th--Enchanted & Magical

Week 3: June 24-27th--Red White and Blue

Week 4: July 8-11th--”Pawsitively Wild”

Week 5: July 15-18th--Make Waves, Beach/Ocean theme

Week 6: July 22-25th--Beat the heat with Holiday Cheer

Week 7: July 29-Aug 1st--Olympic Games

Week 8: Aug 5-9th--Cosmic Fun

Paint—Laugh—Create

THE RED FOX COURSE

THE GREY FOX COURSE

Cool Aids

Teaching the feel of a swing

By lee paCe

The concept of the golf school was still in its infancy in the early 1980s, though pioneers like Peggy Kirk Bell at Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club had already been entertaining guests for a quarter of a century for multi-day immersions in golf instruction, competition and fellowship.

The management at Golf Digest magazine believed that golf schools at top-echelon resorts taught by the game’s best instructors would be an excellent way to promote the brand and earn a buck, and so by 1982 the Digest schools visited Pinehurst each spring and fall, bringing instruction luminaries like Jim Flick, Jack Lumpkin, Bob Toski and Gary Wiren to the Sandhills.

Wiren spent time not only on the renowned “Maniac Hill” practice ground at the flagship resort, but he and Peggy Kirk Bell were close friends, and Wiren spoke and taught often down Midland Road at Pine Needles.

Today, one of the foundational training aids in the golf instruction centers at both Pinehurst and Pine Needles (and probably most practice ranges in the Sandhills) is one of Wiren’s inventions. In the early 1980s Wiren played off a favorite drill from three-time British Open champion Henry Cotton in which Cotton had golfers simulate impact by swinging against an old tire — shaft leaning forward, hips clearing and head behind the ball. Wiren thought a softer and safer rendition would be to manufacture a large bag of durable fabric and stuff it with towels.

The bright yellow Impact Bag was introduced in 1982 and became one of the most noted training aids in history. It launched Wiren into a sideline of developing and nurturing the creation of devices to help PGA professionals teach and golfers to learn. Today, at 89 years of age, Wiren and his family operate a business called Golf Around the World, built around an online sales catalog of training devices.

“Telling a golfer is one thing,” says Wiren, who played in the

1994 U.S. Senior Open at Pinehurst wearing knickers and carrying his own bag. “Letting them feel is altogether different.”

Wiren lives in West Palm Beach, Florida, and still makes regular trips each January to the PGA Show in Orlando, where a growing section of the floorspace is dedicated to golfing entrepreneurs who have created better mousetraps to augur a player’s ability to find the proverbial light switch in their golf game.

You might find Jim Hackenburg, who was teaching on Martha’s Vineyard in 2007 when he had the idea of attaching a rubber ball about the size of an orange to a flexible shaft that was designed to help golfers feel the proper motion, sequence and tempo of the swing. Today the Orange Whip is as ubiquitous in golf instruction as the Impact Bag.

Holding court in his booth devoted to his Tour Striker line of training aids is Martin Chuck, an Arizona-based teaching pro. Chuck, frustrated in 2008 by his students’ inability to strike the ball with forward shaft lean, took a 5-iron into his club repair shop and ground off the bottom four grooves of the club, rendering it worthless unless the golfer hit down on the ball sufficiently to force contact in the middle of the clubface — not the bottom edge. Any shot hit on the bottom of the clubface would simply dribble along

GOLFTOWN JOURNAL

the ground.

Bernie Fay was a blue collar worker and part-time handyman in Chicago who loved golf and a decade ago conceived a 42-inch polymer shaft with an attached elbow cuff that promotes a wider turn and keeping the left arm straight. He put his life savings into what he calls the “Most Important Stretch In Golf,” or MISIG, for a business name.

“I think that golfers know something that other people do not,” Fay says. “They have something in them that others might not: the light of hope. They have figured out spiritual art. Something beautiful. It’s pure, and I am awestruck when I think about it. The light of hope is always on them.”

This year one of the more novel introductions to the eternal hope for a better golf game is Mike Dickson, a Marylandbased instructor who has created and manufactured a line of devices under the LagMaster banner. Like Wiren, Chuck and many others before him, Dickson was confounded over 17 years teaching at Congressional Country Club in Washington with the average golfer’s tendency to “cast” the club, releasing it well before impact.

But instead of solving the problem at the bottom of the move, Dickson’s LagMaster addresses the issue at the top of the backswing and the early part of the downswing. The device is placed on the grip of the club, and with a properly executed backswing, one end of it touches the right shoulder at the top of the backswing (for a right-handed golfer).

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GOLFTOWN JOURNAL

The feel Dickson is teaching is to keep the end of the device touching the shoulder into the downswing until the left arm is parallel to the ground. To do that, the golfer has to retain the 90-degree angle of the club and the left arm.

Presto: No cast, and an eventual compression of the ball at impact.

Dickson looks around him at the Orange County Convention Center in January 2024 and takes in all the inventions.

“The whole goal of any training aid in this building is to give somebody a sensation, a feeling without me having to describe it or put my hands on your body,” he says. “If you feel it, you’re going to own it.”

Dickson is a proponent of Homer Kelley’s The Golfing Machine, one of the key elements being the action of the right shoulder. Kelley teaches that the right shoulder swings down “on plane,” along the same line as the club shaft and staying “back and down” until after the hit. Tom Watson credits that move with helping him during his late-career success on the PGA Champions Tour.

“That’s what I am trying to accomplish with the LagMaster,” Dickson says. “You have to turn the right shoulder under to maintain the angle. If I can give you a good grip and sequence you the right way, all this other mess goes away. It’s been fun to watch it evolve.

“A guy ordered the device and wrote back immediately. He said, ‘Mike, after the first three swings, I couldn’t believe how different it felt.’ I see that every day.”

Dickson left Congressional in 2021 to start his own golf academy at Little Bennett Golf Course in Clarksburg, Maryland. He teaches there and runs his LagMaster as a side hustle that, he says, “looks like it’s going to be bigger.”

Indeed, the water is warm in the training aids ocean. PS Lee Pace

for more than three decades. Write him at leepace7@gmail.com and follow him @LeePaceTweet.

March ����

Julian

In christening gown and bonnet, he is white and stoic as the moon, unflinching as the sun burns through yellow puffs of pine pollen gathered at his crown while I pour onto his forehead from a tiny blue Chinese rice cup holy water blessed by John Paul II himself and say, “I baptize you, Julian Joseph, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” Nor does he stir when the monarchs and swallowtails, in ecclesiastical vestments, lift from the purple brushes of the butterfly bush and light upon him.

— Joseph Bathanti

Joseph Bathanti was the North Carolina poet laureate from 2012-2014. He will be inducted into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame in October.

Anhinga in Florida’s Everglades

Story and P hotogra PhS

by todd P uSSer

First in Flight

A lifetime in the company of birds

The western slope of Mauna Kea, on the Big Island of Hawaii, does not immediately scream tropical paradise. At 7,000 feet above sea level, it is dry and arid. Scattered shrubs and small trees dot the landscape as far as the eye can see. The scenery contrasts sharply with the lush, flower-filled rainforests and pristine sandy beaches that most people picture when they hear the word Hawaii. But these dry forests hold a treasure, something found nowhere else on the planet.

A distinct bell-like whistle echoes across the blue sky, nearby. As I am slowly walking toward an odd-looking tree with branches draped in clusters of seed pods reminiscent of green beans, a flash of yellow catches my eye. I stop. A few seconds later, a small, finch-like bird sporting yellow, grey and white feathers emerges from a tight cluster of branches and snips off one of the strange, beany-looking seed pods. With surgical precision, the bird pries open the pod with its thick beak and scarfs down the protein-rich seeds nestled inside. Framing its bright yellow head in my camera’s viewfinder, I press the shutter.

The bird, commonly known as the palila, or Loxioides bailleui by its scientific lexicon, is among the most critically endangered birds on the planet. Current estimates suggest fewer than 1,000 adults survive on the western slopes of Mauna Kea. The palila is a specialist, feeding almost exclusively on the alkaloid-rich seeds (which are toxic to most other animals) of the māmane tree, another Hawaiian endemic. Māmanes are long-lived, capable of reaching 500 years in age, but are slow to mature, taking 25 years or more for seedlings to grow into a tree capable of producing a food resource for the birds. So intertwined are the lives of the palila and the māmane tree that some have likened their bond to that of a mother and child. Islands are arks of incredible biodiversity. Hawaii, as the most isolated island chain on the planet, is especially so. Before humans reached its shores, Hawaii was

once home to an incredibly rich assemblage of plants, flowers, trees, insects and birds. Being stuck out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, the islands were never settled by any frog, snake, ant or mosquito. It was paradise, the quintessential tropical Eden — or in the words of Mark Twain, “the loveliest fleet of islands that lie anchored in any ocean.”

Things changed with the arrival of Polynesians and their canoes on Hawaii’s shores around 1,000 A.D. The arrival of Europeans in 1778 only accelerated the process. Cats, dogs, pigs, invasive plants, mosquitoes and viruses were introduced — some intentionally, some unintentionally — to the islands. Natural resources were consumed, and the land was terraformed to meet the demands of an ever-growing human population. The extreme mega-diversity that had long characterized the Hawaiian Islands soon whittled down to a tiny fraction of its former self. The state now bears the depressing moniker of “the extinction capital of the world.” As recently as the end of 2023, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service declared eight species of Hawaiian birds officially extinct.

Eagle Springs is just about as far away from Hawaii as one can get. Yet, it is in this tiny enclave, surrounded by longleaf pines and turkey oaks, where my fascination with birds began. I don’t know how to explain it, but I have always been obsessed by wild creatures. The fascination is most assuredly innate, for my parents never showed more than a passing interest in the wildlife outside our back door.

I still recall with vivid clarity, as a kid, watching hummingbirds hover in front of feeders filled with sugar water at a family friend’s house and listening to the incessant calls of whip-poor-wills echoing through the pines on humid summer evenings while swimming in our backyard pool.

Palila from the Big Island of Hawaii

Swallow-tailed Kite, Mississippi

Snow Geese Flock in late afternoon light, North Carolina

Flamingo Takeoff, Yucatan, Mexico

Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Hoffman, N.C.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird Chicks, Pinehurst, N.C.

Later — nerd alert — I won my high school’s science fair by collecting and examining the regurgitated pellets (yuck, I know), full of undigested bone and fur, from a pair of red-tailed hawks that nested in a tall longleaf pine near our house. The project was born from no school assignment. I was simply curious as to what the birds of prey were eating. See, I told you it was innate.

It was around this time that I picked up a camera in an effort to try to document the amazing wildlife I was seeing. Through trial and error — mostly error — I learned the ins and outs of apertures, shutter speeds and film type to best record animals in the field. For all the Gen Z’ers that might be reading, this was back in the stone age of analog, well before the instant feedback of an LCD screen. Did I mention I had to walk uphill, both ways, to collect those hawk pellets?

Birds were, and still are, a subject I find infinitely fascinating, both as a naturalist and as a photographer. Their variety in color, form and behavior is endless. With over 10,000 species (and new ones being discovered every year), birds are among the most diverse vertebrates on the planet. From the Arctic to the Antarctic, and throughout every continent and ocean in between, birds are taking flight right now.

Many people obsessively keep a detailed list of all of the birds they observe in their yard, county, state and country. Millions upon millions of dollars are spent each year on binoculars, spotting scopes and travel to places, both near and far, just to add new species to life lists. Millions more are spent on birdseed and backyard nest boxes. Indeed, birds are among the most popular of animals. Even my grandmother enjoyed watching bluebirds outside her kitchen window each spring.

Though I keep no life lists of my own, I do maintain field notebooks filled

with interesting wildlife observations encountered during my travels. Over the years I have had the good fortune of seeing some extraordinary birds in some extraordinary places.

On a remote island in Antarctica, I once sat on a hillside covered in tussock grass, watching a pair of courting wandering albatross, who possess the longest wingspan of any bird, dancing and weaving against a backdrop of rugged snowcovered mountains. I have laughed out loud watching the comical antics of tufted puffins on a foggy day in the middle of Alaska’s Bering Sea. During a golden-hued sunset in the Bahamas, I marveled as a flock of ground-nesting Abaco parrots flew high over stands of tall Caribbean pines. Along the rocky shores of New Zealand, I observed the smallest species of penguin, the little blue, leap from the ocean like a miniature dolphin. Another time in the Arizona desert, on a smoldering hot August day, I saw a roadrunner catch a lizard beneath a canopy of thorny cacti.

There is no denying the thrill of seeing amazing birds in exotic, far-off places, but my most memorable and cherished avian encounters have actually occurred right here in North Carolina, much closer to home.

Years back, a kind couple from Pinehurst allowed me to set up a tripod and camera in their guest bedroom, where I spent the day photographing the nest of a ruby-throated hummingbird that was perched precariously on a tiny branch just outside their second-floor window. It was the first, and only, time I have been able to observe, in intimate detail, the life history of a species that so captured my childhood imagination.

Once, while my partner, Jessica, and I walked our late, beloved dog, Dexter, down a trail at Merchants Millpond State Park on a bright spring afternoon, a barred owl flew silently over our heads and landed

Eastern Screech Owl Peekaboo, Pinehurst, N.C.

Red-winged Blackbirds, N.C.

Cedar Waxwing and holly berry, Virginia

Eastern Bluebird and cricket, N.C.

in a tree nearby. I have marveled at a kettle of Mississippi kites hunting dragonflies, in high, swooping arches, over the Pee Dee River near Rockingham. Most poignant of all, on a bitterly cold winter’s day in the heart of Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, I watched awestruck, with my father by my side, as tens of thousands of snow geese descended into a corn field, just yards away from where we stood. That feeling of joy and happiness, of being able to share such an incredible spectacle with my old man, is something I will carry for the rest of my life.

Sadly, many of the bird species I have photographed over the years are endangered. Consider the palila, mentioned earlier. There are a lot of things stacked against that species. Small population size, coupled with a very specialized diet and restricted home range, is a recipe for extinction in a human-dominated world. All it takes is one infectious disease or a large fire, like the recent one that destroyed the historic town of Lahaina on nearby Maui, to erase it from the planet.

Closer to home, take the iconic whippoor-will, vocal denizen of our summer nights. Recent studies have shown its population to be in steep decline across much of its range. Scientists still do not have solid answers for why their numbers are dropping, though there are clues, such as the corresponding decline of a favored prey item — large moths — and an obvious loss of habitat. Likely it is a combination of many things, including some yet to be discovered.

But it’s not all gloom and doom. Populations of the iconic bald eagle have bounced back due to successful conservation action. Ditto for peregrine falcons. I never saw many wild turkeys growing up in Eagle Springs, but on a recent trip back home, I glimpsed one sneaking along the edge of the yard before disappearing into the pines, providing evidence that the restocking program of this important game bird by our state’s wildlife commission is paying off.

The fact remains, many, many populations of bird species continue to decline.

Great Egret at sunrise, S.C.

For some, all that will be left in the future will be a few tattered museum specimens and photographs.

On my bookshelf, next to where I am typing, is a book titled Lost Animals: Extinction and the Photographic Record, by Errol Fuller. Nestled within its pages are image after image, most in black and white, of animals, including many birds, that are no longer with us on this planet. The one that strikes the biggest chord for me is of Martha, the last of the passenger pigeons, photographed around 1912 in her cage at the Cincinnati Zoo in Ohio.

At one time, the passenger pigeon was the most numerous bird species in North America. In 1813, while traveling near Louisville, Kentucky, John James Audubon recorded a flock of pigeons migrating south that he conservatively estimated to contain one billion individual birds. The immense flock passed overhead for three full days, completely blocking out the sky. It boggles the mind to think that in just 100 years from that remarkable observation, the passenger pigeon would be extinct, hunted to oblivion. If, as the saying goes, “a picture is worth a thousand words,” seeing that image of Martha, the very last of her kind, perched stoically in the corner of her cage, really drives home that sentiment and offers a sobering reminder that even the most common species can be wiped out in the relative blink of an eye.

Being outside, away from traffic and the computer screen, photographing birds is therapeutic. The images captured are little tokens of place and time that frequently remind me of family and friends who were standing next to me as I pressed the shutter. Today, I especially love showing pictures to my 4-year-old daughter. Nothing beats seeing her blue eyes sparkle with wonder at seeing a colorful bird for the first time.

Hopefully, the images will instill a sense of awe, respect, and appreciation, in her (and others) for all forms of life that call this remarkable planet home. PS

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

Laysan Albatross mated pair, Hawaii

Blackbird tornado, N.C.

Yellow-crowned

Roseate Spoonbill, Florida

Carolina Chickadee and caterpillar, Virginia

Sun-Raised Sheep

Farming at the bleating edge

By Jenna Biter • Photogra Phs By John gessner

Peafowl nap high in the rafters of a classic red barn. One bird, awakened by a buzz buzz buzzing, pecks a housefly out of the air like Mr. Miyagi with chopsticks. And the buzzing stops.

Now, the peacock is presumably less irritated, as well as less hungry, and the fly can’t buzz down to the wobbly-legged lambs, whose developing immune systems are better off without whatever infections the insect might be spreading.

The lambs’ young stomachs aren’t even strong enough to digest what will become their steady diet of grass. When they do grow strong enough, at a couple of months old, they’ll leave the red barn to join the flock munching its way across a quilt of pastures tucked down a gravel drive beside a flea market in Biscoe.

A few westward turns out of Moore County and into Montgomery, the 500-head Katahdin flock grazes beneath the shade of solar panels, where the Old World meets the Ewe, uh, New.

“They use this word ‘agrivoltaics,’” says Joel Olsen, a Charlotte native who owns the Montgomery Sheep Farm, with his wife, Tonje, “which doesn’t mean anything to most people.” That’s something the couple seems on a mission to change.

To people who do know, agrivoltaics is a techy sort of twofer: It’s when a solar farm moonlights as a traditional crop farm or, as with the Olsens, a livestock farm.

“The power here at the farm goes into the local grid, and this . . . ” Joel trails off in search of the right explanation. “Right now,” he says, “we’re powering all of Biscoe and Star — every single home, school, business, factory.”

He looks out at the gleaming fields of silvery tech, more than 100,000 solar panels in all.

“It’s a ton of power, 28 megawatts,” he says, delight warming his Carolina accent. While the solar panels stare up at the sun, quietly collecting golden rays to redistribute as green energy, the flock, unbeknownst to them, is on the clock.

With each happy chomp, the sheep mow the grass beneath and between the panel rows, so the greenery doesn’t shoot up and disrupt the solar harvest.

“When you get shade, it reduces your output, it reduces your income,” Joel says. Despite the clear cause and effect, during the early days of O2 — the name of his N.C. solar development company — he learned that solar farm groundskeeping was often overlooked, low budget, and the first thing to go wrong.

In 2012, the Olsens set out to change the status quo.

With a nostalgia for the lamb dishes of her childhood in

Norway — where country sheep, geolocated by bells tinkling on their collars, foraged freely in the summertime — Tonje created Sun Raised Farms, a matchmaking agribusiness that pairs solar farms with ovine maintainers.

“We try to find the best sheep farmers in the area, so they can get free pasture for their lambs on the solar farm, and then we pay them to maintain it,” Tonje says. What can’t be grazed due to natural or technological terrain, Sun Raised Farms hires a human crew to care for.

“It’s kind of a win-win for the farmers,” Tonje says with a smile.

In the next instant, Joel flashes back in time to the beginning of their hike up agrivoltaics’ steep learning curve, a path that originally rejected them like Sisyphus.

“We had a local 21-year-old who bought 13 sheep to put on our first solar farm, and after two weeks, the neighbor’s hunting dogs got out, went right through a hole in the fence, and killed them all,” he says with a disapproving cluck. “That was step one.”

Joel guesstimates that now — with nearly two dozen solar parks under the management of Sun Raised Farms and more than a decade into the learning curve — the Olsens are about 17 steps into their agrivoltaics project. Since 2016, the endeavor has included the Montgomery Sheep Farm, what the Olsens view as a sort of research hub to establish best practices for their farming partners.

Cursed with what Joel characterizes as chalky, inhospitable soil, the century-old property began as a failed farm called the Tobacco Stick Ranch, and then transitioned into a hunting preserve. Its five minutes of fame came in 2006 when The Daily

Show’s Nate Corddry used the name and the grounds in a sketch poking fun at then-Vice President Dick Cheney for blasting fellow quail hunter Harry Whittington with birdshot — an incident that actually happened in Texas.

Now the tobacco barn, workshop, farmhouse — all of the compound’s eight or so buildings — have been rehabilitated into a working farm wired into its own private solar microgrid, independent from the panels that feed the community grid.

Via a network of electrical boxes, a solar carport and four Tesla Powerwall 2 batteries hidden away in a mudroom, the farm powers itself most of the time.

“It’s one of the first off-grid farms in the country,” Joel says. “It demonstrates that farms can not only raise their own food, but also generate electricity for their own operations.”

In the distance, the techno-farm’s big power plant is a metallic patchwork that blankets 120 of the property’s 200 sprawling acres. Amidst the panels, inverters and breakers, a labyrinth of thighhigh electric fencing partitions the sheep into 28 micro-pastures, so they don’t overgraze any one section.

Though divided into smaller flocks, the sheep bleat back and forth in a never-ending game of barnyard Marco Polo. Whiteblond dogs stand watch nearby, wagging their tails. They don’t seem to speak sheep.

By day, the dogs live up to their gentle names like Elsa, Casper and Luna, politely asking for pats with their heads lowered in obeisance. By night, these Great Pyrenees protectors channel their pedigree to fend off coyotes and foxes lurking just beyond the chicken-wire fence.

Across a dirt road, back inside the red barn, the peafowl, some doves and a turkey dutifully continue their watch over the 100 young lambs. At the far end of the barn, a barrel-chested rooster seems preoccupied. He perches self-importantly on the back of a ewe, as if he’s directing a barnyard rehearsal for one of the farm tours that roll through every spring and fall.

Like the circle of life, the tours always end in dinner: a sun-powered, four-course, farm-to-table meal featuring the Montgomery Sheep Farm’s lamb by way of Sun Raised Foods, the Olsens’ avenue for bringing their farmers’ stock to market.

“A lot of the criticism solar farm developers received was because they took farmland away from the community,” Tonje says. “With this model, they kind of give back.” PS

Jenna Biter is a writer and military wife in the Sandhills. She can be reached at jennabiter@protonmail.com. You can purchase tickets for a Montgomery Sheep Farm tour and dinner at sunraisedfoods.com.

McConnell and his mécanicien pose beside his Nieuport 11, bearing footprint that represented the University of Virginia’s ‘Hot Foot Society’

The French Connection

The heroic life and death of James McConnell

By Bill Case

He was shot out of the sky over the French countryside more than a century ago, but for residents of Carthage, North Carolina, the presence of James Rogers McConnell endures. Memorials to the fallen World War I aviator can be found in nearly every corner of the Moore County seat. A highway marker on McReynolds Street explains that McConnell “flew for France in (the) Lafayette Escadrille,” a legendary unit of pilots serving under the French flag though hailing from America.

Fronting the Moore County courthouse is a Washington Monument-style obelisk. Its inscription says McConnell “fought for humanity, liberty and democracy, lighted the way for his countrymen, and showed all men how to dare nobly and die gloriously.”

Diners at the Pik N Pig restaurant adjacent to Carthage’s airport will find a massive bronze and granite plaque dedicated to McConnell near the barbecue’s front door. Gifted by a grateful government of France, its text is engraved in French. Alongside is another plaque translating the tribute into English. Planes landing in Carthage do so at the Gilliam-McConnell Airfield. The facility’s founder and owner, Roland Gilliam, jokes that his name is first only because “G comes before M in the alphabet.”

In September 2023, Gilliam paid further homage to Carthage’s favorite son by opening (together with curator Debby Campbell) the James Rogers McConnell Air Museum near the airfield. Among the treasured artifacts on display is a slightly smaller than full-scale replica of a similar model of the Nieuport biplane McConnell flew in dogfights against the Germans.

Motorists on N.C. 24 can’t miss the magnificent 20-foot-high mural painted by renowned North Carolina artist Scott Nurkin. It depicts a uniformed McConnell, his biplane and the phrase Flying for France, referring to the title of the aviator’s book, published by Doubleday, Page & Co. in 1917 — a stirring account of McConnell’s time with the Lafayette Escadrille. Visitors at the Carthage Museum on Rockingham Street view an exhibit honoring the flier that includes several of his personal items. A commemorative edition of Flying for France can be purchased there.

McConnell lived in Carthage for only two years before heading to France in 1915. Following his move to Carthage from New York City in 1912, he worked as the land and industrial agent for the local Randolph & Cumberland Railway — something of a family business since his father, Samuel Parsons McConnell, served as superintendent and part owner of the railroad after

health concerns precipitated his move south.

In addition to his job with the railroad, James McConnell moonlighted with the Sandhill Board of Trade, an organization dedicated to the promotion of area agriculture and other business activities. As board secretary, he ingratiated himself with area farmers, wrote pamphlets and sought new uses of the Sandhills’ natural resources, including whether or not the smooth red clay underlying the Randolph & Cumberland railroad tracks might prove suitable for making bricks.

What motivated James McConnell to involve himself in World War I? Frank C. Page’s introduction to Flying for France provides a clue. In a chance meeting in January 1915 outside the county courthouse McConnell had surprising news. “Well, I’m all fixed up and am leaving on Wednesday,” he told Page.

“Wherefore?” asked Page.

“I’ve got a job driving an ambulance in France,” responded the 27-year-old.

World War I was raging across Europe, and the bloodbath was intense in the trenches of the French countryside. As a volunteer ambulance driver with the American Field Service, McConnell would transport wounded French soldiers from the front to the American Ambulance Hospital in Neuilly, France. It promised to be gruesome and dangerous work.

Privately funded, the AFS had no relationship with the American government. The U.S. was sitting on the sidelines, adhering to President Woodrow Wilson’s policy of strict neutrality toward the combatant nations. (Great Britain, France, Italy, Russia and Serbia were fighting Germany, Bulgaria, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire.) Employing the catchphrase “He kept us out of war,”

Wilson had just been re-elected to a second presidential term. America would not declare war against Germany until April 1917.

With America steadfastly neutral, Page wondered why his friend was intent on risking his life in a foreign war, leaving behind his business career, his father and numerous friends. McConnell had an answer. Imagining The Great War as an event of historical importance, he felt he would be missing the opportunity of a lifetime if he failed to get involved. “These Sandhills will be here forever, but the war won’t, so I am going,” he told Page. Then he added, “And I’ll be of some use, too, not just a sightseer looking on; that wouldn’t be fair.”

McConnell was just one among many idealistic young men, often from affluent backgrounds, who volunteered their services as ambulance drivers during the war. The AFS targeted upscale undergrads and alumni of prestigious universities, including the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, McConnell’s alma mater. Though he never graduated, it is no exaggeration to say that he became as legendary a figure at UVA as he is today in Carthage. Enrolling in 1908, he studied two years at the College of Arts and Sciences, and then one year at the law school. One law professor, observing his pupil’s restlessness, remarked that McConnell exhibited “hatred of the humdrum, an abhorrence of the commonplace, and a passion for the picturesque.”

McConnell thrust himself into UVA’s social whirl, joining a plethora of campus organizations, fraternities and secret societies. He became a cheerleader, editor-in-chief of the campus yearbook and, presaging later activities, founded the Aero Club. Clad in Highland clan finery, McConnell played bagpipes to entertain well-lubricated friends. Named king of the outrageous “Hot Foot Society” (both the king and queen were males), he led a procession of raucous fellow jesters in medieval dress throughout the campus.

McConnell’s most spectacular prank was the furtive attachment

Nieuport 11 N1292 of Sgt. James R. McConnell

ILLUSTRATION BY HARRY BLAIR

of a chamber pot atop the head of a statue of Thomas Jefferson, about to be unveiled in a public ceremony attended by President William Howard Taft. A plumber discovered the pot barely in time to save UVA embarrassment and probably McConnell’s expulsion.

Practical jokes were in McConnell’s rear-view mirror by the time he joined Section 2 of the AFS at Pont-a-Mousson in northeastern France on Feb. 11, 1915. “Tomorrow, I am going to the front with our squad and 12 ambulances,” he wrote a friend. “I am having a glorious experience.” He quickly made his presence felt, bravely rescuing wounded French soldiers while under fire. The French military awarded him the Croix de Guerre.

McConnell also impressed his AFS ambulance team members, including Henry Sydnor Harrison, a writer for Collier’s magazine. “I took note of my driver (McConnell),” recalled Harrison. “He gave me at once a sense of mature responsibleness above his years and inspired confidence.” McConnell, he wrote, was “boyishly delighted by the discovery I was a writer” and thereafter, the two men’s conversations centered around books.

Harrison left the AFS after four months service but continued to correspond with McConnell. “There came a long letter from him written in the first flush of his contact with the front,” reported the Collier’s scribe, “and I had not gone far with it before it came over me like a discovery: Why, hang it, the fellow can write!”

Yes, he could. And when New York-based publishers got wind of McConnell’s talent, they sought firsthand accounts of his experiences at the front. He wrote vividly. A piece in the September 1915 issue of Outlook transports the reader into McConnell’s rattling Daimler ambulance: “The work at night is quite eerie, and

on moonless nights quite difficult. It is only in the dazzling light of the illuminating rockets that shoot into the air and sink slowly over the trenches that one can see to proceed with any speed. It is night, too, that our hardest work comes, for that is usually the time when attacks and counterattacks are made and great numbers of men are wounded . . . men with legs and arms shot away, mangled faces, and hideous body wounds. It is a time when men die in the ambulances before they reach the hospital.”

Driving an ambulance in a war zone not only provided writing grist for McConnell but other literary talents too. An extraordinary cadre of famed writers attended to wounded soldiers during World War I , including Ernest Hemmingway, John Dos Passos, W. Somerset Maugham, Dashiell Hammett, Southern Pines’ own James Boyd, E.E. Cummings, Louis Bromfield, Archibald MacLeish, Gertrude Stein and Robert W. Service.

During his time with the AFS, McConnell, who never married, befriended a young nurse at the hospital, Mademoiselle Marcelle Guérin. Their relationship appears to have been a passionate one, at least at first. Writing Guérin from the field, he proclaimed, “You are everything to me over here or elsewhere, for that matter.” Later correspondence, though always amicable, suggests the romance had cooled. Marcelle commenced a romance with a Russian while McConnell chattily enlightened her about his flirtations with a beautiful barmaid named Rosa.

After 10 months transporting the wounded, McConnell got directly into the fight. “All along I had been convinced that the United States ought to aid in the struggle against Germany,” he explained in Flying for France. “With that conviction, it was plainly

The pilots of N124 pose at Luxeuil in May 1916. From left to right: Cpls. Chapman and Cowdin, Sgt. W. Bert Hall, Sous-Lt. Thaw, Capitaine Georges Thenault, Lt. Alfred de Laage de Meux, Sgt. Prince and Cpls. Rockwell and McConnell. Sitting before Thenault and de Laage is Thenault’s dog Fram.

up to me to do more than drive an ambulance. The more I saw the splendor of the fight the French were fighting, the more I felt like an ‘embusque’ — what the British call a ‘shirker.’ So, I made up my mind to go into aviation.” He quit the AFS.

McConnell joined the French Foreign Legion on Oct. 1, 1915, plunging into flight training in Pau, France. “My elation at arriving there was second only to my satisfaction at being a French soldier,” McConnell wrote. “It was a vast improvement, I thought, to the American ambulance.”

By the spring of 1916, McConnell had achieved proficiency in piloting a Nieuport biplane. He described the aircraft as the “smallest, fastest rising biplane in the French service. It can travel 110 miles an hour and is a one-man apparatus with a machine gun mounted on its roof and fired by the pilot with one hand while with the other and his feet he operates the controls.”

France was in the midst of forming an aviation squadron consisting of pilots from the United States. The French government hoped the exploits of the new unit would push the U.S. into taking up arms against Germany. On March 16, 1916, the director of French aeronautics announced the formation of the N-124 American Escadrille.

The Escadrille’s initial roster listed seven pilots: McConnell; William Thaw from Pittsburgh; Norman Prince from Boston; New Yorkers Elliott Cowdin and Victor Chapman; Texan Bert Hall; and, Kiffin Rockwell from Asheville, North Carolina. The majority came from well-educated and wealthy backgrounds. All except McConnell, Prince and Cowdin had fought in the trenches with the Foreign Legion before opting to join the Escadrille. French Capt. Georges Thenault was placed in charge of the group. Thirty-eight Americans and four Frenchmen would ultimately fly for the unit.

Harrison pointed this out in his tribute to McConnell: “The pilots of N-124 are not ordered for routine observation work; they are not asked to carry messages or take photographs, or regulate artillery fire, or bring up planes from Paris,” he wrote in the Sandhill Citizen. “They are fighters pure and simple, and their place in the air is where the danger is thickest.”

While romance and adventure were attached to being a World War I aviator, flight in an open cockpit could be a harrowing experience. “Mere words are difficult to describe the pure agony of mind and body,” wrote Escsadrille member Laurence Rumsey. “The sub-zero temperature permeated the very marrow of your bones. Despite three or four pairs of gloves, fingers coiled around the stick would be paralyzed in five minutes.”

McConnell’s first sortie on May 13, 1916, produced anxious moments along with his aerial “baptism of fire.” Having never previously flown above 7,000 feet and shivering in the cold, he climbed in his Nieuport up over a cloudbank to an altitude of 14,000 feet, losing contact with his fellow pilots. “Not a single plane was visible anywhere, and I was growing very uncertain about my position,” he recounted in Flying for France. “My splendid isolation had become oppressive, when, one by one, the others began bobbing up above the cloud level, and I had company again.”

Germany protested that the name of the squadron, American Escadrille, violated America’s neutrality toward the belligerents. Thus, the unit was rechristened the Lafayette Escadrille, honoring the memory of Marquis de Lafayette, the Frenchman who nobly aided the patriots’ cause during the American Revolutionary War.

On April 16, 1916, the American aviators were ordered to join the Escadrille at Luxeuil in the Vosges Mountains. McConnell endured spartan conditions during his flight training, but facilities at the new location were grand. Each pilot had his own private quarters at a villa adjacent to the town’s hot baths. The men dined with the officers at the best hotel in town, and an automobile was available at their beck and call. McConnell felt like a “summer resorter rather than a soldier,” until reflecting on “the ancient custom of giving a man selected for the sacrifice a royal time of it before the appointed day.”

And the possibility of a fiery death for N-124 Lafayette Escadrille aviators was not remote. Missions (two-hour sorties, two to three times daily) were seldom routine. William Sydnor

On the heels of that scare, enemy shrapnel suddenly enveloped McConnell’s biplane. “It was interesting to watch the flash of the bursting shells, and the attendant smoke puffs — black, white, or yellow, depending on the shrapnel used . . . Strangely enough, my feelings about it were wholly impersonal.”

Four days later, McConnell’s fellow North Carolinian Kiffin Rockwell scored the Escadrille’s first aerial victory, shooting down a German LVG two-seater. According to McConnell, Rockwell closed within 30 yards, “pressed on the release of his machine gun, and saw the enemy gunner fall backward and the pilot crumple up sideways in his seat,” before their plane crashed to the earth.

The Escadrille and everyone in Luxeuil, “particularly the girls” (according to McConnell), celebrated Rockwell’s accomplishment. According to Jon Guttman, author of SPA 124 Lafayette Escradrille, Kiffin’s brother Paul, “who was in Paris when he heard the news, rushed to Luxeuil with an 80-year-old bottle of bourbon whiskey. After drinking a shot, Rockwell offered one to (Victor) Chapman, but he declined, suggesting that each pilot be entitled to one slug of the ‘Bottle of Death’ every time he shot down an enemy aeroplane.”

Other squadron aviators would achieve victories, including Chapman, Thaw, Cowdin, Prince, Hall, and the incomparable Raoul Lufbery, whose 16 kills would make him one of the Allies’ foremost aces. Despite once causing an enemy plane to careen

James R. McConnell

hopelessly out of control McConnell was not credited with any confirmed victories, since no one observed the near-certain crash.

Soon after Rockwell’s victory, the Escadrille was ordered to the Verdun sector. “A commodious villa halfway between the town of Bar-le-Duc and the aviation field had been assigned to us,” wrote McConnell, “and comforts were as plentiful as at Luxeuil.” But he sensed a “gigantic battle” in the offing, given “the endless convoys of motor trucks, the fast-flowing stream of troops, and the distressing number of ambulances.”

The Battle of Verdun was the longest and bloodiest of the war. Combined Allied and German casualties tallied over 700,000. The Escadrille was not immune from the carnage. Clyde Balsey suffered a severe wound to his thigh from an explosive bullet. He managed to land his plane in a meadow and was taken to a field hospital, where he lingered for an extended period before dying.

While hospitalized, Balsey developed an intense thirst. To quench it, Victor Chapman commandeered two bags of oranges he intended to deliver to the hospital following his final sortie of the day. It would prove to be Chapman’s last flight. He was killed in a dogfight just after shooting down an enemy plane. McConnell described the Escadrille’s reaction in Flying for France: “We talked in lowered voices after that; we could read the pain in one another’s eyes. If only it could have been someone else, was what we all thought . . . I kept thinking of him lying over there, and the oranges he was taking to Balsey.”

To cope with their grief, Escadrille aviators sought distractions. Consumption of alcohol topped the list. The squadron’s carousing while on leave in Paris reportedly reached epic proportions. McConnell wrote of other pastimes. “At the big table, several sportive souls start a poker game, while at a smaller one, two sedate spirits wrap themselves in the intricacies of chess. Captain Thenault labors away at the messroom piano, or in lighter mood plays with Fram, his police dog. A phonograph grinds out the ancient query, ‘Who Paid the Rent for Mrs. Rip Van Winkle,’ or some other ragtime ditty.” On a Paris sojourn, the flyers bought a lion cub, Whiskey, and adopted the feline as the squadron mascot.

Another diversion for the Americans was decorating their aircraft. All the Nieuports displayed the unit’s insignia — a Sioux warrior chief in full headdress. The pilots added their own personal touches. McConnell put the moniker “MAC” on his biplane. He later switched to a white “Hot Foot,” recalling his collegiate merrymaking.

McConnell avoided serious aerial mishaps until late August 1916, when a crash caused him a debilitating back injury. He initially denied being in pain, but Capt. Thenault saw through the ruse and ordered him to the hospital at Vitry-le-Francois. The flier spent most of his 45-day recuperation in the Paris home of Mrs. Alice Weeks, who had lost a son in the war. During his convalescence, McConnell worked on his writings for his publisher, Doubleday, Page & Company.

On Sept. 23, 1916, Kiffin Rockwell, one of McConnell’s best friends in the unit, was shot down and killed. A crestfallen McConnell wrote, “No greater blow could have befallen the Escadrille. Kiffin was its soul. He was loved and looked up to by not only every man in our flying corps but by everyone who knew him.”

In early October, Norman Prince, an original N-124 member, also perished. Seemingly on the road to recovery from an injury suffered in a landing accident, Prince expired after a blood clot developed on his brain. Four of N-124’s first nine pilots perished in six months.

On Oct. 16, 1916, N-124 was deployed to Cachy, France, to fight in the Battle of the Somme. McConnell, though still suffering from his injury, rejoined the unit. The new encampment was a rude awakening. “Instead of being quartered in villa or hotel, the pilots were directed to a portable barracks newly erected in a sea of mud,” wrote McConnell. Damp cold “penetrated through every crack.” Under-equipped in their new surroundings, the pilots begged for blankets from neighboring escadrilles.

McConnell’s gloomy ennui with the situation is evident in a Dec. 11, 1916, letter. “Have done little on the article. I’ve felt on the bum and Whiskey (the lion cub) chewed my fingers so it’s hard to hold a pen,” he confided. “Only flown once since my return.”

McConnell was not the only Escadrille member hurting. In a subsequent letter, he referred to N-124 as a “great aggregation of cripples.” In late January 1917, the Escadrille was redeployed to take part in a spring offensive. But another malady put McConnell back on the disabled list. In February, he wrote Mademoiselle Guérin to inform her he was back in the hospital due to “the itch,” a nearintractable form of dermatitis plaguing many in the Escadrille. McConnell would not exit the infirmary until early March.

He wrote Guérin numerous letters during this stay and following his return to duty with N-124. The correspondence suggests the rekindling of their dormant romance. He tells the young nurse that her letters are “like water to a man dying of thirst.” He acknowledges enjoying a visit with her more than any in his entire life.

McConnell’s final letter to Guérin, written March 16 , three days before his death, concludes, “Thank your mother for being so very nice to me, and give her my love, and keep some for yourself.” Decades later, Guérin would confide that McConnell was the great romance of her life.

On March 19, 1917, McConnell, together with fellow aviators Edmond Genet and Edwin Parsons, took off on patrol from an airfield in Sainte Juste, France. Still dogged with relentless back pain, McConnell had to be maneuvered by his mechanics into the bucket seat of his Nieuport 17. After the three aviators were aloft, a clogged oil line caused Parsons’ motor to malfunction, and he returned home.

Continuing the sortie, Genet and McConnell encountered two German two-seaters and separately attacked them. Jon Guttman’s book describes the dogfight: “The gunner of Genet’s opponent shot away his main upper wing support and wounded him in the left cheek. Recovering, (Genet) closed until the two aeroplanes nearly collided, but failed to bring down his quarry. He then searched for McConnell for 15 minutes, until enemy anti-aircraft fire and the increasing likelihood of losing his upper wing convinced him to head home. To his horror, he learned that McConnell had not returned.”

It was not until March 24 that McConnell’s death was confirmed. Two German planes that had been observed close on McConnell’s tail fired on him. After a “desperate fight,” McConnell

had crashed. Several bullets were found in his body. His ailing back may have played a role in his death, since he could not turn to spot enemy aircraft to his rear. McConnell’s crumpled Nieuport was found in full throttle. He likely died before hitting the ground.

McConnell may have had a premonition of his impending death. He left the following instructions with the Escadrille: “My burial is of no import. Make it as easy as possible for yourselves. I have no religion and do not care for any service. If the omission would embarrass you, I presume I could stand the performance. Good luck to the rest of you. God damn Germany and vive la France.”

In the end, he did in fact “stand the performance.” Three women, all claiming to be McConnell’s fiancée, attended his memorial service at the Escadrille’s base. The French military awarded him a second Croix de Guerre. Initially buried in the meadow where he crashed in Flavy-le-Martel, France, at his father’s request McConnell was later reinterred at the Lafayette Escadrille memorial near Paris.

The U.S. Congress declared war against Germany 18 days after McConnell’s death. The Escadrille’s remaining American pilots were promptly transferred to a U.S. Army aviation unit. McConnell was the last American pilot killed in the conflict prior to the U.S. entry into the war.

The editor of the Sandhill Citizen, H.E. Foss, gave credit to McConnell for seeing what was at stake in the war long before the government and most Americans. “Democracy and autocracy were face-to-face on the soil of France, and Jim was a democrat,” Foss opined. “He saw early and clearly, what we have been slow to discover, that in this struggle our future is at stake scarcely less than that of England and France. Thus, he was not only ‘Flying for France,’ but for the land of his birth.”

Carthage held its own memorial service. It was announced

at the ceremony that the new county hospital about to open 6 miles from Carthage would be named the James R. McConnell Hospital. Following its shipment from France to North Carolina, the French-language plaque honoring McConnell was displayed at that hospital. It would be the tablet’s first home but not its last. After that hospital closed, the plaque was moved in 1929 to the new Moore County Hospital in Pinehurst. Then, in 1940, the Carthage Chamber of Commerce persuaded the hospital to send the tablet to the county seat. Positioned near the old town hall, the plaque remained there until 2011, when Roland Gilliam convinced the city that it should be displayed at the airport.

Nor did UVA forget McConnell, its first alum killed in the war. The university commissioned Mt. Rushmore sculptor Gutzon Borglum to create a statue in memory of the flier. Dedicated in 1919, “The Aviator” depicts a winged and leatherhelmeted McConnell soaring Icarus-like in the air. Today, the statue rests on the plaza of the university’s Clemons Library.

And despite the passage of a century, the French continue to venerate McConnell and the N-124 Lafayette Escadrille. In 2016, airport founder Roland Gilliam, and fellow Carthage fliers Jim Wiltjer and Felice Schillaci, received invitations from French officials to attend the 100th anniversary of the founding of N-124. An unforgettable part of their pilgrimage was attending a ceremony held at James McConnell’s original gravesite, still lovingly maintained and covered by flowers, alongside a Flavy-le-Martel cornfield. The tribute was not extravagant — about 25 attended and the French and American national anthems came from a boom box. It was precisely the sort of performance McConnell would be happy to stand. PS

Pinehurst resident Bill Case is PineStraw’s history man. He can be reached at Bill.Case@thompsonhine.com.

Mural of James McConnell in downtown Carthage

PHOTOGRAPH BY THE PILOT

Divine Downtown Digs

Life on Another Level

By DeBorah salomon

Photogra Phs By John gessner

Back in the 1920s, a fella named Herb Beck decided, given the growing popularity of motor cars, to convert his buggy repair shop in downtown Southern Pines to an auto service center. The one-story brick corner location already had drive-through bays. Later, a second story was added that, according to a diagram provided by the Moore County Historical Association, became the Boy Scouts clubhouse.

Those grease monkeys and energetic boys should see it now. Industrial remnants — gone. Instead, Holly Floyd and husband Tyler Horney have created a “loft” living space rivaling anything Robert De Niro, Beyoncé and the late John Kennedy Jr. called home when factories became million-dollar condos in the SoHo, Tribeca and Meatpacking District of Manhattan.

“I wanted to create a gallery for my art,” Holly explains. Since her art includes enormous pottery urns, sparkling crystal vases and paintings ranging from Victorian portraits to Picasso-esque Cubism, the loft needed display cases, pedestals, spot lighting and angled walls which create the 4,000-square-foot maze.

Parisian lofts inhabited by starving artists it’s not. Rather, the door at the top of a long, steep staircase opens onto a Technicolor world strewn with eye candy. This loft is edgy-chic, with a surprise around each corner. Take the rooster motif. “I like chickens,” Holly admits. They are everywhere, from an enormous, stylized portrait to a thumbnail glass strutter in a wall-mounted shadowbox filled with other fascinating miniatures brought back from Europe and elsewhere.

This is a space choreographed by a woman secure in her tastes, with designer Awena Hurst to help realize them.

Holly, who is Texas born, Lumberton raised, and Tyler, a Moore County native, purchased the downtown building in 2009 with the intention of converting the ground floor to retail space. “Why not live upstairs?” within walking distance of the Sunrise Theater and fine dining, she thought. In the past, Holly had lived at Loblolly, a quasi-Tudor Weymouth estate designed by Aymar Embury II, and also at The Roost, a Cape Cod cottage near Campbell House, home to the Arts Council galleries. Roost? Rooster?

Holly wanted their new home to vibrate with color and originality, starting at the front door, which opens into a hallway lined with showcases, ending at the living room, where the principal color is a hunter/leafy green accented by a green velveteen chair, pale green walls, and additional shades woven into settee upholstery. On the floor, a custom-hooked wool rug patterned with symbols: Holly’s monogram, butterflies representing her children, sunbursts, alpha and omega and, of course, roosters. Windows are covered with shutters and Roman shades decorated with birds.

The fireplace is faux, but the deck overlooking downtown has been outfitted for grilling. Watches can be set by Amtrak arrivals, surely less startling than police sirens punctuating SoHo nights.

In an era of kitchen extravaganzas, hers is modestly sized; one counter doubles as a minibar, with sink and refrigerator. Cupboards are gray-stained wormy maple with painted brick backsplash and a soffit display case filled with . . . roosters.

“This is a one-person kitchen,” Holly says: ample, simple and functional. It opens into the living room on one side and on the other, a small dining room with an expandable birdseye maple table. The sideboard is no-nonsense Welsh, while a dainty asymmetric crystal chandelier is shaped like palm fronds. Angled walls throughout the midsection pit turquoise against pale yellow.

Now look down. Most of the heavily knotted pine flooring is original to the building. Once considered inferior grade, a century later these imperfections add character. Wooden doors of assorted sizes from an antique door dealer in Virginia provide texture, although wall openings had to be tailored to their individual, sometimes irregular sizes.

The star of the living area has to be the pottery Holly has collected from Seagrove and elsewhere. Smaller pieces, like a Noah’s Ark crammed with animals or the familiar “ugly jugs,” are displayed in built-in cabinets. Enormous urns — one a 4-foot scarlet Christmas gift from Tyler — stand on pedestals separated by window seats.

A gentler green continues into the master suite, with a small sofa occupying a bay. Teddy bears on a mini chair were made from fur coats, one belonging to Holly’s mother, whose presence is felt throughout.

Something’s missing: multiple wall-mounted TV screens. A small screen on a swinging arm is tucked between the kitchen and living room. “Never the bed-

room!” Holly exclaims. But she allowed one in the master bathroom “so I could see what’s happening in the world while I get ready.” Their only big screen dominates the man cave, originally a second apartment, with daring terra-cotta-hued walls and heavy antique case pieces. There’s a small office for Tyler and two guest bedrooms for children and grandchildren, where Holly’s palette veers uncharacteristically into blue. Birds perch on branches over one bed, a trompe l’oeil effect accomplished by decals Holly found online.

“I’m all about whimsy,” she admits, further illustrated by a powder room where the basin sits on a stained artist’s worktable. Globs of “paint” — decals again — appear to have been splashed against the wall.

After a year-long renovation, Holly and Tyler moved in last November. The only thing Holly misses is having a dog.

Repurposing commercial and industrial buildings, barns and carriage houses played out across North Carolina as cotton mills and tobacco warehouses became upscale residences. Occasionally, space “over the store” was available, saving its occupants a tedious commute. Downtown Southern Pines has several iterations, including a new-construction all-loft building and, on Broad Street, a legendary bordello over a bowling alley, reconfigured for a family with young children as a loft with roof garden near the park.

However, living day-to-day with fine art and museum-quality crafts requires a particular mindset. Holly Floyd has it, for her glorious, decorative “stuff.”

“I find it comforting,” she says. “Like memories brought back by Christmas tree ornaments.” PS

Meagan Church

The Girls We Sent Away

March 7 at 5:00 PM

Emily P. Freeman

How to Walk into a Room

March 14 at 11:30 AM

Cara Black

Murder at la Villette

March 15 at 5:00 PM

Matthew Stewart

An Emancipation of the Mind

March 27 at 4:00 PM Virtual Event

Joy Callaway and Melissa Ferguson

April 11 at 6:00 PM

Tom Maxwell

A Really Strange and Wonderful Time

April 16 at 6:00 PM

Kathleen DuVal

Native Nations

April 17 at 6:00 PM

Becca Rothfeld

All Things Are Too Small

April 22 at 12:00 PM

Virtual Event

Release Day Party: Dog Man

March 19

ALMANAC March

March is a giggle of wild violets, a squeal of flowering redbud, a tea party in the making.

The earth is awakening. As purple blossoms spill across the softening landscape, cottontail rabbits follow. Mingling in sunny patches, they graze on heart-shaped leaves and tender grasses, feast on the freshness of this fragrant spring morning.

In the distance, a pregnant doe plucks clusters of crisp buds from magenta-studded branches. Munching to the tune of chattering squirrel, counter-singing wrens and whitethroated sparrow, the deer hears a different kind of music: laughter. One ear back and one ear forward, she pinpoints the source, gently flicks her tail, resumes her browsing.

The children arrive skipping, bare feet in cool grass, eyes bright with life and color. Their pleasure is unmeasured; their vision is clear: wild violet shortbread.

Between cartwheels and somersaults, they gather purple flowers, linger in the sunlight, bask in the welcome, dewy warmth. As they dream up tea and cookies, guests of honor arrive on the wing: bluebird, robin, purple martin, warbler, swallow, towhee, killdeer. The old tabby is near. Early honeybees embrace early dandelions. Her ruby-throated highness takes her throne in a luminous redbud.

Soon, a heap of hand-picked violets becomes a spread fit for a court. Among wild giggles, the children don crowns, wriggle their toes in the soft grass, sink their teeth into the delicate sweetness as the birds sing spring is here.

Nectar, Etc.

“The first day of spring is one thing,” wrote the late poet and author Henry van Dyke, “and the first spring day is another.” Such is the day that the earliest eastern tiger swallowtail glides across Carolina blue skies. The first broods of our official state butterfly are on the move. With a wingspan up to 5 1/2 inches, this eyecatching swallowtail is recognized by its black and yellow tiger stripes and three-lobed hindwings. Most females have a low row of iridescent blue markings on their hindwings. However, they can also occur in a dark color phase, causing humans and male tiger swallowtails alike to mistake them for a different species.

Want to take a closer look? Attract swallowtails to your own garden with native pollinator plants they won’t be able to resist. And if you’re looking for suggestions, check out North Carolina Wildlife Federation’s list of native trees, shrubs and flowers here: ncwf.org/habitat/ native-pollinator-plants.

Spring’s greatest joy beyond a doubt is when it brings the children out.

— Edgar Guest

Eye on the Sky

The days are growing longer still. Daylight saving time begins on Sunday, March 10. All the better for soaking up the soft and radiant magic of spring, which officially begins with the vernal equinox on Tuesday, March 19.

According to Scientific American’s “Sky Spectacles to Watch in 2024,” you’ll want to gaze due west at sunset on Sunday, March 24, when Mercury will appear directly above the sun at twilight. Positioned at its “greatest eastern elongation” (greatest distance from our sun), Mercury will be about 19 degrees from the star that gives us life. A little wink from a tiny, not-so-faraway planet that isn’t always easy to spot. PS

Distinguished Chefs Edition

Meet the culinary influencers who are bringing fresh local flavors to the table – each with their unique flair.

Pias Pak

Table on the Green

Chef Pias (Kamonwan) Pak, the visionary behind Table on the Green, brings an eclectic fusion of Thai, Asian, and American cuisine to Moore County. Originating from Bangkok, Thailand, Pias’ culinary journey began as an exchange student in Japan, leading her to run a thriving Thai food business in Okinawa. In 2022, she took the helm at Table on the Green, where cultural diversity flavors the menu for up to 100 guests during lunch, dinner, and Sunday brunch.

Pias is a multilingual chef, fluent in Thai, English, and Japanese. With a family background rooted in the restaurant business, her Thai recipes have been passed down through generations. Table on the Green has been recognized, securing a Top 3 spot in the Best of the Pines Thai restaurant category in 2022 and 2023.

Pias extends her culinary influence beyond the restaurant, offering Thai cooking classes that deepen community connections. As a military spouse and mother of three, she masterfully balances running a restaurant and supporting her family. Her greatest accomplishment lies in finding harmony amid these roles. Moore County’s warm embrace makes a nurturing home for Pias and Table on the Green.

William Faircloth Owner Paul Smith Chef Partner

Chef Paul Smith joined the Beefeaters culinary team in 2021 when he returned to his Moore County roots after 16 years in Wilmington as a Chef and Partner in Pine Valley Market. He quickly made a significant impact in the kitchen and won the adoration of new owner William Faircloth. He was appointed Head Chef in 2022 and later promoted to Chef Partner.

Beefeaters provides him a canvas for his upscale southern cuisine, a passion reflected in dishes like Grit Cakes and Collard Greens. His culinary influence is evident in Beefeaters weekly and nightly specials that allow him to further showcase his creativity.

Chef Paul credits his success in the restaurant world to his former mentor Christi Ferrerti, who was his Partner at Pine Valley and showed him so many facets of the industry that otherwise he wouldn’t have had the opportunity to learn. His commitment to quality aligns with that of Beefeaters which has secured the title of ‘Best Steak’ for over a decade.

Chef Paul and Will are together prepared to take Beefeaters to new heights. A Sandhills staple for more than 25 years, Beefeaters is already renowned among top local restaurants, but with these two dishing out steaks, burgers, seafood and salads that will make your mouth water for more, they will always have a line of returning customers ready for whatever they’ll cook up next.

Chef Brian Hainley Genuine Hospitality Group

Meet Brian Hainley, the passionate Chef and coowner of Mason’s Restaurant & Grocery, Pizzeria Grazia, and Genuine Hospitality Catering & Events. Hailing from Grand Haven, MI, Brian’s culinary journey began at The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY.

In 2022 Chef Brian and his wife Alison opened their first restaurant together in downtown Aberdeen, Mason’s Restaurant & Grocery, named after their son Mason. At the popular brunch hang Brian serves up delicious, southern comfort fare including unique benedicts, “hot mess” egg bowls and country-fried steak and eggs. In a beautifully renovated historic building they’ve created a modern, energetic atmosphere.

Right next door, the Hainley’s opened Pizzeria Grazia in April 2022, named after daughter Grace. The menu centers around authentic Neapolitan pizzas but Brian, of course, enhanced the offerings with creative salads and sandwiches, antipasti, and classic Italian dolci.

Genuine Hospitality, The Hainley’s catering business offers fresh, made-from-scratch, high-quality ingredient Southern breakfasts, brunches, lunches and wood-fired pizzas— everything Brian does best— for local events and weddings.

His popularity is evident as a three-time Best of the Pines winner for Best Breakfast/Brunch and Best Southern Food (2021-2023). He showcases culinary prowess in every dish and never skimps on quality or portions. In Chef Brian’s kitchen, culinary boundaries are limitless.

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Thierry Debailleul

Pinehurst Resort

Managing a handful of restaurants, each with its own style and signature dishes, seems like a daunting assignment even for the most talented culinary expert. Executive Chef Thierry Debailleul has risen to the challenge at the Pinehurst Resort, ensuring each property maintains the high standard that both the community and guests have come to expect.

Known as Chef T, Debailleul’s love for cuisine began as a hobby in his hometown of Beauvais, south of Paris, France. His work has spanned the globe in several Michelin-ranked and Mobilrated restaurants and hotels, including the Island of Saint Martin in the Caribbean, New Orleans, Hawaii and a 5-year stay in Phoenix, Arizona in the heart of the Southwest.

“I loved the idea of working in a restaurant every night and having your product and your own thing, but I think what the resort and hotel life can give you is the diversity and the versatility to put your stamp on many different styles and dishes, which is fun.”

At Pinehurst Resort, that’s just what Chef T has done. It’s all facilitated by a philosophy grounded in fresh, locally sourced ingredients, and the desire to always keep guests coming back for more.

“You’ll find a barbecue restaurant at the brewery, traditional North Carolina cuisine at The Holly Inn, a steakhouse with flair in the Carolina Dining Room. It’s a diverse setting with many different options; hopefully, something for everyone for every day, and for whatever mood they are in at that moment.”

Warren Henry Lewis

Chef Warren’s

Chef Warren Lewis, with a background spanning prestigious fine dining establishments along the East Coast, has rooted himself in downtown Southern Pines more than 25 years ago, establishing Chef Warren’s — a culinary haven melding his love for food and community.

Originally from Long Island, Chef Warren earned his degree at the Culinary Institute of America in New Hyde Park, New York. He met his wife, Marianne, while working together in NYC. Travels in Turkey, Egypt, Australia and Southeast Asia soon followed and solidified the global influence that can be found in his menu today.

Since its inception, Chef Warren’s bistro has been renowned for its classic French-inspired dishes and unique creations like prosciuttowrapped kangaroo, all crafted in an open kitchen fostering intimacy and camaraderie. Not only a dining destination, the restaurant serves as a training ground for budding chefs, a source of pride for Warren as they ascend in their careers.

Celebrating its 26th year, Chef Warren’s continues to delight diners five nights a week. When asked about his greatest joy in business, Chef Warren expressed, “The connections with our community that this has enabled us to build.” Outside the kitchen, he indulges in various hobbies including travel, reading, photography, and the pursuit of learning.

Peter Hamm Chapman’s Food and Spirits

At Chapman’s Food and Spirits, Chef Peter Chapman Hamm’s playful take on cuisine results in unique spins on fresh, homemade comfort food. Peter has worked in high-end resorts and created prize-winning dishes around the world, but Chapman’s is where he really lets his creativity run free.

Peter began experimenting in his mother’s kitchen at age 13; by age 17, he had started culinary school and graduated with a dual degree two years later. Peter would spend the next several years perfecting his talents in established, high-volume restaurants as well as leading startup concepts to the path of success.

For Peter, being a chef means the freedom to go wherever you want, as long as you bring your talent with you. But after years of traveling the world, he wanted the freedom to not answer to anyone in the kitchen — which led to the birth of Chapman’s in April 2016.

From early in the morning, Chef Peter’s kitchen is bustling as he creates a variety of specials for hungry customers to choose from. While his staples provide a solid foundation, feedback from the community helps him decide where his creativity should take him next.

Monday-Sunday 11:00 am-10:00 pm

Emily Walden Harris

Executive Chef

Introducing Emily Walden Harris, the seasoned Chef poised to lead The Buggy Factory by Southern Pines Brewing Co. opening up this year in Carthage, along with a new location on Hay Street in Fayetteville.

Emily’s culinary odyssey spans the globe, from prestigious kitchens in Denmark, Norway, Italy, France, and beyond, including a stint at Noma in Copenhagen, the pinnacle of gastronomy. Owner Micah Niebauer lauds her unparalleled expertise, remarking on her humility amidst her vast experiences. “I started to use cooking as a way to travel and it became much more of a career choice,” shares Emily. “It was a way for me to explore the world.”

From her Detroit roots to culinary experiences in Tokyo and Slovenia, Emily’s journey now brings her to the Southern Pines Brewing Company enterprise, where her diverse influences on the menu offer a fusion of flavor for patrons to enjoy, notably featuring her hometown’s Detroit-style pizza alongside other innovative delights.

As anticipation mounts for The Buggy Factory’s debut in early 2024, Emily’s arrival promises a culinary revolution, marrying her global expertise with local flair. With her zest for exploration extending beyond the kitchen, Emily’s impact on the culinary scene is set to be nothing short of extraordinary.

Diane S. Kang, MAHT Studios

Elliotts on Linden

Celebrated chef Mark Elliott epitomizes culinary excellence, boasting a rich legacy spanning four decades. His culinary narrative is one of passion and innovation, where every dish bears the hallmark Elliott touch, crafted from the finest ingredients sourced from regional farmers, artisans, and ranchers in the Sandhills and beyond.

As the mastermind behind Elliotts on Linden, The Sly Fox, The Roast Office, Elliotts Provisions, and Elliotts Catering Co., Mark’s creative flair transforms the freshest ingredients into gastronomic delights that captivate patrons’ palates.

This spring, Elliotts on Linden is set to unveil a Crudo Bar, offering patrons a firsthand glimpse into the artistry behind fresh ceviche, oysters, and seafood delicacies, expertly curated by Mark’s team of skilled chefs. With a keen eye for innovation, Mark and his culinary team constantly push boundaries, refining seasonal menus and collaborating to introduce new, inspired dishes throughout the year.

Transitioning into a mentorship role, Chef Mark Elliott fosters a culture of creativity and growth among his culinary team, empowering each member to contribute ideas and explore new culinary frontiers.

From Left to Right: Karin Yonish (General Manager), Tanya Halligan (Retail Manager), Mark Elliott (Distinguished Chef and Owner), Betsy Simon (Executive Chef), Danielle Williams (Assistant Manager) and Erik Givens (Executive Chef). Every member of Mark’s culinary team contributes significantly to upholding his esteemed culinary legacy.

To add an event, email us at

arts & entertainment march

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

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

MARCH EVENTS

Friday, March 1

LUNCH BUNCH. 11:30 a.m. Adults 55 and older are invited to dine on different cuisines each month as they visit different restaurants in the area. Carpool with friends or meet at the restaurant. Dining locations will be chosen the week before. Info: (910) 692-7376.

FILM SCREENING. 3:30 - 5:30 p.m. The League of Women Voters along with the Sandhills Coalition for Peace, Love and Justice will be sponsoring a free showing of The Social Dilemma. The 90-minute screening focuses on the impact of social media and will be followed by a 30-minute discussion. Sunrise Theater, 250 N.W. Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: www.lwvmc.org.

ART EXHIBIT. 5 - 7 p.m. The Artists League of the Sandhills will host an opening reception for “30 Years in the Making Anniversary Exhibit.” Artists League of the Sandhills, 129 Exchange St., Aberdeen. Info: www.artistleague.org.

PAINTED PONIES. The fifth annual Painted Ponies Art Walk takes place in Southern Pines until late March. The 16 painted ponies will line Broad Street for all to enjoy and then be auctioned off during a live online auction on April 6. Take a selfie with your favorite pony and use #PaintedPoniesCHP to share our herd with friends and family. Printed maps can be picked up at the Train Station Welcome Center. Info: www.carolinahorsepark.com.

Saturday, March 2

CRAFT DAYS. Children and their families can come by the library for Drop-in Craft Days and work on crafts and coloring at their own pace. Southern Pines

Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or www.sppl.net.

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

WOOFSTOCK. 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. Enjoy music, dog contests and events, food trucks, and vendors offering services for dogs and people alike. Admission by any monetary donation. All proceeds will be for upgrading Martin Park. Rain date is March 9. Memorial Park, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

ART MARKET. 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. Come to the Starworks Community Art Market. Starworks Cafe and Taproom, 100 Russell Drive, Star. Info: www.StarworksNC.org.

THEATER. 2 - 3 p.m. Moana JR., presented by the Imagine Youth Theater Junior. There will be a second production at 5 p.m. Sunrise Theater, 250 N.W. Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: www.ticketmesandhills.com.

MYSTERY TOUR. 7 p.m. The Scott Grove Mystery Tour live. No cover charge. Starworks Cafe and Taproom, 100 Russell Drive, Star. Info: www.StarworksNC.org.

Sunday, March 3

WRITING GROUP. 3 p.m. Are you interested in creating fiction, nonfiction, poetry or comics? Come to the Sunday Afternoon Writing Group. Connect with other writers and artists, chat about your craft and get feedback about your work. All levels welcome. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: lholden@sppl.net.

SUNDAY WITH CHOPIN. 3 - 5 p.m. Break a Leg Studios presents Sunday with Chopin, with internationally acclaimed concert pianist Dr. Dominic Muzzi. General admission tickets are $25. The concert will be held at The Village Chapel, 10 Azalea Road, Pinehurst. Info: www.tickettailor.com/events/breakalegstudios.

SHAG CLUB SOCIAL. 7 - 10 p.m. The Cat 5 Band will be playing at the dance party of Moore Area Shag Society. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. with a cash bar on-site. You may bring snacks for your table. A 50/50 drawing will be held with prizes. Entry fee is $20 if purchased before the event or $25 at the door. Tables

for eight may be reserved for $160. Down Memory Lane, 161 Dawkins St., Aberdeen. Info: (919) 622-2829 or www.MASSEventTickets.com.

Monday, March 4

QUILTS OF VALOR. 12 - 4 p.m. Quilts of Valor meets the first Monday of each month to create lap quilts made especially for veterans. If you sew, bring your machine; if you don’t sew, you can iron or cut out fabrics for new designs. This is a free program. Moore County Senior Enrichment Center, 8040 U.S. Hwy. 15-501, West End.

Tuesday, March 5

BRAIN FITNESS. 10 - 11 a.m. Adults 18 and older are invited to enjoy short relaxation and brain enhancement exercises, ending with a mindfulness practice. Eve Gaskell will be the instructor. Free of charge. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

MUSIC APPRECIATION. 1 - 2:30 p.m. Uncover the magic of classical music with Break a Leg Studio in a four-part course exploring classical music. Join this musical journey on March 5, 12, 19 and 26. Cost is $60. Register by March 4. Meetings are at The Village Chapel, 10 Azalea Road, Pinehurst. Info: www.tickettailor.com/events/breakalegstudios.

SUICIDE SUPPORT GROUP. 6 - 8 p.m. This discussion group is for family and friends who have lost a loved one to suicide. The group is guided by suicide survivor Iris Angle. Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities, 555 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: www.weymouthcenter.org or wildiris@walkingpoetry.com.

Wednesday, March 6

LINE DANCING. 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Instructor Pearline Stevens, a Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based fitness teacher, will lead participants in such classic line dance steps as the electric slide and the wobble to the beat of old-school jams and some of the latest hits. For adults 55 and older. Free of charge. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

MURDER MYSTERY. 5 p.m. Sandhills Woman’s Exchange presents another murder mystery by the Encore Theatre Players called “Drop Dead Disco.” Dinner and theater with a cash bar. Cost is $60 per person. Event will be at the Pine Crest Inn, 50

Dogwood Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 295-4677 or www.sandhillswe.org.

Thursday, March 7

BOOK EVENT. 5 - 6 p.m. Author Meagan Church will speak about her latest book, The Girls We Sent Away. The Country Bookshop, 140 N.W. Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: www.ticketmesandhills.com.

FILM SERIES. 7 p.m. Watch Barbie during the woman director film series. Sunrise Theater, 250 N.W. Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 420-2549 or www. sunrisetheater.com.

JUDSON THEATRE. 7 p.m. Morgan Fairchild will headline Butterflies Are Free, a Judson Theatre Company production. There will be other performances on March 8 at 8 p.m., March 9 at 2 and 8 p.m., and March 10 at 3 p.m. Info: www.judsontheatre.com or www.ticketmesandhills.com.

Friday, March 8

HEALTH SYMPOSIUM. 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. Women of the Pines will host a health symposium on “New Approaches to Old Problems.” Free event, registration required. Meetings are at the Pinehurst Village Hall, 395 Magnolia Road, Pinehurst. Info: www.womenofthepines.org.

OPEN MIC NIGHT. 7 - 9 p.m. Share your talent during this family-friendly event. Art, literature, poetry, music, we want to hear all about it. Free of charge. Drinks and snacks for a donation. Given Tufts Bookshop, 95 Cherokee Road, Pinehurst. Participant sign-up at: giventuftsfoundation.com/openmic.

CALENDAR

Saturday, March 9

JEWELRY WORKSHOP. 9 a.m. Come to a jewelry forging workshop. There will be a second workshop at 1 p.m. Register online to reserve a spot. Starworks Cafe and Taproom, 100 Russell Drive, Star. Info: www.StarworksNC.org.

TEA WITH POTTERS. 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Spend the day in Seagrove on a relaxing gallery crawl and celebrate the 10th anniversary of Tea with Seagrove Potters. Sample different teas, pastries and homemade treats. Shops will feature everything you need to serve tea, including teapots, teacups, pitchers and tumblers. Each shop is giving away gifts with purchase for first 20 customers and door prizes. Drawings for the door prizes will be held after the event. Shops are located along N.C. Pottery Highway 705 and adjoining roads. Maps and brochures are available at each shop. Info: www.teawithseagrovepotters.com.

MET OPERA. 12 p.m. La Forza del Destino. Sunrise Theater, 250 N.W. Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 420-2549 or www.sunrisetheater.com.

BOTANICAL WORKSHOP. 1 p.m. Ariana Stein leads a workshop on “Pressing Botanicals on Slab Built Ceramics.” Register online to reserve a spot. Starworks Cafe and Taproom, 100 Russell Drive, Star. Info: www.StarworksNC.org.

HORSE TRIALS. Come watch the Southern Pines Horse Trials. Carolina Horse Park, 2814 Montrose Road, Raeford. Info: www.carolinahorsepark.com.

Sunday, March 10

MURDER MYSTERY. 5 p.m. Sandhills Woman’s Exchange presents another murder mystery by the Encore Theatre Players called “Drop Dead Disco.” Dinner and theatre with a cash bar. Cost is $60 per person. Event will be at the Pine Crest Inn, 50 Dogwood Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 295-4677 or www.sandhillswe.org.

Monday, March 11

PHOTO CLUB. 7 p.m. The Sandhills Photography Club monthly meeting will be a presentation on “Finding Drama in Architecture” by Henry Rinne, a photographer and former dean of the College of Fine Arts at Jacksonville University. Gain insights into Rinne’s creative process as he showcases his architectural photographs, offering a behind-the-scenes look at his image creation process using Capture One Pro. Guests are welcome. Meeting is at Sandhills Horticultural Gardens, 3245 Airport Road, Southern Pines. Info: www.sandhillsphotoclub.org.

Tuesday, March 12

SENIOR EXCURSION. 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. Adults 55 and older are invited to visit the Airborne and Special Operations Museum. The museum celebrates over 80 years of Army Airborne and Special Operations history and honors our nation’s soldiers. Lunch at Fullers BBQ afterward. Cost is $7 for residents and $10 for nonresidents. Info: (910) 692-7376.

HATHA YOGA. 10 - 11 a.m. For adults 55 and older. Increase your flexibility, balance, stability and muscle tone while learning the basic principles of alignment

and breathing. You may gain strength, improve circulation and reduce chronic pain as we practice gentle yoga postures and mindfulness. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

AARP TALK. 12 - 12:30 p.m. Adults 55 and older are invited to join AARP for a fraud talk. Free of charge. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

TEEN CRAFT NIGHT. 4:30 - 5:30 p.m. Teens and tweens, join us to make a fun craft. Space is limited, so please arrive on time to ensure your spot. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: kbroughey@sppl.net.

Wednesday, March 13

FILM SERIES. 7:30 p.m. Watch Clueless during the woman director film series. Sunrise Theater, 250 N.W. Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 420-2549 or www.sunrisetheater.com.

Thursday, March 14

BOOK EVENT. 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Author Emily P. Freeman will speak about her latest book, How to Walk into a Room: The Art of Knowing When to Stay and When to Walk Away. Kimberly Daniels Taws from The Country Bookshop will be the moderator, at CCNC, 1600 Morganton Road, Pinehurst. Info: www.ticketmesandhills.com.

HOT GLASS COLD BEER. 5:30 p.m. Join a live glassblowing demonstration with special guest artists, food trucks and live music. Starworks Cafe and Taproom, 100 Russell Drive, Star. Info: www.StarworksNC.org.

HORSE SHOW. The Setters’ Run Farm Carolina International CCI and HT takes place. Free to spectators. Watch the best horses and riders from around the country. Enjoy our vendor village and food trucks every day with a kids’ zone on March 16 and 17, from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Info: www.carolinainternationalcci.com.

Friday, March 15

THEATER SHOW. 7 - 9 p.m. Students from West Pine Middle School will put on a performance of The Lion King Jr. There will be another performance on March 16 at 2 p.m. Moore Montessori Community School Auditorium, 255 S. May St., Southern Pines. Info: www.ticketmesandhills.com.

BEATLES EXPERIENCE. 7 - 9 p.m. Yesterday and Today: The Interactive Beatles Experience is a unique show utilizing the works of the Beatles. The audience chooses the songs. The set list is created as the show happens. Owens Auditorium, 3395 Airport Road, Pinehurst. Info: www.ticketmesandhills.com.

Saturday, March 16

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

WELDING WORKSHOP. 9 a.m. Welding basics workshop with Mac Metz. Register online to reserve a spot. Starworks Cafe and Taproom, 100 Russell Drive, Star. Info: www.StarworksNC.org.

BOOK EVENT. 5 - 6 p.m. Author Cara Black will speak about her latest book, Murder at la Villette. The

Country Bookshop, 140 N.W. Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: www.ticketmesandhills.com.

DANCING. 6 p.m. Carolina Pines Dance Club invites you for a fun evening of swing, shag, ballroom, Latin and line dancing. Doors open at 6 p.m. Dance lessons from 6:30 - 7:30 p.m. Dancing until 9:30 p.m. Beginners and experienced dancers, couples and singles all welcome. Cost is $20 per person, cash at door. Tyson Sinclair Ballroom, 105 McReynolds St. (second floor), Carthage. Info: (910) 331-9965.

TRIVIA NIGHT. 7 p.m. Come join Starworks for trivia. Starworks Cafe and Taproom, 100 Russell Drive, Star. Info: www.StarworksNC.org.

CONCERT. 7 p.m. The Sandhills Repertory Theatre along with the Sunrise Theater present Matt Leisy in concert. There is an additional performance on Sunday at 2 p.m. Sunrise Theater, 250 N.W. Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 420-2549 or www. sunrisetheater.com.

Sunday, March 17

CONCERT. 2 p.m. The Moore County Community Concert Band will be performing a St. Patrick’s Day concert featuring a selection of Irish tunes. BPAC, 3395 Airport Road, Pinehurst.

Monday, March 18

WOMEN OF WEYMOUTH. 9:30 a.m. The Women of Weymouth meeting will focus on Women’s History Month. There will be a panel of female speakers who are actively preserving the history of Moore County. Free admission, registration required. Weymouth

Center for the Arts & Humanities, 555 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: www.weymouthcenter.org.

COMMUNITY PROGRAM. 4 p.m. Aging

Outreach Services and Southern Pines Public Library are hosting two free seminars to help families understand and navigate the complexities of family estrangement. “Family Estrangement: A Journey of Acknowledgement” will focus on navigating the challenging journey of estrangement for parents and estranged adult children. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-0683 or info@AOSNC.com.

SPEAKER SERIES. 5 - 7 p.m. Clare Lopez, former CIA officer, will have a presentation on “World on Fire, America in the Crosshairs.” Owens Auditorium, 3395 Airport Road, Pinehurst. Info: www.ticketmesandhills.com.

Tuesday, March 19

BRAIN FITNESS. 10 - 11 a.m. Adults 18 and older are invited to enjoy short relaxation and brain enhancement exercises, ending with a mindfulness practice. Eve Gaskell will be the instructor. Free of charge. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

BINGO. 11 a.m. - 12 p.m. Adults 55 and older are invited to play 10 games of bingo. Cost is $4 for residents and $6 for non-residents. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

BOOK CLUB. 2 p.m. The James Boyd Book Club meets. Led by Iris Angle and Amy Rotting, the group

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honors N.C. authors and includes a diverse range of genres of books with ties to N.C. or the Weymouth Center. Free admission, registration required. Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities, 555 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: www. weymouthcenter.org.

N.W. Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 420-2549 or www.sunrisetheater.com.

Thursday, March 21

Unitarian Universalism

TEEN CREATIVITY CLUB. 4:30 p.m. Teen Creativity Club is our new meeting space for creative teens in grades 6 - 12. From creative writing to storytelling to drawing and more, come by and see what other teen artists are doing. We will be working on our Spring Zine issue to showcase our work. Bring your friends. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: kbroughey@sppl.net.

Wednesday, March 20

READ BETWEEN THE PINES. 5 p.m. Do you love reading and discussing amazing books? If so, join SPPL’s evening book club for adults, Read Between the Pines. Copies of the book are available at the library to check out while supplies last. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: mhoward@sppl.net.

(UU) is a liberal religion that welcomes people of different faiths, cultures, and backgrounds. It is a non-dogmatic, noncreedal, and non-exclusive religion that encourages free inquiry, reason, and personal exploration in matters of faith and spirituality.

LINE DANCING. 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Instructor Pearline Stevens, a Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based fitness teacher, will lead paticipants in such classic line dance steps as the electric slide and the wobble to the beat of old-school jams and some of the latest hits. For adults 55 and older. Free of charge. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

WHITEHALL BOOK CLUB. 2 p.m. Southern Pines Public Library’s book club for adults meets to discuss this month’s book. The book club is open to the public. Whitehall Property, 490 Pee Dee Road, Southern Pines. Info: mmiller@sppl.net.

FILM SERIES. 7 p.m. Watch American Honey during the woman director film series. Sunrise Theater, 250

CIVIL WAR ROUND TABLE. 6:30 p.m. The guest speakers will be Mary Hatcher and Jean Hutchinson, with a presentation on “Ruin and Remembrance.” Meeting starts at 7 p.m. Open to the public. Civic Club, corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and Ashe Street, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 246-0452 or mafarina@aol.com.

OPEN MIC NIGHT. 7 p.m. Come join Starworks for open mic night. Starworks Cafe and Taproom, 100 Russell Drive, Star. Info: www.StarworksNC.org.

LECTURE SERIES. 7 - 8:15 p.m. Joseph Blocher with a presentation on “America and the Right to Possess Firearms: The Past, Present and Future of the Second Amendment.” Free event, registration required. Owens Auditorium, 3395 Airport Road, Pinehurst. Info: www.ticketmesandhills.com.

Saturday, March 23

EGGSTRAVAGANZA. 10 a.m. The Easter Bunny is coming to town and will be joining us for his Egg-travaganza. Kids 12 and under can have fun with crafts, egg hunts and much more. Bring your

Our Covenant:

Love is the doctrine of this church

The quest for truth its sacrament, And service is its prayer.

To dwell together in peace, To seek the truth in love, To the end that all shall grow in harmony, Thus do we covenant with one another.

You Community celebrates every sexual background

Unitarian is a emphasis community worth committed society. social congregations activism,

camera for pictures with the Easter Bunny. Egg hunt begins at 11 a.m. Children must be accompanied by an adult. Free of charge. Campbell House Park, 482 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

MET OPERA. 1 p.m. Romeo et Juliette. Sunrise Theater, 250 N.W. Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 420-2549 or www.sunrisetheater.com.

Sunday, March 24

STEAM. 2:30 - 3:30 p.m. Elementary-aged children and their caregivers are invited to learn about topics in science, technology, engineering, art and math, and to participate in STEAM projects and activities. This month the theme is “Optical Illusions.” Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or kbroughey@sppl.net.

VOLUNTEER DAY AND TACK SALE. 2:30 - 6:30 p.m. Join Weymouth Equestrians program participants for a day of volunteering at the Weymouth Center barn. Gently used and new tack will be for sale. Open to the public. Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities, 555 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: www.weymouthcenter.org or kelly@weymouthcenter.org.

Monday, March 25

GOLF FUNDRAISER. 9 a.m. Sandhills Children’s Center is having their 2024 Kelly Cup Golf Championship. Teams must register in advance, space is limited. There will also be an auction of rounds of golf and trips. Forest Creek Golf Club, 100 Forest Creek Drive, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 692-3323.

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COMMUNITY PROGRAM. 4 p.m. Aging

Outreach Services and Southern Pines Public Library are hosting two free seminars to help families understand and navigate the complexities of family estrangement. “Family Estrangement: A Journey of Acknowledgement” will focus on navigating the challenging journey of estrangement for parents and estranged adult children. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-0683 or info@AOSNC.com.

Tuesday, March 26

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

WELLNESS CLASSES. 10 - 11:30 a.m. Adults 18 and older are invited to join us for different educational topics all involving information that will improve our overall mind, body and spirit. Free of charge. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION. 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. The Moore County League of Women Voters will host a 40th anniversary celebration. Guest speaker will be Jennifer Watson, former mayor of Charlotte and colead for the Carter Center’s Strengthening Democracy Project, who will speak honoring the life and legacy of Rosalynn Carter. Tickets are $55. Forest Creek

Country Club, 200 Meyer Farm Drive, Pinehurst. Info: www.lwvmc.org.

MUSICIANS’ JAM SESSION. 6 - 9 p.m. Bring your own instrument and beverage or just come and enjoy the music. Attendees must have the COVID vaccination. Free admission, registration required. Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities, 555 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: www.weymouthcenter.org.

Wednesday, March 27

LUNCH ’N ’ LEARN. 10 a.m. Lunch ’n’ Learn presents “Spring Cleaning – A Sentimental Journey Decluttering the Heart Stuff,” by Mary Sommer, home organizer. Presentation begins promptly at 10 a.m. followed by a chef Katrina lunch and dessert. Cost is $30 per person, reservations required. Sandhills Woman’s Exchange, 15 Azalea Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 295-4677 or www.sandhillswe.org.

DOG EGG HUNT. 10:30 - 11:30 a.m. The Easter Bunny didn’t forget his furry pals. Join the Southern Pines Parks and Recreation staff for paw painting, fun activities, treats and pictures with the bunny himself. Event will conclude with the dog egg hunt. Don’t forget to bring your own basket for the hunt. Free of charge. Martin Park, 350 Commerce Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

BOOK EVENT. 4 - 6 p.m. Kimberly Daniels Taws will be in conversation with Matthew Stewart, talking about his latest book, An Emancipation of the Mind: Radical Philosophy, the War over Slavery and the Refounding of America. This will be a virtual conversation online. Info: www.ticketmesandhills.com.

Thursday, March 28

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

MEDICAL MINUTES. 1 - 2 p.m. Adults 55 and older are invited to learn about different topics each month beneficial to educating our senior community. Free of charge. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

CONCERT. 7 p.m. Allan Ware, clarinetist, performs. McPherson Theater, 3395 Airport Road, Pinehurst. Info: www.sandhillsbpac.com/events.

FILM SERIES. 7 p.m. Watch Marie Antoinette during the woman director film series. Sunrise Theater, 250 N.W. Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 420-2549 or www.sunrisetheater.com.

MUSIC JAM. 7 p.m. Bring your instrument and join the jam. Starworks Cafe and Taproom, 100 Russell Drive, Star. Info: www.StarworksNC.org.

Saturday, March 30

FILM SERIES. 7 p.m. Raise the Roof: A Sunrise Theater fundraiser. Sunrise Theater, 250 N.W. Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 420-2549 or www.sunrisetheater.com.

LIVE MUSIC. 7 p.m. Live music from Jeff Wall (BigDumbHick). Starworks Cafe and Taproom, 100 Russell Drive, Star. Info: www.StarworksNC.org.

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UPCOMING EVENTS

Friday, April 5

COMEDY SERIES. 7 - 8:15 p.m. BPAC’s comedy series continues with comedian Rondell Sheridan performing “If You’re Over 40 and You Know It, Clap Your Hands!” Owens Auditorium, 3395 Airport Road, Pinehurst. Info: www.ticketmesandhills.com.

Sunday, April 7

LIVE JAZZ. 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. Join us outdoors on the Weymouth grounds for live jazz with Hornheads’ tenor sax player Kenni Holmen. Bring your own blanket, chairs and a picnic. There will be a cash bar available. Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities, 555 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: www.weymouthcenter.org.

SPRING CONCERT. 4 p.m. The Moore County Choral Society presents Illuminare, a concert with themes of finding the light within and illuminating those in darkness. The community choir, led by Anne Dorsey and accompanied by pianist Stephen Dorsey and strings, performs four 21st century choral masterworks. BPAC, 3395 Airport Road, Pinehurst. Info: www.ticketmesandhills.com or www.moorecountychoralsociety.org.

Saturday, April 13

HOME AND GARDEN TOUR. 10 a.m. The 76th annual Southern Pines Garden Club Home and Garden Tour features houses, farms and their notable landscapes. Presenting ideas for inspired living in our modern times, enjoy this year’s collection of “idea” homes and gardens, a tour to benefit

the landscaping and beautification of Woodlawn Cemetery in West Southern Pines. The tour will start at 482 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: www.southernpinesgardenclub.com.

Saturday, April 20

HERITAGE DAY. 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. The Moore County Historical Association has their annual Heritage Day showcasing the Bryant House and McLendon Cabin. There will be tours, farm petting areas, live music and food. The Bryant House, 3361 Mt. Carmel Road, Carthage. Info: (910) 692-2051 or www.moorehistory.com.

WEEKLY EVENTS

Mondays

WORKSPACES. 7 a.m. - 3p.m. The Given Tufts Bookshop has a new pop-in co-workspace open on Mondays and Thursdays in the upstairs conference room. Bookshop floor and private meeting room by reservation only. Info: www.giventuftsfoundation.com.

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

CHAIR YOGA. 9 - 10 a.m. For adults 55 and older. Help offset body aches encountered with desk work. This is an accessible yoga class for bodies not able to easily get up from and down to the floor. Do standing or sitting in a chair. Douglass Community Center,

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

STRENGTH AND BALANCE WORKOUT. 1111:45 a.m. Adults 55 and older are invited to enjoy a brisk workout that focuses on balance and strength. Free of charge. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

RESTORATIVE YOGA. 12 p.m. For adults 55 and older. Practice gentle movements to improve your well-being. Practice movements that may help alleviate pain and improve circulation. Bring your own mat. Free of charge. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

GAME ON. 1 p.m. For adults 55 and older. You and your friends are invited to come out and play various games such as corn hole, badminton, table tennis, shuffleboard, trivia games and more. Each week enjoy a different activity to keep you moving and thinking. Compete with friends and make new ones all for free. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

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

Tuesdays

SOUND BATH. 9 - 10 a.m. Adults 18 and older can enjoy the rhythm and vibration of this medicine drum sound bath as we move our body and mind into deep rest mode. Your body will be refreshed and your mind clear and quiet. A unique and ancient healing arts practice. Cost is $16 for residents and $24 for non-residents. Train Station, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

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

BABY RHYMES. 10:15 a.m. Baby Rhymes is specially designed for the youngest learners (birth - 2) and their caregivers. Repetition and comforting movements make this story time perfect for early development and brain growth. There will be a duplicate session at 10:45 a.m. An active library card is required. Dates this month are March 5, 12, 19 and 26. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or www.sppl.net.

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

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

CHESS. 1:30 - 5 p.m. Come join a chess group, whether you have been playing for a while or you have never played. This is a free program. Moore County Senior Enrichment Center, 8040 U.S. Hwy. 15-501, West End.

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LINE DANCE. 4:45 p.m. Put on your dancing shoes and line dance. This is for beginners and is a free program. Moore County Senior Enrichment Center, 8040 U.S. Hwy. 15-501, West End.

SOUND BATH. 6:30 - 7:30 p.m. Adults 18 and older can enjoy the rhythm and vibration of this medicine drum sound bath as we move our body and mind into deep rest mode. Your body will be refreshed and your mind clear and quiet. A unique and ancient healing arts practice. Cost is $16 for residents and $24 for non-residents. Train House, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

Wednesdays

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

BRAIN BOOST. 10 - 11 a.m. Test your memory while creating new brain connections. This is a free program. Moore County Senior Enrichment Center, 8040 U.S. Hwy. 15-501, West End.

KNITTING. 10 - 11 a.m. Learn how to knit or just come enjoy knitting with other people. This is a free program. Moore County Senior Enrichment Center, 8040 U.S. Hwy. 15-501, West End.

LEARN AND PLAY. 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. Come in for an open play date with your toddler or preschooler where there will be developmental toys and puzzles as well as early literacy tips on display for parents and caregivers to incorporate into their daily activities. Dates this month are March 6, 13, 20 and 27. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or www.sppl.net.

JEWELRY MAKING. 10:30 - 11:30 a.m. For adults 55 and older. Come with friends to create fun designs and memories. Supplies are on-site. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

PIANO. 11 a.m. - 12 p.m. Join Flint Long to play piano or just listen. This is a free program. Moore County Senior Enrichment Center, 8040 U.S. 15501, West End.

SLOW AND STRETCHY. 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Adults 55 and older can flow through yoga poses slowly and intentionally, moving breath to movement, stretching everything from your head to your toes. Free of charge. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

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

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

BRIDGE. 1:30 - 4:30 p.m. For adults 55 and older. Enjoy games of bridge with friends. All materials included. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W.

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

DANCE. 2 - 2:30 p.m. For adults 55 and older. Instructor Maria Amaya will introduce you to dance fitness in this class designed for anyone who wants to gently and gradually increase their cardio function, mobility and balance, and have fun at the same time. Free of charge. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

LINE DANCING. 2 p.m. The town of Vass will host line dancing for seniors every other Wednesday. Cost is $5 per session. Vass Town Hall, 140 S. Alma St., Vass. Info: www.townofvassnc.gov.

LIBRARY PROGRAM. 3:30 p.m. At The Library After School (ATLAS) is an after-school program for kindergartners through second-graders who enjoy activities, crafts, stories and meeting new friends. Dates this month are March 6, 13, 20 and 27. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or www.sppl.net.

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

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

Thursdays

WORKSPACES. 7 a.m. - 3p.m. The Given Tufts Bookshop has a new pop-in co-workspace open on Mondays and Thursdays in the upstairs conference room. Bookshop floor and private meeting room by reservation only. Info: www.giventuftsfoundation.com.

MOORE COUNTY FARMERS MARKET. 9 a.m. - 1 p.m. The year-round market features “producer only” vendors within a 50-mile radius providing fresh, local and seasonal produce, fruits, pasture meats, eggs, potting plants, cut flowers and local honey. Crafts, baked goods, jams and jellies are also available. Market is located at the Armory Sports Complex, 604 W. Morganton Road, Southern Pines.

GIVEN STORY TIME. 10 a.m. Bring your pre schooler to enjoy stories, songs and activities. Given Memorial Library, 150 Cherokee Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 295-3642.

BALANCE AND FLEXIBILITY. 10 - 11 a.m. Adults 55 and older are invited to enjoy a class that will help reduce the risk of taking a tumble and increase your ability to recover. Free of charge. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

MUSIC AND MOTION. 10:15 and 10:45 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Does your toddler like to move and groove? Join us for Music and Motion to get those wiggles out and work on gross and fine motor skills. For ages 2 - 5. An active library card is required. Dates this month are March 7, 14, 21 and 28. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or www.sppl.net.

CROCHET CLUB. 11 a.m. - 12 p.m. Adults 55 and older are invited to come with friends to create fun designs and memories. Supplies are on site. Free

Announcing Our New Spring Rates

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

STRETCH, STRENGTH, BALANCE. 11 a.m. - 12 p.m. Adults 55 and older can enjoy exercises that will improve their overall quality of life. Exercises can be performed standing or seated. Free of charge. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

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

CHESS AND MAHJONG. 1 p.m. For adults 55 and older. Bring a board and your friend. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

MEDITATION. 1 - 2 p.m. Adults 55 and older are invited to connect with nature and with themselves

PineNeedler Answers from page 119

in this 30-minute meditation. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

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

IMPROVERS LINE DANCE. 3 - 5:30 p.m. Put on your dancing shoes and line dance. This is a free program. Moore County Senior Enrichment Center, 8040 U.S. Hwy. 15-501, West End.

LITTLE U. 3:30 p.m. Introducing Little U, Southern Pines Public Library’s new preschool program for children ages 3 1/2 to 5. Join us for stories, songs, rhymes and activities that explore the world of books, language and literacy. Little U is a fun and interactive program designed to help preschoolers develop early literacy skills in preparation for kindergarten and beyond. Dates this month are March 7, 14, 21 and 28. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or www.sppl.net.

SOUND BATH. 6:30 - 7:30 p.m. All ages can enjoy the rhythm and vibration of this medicine drum sound bath as we move our body and mind into deep rest mode. Your body will be refreshed and your mind clear

March Events

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and quiet. A unique and ancient healing arts practice. Cost is $4 for residents and $6 for non-residents. Train House, 482 E Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

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

Fridays

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

JAM SESSION. 9:30 - 11:30 a.m. Do you like to play an instrument, sing or just listen to music? Come join a music jam session. This is a free program. Moore County Senior Enrichment Center, 8040 U.S. Hwy. 15-501, West End.

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

QIGONG. 1 p.m. For adults 55 and older. Classes will consist of chair and standing movements that can help soothe achy feet, tight hips and lower back pain, and ease restriction in

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

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

HOMESCHOOL HANGOUT. 2:30 - 4:30 p.m. Homeschool Hangout is for home-schooling families in the area. Come to our open space to share ideas, triumphs, challenges and questions while you get to know other families in the area. This is a drop-in program. Board games, coloring sheets and snacks will be provided. Dates this month are March 1, 8, 15 and 22. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or www.sppl.net.

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

Gallery Hours: Monday - Saturday 12-3pm

Artists League of the Sandhills 30 Years in the Making Anniversary Exhibit

Opening Reception: Friday, March 1, 5:00-7:00

Not only are we anticipating spring – but this is the Artist League’s 30th year in business.

To celebrate, our March exhibit will showcase the work of all Artists League members and will feature a variety of styles and mediums. Please join us for the opening reception or stop in during the month. The exhibit will be on display through Friday, March 29. Gallery hours are Monday through Saturday, noon to 3:00.

Introduction to Soft Pastels - Janet Burdick - March 7, 12:30-3:30 $46

Fabulous Fibers: Meet-Cute! - Connie Genuardi - March 8, 10:30-3:30 $59

Advanced Alcohol Ink - Pam Griner - March 12, 11:30-2:30 $46

Reduction Block Printing - Lynn Goldhammer - March 19 & 20, 10:00-3:00 $106

Discovering Acrylics - Beth Ybarra - March 21 & 22, 10:00-2:00 $106

Silk Painting Introduction - Kathy Leuck - April 8 & 9, 9:30-12:30 $112

Intro to Encaustic Wax - Pam Griner - April 10, 1:00-3:00 $34

Creating Altered Nat Geo Papers - Carol Gradwohl - April 11 & 12, 10:30-3:30 $113

Next Step Acrylics - Beth Ybarra - May 8 & 9 10:00-2:00 $96

Enhanced Acrylics - Pat McMahon - May 21 & 22, 10:00-12:00 $48

Pack

Boston Public Quartet Reception

Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities

Sunday, January 21, 2024

Photographs by Diane McKay

Eva, Ashton, Homer & Ella Ferguson

Elise Zwatteri, Sandra Dales, Iris & Ivan Gist

Bill & Ellen Stewart

Dennis McCracken, Brenda Murphy, Maurice Holland

Jinx & Gary Brandt

Holmes Hall, Joyce Pilewski, Sandy Gernhart

Julie Hassett

Julia & Brian O'Grady, Monika Brown

Lisa Richmond, Johnathan Feldman

Grant Houston, Betsy Hinkle, Emmanuel Feldman, Joy Cline Phinney, Jason Amos

March PineNeedler Down Stairs

ACROSS

1. Stuff

5. “ Take ,” vacation (2 wds.)

10. Glean

14. Angel’s head ring

15. Food group

16. Convex shape

17. College (abbr.)

18. Eyeshade

19. Binds

20. Mother

22. Chivalrous manner

24. Short

26. Eye infection

27. Key near ctrl

30. Business class, abbr.

32. Displayer of feelings

37. Beheld

38. MARCH (2 wds.)

40. Decoy

41. Marsh bird

43. Atmosphere

44. “ Heavy ”

45. Gumbo ingredient

46. Work hard

48. North American country

49. Lilly-like plants

52. Indecent language

53. Gender

54. Foreign Agricultural Service

56. MARCH

58. Hair holder

63. Early American British supporters

67. Song by the Village People

68. Bye

70. Creative thought

71. Chirping sound

72. Holy table

73. Electrical current unit

74. Finishes

75. British measure

76. Other DOWN

1. Gab

2. Speed contest

3. Like a wing

4. Computer phone

5. MARCH

6. chi, excercise

7. Peril

8. Pressers

9. Fool’s gold

10. Candy bar Baby

11. Give off

12. Cain killed him

13. Bunch of flowers

21. Attack

23. Exercise place

25. Tiny amounts

27. An organization (abbr)

28. Sri

29. Spin

31. What a hammer hits

33. Bullfight cheer

34. Short dancing skirts

35. Rub out

36. Become loose

39. MARCH

42. Crony

44. Ditto (2 wds.)

47. Carcass eater

50. College football conference (abbr.)

51. Genuflect

55. Walk like a crab

57. MARCH

58. Hoopla

Puzzle answers on page 110 Mart Dickerson lives in Southern Pines and welcomes suggestions from her fellow puzzle masters. She can be reached at martaroonie@gmail.com.

Sudoku:

Fill in the grid so every row, every column and every 3x3 box contain the numbers 1-9.

59. Prayer ending

60. Treated a sprain

61. Knocks

62. Brad , actor

64. False god graven image

65. Snaky fish

66. Fill

69. Lobe location

Color Me Blue

But save me from mellow marzipan

By Ruth Moose

I just saw a purple car. Truly. Welch’s Grape Juice purple. A muscadine grape purple. And that made me think of the old poem about a purple cow. How I’d rather see one than be one. Well, I’d rather see a purple car than own one.

Or the French’s mustard-colored yellow car. Or the kiwi green baby SUV. Where do these colors come from? The chocolate (not brown) but Hershey’s chocolate-colored car. I once asked my friend, who had just bought a cute little sort of bronze-ish, mandarin-colored car what the dealer called it.

“Oh,” she said with a laugh, “it’s called green tangerine.”

Imagine at some black tie and evening gown function, handing your keys to a parking attendant and telling him, “It’s the green tangerine one.”

When my family and I lived in Charlotte, our next door neighbors were the Beans. Both their cars were, of course, green. The green bean cars. I don’t know if they bought green cars on purpose or just liked the color green. Does it matter?

My own first car was an Opel. A perky, polished, gleaming emerald green. I loved that car. It had spirit, and I mourned when we traded it in for a Ford Country Squire station wagon. A station wagon that hauled a camping trailer to parks and campgrounds from Maine to Georgia. (We never made it to Florida before our sons turned teenagers and outgrew the overhead bunk, making the whole outfit too tight a fit for four adultsized humans.)

An automotive generation or so ago, when my car turned over 200,000 miles and I went to the dealer’s lot to look for a new one, I didn’t even have to wander among the parked beauties set out for my admiration, screaming “Buy me! Buy me!” I had already spotted mine

when I drove in. Right there on the front row. My car: a Carolina blue sedan. It was meant for me. It called my name, and as long as I owned it, never gave me a moment’s concern, not one worry.

I didn’t even have to test drive it. Just pointed the car out to the salesman. He got the keys and opened the door suggesting that I, at the very least, should sit in the driver’s seat. Try it out. I didn’t have to. The color had already sold me. Of course she was named Caroline. In my family, whether we admit it or not, we do name our cars. My Aunt Pearl called her last Pontiac Esmeralda. A friend just introduced me to her sleek, new gray Subaru, “Joan Didion.” Another friend called her car Betsy Cupcake because once, after we had a couple of inches of really pretty fluffy snow, she looked out in her driveway where the little car stood with snow on its roof like icing. She said it looked like a big, fat cupcake.

My grandfather, one of those baptizing-in-the-river Baptist preachers, had traveled to his churches and revivals in Davidson, Montgomery and Stanly Counties on horseback and later in a buggy. When he got his first car, a model something or other Ford, he was a terrible driver. Fortunately, there were few cars on the road and fewer still on the backroads he traveled. The story goes that one time he came home tired and probably distracted, drove straight into the garage (which was known as the car shed), then proceeded to drive straight out the back wall of the garage, all the while yelling “Whoa, Nellie! Whoa!”

Nellie did not stop. Nellie had been the name for all the horses he owned — horses with enough sense to know when they were home.

Maybe we name our cars for the horses held captive under the hood. As for the colors, Lord only knows what’s coming next. We could always ask Nellie. PS

Ruth Moose taught creative writing at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill for 15 years and tacked on 10 more at Central Carolina Community College.

Southern