May O.Henry 2018

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Pa i d a d v e r t i s i n g

Hub. Home. Haven.

Hello, Greensboro Country Club It sped by in a blink, a flash, and suddenly, somehow, we’ve only memories: an over-the-top gala, a handsome pictorial history, and charming, oversized, black-and-white photographs lining the halls, depicting the way we were.

Blink: 100 years in the life of Greensboro Country Club.

Like most organizations —a school, a bank — the club originated with a need in a void. In 1909, a Greensboro resident visiting Maine became intrigued with a game the locals played “with a shiny stick to hit a small hard, rubber ball just as far as they can. Then they try to find the ball and hit it into a hole.”

That game was golf, and the Greensboro Golf Club began with 35 members and a rudimentary nine-hole pitch-and-putt course downtown. By 1911 the club was incorporated, and charter members acquired 350 forested acres out in the country, in what was a bold, unheard-of enterprise vision at the time: a residential neighborhood development built entirely around a golf course.

(Grazing sheep helped control course maintenance costs.) Today, golfers on the Donald Ross golf course play on fairways and greens in the shadows of both stately mansions, ranch homes, and appealing cottages of the Irving Park neighborhood, which itself has received the National Register of Historic Places recognition.

In the 30 years following, Greensboro, along with the rest of the nation, would weather two World Wars and the Great Depression. With peacetime, and the baby boom of the 50s, the club expanded, incorporating amenities and offerings central to growing families — pool, tennis courts, dining, and every kind of entertainment imaginable. The club became a “home away from home.” Meanwhile, back on the (literal) farm, Carlson Farms Country Club was founded on what had been a dairy farm in northwest Greensboro, boasting its own golf course, pool, and clubhouse. In 1969, the two entities merged, and today, GCC members have multiple options for dining, entertainment, and play, including two golf courses, two pools, and indoor/outdoor tennis courts.

More than four decades on, and though Greensboro has grown exponentially in area, GCC members still refer affectionately to the two locales as “in-town” and “the farm.”

The century mark of 1909 to 2009 has come and gone — though both the club logo and a dining room name hearken back to the date — and with it, six iterations of clubhouses. Club history and institutional memory are an important facet of Greensboro Country Club, meaning that a long tradition of excellence informs every decision and offering, be it an item on a menu or long-range plans. But resting on laurels, and because “it’s always been done that way,” has no place in GCC’s practices.

Take a day, any day. From 4:00 a.m. to the wee hours of the (next) morning, something is happening at Greensboro Country Club. In the Fitness Center, diehards are pumping iron and pounding the treadmills in pre-dawn. Group classes begin a 6:00 a.m. Tennis leagues are warming up while children from 6 weeks to 8 years are settling with childcare, craft projects, and pinball. Hot dogs and sandwiches are being prepared in the Halfway House on the Irving Park course; at the farm, a couple is meeting with event staff to plan an unforgettable rehearsal dinner. If it’s Wednesday, the in-town kitchen is setting out untold dozens of eggs and pounds of bacon for the weekly “B for D” (breakfast

for dinner) supper, a go-to social gathering for pre-teens and entire families. The club’s own van is readying parking lot transport for a hundred guests who’ll be descending at noon for a book club author’s appearance. And it’s not even lunch yet. Still, if you’re finishing up a round—or a sauna visit — with an urge for a Bloody Mary, it’s ready for you at one of 5 in-town casual dining venues, including a seasonal outdoor bar, an al fresco space above the fray, terrace fire pit, and, year-round, a stunning view of the rolling golf course.

Father-daughter dances. Build-your-own gingerbread house parties. Hay rides and a Halloween carnival. Boat relays, poolside mixers, aqua aerobics, swim team competitions, and supervised hijinks for the three big holidays of summer mean the pools are a constant hive of warm-weather bustle. In winter, the best hills in town and a dedicated staff means entire families hit the slopes with sleds, fueled with grilled hamburgers and steaming cocoa. Tennis, golf, and fitness professionals and trainers furnish lessons and sessions, whether you have a four-year-old with a tennis obsession, or you’ve always wondered what a Pilates reformer is. Member-Guest and Member-Member weekends are scheduled annually for golf, tennis, and paddleboard enthusiasts who hanker for competition that comes with prizes, accolades—and a visit from your old roommate. No matter the season, menus are updated to reflect current trends and local availability of ingredients.

Substitute “convenience” for one of those C’s in the Greensboro Country Club logo. Thanks to smartphone apps, a twitter feed, and a website, members can check on—and register for— every activity that day or the months ahead.

“Convenience” equals on-site shops for apparel and equipment. “Convenience”, when it comes to Thanksgiving and Christmas, is just a swipe to order a ready-for-pickup turkey dinner (or simply the to-die-for dressing and sticky buns.) Take-out from the Family Grille puts an end to frantic weeknights or lazy Sundays. “Convenience” means that office party, philanthropic fundraiser, bridge luncheon, dinner for a dozen, 40th birthday cocktail buffet, bar mitzvah celebration, or wedding reception is a turn-key affair, organized and executed with elan and experience by event coordinators who’ve seen it all and are looking for the next new thing.

If only space allowed… Easter egg hunts, visits with Santa. Super Bowl parties, New Year’s extravaganzas. House-made macaroons and short-rib flatbreads. Bands, balls, speakers, and a bartender who’ll caramelize an orange peel when you feel like an Old Fashioned with a little extra citrus. A toddler’s swim instructor. An exercise regime specifically tailored to a teen. A Thai, Swedish, or prenatal rubdown. A secluded table with banquette seating. Staff who know your name. A hub of activity. A community within a city. A home for families. A haven from the world. Distinguished, accessible, historical, remarkable. Hello, next century. Hello, Greensboro Country Club.

To explore making memories for your family, please contact Lori Frasier at l.frasier@greensborocc.org

May 2018 Departments 17 Simple Life

By Jim Dodson 20 Short Stories 23 The Artist’s View

By Nancy Oakley 25 Life’s Funny

By Maria Johnson 27 Omnivorous Reader

By Stephen E. Smith 31 Scuppernong Bookshelf 33 Gate City Journal

By Ross Howell Jr. 41 Papadaddy

By Clyde Edgerton 43

45

49

53

59

61

True South

By Susan Kelly

Food For Thought

By Jane Lear

Features 65 The Arborist Poetry by Paul Lamar

The Pleasures of Life Dept.

66 Light & Life By Nancy Oakley

Community Gardens

72 Putt ’er There, Ma! By Cynthia Adams

Birdwatch

76 Men For All Seasons By Jim Dodson

By Nancy Oakley

By David Claude Bailey

By Susan Campbell

Wandering Billy

By Billy Eye

91 Arts Calendar 113 GreenScene 119 The Accidental Astrologer

By Astrid Stellanova 120 O.Henry Ending

By Cynthia Adams

The Watercolors of Alexis LAvine

A Mother’s Day putting green for Donna Joyce

Among the trees at Green Hill Cemetery, Doug Goldman picks up where Bill Craft left off 80 Tapestry Of Home By Maria Johnson Ann and Cliff Bridges weave together many threads at Wood Meadow

89 Almanac By Ash Alder

Cover photograph by Amy Freeman Photograph this page by Doug Goldman

10 O.Henry

May 2018

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Fine Eyewear, Artwork and Jewelry 327 South Elm | Greensboro 336.274.1278 | TheViewOnElm.com Becky Causey, Licensed Optician Find us on Facebook

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M A G A Z I N E

Volume 8, No. 5 “I have a fancy that every city has a voice.”

336.617.0090 1848 Banking Street, Greensboro, NC 27408 www.ohenrymag.com Publisher

David Woronoff Jim Dodson, Editor • jim@thepilot.com Andie Stuart Rose, Art Director • andie@thepilot.com Nancy Oakley, Senior Editor • nancy@ohenrymag.com Lauren M. Coffey, Graphic Designer Alyssa Rocherolle, Graphic Designer Contributing Editors Cynthia Adams, David Claude Bailey, Harry Blair, Maria Johnson Contributing Photographers Lynn Donovan, Amy Freeman, Sam Froelich, John Gessner, Bert VanderVeen, Mark Wagoner Contributors Ash Alder, Jane Borden, Grant Britt, Susan Campbell, Wiley Cash, Clyde Edgerton, Billy Eye, Ross Howell Jr., Billy Ingram, Susan Kelly, Sara King, Brian Lampkin, Meridith Martens, D.G. Martin, Ogi Overman, Romey Petite, Stephen Smith, Astrid Stellanova

O.H

Advertising Sales

Ginny Trigg, Advertising Director 910.691.8293, ginny@thepilot.com

Hattie Aderholdt, Advertising Manager 336.601.1188, hattie@ohenrymag.com

Lisa Allen, 336.210.6921 • lisa@ohenrymag.com Amy Grove, 336.456.0827 • amy@ohenrymag.com Allison Shore, 336.698.6374 • allison@ohenrymag.com

This stunning Jefferson Wood home has it all! From grand living spaces to a Chef’s kitchen, fabulous master suite & spa bath, full walk-out lower level with a home theater, kitchenette & more!

Call to see all of this home’s amazing amenities!

Lisa Bobbitt, Advertising Assistant

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Brad Beard, Graphic Designer

O.H

Darlene Stark, Circulation Director 910.693.2488 Douglas Turner, Finance Director 910.693.2497

©Copyright 2018. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited.

O.Henry Magazine is published by The Pilot LLC

14 O.Henry

May 2018

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

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© 2018 Pinehurst, LLC

P I N E H U R S T

Pinehurst’s popular Chef & Maker series returns with three inspiring weekends of tantalizing menus and tasteful creations. Each weekend, one of North Carolina’s award-winning chefs will showcase his unique talents alongside a variety of artisans. Enjoy interactive culinary demonstrations, cookbook autograph sessions, informative workshops and chef dinners. It’s the perfect pairing of creative cuisine and Southern craftsmanship.

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July 13-15

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The Dash of Life

Simple Life

Savoring time between the beginning and the inevitable

By Jim Dodson

At the beginning of Episode Two

of my favorite British TV program of the moment, a charming series called Delicious, the central character, a roguish head chef, speaking from his grave in a Cornwall churchyard, recalls a famous poet’s observation about the symbolism of markings in stone.

“On a gravestone you see two dates — a beginning and an end, with a tiny dash in between. That dash represents everything you’ve ever done.

Everywhere you’ve ever been. Every breath kiss or meal. It all boils down to just one little dash. . .”

As a chronic wanderer of old burying grounds and admirer of witty epitaphs, I learned years ago that burying stones “speak,” telling tales and offering nuggets of wisdom to those willing to listen.

Most of us, however, are living in a time when daily life seems like a frantic dash from one place to the next. With work ruled by the tyranny of deadlines and calendar books, and private time invaded by social media and the clamors of an info-addicted world, it is often not until one reaches a certain age or experiences some kind of unexpected drama that the need to pause and reflect upon one’s own mortality — the meaning of the dash — becomes clear.

One year ago this month, I had my dodgy gall bladder removed. Frankly, I wasn’t sorry to see it go. The blessed little thing had been bugging me for years.

At the same time, I owe that mysterious little organ a genuine debt of gratitude because in the course of a common preparatory scan, a small growth near my lower intestines was detected. It was nipped out by artful surgical procedure, revealing itself upon analysis to be a slow-growing tumor. Fortunately, the prognosis is excellent. There is only a four-percent probability of recurrence, which means no follow-up therapy is required for the time being.

Life is full of verdicts, large and small. Needless to say, I was relieved by this one and, to be blunt, awakened by it. But for a chance discovery, things could easily have gone a very different direction, as I’d enjoyed the kind of good health one might easily take for granted. In short, I was lucky to have had that aching gall bladder.

But mortality is full of wake-up calls and epiphanies. Wise souls take notice of the changing landscape around them, and sometimes within.

On one hand, I was powerfully reminded of the brevity of my time on this Earth, and on the other, comforted by the fact that I had excellent role models for aging smartly and — begging to differ with poet Dylan Thomas — going gently into that good night. Both my parents had their own run-ins with the The Art & Soul of Greensboro

dreaded C-word at about my age but never complained and went on to live astonishingly full and happy lives for the next two decades.

Their dashes, in other words, were both robust and well-lived till the end, full of gardens and grandkids, travel and exploration, making new memories and doing good work, making friends and keeping faith in the sustaining power of human and divine love. My old man worked until he was 80 and moderated the men’s Sunday School class at our church for almost a quarter of a century. My Southern mama cooked every week for the church feeding program and worked with homeless families. During the last two decades of their lives, they went to movies and took walks like old lovers, and snuck off to the hills for private weekends away. I took to kidding them that they were behaving like irresponsible teenagers.

More important, when their “Time” finally arrived, their “dash” expired its length — I was fortunate to sit with both at their bedsides as they slipped the bonds of this Earth. Nothing was left unspoken, and they displayed no fear whatsoever about the end of their days or the adventure that lay ahead. Sages of every faith tradition hold that human beings tend to pass away as they have lived their lives.

My father’s final words on a sleety March evening were, “Don’t worry. It will be fine in the morning. Go kiss your babies.” Sure enough, the sun came out at dawn, birthing a beautiful spring day. And I did as instructed.

On a summer afternoon four years later, while sharing a glass of wine on the terrace of her favorite seaside restaurant in Maine, I remarked to my mom that she must really miss my father. She simply smiled. “Of course I do, Honey. But don’t worry. I’ll see him very soon.”

A week or so later, she suffered a stroke and was talking about her grandchildren as her nurse in the ICU changed her sheets moments after I left her. “Your mom’s heart monitor suddenly went flat and I looked over at her,” she told me later. “Her eyes were closed and she was smiling. I’ve never seen a more peaceful passing.”

Every now and then I stop by the simply dated gravestones of my folks in a beautiful cemetery not far from our house, just to say hello — and thanks for the guidance.

That said, a surprising number of friends my age — I recently turned 65, though I don’t feel anywhere close to that — confess amazement over how rapidly their lives are passing, how quickly their days seem to have vanished down the rabbit hole of time. Perhaps they hear the clock of the world in their inner ear. “Is it already Monday again?” quips our dear old pal Susan with a husky laugh. She walks with my wife and me every morning at five, as nature and the neighborhood are both just stirring.

Susan’s question is more of an amused observation about the speed of life than a complaint about its brevity. She teaches special-needs minority kids in May 2018

O.Henry 19

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one of the most disadvantaged neighborhoods of the city. And though she herself cracked 65 a few month ahead of me, her bounteous enthusiasm, creativity and passion for doing good work and making a difference in a small person’s life are flat-out palpable. She radiates joy and an infectious curiosity about what lies ahead — proof of Poor Richard’s admonition that a long life may not be good enough, but a good life is long enough.

As for my part, the older I get, the slower I plan to walk. Part of the reason is creaky knees. As the tortoise proved, slow and steady wins the race — if this life is a race at all.

The other reason for slowing down my dashing life is to see more of the passing landscape. Not long ago, my wife and I began “training” for a walk across Italy from Lucca to Rome this coming September with 50 or so other pilgrims from our church.

During the weekly “practice” hikes around the city at dusk, which are really just a lovely excuse to socialize and drink good wine afterwards, I am invariably somewhere at the rear of the pack, ambling along at my own pace, the aforementioned knees gently complaining with every step, but happy to follow where the others lead. This is a trick I learned early in life, for I’ve long been something of a solitary traveler, taking my own sweet time to get wherever I’m going.

As the second son of an itinerate newspaperman who hauled his family all over the deep South during some of the region’s most turbulent years, I experienced a decidedly solitary boyhood, exploring the woods and fields largely on my own or reading books on a rainy porch. Occasionally I’d check out historic graveyards, battlegrounds and Indian burial mounds with my older brother and father. Dick and I both became Eagle Scouts but were never too keen on the group dynamic. We preferred going our own ways at our own rhythm.

Simple Life

As we passed through one of the city’s older neighborhoods on our practice hike the other evening, my bride — chatting pleasantly with other pilgrims as she motored by her slow-footed husband — glanced around and remarked, “You know, I’ve never seen the city from this angle before. It’s quite beautiful, isn’t it?”

Indeed it was, and is.

As the sun set, her comment made me think about how slowly I plan to walk across Tuscany this summer, taking in all I can before my “dash” runs out.

Emily Webb Gibb’s ’s haunting farewell speech from Thornton Wilder’s poignant play Our Town was also suddenly in my head.

Gibbs is the young heroine who passes away in childbirth and looks tearfully back on a wonderful life and family she fears she may have taken for granted, as the stage manager leads her to join the other spirits in the village cemetery. “. . . They’re so young and beautiful. Why did they ever have to get old? . . . I love you all, everything. I can’t look at everything hard enough. It goes so fast. . . . We don’t have time to look at one another. I didn’t realize. All that was going on in life and we never noticed. Take me back — up the hill — to my grave. But first: Wait! One more look. Good-bye, Good-bye, world. . . Good-bye, Mama and Papa. Good-bye to clocks ticking and Mama’s sunflowers. And food and coffee. And new-ironed dresses and hot baths and sleeping and waking up. Oh, Earth, you’re too wonderful for anybody to realize you. Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it?”

May is a lovely time to wander a churchyard, I find. The Earth is in bloom and old stones speak of the need not to dash too quickly through the journey. OH Contact Editor Jim Dodson at jim@thepilot.com.

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The Art & Soul of Greensboro

May 2018

O.Henry 21

Anne Lemanski, OWL, 2016, pigment print on paper mounted to wood panel, 28 x 36.5 x 1.625 inches

Short Stories A Meal for Mom

Or rather, a feast! Granted, there’s nothing like Mama’s home cooking — unless it’s Chef Leigh Hesling’s spread for the Mother’s Day Buffet on Sunday, May 13, at Print Works Bistro at Proximity Hotel (704 Green Valley Road). Crab legs, heirloom tomatoes and goat cheese, smoked salmon, breakfast pastries . . . and those are just some of the items among the cold viands. Save room for vanilla-custard French toast, eggs Benedict, shrimp and grits, beef tenderloin with Béarnaise and slow-cooked pork shoulder, not to mention the desserts. If this doesn’t scor e points with Mom, nothing will — except taking out the trash, doing your own laundry and moving out of the basement. Reservations: (336) 215-2868.

For the Birds

Literally. Be kind to your webfooted friends, particularly those in danger of disappearing. All you have to do is don your top hat, white tie, tails — or at the very least, running shoes, for the annual Tuxedo Trot, the 5K run presented

by Greensboro Science Center’s Conservation Committee to help save the African Penguin, whose populations have been declining in recent years. Starting at the Science Center (4301 Lawndale Drive) at 8 a.m. on Saturday, May 19, the course loops around Lawndale Drive through Country Park, and there’s another, shorter one for kids at the center’s zoo. Prizes will be awarded for best time, best costume and greatest show of enthusiasm.

Now get er, quacking and register at tuxedotrot.com.

Animal Attraction

The human form is often celebrated in art, but what about the physical forms of animals? GreenHill’s latest exhibition, Beauty of the Beast, (May 4–July 15), explores the contours of critters through the works of 30-some artists working in a variety of media. Enjoy more creature comforts at the exhibit’s opening reception on Friday, May 4 at 5:30 p.m., with live music by Blake Walters, and an “Animals in Clay” workshop led by potter Charlie Tefft (featured in the April, 2017 issue of O.Henry), as well as a day of art making and story telling for families, “Animals Around the World,” on June 1. Info: greenhillnc.org.

Easy Rider

There’s a Petty leading the pack, but forget about paint-swapping and any bumper-tag going one during this ride. This event, called Ride Across America, is of the two-wheeled variety, led by Kyle, and although the participants may be riding in a pack, it’s not a race for the checkered flag. The goal is to get there together, about 150 volunteers riding motorcycles cross-country — this year, down the East coast for the first time in seven years. The tour starts in Portland, Maine, on Saturday, May 5, and stops in six places, from Albany, New York, to Hot Springs, Virginia, before roaring into Greensboro on Friday, May 11.

The goal, of course, is to raise money and awareness for the Petty family’s children’s charity, Victory Junction Camp in his hometown, Level Cross.

“Almost every penny that we’ve raised has gone to bring kids to camp so they can experience what camp in a medically safe environment is all about,” Petty says. “We seek children with chronic and life-threatening illnesses.” Petty and his fellow riders go into towns and ask for kids who could benefit from Victory Junction camp, then put them in touch. “Camp is totally free for all kids. It’s about recruiting campers, plus raising a little bit of money along the way,” he says. A huge payoff from Petty cash. Info: kylepettycharityride.com. — G.B.

Tipple Crown

You Oughta Be in Pictures

And Fido, too. What are cell phones for but to take selfies with your bestie? Especially if your bestie happens to be a Westie — or any other kind of dog? So point, shoot, and enter a photo of you with your favorite canine in our “My Best Friend and Me” Photo Contest, sponsored by Dog Days of Greensboro. Submit the photo of you and Fido to your Instagram account, tagging O.Henry magazine (@o. henrymag) and including the hashtag #ohenrycontest by Thursday, May 31. The top photos will be determined by our select panel of judges and published in the July issue of O.Henry. The winner will receive a five-day pass to Dog Days.

If you can’t be off to the races in person, you can still celebrate two of horse-racing’s biggest events at a couple of local do’s benefiting good causes. Don your best topper to watch the Run for the Roses on Saturday, May 5, at the Kentucky Derby Classic (kentuckyderbyclassic. kintera.org) at Greensboro’s High Caliber Stables (8506 Cedar Hollow Road). Featuring a cocktail hour with juleps, fine eats from favorite local chefs, a hat contest, a silent auction and bourbon bar, the event raises money and awareness for Make-A-Wish Central & Western North Carolina. After the cheer of Churchill Downs, mark your calendar for Saturday, May 19, the date of a Preakness Party at Gia — Eat, Drink, Listen (1941 New Garden Road). You can still sport a lid, whet your whistle, get your nosh on and place bets on your favorite filly — while supporting JDRF. Now that’s what we call a race for a cure. Info: drinkeatlisten.com.

Worth the Drive Taylor Made

Over a 50-year career, he’s morphed from scruffy folkie to a beloved elder statesman of mellow, even having a bridge named after him in his native Chapel Hill. On his eponymous 1968 debut put out by the Beatles on their Apple label, with George Harrison on bass and Paul McCartney on backing vocals, James Taylor made sure he paid homage to his native state with “Carolina On My Mind.” His 1970 hit “Fire and Rain” made him an international star, and his cover of Carole King’s “You’ve Got A Friend” the following year earned him his first No. 1 hit. He folkified soul on a duet with then-wife Carly Simon on a ’74 cover of Charlie and Inez Foxx’s “Mockingbird,” and soloed in ’75 with a cover of Marvin Gaye’s hit “How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You.” Taylor surely felt the love at his first MerleFest appearance last year, and is returning to Carolina for more on Friday, May 18, on a Coliseum co-bill with Bonnie Raitt.

Tickets: (800) 745-3000 or ticketmaster.com. — G.B.

From its headwaters near Blowing Rock — picking up speed from the Mitchell, Ararat, Uwharrie and Rocky rivers along the way — the Yadkin River meanders 203 miles to its rendezvous with the Atlantic Ocean at the Pee Dee River in Winyah Bay, S.C. But by this canoer’s experience, some of the lazy river’s most scenic stretches lie in Surry and Yadkin counties, where on Saturday, May 19, beginning at noon, friends of the Yadkin Riverkeeper will meet at Sanders Ridge Winery for paddling, music, food, wine and beer — the first of three such floats, one a month for the rest of the summer. More competitive paddlers can dash from the bridge at N.C. Highway 601 to Hannah Ferry on Saturday, May 12 in the 33rd South Yadkin River Canoe & Kayak Race, beginning at 8 a.m. And those of you who prefer arm-chair recreating can gather at Fiddlin’ Fish Brewing Company (772 Trade Street, WinstonSalem) on Thursday, May 3 and/or June 7 for some deep-elbow-paddling exercises with a pint of That Fish Cray IPA at eco-minded gatherings. Dubbed Green Drinks!!, the events actually benefit your favorite nonprofit. And we promise that only discussion, not the ale, will be of tinted green. Info and/or registration: (336) 722-4949 or yadkinriverkeeper.org — D.C.B.

Every day,

I get the chance to help young professionals, families and retirees discover what home means to them.

It’s an experience that I truly value because this community — the people, the neighborhoods and all that makes Greensboro special — has my heart.

To my friends, family, clients and team, thank you for being with me every step of the way.

What an honor to be recognized in a field of outstanding REALTORSTM Top half of one percent of Berkshire Hathaway Home Services associates nationally 3rd in units sold out of 45,000 agents in the BHHS network

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The Artist’s View

Hallowed Ground

T

hese days, the working life of Bill Mangum has quite literally become a walk in the park. Renowned for his realistic canvases, the Gate City painter — aka “North Carolina’s Artist” — turned to Abstract art last year and has created the annual Honor Card for Greensboro Urban Ministry for years. Now, Mangum is lending his talents to another worthy cause: Greensboro Beautiful’s 50th Anniversary. The nonprofit secured four different underwriters for four signature paintings. Mangum explains that 500 reproductions of each will be made in an 11-by-14-inch format and sold for $25 to raise funds for the Greensboro Beautiful.

The Bryan Foundation supported the first painting of Gateway Gardens, unveiled last month at Groovin’ in the Garden. An idealized rendering of the green space, it depicts several elements that are impossible to see at once: the alphabet block archway, the fountain and frog sculpture, the whimsical giraffe topiary. “I took a lot of artistic license in pushing perspectives and slightly rearranging things,” Mangum admits. “But it all works. It makes for a more entertaining piece.” The second painting of the Tanger Family Bicentennial Garden will make its debut at the Parisian Promenade Sunday, June 3, and the third, of Greensboro Arboretum, will be introduced at Art in the Arboretum on Sunday, October 7. The last in the series, a painting of the Bog Garden at Benjamin Park, will be ready later this year. Mangum will attend each event to sign the prints and discuss his works.

He visits each of the gardens frequently so as to capture nature’s changing moods. “If you don’t catch a particular color or blossom, it’s gone till next year,” he says. Along the way, the project started to expand as Mangum painted details — a chickadee perched on a snowy branch, an empty bench scattered with leaves, a butterfly hovering over a blossom. His intention? To create 50 additional paintings that will comprise an exhibition at year’s end alongside the four signature paintings.

There’s a larger purpose to these intimate works. “We tend to see things in 180 [degrees], but I’m hoping we can see the little things,” says Mangum. To his eye, they tell a human story among the nooks and crannies of each garden, serving as informal memorials to those who have gone before us and bring joy to current residents. He himself will establish a memorial to his late son who enjoyed playing music among the blooms and shrubs at Tanger. “If you look, there are remembrances everywhere,” he says. “In many respects, this is hallowed ground.” Info: greensborbeautiful.org.

— Nancy Oakley The Art & Soul of Greensboro

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O.Henry 25

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26 O.Henry

May 2018

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The Art & Soul of Greensboro

This Oar That?

Life’s Funny

Rowing with a crew cut from plebes

By Maria Johnson

The guy at the back of

the boat was shouting instructions to us, a motley crew of mostly firsttimers at the sport of rowing.

It was sunset on Lake Brandt. Two other sweep boats — almost 60 feet long and as thin as reeds — were brimming with beginners, too.

We’d assembled at the invitation of the Greensboro Crew rowing team, which was recruiting new members for its masters squad.

“Masters,” incidentally, is an athletic way of saying you live somewhere between a dormitory and a nursing home.

Anyway, I took my place in the middle of the eight-person boat, my feet tucked loosely into a pair of way-too-big sneakers bolted to a board in front of my sliding seat. My hands steadied an oar that stuck out 12 feet to my right; the blade kept sinking — not a recommended position for moving forward.

Meanwhile, the guy at the back of the boat (there’s a proper name for him, but I’ll get to that later) yelled instructions to us.

To the untrained ear, he sounded like Charlie Brown’s teacher.

“Wah-wah-wah-wah-wah,” he said.

“What did he say?” I wondered aloud.

“I have no idea,” said someone.

“Wah-wah,” said the guy.

“Did you get that?” I said.

“Uhn-uh.”

“Wah-WAH-wah-wah-wah,” the guy insisted.

There was an awkward silence on the water. So I did what I usually do in situations like this. I focused on something totally unrelated.

“Ooooo, look at the pretty geese,” I said as a couple of longnecks skimmed the water beside us.

The two other boats lurched at speeds that seemed appropriate to novices.

Our boat seemed to be — what’s the nautical term? Dead in the water?

The confusion stemmed from language. Rowers have their own lingo, which we newbies were struggling to pick up.

Here’s a crash course: The person who sits at the back of the boat, giving orders, is the coxswain, or cox for short.

The eight rowers — who sit backward in the boat, facing the cox — are called by their seat numbers. Their oars are staggered, half jutting to one side, half to the other.

Most people know that port is left and starboard is right. But if you’re rowing, and your oar sticks out to your right, it’s a port oar because everything is defined from the cox’s point of view. It’s like stage right and stage left.

Then there’s the whole bow-stern, front-back thing.

So when the cox yells, “Stern pair, row,” what he means is, “Y’all two right in front of me, get on it!” but he can’t say that because, you know, rowing.

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

While we newcomers decoded all of this, our boat flailed around like a doped-up Jesus bug on the water. Some legs were working, some weren’t.

It’s a wonder we weren’t swirling in a circle.

Why, you might ask, was I there?

Well, it’s like this: An old tennis friend called me one night to say how much fun she was having rowing. It seems that youth rowing got going in Greensboro about two years ago, as an offshoot of a sister crew at Oak Hollow Lake in High Point.

The Greensboro masters team started about the same time.

My friend went on to explain how rowing is a great, no-impact workout.

“Uh-huh,” I said.

She explained how, during the winter, the Greensboro crew works out with rowing machines called ergs (short for ergometers).

“Uh-huh,” I said She explained how rowing on the water is thrilling except for when your oar catches the water wrong — which is called “catching a crab” — and how that can eject you from the boat — but don’t worry, hahaha, because it happens to everyone. And, oh, by the way, you can swim, right?

“Uhhhh-huhhhh,” I said.

Then she mentioned cookouts and good times.

“I’m in,” I said.

And that is how I found myself bird watching from Seat Four.

You’ll be happy to know that our boat eventually got the hang of it. The head instructor, Mary Hollingsworth — who’d assured us that we’d be completely lost the first three times we rowed — motored out in a launch and talked to us, via megaphone, as if we were kindergartners. It worked.

Pretty soon, we were rowing somewhat in synch, moving semifast, and catching only small crabs.

No one was ejected from the boat, although one rower pulled so hard, she came clean out of her shoes and rocketed backward on her rail. She thought it was pretty damn funny. I did, too.

I suppose this would be a good place to say that no cursing is allowed while rowing for the Greensboro and High Point crews.

Good thing I’m writing.

The point is, for a few brief, shining moments, we did it right. We worked as a team, learned something entirely new, felt the humility of being awful at first and the satisfaction of grasping it — something we “masters” don’t subject ourselves to very much.

All around us, the water shimmered in the pink robe of dusk. Purple martins chattered and swerved in the breeze. Blue heron waded in the shallows.

And yes, the geese were so pretty flying in their instinctive V’s, lined up in a way that got them, efficiently and beautifully, where they needed to go.

It was #$@!* glorious. OH Maria Johnson can be reached at ohenrymaria@gmail.com. Learn more about rowing at greensborocrew.com May 2018

O.Henry 27

The Omnivorous Reader

Endless Love When all the time in the world isn’t enough

By Stephen E. Smith

My review copy of

Matt Haig’s How to Stop Time fell open to an insert from Variety magazine announcing that the “story selection and rights have been acquired by SunnyMarch and Studiocanal” and that the film adaptation of the novel will star Benedict Cumberbatch.

Review copies always arrive with baggage — blurbs, author interviews, questionable testimonials, all of which I ignore. But it’s difficult to overlook a printed warning, tucked between the title page and cover, stating that the novel is soon to be a major motion picture. Before I’ve read the first word, I assume I’m being pitched a puffed-up film treatment, or worse yet, a story intended as fodder for the movie industry. A novel worth reading stands on its own.

Haig is a British author with an impressive track record. He’s written umpteen novels for adults and children, and his memoir Reasons to Stay Alive was on the best-sellers list for 46 weeks. So his latest offering certainly deserves a critical read, Cumberbatch notwithstanding. But like a film treatment that leaves the heart and soul of the story to be fleshed out by the filmmaker, this yarn about a 400-year-old man who could live to be 1,000 never quite comes together as a rewarding work of fiction.

Tom Hazard, the narrator/protagonist, is living the uneventful life of a history teacher in present-day London, but his attitude toward humankind

28 O.Henry

May 2018

has been shaded by the trauma of witnessing his mother, a peasant woman accused of being a witch for raising a child (Tom) who hasn’t aged appropriately, executed by drowning in the 1600s. Tom is one of a small group of secretive humans who age at such a leisurely pace that they appear immortal to ordinary beings. They’re called Albatrosses, Albas for short, because the bird of that name is rumored to live a long life. Regular folks, those of us who usually expire before the age of 100, are called Mayflies. So what we have is a protagonist granted a long, disease-free life and a chance to observe the world with all its faults and favors who instead spends his time ruminating on the disadvantages of an existence that offers almost endless opportunity for pleasure. Which is the novel’s primary conceptual fault. Sure, Tom’s mother suffered an unfortunate end, and there’s the certainty of losing friends and loved ones who aren’t blessed with Tom’s affliction, and it’s likely Albas would be of interest to scientists studying longevity, but the blessings of a long and healthy life far outweigh these impediments. If fate offered us the chance to be an Alba, we’d probably rejoice.

Despite this obvious incongruity, the novel’s concept should allow the author to present the reader with complex and unfamiliar perspectives, and Tom’s longevity should have blessed him with insights into the mysteries of life that he can share with the reader. But none of this happens, although there is the occasional hackneyed rambling about the past and its relationship to the present: “There are things I have experienced that I will never again be able to experience for the first time: love, a kiss, Tchaikovsky, a The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Reader

Tahitian sunset, jazz, a hot dog, a Bloody Mary.

That is the nature of things. History was — is — a one-way street. You have to keep walking forwards. But you don’t always need to look ahead.

Sometimes you can just look around and be happy right where you are.” That’s as philosophical as Tom gets.

“The first rule is that you don’t fall in love,” Tom is told by a fellow Alba, introducing an intended unifying subplot that centers on Tom’s emotional attachment to a woman in the present.

Thus we have a contemporary love story, albeit a slight one. And there’s a manipulative antagonist, Hendrich, the head guy with The Albatross Society, whose purpose is to ensure that Albas remain a mystery to Mayflies. The narrative alternates scenes set in the present with chapters that explicate Tom’s backstory. In his former existence, he loved a woman, Rose, who died of plague, and he has a daughter, Marion, also an Alba, who has disappeared and is the object of a half-hearted search that stretches into the novel’s melodramatic conclusion. But none of these characters is adequately realized, and they function merely as plot devices or foils.

During his passage through time, Tom meets Shakespeare, Captain Cook, Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Josephine Baker and others, but these historical characters appear to no particular purpose and only serve to tease the reader with subplots that never quite materialize. Tom is hired by Shakespeare to play lute at the Globe Theatre and finds himself in a minor dustup that does nothing to advance the plot, and he discusses The Great Gatsby and the fleeting nature of happiness with Fitzgerald: “‘If only we could find a way to stop time,’ said her husband [Scott].

‘That’s what we need to work on. You know, for when a moment of happiness floats along. We could swing our net and catch it like a butterfly, and have that moment forever’” — a simplistic reading of Scott and Zelda’s story that will strike Fitzgerald aficionados as clichéd.

How to Stop Time has received positive reviews in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Kirkus, People and other media, but potential readers will have to part with hard-earned bucks for the book and, more importantly, they’d have to spend hours reading 330 pages that they’ll likely find less than satisfying. They’d be wiser to save their money for a theater ticket and popcorn.

With Benedict Cumberbatch in the starring role, the movie might be worth the price of admission — and their valuable time. OH Stephen E. Smith is a retired professor and the author of seven books of poetry and prose. He’s the recipient of the Poetry Northwest Young Poet’s Prize, the Zoe Kincaid Brockman Prize for poetry and four North Carolina Press awards.

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

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O.Henry 29

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Scuppernong Bookshelf

Greensboro Bound Greensboro Bound: A Literary Festival — Schedule of Events *All information is subject to change. Please check greensborobound.com for updates.

THURSDAY, MAY 17 Weatherspoon Art Museum 6:45 p.m. Fred Chappell, opening remarks 7–7:45 p.m. Brett Ingram FRIDAY, MAY 18 Scuppernong Books 4:00 p.m. John Claude Bemis (for middle graders) 5:00 p.m. James Swanson (for young adults) Van Dyke Performance Space 7:00 p.m. Daniel Pink After-Hours Events 8:30 p.m. The Difficulties (music), Scuppernong Books 8:30 p.m. Lorena Guillén and Alejandro Rutty (music),

Scuppernong Books 8:30 p.m. Josephus III (poetry), Triad Stage Cabaret SATURDAY, MAY 19 Greensboro Cultural Center, Hyers Room 10:00 a.m. Poetry Panel with Coen Cauthen, Juliana

Gray, Nickole Brown, and Sham-e-Ali Nayeem

moderated by Joseph Mills.

11:15 a.m. Undocupoets, with Janine Joseph, Marcelo

Hernandez Castillo, moderated

by Cathryne Schmitz 2:00 p.m. Jabberbox Puppets, with Daniel Wallace,

Marianne Gingher, Deborah Seabrooke &

puppets!

3:15 p.m. Contemporary Muslim Writing, with Omar

H. Ali and Sham-e-Ali Nayeem, moderated by

Deonna Kelli Sayed 4:30 p.m. LGBTQ Panel with Nickole Brown, Daisy

Hernandez and Jessica Jacobs, moderated by

Wayne Johns Greensboro Cultural Center, Orientation Room (Advanced Registration Required) 10:00 a.m. Short Story Workshop with Scott Gould 2:00 p.m. Historical Fiction Workshop with Susan Rivers 3:15 p.m. Creative Non-Fiction Workshop with

Stephanie Elizondo Griest 4:30 p.m. Middle Grade Panel with Jen Nails, Stacy

McAnulty, Lee Williams, and Melanie Conklin Greensboro Cultural Center, Van Dyke Performance Space 10:00 a.m. A Conversation with Lee Smith and Michael

Parker, introduction by Brian Lampkin 11:15 a.m. Food & the Global South, with John Shelton

Reed and Jon T. Edge, moderated

by Brian Giemza 1:00 p.m. Greensboro Opera: A 15-minute opera for

middle schoolers

2:00 p.m. Carmen Maria Machado, introduction by

Audrey Smith 4:30 p.m. A Conversation with John Duberstein and

Tita Ramirez Greensboro History Museum, Mary Norris Preyer Hall 11:15 a.m. The End of the World As We Know It,

with Jared Yates Sexton, Hal Crowther, Beth

Macy and Stephanie Griest, moderated by

Allen Johnson 2:00 p.m. Memoir/Biography Panel, with Eddie

Huffman and Elaine Neil Orr, moderated

by Jim Dodson 3:15 p.m. Novel Panel 1, with Susan Rivers, Leesa Cross-

Smith, Michele Young-Stone, Elaine Neil Orr,

moderated by Quinn Dalton 4:30 p.m. Short Story Panel, with Ray Morrison, Krystal

Smith, Steve Cushman, moderated

by Steve Mitchell Greensboro Public Library, Central Library: Children’s Reading Room 9:30 a.m. Icuidado! Llamas! Llamas outside 10:00 a.m. Picture Book Authors:

Kate Torney (10 a.m.)

Stacy McAnulty (10:30 a.m.)

Nora Carpenter (11:15 a.m.)

Greensboro Public Library, Central Library: Nussbaum Room 10:00 a.m. Unicorn Press Panel with Amy Wright, Terry

Kennedy and Charlotte Matthews, moderated

by Andrew Saulters 11:15 a.m. Bull City Press Panel with Michael McFee,

Ellen Bush, Emilia Phillips, moderated by Julia

Ridley Smith 2:00 p.m. Hub City Press Panel with Leesa Cross-Smith,

Scott Gould, Thomas McConnell 3:15 p.m. Press 53 Panel with Maura Way, Joseph Mills,

Gabrielle Brant Freeman, Ray Morrison,

moderated by Kevin Watson 4:30 p.m. Blair Press Panel, Sara Ficke, Erick Myers,

John Francis Trump International Civil Rights Center & Museum 11:15 a.m. Middle Grade Authors with Dana Levy and

Megan Bryant 3:15 p.m. Maurice On a White Horse: Restaurants as

Bunkers and Battlefields, with John T. Edge,

introduced by Steve Colyer 7:00 p.m. Kevin Powers, introduced by Drew Perry After-Hours Events 8:30 p.m. Cloud Diary Music Project,

Scuppernong Books

8:30 p.m.

8:30 p.m.

9:30 p.m.

Performance Poetry with Ashley Lumpkin, Morgan Renea Myers, Jay Ward, Monifa Lemons and Angel “Eyeambic” Geter, Triad Stage Cabaret Chris Stamey and Eddie Huffman in conversation, Greensboro Project Space Eddie Huffman and Emily Edwards: The Music of John Prine and Bars, Blues and Booze, Greensboro Project Space

SUNDAY, MAY 20 Greensboro Cultural Center: Van Dyke Performance Space 1:00 p.m. Beth Macy, introduced by Beth Sheffield 2:15 p.m. Feminist Panel, with Carmen Maria Machado,

Rebecca Peters, Janine Joseph, Ashley

Lumpkin, moderated by Jennifer Feather 3:30 p.m. Cooking Panel, with Joan Nathan and Katie

Button, moderated by Kathleen Purvis Triad Stage Cabaret 1:00 p.m. Transgender/Fluid Panel with Jordan Rice and

Coen Cauthen, moderated by Cameron

Awkward-Rich 2:15 p.m. UNCG M.F.A. Alumni Panel with Heidi

Czerwiec, Kerri French and Sarah Rose

Nordgren, moderated by Terry Kennedy 3:30 p.m. Poetry Panel 3 with Jordan Rice, Lauren

Moseley, Jessica Jacobs and Cameron

Awkward-Rich First Christian Church 2:15 p.m. Religion and Mental Health Panel with David

Finnegan-Hosey, Dr. Tonya Armstrong,

moderated by Lee Hull Moses Greensboro Public Library, Central Library: Children’s Reading Room 2:15 p.m. Picture book authors:

Ellen Fischer (2:15 p.m.)

Tara Luebbe (3:15 p.m.)

Greensboro Public Library, Central Library: Nussbaum Room 2:15 p.m. Novel Panel 2 with Naima Coster,

Ross Howell Jr. and Jim Minick 3:30 p.m. Latinx/Miscegenation Panel with

Naima Coster, Daisy Hernandez and Marcelo

Hernandez Castillo N.C. A&T: Harrison Auditorium 6:00 p.m. Nikki Giovanni, introduced

by Ashley Lumpkin (ticketed, free event)

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Gate City Journal

Saving the Day Local craftsman Erich Thompson refreshes the work of legendary cabinetmaker Thomas Day

By Ross Howell Jr.

photographs by sam froelich

I’m standing in the Patterson Street home

of the Woodworker Group LLC, looking at a dark chest raised a few inches above the workshop floor.

To my untrained eye it’s unremarkable, really.

The rosewood veneer is dull with age. Some of the mahogany-finished walnut edges and carved details are badly chipped. There’s a gap in the top of the chest, and at least a dozen C-clamps are arranged around the edges to hold the veneer in place while glue sets.

Standing next to me is Erich Thompson, who sees my puzzlement and nods.

He props his wire-rim glasses on his brow and rubs his eyes. The glasses drop back to his nose.

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

“Definitely the worse for wear,” he says. “Next step will be to replace the edging.”

Thompson is a fit, straight-shouldered man I met more than 10 years ago. My wife, Mary Leigh, had taken one of his woodworking courses years before and he’d come by to help us with some of the details on the Fisher Park bungalow we were renovating.

“I’m using hide glue,” Thompson says, made from, as the name implies, animal hides.“The same kind of glue Thomas Day would’ve used.”

On his business card Thompson describes himself as a “Woodworker.” The sign painted with his name outside his shop advertises “Handcrafted Furniture.”

Both accurate descriptions. But quietly modest, as is the man.

In fact, Thompson is to furniture what Horace is to the ode or Shakespeare to the sonnet.

A master. And there’s more to the story.

Formally he’s the Reverend Doctor Erich Thompson, a 1987 graduate May 2018

O.Henry 33

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May 2018

of Union Presbyterian Seminary, Richmond, Virginia. He’s served congregations in Virginia and North Carolina, taking up woodworking as a hobby.

“The hobby got out of hand,” Thompson says with a wry smile.

A turning point came in 2004 when he attended a dedication ceremony for the sacred furniture — a baptismal bowl stand, an altar, a pulpit and a processional cross — he’d designed, made and donated to the Presbyterian Conference Center in Montreat.

“There must’ve been about 1,500 people in the crowd,” Thompson says. “I was very nervous, because my designs are sparse, you know?

They’re not for everyone.”

When the hall echoed with the sound of applause, Thompson realized others shared his vision.

“A couple weeks later,” he says, “I got a call from Myers Park Presbyterian Church in Charlotte. They said they wanted a suite of pieces just like the ones in Montreat.”

In time, more churches began to contact him, asking him to create and produce designs for their sacred spaces.

His work has been commissioned for churches in Salisbury, North Wilkesboro, Clemmons, Asheville and Beth David Synagogue in Greensboro.

“A dream project was at Forest Lake Presbyterian in Columbia, South Carolina,” Thompson says.

“They’re a high-risk, low-reward ministry. They’re not looking for security, but for challenge.

“The vaulted ceiling of the church is like an inverted boat,” he continues. “So I designed an altar that was the mirror of that image — the upright bow of the boat.”

These days Thompson is a busy man indeed.

He has produced pieces for nearly 50 churches in 16 states. Right now he’s pondering projects in Virginia, D.C., Texas and Pennsylvania.

“I’m scheduled more than a year out,” he says. “But who wouldn’t make time for a Thomas Day piece?”

Thomas Day is a legendary figure for antiquers and students of American furniture. Born a free man of color in 1801 to a cabinetmaker in Dinwiddie County, Virginia, Day moved first to Hillsborough, North Carolina, to try his hand at cabinet making, and later to the town of Milton on the Dan River in Caswell County in the 1820s.

Despite racial prejudice and the legal restrictions — when Day married a freewoman living in Virginia, he had to petition the North Carolina General Assembly in order for her to join him in Milton, since an 1826 statute forbade free people of color from entering the state — he built a very successful business.

In 1847 Day purchased Union Tavern on Broad Street — now a historical museum, the Thomas Day House and Union Tavern. Day The Art & Soul of Greensboro

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converted the structure into his personal residence and workshop.

Fueled by the wealth that bright leaf tobacco brought to Caswell and Rockingham counties, Day’s shop, in 1850, would become the largest furniture-crafting operation in North Carolina — and the only one powered by steam — employing both black and white artisans.

Day not only designed and crafted furniture, but also made exquisitely curved staircase newels, windows, mantels, and other architectural features for nearby plantation houses in Virginia and North Carolina.

Day’s work is admired as much for its remarkable craftsmanship, as the cabinet maker’s unique adaptations of the popular designs of his time — described by Smithsonian Magazine as an “Exuberant Style” of ogee curves and curlicues that anticipated Art Nouveau.”

Day’s fortunes — and health — suffered during the severe economic downturn of 1857, and he passed away in 1861 at age 60, the year our nation fell into its most destructive and bloody internal conflict.

Many of Day’s pieces are in private homes and collections, but some 39 of his creations — including a magnificent what-not, a Gothic bed, a sofa, a Grecian style rocking chair, a chest of drawers with mirror, a side chair, a carved sewing stand and more — are in the collection of the North Carolina Museum of History in Raleigh. Another, a handsome dressing table with carved feet and a marble inlay is in the permanent collection at Winston-Salem’s Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA). “It’s impossible to underestimate the importance of Thomas Day not just to North Carolina, but to American decorative arts,” says Robert Leath, MESDA’s chief curator and vice-president of collections and research. Marveling at the size and modernization of Day’s manufacturing facility, Leath emphasizes that, “as a person of color living and working in the midst of a slave economy, Day’s professional accomplishments are nothing short of remarkable — and inspirational.”

In a nice twist to our story, Day designed and crafted the pews in Milton Presbyterian Church, built in 1837, purportedly so that he and his wife, Aquilla, could sit among the white worshippers, rather than in the balcony designated for slaves.

So just how did this old Day chest wind up in former Presbyterian minister, now master woodworker Thompson’s shop?

For that we can thank Greensboro native Sam Pass.

In 1995 Pass bought a run-down building on Gorrell Street known as the Magnolia House Motel. In its heyday during the Segregation era, the house had provided accommodations to African Americans closed off from white facilities.

And what a list of guests the motel had seen! Leaders like the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife, Coretta Scott King. Philosopher and social critic Cornel West. Duke Ellington’s Band. Entertainers like the The Art & Soul of Greensboro

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O.Henry 37

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“I remember one afternoon, I met soul singer Joe Tex on the front porch,” Pass says. “I was 13 or 14 years old. That made a real impression on me as a kid.”

Pass still works full-time as a life and safety officer at Duke University, but over the years he’s labored tirelessly to bring the Magnolia House back to its days of glory.

Pass gutted the place. He secured grants for furniture and architectural details. He received gifts of lumber, labor and stone for landscaping.

Now formally recognized as the Daniel D. DeButts House, informally as the Historic Magnolia House—“The House That Soul Built”— the place is now on the National Register of Historic Places.

“One day somebody came in and said, ‘That chest looks like a Thomas Day piece,’” Pass says.

So Pass got in touch with David Hoggard of Double Hung LLC and Pete Williams of Pete Williams Custom Woodworking — both located in the Patterson Street facility where Erich Thompson has his shop — since they had built the doors and windows for the renovation at Magnolia House.

“Well, they recommended Erich,” Pass continues.

So here we are, Thompson and I, standing in his shop. He shows me how to recognize the chest as a Day piece in the first place. He points out the elongated knuckles of the claw feet, the carved tobacco leaves — a Day touch replacing the acanthus leaves of traditional Greek Revival.

Thompson shows me the wooden screws of the drawer knobs, tooled by hand.

I ask him about the “restoration.” He politely says. “Day built his furniture to last for a hundred years, so you don’t ‘restore’ it,” Thompson says.

“You ‘repair’ it.”

Thompson tells that craftsmen like Day left clues on how to repair what they’d created.

“I try to think the same way in the sacred pieces I build,” he says. “I leave clues, because I want my pieces to last for a hundred years, too.”

Thompson reflects for a moment, gazing at the chest.

“When I work on something like this,” he says quietly, “I feel like I’m shaking hands with a master.” OH Ross Howell Jr. is compiling and editing the short stories, published and unpublished, he’s written over the years.

38 O.Henry

May 2018

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

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O.Henry 39

Papadaddy

Mole Talk Small ears that hear everything

By Clyde Edgerton

Moby and Medley are moles, sitting

Illustration by Harry Blair

at a table in the Sandbucks Coffee Shop, where they meet once a week to talk about life underneath and around the Yardley home. They hear a lot of what goes on up above among the humans and human media. They don’t see, of course, and their lives are relatively dull, same-o same-o. Dirt, roots, dampness, clay, dryness and darkness.

MOBY: What’s the latest?

MEDLEY: I’m writing an important report on Republicans and Democrats.

MOBY: How do you know about all that?

MEDLEY: I can hear. You know, don’t you, that Mr. and Ms. Yardley, up above, are split?

MOBY: They’re getting a divorce?

MEDLY: No, no. I mean one’s a Democrat and one’s a Republican.

MOBY: Seems I remember something about that.

MEDLEY: My report is getting reviewed in The New York Times and at Fox News.

MOBY: Those organizations don’t like each other, right?

MEDLEY: Right. They see news differently.

MOBY: But isn’t all news the same?

MEDLEY: Oh, goodness gracious, no. There’s red news and there’s blue news.

MOBY: I thought there was only true news.

MEDLEY: Not anymore. Everything is either-or. Left or right. Up or down.

Black or white.

MOBY: I’m just glad I can’t see. What color are we?

MEDLEY: I’ve heard that we are some shade of gray more or less. And did you know, the blues think all the reds are idiots.

MOBY: Really? What do the reds think of the blues?

MEDLEY: That they are all idiots.

MOBY: It’s a shame, isn’t it? Do they ever talk to each other?

MEDLEY: Not much. They holler. And they acted that way right before the Civil War, too.

MOBY: Oh, mercy. Do you think there will be another Civil War up there?

MEDLEY: No way.

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

MOBY: I wonder how the Yardleys live together — you know, one red and one blue.

MEDLEY: I think they talk only about sports, music, the weather and Naked and Afraid. They avoid politics.

MOBY: What’s politics?

MEDLEY: “Naked and afraid.”

MOBY: Oh. What about that Second Amendment thing?

MEDLEY: Have you read it?

MOBY: I just keep hearing about it.

MEDLEY: If you live in one of the 50 states it keeps you safe.

MOBY: Really? That’s what it says.

MEDLEY: That’s right. It says, “A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

MOBY: That’s all it says?

MEDLEY: That’s the whole amendment, every word.

MOBY: That’s a load off my mind. Who could be against that?

MEDLEY: Nobody, of course. It’s common sense. The blue and reds agree on that one. Without that amendment we just couldn’t feel secure.

MOBY: Is there an amendment that lets us buy cars?

MEDLEY: Oh, yes. That’s the Third Amendment. And the Fourth Amendment lets us buy refrigerators. You can’t own something unless there is an amendment for it.

MOBY: How did you learn all that?

MEDLEY: Google. You can hear Google now, so people don’t have to read.

MOBY: So, what’s the title of your report?

MEDLEY: It’s called “Equality, Fair Play, Guns, Cars, and Refrigerators: Security in America.” I also wrote some stuff about globalization. See, the more guns that get into the little states around the world, the more secure they will be — just like in the U.S. MOBY: That’s a load off my mind.

MEDLEY: Mine too. How about another cup of coffee?

MOBY: You bet. That’s good coffee.

MEDLEY: Seventh Amendment: “Good coffee is necessary to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” OH Clyde Edgerton is the author of 10 novels, a memoir and most recently, Papadaddy’s Book for New Fathers. He is the Thomas S. Kenan III Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing at UNCW. May 2018

O.Henry 41

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True South

Affair on the Lawn The sweet smell of labor

By Susan Kelly

You cut the grass, but you mow

the lawn. You know this, right? When I’m rich, my lawn is going to be mowed — by someone else — every other day. Few things in life impart the magnificent sense of peace with order, with aroma, with achievement, with a big, breathy sigh of satisfaction than a newly mowed yard. In spring, it’s that first haircut. In summer, it’s the bare feet feel and the dog lying in the dappled shade. In fall, it’s the only yard work you can do that gets at all the leaves. Temporarily, sure, but still. Even on bad years, years of crabgrass and violets, you can adopt the maxim “If it’s green, mow it,” and be content with the results.

The tidy lines! The gridded crisscrosses! The crew cut nap! Who doesn’t love the look and the feel?

There’s not a kid alive who doesn’t long to drive something, anything, with a motor, even if a chore is involved, like mowing the grass. When I was 11, my friends had mini-bikes, but I had a Cub Cadet riding mower. “You have to wear shoes,” my father said sternly when he handed over the key, and the implicit threat of chopping off my foot meant that I broad-jumped onto the platform over the lethal blades from three feet out. “And watch what you run over,” he went on, meaning roots, rocks, anything that might shoot out and, you know, put out someone’s eye. (After several unfortunate Cub Cadet encounters with trowels and clippers, my father took this warning a step further and spray-painted every handle in the tool shed fluorescent orange.)

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

To this day, when I’m driving along and pass someone cutting their grass with a “tractor mower,” as we called it, I can feel the big, nearly horizontal steering wheel, ridged for fingers far larger than mine, in my hands. Listen: One year we had a family Christmas card taken behind the wheel of that Cub Cadet.

For many years, we used the lawn mower that euphemistically “came with the house” along with the mortgage. Rather, my husband did. Not that I can’t mow the lawn myself. I love yanking that choke rope and getting the greasy motor to crank. The sputter and catch. That growl into power is the sound of Saturday mornings, which my small children spent draped around my husband’s neck like human shawls as he mowed the lawn.

I mean, I can do it. Really. But it looks better when he does.

When that mower gave out — I might have forgotten the correct ratio of oil to gas and ruined its insides — my husband debated buying an oldfashioned rotary mower. It’s ecologically sound (self-mulches); doesn’t make any noise (gentle whir); and produces the perfect trim — if you have a stampsized patch of lawn in London. While the image is appealing, the notion that such a dainty device could chew up, chop down and spit out our grass is hilarious. We might as well have dug out the children’s plastic lawnmowers, the ones they used when they tooled along behind their father. (I did what I’ve learned to do with these kinds of spousal schemes: Leave them alone and it’ll go away, like your mother told you about wasps.)

But wait. About the for-hire yard army tackling my yard every other day: I take back that wish. Where’s the pleasure in perpetual striped perfection?

Where’s the satisfaction of DIY? Where’s the olfactory thrill in that just-cut scent, something between a watermelon slice and a tomato stem? No, no.

It’s simply too wonderful to personally watch those parallel lines appear, a verdant carpet emerging before your eyes. And there’s something creepy about watching three mow, blow and go guys tackling grass gone wild.

But there’s nothing strange about watching your husband do the same thing. OH Susan Kelly is a blithe spirit, author of several novels, and proud new grandmother.

May 2018

O.Henry 43

You’re Invited to Meet Author and Television Host D.G. Martin Friends oF the Greensboro Public library

annual luncheon

Thursday, May 24, 2018 • Twelve O’clock Noon Revolution Mill Events Center 900 Revolution Mill Drive Greensboro, North Carolina Join us for a conversation with D.G. Martin, Host, North Carolina Bookwatch Moderated by Sandra Hughes, Former Anchor, WFMY News.

Guests are welcome. Questions, call 336-373-2714.

Please RSVP by May 11, 2018 by sending a check for you and your guest ($35 per person) to: Friends of the Greensboro Public Library PO Box 3178 • Greensboro, NC 27402

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May 2018

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The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Food for Thought

Braking for Local Asparagus

Spring is the most ephemeral time of the year, so it pays to cook completely in the moment

By Jane Lear

Asparagus season is in full swing,

and a good thing, too, for the vegetable is one of the home cook’s greatest allies. It can be steamed, boiled, sautéed, stir-fried, roasted or grilled. It comes elegantly thin or fat and juicy. It’s impressive drizzled with vinaigrette, and served as a first course; as a side to chicken, fish, ham, pork, or beef; or worked into pasta primavera, risotto, or an omelet or frittata. It is delicious hot, chilled or room temperature. It swings from simple, even austere, presentations (salt, pepper, olive oil, lemon zest) to more complex ones (in a stir-fry with other spring vegetables, for instance, or tucked into a creamy lasagne) without losing its presence.

And even though it is now found in the supermarket produce aisle pretty much year-round, most of us greet our local crop as something special, eating it with joyous, unabashed greed for the four to six weeks it is available. That is why it’s a good idea to buy plenty; I usually allot at least a half pound or more per person. On the off chance there are any leftovers, they’re delicious the next morning, warmed through and dipped into a runny soft-boiled egg.

Some people prefer pencil-thin spears, and others like them thick. The difference in circumference is due not to the relative maturity of the spears, but a combination of factors, including the age of the plants from which they were harvested (the thinner the spear, the younger the plant), cultivar and sex.

Female plants produce fewer, larger spears; males give a much higher yield of thin to medium spears.

I tend to seek out asparagus that’s on the plump side because of its succulent, almost meaty, texture. I also find it easier to deal with. Skinny asparagus may look sophisticated on the plate, but during cooking, it can turn from tender to

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

mushy in about a millisecond, and attention must be paid.

All that aside, go for whatever asparagus, whether thick or thin, is the freshest, because it doesn’t keep well. Look for firm, tightly closed tips with a beguiling lavender blush, scales (or leaves, botanically speaking) that lie flat against glossy stalks, and woody ends that are freshly cut and moist. The asparagus in our markets is typically green, but purple cultivars are becoming increasingly available; those are especially nice raw in salads, because when cooked they lose their color, which can range from pale mauve to deep purple. The white asparagus that is more common in Europe is simply prevented from turning green: The growing spears are continually banked with soil to keep them in the dark; that way, they don’t produce chlorophyll.

Cooking asparagus is staggeringly simple, and my basic method is as follows. First, rinse the asparagus well to remove any sand or grit (trust me, it’s there) and pat dry. Snap off the tough ends (or cut them if the spears are very thick), and peel the stalks if the skin is fibrous.

In a large skillet, lay the asparagus lengthwise, tips facing in the same direction, in an inch or so of salted water. Bring the water to a gentle boil and cook the asparagus until it is barely tender; the tip of a knife inserted in a spear should meet a very slight resistance, and if you pick it up in the middle with tongs, it should bend slightly. Thin spears take just a few minutes and more robust spears a bit longer. Once you’ve prepared asparagus this way, you can go in any number of directions. Below are two favorites.

A Homey Asparagus Supper for Two I cobbled together this dish one rainy spring evening a few years ago, and was really proud of myself — until I realized the revered English food writer Nigel Slater had beat me to the punch. “A rubble of cooked, chopped pancetta, and especially its melted fat, makes a gorgeous seasoning for a fat bunch of spears,” he wrote in Tender: A cook and his vegetable patch. And how.

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Using the basic method outlined above, cook a bundle of medium to large asparagus until just barely tender. Meanwhile, melt a generous tablespoon of unsalted butter in an ovenproof skillet or sauté pan over moderately high heat. Add an enjoyable amount of chopped pancetta or bacon and cook until golden. Remove from the heat.

Scrape the pancetta and the fat in the pan to one side and add the asparagus. Spoon the pancetta and fat over the asparagus, then sprinkle with freshly May 2018

O.Henry 45

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46 O.Henry

May 2018

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Food for Thought

grated Parmigiano-Reggiano. Put the pan in the oven and bake until the cheese is melted, 5 minutes or so.

Asparagus Mimosa for Four This recipe, which can easily be doubled, is a wonderful way to kick-start a dinner party. The asparagus is delicious warm or at room temperature, and the sieved hard-boiled egg is more than a pretty topping: As it absorbs the vinaigrette, it fluffs up like the yellow mimosa blossoms that punctuate winter in Provence. The richness of the egg yolk also gentles the vinaigrette and gives it body.

Cook about 1 1/2 pounds asparagus as above.

Cut 2 hard-boiled eggs in half, then press them through a sieve into a small bowl. Whisk together about 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar, 1 tablespoon minced shallot, and a dab of smooth Dijon mustard. (A little minced fresh tarragon would be nice, too.) Add coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Whisk in 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil (use a mild oil, not a peppery Tuscan one). Toss the asparagus in a small amount of the vinaigrette, and reserve the rest. Parcel out the asparagus among four plates, spoon the rest of the vinaigrette over it, and sprinkle with the sieved egg. Et voilà!

Asparagus on the Grill By the time May rolls around, we all want to spend as much time as possible outdoors, not standing over a stove. Luckily for us, the technique of grilling really concentrates the singular sweetness of asparagus and overlays its vegetal purity with a little smokiness. Grilled asparagus is delicious as is or with a garlicky mayonnaise.

“When you put just-picked asparagus on a hot grill, they are so juicy they actually jump as they start to cook,” Andrea Reusing once told me. The acclaimed chef-owner of Lantern, in Chapel Hill, and the restaurant at The Durham hotel, in downtown Durham, is extremely deft with seasonal ingredients, and the below recipe is from her book, Cooking in the Moment.

Andrea Reusing’s Charcoal-Grilled Asparagus Prepare a hot fire in a charcoal grill. Count on 8 to 10 asparagus per person as a side dish or as the focal point of a salad. Keeping all the tips pointing the same direction, toss the asparagus with olive oil, a generous amount of salt, and some freshly ground black pepper. When the flame has died down, the coals are completely covered with ash, and the grill is very hot, grill the asparagus (in batches if necessary). Cook 2 to 3 minutes per side until fragrant, lightly marked, and vibrant green on the outside, and juicy and tender on the inside. OH Jane Lear was the senior articles editor at Gourmet and features director at Martha Stewart Living.

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The Pleasures of Life Dept.

A Passion for Pastel North Carolina artists display their talents in a juried exhibition

Gathering Energy, Laura Pollak

La Lectrice de Magni, Lyle Mullican

Cotton Top, Addren Doss

By Nancy Oakley

“O

ne of the most attractive qualities of the pastel medium is the immediacy of execution,” says Toni Lindahl, who found that mixing colors on paper with little mess to clean up was an expedient way to pursue her art while raising children. As a member and publicity chair for the Pastel Society of North Carolina, she’ll be exhibiting a stylized still life, Leaf Pattern Medley, from May 11 to June 12 during the seventh Annual Statewide Juried Pastel Exhibition at Greensboro’s Art Shop (3900 West Market Street), along with members of Appalachian Pastel Society and the Piedmont Pastel Society. As juror, renowned landscapist Liz Haywood-Sullivan winnowed the field to 100 artworks that cover the gamut of genres — landscapes, abstracts, portraits, still lifes.

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

May 2018

O.Henry 49

The Pleasures of Life Dept.

Evening Fireworks, Debbie Rasberry

Foxtail Pines, Tara Will

Crashing Wave, BF Reed

Wild Lavendar, Kurt Weiser The brilliant hues of sunflowers and autumnal scenes, as well as the muted tones of sitting subjects lost in thought; the free lines of an abstract to the precision of a realistic seascape or an architectural detail all speak to the timeless appeal of the medium that dates as far back as the ancient cave drawings in Lascaux, France, and Altamira, Spain.

Though N.C.’s pastel artists use sticks of soft pastels instead of colored stone, their compulsion is the same as their prehistoric forebears: to grasp the simplest of tools and interpret the world around them — and create a colorful legacy that endures. OH Info: pastelsocietyofnc.com, piedmontpastelsociety.org, appalachianpastelsociety.org, artshopnc.com or phone The Art Shop at (336) 855-8500.

50 O.Henry

May 2018

Red Rover, Caroline S. Young The Art & Soul of Greensboro

The Pleasures of Life Dept.

Moments Of Angst, Roxanne Lorch

Winter Chill, Nina MacDonald

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The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Community Gardens

The Plot Thickens In a community garden, everybody has an opinion

By David Claude Bailey

Photographs courtesy of David Claude Bailey

As Anne and I administered some-

thing akin to last rites to the garden plot we’d tended for 14 years, the sun punched through a drab January sky, looking like a candle burning a hole in a gray piece of paper. My wife and I were unearthing slumbering plants from our designated plot in Greensboro’s Mixed Greens community garden to take them to the abandoned dairy farm we’d rented near Whitsett. Our Egyptian walking onions would take a long trek to our new place, bedding down where cows once grazed. Out came clump after clump of hearty asparagus roots. We unearthed oregano and horseradish. We uprooted a thriving and luxurious artichoke plant, reminiscent, even in January, of a van Gogh painting.

As we packed the car, we agreed that what we’d miss most about community gardening was the community of gardeners, many of whom had become close friends. What we wouldn’t miss were several zealots who, from the time we got there, became a self-appointed group of antagonists. Our choice to garden organically, as we had done for decades, without commercial pesticides, herbicides or chemical fertilizer, clearly went against the grain with them. They all must have graduated from the same training program, I decided, one I imagined was akin similar to Marine Corps boot camp. They came off as know-italls who didn’t hesitate to tell us that there’s a right and wrong way of gardening — and ours was wrong.

“You can’t do that,” said one gentleman, who seemed to possess a wardrobe

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

expressly for gardening — green canvas trousers, matching Crocs, a yellow t-shirt emblazoned with vegetable images. “That manure,” he warned, “will burn up anything you plant.” I was wearing garb similar to what my father had told me to put on when he first introduced me to “busting clods” at the age of 5: threadbare clothes too old to send to Goodwill. “We don’t expect much the first year,” I explained. “We’re really just building up the soil for the future.”

We’d used load after load of compost and manure, the latter, donated by Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus after their annual visit, included fragrant lion and elephant scat. “That manure’s going to kill anything you plant,” he repeated.

Anne, who tends to be a little more diplomatic than I am, said, “We’ve been gardening organically more than 40 years, and we know what we’re doing.”

After explaining once again how our plants would die a nitrogen-induced death of wilting agony, he marched off, shaking his head in disgust.

From then on, we continued to raise eyebrows — by using bamboo as a trellis for our snow peas, by planting Asian long beans that climbed into the sky like Jack’s beanstalk, by introducing a 150-gallon horse trough for Anne’s water lilies and goldfish, by turning down an offer to use the community’s bright red rototiller, by mulching our bed with newspapers — and recycled O.Henry magazines — to keep the weeds down, by putting a plastic snake among our strawberries to scare away birds, but most of all, by refusing to water during a summer that will be remembered for one of the severest droughts the Piedmont has ever witnessed. We were able to do this by converting our soil from a block of red clay into a loamy mélange of organic materials full of earthworms, and then by covering our plants with a thick blanket of mulch.

“Mulch is a medium for pests,” another outraged expert told us when a few bugs began nibbling the leaves of our beans. “You’re going to want to dust those plants.” When we responded that we were disinclined to do so, we got a lecture on containment. It was as if our garden were a Vietnam of pests and not nipping them in the bud would lead to takeovers in neighboring plots.

Whenever pests began eating our plants, we dusted them with diatomaceous earth or a mixture of snuff and cayenne pepper. If our beans continued to serve as a main course for the insect world, we simply pulled them up and May 2018

O.Henry 53

Community Gardens Ideas that move.

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planted something else.

But back to the drought of 2007–2008. Decades before, Anne had taught me to only water when absolutely necessary. She even introduced that weird practice to my father, who was raised on a tobacco farm, used chemicals liberally and watered daily all summer long. She explained that when you water continuously, the roots don’t grow deep into the ground and in consequence the plants become addicted to their daily dose of water. Too much water will also wash the nutrients away, she explained.

During the drought when neighboring gardeners offered to water our garden if we went out of town for a week, we said, thanks, but no thanks. And they were incredulous. They were more incredulous when, despite the drought, our lush, towering vines filled out with plump, ripe, red tomatoes — lots of them. Some of our neighbors even began asking for mulching advice — and for some of those old, discarded issues of O.Henry magazines.

On the main, though, we found almost all the gardeners friendly folks who generously shared their seedlings and crops with others. One year when early blight hit everyone’s tomatoes, Flossie told us about an organic product with micronutrients that had brought her tomatoes back from the brink, and then pulled her sprayer out and offered it to us right then and there. She was right, the tomatoes grew productive new branches and leaves.

Our crop was saved. And Billie shared herbs and vegetables, as well as tips. Another gardener suggested we try Rotenone, a “natural, organic” pesticide. And “experts” were always available to generously help new gardeners with their plots.

We became the odd pair, and gradually the rigid experts left us alone. But they administered the garden, and one year when we were one month late sending in the check for the next year’s rent, our plot was given to someone else. No warning, no phone call, no notice. As soon as Anne realized we’d been negligent, she called about it and I remember the tears rolling down her face. Having spent hours and hours building tilth, nurturing earthworms and grooming out favorite perennials, losing our plot was like losing a pet. On the other hand, we had forgotten to pay the rent and rules are rules.

When the young gardener who rented our bed gave it up at the end of that summer, we got a call, asking if we didn’t want our old bed back — and that’s when we learned what community gardening was all about. That spring when we returned to reclaim our plot, we were greeted like long-lost friends by fellow gardeners.

Ginny, who was the one who invited us back, asked me if I was interested in volunteering. I let her know that my expertise was limited to heavy lifting, digging and operating a wheelbarrow, but

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Community Gardens soon I became the go-to guy for helping older members who were recovering from surgery or were too ill to tend to what they’d planted. As a result, I grew close to one of our early critics. We shared life stories one spring day when I helped him put in tomatoes, which I ended up caring for and picking and sending to him as he recuperated. Emily, who recruited my help with her runaway Jerusalem artichokes, turned out to be an avid birder, and she and Anne shared news of sightings of rare visitants like a rufous hummingbird that came to town.

Equally rare were some of the plants that gardeners from other countries grew — African corn that grew 15 feet high, rice that didn’t need to be planted in water and all sorts of peppers that were several times hotter than habaneros. The plot right next to ours belonged to Susan, who used to live in Africa. She generously shared some of her blisteringly hot peppers and childhood memories with us. Her entire bed was almost covered in some unusual greens, which one of the overenthusiastic fellow gardeners once pulled up, thinking they were weeds.

Spring is on the way, and out the window I can see arugula, kale, turnips, beets and mesclun thriving. Brussels sprouts have already been harvested and now snow peas are germinating in their place.

The massive asparagus roots from our old community plot are doubtless wondering about their new surroundings, but I bet they’re liking the horse and cow manure all around them. Corn, pumpkins and watermelon, all discouraged in the community garden as too sprawling, are in our summer plans.

Artichoke seedlings are thriving in the sunshine on our porch, while tomato and pepper seeds make plans in their flats. The other day, Anne put out lettuce, parsley, onion and cilantro sets under row cover, and sowed seeds of parsnips, beets and carrots. Before she planted, I worked in a few wheelbarrows of cow manure and mulch and followed up the planting with some wonderful composted hay I found nearby.

I told Anne that I almost missed the Greek chorus of Expert Gardeners wailing over our organic ways. They reminded me of the prophets of doom in my hometown of Reidsville who naysayed anything and everything that was the least bit ambitious or different. Over the years, I’ve come to realize, though, that some of the most generous and compassionate people on the planet live in that little town — along with some of the most cantankerous and mean-spirited. Just like any community, including a community garden. While it doesn’t take a village to raise a good, homegrown tomato, it does provide for a richer experience. OH

nch

As contributing editor at O.Henry, David Claude Bailey contributes fresh tomatoes, cucumbers — and lots of zucchini — to the staff.

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The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Birdwatch

The Bad Boys of Bird-dom Vultures are proliferating — and living up to their bad rap as destructive scavengers

By Susan Campbell

Nuisance birds? Is there truly such

a thing?? Yes. In fact, there are a number of them: pigeons (or more correctly rock pigeons), Canada geese and house sparrows are just a few of the species that can damage property all across the United States and every day. But there are also birds that may pose a health risk. Vultures, as it turns out, are one such group.

Often referred to generically as “buzzards,” vultures are part of a family of birds found worldwide with dozens of species including South American condors. Here in North Carolina, we have both turkey and black vultures year round. Individuals from farther north significantly boost flock numbers in the cooler months. These large, black scavengers lack feathers on their heads: likely an adaptation to feeding almost exclusively on carcasses. Turkey vultures are the more common species from the mountains to the coast. Soaring in a dihedral (v-shaped profile) on long wings with silver linings, they have extended tails for steering and distinctive red heads. Black vultures, however, have gray heads and white patches on the underwing as well as somewhat shorter wings and tails. As a result they soar with a flatter profile and fly with snappier wing beats. This species has really expanded across the Piedmont in recent years perhaps due to development, along with increased road building and the inevitable road kill that results.

However, as often as one might see a vulture or two overhead, neither species is a common breeder in our part of the state.

Some places, like the town of Robbins, here in Moore County, have had an overabundance of vultures now for over a decade. During a recent conversation with David Lambert, the town manager, it became clear that this small town in the western part of the county indeed has a serious issue. The vulture problem The Art & Soul of Greensboro

only just made it into the news recently. I was alarmed to learn that hundreds of birds roost around the center of town most of the year. The peak density of 600–800 birds occurs in midwinter. However, even in summer there are at least a few dozen loafing in the area. Deterrents such as noisemakers have been to no avail. An official from U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services even paid a visit a couple of years ago and used selective lethal measures (i.e. shooting a few birds). This actually worked — for a little while.

Vultures can definitely pose a health hazard. In the late afternoon, they will pour into a spot featuring large trees or where there is a tower of some kind and they will perch close together for the night. You can imagine how smelly and nasty their droppings can be under such structures in a short period of time!

It is particularly an issue on water towers, which seem to attract both black and turkey vultures. Guano has made its way into drinking water here in the Sandhills (in Vass) and certainly cannot be tolerated.

Vultures can also be very destructive if they are bored. This is especially true of juvenile birds in late summer. Some of them have been known to tear into fabric, rip into rubber and plastic, and even break through doors and windows that are not firmly secured.

No one really knows why the congregation exists in the Robbins area. Some speculate it may have to do with proximity to the Deep River or perhaps it is the abundance of chicken farms in close proximity — or it could be something else entirely. What’s clear, though, is that this is one of the largest congregations of vultures in the state.

The U.S.D.A. is likely to pay this town another visit in the near future to shoot more birds. This time, they’ll probably hang a few (yes, this works) at the largest sites to dissuade roosting flocks from congregating there. But since many of the vultures will have dispersed for the breeding season, things should have improved (one way or another). As far as how many return again next fall, only time will tell. OH Susan would love to receive your wildlife photos and reports. She can be reached at susan@ncaves.com May 2018

O.Henry 59

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The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Wandering Billy

The Great White Milky Way Remembering the Gate City’s dairy bars

By Billy Eye

“I have never been lost but I will admit to being confused for several weeks.”

— Daniel Boone

Eye was wandering down Gate City Bou-

levard the other day, don’t ask why or I may feel obligated to tell you how badly I regretted my luncheon choice. As I’m wont to do while meandering aimlessly, I stumbled across a curiosity, the former storefront of Biltmore Dairy Farms’ ice cream parlor located on the corner of Highland, a block west from Tate. (Coincidentally, Guilford Dairy had a nearby ice cream bar, but more about that later.)

The entire building is empty now but the painted sign is partially visible.

Biltmore Dairy Farms was an Asheville concern, hence the name, with operations spread across the Southeast. Their milk and ice cream were considered a bit richer than the competition.

Biltmore’s dairy operation expanded into Greensboro in the late 1940s.

Butter, eggs, cottage cheese, sour cream and milk were loaded onto yellow and brown trucks at Biltmore’s depot on Battleground and Pisgah Church.

Delivery drivers in crisp white uniforms fanned out around the city, gently placing whatever was ordered directly into your fridge, if that was your preference.

When a customer wasn’t home they’d leave everything outside the door in a metal box designed to shade the contents from the sun.

We were a Guilford Dairy (“Your Hometown Dairy”) family but they

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

operated in much the same way.

Guilford was a cooperative made up of some 50 local farmers with contented cows, formed in the 1930s in reaction to Pet Milk forcing wholesale prices downward.

Twice a week at breakfast time, the sound of that pug-nosed 1959 Divco “ice buggy” could be heard thumping down our driveway, brakes squealing as the red-and-white Guilford Dairy truck came to a halt, followed almost immediately by the clinking of quart-sized glass bottles rattling against the wooden crates they were transported in. Unlike Guilford Dairy, or maybe my parents never clued us in, Biltmore also delivered ice cream and frosty treats like chocolate Winky Bars and orange sherbet and vanilla ice cream Push-Ups. Both dairies had proprietary satellite ice cream parlors with winding luncheonette counters not unlike those found at the major drug stores and five-and-dimes. Biltmore’s shop at 1002 Lee Street (now Gate City Boulevard, natch) opened in 1950, offering diverse culinary options like cherry sundaes, mozzarella sticks, and French onion soup. Fast casual, 1950s-style.

The windows above this Biltmore Dairy Farms location, long ago bricked in and boarded up, represent two very large apartments running the length of the building. Trish Schultz fondly recalls those second floor walkups: “My grandparents lived there back in the late ’50s and ’60s and I stayed with them many days. I’d go in that side door to walk upstairs to my grandparent’s apartment, stairs to the left and then to the right. A blind lady lived upstairs as well.”

Most of Trish’s childhood memories of her grandparents are centered around this address on Lee Street, “I used to look out the kitchen window and watch the trains go by. We’d cross Lee Street to cash in bottles [at Lippard’s Grocery].”

Biltmore shuttered their souped-up soda fountains in 1966 but continued milk delivery well into the 1970s.

Guilford Dairy Bar’s first Greensboro soda fountain appeared in 1947, a stand-alone shop on Lee Street that more recently housed a skateboard emporium. In contrast to Biltmore’s one and only Greensboro venue, there May 2018

O.Henry 61

Wandering Billy

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The Guilford Dairy Cooperative Association became United Dairy in 1969, Guilford Dairy Bars around the state were absorbed into the Mayberry Ice Cream chain. I never noticed any significant change back in the day, other than the signage.

Sundaes tasted the same, made with the plainest vanilla ice cream imaginable, hot fudge, nitrous oxide propelled whipped cream, topped with half a maraschino cherry.

Want the scoop on what that long-ago experience was like? You’re in luck. Guilford Dairy Bar in the Summit Shopping Center, aka Mayberry Ice Cream Shoppe, has been operating continuously for almost 70 years, preparing dishes pretty much the way they always have since the ribbon was cut on that retail strip back in the 1940s.

***

As an aside, I was attracted by another nearby anomaly on Gate City, on the other side of Tate Street, five charming Craftsman style homes from the late 1920s and 1930s, all but one vacant. They surround the former Good Luck Coal and Good Luck Beverages distribution center; Pugh Metal Finishing was there in the 1990s. This building is a tad run down now, if by tad you mean totes, but at least a portion of that structure is still in use by a beverage distributor. Plans are afoot to rehab this space for a brewery. Be nice if these homes could be repurposed or relocated for future generations to enjoy as well. OH Billy Eye is the author of five books, all but one of them available, and can be reached at Billy@tvparty.com.

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May 2018 The Arborist The arborist: “This tree is nearly eighty years old, and bound to fail. Put in when folks developed Rosemont Street — all up and down the yards the same — the maples, oaks, and firs.

No wonder she lost this limb.” I almost said I’m seventy-one myself, with lanky limbs that take me loping ’round the block three times A week. I hoped he’d say, “Pas possible!”

(His name’s duBois!); instead he said, “See? You know exactly what I mean.” Mark laughed.

“So what’s the fastest growing tree?” he asked duBois. “The sycamore. It grows six feet a year, and when it’s done, it’s sixty feet, providing shade like this poor maple.” Poor maple. Such girth I wouldn’t call it poor, but Mark had feared the insides rotted out; duBois concurred.

We paid him then to take old maple down and plant the slender sycamore. We’ll have to move the chairs elsewhere in the yard, and get a large umbrella for our shade.

Or else we’ll sit all summer under the porch roof, coaxing the tree to grow. And I’ll be eighty-one when sycamore is done, or else bequeath it to new owners, just as when I think of our beloved Hannah — who’s twelve and growing, too — bequeathed by us to other tenders of emerging things, those who never knew us — we, the arborists, who sit where someone sat in nineteen thirty-eight and watched a little maple grow.

— Paul Lamar

Light & Life The Watercolors of Alexis Lavine

By Nancy Oakley

M

idway through her junior year at University of Maryland, where she was studying microbiology, Alexis Lavine decided to hang up her lab coat and pick up a paintbrush. Though she had long nurtured a dual interest in science and art — her father was a scientist and she had taken art classes from the time she was a child — she opted for the “lofty” ambition of becoming an artist. “Microbiology was practical,” Lavine says, “and I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life in a lab, surrounded by Petri dishes.” But a career in art?

Most would deem it impractical . . . unless there were a way to combine the two. That’s exactly what Lavine did, by earning a Master’s in medical illustration from Johns Hopkins University.

In those days, the late 1970s, long before the digital revolution, medical illustration was done largely in pen and ink, and occasionally watercolor. “It’s clean and it dries fast,” Lavine explains. Her profession nurtured her talent in the “unforgiving” medium, and, she adds, “it taught me how to draw, and draw anatomical forms.

(She typically begins a painting by sketching it out first.) Medical illustration also called for artists to work on-site — a disadvantage when Lavine’s husband, Phil, was transferred to the small town of Cumberland in the western part of Maryland. Nonetheless, it was a beautiful place, “like Boone without App State,” as Lavine describes the burg set in the Appalachian Mountains, conducive to raising children . . . and painting en plein air — a technique of painting outdoors that became popular in the 19th century and preceded Impressionism. For the next several years, Lavine applied her artistic talent and training to mountain landscapes, forests, rolling rivers, learning how to paint fast, so as to capture the sun’s light as it moves across the sky. “Plein air forces you to decide quickly and make decisions with confidence,” Lavine says. And indeed, you can see her strokes, both bold and splashy, and precise, capturing light shimmering on the surface of a lake, or filtering through the branches of trees.

After she and her husband moved to Greensboro in 2002, Lavine continued to paint outdoor subjects — waterfalls at the Bog Garden, a stone bridge in Fisher Park — until about 10 years ago, when she decided to shift her focus to studio work. One of her goals was to get into exhibitions. “I needed to be in

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the studio to take time to make it my absolute best,” she says of her art. She knew that studio time would force her to “slow my brush down and think a lot more about what I wanted to say in a painting.” A trip to India gave her an unexpected nudge, when she noticed the hand gestures among a group of women clad in colorful saris, their arms adorned with gold bangle bracelets. Rendering just their arms and hands in a painting she titled Sisters, Lavine says, “It was a turning point for me.”

A 180-degree turning point, as it turns out, for the artist started painting figures. Photographing people when she’s out and about — a long-haired bearded fellow at a jazz festival, a couple eating on a boardwalk, baseball fans enjoying a Grasshoppers game — depicting in precise detail the small moments of what it means to be alive: the joy of hearing music, of tucking into a good meal, the boredom of waiting, the tenderness of a touch, the wonderment in observing the natural world.

Lavine’s new artistic direction has helped her reach her goal of gaining much-deserved attention.

She exhibits her work at The Art Shop, at Hampton House Gallery and Blissful Studios and Gallery in Winston Salem, and from May 3–29, a solo show of her paintings, All Watercolor II, will appear at The Artery Gallery on Spring Garden Street. Her summery nod to Grasshoppers season, Toppa the Eighth, will travel to Qingdao, China as a part of a joint exhibition between the Missouri Watercolor Society and the Qingdao Laoshan Museum. Meanwhile, as a member of myriad watercolor societies and associations, Lavine teaches classes, sometimes in far-away locales, such as Charleston, S.C., and two days a week at her home studio in northwest Greensboro. She is excited about a newly installed overhead camera that helps her students observe her more closely as she deftly dabs her brush into a pallet and creates a scene — be it a windowsill on a quiet morning or a wry still life of Chinese takeout. Otherwise, she’ll be out in public, observing the flow of humanity, awaiting the next muse to fire her imagination. “I started painting people from the inside out,” Lavine reflects. “Ten years ago, I started painting people from the outside in.”

Info: alexislavineartist.com; arterygallery.com. OH Nancy Oakley is the senior editor of O.Henry.

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Photograph by Amy Freeman

Emy’s Room

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

A Good Fortune

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Line Dance

Mane Man

Sea Grape Season

Why?

Sisters

Wanna Iguana

Mountain Dew Together

Toppa the Eighth

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The Art & Soul of Greensboro

There, Ma! A Mother’s Day putting green for Donna Joyce

By Cynthia Adams • Photographs by Amy Freeman

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May 2018

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S

ome moms get a card and flowers — maybe a box of chocolates or brunch — on Mother’s Day. Unless you’re Donna Joyce, who got her own putting green and golf hazard from her three sons a few years ago.

“The boys used to make ceramic things, or give me cologne, or a gift certificate,” she says, perched in her kitchen, (chronicled among this magazine’s pages two months ago), having a cup of orange tea.

That all changed in May of 2015. “Will this be topped?” Donna asks, gesturing to the backyard and shaking her head. “No, that was the pinnacle. This was way over-the-top for Mother’s Day.” At the back of Don and Donna Joyce’s Irving Park yard the gift is one Donna can admire from the kitchen, dining area and the den — created by her husband, Don Joyce, and sons, Donny, Dillon and Ben. Over two weekends in May her guys labored to create something unique in a yard that had morphed over time as the boys grew into manhood. The newest iteration of the family’s backyard neatly coincided with Donna having taken up golf. The Joyces’ family excursions often included golfing destinations like Carlsbad, California, where the sons met golfer Sergio Garcia.

The addition allows the golf neophyte to work on her game.

“My putting?” Donna laughs, wide-eyed, “I’m getting there. Rather than having to be the best at this, I can be a part of this.” Then she grins. “You know they say you drive for show and you putt for dough.”

Over the years, the area has hosted, among other things, a sandbox, a zipline and a treehouse, which were there in 1993 when the family first moved to the neighborhood. They removed the treehouse as the boys outgrew it. Then the sandbox was banished. In their place followed a lacrosse playing field with gravel and nets in 2000.

The two older boys left for college; the youngest one was soon to leave. Then both Donny and Dillon migrated back home briefly when they entered graduate school.

Other than an occasional place to play fetch with the family Lab, the lacrosse field, meanwhile, languished.

“Then Don mentioned that we should do something with the backyard,” says Donna.

She recalls seeing a picture of a perfectly manicured green mound, complete with hole and pin. “I asked my husband; ‘do you think we could feasibly put a putting green back there?’”

And the idea was set into motion. “They brought in some sand, built it up,

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put in some artificial turf from a home box store, and also had the idea for the chipping area,” Donna says. They rented a compactor to pack the sand and added decorative stone. “This took a couple of weekends.”

She explains it didn’t hurt that her husband is the owner of Pomona Pipe, Inc., and in the business of designing and building roads and bridges. Plus, he had three sons to provide free labor.

“My husband is a civil engineer, so he knows how to do layout and design and execute the work. He’s also a lifelong golfer, so he knew what he wanted to create, along with the picture I’d already pulled,” Donna says. “He pretty much supervised and told my sons what to do and how to implement his plan.”

The family plunged right in with gusto. “The boys supported it. There’s always a project in the making. We don’t shy away from projects.” She laughs.

“What is my role? Well, I’m the visionary with the Honey-Do list.”

Now do they have a mini Augusta National in the making perhaps?

“Well, I wouldn’t go quite that far, but it’s kind of a neat story,” Donna says.

However, the Joyces do hold their own Master’s party when the boys come home to visit.

The putting green and chipping area, landscaped with rhododendron, various grasses and accents of stacked stone, is where the Joyce men — and Donna — now gather to hone their game and cook out. “We had a small barbecue and clinked drinks to dedicate it,” she recalls.

The newest golfer in the pack says nostalgically, “The backyard is where we’ve had many fond memories, even though it’s not in some exotic place.

When I play with my sons, I relax and enjoy it.”

And it keeps evolving. To prevent the yard from looking overly links-y, the couple have a few more plans in store as do-it-yourself family projects. Next, the hot tub currently situated on the side of the yard will be deep-sixed to make way for a fountain, says Donna. “Then we will put in some boxwoods and herbs.”

Meantime, she works at her game intermittently, sometimes with a girlfriend. “We’re just trying to get to bogey golf,” Donna jokes, her self-deprecating comment a testament to the difficulty, if not impossibility, of mastering the royal and ancient game.

“It’s not intuitive,” Donna affirms. So, she practices in the backyard with her guys, hoping to putt for dough. But that, too, has its challenges. Giving an appreciative look at their well-loved backyard as the family Lab traipses towards the green, she jokingly cautions: “Look out for hazards!” OH Cindy Adams gave her sister her golf clubs, shoes, glove and balls after a few miserable attempts at the game.

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Men For All Seasons Among the trees at Green Hill Cemetery, Doug Goldman picks up where Bill Craft left off

By Jim Dodson • Photographs by Doug Goldman

“I

’ve spent a lot of time out here,” says Doug Goldman. “Though I frankly can’t tell you how much exactly because I’m always so focused when I’m walking these grounds, regardless the season.

There are so many amazing trees. As a result, I can never walk in a straight line,” he continues. “I’m always discovering something new and wandering off to look closely at it.”

Goldman laughs, starting down a row of mature ginko trees that line one of the main entry lanes to historic Green Hill Cemetery. The trees, which are an ancient species, look to be very old but Goldman estimates they’re only 35 to 40 years old.

“They were planted by Bill Craft. This cemetery was his showplace. He didn’t keep records of his planting — entirely in his head,” says an incredulous Goldman. “Bill was obsessed with planting trees and shrubs. But trees and shrubs change over time. That’s why I got involved, to identify and make his legacy more accessible to people.”

Bill Craft was a successful Greensboro insurance man by trade, but an amateur plant impresario who placed the green in Greensboro by single-handedly landscaping many of the city’s notable urban spaces, parks and greenways.

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Craft passed away in 2010.

Doug Goldman, who never met the man he admires, is a youthful 49-yearold USDA botanist and plant expert with advanced degrees from Cornell and the University of Texas, a former research associate at Harvard and London’s Kew Gardens. Over the past half decade he got to know and identify more than 900 different trees and shrubs within Green Hill’s fairly modest 51 acres of land.

The cemetery is the oldest in the Gate City, a historic burying ground dating from 1877, laid out in a traditional “garden style” common to 19th century, one of three active cemeteries the City of Greensboro owns and looks after. Two others are Maplewood, the historically African-American cemetery off Gillespie Street in East Greensboro and Forest Lawn, adjacent to Guilford Courthouse National Military Park. A fourth cemetery, Union, off lower South Elm Street, is maintained by Cemetery Superintendent Mike Moye’s eight-man crew, but it is inactive.

“Mike and his crew do a good job of maintenance considering how thin they are spread compared to years ago,” says Goldman as he sets off with a visitor on a walking tour of Green Hill’s soulful rolling terrain, a postage stamp of The Art & Soul of Greensboro

bucolic beauty wedged between the Gate City’s oldest neighborhoods.

“Once upon a time in America,” he explains, “people thought of cemeteries as gardens, resting places where nature and man came together. Given tightening municipal budgets, the priorities of cities have really changed. Now the game is to keep up with maintenance.” Goldman surveys the cemetery’s well-kept grounds before picking up the thread. “That’s why I got involved to help the Friends of Green Hill and Mike and his staff identify what all is out there — and help preserve what is here. Some of it is quite surprising and rare,” he adds. “Like no place else I know of.”

Partnered with the volunteer Friends, funded by public donations and support from the Friends of Greensboro Parks and Recreation Foundation Goldman collected data, made photographs in all seasons and created a state-of-the-art app and map with a GPS plant-identification system that allows visitors, trees lovers and folks who simply crave the peacefulness of a historic green space to quickly identify any tree or shrub on the premises. Goldman also designed and personally tagged almost every tree and shrub with a unique plant-friendly identification system.

“What Doug did as an unpaid volunteer, entirely on his own, is really a great gift to the city,” says Mike Moye, “to people everywhere who love plants and trees. You can come here in any season and learn amazing things about trees and see species that have no reason to be growing here. That’s the legacy of Bill Craft with help from Doug Goldman.”

“This is a walker’s paradise and great gathering place for families to find solitude in the middle of the city,” echoes Ann Stringfield who gave her first walking tour of the cemetery 28 years ago. She points out that the gravestones of Green Hill bear the family names that grace just about every significant street and neighborhood in the city – Lindleys, Lathams, Richardsons, Bryans, Prices and even a certain C. Alphonso Smith, O.Henry’s early biographer.

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Stringfield and Bill Craft’s son, David, formed the Friends of Green Hill Cemetery in 2009, a group of volunteers who periodically do light maintenance, look after the property, advocate for its maintenance and serve as roving ambassadors for the Gate City’s most historic burying ground.

“My father loved Green Hill. It was like a canvas for his restless desire to green the city,” adds David Craft, a self-described “amateur botanist” who learned much about nature by simply following in his indefatigable papa’s footsteps on his famous “guerilla” sorties to plant unique trees and shrubs throughout Greensboro — including scores of public parks, schools and spaces like Green Hill. “He just never sat still, read dozens of books on botany, and wildlife magazines and was always ordering unusual trees from nurseries near and far, planting them to see how they would grow.” Some didn’t take but many others thrived, he says, pausing. “That was Dad’s legacy. Fittingly, he sat down on a stone monument after giving a tour of Green Hill,” he recalls, “and had difficulty standing up. His exhaustion turned out to be leukemia. But I always thought how appropriate that he saw his own last days here in a place he loved — Green Hill,” says Craft, who continues the family tradition by working with Piedmont Legacy Trails, an organization that promotes trail advocacy.

Since the organization’s inception, Friends of Green Hill have funded benches for visitors and produced a 30-page walking tour of the historic grounds. They regularly give walking tours and PowerPoint programs to civic groups in the interest of expanding knowledge about one of the city’s least known assets. Ann Stringfield wryly refers to her own tour of Green Hill’s peaceful tree-sheltered lanes as “The Plants and the Planted,” emphasizing how the remarkable variety of trees make the property a natural sanctuary for personal remembrance, plant lovers, bird-watchers, walkers and wildlife.

“So many people drive by the gates and never realize what a treasure awaits in these grounds.”

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That was even the case for Doug Goldman. He arrived in Greensboro eight years ago as one of three botanists assigned to the Regional Technical Support System for USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Center, covering 22 states, Puerto Rico and much of the American West. Among the unit’s primary responsibilities is to gather detailed data on the life of trees and native shrubs, in a nutshell where and how they are growing in each section of the nation. Prior to arriving in Greensboro, Goldman worked as a research associate at Harvard where, among other things, historic Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge was both a resource and inspiration to a man whose life is trees.

“Early in life I discovered that old cemeteries are really fine arboretums,” he says, explaining how he fell in love with trees “about age 7 or 8” when in the mid 1970s his parents bought a new house in a wooded section in Pittsford, New York, south of Rochester. “We were surrounded by the magnificent red oaks, so I set out to plant more red oaks on our lawn. I dug up trees from the woods and brought them home and planted them, including a vine that turned out to be poison ivy. Luckily I wasn’t allergic to it, but my mom and dad sure were. The oaks died but I was hooked on trees.”

The City of Rochester’s famous Mount Hope Cemetery (where Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass are buried) became his open-air laboratory for studying mature and unusual species of trees.

Not surprisingly, it was the sight of unusual specimens of trees as he passed Green Hilll one day in 2014 that prompted

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The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Goldman to have a look inside the fences. “Quite honestly, I’d passed it dozens of times and never realized that it was an old cemetery. The leaves were off the trees and I saw several species of pines — a weeping pine in particular — that caught my attention.” Then he spotted a Needle palm in the valley and a turkey oak, and thought, “There’s no way that is naturally occurring.

Something’s going on here.”

He investigated, met Ann Stringfield and David Craft, and eventually offered his scientific help to catalogue and help preserve the cemetery’s legacy via his electronic database and GPS system. “There were lots of great trees here but some were near the end of their life spans and others had been damaged by storms.” He remembered a beautiful elm back in his hometown that the city needlessly cut down after an ice storm. “At a time when cities everywhere are reducing their maintenance budgets, my hope was to remove trees that needed to go for the health of the property but prevent that sort of thing from happening at Green Hill.”

A walk with Doug Goldman is like being with a kid in a candy shop made of trees. His knowledge and enthusiasm are both infectious.

In the space of an hour, he showed off — and gave delightful mini-dissertations on — a rare blue jack oak specimen, a Kentucky coffee tree, longleaf pines, a magnificent pond pine, London plane trees, Amur cork tree, the largest Colorado blue spruce in the region, bald and Montezuma cypress, swamp tupelo, live oaks and sand pines native to Florida, plus a quaking aspen, big fig leaf magnolia, the aforementioned Turkey oak, lilac trees, Japanese cedar, catalpa and a genuine California redwood.

“You don’t have to go all the way to California to see a real redwood,” he quips, “though you probably should. They’re amazing. But if you want to save the time and money, you can just come to Green Hill and see a truly beautiful specimen.”

“This place really is Bill Craft’s legacy. I wish I’d known him,” Goldman reflects. “He was like a combination of my grandfather and myself, a man obsessed with trees. Bill planted so many of the trees here, species you won’t find any other place in this part of the country. That’s a great educational tool for anyone who shares our passion for nature. My job is to help protect the trees and expand exposure of what a wonderful place Green Hill is — in any season.” OH

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Want to Visit this Spring?

Doug Goldman will offer a personal walking tour of Green Hill on May 5 & 6, at 2 p.m., limited to 20 people per tour. Cost is $5.

Ann Stringfield’s “Plants and Planted Tour” will be offered on Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 13, at 2 p.m., weather permitting.

Contact www.FriendsofGreenhillCemetery.org for more information about volunteering or donating a new bench to the property.

Readers can also visit arcg.is/1qbv48 to access the City of Greensboro’s Geographical Information System.

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Tapestry Of Home Ann and Cliff Bridges weave together many threads at Wood Meadow

By Maria Johnson • Photographs by Amy Freeman

A

fter moving to a brand-new second home, Cliff and Ann Bridges didn’t want to be those people.

You know: the people who build and move, and build and move, a three-dimensional expression of restlessness.

So they stayed put, with their three kids, in their perfectly fine custom-built home, which soon was bumping elbows with other perfectly fine custom-built homes.

They wanted breathing room, but they waited. They bought a wooded lot and sat on it. The 2-acre parcel was in Brandt Trace Farm, just outside the city limit on the north side of Greensboro, a bluebird’s flit away from Lake Brandt.

The lot had everything they wanted: space, trees and privacy afforded by a watershed in back and a fenced meadow in front.

For eight years, Cliff and Ann waited on behalf of the kids, who loved their house, their neighborhood, their friends, their schools.

They waited until 1986, when their youngest child was a senior in high school.

Then they built and moved again.

This time, it was for keeps — or as long as humans can keep anything.

This time, it was Wood Meadow, the setting in which Cliff and Ann — both former employees of Burlington Industries — would braid the strands of their well-traveled lives.

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He didn’t believe in dating co-workers.

She didn’t either.

But in December 1975, the company Christmas dance was on the horizon at the Bur-Mil Club, an employees-only retreat on the edge of Lake Brandt.

Cliff wanted a date. So did Ann. He asked. She said yes.

A few months later, he popped another question.

She said yes again.

They honeymooned in Bermuda, the lanky, beach-boyish Cliff and the sparky, petite Ann. Forty-two years later, the young couple smile, aglow, from a framed snapshot propped on a chest in their master suite.

It does not escape them that the relationship took flight around the bend of the lake where they live now.

“When this property became available we said, ‘That’s it!’ We love this area,” says Cliff.

A son of Greensboro’s Lindley Park neighborhood, Cliff grew up attending family reunions at the nearby Guilford Courthouse National Military Park. Ann came from rural Pennsylvania, hundreds of miles away, but the couple shared a reverence of nature and an abiding respect for people who make things from scratch.

“My father’s father had a cast-iron foundry,” says Cliff. “My other grandfather was logger with saw mill. Ann’s family was in the oil The Art & Soul of Greensboro

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The Art & Soul of Greensboro

and gas business. We both come from families where people did hard work — oil, gas, metal, wood.”

The women in their families created with food and fabric. With that legacy, Ann and Cliff appreciate items crafted with care.

“For us, it is about how things are made and who made them,” says Cliff.

With their textile backgrounds, it’s no surprise that the couple have created a home rich in color and texture, starting with the façade.

The coarse veneer is called tabby, a concrete that’s made from sand, lime and crushed oyster shells, and is most often seen in old coastal towns.

Cliff and Ann, both shell collectors, first saw the nubby material on an anniversary trip to Sea Island, Georgia. The finish encapsulated their love of shells and coastal living.

But back in Greensboro, they had a devil of a time finding a local contractor who could do tabby. A search of the East Coast turned up an elderly gentleman and his sons in Wilmington. They were booked, but they trained a Greensboro couple to do the work. The couple used shells harvested near Topsail Beach. They applied the chunky sea mud by hurling it against the walls and waiting to see what stuck.

“They literally picked it up and threw it with their hands,” says Cliff. “It created the biggest mess. If you dig around the foundation of the house, you’ll find some of the clumps.”

The resulting pale gray topcoat — think calcified bouclé — finds elegance next to robin’s-egg-blue shutters and a bark-colored roof with dormers. The effect is soft-spoken.

The mingling of color and texture continues inside the home with a statement foyer cloaked in grass cloth. Japanese folding screens hang high, flattened on the walls. The floor is creamy marble inset with The Art & Soul of Greensboro

taupe diamonds. A split staircase, edged with Chinese Chippendale railing, anchors the space. Both branches of the steps land on a catwalk balcony.

It’s an excellent perch, one frequented by the couple’s two miniature Alaskan Klee Kai huskies, Tahoe and Aspen, who make the climb to survey their kingdom.

The vantage point is nice for humans, too. Face east, and you gaze out above the front door, through a Palladian window, and into a meadow bordered by white fences. The neighborhood association maintains the oasis as a common area.

Twirl 180 degrees on the catwalk, and you look through a cavernous family room, out a two-story bank of windows, and into woods that filter the golden rays of afternoon.

“We learned this, again, with our travels,” says Cliff. “When light comes into the house from the east, it wakes you up. In the evening, when you’re having sundowners, it’s nice to have light from the west on your back porch.”

Cliff and Ann designed the 6,000-square-foot home with the help of Greensboro draftsman Howard Thompson. The inside-out design began with the couple figuring out how big they wanted each room to be. Thompson jig-sawed the rooms into a plantation-style home with the essentials of retirement living on the first floor. The lot accommodated a wide footprint.

“This was definitely a unique plan,” Cliff says. “In all of our travels, I don’t know that we’ve ever seen anything like this.”

Like the grand staircase, the house is laid out in a flattened “Y”shape. The trunk contains the foyer in front — flanked by a dining room and a sitting room — and a lodge-like living area in back.

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ering stone fireplace and a bronze wheel-shaped chandelier add English manor house gravitas.

The room is lightened by Audubon bird prints, more grass cloth and the wall of windows. Cliff and Ann love to sip morning coffee or an evening drink from comfortable club chairs, clad in Ralph Lauren paisley, at the base of the windows.

The home’s wings sprout from either side of the core. They contain bedrooms, his-and-her offices, a greenhouse and a kitchen at the center of the home.

Ann requested the kitchen, which has no exterior walls, so she could focus better on cooking and so that, during catered parties, the din of the kitchen could be sealed off, with sliding doors, from the main living area.

French doors link the kitchen to a Florida room with murals by Don Morgan. The curvaceous sunroom mimics the shape of a seashell; shelves display the real shells that Cliff and Ann have picked up from beaches in Florida and the Caribbean. They have bought some of the more exotic specimens.

Throughout the home, the couple have meshed pieces they’ve purchased and inherited.

Ann, who migrated to Greensboro in 1972, contributed heirlooms from her family home in Dunns Station, Pennsylvania, a couple of hours south of Pittsburgh.

After she and her first husband divorced, she went to work in the travel department of Burlington Industries, scheduling trips for executives.

A promotion vaulted her into managing the company store inside former corporate headquarters on Friendly Avenue in Greensboro. Demolished to make way for more stores at Friendly Center, the landmark Modernist building had a distinctive X-patterned steel exoskeleton.

Ann was in the store one day when Cliff, a technical director who also was recently divorced, walked in with his two children. One of Cliff’s former coworkers, who had transferred to the company store, nudged Cliff to ask Ann

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to the Christmas dance.

They wed in 1976 and set about knitting together their families — Ann’s son plus Cliff’s son and daughter — and their belongings.

Cliff arrived with several handcrafted pieces he’d made as a student at UNCG’s Curry School, a K-12 lab that was started on campus as a training ground for teachers. The innovative school opened in 1892 — back when the university was called the State Normal and Industrial School — and was adopted by the Greensboro city school system before closing in 1970.

As a Curry student in the late ’50s and early ’60s, Cliff got to school by riding a city bus down Walker Avenue. He loved shop class, where industrial arts teacher David Rigsby showed students how to make fine furniture. Cliff’s handiwork peppers Wood Meadow.

One piece, a mahogany Federalist-style clock with hand-turned finials, gleams in the sitting room. The space is a microcosm of the home.

The handmade clock rests on a low table; the base is an old sled with bowed wooden runners. The couple found the antique sled during a trip to Aspen.

Cloisonné plates stand on the fireplace mantel, along with Taiwanese figurines and Chinese dragons pulled from hand-blown glass.

The fireplace is bookended by two cherry nightstands, complete with brass hardware, leftover from a suite of bedroom furniture by Henkel Harris.

A clivia plant from the couple’s greenhouse flaunts pale orange flowers nearby.

The rug underfoot is a plush hand-cut Chinese number in cream, taupe and brown.

The custom-made armchairs and love seats appeared early in the marriage.

For Wood Meadow, they were refreshed with cocoa velvet stitched with a cream botanical design.

A carved camphor chest, found by designer Terry Lowdermilk, supports a table at the center of the room.

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

An orange and purple canvas by Danish modern artist Hans Petersen splashes energy across one wall. Throughout the home, art hatched elsewhere hangs beside the work of local artists including Nancy Bulluck, Kathryn Troxler, Judy Lomax, Sandy Pittman, Barbara Glover and Bill Mangum.

Per the home’s plantation style, every room on the ground floor has at least one door leading to the outside, easing the flow of breezes and people.

“We just wanted everything to flow out, onto the earth,” says Ann. Garden designer Chip Callaway dressed the home in glossy green Schip laurels and magnolias accented by peeling-bark birches and pings of seasonal color from dogwoods, redbuds, hellebores and lusty choirs of daffodils. Stonemason Milton Dillingham cobbled together the flagstone porches that ring the house.

Cliff and Ann moved into Wood Meadow in January 1987, a day before a heavy snowfall hushed the city.

“We lost power,” says Ann, who remembers that the construction dumpster and a portable toilet were blanketed in white, too.

She and Cliff laugh at the story.

Now. For the last 30 years, Wood Meadow has been the couple’s base of operation through career and life changes.

After becoming a buyer for Burlington’s 60-some company stores and traveling on the same jets she used to book for brass, Ann left the organization a few The Art & Soul of Greensboro

years before they moved into Wood Meadow.

She started Little Women, a chain of boutiques for petite women, in 1984.

She operated locations Greensboro, Winston-Salem and Raleigh.

Cliff left Burlington in 1987, the same year they moved into Wood Meadow and joined Ann in running the stores.

The couple closed the stores in 1998 as the appetite for high-end clothing faded. Cliff joined another corporation, PGI, and specialized in nonwoven materials. His home office contains framed evidence: a Levi’s denim set made from virgin polyester and two Nike runner’s jerseys, made from recycled soda bottles. Runners from a half-dozen countries, including the U.S., wore similar singlets in the 2000 Summer Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia.

Cliff also helped to develop and shares a patent for a lightweight disasterrelief blanket made from polyester and polypropylene.

When PGI headquarters moved to Charlotte, Cliff and Ann bought a condo in the Dilworth neighborhood and lived there for a while. They’ve since sold the condo, and another home in Grandfather Mountain, but they never gave up Wood Meadow.

In fact, they’ve never stopped creating the homestead.

In 2014, they hired master stonemason Brian Pacheco to expand the garden with stone pathways, a koi pond, waterfalls, a bridge, a creek-side patio and fire pit. He chinked low walls and rocky pylons with ropy grapevine mortar.

May 2018

O.Henry 85

Two pylons topped with stone spheres stand guard at the driveway entrance. Two more posts, which are up-lit, mark the threshold between garden and watershed. At night, the posts serve as beacons to hikers and cyclists who traverse the trails around Lake Brandt.

To top off the souped-up garden, Ann and Cliff contracted Eric Morley, co-owner of the Boone-based Carolina Timberframe and a former neighbor at Grandfather Mountain, to install a freestanding tree-house tower.

“It stands among the trees as if it were a tree,” says Cliff.

Easier on the living trees than a platform nailed into branches — and every bit as much fun for Cliff and Ann’s eight grandchildren —the 30-foot tower was constructed off-site with mortise and tenon joinery. The craftsmanship reminds Cliff of his maternal grandfather, Eli Oscar McQueen, a lumberman. Rusty-fanged saw blades, which Cliff bought at The Farmer’s Wife antiques store in downtown Greensboro, adhere to the tower in places where they pose no danger.

Eric and his crew installed the tree tower in exchange for a promotional video produced by Cliff’s company, Xedge Communications Design and Sustainability. You can see the YouTube video by searching “timber frame tree house tower.”

The latest postscript to the wooded playground is a regulation bocce court, a nod to Ann’s family’s passion for playing bocce on the beach. If you doubt that anyone would use a bocce court enough to justify the cost of building one (“I probably have a mental block on that,” Cliff says, fumbling for a figure), consider that the couple have hosted 10 bocce parties since christening the court last Labor Day. It’s easy to get up a game, they say, because the sport allows a player to lob a ball with one hand while holding a drink in the other.

Now 30 years into Wood Meadow, at an age when most people refrain from enlarging homes and gardens, Cliff and Ann — he’s 72 and she’s 76 — continue to generate the warp and weft of memories at their sylvan refuge.

They’ll stay as long as they are able.

“This is a house for life,” says Cliff. OH

86 O.Henry

May 2018

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

May 2018

O.Henry 87

Great selection of beautiful gifts for your Mother!

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88 O.Henry

May 2018

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

The world’s favorite season is the spring.

All things seem possible in May. — Edwin Way Teale

By Ash Alder

May and the heart sings of somersaults, cartwheels across the lawn, dandelions tucked behind the ears of children.

May is a month of sweetness.

The pick-your-ownstrawberries, soft-spring-rain, butterflies-in-the-garden kind of sweetness.

And magnolia-blossoms-for-Mama.

In the garden: snow peas, fennel, broccoli, kale.

In the kitchen: bearded iris in a pail.

May is a month for sweethearts — and dancing.

Dancing round maypoles, dancing round in circles, dancing round the Beltane fire.

The first maypoles were made of hawthorn, a mystical tree which the ancient Celts believed could heal a broken heart.

Breathe in spring and feel your heart somersault, hopscotch, send a flurry of dandelion seeds whirling as it cartwheels through a field of sweetness.

Gifts for Mama

Mother’s Day falls on Sunday, May 13. I think of the hundred-year-old ferns in my grandmother’s sunroom, the ones that belonged to her florist mother, and how love, when nurtured, grows and grows.

A few seeds of inspiration for the beloved matriarch in your life: Sprig of dogwood.

Pickled magnolia petals.

Lemon basil.

Bulbs for the garden: dahlias, wild ginger, climbing lily.

Stepping stones.

Wildflower crown.

Peach, pear or nectarine tree.

Basketful of dandelion (for wine).

Eternal love.

The Full Flower Moon rises on Tuesday, May 29. Also called Mother’s Moon, Milk Moon and Corn Planting Moon, this month’s moon illuminates the whitetail fawns, wide-eyed owlets, wildflowers everywhere.

According to The Old Farmer’s Almanac, the best days for planting above-ground crops this month are May 18, 19, and 26–28. Plant belowground crops May 9 or 10.

Plan now for July sweet corn on the grill.

Pickled Magnolia Flowers Try this to add a side of whimsy to your spring salad.

Ingredients One pound fresh young magnolia flowers 1 1/2 cups rice vinegar One cup of sugar One teaspoon of salt

Directions Wash and dry petals, then put them in a sterilized jar with salt.

Mix rice vinegar and sugar in pan, then bring to boil.

Pour hot vinegar and sugar mixture over flowers. Allow to cool, then cap the jar. OH

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— Henry D. Thoreau

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Botanical Garden Back by Popular Demand for an Encore Concert Performance on the Lawn

Thursday, May 31, 2018 • 6:30 pM Gates open at 5:00 pm

Elements of jazz, country, gospel, swing, and oldtime music are all infused into the fresh sound of this unique Southern band. It’s five distinct personalities creating one remarkable musical experience. From where the Smokies meet the Blue Ridge, awardwinning Balsam Range is offering something that is sure to continue to mesmerize fans of Bluegrass and beyond with their new release Mountain Voodoo.

There are fiery instrumental parts alternating with heavy, deep ballads overlaid by the vocal harmonies the group has become known for.

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May 2018

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The Art & Soul of Greensboro

May 2018 SIZZLIN’ STRAWBERRIES 5/

5

PHOTO OPPS 5/

14 & 16

May 1–7

May 1–June 17

HOPPERS HERE. The Greensboro Grasshoppers are home again for a seven-day stretch. First National Bank Field, 408 Bellemeade St., Greensboro. Tickets: (336) 268-2255 or milb.com.

GLOWING COLE. See the multimedia — and collected — works of a local talent at Carol Cole: Cast a Clear Light. Weatherspoon Art Museum, 500 Tate St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 334-5770 or weatherspoon.uncg.edu.

May 1– 20 ZOLA-FIED. Émile Zola’s naturalistic novel, Thérèse Raquin, gets a Southern Twist in Preston Lane’s theatrical adaptation, The Passion of Teresa Rae King. Performance times vary. Triad Stage, 232 S. Elm St., Greensboro. Tickets: (336) 2720160 or triadstage.org.

May 1–July 8 CITYSCAPES. Urban life takes the spotlight in City, Village Exurbia: Prints and Drawing from the Collection. Weatherspoon Art Museum, 500 Tate St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 334-5770 or weatherspoon.uncg.edu.

May 1–27

May 1–July 13

STUDENT BODIES OF WORK. See the artworks of eight local graduate students at 2018 UNCG M.F.A. Thesis Exhibition. Weatherspoon Art Museum, 500 Tate St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 334-5770 or weatherspoon.uncg.edu.

VETS AND PETS. Or, service dogs, to be precise.

See the moving exhibit, Serving Soldiers, Honoring Heroes, featuring photographs by HPU students documenting military veterans and the dogs who help them recover from the wounds of war. High Point Museum, 1859 E. Lexington Ave., High

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

THE BREAD OF LIFE 5/

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Point. (336) 885-1859 or highpointmuseum.org.

May 2 AUTHOR, AUTHOR. 7 p.m. Meet Denise Kiernan, author of The Last Castle: The Epic Story of Love, Loss, and American Royalty in the Nation’s Largest Home. Scuppernong Books, 304 S. Elm St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 763-1919 or scuppernongbooks.com.

May 3 TEE HEE! 6 p.m. Laughter’s the best medicine, especially if it raises funds for a good cause. Standup comics Leo Hodson and Carlos “Big Los” Massey bring their game to raise funds for National Mental Heatlth Alliance at “NAMI Guilford: Laugh It Off” The Crown, Carolina Theatre, 310 S. Greene St., Greensboro. Tickets: (336) 3332605 or carolinatheatre.com.

May 3–5 CHERCHEZ LA FEMME. Now that it’s spring, May 2018

O.Henry 91

Arts Calendar the barn sales are up and running again. Check out French antiques, soaps, and all manner of eye candy. French Farmer’s Wife, 1987 Beeson Road, Kernersville. Info: facebook.com/ TheFrenchFarmersWifeNC.

May 3–29

Dr. Christopher Durham | Dr. George Soung

LUMINOUS LAVINE. The solo exhibit All Watercolor II showcases the exquisite works of Alexis Lavine (see page 66). The Artery Gallery, 1711 Spring Garden St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 274-9817 or arterygallery.com.

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OPUS CONCERT. 7:30 p.m. With Peter Perret conducting, Philharmonia of Greensboro brings Saint-Saëns and sensibility to the stage. Christ United Methodist Church, 410 N. Holden Road, Greensboro. Info: gsomusiccenter.com.

May 5 MAKE THE CUT. 9 a.m. to noon. Get rid of sensitive materials at All Saints Paper Shred. The $5 per bag helps the parish’s outreach programs.

All Saints Episcopal Church, 4211 Wayne Road, Sedgefield. Info: (336) 299-0705 or allsaintsgreensboro.org.

SIZZLIN’ STRAWBERRIES. 10 a.m. Costumed interpreters demonstrate how early settlers prepared strawberries. High Point Museum, 1859 E. Lexington Ave., High Point. Info: (336) 885-1859 or highpointmuseum.org.

KEEPING UP KEEPSAKES. 1 p.m. Learn how to take care of family heirlooms, documents, photos and more at a Preservation Workshop. High Point Museum, 1859 E. Lexington Ave., High Point.

Info: (336) 885-1859 or highpointmuseum.org.

BOOK TALK. 2 p.m. Join WFDD’s Book Club discussion about Peter Wohllenben’s The Hidden Life of Trees. Scuppernong Books, 304 S. Elm St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 763-1919 or scuppernongbooks.com.

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OPUS CONCERT. 7:30 p.m. Greensboro Youth Chorus, under the batons of conductors Ann Doyle and Teresa Allred, celebrates its 30th anniversary with a new composition, “Be Not Afraid,”

by Tom Shelton, among other tunes. Christ United Methodist Church, 410 N. Holden Road, Greensboro. Info: gcomusiccenter.com.

MASHUP. 9 p.m. Listen to a blend of jazz, pop and metal, courtesy of keyboardist Chuck Lichtenberger with the Jonathan Scales Fourchestra. Carolina Theatre, 310 S. Greene St., Greensboro. Tickets: (337) 333-2605 or carolinatheatre.com.

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The Art & Soul of Greensboro

May 2018

O.Henry 93

Arts Calendar May 6

May 9

HANDY DANDY. 11 a.m. See artisans’ wares at the Made 4 Market Spring Arts, Crafts and Pottery Show. Greensboro Farmers Curb Market, 501 Yanceyville St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 3732401 or gsofarmersmarket.org.

AUTHOR, AUTHOR. 7 p.m. Meet Arnie “Tokyo” Rosenthal, author of Our Last Seder.

Scuppernong Books, 304 S. Elm St., Greensboro.

Info: (336) 763-1919 or scuppernongbooks.com.

May 7 AUTHOR, AUTHOR. 7 p.m. Meet Jennie Spallone, author of Psycho Babble. Scuppernong Books, 304 S. Elm St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 763-1919 or scuppernongbooks.com.

May 8 GULP AT PULP. 7 p.m. What will it be? Le Big Mac or Royale with cheese? See the latest installment of the Decades of Film series, Pulp Fiction (1994), directed by Quentin Tarantino. Carolina Theatre, 310 S. Greene St., Greensboro. Tickets: (336) 333-2605 or carolinatheatre.com.

AUTHOR, AUTHOR. 7 p.m. Meet Melanie Morrison, author of Murder on Shades Mountain: The Legal Lynching of Willie Peterson and the Struggle for Justice in Jim Crow Birmingham.

Scuppernong Books, 304 S. Elm St., Greensboro.

Info: (336) 763-1919 or scuppernongbooks.com.

OPUS CONCERT. 7:30 p.m. Mike Lasley conducts Greensboro Percussion Ensemble. Van Dyke Performance Space, Greensboro Cultural Center, 200 N. Davie St., Greensboro.

Info: gsomusiccenter.com.

May 10 ALL TOGETHER, NOW! Noon. Learn about community gardening from Megan Gregory, Forsyth County Cooperative Extension Community Garden Agent. Paul Ciener Botanical Garden, 215 S. Main St., Kernersville. To register: (336) 996-7888 or cienerbotanicalgarden.org.

ALL THAT GLITTERS . . . 5:30 p.m. That would be Black, Gold & Bling Ladies Night, an evening of complimentary wine, hors d’oeuvres and the 411 on women’s health, hosted by Wake Forest Baptist Health. Proximity Hotel, 704 Green Valley Road, Greensboro. To register: (336) 713-2378.

HOMESPUN HA HA’S. 8 p.m. Chuckle at the

observations of humorist/ musician Chad Prather.

Carolina Theater, 310 S. Greene St., Greensboro.

Tickets: (336) 333-2605 or carolinatheatre.com.

May 10 & 12 BOX (OFFICE) SCORE. 8 p.m. Listen to some of moviedom’s most memorable film scores for strings (South Pacific, Schindler’s List, Psycho), courtesy of Greensboro Symphony Orchestra with guest violinist Cho Liang Lin. Dana Auditorium, 5800 W. Friendly Ave., Greensboro. Tickets: (336) 335-5456, ext. 224 or greensborosymphony.org.

May 11 AUTHOR, AUTHOR. 7 p.m. Meet Ariel Dorfman, author of Darwin’s Ghosts. Scuppernong Books, 304 S. Elm St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 763-1919 or scuppernongbooks.com.

R YOU READY? 7:30 p.m. For R. Kelly and a stroll down his “Memory Lane” tour? Greensboro Coliseum, 1921 W. Gate City Blvd., Greensboro.

Tickets: (800) 745-3000 or ticketmaster.com.

OPUS CONCERT. 7:30 p.m. Greensboro Choral Society and conductor Jon Brotherton bring Beethoven to the stage. Christ United Methodist Church, 410 N. Holden Road, Greensboro. Info: gsomusiccenter.com.

May 11 & 12 PLANTASTIC! 9 a.m. Don’t pass up annuals, perennials, vegetables, shrubs and more at the Passalong Plant sale, courtesy of the N.C. Extension Master Gardener Volunteer Association of Guilford County. Guilford County Cooperative Extension Office, 3309 Old Burlington Road, Greensboro. Info: (336) 641-2400 or guilford.ces. ncsu.edu.

May 11–June 12 PASTEL PRESENT. Admire the works of N.C. artists — landscapes, still lifes, portraits and more — at the seventh Annual Statewide Juried Pastel Exhibition. (See page 49). The Art Shop, 3900 W. Market St. Info: (336) 855-8500 or theartshopnc.com.

May 12 BERRY BASH. 8 a.m. Get in line early for Chef Alex Amoroso’s flapjacks at Strawberry Pancake and Celebration Day. Greensboro Farmers Curb Market, 501 Yanceyville St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 373-2402 or gsofarmersmarket.org.

THRICE UPON A TIME. 11 a.m. Hear a good yarn at Children’s Storytime. Scuppernong Books, 304 S. Elm St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 763-1919 or scuppernongbooks.com.

94 O.Henry

May 2018

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

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The Art & Soul of Greensboro

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O.Henry 95

Arts Calendar

AUTHOR, AUTHOR. 6 p.m. Meet Aliza T. Speaks, author of Cracking Black and Blue.

Scuppernong Books, 304 S. Elm St., Greensboro.

Info: (336) 763-1919 or scuppernongbooks.com.

May 12 & 26 TESTING HIS METAL. 10 a.m. You-Know-Who of the forge returns. See the latest demonstration by the one, the only Blacksmith. High Point Museum, 1859 E. Lexington Ave., High Point.

Info: (336) 885-1859 or highpointmuseum.org.

May 14 & 16 PHOTO OPPS. 9 a.m. Learn how to be a shutterbug at “Beginning Photography — Taking Better Photographs,” presented by Elizabeth Larson.

Paul Ciener Botanical Garden, 215 S. Main St., Kernersville. To register: (336) 996-7888 or cienerbotanicalgarden.org.

May 16 PAST TENSE. 10 a.m. Hear a speaker discuss a relevant historical topic at a Historical Guild Society meeting. High Point Museum, 1859 E. Lexington Ave., High Point. Info: (336) 885-1859 or highpointmuseum.org.

May 17 AUTHOR, AUTHOR. Meet Steve Lindahl, author of Under a Warped Cross. Scuppernong Books, 304 S. Elm St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 763-1919 or scuppernongbooks.com.

May 17–20 GET LIT! As in, Greensboro Bound: A Literary Festival, featuring authors, poets, panel and entertainment (See the full schedule, p. 31). Downtown Greensboro. Info: greensborobound.com.

May 17–24 HOPPERS HERE. The Greensboro Grasshoppers are home again for an eight-day stretch. First National Bank Field, 408 Bellemeade St., Greensboro. Tickets: (336) 268-2255 or milb.com.

May 18 GREEN SCENE. 7 p.m. Food from more than 25 chefs, brewers, distilliers, plus live jazz and dancing. Come out to the Green Acres Gala to raise funds — and fun. Greensboro Children’s Museum, 220 N. Church St., Greensboro.

Tickets: gcmuseum.com.

SWEET BABY JAMES. 7:30 p.m. He’s not just goin’ to Carolina in his mind: He’s here! James

Taylor comes home. Greensboro Coliseum, 1921 W. Gate City Blvd., Greensboro. Tickets: (800) 745-3000 or ticketmaster.com.

May 19 TIME TRAVEL. 8 a.m. Tour historic Washington Street with historian Glenn Chavis as your guide.

Changing Tides Cultural Center, 613 Washington St., High Point. To register: (336) 885-1859.

DIG IT! 10 a.m. Learn how to be an archeologist in celebration of Archeology Day. High Point Museum, 1859 E. Lexington Ave., High Point.

Info: (336) 885-1859 or highpointmuseum.org.

THE BREAD OF LIFE. 1 p.m. Which is what the Germans poetically call beer, a fitting notion for Tap Out Hunger Beer Festival and Brewing Competition. The event benefits A Simple Gesture, a network of volunteers who assist local food banks and organizations that address food insecurity. Fifth Season Gardening (parking lot), 3958 W. Market St., Greensboro.

Tickets: tapouthunger.com.

OPUS CONCERT. 7:30 p.m. Greensboro Concert Band, led by conductor Kiyoshi Carter perform Ticheli, Holmquist and more. Dana Auditorium, 5800 Friendly Ave. Greensboro.

Info: gsomusiccenter.com.

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May 2018

D OW N TOW N GR EEN S BO R O . O R G

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

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O.Henry 97

Arts Calendar May 20 CONNIE’S CANVASES. Noon. That would be Connie Logan, who presents her stunning paintings in the series, Images of Israel, as well as hundreds of paintings by her students. Live music

by Kristy Jackson fills the studio. 1206 Cornwallis Drive, Greensboro. Info: cplogan.com.

OPUS CONCERT. 7:30 p.m. Greensboro Brass ramps up the sass, with conductor Kiyoshi Carter.

Stephen D. Hyers Theatre, Greensboro Cultural Center, 200 N. Davie St., Greenboro.

Info: gsomusiccenter.com.

May 23–June 1 BIG TOP-NOTCH. For the 25th year, UniverSoul Circus delights with its high-flying entertainment.

Greensboro Coliseum Complex, 1921 W. Gate City Blvd., Greensboro. Tickets: (800) 745-3000 or ticketmaster.com.

May 25 & 26 TOP BRASS. 7:30 p.m. North Carolina Brass Band performs beloved tunes from the Great White Way with a special nod to the centennial of Leonard Bernstein’s birth at “Brass on Broadway.” Dana Auditorium, 5800 West Friendly Ave. (5/25) and

Brendle Recital Hall at Wake Forest, 2629 Wake Forest Road, Winston-Salem (5/26). Tickets: (336) 340-6764 ncbrassband.org.

May 25–28 STRUM-DINGER. That would be Gears & Guitars, held in tandem with the Winston-Salem Cycling Classic (5/26–28). This year’s lineup: Cold War Kids, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, plus local bands. Bailey Park, downtown Winston-Salem.

Tickets: (800) 745-3000 or ticketmaster.com.

May 27 TREE DOCTORS. 6:30 p.m. As in family trees.

Genealogists discuss their most challenging research cases. Morgan Room, High Point Public Library, 501 N. Main St., High Point. Info: (336) 885-1859 or highpointmuseum.org.

May 30 & June 1 PHOTO OPPS II. 9 a.m. Shutterbugs can gather again at “Intermediate Photography — Macro Photography,” courtesy Elizabeth Larson. Paul Ciener Botanical Garden, 215 S. Main St., Kernersville. To register: (336) 996-7888 or cienerbotanicalgarden.org.

May 31 TUNE UP. 5 p.m. Meaning, the tunes of string band Balsam Range, returning for an encore concert on the Lawn. Paul Ciener Botanical Garden, 215 S. Main St., Kernersville. Tickets: (336) 9967888 or cienerbotanicalgarden.org.

AUTHOR, AUTHOR. 7 p.m. Meet Maya Rao, author of Great American Outpost: Dreamers, Mavericks, and the Making of an Oil Frontier.

Scuppernong Books, 304 S. Elm St., Greensboro.

Info: (336) 763-1919 or scuppernongbooks.com.

WEEKLY HAPPENINGS Mondays BUZZING. 10 a.m. Your busy little bees engage in a Busy Bees preschool program focusing on music, movement, garden exploration and fun in the kitchen, at the Greensboro Children’s Museum, 220 N. Church St., Greensboro. Preregistration: (336) 574-2898 or gcmuseum.com.

CHAT-EAU. Noon. French leave? Au contraire! Join French Table, a conversation group.

modern furniture made locally

511 S Elm St. | Greensboro NC 27406 | 336.370.1050 areamod.com

98 O.Henry

May 2018

D OW N TOW N GR EEN S BO R O . O R G

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Arts Calendar Scuppernong Books, 304 S. Elm St., Greensboro.

Info: (336) 763-1919 or scuppernongbooks.com.

Tuesdays READ ALL ABOUT IT. Treat your little ones to story times: BookWorms (ages 12–24 months) meets at 10 a.m.; Time for Twos meets at 11 a.m.

Storyroom; Family Storytime for all ages meets at 6:30 p.m. High Point Public Library, 901 N. Main St., High Point. Info: (336) 883-3666 or highpointpubliclibrary.com.

PINT-SIZED GARDENERS. 3:30 p.m. Teach your kiddies a love of gardening and edible things at Little Sprouts (ages 3 to 5 years). Greensboro Children’s Museum, 220 N. Church St., Greensboro. To register: (336) 574-2898 or gcmuseum.com.

PICKIN’ AND GRINNIN’ 6 until 9 p.m. Y’all come for Songs from a Southern Kitchen: Molly McGinn, Dave Willis and Brent Buckner (5/1); Jon Shain and F.J. Ventre (5/8); Sam Frazier and Eddie Walker (5/15); Windfall (5/22); South Carolina Broadcasters (5/29). 1421 W. Wendover Terrace, Greensboro. Info: (336) 370-0707 or lucky32.com/greensboro_music.htm.

CREATIVE KIN. 5 to 7 p.m. Moms, dads, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles and cousins: Enjoy a free evening of artistic expression at ArtQuest.

GreenHill, 200 N. Davie St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 333-7460 greenhillnc.org.

Main St., High Point. Info: (336) 883-3666 or highpointpubliclibrary.com.

MUSSELS, WINE & MUSIC. 7 until 10 p.m. Mussels with house-cut fries for $15, wines from $10–15 a bottle and live music by AM rOdeO — at Print Works Bistro, 702 Green Valley Road, Greensboro. Info: (336) 379-0699 or printworksbistro.com/live_music.htm.

ALL THAT JAZZ. 5:30 until 8 p.m. Hear live, local jazz featuring Dave Fox, Neill Clegg and Matt Kendrick (aka the O.Henry Trio) — and guests Sarah Strable (5/3), Lydia Salett Dudley (5/10), Diana Tuffin (5/17), Lalenja Harrington (5/24), and Joey Barnes (5/31). All performances are at the O.Henry Hotel Social Lobby Bar. No cover.

624 Green Valley Road, Greensboro. Info: (336) 854-2000 or www.ohenryhotel.com/jazz.htm.

ONCE UPON A TIME. 2 p.m. Afterschool Storytime convenes for children of all ages.

Storyroom, High Point Public Library, 901 N. Main St., High Point. Info: (336) 883-3666 or highpointpubliclibrary.com.

JAZZ NIGHT. 7 p.m. Fresh-ground, freshbrewed coffee is served with a side of jazz at Tate Street Coffee House, 334 Tate St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 275-2754 or www.tatestreetcoffeehouse.com.

TO MARKET, TO MARKET. 8 a.m. until noon.

Starting April 18, the produce is fresh and the cut fleurs are belles. Greensboro Farmers Curb Market, 501 Yanceyville St., Greensboro. Info: gsofarmersmarket.org.

OPEN MIC COMEDY. 8–9:35 p.m. Local pros and amateurs take the mic at the Idiot Box, 2134 Lawndale Drive, Greensboro. Info: (336) 274-2699 or idiotboxers.com.

Thursdays TWICE UPON A TIME. 11 a.m. Preschool Storytime convenes for children ages 3–5.

Storyroom, High Point Public Library, 901 N.

Fridays MINI MAKERS. 11 a.m. Let your child (age 5 or younger) bring out his or her inner van Gogh at ArtQuest’s Masterpiece Fridays, featuring tales from classic storybooks and artistic activities.

DANCE YOUR SUMMER AWAY!

Now Registering for Summer!

Ages 3 & up www.greensboroballet.org 336-333-7480

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

D OW N TOW N GR EEN S BO R O . O R G

May 2018

O.Henry 99

Arts Calendar Cost is $6 per person. GreenHill, 200 N. Davie St. Greensboro. To register: (336) 333-7460 or greenhillnc.org.

THE HALF OF IT. 5 p.m. Enjoy the hands-on exhibits and activities for half the cost of admission at $5 Fun Fridays ($2 on First Fridays).

Greensboro Children’s Museum, 220 N. Church St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 574-2898 or gcmuseum.com.

Fridays & Saturdays NIGHTMARES ON ELM STREET. 8 p.m. A 90-minute, historical, candlelit ghost walking tour of Downtown Greensboro. Tickets: (336) 905-4060 or carolinahistoryandhaunts.com/ information.

Saturdays TO MARKET, TO MARKET. 7 a.m. until noon.

The produce is still fresh and the cut fleurs still belles. Greensboro Farmers Curb Market, 501 Yanceyville St., Greensboro.

Info: gsofarmersmarket.org.

WRITE IS MIGHT. 3 p.m. Avoid writer’s block by joining a block of writers at Come Write In, a confab of scribes who discuss their literary projects. Scuppernong Books, 304 S. Elm St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 763-1919 or scuppernongbooks.com.

JAZZ ENCORE. 6:30 p.m. Hear contemporary jazz cats Steve Haines, Scott Sawyer, Chad Eby and Ariel Pocock (5/5); Elaine Pen and the O.Henry Trio (5/12); Andrew Berinson and Ti Harmon (5/19); and Benjamin Matlack (5/26) while noshing on seasonal tapas at O.Henry Jazz series for Select Saturdays. O.Henry Hotel, 624 Green Valley Road, Greensboro. Info: (336) 8542000 or ohenryhotel.com.

IMPROV COMEDY. 10 p.m. on Saturday, plus an 8 p.m. show appropriate for the whole family.

The Idiot Boxers create scenes on the spot and build upon the ideas of others, creating shows that are one-of-a-kind — at the Idiot Box, 2134 Lawndale Drive, Greensboro. Info: (336) 2742699 or idiotboxers.com.

Sundays HALF FOR HALF-PINTS. 1 p.m. And grownups, too. A $5 admission, as opposed to the usual $10, will allow you entry to exhibits and more.

Greensboro Children’s Museum, 220 N. Church St., Greensboro. Info: (336) 574-2898 or gcmuseum.com.

MISSING YOUR GRANDMA? 3 p.m. until it’s gone: Tuck into Chef Felicia’s skillet-fried chicken, and mop that cornbread in, your choice, giblet gravy or potlikker. Lucky 32 Southern Kitchen, 1421 W. Wendover Terrace, Greensboro. Info: (336) 370-0707 or lucky32.com/fried_chicken.htm.

To add an event, email us at ohenrymagcalendar@gmail.com

BY THE FIRST OF EACH MONTH PRIOR TO THE MONTH OF THE EVENT

in order for us to get it in the correct issue. If it is a March event we need it by February 1st

Interior Design • Furnishings • Accessories • Gifts • Art

VIVID i n t e r i o r s

513 South Elm Street , Greensboro, NC 27406 336.265.8628 www.vivid-interiors .com

100 O.Henry

May 2018

D OW N TOW N GR EEN S BO R O . O R G

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Next Revolution IN PROGRESSIVE LENSES The Art & Soul of Greensboro

STARTING AT $350 INCLUDING ANY FRAME IN THE STORE

226 S. ELM STREET, GREENSBORO, NC 336 333 2993 OscarOglethorpe.com

May 2018

O.Henry 101

adult cooking classes at the Edible Schoolyard

Grilling in the Garden Wednesday, June 13 6:00 - 8:00 p.m.

$40 members | $45 non-members

Jam Session

Tuesday, July 24 6:00 - 8:00 p.m.

$30 members | $35 non-members

register and learn more about our cooking classes

www.gcmuseum.com

Recipes fRom the old city of

JERUSALEM Friday, May 4th 227 S. Elm Street Downtown Greensboro Music, Wine & Prizes

Middle Eastern food is naturally good for you.

Jerusalem Market provides you with complete foods with all good nutrients, good fats, the food is natural fuel. Loaded with protein, nutrients, and vitamins, Middle Eastern food is naturally engineered for the most beneficial effect on the body.

N ThIs mENTIOrECEIvE D N a aD

Now Open Tuesday-Sunday 11:00- 7:00

102 O.Henry

May 2018

10% OFF

“You Will Be Pleased”

CaTErING markET plaCE DINE IN TO GO

310 South Elm Street • Greensboro, NC 27401 336.279.7025 | Mon-Sat 11am-9pm | www.jerusalemarket.com

D OW N TOW N GR EEN S BO R O . O R G

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Golden Gate

FUN. FUNKY. CASUAL

Habitat • Lee Andersen • Alembika • Cut Loose Parsley and Sage • Luukaa • Comfy USA • Chalet • Amma Oh My Gauze! • Kleen • Cheyenne • Heartstring • Et Louis

336-545-3003

Vera’s Threads Sizes: S,M, L & XL

336-288-8772

2214 Golden Gate Drive • Greensboro, NC

2274 Golden Gate Drive • Golden Gate Shopping Center • Greensboro, NC Hours: M-F 11-6, Sat 11-5

www.linneasboutique.com

huge

336.373.6200

Monday-Friday 10-5:30 • Saturday • 10-5 Sunday 1-5 Carriage_House@att.net

AUTHORIZED MIZUNO FITTER

seleCtion of quality

used Clubs • Club RepaiR • RegRipping • Reshafting

Buy One, Get One 50% Off All Jewelry & Scarves May 1-13

Business & Services

Sizes: 1X, 2X, & 3X

Carriage House Antiques & Home Decor

KELLY’S GOLF 2616-C Lawndale Drive • Greensboro, NC 27408

336.540.1452 • www.kellysgolf.com

Celebrate Mothers Everywhere The Art & Soul of Greensboro

May 2018

O.Henry 103

ASHMORE RARE COinS & MEtAlS

Don’t Forget to Pack Your Needlework

Since 1987

• 30 years as a major dealer of Gold, Silver, and Coins • Most respected local dealer for appraising and buying Coin Collections, Gold, Silver, Diamond Jewelry and Sterling Flatware • Investment Gold, Silver, & Platinum Bullion

Beautiful Atenti bags now available

Business & Services

Visit us: www.ashmore.com or call 336-617-7537 5725 W. Friendly Ave. Ste 112 • Greensboro, NC 27410 Across the street from the entrance to Guilford College

We loveyour dirtylaundry!

WASH/DRY/FOLD

1614-C West Friendly Avenue Greensboro, nC 27403 336-272-2032 stitchpoint@att.net

Pick-up and Delivery

336.402.7325

www.LaundroMoms.com

MondAy-FridAy: 10:00-6:00 sAturdAy: 10:00-4:00

GRAND KITCHEN

SAVINGS

NOW EARN A

$1,000 REbATE OFF WOLF GOURMET PRODUCTS OR BOTH

with the purchase of a Sub-Zero, Wolf, and Cove qualifying appliance package.

Shop LocaL for Best Prices We Service What We Sell & Offer Personal Attention 336-854-9222 • www.HartApplianceCenter.com

104 O.Henry

May 2018

2201 Patterson Street, Greensboro, NC (2 Blocks from the Coliseum) Mon. - Fri.: 9:30am - 5:30 pm Sat. 10 am - 2 pm • Closed Sunday

etc. Consignment • 336-659-7786

etc. Home • 336-659-0900

Monday-Saturday 9-6 690 Jonestown Rd. • Winston-Salem www.etcConsignmentShoppe.com

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

18,000 sq. feet of Memories & Treasures, Visit the General Store for Goodies 106 E. Railroad Ave. Gibsonville, NC Downtown Gibsonville behind the Red Caboose Just minutes from Greensboro

GibsonvilleAntiques.com

336-446-0234 Mon-Sat 10-6, Sun 1-5

Call us for furniture restoration!

Business & Services

Practicing Commercial Real Estate by the Golden Rule Bill Strickland, CCIM Commercial Real Estate Broker/REALTOR 336.369.5974 | bstrickland@bipinc.com

www.bipinc.com

STYLE SHOWN: KIPAHULU

The view’s better from here.

Our lightweight PolarizedPlus2ÂŽ lenses are as flexible as you are, adapting to different light conditions while eliminating glare and enhancing color. Try on a pair and see for yourself. Color. Clarity. Detail.

2222 Patterson St. #A Greensboro, NC 27407 336.852.7107 www.houseofeyes.com Only one block from the coliseum.

MJ-9669 House of Eyes May 2018 Ad.indd 1

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

May 2018

3/30/18 9:25 AM

O.Henry 105

Friendly Shopping Center, Greensboro, NC 1-800-528-3618

336-299-9767

www.extraingredient.com

Greensboro's Locally Owned Kitchen Store since 1985

“I couldn’t be happier with my renters, or my rental income” Brantley White

Burkely Rental Homes client

There are times when it’s smarter to lease than to sell your home. Call me when you think you’re there! I’ll be pleased to discuss how Burkely Rental Homes can help you.

106 O.Henry

May 2018

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

our cuStomerS are younG and the younG at heart. they are the claSSic american beauty or thoSe lookinG for threadS that are uniquely on trend.

Furnishing stylish homes in the Triad FURNITURE, ACCESSORIES AND GIFTS.

boutique boutique 8 0 9 G reen Valley r oad Sui te 101

| 336-944-5335

T u es- F r i • 1 1 - 5 : 3 0 | saT • 1 1 -3

Tuesday- Saturday 10-5pm 3500 Old Battleground Rd. Suite A (336) 617-4275 • www.aubreyhomedesign.com

Start YOUr

NEXT DOG TRAINING

aDVENtUrE Introducing: Lisa Winslow 15+ years of experience in positive dog training

• Positive reinforcement dog training • Solo and group style classes • Single session and weekly packages 1052 Grecade St. | GreenSboro, nc 27408

Conveniently located in Midtown

336.897.1505

www.BAHpetcare.com The Art & Soul of Greensboro

May 2018

O.Henry 107

An Experience Extraordinaire

Pottery in the Southern Tradition

Orchestra Celebration Fri., June 29 | Dana Aud. | Guilford College | 8:00 PM

Gerard Schwarz, conductor Jeffrey Multer, violin Eastern Festival Orchestra

Midsummer Magic

Enhance Your Home and Garden

336-668-0025 | www.davidcolepottery.com Spring/Summer Hours – WED thru SAT 10-5 Highway 68 In Oak Ridge

Sat., June 30 | Dana Aud. | Guilford College | 8:00 PM

Gerard Schwarz, conductor William Wolfram, piano

Romance Sat., July 7 | Dana Aud. | Guilford College | 8:00 PM

Gerard Schwarz, conductor Anne Akiko Meyers, violin Series continues: July 14 • Misha Dichter, piano July 21 • Kun-Woo Paik, piano and Jason Vieaux, guitar July 28 • Stefan Jackiw, violin

Join us for our 57th season JUNE 23-JULY 28, 2018 Greensboro, NC

108 O.Henry

Tickets on Sale NOW Box Office 336.272.0160

FOR MORE INFORMATION: EasternMusicFestival.org

May 2018

Arts &CULTURE The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Arts & Culture

C.P. LOGAN

“The Ruins of The Pool of BeThesda” 18x24” oRiginal oil

OPEN STUDIO: MAy 20Th, 12-6PM

Featuring “images oF israel” as well as hundreds oF paintings For sale by all talented students....1206 w. Cornwallis drive LIvE MUSIC by KrISTy JACKSON | FrEE AND OPEN TO ALL!!!

Connie P. logan - aRTisT/TeaCheR

www. CPLogan.com The Art & Soul of Greensboro

May 2018

O.Henry 109

Arts & Culture

MeRiditH MaRtens state of the ART • north carolina

Beauty

OPENING RECEPTION + FIRST FRIDAY FRIDAY, MAY 4, 2018 FROM 6:00 - 9:00 PM Live music by Blake Walters from 7:00 – 8:00 PM. Free and open to the public. Cash bar.

ANNUAL MEETING WEDNESDAY, MAY 30, 2018 | 5:30 PM Guest speaker Dr. Lucy Spelman of Rhode Island School of Design will discuss how the arts impact conservation of species.

Free and open to the public. Cash bar.

Reproductions from Original Oil Paintings High Quality Paper or Metal Plates Sizes range 16x20 up to 40x60 • Prices start at $270

www.meridithmartens.com MeridithMartens.Artist • 910.692.9448

200 N. Davie Street | Downtown Greensboro | GreenHillNC.org

110 O.Henry

May 2018

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

GREENSBORO SCIENCE CENTER

SEE TO BELIEVE

SPONSORED BY

You will love coming home to this fantastic property in sought after Henson Farm with it’s rural charm and located so close to town.

Magnificent Club house with Swimming pool, Tennis court, manicured common grounds. Custom-crafted

by Wolfe Homes, this home features heavy moldings, gracious room sizes, outdoor Kitchen & more.

Your generosity helps keep science alive and accessible to everyone by allowing them to experience many wonders of the world, all from one entertaining, educational location.

Life & Home

09.14.18 SHOW YOUR SUPPORT!

$480,000 Ramilya Siegel

CRS, GRI, ABR, CDPE, Realtor Chairman’s Circle Award

(336) 215-9856

ramilya.siegel@allentate.com

The real estate market is back!

SPONSOR TODAY! GREENSBOROSCIENCE.ORG/SEETOBELIEVE

M A R ION Tile & Flooring

CERAMIC TILE • MARBLE • VINYL • CARPET • HARDWOOD

Turning Ordinary into Extraordinary Products Porcelain & Ceramic Tile • Brick & Stone Marble & Granite • Cork • Hardwood Luxury Vinyl Tile • Carpet

services Bathroom Remodeling Kitchen Floors & Backsplashes Tile Repairs & Cleaning Service Complete Installation Service by Qualified Craftsmen

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Monday - Friday • 9am-5pm

4719 Pleasant Garden Road, Pleasant Garden 336-674-8839 | www.mariontile.com

May 2018

O.Henry 111

Re-Inspiring everyday living

7 Land’s End drivE

Life & Home

Land’s End townhome

Enjoy maintenance free living in this peaceful setting.Beautiful 3 bed 2 1/2 bath “d” plan with excellent view of Buffalo Lake and the park like common area. This plan features a large dining room; long, spacious entry; master on the main; extra room on main could be study or guest bedroom or extension of the great room as there are pocket doors to the great room.

Vintage Home Decor • Home Accessories Gifts • Design Services by appointment 5315 Liberty road | Suite G | GreenSboro, nC

336.790.1046

336.337.7230 • AskSally@aol.com

Model: Larissa Abuhl

• Interior Design • Remodeling • Staging

Call for your inspiration today!

Great designs begin with the details.

336.542.3231 reddinteriors.com

We Buy, Renovate and Sell Residential Real Estate

MICHELLE PORTER MP

RODDY AKBARI

...turning dreams into an address

336.337.2402

REALTOR®, BROKER, MBA, ABR, CSP, GRI, CRS, SFR, CPM

infinv@gmail.com

infiniteinv.com

112 O.Henry

May 2018

L E T ’ S

Enjoy your spring in stylE without poor circulation or lymphedema.

G E T

M O V I N G !

336.207.0515 • homes@michelleporter.com www.michelleporter.com

©2017 BHH Affiiliates, LLC. An independently operated subsidiary of HomeServices of America, Inc., a Berkshire Hathaway affiliate, and a franchisee of BHH Affiliates, LLC. Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices and the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices symbol are registered service marks of HomeServices of America, Inc.® Equal Housing Opportunity.

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

GreenScene 11th Annual Corks for Kids Path

Hospice and Palliative Care of Greensboro Friday, February 23, 2018 Photographs by Marshall Hurley

Katrina & Nat Hayes, Mickey Guilford Jackie McCoy, Iesha Green

Katie & Michael Hennessy, Beth Kernodle

Morgan & Harrison Hood

Susan VanDorn, Suzann Bright

Marsha Cole, John Kennedy

Blake & Lauren Crowder, Marty Pope, Dominic Chiellini

Misty McCall, Paul Russ, Ashley Watkins

Karole-Ann Bayer, Jason Friddle

Jonathan Walker, Renee Saxon, Zarron Winkfield

Brady & Kristen Yntema, Joe & Lori Dunlop

Barbie Pilla, Kat VanFossen, Christy Outlaw

GreenScene “Raising A Pot of Gold” Luncheon in Support of Meals on Wheels in Guilford County

Susan Marie Cook, Dave Gronewoller Erin Miller, Scott Baker

Ed Smith, Rebecca Wright

Senior Resources of Guilford Tuesday, March 20, 2018

Beth Gobble, Frank Johns, Ellen Whitlock, Paige Mone, Reverend Virginia Wood

Photographs by Lynn Donovan

Anne Daniel, Anne Craven, Jean King, Kitty Robison, Janet Stenerson, Peggy Johnson, Vera Rjaecker, Hughlene Frank

Reverend Virginia Reynolds, Kim Rangel

Ann Sapp, Reverend Virginia Wood

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Debbie Robson, Sheila Sheffield, Brownlee Bryant, Elaine Kroll

Shannon Norman, Clark Porter

Mary Ann & Gene Buhi, Bruce McReynolds, Arlene Dolin

Julie Denitz, Deanne Eble, Victor Blackburn, Megen Craven, Cathy & David Sevier

Marsha Maddy, Margaret Wheaton, Rob Luisana, Joan Johnson, Barbara Cole, Lynette Kinney, Darlene Jarvis

May 2018

O.Henry 113

GreenScene

Martha & David Emrey

Wonder TedX Greensboro Reception Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Photographs by Lynn Donovan

MaryAnne Luedtke, Natalie Sanders Robert Sneed, Bita Emari

Chuck & Cheryl McQueary

Graymatter — Barry Gray, Bev Gray Gude, Brad Gray, Dave Gude Sallie Dupier, Hari Jones, Elizabeth Wayne

Jeff SanGeorge, Beth Bowles

LaShon R. Hill, Bobby Pittman Joseph & Anna Starobin

Coventry Kessler, Terry Power

Martha Emrey, Derrick Parker

Carl & Laurie Lockwood

114 O.Henry

May 2018

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

GreenScene

Evan Olson & Jessica Mashburn

Gigi Renaud, Mike Evans

Moulin Rouge

Guilford Green Foundation Gala Saturday, March 24, 2018 Photographs by Lynn Donovan

Marin Burton, Kip Corrington

Grace Mearns, Patrick Willard

Tom Murray, Kirstie Keill

Paul Malpass, Shana Gordon, Chris Lemmons, Tal Blevins

Sharon Hicks, Kim Shaw, Demi Stewart

Jessica Van Hecke, Jennifer Newman, Lisa Allred

Scott Stephens, Todd McCain, Camille Williams, Rob Overman

Tracy Raxter, Hope Cooper

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Cozzie Skeen, Robbie Lafar

Cile Johnson, Terry Brown

Kayt Stewart, Fuscia Rage

May 2018

O.Henry 115

GreenScene

Louise Price Parsons, Dixie & Joe Brantley, Benjamin Briggs

Chandler Glover, Barry Harris

Designer Showhouse Opening Gala Hillside ­— Julian Price House Thursday, April 5, 2018

Photographs by Lynn Donovan Gray & Kristin Tharpe, Maria & Michael Money

Tyson Howlett, Isabella Migliarese, Zachary Hodgin

Barry Safrit, Mary Baber, Tara Jenkins

Laura Redd, Wesley Adams, Kittye McBride Ron Willard, Sara Migliarese

Michael Fuko-Rizzo, Louise Price Parsons, Eric Fuko-Rizzo

Connie Winters, Hadley Quisenberry, Lisa Britt, Ron Williams

116 O.Henry

May 2018

Jen Skeltety, Khoi Vo, Angie the Rose

Alice Engel, Rene Cone, Tootsie Adderholdt

Kimberly Watts, Debi Pendl

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

Classic Charm in Irving Park 2 2 0 2 L a fay e t t e av e n u e • g r e e n sb oro, n c

Chesnutt - Tisdale Team 4 Bedro om s • 3 F u ll Bath s / 2 halF Bath s

Fabulous home with classic charm and comfort. Features open, high ceilings, hardwood floors, custom molding, Master Suite on main level. 4 Bedrooms plus Loft.

Patio-gardens, potting shed. Walking distance to GCC or parks.

Xan Tisdale 336-601-2337

Kay Chesnutt 336-202-9687

Xan.Tisdale@bhhsyostandlittle.com Kay.Chesnutt@bhhsyostandlittle.com ©2017 BHH Affiliates, LLC. An independently operated subsidiary of HomeServices of America, Inc., a Berkshire Hathaway affiliate, and a franchisee of BHH Affiliates, LLC. Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices and the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices symbol are registered service marks of HomeServices of America, Inc.® Equal Housing Opportunity.

Greensboro’s diamond destination

Diamonds · Custom · Onsite Repair

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

May 2018

O.Henry 117

Unique Shoes! Beautiful Clothes!! Artisan Jewelry!!!

Shoes Sizes 6 - 11 • Clothes Sizes S - XXL

507 State Street, Greensboro NC 27405 336-275-7645 • Mon - Sat 11am - 6pm www.LilloBella.com

118 O.Henry

May 2018

The Art & Soul of Greensboro

The Accidental Astrologer

Bull Session The life of a Taurus is always intense

By Astrid Stellanova

Queen Elizabeth and Ted Kaczynski. Willie Nelson and

Billy Joel. Karl Marx and Malcom X. Tina Fey and Adele. Cher and Bono (U2 front man, not Cher’s late ex husband Sonny). That’s right, Star Children: These are Taurus babies who are all just a tee-ninesy bit intense and take to a stage, pulpit, or even the witness stand like a ducky takes to a daisy. The emerald? A pretty intense birthstone that makes it just right, don’tcha think? This is a month to end bad juju, make amends, dream bigger and dazzle with a smile. Ad Astra — Astrid Taurus (April 20–May 20) Sugar, you could be on your deathbed arguing about the guest list for your own funeral. Sometimes you are a pragmatic soul. At others, you go psycho over some little detail that flips you out and trips all the circuits. Take yourself for a little lunchtime walk or get your hands in the soil. Let nothing come between you and your joy this month.

Gemini (May 21–June 20) If you don’t do anything else, accept a gift that is offered to you. Ain’t going to change the person who always gets you riled, so just live and learn, and move up the line. You’re a natural trendsetter, who will find yourself making an imprint.

The second act of your life was always meant to be especially important.

Cancer (June 21–July 22) Lordy! You started out saying you wanted to risk it for the biscuit, then you backed down. Don’t let anybody stop you this time — make your mind up to put some steel in your backbone, Honey. You have given much more than you’ll ever take — your moment has come and the reward is deserved. Also, say yes to that trip.

Leo (July 23­–August 22) It won’t take a slide rule for you to calculate how many hours you have wasted on the wrong partner. It seems you overcommitted. Now, just try a little undercommitment. Sugar, I’m just warning you that you have been dropping the bucket down the wrong well. Your reward is waiting in an unexpected location.

Virgo (August 23­–September 22) If you were just honest about it, being uppity is not working for you. By your standards, paper towels are white trash, too. Why don’t you practice a little more acceptance, because all this social maneuvering, posturing and aspiring just makes you look silly and feel lonely. And you don’t handle lonely.

Libra (September 23­– October 22) A confession is overdue. There is something you need to stop carrying on your shoulder ’cause it’s not yours to bear, Love, and you don’t need to carry it one more step. Confront the person you think you wronged and make amends. They will surprise you, and your health will improve afterward.

Scorpio (October 23–November 21) You are spending more time alone than is usual, and maybe you like your own The Art & Soul of Greensboro

company. Make it your business to reach out, Honey, and touch somebody, just like the commercial says. Few people know you have a doozy of a secret. Open up. They can handle it, Love.

Sagittarius (November 22–December 21) The greatest adventure you ever took started at your front door. Only you understand what that means. Home is everything to you nowadays — far more than to most (and far more than to typically far-flung you!). It is also where you are finding your calm center in a very turbulent, topsy-turvy time. Rest up, Honey, because the adventure isn’t quite over.

Capricorn (December 22–January 19) In your fantasies about the life you shoulda-coulda-woulda had and the path you didn’t take, there is always one particular dream on your mind. It has haunted you.

This is a good time to take a step in realizing that dream, even if your rational self says it’s nuts. It ain’t. And, best of all, it ain’t too late, Sweet Pea. Aquarius (January 20–February 18) You are having a phase of intense dreams that reveal issues and concerns helpful in your daily life. In many ways, you have been dreaming of the most meaningful and best ways to move forward. Keep a close record of those reveries for May and notice key information that your mind is offering.

Pisces (February 19–March 20) Shew, you crossed the wrong person and they have not let it go, have they? You sure did poke the bear and now you are living to regret it. Give ’em a good bottle of whatever they like to drink or take them some blossoms, but for garsh sakes, end this thing! They may be wrong but holding out ain’t worth it.

Aries (March 21–April 19) Last month, you were given a birthday present that startled you and you haven’t quite figured out its meaning. That may be a good thing. Someone you don’t love in quite the same way as they feel toward you has been trying to worm their way into your heart. If you go there, it will flame out fast and cause more heartburn than passion, Baby. OH

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

May 2018

O.Henry 119

O.Henry Ending

The Restoration

By Cynthia Adams

During the Go-

Go ’80s “Lou,” a friend and law student, suggested we redo houses as a sideline. Newly divorced, I had recently cashed out my corporate stock options in order to write.

We befriended Realtor Pickett Stafford, who called whenever a listing popped up with potential as a quick flip.

The metrics were different then — banks loaned whatever we asked for and then some. We tackled increasingly more ambitious flips and pocketed fast cash.

Meanwhile, Lou was working as hard at sobriety as torts and contracts.

Every time she visited my postwar cottage, she would open the fridge and tsk-tsk over the wine and cheese. She quipped I was going to need Alcoholics Anonymous in time, and frequently invited me to hear her AA talks. I loved the stories; the meetings were therapeutic and meaningful.

The beauty of this meant that we found plenty of strong backs in AA. Fixing houses was a neat metaphor for the program’s 12 steps. You began with an admission of powerless, step one, and then worked your way forward.

The outcomes could astonish. Houses, like people, were worthy of a good rehab.

Pickett found a Westerwood house near Lake Daniel Park on Woodlawn, which became our most ambitious and costly flip. On day one, we discovered snakes nesting in the damp basement. Was the discovery just part and parcel of the house being so close to a flood plain — or an omen of what else we’d find?

But after we installed a sump pump, we never saw them again.

The kitchen, a drab, dirty affair, was slowly transformed. We painted the smoke-hazed interiors pale grays and refinished the house’s oak floors. My

120 O.Henry

May 2018

father’s collection of finds stuck in a barn yielded new columns for the porch. We hauled them home in a truck so small that my job was to watch that they didn’t slide out the back for the entire 90 miles back as Lou drove.

Our bank note, due on demand, allowed a mere six weeks to renovate and flip Woodlawn.

If I cursed while painting during the long nights, the AA labor crew would admonish me to “Let go and let God” or “Easy does it!” — the lingo of recovery.

Woodlawn echoed with the noise of sanding, encouragements, laughter and restoration.

The house began to figure into my restless dreams — it was revealing its beauty, with high ceilings and elegant molding now creamy white. I began to dream of possessing such a house, one with interior French doors and glass doorknobs — possibly because those muntins took me so long to paint.

At the end of our labors, I stood on the lawn watching a new friend walk up from the street. He wanted to see one of our projects. “There’s an underground stream here,” he announced, pointing to where he stood near our basement.

Lou’s mouth dropped open.

“I know how to dowse for water,” he offered.

My heart did a flip.

I had wanted Woodlawn for myself. But I had no choice but to let go, as our diligent crew had reminded. The house that saved us sold quickly, just as the note matured. The man who could divine water, however, became mine.

When I drive slowly past now, it all returns. There is the seen and unseen, as the subterranean streams that challenged us. Those same waters also channeled my husband to me.

I dream of Woodlawn still. OH Cynthia Adams remembers a yellow Victorian beauty with a slate roof in downtown Concord many years ago. She still is possessed by houses.

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Illustration by Harry Blair

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