January PineStraw 2015 by PineStraw Magazine

Come enjoy the Southern charm and relaxed sophistication of Pinehurst & Southern Pines

Jamie McDevitt, Broker/Owner 910.724.4455 JamieMcDevitt.com Jamie@JamieMcDevitt.com

Starlight Farm in Southern Pines Offered at $995,000

107 NE Broad Street Southern Pines, NC

Lakefront at CCNC: Spectacular 4BR/5.5BA home includes a chef’s kitchen, private bath with each bedroom, lake view from every room/suite. Beautiful grounds with dock & Boat House! Offered at $2,495,000. Carolyn Hallett 910.986.2319

Knollwood Heights: “Homewood” is a sophisticated Colonial Revival style 9000+sq.ft. home on a 4.66 acre estate… Built as a “showplace”. Own a piece of history! 7BR/6FBA/2HBA. $1,590,000 Bill Smith 910.528.4090

Horse Country: “The Landings” - Private & quiet with 46acres & direct access to Walthour-Moss Foundation. 14 acres with split rail fenced pasture, House, Barn, Garage/ Wrkshp & 5-Run-in Sheds. 3BR/4BA. $1,550,000 Debbie Darby 910.783.5193

Knollwood Heights: Charming estate designed by Donald

Old Town: “Shadowlawn” circa 1929 - This English tudor is one of the finest estates in Old Town. Lush grounds, stone walkways & terraces. 7-Frplcs, elevator, & beautiful hardwood floors. Separate 3BR/3BA Guest House. 6BR/7FBA/2HBA. $1,495,000 Emily Hewson 910.315.3324

CCNC: Golf front home on 5 acres overlooking pond & 10th hole of Carolina course. A stunning blend of traditional architectural detail with a light, open plan. 4BR/4FBA/2HBA. $1,325,000 Emily Hewson 910.315.3324 Maureen Clark 910.315.1080

National: Founder’s Point is the premier location - this home overlooks the lake & 18th green! Designed for the club’s original developer and upgraded extensively in 2001 with extraordinary detail in every room. 4BR/4.5BA. $1,298,000 Maureen Clark 910.315.1080

CCNC: Expansive one floor living on the 9th & 10th Holes of Cardinal Course. Spacious, elegant rooms comfortable for two or easy capacity for entertaining a crowd. 3BR/3.5BA. $1,250,000 Maureen Clark 910.315.1080

Reynwood Subdivision: Country Estate, 18+acres. 4BR/3.5BA home, 3-car garage with upstairs apartment. Pool & Cabana. 3-Stall Barn and Equipment Storage. $1,150,000 Frank Sessoms 910.639.3099

Ross in the 1920s and featuring: leaded windows, wide plank oak flooring, 3-Frplcs, and a 2BR/2BA Carriage house. 4BR/7.5BA. Broker/Owner. $1,495,000 Bill Smith 910.528.4090

Forest Creek: Golf front living at its finest! Overlooking 14th Fairwoods on 7: Enjoy golf front living in this pretigious gated fairway. Custom built to reflect casual cottage charm. A dream community. Certified “green” home w/dramatic 2-story library, kitchen! Exceptional window views bathing rooms in natural glass walled great room, billard room & chef’s kitchen. Stunlight. Stunning! 3BR/3.5BA. $949,000 ning home! 3BR/3FBA/2HBA. $875,000 Kay Beran 910.315.3322 Maureen Clark 910.315.1080

text “BHHSNC305” to 87778

CCNC: Golf front in prestigious gated community. Totally renovated with detail & quality. Kitchen has 5-Star stainless steel, 6-burner gas stove & Kitchen Aid appliances. Beautiful grounds! 4BR/4BA. $799,000 Emily Hewson 910.315.3324

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Southern Pines: 910.692.2635 • 105 W. Illinois Avenue • Southern Pines, NC 28387 ©2014 BHH Affiliates, LLC. An independently operated subsidiary of HomeServices of American, Inc., a Berkshire Hathaway affiliate, and a franchisee of BHH Affiliates, LLC.

Pinewild: Elegant, golf front home punctuated with custom

CCNC: Tranquil and peaceful water views from every room in this rustic contemporary home situated on two lots. Many renovations and addition in 2004-2005. 3BR/3.5BA. $695,000 Emily Hewson 910.315.3324

CCNC: Spectacular golf course & pond views from this lovely home situated on the 4th green of Cardinal Course. Renovated in 2007-2008. 3BR/2.5BA. $685,000 Emily Hewson 910.315.3324

Pinemere: One of the most desirable Lake Pinehurst

settings! A true dream house for those who love the outdoors. In-ground heated pool, spa, beach & dock! More than 2,900sq.ft. of living space! 3BR/3BA. $599,000 Jerry Townley 910.690.7080

Southern Pines: Exquisite home is perfect for a family residence. Enjoy fabulous out-of-door entertaining with an In-ground pool, hot tub, and outdoor kitchen area. 4BR/4.5BA. $549,000 Bill Smith 910.528.4090

Horse Property: Peaceful 15 acre farm with charming 1.5 story

Whispering Pines: Living at its best! All brick, single level home with formal Living Room & Dining Room, Family room, Kitchen w/granite, pantry, planning desk & all new stainless appliances. 4BR/3.5BA. $480,000 Eva Toney 910.638.0972

Mid South Cub: Paradise is truly found . . . Golf front living in a gated community. Custom features resound throughout this beautiful home overlooking the #11 Tee Box. Screened porch and deck. 3BR/2BA. $429,900 Debbie Darby 910.783.5193

National/Pinehurst #9: Enjoy the privacy of a gated community. Custom, 2-story, 4BR/3BA home with office. Low maintenance. Hardwood floors, custom cabinetry, & a great floor plan. PCC membership. $425,000 Frank Sessoms 910.639.3099

Craftsman Home - 3 Years New: 4BR/3.5BA, open floor plan, kitchen w/granite & stainless, dining room, hdwd, stone FP, 1st floor master suite, screen porch & deck. $359,900 Carolyn Hallett 910.986.2319

Southern Pines: Beautiful setting on a private street. Just a short 2 block walk to restaurants & shops! Lovely home with more than 2,200 sq.ft. of living space. Move-in Ready! 4BR/2BA. $310,000 Jim Saunders 910.315.1000

Whispering Woods: Wonderful, golf front home in MOVE-IN

moulding & built-in cabinetry, large transom windows and French doors offer great golf course views. Well manicured landscaping highlight the setting. 4BR/4.5BA. $729,000 Jerry Townley 910.690.7080

Farm-Style house with wrap around front porch & in-ground salt water pool. 3+Stall center isle barn. 3BR/3.5BA. $489,000 Debbie Darby 910.783.5193 Jim Saunders 910.315.1000

condition! Fresh paint, nice open kitchen w/center island & quartzite counter. Huge bonus room. Short communte to Bragg or Cary/Raleigh. 4BR/3BA. $285,000 Jim Saunders 910.315.1000

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

January 2015

Features 51 Where Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m From

Poetry by Sara RenĂŠe Phile

Volume 11, No. 1

52 The Magic of Snow By Laurie Bogart Wiles

Departments

9 12 14 17 19

Simple Life Jim Dodson PinePitch Instagram Winners Cos and Effect Cos Barnes The Omnivorous Reader Stephen E. Smith

23 Bookshelf 27 Vine Wisdom Robyn James 29 The Kitchen Garden Jan Leitschuh

33 Hometown Bill Fields 35 Out of the Blue Deborah Salomon

37 Proper English

Serena Brown

39 41 43 45 49 74 85 91

Chasing Hornets Wiley Cash Birdwatch Susan Campbell Sporting Life Tom Bryant Golftown Journal Lee Pace Something Sketchy Harry Blair January Calendar SandhillSeen Thoughts from the Porch Geoff Cutler

93 The Accidental Astrologer Astrid Stellanova

95 PineNeedler Mart Dickerson 96 SouthWords Neville Beamer

A winter fantasy in three acts of childhood memory

54 Five Views of Sandhills Winter Winter Photo Essay

62 Perfectly Appetizing By David Claude Bailey

Our cooking guru, Mary James Lawrence, presides over a swirl of great starters for the New Year table

64 The Cunningham Kitchen Caper By Deborah Salomon

Inventive minds create the ultimate family room of their own

71 Almanac By Noah Salt

Let the blizzard of seed catalogs begin

Cover photograph and photograph this page by John Gessner 4

January 2015 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

Opulence of Southern Pines and DUXIANA at The Mews, 280 NW Broad Street, Downtown Southern Pines, NC 910.692.2744

at Cameron Village, 400 Daniels Street, Raleigh, NC 919.467.1781

www.OpulenceOfSouthernPines.com

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

PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 2015

PineStraw

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M A G A Z I N E

Jim Dodson, Editor 910.693.2506 • jim@pinestrawmag.com Andie Stuart Rose, Art Director 910.693.2467 • andie@pinestrawmag.com Kira Schoenfelder, Graphic Designer 910.693.2508 • kira@pinestrawmag.com Lauren Shumaker, Graphic Designer 910.693.2469 • lauren@pinestrawmag.com contributing Editors Deborah Salomon, Staff Writer Stephen E. Smith, Staff Writer Mary Novitsky, Proofreader Sara King, Proofreader contributing Photographers Laura Gingerich, John Gessner, Timothy Hale, Tim Sayer, Brandi Swarms

this is your hospital... You won’t find another health system from the triangle to the coast with the scope of services offered at Cape Fear Valley. And you won’t find one as committed to your family’s health. At Cape Fear Valley Health, we are proud to be nationally recognized in so many areas. Our accreditations and certifications demonstrate our commitment to quality care. heart attack care [ami] :: Disease Specific Certification by The Joint Commission

Contributors Cos Barnes, Harry Blair, Serena Brown, Neville Beamer, Tom Bryant, Susan Campbell, Wiley Cash, Geoff Cutler, Al Daniels, Annette Daniels, Mart Dickerson, Bill Fields, Robyn James, Jan Leitschuh, Meridith Martens, Dale Nixon, Lee Pace, Jeanne Paine, Sandra Redding, Noah Salt, Astrid Stellanova, Angie Tally, Kimberly Daniels Taws

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Pat Taylor, Advertising Director Ginny Trigg, PineStraw Sales Coordinator 910.693.2481 • ginny@thepilot.com Deborah Fernsell, 910.693.2516 Terry Hartsell, 910.693.2513 Perry Loflin, 910.693.2514 Darlene McNeil-Smith, 910.693.2519 Johnsie Tipton, 910.693.2515

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heart failure :: Disease Specific Certification by The Joint Commission

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Advertising Graphic Design

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Kathryn Galloway 910.693.2509 • kathryn@thepilot.com Mechelle Butler, Maegan Lea, Scott Yancey

hip & knee replacement surgery :: Disease Specific Certification by The Joint Commission

Subscriptions & Circulation

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PineStraw Magazine

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

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simple life

The Wee Small Hours By Jim Dodson

For better or worse, I fancy early

Illustration by Kira schoenfelder

morning darkness and do some of my best work in it, especially at this time of the year, an affection for midwinter cold and darkness I share with the likes of professional snowplow operators, warmly dressed burglars and New York cabbies.

Even if I were constitutionally capable of sleeping past 4 a.m., which I am not, regardless of whatever time zone I happen to be in at that moment, I would find the still, quiet and not unimportantly dark hours before dawn the most valuable and productive hours of my day, the time when I can think, read, write and sort through any problems I took to bed with a remarkable clarity. For what it’s worth, it’s also the time I light a candle and say thanks to whatever kind force of the universe put me here, allowing me to see things a little clearer in the darkness. No less than Jesus himself advised one to slip into a darkened place when you pray. Because winter is my prime writing season, I joke that eleven books have been written in the dark. Except, I’m not really joking. Sometimes I think this affection for the wee small hours, as my father used to call them, is merely the influence of having a father who was an inveterate early riser and the fact that I, like him, cut my professional teeth on an afternoon newspaper that required me to report for duty before the Eastern horizon turned pink. From an early age I began writing my stories before most civilized folk even thought of getting out of bed, and it’s been that way ever since. Who can say for sure why the hours of our busy lives are silently ruled by such unassailable circadian rhythms? The answer to this puzzle seems as elusive and beautifully tantalizing as the clear and serenely shining stars and moon that span the pre-dawn firmament on any given clear cold January morning, making a body and soul shiver and feel deliciously puny in the starshine of a newly birthing day. Though she never came out and said as much during the many years we lived on a forested hill near the coast of Maine, I always had the feeling my sleepy ladywife found it amusing the way I would suddenly pop awake and slip out of bed with such urgency to put on the coffee and my funky red plaid wool Elmer Fudd coat, shoulder a hundred pound bag of sorghum and wade through the waist-deep January snow to a designated feeding spot at the back of our property where we — well, I — fed a family of white-tail deer and a lonely bachelor moose through the forbidding nights of Yankee winter. Something about this modest and solitary act of caretaking creatures who shared our forested keep in the arctic

starlight deeply pleased me in ways I still can’t fully explain. It was enough to sometimes see their silhouettes waiting patiently in the moonlight at the edge of the forest, a thousand cloven hoof marks in the trampled snow where they assembled to feed on such nights, a circle of life etched in ice. Back home here in Carolina, where the winters are far gentler and our own circle of life is being drawn ever closer, my Yankee wife is much happier with dark midwinter nights and still amused by my occasional pining for those dark pre-dawn rituals. Not long ago we watched a documentary about life in a quaint Scandinavian village up near the Arctic Circle that has resisted most of the conveniences and problems of modern urban life. It was a beautiful blue place by the sea, like something from a fairy tale, a village framed by snowpeaked mountains and dense evergreen forests. Reindeer sometimes wander the village streets. “I could absolutely live there,” I heard myself mutter as we watched. She patted my hand. “I know. But I’d miss you.” Here in the Northern Hemisphere, meteorological scientists call the threemonth period from November 5 to February 5 “solar winter” because these are the coldest and darkest days of the year. Early January is the statistical darkest and coldest time of the year. For many folks this poses a serious psychological burden. Shorter days and absence of sunlight do a number on their embattled psyches, a very real ailment caused by deprivation of the sun called seasonal affective disorder, a syndrome that can cause depression, acute fatigue and decreased libido, affecting women more than men. My wife feels their pain, probably because she’s a true child of midsummer, a July baby who craves heat and sunlight, one reason I suppose she says she’d miss me if I ventured off to live in a blue Norwegian village by the sea. Her idea of the perfect day is a sunny summer afternoon here in Old Catawba, a place where winter snow is mostly for show and rarely worth breaking out the Elmer Fudd coat for. I, on the other hand, am a proud son of early February, a scion of midwinter who loves the kind of cold and darkness that makes a crackling wood fire or burning candle seem like an invitation to one’s ancestors or personal muse (or even a lonely bachelor moose) to come close for a story or meal in the moonlight. Somehow this dichotomy seems to nicely balance in our marriage, classic seasonal yin and yang, drawing us even closer if only because I keep my summer girl’s feet warm in winter and she seems to take genuine pleasure in seeing how this time of year delights and enriches my life. Besides, I simply fancy a different kind of light — Christmas lights, a good reading lamp, flickering votives in an ancient cathedral, or simply the wash of a full moon casting milky shadows on the lawn. During our years in Maine, in

PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 2015

PINEHURST

$899,000

Elegant and historic Lansmyr is located on almost 2 secluded acres in Old Town. This gorgeous colonial home overlooks a terraced garden with old growth weeping cherry trees offering total privacy Connected by a barrel vaulted hallway with oversized Palladian door, the expansive living room and dining room offer floor to ceiling triple bowed windows. The beautifully paneled library on the main floor has built-in bookcases and a fireplace. A stunning setting! 9 BR / 9.5 BA 175 Linden Road

PINEHURST

$420,000

SEVEN LAKES WEST

$499,000

$595,00

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

This gorgeous custom built brick home is on almost 6 acres in the gated community of Seven Lakes. This home has been custom decorated and the quality shows throughout! Gourmet kitchen features upscale cabinetry, granite countertops, side by side refrigerator, large furniture style butcher block, adjoining walk-in pantry and room for a bar and wine storage. Each spacious bedroom has a private bath. 3 BR / 3.5 BA 364 Longleaf Drive

PINEHURST

$695,900

$258.000 $179,000 Southern Pines Pinehurst $199,900 Foxfire Lovely and pristine in Longleaf CC Lovely updated golf-front home Cute cottage w/nice renovations 3 BR / 2 BA 3 BR / 2 BA 4 BR / 4.5 BA www.205HunterTrail.com www.4DogwoodCourt.com www.17ChestnutLane.com

This elegant home, built by Danny Strickland, features an attractive exterior of Hardiplank with stone and brick accents. The interior is bright and open with high ceilings, lots of windows, stained glass transoms, crown molding and oak floors. The gourmet kitchen offers lots of high end cabinets, center island and granite countertops. Seasonal lake views! 4 BR / 3.5 BA 90 Gingham Lane

PINEHURST

This gorgeous, all brick custom home built by Huckabee Home Construction and on the 15th tee and the 14th green of Pinehurst #1 course is located in popular Doral Woods at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac and has wonderful privacy! Lots of upgrades include 10’ and 12’ ceilings on the first floor, hardwood floors and double crown molding. 4 BR / 4.5 BA 15 Montclair Lane

PINEHURST

$460,000

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

Absolutely gorgeous custom golf front home! Built by Step One, one of the area’s finest builders, this home offers elegant style and gracious amenities. The floor plan is perfect for entertaining with a center great room with vaulted ceilings, stacked stone fireplace, built-in entertainment unit, recessed lighting and a custom step down wet bar. Wonderful golf views can be enjoyed from every room in the house! 3 BR / 3.5 BA 27 Barons Drive

This lovely golf front property is located on the 15th fairway of the Tom Fazio designed golf course in Pinehurst #6 and was built by Terry Michael. This light and open home offers 14’ ceilings, deep crown molding and hardwood floors. Great room ceiling is coffered. There is a separate study/media room with built-in entertainment center and wired for surround sound. Upper level bedroom and bath are perfect for guests! 4 BR / 3 Full & 2 Half BA 5 Shenecossett Lane

$329,000 $890,000 Longleaf CC $449,000 Pinehurst $239,000 CCNC Pinehurst $75,000 Pinehurst Custom Built Villa Overlooking Water Custom built all brick golf-front home Brick single story w/view of 17th green Covered porch & large fenced lot Updated Immaculate Golf View Condo 3 BR$595,000 / 2 BA Baths 3 BR / 2.5 BA 1 BR / 1 BA PINEHURST $440,000 3 BR / 2.5 BA SEVEN LAKES NORTH $325,000 4 BR / 4 Full & 2 Half PINEHURST www.16SteeplechaseWay.com www.110HearthstoneRoad.com www.8RoyalDornoch.com www.210StAndrewsCondo.com www.1340BurningTreeRoad.com

$1,295,000 $189,000 Pinehurst $269,000 Pinehurst $475,000 Pinebluff 7 Lakes West $635,000 Pinehurst Stunning custom home in Fairwoods on 7 Charming brick ranch home GorgeoustownhomeintheheartoftheVillage Open plan, gourmet kitchen, pool & more! Stunning All Brick Water Front 4 BR / 4 BA & 2 Half BA 3 BR / 2 BA 3 BR / 2.5 BA 3 BR / 2.5 BA 3 BR / 4.5 BA Quintessential Pinehurst Cottage with views of the famous #2 golf course and easy walking Beautiful lakefront home, nestled on a large, serene lot. Circular drive offers plenty of Located across the road from the famous #2 course at Pinehurst Country Club, site of the www.145SugarPineDrive.com www.105MastersWay.com www.6HollyHouse.com www.135AndrewsDrive.com distance to the Village! Charming and beautifully maintained, this historic home offers high parking for quests. Split bedroom plan plus, den/office space. Open living concept with 2014 US Open, this charming historic www.170InverraryRoad.com cottage was built by Donald Ross and is where he ceilings and moldings, hardwood floors, oversized windows, and lots of light! The sellers have removed the old aluminum siding, repaired all the exterior wood and replaced the siding with wood shingles consistent with the period the house was built. 3 BR / 2.5 BA 105 Palmetto Road

SOUTHERN PINES

$349,000

oversized master bedroom and bath. The screened porch is huge and a perfect place to relax. Storage is abundant in this home. 3 BR / 2 BA 175 Firetree Lane

PINEHURST

$235,000

lived from1920-1922 and again from 1935 until 1941. Beautifully updated and well maintained, this lovely home has wonderful curb appeal and an impeccable location. 3 BR / 3 BA 280 Cherokee Road

SOUTHERN PINES

$379,000

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

This lovely two story brick home is located at the end of a quiet wooded cul-de-sac in Mid Beautifully maintained, this lovely all brick home is warm and inviting. The home features a This spacious ranch in the family-friendly, secluded neighborhood of Weymouth Heights is South Club. There are two separate living areas on the main floor – one could be a den/ spacious living room with vaulted ceiling, fireplace with accent lighting, built-in bookcases. one of a kind! Great updates including a stunning addition to the master bedroom, making $279,500 Seven West $895,000 Pinehurst $241,000 Seven Lakes Southbedroom is on the $199,000 study or library and the master main floor. The kitchen offers custom The kitchen is bright Pinehurst and cheery. The split bedroom plan offers a master bedroom with Lakes en this truly a master$298,000 suite, completelySeven upgradedLakes kitchen South with new cabinets, flooring, granite cabinetry, granite countertops and adjoins a cozy informal dining area. Hardwood floors on suite that has separate sinks, garden tub and separate shower. countertops and appliances, expanded decking andrenovated much more. Original wood floors. On Completely golf front home Wonderful 2-story home onnew cul-de-sac Gorgeous home in the Old Town Charming golf front w/panoramic view Great family home w/private back yard the main level. Upstairs there are 3 spacious bedrooms. 3 BR / 2 BA a beautifully wooded 1.4 acre lot, the home offers great privacy and endless possibilities! 4 BR / 3BA 4 BR / 3.5 BA 4 BR / 3 BA 3 BR / 2.54 BA BR / 2.5 BA 50 Pine Vista Drive 5 BR / 3.5 BA 3 BR / 3.5 BA 5 Wake Forest Court 335 Arbutus Road www.117OxfordCourt.com www.108Rector.com www.50OrangeRoad.com www.11GraysonLane.com www.122DevonshireAvenue.com

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simple life

strict violation of town burning ordinances, we always had a roaring midnight New Year bonfire in our side yard, a tribute to some ancient instinct to press back the winter darkness, I suppose — inviting friends to toss items they were eager to be free of (broken toys, old love letters, more than one first bad novel) onto the flames, sending up a swirling of glowing sparks of fire to a frozen heaven. Once we even got a brief glimpse of the fabled Northern lights on such a deep winter’s night, as eerie and beautiful as a light in the darkness can get. In her thought-provoking recent book, Learning to Walk in the Dark, veteran preacher Barbara Brown Taylor points out how darkness gets a bum rap from ancient Scripture and modern culture. Holy Scripture paints darkness as metaphorical evil, she notes, while light is seen a symbol of goodness and salvation. To “see the light” is to be saved, whereas to be “lost in the dark” is to be confused or doomed. The fever is always worse at night — and so are the bogeymen inside our over stimulated imaginations. Some of us grew up in America where it was safe to stay out playing after dark, chasing fireflies or kicking the can — but, alas, no more. Owing to 24hour cable news and the evening newscast — little more than police blotters of the air — we collectively fear the unknown terrors that lurk out yonder in the darkness, murderous thieves who would steal anything from your precious children to your flat-screen TV. In one way or another, we’re all afraid to peek beneath the bed. But Barbara Taylor argues persuasively that darkness is not only essential to our physical and spiritual well-being — the place where our weary bones may rest up and heal while our minds make sense of the day’s events — but important time off from the world’s clock when genuine insights and solutions are free to come unbidden in dreams or waking revelation. Jesus ascended from a dark tomb, she points out, wild herds almost always give birth before the wee small hours, and “dark nights of the soul” often lead to life-changing breakthroughs and personal epiphanies.

“Darkness,’ she writes, “turns out to be as essential to our physical wellbeing as light. We not only need plenty of darkness to sleep well; we also need it to be well. The circadian rhythm of waking and sleeping matches the natural cycle of day and night, which affects everything from our body rhythms to our relationships.” Over the years I’ve trained myself — almost — to ignore the common wraiths of worry and that whisper like Shakespeare’s Iago in one’s inner ear long before dawn: Do I have enough saved for retirement? So what’s really enough? Why the hell do I sound like some dude on those insipid investment commercials designed to make us all feel guilty? And what about that funny noise coming from beneath the car . . . The cure for me is to slide out of the sack and leave my bride to her own cozy winter dreams, put on the coffee, let old Rufus the cat in from his nighttime travels, light a candle and happily receive whatever unexpected gifts my journey through the winter night has provided. More than once it’s been a great first line of a book or an answer to a problem that last night seemed just out of reach. As summer’s lease expired early one morning last fall, I was sitting on my wooden garden bench enjoying the sight of a spectacular lunar eclipse when the back door opened and my summer girl stepped outside bundled in her downy hotel robe, bearing cups of coffee to also take in the rare celestial show. A few minutes later we impulsively hopped in the car — Ma in her robe, Pa in his ratty slippers — and gave chase to the vanishing moon all the way to the edge of the Uwharrie hills, returning home in the brilliant golden light of a glorious sunrise. “That was so wonderful,” she said, taking my hand. “Maybe I should always get up in the darkness.” Then she thought about it and laughed. “On second thought, that’s your thing — not mine.” PS Contact editor Jim Dodson at jim@pinestrawmag.com.

PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 2015

* * * PinePitch * * * ** *

The Brothers Gibson

In many cultures, New Year’s is considered a sacred day of spiritual rebirth and good fortune — a time to cleanse the soul and reopen one’s mind to the notion that anything is possible. We believe the good fortune bit to be true. At least for the Sandhills. Which would explain why on Sunday, January 4, just three days after the Pine Cone Drop, the Gibson Brothers will be here, at Poplar Knight Spot, for two don’t-miss-’em shows that just might invoke some sort of spiritual awakening in the name of sweet, oldtime bluegrass music. Eric and Leigh Gibson are an award-winning brother duet whose band has received some of the most prestigious honors in bluegrass, including the 2013 IBMA Entertainers of the Year, Vocal Group of the Year, Song of the Year (“They Called It Music”) and Songwriter of the Year (Eric Gibson). Indeed, they have it all: brotherly harmonies, instrumental virtuosity, ensemble sensibilities, and, believe it, a wealth of fans. See — and hear — for yourself. Doors open at noon for the first performance, 12:46 p.m.; doors open at 6 p.m. for the evening concert. Tickets: $28. Info: www.theroosterswife.org.

More Rooster’s Wife Sunday fun: January 11, 6:46 p.m., Robert Jospé Express is a rhythmic experience led by drummer Robert Jospé. Tickets: $18. January 18, 6:46 p.m., Rob Ickes and Trey Hensley deliver passion-filled, country-infused bluegrass. Tickets: $16. January 25, 6:46 p.m., Americana roots band Lindsay Lou and the Flatbellys, and progressive bluegrass vocalist and bass guitar player John Cowan. Tickets: $30.

American Revolution

According to AmericanLongrifles.org — yes, an entire website dedicated to the study and building of the muzzle-loading firearm more commonly known as the Kentucky or Pennsylvania rifle — there is an art and craft to building historically accurate longrifles. But if you’re simply looking for an artful presentation of the history of the subject, then you’ll want to see Bill Ivey’s free, illustrated lecture on the nine schools of the longrifle. On Saturday, January 24, at 2 p.m., the Moore County Historical Association presents the author of North Carolina Schools of Longrifles 1765-1865, a product of over forty years of Ivey’s research. The book has over 1,200 color photos of longrifles, powder horns and bags. Included in the nine “schools” is the Kennedy Gun Factory in Moore County. Guests are encouraged to bring their own muzzleloaders for identification. Southern Pines Civic Club, corner of Ashe Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. Info: (910) 692-2051.

Location: The Rooster’s Wife, Poplar Knight Spot, 114 Knight Street, Aberdeen. Info: (910) 944-7502 or www.theroosterswife.org.

Rumpelstiltskin

Like the miller’s daughter, you, too, can spin straw — er, fiber — into gold. All you need is a drop spindle and a little guidance. On Sunday, January 11, from 3–4 p.m., yarn maven Holly Wunsch leads “Learning to Spin,” an Explorations lecture that will leave you itching to start a brand new hobby — unless that’s just the wool talking. Supplies provided by Friends of the Southern Pines Library. Free and open to the public. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 West Connecticut Avenue, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or www.sppl.net.

Given the Scoop

If the walls of the old village post office could talk, they would have stories for days. But since they can’t, Audrey Moriarty, executive director of the Given Memorial Library and Tufts Archives, will do the talking for them. On Thursday, January 8, at 3:30 p.m., Moriarty will share some fascinating history about the 1930 building and will speak on its much anticipated transition into the Given Outpost — future home of the Given Book Shop and Mark Elliott’s “Roast Office” coffee shop. Q&A to follow. Gathering at Given events are free and open to the public. Given Memorial Library, 150 Cherokee Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 295-3642 or www. givenmemoriallibrary.org.

January 2015P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

Left Feet Welcome

Nothing says romance like the ballroom rumba, the slow, sensual dance derived from a Cuban rhythm called bolero-son. And nothing says “left feet welcome” like Pinehurst Dance Studio’s beginner dance classes. On Tuesday, January 13, at 6:30 p.m., drop in for an introduction to two dances — rumba and swing. Bring a partner if you’d like, but no need. And if you’re looking for love — who knows? — a few rhythmic moves just might help you sweep that special someone off his or her own two left feet. Admission: $10 (cash only). Pinehurst Dance Studio, Pinehurst Executive Center, 300 Hwy. 5, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 331-9965.

A Whole New World

On Thursday, January 22, at 7 p.m., meet featured North Carolina Symphony artists Kate Farrar (mezzosoprano) and Carlos Miguel Prieto (conductor) as a prelude to the “New World Symphony” concert at 8 p.m. Program includes Manuel de Falla’s “El Sombrero de Tres Picos” (“The Three-Cornered Hat”) and, of course, Antonín Dvorák’s famed “Symphony No. 9.” Meet-and-greet, held in the Pinecrest High School Band Room, will be hosted by Josiah Stevenson or William Robin, North Carolina Symphony Scholar-in-Residence; concert at R.E. Lee Auditorium. Tickets: $30-60. Pinecrest High School, 250 Voit Gilmore Lane, Southern Pines. Box Office: (919) 7332750. Info: www.ncsymphony.org.

The Five Winds

According to Greek myth, when Zéphyros, god of the west wind, saw Apollo playing quoits with Hyakinthos — a handsome Spartan prince whom both gods loved — the wind god grew so jealous that he blew the discus off course, causing it to strike and kill the darling youth. In his grief, Apollo transformed the dying prince into a colorful larkspur flower. All of this to say that Zéphyros Winds — oboe, flute, clarinet, bassoon and horn — may completely alter your perception of chamber music. Certainly they’ll blow your mind. Don’t miss the chance to hear five of the finest wind virtuosos of our time, live at Weymouth on Sunday, January 18, at 3 p.m. Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities, 555 East Connecticut Avenue, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-6261 or www.weymouthcenter.org.

Box of Chocolates

Local talent lights up the stage on Saturday, January 24, at 7 p.m., for the annual Raising the Roof “variety show” concert to benefit the Sunrise Theater. Old-time fiddlers. Claw hammer banjo players. Gospel singers. Nine-piece swing bands. Like Gump’s momma said, you never know what you’re going to get. Doors open 6:30 p.m. Tickets: $15; VIP: $20. Sunrise Theater, 250 Northwest Broad Street, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8501 or www. sunrisetheater.com.

Instagram Winners

Congratulations to our January Instagram winners! This months theme was:

“Pets”

#pinestrawcontest

Too cute to call, we’re going to print them all:

Next months theme:

Cheers to the New Year! How are you quenching your thirst this winter? Submit your photo on Instagram using the hashtag #pinestrawcontest (submissions needed by Friday, January 16th)

New Instagram themes every month! Follow us @pinestrawmag

January 2015P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

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January 2015P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

Cos and Effect

Chopping Wood, Carrying Weater

activities

by you

By Cos Barnes

My grandson, John Clark, whose family

lives in Bethesda, Maryland, is in his sixth month of serving with the Peace Corps in Mongolia. His emails are newsy, descriptive and humorous. How I love receiving them.

An early one gave me this information: “Initially, I stayed with a host family for three months in the northern city of Darkhan, where I had Mongolian language classes in the mornings and health volunteer training in the evenings. I also went into a family clinic once a week and observed the doctors and nurses. Along with three girls from my health sector group, I performed a traditional Mongolian dance at our Peace Corps volunteer swearing-in ceremony.” When I asked him to describe the dance, he neglected to answer me. He was assigned to serve in Alag-Erdene, a small town (village) in the northern aimag (province) of Hovsgol. He has helped the local school’s health teachers plan their lessons, he has taught after-school sex education classes with the school doctor, and participated in the aimag-wide teachers’ sports competition. “We played basketball,” he said, then added, “We lost.” In his sports competition, John said he helped his team win the gold medal in their 100-meter relay race. So it’s not all work and no play. He is in the planning stages of initiating a school peer-mentoring program, an indoor soccer club to run through the winter, as well as an English movie night with English subtitles. He is quite a reader and I asked what he was reading. “I just finished 100 Years of Solitude and recently picked up The Good Earth. I don’t need books as my parents are sending me a Kindle. The language is difficult and very few people speak English, so it can be a tough time communicating. I do have friends although there is a language barrier. I spend time with my hospital co-workers and I know a few teachers at the local school. The students are eager to know me as well. I spend most of my free time reading and I’ve recently picked up yoga, which is difficult but good. My village is small and quiet, but I like it that way. “All in all, things are on the up,” he concluded after telling me it was extremely cold, and he has to build a fire daily to stay warm. He has picked up expressions from his cohorts. He fetches water from a river and has to chop wood every three days or so. “It’s a hard life, but it’s good. I am really enjoying myself. I’ve attached a picture of my ger.” PS Cos Barnes is a longtime contributor to PineStraw magazine. She can be contacted at cosbarnes@nc.rr.com.

At The Village at Brookwood, we know one size does not fit all. Here you can fill your calendar with your favorite creative pastime, travel, campus sports and friends. At The Village you’ll find more variety and greater flexibility for your retirement.

800-282-2053

1860 Brookwood Avenue | Burlington, NC Proud to be a Part of Cone Health, The Network for Exceptional Care®

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The Country Bookshop

140 NW Broad St, Southern Pines, NC 28387 (910) 692-3211

January 8th January 14th January 30th Save the Date!

Big Cactus author Sylvia Wilkinson, 5pm

Secret of Magic author Deborah Johnson at 5pm. This is a Don't Miss Event! Reboot Nutrition & Health Event with Southern Pines Crossfit at 5pm February 16th at Southern Prime- Author Event & Dinner Storied Life of A. J. Fikry author Gabrielle Zevin. Tickets on sale now!

brought to multple area schools including New York Times best selling authors, Caldecott winners and one author of a banned book.

Children served with books under the AIMS program

Children served with books from the Angel Tree

We look forward to serving our customers and community even better in 2015.

The Omnivorous Reader

Not Quite Gone Girl

In the latest offering from veteran North Carolina writer Diane Chamberlain, a voice that never disappoints, there’s no mystery why she’s beloved by her fans

By Stephen E. Smith

“Why don’t you

review one of Diane Chamberlain’s mysteries?” someone wrote in an October email. “She lives right here in North Carolina.”

Good question. I’m always on the lookout for new work by interesting writers — discovery is the best part of writing reviews — and a North Carolina connection is always an enticement. Moreover, I hadn’t read any of Chamberlain’s novels (there are twenty-three of them), so I went online to track down her latest offering and came upon The Silent Sister, which was published by St. Martin’s Press in October. I’ll admit I was something of a mystery aficionado when I was in high school. I still smile when I recall Sherlock Holmes telling Watson, “You have been to Afghanistan, I perceive,” or how my eleventh-grade English teacher caught me concealing Mickey Spillane’s The Girl Hunters in my lap when I should have been reading Spoon River Anthology. But since that time my interests have drifted elsewhere. Maybe it was time to revisit the genre. I purchased The Silent Sister and dove in head first. What I discovered is that Chamberlain’s latest novel isn’t a mystery, not in the strict sense. There’s no Sherlock Holmes or Mike Hammer, no startling perceptions or gratuitous violence. Rather, Riley MacPherson, a 20-something counselor who grew up in New Bern and now lives and works in Durham, returns to her childhood home on the North Carolina coast to settle her widowed father’s estate. She’s already grieving over a failed relationship with a married man, and the loss of her father only amplifies her concern for the mental well-being of her reclusive older brother Danny, who was wounded in Iraq.

To further complicate Riley’s life, she’d had an older sister, Lisa, who was an aspiring concert violinist, and who, for reason unknown, committed suicide by drowning herself in the Potomac River when Riley was a toddler and the family lived in Northern Virginia. The details surrounding Lisa’s suicide are vague enough to set this heavily plotted page turner off on a mind-tripping passage of discovery and reconciliation. Chamberlain employs two points of view. Riley narrates in the first person, and Lisa’s story is told in the third person. It’s happenstance and Riley’s casual curiosity that transform her into an accidental Sherlock Holmes. She is fed bits and pieces of the truth by old friends and acquaintances, and her late father had stashed away evidence of the family’s former life, all of which drags the reader down the occasional blind alley while continually heightening the narrative tension. You’ve probably already figured out that Lisa isn’t dead. She is in fact living a full and rewarding life on the West Coast. After the teenage Lisa murdered her violin teacher, her father meticulously faked her suicide. And it’s her disappearance that’s the most intriguing aspect of the novel — the notion that it’s possible to disappear into a world where technological intrusion seems to track our every movement, that it’s possible to stumble upon a moment when we seriously consider a life vastly different from the one we’ve chosen, and that it’s never too late to start over again, our mistakes behind us and our new life a clear but unknown path into a future unencumbered by recrimination. Riley’s brother Danny has already made such a transition by cutting himself off from the community in which he came of age, and as a character he emerges occasionally to nudge the plot forward or to present himself as a catalyst for a couple of simple truths — there are no secrets, ever,

The Omnivorous Reader

and justice isn’t always served. Chamberlain’s timing is impeccable, and the reader is never left dangling on a plotless page. Her prose style is conversational, which is attributable to the fact that she suffers from rheumatoid arthritis and employs voice reorganization software to compose her novels, a technique which is, I can attest, more difficult than it sounds. Her sentences roll easily off the page: “What had she expected? She had to stop thinking about herself and start thinking about what was best for Riley and Danny and her parents. She’d turned their lies inside out. A move would definitely be the right thing for Danny. He could start fresh at a new school where no one knew about her. And Riley, barely two years old now, would never have to know about her murderous, suicidal sister at all.” If you’re seeking a prose stylist, look elsewhere. You’ll find no poetic, hydra-headed Faulknerian syntax lurking in the 353 pages of this snappy novel. It’s all straightahead storytelling. There are, however, a couple of caveats. First, if you’re the truck-driving-beer-swilling Marlboro man, you aren’t going to find your groove in The Silent Sister. It’s soapier than Ivory Snow, pure melodrama at its cloying best, a downsized, mainstream Gone Girl carefully crafted for Chamberlain’s devoted fans, who are, if the publisher’s puffery is correct, multitudinous. Second, as with many intricately plotted novels, there’s little resonance. When you close the book, it’s over. You won’t be lying awake at night plagued by thematic implications that might apply directly to your life. If Chamberlain has something ethereal to impart, it’s that there’s a relationship between the past and the present, which should be obvious enough to any reader, and that life doesn’t necessarily add up in the final accounting. I suspect, too, that some readers will find the novel’s conclusion somewhat predictable. In writing melodrama, the writer’s chief enemy is stereotypical characters, and Chamberlain avoids that pitfall. But surprise is as important as suspense in novels of this ilk. By the time the reader is in the final chapters, the conclusion, with the exception of a few loose ends, confirms the reader’s certainties and assumptions and moves too quickly to close out the narrative. It’s this simple. If you’re a Chamberlain fan, The Silent Sister is a good read. You won’t be disappointed. If you’re into rat rods, tune in Misfit Garage on cable and crack a cold brew. You’ll be happier. PS Stephen E. Smith’s most recent book of poems is A Short Report on the Fire at Woolworths. He can be reached at travisses@hotmail.com

January 2015P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

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January 2015P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

B oo k s h e l f

A New Start By Kimberly Daniels Taws and Angie Tally

Forsaken is the story of those Americans whose dreams were shattered — and lives lost — in Stalinist Russia, a riveting work of history.

eaders can expect 300,000 new book titles in 2015 based on trends reported by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) and Proquest, a global information-content and technology company. So would-be bestsellers are up against a serious level of competition. Usually The New York Times bestsellers are backed by huge publicity campaigns. These pushes include paid recommendations on Amazon.com, print advertising and billboards. In The Country Bookshop, bestsellers sometimes are not new books at all, like our No. 3 (Mudbound) and No. 5 (Forsaken), titles both published in 2008. There is a pattern to our bestsellers — and they reflect on our town. Some are about our community and collective history (On the Bag and TapRoots). The No. 1 best seller was our Community Read pick. Sometimes a bestseller is an “omigod” book as staffer Beth Carpenter likes to call them (Me Before You) or a book that staffer Bill Maher loves so much he cannot help but tell everyone he meets about it (Forsaken and The Right Stuff). Looking back at all the wonderful titles of 2014, we cannot wait for all the new titles yet to come!

TapRoots: Tales of Growing up in Southern Pines by David Woodruff. Woodruff was born and bred in Southern Pines, went to Wake Forest, served in the U.S. Army and the town council and has had a long career in the insurance industry. Today Woodruff is the director of the Sandspur Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the history of Southern Pines so that future generations can learn how the unique town of Southern Pines evolved. TapRoots is a collection of stories about growin up in our town.

The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe. The No. 1 book of the year was Tom Wolfe’s book about the fighter pilots who became part of our early space program. Very different from some of Wolfe’s nonfiction writing, the Community Read was celebrated throughout September 2014, coinciding with Penick Village’s 50th Anniversary — and Wolfe’s visit to town. On the Bag: Seventy Years Remembered by Pinehurst’s Hallof-Fame Caddie Willie McRae as told to Rob and Patty Taft. This book peaked during the U.S. Opens and is currently unavailable. It chronicles the stories of an 80-year-old living legend who carried the bag for world-famous golfers for most of his life. Mudbound by Hillary Jordan. This is fiction at its finest. A look at prejudice in its many forms, both subtle and brutal, this book is set in 1946. City-bred Laura McAllan is trying to raise her children on her husband’s Mississippi Delta farm, a place she finds foreign and frightening. In the midst of the family’s struggles, two young men return from the war to work the land. Jamie McAllan, Laura’s brother-in-law, is everything her husband is not — charming, handsome and haunted by his memories of combat. Ronsel Jackson, eldest son of the black sharecroppers who live on the McAllan farm, has come home a war hero. But despite his bravery in defense of his country, to many in the Jim Crow South he is still considered less than a man. It is the unlikely friendship of these brothers-in-arms that drives this powerful novel to its inexorable conclusion. Me Before You by Jojo Moyes. This is a fun read — easy — but with a deeper storyline than most light books. Beautiful, haunting and leaves you crying — this British author gets it right! The Forsaken: An American Tragedy in Stalin’s Russia by Tim Tzouliadis. Based on ground-breaking research, The

Children ages 2–8 How to Babysit a Grandma/How to Babysit a Grandpa by Jean Reagan. These babysitting-turned-on-its-head books are a fun celebration of the special bond between grandparents and grandchildren. Nelly Gnu and Daddy Too by Anna Dewdney. Nelly and her Daddy Gnu have fun building a playhouse together. Daddy/daughter fun from Llama Llama Red Pajama author Anna Dewdney. Pout-Pout Fish Series by Deborah Diesen. Pout-Pout Fish, with a pout pout-face, spreads the dreary wearies all over the place — until he is cheered up by others in PoutPout Fish, Pout-Pout Fish Goes to School and Pout-Pout Fish in the Big-Big Dark. Little Elliot, Big City by Mike Curato. Little Elliot loves the small things, but being a little elephant in a big city can be tough. Artist-illustrator Curato’s beautiful retro artwork brings New York City to life for young readers as Elliot rides the subway, hails a taxi and walks past the Flatiron Building on his journey to stand tall in the world. Young readers will fall immediately in love with this little pink-and-blue spotted elephant with a big heart. Buddy Books by Kathy McGougan. Buddy and Lily, therapy dogs, are the stars of this beginning-reader series that is a perpetual favorite for brand new readers. Children ages 9–13 The 26-Story Treehouse by Andy Griffiths. Andy and Terry, best friends, set out to write a novel but are constantly distracted by the outrageous levels of their thirteen-story treehouse, including thirteen flying cats, giant bananas, mermaids, sea monsters pretending to be mermaids, enormous gorillas, and dangerous burp gas-bubblegum bubbles.

B oo k s h e l f

Secrets of Shakespeare’s Grave by Deron Hicks. Colophon Letterford, 12-year-old, modern-day Nancy Drew, helps solve a mystery with action, travel and a literary twist. Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage. The best thing that ever happened to Mo Lebeau was being rescued from a hurricane by the Colonel. Now she must use her wits and her detective skills to protect the town and the people she loves. North Carolina author and setting make this Newbery Honor Book an even extra special local favorite.

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Books of Elsewhere: The Shadows by Jacqueline West. Eleven-year-old Olive and her parents move into a mansion with three very unusual cats, interesting paintings and a pair of spectacles that offer an amazing special power to the wearer. Map to Everywhere by Carrie Ryan and J.P. Davis. Marrill, a human, and Fin, a master thief and orphaned boy, meet on a mysterious ship sailing on the Pirate Stream, a magical waterway that connects every world in creation. Together they must find the pieces of a map that will help them both find the things for which they are searching. Young Adult ages 14–18 The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. No. 1 on almost every Young Adult list for the year is this love story between two teens who meet in a cancer ward. Book Thief by Markus Zusak. A girl in Word War II Munich cannot resist stealing books and sharing them with her neighbors and the Jewish young man hiding in her family’s basement.

Framer’s Cottage

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162 NW Broad Street • Southern Pines, NC • 910-246-2002

Maze Runner by James Dashner. Every thirty days a new boy is delivered to the Maze where Thomas lives and was once the new boy. But one day the doors to the lift open and a girl is delivered. What she shares with Thomas leads him to believe he may have secrets that make him very, very important. PS

January 2015P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

Vine Wisdom

At the Foot of the Master The wit and wisdom of legendary sommelier Larry Stone

By Robyn James

OK, I know I am a

Photograph by Brandi Swarms

ridiculous wine geek, but step into my world for just a little bit. All of my adult life I have been passionate about wine: tasting it, discussing it and studying it, day after day.

Some years ago, I took the big leap and applied to the Court of Master Sommelier to take the entry level exam to become certified as a sommelier. It was the first time the exam was offered in North Carolina so I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to enroll. The class filled quickly with one hundred hopefuls from across the country, and I have to brag a bit: I was one of two students to nail my blind tasting with a beautiful chablis from the Burgundy region of France. We studied at the Angus Barn in Raleigh, a Wine Spectator’s Grand Award Winner, and I stayed in a hotel near the restaurant because I was too nervous to commute and risk a traffic jam that would make me tardy. I passed the exam, I am happy to say, but I knew as I left that I wouldn’t return to attempt the next three levels of exams; the time and resources necessary to compete were beyond what I knew I could accommodate. So, you can imagine my delight when I learned that Larry Stone would be visiting Moore County and would be willing to taste and interview with me. Larry is the estates director for Huneeus Vintners, creators of the fine wines: Quintessa, Faust, The Prisoner, Flowers and others. Larry is one of only 220 candidates in the world who have successfully passed the fourth level Master Sommelier exam since its inception nearly 40 years ago. Passing the test takes an ability to identify the vintages, vineyards and vintners of wines during blind tastings. Most Master Sommeliers take the test four to six times before passing. Larry is one of nine who passed the

exam on the first try. Three months after passing his exam he became the first and only American to win France’s Grand Prix De Sopexa competition (better known as the “Best Sommelier in the World Specializing in French Wine and Spirits”). Larry’s entire extended European family had interests in wine. His aunt and uncle had a vast collection of wines and allowed Larry to conduct blind tastings when he was 7 years old. As a child he was fascinated with James Bond’s ability to identify the vineyard and vintages of his champagne. At age 14 he fermented apples to make a riesling wine in the basement of his parents’ apartment. An avid reader with a nearly photographic memory, he finished memorizing Alexis Lichine’s Encyclopedia of Wines and Spirits at 16. He was recruited to join the Four Seasons, Charlie Trotter’s in Chicago, and joined Francis Ford Coppola, Robert De Niro, Robin Williams and restaurateur Drew Nieporent as a partner in the restaurant Rubicon in San Francisco. He left Rubicon in 2008 to manage Coppola’s wine estate. He estimates that between the early 1980s and 2008 he tasted up to one hundred bottles of wine a day and typically worked more than 300 days a year. Not only are his credentials amazing, but I thoroughly enjoyed tasting with him. He is charming and engaging and truly believes that being a great sommelier means being able to listen closely to your clients and give them the WOW factor in wine they are looking for. He is eager to teach and help other fledgling sommeliers in their careers since he was recently named a dean of wine studies at the International Culinary Center in Campbell, California. Those lucky students have quite a mentor in Larry Stone; he’s quite the legend in the wine industry! PS Robyn James is proprietor of The Wine Cellar and Tasting Room in Southern Pines. Contact her at robynajames@gmail.com.

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T h e k i t c h e n ga r d e n

The Beer Garden, Part 1 Two-row barley takes a turn in the sand

By Jan Leitschuh

A grass-roots craving

for quality, nutrition and taste has driven the food movement over the last decade.

The consumer groundswell of interest in quality, “artisanal” foods has led to some interesting possibilities for beer as well, producing a veritable cascade of American-made, small-scale, quality brews “with substance and soul,” as one professional puts it. Craft beer and home brew aficionados are no less passionate than any foodie. They gather together with their glasses and bottles, comparing ingredients, body, head, malty-ness, clarity, color, taste and the complexity of flavors, arguing over process and technique, and disdaining, as one puts it, “mass-produced, lowest-common-denominator corporate beer, adulterated with corn or rice.” This nationwide “quality sensibility” has opened doors for consumers and farmers alike, including in the Sandhills. Home brew clubs are springing up here to produce great-tasting beers and to taste them in fellowship, and North Carolina farmers are being given unique contract opportunities to grow specialty grains for the tiny but burgeoning state craft brew industry. In Part One in this cold, fallow month, we will look at the farming side of beer, in particular, the grain barley, and the process of malting. Part Two, next month, will explore the local promoters of the home brew scene, many of whom like to experiment with exotic ingredients such as pumpkins, peaches, apples, sweet potatoes and other flavorful local products. Back to barley: Who in the world was that innovative first person to try to make a fermented malt beverage from grass? The top of the grass stem, or tiller, is called the spike or head, and this is where the barley seeds are produced — two grains, or six. “You really can’t have beer without grain,” says Tim Emmert, an enthusiastic home brewer from Carthage. The grain is then harvested, sold, cleaned and “malted” through special procedures. To malt mean to germinate the grain — in the process, turning starches to sugars — and then dry it. The tradition of malting barley and other starchy grains is ancient, as is fermenting a variety of other substances to produce an alcoholic beverage. Every culture, it seems, has had their traditional historical brew. Barley grown for brewers malt is different from the barley grown for animal feed. Beer is produced by mashing and steeping a starch source, such as grain, in water and then fermenting the sweet liquid with yeast. Malting barley is usually lower in protein, and contains more of that lovely, fermentable starch. Brewers use two types of the grain: two-row and six-row barleys. Local producer Billy Carter, who farms 1,500 acres in Eagle Springs, is one of the North Carolina farmers who grew two-row barley this year under contract for

Riverbend Malt House of Asheville. The contract barley was a side venture to Carter’s regular crops of strawberries, organic tobacco and sweet potatoes, melons, sweet corn and more, but the unusual venture was “interesting,” he says. “It keeps you excited.” Carter first met Riverbend Malt House when the Asheville company contacted him about some organic rye that Carter had grown. Riverbend is a provider of malts to other craft brewers. The company is also committed to “greatly lessening local industry’s impact on the planet,” according to the Riverbend website, and seeks out North Carolina growers: The malted products market is dominated by largescale producers located in the western United States and Europe. The malthouse sought alternatives by developing relationships with farmers across the state. They asked Carter to try growing a two-row barley crop, and he was game. “It’s nice to try different things,” he said. Traditionally, two-row barley is used in classic German and English ale-style beers. Sixrow barley is more common in American-style lagers. Most serious aficionados worldwide believe two-row barley makes a better malted beverage, and brewers like it because the malted grains give a slightly better “extract yield” — they can brew more beer. Despite fifty years of intentional breeding that narrowed the gap, there are still important distinctions remaining between the two barleys in terms of kernel size, extract, protein and enzyme levels. Outside the U.S., six-row barleys are rarely used — if grown at all — for anything besides animal feed. However, six-row barley has been better adapted to many of the U.S. growing regions, especially the corn belt of the late 1800s when the great Midwestern breweries were gathering steam, and that is why many commercial beers came to use it. Two-row barley, especially in the Sandhills, can be “a little more finicky to grow,” says Carter. Cultivated barley (Hordeum vulgare) was introduced to the Eastern Seaboard during the early years of European settlement by French, English and Dutch traders. The Spanish introduced it to Mexico and the American Southwest. Imported English two-row barley grew well enough on the coast, but as production spread west, “six-row barley production dominated because of the climate,” explains the website morebeer.com. “The increasing demand for beer in new Midwestern and Western cities continued to draw barley producers farther west, luring them to agricultural lands more favorable to cereal grain crops. Improvements in the transportation system also helped make this westward shift possible. “Today, North Dakota and Minnesota produce the majority of the six-row malting barley in the United States, with lesser amounts produced in South Dakota and Idaho. Two-row barley production predominates in Montana, Idaho, Washington, Colorado and Wyoming. Canada is now a world leader in malting

T h e k i t c h e n ga r d e n

barley cultivation.” Most of the western states grow the plumpest barley, in large part due to irrigation by farmers growing under contract with a maltster, explains the website. “Barley not grown under contract is often grown under dryland conditions that limit the plant’s growth potential. High daytime temperatures and/or lack of timely rains during critical periods of crop growth limit the grain yield and kernel plumpness.” A new crop, to a farmer, is always an adventure of discovery, and two-row barley proved no exception, says Carter. Culture was basic: “Barley is fairly similar to most small grains that you would plant from mid-October to mid-November.” He planted a variety called “Endeavor,” developed by Virginia Tech, “which tends to be grown on heavier land than our light land.” Our Sandhills soil is considered “light,” that is, sandy, with excellent drainage. Unlike heavier, clay-based soils elsewhere, when dry weather comes, there is no reservoir of moisture. And when the barley is “heading,” or developing its seeds, plumpness depends on regular moisture. “Barley matures earlier than most small grains we typically grow around here,” says Carter. “This spring, we had a long, dry period from mid-March to mid-May. When it was heading, the crop just didn’t have enough water. In retrospective, we probably could have irrigated it. I don’t think that the two-row is as hardy as the six-row.” In addition, two-row barleys were developed for regions that get hot during the day, but cool off at night, allowing plants to recover — not Sandhills conditions. In the end, the experiment to grow premium tworow barley for the malting industry in the Sandhills was not optimal. “We will have dry periods on light land that would hardly be noticed in heavier land, but it could be devastating for a grain crop,” says Carter. “(Growing barley) was an interesting thing, but it’s just one of those things.” But Carter elected to keep the crop. “It did germinate,” he says. “While there may not have been enough of the plump grains desired by the malting industry, we were able to use the seed for a winter cover crop, but it did have a lot of smaller kernals . . . which would have been problematic for them.” Still, he doesn’t regret the experiment: “It keeps things interesting.” Malting barley and malt are marketed on the basis of cultivar, and, thanks to modern breeding practices, brewers have a world of options when choosing which cultivar best meets their processing and beer quality requirements. Next month: home brewers in the Pines. PS

110 West Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines, NC 910-695-HARK (4275) • PaulHarknessJewelry.com 30

Jan Leitschuh is a local gardener, avid eater of fresh produce and co-founder of the Sandhills Farm to Table Cooperative.

January 2015P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

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

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January 2015P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

Ho m e town

A Deep-Fried Family Affair Confessions of a Russell’s Fish House bus boy

By Bill Fields

You never forget

your first job. I’m not talking about a dollar from Dad for washing the car or mowing the grass — a real job working for someone who didn’t sign your report card every six weeks.

For several years in the early 1970s, before I was old enough to drive, I found out what work was at Russell’s Fish House on N.C. 22 in Southern Pines. When Larry and Mary Russell opened the restaurant in 1965 with all-you-can-eat fried flounder, french fries, hushpuppies and slaw for $1.50, it was a hit. Folks from all over Moore County lined up out the door for a fried-fish fix — farmers and mill workers from Robbins in overalls, Whispering Pines retirees in orlon cardigans, Southern Pines bankers in loosened wide ties straight from the office. On weekend nights, the packed dining room, with wooden chairs scratching a concrete floor, was as loud as a close Duke-Carolina game in Carmichael Auditorium. Russell’s would get busy about 6 o’clock and stay that way for a couple of hours. Green order tickets clothes-pinned to a long wire strung across the kitchen fluttered like flags at a used-car lot. When customers paid — cash only — those oily tickets would be spiked by a register next to dime gum and penny mints. There was a T-bone steak and steamed shrimp on the menu, but if someone wanted his seafood broiled instead of fried, they pretty much needed a note from a cardiologist. During my time at Russell’s, an older black man named Herbert was the flounder maven, in charge of the filets from their coating to their cooking. Herbert cared greatly about the fish he fried in bubbling gallons of peanut oil and he didn’t tolerate much nonsense from his teenage co-workers — especially the horsing around when we scrubbed the kitchen floor with a lye solution at the end of the night. I can see Herbert tending to that fish with a gingerly touch and Gerry not

far away unloading the dishwasher, steam filling the air like fog on a spring morning. When Georgia made the weekly vat of cocktail sauce, she would weep from the horseradish as if she had just watched Brian’s Song. The restaurant was a family affair in those years. Not only were there Larry and Mary and their son, Mike, a classmate of mine, but the Vanhoys, Logwoods, McLeans and Rock brothers were also among the employees. I started as a busboy putting dishes into gray plastic bins when I was 13 years old, got a promotion to the takeout department and was plating orders for inside when I left Russell’s at 15. When fixing the to-go food, I had a side job cooking hushpuppies that consisted of cranking out the cornbread mix into a fryer with just the right touch so the hushpuppies came out the right size — about the length and breadth of a grown man’s little finger. There was an adrenalin rush in the hectic pace, an athleticism to the cooking and serving when it was busy, our thirsts quenched by all the sweet tea we could drink, our pointy paper hats sweat-stained when the shift was over. Late on Saturday night, as we cleaned up, Mr. Russell would retreat to the office and emerge a while later with tiny manilla envelopes containing folded bills and change: $18.42 or $21.75 for two nights of work that left me reeking of fried seafood but kept me in golf-ball and movie money. Sometimes, half a dozen of us piled into the back of Mr. Russell’s pickup truck and he would drive us home, the scent of work mixing with that of the evening air. Russell’s was the oldest restaurant in Southern Pines when it closed in November because of Mr. and Mrs. Russell’s failing health. The news made me sad, but the memories make me smile. PS Southern Pines native Bill Fields never lived on Connecticut Avenue but has lived in the actual Connecticut for a long time.

January 2015P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

Out of the Blue

The Year of the Cat Maybe the answer to world peace?

By Deborah Salomon

Sometimes I

just have to write about the cats. Last outing: January, 2014, so I’m due.

Or, rather, they are. After decades of study, I still cannot understand why people who appreciate feline behavior are branded eccentric or weird — a cult of old ladies pouring tea from a pot and gushing over every whisker. This is wrong, unfair, prejudicial. All my cats have become notable because people related to my stories and sent me theirs at great, great length. Some of these catfolk even admitted they were big, burly, bearded guys who drink Bud for breakfast. ’Cause everybody appreciates love and cats are just as loving as dogs once a relationship has been established. Oh yes, I’ve had dogs, too, including a rescued racing greyhound, a prince among beasts, a fine and devoted companion. My relationships took some work since every cat arrived at my door in dire circumstances: extreme cold, injury, illness, unplanned motherhood and worse. First, they learned to trust. Then, slowly, came love — more like fierce devotion to the soul who saved them. Presently, I have two. Recap: Lucky — neutered, declawed, black and shiny as licorice was abandoned in my apartment complex. I’m a sucker for black cats. I fed him outside for six months before relenting. He proved calm, quiet, stoic and adoring, the best-tempered animal I have ever known. He could be a creature from Greek mythology — half human, half dog. Lucky progressed from stranger to lapboy in days. Hissy’s a whole different ballgame. She was the neighborhood beggar, a lumbering, cross-eyed female fed by many according to her girth, with a cropped ear signaling a spayed feral. I fed her outside. She hissed. I attempted petting. She hissed and growled. OK, Hissy, have it your way. Then one broiling-hot day she showed up limping, with a bloody paw. I opened the door, she hobbled in and wouldn’t go outside for a month, hissing all the time — especially at Lucky, who sat, sphinx-like, mumbling, “Isn’t it enough my family dumped me when they moved? And I lived through a winter in the bushes or under a car when it rained. And now I put up with a cat sitter when you go away. And I let you sleep until almost dawn every morning, weekends included. And I never, not even once, have jumped on the kitchen counter or vomited hairballs on the carpet. So haven’t I endured enough without sharing my home with some trollop who hangs around the front door?” Well, before I could say Fancy Feast, hiss turned to kiss. Hissy (I tried to change her name to Missy, didn’t work) trails Lucky around the house and yard. She grooms him, tussles with him, curls up beside him on the couch, crowds him off the windowsill and, amazingly, my lap. Nevertheless, he

lets her eat from his bowl, proving what a vet told me years ago: Intact males can be nasty and aggressive, but there is no more affectionate, amenable pet than a neutered tom. Hmmm. Maybe terrorism and wars could be prevented by . . . Or else, let women rule the world. The most fun is seeing the two communicate with eyes no less expressive than Kate Winslet’s. Take this conversation that happened on my bed, early on, as Lucky settled down beside my shoulder. “Listen,” he told her. “My territory is above the elbow; yours is below the knees. Call it the Berlin Wall, the Mason-Dixon Line, the Great Wall of China but STAY ON YOUR SIDE.” And she does unless Lucky is taking a pre-bedtime nap elsewhere. Then, with the guiltiest expression, she creeps toward my shoulder, only to skitter back when he appears. Does your dog sit up for a treat? Paw you when he wants to go out? Lucky does. He begs a smidgen of whatever I’m eating — odd, since I don’t eat meat. No problem. Pasta, scrambled eggs, buttered toast, Greek vanilla yogurt, coffee ice cream, hummus, applesauce, oatmeal, Swiss cheese make the cut. Still, he recognizes the kibble bag by sight and crinkly sound. Like a dog, he never rubs against my legs or uses a litter box. It’s outside or nothing. When the suitcase appears Lucky’s head droops and those soulful eyes look even sadder. Mommy’s going away. Hissy and I will have the bed to ourselves. The first chilly autumn morn Lucky curled up on the warm cable box, unapproached since March but its purpose not forgotten. These days, his memory is better than mine. Lucky’s clock is a circadian Rolex which, in January, still ticks EDT. That means he saunters toward the kitchen for supper precisely an hour early. And I feel his raspy tongue on my earlobe at 4:45 a.m. Good that I’m a morning person. Bad that while I must work, Lucky naps. That’s just the tip of the kitty iceberg (Lucky likes lettuce, too, with zesty Italian dressing). Because animals can’t talk, their lives become a continuous game of charades, an acting out of needs and emotions, easy to decipher. Dogs do the same, of course, but they get credit. Cats get misunderstood, maligned, berated and worse. Not by me. Same time next year? PS Deborah Salomon is a staff writer for PineStraw and The Pilot. She may be reached at debsalomon@nc.rr.com.

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January 2015P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

P r op e r En g l is h

In Touch With My Inner Geek The quiet pleasure of license plate bingo

By Serena Brown

The New Year heralds in a new round

of License Plate Bingo. I think it all started on an epic round-the-States road trip I made many years ago.

Perhaps it’s because I hail from a nation where trainspotting is a popular hobby, or perhaps it’s just my inner geek. Either way I am fascinated by the different state license plates. I love the symbols with which they are decorated, the vast distances and landscapes and histories they represent. The geography, colors, industry, wildlife and produce of every part of this nation are right there telling a story on the back of every vehicle. Living as we do in a popular tourist destination, it’s also fun to see what a wide variety of visitors are drawn to the area. So that was how I started playing License Plate Bingo. There’s no prize, just the satisfaction of filling up the map. Here’s how you play: Print out a map of the United States and Canada with the states on it. Or print or write a list, whichever appeals more. The door of the fridge is a good

place to keep this record. It’s handy to have a space for “other,” too, in case you spot a plate from another country. As you’re wandering through town or running errands, make a mental note of the license plates you spot. I recommend playing only when you’re a pedestrian or passenger — you don’t want your enthusiasm to add Hawaii to your map to cause alarm to visitors as you drive too close to their bumper, squinting and muttering, “Slow down, I can’t make out the writing.” The plates have to be on the back of the car; souvenirs on the front don’t count for the purposes of the game. When you get home, tick off the states you’ve spotted. We work within a fifteen-mile radius of downtown Southern Pines, but the beauty of all this is that you can make up your own rules. So far I’ve found it takes roughly a year to fill the map, but you might well be more observant. Feel free to write in to the PineStraw office and let us know how you get on. Happy New Year, everyone. PS Serena Brown is a new mum and a treasured contributor to PineStraw magazine, despite editors having constantly to change “licence” to “license” and “colour” to “color.”

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C h asin g h o r n e ts

Dressed to Win

How designer Alexander Julian helped the Hornets get their colour groove on

By Wiley Cash

During my lifetime, my

mother has gotten the jump on me only once when it comes to sports stories: In 1988 the Charlotte Hornets unveiled their new uniforms in a live press conference. That day, my mother called me down to our kitchen in Gastonia, North Carolina, where she stood staring at the tiny color television she always kept on the counter. The picture was small and the color wasn’t great, but neither of us had any problem taking in the scene at the press conference as it unfolded just a few miles away in Charlotte. A well-dressed man in a dark pinstriped suit and round spectacles stood beside a tall man who appeared to be a model cut from the pages of the inchesthick merchandise catalogs that cluttered every coffee table and bathroom cabinet in the 1980s. The model wore a teal warm-up jacket and pants, and after tearing away the pants and removing the jacket he stood in a white Hornets’ home uniform with fine pinstripes on the jersey and accents of purple and teal on the shorts. The model left the stage and returned moments later in what would be the Hornets’ away uniform: a teal jersey with purple pinstripes and teal shorts with white trim.

The model was a seven-year NBA veteran named Kelly Tripucka. He’d played first with the Detroit Pistons and then with the Utah Jazz before being selected by the Hornets in the supplemental draft that would comprise the team’s first roster. He’d go on to lead the team in scoring that season, and in 1991 he’d retire from the NBA as a Hornet. Alexander Julian was the name of the well-dressed man in the dark suit and round spectacles who shared the stage with Tripucka. At the time, Julian was more famous than any of the Hornets who would wear his uniform design during the team’s inaugural season. A native Tarheel, Alexander Julian was raised in Chapel Hill, where his father had owned and operated a men’s clothing store called Julian’s since 1942. In 1969, at the age of 19, Alexander opened his own store in Chapel Hill, and by the mid70s he would move to New York and find himself on the cusp of becoming one

of the most influential fashion designers in the world. But it wasn’t until 1981, when he introduced a line of menswear called Colours by Alexander Julian, that he became both a fashion icon and a household name. “You can’t dictate fashion,” Julian told me during a phone interview over homecoming weekend in Chapel Hill. “But I knew a lot of men had never worn bright colors before, so I was hoping it would be cathartic for them.” While men interested in wearing well-cut suits and bold ties were the first to embrace Julian’s injection of color, it was soon embraced by everyone from marketing departments to teenyboppers. Coca-Cola found a way to sell merchandise emblazoned with its name and insignia by simply churning out everything from sweatshirts to baseball hats in colors reminiscent of those Julian had first employed. The Swiss watch company Swatch successfully battled the rising fad of digital watches by incorporating outlandish colors in the designs of their otherwise traditional mechanical watches. Jams, a brand of wildly patterned, kneelength shorts that was founded in the 1960s, suddenly exploded in popularity in the mid-80s. And of course we all remember Kirk Cameron’s Day-Glo T-shirts, colorful Chuck Taylors, and neon button-downs when he starred in the sitcom Growing Pains from 1985 to 1992. As Julian told me, perhaps you can’t dictate fashion, but fashion can dictate many things. The Hornets’ uniforms, which combined purple with Julian’s signature teal, revolutionized sportswear in the 1990s much in the same way Julian had already revolutionized clothing during the previous decade, and the effects were profound. Hornets’ sportswear and team jerseys led the NBA in sales for a number of years, and by 1993 two of Major League Baseball’s expansion teams — the Colorado Rockies and the Florida Marlins — had co-opted the Hornets’ purple and teal. In 1995, the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars would use teal in their uniforms while the hometown Carolina Panthers would employ a slightly different shade of blue. Julian’s teal found its way into the NBA again in 1996 when the Detroit Pistons altered their long-used team colors by using the teal that had made the Charlotte Hornets’ uniforms and team merchandise so popular. “I chose purple and teal because they look good with all skin tones,” Julian told me. “I knew those colors would look good on everyone who wore them.” Americans — both fans of sport and fans of fashion — felt the same way. At the close of that 1988 press conference during which Julian introduced the Hornets’ uniforms, Tripucka stepped down from the stage, where he was interviewed by a group of local reporters. “I’m into light blues like this,” Tripucka said, looking down at his uniform and smiling. “Teal, and I like the purple, the mauve. I like spring and summer colors.” He thought for a moment about the man with whom he’d just shared the stage. “He’s headed in the right direction.” Tripucka was correct; Julian was headed in the right direction, and the fashion and sports world followed. PS Wiley Cash is a New York Times best-selling author whose second novel, This Dark Road to Mercy, was released in January 2014. He lives in Wilmington.

January 2015P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

B I R D WA T C H

Winter Finches Snowbirds at your feeder

By Susan Campbell

For bird lovers all

Photograph by debra Regula

over the country, midwinter brings the promise of an invasion of avian visitors from the far north — purple finches, pine siskins and red-breasted nuthatches. All these species may, if the conditions are right, wing their way to North Carolina. And sometimes they come, quite literally, in flocks, which may hang around the entire season, taking advantage of what Mother Nature has to offer here, as well as the free lunch that we feeder-watchers are wont to provide.

Every fall experts try to predict the extent to which irruptions of these species and others may occur. Such prognostications are based on the abundance of mast (the fruit, nuts and seeds of forest trees) both in Southern Canada as well as in the northern United States. Winters with low densities of spruce, birch and mountain ash seeds result in significant movement farther south. The birds head our way in search of similar types of food in order to make it through to the spring. If they find a ready supply at feeders, they may well settle in for the duration. This winter is lining up to be one of those winters. The mast crop in New England and the Upper Midwest is sparse — as it was two years ago. In 2012 the invasion was widespread. Red-breasted nuthatches and pine siskins were everywhere in North Carolina. Purple finches were not uncommon; and even rare visitors such as the common redpoll and crossbills showed up. This year, if the predictions are correct, it may not be quite so dramatic, but bird-watchers can look for a more colorful winter than usual. These often subtly-hued birds from the far north are looking for an oily, high protein food source. One of their favorites is black-oil sunflower. As

opposed to the larger striped sunflower, black-oil seeds pack a lot more bang for the buck. The finches, along with smaller bills like the pine siskins and even our familiar American goldfinches, also like Nyjer, which is often called thistle. This tiny, trademarked seed is black and thin. Developed from an Old World plant that’s quite different from the thistles we know here in North Carolina, it absolutely will not sprout and become a thorny nuisance. Once you’ve got these periodic “snowbirds” from the north coming to your feeder, it can be a little tricky identifying them. All three species resemble birds we are familiar with. Redbreasted nuthatches are the same size as our resident brown-headed nuthatches. However, they have a color pattern that more closely resembles a white-breasted nuthatch. Look for their distinctive white “eye brows” and their rusty chests, as their name implies. Purple finches are very similar to the ubiquitous house finch but are just a tad bit larger with heavier bills. The males take on an unmistakable raspberry hue with less brown streaking on the flanks. Females are a cryptic combination of brown and white and also sport a distinct white “eye brow.” Pine siskins are even less distinctive, also having brown-and-white streaked plumage. Plus, they are only about the size of our goldfinches. Their smaller, conical bills and the yellow at the bend of the wing are just about the only clues that will enable determined birders to make a positive identification. Sound can be the best give away that these birds are in the area. The redbreasted nuthatch call-notes are tinny — as if coming from a toy horn. Pine siskins have an up slurred wheezy song and are often heard in a chorus since they tend to travel in flocks. Should you think you may have spotted any of these birds, I would love to hear about it. Documenting winter irruptions is yet another facet of the study of bird distributions across North Carolina. PS Send your wildlife sightings and photos to Susan Campbell, who can be contacted by email at susan@ncaves.com, by phone (910) 949-3207 or by mail at 144 Pine Ridge Drive, Whispering Pines, N.C. 28327.

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January 2015P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

T h e spo r tin g l i f e

Up the River Without a Paddle And a great recipe for wild duck

By Tom Bryant

I pulled through the back gate to the

parking area behind our house. Paddle, my yellow Lab, started pitching a fit in her kennel, upset about being left behind earlier that morning. “Don’t worry, girl,” I said as I let her out into the backyard. “We’ll go again this afternoon.”

I was just returning from the river where I had been trying to jump-shoot wood ducks. Earlier in the year during one of my many scouting forays, I had found a put-in spot on the river relatively close to an abandoned shack. It’s a great location. I can drive the Bronco almost to the water, unload the canoe, a 17-foot aluminum Grumman that I had camouflaged with a coat of marsh brown paint, and I’m ready to go. The method is elementary. I load all my gear in the canoe, which isn’t much, maybe a little cooler with a couple of drinks and a sandwich or ham biscuits or anything else I fixed the night before. I also use my special purpose Remington 870 shotgun. I like the old gun because the metal is parkerized muted gunmetal grey and won’t glare in the bright sun. The barrel is short, only twenty-six inches, and perfect to handle in a tippy canoe. And speaking of a not too stable canoe, the last thing I wanted while floating a deep river was an excitable dog leaping out of the boat to retrieve a duck. Paddle loves to hunt about as much as anything, but I never let her go with me in a canoe unless we’re just going from the bank to a duck blind. Later in my duck shooting career, I would acquire a Widgeon duck boat that Paddle loves and is stable enough to hunt out of, but that was a couple of years down the road from this story. I have a little electric motor along with a deep cycle battery that will usually propel me up the river for an hour or so. That’s about the limit of time I hunt while jump-shooting. I’ll then tilt the motor out of the way and grab a paddle and drift with the current. A word of warning to the unaware: It’s illegal to shoot waterfowl from a powered conveyance, and an electric motor is considered power. Tilting the motor out of the water puts one in the clear. Wood ducks are different from most of their feathered cousins in as much as they like to float along creeks and rivers in pairs or alone. They will come to a good spread of decoys, but I’ve found that jump-shooting is more productive and a lot of fun. On the way up the river, I’ll try to note the little cuts and sloughs where ducks might be resting or feeding. Wood ducks love acorns, and any oak tree overhanging the river can be a good spot. The little duck, considered by most duck hunters as the most beautiful, is also the tastiest in my opinion. For years they were on the

endangered list and off-limits to water-fowlers, but efforts by those same hunters helped in restoring their numbers. Today they are considered one of the more prolific ducks in the South. My river shoot that morning was uneventful. Several big ducks flew way ahead of the canoe and looked as if they were heading out to the lake. The river was frozen close to the bank, which limited the area that wood ducks like to use. Ironically, I did jump a couple almost to the landing where the Bronco was parked. Good shooting or really good luck helped me down both, and I added them to the bag for dinner later in the week. Here is a great recipe from the out-of-print LL Bean Game and Fish Cookbook that I use often. The book is a must-have if you can find one and if you love cooking wild game: 4 wood duck breasts (also will work with teal) 6 tablespoons butter 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice, white pepper 1 1/4 pound mushrooms, sliced 1/4 cup port wine Flatten breasts of the ducks as much as you can by pressing them with the heel of your hand. Melt 4 tablespoons of butter and add lemon juice and white pepper. Place where handy for basting. Broil the breasts 8—10 minutes to the side, basting until you have used up the mix. Then continue to baste from the pan dredgings. While breasts are broiling, sauté the mushrooms in 2 tablespoons of butter and when the liquid from the mushrooms has evaporated, add the port and cook that down too. When the breasts are done, remove to a hot platter and pour the pan drippings onto the mushrooms and then pour the combined mushrooms and drippings over the breasts. If there are not enough basting drippings left, melt another 2—3 tablespoons of butter and add to mushroom sauce. This recipe is simple and quick and I’ve used it many times. I hope it works for you. Paddle winded the two ducks while I was unloading the truck and looked at me as indignantly as only a frustrated yellow Lab can. It was as if she was accusing me of having great fun without her. “OK, girl,” I said. “This afternoon we’ll go dove hunting down on the farm. I saw several yesterday. Maybe we’ll have a good shoot. But right now I’m gonna take a nap.” She jumped in the back of the opened gate of the Bronco, lay down and all but said, “All right, sport, I’ll be right here when you’re ready to go.” PS Tom Bryant, a Southern Pines resident, is a lifelong outdoorsman and PineStraw’s Sporting Life columnist.

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January 2015P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

Go l f town J o u r na l

The Trailblazer Charlie Sifford’s long walk into history

By Lee Pace

Charles Sifford was

standing on the first tee at Sedgefield Country Club, waiting to play away in the 1961 Greater Greensboro Open. He was admittedly nervous. Scared would not be too strong a word. Just one year earlier, he had challenged the PGA Tour’s “Caucasian-only clause” and now was a full-time member of the tour. He had ventured back into his home state (he was born and raised in Charlotte) but had been warned by some with less enlightened social views that he’d best not show up for his tee time.

Finally, his time had arrived and the starter intoned on the public-address system: “From Long Beach, California, Charlie Sifford . . .” “I wasn’t about to tell him my name is Charles,” Sifford said years later. “I wanted him to get off that microphone so I could hit my ball. There were about four or five hundred people there, and I didn’t know if somebody would be up in the trees with one of those high-powered rifles, and there I go. I wanted to get off that tee. I didn’t give a damn what they called me. Just let me go. Just let me play.” Just Let Me Play was the name of the autobiography Sifford wrote in the early 1990s that chronicled his days from a teenage caddie at Carolina Country Club in Charlotte to a career that landed him induction in 2004 into the World Golf Hall of Fame, becoming the first black to be so honored. All he ever wanted to do was just play golf. Sifford was born in 1922 and learned at the age of 10 he could make more money as a caddie at Carolina Country Club than the two dollars a week his father earned as a laborer. He earned 60 cents a day and gave his mother 50 cents, keeping a dime to buy the cigars that would become his trademark on the golf course. The club was closed on Mondays and the caddies were allowed to play, and Sifford fell in love with the game. He could shoot par by the age of 13. He and some friends would sneak onto the course at odd hours; such subterfuge required swift play, so Sifford learned to hit the ball straight (less time in the woods) and to play quickly on the putting greens. Often the boys had to share clubs, all the more reason to hit the ball quickly, and sometimes they putted with a 2-iron if a putter wasn’t available.

“I was always moving fast to keep from being thrown off the course,” he said. “I never learned how to take my time on the greens and develop a decent stroke.” Sutton Alexander, the club owner, and Clayton Heafner, the head professional, helped teach Sifford to play. He frequently caddied for Heafner, a big man with a large temper, and on more than one occasion Heafner fired Sifford on the front nine and hired him again on the back. Sifford says he could hold his own playing against Heafner until one day he made the mistake of playing him for two dollars — more than Sifford had in his pocket. “When he closed me out and I told him I didn’t have the two dollars, he picked me up and in front of all these people, carried me over to a water hazard, and threw me in,” Sifford once told Golf Digest. “Splash! Talk about embarrassing — I never played for more money than I had in my pocket again.” But in 1939, Alexander took the 17-year-old Sifford aside and told him that he’d gotten too good at the game, that the members resented it and it would be best if Sifford left the club’s caddie force. “Mr. Alexander was concerned about my physical well-being,” Sifford said. Sifford joined some relatives in Philadelphia and found ample opportunity to play on public courses in the North. He continued to develop his game and played on the United Golf Association tour, where blacks could compete for small purses on public courses, and won five straight National Negro Open championships from 1952 – 1956. Sifford had the opportunity to meet baseball player Jackie Robinson, who broke the color barrier in major league baseball in 1946, and Sifford told Robinson he intended to do the same thing in golf. “He asked me if I was a quitter,” Sifford recalled. “He said, ‘OK, if you’re not a quitter, go ahead and take the challenge. If you’re a quitter, there’s going to be a lot of obstacles you’re going to have to go through to be successful in what you’re trying to do.’ “I made up my mind I was going to do it,” Sifford said. Sifford was the personal golf coach and valet for the popular jazz singer from the 1950s, Billy Eckstine, and through Eckstine he met dozens of black entertainment and sports luminaries, including Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Sarah Vaughan and Joe Louis. Eckstine challenged Sifford to buck the racist restrictions of the PGA and gave Sifford his nickname, “Little Horse.” In 1961, under pressure from the California attorney general, the PGA of America, which then ran the tour, dropped its “Caucasian only” membership clause and allowed Sifford to compete. Meanwhile, the seeds of integration were taking root in the South. Just a year earlier, four students from North Carolina A&T State University sat down at

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the Woolworth lunch counter in downtown Greensboro and refused to budge. Members of the GGO-sponsoring Greensboro Jaycees decided to invite Sifford to the 1961 tournament, and host club Sedgefield Country Club passed a resolution saying that “neither creed, color nor race” would be the basis for rejecting an applicant to play in the tournament. The Jaycees asked long-time Lexington Country Club professional Dugan Aycock, whom Sifford had caddied for years earlier at Carolina Country Club, to call Sifford and extend the invitation. “When Dugan called, I asked my wife should I go, and she said, ‘Yeah, go ahead, they aren’t going to do anything to you down there,’ and they didn’t,” Sifford said. “Those people, they treated me nice. That pro there [the late Tom Case], he took care of me.” Sifford led the first round with a 68 and got phone calls that night from people threatening him if he showed up for the next round. “I just told them whatever they were planning to do, be prepared to do it because I still planned to tee off at 9:30,” he said. There were no incidents as security patrols removed any trouble-makers from the golf course. Sifford earned a $1,300 check for finishing fourth behind Mike Souchak, Sam Snead and Billy Maxwell. But he won a lot more. “I had come through my first Southern tournament with the worst kind of social pressure and discrimination around me, and I hadn’t cracked. I hadn’t quit,” Sifford said. Sifford won twice on the PGA Tour — the 1967 Greater Hartford Open and 1969 Los Angeles Open — and maintained his tour exempt status as one of the top 60 money winners for a decade through 1969. When the Senior Tour evolved in the 1980s, Sifford won nearly one million dollars in prize money and one tournament. At the World Golf Hall of Fame induction ceremony in November 2004, Sifford proudly held up his crystal trophy. On the dais to join the hall as well were Tom Kite, Isao Aoki and Marlene Streit. In the audience were Arnold Palmer and Gary Player. Soon Sifford broke down. “You’re going to have to forgive me, because this is touching,” Sifford said. “A little ole caddie boy from Charlotte, North Carolina . . . getting inducted into this great hall. How about it?” One decade later, Sifford received another significant honor, traveling to the White House from his home in Cleveland to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama. Sifford is now 92 and often has been compared to Jackie Robinson. But, as Obama noted in the presentation ceremony, golf is a solitary sport and Sifford didn’t have teammates to lean on. He had his late wife, Rose. “And he had plenty of guts and grit and that trademark cigar,” Obama said. “Charlie was a trailblazer, no doubt about that,” says James Black, a prominent African-American golfer who followed Sifford on the pro tour in the 1960s, “with the work he did all over the country in terms of civil rights and integrating golf courses. He was a great ambassador for the game.” Sifford has not lived in Charlotte for many years but no doubt would be pleased to know that the First Tee of Charlotte had 1,230 juniors in its golf programs in 2014, nearly double from a year earlier, and its teaching and playing headquarters is the Dr. Charles L. Sifford Golf Course at Revolution Park. The First Tee paid $500,000 five years ago to have the course upgraded and built a practice facility and short-game area. Revolution Park opened in 1930 and in 1957 was the first Charlotte course to desegregate. “Revolution Park has a huge African-American tradition and heritage, and that’s very much a part of the orientation process for us with our kids, parents and volunteers,” says Ike Grainger, executive director of the First Tee of Charlotte. “We want everyone in the First Tee to know who Dr. Sifford was and what he did for golf in Charlotte, in the Carolinas and in this country.” PS An updated edition of Lee Pace’s book, The Golden Age of Pinehurst— The Story of the Rebirth of No. 2, is available now at Pinehurst Resort & Country Club.

January 2015P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

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January 2015 Where I’m from I am from homemade banana bread with no nuts, from Crest baking soda toothpaste and green apple Dawn dish soap. I am from the right side duplex on Goldbrier Lane, a rusty swing set in the backyard and a neighbor with a German shepherd who once ate superglue and couldn’t bark right for days. I am from the aloe vera plant that Mom rubbed on my sunburned shoulders, the scent of freshly mowed grass and the every-once-in-a-while flowers from my dad to my mom. I am from Crandalls and Hendersons and Ricks and Susans and stubborn, yet driven, and borderline obnoxious some days. From “Because I said so” and “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all” and rice and vegetables with soy sauce but Little Caesars every other Friday. I am from the suburbs of Memphis, from a nurse and a business management professor, and a grampa who grew up during the Depression and learned what it meant to have everything with nothing. I am from creepy bamboo forests in the backyard, with trickling streams running over rocks peppered on uneven terrain, and from people who may truly know you and yet still love you.

— Sara Renée Phile

The Magic of Snow A winter fantasy in three acts of childhood memory By L aurie Bogart Wiles

wonder whether it will snow here, in Pinehurst, this winter. I’m new to these parts and am told it hardly ever does. It always snows where I come from, in the far north of New England. The first dusting arrives on Father Winter’s coattails in November and lingers till April, when spring breaks through. A winter without snow seems very strange to me. So, I reached out to some old friends to get their thoughts on the matter. “It always snows in the Hundred Acre Wood,” Alan, whom I’d known since childhood, explained. “Yes,” I replied, “but where is the Hundred Acre Wood, exactly?” “East Sussex, along the English Channel. I was captain of the Hartfield Home Guard there during the Second World War. Our place was Cotchfold Farm, on the north edge of Ashdown Forest, in the Five Hundred Acre Wood, but I pared it down a bit and called it the Hundred Acre Wood when my son, Christopher Robin, was Very Young and accompanied me on my daily walk in the wood. He always brought Pooh Bear along. Why, I recall . . . One day when Pooh Bear had nothing else to do, he thought he would do something, so he went round to Piglet’s house to see what Piglet was doing. It was still snowing as he stumped over the white forest track, and he expected to find Piglet warming his toes in front of his fire, but to his surprise he saw that the door was open, and the more he looked inside the more Piglet wasn’t there. “He’s out,” said Pooh sadly. “That’s what it is. He’s not in. I shall have to go on a fast Thinking Walk by myself. Bother!” But first he thought that he would knock very loudly just to make quite sure . . . and while he waited for Piglet not to answer, he jumped up and down to keep warm, and a hum came suddenly into his head, which seemed to him a Good Hum, such as is Hummed Hopefully to Others. The more it snows (Tiddely pom), The more it goes (Tiddely pom), The more it goes (Tiddely pom) On snowing. And nobody knows (Tiddely pom), How cold my toes (Tiddely pom), How cold my toes (Tiddely pom), Are growing. “That’s a lovely story, Alan,” I said. “But you know, you really ought to write down some more.”

January 2015P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

then headed north to Wales, where it snows, and it snows. Above the town of Laugharne, the ruins of a great medieval castle stand guard over the River Tâf before it marries the sea at Carmarthen Bay. A friend of mine lived in a boathouse on “the heronpriested shore” and wrote some of his best poetry in a nearby shed perched atop a cliff ledge. “Dylan,” I said, “Your writing always gives me so much pleasure. Tell me again about your childhood, and how it snowed.” “Let’s go down to Browns, and I shall recount the snow of my childhood over a pint or two of Felinfoel,” and a broad smile spread beneath his round, red Santa nose. So we walked along the hedge-hewn lane to Browns, which he frequented daily and gave their phone number out as his own. “Two Double Dragons,” he ordered, “the finest ale in all Wales!” “Now, tell me about the snow . . .” One Christmas was so much like another, in those years around the sea-town corner now and out of all sound except the distant speaking of the voices I sometimes hear a moment before sleep, that I can never remember whether it snowed for six days and six nights when I was twelve or whether it snowed for twelve days and twelve nights when I was six. “I know how that goes,” I mused. “It’s that way in January and February, back home. Oh! I’m sorry . . . I didn’t mean to interrupt. Please go on.” Years and years ago, when I was a boy, when there were wolves in Wales, and birds the color of red-flannel petticoats whisked past the harp-shaped hills, when we sang and wallowed all night and day in caves that smelt like Sunday afternoons in damp front farmhouse parlors, and we chased, with the jawbones of deacons, the English and the bears, before the motor car, before the wheel, before the duchess-faced horse, when we rode the daft and happy hills bareback, it snowed and it snowed. But here a small boy says: “It snowed last year, too. I made a snowman and my brother knocked it down and I knocked my brother down and then we had tea.”

y quest for snow carried me farther north, then veered to the west as I made my way to see my dear friend Jack. I found him on St. John’s Point, looking toward Hare’s Gap, across the Irish Sea, to the Mountains of Mourne. “I cannot linger here long,” he said, “but I wanted you to see this place, and how the snow covers the Mourne like a white wooly blanket. There lies my Narnia.” “Must you return to Cambridge?” “Cambridge is my home,” he said. “As much a home as home ever could be after my mother died. I was just a lad of ten. ‘With my mother’s death all settled happiness, all that was tranquil and reliable, disappeared from my life. There was to be much fun, many pleasures, many stabs of Joy; but no more of the old security. It was the sea and islands now; the great continent had sunk like Atlantis.’” His dancing eyes dulled and the corners of his full mouth turned downward as his pale memory of his beloved mother washed over his soul like the cold-grey waves upon the cragged rocks below. “Tell me about Narnia,” I blurted out, anxious to quell his sadness. “Tell me about the snow.” Immediately he brightened. “Lucy, the youngest of the four, discovered Narnia, you know.”

“Yes, in the back of the wardrobe! Thank goodness those warm fur coats were hanging up, otherwise the children would have caught their death of cold!” “Well, she pushed her way past the coats . . .” But instead of feeling the hard, smooth wood of the floor of the wardrobe, she felt something soft and powdery and extremely cold. “This is very queer,” she said, and went on a step or two further. And then she saw that there was a light ahead of her; not a few inches away where the back of the wardrobe ought to have been, but a long way off. Something cold and soft was falling on her. A moment later she found that she was standing in the middle of a wood at night-time with snow under her feet and snowflakes falling through the air. Lucy felt a little frightened, but she felt very inquisitive and excited as well. She looked back over her shoulder and there, between the dark tree trunks; she could still see the open doorway of the wardrobe and even catch a glimpse of the empty room from which she had set out. (She had, of course, left the door open, for she knew that it is a very silly thing to shut oneself into a wardrobe.) It seemed to be still daylight there. I can always get back if anything goes wrong, thought Lucy. She began to walk forward, crunch-crunch over the snow and through the wood towards the other light.

closed the books I had cherished since childhood, and my eyes, and drifted off to “that place between sleep and awake, the place where you can still remember dreaming.” I returned to the snow-covered days of my past where, on wintry evenings, I read my blue-bound copy of Winnie the Pooh and oatmeal-covered The House on Pooh Corner again and again and, a half-century later, would read them to my grandchildren and see something of my own childhood reflected in the wonderment of their eyes. Next came the memory of my father putting a record on the record player, and the crackling second before the needle picked up the rich, heavily hewn accent of the great Welsh bard, Dylan Thomas, reading his splendid autobiographical prose, A Child’s Christmas in Wales. How his words filled my imagination and warmed my young heart, and still do. Then on to Narnia and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, where I escaped as a young girl through the wardrobe and pages of C.S. Lewis’s books to an imaginary world I believe existed and, in a spiritual way, still does. And when I opened my eyes it was snowing! Snowflakes like dusting powder drifted gently from the darkening, low-slung sky and settled on the mirror-surface of our pond. I rubbed my eyes, but when I opened them again, realized it was not snow at all; the last leaves of autumn lit upon the water and as lovely as it was, it made me wistful. It will always snow in New England and who knows? Snow may even sweep south to Pinehurst. But it will snow in the Hundred Acre Wood, and in a seaside town in Wales, and mystical Narnia, and in that secret compartment in my heart where I store my most precious memories, and can take them out whenever I want to bask in their golden glow. PS Laurie Bogart Wiles is lives in Pinehurst with her husband, John Wiles, who together write The Pilot’s weekly car review column, “Driving Me Crazy.” She has written over a dozen books, including The Giant Book of Dog Names, Cold Noses and Warm Hearts, The Woman Angler, Shooting Sports for Women, Trickiest Thing in Feathers, Trout Tales, and her bestselling novel about life in a small New England town, The Hardscrabble Chronicles. A noted outdoor writer, she has contributed to magazines such as Field & Stream and is the literary custodian of the Corey Ford Archives, Darmouth College.

F i v e Vi e ws o f

Sandhills Winter

Photograph by John Gessner 54

January 2015P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

Real snow is a rarity in the Sandhills, and therefore pure magic. Owing to the so-called Polar Vortex of 2014 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; predicted by forecasters to repeat this year â&#x20AC;&#x201D; it snowed four times in the Sandhills last winter, shutting down towns, farms and golf courses with a gorgeous blanket of white . . .

But even when there’s only a trace of snow or ice . . .

Photograph by Timothy Hale 56

January 2015P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

a winter path through the woods . . .

Photograph by L aura Gingerich PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 2015

Or an amble across a field at rest beneath a bracing January sky . . .

January 2015P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

Photograph by Brandi Swarms

Can lead one to a winter night that stirs the soul and fills a body with wonder.

January 2015P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

Photograph by Tim Sayer

Perfectly Appetizing Our cooking guru, Mary James Lawrence, presides over a swirl of great starters for the New Year table

By David Claude Bailey • Photographs by Sam Froelich

t’s 5 o’clock and the usually calm and collected Mary James Lawrence is getting just a little edgy. The hostess with the mostest has invited twenty-four guests for the equivalent of a seven-course meal at the last minute, thinking that maybe ten would accept. All but two instantly said, “Yes!” And wouldn’t you? Lawrence — whose TV segments on WFMY-TV and cooking classes at Rooster’s Gourmet Market emboldened several generations of Piedmont cooks to don aprons and create dishes that are easy, impressive and delicious — had tantalized invitees with the news that she had brought back from Paris a party concept so new it didn’t have a name. “It was Valentine’s Day in Paris and a group of friends invited me to a party where the idea was that each guest would bring a tray of appetizers dished up in a series of single-serving-sized dishes, each with a distinct geometric shape — some triangles, some squares, some circular,” she says as she portions green beans into teeny martini glasses and tops them with bacon. “Each person walks in the door with a beautifully completed tray,” she says. And on each tray, the shapes are different, the colors are different, the tastes and aromas are different, and the trays and garnishes are different. The appetizers are then served at 15-minute intervals — each one a surprise to guests. “The beauty of it is you never know what’s coming next,” she says. “It’s fun and no one individual has to work that hard.” Plus when you are responsible for only one thing, it is so much easier to make it special. As for the hostess, “She only has to send out the invitations and pour the wine.” So why is Lawrence just a tad bit rattled? Instead of asking guests to bring the various dishes, she prepared seven different appetizers so her guests could vote on the best. The stainless steel fridge is wide open as she madly searches for truffles amid containers of walnut oil, capers, olives of every ilk, mustards of the world, pomegranate molasses, Thai fish sauce . . . “I know it’s in here,” she frets. “The concept is flavor profiles, things that go together, but with a bit of a

twist” she says. Beets, saltroasted and served cold with feta and herbs. Panna Cotta, not sweet but savory with mushrooms and truffle oil. Salmon, smoked and topped with wasabi and chives. The appetizers at the party in Paris were pretty sophisticated — steak tartare, lobster with truffles, seafood and rice layered like sushi. By contrast, Lawrence’s dishes are a snap. In fact, she says, “These appetizers can be made with prepared items from the grocery store. It’s about how you put them together” When the first guests begin to arrive, Mary James is plating celeriac graced with homemade mayonnaise into tiny little plastic containers that she found at Party City. She exchanges hurried hugs and greetings as she’s portioning out another choice, chickpeas and tahini. “What do you want us to do?” asks one of the half dozen guests who predictably crowd into her kitchen. Lawrence resists saying, “Get out of the kitchen,” and, instead, explains, “Y’all have work to do. No free lunch here.” As the first tray makes it into the living room, ooohs and aaahs follow. The mushroom panna cotta is a big hit, topped with tiny crispy shallot rings. As the red wine flows (“the French served champagne,” Lawrence says) the volume revs up and Lawrence’s house becomes a swirl of noshers. Looking at her white carpet she confides to a friend, “I must have been crazy to make beets. They’re staying in the fridge. They will become a side dish for tomorrow night’s dinner.” After Lawrence’s guests have voted on the top appetizers, she invites them to put a name on the concept of serving one “amuse bouche” after another in distinctive little containers. “Euclidian gastronomy?” someone suggests. “Shape-shifting appetizers?” someone else says. “Culinary cubism?” another says. “The French would call these verrines, a sweet or savory dish served in a verrine — a small glass meant to tickle the appetite.” Whatever it is, it’s fun, they all decide. Unless you end up cooking all the food yourself. Don’t try this at home, we conclude — unless you’re Mary James Lawrence.

January 2015P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

Mushroom Truffle Panna Cotta with Crispy Shallots 3 tablespoon butter 1/3 cup shallots, chopped 2 cloves garlic, minced 8 ounces of cremini mushrooms (about 3 cups), coarsely chopped 4 ounces of fresh shiitake mushrooms (about 2 cups), coarsely chopped 1/4 cup rosé or white wine 1/4–1/2 teaspoon dried savory salt and freshly ground white pepper

Smoked Salmon Verrine with Wasabi and Capers

1 cup cream 1 cup buttermilk 3/4 cup milk 1 package gelatin 1/2–3/4 teaspoon truffle oil crispy shallots: 2 large shallots vegetable oil

Wasabi sauce: 3/4 cup mayonnaise 1 tablespoon wasabi paste, or to taste 2 tablespoon tamari 1 teaspoon lemon juice 1 1/2 teaspoon fresh grated ginger

Cream cheese with capers and chives: 1 8-ounce carton whipped Philadelphia cream cheese 2 tablespoon capers, chopped (plus extra for garnish) 1 tablespoon fresh chives, finely snipped cream or milk arugula, shredded 1 12-ounce package smoked salmon (hot smoked, flaky variety) Whisk together wasabi sauce ingredients. Pour into a squeeze bottle and set aside. Whisk together all ingredients for cream-cheese mixture. Thin, if necessary, with cream or milk to achieve a piping consistency. Transfer cream-cheese mixture into a pastry bag with No. 6 plain tip (or a plastic bag and cut the corner). Assembly: I like to use a martini glass or plastic mini martini glasses are fun too, available at Party City. Begin with a few shreds of arugula, top with flaked salmon. Add a small swirl of wasabi sauce. Don’t cover the edges. Pipe a swirl of the cream cheese mixture on the top and garnish with extra capers. Serve.

Bacon, Blue Cheese & Tomato Green Beans

10 slices cold applewood smoked bacon 1 pound green beans cut into 1-inch pieces 1 cup cherry tomatoes, quartered 4–5 ounce blue cheese, cubed 2 tablespoon fresh basil, shredded 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar 3 tablespoon olive oil 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard 1/2 teaspoon salt freshly ground pepper Cut cold bacon crosswise into 1/8to 1/4-inch pieces. Place in skillet and cook over low heat until crisp. Drain and set aside. Cook green beans in salted water until tender. Drain and rinse under cold water to stop cooking and preserve color. Pat dry. Add tomatoes, blue cheese, basil and half of the cooked bacon. Toss. Whisk together ingredients for dressing and toss with bean mixture. Serve topped with remaining crispy bacon.

In a deep sauté pan, melt butter. Add shallots and garlic. Sauté to soften, then add coarsely chopped mushrooms. Sauté until liquid from mushrooms has evaporated. Deglaze with wine of choice. Add seasoning and reduce gently until liquid has evaporated. Add cream and buttermilk. Bring to a simmer. Cook for 5–10 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand until completely cool. Soften gelatin in milk and set aside. Add cooled mushroom mixture to blender and blend until perfectly smooth. Add gelatin/milk mixture and truffle oil. Blend. Taste for seasoning and adjust. (Don’t overdo the truffle oil.) Pour into mini cube or mini bowl. Refrigerate for several hours. Bring to room temperature before serving. Garnish with crispy shallots as prepared below. Yield: 18 minis Crispy shallots: Peel and thinly slice shallots. Separate into rings. Put enough vegetable oil in your pan (I use small cast-iron skillet) so rings will float. Heat oil to 250 degrees or so and add shallot rings. Working on low heat, cook gently, using a fork to keep them separated. Do not crowd pan. Remove rings as they become light golden brown — 2–3 minutes. Do not be tempted to turn up the heat. In fact, I sometimes turn off the heat and continue cooking so it doesn’t brown too fast. If they become too dark, they are bitter. Work in small batches. Top room temperature panna cottas with a couple of drops of truffle oil followed by a sprinkling of crispy shallots

Celery Root Salad

1 celery (celeriac) root bulb, (about 8 cups) 1 cup chopped parsley Homemade mayonnaise: 2 egg yolks 1/4 cup strong Dijon mustard 1 1/2 teaspoon salt 8-10 grinds of white pepper 2 1/4 – 2 1/2 cups olive oil Peel and trim celery root. Slice vertically into 1/2-inch slices. Using a food processor fitted with the shredding blade, shred celery root. Transfer to large mixing bowl. Rinse and dry the food processor bowl. To make the mayonnaise: Fit food processor with the steel blade. Add egg yolks, mustard, salt and pepper. With the machine running, very slowly drizzle in olive oil. As it begins to thicken and build up, you can add in a steady stream. Taste for seasoning. Assembly: Using two forks, toss shredded celery root and parsley together. Add 2/3s of the mayonnaise and toss to combine. Add more if needed. Taste for seasoning. Refrigerate. Serve cold. PS

Story of a house

The Cunningham Kitchen Caper Inventive minds create the ultimate family room of their own By Deborah Salomon Photographs by John Gessner

f kitchens were spokesmodels, most would aspire to Vogue, perhaps Victoria’s Secret. Not Bruce Cunningham and Ann Petersen’s — a posterchild for Mother Earth News, Old House Journal, even Psychology Today. No gleaming black polymers or polished hardwood here. No cabinet panels disguising a Sub-Zero or range with BTUs to launch a rocket. No monument-grade granite countertops or wall-mounted espresso machines, either. Instead, the Cunningham kitchen illustrates concepts put forth in A Pattern Language and A Timeless Way of Building by European-born architect Christopher Alexander — who suggests rearranging towns, gardens, neighborhoods and rooms into functional ergonomics tailored to the occupants’ needs and sensibilities. In other words, a room belongs to people and their belongings. By joining patterns a homeowner can create space that is warm, comfortable, humane and “gracefully habitable.” Therefore, what might raise a Realtor’s eyebrow satisfies the Cunninghams: a one-of-a-kind kitchen for a two-of-a-kind couple.

The backstory

Ann and her husband, Bruce, both attorneys (she now teaches highschool English), purchased a well-located if bland single-story home in Southern Pines soon after they married in 1989. The cottage, built in 1926, had only two previous owners. They liked its spirit, rough plaster walls and Mediterranean courtyard. They updated the small rear-facing kitchen, repurposed other rooms and started a family. The attached double garage, formerly an art studio, eventually become daughter Katie’s kingdom. Except feng shui didn’t materialize. “It was too big for a kid,” Ann says. “She wanted cozy.” After consuming “what turned out to be the most expensive bottle of wine I’ve ever drunk,” Ann suggested a flip-flop: Turn the cozy kitchen

January 2015P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

into a bedroom for Katie and the cavernous garage-bedroom into a kitchen she envisioned as a gathering place, where the children did homework at the long table while their parents finished paperwork at an antique desk, or relaxed in a low easy chair beside the bay window seat. Colonials called this the “keeping room.” Ann and Bruce prefer “heart of the home.” In the Colonial tradition, Bruce accomplished most construction himself with occasional extra hands and professional advice. The couple’s two pre-teen daughters became his journeymen. “Kids can do amazing things if we let them,” Bruce learned. Like plastering walls and laying floorboards. The experience took hold. Daughter Jennie is now studying structural engineering at Dartmouth College.

The undertaking

Work began in 2000. In addition to renovating the existing space, at his wife’s request Bruce added a mud-laundry room. They were torn up for a year. “We ate at Vito’s the better part of six months,” Ann recalls. From its inception, the heart of this heart-of-the-home project rested on patterning language introduced to the family by architect-neighbor Robert Anderson. Bruce, already a follower of the Whole Earth Catalog and How Buildings Learn understood the concept of viewing a home as a living thing, capable of growth and change. Of the several hundred “patterns” put forth in Alexander’s book, he adopted about a dozen. Among them, light on two sides of a room; windows that open wide, overlooking life; shelves rather than wallhung cupboards; meaningful personal objects on display. “Bruce is open to ideas,” Ann notes. His construction experience, however, was limited to building tree houses. “But I’m a fixer, and I found out you can learn by reading books,” he says. First, Bruce and Ann made scale drawings. Then, on nights and weekends,

the family crew tore down acoustic tiles, installed heart pine rafters rescued from a Durham tobacco warehouse and, over the rafters, a vaulted beadboard ceiling. From it hangs a powerful ceiling fan from a church in Texas. They replaced existing windows with paned casements from an old Pinehurst cottage — one forming the window seat used for reading or naps, another facing the street — a happy, friendly street where neighbors wave. “I like to watch people . . . sometimes a road race comes by. We open the windows wide and cheer for them,” Ann says. “Sometimes they come in for apple juice or a Band-Aid.” The sunken slate floor, while serviceable, seemed cold. Bruce raised the level and laid unfinished strip wood — no shortcuts. They decided on rough plaster walls painted a pale yellow rarely seen outside Europe, which figures, since Ann lived in a farmhouse in Southern France. The Impressionist influence is repeated in her choice of fabric patterns and colors, Mediterranean blue countertop tiles and a food-themed hooked wool rug under the long table covered in a blue checkered cloth. “At first I wanted an island but decided it was too static,” she says. “Besides, the table is a place where we can work.” In fact, all meals — family and holiday — are eaten at this table, since the house lacks a dining room. Bruce patched carpenter-made painted cabinets from the original kitchen into the new one, furthering the farmhouse appearance while recycling and saving dollars. No budget, he admits, but lots of sweat equity.

A sum of meaningful parts

They decided on a floor plan by carting home appliance boxes, cutting them into shapes and moving them around. Piece by piece the kitchen took shape. So far, so charming, with vibrant col-

ors glowing on winter afternoons when the sun streams through both southeastfacing windows. Yet nobody leaves the Cunninghams’ kitchen without hearing the provenance of their pièces de résistance. Beside the gas range a free-standing four-legged butcher’s block from a restaurant in France via a Greensboro antique dealer stands solid as a bull awaiting the matador. “Can’t you just see the butcher chopping?” Ann pantomimes against the worn surface. Fittingly, over the butcher block hangs a pot rack contrived from hooks that once speared sausages in a German charcuterie. Commanding attention, a breakfront of battleship (or butler’s pantry) proportions soars against the third wall. This piece, removed from the Pinehurst home of Dr. Francis Owens, for whom Owens Auditorium at Sandhills Community College is named, was white. Bruce decided the kitchen needed a splash of color and painted the beomoth an attention-grabbing barn red. Open racks hold brightly colored everyday dishes. Ann and Bruce’s choice of décor objects follows the “pattern” admonition to display “your own things,” here translated into a curiosity shop of toys marching across high shelves — the obligatory Raggedys, a Russian nesting doll, wooden duck on a string, also a key-wound Navy clock from Bruce’s

grandfather, a train set, family photos, a copper colander purchased on their honeymoon in France and, especially precious, a pitcher strewn with violets with Made in Japan printed across the underside. Ann’s mother rescued the lovely piece from the garbage during World War II, when owning Japanese merchandise was considered un-American. Even the stepstool Bruce climbs to reach higher shelves was once used by Ann, to watch her grandmother cook. “We have an emotional response to artwork and our ‘things,’” Ann says. In fact, the sole glamour accoutrement in the 400-square-foot kitchen is an Orient Express faucet from the prestigious Franke company of Switzerland, resembling a statue contrived from plumbing hardware.

Heart of the home beats on …

Bruce constructs. Ann cooks. Together, with daughters now grown and gone, they have created a kitchen personal as fingerprint, a kitchen to be understood, not simply admired or worse, ignored. A welcoming kitchen composed of life experiences, seasoned with panache, tailored to their needs. “It’s us,” Ann concludes. “It’s all here.” PS

January 2015P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

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January 2015P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

“To read a poem in January is as lovely as to go for a walk in June.”

— Jean Paul Sartre, existentialist philosopher and guy-among-guys

By Noah Salt Brent and Becky’s Bulbs, an outstanding and amazingly comprehensive catalog of great bulbs. www.brentandbeckysbulbs.com

Seeds for a Great Garden As sure as the January snow flies in the upper 48, seed catalogs descend on America’s mailboxes like a blizzard beginning in January. Ever anxious to be helpful, here’s six of the of old Almanac Gardener’s favorite — free — catalogs, which can be seen online but are always more fun to browse with a warm cup of something on a bleak midwinter day:

Bluestone Perennials, 1,200 fine quality perennials, shrubs and bulbs, a great planning resource. www.bluestoneperennials.com

Plant Delights Nursery, plantsman extraordinaire Tony Avent’s famously illustrated catalog of outstanding and unusual plants and hard to find seedlings, ideal for North Carolina’s weather zones. www.plantdelights.com Annie’s Annuals & Perennials. Specializing in rare and unusual annual and perennial seeds. www. anniesannuals.com Beauty Beyond Belief Heirloom Vegetables. Rare and unusual heirloom veggies your grandmother would have loved. Also regional wildflower mixes and native grasses. www.BBBseed.com

The Cook’s Garden, a great variety of seeds, plants, herbs, fruits, flowers and culinary supplies for the well-planted gourmet who loves to garden and vice versa. www.cooksgarden.com

Johnny’s Selected Seeds. Outstanding organic and heirloom seeds and fine garden tools from one of our favorite suppliers. www.johnnyseeds.com

Guide to a Bubbly New Year

“Like two lovers who have become lost in a winter blizzard and find a cozy warm hut in the forest; I now huddle everywhere with a friend. God and I have built an immense fire together; We keep each other happy, And warm.” — From The Subject Tonight is Love, Sixty Wild and Sweet Poems of Hafiz, translated by Daniel Ladinsky

A dear old chum of the Almanac Gardener named Edith Hazard and her co-writer Wallace Pinfold published a dandy and dang near indispensable little book twenty years ago called Rising to the Occasion (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill) that’s admirably still available via Amazon and other outlets. This charmingly practical guide book to the socially perplexed and occasionally confused proved especially popular as a Christmas or graduation gift to the younger socially delayed set, providing no-nonsense info on how to do everything from change a fuse to dance a waltz; make a great toast to build a good fire. Herewith, a timely New Year sampling on how to open a good bottle of champagne: “Angle the bottle away from you (and any onlookers), grip the cork firmly with the towel or napkin, and begin to twist the cork. It should be a bit stiff. If the bottle has just come from the ice bath or fridge, it may be slippery. Again, the towel will help you get a grip. Twist the cork some more or turn the base of the bottle while holding on to the cork. Ease the cork out — not the cannon shot willfully produced by revelers less skilled than yourself — and then see a puff of carbonated white smoke, followed in even shorter order, once you tilt the bottle, by a mass of delicious golden foam.” Bottoms up, Almanackers! To a prosperous New Year.

A r ts & C u l t u r e

WINTER 2015 CLASSES OIL and ACRYLIC

CREATING WITH OILS Diane Kraudelt - Monday, January 19, 9:30-3:30 $80 Supplies included. OIL PAINTING WITH COURTNEY Courtney Herndon – Wednesday/Thursday, January 14, 15, 9:00-3:30, $110 PAINTING SMALL TREASURES Harry Neely – Tuesday/Wednesday, January 20, 21, 9:30-4:00, $100 DISCOVERING ACRYLICS FOR BEGINNERS Pat McMahon – Monday/Tuesday, February 16, 17, 1:00-3:00 $40 PLEIN AIR PAINTING Harry Neely –Thursday, February 19, 9:30-3:00, $40 FOLLOW THE LEADER - (OIL) Joan Williams – Thurs., March 26, 10:00-3:30 $75 no discount - Supplies included. FOLLOW THE LEADER - (OIL) Joan Williams – Sat., March 28, 10:00-3:30 $75 no discount - Supplies included.

WATERCOLOR

WATERCOLOR ON RICE PAPER Pat McMahon – Monday/Tuesday January 26, 27, 1:00-3:00 $40 WATERCOLOR ON GESSO Irene Dobson – Tuesday/Wednesday, March 10, 11, 1:00-3:30 $50

COLORED PENCIL and PASTEL

COLORED PENCIL FOR BEGINNERS Betty Hendrix - Wednesday, February 4, - 10:00-4:00 $55 FLORAL COLOR, REALISTIC OR WHIMSICAL!?!? Betty Hendrix - Wednesday, February 18, - 10:00-4:00 $50 COLORED PENCIL ON PASTELMAT Betty Hendrix - Wednesday, March 25, - 10:00-4:00 $56 LANDSCAPE ON SANDED PAPER USING PASTEL UNDER-PAINTING Betty Hendrix - Wednesday, March 25, - 10:00-4:00 $50

OTHER MEDIUMS

GO WITH THE FLOW-BASIC ALCOHOL INK Pam Griner – Saturday, January 24, 12:00-3:00 $40 Supplies included. GELLI PRINTING Pat Halligan – Saturday, February 7, 10:00-12:00 $35 (Gelli plate included) COLLAGING OUT OF THE BOX Sandy Stratil – Monday/Tuesday, February 9, 10, 10:00-4:00 $105 ALCOHOL INK AND BEYOND Sandy Scott – Wednesday, February 25, 10:30-3:30 $40 SCRATCHBOARD AND PEN & INK Kate Lagaly - Friday, March 5, 10:00-3:30 $45 REDUCTION PRINTING Lynn Goldhammer – Tues.Wed., March 10, 11, 12:30-4:00 $95 Supplies included. ADVANCED GELLI PRINTING Pat Halligan – Friday, March 13, 10:00-3:00 $40 ADVANCED ALCOHOL INK TECHNIQUES Sandy Scott – Tuesday, March 24, 10:30-3:30 $40

WORKSHOPS 2015

MARCH 17 - 19 – Lauren Finn $375 APRIL 13 - 15 – “BEYOND THE PHOTOGRAPH” Oil Painting, Mark Kevin Horton $463 AUGUST 17 - 20 – “PUSHING THE ENVELOPE IN WATERCOLOR EXPRESS YOURSELF” Mel Stabin $600

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January 2015P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

A r ts & C u l t u r e

THE TONY速 AWARD-WINNING BROADWAY MUSICAL INSPIRED BY THE ELECTRIFYING TRUE STORY

January 15 7:30 p.m.

Bolshoi Ballet Series Live CAPTURED in HD from MOSCOW SUNDAYS at 1:00pm

January 1st

Swan Lake

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SYMPHONY Natalie MacMaster & Donell Leahy

Saturday, March 21

2014-2015

Visions from Cape Breton Tuesday, March 24

Givens Performing Arts Center

Call 910.521.6361 for tickets or online at www.uncp.edu/gpactickets

March 8th Romeo and Juliet April 19th

Ivan the Terrible TICKETS: $20 & $15 (12 & Under) GROUP TICKETS AVAILABLE FOR ALL SHOWS

The Sunrise Theater | 910.692.8501 250 NW Broad Street, Southern Pines, NC

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GET TIX! EMAIL: information@sunrisetheater.com | www.SunriseTheater.org

Claim your spotlight To advertise here, call 910-692-7271

Arts Entertainment C a l e n da r

Bird Walk

Snow Day Crafts at the Library

Robert Jospe’ Express at Rooster's Wife

Thursday, January 1

Tuesday, January 6

guides and water. No dogs. Weymouth Woods, 1024 Fort Bragg Road, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2167 or www.ncparks.gov.

Baby bunnies storytime is for ages birth to 18 months. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or www.sppl.net.

BIRD WALK. 8 a.m. Two-mile bird walk to look for • resident winter birds. Bring binoculars, cameras, field

BABY BUNNIES STORYTIME. 10:30 a.m. Parents • and children will participate in early literary practices.

FIRST DAY HIKE. 2 p.m. Start off the New Year by BEGINNERS DANCE CLASS. 6:30 p.m. Learn • • taking a two-mile hike with a ranger. Don’t forget proper the basics for the Foxtrot and the exciting Salsa. No

Given Book Shop. Free and open to the public. Given Memorial Library, 150 Cherokee Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 295-3642 or www.givenmemoriallibrary.org

BALLROOM FOR BEGINNERS. 6:30 p.m. • Carolina Pines Chapter of USA Dance invites you to

learn to dance the Cha Cha. $10 per person. Class held at Pinehurst Dance Studio, Pinehurst Executive Center, 300 Hwy 5, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 331-9965.

footwear and water. Weymouth Woods, 1024 Fort Bragg Road, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2167 or www. ncparks.gov.

pre-registration necessary. Cost: $10 cash. Pinehurst Dance Studio, Pinehurst Executive Center, 300 Hwy 5, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 331-9965.

Friday, January 9

Friday, January 2

Wednesday, January 7

ties will be available throughout the day. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines Info: (910) 692-8235 or www.sppl.net.

fants and toddlers (ages birth through 5 years). Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or www.sppl.net.

playing games and making a craft. All activities geared toward 3- to 5-year-olds. Weymouth Woods, 1024 Fort Bragg Road, Southern Pines. Info: (190) 692-2167 or www.ncparks.gov.

Sunday, January 4

Thursday, January 8

Wife at Poplar Knight Spot, 114 Knight St., Aberdeen. Admission: $28; $33 at the door. Info: (910) 944-7502 or www.theroosterswife.org.

Library and Tufts Archives, will talk about the history of the Village Post Office, the immediate surrounding buildings, and the upcoming Grand Opening of the

CRAFT DAY. Stop by the Library with your children PRESCHOOL STORYTIME. 3:30 – 4 p.m. Stories, • • to celebrate the New Year with crafts. Self-directed activisongs, and fun, followed by playtime. Storytime is for in-

ROOSTER’S WIFE. 12:46 p.m. & 6:46 p.m. • The Gibson Brothers play two shows. The Rooster's

Key:

• • Art

Music/Concerts

•

Dance/Theater

GATHERING AT GIVEN. 3:30 p.m. Audrey • Moriarty, Executive Director of the Given Memorial

• • Film

Literature/Speakers

• • Fun

History

HIDING IN HIBERNATION. 10 a.m. Find out • where animals go during winter by reading books,

Saturday, January 10

SNOW DAY CRAFTS. Celebrate winter with • snowy day crafts. Make activities to help keep boredom

at bay during the coldest months. The fun goes all day and is open to children grades K – 5 and their families. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or www.sppl.net.

•

Sports

January 2015 P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

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Magnolia String Quartet

Jazzy Friday at Cypress Bend Vineyard

Longrifle Lecture

Sunday, January 11

Monday, January 12

feature "Learning to Spin." Spinner and knitter Holly Wunsch will teach the basics of spinning on a drop spindle. Supplies provided by Friends of Southern Pines Library. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 6928235 or www.sppl.net.

the Hannah Center Theater at The O'Neal School, 3300 Airport Road, Southern Pines. Info: www. sandhillsphotoclub.com.

• LECTURE SERIES. The library’s ongoing lecture series Explorations: A Forum for Adults will

•

ROOSTER’S WIFE. 6:46 p.m. Robert Jospé Express. The Rooster's Wife at Poplar Knight Spot, 114 Knight St., Aberdeen. Admission: $18, $22 at the door. Info: (910) 944-7502 or www.theroosterswife.org.

SANDHILLS PHOTO CLUB. 7–9 p.m. Guests • are always welcome. The first meeting will be held at

Tuesday, January 13

•

BABY BUNNIES STORYTIME. 10:30 a.m. Parents and children participate in early literary practices. Baby bunnies storytime is for ages birth to 18 months. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or www.sppl.net.

The Met January 17th Lahar’s The Merry Widow January 31st Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffman Bolshoi January 25th Swan Lake

BEGINNERS DANCE CLASS. 6:30 p.m. Come • try the Rumba, a slow romantic Latin dance, and have some fun with the Swing. No pre-registration necessary. Cost: $10 cash. Pinehurst Dance Studio, Pinehurst Executive Center, 300 Hwy 5, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 331-9965.

Wednesday, January 14

PRESCHOOL STORYTIME. 3:30 – 4 p.m. Join • us for stories, songs, and fun, and then stay for play-

time. Storytime is for infants and toddlers (ages birth through 5 years). Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or www.sppl.net.

TICKETS

For a complete list of show times

ThE MET $27 BolShoI $20

visit sunrisetheater.org

Available Online, at the Box Office or Over the Phone

250 NW Broad Street Southern Pines, NC 28387

or call

910-692-8501.

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IN-HOME CARE SERVICES

TIMEWORKS Watch & Clock Specialist

FREE Review of your Business Financial Statements

Coastal Bermuda Hay Longleaf Pine Needles Rye/Wheat Straw 910-673-0417

Gail Pizetoski, CPA, P.A. Accounting Taxes & Business Advisors 800-572-2360 gailpizcpa7@gmail.com

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January 2015 P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

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Thursday, January 15

FAMILY FUN NIGHT. 5:30 p.m. Create your • own origami, and learn about the science and history of the craft. Children in grades K–5 and their families are invited to this program. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or www.sppl.net.

BALLROOM FOR BEGINNERS. 6:30 p.m. • Carolina Pines Chapter of USA Dance invites you to

learn to dance the Waltz. $10 per person. Class held at Pinehurst Dance Studio, Pinehurst Executive Center, 300 Hwy 5, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 331-9965.

STRING QUARTET. 7:30 p.m. The Fayetteville • Symphony Orchestra and St. John’s Episcopal Church

partner for the second year to present “The Salon Series” at St. John’s. This year, the series starts with a concert by the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra Magnolia String Quartet. St. John's Episcopal Church, 302 Green St., Fayetteville. Info: (910) 433-4690 or www.fayettevillesymphony.org.

Friday, January 16

JAZZY FRIDAY. 7 p.m. An evening of live jazz and • popular music provided by the Mike Wallace Quartet.

Admission is $10 per person. Food vendor available; soda and water for sale. Cypress Bend Vineyards, 21904 Riverton Road, Wagram. Info: (910) 369-0411 or www. cypressbendvineyards.com.

Saturday, January 17

Transit Damage Freight

If it’s not in stock, we can order it! Factory direct, First quality. Come in and save! NEW and Transit Damaged Furniture and New Bedding at Prices You Can Afford Since 1966. 346 Grant Rd., Vass | 910.245.4977 | M-S 10am - 5:30pm Just off US 1 North. Next door to Carolina Storage www.transitdamagefreight@webs.com

NORTH CAROLINA POETRY SOCIETY • MEETING. Join in at the Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities, 555 East Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: 910 692 6261 or www.weymouthcenter.org.

NEW PRODUCTION. 1 – 4:40 p.m. Lehár’s The • Merry Widow. The Sunrise Theater, 250 NW Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8501 or www. sunrisetheater.com.

Sunday, January 18

KIDS MOVIE. 2:30 p.m. Adventure flies higher • than ever before in this sequel that finds championship

air-racer Dusty Crophopper beginning an exciting new career fighting forest fires. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or www.sppl.net.

WINTER PROGRAM SERIES. 3 p.m. Ever • wonder how local animals keep warm and where their

food comes from in the cold winter months? Find out how life has adapted to spend winters at Weymouth. Hot cider will be served. Weymouth Woods, 1024 Fort Bragg Road, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2167 or www.ncparks.gov.

•

ZÉPHYROS WINDS. One of America’s distinguished chamber music ensembles, now in its 19th season, brings together five of the finest wind virtuosos of our time. Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities, 555 East Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 6926261 or www.weymouthcenter.org.

•ROOSTER’S WIFE. 6:46 p.m. Rob Ickes and Trey ••• • • • • • Key: Art Music/Concerts Film Literature/Speakers Sports

Dance/Theater Fun History

LYDIA’S Upscale Consignment Boutique

Wishes you a very Happy New Year! Make a statement this year with Fabulous Finds at Lydia’s! ChiCo’s • st. john • talbots • ralph lauren jones new york • ann taylor Exquisite Jewelry • Accessories • Home Accents and much, much MORE! Always something unique and affordable, with great selections. Lay-Away always available! 1460 NC Hwy 5 • Pinehurst • 910.295.6700 • Mon-sat 10am-5pm J.A. Spivey Hair Company Located on Lower Level • 910.295.2815

ca l e n d a r Hensley. The Rooster's Wife at Poplar Knight Spot, 114 Knight St., Aberdeen. Admission: $16, $20 at the door. Info: (910) 944-7502 or www.theroosterswife.org.

Monday, January 19

WOMEN OF WEYMOUTH. Anna Grace Lafaye, • M.A.L.S Visual and Performing Arts introduces artist

Kiki Farish, a recipient of the 2014-15 NC Visual Artist Fellowship. Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities, 555 East Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 6926261 or www.weymouthcenter.org.

Tuesday, January 20

BABY BUNNIES STORYTIME. 10:30 a.m. • Parents and children participate in early literary practices. Baby bunnies storytime is for ages birth to 18 months. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or www.sppl.net.

JAMES BOYD BOOK CLUB. Join in at the • Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities, 555 East Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-6261 or www.weymouthcenter.org.

•

YOUNG ADULT READERS’. 5:30 p.m. The program continues with a DIY Sharpie Mug Night. Bring your creativity and make the perfect personal mug for yourself or a friend. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 6928235 or www.sppl.net. Key:

• • Art

Music/Concerts

•

Dance/Theater

•

BEGINNERS DANCE CLASS. 6:30 p.m. Learn some new moves for your slow dancing and the exciting Cha Cha. No pre-registration necessary. Cost: $10 cash. Pinehurst Dance Studio, Pinehurst Executive Center, 300 Hwy 5, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 331-9965.

•

CITIZEN’S ACADEMY. 6 – 8 p.m. The program continues with a session at the Southern Pines Police Department. A light supper will be served. Spaces may still be available for drop-in. Southern Pines Police Department, 450 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 6928235 or www.sppl.net.

Wednesday, January 21

PRESCHOOL STORYTIME. 3:30 – 4 p.m. Stories, • songs, and fun, followed by playtime. Storytime is for in-

fants and toddlers (ages birth through 5 years). Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or www.sppl.net.

Thursday, January 22

BALLROOM FOR BEGINNERS. 6:30 p.m. • Carolina Pines Chapter of USA Dance invites you to

learn to dance the Tango. $10 per person. Class held at Pinehurst Dance Studio, Pinehurst Executive Center, 300 Hwy 5, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 331-9965.

NC SYMPHONY. 8 – 10 p.m. Presenting the • New World Symphony. Meet the Artists event in the

Pinecrest High School Band Room at 7 p.m. R.E. Lee

• • Film

Literature/Speakers

• • Fun

History

Auditorium at Pinecrest High School, 250 Voit Gilmore Lane, Southern Pines. Info: (919) 733-2750 or www. ncsymphony.org.

Saturday, January 24

PRUNING WORKSHOP. 10 – 12 p.m. Conducted • by Moore County Extension agent Taylor Williams.

Learn the basics of pruning then go outside for a demonstration of how it is done. Free. Sandhills Horticultural Gardens-Ball Visitors Center 3395 Airport Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 695-2882 or www.sandhillshorticulturalgardens.com.

FREE LECTURE. 2 p.m. Join renowned North • Carolina longrifle collector and author William Ivey

from Asheboro and the Moore County Historical Association to hear a free illustrated lecture on the nine schools of the weapon. Southern Pines Civic Club, corner of Ashe St. and Pennsylvania Ave. in Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2051.

MOORE COUNTY HOUNDS AND HUNT. Join • in at the Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities, 555 East Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-6261 or www.weymouthcenter.org.

RAISING THE ROOF. 7:30 p.m. Doors open • 6:30 p.m. A variety show to benefit the Sunrise Theater.

Tickets: $15; $20/VIP. Sunrise Theater, 250 NW Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8501 or www. sunrisetheater.com.

•

Sports

fa y ette v i l l e

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

www.metrospecs.us

910.221.0191

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

January 2015 P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

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Sunday, January 25

BOLSHOI BALLET. 1 p.m. The Sunrise presents • live via satellite from Moscow the Bolshoi Ballet perform-

ing Swan Lake. Tickets are $20. The Sunrise Theater, 250 NW Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8501 or www.sunrisetheater.com.

•ROOSTER’S WIFE. 6:46 p.m. Lindsay Lou and the Flatbellys. John Cowan also performs. The Rooster's Wife at Poplar Knight Spot, 114 Knight St., Aberdeen. Admission: $30, $35 at the door. Info: (910) 944-7502 or www.theroosterswife.org.

Monday, January 26

FILM SERIES. 2:30 – 4:30 p.m. In this film, the • Kadam family leaves India for France where they open

a restaurant directly across the road from Madame Mallory's Michelin-starred eatery. Starring Helen Mirren. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or www.sppl.net.

SANDHILLS NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY • MEETING. 7 p.m. “The Art of Falconry: Ancient Sport

in a Modern World.” Join local Southern Pines falconer, Hank Minor, for an engaging and informative look at the art and practice of falconry. After a brief history of the sport and the types of raptors, equipment, and facilities employed, Hank will bring out the stars of the show — his two female Harris hawks — to share stories of hunting with these magnificent birds. Ample time will be allowed for questions from the audience, and photos are encouraged. Visitors welcome. Weymouth Woods Auditorium, Ft. Bragg Road, Southern Pines. Call Mon and Fri 1024 7:45am to 2:00pm (910) 692-2167 for more information or visit online at www.sandhillsnature.org.

Tuesday, January 27

Wednesday, January 28

•

PRESCHOOL STORYTIME. 3:30 – 4 p.m. Stories, songs, and fun, followed by playtime. Storytime is for infants and toddlers (ages birth through 5 years). Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or www.sppl.net.

HOME CARE Helping loved ones stay in their homes Available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week Personalized care plan Private pay and long-term care insurance accepted

Call for your free consultation. 910-246-1011 No contract. One hour minimum.

Wherever home is, St. Joseph of the Pines will be there. Home Care is our way of taking care of you where you live.

Serving Moore, Hoke, Cumberland, Robeson, Harnett and Lee counties. www.sjp.org

SEVEN LAKES Location of

Now Open

Thursday, January 29

WINDWOOD QUINTET. 7:30 p.m. The second • concert of the series: Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra

General & Surgical Dermatology SPECIALIZING IN: Skin Cancer MOHS Surgery Mole & Cyst removal Acne General Dermatology

Our Providers

Woodwind Quintet. St. John's Episcopal Church, 302 Green St., Fayetteville. Info: (910)433-4690 or www. fayettevillesymphony.org.

J. Todd Williams, MD FAAD Gay Markham, ANP

Friday, January 30

BEACH FRIDAY. 7 p.m. An evening of live jazz • and popular music provided by The Sand Band.

Admission is $10 per person. Food vendor available; soda and water for sale. Cypress Bend Vineyards, 21904 Riverton Road, Wagram. Info: (910) 369-0411 or www.cypressbendvineyards.com.

••• • •

Key: Art Music/Concerts Film Literature/Speakers Sports

• • •

Dance/Theater Fun History

Most Insurances Accepted 145 W. Plaza Dr., Suite K • Seven Lakes 910-673-8410 • www.asheborodermatology.com Hours: Monday and Friday 7:45am to 2:00pm

ca l e n d a r

Saturday, January 31

METROPOLITAN OPERA. 1 – 4:40 p.m. • Offenbach’s Le Contes d’Hoffman at the Sunrise Theater, 250 NW Broad St., Southern Pines. Tickets are $27 and need to be reserved. Info: (910) 692-8501 or www. sunrisetheater.com.

LAUNCH DATE MEETING. Be on the lookout for • the new local children's educational group called SOAR. SOAR is a Kids Club of sorts with a focus on teaching kids virtues such as kindness, patience, integrity, character, strength and gratitude. Meet Tuesdays/Thursdays in the early evenings. Projected to launch mid-January. Info: www.kidsofvirtue.wix.com/kidsofvirtue.

Art Galleries

ABOUT ART GALLERY inside The Market Place Midland Bistro Building, 2160 Midland Road, Pinehurst. The gallery features local artists. Open Monday-Friday 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. (910) 215-596. ART NUTZ AND RAVEN POTTERY, 125 SW Broad St., Southern Pines. Come see the potter at work. Features art, pottery from local potters, handmade jewelry, glass and more. Monday-Saturday 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. (910) 695-1555, www.ravenpottery.com. Artist GAlleRy OF SOUTHERN PINES, 167 E. New Hampshire Avenue., Southern Pines. Features art and fine crafts from more than 60 North Carolina artists. 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., Monday-Saturday. (910) 692-6077. Artists League of the Sandhills, 129 Exchange St. in historic Aberdeen. Exhibit hours are noon – 3 p.m., Monday-Saturday. (910) 944-3979. Broadhurst Gallery, 2212 Midland Road, Pinehurst. Showcases works by nationally recognized artists such as Louis St. Lewis, Lula Smith, Shawn Morin, Rachel Clearfield, Judy Cox and Jason Craighead. Meetthe-artist opportunities available. Monday-Friday (closed Wednesday), 11 a.m. – 5 p.m., Saturday, 1 – 4 p.m and special appointments. (910) 295-4817, www.broadhurstgallery.com.

Find your comfort zone in the New Year! No entrance fees • Own your own home Age in place with all levels of care • World class medical minutes away Onsite Wake Forest Baptist Health Clinic

Beyond Expectations

The Campbell House Galleries, 482 E. Connecticut Avenue., Southern Pines. MondayFriday 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. and every third weekend of the month from 2 – 4 p.m. (910) 692-4356, www. mooreart.org. The Downtown Gallery inside Cup of Flow, 115 NE Broad St., Southern Pines. Everchanging array of local and regional art, pottery and other handmade items. (910) 693-1999. Exchange Street Gallery, Artists League of the Sandhills, 129 Exchange Street in historic Aberdeen. “It’s Southern, Ya’ll,” works of Pat McMahon and Betty DiBartolomeo. September 2-28. Regular hours noon to 3:00, Monday-Saturday. (910) 944-3979. The Gallery at Seven Lakes at the St. Mary Magdalene building, 1145 Seven Lakes Drive. Just nine miles from the Pinehurst Traffic Circle up 211,

••• • •

Key: Art Music/Concerts Film Literature/Speakers Sports

• • •

Dance/Theater Fun History

January 2015 P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

New Year

N e w L o& c at i o n ! Where everything is handmade by over 25 artists in fiber, glass, clay, paper, metal and wood Learn something new... Offering Pottery Classes Beginners to Advanced

Visit our Facebook page for class schedule and more information 260 W. Pennsylvania Ave • Southern Pines, NC • 336-465-1776

Your Guests Can Be Our Guests

Let us host your family and friends

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donovan G. Bachtell, CPA, CMA, CGMA, MBA Pinehurst • Southern Pines • Aberdeen NC

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

910-692-0855

www.WindridgeGardens.com

Winter Hours: Fri. & Sat. 10AM-5PM, Sunday 1PM-5PM.

encore this gallery is dedicated to local artists. WednesdayThursday 1 – 4 p.m.

BARGAIN BOX II NON-PROFIT THRIFT SHOP

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

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

Antiques Collectibles Fine Furniture Old Dolls Old Toys & Trains Glassware China Civil War Militaria US Coins Located in Town & Country Antique Mall • Hwy. 1 Aberdeen (across from Aberdeen Lake/Park) 910-944-3359 • 910-638-4542 • apbrill@earthlink.net

Friend to Friend’s

a thriFt boutique store

All Proceeds Benefit Survivors of Domestic Violence Tues 10:00-1:00 • Wed-Sat 10:00-4:00 125 S. Bennett Street • Southern Pines

910-992-4677 • friendtofriend.me

Antiques • Collectables Vintage • Primitive Unique Home & Ofﬁce Decor New & Consigned Furniture www.westendpastimes.com Find us on Facebook!

5336 NC 211 • West End, NC • 910-673-2065

ANTIQUE & VINTAGE FURNITURE, PRIMITIVES, GLASSWARE, ART & N.C. POTTERY, JEWELRY, ADVERTISING, TINS, TOOLS, LINENS, BOOKS & MAGAZINES

find us at 148 s. moore street

Buying Vintage

and Military Watches

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

HOLLYHOCKS ART GALLERY, 905 Linden Road, Pinehurst. Features artwork by local award winning artists, Diane Kraudelt, Linda Griffin, Jessie MacKay, Julie Messerschmidt, Charles Roberts, and artist/owner, Jane Casnellie. MondaySaturday 10:30 a.m. – 9:30 p.m. (910) 255-0665, www.hollyhocksartgallery.com. Lady Bedford’s Tea Parlour, 21 Chinquapin Road, Pinehurst. Features local artists. Tuesday-Saturday 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. (910) 255-0100, www.ladybedfords.com.

SANFORD ANTIQUE MALL

1579 Rays Bridge Rd, Whispering Pines, NC 910-688-7119 1 mile N of Airport, Off Hwy 22

Hastings Gallery in the Katharine L. Boyd Library at Sandhills Community College, Pinehurst. Gallery hours are Monday-Thursday 7:45 a.m. – 9 p.m., Friday 7:45 a.m. – 5 p.m. and Saturday 8:30 a.m. – 2 p.m.

N.C. POTTERY • JEWELRY FURNITURE • ART • CANDLES & MUCH MORE! OPEN EVERY DAY 919.776.3489

www.carolinaartistscolony.com

OPEN EVERY DAY!! MON-FRI 10a TO 5:30pm SUNDAYS 1p TO 5p 118 SOUTH MOORE ST. SANFORD, NC

919.775.1969

www.sanfordantiquemall.com

Sunshine Antique & Mercantile Company Buy, Sell or Trade Specializing in Primitive & Country Furnishings Thursday- Saturday 10 to 5 Monday-Wednesday by appointment or chance 115 N. Sycamore St., Aberdeen, NC (919) 995-3488 shop • (919) 673-9388 or (919) 673-9387 cells

The Old Silk Route, 113 West Main St., Aberdeen. Specializes in Asian original art, including silk paintings, tapestries, Buddhist Thangkas and Indian paper miniatures. Monday, ThursdaySaturday 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. (910) 295-2055. SANDHILLS WOMAN’S EXCHANGE, 15 Azalea Road, Pinehurst. All merchandise at the Exchange is handmade by consignors who live in the community. 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Lunch served 11.30 a.m – 2 p.m. (910) 295-4677. Seagrove Candle Company, 116 N.W. Broad St., Southern Pines. Showcases art of the Sandhills and Seagrove area. Monday, WednesdaySaturday 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., (910) 695-0029. SKY Art Gallery, 602 Magnolia Dr., Aberdeen. Tues.-Sat. 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. (910) 944-9440, www. skyartgallery.com. Studio 590 by the pond in Dowd Cabin, 590 Dowd Circle, Pinehurst. This historic log cabin is the working studio and gallery of artists Betty DiBartolomeo and Harry Neely. Fine oil paintings, commissions and instruction. (910) 639-9404. White Hill Gallery, 407 U.S. 15-501, Carthage, offers a variety of pottery. (910) 947-6100.

Nature Centers

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

Historical Sites

Bethesda Church and Cemetery. Guided tours for groups by appointment. 1020 Bethesda Road, Aberdeen. (910) 944-1319. Bryant House and McLendon Cabin. Tours by appointment. (910) 692-2051 or (910) 673-0908.

January 2015 P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

ca l e n d a r Carthage Historical Museum. Sundays, 2 – 5 p.m. or by appointment. Located at Rockingham and Saunders streets, Carthage. (9 10) 947-2331. House in the Horseshoe. Open year-round. Hours vary. 288 Alston House Road (10 miles north of Carthage), Sanford. (910) 947-2051. Malcolm Blue Farm and Museum. 1 – 4 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday. Group tours can be arranged by appointment. (910) 944-7558 or (910) 603-2739. North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame. 10 a.m. – 2 p.m., Monday-Friday, at the Weymouth Center for Arts and Humanities, 555 E. Connecticut Avenue., Southern Pines. (910) 692-6261. Shaw House. Open 1 – 4 p.m. Tuesday-Friday. (910) 692-2051. Tufts Archives. 9:30 a.m. – 5 p.m., MondayFriday, and 9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Saturday. (910) 295-3642.

New Year Wishes! for a Healthy 2015

Williamson Gynecology announces the addition of a new Nurse Practitioner to our Practice: Angela Walling, FNP-BC Angela has been practicing Women’s Care in the Sandhills for over 10 years. We are excited to have her at Williamson Gynecology!

Union Station. Open 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. Located in downtown Aberdeen. (910) 944-5902. Sandhills Woman’s Exchange Log Cabin. Open 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. (910) 295-4677. PS

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

3 Regional Circle, Suite B • Pinehurst, NC 28374

(910) 215-0111 Cile H. Williamson | MD, MPH, FACOG • Amy LaFrenz | WHNP-BC • Angela Walling | FNP-BC

January PineNeedler Answers

DEAR WINTER.....

from page 95

Solution:

E D G A R

G O R G E

C H U B

H O N E

A F R O

F L U B

3 4 9 6 8 1 5 2 7

O N I O N

S T M

M A C H A M E S E T I C E B O S I T E D W I D E N F O R D I P U D E C E Y T

1 8 5 2 4 7 9 3 6

7 2 6 3 5 9 1 4 8

O G L E D M E A T Y S I R

8 6 1 5 3 2 7 9 4

M M A A I N I N G M O D B R E S L A P M A T A R H S E A H I M C R Y M A L A G E T E S E S S

4 9 2 1 7 6 3 8 5

5 7 3 8 9 4 6 1 2

9 1 4 7 2 5 8 6 3

A R M E D

T E A S

O A K S

P L E A

Y O W L

O R E S

U N D O

T U F L F I A P

A F O R E

L O P E D

H E A P S

6 3 7 4 1 8 2 5 9

2 5 8 9 6 3 4 7 1

Mid-State Furniture of Carthage

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Welcome Dr. James Marino! Pinehurst Hip & Knee is

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January 2015P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

SandhillSeen “Where the Treetops Glisten” Weymouth Center Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Photographs by Al & Annette Daniels Irene Russell, May Dembosky, Bernadine Fowler

Bob Hughes, Maggie Warren

Suzanne & Norman Zanetti Ellen Burke, Janet Farrell

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Susan Newell, Susie Leader, Hartley Fitts

Harley Fitts, Jim Heiman, Catherine & John Earp Kay & Bo Bozarth

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Looking forward to another year of serving families in the Moore County area.

Happy New Year! Paul Blake (910) 315-7044 • chuck helBling (910) 315-4501

Refer to The Pilot Newspaper for current sale dates & locations

or go to ThePilot.com! 86

January 2015P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

SandhillSeen

Sue Huston, Sandra Phillips

Holly and Ivy Dinner The Holly Inn Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Photographs by Al & Annette Daniels Christine Pritchard, Liz McClain, Elaine Moody

Kay Bozarth, Graham Huston, Sharon & Carnie Lawson

Sandra & Randall Phillips

Lulu & Charlie Eichhorn as socialite London Wilton, and tailor Mr. Alby Stitchin Kay Bozarth, Jack Farrell, Bo Bozarth

Dave & Pam Hampton, Bo Bozarth

Kathy McPherson, Mike Sanders, Randall Phillips, Susan Sanders Michael Edwards, John Zopatti, Loretta & Charles Aldridge

Cynthia & John Strickland, Audrey Moriarty

Visit

online @

www.pinestrawmag.com PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 2015

Our new year’s resOlutiOn? why, to needle moore of course!

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January 2015P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

SandhillSeen

David Raley

Cameron & Lincoln Sadler

Moore County Hounds Opening Meet Buchan Field Thursday, November 27, 2014

Photographs by Jeanne Paine & Michele Smith Rev. Dr. Randy Foster

Markie Clowes, Tricia Greenleaf

Corine Longanbach

Bryan & Kim Deaton, Liz & Fabian Luna

Rhonda Dretel

Meredith Coleman, Mike Morgan

The photographers: Michele Smith, Bob Hebert, Ron Norman, Claudia Coleman, Holly Matt, Timothy Hale Rev. Dr. Randy Foster blessing the hounds

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David Raley, Met Wyatt

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January 2015P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

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

Opening a View

By Geoff Cutler

We were des-

tined for a view. There’s no doubt of that. Year after year the trees kept falling, succumbing to the plague of beetles that chewed them to their core. And in the hollow before cliff met ocean, we’d piled the trees’ remains alongside old porch board and rotted Greekstyle pillars that some visitor to the island had brought years ago. The pillars were a mystery. They just showed up one year, lining either side of the path to the only dwelling on this tiny island off the coast of Maine. Some loved the pillars, saying they lent symbolic meaning and gravitas to this hideaway of natural peace and quiet. Some thought they were hideously unnatural among the fir, spruce and osprey. Wretched reminders of the civilized world where civilization was but a stranger. Either way, the harsh reality of Maine weather would have its way with these pillars. Rotting them, rendering them meaningless. So onto the pile of treetops and planks we threw them.

We lit the pile and flames shot to the sky. Before, we’d resisted burning. The pile had gotten too big. Too dangerous, we thought. What if it got away from us? Burned the cabin down? The truth is, if the cabin wasn’t there, a fire which consumed the island would probably be the best thing for it. Bring rejuvenating life back to the ground. Clear once and for all the dead blow-downs left by the voracious insects. A fire like that would speed nature’s intent, would allow for a re-birth. Without it, it would be countless years before the majesty

of this nook in the middle of nowhere returned. As the fire burned, we cut and continued to clear the debris. We threw great armloads of the mess that had for so long helped to block the view of the bay and neighboring islands. Before they had come crashing down, the trees had walled us in completely. There was just a slit we could see through to the ocean. Just the narrowest of peeks of what lay beyond our refuge. Most felt it was safer that way. That when boats went by, lobstermen pulling their traps, or summer sailors on their way to nowhere, that they would see the mooring and the stairs leading from the beach to . . . ? And maybe they wouldn’t stop, we thought. Maybe they wouldn’t tie their boats to go to see what was at the end of those stairs. But in case curiosity got the best of them, we left the door to the cabin unlocked. We left a note. It said that they were welcome to come. To stop for a picnic, maybe a night over. But to please leave the place as they had found it. Maybe split and stack enough wood to start the campfire or stove if they used any of what we’d left for our return. This seemed to work pretty well. On occasion, visitors did come and stop. We read of their visits in the island’s log. All said roughly the same thing. “Thank you for letting us stop at this hidden treasure.” Some wrote poems, others left sketches attempting to depict their feelings about this spot where nature’s complexity was revealed in utter simplicity. By afternoon, we were tired of feeding the fire. We’d sawed and chopped and carried. We’d dug a break, and broke root ends when those roots and the humus caught fire and smoldered underground. And when it was done, we raked the area clean. We turned and looked at what we had accomplished. And there it was. Something new and wondrous. Something we had not seen in all the years we had come. Something that we thought would not be safe to uncover. A simple view. We poured drinks, sat down by the campfire, and stared. PS Geoff can be reached at geoffcutler@embarqmail.com.

dining guide

Restaurant Authentic Thai Cusine

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

Come enjoy our Italian Atmosphere for great food with friends and family! Tues., Wed., & Thurs. Fri. & Sat. Sun. & Mon. 5pm to 9pm 5pm to 10pm Closed

We accept reservations. 515 S.E. Broad St | Southern Pines, NC 28387 910-725-1868 | www.curtscucina.com

2015 begins here

New Years Day at The Bell Tree

Open 7 Days

Smoke Free Environment

Lunch

Tuesday - Friday 11:30am - 2:30pm Sunday 11:30am - 2:30pm

Dinner

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

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Open new Years daY! cOllege bOwl game daYs Enjoy our Famous Wings while dining in or order out Game Day Wing Platters. dOn’t super bOwl sundaY, februarY 1st t fOrge

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To advertise, call 910-693-7271 92

January 2015P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

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

January’s Stars

By Astrid Stellanova

Time for a cosmic re-set, sugar

Happy New Year, Star Children! Ruled by Saturn, our Capricorn dearies are truly destiny’s hard-working, hard-playing children. Elvis, Betty White, Kate Middleton Windsor, Jim Carrey, First Lady Michelle Obama — all born under the sign of Capricorn. Who wouldn’t want to share the playground with Cappies? Capricorn (December 22–January 19) The sun transits your sign from January 15 until February 14. Due to Mercury still being in your sign this month, your level of energy continues surging like you just sucked down two Red Bulls. I’m here to tell you that a package arrives — in a form I lack the powers to fully describe, but let’s just call it unexpected. Tear off the wrapper and just know that it is the first of several unexpected events still to come. Deep breaths. Go ahead and blow the candles, but don’t blow a wad this month when the celebrations begin. And they will begin, Sugar. Aquarius (January 20–February 18) If you followed through and started that creative venture last month, this is when you get a better understanding of what it will require. Trust close friends — you’ve got even more of them than hopes and wishes. They can see you more clearly than you know. And listen to Astrid: You get seduced very easily. You have a trusting nature, like my Aquarian cousin Luther. It should take more than a can of pork and beans to lure you to the picnic, you know what I mean? By sign you have so much mental ability, but Honey, you are either polite or unpredictable. Hold out for ham. Pisces (February 19–March 20) There is something fishy going on in your personal life; speak up and don’t let anybody treat you like a durned fool. When you get worked up, you can cuss the paint off a fire hydrant, so keep your cool. Mars is in your money sector next month. You will do fine with finances — and possibly even more than fine. You may be tempted to check something off your bucket list that involves Little Debbie products; why not, Honey? Life can be sweet. Aries (March 21–April 19) Venus may be in retrograde, but that don’t stop you from finding love if that is what you want. Especially a retread love, which is, IMHO, about as good a bargain as a retread tire. Don’t have much wear on it. But money will be in your wallet and a song in your heart. It’s a good year for you if you don’t mind having to work for it. Outside of a second job, try zipping up the wallet and resisting at least every other one of those irresistible things you find. An old power struggle rears up again; it is family-related, so a lot to handle. You’re a softer touch than anybody knows — but you know! Taurus (April 20–May 20) You may win a trip; maybe to some prize destination like Hershey, Pennsylvania. A Taurus has a special weakness for chocolate, and this could be a dream come true, Sweet Thing. With Saturn in your relationship sector, you might just find the one you would want to come along for a cocoa dip in the chocolate Jacuzzi. You will feel compelled to find love this year. If you are already in a relationship, it means you are going to be able to meet your full love potential. If you aren’t, hang onto your Hanes, Baby, because it is going to be hard to keep them on. Gemini (May 21–June 20) Last month, you thought your true love had a cheating heart. Now, you have gotten a fixation on the neighbor. It’s hard to get your traction this month, but blame it all on Jupiter. Jupiter has gotten you all shook up, Baby. Some of my psychic friends call it a curious situation, but that is like calling an eclipse a little shade. Honey, you have a lot more control over things than you believe. Keep your head down, and be sure you don’t spend too much time on trivial crap that really doesn’t matter. It’s all in your hands, truly, and if you keep them occupied, you will not get them caught creeping around in the wrong place.

Cancer (June 21–July 22) The last cosmic cycle gave you a gigantic wedgie. Now, you get some astral relief. Thank your lucky Mars for coming to the rescue, Baby. And don’t forget to thank Pluto, who is going to transform your relationships all through 2015. Your indecisiveness has not helped one bit; finally you get some clarity but don’t second-guess your choices. Roll with it, and trust the universe is on your side. You have worked hard; try a little time on the playground. Leo (July 23–August 22) Your redneck charm could woo and win a duchess — at least the Duchess of York — when Mars is in your relationship sector. But put work ahead of love in the first quarter of 2015. You can work on your, um, courtly manners later. If you roll up your sleeves, you could have some very unexpected payoffs. Sweet Thing, love don’t pay the bills and you have champagne tastes. If you pay attention to finances, you will have good mojo with money and career options. Astrid don’t lie about money — seldom ever. Virgo (August 23––September 22) Taking advantage of a good deal too late is like restocking floor fans in the middle of a hurricane. So keep up with the stars, Child, and don’t let opportunities blow right on by you. This is a year to pay attention to your work life. Mercury will mess with you but be determined to work through your frustrations. Bait your hook — remember you have to show up first if you want to fish. If you do, there will be plenty of bites and you will snag a big fish on your hook; but give it a lot of play, loose the line, and you will reel it in. And don’t be afraid to go fishing with an old pal — or former employer. Libra (September 23–October 22) You like to explain yourself. A lot. Take it from Astrid. Don’t complain, and don’t explain, just like I used to say in the hair salon. Mars has big power over you by late winter; it will make you urgently wish to seek out new relationships and, as a result, you are a lot more reckless than normal. Move carefully, because your sign especially doesn’t like having to back up when you make a wrong turn, Honey. It is also difficult for you to focus on your work this month, so realize it is OK to gear down and regroup. You’re just a little tired, Baby. Maybe it’s from all that explaining; give it a rest. Scorpio (October 23–November 21) In the middle of January, Mars enters your love sector. You are going to enjoy flirting and fooling around, which surprises exactly nobody as you are a natural born flirt. You, my friend, are so secretive but at the same time so dad-blame transparent that anybody watching can probably figure you out. My Beau bought another Jon boat he didn’t need but tried to claim it just showed up in the driveway. Mercury is in retrograde, so you may find yourself just as frustrated as you make others. Sagittarius (November 22–December 21) Your fickle heart gets you in a pickle this year. You don’t exactly have the right wiring to commit; but you sure do know how to get yourself into some head-butting, nail-biting drama whenever you go after something or someone. Trouble is, you want something or someone else the next week. It’s hard for you to find your true North. Astrid gets it; so my advice to you is come to terms with yourself and let go of some old business you can’t really resolve. Forgive and forget; your compass will work again, Sugar. PS For years, Astrid Stellanova owned and operated Curl Up and Dye Beauty Salon in the boondocks of North Carolina until arthritic fingers and her popular astrological readings provoked a new career path.

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January 2015P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

January PineNeedler

DEAR WINTER.....

Dear Winter 1

25 28

37 42

53 58

30 ACROSS ACROSS 1 Self-esteems 33 self-esteems 5 1 Female parent 36 Female 10 5 On topparent 10 on top 14 Opposite of “do,” and 38 opposite , and 1st word 14 1st wordofof"do" phrase 40 of phtase 15 Once more 42 15 once more 16 Genuine 43 16 Genuine 17 likesome some 44 Gruesome, like fairy tales 17 Gruesome, fairy tales 18 adhere 45 18 build, (and 2nd word) 19 Adhere 47 19 (and 2nd word) the past 20 Build 48 dresspast edge 21 The 20 49 City in edge the former ussr 22 Dress 21 Given a new title 24 City 22 in the former 51 Made babies 27 USSR 53 Jell 28 Given 24 a new title 54 29 smack, (and 3rd word) 27 Made babies 30 not me, (and 5th word) 58 28 stylish 33 Jell 61 29 (and 4th word) austin novel, or ericka's 36 Smack 62

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

70 do what you're told 71 hair strand 72 Imitated

DOWN

9 3 5 4 7

9 1 6 6 4 5

8 8 6 9 5 1 3 5

Sudoku:

8 Not max 9 Rabbit fur Poe Weaponed 1 author 10 27 2 Pig out11 Celestial Seasonings 3 smelly vegetable products 29 30 31 32 4 Immediately remember, init 12 Acorn producers 5 Jungle brush cutter 38 39 13 Entreaty 6 eyed Deepness 43 seriously 7 Wound23 25 Large wide men’s 8 not max 46 47 9 rabbit fur scarf 26 Not you (and 3rd 10 Weaponed 51 52 word) products 11 Celestial seasonings 27 Loud toot 54 55 56 57 12 acorn producers 13 entreaty 29 Big hit 61 62 23 deepness 30 Holler 25 large wide 31 men's Minedscarf metals 66 26 not you, (and 3rd word) 32 Reverse 27 loud toot 69 33 Small freshwater fish 29 big hit 72 30 holler 34 Sharpen 35 As previously cited 31 Mined metals 32 reverse 37 Beefy Not me (and 5th 63 Turn a pancake33 (and small fresh fish 39 water Oodles word) daughter 8th word) 34 sharpen 41 Needle worker Stylish38 rose pricker 64 Utilization 35 as previously cited like a homeless people 40 Austen novel, or 66 Failure (and 9th37 beefy 46 Deflated, balloon serving of corn 42 daughter Ericka’s word) 39 oodles Admit as a member 43 Chopped, like a tree worker Rose pricker 67 Unmannerly 41 needle50 44 Come together 52 a balloon to me (and 46 deflated, likeBelonging Homeless people 68 Quotes 7th word) 45 afloat admit as a member 50 Serving of corn 69 Give the boot 47 In addition 53 toOne of the7thSeven me, (and word) 52 belonging Chopped, like a tree told Dwarfs 48 sleeping furniture70 Do what you’re53 one of the seven dwarfs Come49 together among, (and 6th 71 word)Hair strand 54 Bird houses 54 bird houses Afloat51 scamp 72 Imitated Spring flower flower 55 spring 55 53 say its not true In addition 56 ere 56 Ere 54 Pure quartz withWalked a jaunt with a jaunt 57 Walked57 Sleeping furniture DOWN 58 be able to buy 58 big hairdo Among (and 6th 1 Author Poe 58 Big hairdo 59 botch word)61 bad (prefix) 59 Botch 62 alien's spaceship,2 init. Pig out 60 bona __ Scamp63 turn a pancake, (and 3 8th Smelly word)vegetable 61 spouse60 Bona __ Say it’s64not true utilization 4 Immediately 65 Male title 61 of Spouse respect Pure quartz 66 Failure, (and 9th word)remember, init.66 Farming (abr.)title of respect 65 clubMale 67tounmannerly Be able buy 5 Jungle brush cutter 66 Farming club (abbr.) 68 Quotes Bad (prefix) 6 Eyed Give the boot Alien’s69spaceship, init. 7 Wound seriously 22

By Mart Dickerson

7 4 8

1 6 2 3 9 1

Puzzle answers on page 83

Mart Dickerson lives in Southern Pines and would welcome any suggestions from her fellow puzzle masters. She can be reached at gdickerson@nc.rr.com.

southwords

Is That All There Is? Then let’s keep dancing

On December

26, I celebrated my 73rd birthday. I am old. Not ancient, just old.

I realized that one day when I got up early, had a nice hot shower while the coffee brewed and shaved. I shaved around the beard I’ve had for a couple of years and around the dark mole that I am taking to see Dr. Rosdan. I wondered if I might look better without both of them. My wife bought me some new pajama pants for Christmas and gave them to me early so I wouldn’t have to wait until next Christmas to wear them. Santa is kicking a football at a goal post made of candy canes, interlaced with the perfunctory flurry of snowflakes. Very, very jazzy. I’m glad she gave them to me way before Christmas. I’m always disappointed when someone gives me festive Christmas clothes that I wear for only a few days and then store them away for another year. I matched the Santa pants with a sweatshirt that I have owned for probably twenty years, poured a cup of Seattle’s Best, grabbed my cigarettes and Zippo, slipped my slippers on and out the door I went to test the morning. In the 6 a.m. pre-dawn mist, the sky is dishwater gray. The trees are slate gray with black undertones and the birds that dwell within them are silent yet. As the black-and-white world around me still sleeps, I smile to myself and I set my coffee on the patio table. I flip the chair cushion to the drier side and welcome another chance to watch the world awaken. I sit and stroke my Zippo flame to a Marlboro Special Blend 100 and sip my coffee as I contemplate what this all means. I think about a remark I made to my friend Bennett several years ago as we sat on a beach and stared at the ocean beyond our surf rods. “Bennett, old cock,” I said, “I believe we have outlived our usefulness.” I wonder now if that was really true. “Is that all there is . . . is that all there is?” I heard myself ask out loud, channeling the old Peggy Lee song. “If that’s all there is my friend, then let’s keep dancing . . . if that’s all, all there is.” That night, we went to Paula’s annual Christmas party, Doris and I. It was a delightful party that our lovely hostess took great pains in preparing. The food was wonderful and the drinks were plentiful, and the people were all friends, old and new. Some will be missing next year and will be remembered with loving thoughts. We had a nice time and were happy to come home. Then we went to Bennett and Andie’s annual Christmas party held the

same day as the carriage parade. We look forward to it every year. It was a superb gathering with traditional bags of Fritos topped with Andie’s perfect chili, a full Bloody Mary bar and lots of other libations. Great people were there and we gathered to watch the parade as it flowed out of Horse Country on its way to downtown Southern Pines. Eat your heart out, Pinehurst. After the carriage parade party, we headed over to Shane and Elizabeth’s house; the couple soon arrived to find a party going on, unbeknownst to them. Their friends had gathered to stock the refrigerator and booze cabinet for them, in anticipation of their return. They had been away for three years, with Shane serving in the military at Fort Knox. Shane is now E9, Elizabeth still A10. We dropped off a couple of cases of beer, had a nice time and were happy to be back home. The next day it was our turn to play host and hostess. We had our annual Christmas party at Ironwood, another gathering of good friends, most of whom happen to be in our employ. We distributed and received gifts, had drinks and lunch and were happy to go home. Marcus Womack and I celebrated our consecutive birthdays on the 26th and 27th by performing at our party as the Marvilles. This event takes place annually at our bar and is much anticipated (by Marcus and me). We did mostly the same old tired songs and as usual had too much to drink. We had a great time, and I was happy to get back home. New Year’s Day wrapped up the holiday festivities with the annual blackeyed-pea party at Tony’s. The food was a cut above heavenly, and the booze flowed freely for a really sterling event that we look forward to every year. We were happy to be home. The mist has lifted now, the sky is a brighter gray. The slate-colored trees have evolved to a dark green with faint colored accents from stubborn leaves still clinging to the hardwoods. A bird just chirped and woke up the whole bird world. Birdland is singing in full chorus now, and a dog just barked a couple of blocks from here. I hope this mole checks out OK with Rosdan. It’s so nice to be home, of a morning. “If that’s all there is my friend, then let’s keep dancing, and break out the booze and have a ball, if that’s all, all there is” PS Neville Beamer is the owner of Neville’s Club in Southern Pines and an original founder of PineStraw magazine.

January 2015P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

Illustration by Meridith Martens

By Neville Beamer