January PineStraw 2016 by PineStraw Magazine

Independent LIvIng Including independent living and garden cottages situated on 18 acres and convenient to local golf courses, shops, & the Village of Pinehurst; Quail Haven Village is also located close to major medical facilities & unique arts and cultural centers. Residents have access to all levels of care offering security for the future and enabling residents to live independently longer.

ContInuIng Care retIrement CommunIty There may come a time when you require additional care or assistance. Here we strive to make this transition as east as possible through a number of services. HOME CARE Our Licensed Home Care services range from medication reminders to personal care assistance FAMILY CARE HOME Our cottages create a small residential home in an intimate environment. Our staff is on-hand 24 hours a day and is trained to provide Memory Care support as needed. SKILLED CARE The Inn at Quail Haven Village provides health and nursing care in addition to personal care and support. REHABILITATION Our dedicated, highly experience team works one-on-one with our patients to provide in- and out-patient physical, occupational and speech therapies.

For more information contact Lynn Valliere.

155 Blake Boulevard, Pinehurst, NC 28374 910.295.2294 | www.qhvillage.com

McDEVITT

“I am a wife, a Mom to five beautiful dogs, a Realtor and a long-time Sandhills resident.” “I love small town living.” “Let me have the pleasure of introducing you to this wonderful place I call home.”

Pinehurst and Southern Pines

- Jamie

Jamie McDevitt Broker/Owner 910.724.4455

Come home to 405 Pine Barrens Vista in Southern Pines on ten lovely acres. 405PineBarrensVista.com. Offered at $1,175,000.

McDevittTownAndCountry.com | Jamie@JamieMcDevitt.com | 107 NE Broad Street, Southern Pines, NC

January 2016

Volume 12, No. 1

Departments 11 Simple Life By Jim Dodson

14 PinePitch 17 Instagram Winners 19 Cos and Effect By Cos Barnes

21 The Omnivorous Reader By Brian Lampkin

25 Bookshelf

By Kimberly Daniels Taws & Angie Tally

Features

55 Shhhhh . . .

Poetry by Deborah Salomon

56 A Night to Remember By Laurie Bogart Wiles

A literary fantasy in The Pines

64 Back Alley Brawl By Bill Case

The lawsuit that threatened titles and property values in Southern Pines

29 Proper English By Serena Brown

31 Hometown By Bill Fields

33 Vine Wisdom

68 Home to the Hounds By Deborah Salomon

By Robyn James

35 In the Spirit

39 The Kitchen Garden

By Tony Cross

Winter Farm restored the land, created a lifestyle

75 Almanac

By Jan Leitschuh

43 Out of the Blue

By Rosetta Fawley

Pecan and Apples

By Deborah Salomon

45 Birdwatch

By Susan Campbell

47 Sporting Life By Tom Bryant

51 Golftown Journal By Lee Pace

76 January Calendar 85 SandhillSeen 91 Thoughts from the Manshed By Geoff Cutler

93 The Accidental Astrologer By Astrid Stellanova

95 PineNeedler

By Mart Dickerson

96 SouthWords By Nicole White

Cover Photograph and this page by Tim Sayer 4

January 2016 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 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

JANUARY 15-30, 2016

40 %

off

Up to

WHItE SALE yves delorme bed & bath select patterns

8 hospitals. 7,000 skilled professionals. more than 850 physicians. with one focus... our patients

M A G A Z I N E

verified THELEAPFROGGROUP

quality The region’s only leapfrog “a” rated hospital

2015 leapfrog safety score

Keeping patients safe from errors, infections and injuries is not easy. It takes a true team effort to earn a grade of “A” on the LeapFrog Hospital Safety Score, the gold standard for patient safety.

The Joint Commission

Cape Fear Valley is recognized as a top performer in 6 areas: heart attack :: heart failure :: pneumonia surgical care :: stroke :: perinatal care

an independent organization that accredits and certifies more than 20,500 healthcare organizations across the nation

Top Performer status means Cape Fear Valley Health provides the most up-to-date, scientifically based care as compared to anywhere in the country. The Joint Commission is the gold standard for recognizing hospitals that provide exceptional care.

best hospitals 2016 Cape Fear Valley tops the list of Best Hospitals in North Carolina in US News and World Report rankings with five quality distinctions.

Jim Dodson, Editor 910.693.2506 • jim@pinestrawmag.com Andie Stuart Rose, Creative Director 910.693.2467 • andie@pinestrawmag.com Serena Brown, Senior Editor 910.693.2464 • serena@pinestrawmag.com Lauren Shumaker, Graphic Designer 910.693.2469 • lauren@pinestrawmag.com Alyssa Rocherolle, Graphic Designer 910.693.2508 • alyssa@pinestrawmag.com Contributing Editors Deborah Salomon, Staff Writer Mary Novitsky, Sara King, proofreaders Contributing Photographers John Gessner, Laura L. Gingerich, Tim Sayer Contributors Cos Barnes, Laurie Bogart Wiles, Tom Bryant, Susan Campbell, Bill Case, Geoff Cutler, Tony Cross, Kimberly Daniels Taws, Mart Dickerson, Rosetta Fawley, Bill Fields, Tom Fioretti, London Gessner, Robyn James, Brian Lampkin, Jan Leitschuh, Meridith Martens, Lee Pace, Pamela Partis, Astrid Stellanova, Angie Tally, Janet Wheaton, Nicole White

David Woronoff, Publisher Advertising Sales

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 Kerry Hooper, 910.693.2489 Perry Loflin, 910.693.2514 Darlene McNeil-Smith, 910.693.2519 Johnsie Tipton, 910.693.2515 Advertising Graphic Design

Kathryn Galloway 910.693.2509 • kathryn@thepilot.com Kirsten Benson, Mechelle Butler, Scott Yancey Subscriptions & Circulation

Darlene Stark, Circulation Director 910.693.2488

PineStraw Magazine

145 W. Pennsylvania Avenue Southern Pines, NC 28387 pinestraw@thepilot.com • www.pinestrawmag.com ©Copyright 2015. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. PineStraw magazine is published by The Pilot LLC

When seeking a hospital to care for your family, choose one with quality that’s verified by trusted outside sources. You won’t find another health system from the triangle to the coast with the quality and scope of services offered at Cape Fear Valley. And you won’t find one as committed to your family’s health.

A Joint Commission

top performer

CCNC

SEVEN LAKES WEST

$395,000

This elegant custom built Villa in CCNC enjoys a gorgeous setting overlooking water on an oversized lot. This home is located on one lot and has a half lot on either side for complete privacy. Lovely water views from the large private patio and interior areas, including a large Carolina room with built in bookshelves. Fireplace in living room and custom kitchen round out this beautiful home. 3 BR / 2.5 BA 8 Royal Dornoch Lane

PINEWILD

$649,900

$319,000

$599,999

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

This elegant, custom built brick home offers beautiful lake views, outstanding curb appeal and beautifully landscaped corner lot in a great neighborhood. Open floor plan, split bedroom arrangement, gourmet kitchen plus a great master suite. There is a side patio off the dining room to watch the sunset across the lake. Spacious bonus room! 3 BR / 2.5 BA 112 Lawrence Overlook

PINEHURST

Gorgeous golf front home with upscale features. Soaring window walls overlook an expansive patio and the 18th hole of the Magnolia Course to the 2nd hole of the Holly Course in Pinewild. Beautiful gourmet kitchen with top end appliances. There is a huge master suite with walk- in closets. Upstairs offers a loft with two large bedrooms. Chateau curb appeal is outstanding. 4 BR / 3.5 BA 32 McMichael Drive

$450,000

$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 Drop dead gorgeous golf front home custom built by Bonville Builders has too many features to list! Window walls overlook the expansive patio and beautiful wide views of the Challenge course at Pinewild Country Club. There is a beautiful gourmet kitchen, 3 car garage and huge master suite. Mature landscaping and circular driveway create outstanding curb appeal! Truly a special home! 3 BR / 3.5 BA 27 Glasgow Drive

PINEWILD

PINEHURST

$545,000

$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

Beautiful views of Lake Pinehurst and your own private dock make this lovely brick and wood custom home a very special place on the lake. Hardwood floors, crown moldings, big rear deck with retractable awning, solid cherry cabinets in the kitchen and large great room with fireplace. Four zone irrigation system that pumps from the lake and many more features. 3 BR / 2.5 BA 325 Lake Forest Drive SW

Enjoy great golf views from this all brick home in private location in gated community of Pinewild CC. Fabulous floor plan with formal living and dining ,plus a spacious family room that shares a fireplace with the master, hardwood floors & media cabinet/bookshelves. Hobby room a plus off the laundry room. Spacious rear deck to relax and entertain. 3 BR / 3 BA 28 Strathaven Drive

$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 / 2$359,000 BA 4 BR / 4 Full &SOUTHERN 2 Half Baths 1 BR / 1 BA PINEHURST $295,000 3 BR / 2.5 BA PINEHURST 3 BR / 2.5 BA $249,900 PINES 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#/6,2.5 BA BR / 2.5 BA Located on a quiet cul-de-sac in Pinehurst 3 BR /with 4.5this BAlovely custom brick one story home. The3home Pinehurst membership available this spacious two story home has great There is a lot to love about this great house in a super neighborhood. This charming all sits on a quiet cul-de-sac and is in one of Pinehurst’s most appealing neighborhoods. Large www.170InverraryRoad.com www.145SugarPineDrive.com www.105MastersWay.com www.6HollyHouse.com www.135AndrewsDrive.com curb appeal. The main level offers a large great room with a wood burning fireplace, big brick golf front home is bright and open with 10-12 foot ceilings and appealing views of

great room with fireplace, wet bar and lots of windows overlooking the backyard as well as a sunny Carolina room. Great storage. Lot adjoining and behind can also be purchased. 4 BR / 3.5 BA 5 Merion Circle

PINEHURST

$347,000

dining area with French doors open to deck and fenced backyard. Main level master suite. Outstanding neighborhood! 3 BR / 2.5 BA 5 Lochmoor Court

SEVEN LAKES WEST

Longleaf Golf course. The home has been beautifully maintained as well as new updates to the heating and cooling, bath fixtures and large pump and tank used for the irrigation system. Lower level walkout perfect for hobby or workout room! 3 BR / 2.5 BA 122 Steeplechase Way

$425,000

PINEHURST

$315,000

$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

Picture perfect describes this lovely home in Lamplighter Village. Upgraded gourmet Awesome potential in this Lake Auman waterfront home. This open floor plan offers a split Lovely brick home is nestled on private, beautifully landscaped yard in Pinewild Country kitchen, custom buffet with Wine cooler and built in storage in the master. Upstairs Has bedroom design. The living room features a large stone gas log fireplace, skylight and French Club. The floorplan is open and bright with a Carolina room that opens to an oversized a loft, 2nd laundry room, plus 2 bedrooms and baths. The wood deck enjoys great privacy. door access to lovely Carolina Room. The master suite offers two large walk in closets. deck. Spacious master has plantationSeven shutters and two large walk in closets. Wonderful curb Lakes South $279,500 SevenMake Lakes West $298,000 Pinehurst $895,000 Pinehurst $241,000 Seven Lakes South $199,000 Two car garage with Work bench and plenty of storage. Immaculate! this home your own and enjoy lake front living. appeal and priced To sell! Wonderful 2-story home on cul-de-sac Completely Gorgeous3 home in the Old Town Charming golf front w/panoramic 3 BR / 3.5 BA view Great family home w/private back yard BR / 2 BA 4 BR / 2.5 BA renovated golf front home Lamplighter Village 1594James 50 Pinewild Drive 3 BR / 3.5 BA 4 BR / 3BA BR /Drive 3.5 BA 4 BR / 3 BA 3 BR /402.5 BA

www.122DevonshireAvenue.com

www.11GraysonLane.com

www.50OrangeRoad.com

www.108Rector.com

www.117OxfordCourt.com

View Floor Plans and Tours of ALL OurMoore Listings and Seeand ALL MooreInformation County at View Floor Plans and Virtual Tours of Virtual Our Listings and See County Listings Community Listings and Community Information at

www.MarthaGentry.com www.MarthaGentry.coM

Re/Max Prime Properties, 5 Chinquapin Rd., Pinehurst, NC 910-295-7100 • 800-214-9007

Military?!Check out our Military Advantage Program at www.MarthaGentry.com

Re/Max Prime Properties, 5 Chinquapin Rd., Pinehurst, NC 910-295-7100 • 800-214-9007

EXPERTISE...when it matters most

Lakota Farm a Magnificent Estate: Whether you are a golf

Old Town Pinehurst: Extensive renovations & upgrades to this circa 1905 home, providing today’s comforts while showcasing the original character & architectural design of yesterday’s grandeur. 5BR/5Full&3Half Baths. $1,600,000 Linda Criswell 910.783.7374

“Homewood”: Has been described as one of North Carolina’s finest residences. Situated on 4.66 acres in Knollwood Heights, with extensive gardens designed by E.S. Draper. Stunning estate! $1,590,000 Bill Smith 910.528.4090

Knollwood Heights: A true Southern Pines treasure built & designed

National Pinehurst #9: “Founder’s Point” is the premier

CCNC: Dramatic views of 2 fairways of the Cardinal Course. Residence transformed in ‘09. Elegance is exhibited in every detail of this dream golf front home. Pool with waterfall feature. 3BR/3.5BA. $997,000 Maureen Clark 910.315.1080

or horse enthusiast, this property has it all. Turn of the century Elegance with the modern conveniences of today. The Farmhouse, circa 1896, was lovingly restored and expanded in 2000. PCC Mbrshp. $1,950,000 Debbie Darby 910.783.5193

by Donald Ross in the 1920’s. Sun filled rooms with charm in every detail. Carriage House has 2BRs/2BAs, & Kitchen. Brilliant remodel! 4BR/7.5BA. Broker/Owner. $1,295,000

Bill Smith 910.528.4090

location for this stunning home with golf course & lake front views. Extraordinary detail in every room! 4BR/4.5BA. $1,198,000 Maureen Clark 910.315.1080

Stunning CCNC Home: Understated elegance with warmth and sophistication, incorporating magnificent views of Lake Watson. A one-of-a-kind design. 4 Bedrooms, 4.5 Baths. $890,000 Kay Beran 910.315.3322

Taylorhurst: Quality craftsmanship defines this stunning colonial estate. Almost 4,000 sq.ft. of comfortable elegance and fine details for your entire family. Fabulous cook’s kitchen! $670,000 Kay Beran 910.315.3322

CCNC: Beautifully renovated home on the 9th fairway of Dogwood Course with 418’ of golf frontage. Renovated with attention to detail, and of the highest quality. Open design overlooks gardens & golf course. 4BR/4BA. $599,000 Bill Smith 910.528.4090

Mid South Club: Stunning, Golf Front, Southern Living designed home! Remarkable attention to detail. Lower level has a rec. room, wet bar, fireplace, full bath & bedroom. 4BR, 3.5BA. $599,000 Maureen Clark 910.315.1080

Pinewild Country Club: All brick, golf front home featuring an Office, Bonus Room, and more than 4,500 sq.ft. of living space. 3BR/3.5BA. $650,000 See more at: 34LasswadeDrive.com Frank Sessoms 910.639.3099

CCNC: Spectacular views of the 4th green on Cardinal Course & the pond. Renovated & enlarged in ‘07-’08. Stunning Kitchen w/Wolf gas cooktop, Wolf oven, 2-drawer dishwasher & more. Selling as Furnished. 3BR/2.5BA. $580,000 Emily Hewson 910.315.3324

Southern Pines: 910.692.2635 • 105 W. Illinois Avenue • Southern Pines, NC 28387 ©2015 BHH Affiliates, LLC. An independently operated subsidiary of HomeServices of American, Inc., a Berkshire Hathaway affiliate, and a franchisee of BHH Affiliates, LLC.

www.BHHSPRG.com

Foxfire: Stunning! Elegance resounds throughout this Southern Plantation inspired residence. 10 foot ceilings, hardwood, formal & informal spaces, inground salt water pool, and an unfinished Bonus Room. 3BR/2.5BA. $539,000 Debbie Darby 910.783.5193

Old Town Pinehurst: Charming cottage, circa 1920, 2 blocks from the heart of the village. Beautiful gardens, pool with waterfall. Beautifully maintained & updated. Pinehurst Country Club membership available for transfer. 3BR/3BA. $495,000 Emily Hewson 910.315.3324

Whispering Pines: Pristine, brick ranch home with stunning views of the 17th green on Whispering Woods Golf Course. Extensive remodeling in ‘06 & ‘07. Lake fed irrigation system. 3BR/2.5BA. $375,000 Maureen Clark 910.315.1080

Seven Lakes West: ONE-OF-A-KIND OFFERING! One of the last few water front lots available on Lake Auman with 180 degree views - Build Your Dream Home! Bulk-head, 2-Docks w/boat lift & swim ladder in place. $350,000 Linda Criswell 910.783.7374

Old Town Pinehust: “The Pink House” circa 1930, was origi-

New Price: Pinehurst Spacious, all brick, low maintenance

Waterfront - Whispering Pines: 2,200+sq.ft., 3 Bedrooms (split plan), 2 Baths, Updated & Move-in Ready! Beautiful Fly Rod Lake is perfect for boating, swimming and fishing. $328,000 Eva Toney 910.638.0972

Aronimink: Ideal Golf Retreat! Golf front, 2BR/2BA unit, with

Pinehurst Country Club membership available for transfer. Sits off the 10th Green on Course #5. View of Lake Pinehurst. $220,000 Debbie Darby 910.783.5193

nally a 4 room cottage. Seller added Kitchen, Carolina Room, Master Bedroom, 1.5 Baths on 1st floor & put stairs to 2nd floor and made 1 Bedroom & Bath. $350,000 Emily Hewson 910.315.3324

Old Town Pinehurst: Reduced for Quick Sale - $30,000 Reduction! Great Investment Opportunity! 2,600 sq.ft. home is move-in ready! Priced BELOW tax value! PCC membership available at 50% discount! 3BR/3BA. $295,000 Bill Smith 910.528.4090

Pinehurst: Beautifully wooded 4+acre piece of property on Midland Road, 1/2 mile from traffic circle going towards Southern Pines. House on property is uninhabitable & not to be entered. Land is rolling with beautiful pines. Perfect building site. $200,000

Emily Hewson 910.315.3324

home! Pristine Condition! Office & a separate Recreation Room. 4 Bedrooms. Pinehurst Country Club Membership is available for transfer. $345,000 Frank Sessoms 910.639.3099

Pinehurst: Beautifully maintained home with lots of privacy. No maintenance exterior of brick & vinyl; low maintenance yard, too. Custom kitchen with granite counters & large pantry. 3BR/2BA. $225,000 Bill Brock 910.639.1148

Southern Pines CC: Prestigious neighborhood and a very private lot. Single level ranch style home features hardwood flooring, 3BR/2BA, new roof & new windows. Brick patio. Good storage. $200,000 Bill Brock 910.639.1148

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.

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 Carolina Burgers to Broiled Atlantic Salmon. So after your last putt drops, pick up a glass at the Ryder Cup.

Menu Features • Lobster Crab Cake Sliders • Pinehurst BLT • Grilled Fish Tacos • BBQ Pork Nachos • Chicken Meatballs • Ryder Salad

Drink Features • Carolina Peach Tea • Eight beers on tap • Twenty bottled beers • Specialty martinis • Premium scotch and bourbon

The Carolina Hotel • Village of Pinehurst, North Carolina • 855.601.4079 • pinehurst.com

simple life

Ruined by Quiet By Jim Dodson

Every January, a dear friend slips away

for a three-week retreat into silence and stillness, holing up in a seaside motel somewhere on the Florida coast where he doesn’t know a soul. There he fasts, walks the beach morning and evening, reads nourishing books and practices the art of silence learned years ago from a stay at the Kentucky monastery where mystic Thomas Merton lived and worked. He returns in early February thinner, happier and spiritually refreshed by his “trip to nowhere,” as I’ve heard him describe his ritual. The wise among us have long known the value of such a disappearing act, a journey within that clarifies mind, body and soul. In a world that’s indisputably louder and more distracting than ever, something is always competing for our attention — bills to pay, jobs to finish, candidates hurling insults, terrorists hurling bombs, shouting car salesmen, an Internet that never sleeps, even in the background cacophony of music in restaurants and lawn mowers on Sunday morning. All rob us of something essential. It’s what an ancient Sufi poet I admire called “the silence that speaks” and the Book of Common Prayer calls “the peace that passeth all understanding.” To be still and silent, advise the Psalms, is to know God. Chinese sage Lao Tzu insists that stillness reveals eternity. In his recent book The Art of Stillness, a lovely little volume, veteran travel writer Pico Iyer relates how a three-day stay at a Benedictine retreat changed his life. “It was a little bit like being called back to somewhere I knew, though I’d never seen the place before,” he writes. “Spending time in silence gave everything else in my days fresh value. It felt as if I was slipping outside my life and ascending a small hill from which I could make out a wider landscape. It was pure joy.” I wish I had the time and discipline of Pico Iyer and my contemplative friend, but I probably don’t. And yet, thirty years ago a remarkable winter of stillness and silence transformed my life. I’ve never been quite the same since. On the heels of seven fast-paced years working for the oldest Sunday magazine in the nation, covering politics and social mayhem across the

New South, never pausing to take a vacation and nearly working myself into an early grave, something made me turn down a dream job in Washington, D.C., and move to a bend in Vermont’s Green River, where I got myself a golden pup from the local Humane Society and set up housekeeping in a tiny solar cabin heated only by a woodstove and the light of the Northern sun. I swapped chasing politicians and prosecutors for walking silent snowcovered roads with my dog and showshoeing over to my landlords’ house for weekend suppers and conversation. They were aging hippies who’d gotten rich selling chemical toilets to vacationing New Yorkers. Every supper they served tasted a little bit like sautéed boxwood shrubbery, though I’m pretty sure it was healthy for you. They were, in any case, lovely people fully committed to making a better world and matching up their young tenant far from home with suitable female companionship. With no TV, phone or radio, I spent a lot of time reading and thinking about the point of being alive, marveling how I’d dropped into such a peaceful winter wonderland that allowed me to feel in charge of my own life and let me sleep better than I had in years. My journalism friends were sure I’d “dropped out” to become a hermit. I probably read or reread fifty books that snowy winter of 1984 — the collected works of Yeats and Frost, all of John Updike’s novels, some Shakespeare, the Bhagavad Gita and even George Orwell’s 1984 just to see how the world he envisioned worked out. Though I spent my days working as the senior writer for a legendary New England magazine called Yankee — writing stories that spoke to the soul and soothed the beast that had grown up in the years gone before — it was the silence and stillness I found in every day that changed my life and maybe even saved it. That spring, after ice out, I found myself a secondhand Orvis rod and taught myself to fly-fish. I also picked up a used set of good golf clubs and began knocking the rust off my long-neglected golf game at an old club in Brattleboro where Rudyard Kipling reportedly played while finishing his work on the just so stories. Most of these self-tutorials were done solo or with my dog and a kindly universe for companions, a volume of Yeats poetry or E.B. White’s essays tucked into my fishing vest or golf bag. The sounds I heard were often just those I made or nature’s own instructions — crackling fires, water running over stones, songbirds and wind, the soft crunch of my LL Bean boots on a snowy road at dusk. Even the excitement of the quadrennial New Hampshire primary failed to knock a dent in my newfound love of stillness and silence. A string of leading candidates all passed through Yankee’s colorful red barn in Dublin (N.H.) but only served to remind me how grateful I was to have found a very different kind of life in the nick of time. One quiet morning that autumn, a beautiful young woman wearing

PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 2016

EXCLUSIVE. TIMELESS. CHIC. A UniqUe SpeciAlty Store FeAtUring WeSt coASt cASUAl liFeStyle clothing

VILLagE of PInEHUrST 910.295.3905 raLEIgH gLEnwood VILLagE 919.782.0012 wrIgHTSVILLE BEaCH 910.509.0273

wInTEr SEMI-annUaL SaLE THroUgH JanUary 30TH

Valentin e’s Day i s Februar y 14th

simple life

well-worn saddle shoes brought me my office mail. She was the new intern, a recent Wellesley grad and country girl who grew up in Maine. Our first date was on election night. She asked me who I voted for and I told her Walter Mondale. This was untrue. Owing to my quiet life, I had actually forgotten to register and vote but probably would have voted for Ronald Reagan. I never told her this until after we were married. She’d guessed as much already. We moved to the end of road in the salt marsh north of Boston. It was so peaceful there, a world shaped by time and tides, a great place to think and write and even get married. There was an older gentleman who lived across the tidal creek. I often saw him at his easel overlooking the marsh. He would wave and I would wave back. We never actually met. But we knew each other just the same, befriended by nature’s silence. As newlyweds we moved to Maine and bought land for a house on a hilltop of birch and hemlock, just off the abandoned town road, surrounded by a silent forest. Our firstborn arrived during a January blizzard. We were living in a cottage on Bailey Island at that time, waiting for spring to start building. The cottage had a 30-mile view of the coast. The sea wind never ceased. Tourists vanished. There was the sound of boats rocking in the tiny harbor, masts pinging. The house we built was a simple saltbox design. I did most of the interior work myself, laying plank floors from a New Hampshire barn and building cabinets. My grandfather was a master cabinetmaker, the quietest man I ever met. I felt as though I was channeling his spirit. It was the absolute stillness of that house that I loved most, especially on frigid winter days. Sunlight would flood its rooms and make the golden hemlock beams gently crack as if sighing. The silence was deep, a living presence. It ground my soul like a spear, as the poet Sidney Lanier once described it.

That house produced plenty of other great sounds over the next two decades — laughter from children and dinner guests, guitars being played, the soft scratch as a pencil marked the latest growth spurt on the door frame of the utility room, twenty years of our annual solstice party on the longest night of the year. I built a massive English garden around that happy house, assuming we would live there forever. I even made a special philosopher’s garden with a wooden bench where, after yardwork, I loved to simply sit and listen to absolutely nothing but the birds Sometimes I still dream about that house, that garden, that quiet place in the forest — wishing, I suppose, that I could go back and hear those sounds again, feel that golden winter silence, simply be there for a while. But as Pico Iyer reminds me in his fine little book, the greatest gifts of silence and stillness remind us that “what feels like finding real life, that changeless and inarguable something behind all our shifting thoughts, is less a discovery than a recollection.” Not long ago, after taking my daughter and her buddies out to supper in their busy but charming Brooklyn neighborhood, I commented to my wife that even I might be able to live there, given its small-town feel. Wendy grew up just outside New York City, attended college and worked there years before she became my second wife. She patted my arm. “I’m sure you could, honey. I’d give you three full days.” She knows me well, ruined by the quiet of other worlds. Last autumn she and I went to the mountains two weekends in a row just for the solitude and November light. This winter we hope to slip away to the peace and quiet of a cottage tucked into the dunes on the Outer Banks, hoping no one but the wind will know we’re there. PS� Contact editor Jim Dodson at jim@pinestrawmag.com.

PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 2016

PinePitch Play That Music Anyhow

Big names at The Rooster’s Wife this month. For bluegrass fans there are The Gibson Brothers, winners of many, many IBMA awards. They’ve played on A Prairie Home Companion twice too. Molly Tuttle has also played on PHC. Her flatpicking technique was described by American Songwriter Magazine as “Chet Atkins on superdrive.” Scott Ainslie knows something about bluegrass as well, also the blues and roots music, enough to win him multiple awards and accolades. For a funkier sound check out the New Orleans Suspects, whose members have played with Professor Longhair and the Neville Brothers among many more. Feeling bittersweet in the New Year? Go hear Jeanne Jolly: “Imagine Joni Mitchell with Billie Holiday’s stylings,” wrote Atlanta Music Guide. Nashville-based Lizzy Ross’s genre? “Errythang,” she writes jubilantly. The Rooster’s Wife, Poplar Knight Spot, 114 Knight Street, Aberdeen. For dates, tickets and more information visit theroosterswife.org or call (910) 944-7502.

Chamber of Genius

The Paris-based Thymos Quartet will have played at the Kennedy Center and Duke University by the time they reach our own Weymouth Center. On January 29, at 7 p.m., they will thrill their audience with a program of Mozart, Shostakovich and Schubert. Part of the Chamber Music Season, this promises to be a very special evening indeed. Weymouth Center for the Arts and Humanities, 555 East Connecticut Avenue, Southern Pines. Chamber Music season membership for Weymouth members is $50; or $10 per concert. Non-member’s season ticket is $100; $20 per concert. For tickets and more information, visit weymouthcenter.org or call (910) 692-6261.

Painted Frogs

Did you know that North Carolina has one of the most diverse amphibian populations in the world? And that one of the two state amphibians, the rare Pine Barrens tree frog, is a resident here in the Sandhills? Amphibian numbers are increasingly under threat, and the artists and art students among you can help this month by submitting work to the Disappearing Frogs Project Exhibition at North Carolina State University Craft Center. The art will highlight the importance of our froggy friends to our local environment and the wider world. In February the exhibition will be at Weymouth Woods – Sandhills Nature Preserve, in conjunction with frog-themed events taking place through the month in Southern Pines. There will be more on this in February’s PineStraw; in the meantime, submit your amphibious artwork to The Disappearing Frogs Project. For submission details, visit www.disappearingfrogsproject.org. The submission deadline is January 18.

Have a Heart – Make Block Printing Art

Remember Valentine’s Day in third grade, meticulously decorating a tissue box with construction paper hearts, and depositing your valentines into your friends’ boxes? It’s time to do a grown up version using linoleum blocks to make your own limited edition Valentine’s cards. On February 6, come to a PineStraw Workshop with renowned artist Denise Baker — learn to carve a block and make original hand-printed cards to take home. The workshop will be from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. with materials provided. Bring yourself, your design genius and a bag lunch. Tickets are $60; spaces are limited. PineStraw Office at The Pilot, 145 West Pennsylvania Avenue, Southern Pines. For more information and to sign up, call Alyssa at (910) 693-2508.

January 2016 P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

The Story of Everything

For a truly magical evening, go to the Sunrise Theater on Thursday, January 14 at 7:30 p.m. for SunStage’s night of live storytelling. Featuring Mitch Capel and Jadie Fuson and emceed by North Carolina’s Poet Laureate Shelby Stephenson, it will be an evening to reconnect with the tradition of oral history. It will be funny, sad, poetic and fascinating.

Contemporary Art

It’s 2016! Trying to organize your year beautifully? Order an Art of the Month calendar, featuring work from local artists for each month of the year. Chickadees, peonies, mountain streams and arum lilies will inspire your plans and keep you on track with the seasons. You can keep it on the fridge to be sure you’re always up-todate: The calendar comes with a magnetic frame. To order, call (910) 215-5963.

Piano Forte

Mitch Capel is renowned nationwide for his performances as Gran’daddy Junebug, a character Capel created as a siphon for the voices of the elders in his family and for the work of Paul Laurence Dunbar, a poet whose work was introduced to the young Capel by his grandmother’s recitations. Capel refers to his storytelling style as ‘“sto’etry,’ stories recited poetically.” He has been Artist in Residence at the International Storytelling Center and was invited by the Smithsonian Institution to perform for the presidential inauguration of Barack Obama.

Benjamin Grosvenor is one of the most sought-after young pianists in the world. He has played at the world’s most prestigious classical music venues. The critics are rapidly running out of superlatives. He will be playing at the Sunrise Theater on February 1 at 8 p.m. Don’t miss this. The Sunrise Theater, 250 Northwest Broad Street, Southern Pines. This is the third concert in the 2015-2016 Classical Concert Series. For more information and tickets, visit www. mooreart.org or call (910) 692-2787.

Listen out for Jadie Fuson, he’s a bold-faced liar. He won the People’s Choice Award at the hotly contested Bold Faced Liars’ Showdown in the storytelling country of Scotland County. He’s also expert at handling the most discerning of audiences — he works with boys at Cameron Boys’ Camp. Shelby Stephenson is the voice of our state. His upbringing in rural North Carolina sowed the seeds of poetry in his soul. Stephenson’s work speaks of skipperbugs, of hounds and cracklins, mockingbirds and mulestables. Come hear him say words like these loud. The Sunrise Theater, 250 Northwest Broad Street, Southern Pines. Tickets $10. For more information and tickets call (910) 692-8501 or visit www. sunrisetheater.com

Community Support

The Women Helping Women Luncheon takes place at the Country Club of North Carolina on January 26 at 11:30 a.m. The lunch will benefit Friend to Friend, Moore County’s non-profit organization offering help to all persons affected by interpersonal violence. The Country Club of North Carolina, 1600 Morganton Road, Pinehurst. For more information regarding attending or hosting a table please email Paula Youngblood at paulay71@gmail.com.

Imperial Overtures

The North Carolina Symphony will play an inspiring program on January 17. The concert will include Brahms’s Tragic Overture, Andrew Norman’s Suspend and Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5, Emperor. Marcelo Lehninger will conduct, and Inon Barnatan will be at the piano. As if that weren’t exhilarating enough, there’s also a pre-concert talk at 6:30 p.m. Regular concert-goers, please note that this concert begins at 7:30 p.m., a half-hour earlier than the usual concert time. Robert E. Lee Auditorium, Pinecrest High School, 250 Voit Gilmore Lane, Southern Pines. For more information and tickets, visit ncsymphony.org or call (877) 627 6724.

Instagram Winners

Congratulations to our January Instagram winners!

Theme:

Comfort Food #pinestrawcontest

Next month’s theme:

“New Year’s Resolutions” Submit your photo on Instagram at @pinestrawmag using the hashtag #pinestrawcontest (submissions needed by Friday, January 15th)

MAKE YOUR NEXT MOVE TO ST. JOSEPH OF THE PINES LIN HUTAFF’S PINEHURST REALTY GROUP Welcomes Msgr Steve Worsley to Belle Meade and Pine Knoll! RE/MAX Prime Properties

Pictured are Msgr. Stephen C. Worsley, Director of Mission Outreach at St. Joseph of the Pines and Lin Hutaff, Broker/Realtor. When transitioning to Belle Meade or Pine Knoll call Lin, one of the areas top selling Realtors, to assist in selling your home.

910.528.6427 www.linhutaff.com linhutaff@pinehurst.net

Cos and Effect

Dressing Up A wedding gown and family heirloom

By Cos Barnes

I am going

photograph courtesey of cos barnes

to tell you about a family saga. It involves my wedding dress.

Thank goodness 2016 is new, because it will probably take several months. But the wedding of my granddaughter, who plans to wear the dress, isn’t until March, so I should have time. I bought said wedding dress in 1954 in my hometown of Martinsville, Virginia, from experienced and helpful merchants. It was of dipped Rose Point lace and nylon tulle featuring a mandarin collar, long sleeves, fitted bodice of lace, trimmed with seed pearls and sequins, and full skirt extending into a cathedral-length train, as quoted from my local newspaper. When I went to have my wedding portrait done, it was probably 95 degrees. It was July and photographers in those days in southwestern Virginia did not have air conditioning. All dolled up for the photo shoot, I fainted. There were a number of people around for some reason, I don’t know why, and they included my mother. She screamed, “The dress, the dress, don’t let it get messed up,” with no concern for the beautiful bride, who was slowly suffocating. They got me back on my feet and accomplished their mission in spite of my red cheeks, sunken eyes and withered hair. My older daughter elected to wear my dress when she married in 1982. A few inches shorter than me, she wore spike heels — there were no stilettos then — and added extra crinoline skirts. She was working as a nurse in Greenville, so when she came home we’d head to Raleigh to consult with specialists, carrying the heirloom wrapped like a mummy above our heads through the parking lots.

As we drove, we checked off things like florist, photographer, and musicians as they were procured. I must add that our florist was Carl Klabbatz, who is still at his craft, and the late Paul Long was the organist, who actually gave a concert for us to select the music we wanted. Does anybody do that anymore? The wedding dress had a small stain on a panel in the front. I called a local seamstress to see if she could remove the panel and put in another. “I would not touch it,” she said. Well, I would. I was mad so I laid the dress on the dining room floor and started clipping. After removing the damaged portion, I went to a fabric store and bought a matching swatch. My husband, who claimed he knew how to sew from watching his mother, and who also supervised workmen in upholstering furniture, took on the task. Seated in his favorite chair, with the dress spread around him, he sewed. He not only gave his daughter away, he also stitched her dress. On our 25th anniversary we had friends come and celebrate. I had pictures displayed, and my good friend Jenny Stuber, who has always called a spade a spade, said, “Gosh, have you improved.” I said, “But Jenny, that was my finest hour.” She never agreed. One last note on the subject of family dressmaking: The man who was part of the business who dressed us all for the wedding called my husband at work some years later, and said, “It is time Cos had a fur stole.” It was the last thing in my husband’s mind but I got one. In those days we wore them with our suits and hats for church. Some years later I had mine made into a sweater. I still wear it. It’s the warmest garment in my closet. PS Cos Barnes is a longtime contributor to PineStraw magazine. She can be contacted at cosbarnes@nc.rr.com

always

Well, you’ve wanted one.

What’s Next? That’s where we come in.

For the last 35 years, First Casualty Insurance Group has met even the most complicated, unusual insurance needs with the right coverage at the right price. We represent over three dozen companies and offer a virtually unlimited range of options. At First Casualty, we always strive to deliver the right coverage at the right price. First Casualty Insurance Group is fully committed to your peace of mind. Just imagine what we can do for you. Better still, give us a call or stop in. We’d love to meet you and become your source for all things insurance.

190-A Turner Street, Southern Pines NC 28387 910-692-8303 fciginfo@fcignc.com www.fcignc.com

The Omnivorous Reader

Carefully Taught A writer examines the roots of his own bigotry

By Brian L ampkin

Writer Jim Grimsley was born in

Grifton, North Carolina, in 1955 and was raised in Pollocksville, N.C. These Eastern North Carolina towns still exist, if barely. Pollocksville’s 2010 census listed the population at 311 souls. How I Shed My Skin: Unlearning the Racist Lessons of a Southern Childhood (Algonquin Books, 2016, $16.95) is Grimsley’s memoir of growing up in isolated, rural Jones County in the tumultuous era of school integration, and race is the primary focus. But as is always the case, poverty and education complicate the picture. Grimsley’s growing awareness of his homosexuality further adds to the unique experience of reading this faithful reimagining of the 1960s in North Carolina.

Any memoir of childhood — especially one written by a man in his 60s — comes up against some obvious problems. How does a writer trust memories that have been altered by time and were always subjectively understood in the first place? A memoir can only be the writer’s particular take on the times, but Grimsley is well aware that his “photograph” of 1968 Pollocksville will look different from any other child’s picture. Furthermore, Grimsley provides dialogue between the various students and friends that he cannot possibly remember verbatim. Several times in the text, and even in the acknowledgements before the memoir begins, Grimsley raises the issue of memory: “While these years of my life are distant, they remain vivid and present in

my mind, in some ways more so than events that are more recent. Conviction that one’s memory is correct means little, of course. But my aim is to tell a story that is largely my own, and I believe I have come close to the truth.” He is also clear that the dialogues are “reconstructions.” The questions for the reader become: Why should I accept this writer’s version of the past? Why is this white man’s recollection of racism valuable? Wouldn’t the accounts of the black students’ experience provide a better understanding of how racism functioned? The single most remarkable aspect of How I Shed My Skin is Grimsley’s insistence on looking at racism from the inside out. In this book, racism and racist behavior are always owned; Grimsley uses “I” (and “we” when referring to his white family or white community) whenever he describes the instances of bigotry or prejudice. This is a refreshing change from books that look at racism as the problem of other people’s behavior. Grimsley makes it clear that he was the racist, that his family and community mistreated and hated black people, that the problem of racism was centrally located in white attitudes and behaviors. In 1966, the “Freedom of Choice” era brought three black girls to the public school in Pollocksville, and much of the memoir tracks the way Grimsley remembers how Violet, Ursula and Rhonda were treated. Very early in that school year, Grimsley openly called Violet a “black bitch,” and so began his understanding of the reasons why he needed to shed his racist layer of skin. But how did that layer of skin develop? No one is born with it, and Grimsley unpacks the way the unspoken power of a community informs the behavior of its inhabitants. “Nobody ever told me why blacks and whites had to go to separate schools,” Grimsley writes, “use separate restrooms and keep a distance from one another . . . Yet the knowledge of those truths had come into me in spite of the silence.” Surely Grimsley’s developing understanding of his own outsider status helped him overcome the silently enforced understanding of race. From an early age, he was much more comfortable with the company of girls (at first,

The Omnivorous Reader

this was explained away by his hemophilia which prevented him from playing contact sports), and this separation from the posturing of adolescent boys gave him some room to look at his attitudes. He also developed, slowly, a kind of friendship with Violet (Violet joined Grimsley at an event for the book release in Jones County in 2015) and the other girls that exposed the blatant lies of racism. By ninth grade, in 1968, Grimsley had come to understand how bigotry was working, and he knew he either “would learn to be a better bigot” or “learn to stop being a bigot at all.” He says he had “two paths. I had a choice to make.” That clear moment of conscience might be the necessary moment missing from the white community surrounding Grimsley at that time. How I Shed My Skin clearly documents how the author was able to make the leap out of his skin, but probably offers no clear path for how others might do the same. In the last chapter, called “Change,” Grimsley looks at how things have or have not changed. “Good people taught and still teach racism to their children without a second thought,” he writes, and the complicating factor is Grimsley’s understanding that these are indeed, at some level, “good people.” These are “his” people, and they care for their children and care for their neighbors in all the ways “good” people might, but still “we teach that when people are different from each other, one is better and the other worse.” Furthermore, we avoid teaching the real history and “refuse to face what that made of us, the whip hand we became.” It is Grimsley’s use of “we” and “I” that finally makes this book so compelling. He leaves no room for doubt about how his community worked at the time of school integration because he always places himself in that community. A black friend in 1968 points out to Grimsley how terribly a huddle of white boys were behaving. She asked, “You see your people, don’t you?” He replied: “Those are not my people.” But Grimsley knows that they were and still are. He eventually made a break from the racism expected of him, but it took many more years of self-examination and experience, and Jones County is still a deeply ingrained part of him. Grimsley is best-known as a novelist and his books include Winter Birds, Dream Boy and My Drowning, which won the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Writers’ Award. The paperback of How I Shed My Skin is due out in February of 2016, and look for Grimsley as he reads at various locations throughout the state. PS Brian Lampkin is one of the owners of Scuppernong Books in Greensboro.

January 2016P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

Are you seeking advanced treatment options for your pain?

Pain Management • Musculoskeletal Medicine • Regenerative Therapy We work to restore your ability to enjoy everyday activities that are important to YOU. AMG provides state-of-the-art non-surgical treatment in a compassionate and supportive environment. We specialize in established treatments and new advances in pain management and regenerative therapy.

Our Expertise

Advanced Treatment Options

Acute and Chronic Back and Neck pain

Spinal Injections

Acute and Chronic Joint Pain

Regenerative Medicine – Naturally treat and heal the cause of your pain

Non-healing injuries Partial tendon tears and injuries Degenerative Disc Disease Spinal Stenosis

Joint Injections PRP – Platelet Rich Plasma Stem Cell Therapy DNA testing - To optimize medications based on your individual metabolism Spinal Cord Stimulation - New “Silent” stimulation using ultra-high frequency stimulation Kyphoplasty for compression fractures MILD procedure (Minimally Invasive Lumbar Decompression) for spinal stenosis Many other options directed to your individual condition and needs

Advanced Medical Group is committed to helping you feel better! Experienced Compassionate Professionals and Staff dedicated to helping you have a pain free lifestyle.

Paul J. Kuzma, MD

Andrea Burns, PA-C

Philip Perrotta, MS, PA-C

6 Regional Drive, Suite B • Pinehurst NC, 28374

910.420.2405 •

www.AMGPinehurst.coM

We are a dental practice devoted to restoring and enhancing the natural beauty of your smile using conservative, state-of-the-art procedures that will result in beautiful, long-lasting smiles!

As Seen in The Scout Guide

3 Regional Circle • Suite C • Pinehurst, NC 28375 • 910.295.5980 • carolinasmile.com

B oo k s h e l f

What Makes a Book a Classic?

By Kimberly Daniels Taws

A few years back, in the mid-1990s, at a family gathering, my cousin Karen was longing to borrow John Grisham’s The Firm from my mother. Everyone was reading it and she could not wait to get her hands on it.

I am thinking about this now because as rabid as she was to read that book, almost no one reads it now. It was a fad book. It received a hot flash of attention and then the readers of the world retreated to the next book, never to return. The Firm is not a classic. Some books have reached literary canon status and are celebrated in classrooms across America. Other books have a brief moment in the spotlight then fade to a sliver of a memory. Other books fit in both of these categories but exist as something else entirely: the classic novel. Something beloved by multiple generations, read for pleasure and education, and often returned to more than once in a single lifetime. The Sun Also Rises, The Great Gatsby, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Grapes of Wrath are all confirmed classic novels. At The Bookshop we are always on the lookout for a new classic... but what makes a book a classic? My three favorite books as a child are classics: The Mixed up Files of Mrs.

Basil E. Frankweiler, by E.L. Konigsburg; The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett; and Matilda, by Roald Dahl. I enjoyed them. They gave me insight into the relationship between children and adults at a time when I was especially curious about that particular power structure. I read the Harry Potter series when it was a fad — all seven of them at once while recovering from a minor surgery. J.K. Rowling’s Potter books are no longer merely fashionable. They have become a modern classic, fast joining ranks with The Chronicles of Narnia. Will Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series become a classic? Ten successful years after its initial publication the jury is still out. At The Bookshop our own Beth Carpenter believes Unbroken, by Laura Hildebrand, The Boys in the Boat, by Daniel James Brown, and The Nightingale, by Kristin Hannah, have the potential to become classics. Bill Maher suggested American Sniper, by Chris Kyle. In the last few decades The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho, The Art of Racing in the Rain, by Garth Stein, and Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston, have all been firmly placed in the modern classic category. But why? What makes us read these books over and over? A classic is a book that allows us to understand ourselves a little bit better. Maybe in reading those books we feel less alone and a little more understood by the world. Classics circle very close to the truth of the human condition. The mechanics of the world will continue to change, but our constant quest to understand the human experience will always stay the same. Reading The Firm did not change my cousin’s understanding of the human condition. But like all of us she keeps reading to find those classic books because they do.

B oo k s h e l f

CHILDREN’S BOOKS — By Angie Tally

Available at

Framer’s Cottage

162 NW Broad Street • Downtown Southern Pines 910.246.2002 26

Just what makes a book a “classic”? Madeline, Goodnight Moon, Pat the Bunny, Curious George. Such familiar titles bring smiles to the faces of so many. For PineStraw this month we surveyed a few Country Bookshop employees and asked them to explain just what they think makes a book a classic and then share their favorite classic children’s book. Diann Fortune’s favorite is The Tale of Peter Rabbit, by Beatrix Potter. Peter’s mother told him to stay out of Mr. McGregor’s garden because his father had an accident there. Naturally, Peter, like some of us, did not believe his mother could possibly be right and tested her warning. Peter learned his lesson the hard way. The Tale of Peter Rabbit is timeless because it mimics human nature. What a great story for teaching those darling naughty children and also for encouraging continued sweetness in our cherubs for generations to come. Damita Nocton’s choice is Charlotte’s Web. Written by E.B.White in 1952, captured in illustration by Garth Williams, it is the quintessential children’s book, passing the test of time through more than six decades. It is loved equally by young and old. Children connect with the characters and humor, all while being given gentle doses of life lessons in friendship and loyalty. Adults of all ages find themselves reminiscing for the simpler times found between the pages. This beloved book doubles as the perfect read aloud or cherished independent read. My favorites are the Little Bear books, by Else Minarik. When books are shared by one generation and then remembered, loved, read, saved or repurchased by subsequent generations, those are the ones I consider classics. On the bookshelf in the hall outside my daughters’ bedroom doors are copies of Little Bear, Little Bear’s Friend and Little Bear’s Visit. The stories chronicle the adventures of Little Bear, his parents, grandparents and friends. They were bought by my mother to read to me, and were subsequently read to and loved by my girls. One title that has all the makings of becoming a classic is The Adventures of Miss Petitfour, a delightful new collection of stories by Ann Michaels. Miss Petitfour — an expert at baking and eating little cakes — is the owner of sixteen very interesting cats. She travels primarily by tablecloth, and has the most marvelous everyday adventures. Book-loving adults will enjoy sharing laughs with young readers in this little book, which has quickly become a favorite on the shelves in bookshop children’s sections. PS

January 2016 P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

MAKE THIS YEAR'S R E S O LU T I O N TO H AV E M O R E F U N !

A Faith-Based Not For Profit Life Plan Community

500 E. Rhode Island Ave. Southern Pines, NC (910) 692-0300 www.penickvillage.org

BACK

2090 15

THE COUNTRY BOOKSHOP’S BEST ATTENDED ADULT BOOK EVENT OF 2015

Gayle Tzemach Lemmon: Ashley’s War: The Untold Story of a Team of Women Soldiers on the Special Ops Battlefield

ATTENDED

THE COUNTRY BOOKSHOP’S BEST ATTENDED CHILDREN’S BOOK EVENT OF 2015

IN 590 ATTENDED Deborah Diesen: The Not Very Merry Pout-Pout Fish

MEET THE AUTHOR Saturday, January 9 at 2:00pm

Stewart O’Nan: West of Sunset

West of Sunset, an Indie Next List pick of January 2015, is a sympathetic and deeply personal portrait of flawed novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald. “A very honest look at the end of his life” - Damita Nocton

NORTH CAROLINA

AUTHOR

Another year,

another

author

Events are free and open to the public.

The Country Bookshop 140 NW Broad St, Southern Pines, NC 910.692.3211 • www.thecountrybookshop.biz

For an updated list of author events, visit us on Facebook and subscribe to our event calendar!

Wednesday, January 20 at 5:00 pm

Taylor Brown: Fallen Land

“An unbelievable story for readers who loved Cold Mountain” - Beth Carpenter

meet the author Wednesday, March 2, at 5:00pm

Katy Simpson Smith: Free Men

Author of The Story of Land and Sea

Story EVERY FRIDAY AT Time 10:30 AM North Carolina Author NORTH CAROLINA AUTHOR

Saturday, April 9 at Noon

Ann B. Ross: Miss Julia Inherits a Mess

Monday, April 11 at 5:00 pm

Kristy Woodson Harvey: Lies and Other Acts of Love

Meet the Author Wednesday April 27 at 2 pm

William Geroux: The Mathews Men: Seven Brothers and the War Against Hitler’s U-Boats “A long overdue volume on the Merchant Marines in the Atlantic during World War II” - Bill Maher

P r op e r E n g l i s h

Firmly Resolved No New Year’s resolutions this year. Toffee, anyone?

By Serena Brown

work? Yet to happen. The weekly yoga class? Takes place at six o’clock in the morning. Two mornings ago.

resolutions. I think I’m going to pass on that this year.

January 6: Started War and Peace yet? The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire? You resolved to read them this year and you’ll have to start now to get through them in the space of 359 days. As you’re also going to be less extravagant, you look in the secondhand bookshop. Leave with The Complete Dessert Cookbook and a Kinky Friedman story.

Some people like to begin the New Year with Here is a rough guide to what happens to most people’s grand resolutions throughout the western world: January 1: Wake up feeling nauseated. Swear never to drink again. Until midday when the Bloody Marys come round. Remember that despite giving up smoking at the stroke of midnight, you found a packet of cigarettes at around four in the morning and smoked them all to lessen the temptation on the first of the year. January 2: Wake up. It occurs to you that last night you were too tired to make an entry into the beautiful new journal in which you were going to record your witticisms, profound reflections and scintillating activities every night of the year. January 3: Hit the sales to cheer yourself up from the post-holiday blues and to fill in time now that you’ve given up smoking. Remember you had resolved not to buy superfluous clothes this year. Then find the dilemma solved for you when your credit card doesn’t work at the till. Eat doughnuts on the way home to comfort yourself, only to recall that you were also intending to cut down on sugar. January 4: You were going to pay your credit card bill on time every month this year. Whoops. Have to leave work early due to a caffeine deprivation migraine from having given up coffee. January 5: The daily trip to the gym you promised you’d make after

January 7: Realise you have bitten off more than you can chew. Except where the doughnuts and sugary treats are concerned. Feel a bit deflated. Except around the waistline. This is all too disspiriting and bad for the self-esteem. That’s no way to begin the year. So this year I resolve to make no resolutions, just to have one or two small ambitions that might be nice to achieve. For example, I set out writing this essay determined that while I worked I wouldn’t raid the toffees that are in the kitchen cupboard waiting to be an after-dinner-party treat. So far, so good; though they do keep winking at me. I think that I might start to celebrate New Year sometime in the spring. A bit of digging around on the Internet has revealed that many cultures begin their years in April. Indeed, in Britain the year was considered to start on Lady Day — March 25 — until 1752. To me that makes considerably more sense than in the middle of winter. It’s going to be so much more inspiring to make a fresh start when the dogwoods are turning green and the tiny irises emerging from the pine straw. I’m signing off now, those toffees are calling from their cupboard. Happy New Year everyone, for wherever and whenever you choose to celebrate. PS Serena Brown is considering cutting back on toffees, but she’s going to give the matter more serious thought in March.

Ho m e tow n

Hall of Fame How a great teacher and hard work led to prizes and prized memories

By Bill Fields

Being 12 years old, or on the cusp of

that age, isn’t what it once was. Some kids are playing on travel teams that have them on the road as much as minor leaguers. Others are already worrying about getting into the right college. Childhood hasn’t vanished, but it can seem a sprint rather than a stroll, rushed beyond reason.

As I remember it, the sixth grade was a sweet spot, when we were still enjoying dodgeball rather than worrying about dating. We knew how to be children and hadn’t yet had to attempt to be grown-ups. Certainly some of us had developed favorite subjects or interests, but mostly life was as unmapped as our sandy schoolyard before recess, when the random footprints of kids in Keds explained the joy of play better than our squeals and shouts. The sixth grade was the end of something, one last year of belonging to one room and one teacher, storing books in a desk instead of a locker, the rhythms of a day orchestrated by the kind voice of someone with a piece of chalk in her hand instead of programmed bells that sounded at the top of the hour. Teachers are good or bad, memorable or forgettable, folks to relish or regret. Marjorie Hall, my sixth-grade instructor for the 1970-71 term, stood out for the right reasons. Miss Hall was in her mid-30s, fond of conservative wool skirts, tights and flats. Her relative youth was a nice change from the teacher I had the previous year, who was older and whose lessons often were accented by an awful hocking sound that recalled a cat trying to cough up a furball. Miss Hall was all about decorum, intent on our learning manners as well as math. When we were admonished about wearing hats indoors, Miss Hall made sure we absorbed a few new words too: Gentlemen shall not wear chapeaus in edifices.

She drove a Volkswagen and lived with her mother in an apartment adjacent to the fourth tee at Knollwood Fairways. I was playing golf regularly by then on the compact nine-hole course and would always look over to Miss Hall’s patio to see if she happened to be watching when I teed off on No. 4. You didn’t want to disappoint Miss Hall. She expected a lot from us, as the best teachers do, but her demands were more inspiring than onerous. For a science project in which she had us prepare an exhibit, I put full effort into my project, a display on conservation, by poring over our World Books at home and checking out a couple of volumes from the town library. The first Earth Day had occurred the previous spring — it was a hot topic. The pictures I drew on my poster board panels were rudimentary, to put it kindly; my classmates’ more refined endeavors looked as if they belonged in the North Carolina Museum of Art compared with mine. However, I worked a lot of details into my exhibit to tell a cogent story. I won for “most informative” display. I expected to receive something like a couple of Bic Clics, a baseball or a book for winning, but Miss Hall, aware that I loved sports, was much more generous than that. She got tickets to the fourth annual ABA All-Star Game in late January at the Greensboro Coliseum for me and a friend. It couldn’t have been a better Saturday. Miss Hall had already picked up my buddy Alvin Davis when she drove up to my house in her Beetle, and the three of us headed up Highway 220 to be among a record crowd of 14,407 at the game. We had good seats behind one of the baskets, but we could have been in the stratosphere and it would still have been the biggest adventure of my young life. To make it a perfect outing, the Carolina Cougars’ new star, “Pogo Joe” Caldwell, helped the East team rally from a large deficit to beat the West 126-122. I would go to many more games, on much longer trips, but I’ve never forgotten that day or the woman who made it happen. PS Southern Pines native Bill Fields never lived on Connecticut Avenue but has lived in the actual Connecticut for a long time.

January 2016P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

Vine Wisdom

The Vine Is as Mighty as the Pen Good company and great wines

By Robyn James

If one could ever draw a direct correlation between any profession and a habit, being a great writer and consuming alcohol would be at the top of the list. Many great writers preferred the hard stuff, but quite a few became wine aficionados, taking pleasure in both consuming and writing about wine.

Wine was not as popular in the United States back in their day, but most caught the bug on their travels in European countries, where wine has always ruled. Ernest Hemingway tops the list. One of his favorite meals in France was Marennes-Oléron oysters and the pungent Pont-L’Evêque cheese, washed down with icy Sancerre, a sauvignon blanc from the Loire Valley. Hemingway loved to travel to Europe and writes fondly about drinking beautiful Chiantis in Tuscany and visiting Pamplona, Spain, for the running of the bulls and another favorite meal: roasted pork with generous quantities of ruby Rioja Alta wine. Wine was a common topic in many of his books. Here are just a few examples: “Wine is one of the most civilized things in the world and one of the most natural things of the world that has been brought to the greatest perfection, and it offers a greater range for enjoyment and appreciation than, possibly, any other purely sensory thing.” — Death in the Afternoon “‘Wine is a grand thing,’ I said. ‘It makes you forget all the bad.’” — A Farewell to Arms “I drank a bottle of wine for company. It was Château Margaux. It was pleasant to be drinking slowly and to be tasting the wine and to be drinking alone. A bottle of wine was good company.” — The Sun Also Rises, 1926 “In Europe we thought of wine as something as healthy and normal as food and also a great giver of happiness and well being and delight. Drinking wine was not a snobbism nor a sign of sophistication nor a cult; it was as natural as eating and to me as necessary.” — A Moveable Feast, 1964 Good for Hemingway to have the Château Margaux all to himself! Today that red Bordeaux would cost him about $2,000. In Shakespeare’s 16th century England, wine was about twelve times the price of beer, so it became an upper class drink. Since Britain’s climate is largely

unsuitable for growing grapes or making wine, most wine was shipped from Spain. To make the long journey by ship without spoiling, the wine commonly shipped from Spain was sherry, fortified with brandy as a preservative. Shakespeare wrote glowingly about how it affected him. “It ascends me into the brain; dries me there all the foolish and dull and crudy vapours which environ it; makes it apprehensive, quick, forgetive, full of nimble, fiery and delectable shapes, which delivered o’er to the voice (the tongue), which is the birth, becomes excellent wit.” — Henry IV, Part 2 Shakespeare was also familiar with mead, a wine made from fermented honey, water, yeast, cloves and other herbs, referenced in Love’s Labour’s Lost and The Merry Wives of Windsor. Champagne was hugely favored by the literary set. F. Scott Fitzgerald, Mark Twain and particularly Oscar Wilde adored the bubbles. F. Scott Fitzgerald declared that “Too much of anything is bad, but too much Champagne is just right.” He also wrote about it in The Great Gatsby: “I had taken two finger-bowls of champagne, and the scene had changed before my eyes into something significant, elemental, and profound.” Some writers claimed imbibing broke their writer’s block and others, like Mark Twain, loved Champagne but believed it created the block: “I have not had a large experience in the matter of alcoholic drinks. I find that about two glasses of champagne are an admirable stimulant to the tongue, and is, perhaps, the happiest inspiration for an after dinner speech which can be found; but, as far as my experience goes, wine is a clog to the pen, not an inspiration. I have never seen the time when I could write to my satisfaction after drinking even one glass of wine.” Oscar Wilde had an incredible Champagne fetish, developed while living in France. He ordered his staff to serve it morning, noon and night, often staging elaborated dinners featuring Champagne. At his lowest point, having been imprisoned, he still ordered his favorite pink Champagne, 1874 Perrier-Jouet, to be delivered to his cell. Legend has it that even on his deathbed he drank Champagne, sighing, “Alas, I am dying beyond my means.” “Pleasure without Champagne is purely artificial.” — Oscar Wilde PS Robyn James is proprietor of The Wine Cellar and Tasting Room in Southern Pines. Contact her at robynajames@gmail.com.

We Can Find It For You. Whatever Your Dream Home,

Lake Pinehurst View Home 22 Westlake Point 4 Bedrooms and 3 Baths Pinehurst Country Club Membership Attached. Reduced $259,000 Call Dawn: 910-783-7993

New Golf Front Listing in Pinehurst No. 6 9 Shenecossett Ln. 3 Bedrooms 2 1/2 Baths Screened Porch and Outdoor Patios Pinehurst Country Club Membership Attached Asking $324,000. Call Dawn: 910-783-7993

Stunning Lake Auman Home Your Dream Home is Waiting 122 McCracken Dr. 3 Bedrooms, 3.5 Baths Completely Rebuilt in 2012! Reduced $799,000 Call Dawn: 910-783-7993

Live the Dream! Beautiful Golf Views of The 15th Hole of Pinehurst No. 5 Attached Pinehurst Country Club Membership 945 St. Andrews Dr. Asking $89,900 Call Margaret: 910-690-4561

Walk into the Village of Pinehurst 1 E. McDonald Rd. 4 Beds, 3 Baths New Construction Pinehurst Country Club Membership Attached, Reduced $415,000 Call Pete: 910-695-9412

Lake Auman Water Front Lot Build Your Dream Home 103 Mace Pt, Seven Lakes W Stunning Views - Concrete Bulkhead Cul-de-sac Lot Near the Front Gate Call Cathy: 910-639-0433

Pinehurst resort realty Pinehurst Resort Realty is the preferred real estate company of Pinehurst Resort and Country Club, giving you direct resource into this Your Best Choice for Moore County world-renowned destination and Pinehurst Membership

The Preferred real esTaTe ComPany of The PinehursT resorT and CounTry Club. Visit Us in the Carolina Hotel in Pinehurst 1.800.772.7588 | www.PinehurstResortRealty.com | homes@PinehurstResortRealty.com

In The Spirit

New Sensation Make local spirits part of your New Year’s resolutions, and choose them straight from the distillery

By Tony Cross

photograph by john gessner

Any avid gym

rat will tell you that January is the worst time of the year to go to a fitness center. It’s not because we (I’m one of them) have quadrupled our calorie count on holiday cookies and it’s all we can do to get ourselves back into the swing of things. No. It’s because every January there are those that make a resolution to get in shape. They infiltrate the gym taking over equipment, forgetting to wipe down that sweaty bench and leaving free weights on the ground for me to trip over. I used to be that person, until I learned proper etiquette and worked hard month in and month out. Therein lies the problem: A majority of the “resolution” folks will only be there for that month, maybe two months max.

How many of you have prognosticated your dispiriting failures as soon as they came out of your mouths? Been there, done that. But, today I’ll throw an idea out there that you should get behind: This new year, try local spirits. I know that some of you are accustomed to drinking your Maker’s and ginger or Tanqueray and tonics; no foul there. Well, maybe for vodka-soda imbibers (don’t get me started). Just as craft beer has emerged across the

U.S., craft distillation of liquor is on the rise. Here in the Sandhills, we’re blessed with three different distilleries within one hour of Southern Pines. On October 1, 2015, House Bill 912 was signed into law, allowing the sale at a distillery of one bottle per person per year of a spirit that’s listed in the North Carolina ABC system. Before this law passed, the only way to purchase a bottle of liquor was from a state-owned ABC store. While this might seem miniscule to some, TOPO Distillery Spirit Guide and partner Esteban McMahan calls this a “big step. One of the things that we were struggling with before the passing of the law was the conversion rate from people that would come to the distillery saying they would’ve bought bottles if they could’ve, and then saying, ‘I’m definitely going to buy one the next time I go to the ABC,’ but then not buying one.” The new law allows us to purchase a bottle straight from the facility where it’s produced, take it back home, enjoy it, and then purchase the next one from your local ABC. If your closest store doesn’t carry it, they can order it for you; with enough of us demanding these great spirits, they will become a mainstay on the shelves. Remember, you get one per year. Visit the distilleries and find a favorite. That’s a much more worthwhile resolution. “No’Lasses” Sorghum Rhum Fair Game Beverage Co., Pittsboro Sweet sorghum is a grain in the Poaceae family (the same as sugarcane) and can grow up to three times the size of a human. Keeping with the agricole tradition, juice is pressed from the sorghum and fermented with sorghum syrup. Distiller Chris Jude makes a damn fine Southern version of Rhum agricole; the juice and syrup distill in an alembic copper still and then age in used bourbon and new American oak barrels. Mellow vegetal

In The Spirit

and burnt sugar notes make this a great sipper. I had the honor and pleasure of serving No’Lasses at a private release party early last year. Try No’Lasses in a classic daiquiri: 2 oz No’Lasses 3/4 oz fresh lime juice 1/2 oz simple syrup (2:1) Combine all ingredients in a shaker and add ice. Shake hard and strain into a chilled coupe glass.

CONTEMPORARY • TRADITIONAL • HAND WROUGHT

“Eight Oak” Carolina Whiskey TOPO, Chapel Hill Distilled from 100 percent wheat, this whiskey ages in eight combinations of three oaks (one American and two French) and toasts (one has a high vanillin content). Using styles and techniques that winemakers have practiced for the past century, this method gives Eight Oak a persona far superior to those whiskeys aged only using American oak barrels. On the palate, notes of vanilla, oak and toffee give this USDA Organic whiskey its unique toasty flavor. Try Eight Oak with ice. I enjoy this whiskey neat, but I think the flavors really open up when a little dilution is brought into the fold. The larger the cube the better; you don’t want over-dilution to happen. Also, use distilled water if possible. “Conniption” American Dry Gin Durham Distillery, Durham Old school meets new school distillery methods in the newest gin from the area. Cardamom, angelica, juniper and coriander are added to a custom 230 liter German copper pot still. The botanicals are vapor infused, leaving the gin crisp and clean. The second step involves individually vacuum distilling the more sensitive botanicals (cucumber and honeysuckle) at room temperature. While maintaining freshness, these botanicals are then blended with the gin in specific proportions. Cucumber, orange citrus, juniper and honeysuckle all unfold on the palate from this extremely clean botanical gin.

110 West Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines, NC 910-695-HARK (4275) PaulHarknessJewelry.com 36

Try Conniption in an Illmatic: 1/2 tsp. Absinthe 1 1/2½ oz Conniption Gin 1/4 oz Green Chartreuse 3/4 oz fresh lemon juice 1/2 oz simple syrup (2:1) Swirl½ the Absinthe in a chilled coupe glass. Discard the rest. Combine remaining ingredients in a cocktail shaker, add ice and shake hard. Strain into the coupe. Add fresh lemon zest. Drink. Smile. PS Tony Cross is a bartender who runs cocktail catering company Reverie Cocktails. He can also recommend you a vitamin supplement for the morning after at Nature’s Own.

January 2016 P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

Life changes...but compassion doesn’t. Call 910-246-1011 for your free consultation. Wherever home is, St. Joseph of the Pines will be there. Providing you the personal touch you deserve with one hour minimum and no contracts. Available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week Offering Companion, Nurse Aide, and Registered Nursing Services Private pay and long-term care insurance accepted Serving Moore, Hoke, Cumberland, Robeson, Harnett and Lee counties. www.sjp.org

It’s the little things that matter the most.

LAKEFRONT COMMUNIT Y

Live. Play. Enjoy.

94 4 WAT ER OA K PL ACE Lake Front, private boat dock, pool 3 bedrooms, 3.5 bathrooms A must see home to appreciate

119A M A LL A R DS COV E Water front town home with private boat dock 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms

$455,000

$120,900 For sales information call 910-245-2911 or visit

www.woodlakecc.com For rentals | 910-245-2911 Extention 209

681 R I V ER BI RCH DR I V E 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, large bonus room Extra side lot included 5 minute walk to boat ramp

$205,000

Betty Howard, GRI and MRP Broker/REALTOR™ Woodlake Properties, Inc.

150 Woodlake Blvd, Vass, NC 28394

910.639.9004 Cell 910.245.2911 Ext 232

STUDIOS

125 Kings Ridge Ct.

EST.1983

New Construction in Mid South Club A beautiful home that has all of the features you would expect from Blackman Builders: a spectacular kitchen, hardwood floors, crown molding, wainscoting, coffered ceiling, beautiful tile designs in kitchen and baths, two laundry rooms (one up and one down) and five bedrooms and four baths. All this on a golf front site in the private and conveniently located Mid South Club community. $550,000

PHOTOGRAPHY FULL PRODUCTION VIDEO SER VICES

3 Holly Knoll Ct.

Lake area in Pinehurst. A stunning, contemporary home featuring an open floor plan with huge windows, a covered porch beside the fish pond and a terraced yard that has been professionally landscaped. It has the style and quality expected in a Hickman home including vaulted ceilings, magnificent crown molding, maple flooring and cabinetry, a kitchen complete with gas cook top, stainless steel appliances, very large island, and Italian marble counter tops. Pinehurst CC membership available. $515,000

90 Linden Road

Old Town Pinehurst An historic Dutch Colonial home two short blocks from the Village of Pinehurst. The home, perfectly placed on an acre lot for best privacy enjoys a view of the large inground pool and cabana, perfect for outdoor entertaining. It also features graciously sized rooms, heart pine floors, sun room and multiple options for bedroom suite arrangements; A membership to Pinehurst CC (only four blocks away) is available. $945,000

225 Lake Dornoch Dr

Very private setting in CCNC This immaculate single story, all brick home offers over 3100 sq. ft. with three bedrooms and two baths on over one acre of beautifully landscaped grounds. With a water view and convenient location near CCNC’s entrance, this home is truly a one-of-a-kind private retreat. It offers high ceilings and an amazing room that’s filled with natural light and a magnificent water feature. You have to see it to fully appreciate it. $520,000

commercial • family • wedding • mar k e t i ng Sweet Valentine Special Avai l a b l e Call N ina ( 619) 884-9226 Serving Pinehurst and National/International Events

Homes presented by the Transition Partnership Team at Keller Williams Realty, Peggy Floyd and David Ainslie "Partnering with you on your transition to a new place, home and lifestyle" www.PinehurstLuxuryProperties.com

www.ninajensen.com nina@ninajensen.com Peggy Floyd 910.639.1197

David Ainslie 910.690.6777

January 2016P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

The kitchen garden

Fat of the Land

Seek out suet for the good of the garden birds

By Jan Leitschuh

As the kitchen

garden slumbers and seed catalogs color up the mailboxes, let’s look at another aspect of the natural world: the winter birds. Fiddling around in the kitchen is always a pleasure to a kitchen gardener, so why not cook for the avian set? If not with fresh vegetables and fruits, how about other local farm products? Like suet?

The high energy of suet — the raw kidney fat from beef and lamb — has long been used to attract and nourish insect-eating birds such as cardinals, woodpeckers, juncos, jays, flickers, wrens, nuthatches, chickadees, warblers, thrushes, thrashers and more. Who doesn’t know the insulating value of a few pounds over the winter? Suet is even added to the food rations of Arctic sled dogs to meet their high energy needs. Our feathered friends outside the frosted windows often find January a tough time. Food sources dwindle and temps throttle down. Fat can be burned for warmth and energy. A number of stores sell ready-made suet cakes and supplies for feeders, and if you already use these then by all means support your local small businesses. But what if, like me, you have a mile-wide “do-it-yourself” streak, and wish to create something in the kitchen with no fillers, dyes, additives, preservatives? Packed into a cake, tub, mesh sock or a pine cone, stuffed with seeds, dried fruits and other goodies, it might even make a unique gift for a friend. The first task was to track down genuine suet. This was not as easy as you might imagine. Once upon a time, you could find suet in supermarkets, but no longer — except maybe at holiday time in places where there are lots of English pudding-makers. Though our grandmothers regularly cooked with suet and lard, saturated fats have fallen out of favor since the late ’50s. Saturated fats were called “the bad fats” and suspected of a role in coronary artery disease. Yet last year, a meta-analysis of seventy-two studies on fats and heart disease turned up a surprise finding; saturated fats, long thought to raise heart disease risks, had “no effect.” (Trans fats were linked with higher risk of heart disease, while omega-3 fatty acids promoted heart health.) Will that bring suet, butter and lard back in favor? Hard to say; the American Heart Association still disagrees with the finding. Even though some nutritional scientists are revising their opinions, the

prevailing wisdom remains: “You’re cooking in WHAT? Animal fat?!” Remember when McDonald’s switched from cooking their fries in beef tallow (rendered suet) to vegetable oils? It’s what Hostess once used for the shortening in the creme filling in their treats (and then switched to a definitely unhealthy trans-fat-filled creme). Even Altoids mints used animal fat until the early-mid ’90s. This kitchen gardener takes no opinion yea or nay, but will continue to tune in to this debate, loving a good grass-fed burger as much as the next hard-working gardener. The point is that it took some looking to find suet. I asked a few local grass-fed beef folk. But they did not have suet on offer (I imagine they might if there was local demand). I had no country friend taking a cow in for butchering. Chefs who do their own butchering might be able to hook a person up. A call to various meat counters in area grocery stores turned up a variety of responses. Your typical supermarket butcher isn’t likely to have any true suet around. Some stores offer packaged suet for cooking genuine British dishes such as Christmas cake, spotted dick and Yorkshire puddings, mincemeats and so forth. There is also a “vegetarian suet” available, made of palm oil and rice flour, but I did not want to use it for this project. While meat counters didn’t have kidney fat, some would sell beef trimmings for rendering. Ask them for their hard beef fat trimmings. The big score was a call to Key Packing Company in Robbins, a local business that processes cattle, hogs and sheep for area farmers. They had suet, and sold it by the pound “five days a week.” Note: If you’re going to laugh in the face of medical-opinion uncertainty and actually cook with suet for yourself — not the birds — in the traditional manner, it’s important to purchase true suet. The animals should have been USDA inspected, and packaging should say “suitable for human consumption.” Shelfstable (unrefrigerated) suet may have been at least partially hydrogenated, which creates those nasty trans fats, which are worse for you than saturated fats; check the label. Do not buy birdfeed suet, as it is probably quite old and perhaps full of chemical preservatives. Classical cooks understand how suet works — butter and shortening melt earlier in the cooking process, blending right into batters. Suet, instead, melts much later, after the batter has begun to set. When it melts, it leaves spaces in the setting batter, making the batter light. By the way, suet and lard are not the same thing. Suet is a denser, harder fat than lard. It is waxy, and almost crumbly. Lard, from pigs, tends to be soft and runny (most commercial lard in the U.S. is actually hydrogenated, like shortening, to give it more body and a longer shelf-life; think “trans fats”), and has a softer texture. Lard can also be used, but I wanted to learn more about suet.

The kitchen garden

What would be the perfect Valentine gift?

The gift that keeps on giving! If you or your partner is suffering from postmenopausal changes in vaginal health, the MonaLisa Touch may be the perfect gift! An FDA-approved non-hormonal, laser therapy treatment that patients are calling “life-changing”, the MonaLisa Touch is safe, requires no anesthesia, and has little to no downtime. Contact our office to sign up for an informational Open House and Seminar.

Mention this ad and sign up for a series of treatments in the month of Jan or Feb and receive a 10% discount for Valentines Day!

3 Regional Circle, Suite B | Pinehurst, NC 28374 | (910) 215-0111 | www.williamsongyn.com

So now you’ve got your suet or beef fat. I ordered two pounds and it was a huge amount — start with half a pound or less. Don’t let it intimidate you — it’s just fat, like the trimmings of steak. Keep it refrigerated until ready to use within a day or two. “It can also turn black and go rancid,” notes Wild Birds Unlimited. “This is not good for the birds or other wildlife. To store raw suet, it must be refrigerated or frozen.” Suet is solid at temperatures below 70 degrees. Above 70 degrees, raw suet will begin to melt. Those cakes, plugs, tubs or some other shape have gone through the process of melting the raw fat down and straining. The end result is a suet that takes longer to go rancid and does not need to be refrigerated. After rendering, it is commonly shaped to fit into something designed to hold suet, such as a cage, a tub or a log feeder. To render, chop up your suet a bit and melt in a saucepan over low heat. Let the liquid fat cook out of the brown bits that remain behind. Your house will smell like a burger joint, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The white suet turns translucent greyish, just like it does on your steak. Absolutely keep all water away from the rendering pot, or you could get some dangerous spitting — think frying bacon. Keep a lid on the pot. I poured off the melted fat several times into my recipe pot, replacing the cooking pot lid, wiping the sides and putting it back on the stove to further cook down. This took a couple of hours for two pounds of fat. When you have enough melted fat for your purposes, take the pot off the heat and let the fat set up for discarding later. There are several recipes below, but the basic mix goes like this: Add peanut butter, stirring until melted and well blended. Mix in any other ingredients such as raisins, purchased birdseed, berries, cornmeal, sunflower seed, millet, nut pieces and more together in a large bowl. I also used some old oatmeal the moths had gotten into — go get ’em, insect eaters! Allow the blend to cool until slightly thickened, then pack it into tubs, cans and tins, stuff it into logs with drilled holes, or into pine cones, or just smear it on bark and branches. You can pour the mix into cake pans, chill and cut like brownies. A mesh bag can hold your homemade cakes. Want to make gifts? Google “Cornell pine cone feeders” for a very nice picture-driven tutorial. A Wild Birds Unlimited store employee said online, “I’m always encouraging my customers to make their own recipes filled with fat (rather than sugars and grains) to best benefit the birds.” Now, sit back and watch the birdies. —————————————————————————————— Suet is the perfect bird food recipe for the winter months, when birds’ food sources dwindle. You can use almost any seed or grain, mixed with bacon fat, lard and/or peanut butter. A basic suet combines equal parts of fat and assorted birdseed.

January 2016P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

The kitchen garden

Put it in a tuna or cat food can to chill (or freeze) until it’s hard enough to hold its shape, then release it into a wire suet cage or sturdy mesh bag. For a fancier suet, add peanut butter to the mix. You can also bind cornmeal or oatmeal with straight peanut butter and spread it into holes drilled in a post or log. Birds also like dried fruits, so consider adding raisins, currants, chopped dried apples or apricots.

Farmers Almanac Basic Suet Cake 2 parts melted fat (bacon fat, suet or lard) 2 parts yellow cornmeal 1 part peanut butter Mix all ingredients together and cook for a few minutes. Pour into small containers, and refrigerate or freeze until needed. Mixture can also be stuffed into 1-inch holes drilled in small logs to hang from trees. The recipe can be made all year long as long as you accumulate fat. Fasten containers securely to trees or feeders.

Baltimore Bird Club Soft Suet Medley (halve if desired) 4 1/2 cups ground fresh suet 3/4 cup dried and fine ground bakery goods (whole-wheat or cracked-wheat bread or crackers are best) 1/2 cup shelled sunflower seeds 1/4 cup millet 1/4 cup dried and chopped fruit (currants, raisins, or berries) Melt suet in a saucepan over low heat. Mix the rest of the ingredients together in a large bowl. Allow the suet to cool until slightly thickened, then stir it into the mixture in the bowl. Mix thoroughly. Pour or pack into forms or suet feeders; smear onto tree trunks or overhanging limbs and branches; or pack into pine cones.

Hard Suet Tidbit Cakes 1/2 lb. fresh ground suet 1/3 cup sunflower seeds 2/3 cup wild bird seed (mix) 1/8 cup chopped peanuts 1/4 cup raisins Melt suet in a saucepan over low heat. Allow it to cool thoroughly, then reheat it. Mix the rest of the ingredients together in a large bowl. Allow the suet to cool until slightly thickened, then stir it into the mixture in the bowl. Mix thoroughly. Pour into pie pan or form, or pack into suet feeders. Optional or substitute ingredients: millet (or other birdseed), cornmeal, chopped berries, dried fruit.

Not interested in suet? A simple method for making suet-type food: 2 cups shelled, unsalted peanuts 1½ /2 cup raisins 2 to 3 tablespoons cornmeal Process peanuts in a food processor until they’re the consistency of peanut butter. Then add raisins and process for another minute. Add the cornmeal and process again. Press this mixture into a mold of your choice. PS Jan Leitschuh is a local gardener, avid eater of fresh produce and cofounder of the Sandhills Farm to Table Cooperative.

Pinehurst Medical Clinic Dermatology Juliann S. Wallner, MD, FAAD, ASDS Manfred S. Rothstein, MD, FAAD, FACP Pamela J. Guest, MD, FAAD Board Certified in Dermatology Call to schedule an appoinment

910.235.3330

205 Page Road, Pinehurst, NC 28374 For more information visit:

Medical/Surgical Dermatology: Adults & Children of all ages Skin Cancer, Rashes, Psoriasis, Melanoma, Cysts, Warts & More

Advanced Medicine | Genuine Compassion

Dr. Wallner offers Cosmetic Services such as Botox®, Xeomin® and Dermal Fillers.

www.pinehurstmedical.com

Breaking Ground with Bowness Custom Homes

New Homes & Remodeling | Value Makes the Difference www.bownesscustomhomes.com | 910-692-3782 42

January 2016P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

O u t of t h e B l u e

My Kitty Companions A love story with whiskers

By Deborah Salomon

Once a year, in January, I al-

low myself a kitty column. Pets are perennial subjects for columnists — often in memoriam. I appreciate the heartbreak but cannot read or write about it, preferring to observe and marvel at animals’ instincts, behaviors and quirks.

My passion for all animals springs from childhood deprivation. No dogs, no cats, only a beloved turtle. But as an adult I’ve never been without. Recap: Lucky, black as coal, sleek as a seal, neutered and declawed, found me after being abandoned in the apartment complex where I live — a common occurrence. I fed him outside for six months before opening the door to the most amazing, affectionate, intelligent animal. I’ll pit him against any border collie in the smarts department. Besides, I’m a sucker for black cats, with their sad eyes and stoic dispositions. He is not my first. Lucky (what else could I name a black stray who found me?) adapted instantly. He knew exactly where I would put the food bowl. He found my lap — and many quiet nap nests. We were pals from the get-go. Hissy had been the neighborhood cat for years, fed by many, loved by none; her notched ear suggested a spayed feral. I guess she observed Lucky’s luck and started hanging around the door. Not a pretty sight — crossed eyes, grey stripes mottled against white, a big girl shaped like a loaf of bread, a gait reminiscent of Edith Bunker and nasty, nasty. She even hissed when I fed her, hence the name, which stuck after Hissy became Kissy — it took a while after I let her limp in with a sore paw. The paw healed. She stayed. Lucky appeared resigned. Now, after three years’ cohabitation, they are a couple, with definite personality traits. Food: Hissy, given a Rorschach test, would pronounce each ink blot a chicken liver. The tinkle of kibble against bowl wakes her from a coma. I have to feed them separately because she pushes Lucky away from his dish. She begs morsels from my plate, paying special attention to scrambled eggs. Mea culpa for Lucky’s food fetish. After he began nibbling my ear at 4 a.m., I stashed a handful of kibble in the nightstand drawer. A few pieces bought me an hour. Now, when I go to bed with a book or DVD, Lucky’s sitting on the nightstand. He paws until I dish out four or five times. In desperation, I developed an all-done signal: pull the covers over my arms. He understands — positively Pavlovian — and settles down at my shoulder until 4 a.m. Hierarchy: Cat politics are legend, as evidenced by Hissy, who came into Lucky’s home and attempted dominance. He looked perturbed but never lifted

a paw. They both like my wicker rocking chair with fluffy cushion. If Lucky gets there first, Hissy eyeballs him, sometimes growls, in vain. Give her full marks for effort. Also, she knows her place is at the foot of the bed, rarely venturing into his territory. He also owns the warm cable box on cold days. My lap remains in contention. Sadly, neither cable box nor lap will accommodate Hissy’s girth. But Lucky and I let Hissy think she’s in charge. Life is easier that way. Tussletime: Every evening between 7 and 8 p.m. — never earlier, never later — all hell breaks loose in the name of exercise. Hissy (always the instigator) crouches, pounces, her ears flat against her head. Lucky responds. They roll around the floor, screeching and groaning as though in agony. Then they break apart, retreat to their respective corners, turn and re-engage. This continues for maybe three rounds. Then Hissy abruptly desists and starts licking Lucky around the face and ears. He loves it. What man wouldn’t? The great outdoors: Since both lived outside, I could not break the habit. They rarely go farther than the bushes and come when called. I work from home, which makes me the frequent doorman. When the weather is cold or wet, they want to check for changes every ten minutes. Recently, on a lovely fall afternoon, Lucky escaped Hissy for several hours. I began to worry after dark. Hissy, too. She paced the house, went in and out, in and out, peered anxiously through the window, would not settle down. He showed up for bedtime kibble dribble. She was all over him, fussing like a mama. Love and be loved: Anybody who says cats aren’t as loving as dogs hasn’t a clue. In fact, cats possess a wider personality spectrum, which suggests a variety of relationships. Hissy appreciates me as a provider, fears the rest of humankind. But Lucky sat upright beside me through the night, motionless as an Egyptian statue, when I developed flu symptoms. That worried me a bit, recalling the nursing-home cat whose similar behavior predicted a resident’s demise. This is certain: I am not happy without animals — crows, bluejays, squirrels and woodpeckers; my children’s and other people’s dogs; homeless kitties who show up at the door, even after my so-called retirement from pet parenthood. I think Lucky is about 7, Hissy a bit older. The vet can’t tell. Mortality is inevitable. But I will support their needs and enjoy their companionship till death do us. . . . No, that sounds weird, like a crazy cat lady. Let’s go with Sonny and Cher’s “I got you, babe(s).” 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.

Reagan M., 9th grade It takes courage to be yourself. At Saint Mary’s we’re here to inspire girls like Reagan, as they stand up, speak up and discover who they are. We believe in the greatness of girls and that’s why we offer AP courses, three languages, 11 sports, a renowned arts program, real-world experiences and a close-knit community to support you every step of the way - the possibilities are endless.

WHERE WILL YOU FIND YOUR COURAGE? Please contact the Admission Office at 919.424.4100 for more information or to arrange a visit. FINANCIAL AID AVAILABLE

Serving girls, grades 9-12, boarding and day in Raleigh, NC. www.sms.edu | 919.424.4100 | admission@sms.edu SMS1516_Ad_9x525_Reagan_Jan.indd 1

12/4/2015 11:58:21 AM

VAN CAMP, MEACHAM & NEWMAN, PLLC ATTORNEYS AT LAW

A Full Service law FIRm • Civil & Criminal Litigation

• Workers COmpensation

• Wills, Trusts, Estates, Elder Law

• Insurance law

• Traffic Offenses & DWI

• Social Security Disability

• Real Property and Loan CLosings • Mediation

• Personal Injury, WROngful Death • Family Law, Divorce, Adoptions • Corporate and Business Law • Medical Malpractice

• Employment Law

Two Regional Circle Pinehurst, NC 28374 www.vancamplaw.com

• Construction Law

910-295-2525

Fax:910-295-5101 • 910-295-2001 • 910-235-0233

January 2016P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

B IRD WA T CH

Golden-crowned Kinglet Greater numbers of the winter visitor are calling Carolina home

By Susan Campbell

Unless you are a bird watcher with a re-

ally discriminating eye, the tiny golden-crowned kinglet might totally escape your notice. That’s especially true if you get senior discounts and have lost the upper range of your hearing: The call of the golden-crowned, though very high pitched, tends to be thin — and anything but loud. What’s more, these little birds, not much bigger than hummingbirds, scurry about in the thickest of habitats but most often frequent treetops, where they constantly scour needles, leaves, buds and bark for insects.

The golden-crowned kinglet gets its name from the small but striking crown of yellow and orange feathers on the very top of its head. This colorful crest is bordered with black at the “eyebrow,” giving it a very distinct and rakish appearance. Otherwise the bird is a bit on the drab side, grayish underneath with an olive back, wings and tail. Kinglets are slight and shaped rather like chickadees and flit around just like chickadees. Unlike chickadees, though, they never use cavities for nesting or roosting. Even in the coldest weather, they are found in the open. Golden-crowneds are remarkable in that they huddle together on winter nights to keep warm: a behavior not known to occur in any other North American species. This strategy allows them to survive temperatures down to -40 degrees Fahrenheit. In addition to all the fluffy plumage covering them,

they have a single feather that’s specially adapted to cover and protect each of their nostrils. During the summer months, golden-crowned kinglets hang out in the boreal forests of Alaska and Canada. They prefer spruce and fir forests for breeding. Their deep cup nests are concealed near the tops of trees, close to the trunk where overhanging needles provide at least some protection from the elements. Pairs are monogamous and males share in feeding the young. It is interesting to note that in recent years the species has been expanding southward, using similar habitat at high elevations in both the Eastern and Western United States. This expanded breeding ground — and their propensity to raise two broods of up to eleven young per season — means these little birds are gaining a wider footprint. And the fact that these birds that now breed at lower latitudes do not tend to migrate means Carolinians have an excellent chance of seeing them. Although their close cousins, the ruby-crowned kinglets, can be seen using feeders and water features at this time of year, golden-crowneds do not typically cotton to such human hospitality. Your best bet for catching a glimpse of one or two of these elusive but stunning creatures would be to seek out a low-lying area such as a bog or lake with thick, low vegetation. The thickets along the trail on the backside of Reservoir Park in Southern Pines or the south side of Salem Lake in Winston-Salem are good spots to try your luck. Even though they never seem to stop moving, once you know what to look and listen for, the odds of finding one any time in the next few months should be pretty good! PS Susan would love to receive your wildlife sightings and photos. She can be contacted by email at susan@ncaves.com, or by calling (910) 585-0574.

Every Home has a Story, a Beginning, a Middle and an End.

Let us help you with all your Real Estate Stories.

Happy NewYear! The Pinnock Team

PINNOCK REAL ESTATE & Relocation Services, Inc.

(910) 692-6767 | 115 E. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines, NC 28387 SearchMooreCountyHomes.com

January 2016P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

S po r t i n g L i f e

A Weekend in the Woods How an education in wood lore helped to further an education in biology

By Tom Bryant

“Sometimes you find yourself in

the middle of nowhere, and sometimes in the middle of nowhere you find yourself.” — Anonymous

I guess you could say that it was a growing year for me — character, experience, age — all three coming together my first year away from home. Prior to entering Brevard College, I had been what you might call a medium-sized fish in a small pond. Aberdeen High School, student population 300, was the perfect place for me, a reasonably intelligent student who leaned a little too much toward sports to the detriment of studies. I did enough to get by though, with the help of coaches and dedicated teachers. The administrators at Brevard were quite clear. “Tom,” the dean of students said, “tests show you have the intelligence to do the work. The desire is up to you. We’ve talked to your coaches and principal at Aberdeen and they agree with us, you have the potential to be a good student and perhaps have an opportunity to play baseball for Brevard. It’s up to you. We’re going to give you a year to make the grade. This is not high school. It’s the first step in your future, and only you can make this year work.” The seriousness of the situation lay across my shoulders like a wet blanket as Mother and I drove home after our weekend visit to the school. Mother was unusually quiet as we headed down the mountain. She spoke up as we neared the small town of Bat Cave. “Well, Tom, what do you think? He meant what he said. You either make it this year or you don’t.” “I plan to give it a try,” I replied. “You and Dad have sacrificed to send me to school. If I don’t make it, then I wasn’t supposed to be there in the first place.” That fall I hit the ground running, putting in the hours on the books, studying like I’d never done before. And the good grades came. I was burning up everything except biology, and although I was doing OK in my classwork, I still was not actually becoming an active part of the student body. I didn’t make friends as readily as I usually did and still felt too much like an outsider. Studying all the time, worrying about making the grade in biology, and just

in general missing the entire crowd at Aberdeen High, I was pretty miserable. Homesick was the word. Then one day in biology lab, I was dissecting a frog and something was wrong. I’d had plenty of experience cleaning game: ducks, squirrels and rabbits. Never before had I had a problem with blood or animal innards, but this pickled frog seemed to get to me. Time to have a serious chat with the teacher, I thought. Dr. Lobdell, my biology professor, was a unique individual, a wiry little grayheaded lady of indeterminate age who ruled the class with an iron hand. She put up with no foolishness and I tried to remain below her radar, until now. After lab I stopped by her office in the administration building, and as I approached the door, I could hear her on the phone, so I waited right outside in the hall. “I didn’t call you to listen to your problems. Someone is cutting wood on my property without permission and I want it stopped. I don’t care if you have to send a deputy out there to spend the night. It has to stop!” She hung up the phone with a bang. Whoa, bad timing. I decided to beat a retreat; but before I could ease away, I heard, “Come in, don’t just stand out there. Come in.” “Tommy,” she said as I stepped in the doorway, “I’m glad you came by. It’s time we had a little conference about your lab work.” The conversation went a lot better than I had anticipated. Dr. Lobdell became more a caring person and less the ogre I had thought her to be. “I’m assigning my assistant to help you in your lab work, which might mean you’re going to have to put in extra time, but it should make a difference in your grades.” Our talk ventured away from studies to a little more of a personal nature, and I expressed my desire to get in the woods, maybe do a little wandering in the mountains, hiking or camping. I jokingly said that all this studying was making me a dull boy. That brought up the problem of her land and the interloping woodcutters. “I don’t know what I’m going to do. The sheriff doesn’t have the manpower to send a deputy, and whoever is doing the cutting has already ruined some good specimens.” “I’ve got an idea,” I replied. “What if I go out there this weekend, do a

OPEN NOW! Special Orders

Fresh Daily Deliveries

If we don’t have it we will get it!

910-757-0132

Open Tues-Fri. 10-6, Sat. 10-2. 1702 N. Sandhills Blvd., Aberdeen Between KFC & CVS

S po r t i n g L i f e

little exploring and see if I can figure out who the culprit is? It would be fun for me and might solve your problem.” The next weekend found me, at last, back in the woods. Dr. Lobdell’s property covered about a hundred acres and backed up to the Pisgah National Forest, adding another few thousand — plenty of room to roam. The weather was unusually mild for that time of year and I packed light, just a sleeping bag, tarp and a bag full of goodies that Dr. Lobdell had prepared for me. I didn’t have a fire that evening so as not to alert the trespassers, and I made a few reconnoiters from one end of the property to the other, to no avail. No one showed and I crawled into my bag a little after midnight. Just before dawn, I was awakened by a chainsaw that sounded as if it was on the far north end of the property. I silently sneaked over the ridge and saw what appeared to be a couple of teenagers chopping up a freshly cut locust tree. They were intent on their work, and the noise they were making enabled me to ease around the back of their rusty hulk of a truck. It was a good thing I did because an ancient 30-30 rifle was propped right beside the open door. I picked up the rifle, leaned on the front fender, and waited for the boys to notice me. I scared the bejesus out of the pair. “What! Who are you?” the boy nearest me asked as he looked up from his wood-cutting. He still had an ax in his hand, so I planned to play it by ear and see how this scenario was going to work. “Put the ax down and you guys come over here in front of the truck.” I stepped back just a little and the pair did as I said. I put on my best country drawl. “You boys are in a heap of trouble. The sheriff is gonna show up in about thirty minutes and tote y’all off to jail.” The two ragged boys whined disclaimers like a backwoods lawyer. ‘We didn’t do anything wrong. We’ve been cutting wood here for years.” I pointed over to a No Trespassing poster on a nearby tree. “Can y’all read that? “Somebody must have just put that sign up. It wasn’t here yesterday.” After a while of scaring the boys sufficiently, I unloaded the rifle, handed it to the nearest youngster and said, “I’m gonna give you a break and let you go, but if I even hear of a limb cut anywhere on this property, I’m gonna come get you.” The two loaded up and beat a hasty retreat down the fire lane that served as their road. That semester I passed biology, which enabled me to make the dean’s list. I’m sure Dr. Lobdell’s assistant and her added instructions were the reason, but the weekend I spent camping on her mountain had to help a little. PS Tom Bryant, a Southern Pines resident, is a lifelong outdoorsman and PineStraw’s Sporting Life columnist.

January 2016P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

IF YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT, then what does it mean that the average American consumes

130 POUNDS OF SUGAR A YEAR? ~ Alzheimers Reading Room

Let Coach Susan Lee coach you through our safe, medically designed weight loss protocol. For more information or to attend one of our FREE educational weight loss seminars or Open Houses call 910-246-3438.

ECLECTIC BEAUTY IN SOUTHERN PINES 460 S Bethesda Rd $329,900 MLS #166046 4bd/3ba 2500sf Large deep lot in SoPines CC neighborhood. Well maintained home with many updates. Easy commute to Ft Bragg or short distance to Downtown. Must see to appreciate this wonderful property. Call Kim for details & appointments.

VISIT OUR NEW RETAIL LOCATION! 175 W. Pennsylvania Ave. Southern Pines, NC 28387 www.funandhealthyweightloss.com 910-246-3438

Kim Stout 910-528-2008

“WE’VE GOT YOUR BACK”

The Most Highly Recommended Bed In America

Voted the World’s Most Comfortable Recliner

160-L Pinehurst Avenue | Southern Pines, NC

comfortstudio.net | 910-692-9624

During our “Chairity” of Choice promotion, you can make the world a lot more comfortable. Now through January 18, 2016 when you donate $50 to charity you will receive $200 OFF the purchase price of any Stressless seating or $400 select Stressless seating. www.ekornes.com | www.comfortstudio.net

Located on Pinehurst Avenue between Arby’s and Lowe’s Home Improvement PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 2016

The Sandhills Window and Door Experts Replacement • Repair • Enclosures Visit our showroom Showrooms in Southern Pines and Fayetteville 111 N. Bennett St., Southern Pines

910-725-0446 windowanddoorspecialties.com

125 NE BROAD STREET DOWNTOWN SOUTHERN PINES 910-246-0552

Golftow n J o u r n al

Seven Lakes A Moore County gem with a pedigree and membership appeal

By Lee Pace

Larry Galloway was traveling at break-

Photograph provided by Seven lakes country club

neck speed for ClubCorp in the early 1990s when he built up so many air miles that he was bumped up to first class. Roomy seats. Free snacks and cocktails. Plenty of magazines and in-flight entertainment options.

A light bulb popped on in the head of this long-time PGA of America member working at the time in golf and club management for the Dallas-based company that owned upwards of 200 clubs at its peak, Pinehurst Resort and Country Club from 1984-2006 among them. “They were serving beer and wine and I thought, ‘Dang, they should do this for every seat on the plane if they want to have a real competitive advantage,” Galloway says. “Seriously, how much could it cost to hand out some peanuts and a few drinks to someone buying a $500 ticket?” The idea marinated in Galloway’s mind for several years, and then came the opportunity to put the concept to work. He left ClubCorp and with some partners began managing and owning distressed golf courses in Palm Springs, Las Vegas and eventually Myrtle Beach. His group, Century Golf, was running the Legends family of courses that included the popular Heathland, Moorland and Parkland courses on Hwy. 501 inland from the town proper. The economy and the golf industry were sucking wind in 2009 and early 2010 in the backwash of the housing collapse, and golf courses were going to seed along the Grand Strand and in many resort areas and municipalities nationwide. But the Legends courses went from $13 million in revenue to $18 million in one year, all because Galloway started giving free stuff away — stuff that didn’t cost that much to buy in the first place. “We did it with the ‘all-inclusive’ concept,” Galloway says. “One price and you get green fees, cart, breakfast, lunch and two beers. We priced it in-season at $89 at the Legends. People thought we were crazy. But we boosted our revenues $5 million at a time when others were going bankrupt.” Now you have the context if your jaw has dropped reading the local newspaper and seeing a $29 price tag for golf at Seven Lakes Country Club in West End. You can play the 1976 course designed by Peter Tufts, great-grandson of Pinehurst founder James Tufts. You can eat a full breakfast buffet and order from the lunch menu after golf, and enjoy favorites like homemade pot roast

and garlic mashed potatoes. You can quaff two draft beers. The only fine print is that you have to live in Moore County or one of nine contiguous counties and join a “loyalty club” that is free but requires handing over some personal contact information and answering some questions about how, where and why you play golf. And the rates can change depending on time of day and season of the year. “We did more rounds in June, July and August this year than the club did in all of 2014,” says Jay Iskow, who joined majority-owner Galloway and several other partners in buying Seven Lakes in January 2015. “That’s mostly because of the Loyalty Club. People say, ‘You’ve got to be losing money.’ No, we’re not. We still get our market price from our package players on Saturday morning in-season. The Loyalty Club rate is for tee times that probably would otherwise go unsold. “Our business is changing. You cannot dig your heels in and say, ‘I have a $75 golf course and I refuse to budge off that price.’ Every eight minutes, you lose inventory. This is simple inventory management.” Much about the operation today at Seven Lakes reflects a new mode of thinking from the partners. They have spent approximately a half-million dollars renovating the clubhouse interior and rebuilding several greens and most of the cart paths. Gone are the drab colors, traffic-worn carpet and dingy light fixtures. More funds are earmarked to expand several greens that have shrunk over the years and repair more infrastructure. Superintendent Kyle Brown, who moved from supervising Pinehurst courses 1-3-5, has budget enough to overseed the fairways in the winter and burnish the “resort experience.” The club has about 100 members and a steady stream of golfers traveling the Sandhills on packages. “You look in the back of PGA Magazine and you’ll find dozens of courses for sale,” says Iskow, who moved to West End from Dallas when the club was sold and is Seven Lakes’ on-site managing partner. “They were part of the ‘build it and they will come’ mindset of the boom years. But the market always selfadjusts, and that’s what we’re seeing now. “Selling shirts and food and drinks are ancillary for us. They break even or make a little money. Our revenue comes from the golf experience.” The golf experience is certainly a good one. The course was designed in the mid-1970s by Tufts, whose family had sold Pinehurst and its five golf courses in late 1970. Tufts was looking to take the golf design and maintenance skills he’d learned working at Pinehurst for his father, Richard, and architects Donald Ross and Ellis Maples, and put them to practical use, and Seven Lakes was his first solo project. The course winds its way around two lakes (there are five more lakes across the main road running through the community for the total of “seven lakes”)

Golftow n J o u r n al

The Wine Cellar & Tasting Room a retail wine shop & bar

Hello 2016 We look forward to seeing you in the New Year! Wine by the Glass • Craft Beer • Premier Tastings

Live Music Saturday Nights

241-A NE Broad Street | Downtown Southern Pines

910.692.3066

www.thewinecellarandtastingroom.com 52

and has ample elevation changes consistent with the land forms outside the village of Pinehurst. The signature holes and most photographed settings are the ones around the lakes (10 and 11, 13 through 15). “This course appealed to us as soon as we saw the listing and came to see the property,” says Iskow. “The conditioning was excellent. You did not have a substandard landscape where you’d have to invest a ton of money to bring it up to standard. The greens were in great shape. “There was a beauty and playability that could appeal to all levels of golfer. You have to think your way around and execute good golf shots. You have to shape a lot of shots.” Adds Galloway: “It’s a phenomenal golf course. And it’s part of the Pinehurst golf community. I’ve played golf and been in the golf business since the age of 12. You can’t be in the golf business your whole life and not have a special affection for Pinehurst and the home of golf.” Jason Cox has played the Seven Lakes course regularly over the years given its proximity to his work place when the Carolinas Golf Association was headquartered in West End (before its move to a new building in Southern Pines in 2014). The director of junior golf for the CGA used to play on weekend mornings with the late Michael Dann, the CGA’s director of handicapping, and they’d often finish in under two and a half hours. “I really like the Seven Lakes course,” Cox says. “It’s been in great shape the last few years. It’s not an easy course, with rather small greens that have a good amount of slope on several of them. There’s lots of elevation changes, especially early in the round. It’s a good walking course. Most of the tees are a short distance from the last green.” The Sandhills golf universe ranges from worldrenowned venues like Pinehurst No. 2 and Ross gems like Mid Pines to more modern flavors like Tom Fazio’s two designs at the private Forest Creek Golf Club. Seven Lakes is coming up on its 50th anniversary and its first full calendar year under new ownership. “We launched the Loyalty Club in April and have 4,500 members,” says Iskow. “We must be doing something right.” One thing about the Loyalty Club, though: Iskow and his co-owners hope the market lifts the floor in due time. “You’d like to see every tee time going to package players paying the maximum amount all day long,” Iskow says. “Reality says that won’t happen.” In the meantime, eat, drink and enjoy playing the distressed inventory game. PS Chapel Hill-based writer Lee Pace profiled Seven Lakes architect Peter Tufts in his 1991 book, Pinehurst Stories — A Celebration of Great Golf and Good Times.

January 2016P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

Classic. Modern. Masterful. a move ahead. With subtle nods to classic chess pieces, Brizo introduces its Rook collection. The latest suite of luxury faucets, fittings, accessories for the bath combines a contemporary, masculine edge with nods to the early 1900’s. This collection combines a low spout architecture and crisp octagonal details for a stately yet modern design.

Protect Your Investment

With our fully stocked truck and trailer, we come to you for all your detailing needs!

• Luxury Car Care • Fleet Management • Headlight Restoration

• Full Details • Hand Wax • Wax

• Polish • Scratch Removal • And More!

Get Your Shine On

Quality. Convenience. Every Time.

910-603-5379 | www.jsmobiledetailing.com

T H E

UNHUR R I E D

PAC E

O F C E N T U R I E S PA ST

FREE WITH EVERY TREATMENT The moment you arrive in Pinehurst, everything seems to slow down. Your pulse drops. Your mind clears. You forget all the worries of the day. And then your Spa treatment begins.

Located adjacent to the historic Carolina Hotel • Village of Pinehurst, North Carolina • 855.458.0700 • pinehurst.com

RECEIVE $25 OFF MONDAY - THURSDAY

January 2016 Shhhhh . . . Silence: how loud it speaks Conveying the unsayable. It fills the air with words both harsh and sweet And full of love, or not A universal language. Silence begs interpretation â&#x20AC;&#x201D; oh please untie the knot That chokes my mind With doubt, with fear Of what is known But yet unspoken. Yet silence be the wiser, safer way Because a word or phrase unleashed upon the air Cannot be sucked back in To fester an unsettled mind. Silence is a learn-ed thing Unknown to babes Who need not hide their wails Since help is near. And, later on, when help is not When ears fall deaf When cries result in echoes, nothing more . . . The way is silence.

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Deborah Salomon

A Night to Remember A literary fantasy in The Pines

z Story by L aurie Bogart Wiles Photographs by Tim Sayer Hair by Andy Pellegrino Makeup by Molly Schrader & Megan Weitzel Costumes by Marcie Haberstroh Flowers by Margaret Smith

Chapter I

n the corner of a first-class carriage, Dame Agatha Christie, recently back from a deadly trip down the Nile, a murderous journey on the Orient Express, and a weekend At Bertram’s Hotel, ran an interested eye through the political news in The Times. She put down the paper and and glanced through the window. The train was pulling into the station at Southern Pines, a fancy little village lost in the sleepy pine barrens of southern North Carolina. She glanced at her watch — twenty minutes late! Why, the 4:50 from Paddington was never late! In her mind she went over all that had appeared in the papers about Broadhearth, the elegant brick mansion that commanded a hilltop view of Weymouth Heights. How the grounds encompassed over two beautifully landscaped acres with many old growth longleaf pines. The rumor — was it true? — that the house had maintained its original slate roof and had four magnificent fireplaces, a large accommodating living room, a spacious light-filled dining room — surely where dinner tonight at eight-fifteen would be served! Then came the first unsettling statement that Broadhearth only had nine bedrooms and eight-and-a-half baths. But weren’t there twelve great writers expected for dinner? Dame Agatha tried to remember when exactly she had last seen Mary Westmacott. When Agatha had been invited to a celebration of her work, she responded to her hosts, “I hope you don’t mind, I am bringing my old friend Mary Westmacott with me.” But that was — how many years ago? Then last month came the letter: Dearest Agatha . . . so many years have passed since we were together! You must come to dinner at Broadhearth . . . commune with the healthful piney air . . . so much to talk over . . . old days and delicious story plots! Mary was exactly the sort of woman who would expect her to travel across the Atlantic from her home, Winterbrook House in Oxfordshire, just for dinner with kindred literary souls. So kind of her to offer a room for the night. Agatha nodded her head in gentle approval.

z 56

January 2016P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

Charlotte Brontë, in a third-class carriage with her sister, Emily, and four other travelers, leaned her head back and shut her eyes. It would be nice to get to Broadhearth. Rather like Thornfield Hall — an immense, rambling, breathtaking sort of a place. Don’t make them like that anymore, she mused. They had wanted a holiday but hadn’t held out much hope, travel being so expensive. And then the letter had come. I have received word that you and your sister are looking for a holiday from those dreary moors. I shall be glad to pay your way and shall expect you for dinner on New Year’s Day. You will be met at Southern Pines Station. I have enclosed US $4,324.93 — about three thousand quid on the exchange — for expenses. Yours truly, Mr. Resus

DAME AGATHA CHRISTIE Played by Joyce Reehling Mistress of Murder, Grand Dame of Death, from whose portable Remington typewriter sprung the inimitable sleuths Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. This peerless English crime novelist had the blood of countless fictitious victims on her hands. But how many of them were actually innocent?

Ernest Hemingway was sizing up the smartly dressed blonde seated beside him. She had a gorgeous teardrop face; a cool customer in love and war — and one who could hold her own. He frowned. No, save it for later. After all, the blonde was war journalist Martha Gellhorn, wife number three, and they’d always made plenty of time for later. This was business. He was hired to write a story. “Take it or leave it, Hemingway,” his New York agent, Max Perkins, made clear. “But Jimmy and Scotty will be there,” Hemingway countered, referring to his friends and fellowwriters James Boyd and Scott Fitzgerald. “You’re their agent, too. Why don’t you get one of them to hammer out a story? Hell, Max — Jimmy lives in Southern Pines, at Weymouth! I was hunting with Francis Macomber on the Green Hills of Africa, Across the River and Into the Trees, where The Sun Also Rises, when I got your cable . . . quite a ways away.” “Yes, I know. I was afraid you got snowed in by The Snows of Kilimanjaro. Look, Ernie. The pay’s a fast ten grand. Take it or leave it. To Have or Have Not. And no cash bar at Broadhearth — the liquor’s on the house.” Hemingway’s lips parted in a grin at the prospect. He lit a fresh smoke, thinking how he was going to enjoy himself at Broadhearth . . .

In a non-smoking carriage Mrs. Margaret Mitchell sat very upright, as was her custom. Her grandfather, Confederate Army Captain John Stephens, had been very strict, or so she had been told by her grandmother, who was widowed years before Margaret was born. The present generation were so socially lax, she decided, at least in their posture and manners and style of dress and deportment and speech and, well, in every other way . . . Why, at Tara we always ate before going to Seven Oaks for barbecue! It simply wouldn’t do for a proper young lady to be caught stuffing her face with food at a picnic! Then again, she wasn’t a young woman anymore and she was looking forward to a good dinner tonight. Mentally she reread the letter she had read so many times already.

EMILY BRONTË Played by Julie Ebers Neff A sickly spinster who lived in remote West Yorkshire, she was strangely solitary, reclusive, and loved the solemn moors and Wuthering Heights, and all wild and free creatures and things. Even her older sister, Charlotte, couldn’t blame her. Or did she? CHARLOTTE BRONTË Played by Gay Ebers-Franckowiak The eldest of the three surviving Brontë sisters, as a governess at Lowood School she was presented with a round number of motives, a handful of characters, and a careful plot line for Jane Eyre — yet had been forced to conclude there had been no ulterior motive. Who, then, was that madwoman screaming in the attic?

Dear Mrs. Mitchell, I do hope you remember me? We were together at Seven Oaks in August some years ago, and we seemed to have so much in common. I am starting a guest house of my own in Southern Pines, a lovely little mansion called Broadhearth. I think there is really an opening for a place where there is good plain food and lots of fine ex-patriot Yankees. Yours, Miss Terry Peggy cringed. Those damn Yankees . . . Oh, well, she told herself . . . no point trying to relive the past . . . alas, those days are Gone With the Wind . . .

Chapter II

JAMES BOYD Played by Mike Sigler His life, as far as he was concerned, had ended in the trenches of the Great War. “I’ll never leave Southern Pines,” he said to anyone who listened. Rich, handsome, he lived in the biggest house in town so no one gave it a second thought. Why should they? And by the way, who was beating those Drums?

F. SCOTT FITZGERALD Played by Scott Thomas As the young, bronzed god of the Jazz Age, he came careening into their lives as if he would live forever. His stunning talent proved pitifully inadequate against that of his well-known adversary, the demon rum. Or was it gin? Maybe vodka? Only Gatsby knew for sure. ZELDA FITZGERALD Played by Amber Thomas “The first American flapper,” socialite, free spirit and wife of F. Scott, she had troubled dreams and her rambling writings were the only indications of a disturbed — and perhaps dangerous — mind. Was it schizophrenia, like the doctors said . . . or was her corset too tight?

Outside Southern Pines Station, a small group of people stood in momentary uncertainty. On the platform, a bent-over old man with bleary red eyes and a bo’s’n’s whistle strung on a length of harpoon twine ’round his neck scuttled toward them, dragging a luggage cart. “I am meant to be met by someone from Broadhearth,” Dame Agatha asserted. “Me, too!” “Same here!” “And I, as well!” The old man hiccupped twice and said plaintively, “You can’t never tell at sea — never!” “My dear old man . . . the sea?” Hemingway questioned. “We’re miles away from the Carolina shore!” “Mebbe so,” the old man replied, shaking his grizzled head. “But there’s a squall coming, I tell ye!” “No, mate. It’s a lovely day,” pronounced a splendidly dressed man in an ermine-trimmed, purple velvet cape. He lustily descended from a carriage that had just pulled into the station, drawn by horses. “Shakespeare’s my name, writing’s my game!” he introduced himself with Falstaffian glee. “Call me Elijah,” the old porter muttered as he loaded the bags onto his cart. Then, in an ominous voice, he warned, “Watch and pray. The day of judgment is at hand!” “Such a dreary fellow, Charlotte,” Emily whispered to her sister. “Rather reminds me of Heathcliff, when he gets into one of his blue funks.” “I know what you mean,” Charlotte replied. “You should see Mr. Rochester in one of his moods. He gets all witched up every time that woman in the tower starts screaming. I do so wish she would simmer down and accept her fate!” At that moment, a Rolls-Royce, a Lincoln Town Car from Kirk Tours, a van from Pinehurst Taxi and a shuttle bus from Pinehurst Resort pulled up. The driver from The Resort stepped forward. “You’m for Broadhearth, mebbe?” he said in a soft Southern drawl. “Thank you, my good man,” Edith Wharton replied, as she dismissed the shuttle bus with a haughty wave of her bejeweled hand. “I daresay none of my fellow-authors are heading for The Resort this fine evening . . . ” Once more the old train porter cried out, “There’s a squall coming, I tell ye! Watch and pray! The day of judgment is on hand!” “Don’t pay any attention to old Elijah,” the driver from The Resort smiled. “He’s always prophesizing.” “Since you’re here,” Hemingway approached him with a golf bag, “would you mind taking my clubs up to The Resort Clubhouse? I’m teeing-off tomorrow morning at ten o’clock on No. 2.” But there, as it happens, he was wrong . . .

Chapter III Dinner was drawing to a close. The food had been superb. The wine was expensive. Shakespeare the Bard sprang to his feet to make a toast. “Thou invisible spirit of wine, if thou hast no name to be known by, let us call thee devil.” “Devil be damned! This is a signature merlot from Childress Vineyards, right here in North Carolina, up by Charlotte,” James Boyd took pains to point out. The beer was from Southern Pines Brewing Company. Dame Agatha commented how Mr. Justice Wargrave would enjoy the citrusy, hop-forward Man of Law IPA with its sweet caramel malt flavors had he not been held up on Indian Island. “This beer is good,” Hemingway remarked to Edith Wharton. “This is draft beer. Stick with beer.” Then, nodding his head toward the gabby Will Shakespeare, he proposed, “Let’s go and beat this guy up and come back and drink some more beer.” Edith shook her wooly head with mirth. Everyone was in fine spirits. The twelve great authors began discussing the books they’d written

January 2016P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

Martha gellhorn Played by Whitney Cutler Glamorous and outspoken, she was one of the earliest women war correspondents. She covered a dozen major conflicts and published numerous works of fiction. Much to her irritation, she garnered most of her fame when she became the third wife of Ernest Hemingway.

ERNEST HEMINGWAY Played by John Wiles Soldier-of-fortune, newspaper correspondent, consummate sportsman, American novelist, he loved women almost as much as single malt Scotch. He was the only one who thought it necessary to bring a blonde to dinner that evening. Was she his mistress or just another wife? And why did she call him â&#x20AC;&#x153;Papaâ&#x20AC;??

MARGARET MITCHELL Played by Dolly Brown The Southern belle whose velvet dress draped about her slender shoulders like curtains, she aroused suspicion at dinner when she heaped her plate with carrots and cried out, “I’ll never go hungry again!” But when Agatha announced there was murder afoot, Margaret chimed, “Fiddle dee dee! Tomorrow is another day!”

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE Played by Micah Niebauer Universally known as “the world’s preeminent dramatist,” the goateed Bard of Avon was a convenient dispenser of poems, plays — and sonnets, and a diagnostician of alchemy — but later everyone remembered he was the only one who had easy access to a quilled pen.

January 2016P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

with freedom and intimacy. Mark Twain was telling Margaret Mitchell about his friend, Big Jim, and Mrs. Mitchell was telling him about Big Sam, their overseer at Tara. Will Shakespeare and Dame Agatha were having a terribly civilized debate, the way the English are wont to do, about which of them was the actual best-selling author in literary history. Zelda Fitzgerald was a solitary figure on the patio in the moonlight, dancing the Charleston solo. Her husband, Scott, tried to explain to James Boyd that the music was in her head, to which Boyd replied, “I only hear Drums.” Hemingway was telling the Brontë sisters about his brilliant editor, Max Perkins, whom he shared with North Carolina’s own brooding Thomas Wolfe, and how maybe the resourceful Perkins could get their books published in America. Across the table Oscar Wilde and Edith Wharton were admiring one another’s jewelry. Virginia Woolf was about to ask for some water when into the silence came The Voice. “Ladies and gentlemen! Silence, please!” Everyone fell silent. They looked round — at each other. Who was speaking? The voice went on — And then a small, dry voice, like the voice of someone who has not spoken for a long time: a small, dry, eggshell voice from the other side of the door: a small, dry voice through the keyhole. “Dylan, is that you?” Agatha cried out. But it was Epiphany and Dylan Thomas was having A Child’s Christmas in Wales with his family. The Voice went on — a high clear voice. You are charged with the following indictments: Dame Agatha Christie, that you are actually Mary Westmacott and are guilty of publishing six romance novels under that pseudonym. Emily Jane Brontë, that you did, upon the year 1847, publish your only novel, Wuthering Heights, under the male pen-name Ellis Bell, thus masking your true identity. Charlotte Brontë, that you published Jane Eyre, under the male pen-name Currer Bell, thus likewise misleading your readers. Ernest Hemingway, that you are guilty of being called “Papa” and by the way, that blonde who’s with you is about to become your third ex-wife. F. Scott Fitzgerald, that you deliberately shortened your name from Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald to F. Scott Fitzgerald. Zelda Fitzgerald, that you are guilty of not suppressing feelings about being known as Scott’s wife rather than yourself. James Boyd, you are accused of being called Jimmy by your inner circle, the Free Company of Players, which makes its home at yours, Weymouth. Margaret Mitchell, that you deceived everyone into thinking that you were Scarlett O’Hara when in fact you have been called Peggy since childhood. William Shakespeare, that you are guilty of actually being Sir Francis Bacon, or the Earl of Essex, or Christopher Marlowe, or the Earl of Derby, or the Earl of Rutland, or the Earl of Oxford or even Queen Elizabeth. Mark Twain, that you are guilty of taking your literary name from the riverboat measurement “two fathoms” and that you are really Samuel Clemens.

MARK TWAIN Played by Fenton Wilkinson The dry-humored, wild-haired, bushy-mustachioed ex-riverboat pilot tried to pass himself off as America’s greatest author and humorist, but when the game was up he amused himself by suspecting everyone else’s motives. “I’m your Huckleberry,” he announced as he sat down to dinner. What did he mean by that, everyone wondered?

OSCAR WILDE Played by Rook Meacham The Anglo-Irish playwright glanced under his arched eyebrow at the doomed group sitting around the table. He felt it a queer business indeed — they seemed such a high-brow, intelligent lot. “I wonder,” he contemplated gaily, “whether Papa really understands The Importance of Being Ernest?”

EDITH WHARTON Played by Laurie Bogart Wiles An American aristocrat born in the The Age of Innocence, she wintered in New York, summered in Newport, moved to Paris, and thrice won the Nobel Prize for Literature. Privately she was called “Pussy Jones,” as the others learned when circumstances forced them to fend for themselves. Why Pussy? And how about those emeralds?

VIRGINIA WOOLF Played by Serena Brown A tall, willowy, key figure in London society and the intellectually influential Bloomsbury Set, she had an ethereal presence and mysteriously fated look in her sad eyes. Mysteriously, she answered to Mrs. Dalloway. And she kept asking for water even though her glass was full. What was her curious obsession with water?

Oscar Wilde, that you are responsible for being Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde and that your parents were condescending intellectuals, too. Edith Wharton, that as a child of affluent people you were called Pussy Jones, thus coining the phrase, “Keeping up with the Joneses.” Virginia Woolf, that your Christian name is in fact Adeline. Prisoners of the bar, have you anything to say in your defense? The Voice fell quiet, leaving petrified silence. “Hail! What’s going on here?” Shakespeare sputtered. “No one has a right to know who really wrote my plays!” “What kind of practical joke was that?” Hemingway demanded of his wife, who was taking notes on a napkin but whose hands were violently shaking. “I was going to tell you I want a divorce when we got to Cuba,” Martha Gellhorn explained. Emily and Charlotte Brontë were mopping their faces with their lace-trimmed linen handkerchiefs. James Boyd and Oscar Wilde seemed relatively unmoved. Edith Wharton sat upright, her head held high. “Of course they call me Pussy!” declared she with an indignant snort.

January 2016P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

Scott Fitzgerald, his head sunk down onto his chest, muttered to Jimmy Boyd, “Why did my parents name me Francis anyway, old sport?” Mark Twain, with tobacco-stained fingers tugging gently at his moustache, mused sentimentally, “Always think of the Mississippi River whenever anyone calls out my name!” And Virginia Woolf exclaimed with a shudder, “River? Did you say river?” Suddenly, Hemingway jumped out of his chair and strode onto the porch. “Look! Here’s where that voice came from! The gramophone! Who put that record on the gramophone?” “What’s a gramophone?” Shakespeare and the Brontë sisters chimed in unison. “I did!” Zelda cried, crazily. “I saw the gramophone and wanted to dance in the moonlight, like in Paris, and so I put the record on! I thought it was Bing Crosby singing ‘Blue Skies’!” “I do declare, this whole thing is preposterous — preposterous! Slinging accusations about like this!” Peggy Mitchell cried out. Hemingway thought to himself, “That fellow Shakespeare’s lying — I know he’s lying. He deserves a poke in the snout!”

Charlotte Brontë added sharply, “It’s purely iniquitous!” Her breath came fast. “Wicked!” her sister, Emily, concurred. Just then, old Elijah suddenly appeared through the French doors. Everyone looked at him in surprised silence. “When the sea goes down, there will come from the mainland boats and men. And they will find twelve great authors — and the solved problem of their true identities — at Broadhearth.” “Tell me, my good man, whatever are you talking about?” Oscar Wilde demanded. “Ask Herman Melville! Ask him to tell you about the great white whale!” Elijah cried, looking frantically about the room for the author of Moby Dick. But as it happens, Herman Melville was not there. The poor tortured fellow was on a journey to the North Country with Jack London, neither of whom had been invited to dinner for obvious reasons. It was left to the eldest and slightly besotted author at the table to place a proper coda on such a rare and unforgettable evening in the pines. “Pleading for a lover’s fee,” quoth the Bard, winking over at Martha Gellhorn, “Shall we their fond pageant see? Lord, what fools these mortal be!” He was greatly encouraged by Martha’s coy return smile. PS

Back Alley Brawl

The lawsuit that threatened titles and property values in Southern Pines

By Bill Case

ome stories lead to others. That occurred recently when PineStraw’s creative director, Andie Rose, mentioned that a gentleman who was the subject of an article I was writing “lives in one of those houses in the middle of the block” in Southern Pines. As a relative newcomer to the Sandhills, I had no idea what she meant. Sensing my confusion, Andie told me to follow her to the town’s utility billing office at 180 Southwest Broad Street. Arriving after our short amble from PineStraw’s offices, she pointed to an ancient oversized map hanging in the hallway adjacent to the clerical area where Southern Pines residents pay their water bills. Titled “Map of Vineland [later Southern Pines], Moore Co, N.C.”, the weathered line drawing depicted town founder John T. Patrick’s original 1884 scheme for the layout of the streets, alleys and lots in downtown Southern Pines. My attention was immediately drawn to the unusual and repeating pattern of lines contained within each of the 125 street blocks shown in the drawing. Those lines showed a series of alleys leading to squares in the center of each of the blocks. It was Andie’s understanding that these “center squares” were originally designed as either small parks or horse stable areas for the mutual benefit of each block’s surrounding lot owners, but that over time residential and commercial buildings came to be erected on most of the squares. Most of the alleys depicted on the 1884 map were now similarly obstructed or obliterated altogether by structures, including some of the town’s prominent commercial and public buildings. Apparently John Patrick used the same design configuration for the blocks and streets in Pinebluff, which he also founded. The alleys and squares in that town were likewise covered over with houses and other structures. As a retired attorney, I could not resist posing a couple of legal questions to Andie: (1) Were these alleys and center squares within each block considered public or private property? and (2) assuming they were public, how did structures come to be built on them? “Good questions!” exclaimed our creative director. “You should look into it and write something up!” Unwittingly, I had just talked myself into some exhaustive research that ultimately led to this article. To get started, I spoke with retired Southern Pines real estate attorney Rick Dedmond. When informed of the purpose of my inquiry, he chuckled and remarked, “Take a look at the case of Lee v. Walker. It was tried in Moore County and was appealed up to the North Carolina Supreme Court sometime in the early ’50s. I think it will answer the questions you are raising. The case caused quite a stir in Southern Pines back in the day.” Did it ever! I perused the Southern Pines Library’s mammoth bound volumes of The Pilot to study the local newspaper’s coverage of the dispute. It became clear that Lee v. Walker was an acrimonious and controversial affair filled with lots of backbiting between the litigants. For a time, the case presented the real possibility of an outcome which would mean that the multitude of buildings erected in the alleys and center squares of Southern Pines had no legal right to be placed there, and could even be subject to removal as public nuisances. Coincidentally, the contentious litigation involved the very downtown block

January 2016P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

1. Currently the Pilot and PineStraw Magazine, formerly the A&P. 2. The Country Bookshop and Rhodes & Co. Real Estate, formerly Lee’s Store. 3. Community Congregational Church, formerly the Church of Wide Fellowship.

on which The Pilot’s offices are located, framed by Northwest Broad Street, Pennsylvania Avenue, Bennett Street, and New Hampshire Avenue! By 1950, 64-year-old Carthage businessman LeRoy Lee embodied the American dream. In an era where retail chains were still uncommon, Lee already owned seven five-and-dime variety stores, including Sandhills locations in Robbins, Aberdeen and Carthage. He set his sights on opening a store in the burgeoning area of Southern Pines and found the perfect location in the centrally located McBrayer Building (now home of The Country Bookshop and Rhodes & Co. Real Estate). On August 31, 1950, Lee purchased Block K, Lot 4, which included the McBrayer Building, for $45,000. The McBrayer Building was already the largest commercial building in town as its two-story brick structure covered the entire width of Lot 4, facing Northwest Broad (62 feet, 4 inches) with a depth of 75 feet. But Lee envisioned making a big splash by doubling the size of the building. Plans were prepared to increase the depth of the building by another 75 feet (total depth of 150 feet). The new Lee’s Store would thus cover the entirety of Block K, Lot 4. There was a small fly in the ointment; but if history was any guide, it appeared to be a trivial one. Sixteen feet of the McBrayer Building’s frontage rested squarely on part of what John Patrick had mapped as an alley in 1884. Lee’s proposed expansion would require building over what little was left of the alley in the rear portion of the lot. Since numerous buildings enveloped alleys and center squares all over town, there was little reason for Lee to anticipate any roadblocks to his desired expansion.

But when Lee submitted an application for a building permit to Southern Pines building inspector Everett Walker on September 13, 1950, seven of the neighboring commercial business owners (collectively referred to as “the protesters”) promptly lodged objections. The protesters claimed that the alley was still a public right-of-way, and the unobstructed portion that Lee was seeking to build on had been used by them for loading and unloading at their respective businesses. Confronted with this firestorm of opposition, inspector Walker punted in part. He agreed to issue a permit allowing Lee to expand his building but only for the area not covered by the 16-by-75-foot unobstructed portion of the alley. One week later, on September 20, Lee appeared at a meeting of the Town Board to argue that his application should be granted as requested with no exception. It does not appear Lee was formally represented by counsel, but Pinehurst attorney Leland McKeithen appeared as a “volunteer spokesman” to discuss what his title search for the property had revealed. According to The Pilot’s account, the meeting was filled “to overflowing.” The protesters appeared in opposition represented by local attorney Harry Fullenwider. Only two months previously Fullenwider had formed a law partnership with another Southern Pines attorney, Col. Hoke Pollock, a member of General Eisenhower’s staff during the war. Pollock also happened to be counsel for the town of Southern Pines. This created a scenario where Pollock would be rendering legal advice to the town’s councilmen on the appropriate disposition of an application affecting the interests of other clients (the protesters) of the Pollock & Fullenwider firm.

At the September 20 meeting, Mayor C.N. Page and Councilman L.V. O’Callaghan tried to find a possible compromise that would satisfy Lee’s store needs and the concerns of the protesters. Fullenwider agreed to take one of the suggested proposals back to his clients for discussion. However, negotiations went nowhere. The Town Board was forced into making a decision that its members probably would have preferred to avoid. It took them five months to do so, but finally, on February 28, 1951, the Town Board issued an order “on Col. Hoke Pollock’s advice” denying Lee the right to build in the alley. Mayor Page denied that the commissioners were singling Lee out. He declared, “We are not picking on Mr. Lee. We know he bought the building and made his plans in good faith. It just happened that protests made to the board here have brought up the whole alley problem toward which Southern Pines has been heading for many years. We just don’t have the right to grant that permit.” Realizing he had been outgunned, LeRoy Lee decided it was time to bring in reinforcements from Carthage. He retained the firm of Spence and Boyette to file a lawsuit in Moore County Superior Court against the town of Southern Pines, Walker, the Town Board members and Page that would seek to compel the town’s officials to issue the requested permit. The case would be heard in Carthage by Judge J.H. Clement. Spence and Boyette turned up the heat. Their diligent investigation brought to light facts which seemed to bolster Lee’s position. The lawyers unearthed a measure enacted by the town commissioners on February 22, 1892, just five years after the town was incorporated as a municipality, in which the town relinquished “all right and title the town may have in the alleyways and parks within each square or block within the town forever.” According to a brief filed by Lee’s attorneys, the town’s action was necessary because the ongoing task of maintaining 14 miles of alleys and 125 squares “would have dissipated needlessly a very large portion of the tax moneys of the town.” Once that measure was adopted, John Patrick and his successors in title treated the alleys and center squares as their private property. Lee’s counsel argued that given this history, the town could not backtrack and

now claim that the alleys and streets were still dedicated for public use. Spence and Boyette also compiled the many instances where buildings had been erected downtown on supposedly public alleys and center squares. The mayor’s “McDonald Page Motor Company” business, the Jefferson Inn, the Village Hall, the Sunrise Theater, the Southern Pines Library, and other business offices owned or operated by various members of the Town Board had all in the past been granted building permits allowing such construction. Just before the filing of Lee’s application, Councilman Henry Brown participated in a plan that enabled the town’s brand new A & P market (now home of The Pilot and PineStraw) to build its store on an alley and center square located in the same block K occupied by the McBrayer building. Spence and Boyette contended that the town’s refusal to grant the building permit wrongfully denied Lee rights “enjoyed by all other citizens in like circumstances.” Under the tag of “undue influence” Lee’s lawyers implied that the real motivation of the neighboring commercial owners’ objections to the permit had more to do with protecting their own businesses from competition rather than any concern over hampered access as they claimed. Moreover, one of the councilmen who had voted to deny the permit, C.S. Patch Jr., was the son of the owner of Patch’s Department Store, one of the protesters leading the charge against Lee. Spence and Boyette were unsparing of their criticism of Fullenwider & Pollock firm’s dual employment by the town and the protesters. Lee’s counsel argued that the town was “entitled to receive of attorneys who represented them advice uninfluenced by prejudice or other circumstances either in favor of or against the contentions of either Lee or the [protesters]. Instead the two attorneys who then represented the defendant Board accepted employment also from the [protesters], some of whom at least were business competitors of Lee, and fought their interests also through to a decision finally against Lee.” Pollock and Fullenwider indignantly scoffed at Lee’s allegations asserting that their respective positions had been arrived at independently and were wellgrounded in the law. Both attorneys cited case law for the proposition that once lots have been sold and occupied adjacent to public streets or other areas that have been dedicated for public use, no act of a governmental authority (which would include the town’s action of February 22, 1892, relinquishing its interest in the alleys and central squares) can alter or privatize their public character. A further — more practical — argument dealing with access to the center of the very busy Block K was also advanced. If Lee was permitted to block the alley, there would be nothing to stop the Church of Wide Fellowship (now home of Community Congregational Church) on the west side of Block K from blocking the existing alley on its land. Pollock reasoned that this would result in “closing the only public alley giving ingress to the center of the most congested block in town.” The hearing before Judge Clement took place in Carthage on May 30, 1951. Early in the proceeding, it was clear that Lee’s counsel’s impassioned arguments of unfairness and discriminatory treatment were not registering positively with the judge, who finally turned to Hoke Pollock and said, “Let’s hear the law!” After apprising Judge Clement of the town’s legal position, Pollock summed up by saying, “The past and its mistakes are not the issue here, but the future of our growing town.” After arguments were concluded, Judge Clement first expressed recognition that Southern Pines’ confused “alley problem” presented serious issues and his decision could cause an adverse effect on titles and property values. Nevertheless, he concluded that, “I must find for the town, or Southern Pines would never be able again to keep a single alley open.” As for the effect of the town’s February 22, 1892 “relinquishment” action, the judge remarked, “They couldn’t rescind the rights. They may have thought they could, but those rights were the people’s.” Then the judge added a rather caustic comment which The Pilot dutifully reported: “You’re just waking up over there — should have waked up 50 years ago.” Lee’s attorneys then advised Judge Clement of their intention to appeal the court’s decision to the North Carolina Supreme Court. Judge Clement’s decision was the talk of the town. Might it mean that long-standing buildings could be subject to removal? Would residents’ titles to portions of their land be undermined or possibly lost altogether? The Pilot’s publisher, Katharine Boyd, addressed these concerns in her editorial following the ruling. She opined that until the state Supreme Court adjudicated Lee’s

January 2016P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

appeal, “it is impossible to tell where that leaves us with respect to buildings already built and alleys already obstructed and all but vanished in the town’s development. Mr. Lee may be just one of many innocent victims of mistakes made in the past.” She went on to say it would “do no good to start placing the blame here and there, ‘cussing out’ town fathers dead and gone or those of more recent memory.”

n Lee’s subsequent appeal to the North Carolina Supreme Court, Spence and Boyette fashioned arguments to attack the legal underpinnings of Judge Clement’s decision. To undercut the court’s finding that the town could never relinquish an already accepted dedication of the alleys and center squares, the lawyers stressed that there was a lack of evidence that Southern Pines ever accepted John Patrick’s offer of dedication in the first place. They argued that more was required to show such acceptance by the town than the mere filing of a subdivision map with the county authorities. “That map cannot be forced upon the town by the maker of the map or the dedication of the alley without consent of the town. To do so would make the alleys subject to the whims and idiosyncrasies of the dealers in real estate.” The Town Board had previously suggested that it had been generous in not making Lee tear down the portion of the McBrayer Building that already rested on the 16-foot alley. But in briefing, Spence and Boyette turned the councilmen’s professed benevolence back against them. If the councilmen had taken action against Lee, they were “conscious of the fact that Defendant Mayor and members of the Board . . . were each and all ‘tarred with the same stick,’” and that they would have been subject to having their structures removed as well. Lee’s lawyers stepped up their disparagement of attorneys Fullenwider and Pollock’s alleged impact on the Town Board’s decision-making process. Though there was no direct evidence in the record on this point, Spence and Boyette maintained that the Town Board was actually quite reluctant to deny Lee’s permit, and only did so in response to the incessant hectoring of counsel. The lawyers cited a biblical account about an ancient judge’s dilemma: “And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, ‘Avenge me of mine adversary.’ And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, ‘Though I fear not God, nor regard man; yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.’” (Luke 18, 3–5) Lee’s counsel closed their submission to the court with this line: “Lee never had a chance!” The accusation that prominent citizens had inappropriately concerted against Lee caused Katharine Boyd to pen another editorial taking umbrage. Under the headline, “Think Again Mr. Lee,” Mrs. Boyd dismissed the allegations out of hand pointing out that Lee had already been granted a permit allowing him to operate what was already by far the largest store in town. Labeling the aspersions “absurd,” she wrote: “What concerns us here is the charge against our merchants’ cooperative spirit in regard to new businesses coming into town, and that they would take concerted action against [Lee]. . . We fail to see why Mr. Lee should feel that he would be singled out for opposition.” With 1951 dragging on, Lee felt he could ill afford to wait for the high court to act before opening his doors. He expanded the building within the limits of what the building inspector was willing to allow and scheduled the store’s opening in time for Christmas shopping. The advertisement in The Pilot pitched that Lee’s Store was North Carolina’s fastest growing variety chain, and that seventy-five employees would greet customers at 9 a.m. on December 7. The ad promised that the “remodeled and greatly enlarged building will inaugurate a festival of values. Five thousand separate items [will be] placed on sale at the start of the Christmas season.” On February 1, 1952, the Supreme Court of North Carolina announced its decision in Lee v. Walker. The court reversed Judge Clement’s decision and entered final judgment for Lee, thereby compelling the issuance of the permit as requested. In so doing the court agreed with Lee’s position that the town never actually accepted John Patrick’s dedication of the streets and center squares. The court held that “there being no evidence offered in the hearing tending to show

The disputed area that resulted in the lawsuit sits directly behind Rhodes & Co. real estate offices. that the town had previously accepted the dedication of the alleys and parks as shown on the map of Southern Pines, by user or otherwise, the action of the board was tantamount to a formal rejection of the offer of dedication and was so construed and regarded by the town of Southern Pines, the original dedicator and his successors for more than fifty-eight years prior to the time this controversy arose.” The decision indicated that the protesters could theoretically file individual lawsuits claiming private easement rights over the alley area, but the court expressed doubt that such claims would be successful. One wonders in retrospect what the impact on Southern Pines would have been had Judge Clement’s decision been upheld by the high court. The marketability of Southern Pines real estate could have been seriously jeopardized for all time. It could not have been a good result for residents owning properties within the 125 blocks to hold them under this type of “cloud” on the titles to their homes and business properties. After the Supreme Court’s decision a remarkable thing happened — nothing! Whether it was to make peace with his neighbors or that he decided that his store did not need the additional space, Lee elected not to build out the rest of the store so as to occupy the alley. A visit now to the rear of The Country Bookstore and Rhodes & Co. Real Estate reveals that the 16-by-75-foot remainder of the alley was never built upon, although the area has been landscaped. In writing this article, I wondered what John Patrick’s thinking was in his design of blocks with interior alleys and center squares in both Southern Pines and Pinebluff. Maybe he was influenced by Savannah, where the downtown blocks have a similar configuration. But the front of Savannah’s buildings face the city’s center squares, not the back, so that the squares would be expected to be in use by the general public. Perhaps Patrick idealistically thought that the adjoining owners, not the government (Southern Pines had not yet been incorporated in 1884 when the map was prepared), would work cooperatively to maintain these backyard “public” areas. Or maybe Patrick had some other rationale in mind. In John Patrick’s obituary, as reported in the Raleigh News & Observer in 1918, it was stated that Patrick “was entirely original and was always doing something new in a way no one else would ever think of, but he always had a sound, practical reason for everything he did.” We will never know. PS Bill Case enjoys unearthing long forgotten history of the Sandhills area.

Story of a house

Home to the Hounds Winter Farm restored the land, created a lifestyle

By Deborah Salomon • Photographs by L aura Gingerich

astures, horses, barns, hunt boxes and the estates that grew around them speak the essence of Southern Pines. Equestrienne Joan Thiele added another element: In 1990 she adapted 199 acres of Raeford farmland boasting rich, black — not sandy — soil as a home and habitat for twenty hounds, known as the Weymouth Bassets. She bred them, trained them, loved them, hunted them and built an elaborate octagonal kennel for them as well as a house for herself, which melts into the wooded landscape overlooking a pond. She built the pond, too, besides restoring an ecosystem that attracts rabbits, quail and other basset quarry. Tennis players desire a backyard court; golfers, a putting green. Thiele wanted to foot-hunt her own fields. The house: a patchwork, both genteel and sporty. Its silhouette suggests a barn. Portraits of dogs and horses hang from the walls but furnishings

lean towards French and Asian antiques, pastel upholstery, Lalique crystal lamps — not plaids and tufted leather. Yet Thiele’s architectural objectives were light and space: “I’m not so interested in things,” she protests, something learned in Africa, where natives possessing almost nothing can still be happy. Like her surroundings, Joan Thiele has many layers. “I come from hunting stock.” Thiele’s mother owned a pack of foxhounds at their country home, in Virginia — not unusual, there and then. Thiele arrived in Southern Pines from New York for the winter hunt season. Raised in a house built in 1680, she had eloped with Werner “Dutch” Thiele when she was 22 and he, 63. The bridegroom’s primary equestrian experience: “a bad polo player.” Werner preferred Manhattan, with Sundays spent reading the Times, taking walks, visiting friends, listening to music.

January 2016P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

They took a house on Den Road, deep in Horse Country. In 1985, the last thing Werner wanted was to look at the 199-acre Hoke County parcel bordered by rusty cars and abandoned appliances. But, because of the bassets, they needed more space, preferably secluded, since hounds are vocal. “I convinced him to walk the land, oblivious to the junk. The fields were beautiful,” Thiele recalls. Much to her surprise, he “drank the sweet tea,” promising to have the acreage surveyed and close on it in thirty days. Five years passed. Werner was now seriously ill. A friend told a distraught Thiele she needed a project. “Build a house.” Good idea. “Building was my outlet,” Thiele says. “I’d come out every day to watch it go up.” She named the installation Winter Farm, after her business. First came replanting the fields in longleaf pine, wire grass and other native foliage accomplished by Harry Huberth of Huberth Farm Services in conjunction with the North Carolina Forestry Stewardship Program. “Thiele wanted to live outside. That was unique, to plan around the dogs,” Huberth recalls, perhaps because few Moore County hunters maintain their own packs. A site close to the pond (bassets like to swim) was prepared for the kennel, which had two heated rooms, insect control, a sophisticated ventilation system, outdoor runs and architecture similar to the house. Huberth also cut roads and

January 2016P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

dug the pond, positioned for spectacular views from the house. Thiele tasked architect Lynn Anderson and residential/interior designer Denis McCullough with a single word: “light.” Sun comes streaming into the huge bare kitchen window during breakfast and sets over the living room French doors, where family and guests gather before dinner. Every main-floor room has access to the outside, “So if I see something, a bird go by, I can get out there quickly,” Thiele says. Although she wanted the house to resemble a farm building, Anderson calls it a hybrid: “The gambrel roof set the (barn) esthetic. The concept was a story-and-a-half with high dormer windows (rounded and set into 18-foot living room walls) to bring light into the space. We positioned the house to seem like it had been there for a long time.” A grove of mature longleaf pine and oak encourages this image. McCullough — part of the Southern Pines hunt community — plotted the floor plan, conforming to Thiele’s lifestyle, which included entertaining. Guests enter a small foyer, emerge into the soaring, sun-splashed living room with chairs and sofa upholstered in traditional florals and stripes sourced by interior designer Mary Gozzi. Thiele brought few furnishings from previous residences to fill the space. Gozzi scoured dealers in New York, High Point, Chapel Hill and elsewhere, took photos, brought them back for an opinion. “Thiele has excellent taste; either she liked something or she didn’t,” Gozzi says. “But she trusted me. This was a dream job. We had a good time.” Among Gozzi’s finds: two tonsu chests with massive hardware used by Chinese families to pack belongings when they moved.

Beyond the living room, an equally formal dining room splashed with custom wallpaper was used by Thiele and her daughter Cynthia. “I was brought up in a household where we ate in the dining room, on china, every night — a civilized way to end the day,” Thiele recalls. No family room with jumbo TV here, only a charming sun room and the elongated kitchen done entirely in vanilla which, without upgrades, is no less glamorous now than then. A main-floor master suite was not common, either, in 1990, but Werner was ill. A 250-year-old burled elm French armoire serving its original purpose, not altered as an entertainment center, dominates the room, which also contains a hand-painted Italian four-poster bed and wide slipper chair from Thiele’s Texan great-grandmother. Floor coverings are scarce, leaving stained random-width pine floorboards exposed. Throughout, interior windows fitted with ceramic fretwork convey light. The effect: uncluttered, elegant, stunning. Two upstairs bedrooms open out onto a balcony overlooking the great room; from it, line-of-sight passes through the dormer windows framing pond views — exactly Thiele’s intention. One guestroom displays twin beds of polished brass with decorations on the footboards, not headboards, because occupants look down, not behind, she explains. These 19th century treasures stood in the Macau residence of Sir Robert Ho Tung, a businessman and philanthropist. Despite the beds’ antiquity and provenance, Thiele chose white cotton coverlets woven in Boone. Also upstairs, a suite of rooms along a hallway, including one for dress-

January 2016P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

ing, another cedar-paneled for storage, another Cynthia’s bedroom. A brick path, widened into a terrace, separates garden and lap pool from the residence. If a man’s home is his castle, then Joan Thiele’s is her vocation, a place to express interests and ideals. Now, after living alone at Winter Farm since Werner’s death in 1990, Thiele is moving on. The bassets are gone, the kennel closed, the rowboat no longer tied alongside the pond, but restoration of the remaining 80 acres stands tribute to her efforts. “I had to get the land back, to work with it, not against it,” Thiele says. “This is a simple house. What’s important is the land.” PS

HomeStyles the

ANTIQUES of

Cameron ARTIGA DESIGN Residential & Custom Home Design Technical Drafting Home Additions Historic Renovation 3-D Rendering

offers quick, comprehensive floorplans for your listings! Field Measurements Personalized Sales Flyers Saves you time! We do it for you!

SALE! January 5-23

25-75% OFF the entire store!

Enrique J. Artiga (910) 315-2710 e.artiga@yahoo.com

ATTENTION REALTORS!

MOVING

Betty Horner

Ferguson House Antiques 11 Antique Shops 3 Great Lunch & Coffee Spots All in the Historic Village of Cameron Off Hwy 1 Between Sanford & Southern Pines on Hwy 24/27

910.245.7001

www.antiquesofcameron.com

111 West Main St • Aberdeen Tuesday - Saturday 10 to 5 910-944-1181 www.one11main.com

HomeStyles

Planning • Providing • Performing All Things Interiors Residential & Commercial Design Remodels & New Construction Floor & Wall Coverings Tile, Furniture, Accessories Francy Thompson 225 Morganton Rd. Suite B Southern Pines, NC (910) 246-8046 www.tdsinteriordesign.com

January 2016P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

By Rosetta Fawley

Pecans and Apples January is named for the Roman god Janus, he of the double face looking forward and back. A gateway month, it heralds in the New Year for the West. For the gardener January means taking a leaf from Janus’s book (he must have been able to read two at once, but one is just fine for the mere mortals among us) and looking back through last year’s garden notes in order to start planning and planting for this one. The winter sun may seem a warm luxury in the garden this month, but remember that when spring arrives that welcome warmth will turn to steam-cooker heat. If you felt a bit exposed last summer and would like some more shade, consider beginning your 2016 garden by planting pecan trees. Native to America, the pecan tree provides gorgeous, dappled shade and, come late fall, pecans too. Plant two varieties to ensure cross-pollination and a high nut yield. Cultivars such as Stuart and Kiowa are popular in the South and will produce nuts even when young. Bear in mind that you may find yourself in a pitched battle with the squirrels in the early years. As the trees age there will be enough for your family and the tree dwellers. Wait until the soil has thawed to prepare your pecan site. Dig a hole deep enough for the roots. Pecan roots are shallow — keep the hole wide and ensure the soil is well-prepared with a good mix of winter compost. When returning the soil, put the topsoil into the bottom of the hole. If your pecan has a graft union, make sure you don’t bury it when you’re planting. Young trees need good watering and careful pruning for the first few seasons. Keep an eye out for disease and grubs. Consult with your garden center or county extension agent for the most appropriate treatments, particularly if you’re eating the nuts. Plan ahead — remember to invest in a hammock for the summer months and a good cookbook for the fall.

If you’re reading this in the early part of the month, then it’s still Christmas. The celebration of Twelfth Night takes place on January 5 or 6, depending on whether you count the festival of Christmas from Christmas Day or December 26. Worried you haven’t taken your Christmas decorations down? Don’t be. The belief that they should be down by Twelfth Night is relatively modern. In fact, you can leave them up all this month till Candlemas, which is February 2. Don’t forget to wassail your apple trees. This tradition grew from the pagan orchards of southern and western England. On Twelfth Night or Old Twelfth Night (January 17) it’s important that you organize a party in your orchard, or around your tree, depending on the extent of your garden. It goes without saying that hot hard cider must be drunk to the trees’ health. It should also be poured over their roots and cider-soaked toast hung in the branches for the trees’ guardian birds. There must be singing too. At the end of the party everyone should howl and fire guns into the air to deter evil spirits. It all sounds quite Southern, really. Apple Tree Wassail (Somerset, Traditional) Old apple tree, we’ll wassail thee And hoping thou wilt bear. The Lord does know where we shall be To be merry another year. To blow well and to bear well And so merry let us be. Let every man drink up his cup And health to the old apple tree. (Spoken) Apples now, hat-fulls, three bushel bag-fulls, tallets ole-fulls, barn’s floor-fulls, little heap under the stairs. Hip Hip Hooroo (3 times)

But welcome, be it new or old, The gift which makes the day more bright, And paints, upon the ground of cold And darkness, warmth and light!

The one, with bridal blush of rose, And sweetest breath of woodland balm, And one whose matron lips unclose In smiles of saintly calm.

O’erlay the amber violet’s leaves, The purple aster’s brookside home, Guard all the flowers her pencil gives A life beyond their bloom.

Without is neither gold nor green; Within, for birds, the birch-logs sing; Yet, summer-like, we sit between The autumn and the spring.

Fill soft and deep, O winter snow! The sweet azalea’s oaken dells, And hide the bank where roses blow, And swing the azure bells!

And she, when spring comes round again By greening slope and singing flood Shall wander, seeking, not in vain, Her darlings of the wood. From Flowers in Winter, by J.G. Whittier

Arts & Culture

Artists League of the Sandhills

WINTER 2016 CLASSES OIL AND ACRYLIC

Oil Painting with Courtney – Courtney Herndon – January 18,19, 9:00-3:30 $110 Creating With Oils: The First Step - Diane Kraudelt - January 25, 9:30-3:30 $82 Supplies included. Oil Painting with Courtney – Courtney Herndon – January 28,29, 9:00-3:30 $110 Follow the Leader - Your Pet – Joan Williams – February 15, 10:00-4:00 $75 Paint Like a Flemish Master – Harry Neely – February 18, 9:30-3:00 $52 Acrylic Painting for Beginners- Andrea Schmidt - February 24, 10:00-3:00 $40 Creating With Oils: The Next Step - Diane Kraudelt - March 14, 9:30-3:30 $55

WATERCOLOR

Watercolor Pencil – Paint Your Home - Sandra Kinnunen – January 26, 27, 10:00-3:00 $82 Watercolor – Irene Dobson – February 2, 3, 4, 10:00-3:00 $120 Watercolor on Rice Paper - Pat McMahon – February 11, 12, 1:00-3:00 $40 Painting Flowers in Watercolor - Andrea Schmidt - March 21, 10:00-3:00 $40

DRAWING

Drawing and Sketching – Pat McMahon – January 12, 14, 1:00-3:00 $40 Figure Drawing (with a live model) – Linda Bruening – January 20, 9:30-12:30 $40 Figure Drawing (with a live model) – Linda Bruening - February 16, 9:30-12:30 $40 Pen and Ink with Watercolor –- Sandy Scott - March 2, 10:30-3:30 $40 Basic Calligraphy – Barbara Sickenberger - March 15, March 22, 1:00-3:00 $40 Figure Drawing (with a live model) – Linda Bruening - March 16, 9:30-12:30 $40

COLORED PENCIL AND PASTEL

Watercolor Pencil – Paint Your Home - Sandra Kinnunen – January 26, 27, 10:00-3:00 $82 Beginners’ Colored Pencil – Betty Hendrix – February 8, 10:00-4:00 $55 Point of View Design – Soft Pastel - Betty Hendrix - March 1, 10:00-4:00 $50 Intense Color Pencil (Soho OR Ink Tense) – Sandy Scott – March 23, 24, 10:30-3:30 $80 Bold Color/Important Detail – Oil Pastel/Colored Pencil - Betty Hendrix - March 30, 10:00-4:00 $50

OTHER MEDIUMS

Block Printing – Lynn Goldhammer – January 16, 9:00-3:00 $75 - Supplies included Block Printing – Lynn Goldhammer – January 22, 9:00-3:00 $75 - Supplies included Go with the Flow-Basic Alcohol Ink - Pam Griner – January 23, 12:30-3:30 $40 Supplies included Scratchboard – Emma Wilson – Saturday, January 30, 9:00-12:30 $45- Supplies included Collaging Out of the Box – Sandy Stratil – February 22, 23, 10:00-4:00 $105 Ink-Tastic-Intermediate Alcohol Ink - Pam Griner – February 25, 12:30-4:00 $55 - Supplies included

You’r

e Inv it

Instruct ed! or Demons tration D ay January 10 - 2 to 5pm

Come wa tch action an the instructors in d sign up for classe s.

129 Exchange St • Aberdeen • 944-3979 www.artistleague.org 76

January 2016 P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

Arts & Culture

HEART’N SOUL OF JAZZ Starring our favorite 1980s teen queen

MOLLY RINGWALD SPECIAL EARLY PRICE $60 EACH $70 after January 13. Includes concert, Meet-the-Artist, Dessert Reception and Chance for Great Door Prizes. Tickets/Information

FEBRUARY 13TH 2016 Concert at 8:00pm • Doors Open at 7:30pm

SATURDAY

Cardinal Ballroom, Pinehurst Resort

Call 910-692-2787 or Visit www.MooreArt.org Sponsors : American Airlines, Duke Energy, King Fisher Society, Pinehurst Resort, BB&T and Wells Fargo

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

Arts Entertainment C a l e n da r

Snap Circuits Technology Exploration

Friday, January 1

NATURE EVENTS. 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. “First Day Hikes.” At 10 a.m., explore the longleaf pine forest of Weymouth Woods with a park ranger on this 1.5-mile morning hike, lasting about 1 hour. Then at 2 p.m., explore the Paint Hill section of Weymouth Woods and enjoy hilltop views with a park ranger. Dress for the weather! For both hikes, meet at the Weymouth Woods Visitor Center, 1024 Fort Bragg Road, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2167.

Saturday, January 2

NEW YEAR’S CRAFT. 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Kids and their families can participate in making a variety of fun and festive crafts. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or sppl.net.

Sunday, January 3

LIVE MUSIC AT THE ROOSTER’S WIFE. 12:46 and 6:46 p.m. The Gibson Brothers perform. Cost: $30 in advance; $35 at the door. The Poplar Knight Spot, 114 Knight St., Aberdeen. Info: (910) 944-7502 or theroosterswife.org. NATURE EVENT. 3 p.m. “Owls of the Sandhills.” Using mounted birds, rangers will describe the adaptations and life histories of Sandhills owls. Learn to identify these birds by sight and sound. Meet at the Weymouth Woods Visitor Center, 1024 Fort Bragg Road, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2167.

Monday, January 4

WINTER BASKETBALL. 6:15 p.m. Southern Pines winter basketball games begin for boys ages 9 and 10. Recreation

Oil Painting with Courtney Herndon

Owl Prowl Night Hike

Center, 160 Memorial Park Court, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2463 or nc-southernpines.civicplus.com/177/Basketball.

Tuesday, January 5

WINTER BASKETBALL. 6:15 p.m. Southern Pines winter basketball games begin for boys ages 11 and 12. Recreation Center, 160 Memorial Park Court, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2463 or nc-southernpines.civicplus.com/177/Basketball. NATURE TALES. 10 – 10:45 a.m. for ages 2 through 4, and 11 – 11:45 a.m. for ages 5 and 6. “A Long Winter’s Nap.” Preschool story and nature time. No cost for program, but please pre-register two business days in advance. (Admission to garden not included in program.) Cape Fear Botanical Garden, 536 N. Eastern Blvd., Fayetteville. Info: (910) 486-0221 (ext. 20) or capefearbg.org. TRIVIA TOURNAMENT. 6:30 p.m. A six-week tournament with the top ten teams making the Grand Finale on week seven (Tues, Feb 16). January competitions are every Tuesday night (5, 12, 19, and 26). Each week the winning team receives $50 cash; 2nd place, a $50 gift card; and 3rd place, a mixed six-pack. The Sly Fox, 795 SW Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 725-1621 or theslyfoxpub.com.

Wednesday, January 6

YOGA CLASS (INTRODUCTORY). 9 – 10 a.m. (Wednesdays through Feb 10) Instructor Darlind Davis teaches this course for individuals who are either new to the practice of yoga or wish to refresh their skills through a review of the basic tenets. Cost: $35/resident; $70 non-resident. Pinehurst Parks and Rec, Recreation Room, 300 Kelly Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 295-1900 or pinehurstrec.org.

28-29

CURRY NIGHT. Every Wednesday night in January is Curry Night. Order the curry entrée and have your card punched. The Sly Fox, 795 SW Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 725-1621 or theslyfoxpub.com.

Thursday, January 7

WINTER BASKETBALL. 7 p.m. Southern Pines winter basketball games begin for youths (co-ed) ages 13 through 15. Recreation Center, 160 Memorial Park Court, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2463 or nc-southernpines.civicplus.com/177/ Basketball. SHAG DANCE LESSONS. 6 – 7 p.m. Four sessions for beginners every Thursday in January. Instructors Nanci Donald and Bud Hunter. No partner required. Please bring shoes with smooth soles. Cost: $30/resident; $60/non-resident. Pinehurst Parks & Rec, Recreation Room, 300 Kelly Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 295-1900 or pinehurstrec.org. SHAG DANCE LESSONS. 7 – 8 p.m. Four sessions for advanced beginners every Thursday in January. Instructors Nanci Donald and Bud Hunter. No partner required. Please bring shoes with smooth soles. Cost: $30/resident; $60/nonresident. Pinehurst Parks & Rec, Recreation Room, 300 Kelly Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 295-1900 or pinehurstrec.org. LIVE MUSIC AT THE CAMEO. 8 p.m. Lizzy Ross performs. Cost: $10 in advance, $15 at the door. The Cameo Theater, 225 Hay St., Fayetteville. Info: (910) 486-6633, (910) 944-7502, or theroosterswife.org. GATHERING AT GIVEN. 3:30 and 7 p.m. Join Audrey Moriarty, executive director of Given Tufts, for “Women of Pinehurst,” stories and photos of the amazing women who

January 2016 P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

helped establish the village of Pinehurst and had a lasting impact on this area. Free and open to the public. Given Memorial Library, 1 Village Green Road W. Pinehurst (3:30 p.m.) and the Given Outpost, 95 Cherokee Road, Pinehurst (7 p.m.). Info: (910) 295-6022.

Cherokee storyteller Kat Littleturtle. In addition to stories, Littleturtle and family will perform music and dance with the Native Courting Flute. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or sppl.net.

Friday, January 8

LIVE MUSIC AT THE ROOSTER’S WIFE. 6:46 p.m. Doors open at 6:16 p.m. Jeanne Jolly performs. Cost: $15 in advance; $20 at the door. The Poplar Knight Spot, 114 Knight St., Aberdeen. Info: (910) 944-7502 or theroosterswife.org.

LIVE MUSIC AT THE ROOSTER’S WIFE. 6:46 p.m. Doors open at 6:16 p.m. Lizzy Ross performs. Cost: $10 in advance; $15 at the door. The Poplar Knight Spot, 114 Knight St., Aberdeen. Info: (910) 944-7502 or theroosterswife.org. NATURE EVENT. 10 a.m. “Walking with Words (for Wee Ones).” This story hike is about 1/3 of a mile (not conducive to strollers) and is best suited for children under the age of 8, but all are welcome. Meet at Weymouth Woods Visitor Center, 1024 Fort Bragg Road, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2167. DESSERT BAR. Evening dining hours. Elliott’s is showing off its sweet tooth! Cost: $19/person. Elliott’s on Linden, 905 Linden Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 215-0775. COOKING CLASS. 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. “Caribbean Night.” Join professional chef Sonia Middleton as she brings a little international culture to cooking. Cost: $40/resident; $80/ non-resident. Pinehurst Parks and Rec, Program Room, 300 Kelly Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 295-1900 or pinehurstrec.org.

Saturday, January 9

MEET THE AUTHOR. 2 p.m. Stewart O’Nan reads from his latest novel, West of Sunset (an Indie Next Pick of January, 2015), about F. Scott Fitzgerald. The story is told against the backdrop of the golden days of Hollywood. A discussion and book signing follow. The Country Bookshop, 140 NW Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-3211. WINTER BASKETBALL. 9 a.m. Southern Pines winter basketball games begin for boys and girls ages 5 and 6, and at 2 p.m. for ages 7 and 8. Recreation Center, 160 Memorial Park Court, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2463 or nc-southernpines.civicplus.com/177/Basketball. NATURE TALES. 10 – 10:45 a.m. for ages 2 through 4, and 11 – 11:45 a.m. for ages 5 and 6. “A Long Winter’s Nap.” Preschool story and nature time. No cost for program, but please pre-register two business days in advance. (Admission to garden not included in program.) Cape Fear Botanical Garden, 536 N. Eastern Blvd., Fayetteville. Info: (910) 486-0221 (ext 20) or capefearbg.org. MAKER SATURDAY. 11 a.m. “Snap Circuits.” Maker Saturdays allow students to explore technology in a relaxed environment. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or sppl.net. MEET THE ARTIST AT WORK. 12 – 3 p.m. Visit with artist Jane Casnellie and learn about her techniques and background in art. Hollyhocks Art Gallery, 905 Linden Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 255-0665 or hollyhocksartgallerycom. NATURE EVENT. 3 p.m. “Nature’s Notebook Hike.” See what’s changing in the world of flora this month with ranger assistant Lindsey on a 1.5‐mile (90-minute) hike, an opportunity to learn how to collect phenological data for your scientific nature journal. Meet at Weymouth Woods Visitor Center, 1024 Fort Bragg Road, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2167.

Sunday, January 10

NATURE EVENT. 3 p.m. “Fire in the Pines.” Learn about the important role natural fires once played in the longleaf pine ecosystem and how prescribed fires contribute to that essential component of southeastern forests. Inside presentation and an optional short walk. Weymouth Woods Visitor Center, 1024 Fort Bragg Road, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2167.

Monday, January 11

BOOK LOVERS UNITE. 7 p.m. “Historical Mystery Fiction.” This month’s discussion includes authors Charles Todd, Arthur Conan Doyle and Barbara Cleverly. Bring your favorite author list to share. Given Outpost, 95 Cherokee Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 295-7002. SANDHILLS PHOTO CLUB MEETING. 7 p.m. Program: TBD. Guests are always welcome. Hannah Theater Center at The O’Neal School, 3300 Airport Road, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-6920 or www.sandhillsphotoclub.org.

Tuesday, January 12

NATURE EVENT. 5 p.m. “WeWo Nature Book Club.” Also on (January 25). This is the first meeting of Weymouth Woods’ Nature Book Club. January’s book is Silent Spring, by Rachel Carson, about the environmental harm caused by DDT and other chemicals. Please read as much of the book as you can in advance. A copy of Silent Spring is available at the Visitor Center all month long. Weymouth Woods Visitor Center, 1024 Fort Bragg Road, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2167.

Tuesday, January 12 and 14

DRAWING AND SKETCHING CLASS. 1 – 3 p.m. Instructor Pat McMahon teaches this class for beginning artists or those that have not had lessons in light, shading, perspective and drawing. Costs: $32/$36/$40. Artists League of the Sandhills, 129 Exchange St., Aberdeen. Info: (910) 944-3979.

Wednesday, January 13

HORSE EVENT. 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. Winter Schooling Days (dressage and show jumping only). Open to all riders, this is an opportunity to school for competitions. Call or visit website for rates and applicable fees. Carolina Horse Park, 2814 Montrose Road, Raeford. Info: (910) 875-2074 or carolinahorsepark.com. TAI CHI CLASS. 10:30 – 11:30 a.m. Wednesdays through Feb 3. Tai Chi master Lee Holbrook leads this peaceful workout for people of all levels to increase body awareness, coordination and longevity. Cost: $21/residents; 42/non-residents. Pinehurst Parks and Rec, Recreation Room, 300 Kelly Road, Pinehurst. Info and pre-registration: (910) 295-1900 or 295-2817 or pinehurstrec.org. BOURBON AND BARBECUE. 6:30 p.m. Enjoy three wonderful bourbon tastings with three courses. Cost: $29/ person. Elliott’s on Linden, 905 Linden Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 215-0775.

EXPLORATIONS SERIES FOR ADULTS. 3 – 4 p.m.

BIZET’S LES PECHEURS DE PERLES SATURDAY, JANUARY 16 1PM

THE TAMING OF THE SHREW SUNDAY, JANUARY 24 1PM

PUCCINI’S TURANDOT SATURDAY, JANUARY 30 1PM

Thursday, January 14

NATURE CLASS. 2 – 4 p.m. “Seeds of Knowledge: Winter Tree ID.” Come learn the basics of tree identification and test your skills outside in the Garden. Free with admission or Garden membership. Registration required two days in advance. Cape Fear Botanical Garden, 536 N. Eastern Blvd., Fayetteville. Info: (910) 486-0221 (ext 20) or capefearbg.org. FAYETTEVILLE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA. 7:30 p.m. J.S. Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos, the benchmark of Baroque music, presented in the unique venue of St. John’s Episcopal Church, Downtown Fayetteville. Call for prices. 302 Green St, Fayetteville. Info: (910) 433-4690 or fayettevillesymphony.org. FAMILY FUN NIGHT. 5:30 – 6 p.m. “Lego Challenge.” Children grades K through 5 and their families are invited to participate in a Lego competition. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or sppl.net.

Friday, January 15

Saturday, January 16

HORSE EVENT. 7 a.m. – 11 p.m. Pipe Opener I CT. Divisions: Green as grass – Adv; Dressage test of choice. Call for rates and applicable fees. Carolina Horse Park, 2814 Montrose Road, Raeford. Info: (910) 875-2074 or carolinahorsepark.com. CRAFT DAY. 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. “Under the Sea.” Make activities to help keep boredom at bay during the coldest months. For children grades K through 5 and their families. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or sppl.net. MEET THE ARTIST AT WORK. 12 – 3 p.m. Visit with artist Charlie Roberts and learn about his techniques and background in art. Hollyhocks Art Gallery, 905 Linden Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 255-0665 or hollyhocksartgallerycom. MET OPERA HD LIVE. 1 p.m. Bizet’s Les Pecheurs de Perles, a story of lust and longing set in the Far East, is performed by the Metropolitan Opera. Cost: $27. Sunrise Theater, 250 NW Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8501 or sunrisetheater.com. NC POETRY SOCIETY MEETING. 9:15 a.m. registration begins. Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities, 555 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-6261 or ncpoetrysociety.org/events.

Sunday, January 17

SUNDAY KIDS MOVIE. 2:30 – 4:30 p.m. This sequel finds the minions working for a new super-villain who is trying to take over the world. Free to the public. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or sppl.net. NC SYMPHONY. 7:30 – 9:30 p.m. Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto. Marcelo Lehninger conducting, Inon Barnatan on piano. Pre-concert talk at 6:30 p.m. Call for prices. Lee Auditorium, Pinecrest High School, 250 Voit Gilmore Lane,

Ticket s on ! Sale Now

at the

Located in Beautiful Downtown Southern Pines

250 NW Broad Street, Southern Pines, NC • 910-692-8501

Parkhurst Wrap with shoulder loop

ca l e n d a r

FIGHT THE BLAHS!

Southern Pines. Info: (919) 733-2750 or tickets@ncsymphony.org. NATURE EVENT. 3 p.m. “Become a Junior Ranger.” Learn about the Junior Ranger program and how to earn a Weymouth Woods patch and certificate. Most appropriate for ages 6 through 12. Visitor Center, Weymouth WoodsSandhills Nature Preserve, 1024 Fort Bragg Road, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2167. ENGLISH CARVERY. 11:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. Traditional roasted lamb dinner. Cost: $21.95/person. Regular brunch menu also offered. The Sly Fox, 795 SW Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 725-1621 or theslyfoxpub.com.

NEW SPRING ARRIVING DAILY!

Brighten your sourroundings!

Monday, January 18

SIP & PAINT WITH JANE. 5 – 7 p.m. Join resident artist Jane Casnellie for an evening of sipping and painting and take home your own masterpiece! No experience necessary. All materials provided, including a glass of wine. Cost: $35. Hollyhocks Art Gallery, 905 Linden Road, Pinehurst. Info and registration: (910) 255-0665.

Casual to Dressy

CELEBRATING WOMEN OF ALL AGES! the

CLOTHES HORSE LADIES CLOTHING & ACCESSORIES • Beside The Fresh Market • 163 Beverly Lane, Southern Pines, NC 28387

910.693.2111

Mon.-Fri. 10am-5:30pm • Sat. 10am-5pm facebook.com/ClothesHorseofSPines

CHOCOLATE FESTIVAL Saturday, Feb. 6 • 10AM - 3PM Pinehurst United Methodist Church 4111 Airport Road • Pinehurst Fund raising event to benefit Community in Schools of Moore County, Habitat for Humanity of NC Sandhills, Northern Moore Family Resource Center and Other UMW projects. Cupcake Competition

Open to the community. Entry forms at our website

Chocolate Baked Goods and Confections Yummy sweets for your Valentine

Gift Boutique

Unique Chocolate themed gifts

Candy Making Demonstrations

FADRMISESIOEN

And other demos

Silent Auction

10AM - 1PM; Repurposed Décor from the Habitat ReStore & much more…

Cocoa Cafe Lunch

Available from a contributing restaurant

pinehurstchocolatefestival.webs.com

LIVE MUSIC AT THE ROOSTER’S WIFE. 6:46 p.m. Doors open at 6:16 p.m. Molly Tuttle and John Mailander perform. Cost: $10 in advance, $15 at the door. The Poplar Knight Spot, 114 Knight St., Aberdeen. Info: (910) 944-7502 or theroosterswife.org.

500 S. Sandhills Blvd. Aberdeen, NC 910-944-7826 AberdeenFlorist.com

WOMEN OF WEYMOUTH MEETING. 9:30 – 11 a.m. “Local Food.” Coffee and meeting. Weymouth Center for Arts & Humanities, 555 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-6261 or weymouthcenter.org.

Monday, January 18 and 19

OIL PAINTING WITH COURTNEY. 9 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. Courtney Herndon. This class is for beginner and intermediate painters with an emphasis on impressionist style and attention to composition and color mixing. Bring a landscape photo. Cost: $88/$99/$110. Artists League of the Sandhills, 129 Exchange St., Aberdeen. Info: (910) 944-3979. NATURE EVENT. 2 – 3 p.m. “Meet the Garden’s Reptiles.” Come learn the basics about reptiles and how to identify some common reptiles in our area. Children must be accompanied by an adult. Free with Garden admission or membership. Space is limited. Registration required two days in advance. Cape Fear Botanical Garden, 536 N Eastern Blvd., Fayetteville. Info and registration: (910) 486-0221 or capefearbg.org.

Tuesday, January 19

JAMES BOYD BOOK CLUB. 2 p.m. The Unseen, by former writer in residence Alexandra Sokoloff. The spooky story is set at the Boyd House! Weymouth Center for Arts & Humanities, 555 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-6261 or weymouthcenter.org. CITIZENS ACADEMY. 6 – 8 p.m. (Light supper at 5:45) The town of Southern Pines continues its Citizens Academy with a session on town programs, services, policies and procedures. SP Police Dept., Police Community Meeting Room, 450 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or sppl.net. Please call the Library to sign up. Availability is limited.

Wednesday, January 20

MEET THE AUTHOR. 5 p.m. NC author Taylor Brown, author of short story collection The Season of Blood and Gold, discusses his debut novel, Fallen Land, a love story set in Georgia during the last year of the Civil War. (Book on sale January 12, 2016.) The Country Bookshop, 140 NW Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-3211. HORSE EVENT. 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. Winter Schooling Days (dressage and show jumping only). Open to all riders, this is an opportunity to school for competitions. Call or visit website for rates and applicable fees. Carolina Horse Park, 2814 Montrose Road, Raeford. Info: (910) 875-2074 or carolinahorsepark.com.

January 2016 P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

ca l e n d a r FIGURE DRAWING CLASS. 9:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. Figure drawing with a live model. Linda Bruening teaches this life drawing class for both beginners and more advanced students who wish to learn and practice figure drawing. Costs: $34/$37/$40. Artists League of the Sandhills, 129 Exchange St., Aberdeen. Info: (910) 944-3979. LITERARY EVENT. 5:30 – 6:30 p.m. Writer in Residence Monthly Reading. Marjorie Hudson reads from her short story collection Accidental Birds of the Carolinas. Weymouth Center for Arts & Humanities, 555 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-6261 or weymouthcenter.org. ART OF COOKING SERIES. 6 p.m. “Soups.” Chef Mark Elliott and/or Cain Lambert demonstrate cooking techniques and answer questions. Then enjoy a four-course dining experience. Seating is limited, call for reservation. Elliott’s on Linden, 905 Linden Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 215-0775.

Thursday, January 21

DOUGLASS CENTER BOOK CLUB. 10:30 a.m. Meeting will be held at the Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376. WINE AND WHIMSY PAINTING CLASS. 5:30 – 7 p.m. Enjoy a glass of wine or beer while painting your masterpiece. Cost: $20/CFBC member; $25/non-member (includes canvas, paint, brushes, palette and easel). Wine, beer, and snacks available for purchase. Cape Fear Botanical Garden, 536 N. Eastern Blvd., Fayetteville. Info: (910) 486-0221. OUTPOST ARTISTRY SONG AND POETRY CIRCLE. 7 p.m. Sandhills Community College and the Given Outpost invite all singers, musicians, and poets for an evening of creative exchange. Bring your musical instrument, voice, and words. Given Outpost, 95 Cherokee Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 295-7002.

Friday, January 22

OWL PROWL NIGHT HIKE. 5:30 p.m. Free for all ages, but children must be accompanied by an adult. Participants will learn about the owls that are indigenous to the Sandhills region and try to catch a glimpse of them. Followed by hot cocoa. Weymouth Woods-Sandhills Nature Preserve, 1024 Fort Bragg Road, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2167 or southernpines.net.

Saturday, January 23

Saturdays allow students to explore technology in a relaxed environment. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or sppl.net.

Sunday, January 24

BOLSHOI BALLET SERIES. 1 p.m. The Taming of the Shrew, in HD via satellite, is an adaptation of Shakespeare’s comedy about the ill-tempered Katharina and her father’s efforts to get her married. Cost: $25. Sunrise Theater, 250 NW Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8501 or sunrisetheater.com.

HUNT LEAVES FROM WEYMOUTH. 8:15 a.m. The Moore County Hounds, founded in 1914 by James and Jack Boyd, is a Sandhills tradition. The hunt will ride down Ridge Avenue and be at the Vermont entrance of Weymouth House between 8:15 and 8:30 a.m. The public is invited to come see them off. Info: (910) 692-6261.

SUNDAY FILM SERIES. 2:30 – 4:30 p.m. An aged, retired Sherlock Holmes deals with early dementia as he tries to remember his final case and a woman, the memory of whom still haunts him. Free and open to the public. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or sppl.net.

CREATIONS DAY CAMP. 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. “Valentine Crafts.” Arts and crafts with Miss Karen for special someones. Southern Pines Parks and Rec. Meet at Historic Train Station, 235 NW Broad St., Southern Pines. Info and registration: 910692-2463 or southernpines.net/136/Recreation-Parks.

NATURE EVENT. 3 p.m. “Winter Tree ID.” Learn to recognize buds, leaf scars and stems to identify our native trees. Includes a short hike, weather permitting. Join the ranger at the Visitor Center. Weymouth Woods-Sandhills Nature Preserve, 1024 Fort Bragg Road, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2167.

DAY TRIP. 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Duplin Winery, Rose Hill, NC. A visit to the wine production facility, wine tasting, and browsing the gift shop. Enjoy lunch at the on-site bistro. Min/ Max: 9/14. Cost: $12/resident;/$24/non-resident. Please register by January 8. Meet at Campbell House, 482 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2787 or nc-southernpines.civicplus.com.

LIVE MUSIC AT THE ROOSTER’S WIFE. 6:46 p.m. Doors open at 6:16 p.m. New Orleans Suspects perform. Cost: $15 in advance, $20 at the door. The Poplar Knight Spot, 114 Knight St., Aberdeen. Info: (910) 944-7502 or theroosterswife.org.

MEET THE ARTIST AT WORK. 12 – 3 p.m. Visit with artist Linda Griffin and learn about her techniques and background in art. Hollyhocks Art Gallery, 905 Linden Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 255-0665 or hollyhocksartgallerycom. MAKER SATURDAY. 2 – 3 p.m. “Hour of Code.” Maker

Monday, January 25

CREATING WITH OILS. 9:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. “The First Step” with Diane Kraudelt. This class for beginners covers several techniques as well as brushes, paints, canvas preparation, color mixing, and more. Cost: $72/$77/$82. Supplies included. Artists League of the Sandhills, 129 Exchange St., Aberdeen. Info: (910) 944-3979.

Dining Guide

Restaurant Authentic Thai Cusine

195 american fusion cuisine supporting local farmers

lunch tues-sat 11-3 dinner wed-sat 5:30-9:30 chef prem nath

195 bell avenue southern pines 910.692.7110 www.195americanfusion.com

Brighten Your Winter & Spice Up Your World 28 Balsamics, 25 Olive Oils, Pastas, Herbs & Spices, Salts, Olive Oil Skin Care Products, Gift Sets

10% OFF

Monthly Featured Pairings Great Recipes Too

thepinehurstoliveoilco.com

105 Cherokee Road • Village of Pinehurst

910.986.0880

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

Smoke Free Environment Lunch

Closed Monday Tuesday - Friday 11:00am - 2:30pm Saturday Closed for Lunch Sunday 11:30am - 2:30pm

Dinner

Tuesday - Sunday 5:00pm - 9:30pm Saturday 4:00pm-9:30pm See our menu on MooCo under Oriental Restaurants

(910) 944-9299

Carryout and Vegetarian Dishes

ca l e n d a r NATURE EVENT. 9 a.m. “WeWo Nature Book Club.” Also on January 12. January’s book, Silent Spring, by Rachel Carson, is about the environmental harm caused by DDT and other chemicals. Please read as much of the book as you can in advance. A copy of Silent Spring is available at the Visitor’s Center all month long. Weymouth Woods Visitor Center, 1024 Fort Bragg Road, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2167.

Tuesday, January 26

YOUNG AFFILIATES MEETING. 6 p.m. The Young Affiliates of Weymouth is a group of young professionals in Moore County that support the center’s membership, development and outreach programs. Weymouth Center for Arts & Humanities, 555 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-6261 or weymouthcenter.org. JAM SESSION. 7 – 9 p.m. Acoustical Musicians Group. Acoustical musicians welcome to bring instruments and join in. Bring something to drink and enjoy the music. Public is welcome. Weymouth Center for Arts & Humanities, 555 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-6261.

Tuesday, January 26 and 27

WATERCOLOR PENCIL CLASS. 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. “Paint Your Home,” taught by Sandra Kinnunen for intermediate painters. Bring a photo of your home as either background or main subject, inside or out — a pleasing corner or tabletop, walkway, doorway, or favorite chair. Cost: $66/$74/$82. Artists League of the Sandhills, 129 Exchange St., Aberdeen. Info: (910) 944-3979.

Wednesday, January 27

PAINTING CLASS (ALL MEDIA). 1 – 4 p.m. Wednesdays through March 2. For all levels of experience, artist Eileen Strickland covers basic information on materials, techniques, color theory, and composition. Cost: $35/resident; $70/nonresident. Pinehurst Parks and Rec, Recreation Room, 300 Kelly

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

Road, Pinehurst. Info and pre-registration: (910) 295-1900 or 295-2817.

Thursday, January 28

IN & OUT AT THE OUTPOST. 7 p.m. New monthly speaker series on art, science, travel, history and literature. This month’s topic is “Wintering Hummingbirds” and how to attract, identify and care for them. Biologist Susan Campbell will speak on banding and studying birds. Free and open to the public. Given Outpost, 95 Cherokee Road, Pinehurst. Info: 910-585-4820. FAYETTEVILLE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA. 7:30 p.m. Antonio Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, a Baroque work that is used for countless movie soundtracks, is presented in the unique venue of St. John’s Episcopal Church, Downtown Fayetteville. Call for prices. 302 Green St., Fayetteville. Info: (910) 433-4690 or fayettevillesymphony.org. NATURE CLASS. 2 – 3:30 p.m. “Seeds of Knowledge: Building Better Soil.” Learn simple, natural methods to recycle your kitchen scraps and yard waste into compost and healthy soil amendments. Bring a drill with a .25-inch bit if possible. Cost: $30/member; $35/non-member. Cape Fear Botanical Garden, 536 N Eastern Blvd., Fayetteville. Info and registration: (910) 486-0221 or capefearbg.org.

Thursday, January 28 and 29

OIL PAINTING WITH COURTNEY. 9 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. Courtney Herndon offers this class for beginner and intermediate painters. Emphasis is on impressionist style with attention to composition and color mixing. Bring a landscape photo. Cost: $88/$99/$110. Artists League of the Sandhills, 129 Exchange St., Aberdeen. Info: (910) 944-3979.

Friday, January 29

PAINTING CLASS (OIL). 1 – 4 p.m. Fridays through March 4. For all levels of experience, artist Eileen Strickland covers

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 (910) 691-3100 shop • (919) 673-9388 or (919) 673-9387 cells

JAZZY FRIDAYS. 6 p.m. Enjoy a bottle of wine and dancing with friends under the tent while The Sand Band entertains you with live jazz music. Cost: $10/person. Reservations and pre-payment required for eight or more. Food vendors on site. Cypress Bend Vineyards, 21904 Riverton Road, Wagram. Info: (910) 369-0411 or cypressbendvineyards.com. CHAMBER MUSIC CONCERT SERIES. 7 – 8:30 p.m. The Thymos Quartet, a Paris-based string quartet, will usher in the New Year with the music of Mozart, Shostakovich and Schubert. Costs: $10/member; $20/non-member. (This concert is included in season subscription.) Weymouth Center for Arts & Humanities, 555 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-6261 or weymouthcenter.org.

Saturday, January 30

GARDENING WORKSHOP. 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. “Learn to Prune.” Moore County Extension agent Taylor Williams demonstrates pruning basics. Free to the public, but reservations necessary. Sandhills Horticultural Gardens-Ball Visitors Center, 3395 Airport Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 695-3882 or sandhillshorticulturalgardens.com. MEET THE ARTIST AT WORK. 12 – 3 p.m. Visit with artist Diane Kraudelt and learn about her techniques and background in art. Hollyhocks Art Gallery, 905 Linden Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 255-0665 or hollyhocksartgallerycom. MET OPERA HD LIVE. 1 p.m. Puccini’s Turandot, the story of a proud princess of legendary China and the brave prince who wins her hand, is performed by the Metropolitan Opera. Cost: $27. Sunrise Theater, 250 NW Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8501 or sunrisetheater.com.

Encore

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

Buying Vintage

Sunshine Antique & Mercantile Company

basic information on materials, techniques, color theory, and composition. Cost: $35/resident; $70/non-resident. Pinehurst Parks and Rec, Recreation Room, 300 Kelly Road, Pinehurst. Info and pre-registration: (910) 295-1900 or 295-2817.

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

Antiques & Newtiques 5336 NC Hwy 211, West End, NC 27376 (at the traffic light)

910-673-2065

Tues-Sat 11am-4pm • Sun 1pm-4pm www.westendpastimes.com

Rustic, Retro, Funky, Shabby Chic & Antique The Vintage Barn Unique Hand Picked Finds 108 McReynolds St • Carthage

919-924-7260

January 2016 P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

Fabulous Finds in Fayetteville

ca l e n d a r

Sunday, January 31

NATURE EVENT. 3 p.m. “Paint Hill Hike.” Explore the Paint Hill tract of Weymouth Woods on this 1.5-mile hike to look for one of our rare plants, Sandhills pyxie‐moss. Meet at the Visitor Center and carpool to the other site. Weymouth Woods Visitor Center, 1024 Fort Bragg Road, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2167.

New Year! New Arrivals!

LIVE MUSIC AT THE ROOSTER’S WIFE. 6:46 p.m. Doors open at 6:16 p.m. Scott Ainslie performs. Cost: $15 in advance, $20 at the door. The Poplar Knight Spot, 114 Knight St., Aberdeen. Info: (910) 944-7502 or theroosterswife.org.

Monday, February 1

CHAMBER MUSIC. 8 – 9:30 p.m. The third concert in the 2015-16 Classical Concert Series features British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor, widely recognized for his electrifying performances, penetrating interpretations, exquisite technique, and ingenious flair for tonal color. Costs: $30/concert or part of season subscription ($89/member; $105/non-member). Sunrise Theater, 250 NW Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-2787or mooreart.org.

WEEKLY HAPPENINGS Mondays

BRIDGE. 1 – 4 p.m. A card game played by four people in two partnerships, in which “trump” is determined by bidding. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376.

Tuesdays

BABY BUNNIES STORYTIME. 10:30 a.m. This storytime, intended for babies from birth to 18 months, will engage parents and children in early literary practices. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or sppl.net.

high cotton CONSIGNMENT

910.483.4296

2800-4 Raeford Rd., Fayetteville, NC 28303 Follow Us on Facebook

BROWN BAG LUNCH/GAME DAY. 11:30 a.m. Games at 12 p.m. Bring your lunch and enjoy fellowship and activities, including card games, board games, and the Wii. The Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376. TAI CHI FOR HEALTH. 10 – 11:30 a.m. Practice this flowing Eastern exercise with instructor Rich Martin at the Cape Fear Botanical Garden. Cost: Single class: $15/member; $17/non-member. Monthly rates available. No refunds or transfers. Cape Fear Botanical Garden, 536 N. Eastern Blvd., Fayetteville. Info and registration: (910) 486-0221.

Wednesdays

FAMILY STORYTIME. 3:30 – 4 p.m. Stories, songs, fun, and activities to build skills necessary for kindergarten. For all children through age 5 and families are invited. Southern Pines Public Library, 170 W. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-8235 or sppl.net.

Thursdays

STORY HOUR! 10:30 – 11:30 a.m. For ages 3 through 5. Wonderful volunteers read to children ages 3- 5 and everyone makes a craft. Given Memorial Library, 150 Cherokee Road, Pinehurst. Info: (910) 295-6022. MOORE COUNTY FARMERS MARKET. 9 a.m. – 1p.m. Produce only, fresh and locally grown. Armory Sports Complex, 604 W Morganton Road, Southern Pines. Info: (910) 947-3752 or moorecountync.gov or localharvest.org. MAHJONG (Chinese version). 1 – 3 p.m. A game played by four people involving skill, strategy, and calculation. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376. CHESS. 1 – 3 p.m. Don Hammerman instructs all levels of players. You need a chess set to participate. Douglass

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

Start the new year with a smile!

ca l e n d a r Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376. COOKING CLASS. 6:30 p.m. Chef Maria DiGiovanni leads hands-on preparation of menu items (gnocci, Thai, ravioli, Moroccan, Lebanese, cannolis or pasta). Reservations and pre-payment required. Call for prices and specific menu. The Flavor Exchange, 115 E. New Hampshire Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 725-1345 or the flavorexchange.com.

Fridays

Experience the Highest Quality Dental Care in a friendly, caring environment.

New Patients always Welcome.

305 Page Road | Pinehurst, NC | 910.295.1010 | www.WellenerDental.com

The right dentist can make all the difference. — Since 1966 — TRANSIT DAMAGE FREIGHT A unique, one-of-a-kind furniture store new and — Family-Owned Since 1966selling —

PRESCHOOL STORYTIME. 10:30 a.m. (No Storytime January 1.) Appropriate for children ages 2 through 6. Event is free and open to the public. The Country Bookshop, 140 NW Broad St., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-3211. BRIDGE. 1 – 4 p.m. A card game played by four people in two partnerships, in which “trump” is determined by bidding. Douglass Community Center, 1185 W. Pennsylvania Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 692-7376. FREE COOKING DEMO. 5 p.m. A great way to start off the weekend and get scrumptious ideas. No reservations needed. The Flavor Exchange, 115 E. New Hampshire Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 725-1345 or theflavorexchange.com. COOKING CLASS. 6:30 p.m. Chef Maria DiGiovanni leads hands-on preparation of menu items (gnocci, Thai, ravioli, Moroccan, Lebanese, cannolis or pasta). Reservations and pre-payment required. Call for prices and specific menu. The Flavor Exchange, 115 E New Hampshire Ave., Southern Pines. Info: (910) 725-1345 or the flavorexchange.com. 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.

January PineNeedler Answers from page 95

transit-damaged furniture and new A unique, one-of-a-kind furniture store selling newbedding and transit-damaged at prices youat can afford.you can afford. prices furniture and new bedding

KINGSDOWN: HANDCRAFTED BEDDING INMEBANE, MEBANE,NC, NC, SINCE 1904 KINGDSDOWN: HANDCRAFTED BEDDINGMADE MADE IN SINCE 1904 346 Grant Road | Vass, NC | Just off US 1 North (Next to Carolina Storage) Seven locations in North Carolina to serve you, with two in Lexington: 910-245-4977 | Monday-Saturday 10:00am - 5:30pm 1604 South Main Street 7917 Moores Chapel Road 5766 Highway 421 West Lexington,www.transitdamagedfreightnconline.com NC Charlotte, NC Wilkesboro, NC (336) 248-2646

January

(704) 392-8661

(336) 973-4124

CLEARANCE CENTER 346 Grant Road 1638 US Highway 74A, Suite 180 2016P��PineStraw 8397 Old Salisbury Road Vass, NC Spindale, NC Lexington, NC (910) 245-4977 (828) 287-2268 (336) 853-8112 251 West Avenue

: The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

Michael & Susan Foster

SandhillSeen

Jeffrey Dean Collins, Katherine Stella Roberts

Sock It to Hunger St. Andrews Room, Pinehurst Resort Members Club Saturday, November 14, 2015 Photographs by London Gessner

Mary Wittenstrom, Karen Bobango, Dawn Gunther Kathleen & Jim Tanski, Mark & Gail Nelson

Joanne & Dan Conrad

Alan Riley, Cathy Miles, Leroy & Barb Siegel

Candace DiMaggio, Ann Beth Simmons

Jesse & Linda Ellerbe

Betsy & John Hunter

Suzy & Charlie Carlton

Ann Fields, Tom Bridgham

Paul & Jo Nicholas

Charlie & Mary Rivers

SandhillSeen

Jim & Teryn Wiese

Bill Zearfoss, Ryan & Peyton Douglas

Turkey Trot Southern Pines, NC Saturday, November 21, 2015

Photographs by London Gessner Emily, Bill & Abigail Seskay

Burt & Elly Vandomselaur

Sarah Regan, Anna Smith, Paul West

Christopher & Malvis Tarney Spencer, Dawn, Chris & Hunter Morgan

Ricad Ricardo, Antonio Lopez

Poppy Matthew, Laura Fischer

Travis, Nicole & Brannagh Droz

Brendan & Meghan Reeves

Emma & Kurt Goudy

CUTLER TREE

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

January 2016P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

SandhillSeen The Holly & Ivy Dinner The Holly Inn Tuesday, December 8, 2015 Photographs by John Gessner

Charlie & Lulu Eichhorn, Ronnie & Rick Ogden

Christine & Gil Pritchard

Ron & Patsy Rhody

Sandra & Randall Phillips

Trevie Cato, David Raley

Katherine & Bo Bozarth

Bonnie & John Root Kathy & Tom McPherson

Lisa Richman, Audrey Moriarty Florence & Jim Miller

Graham & Susan Huston

Bill & Jeanette Sheehan

Mike & Susan Sanders

Mike & Kelly McCrann

Ready, Set, Spa. Relax, Rejuvenate & Renew

Hollie Vires 913.705.0287

Botox • Facials • Restylane • Waxing • Massage • Anti-Aging Peels Cosmetic & General Dermatology • Body Treatments Laser Hair Removal • Microdermabrasion • Laser Vein Treatment Laser Facial Rejuvenation • Steam Treatments • Vichy Rain Shower

Coolsculpting Now Available!

SEVEN LAKES Houston Roberts 910.986.3114

RED DOOR

REAL ESTATE GROUP REDDOORREALESTATEGROUP.NET 122 W. PENNSYLVANIA AVE. Christine Westbrook 910.797.5375

SOUTHERN PINES, NC 28387

David I. Klumpar, MD Duke Trained Dermatologist & Medical Director, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Methodist University

Mia Piazza, LE Licensed Esthetician

Erica Garner, LMBT Licensed Massage & Body Therapist

Jamie Schweigert, LE Licensed Esthetician

910.684.3004 Located in the Heart of Southern Pines

Spa

The

Cassie Drexel 910.783.8773 Steven Graves 910.690.8381

Jenifer Phillips 917.558.0985

Amy Moser 910.302.6506

Homes for Heroes Proudly Offers Discounts for Military, Law Enforcement, Firefighters, EMS, Teachers, and Healthcare Workers. Call us for more details.

at Carolina Skin Care 125 Fox Hollow Road

The Science Behind Beauty. Pinehurst NC 910.235.SPA1 (7721)

Using Dikson Italian Hair color technology for less damage, zero fade, complete gray coverage and no carcinogens. OFFERING A VARIETY OF ORGANIC STYLING PRODUCTS.

104 Bradford Village, Southern Pines

(910)692-2825

www.thehaircottage.com Please visit our website for location and directions.

January 2016P��PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

Ron Schuch, Connie Atwell, Richard Agnew

SandhillSeen

Dick & Mary Ann McCrary

Christmas Gala Weymouth Center Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Photographs by Pamela Partis and Tom Fioretti Rosemary Zuhone, Ginny Notesteine, Barbara Keating

John & Kathryn Talton

Charles & Rosemary Cuhone

Thea Pitassy, Anne Howell, Patti Fisher

Dale & JoAnn Erickson

John & Marion Gaida

SandhillSeen

Southern Pines High School Class of 1961 Dinner Saturday, December 5, 2015 Left to right: Benny Rowe, Jerry Kirby, Don Thompson, Al Butler, Bob McConnell, Carlyle Weatherspoon, Jerry Tollison, Dan Butler, Bob Ryder, Walt Morgan

Happy New Year!

Cranial Scarring Alopecia Areata Trichotillomania Menopausal Disorder Men’s Hair Loss

Introducing Billy Wicker Our New “Field Superintendent”

CALL FOR FREE CONSULTATION!

BEFORE

AFTER

TESLA

HAIR REPLACEMENT CLINIC

(L to R) Sally Glasgow, Billy Wicker, Chuck Bolton, Mary Bolton.

Custom Homes

Custom Home Designs by Chuck Bolton

Anna Rodriguez

910-673-3603 • 4317 Seven Lakes Plaza

Confidentiality is ensured.

boltonbldrs@boltonbuildersinc.com

125 Fox Hollow Road, Suite 103 Pinehurst, NC 28374 910-684-8808 | 919-418-3078 | teslahrc@gmail.com

www.BoltonBuildersInc.com

PineServices Get Ready for

Giving families

Winter

a brighter future with

OPEN

compassionate home care. 24 hour, 7 days a week availability

NC Licensed & Nationally Accredited Home Care Agency

Mon. - Thurs. 8:30am-6pm Fri. & Sat. 8am-6pm Sunday 9am 5pm

If your body does a sport, your wrist needs this watch.

910.692.0767

COTE

TIMEWOR KS

910-246-0586

910.303.8346 • 106 E. Connecticut Ave, Southern Pines, NC www.CoteTimeworks.com

WWW.GRACEFULLYRUSTIC.COM

Watch & Clock Specialist

Trish Fleming, B.Msc Psychic

are not just for January...

SPECIALS 3 Private Sessions • $99* 3 Barre Classes • $30* Saturday Specials:

Beginner Group Series Pick 6 dates for $99* Intermediate and Beyond Series Pick 6 dates for $99* *Some restrictions apply and space is limited so call for details and reserve your space!

910-695-1256

223 NE Broad St. Southern Pines, NC

Resolutions January/February

11085 Hwy 15-501 Aberdeen

Tuesday - Saturday 10-5:00

780 NW Broad Street • Suite 410 Southern Pines, NC

Gif Certifictsate Available!s

Guided in and Thru Spirit Also: Energy Healing Aura, Chakra and Etheric Bodies

By the Project By the Hour

Spiritual Clearing for Home & Office

Call for appointment

By Appointment Gift Certificates Available

Pinehurst

719-231-6827

910-315-3206

ForeverInTheLight.com

vickieaumaninteriors@yahoo.com

Pinehurst, NC

Pilates • Barre • Suspension

katherine rice, instructor 910.690.6548 legacy lakes club

155 legacy lakes way aberdeen, nc 28315 www.artofmotionpilates.com

INCLUDES: EVENT ENTRY AND LUNCH (EAT HERE OR TAKE IT TO-GO)

( E N T RY

F OR

O N LY LU N C H N OT I N C LU D E D )

M O R E I N F O R M AT I O N , E M A I L : P RO F E S S I O NA LWO M E N S N E T M C @ G M A I L . C O M

All proceeds benefit the Sandhills Community College PWN Award

January 2016P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

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

A Story About Second Chances And how a simple task is the first step down a bright, new path

By Geoff Cutler

My wife and I were invited to a most

unusual Thanksgiving celebration this year. This is not a Thanksgiving story, however. This is a story about second chances, or resolutions to do better. So it’s more like a New Year’s story.

My wife teaches a Pre-K class in Moore County. The father of one of her students, a delightful child, is the director of the Eckerd school in Candor, North Carolina. The Eckerd school is the result of a vision shared by a Florida couple, Jack and Ruth Eckerd. For the purposes of this story, it’s only important to understand that in 1968, the Eckerds felt very strongly that youth in trouble deserved a second chance and that with intervention, care and instruction, these children could turn their lives around and become successful and productive citizens. Today, Eckerd schools are opening in states across the country. The invitation said the Thanksgiving feast would be at 5:30 p.m at Eckerd. We left Southern Pines an hour early so we’d be sure to be on time. The sun is low in the sky at that hour and shone directly in our eyes as we headed west down Highway 211. At Candor, we turned left, and from there signs led the way to the school. A dirt road took us back to the campus, but the driveway was long and the woods thick on either side. We thought perhaps we’d misread the sign for the school as on and on we went down this road, deep into the forest. And then a couple of metal buildings came into sight and we assumed we’d arrived at the right place. A nice woman directed us to the larger of the two buildings, and we went in and found the student body, along with a handful or two of adults. Tables with place cards were set for dinner. Other than that, the big room was quite empty. After a walloping hug for both of us from his daughter, my wife pointed out the director of Eckerd to me. I went to meet him. Jesse is a large man with long, pulled-back dreadlocks. He looks more like an NFL football player than a wayward youth school director. His eyes are smiley and compassionate. I imagined that his students would think twice about any type of cheeky backsliding with him around. We shook hands and spoke a little bit about the history of the school, and he told me that the kids had gotten themselves in trouble with the law, but had not committed the types of crimes that would necessitate long periods of incarceration. At Eckerd, the teachers, called counselors — the school has a real camp feel to it — work to build or rebuild confidence and self-respect in the students so that they may not continue down bad roads into adulthood. I asked him why we were there. He said that an integral part of the program is to include the outside world into the students’ reintegration, to give them a better sense of how civil society is intended to operate, and that having us come and be part of the school’s Thanksgiving Day celebration is a good way to do that. Soon,

we were invited to find our places and sit. The students, directed by the counselors, scurried back and forth through swinging doors that led to the kitchen carrying trays and bowls of turkey and potatoes, cranberry sauce and vegetables. Great pitchers of sweet tea and water were plunked down on the table as we introduced ourselves to our table mates. Two of them were employees of the school, and they filled us in with more information about the program. We wondered why the students all wore the same pants, but different colored shirts? Shirt color denoted hierarchy and duration of stay at the school. The ones wearing dark green were getting ready to graduate and had almost successfully completed the program. They were like the seniors in ordinary schools. The lighter colored shirts represented the ones who were still reasonably new to the school. Each guest table had a student sit at it. We got one of the new boys, who was 13. His job at the table was to introduce himself to us and learn our names. We chatted with him about this and that through dinner, which was quite delicious — the turkeys had been cooked in a buried barbecue — and then up got the students to clear the tables for dessert. It was at this point I began to pay closer attention to the kids waiting the tables. And what I saw was that they took great pride in this simple task. I remembered my own boyhood days at school when we were required to wait the tables at lunch. And I remember there was a distinct sense of pride gained from doing this job well. For some inexplicable reason, it made you proud of the school, and proud of yourself. I saw this clearly on the faces of these Eckerd students, and realized by the way they went about this menial task, they were showing off to their friends, their counselors, and us, their guests. They had begun to regain their sense of self-worth and respect, and it was this satisfying sense of accomplishment that would help them carry on once they left the school. They had found that they mattered. It was moving. During dessert, a handful of students performed “Amazing Grace” for us on steel drums, and then Jesse took the lectern for the ceremonial proceedings. Counselors of distinction and longevity with the program were handed out awards of merit, and then the students were asked to raise their hands and tell the group what they were thankful for. One after the other the students rose, and in differing degrees of eloquence, thanked their counselors, their peers and their school for giving them a second chance to straighten out their lives. Not one of these speeches sounded like anything but heartfelt sincerity and gratitude. In his closing remarks, Jesse mentioned that Eckert has a 90 percent success rate with their students, that most of the kids go on after the program to find work and lead productive and successful lives. Lives without crime. We left the Thanksgiving dinner with the kids thinking how lucky they were to have a program like that available to them, to give them a second chance. And for us, we were given a much needed feeling of renewal, that there are really good people doing real good out there. Happy New Year from the Manshed! PS Geoff Cutler can be reached at geoffcutler@embarqmail.com.

EstatE Liquidation Tag Sale ServiceS • LiCEnsEd & BondEd

P Au l B l A k e

& A s s o c i At e s

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!

Poplar Knight Spot 114 Knight St., Aberdeen 910•944•7502 theroosterswife.org

Hello 2016, Farewell Pests. If saving money is one of your New Year’s Resolutions, then PMi’s TRi-Annual Pest Control Program is for you! Call us today for your free estimate!

January Jan 3 Jan 8 Jan 10 Jan 17 Jan 24 Jan 31

The Gibson Brothers Lizzy Ross Jeanne Jolly Molly Tuttle with John Mailander New Orleans Suspects Scott Ainslie

*When compared to other pest control programs.

Pinehurst (910) 215-9700 | Triad (336) 272-4400 | www.pestmgt.com TRi-Annual Pest Control    

Saves you Money* Year-Round Coverage IPM Approach Warranty for Covered Pests

January 2016P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

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

Welcome to the Zoo, Star Children By Astrid Stellanova

This is the Year of the Monkey (more exactly, the fire

monkey). Just writing that makes me bust out laughing. A monkey year sounds better when you consider that 2015 was the Year of the Goat. Just remember: Genetically, we humanoids are pretty doggone close to the monkey. If you are a student of astrology and biology like ole Astrid, that is an obvious fact. — Ad Astra

Capricorn (December 22–January 19) In the grand scheme of things, last year involved a major journey down a twisting emotional path that finally brings you to some closure in 2016. As you read this, you may feel like you have not gotten your just desserts, but Honey, as sure as Bob’s your uncle you are about to have an epiphany that is going to reveal all. Let that sink in, and put your party clothes on, Sweet Thing. One delicious dessert is about to be served up, and it ain’t dessert spelled backwards — it’s a whipped cream and angel cake fantasy come true! If you are going to survive the Year of the Monkey, learn how to twirl yourself around the branch and come up grinning. Aquarius (January 20–February 18) You had too many Champagne wishes and caviar dreams nearly come true just to see them evaporate at the last moment . . . Pull your big pants on, Child, and just deal with it. You are about to swing a big net and capture all those wishes — if you go flat out! You ain’t supposed to get everything on your time, all the time, but if you are prepared and armed, you can give destiny a little help. Pisces (February 19–March 20) You’ve been standing at the airport when your train was chugging into the station. Pay attention! Snap out of it! This ain’t a dress rehearsal but a master class! There is something that needs to unfold, and you have refused to see it. Review all the places and people you know best and open your mind up. Aries (March 21–April 19) Sometimes, your antics make a fire monkey’s cavorting hijinks look like the work of Einstein. Truth is, you are a smart one and simply fall back on old habits because, in your mind, swallowing change feels like taking a drug with scary side effects. Your best idea is the one you’ve been sitting on for a long time — and if it ain’t your best idea it’s your best asset.

Cancer (June 21–July 22) My friend Ramona is a Cancer; she is so stubborn I caught her trying to roll up her nicotine patch and smoke it. You are fooling yourself but nobody else. Darling, you have got a lot of fun ahead if you smile more and treat the whole ride like a comedy and not a shrieking tragedy. Leo (July 23–August 22) You are sitting on the horns of a dilemma, Baby, frozen solid. Can you pry your fingers off the steering wheel and let someone close to you help drive? If you do, you get to advance astrologically. If you don’t, you get to do the dance again and see the same ole scenery flash by. Virgo (August 23–September 22) You’re halfway home, and to get there you need to use both a teasing little whip and a honey pot. If you don’t know it already, there are some home dramas you have to tend. Do you use the whip or the honey to negotiate with that stubborn someone? Trial and error, Baby. Libra (September 23–October 22) There are three good reasons you will want to master the art of playing: health, happiness and enlightenment. You have the work/life balance out of whack. Let the monkey influence this year guide you to swing through the trees and holler with sheer joy. Scorpio (October 23–November 21) You enter the closet and dress for a costume rehearsal; the truth is, Sugar, this is your life and not a practice run. The face you show the world when the curtain goes up ought to be the same face you show everyone at home. Spread a little joy, a little fairy dust, and tamp the drama down.

Taurus (April 20–May 20) Your ideas are like farts in a bathtub: hilarious and entertaining but only for you, Child. Have you wasted some of your great potential? Have you let your best intentions fall away? Have you sat in cold bathwater because you didn’t want to clean the ring in the tub? These questions aren’t rhetorical, Sweetheart.

Sagittarius (November 22–December 21) How creative you were to figure out that life wants something more of you. Something you have known always but never dared face. Darling, you are in a position to soar — own it, be it, do it, say it! When you make calm the crazy monkey mind inside your head, everything opens up. PS

Gemini (May 21–June 20) Half the drama you create is sapping your life’s energy; the other half could be used for a creative purpose. Do you know which is which? You are like a moon pie; a creamy, pleasing center caught between two toothy cookies. But the cookies are just equal halves of you, my Twin. Make peace with both.

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.

Y H T L A HE S E C I O H C r Canine and Cat for you

Quality Pet Supplies

casual living redefined

Winter Sale Come Find What You Really Wanted for Christmas!

Offering the highest quality in: Dry & Can Food, Frozen & Dried Meats, Supplements & Vitamins and Pet Supplies. No food or treats from China

before

after

lavender

166 NW Broad St. | Southern Pines 910.692.5356 | Mon - Sat 10-5 shopmorganmiller.com Located in Cam Square 1150 Old US Highway 1S, Southern Pines

HOURS: M to F 10-6 • Sat 10-5

910-693-7875

www.caredforcanine.com

Instagram us at shopmorganmiller Like us “Morgan Miller” on Facebook for up to date info on what’s in the store right now.

new * vintage * restyled furniture, gifts & objects of interest Follow us on Instagram @ lavender_restylemarket T-F 10:30-5:30, S 10:30-4:30 157 NE Broad Street, SP (910) 315-1280

Now Enrolling Pre(K) - 8th Grade Please visit our website at sjp2catholicschool.org or call for information and a tour!

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

910-692-0855

2922 Camp Easter Road, Southern Pines, NC

910-692-6241

www.WindridgeGardens.com

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

January 2016P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

January PineNeedler

Shop Sanford

By Mart Dickerson

ACROSS 1 Acting (abbr.) 5 Tangle, as in fur 8 Body movers 12 Stop on Youngs Rd. 13 Unbeliever 15 Nimbus 16 Mutton 17 The Pine Crest, for one 18 Leaky faucet noise 19 Challenges 21 Trust (2 wds.) 23 Mischievous 25 Watch chain 26 NC cola 29 Thanksgiving mo. (abbr.) 31 Canned fishes 35 Ideal person 37 Mr. 39 Festive event 40 Big truck 41 Soiled 44 Every 45 Killed 47 ENE, e.g. (abbr.) 48 Affray 50 English exam 52 Baby rose 54 Omega’s partner 55 Aye 57 Newspaper, TV, radio, e.g. 59 Strange and secret doctrines 62 Affectionately 65 Asian dress 66 At the apex (2 wds.) 68 Morose 70 Malicious 71 Weepy 72 ____ of Wright 73 Wale (anag.) 74 Sec. speed 75 Want

2 6 8 9 1

17 19

21 24

30 37

53 57

61 66

7 14

23 26

44 49

63 68

64 69

72 74

20 Book by Homer 46 Goods shipment DOWN instructions 22 Tons 1 Hole punching tool 47 ene ie49 (abbr.) ACROSS Boy who finds magic 24 Quack medicine 2 African country lamp 48 affray 26 Analyze syntactically 3 Very large book 51 exam Congressional vote english acting (abbr.) 50 1 27 Bad things 4 Gossip session (2 53 tangle 52 baby roseContort 5 wds.) 28 Parts of a book 56 Hole for a coin 5 8 Muscle contraction body movers 54 omega's partner 30 Heptad 58 After surgery feeling protein 55 aye 12 stop. on youngs rd.32 National Association 59 Bear home 6 Picnic pest for the Advancement tv, solo radio, ie unbeliever 57 newspaper, 13 Level 60 Opera of Colored People 7 strange and secret doctrines nimbus 59 15 61 Fresh 8 Lucky insect (2 wds.) 33 God of Islam Mutton monetary 62 affectionately 16 European 63 Misplace 9 34 Mexican condiment Log at Christmas 36 Free of the Pinecrest, for one dress 65 asian 64 17 unit 10 Smile 38 Football official 65 Repair a rip (2 wds.) 66 at the apex 18 leaky faucet noise 11 Use up 67 Astaire dance 42 Eve’s beginning Challenges 68 Morose 19 Cook 13 69 Crimson 43 Clogged bathroom trust (2treble wds.) 21 Musical 70 Malicious item 14 ____ 23 Mischievous 71 Weepy Puzzle answers on page 84 25 Watch chain 72 ___of Mart Dickerson lives inWright Southern Pines and Wale 73 any 26 nC Cola would welcome suggestions from her sec. speed 29 thanksgiving mo.(abbr.) fellow puzzle 74masters. Canned meats 75 Want 31 She can be reached at gdickerson@nc.rr.com. 35 Ideal person DOWN 37 Mr. 39 Festive event 40 big truck 1 hole punching tool soiled 2 african country 41 44 every 3 Very large book 45 Killed 4 Gossip session (2 wds.)

6 Picnic pest 7 step 8 lucky insect (2 wds.) 9 european monetary unit 10 smile 11 use up •13Diamond Engagement Rings Cook Dior Musical treblePlatinum __ 14• Sapphires • 20 10Kbook & 14K Yellow & White Gold by homer • Watches & Bracelets 22 tons • Pearls • Silver • Special Orders medicine 24 Quack • Special Mountings syntactically 26 analyze For Your Heirloom Stones 27 bad things RoseofGold Wedding Sets a book 28•Parts 30 heptad 32 national association for the • Inside Kendale Pawn Colored Come seeadvancement our full line of gold,of silver, and platinum jewelry People (919)774-7196 • Special Orders Available 33 God of Islam 34 Mexican condiment 36 Free of 2715 Lee Avenue Ext., Sanford, NC 27332 official 38 Football Hours: Mon. Fri. 9am-6pm • Sat. 9am-4pm 42 eve's beginning (919)774-7195 • www.kendalepawn.com 43 Clogged bathroom item 46 Goods shipment instructions 49 boy who finds magic lamp 51 Congressional vote 53 Contort 56 hole for a coin 58 after surgery feeling 59 bear home 60 opera solo 61 Fresh 63 Misplace 64 log at Christmas 65 repair a rip 67 astaire dance 69 Crimson

Tara’s Jewelry

58 62

Tara’s Jewelry protein 5 Muscle contraction

2 5 4 6

4 3

8 1 4 7 9 7 8 1 5

Sudoku:

5 6

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

southwords

A Road Less Traveled

By Nicole White

No air conditioning. No heat. No

windshield wipers and no radio. It still had four wheels and an engine, but this bright yellow, antique Model A Roadster pickup might as well have been driven by a dapper young cad in the Roaring Twenties. Except, it wasn’t. It was driven last summer by Robert Kehn — my middle-aged adventuring dad — nearly 4,000 miles across the country, from Key West, Florida, to northwest Montana on the first leg of a journey that will ultimately take him to the farthest drivable reaches of the United States: Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. “The Iron Butt,” as the journey is called, runs from one corner of our great country to the other. It is a popular road trip for motorcyclists — though many attempt it as a beeline, mad dash. The record-holding John Ryan made it in 86 hours, 31 minutes on his Yamaha JFR 1300. Dad’s goal might as well be a record for the slowest trip. His heart was set on just taking back roads and byways. “As it was,” he told me, shaking his head with chagrin, “I had to spend a day and a half on the interstate to make it back to Montana in time.” Acquiescing to the quick modernity of the federal interstate system for even a few hundred miles was hard for him to swallow. It was the freedom of the open road that drove Dad to attempt the entire breadth and width of the United States in one of the oldest automobiles possible. He had always refused to be confined by routine or the monotony of our culture’s standard of expectations. Born and raised in the cornfields of the Midwest, Dad felt the magnetic pull of the Rocky Mountains early and strong. Likening himself to Jeremiah Johnson, he purchased some buckskins, a few half-broke horses and randomly picked a spot on a map of Montana. Thirty-five years later, he still proudly calls the small, northwestern Montana town of Libby home. It wasn’t too surprising that he should once more put naysayers aside, upgrade to just slightly more horsepower, and find another road less traveled. “Well, it is faster than a Conestoga wagon across the prairies in the old West, faster than a modern bicycle cross-country trip, but still slow enough to smell the roses,” Dad wrote on his first day’s blog entry. With a max speed of 45–50 mph and no side windows, it wasn’t hyperbole. Dad’s simple curiosity

to discover what was around the next bend drove him spontaneously to explore any road, highway, town or state that he desired. “When you get behind the wheel of a vehicle, you are in control,” he told me. “I like the ability to set my own pace and go the route that I want to — not something predetermined by a bus line or an airfare. I loved having no passengers, no GPS, and no idea what road I would take next.” Dad traveled through thirteen states using virtually nothing but his keen sense of direction and an old paper atlas. Though his timeframe inhibited many stops and prolonged visits, by North Carolina an ongoing problem with the ignition switch and cable finally halted progress. Thanks to the Model A Ford Club of America membership roster, Dad found “Jersey Mike” Patrowicz in Pinebluff, with a full Model A repair shop and innumerable spare parts. He was back on the road in no time. There was a lot of interest and encouragement from passersby and at gas stations where he had to stop at least every 150 miles. Fueled by the curious questions and encouraging back slaps, Dad found tooling along in good weather “delightful.” However, there was no getting away from poor weather or the lack of modern vehicular comforts, as he attested on day three of his blog: “I tried to push it today. . . drove 12.5 hours. I only got 386 miles. I found driving a Model A Roadster with no side windows is quite a bit more tiring than a regular modern automobile. The constant attention needed, the bumping, jolting, and vibration, the incessant wind, vehicle and road noise have worn me out. But this trip is still way better than what they would have had back in 1929. Imagine the roads back then!” This year’s completion of this trek will require even more from Dad and the Model A. Significant distances between towns, gas stations and knowledgeable mechanics will all stretch his resources and the Model A’s capability. Dad will also have to tackle the 414-mile Dalton Highway — a two-lane unpaved road deep into northern Alaska’s interior with steep, curvy sections and treacherous, 18-wheeler oilrig traffic. His planning for huge diversity in weather and temperatures, as well as mechanical preparation, will be critical. “This is all part of the challenge, though,” he tells me, grinning. “Part of this is what makes my trip so different. I won’t have any support vehicles, no extra gear, no additional manpower.” It’s an independent streak I can’t help but smile at and recognize. The goal of Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, is clear in Dad’s mind, but it is the journey that continues to inspire him. “There are so many different destinations to choose,” he says. “Just enjoy the journey along the way.” PS Nicole White is a local military spouse who loves the bite of a January snowfall and the allure of a good adventure.

January 2016P�� PineStraw : The Art & Soul of the Sandhills

Illustration by Meridith Martens

Adventuring across the map in a Model A

Buyer, Purveyor & APPrAiser of fine And estAte Jewellery 229 ne Broad Street • Southern PineS, nc • (910) 692-0551 Mother and daughter Leann and Whitney Parker Look ForWard to WeLcoMing you to WhitLauter.

Mark Stewart

2015 Home Builder of the Year (moore county home builders association)

and the

National Certified Green Profssional of the Year (NAHB, 2013)

Commercial • Residential • Remodel

We offer a wide range of

Construction and Design Services.

If your new year includes a construction project, Do yourself a favor

Call Mark!

Look for the “Mark” of a Great Builder 910-673-1929

mark@stewartcdc.com