Yes, Virginia, We’re Live!

Judson Theatre Company returns to BPAC stage

By Jim Moriarty

After being driven into a virtual existence by the worldwide pandemic, the Judson Theatre Company returns to the stage with live performances in the regional theater premier of Yes, Virginia, a heartwarming, witty holiday play written and directed by Stan Zimmerman. There will be four performances, Nov. 18-21, in Owens Auditorium of the Bradshaw Performing Arts Center at Sandhills Community College.

In 1985 Zimmerman, who co-wrote Yes, Virginia with Christian McLaughlin, was an acting major fresh out of NYU when he and longtime writing partner James Berg were hired for the first season of a new sitcom, The Golden Girls. Their work on the popular show launched a career that has, among other things, included writing for the Gilmore Girls and Roseanne. Zimmerman’s two-person play stars Mindy Sterling, a regular on The Goldbergs who Sandhills audiences will remember as Frau Farbissina summoning the fembots in the Austin Powers movies; and Arnetia Walker, who has starred as Nurse Annie Roland in the series Nurses, and in Dreamgirls and The Wiz on Broadway.

Judson Theatre Company, along with Laguna Playhouse, Pop-Up Playhouse and Millbrook Playhouse, produced Yes, Virginia virtually last December. “We knew we had to do this play on stage in Pinehurst after the show’s opening night on Zoom,” says Judson’s executive producer and Moore County native Morgan Sills. “People were pouring their hearts out about it — how funny they found it to be; how true they thought the play was. We wanted Judson Theatre to come back to live performances, and a smaller show means a safer show. So, Yes, Virginia with its cast of two turns out to be the perfect choice.”

The play takes place on New Year’s Eve in the home of Denise Miller (Mindy Sterling), who is taken by surprise when her former maid, Virginia Campbell (Arnetia Walker), shows up at her door even though she had been “let go” a few months before.

“It’s New Year’s Eve and Denise is watching tennis, like my mother did, and talking to her son in California, like my mother did,” says Zimmerman, who draws on his life growing up in suburban Detroit as the basis for the characters. “He wants her to move out of the big, scary house with the big, scary stairs. And the door opens and it’s Virginia. She tells her son, ‘I let Virginia go months ago. What is she doing here?’ Virginia has a slight fall in the kitchen. She ends up on the couch. It’s a kind of role reversal where Denise is taking care of Virginia, the maid.”

Both characters are dealing with the vagaries of aging. Denise is suffering from macular degeneration and Virginia is beginning to show signs of dementia, and the questions become: What are we going to do? Where are we going to live?

“When my parents went through a messy divorce — which is part of the play — my mother would be in her bedroom with the shades shut and very depressed, and I would cheer her up and make her laugh,” says Zimmerman. He found a friend and confident in the woman who was his family’s housekeeper, whose real name was Virginia Campbell.

“I just remember having these long talks with her on my shag carpet, looking up at her — I don’t know why I was lying down on the shag carpet — just talking to her about how I was feeling and what I was going through. She was so easy and fun to talk with. Years later, when my mom was living in Santa Barbara and she started having to deal with dementia, we just begged her to move and she didn’t want to. She was a very proud woman. One day, she said, ‘Why doesn’t Virginia come live with me?’ I said, ‘Well, one problem. She’s dead.’ But, driving home, I thought, wait a minute, that’s a really good concept for a play. What if these two people ended up later in life together, helping each other out in kind of a role reversal?

“So, that inspired this comedy/holiday concoction. I use pieces of my own life, but it’s artistic license. There’s a part where Mindy’s character talks about being in New York and going to Studio 54. That didn’t happen to my mother, but it did happen to me when I was at NYU. I did go to Studio 54 and Andy Warhol did take pictures of me and, like an idiot, I told him to stop. What was wrong with me?”

Walker, whose first role on Broadway came when she was just 16 years old in Lorraine Hansberrry’s The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window, has as visceral a connection to Virginia as Zimmerman. “She reminded me of my aunt who raised me,” says Walker. “My mom died when I was an infant. I lived with my aunt in Georgia — she had taken me and my brother. It was during the waning days of Jim Crow. My aunt was a domestic worker. She would often have to leave us to take care of somebody else’s children. She was very warm and loving and I immediately felt a connection to Yes, Virginia. I found it so odd, how could a white man understand and write a character so real as this Black woman who was really part of my life, part of my past?”

Sterling and Zimmerman have worked together often after she appeared in his directorial debut, a 30th anniversary production of Gemini: A Play in Two Acts. “Ever since then she’s kind of been my muse,” he says.

“We say that there’s a clause in every contract that I will be in all his plays,” says Sterling. “I love working with him. There’s always a message and there’s always something heartfelt.”

In 2017 Sterling received an Emmy nomination for a role in Zimmerman’s web series secs & EXECS. “That was very exciting,” he says, “not only having created the role with her in mind but having directed her in it. Mindy and Arnetia have the same birthday. How weird is that? They have this chemistry. It’s so fun to watch them together. They’re two comic geniuses. They get to be funny, but they also get to be real and poignant and tell touching stories about family and children and being a mother and getting older.”

Tickets for Yes, Virginia can be purchased on the Judson Theatre Company website at https://judsontheatre.com. 

If you love The Golden Girls, join sitcom writer Stan Zimmerman on Sunday, Nov. 14, at 7 p.m. at Owens Auditorium in the Bradshaw Performing Arts Center for “An Evening on the Lanai,” hosted by Alex Rodriguez. Zimmerman’s show, which sold out in May and June in Palm Springs, California, revisits the year he and his writing partner, James Berg, were creating quips and delivering lines for Betty White, Bea Arthur, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty. “It’s just a really cute evening of games, quizzes and contests, and a lot of gossip of what went on that fateful first season as the show was taking off,” says Zimmerman. Tickets are $25 in advance and $30 at the door. They can be purchased on the Judson Theatre Company website at https://judsontheatre.com. PS

In the Spirit

Reinventing a Classic

He seeks to satisfy a stronger hunger, Grasshopper

By Tony Cross

When I first started bartending, I was 21 years old, and hadn’t a clue what I was doing. There was a huge part of me that thought all there was to the job was being fast and making the drinks strong. I thought this for a couple of reasons: I was young and dumb; and the clientele of a majority of the bars where I worked appreciated their drinks being made fast and strong. Since then, the cocktail renaissance, if you will, has happened, and it seems everyone has cool-looking bar aprons, and lots of men have stolen their mustaches from Mario’s brother, Luigi.

In those early days, I had one regular who would approach the bar toward the end of the night (it was a restaurant, so we’re not talking 3 a.m. here) and order a cocktail I had to look up in the lone bar book we had on hand — I believe it was a Mr. Boston Bartender’s and Party Guide. The gentleman would order stingers, toasted almonds or grasshoppers. They were all three-ingredient drinks that had to have been vehicles to a destination because, to me, they tasted pretty awful.

Well, it’s been many years since then, and drinks have evolved, including the grasshopper. Here are three ways to make the cocktail, from novice to master. And by master, I mean taking the time to buy quality ingredients and getting your hands a little dirty.

Easiest and Almost Drinkable

It’s straight from Mr. Boston. Three ingredients: crème de menthe, crème de cacao and light cream. I used heavy cream (if memory serves); light cream is basically coffee cream or “table cream.” It’s just a little bit higher in fat than half-and-half.

3/4 ounce crème de menthe (we had the clear Arrowhead brand)

3/4 ounce crème de cacao (again with the Arrowhead)

3/4 ounce light cream

Shake with ice and strain into cocktail glass. There’s a small drawing of a martini glass next to the recipe in the book.

Pretty Damn Yum

This recipe comes from the Cocktail Codex, which came out a few years back. I love this quote: “This cocktail and many others of its ilk have been relegated to dive bars for decades, but as high-quality liqueurs have come to the market — made with actual mint and cacao rather than artificial flavorings — we’ve revisited these classics and added them to our repertoire.” More than likely, you’ll have to get these liqueurs online, so please don’t hesitate. It makes all the difference.

1 ounce Tempus Fugit white crème de menthe

1 ounce Giffard white crème de cacao

1 ounce heavy cream

8 mint leaves

Garnish: 1 mint leaf

Shake all the ingredients with ice. Double strain into a chilled coupe. Garnish with the mint leaf, placing it on top of the drink.

Baller Status

This recipe comes from The Aviary: Holiday Cocktails. The drinks are not as simple as 1-2-3, as you’ll see. However, if you enjoy time in the kitchen, this is a cinch.

1 1/4 ounces mint vodka (recipe below)

1 ounce Tempus Fugit Crème de Cacao

1 ounce white chocolate syrup (recipe below)

1/4 ounce Ancho Reyes Verde Chile Poblano Liqueur

Combine all cocktail ingredients with ice in cocktail shaker. Shake until chilled and diluted, then double strain into a medium serving glass.

White chocolate syrup:

200 grams water

100 grams white chocolate, coarsely chopped

“Fill a large bowl with ice, and set a smaller bowl inside it. In a medium saucepan, combine the water and chocolate. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat, then pour the mixture into the bowl set in ice and allow it to cool completely. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and transfer it to the refrigerator overnight. During that time, the fat in the chocolate will solidify and rise to the top of the mixture. The following day, strain the mixture through a mesh strainer, discarding the solidified chocolate fat. Transfer the mixture to a small bottle or an airtight container and reserve in the refrigerator.” Because the solidified fat gets thrown out, the final product isn’t gritty.

Mint vodka:

100 grams fresh mint

350 grams vodka, chilled thoroughly in the freezer before using

Blanch the mint. To do this, have a bowl of ice water ready and boil a pot of water. When the water comes to a boil, add the leaves (no stems, or bruised leaves) and boil for 30 seconds — no longer than 1 minute. Strain the water and add the mint leaves to the ice bath immediately. This is done so the leaves stop cooking. Drain the leaves, place them on a rag or paper towel making sure almost all moisture is gone.

“Transfer the blanched mint to a blender, and add the chilled vodka. Blend this mixture at high speed for 1 minute. (Blending at high speed has a tendency to heat liquids; we use pre-chilled vodka here to combat this, which helps keep the mint flavor bright and fresh.) Strain the mixture through a fine mesh strainer, discarding all solids. Transfer to a glass bottle or an airtight container, and reserve it in the freezer to chill thoroughly.”  PS

Tony Cross is a bartender (well, ex-bartender) who runs cocktail catering company Reverie Cocktails in Southern Pines.

Birdwatch

Turkey Time

A surprisingly wily wild bird

By Susan Campbell

Shorter days and cooler nights have many of us thinking about the holiday season. Thanksgiving is not that far off — and that means turkey. Most of us look forward to feasting on the tender meat of this domesticated, large member of the fowl family. But its wild ancestors are a far cry from the bird we prepare on the fourth Thursday of November each year.

Anyone who has had the opportunity to taste a “real” turkey will tell you that there is no comparison. But hunters who pursue the wild birds are far more often skunked than successful. Turkeys seem to have a sixth sense when being called or decoyed in. Fooling one of these birds to get it within range is one of the biggest challenges bird hunters (or photographers, for that matter) face.

The wild turkey was very nearly our national bird. It is, in fact, the only bird species native to the United States. Benjamin Franklin nominated the turkey for this honor but it lost in Congress, by only one vote, to the bald eagle back in the late 18th century.

Although the cultivated variety is completely white, skittish and not very bright, forest-dwelling turkeys are glossy black, wary and rather agile for a bird with a wingspan of over 5 feet. They are typically found in mature forests with clearings but take advantage of open fields as well. Turkeys forage on a variety of food, including insects, small berries, seeds and buds. Interestingly, one of their favorite fall foods, acorns, are often abundant in our part of the state.

Individuals are well known to associate in large flocks of 50 or more birds. In the early spring, older males will attract and attend to and defend a flock of several females. At this time, they can be heard gobbling and strutting in their characteristic puffed-up posture. Only during the early part of the breeding season, in April and May, are the birds solitary. Once the chicks hatch and reach about 4 weeks of age, hens will gather together with their young and form new aggregations.

In the early 1970s, there weren’t many more than a million turkeys on the landscape. Persecution and habitat alteration had resulted in dramatic reduction in the population. Now, throughout not only the United States but parts of southern Canada and northern Mexico, there are seven times that many.

Here in the Old North State, turkeys can be found in almost every county. In recent years, both the Triad and Triangle have experienced an influx from the Uwharrie Mountains in the west as well as from the inner Coastal Plain to the east. It is not surprising that these big birds show up to take advantage of seed around bird feeders and forage in grassy vegetation along our roadways, as well as looking for tender vegetation and insects in agricultural fields across the area. So, keep your eyes peeled — you, too, may spot one, or more, of these majestic birds here in central North Carolina.  PS

Susan Campbell would love to receive your wildlife sightings and photos.  She can be contacted at susan@ncaves.com.

Story of a House

Cottage Colony Redux

Caribbean colors heat up village landmark

By Deborah Salomon   •   Photographs by John Gessner

Pinehurst: Retirement nirvana for the fortunate few who have played the best courses, traveled the world, appreciated good food, good company and reasonable health.

That would be Carnie and Sharon Lawson.

Previous inhabitants — together or separately — of impressive Northeastern residences, the Lawsons found an original Tufts-built “cottage” already upgraded, remodeled and enlarged to the hilt with exquisite taste in the village center. While rocking on their front porch they can smell the spices wafting from Theo’s Taverna, watch guests arrive at the Magnolia Inn, and wave at friends strolling by on an autumn’s eve.

Ah, the very, very good life.

But wait: A surprise lurks inside The Oaks, as their home is named. Imagine hibiscus blossoms on a holly bush. Hot pink, acid green, lemon yellow, cerulean blue, aquamarine and coral splash across fabrics and walls in rooms furnished with carved mahogany, inlaid cherrywood, 19th century tables and chairs, bureaus and cabinets, desks and breakfronts — a titillating juxtaposition that works. One created by New Englanders (Connecticut and Massachusetts) who for years wintered sea and land in St. Lucia.

Note the 4-foot model of Carnie’s boat, La Gitane — French for “gypsy girl” — that he hopped aboard after retiring from the financial world at 47. “My parents died young. I wanted to enjoy life,” says the man 37 years later.

A closer inspection reveals a décor composed of more than souvenirs. Between them Sharon and Carnie have five daughters and nine grandchildren whose photos cover tabletops, shelves, walls. Their original art reinforces the Cole Porter lyrics for Anything Goes. Over a luxurious down-filled sofa, upholstered in a Chinese print, hangs a nouveau folk art canvas of four derrières lined up at a bar. It was painted by Sharon’s daughter. Carnie smiles. “I call it beach buns.”

Flanking the fireplace in a smaller gathering room is a year-round, table-top Christmas tree. The two rooms are ground zero when the Lawsons entertain.

Elsewhere, a collection of tiny Limoges pillboxes covers a tabletop. A display of Chinese dragon roof ornaments is arranged on another. Big metal Tonka trucks fill a bookcase. Miniature clowns cavort in a shadowbox. Masks from carnivale in St. Lucia appear here and there. Even a ceiling fixture has a history, removed from the Île de France, the first ocean liner built after World War I, launched in 1926.

Who needs to dream about a Tuscan villa when you’ve got 6,000 square feet (including five bathrooms, some with original claw-foot tubs) of prime Pinehurst real estate, all of it utilized when the children, their spouses and grandchildren gather for Thanksgiving, filling the house proper, the guest quarters and an apartment over the garage?

Yet, what grabbed Sharon’s attention on first perusal was the wallpaper, practically everywhere, with Asian/Indian/Indonesian motifs: lions and tigers and costumed natives; wild flora and fauna that riot across the walls, enlivening a small under-the-stairs powder room, a windowless kitchen, and a sunny master suite.

“We’ll take it,” Sharon said in 2010. 

James Walker Tufts would not recognize the simple four-room cottage first dubbed The Nest (no kitchen, no bathrooms, no electricity or central heat) he built in 1896, the same year as the Magnolia Inn, for approximately $1,600.

The Nest was renamed The Crown when it doubled in size in 1901. That’s also when it was occupied by J. Ernest Judd, D.D.S., operating the Crown Dental Parlor, described as “a completely equipped establishment for up-to-date and sanitary dentistry which removes the terror of dental operations.” Among its modern features was a “fountain cuspidor.” Sir Laurence Olivier in Marathon Man would have been envious. Or not. The house was redubbed The Oaks by 1902.

Among other early residents were Fredrick Bruce and his spinster sister, Mary Bruce, a socially prominent duo from New York who purchased the home in 1907. A year later landscape architect Warren Manning created the much-admired garden behind the house. After the death of his sister, Fredrick continued living there until he passed away in 1928. Subsequently, the cottage was sold in 1931 to what seems to be a rather short-lived organization called The Oaks Club. Membership dues were $100 a year, $125 for non-residents. Coincidentally, perhaps, Prohibition ended on Dec. 5, 1933, and in 1934 the house was bought at auction by Franz Hugo Krebs, a Northeasterner who had been a frequent guest at the Holly Inn.

Cathy and the late Bill Smith, of the Southern Pines Ford dealership, accomplished a further enlargement, remodeling and retooling of the home in 1996, its 100th anniversary, with wallpaper added by interior designer and resident Cassie McCord.

The result: a modest frontage behind a picket fence that spreads backward into an outsized — by cottage standards — house with a fenced garden, home to a fountain, a pineapple (symbol of hospitality), light stand and five birdhouses.

Carnie knew Pinehurst from a family golf jaunt when he was 10. He and Sharon were dividing their time between homes in St. Lucia and Chappaqua (New York) when they decided to consolidate, settle down, and trade sailing for golfing.

“Where would you like to live?” Sharon asked her husband.

“How about Pinehurst?” he answered, recalling a resort community resembling a New England village but with a temperate climate.

Sharon had grown up in a historic house. She appreciated that component but wasn’t ready to take on a renovation. Been there, done that. She wasn’t keen on a gated community either. Carnie didn’t want a swimming pool. Been there, done that, too. But they both appreciated a house with character and found one in this extended cottage with its convention-defying layout.

“I have no idea what this was supposed to be,” Carnie says of a room between kitchen and sunroom, itself an addition. Perhaps for dining? Happily, they owned a billiard table (constructed in 1896, same as the house) to fill the space while allocating formal dining to a smallish octagonal music room with built-in china cupboards and woodwork transplanted from a house in England.

Remembering that Tufts’ “cottage colony” homes had no kitchens — guests ate at the Casino building, a communal dining hall — the one added to The Oaks falls outside contemporary glamour norms. Raised-panel cupboards are painted a pale yellow, more pineapple than lemon. A black ceramic tile backsplash adds an art deco touch. In the absence of windows, natural light is conveyed through skylights. A rack holds wide, brightly colored service plates from St. Lucia. The kitchen’s main attraction is an Aga range, the Rolls-Royce of appliances, crafted in the United Kingdom from a Swedish prototype, which cooks with radiant heat and is always “on.”

Outside the kitchen, a dining deck with long table and retractable awning suits a crowd.

Up a narrow flight of stairs, the bedrooms, done in white and pastels, offer the freshness of a Nantucket Bed-and-Breakfast. Queen Victoria may have reigned when The Oaks was built, but her era doesn’t dominate its rooms, awakened instead with the vibrant island hues common to the queen’s contemporary, Paul Gauguin.

Not all retirees choose to live on a bustling lane within sight of shops and bistros. Some want a compact layout, on one floor. Sharon and Carnie Lawson still require space for possessions and memories. “I like to sit and look around; each piece reminds me of something that happened. I call this a big little house,” says Sharon.

“I loved living in St. Lucia and New Hampshire,” adds Carnie. “The people have lived there for many generations. But here, everybody’s from someplace else . . . they are open to new friendships.”

And the feeling is mutual.  PS

The Creators of N.C.

Rising STARworks

Art from the Ground Up

By Wiley Cash  •  Photographs by Mallory Cash

The town of Star is the artistic center of North Carolina. I mean that — literally — in that Star is the geographic center of the state. And I also mean it figuratively, as the town is home to STARworks, where artists from  around the world have been working in fire arts like glass blowing and ceramics since 2005.

“We love to set stuff on fire around here,” says STARworks executive director Nancy Gottovi, who, in a single decade, led the transformation of an abandoned hosiery mill into a destination for artists from around the globe.

In 1993, a nonprofit called Central Park NC formed when leaders from six Central Carolina rural counties came together with a common vision of creating a sustainable economy. The group formed an initiative to focus on art as a way to capitalize on the natural and cultural assets of the rural spaces located between the urban centers of Charlotte and the Research Triangle. That was when Nancy Gottovi began asking herself questions about what a working artist truly requires.

“They need to have a really good space to work with good equipment,” Gottovi says. “They also need a community of other artists to feed off of. And they need a way to make a living.”

In 2005, Gottovi and Central Park NC found a space — nearly 200,000 square feet of space, to be exact — when they accepted the donation of a former hosiery mill in Star that had been abandoned in 2001, leaving more than 1,000 local residents unemployed.

Enter STARworks Center for Creative Enterprise.

In the early days, the organization was grossly understaffed and overwhelmed by the nearly four acres of aging factory it had inherited, but Gottovi soon realized that in order for the fledgling organization to survive, the building itself had to start generating income.

“Our biggest asset is this amazing space,” she says. “We needed to get the best artists we could find and then set them loose in the building.”

The artists Gottovi invited set about creating glass pumpkins as one of the first ventures to raise capital to sustain the organization. Suffice it to say that it worked, and that Gottovi proudly witnessed the former factory evolve into an artistic and cultural center where artists gathered and forged both creations and community. Now, over a decade later, glassblowers at STARworks regularly create and sell as many as 3,000 glass pumpkins each fall. And each holiday season, they make and sell thousands of Christmas ornaments.

The economic model at STARworks could be described as self-sustaining. The organization offers paid internships to glass artists, who earn hundreds of hours of experience in a field that is often cost-prohibitive to those just starting out and who might not be able to afford their own studios and equipment. In turn, the interns work to create the pumpkins and ornaments that are sold each year while also having the time, space and materials to pursue their own projects. The interns also gain valuable experience as mentees while working side-by-side with professional artists from around the world who come to STARworks as residency recipients and visiting artists. An onsite gallery provides space to showcase and sell individual artists’ work.

While interns and established artists come from around the world, visitors are just as likely to discover a group of local students dabbling in glassblowing and ceramics.

Some of the students who continually benefit from their experiences at STARworks are the young men from nearby Eckerd Connects, a juvenile justice program for youth ages 13–17. Gottovi continually finds the young men from Eckerd to be the most interesting and curious young people she has encountered in her years at STARworks. According to Gottovi, working with fire and glass is a little dangerous, but these young people are comfortable navigating a certain amount of pressure in their lives, and glassblowing in particular teaches them how to work in a team and rely on other people to create a piece of art. It is an affecting experience for many of the young men, born out by the fact that several returned to STARworks as formal apprentices. 

STARworks is not just creating space for artists. It is also sourcing the medium from which art is made. Recognizing the region’s long history of both brick-making in central North Carolina and pottery in nearby areas such as Sea Grove, Gottovi saw an opportunity to take advantage of the organic materials surrounding them. While spending time in Japan after graduate school, Gottovi met a Japanese potter who had a degree in ceramic material engineering, and years later she invited him to come to Star to start a clay business. He took her up on the invitation, and now STARworks is selling the best clay in North America, one of the only manufacturers creating potter’s clay from indigenous sources. The program is both a financial and educational boon. While selling clay to potters and sculptors all around the world, interns at STARworks have the opportunity to learn about the process of finding, digging and making quality clay, which Gottovi compares to “eating artisan baked bread if you’ve only ever eaten white.”

One of the most consistent challenges that STARworks has faced is where to house its artists. “Housing is the biggest challenge in a small community of only 800 people,” Gottovi says. But, just as she has done since the early days in the abandoned mill, Gottovi is finding solutions. The organization takes out year-long leases for artists in rental homes in the area, and an old boiler building on the property is being considered for future renovation for onsite housing.

One cannot help but think about Gottovi’s early consideration of what artists need: space, community, support. Whether in the studio, in the local community or in the earth itself, all the ingredients are here, and STARworks is right in the middle of it all. PS

Wiley Cash is the Alumni Author-in-Residence at the University of North Carolina-Asheville. His new novel, When Ghosts Come Home, is available wherever books are sold.

Good Natured

Jewel of Fall

The versatile and delicious sweet potato

By Karen Frye

As the season moves from the heat of summer to the chill of fall, you will see more sweet potatoes at local markets and roadside stands. North Carolina is one of the country’s best producers, and Moore County, where some of the farms are second and third generation, is no exception.

Defining our diet for the season is a step toward better health. The sweet potato is a warming food, making it especially good to eat in the winter months. Look for foods that are grown within a 50-mile radius and incorporate these fruits and vegetables into your diet as much as possible.

The sweet potato is versatile. You can bake or steam it and serve with a little butter for a delicious side dish. Years ago, when the area was more agrarian and farmers spent much of their time outside in the fields, they would carry a baked sweet potato wrapped in a brown bag in a pocket for an energy-giving snack. I like to peel and cut a sweet potato into little cubes, roast them in the oven, toss the crispy cubes with some salt, and add them to my salad like sweet potato croutons. You can make sweet potato soup by boiling them in water, adding onions (or any favorite vegetable) and making a purée.

My family thinks of the sweet potato as a holiday food. My grandmothers were both exceptional cooks and would put out beautiful spreads of food, much of it grown in their gardens. The candied sweet potatoes, with a lot of butter and a little brown sugar, was one of the yummiest foods on the table at Thanksgiving and Christmas and always the first to disappear.

There are many health benefits to eating sweet potatoes. They’re rich in vitamin A, beta carotene and lycopene — all valuable antioxidants. They are one of the few vegetables that boost the body’s production of B12, a vitamin most commonly found in red meat, significant for a plant-based diet. They have lots of vitamin C, potassium, iron and fiber. They can help reduce inflammation in the intestinal tract. And they can increase the production of dopamine, serotonin and gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA), allowing for sounder sleep.

Get your sweet potatoes locally, if possible, to support the farmers. Find some recipes and see how your health will improve this winter by eating one of the tastiest foods there is.  PS

Karen Frye is the owner and founder of Nature’s Own and teaches yoga at the Bikram Yoga Studio.

Almanac

November

By Ashley Wahl

November is the rush of wind through leaves, the rush of leaves through wind, a cradle song before a long night’s sleep.

In the garden, the unblinking statue has seen it all before, will see it all again: birds, here and gone; the explosion of color; the great release; the withering; the nothingness; the sweet and glorious rebirth.

Today, light feels soft and precious. The air is cool. The garden statue, barnacled from yet another sleepless year on watch, holds a stone bird in cupped hands — the weight of the world; the burden and the gift of the silent witness. 

As tree limbs bend and sway on high, leaves and squirrels scatter across the earth in dramatic bursts.

Soon, when the wood frogs sleep, the roving cat will make its way from the rose bed to the back porch, press its paw against the glass panel door, give up its wanderings for a place by the hearth. The crickets play their final tune as the snake enters brumation.

In its quiet meditation, the statue sees and hears what most do not. It knows that summer’s light is still here, pulsing within all living things; that spring is autumn’s waking dream; that there is magic in the heart of winter’s stillness. 

A whirl of golden leaves descends. An aster blooms. And in the fading autumn light, a pregnant doe plucks freshly planted bulbs, nibbles dwindling grasses, steps boldly toward the night.

The statue neither smiles nor frowns. It simply watches, listens as the world goes quiet.

Pass the Gravy

Autumn’s color show does not stop at the swirling leaves. Inside, where golden milk simmers on the stovetop, the spectacle continues.

Behold a rainbow spread of roasted beets and carrots. Collard greens flaked with red pepper. Cranberry-pear chutney garnished with orange peel.

Come Thanksgiving, add warmth and color any way you can. We all know it: The mashed potatoes need the contrast.

Despite how you serve them — smooth and creamy; hand-mashed and skin-on; loaded with garlic and butter — there’s no denying that mashed potatoes remain a holiday favorite.

Unlike green bean casserole, which Campbell’s introduced in the 1950s through their Cream of Mushroom soup, mashed potatoes have been a Thanksgiving staple since the 1700s.

Sure, add a dollop of sour cream and a little cheddar. Or fresh rosemary from the kitchen garden. Just don’t go messing up a good thing. 

Hold the Dairy

How to make vegan mashed potatoes? Two words: vegan butter. And as for vegan gravy? Ditto. Sub pan drippings for nutritional yeast, soy sauce, Dijon mustard, onion powder and the like. There are dozens of recipes out there. No need for the vegan you love to go without.

I love to see the cottage smoke

Curl upwards through the trees,

The pigeons nestled round the cote

On November days like these . . .

— John Clare, “Autumn”

Bookshelf

November Books

FICTION

Dava Shastri’s Last Day, by Kirthana Ramisetti

Dava Shastri, one of the world’s wealthiest women, has always lived with her sterling reputation in mind. A brain cancer diagnosis at the age of 70, however, changes everything, and Dava decides to take her death — like all matters of her life — into her own hands. Summoning her four adult children to her private island, she discloses shocking news: In addition to having a terminal illness, she has arranged for the news of her death to break early, so she can read her obituaries. As someone who dedicated her life to the arts and the empowerment of women, Dava expects to read articles lauding her philanthropic work. Instead, her “death” reveals two devastating secrets, truths she thought she had buried forever.

Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone, by Diana Gabaldon

Jamie Fraser and Claire Randall were torn apart by the Jacobite Rising in 1746; now the American Revolution threatens to do the same. In this newest novel in the Outlander series, it is 1779, and Claire and Jamie are at last reunited with their daughter, Brianna, her husband, Roger, and their children on Fraser’s Ridge. Yet, even in the North Carolina backcountry, the effects of war are being felt. Tensions in the Colonies are great, and Jamie knows loyalties among his tenants are split and it won’t be long until the war is on his doorstep. Brianna and Roger have their own worry: that the dangers that provoked their escape from the 20th century might catch up to them. Not so far away, young William Ransom is still coming to terms with the discovery of his true father’s identity — and thus his own — and Lord John Grey has reconciliations to make, and dangers to meet . . . on his son’s behalf, and his own.

Wish You Were Here, by Jodi Picoult

Diana O’Toole is perfectly on track. She will be married by 30, have kids by 35, and move out to the New York City suburbs, all while climbing the professional ladder in the cutthroat art auction world. She’s not engaged just yet, but she knows her boyfriend, Finn, a surgical resident, is about to propose on their romantic getaway to the Galapagos — days before her 30th birthday. When a virus appears in the city and it’s all hands on deck at the hospital, Finn has to stay behind. Reluctantly, Diana goes on the trip without him. Almost immediately, her luggage is lost, the Wi-Fi is nearly nonexistent, the whole island is under quarantine, and she is stranded until the borders reopen. Slowly, she carves out a connection with a local family and is transformed.

NONFICTION

Under Jerusalem, by Andrew Lawler

This is the story of underground Jerusalem, bringing to life the indelible characters who have investigated this subterranean landscape and discussing how the 150-year quest to unearth Biblical history in Jerusalem has led to remarkable discoveries, but also contributed to riots, bloodshed, and the impossibility of peace in the Middle East. When National Geographic published the cover story that inspired this book in November 2019, it became one of their most-read pieces of the year.

The Correspondents: Six Women Writers on the Front Lines of World II, by Judith Mackrell

On the front lines of the Second World War, a contingent of female journalists were bravely waging their own battle. The Correspondents follows six remarkable women as their lives and careers intertwined: Martha Gellhorn, who got the scoop on Ernest Hemingway on D-Day by traveling to Normandy as a stowaway on a Red Cross ship; Lee Miller, who went from being a Vogue cover model to the magazine’s official war correspondent; Sigrid Schultz, who hid her Jewish identity and risked her life by reporting on the Nazi regime; Virginia Cowles, a “society girl columnist” turned combat reporter; Clare Hollingworth, the first English journalist to break the news of World War II; and Helen Kirkpatrick, the first woman to report from an Allied war zone with equal privileges to men.

POETRY

Books and Libraries: Poems, by Andrew Scrimgeour

An enchanting book about books: a beautiful hardcover Pocket Poets anthology that testifies to the passion books and libraries have inspired through the ages and around the world. The poets collected here range from the writer of Ecclesiastes in the third century BCE to Maya Angelou, and Derek Walcott.

CHILDREN’S BOOKS

A House, by Kevin Henkes

A square, a circle, a roof, some snow, then flowers, some people, a house! With a simple palette and rhythmic repetitive text, this celebration of home and family may be the first book a child reads on their own and a family favorite, too. (Ages 2-6.)

Thank You, Neighbor, by Ruth Chan

Young and old, big and small, neighbors are always there to take care of each other. This sweet story with Chan’s charming illustrations celebrates neighbors of all kinds, even the furry ones. (Ages 2-6.)

Cat Problems, by Jory John

There’s just no end to the problems in kitty’s life. Someone keeps stealing the best cozy spot; sunbeam is falling down on the job; the couch doesn’t have any good scratching spots left; and (gag) there’s dry food in the food bowl. No one understands just how hard it is to be kitty. (Ages 4-7.)

City of Thieves: Battle Dragons, by Alex London

Wings of Fire meets How to Train Your Dragon in this series that’s sure to be at the top of every dragon-lover’s holiday list. (Ages 9-13.)

Cold Turkey, by Corey Rosen Schwartz

It’s time for some f-f-frozen f-f-farmyard f-f-fun when Turkey shares his cozy clothing with his frosty friends and then f-f-finds himself a bit f-f-frosty. This story of sharing, caring, and friendship is perfect for Thanksgiving or every day. (Ages 3-6.)  PS

Compiled by Kimberly Daniels Taws and Angie Tally.

Poem

Quarantine Haircut

I’ve had hundreds of haircuts over the years

but never one as intimate as the one Julie

gave me yesterday, mid-quarantine, and my

hair standing up and out of control and when

she could take it no more she said sit down,

Bozo. I happily complied, always eager for

her touch. She stood over me cutting, clipping,

and buzzing and I could feel her legs on mine,

her forearm brushing my ears. But it wasn’t

the physical touch as much as the proximity,

breathing the same air like we used to do back

when the sight of each other would result in

clothes flying through the air, naked bodies

moving together in rhythm, but this was a haircut,

scissors, a misused beard trimmer, a memory of

what was once there. When she asked why I was

crying, I said Some hair must have irritated my eyes,

and she didn’t press, only wiped it away, said

you’re a fool and she was right once again.

  — Steve Cushman

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?

Sit down to a serving of great art as Sandhills artists Mary Davis, Laurie Deleot, Jill Hartsell, Aedan Peters, Kim Reidelbach and Ines Ritter discover their inner Georgia O’Keeffe, Alexander Calder, Claude Monet, Roy Lichtenstein, Alphonse Mucha and Banksy, respectively, in these playful place settings. This is truly a Thanksgiving with all the trimmings.

Produced by Denise Baker   •   Photographs by Tim Sayer

Claude Monet

by Jill Hartsell

Jill Hartsell is passionate about teaching art to young children, spending the last 19 years of her two-decades-long career as an educator in the Moore County schools. She loves all forms of art whether it’s painting, quilting, redoing furniture, making clothes or fashioning jewelry. “Being creative brings me peace, joy and freedom,” she says. Playing on Monet’s famous water lilies, the deckle-edged china has small embossed flowers, and the clay drinking vessel is fashioned into a lily pad.

Alphonse Mucha

by Aedan Peters

Aedan Peters was born in 2001 in Rottenburg, Germany, while his parents were stationed overseas. He moved to Carthage in 2010 and has lived in the area off and on ever since. From a young age, his mother and father fostered a deep appreciation of art within him. This piece brings back memories of the times his parents would help him and his sister recreate famous pieces like Van Gogh’s Starry Night and Chagall’s The Blue Violinist. Peters chose Alphonse Mucha because of the way the artist’s work lends itself to the maximalist ornateness. He plans on moving to Asheville next fall to continue his art education.

Banksy

by Ines Ritter

Ines Ritter is the owner of RUNT Graphic Design in Southern Pines. She creates digital designs ranging from logo art to package and trade fair displays, and has done book illustrations, sculpture, pastels and painting. Growing up near Frankfurt, Germany, she found graffiti and street art inspiring, especially the simple yet impactful style of Banksy, the anonymous graffiti artist. Banksy often paints on trash, hence the paper cup and plastic utensils. Notice how Ritter has poured her own cement block for a place mat, mimicking a wall.

Roy Lichtenstein

by Kim Reidelbach

Kim Reidelbach is a freelance artist living in Whispering Pines and working at The O’Neal School. She is a mixed-media artist often combining photography, painting and sculpture, using humor to communicate personal reflection in response to current events. She has freelanced as a muralist, once worked in a foundry, and has collaborated with other artists for shows in Washington state, Haiti and Florida. She captures Roy Lichtenstein’s style by contrasting the black and white with the place mat’s shape and bright yellow color. The optical illusions create a Ben-Day dot effect.

Georgia O’Keeffe

by Mary Davis

Mary Davis is a North Carolina-based artist who began her professional journey in Florida in 2005 as an interior muralist. She draws inspiration from nature and life experiences and is inspired by artists like O’Keeffe, who push boundaries, demand a presence and continue a forward motion in life. She features O’Keeffe’s flower image as the center of the place setting and filled her glass cup with a hand-dyed napkin to mimic a rose. The skull represents one of the New Mexico desert objects O’Keeffe frequently painted.

Alexander Calder

by Laurie Deleot

Laurie Deleot is a multi-media artist who is focused on non-objective and abstract art. Her work is colorful, full of whimsy and joyful. She saw her first Calder piece in Chicago 53 years ago, which began her fascination with his work. Calder, who was the youngest living artist ever to have a retrospective at New York’s Museum of Modern Art, called his mobiles “drawing in space.” Deleot chose different metallic wires, working in the essence of his style, to sew her “mobile” place setting, even knitting the outside edges with wire.