#4
September 1, 2026#6
September 1, 2026
Searchable issue transcript
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2 What does this Award really mean to you and your family? For six consecutive years, Catawba Valley Health System has been named a recipient of the Women’s Choice Award as one of America’s Best Hospitals for Obstetrics. This distinction identifies the nation’s best healthcare institutions measured against the needs and preferences of women, providing women the opportunity to identify which hospitals deliver the quality patient experience they seek for their families. It’s no wonder 4 out of 5 area women choose to deliver their baby at Catawba. 828.326.3000 www.catawbavalleyhealth.org 810 Fairgrove Church Rd. SE Hickory, NC 28602 Follow us on Facebook CATAWBA VALLEY HEALTH SYSTEM
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3 Convention Center & Visitors Bureau Palate . Well Crafted. . Savor and sample well crafted spirits and farm-to-fork cuisine, all crafted in the Hickory Metro. Food shown provided by Standard Oyster Company, Highland Avenue, Fourk, and Honor Ale House. Photos by EP.
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4 foothills Foothills Digest 619 2nd St NE Hickory NC 28601 Phone: 828.475.1323 E-mail: editor@foothillsdigest.com Website: foothillsdigest.com PRINTED IN USA EDITORIAL CARMEN ECK ARD JON ECKARD JOEY OSBORNE Chief Editor Principal Photographer Partner COLUMNISTS James Thomas-Shell Gabriel Sherwood Calvin Reyes Donna Steele Granny Eckard Amber Starnes Kat Dellinger Heather Woods Davis David Zealy Wright Tara Bland CONTRIBUTOR S Richard Eller Carson Sailor Doug Washer Alicia Wilfong Liz Goebelbecker Leann Mangum Anna Wess Nick Breedlove SPECIAL THANKS TO Sheila Shoemaker Watson Sheree Chalfant Troy Dianne Taylor
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5 Subscribe Our partner company is Eckard Photographic, and you’ll notice that most of our photography is by Jon Eckard. He is a commercial photographer based in Hickory, North Carolina. He is quite good at assessing the needs of your business and delivering high quality photography quickly and at fair rates. We think the quality of his work speaks for itself, and we hope you will call as business needs arise. HTTP://ECKARDPHOTOGRAPHIC.COM | 828.475.1323 You can always subscribe online at http://foothillsdigest.com , but you can also fill out this form and send it in to: Foothills Digest/619 2nd St NE/Hickory NC, 28601. Name: Address: Phone: Subscriptions are $27 per year and we publish quarterly. Shipping is $16. Please enclose a check or your credit card information. Cards are charged $43 one time. Card Number: Expiration: CVV Code:
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Letter from Editor WINTER 2019 In the Foothills, winter is a beautiful, but sometimes frightful thing. More than any other time of the year, we are at the mercy of nature. Winter has always been a time of coming together and this winter is no different. We do hope that this magazine will foster communication and conversation and bring you closer to your family and friends. At Foothills Digest, this winter brings exciting news: we have a new business partner! My husband Jon and I are BEYOND thrilled to welcome Joey Osborne to our team. There is nothing Jon and I enjoy more than making a magazine that is both pretty and interesting, but our strengths lie there, not in business details. We think Joey is brilliant business man, and I just can’t explain how tickled we are to have him on our team. We are pictured below with our dogs Roxie, Luna and Ritchie, all Norfolk Terriers. This issue marks the beginning of our children’s book program. Each magazine that is purchased sponsors a free educational and entertaining children’s magazine for a student in area schools. We will distribute over 5,000 copies of the kid’s magazine this winter and we will continue to grow this program. We are also printing domestically for the first time, which has been a major goal since we began the magazine. We thank you for your patience as we’ve perfected our printing, and we hope you continue to forgive our imperfections as we are settling into a new printing routine and working out the details. Sincerely,
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8 Contents WINTER 2019 Letter from the editor Old-Time Winter Snow Sports The Mythic Airline The Winter of 1960 Winterfest in Blowing Rock On Location in the Mountains One-Tank Trip Groundhogs in the Foothills Chuck Snowflakes Fox & Hound Come and Eat The High Cost of Free Fuel Sweet ‘Taters Recipes 7 10 16 26 34 36 42 48 58 62 64 66 70 72 74 78 Page 94
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9 Knowing You A Guide to Men’s Health Where The Wild Things Are: A Look at How We Look at Scripture Known. Dear David Eventfully Yours Rosemary’s Remembrances A Winter’s Ride A Winter Bluejay You Ol’ Noisy Girls Photography Catawba Valley’s Hidden Treasures A Grand Vision Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn The Folk Keepers The Quiet Sophistication of Animal Hides Winter Style Southern Charm Star Teams up with Donna Steele A Winter Wonderland in the Black Mountains 84 86 90 94 100 102 108 112 116 120 122 124 126 129 130 134 136 138 142 Page 26 Page 48 Page 16
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11 At a Cracker Barrel or local breakfast joint in Anytown USA, there sits a table of old timers, mostly comprised of the recently and not- so-recently retired. As soon as the weather starts to chill, this team of experience-taught meteorologists will start calling for an Old- Time Winter, like the days of yore where the snow was “twice as high, the temperature was twice as low, and lasted twice as long.” Most of us brush off these tales as exaggerated stories or tall tales. However, it turns out Old-Time Winters were much colder than those we experience. The truth of the matter is that the winters of our ancestors were absolutely more brutal than what we face today. Imagine sitting in a cabin on the frontier while leafless tree limbs reach like skeletal fingers towards the sky...being alone with your family on a ridge while 40-mile an-hour howling winds beat across your home. Winter, for most of human history, has not been a Thomas Kinkade painting. It was a time to be feared. Winter was the time when all of your shortcomings during preparation and harvests were exposed. Using tried and true practices and folk beliefs our ancestors made sure their bodies and minds made it safely through the darkest season of the year. From the time of the first settlements in the New World, up through the days of Revolutionary War, the Earth was experiencing a miniature Ice Age. Winters were much longer and much colder than the ones we experience today. The Continental Army’s winter at Valley Forge was far worse than we can imagine. It is important to remember that the settlers of the Foothills and Mountains of Western North Carolina were mostly of European descent, including English, Scottish, Irish, and Germans residents. All of these areas also had very harsh winter climates, which provided the settlers Old-Time Winter Carson L. Sailor, MA
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12 with a good baseline of knowledge. They combined this knowledge with the teachings of Native Americans to create the winter traditions we know today. But before we talk about traditions we need to look at the practical steps that were taken to survive the winter. Wool would have been the fabric of choice for Europeans and Natives alike by the mid 18th Century. Wool blankets were one of the most hot- ticket trade items on the frontier. Today we consider wool to be a scratchy material that makes ugly Christmas sweaters, but wool has an incredible warming property. Wool, spun from the shorn hair of sheep, will keep you warm even when wet and it also dries from the inside out. This helps your body and under layers dry out far faster when the outer layer is whool than when it’s leather or cotton. This was an incredibly important technology because waterproof materials were hard to come by. In the 18th Century, homes in the region were designed solely around heat management. Low ceilings, no windows, and a massive fireplace were staples for winter survival. Many small cabins also had doors mirrored on each side of the cabin. In the summer months, they served as a breezeway; in the winter it helped to move the live stock in and out of the house. Many farmers and frontier people slept with their animals in the home for additional heat and to protect the animals from
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13 the harsh elements. In the winter the fresh foods of the summer were gone and most of the meals they ate were stews made from rehydrated, dried, and salted ingredients. Coupled with the fact that the days were very short and the nights seemingly unending, its clear that winter was a dark time. The hearty settlers and Native Americans turned to social activities to pass the long months. Storytelling is perhaps the most universal commonality between the winter traditions of Native Americans and colonists. Both groups would spend hours in taverns, homes or long houses by the fire. Because of the isolation that both the winter and rugged life forced on these people, this time of year was a prime season for gatherings. Imagine the joy that gathering by a tavern’s fireplace must have brought early European settlers. The stories of the Native Americans consisted of creation myths and fables while European stories focused on biblical themes, ghost stories, hunting tales, and of course Christmas traditions. Christmas was a special time of the year for settlers, but is much different that the holiday we know today. The celebration stretched over 3 separate months from Nativity of Jesus on December 25th until the Purification of the Virgin on February 2nd. Throughout this time there were many celebrations including Holy Innocents Day, Saint Stephen’s Day, Saint John the Evangelist’s Day and WWW.GRAYSTONE-EYE.COM 50 Years Focused On Vision, 50 More Years Focused On You! I I ’ ’ A New Year An n W W Ar W Celebratin n Bi n !
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14 the Feast of the Circumcision (oddly enough there seems to be two separate days to celebrate the Circumcision of Christ). During this time there were family and community meals, singing, dancing, and decorating. The celebration of Christmas in the southern colonies is much more common than in puritan New England. In fact, the holiday was outlawed in many northern colonies. Conversely, areas with Germanic populations had even more wild Christmas traditions, like Krampus the Christmas Devil who would kidnap bad children to punish them. The importance, in our neck of the woods, was placed on fellowship with friends and family, instead of on gift giving. Winter in a historical context is a fascinating subject. Today lights, electric and gas heaters, insulated and fast transportation, and various entertainment technologies have greatly changed the way we spend the season. Beneath it all we are still a society that suffers from seasonal depression and longs for connection during this dark time of the year. In many ways we aren’t that different than the first settlers who huddled by the fire with their families telling stories to pass the time on cold winter nights.
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16 SNOW SPORTS in the High Country By Doug Washer
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17 T he first official ski resort in North Carolina opened back in 1961— Cataloochee Ranch and Ski Area . And then by 1970, there were others- Appalachian Ski Mountain (1962, as Blowing Rock Ski Lodge ) Seven Devils (1966, later re-named Hawksnest , and now only offers tubing), Beech Mountain (1967), Sugar Mountain (1969), and Wolf Laurel (c. 1970, later renamed Wolf Ridge). Four other small slopes also were developed, but are now defunct. Although the North Carolina mountains have winter weather that can rival the northern states, there is really not enough natural snowfall to keep sufficient coverage on the slopes for an entire season. The invention of artificial snowmaking made southern skiing a reality since the region does have frequent sub-freezing temperatures, especially at night. Snowmaking is an art, and each mountain has a team of experts who study the conditions and optimize the snow output, and at the most economical cost. But it is expensive to produce snow. Electrical costs, water resources, and building and maintaining the infrastructure are always major factors. Man-made snow (and it is snow) has some advantage over natural snow. It can be more durable and resist packing down and deteriorating as quickly as natural snow, under heavy skier traffic. But in most cases, made-made snow will “ski” just the same as natural snow. Today’s quantity and quality of snow, as well as the “grooming” (the smoothing of the surface with special tractors) are vastly improved over the early days. “Snowsports” has become the accepted term to include both skiing and snowboarding. The snowsports season in North Carolina can be as lengthy as many resorts in the Northeast or Western states. October 31st, in 2012, is reported to be the earliest opening date, and April 1st, 2018 is the latest closing date for a regular season. Both of these records were achieved by Sugar Mountain, near Banner Elk. A typical season runs from about Thanksgiving to the second week of March, and nature gives us only the amount of cold weather that she thinks we deserve every year. “Ski Resort” is now really a historical term, since snowboarding has grown enormously since the mid-1990’s, and roughly equals skiing in overall popularity. But ski resort is a bit simpler to use as a term, so that’s what I call them. Snowboarding came along gradually. I saw my first snowboard in 1979 at a ski shop in Boone (an early Burton model, with rubber waterski bindings). The first two snowboarders I saw were at Sugar Mountain about 1984, and they were having a hard time of it. Snowboarding got the cold shoulder for a few years at many resorts. Hawksnest, in the town of Seven Devils, was an early adopter of the sport, in the late 1980’s if I recall correctly. By around 1993 or so, all the regional resorts were getting “on board”. I got into the sport thanks to my parents, who took my younger brother and me to smaller ski areas in the Adirondacks, not too far from our hometown at the time of Utica, NY. I was three. In 1965, we moved to Hickory, and my father became a volunteer ski patroller on weekends at Seven Devils , and the family would come up regularly. A bit later, we lived in France for two years, and my parents put me on a bus a couple times each year to go to a children’s ski camp in the French Alps. Not something that would happen today, with an 8-year old kid being sent on a week-long adventure
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18 with no one he knows, especially when they can barely speak the language (on the initial trip, anyway, with maybe only $5 in my pocket. Ahh.. the 60’s. Dangerous times, but no one knew or cared. But it did help me develop independence to better enjoy traveling to new places. Living in Arkansas for my teen years, I did not get to ski very often. There was a small ski resort in Arkansas at the time (Marble Falls , near Harrison), and we went there a couple times. And a couple trips to Ontario Canada to visit relatives, where we squeezed in a day of skiing here and there. Then I transferred to Appalachian State in 1979 and started skiing as much as I could afford (and it was a lean time for me). I recall finding a discount coupon and with my student pass I could ski at Seven Devils for $4.00 on a weekday. I seemed to always pick the most brutally cold and windy days or nights to go, and at least once found myself the only paying customer on the hill. The chairlift operators weren’t too happy about having to leave their warming hut just to attend the chair for one customer. I always thought I might follow my dad as a ski patroller, but as it happened, I had a college summer job as a “canoe rental technician”, and one of my fellow workers was the assistant director at Sugar Mountain Ski School. He said, “Doug… you want to be ski instructor”. So, thanks to him, I now have 37 consecutive seasons under my belt, as a Sugar Mountain ski instructor. I started also teaching snowboarding in 1999, after some gentle persuasion for a few years from my longtime boss, Snowsports School Director Len Bauer. As an additional note, I’ve made it a lifetime goal to ski as many resorts as possible. My completed list is now at 87 resorts, including all of the Top 50 in North America, as ranked by Ski Magazine. I like to think I’ve skied just about every major slope in North America (still a couple more to go in British Columbia, and a couple in New Hampshire). Skiing or Snowboarding? I often get asked what snow sport I like better. And I answer: “whichever one is on my feet”. I really enjoy skiing and snowboarding equally, and I have been fortunate to have the time and location to develop my skills in both sports. But time and money are typical constraints at various times in our life, and some folks might try both, but then need to move forward with one or the other. Each sport has its own small advantages and disadvantages. Also note that for snowboarding, we often refer to doing the sport as “riding”, and a snowboarder as a “rider”. But if you do one sport already, try the other one! Soon might be the first day of your snowsports life…. will you be ready? Preparation: The usual suspects: hat (or MUCH better- a helmet!), gloves or mittens, underlayers, overlayers, water-resistant pants, either with bib- style, or with suspenders. Now comes the unusual suspects: ONE pair of THIN socks is more comfortable than thick socks or double socks, and your skin will have better circulation and
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19 stay warmer due to less constriction inside the boot. Thin socks create less pressure points that cause pain or blisters. Goggles will be a must if it is cold, windy, snowy, rainy, or nighttime. If you are skiing in the springtime, it is suggested you carry also a lighter pair of gloves, (lightweight work gloves are great), in case it gets too warm. You should also have a thinner jacket available, for when the sun heats things up. And finally, I typically use a soft fleece “turtle” that keeps my neck warm and can be pulled up over my lower face as needed. Sunscreen is critical! I’ve learned to apply it every single ski day before I leave the house, whether it is foul weather or not. I’ve been caught unprepared in lessons where the dark skies leave for 15 minutes and the sun comes out briefly, and I’m in serious jeopardy of sunburn. Funny stuffed hats: You’re on your own with these. Wear at your own risk (of potential lack of coolness). Neoprene face masks: Wear at your own risk. Weren’t cool—ever. Ball caps: Not ideal, but still more common than they should be (remember – helmet is the way to go). Loose scarves: NOT recommended- ever! They can catch on lift equipment, trees, poles, etc. For really cold days, I like the fleece full-face balaclava with drawstring adjustment. Helmet: A must for kids. For adults – highly recommended. You can usually rent helmets. Snug up the chin strap, otherwise, the helmet is useless. Helmets should have a good fit, and not be easily moved around as you grab it with both hands. The front of the helmet should be just over the eyebrows for most people. But consult the helmet manufacturer or sales & rental shop for specific fit and safety requirements. Boots: After socks, boots are the most important part of the equipment list. For rentals, insist on a pair that is in good condition and dry on the inside. Ski boots are stiff, and will feel unusual at first, but stick with it. Take shorter steps to avoid slipping. All boots should fit snuggly but should not be uncomfortable. Rental boots are sometimes a crap shoot to expect perfect comfort, but if you buy your own eventually, you should be able to find boots that fit very well and will provide better performance. Snowboard boots MUST be laced up snuggly! If not snug, don’t even try the sport. A helpful trick is to attach your slope pass (lift ticket) to a non-detachable clip on your pants, instead of attached to the jacket. This will allow you to change jackets if necessary (warm days), yet always have your pass with you. And it keeps the ticket from flapping under your chin all day. Skis or Snowboards: Modern skis are much shorter and have more “shape” than ones from olden days. A very basic rule of thumb on ski length is: with ski vertical resting on the ground – somewhere around chin high for adult beginners, up to eye or forehead level for advanced skiers. Child recommendation is typically from chest to chin level. You can go online to find sizing charts for your height, weight, and skill level. Skis and snowboards are always sized in centimeters,
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20 which makes it easy to understand if you are from any country outside of the U.S. One inch is equal to about 2 ½ centimeters. Snowboard length is traditionally somewhere between chin and nose. For a beginner, the exact length of the ski/board is not especially critical. If you buy your own equipment, you can do research online, and a good sports shop will give excellent advice on dialing- in the best length for you and the brand and model you are considering. Bindings: These hold your feet on the skis or board. For beginners, nothing really needs to be addressed. They are all pretty good these days. When you buy your own equipment, you can research your choices till the cows come home. Ski bindings allow the foot to release if a fall occurs (and most often will release when you fall, as the force on the ski increases). Snowboard bindings keep your feet attached, but this is not a problem in most fall situations. Probably the biggest difference between skis and snowboards is how the feet are attached to the equipment. Skis and bindings are the same on each foot—you can put either ski on either foot. But snowboarding requires the rider (or rental shop) to set up the bindings to face to one side or the other, depending on the riders natural “direction”. “Regular Foot” riders place right foot forward for the “normal” direction, and “Goofy Foot” riders (a term originated by surfers) place the left foot forward. As you progress to intermediate, you will learn to easily ride opposite your “natural” direction, and this is called riding “switch” (sometimes called “fakie”). How do you determine what is your natural “direction”? I think the easiest method is to ask what foot you kick a ball with, and that is your dominant foot—which goes to the back (the tail end). I occasionally see exceptions to this “rule”, but not often. Poles: Skiing only. Two of them. Call them “poles”, not “sticks”. They should each have a wrist strap hanging down. Don’t get a rental pole that has a molded handguard instead of a strap. Pole length is important but not critical for a beginner. To size a pole to your height, turn it upside down and hold it underneath the round “basket”, standing in boots but not yet in skis. Your forearm should be level to the ground, and not angling up or down. Wrist straps are important and need to be held in a certain way to minimize the chance of thumb sprain if you fall down (for information, see “ski instructor”). When you rent equipment, keep your rental agreement in a safe place. And keep your eyes on your equipment. Cheap insurance is to use the lockers, or the equipment valet (valets are much more common at the larger western resorts). One trick with skis is to place one ski and pole at one ski rack, and the other ski and pole at a distant rack or around the corner of the ski lodge. Rarely do thieves want to steal one ski and pole. Snowboards are very easy prey, unfortunately. Ski/board cable locks are fairly inexpensive and give a little piece of mind. OK, you’ve got your equipment. Now what? Take a lesson. Take a lesson. Take a lesson. Take a lesson. Are you an intermediate or advanced skier or snowboard “rider” already? Take a lesson. Group lessons are inexpensive and will get your career started much more safely and smoothly. The downside of groups is you will only advance as fast as the slowest learners in the group—and sometimes it does get SLOW in a big group. And beginner groups will almost NEVER proceed up on the chairlift. Private lessons (which can include a group of friends or family) are a really good investment, for
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21 beginners and especially for intermediate (second or third day) or advanced skiers. In private lessons, feel free to request the type of instructor you wish: younger, older (experienced!), male, female, for special needs, etc. Private lessons will progress as fast as you can handle the drills or tasks, and the feedback is much more focused and personalized. And private lessons usually have “lift privilege” so you get priority to ride the chairlift. Private lessons can take many formats depending on what you want: work on a specific skill? make beautiful round turns? ski/ride over bumps? (called “moguls) ski the steepest slopes with confidence? “carve” the edges into the snow like being on railroad tracks? ski more effectively in hard-packed conditions? (we don’t use the word “ice” in snowsports industry) perform basic tricks? explore the mountain and find secret stashes of best snow? learn to ski/ride all day without getting as tired? Out west, you might want to learn to ski amongst the trees, or in deep powder (the ultimate in snow sports is to experience deep “bottomless” dry powder. Deep powder is rare, but not completely unknown in North Carolina). Most, if not all, North Carolina resorts employ some instructors with over 30 years of teaching
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22 experience, and are certified by the Professional Ski Instructors Association, or the American Association of Snowboard Instructors. The highest levels of certification takes years of training and intensive testing (and money) to achieve. Certified instructors are required to take regular two-year updates, at a minimum. So, instructors themselves are always “taking lessons”, even after decades in the snowsports industry. What can you do to prepare for a lesson? I like to say “bring as many skills as you can to the table”. You consider yourself an athlete? It helps. ANY prior skill is good to have: soccer, running, walking, tennis, yoga, gymnastics, biking, equestrian, baseball, dancing, weightlifting, kayaking, martial arts, roller skating, surfing, skateboarding, etc. Just don’t tell me you “snowboard” on video games. Yes- I get that a few times a season from the kids, and they are being serious. If you have been sedentary for a few years, or if you realize you are out of shape, you should consider checking with a doctor before getting on the slope. Skiing and riding are designed to be active sports, and can be physically taxing. It helps to have good balancing skills, but one of the benefits of snowsports is that you will IMPROVE your balance. Any age is appropriate—seriously. I’ve had students in their 80’s – and I’ve known several instructors who were still teaching into their 80’s. Proper “stance” is key. The fundamentals are the same for skis or snowboarding. A “tall”, relaxed posture. No crouching down. Head is up. Say again? Head is up. Looking at where you will be wanting to go, not at your feet. You should feel comfortable just lightly bouncing up and down in your boots. Flex and unflex your knees and ankles nice and easy. Feel your shins press against the tongue of the boots. Feel like you are standing with more pressure on the balls of the feet — and never feel the boot pressing on the calves (sitting back = bad). Hand and arm movement should be minimal. “Quiet hands” = good skier/rider. And expanding on that thought… “Quiet upper body” is key. Instructors will offer advice on hand and body position that is most effective and makes you look like a pro. Most beginner lessons follow this format: meet and greet, introduction to equipment, introduction to proper stance, how to put on the skis/board, walking or pushing around on flat area, walking a few steps up and down the hill, using the poles to push forward and backward across the hill (skiing only), a little “sliding” or “gliding” run across the hill (gentle, slow, short), then more practice runs to get better and better with a bit more speed and finesse on each try. Helpful hints are given along the way, and the ultimate goal of a beginner lesson is to make some linked right and left turns. It is easier than you might think. Turning is HOW you control your speed, and it is HOW you stop. Turning is… everything. It is the ONLY reason that snowsports exist. And a proper lesson will also review safety guidelines, an overview of how to ride the lifts, and where and how to ski/ride after your lesson is over and as you progress to intermediate. After the lesson, take a little rest or snack break, drink some water, and then come back out on the slope and get some “mileage”, using your new skills. Most folks in a ski lesson can achieve the basic skills in 1 to 1 ½ hours. In my experience, snowboarding has a steeper learning curve on the first day, so expect that things won’t always “click” with your turns until at least into the second hour. But your first lesson is really is like learning how to ride a bike— you don’t forget it. What you learn in your first lesson will stick with you for a lifetime. The body never forgets the movement patterns. And the fundamentals you learn in a beginner lesson will still be the fundamentals you use for the next 50 years, as you become an expert. Instructors do work hard, and they are actually working for a fraction of the cost of the lesson. So
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23 if you had a nice lesson, and you had fun and learned some new skills, feel free to offer a tip. This is never expected but always appreciated. Feel free to request your favorite instructor for additional lessons, later on the same day, things easier on your body. As I see it, falling on the slopes can give you useful experience for if you encounter a fall situation in “real life” such as on wet grass or on an icy sidewalk. And as a final comment… Be sure to familiarize yourself with the Skier/Rider Responsibility Code, and the North Carolina Skier (and Rider) Act. This information is made available from by ski area, and is usually posted in public areas and on the trail map or resort brochure. Read and understand these points—they are extremely important and useful. S kier r e S pon S ibility C ode 1. A lw A y S S t A y in C ontrol , A nd be A ble to S top or A void other people or obje C t S . 2. p eople A he A d of you h A ve the right of w A y . i t i S your re S pon S ibility to A void them . 3. y ou mu S t not S top where you ob S tru C t A tr A il , or A re not vi S ible from A bove . 4. w henever S t A rting downhill or merging into A tr A il , look uphill A nd yield to other S . 5. A lw A y S u S e devi C e S to help prevent run A w A y equipment . 6. o b S erve A ll po S ted S ign S A nd w A rning S . k eep off C lo S ed tr A il S A nd out of C lo S ed A re AS . 7. p rior to u S ing A ny lift , you mu S t h A ve the knowledge A nd A bility to lo A d , ride A nd unlo A d SA fely . Doug Washer has been teaching snowsports at Sugar Mountain Resort for 37 years. He and his wife Pam reside in Blowing Rock. Doug’s brother, Bruce, and sister, Carolyn Sinclair, both of Hickory, also were ski instructors at Sugar Mountain at one time or another. or whenever you come back for another day or season. It is an open secret that instructors tend to be some of the more fun and interesting people in snowsports. Oh, yes… falls. Everybody falls. Everybody. It is part of the sport. You know you are improving when you fall less often. Experts fall (I’m good for about one or two “official” falls a season). If you feel yourself going into a fall, try to stay relaxed and “go limp” as you fall. In a lot of fall situations, if you let yourself loosely “slide it out” on the snow just a bit, rather than coming to an abrupt stop, it will make
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24 Before we used them for fun, skis were used for hunting during the winter months, when walking on snow was difficult and arduous.
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25 Appalachian Ski Mtn 365 ft vertical, 12 trails, 6 lifts Cataloochee Ski Area 740 ft vertical, 17 trails, 5 lifts Sapphire Valley 200 ft vertical, 2 trails, 1 lifts Ski Beech 830 ft vertical, 15 trails, 10 lifts, 95 skiable acres Sugar Mountain Ski Resort 1200 ft vertical, 20 trails, 6 lifts, 115 skiable acres Wolf Ridge Ski Slopes 700 ft vertical, 15 trails, 3 lifts, 72 skiable acres
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26 Piedmont Airlines The Mythic Image is Piemont Airlines Postcard from 1948
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27 Airline By Richard Eller
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28 North Carolinians are a resourceful bunch. Given a problem, they solve it, with no prodding nor fanfare needed. That’s why at one time North Carolina proudly served as headquarters to the nation’s best airline. This company and its employees became famous for customer service. Passengers running late would call the terminal and find the plane waiting for them. Ever efficient, the crew usually made up the time in the air. Employees of this Tarheel aviation company refused to take a sick day because the feared missing out on workplace activities. For 40 years this airline proved how ingenious, dedicated (and friendly) North Carolinians could be. It was all just part of what it meant to “Fly Piedmont.” Piedmont Airlines flew its first flight on a cold February morning in 1948 with a route that took passengers over the Appalachians. Founder Tom Davis envisioned an “air bridge” over the mountains that would significantly cut travel time on both sides of the divide. With a small fleet of used DC-3s, each uniquely christened with a regional “Pacemaker” name (like “Catawba Pacemaker” or “Sandhills Pacemaker”), in the early days, the company carried more mail than passengers. But as the 1950s came and went, more people began to trust Piedmont to carry them from their homes in the Carolinas to stops like Cincinnati, Ohio, and back. It wasn’t the most exotic destination, but it was a start. In its infancy, aviation was something of a novelty; customers didn’t expect much. Piedmont passengers were served a Coke and a Krispy Kreme donut and felt privileged. As time passed, amenities grew, but efficiently. Originally, a practical CEO, Tom Davis wanted only male flight attendants because they could handle the sacks of mail that accompanied each flight. According to everyone, he scrimped on the things that didn’t matter to support the thing that did: safety. As a result, Piedmont tested the first collision-avoidance system in American aviation. “Pacemaker” planes were retrofitted with uniform instrument panels to improve pilot reaction times. During training at Piedmont, one pilot noted that their flight school “showed you how to build the plane” so pilots would have all the knowledge needed in case of emergency. Piedmont flew into airports both big and small in pursuit of customers. In some of the smaller stops, pilots kept the engine going on the opposite side of where passengers got on and off while the crew unloaded and loaded baggage (sometimes the co-pilot helped) in a span of three minutes to help keep flights on schedule. Between Greensboro and Winston-Salem, Piedmont’s home base, planes were only in the air for 17 minutes between runways. As a local service airline Piedmont suffered nicknames like “puddle jumper” and “Pete Who?” However, the hard work of crews to make each flight a positive one began to build and with the coming of the 1960s, Piedmont’s reputation took off. More customers meant more flights. The company could afford newer planes (they were still used) and eventually bought jets before the 1970s arrived. They even began to hire female flight attendants. Maintenance chief Eddie Culler proudly claimed he never took a sick day; his excitement for the job was so intense, he said he didn’t want to miss a thing. He watched an airline build a stellar reputation. His coworkers reflected
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29 Flight attendant for Piedmont Airlines at the Tri-cities Airport, 1959. Photograph by David Peirce. Courtesy of Archives of the City of Kingsport
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30 this attitude; ticket agents, flight crew, cleaners, mechanics, and just about everyone, saw Piedmont Airlines as much more than only a job. One pilot revealed a common joke around the company when he asked, “How’d you spend the holidays, with your loved ones? Or your family?” When deregulation arrived in the late 1970s, management, including Mr. Davis, feared they would lose their customers, but the “can do” attitude of his employees caused him to look at the aviation business differently, helping him realize that Piedmont could compete with any other airline. And they did. Prudently, they took on new routes. When those filled, they added others. By the early 1980s, Piedmont flew non-stop to the west coast. But in doing so, the company displayed an ethic not often seen in business. On that first flight to Los Angeles Captain Bill Kyle was aware he would have to stop for fuel. At that point, the company didn’t have their extended range jets. Upon arrival to LA, he apologized for the delay, which was only a few minutes and directed passengers to look in the pocket in front of them. The company gave each person a $100 bill for not living up to the ‘non-stop’ promise. As Captain Kyle thanked departing passengers one guy said he’d fly Piedmont all the time if they kept that up. By 1984, Piedmont flew high. That year the company received the prestigious national award, “Airline of the Year.” Mr. Davis remained modest in Piedmont’s achievements, noting he was like the turtle on the fencepost. He didn’t get there by himself. But Tom Davis created a culture unlike any other in American business. He knew his employees by name, even when the company employed thousands. He took care of them, and they loved him for it. When he retired, they all chipped in and bought him a new Piedmont-blue Mercedes Benz. It wasn’t easy managing such a high spirited group. One of the legendary pilots reportedly gambled away his plane during a poker game on a layover. That same pilot, supposedly, flew his “Pacemaker” naked (although he claimed he didn’t because he was wearing his captain’s hat). But for every antic (and there were lots of them), there was a maintenance man back in Winston- Salem whose job it was to clean the “honey pot” (plane toilets) between flights. Caught complaining one day, a co-worker suggested he quit. The man shot back, “And leave Piedmont? NO.”
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31 Wish to know more? Order the full–length documentary on DVD from the CVCC Bookstore at bookstore.cvcc.edu, or visit the gift shop at the Catawba County Museum of History in Newton. Produced by Historian-in-Residence Richard Eller, the documentary offers an in-depth look at Piedmont Airlines, its people, and its impact on the area.
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32 The 1980s were triumphant days for the little airline that had now grown into the 9th largest in the United States. The tagline to their commercials proclaimed them, “The Up and Coming Airline.” They flew to London, planned a transportation empire that including trucking, railroads, absorbing other airlines. The sky was the limit for the company. Hubs had been established in Charlotte, Baltimore, Dayton, Ohio. Profits soared. But soon, the “Pacemakers” came in for an abrupt landing. The death of Piedmont Airlines came in a merger that many saw as a buyout. USAir paid the highest price ever up to that time for another company, claiming it were going to blend the “cool northern efficiency” of their company with the “warm southern hospitality” of Piedmont. The union didn’t work out. Eventually, the Piedmont logo, the “Speedbird,” vanished, replaced by what folks from the old company jokingly called “UselessAir.” 2019 marks the 30th anniversary of the last flight of a Piedmont plane from the original company. But those that were part of the Piedmont tradition cherish their time doing the work they loved. One stewardess (as women flight attendants were called in those days) said that USAir passengers would ask her regularly if she came from Piedmont. They recognized spirit of Piedmont. It shone through her. After USAir had gone through its second bankruptcy, letters to the Charlotte Observer begged for the return of Piedmont, a decade after its demise. Many employees offered to follow Mr. Davis to a new aviation company if he only would, their faith in him so strong. It was not to be. Forty years went rather quickly for those who started with Mr. Davis at the beginning as well as those who joined along the way. But the reputation of the “Speedbird” left its mark. These North Carolinians, their hard work, their care, their enterprise, created a company that now retains the stuff of legend, a mythical airline that once flew our skies. Richard Eller is the creator of two works on Piedmont Airlines. His book, “Piedmont Airlines: A Complete History” is published by McFarland and Company, Publishers He also produced and directed a documentary, called “Speedbird: the History of Piedmont Airlines” which has aired regularly on UNC-Television. The DVD is available at www.bookstore.cvcc.com
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34 The Winter of 1960 By Carmen Eckard The winter of 1960 changed the course of history for Western North Carolina. The winter started out in normal fashion. November and December 1959 brought relatively normal amounts of snow. By the New Year, 19 inches of snow had fallen in Boone, which was not strange for the area. January came and went with not much snow at all. In fact, only 8 inches fell. But by the time February hit, the winter became one for the history books. It wasn’t a matter of one storm. Folks in our hills know how to handle one storm, but the winter of 1960 brought 5 blizzards in a row. Snow never had time to melt before the next storm hit. In less than two months, it snowed almost SEVEN FEET across the Southern Appalachians. It was much colder than normal, although the record is incomplete. That’s because the official temperature for the region was taken at the top of Grandfather Mountain. In March of 1960, workers could only make it to the top to measure the temperature 9 days out of 31. The average temperature of the days they were able to measure was just under 20 degrees.
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35 The roads all over the region became undrivable, as there wasn’t anywhere else to push the huge mounds of snow lining every road. Drifts covered mature apple trees, and even whole houses were swallowed up. One woman in Boone froze to death just walking from her road to her house. However, most of the folks in the Foothills handled this snow with grace. Many of our homes had only had electricity a decade or so, and our people still remembered how to rough it. They stayed home, sitting by their fires, and they waited it out. They ate food they’d saved for winter and took advantage of the extra time with their families. Eventually, things were shut down so long that the government got worried. They airlifted packages of food to the more remote areas of the region. The Red Cross went door to door, ready to offer help. At one home, their crisp knock brought a woman to the door. They announced that they were Red Cross, and she said, “I’m sorry but we don’t have anything to give this year. It’s been a hard winter.” That’s just the kind of people we have in our parts. By the time the snow melted in April, 112 inches had fallen at Grandfather Mountain. That’s almost 10 feet, which is an incredible amount of snow. Other parts of the foothills faired better, although no one was spared a lot of snow. In Catawba County, folks remember it as the year it snowed every Wednesday in March. They don’t call it a blizzard, but they did get over a foot of snow accumulation which is rare. Three of the storms covered the whole state, causing problems as far East as Raleigh. In March, Charlotte measured 19 inches of snowfall. March 1960 remains the snowiest month of all time in Charlotte and parts of the Foothills. In the midst of all of this, one intrepid spirit birthed a new pastime for the region. The US was hosting the Winter Olympics that year, and interest in skiing was high. Wade Brown saw opportunity. When the first heavy snow of 1960 fell, he found a proper hill and he strapped on some military skis he’d purchased in Hickory. The hill he found was at a local golf resort, and he had a photographer document his first run. He appeared in local papers and a new local craze was born. Within 2 years, a ski resort opened on land purchased from Grover Robbins, of Tweetsie Railroad fame. Appalachian Ski Mountain struggled financially at first, but within a decade, it was a staple of Western NC and other ski resorts began opening. A skiing school, called the French-Swiss Ski College , opened and was a huge success. In less than a decade, 3 other ski slopes had opened in the region, including Hawksnest, Hound Ears Lodge and Club and Ski Beech. People in Western NC are resourceful. I don’t know how else to explain taking the worst winter anyone can remember and using it to start a massive industry that saved the tourist economy of the area. Special thanks to the website CarolinaCorner.com, which is full of fascinating history of our region. I recommend perusing the site. Also, I want to mention that introducing skiing to the area was just a tiny part of Wade Brown’s service: he also served one term in the state Senate and two terms in the House of Representatives. He was also mayor of Boone from 1961 to 1968, and his daughter ran the Chamber of Commerce for many years. He helped shape the region in many palpable ways.
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37 Winterfest in Blowing Rock By Carmen Eckard The Town of Blowing Rock is beautiful during the winter. It gets awfully cold, but in Blowing Rock, they celebrate winter. The festival began in 1998, dedicated to showing the “fun side” of the season. In the years since then, the festival has raised thousands of dollars for charitable institutions and has become known as one of Western North Carolina’s most important festivals. The festival has been named a “Top 20 Event” by the Southeastern Tourism Society and a “Top Pick” by AAA and we are rating it “Can’t Miss.” The festival is packed full of events, but perhaps most well-known are the ice- sculptures. Also featured are wine tastings, a beer garden, live music, a “Winterfeast”, a Polar Plunge, a fashion show, and a chili cookoff. Starting this year on January 24th, and running through the 27th, the event is sure to be fun for all. The whole town gets in on the action, with special deals in stores downtown and free admission at the Blowing Rock Art and History Museum downtown. We are particularly impressed by “Wintercraft: an outdoor handmade craft market.” That will be on January 26th, from 4:00-8:00 pm, in the courtyard next to the Mountain Thread Company. This market will gather together many local artisans, which will allow you to bring home a piece of authentic Appalachia. If making art is more your style, don’t miss the Cork and Canvas at the Blowing Rock Art and History Museum. It’s Friday the 25th at 8 pm, and costs $45. You’ll need a ticket before you arrive, so be sure to use the QR code to get registered. Create art in a relaxed atmosphere facilitated by trained art instructors. In this session of Cork & Canvas, attendees will paint Wassily Kandinsky’s “Winter Landscape”. Everything you need is included, so just be sure you come ready to paint and sip. The Polar Plunge is definitely the most memorable event of the festival, but for the less brave, there are still plenty of memorable things to do. A free hayride is offered as well, and we think there aren’t many things more delightfully Southern than a hayride. Another local favorite is the adorable dog show called WinterPaws. It’s produced by the Humane Society, and money raised goes to support their programs. With all those activities, it’s no wonder the event is so popular and has become an important gathering time for locals and tourists alike.
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38 T he event has won several awards over the years, such as a Southeastern Tourism Society top 20 event in the southeast. We hope you will join us for all four days to celebrate winter and get out of hibernation! “ “ Charles Hardin - President & CEO, Blowing Rock Chamber of Commerce
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39 I would like to invite all of our High Country residents and our tourists to Blowing Rock for the 21st annual WinterFest. Itwas organized to pair winter- themed activities with philanthropic benefits to the community. Many of the events return their profits to important non-profits located in the area; for example, the Polar Plunge benefits the Western Youth Network and Hospitality House of Boone, the Silent Auction & Raffle benefits Mountain Alliance, and the Rotary Chili Cookoff benefits 15 local non-profit participants. Last year we had a record breaking number of people participate in the Polar Plunge with 145 participants. Also enjoy the ice sculptors producing art work around our beautiful town. Hope you will join our community during this 4 day event. “ “ Charlie Sellers - Mayor of Blowing Rock, NC
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THURSDAY, JAN 24 Shop Til You Drop 10:00 am January 24-January 27@ 5:00 pm BrrrrAHM – Free Admission! Thursday@ 10:00 am - Saturday @ 5:00 pm Doodlebug Club at BRAHM 10:30 am -11:30 am Doodlebug Club at BRAHM 1:00 pm- 2:00 pm WinterFeast 5:30 pm - 10:00 pm Bonfire, S’mores and Entertainment 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm FRIDAY, JAN 25 Pancake Breakfast at Sunny Rock 7:30 am - 1:30 pm WinterFashion Show 11:00 am - 2:00 pm WinterFest Sip and Stroll 4:00 pm - 7:00 pm Cork & Canvas at BRAHM 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm WinterFest Ice Stroll 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm Bonfire, S’mores and Entertainment 7:00 pm - 10:00 pm Schedule of Events:
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SATURDAY, JAN 26 Pancake Breakfast at Sunny Rock 7:30 am - 1:30 pm Polar Plunge at Chetola Resort 8:00 am - 11:00 pm Silent Auction & Raffle 10:00 am - 4:00 pm Hayrides 10:00 am - 4:00 pm Cork & Canvas at BRAHM 10:00 am - 12:00 pm VISIT OUR MATTRESS GALLERY ON THE 2ND FLOOR! Lowest Price, Highest Quality GUARANTEED! SAVE 10% OFF BRING IN THIS COUPON AND OUR EVERYDAY LOW PRICE CANNOT COMBINE COUPON WITH OTHER OFFERS. EX- CLUDES MATTRESSES AND CLEARANCE ITEMS. OTHER EXCLUSIONS MAY APPLY. SEE STORE FOR DETAILS. BlowingRockFurniture.com 8486 Valley Blvd. Blowing Rock, NC 2860 828-295-7755 Mon-Sat:10a.m. to 6p.m. Sun: 1p.m. to 6p.m. Rotary Charity Chili Challenge 11:30 am - 2:00 pm K9 Keg Pull 11:30 am- 4:00 pm Ice Carving Demonstrations 12:00 pm - 4:00 pm Arctic Art at BrrrAHM! 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm WinterFest Beer Garden 1:00 pm - 4:30 pm WinterTastings & Auction at The Green Park Inn 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm SUNDAY, JAN 27 Sunday Brunch at Foggy Rock 11:00 am - 3:00 pm WinterPaws Dog Show 1:00 pm- 3:00pm
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42 M uch of this A c A de M y A w A rd winning M ovie w A s fil M ed on loc A tion A cross w estern n orth c A rolin A . w e ’ ll help you visit the M ost iconic spots in the fil M . o n l oc A tion in our M ount A ins : T hree B ill B oards ou T side of e BB ing , M issouri B y C ar M en e C kard JCTDA/Nick Breedlove
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43 North Carolina has been a popular destination for location filming for decades. Dirty Dancing, the Fugitive, Last of the Mohicans and even parts of The Hunger Games have all been filmed in Western North Carolina. The latest hugely successful film to come out of our hills is Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri. This film is the winner of two Academy Awards®, five Golden Globes®, three Screen Actors Guild (SAG) The Sylva Herald The Sylva Herald Fox/Searchlight Awards, five BAFTA film awards, three critics’ choice awards and eight awards at film festivals around the globe. Downtown Sylva served as the location for most of the movie. The spot perfectly encapsulates Small-town Americana and was an excellent backdrop for the talents of Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell and Francis McDormand. “Sylva’s downtown had the perfect mix of being vibrant and active, yet also is one with oodles of small town charm every direction you look,” location manager Robert Foulkes said. “Sylva truly had the whole package, and in my opinion, is the best and most interesting looking small town in all of North Carolina.” Perhaps the most iconic location is the Ebbing Police Department which
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44 The Sylva Herald Fox/Searchlight catches on fire during the movie. That building spends the rest of its life as Sassy Frass Consignment. Welby’s office (above and on next page) was filmed in the upstairs of Sassafrass Designs. These are both in Downtown Sylva and even the smallest details were tended to, assuring a complete transformation from Sylva to Ebbing. The director even created a mascot for the local high school team and plastered stickers to cars. Locals helped the transformation by making their own Ebbing themed shirts and memorabilia, and many people even made the cut as extras in the film. The unusually open set allowed all residents to feel like they were truly part of the action. Cullowee Elementary School provided the location for Ebbing High School. A private home on Cowan Street became Dixon’s house. The dentist office is the actual office of Cardwell Family Dentistry, who we can assure you are more professional than the dentist in the film. While Sylva provided the perfect small-town setting for the film, it didn’t have the long stretch of road needed for the billboards and for the house of McDormand’s character
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45 Fox/Searchlight Fox/Searchlight Mildred. After searching Western North Carolina roads for the best spot, the team decided on a road called North Fork Left Fork Road. That road circles Black Mountain and provided a perfect backdrop for the film’s most iconic scenes. The billboards were built by the production team and have been removed, but you can still enjoy the scenery and take pride in our natural beauty. Mildred’s house is also on this road. There is a lovely scene in the film where a deer comes up to Mildred as she’s tending to her billboards. That deer came from The Western North Carolina Nature Center. This organization provides a safe home for white-tailed deer, black bears, red wolves and other animals native to the region and allows people to observe these animals in a natural environment. In the film, James and Mildred go out to eat. You can visit the restaurant they visited! It’s called J. Arthur’s Restaurant and it’s located in Maggie Valley. The restaurant offers high-quality food and they have enjoyed the extra attention the film has brought them. In the past, North Carolina had a truly booming film industry, and some people thought we were poised to become a true movie making hub. That changed when some policies at the state level changed, eliminating some of the tax credits that brought production companies here. Three Billboards Outside of
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The Sylva Herald The Sylva Herald Fox/Searchlight Ebbing, Missouri is quite important for North Carolina because it proves our movie industry hasn’t died at all. We hope that the future brings many more feature films to our state. Movies filmed in North Carolina include: The Last of the Mohicans, Dirty Dancing, Patch Adams, Richie Rich, Blue Velvet, The Fugitive, The Hunger Games, 28 Days, Deliverance, Empire Records, The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Lolita, Little Monsters, Nights in Rodanthe, The Color Purple, I Know What you Did Last Summer, Cabin Fever, The Crow, Religilous and The Green Mile . We know you’ll be impressed with Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri. You can find it anywhere you purchase DVDs, and we hope that you do. Special thanks to VisitNC and the Jackson County TDA, as well as the Sylva Herald, Fox/Searchlight and Nick Breedlove.
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48 One -Tank Trip By Carmen Eckard The foothills are centrally located to make travel to all manner of places quite accessible. We aim to tell you about a place you can visit with less than one tank of gas in each issue. We are tickled pink to bring you the first trip in this series. Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, is an excellent place to visit and as a perk, you never have to leave our mountains. This idyllic vacation spot is fun all year round, but we especially enjoy a
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49 winter trip. Winter is beautiful across the Southern Appalachians, and it offers a peacefulness that’s hard to find elsewhere. We stayed at Dollywood’s DreamMore Resort and Spa and we learned a good rule of thumb, pretty quickly: If Dolly’s name is on it, you can trust the quality. In Pigeon Forge, a lot of things have her name on it, which we think means it’s awfully easy to have a good time there. Pigeon Forge, and neighboring Gatlinburg, are filled to the brim with activities and attractions, and a trip there means you won’t be bored. This trip is great for families, but it’s also a fabulous option for a romantic getaway.
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50 Truly, Dollywood’s DreamMore Resort and Spa is exceptional, with care taken to ensure all of the details are top-of-the-line. The 299 room resort sits on 20 acres of land with a gorgeous view of the Smoky Mountains. When we arrived at the resort, we were greeted by a beautiful sculpture of Dolly’s signature butterflies, as well as incredibly friendly and helpful staff who helped us get checked in quickly. The common spaces, like the lobby and the indoor pool, managed to be “country” and “lavish” at the same time, which is hard to pull off. Landscaped gardens bring some green into your life, and help shake off the chill. A delicious full-service farmhouse- style restaurant is on site, offering the best and most elaborate breakfast buffet I’ve ever experienced. An award winning chef creates exciting dishes that blend traditional southern cooking with a more sophisticated style, and eating at the restaurant was one of our favorite parts of the stay. But when you just want some Starbucks and a snack, they have you covered as well! A second restaurant fills in the gaps for when a sit-down restaurant isn’t in the cards, with fresh fruits, ice cream and much more. A full-service spa is available to pamper you during your getaway. Like most other experiences at the Resort, the Spa is meant to help you slow down and savor the moment. The rooms at Dollywood’s DreamMore Resort are lovely, and just the right size. Since many of
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51 the guests are families, most rooms offer a large bed and a set of bunk-beds. The rooms have gorgeous views of the mountains, and are styled in a way that’s part southern, part glitz, arguably just like Dolly herself. One of the most exciting parts of staying at the DreamMore Resort is knowing that you might run into Dolly. She stays at the resort several times a year and you’ll know if she’s there because her tour bus will be parked outside. Everything about the resort seems to be carefully designed, planned and executed, which makes it easy to relax and enjoy yourself. In fact, Dollywood’s DreamMore Resort was named America’s Best Theme Park Resort by USA Today, and indeed, it truly does offer many perks, like Time Saver passes, special shuttles that help you skip the lines, and special deals when you stay in tandem with a trip to Dollywood or Dollywood’s Splash Country. But, we were delighted to find that even when the parks are closed, the stay in the resort is top-notch. Even better, special deals are usually available during the winter months, so be sure to ask when you book your stay. If you don’t love resorts, there are so many lodging options in town. We also recommend Dollywood’s Smoky Mountain Cabins, which can accommodate 2 to 34 people and offer a lot of flexibility for guests. Photography provided by Dollywood’s DreamMore Resort.
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52 Top-notch Night Out: Dinner and a Show I love a good production, and this is, indeed, a good production. From the performers to the servers to the ticket takers-every person we encountered seemed excited to be there and dedicated to our good experience. The show is a good mix of silly and impressive. Skeeter is one of the characters, hailing from North Carolina, and his antics keep the show light- hearted. The website says the show has “live animals, dramatic lighting effects, incredible sounds and exciting pyrotechnics,” and each of those is a true statement. A wall with 12.5 million LED lights provides a spectacular backdrop to the action and dazzles by showing the beauty of the Smoky Mountains. But at the center of the show are 32 highly trained horses. They perform tricks and are part of the competition between the “North” and the “South”. Now don’t worry, there aren’t any hard feelings here. It’s all in good fun. The audience is split into two sections, each vying to win the most contests The performers join in the competition on their horses, and some audience participation keeps things fun. There are also musical numbers, including a truly spectacular performance of Dolly Parton’s Color Me America. You may notice that the dinner theatre has undergone a re-branding, one that we find to be particularly sensitive and timely. Called “ Dixie Stampede ” for three decades, the attraction dropped the “Dixie” for “Dolly Parton’s”. To a lot of people, the word “Dixie” is a positive word that brings with it notions of sweet tea, front porches and friendly neighbors. That meaning of the word is particularly on-brand for Dolly Parton and her businesses. But to a lot of other people, the word “Dixie” is about slavery, war and oppression. We applaud the company for acknowledging that the word was creating division where they didn’t intend division. In replacing it with “Dolly Parton’s,” they were able to keep the sweet tea, front porch, smiling face vibe that fits the show so well. The Dinner Theatre was started back in 1988 and has been extremely popular for many years. The delicious food is another major factor of this continued success. In the time it takes to watch the show, you are served a four course meal. The menu hasn’t changed much for 30 years, but they have spent that time perfecting the recipes. I’m especially fond of the vegetable soup. Full disclosure: I asked for more and bought the mix to take home. You won’t be getting any silverware, so be ready to dig in with your fingers. It isn’t as messy as it seems, I promise.
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53 32 horses and highly trained performers entertain while you are served down-home good food you’ll eat with your hands. (865) 453-4400 dpstampedepigeonforge.com Photo by Jon Eckard
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54 In 2005, Dolly started a program that now benefits children all over the world. Her Imagination Library sends over one million books around the world every month, each addressed to a child between birth and age five. Thousands of partner organizations have signed on to her cause. Both of our boys have been part of this program, and it’s hard to explain the excitement they feel each month getting a new book with their name on it. Ownership leads to pride and pride is a great motivator. This program is helping to increase literacy the world over. To learn more, donate or sign up, visit www.imaginationlibrary.com. Pigeon Forge is packed full of activities for vacationers. One of the most popular destinations is the Smoky Mountain National Park . This spectacular 800-square-mile park covers much of Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee. Visiting this park is a great way to reconnect with our mountains, which happen to be some of the oldest mountains in the world. This also happens to be the most visited National Park in the US! Hiking, camping and even guided tours are available at this park. 8 waterfalls, abundant wildlife and even bears make this an exciting trip. Dress warmly and explore to your heart’s content! Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies, in neighboring Gatlinburg, is a truly spectacular aquarium. I go to every aquarium I am near, as a general rule, and I’ve been to dozens in my life. This is, hands down, the best one I’ve visited. They house over 10,000 aquatic creatures in 10 themed areas. The most exciting display is an under- water tunnel with a conveyor that moves you along beneath sharks and a beautiful, slow-moving sea turtle. Other exhibits get you well-acquainted with penguins, and sometimes there are even mermaids!
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56 During the winter months, one of the most popular destinations in the Smokies is Ober Gatlinburg . It is best known for Skiing and Snowboarding, but that isn’t all Ober Gatlinburg offers. The scenic chair lift is not-to-be- missed, offering exceptional views of nature. An alpine slide is an exhilarating way to see the sites, as is the ski mountain coaster. Other attractions include Amaze’N Maze, a rock wall, a chair swing, mini golf, rides for children, a carousel and ice skating. There is also the opportunity to get up close with the indigenous wildlife. Bears, otters and birds of prey are on display and well- cared for. Or, hop over to The Island to ride the Great Smoky Mountain Wheel. This enormous Ferris wheel rises 200 feet in the air and all-glass gondolas allow you a view of the town and mountains that is unparalleled. After you ride the wheel, The Island also has several celebrity-owned restaurants and excellent shopping. We also recommend The Escape Game, where you and other players are locked in a room and have one hour to figure out clues to escape. You can also have the time of your life at the Outdoor Gravity Park. This is a popular summer destination, but beginning this winter, you can go tumbling down a snowy hillside in a giant inflatable ball. The experience may make you feel a little like a gerbil, but there’s a reason they enjoy rolling around like that: it’s fun! You can document the whole thrilling ride with go-pro cameras that are mounted to the balls. For the adults, Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg offer a large variety of liquors, spirits and wines. Moonshine is as much a part of the history of the Tennessee hills as it is ours, which is to say, Moonshine was important. There are many distilleries in the area that offer tours and samples. Old Forge Distillery and Ole Smoky Moonshine at The Island are both great places to get started on a moonshine adventure. Be sure to visit the Titanic Museum . It is the world’s largest museum experience and we think it’s the best way to imagine life on the Titanic. You have
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57 the opportunity to touch an iceberg, and sink your arm into water as cold as it was the night the Titanic sank. You can also try to stand on the deck as it sinks, as well as walk through replicas of iconic areas like the Grand Staircase. The process is made a little more personal as you are given the identity of a passenger or crew member before you walk in-you aren’t told the fate of the person until the end of the tour. It’s a poignant way to spend an afternoon. We love visiting Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg because it offers exciting adventures while still feeling like home. These two towns are supported by the tourism industries, and the people we met always seemed dedicated to providing us with an experience we’d enjoy and remember. When they said “Y’all come back now,” we were certain they meant it, and we will come back. We hope you will too.
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58 GROUNDHOGS in the Foothills By Carmen Eckard Groundhogs are a common site across North Carolina. We’ve all driven past groundhogs standing alert beside the road, but how much do we know about our furry neighbors? Groundhogs are the largest member of the Squirrel family. They are usually about twenty inches tall and can weigh up to fifteen pounds. They build incredibly complex burrows in the ground that can be up to 65 feet long. These burrows can have several levels and always include separate chambers that could be labeled “bathrooms.” Groundhogs are marmots and are known by many names, including “woodchuck” and “whistle pig.” Found in most of the United States, and even into Alaska, these animals have sunk their teeth into popular culture. “How much wood can a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood,” is a tongue twister nearly every American is familiar with today. The answer, you may be surprised to find out, is “None.” Woodchucks do not chuck wood at all. The name is thought to be a corruption of several Native American words like wejack, woodshaw, or woodchoock.
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59 But perhaps groundhogs are known best for Groundhog Day, when it’s said that a groundhog emerging from its cave will determine whether we have six more weeks of winter weather. What you may not realize is that this is because Groundhogs are true hibernators. There are not many species in North Carolina that can claim that. Some bats, most squirrels and a few other rodents join the groundhog in a true winter hibernation. The black bears in our region have a modified version. Groundhogs sleep for weeks or months, only waking to rid their body of waste material, and their heart rates drop to five beats a minute. When they emerge, it’s a good sign that the worst of winter is behind us. Male groundhogs tend to wake up early to check on their potential mates. Once they check the burrows of all of the females in their territory, they go back to sleep until it warms up. Groundhogs are the subject of every elementary school class, as the nation focuses its collective attention on the activities of one groundhog each February 2nd. He’s affectionately called Punxsutawney Phil, but it’s his shadow, not his name, that is
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60 important. Groundhog Day, February 2nd, comes from a Pennsylvania Dutch tradition that says if a groundhog, most specifically Punxsutawney Phil, sees his shadow when he comes out of his burrow, winter will continue for six weeks. If he does not, winter will end early. Truthfully, science shows absolutely no correlation between the activities of Punxsutawney Phil and the length of winter, but it’s still a fun tradition, and Americans have always leaned on traditions to get us through long, hard winters. You’ve probably never seen two groundhogs together. They are incredibly asocial, seeking out companionship only to mate. Mothers and children part ways quickly after nursing, and spend lives of solitude. I’ve seen two groundhogs together, only once, and they were fighting each other dramatically in the middle of the road. Traffic stopped in both directions as everyone watched two groundhogs fight fiercely, standing on their back legs. It was fascinating and every bit as dramatic as a WWF wrestling match. Unfortunately, groundhogs are often considered pests by many people, especially farmers. There are two main reasons for that. The first, most obviously, is that they are herbivores and love to eat whatever a farmer
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61 grows. They are particularly choosy and they love to eat the most tender greens. Additionally, their burrows cause enormous problems for farm machinery. Those impressive burrows can break a tractor axle in two seconds flat. For this reason, farmers try to rid their land of these rodents. Groundhogs are called “edge species,” meaning they like to inhabit the bit of land where woods meet meadows and fields. That’s why you see them so often standing by the edge of the road-they like to live right where the woods end, and in the foothills, the woods end right next to the road most of the time. Groundhogs, woodchucks or whistlepigs...whatever name you use, you have to admit that even though some consider the marmots to be pests, Americans are fascinated by these animals! www.outdoorsupplycompany.com
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C hu C k the W ood C hu C k By Carmen Eckard Photography by Evelyn and Jon Eckard In my family, one sure-fire way to make everyone smile is to bring up Chuck. Chuck was my husband Jon’s pet groundhog when he was young, and he was quirky, energetic and by all accounts, funny. Groundhogs are considered pests, and someone killed Chuck’s mother when he was still very young. Luckily, folks found tiny Chuck and suspected that the Eckards would be the perfect family to help him. Jon remembers feeding him milk by the dropperful until he was old enough to eat. Chuck loved to eat and carrots were his favorite. Eating was serious business, and he’d stand up while nibbling long slices of carrots until they disappeared. Chuck lived inside for a while, sleeping in the dog bed and generally being an adorable pet, but the family kept “losing” socks, hats and other small, soft objects. They eventually caught Chuck red-handed. He was stealing those items to make himself a pretty impressive burrow behind the furniture. The family decided he shouldn’t live inside after they discovered his handiwork, and they crafted a nice cage for him, but he wasn’t interested in living in a cage. When they woke up a couple days after his move outside and he was gone, they searched the woods like any loyal pet parent. They shouldn’t have worried because when they got back, Chuck was sitting on the porch waiting for them. After that, he made himself a proper burrow and settled into his new life. Every day, Jon would go outside to feed him and call his name. He’d come running for his carrots and affection. Jon and Chuck entered a contest hosted by the Western Piedmont Humane Society (now the Humane Society of the Catawba Valley). They were surprised and thrilled to win “Most Unusual Pet.” Groundhogs are an unusual pet, but Chuck was the kind of animal people remember forever. Even after all these years, I still catch Jon smiling every time we pass a woodchuck standing at attention on the side of the road.
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Each May the Hickory Landmarks Society hosts an annual fund raising event, a Hickory home and garden tour. Thanks to the kindness of selected property owners, HLS has been fortunate to showcase over 160 of Hickory’s finest architectural buildings and gardens in the past 24 years. On May 17th, HGTV’s John Gidding will be the featured speaker for the tour, which goes throughout the day on May 18th. Tickets for the Romance of Home and Garden Tour are sold ($25 in advance, $30 on Tour day) beginning in February and proceeds benefit our organizations mission to preserve Hickory’s architectural heritage. Keep an eye on our site for ticket sales: www. hickorylandmarks.org. HICKORY LANKMARKS SOCIETY HOSTS JOHN GIDDING
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64 1: 2: 3:
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65 Snowflakes No two snowflakes are alike. That’s because each of the 10 quintillion water molecules in a snowflake have a choice to make as they freeze. Therefore, each snowflake is as individual as we are, but they do fall into different categories. It’s hard to get a good look at a snowflake before it melts, so we’re sharing some close up images so you can get a better look. One thing most snowflakes have in common is their six-pointed symmetry. We call the arms of snowflakes “dendrites” and they occur because of the hexagonal crystalline structure of ice. 1. Hexagonal Plate: These are simple hexagonal shapes and sometimes have a star in the center. 2. Stellar Plate: These are more common than hexagonal plates. They have simple, unbranching arms. 3. Stellar Dendrites: This is what everyone recognizes as “snowflake shaped.” They are six-sided branching dendrites. There are other types of snowflakes, including needles, columns, bullets and irregular shapes. Most snowflakes are imperfect but all are patterned. Snowflakes, in the right conditions, can grow very large. It’s said that the largest snowflakes ever recorded fell on January 1887 at Montana’s Fort Keogh. The history books says there were “flakes as big as milkpans.” This is of course very rare, and the largest snowflake photographed wasn’t even half an inch. Interestingly, not every large snow storm is considered a blizzard. There are very exact specifications for a storm to be labeled as such. Winds must be over 35 miles per hour and snow must reduce visibility to a quarter of a mile for at least three hours. About half the population of the world will never see a snowflake. About a million billion snowflakes fall on earth every second, however, so snowflakes certainly aren’t rare! One inch of snow melts to about 1/10th of an inch of water. Most of the world’s water is in the ocean, but 80% of the fresh water on earth is frozen, existing as snowflakes or ice and our ice caps can be seen from space.
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66 Over the past year I have discussed, in this forum, how I believe we should economically develop our area by cultivating the most impactful demographics in the current era. We have seen a stagnation in our population growth and it is directly correlated to the lack of economic growth of the area. It is a chicken or egg situation, because it relates to jobs and job quality. Have young people left, because of the lack of good paying jobs –or- are the good paying industries not locating here, because there is a lack of qualified young working aged folks to fill the positions? Once again, I will point to where South Carolina economic development officials said that they didn’t need pre-trained individuals for Upstate South Carolina’s BMW plant. They trained the initial workers at the plant and then later created specific technical programs to train workers for future jobs in the automotive industry. There must be a multi-faceted approach in creating an environment to benefit from people who are in the sweet-spot of their productive working lives. People who are 40 years and younger are better able to adapt to economic change than those 40 years and older. By the time you hit 40, you are ready to settle into some form of routine. Many 40 year olds have established family structures. By and large, middle aged folks aren’t looking (and can’t afford) to change jobs on a whim or move here, there, and everywhere. Let’s look at a good reality, presently Millennials and their younger compatriots iGen are the future of economic development and productivity in our modern world. They are now the largest demographic in the workforce and in the consumer marketplace. Success will be defined pretty simply, because “Quality of Life” correlates to economic growth, therefore our community’s overall “Quality of Life” is dependent upon growth in the largest workplace and consumer demographic. In other words, if the young people aren’t living here or moving here, then we aren’t succeeding. I have a saying, ‘Smart people make things simple. Stupid people make things complicated.’ Think about talented athletes, chefs, artists, whatever… don’t they make whatever they are doing look easy? Think about procrastinators always doing mental gymnastics, always ‘studying’ something, always doing busy work, but never seeming to get anything accomplished… wasting time… wasting away. As I have already discussed, local leadership has to have a plan. We have to engage all of the components of this economic equation. We must be effective listeners. We must develop our ability to be nimble about understanding and diagnosing problems and responding with effective solutions. Develop a system that allows engagement across multiple platforms of government and private industry. Cut the red tape and have open engagement between elected officials, government administration, business leaders, and the citizenry. How do we create, acknowledge, and engage opportunity? Do you recognize opportunity when it is staring you in the face? We cannot afford to dismiss opportunity! Growth is positive change from Time A to Time B. To direct growth, you have to have an intelligent plan about where you are at, where you want to go, and how you are going to get there. In identifying the there, you have to identify and engage your Vision, which is the first step in creating your plan. The growth we desire requires defined goals and benchmarks of where we want to be at a time certain in the future. That measurable vision defines success or failure and develops accountability. That accountability helps motivate the drivers of the plan to make necessary adjustments (tweaks or wholesale changes) that can get to the successful goal. The thing about this exercise is that it is never over. You cannot rest on your laurels. Like one of my teachers from the past would tell us, when he caught us looking at the clock, “Time will pass… will you?” James Thomas Shell This is the sixth , and the f inale, in this serie s, about economic development in our area . We have discussed vision , aligning to the marketplace, leveraging unique strengths, and inspiring people to innovate, and change. Now we f inish up by ar ticulating how we connect with and inf luence people to move here and do busine ss in our area . In summar y, I think that we can all see that Gabriel and I agree on more than we dis agree on when it come s to the issue s of Economic Grow th . I think we all understand it’s diff icult to sustain a succe ssful economy over a long period of time. We are at the mercy of external force s, including, but not limited to, the overall busine ss cycle, culture, and politic s. Our for tune s wi ll ebb and f low with the time s, but a proactive approach is nece ss ar y to ward off stagnation . This is about action versus inaction , which is completely different than the modern political paradigms deemed Conser vative -Progre ssive. The bottom line is that grow th nece ssitate s a clear understanding of where you want to be in the future. If you don’t have goals, then what is your endgame? You’re just winging it through life. Winging it isn’t a formula for succe ss. The Roman Phi lo sopher Seneca s aid, “Luck is what happens when preparation meets oppor tunity.” Good for tune isn’t just about being at the right place at the right time, but also about being open to and ready for new oppor tunitie s. That is what this serie s has been about … Preparing for Succe ss!
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67 Gabriel Sherwood A civil discourse with James Thomas Shell & Maintaining a steady growth pattern is an important part of a healthy economy and society and to us the need for working age newcomers is critical in building on what we have going. We know steps must be taken to actively attract the people we need, but is it just the responsibility of our leaders, government and/or business, to keep us growing? As far as business health, our local leadership has done well. So much so that Hickory was just proclaimed as having the “lowest costs for business” by Forbes. This is an honor that will perhaps bring us interest from companies looking to invest, and that is something we all celebrate, as it will bring not only dollars but perhaps more youthful talent into our communities. In addition to our drive to expand we must also have pause and measure, as our goals must be mitigated by the need for responsible growth and must be focused on increasing the value of our people as it compares with the interests of businesses we offer a home. A USA Today article from December, 2017 covered some reasons younger professionals touted as critical to invest in a location. Jobs is always number one, but increasingly the addition of “good paying” is finding its way into the discussions. According to Data USA, Hickory’s median household income declined in recent years by 4.61%. Payscale.com says wages continued to drop another 1.1% in the 2nd quarter of 2018, and average income in Hickory is $5,ooo less than average in NC and $14,000 less than average for the nation. One reason the area is good for business is because overhead is low … and that includes payroll. Another trend in modern families is the more educated woman being the highest earner while the man may be a tradesman or in the service industry or manufacturing. Those are couples we could use, as our trade markets need young blood to replace aging service techs and our manufacturing resurgence needs workers. But, as the Convention Center prepares for a Professional Women’s event that will bring several hundred guests, the average working woman in Hickory earns $16,000 a year less thank the average man. I personally can say I know a young professional woman with young children who is looking North for better pay in her field, even as it compares to cost of living. Our last conversation included my suggestion of focusing on bringing in educators … there are college level instructors at CVCC making less than 40K a year. The teaching profession is by in large still female, and I recently heard from a former coordinator of superintendents that the teaching college at UNC Charlotte had over 900 students when he began his tenure there 9 years ago and last year when he left there were less than 100. These are professional jobs that are a backbone of local economies, and they are not heading here. Now I don’t want this to be a pouncing session on our local drive to improve, because there is a drive to improve that includes everyone, but as the USA Today article pointed out some of the most effective means of bringing people in is bringing them home and focusing on the demographics. We have a lot of folks who have left for the cities around us and we can work hard to market the area to them along with a push for the young professional woman, and we may attract attention. But, I fear it won’t do a thing if they look for a comparable job in a different area and take a massive pay cut to come here. We are all responsible for our community’s growth, each and everyone one of us. We entrust our leadership with the guidance of our societies and we expect responsible growth in opportunity in return, but in the end it is the civic engagement of citizens that leads any municipality or region or state. First we must teach people to give their best but also to expect better than to have basic fears that a good salary alleviates. A desperate salesperson is seen a mile away, one that is secure sells more. That’s one thing that can get folks past the transportation issues we face here and we can create the market for better education access with and movement in the green in income growth instead of the red as we have seen for years here. Like Lenoir-Rhyne offered locals half tuition, let’s offer returning citizens a promise of tax breaks for companies that offer better than living wages. After that, we can boost and boast a great image that is backed up in the numbers that matter, and get some of our state’s best educators and public servants, and that’s a recipe for responsible growth to last a generation or two. Gabriel Sherwood
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68 The Questions Gabriel, in the overall outlook of the Forbes’ article ‘2018 Best Places for Business and Careers’ that you allude to, we see that Raleigh (#2), Charlotte (#5), Durham (#13), and Asheville (#15) did extremely well, but Hickory was listed as #172 out of 200 cities in that list. That fits in with our second article (Winter 2018) where I address what I surmise to be the Tale of Two States here in North Carolina. I am glad that you are encouraged by the North Carolina’s positioning in the marketplace as a whole and I am also hopeful that we are taking some steps in our region to move forward. I would however like to see an emphasis placed upon the more Rural and Suburban areas of the State that have been hurt by the rapidly changing dynamics of modern industry and the post modern “free-trade” economy. I agree with what you state about young people wanting good paying jobs. On my blog, though I haven’t really added articles over the past year, in the past I have constantly talked about the underemployment issue and this “Low Cost of Doing Business” certainly seems to correlate to that. Hickory, in that 2018 Forbes list that you interjected into this conversation, ranks #1 in the nation as the least expensive place to do business. 21 places in the bottom 50 of that overall list rank as the cheapest places to do business. Maybe it’s less expensive, because there’s a lot less economic activity taking place here than in the more successful cities in that list. I do agree that people need to take charge and be leaders, but that doesn’t forgo those who have asked and are being paid to assume the forefront of leadership positions in our communities. In the end, they are in charge of the decision making process, including setting policies and making plans for the direction of the community. We can only make suggestions and hold them accountable to a certain extent. They are in charge! James Thomas Shell As often is the case, we agree on much. A multi-faceted plan is needed and we have some facets of it in place or on the way and it must be strategic and a decade ahead of itself. Over the past year we have agreed that we need to work on access and transportation options to connect us to the economic powerhouse of the Charlotte market. The 16 extension is well underway and the double lane access will decrease travel time between the ever expanding suburbs of Charlotte and our area. The expansion of 150 across the bridge into the Mooresville area as part of the development of the Eastern parts of Catawba County I think would be a great investment in having some of Mecklenburg’s commerce and professionals jumping the lake. More land at a lower price in a growing area is an attraction we can utilize with proper marketing and valuation of our attributes, while at the same time checking several boxes on our goal sheet for responsible growth. We have spoken on inclusion of all citizens and municipalities and businesses and NGO’s, as the more ideas at the table mean a better chance for good government and working solutions. We have the Hickory Young Professionals, who just celebrated their 10th Anniversary, working to engage the younger population alongside other similar service and networking organizations across the area. The Rotary Club of Hickory is currently hosting Students of Distinction from each high school in the area who have shown leadership skills and merit in study and extracurricular activities. We should collectively be hoping to keep in touch and either keep these students at CVCC or LR or the App State Campus, or work to lead them back to the area after their education elsewhere. Reaching out and engaging people where they are now while showing them a vision of where they could be with us can be a path to our goals, and with the right coordination and direction we can see great success. We also have spoken about how we can utilize our attributes, and one we already see being used is … well, the sun above us. How much could we save our taxpayers, our business owners, our citizens, if we simply put a couple solar panels on every government building, business, or home that can accomodate one, in the area? We have great recycling systems and expanding public parks and services, we are close to nature and the city, we have access to an international airport, and we have local flare and food options, which are all good additions to our regional brochure … but we would make the national news with a commitment like that. If we can save money by using the free fusion reactor we circle and allocate that to offering incentives for companies that agree to provide above average salaries and wages in exchange for forward thinking leadership and investment, I believe we will see a good return. Know your enemy and know yourself and you will never know defeat in a hundred battles” - Sun Tzu. You are correct that dawdlers will dawdle and complainers will offer plenty observations with few solutions behind them, but those who research the root of a problem and have the courage and acumen to act decisively will often be successful. Fortune favors the bold “they” also say and if we are bold in our requirement for our people to be valued and seen as an investment, if we expand access while reaching out to engage the people we want to be here with us with what we can offer … those who care about such things will notice. Gabriel Sherwood 2018 Forbes Best Places for Business and Careers – October 24, 2018 - https://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2018/10/24/the-best-places- for-business-and-careers-2018-seattle-leads-the-way/#7062ac47447e Millennials to small cities: Ready or not here we come! – USA Today - November 5, 2017 - https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/11/05/millennials-small-cities- ready-not-here-we-come/830955001/ https://datausa.io/profile/geo/hickory-nc/#intro https://www.payscale.com/research/US/Location=Hickory-NC/Salary
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69 Homelessness is a complex problem and it’s hard to know how to help. As Winter hits the foothills, if you are moved to help the homeless in a tangible way, there is a group that provides immediate assistance to people suffering from homelessness. They work closely with the homeless community, listening to the actual needs of the people they see face to face. In our next issue, we will talk more in depth about problems and solutions regarding homelessness, but in the meantime, we hope you’ll consider donating items to keep suffering people warm, dry and fed during what’s expected to be an extra harsh winter. Sports, where the organziation gets a special deal. They also use money to buy gas to host several events for the homeless and to drive them to church 3 times a week. Donations can be dropped off at Open Door Baptist Church @ 4663 Spring’s road, Conover 28613. Monetary donations can be sent to Open Door Homeless Ministry at PO Box 51, Conover,NC 28613. You can also contact the Facebook page to arrange donations. o pen d oor h o M eless r elief n eeds d on A tions Open Door Homeless Relief is happy to take your donations of time or these particularlly needed items: • Gently Used Blankets • Tents • Sleeping Bags • Hoodie Sweatshirt These items are also helpful. • Sewing Kits • Food • Personal Hygiene Items • Socks • Gloves • Hand Sanitizer • Feminine Products • Tylenol • Bandaids If you’d prefer to donate money, $34 buys a tent and sleeping bag at Academy Tour our historic village which housed the Henry River Mill and was the setting for Hunger Games . Find out more at henryrivermillvillage.com “ h e th A t h A th two co A ts , let hi M i M p A rt to hi M th A t h A th none . A nd he th A t h A th M e A t , let hi M do likewise .” -J esus LUKE 3:11
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70 C ome and e at : R etelling the S to R y of h omele SS ne SS by: Liz Goebelbecker For those of us who work in ministry and non-profits, we are often asked, “How can we help the homeless?” It is a well-meaning question with good intentions behind it, but the answer may or may not be the answer we are looking for. This article was formed out of a conversation. It is a collaborative response from several different points of view. I grabbed coffee with Casey McCall and Carrie Workman from the Salvation Army, Austin Pearce from the Hickory Soup Kitchen, and two current residents of the Salvation Army, Eric and Rebecca, who are, themselves, experiencing homelessness. Those of us who are working with vulnerable communities are often asked,” Where do we begin?” William Wordsworth once said, “To begin, begin.” If it is our desire to participate in the conversation surrounding homelessness, we need to broaden our perspective of what homelessness is and what it is not. Homelessness means to be un-homed, unsheltered. Everyone, from the government to non-profit agencies, define homelessness differently. If you are living in a tent, you are homeless. If you are living in a homeless shelter, such as the Salvation Army, or staying on the sofas of friends and family, you may not be considered homeless. Homelessness is not a matter of “just” getting a job. It is a complex, layered consequence of brokenness in not only a person’s life, but within systems of our communities. Homelessness is a matter of justice. If we consider the many areas that constitute a holistic life, we would include emotional, mental, and physical wellbeing, relationships and social connectedness, in addition to employment, affordable and safe housing, transportation, and child care. Let’s step back and consider the profound effect of addiction and trauma. Around our conversation, it was agreed that the greatest overarching concern within the community of those experiencing homelessness is despair, worthlessness, hopelessness, and giving up. Friends, if that is the greatest need, then how CAN we help our neighbors experiencing homelessness? These are some ideas from our friends living and working in this vulnerable community: ADVOCATE Advocate within your community for the most vulnerable of our citizens and neighbors. Call for safe affordable housing that has supportive services to help families and individuals move their lives forward in health and abundance. Call for a transportation system that is creative and flexible and can help people truly get where they need to go. Call for employment that pays a living wage so that once our neighbors are able to move into safe and secure housing, they are able to afford to stay there. Advocate for childcare and supportive services for parents with children so they don’t need to choose between caring for their children or going to work. Advocate for greater access to mental health services and rehabilitation programs to aid those suffering in addiction right in their hometowns, so they don’t have to move, risking losing their jobs or relationships.
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71 OFFER OPPORTUNITY We can help those who are experiencing challenging times in their life by hiring them for work. When we offer second-chance employment and leasing for homes, we are partnering in transformation. Eric shared with us that opportunity is the bridge out of homelessness. Yes, opportunity to work and live and thrive, but even more, when folks are offered opportunity they feel cared for and valued. NOTICE Sometimes love looks like noticing a hair cut or a smile or a tear. Our homeless friends believe that they are invisible to the world. Become a deep listener. If you would like to participate in systemic change that leads to shalom living for all, become a student and allow those who have experienced homelessness, or are right now homeless, to be your professor. Ask questions. Be a friend. Correct unfair stereotypes and notice where community conversations have missed the mark. The burden to change cannot lie with the vulnerable. Those who hold privilege and places of power within our communities need to be willing to be vulnerable and acknowledge that we do not always understand. GIVE ABUNDANTLY Research non-profit organizations, agencies, and ministries who are building relationships within vulnerable and marginalized communities. Organizations such as the Hickory Soup Kitchen, the Salvation Army, Greater Hickory Cooperative Christian Ministry, Safe Harbor, Exodus Homes Ministry, and others, who are providing essential material needs for survival, but who are also striving to build relationship and working to help individuals move their lives out of poverty. Organizations need financial resources to provide supportive services beyond food and shelter. They need to pay qualified staff members, who are so often overworked and underpaid. Consider giving monthly to the organization of your choice. EAT WITH ME So often people ask whether they should give money to someone on the street. The truth is, you need to follow your own heart and intuition. Give if you would like to give, and refrain from giving in that way if you are uncomfortable. Either way, please be kind. If you are concerned about giving out cash, maybe a gift card to a local restaurant. However, the most meaningful and loving thing we can do is to eat together. Come to the Hickory Soup Kitchen for lunch. Set aside an evening every once in a while and come down to the Salvation Army for dinner. Sharing a meal and fellowship with our neighbors is the most powerful and transformative gift that you can give. We learn by listening and by sharing stories. Our hearts change when we enter into relationship with one another. We being to understand that we belong to one another regardless of the circumstances of our lives. We can learn from one another, and we can each be transformed in the process. How can we help the homeless? Our little coffee group decided that we need to get together more often and share ideas and stories with one another. Maybe you have a group of friends who care deeply about building community and loving our neighbors. Maybe you could grab lunch at the Hickory Soup Kitchen or spend time with folks in the lobby of Greater Hickory Cooperative Christian Ministry . Let’s build a big table and invite everyone! Maybe we will find that once we begin, our perspective has changed, and we have made new friends. Maybe it's just a constant beginning, a constant moving, a constant cycle of learning and re-learning and un- learning, never to arrive, just to journey alongside. Just journey alongside, friends. And please, come and eat.
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72 The High Cost of Free Fuel By Granny Eckard Winters on the mountain were harsh. Or perhaps it was not the winters but the living. I don’t remember actually being cold, but I do remember several times waking to feel my mom adding coats on top of our quilts on very cold nights. Our window panes were single-glazed and some had cracks; one had a chunk missing in the corner - not that that made much difference because, as we all now know, single-glazed windows were not that energy efficient. Occasionally on a blustery, snowy night we would get snow on our quilt. In the earlier years our heat was supplied by a thin-walled wood-burning heater in the sitting room that also served as our parents’ bedroom. Many times that heater would be churning out so many BTUs that the sides would be red hot, thus a potential hazard. But most of the activity surrounding that heater and the wood-burning cook stove in the kitchen was a potential hazard. Our parents made no difference about my being a girl. I worked outside with my brother and inside with my sisters. So, on a certain Saturday the year I was eight, it was my turn to split slabs for the kitchen stove. With a full-sized axe, I went about my chore as usual and chopped my pointer finger right in the second joint. Blood was running, I was running, and Dad was running for the car to drive me to the doctor to get it sewed up. It was a bad cut and left an enlarged joint that I will have for the rest of my life. It’s not very feminine looking, but I am thankful that I have 10 fingers to type about it. Dad would haul loads of slabs from the sawmill and dump them in a big pile in the back yard. When he felt the pile was worth the trouble, I suppose, he would hook up his tractor’s PTO to the old saw blade and cut the slabs in pieces to be later split. On this potentially hazardous day, when he got to the bottom of the huge pile of slabs, there was a huge pile of copper heads. He said “stand back” or some other word, and sent Mom into the house for the shotgun and some shells. He figured there were at least a half-dozen snakes under there which he blew all to bits. On another occasion, this PTO was the source of an injury to my Dad’s right thumb. He was setting up to saw and got his thumb caught where the belt made the “V.” The belt jerked all the skin off his thumb down to the joint. He went over and sat down on the porch and asked for the kerosene jug. Mom poured kerosene over the wound while we all stood in a semi-circle and watched the blood coagulating and dripping down on the ground in ribbons. They tied it up with a white cloth and he went back to work slightly light-headed. He never visited a doctor for this and eventually it healed and the skin grew back. One Saturday most of the family went on a road trip to visit my older sister and her family. My younger sister and I did not want to go, so we stayed home and slept late. When we woke, we decided to build a fire in the cook stove and make some breakfast. I put in the wood and a squirt of kerosene, and as I leaned over to throw in the match the stove went “swoosh.” I saw a bright light and felt a burning sensation over my face. We did not realize that there were still hot coals left in there. Now I had to go to school on Monday (sophomore year) with no lashes and the front of my hair burned off. I was mortified, but even on a good day no one paid much attention to me anyhow. In 1958 the Manager of REA Electric Co-op announced a campaign offering free electricity for cooking for four months if you purchased a new electric range during the months of September and October. He listed reasons why a homemaker would want one: modern convenient, clean, efficient...I could have given him more reasons than the ones he listed. End of story is that Mom bought a beautiful new General Electric turquoise kitchen range. I wonder – was she enticed by the offer of free kilowatts or was she concerned about our safety.
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75 Sweet ‘Taters Down Home Southern Cooking that ’s Clean By Carmen Eckard Photos by Jon Eckard Sweet ‘Taters is located in Conover and people are positively buzzing about it. It’s brand new, but you wouldn’t know it from the crowds that fill the space every time the doors are open. That’s because the owners already built a huge fan base (80,000 strong on Facebook alone) when they owned Roasted ‘Tater in Hickory. People were sad to see it go, and it turns out, the owners missed it as much as the customers did. This restaurant looks like Southern feels. Old aprons, vintage cans and folk art create an atmosphere that puts Southerners at ease the same way Grandma’s biscuits do. Grandma’s dishes are on the table too, and not just my Grandma, but yours too. I’m positively tickled by the plating at this restaurant. It seems like every vintage China pattern that ever graced a Southern table is here, and some of the food is even served in cast iron. You could be forgiven for not expecting much out of the food at a restaurant so heavy on the theme. But you’d be wrong, even so. Sweet ‘Taters seems to take only the best parts of Southern Cooking. No margarine every makes it in the door, and they don’t even have a microwave. The food here is delicious and Clean. The meats are organic and locally sourced. The vegetables are grown locally when in season and the ingredients are authentic. It’s hard to explain the difference in a typical steak and one that’s sourced from local and humane farms, but the difference is easy to taste. They say happy cows make better milk. They make better steaks too, clearly. Each meal begins with biscuits, and that’s smart of Sweet ‘Taters, because they are truly delicious. They are served with whipped butter and house made preserves. These change all the time, and you might be served watermelon preserves, or maybe sweet potato butter, like is pictured here. The butter is European butter, thick and creamy and hand whipped. These details ad up to a surprisingly pleasant culinary experience.
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76 We ordered a steak which was a Hand cut Stockyard Ribeye. We found it to be perfectly marbled, cooked to our exact temperature request, and truly delicious. The 14 ounce steak was served topped with parmesan peppercorn butter that was freshly made in house. A perfectly cooked sweet potato topped with whipped butter and brown sugar was an excellent complement to the meal. We also couldn’t help but order the chicken and waffles. They were quite well-balanced, with the soft waffle blending well with the crispy chicken, all covered with authentic maple syrup. We enjoyed it, heartily, and we recommend that you try this if it’s on the menu.
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77 We also tried blackberry ribs, roasted for a full 24 hours. They aren’t smoked because the chef wants the taste of the meat to shine brighter than the cooking method. Homemade barbecue sauce is delicious and changes each time they make it. Recent recipes have included watermelon, sour cherry and even peach. The menu at Sweet ‘Taters changes every day and you can always see what’s scheduled on their Facebook page. (828) 469-5177 102 10th Street NW Conover, NC
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79 Anytime Chili 1. Cook beef and sausage in a large cast iron dutch oven over medium- high heat until browned. 2. Add onion and bell pepper and cook until tender. 3. Add garlic and stir completely. Pan should be very hot at this point. 4. Add beer to deglaze the pot. Reduce liquid by half. 5. Add remaining ingredients and stir. 6. Cover and simmer over medium-low heat for at least 1 hour. (If a thicker consistency is desired, remove lid to allow evaporation) INGREDIENTS: 1 pound le A n ground beef 1/2 pound A ndouille s A us A ge , diced 1 onion , chopped 1 s MA ll green bell pepper , chopped 2 g A rlic cloves , M inced 1 cup of your f A vorite beer 1 cup of veget A ble stock 2 16- ounce c A ns red kidney be A ns , rinsed A nd dr A ined 2 14.5- ounce c A ns diced to MA toes 1 6- ounce c A n of to MA to p A ste 4 t A blespoons chili powder 1 t A blespoon dried oreg A no 1 t A blespoon g A rlic powder 1 te A spoon c A yenne pepper 1 te A spoon ground cu M in s A lt , to t A ste p epper , to t A ste
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80 Located in Moretz Mills 74 8th Street SE, Suite 108 Hickory NC 28602 828.855.9949 www.BocaHickory.com facebook.com/BocaHickory Some photos courtesy Revival Photography
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81 Corn Bread muffins 1. Preheat oven to 400°. 2. Line 12 cup muffin pan with muffin liners. 3. In a large bowl, combine the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. 4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, vinegar, egg, and butter. 5. Pour wet mixture into the dry ingredients and stir just enough to moisten (avoid overworking). 6. Fill muffin cups about 2/3 full. 7. Bake for 13 minutes, or until the muffins begin to brown on top. INGREDIENTS: 1 cup flour 1 1/2 cups corn M e A l 2 t A blespoons sug A r 2 te A spoons b A king powder 1/2 te A spoon b A king sod A 1/2 te A spoon s A lt 1 1/4 cups M ilk 1 t bsp of white vineg A r 1 l A rge egg 4 t A blespoons butter ( M elted A nd co M pletely cooled )
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82 Vegetarian Chili
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83 THESE RECIPES HAVE BEEN CREATED BY CALVIN REYES. YOU CAN FOLLOW HIM ON INSTAGRAMB @ FOOTHILLSCHEF . 1. Preheat oil in a cast iron dutch oven over medium-high heat. 2. Add mushrooms and sauté until browned. 3. Add onion and bell pepper and cook until tender. 4. Add garlic and stir completely. Pan should be very hot at this point. 5. Add soy sauce to deglaze the pot. 6. Add remaining ingredients and stir. 7. Cover and simmer over medium-low heat for at least 1 hour. (If a thicker consistency is desired, remove lid to allow evaporation) INGREDIENTS: 1 t A blespoon olive oil 1 pound shiit A ke M ushroo M s ( diced ) 1 onion , chopped 1 s MA ll green bell pepper , chopped 2 g A rlic cloves , M inced 4 t bsp soy s A uce 1 cup of veget A ble stock 2 16- ounce c A ns red kidney be A ns , rinsed A nd dr A ined 2 14.5- ounce c A ns diced to MA toes 1 6- ounce c A n of to MA to p A ste 4 t A blespoons chipotle chili powder 1 t A blespoon dried oreg A no 1 t A blespoon g A rlic powder 1 te A spoon ground cu M in s A lt , to t A ste p epper , to t A ste
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84 By Alicia Wilfong On the days when the air is crisp, and the sun is radiant, the view is magnificent. From the top of Baker’s Mountain, looking over our valley carries you above church steeples and water towers peeking through the tree tops from Charlotte to the famous line of the Blue Ridge. What’s not so visible in that valley are the secluded Jacobs Fork and Henry Rivers. The Catawba Valley offers outdoor enthusiasts a refreshing hike on a beautiful day or a relaxing float down a river in one location. Bakers Mountain soars 800 feet above the valley. The trails in the existing County Park offer a leisurely hike or a challenging trail run to the top of the mountain platform. There’s no need to backtrack as you choose among multiple paths back to the ranger station. As you pass through, the generations of care and appreciation of this park is on display from the historical home site to Eagle Scout projects, the creek and pleasant small waterfall area, picnic tables and park benches. On the rivers, there are natural areas that are nestled so deeply in the forest that most of us don’t know they exist. Floating on peaceful ripples under canopies of trees, there is a feeling of isolation from any thought of civilization. There’s always a pleasant spot to stop for lunch. There is river use now, but most only for those knowing property owners with access. That changes when we add multiple access points along both rivers, making them easily Catawba Valley’s Hidden Treasure # * # * # * # * # * # * # * # * # * # * # * § ¨ ¦ 40 § ¨ ¦ 40 U V 70 U V 10 U V 10 U V 127 £ ¤ 321 W NC 10 HWY P L A Z A D R H U FFMAN F A RM RD FIN G ER BRI D GE RD ZION CHURCH RD ROCKY FORD RD GLEN V I EW DR S US 321 HWY SECREST DR PROVIDEN C E CHURCH RD M C C O Y R D LE W IS RD R IVER R D PLATEA U R D M A CHINE S HOP R D S NC 127 H WY B AK E R S V I E W D R WALLACE DAI R Y R D STOVER CT S & W FAR M RD JV PAR K ER DR L E D F O RD R D MTN TERRACE DR TA R H E EL D R D E I T Z RD N ELLO D R UNIT Y C HURCH R D SIG M AN ST E P S R D HE N R Y RIVER R D A S H T O N GL E N CI R SANDY FORD RD OLD STATE RD LYNN MO U N T AIN RD C O R R A L DR OLD SHELBY RD K E NNED Y ST MEADOW LARK LN W INDI N G OAK DR YODER RD ROBINSON R D M OUN T A IN GROVE RD KI N GS R D M AGNUM RD HUIE ST GIV E N S S T G ORDON RD J O U RNEYS P A SS PITTSTOWN RD Q U EEN S RD CHI L DER S RD O R CHAR D P ARK DR R O Y A L H E I GH T S C I R VILLAGE CI R TH O M P SON ST B R O O KWO O D LN PICKERIN G DR F A IT H OLIVE C H U R CH RD R IPKEN D R MILLER DR GR ANT S T PROPST DR PINEY R I D GE S T M ARANAT H A DR YOUNG RD SWE ETB R I A R LN S A L E M RD DWAYNE S T ARNES DR V ALLE Y FIELD RD FOREST RIDGE D R DAISY L N CO U RTNEY DR JAMES FAR M R D M A T T I N G L Y D R SHIR E B O URN R IVERVIEW DR S PRING D A LE DR G R EED Y HWY H I CKORY LINC O LNTON HWY WHITENER RD WILDLIF E R D S A IN RD B URKE COUNTY RD TRI P L E R L N H IGH M EA D OW LN P I ERSON ST V AL L EY H AV E N D R B R O O KSO U T H D R WINTERS ST S E RENIT Y DR R O L L ING LN H O MES T EAD DR OLD FARM DR RHO N E Y FAR M RD MA W SUE R DG ELL E R D R RUS T Y L Y NN R D ME N NONIT E CHURCH R D S PUR G E ON S R D R U DISILL R D OLD E SCHOOL DR IRON PE B BLE DR G E ORGE HI L DEBRAN R D CAMP C REEK R D FA W N T R GRAN D O AK S LN B L U E S T A R RD TRIN IT Y LN DOE RUN STRATTON PL KEEVER V ILLE RD BAK E R B ARN R D MY PL B LACKB U RN S C HOOL R D E W ING DR M EL R O S E DR JAYS RD B L ACK O A K RD D E N D R COLINY RD T U R N F O U R D R OL A S DR LE O NA R D MOSS FARM RD B U T N E R DR GRIFF IN RD T I P P S R D HIDDEN C R EEK CIR OL D B U FF R D DICKINS O N R D BLAIR DR S H ADY C R EEK D R YO D E R F A RM RD BIS H O P D R LUCKY LN PO N DEROSA RD HU D S O N R D M INI A C RE S LN TR FA R M R D M I S T Y V A L L E Y R D LILLI A N L N P R INC E ST G E OR G E PI T TS R D M A T T H EWS ST B R ICK F IELD ST W A T E RF O RD DR WAL N UT ACRE S DR KAN U PP D R CHURC H DR WES S E X LN G U Y R D WAGON W HEEL R D R H R D C A N I N O H A V E N A U TUMN LN BR A N D ERR D R JOY LN JKS D R KINGSWAY BLVD L OH R LN H OR S E RO C K R D MCC L OUGH R D KA H ILL ST D E ER F IE L D L N G R O VE P A R K S P UR T R E E L N SPEA GL E D R F L A MEVI E W AVE W HITE EAGL E RANC H R D TANGLE DR L E GE ND LN H E A V E N LY P L A CE D R B IG SK Y L N G RO S S R D R I C HARD C A LDWE L L LN S K Y VI E W D R S C H UM A NN L N A B ERNETHY FARM RD BAK E RS GLAD E LN JAC O B DR F L IN T HI L L DR ALEX R D L O U H O YL E L N RHONE Y S CHOOL R D MARTI N MILL R D M & M D R M C COMBS ST RECREATION CLUB RD S E NEC A D R MU R P H Y W E AV E R R D A DVENT RD S US 32 1 HWY ON S US 321 HWY O FF D E AD O A K RD BILL A N D B E ULA H L N WESLE Y CHAPEL RD TWIN PONDS D R BUF F AN D ALL E N R D WO O D T E C H D R COUNTRY VIEW LN RIVER MO N T D R HILLSIDE PLANTATION DR KANIPE D R M EAD O W LN HO L L Y RIDGE DR BIL L I N G S D R G L E N N O L A L N RUT H DR L EIL RD S A ND PIT RD PREACH DR LAC K EY D R R A IN B O W H IL L S D R M A W H UFF M A N RD LO N E S O M E H OLLO W RD WE L D I N G S H O P RD TE A K W OOD R D COUNT Y LI N E R D S H A D O W FA X WYND P E A C E H AV E N DR BR A NN O C K SMI T H D R WA G O N W E ST R D CRAFT O N R D RALPH L RD W H I T E P I NE D R SAR D IS CH U RCH RD R I V E R R U N CI R C A U BL E D A IRY R D M AULDIN RD B R O O K S T O NE DR W ILLO WB O T T OM RD Bakers Mountain Park This map product was prepared from the Catawba County, NC, Geographic Information System. Catawba County has made substantial efforts to ensure the accuracy of location and labeling information contained on this map. Catawba County promotes and recommends the independent verification of any data contained on this map product by the user. The County of Catawba, its employees and agents disclaim, and shall not be held liable for any and all damages, loss or liability, whether direct, indirect or consequential which arises or may arise from this map product or the use thereof by any person or entity. E:\projects\planning\BakersMtn_JacobsFork_11x17_rev.mxd 0 0.5 1 0.25 Mile ´ # * Existing River Access # * Proposed River Access Roads Streams Opportunity Sites Jac o b Fo r k R ive r J a c o b Fo r k R i v er Baker s Mou n tain C r e e k 5 . 4 M i Betw e en P o i n t s 3.5 Mi Betwe e n P oin t s 8.8 M i le s B et w e e n P o i n t s Cam p C r e e k 2 M i B e t w e e n P o i n t s 3. 9 Mi B e twe e n P o i n t s Henr y Fo r k Ri v e r Bakers Mountain Regional Area Jacob Fork Park 2. 3 M i B e t w e e n P o int s 3.5 Mi B e t w e e n P o int s 4.5 M i B etw e e n P o in t s Henry Fork Park Henry River Mill Village 4.1 M i B etw e e n P o in t s
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85 accessible and minutes from exits on U.S. 321 and Interstate 40. How do you promote a natural resource while protecting it for future generations? One way is by including it in a State Park. For over a year, the hidden treasures of western Catawba County have been studied by NC State Parks as a possible multi-site park including both rivers and areas around Bakers Mountain like the New River State Park in Ashe County. The connectivity along the two rivers offers multiple options for canoe and kayak trips from two hours to overnight. Parks are an economic engine. The million residents around Charlotte have easy access to only two state parks attracting two million visitors a year. Those in Raleigh enjoy four state parks attracting six million visitors. That’s a gap of four million visits annually between Charlotte and similarly sized Raleigh. The Hickory Metro Convention Center & Visitors Bureau estimate that the average day-trip visitor adds $50 to our economy. Closing that gap by just one million visits represents $50 million a year. Can we do it? That depends on us completing two steps: First, State Parks requires official authorization by the General Assembly before they can operate in Catawba County. Secondly, a State Park needs land, as condemning property is not an option. So, we need to find willing land owners whether public or private, to donate or sell land at a fair market price. Some private owners have already signed on. Some public owners, like the City of Hickory, have offered the possibility of a donation over 100 acres. Protecting our natural heritage takes time and energy but it is worth it. I hope to see you soon, on the river or along the trail. Serving Men and Women for all of your Surgical Aesthetic needs. Vitality Surgical Center offers a wide array of services including Vaser-Lipo, facial plastics and more. F or more in F ormation contact 828-322-1498 . v it A lity s urgic A l c enter
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87 Oakwood Dental Arts is a full service dentistry firm based in the heart of Hickory, North Carolina in the historic Oakwood district. Our mission is to help you thrive in our town. Whether you have a troubled tooth that needs help or want to get that smile you’ve always dreamed about, we are here to serve. We will work with you to create a plan to achieve the best oral health possible. Let’s take the journey together. 828-324-6235 OAKWOODDENTALARTSNC.COM MCKINNEYDDS@OAKWOODDENTALARTSNC.COM
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90 With one eye on using the banjo to showcase America’s rich heritage and the other pulling the noble instrument from its most familiar arena into new and unique realms, Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn’s second album Echo in the Valley is simultaneously familiar and wildly innovative. “Some of the most interesting things in the world come together in strange and unique ways and show our diversity,” reflects Béla, a fifteen-time Grammy award winner who is often considered the world’s premier banjo player. “The banjo is just one of those things. It’s a great example of how the world can combine things and create surprising hybrids,” a reference to the ancestral African roots of the banjo combining with Scotch-Irish music in Appalachia. Echo in the Valley is the follow up to Béla and Abigail’s acclaimed, self-titled debut that earned the 2016 Grammy for Best Folk Album. This time around, the mission was to take their double banjo combination of three finger and clawhammer styles “to the next level and find things to do together that we had not done before,” says Béla. “We’re expressing different emotions through past techniques and going to deeper places.” The results are fascinating, especially considering Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn Friday January 18th, 2019
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91 their strict rules for recording: all sounds must be created by the two of them, the only instruments used are banjos (they have seven between them, ranging from a ukulele to an upright bass banjo), and they must be able to perform every recorded song live. Fleck and Washburn met at a square dance and began playing music together a dozen years ago, beginning with the Sparrow Quartet. They married shortly thereafter and became parents to a cute little tot. They’ve been touring the globe as a duo for years, almost nonstop but for each other’s performances with various other musical iterations: Béla with the likes of Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, Chick Corea and Chris Thile, among many others, and Abigail with Wu Fei (a master of the ancient 21-string Chinese zither), The Wu-Force and Uncle Earl. With the exception of a few restyled traditional tunes, all tracks on Echo in the Valley are originals, and are largely co- written - a different creative approach from their first album, where songs were mostly his or hers. “This time, we really wanted to truly write together,” Béla adds. “We spent a lot of our time on the lyrics, deciding what we want the songs to communicate, both literally and under the surface.” Echo in the Valley reflects relevant issues while simultaneously connecting us to our past through wild re-imaginings of traditional pieces. New original tunes range from “Over the Divide,” a song inspired by Hans Breuer, who worked to ferry Syrian refugees to safety, to “Blooming Rose,” inspired by Native American voices and lamenting a continual distancing from nature, and “Don’t Let It Bring You is an emphatic mantra for hard times. With I don’t wanna cry, cry, cry, oh, “Let it Go” is ultimately about release from the pain of transition, surrendering to growth. The song acknowledges that we must let our children grow up; the concession that youthful innocence will one day give way to adult cares and worries. Clarence Ashley’s “My Home’s Across the Blue Ridge Mountains” has been turned into “Choose a Job to Transport your Career” Transportation Insight is Hiring! We value the attributes of professionalism and high-quality character. A successful candidate will value and possess these attributes: strong work ethic, strong communication skills, motivation to grow and learn, positive attitude, dependability, responsibility, honesty and integrity. If this sounds like you, please apply at www. transportationinsight.com/about/careers/.
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92 a rural blues, and Béla’s well-known piece “Big Country” is framed by the traditional Appalachian tunes “Sally in the Garden” and “Molly Put the Kettle On,” a medley Béla and Abigail performed hundreds of times on stage before recording. “’Big Country’ is one of the most beauty melodies I have ever heard played on the banjo,” says Abigail, who takes the lead on this version. “Come All You Coal Miners” is the point-of-view of coal-miner advocate Sarah Ogan Gunning, whose passages remain poignant and powerful today. “This song came from a very emotional, mother-driven, daughter-driven, wife-driven place, and there are not many songs throughout history from that perspective, so I am incredibly moved by her,” says Washburn. As the story goes, Béla was struck by the sound of Mr. Earl Scruggs’ banjo when hearing the Beverly Hillbillies theme song. He got hold of a banjo, took his musical namesakes (Béla for Bartok, Anton for Weburn, Leos for Yanecek) to heart, and has since continuously broken new musical ground with his instrument. Fleck has the distinction of being nominated in more categories than any other instrumentalist in Grammy history, and has brought his banjo through scorching hot newgrass, traditional bluegrass, otherworldly funk, modern jazz, African originals, transatlantic Celtic, and classical realms, with two self- composed banjo concertos to his name (The Impostor and Juno Concerto), with a third one in the works. Abigail was similarly jolted into life as a banjoist, but for her it was hearing Doc Watson perform “Shady Grove.” “I was proud to discover that I came from a country where you can hear that ancient sound - from Africa, from Scotland, from Ireland – all mixed up in this beautiful new sound, with those ancient tones in it,” Abigail reflects. “The ancient sounds of our culture remind us who we are, and in them, we see a constellation of who we are becoming.” Washburn has imbued this philosophy in all aspects of her work, from the string band Uncle Earl to her acclaimed solo albums, Song of the Traveling Daughter and City of Refuge, and her semi-autobiographical theatrical work, Post-American Girl, as well as in her musical ambassadorship with China, a country with which she has a long, profound history. Abigail is deftly following in the footsteps of the founding mothers of folk, and has become a prominent voice of old- time in our time while bringing to light those ancient sounds of American and Far East cultures in new and exciting ways. Béla and Abigail’s creative process on Echo in the Valley is sonically made manifest in the record’s major themes of harmony, empathy and surrender. As Abigail explains, the intense, intimate collaboration that Fleck and Washburn put forward on this project required “a spirit of staying strong, but also a willingness to release into the other’s ideas to create something new,” possibly something bigger and more beautiful than one could do on one’s own. This duo is performing on January 18, 2019, as part of the Music in the Mill Concert Series at Hollar Mill. You can purchase tickets at Musicinthemill.com. The address is 883 Highland Avenue SE, Hickory, NC 28602. Doors open at 7:30, and the show begins at 8:10. VIP Tickets $129 / General Admisison Tickets Advance $50 / General Admission Tickets @ Doors $60
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93 4,092 Number of Volunteers giving their time each year to cultural organizations in Catawba County 882,347 Total attendance at cultural events in Catawba County $49,200,000 Dollar amount arts, science and history organizations in Catawba County generate annually in economic activity 35 Number of years of United Arts Fundraising The United Arts Council of Catawba County recently conducted a study to quantify the economic impact of the arts, sciences and history organizations in our community. We learned that the Catawba County cultural community generates $49,200,000 annually in local economic activity, and plays a key role in attracting visitors. The cultural community provides jobs and opportunities for volunteers, and sees annual attendance of more than 500,000 people. The time is right to support the United Arts Fund. It is good for our community, our economy and our local businesses. Please consider a tax deductible gift so our arts, science and history organizations can continue to help make Catawba County a great place to live and work. To learn more about the United Arts Fund, call (828) 324-4906, or visit www.artscatawba.org. This ad made possible by a generous donation from Robert Abbey Inc.
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94 The Folk
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95 Keepers By Carmen Eckard Photograhy by Jon Eckard
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96 C harlie and Susan Frye are the proprietors of Folk Keeper: Gallery and Antiques. I don’t think it would be an understatement to say that they have become the heartbeat of Downtown Lenoir, or to say that Lenoir is better off because of it. I know those are big words, and maybe you don’t believe me. But you’d be hard-pressed to spend more than 10 minutes browsing shops in Lenoir without seeing seeing some of their art. And after spending the day with them, it seems like most folks wouldn’t dream of visiting Downtown Lenoir without popping in to say hello. Charlie tells me, “We are a Team” (The capitilzation is mine, but I could tell that’s what he meant). Charlie and Susan are both artists, and as a team, they operate nearly flawlessly, each knowing their place and intuiting the other’s needs. They live above their shop downtown, allowing them to keep a constant check on the pulse of Lenoir. Charlie is a nationally aclaimed Folk Artist. He is singular in his mission: make art. And it seems to come as naturally as breathing for him. One of the most important qualifications for being called a “folk artist” is that you must be self-taught. So we’re on the same page, I’ll share the definition of Folk Art: artistic works, as paintings, sculpture, basketry, and utensils, produced typically in cultural isolation by self-taught often anonymous artists or by artisans of varying degrees of skill and marked by such attributes as highly decorative design, bright bold colors, flattened perspective, strong forms in simple arrangements, and immediacy of meaning.
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97 “ Teaching yourself how to do something is a very Appalachian Foothills thing to do.”- Charlie Frye C harlie’s paintings are known throughout the art world, and he’s become one of the country’s most sought after folk artists. In fact, his artword graced the promotional materials of the largest folk art show in the nation this year. People are noticing what he’s doing in his sleepy little foothills town. And he’s somehow putting some of that sleepy little town into each of his paintings. They *feel* like the foothills, which means WE LOVE THEM. Charlie and Susan have known each other since they were kids, when Charlie had a crush on her. Honestly, he still looks at her with that same adoration now even as they are happily raising three teenagers, Grace, Gwyneth and Walker. I get the impression that this family is actively living their best life. “ Take what you love and do it until you don’t want to do it anymore. Then go to bed and do it again tomorrow.”- Charlie Frye
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98 Photo by Josh Clark
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99 S usan had always wanted a store, and a gallery and an antique store seemed like a natural fit, and would prove to be very supportive for Charlie’s painting career. But once they were settled into the space, art started to pour out of Susan too. She is now also a prolific folk artist as well, and visiting their store means you might get to see both of them working away, bringing their visions to life. You’ll also see so many things they’ve made, as well as things other folks made that tickled their fancies. Charlie tells me “Our shop is what we like.” You’ll like it too. The easiest way to buy art is to visit their store, Folk Keepers Gallery and Antiques . They also attend several shows throughout the year, including the Kentuck Festival of the Arts, Fearrington Folk Art Show and the Foothills Folk Art Festival. These two work tirelessly to ensure that Folk Art continues to be living art form. They are carrying a torch, holding space and keeping folk . We applaud them heartily.
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100 THE QUIET SOPHISTICATION OF A nimal hide s . by Donna St eel e Far from their rustic beginnings, animal hides are now considered to be some of the nicest, most high-end items you can purchase for your home. Once relegated to Western-themed designs, the most chic spaces now house these classic-yet-trendy hides. Animal hides are excellent statement pieces, and unlike bold patterns, they are easy to integrate into your existing space. In fact, a single throw or rug can tie a whole room together beautifully yet subtly. Animal hides can be warm, luxurious and comfortable. They also don’t seem to show any signs of losing their popularity. Natural products like these also age well, hiding signs of damage. Animal hides also bring nature into your space in a quiet way that is timeless and opulent. You can bring animal hides into your space in many ways. We love luxurious throws and rugs. There are also ottomans and other furniture pieces available that use animal fur, particularly sheepskin. Sheepskin is known for naturally regulating body temperature by wicking heat away when you are hot and keeping the heat near you when you are cold. Keep yourself warm by bringing nature into your living spaces.
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103 Silver was hot on the runways this year and you can expect to shine wearing this glitzy hue. Here a sweater made with metallic wool is mixed with a knit tailored jacket and silver velvet pants. A grey bag with silver details accentuates the look quite well. You can achieve this look by mixing up some of your favorite silver pieces. Don’t be afraid to be bold, and keep everything silver or mix in one accent color if you’d like. Remember: good style is about what looks good on you, and what makes you feel just right. Pay attention to trends, but let your own personal style guide you. Oversize jackets are popular this year, which is part of an overall nod to vintage couture, which we appreciate. Velvet is back in a big way, which we love for winter. It is warm and luxurious, and we’re thrilled to add “hip” to its descriptors. Red was also popular on runways this year, and it’s easy to incorporate into any outfit. We like hues that lean in the direction of wine colored, but all sorts of reds are a go this season. A pop of red is a great way to warm up a cold day. Winter Style IV Hydration is the quickest and most effective way to hydrate, prepare, and recover when the body has become, or will become, depleted of fluid and vitamins. Our special blend of vitamins and medications will help an athlete prepare for a rigorous workout or competition, a traveler reset from jet lag, a patient recover from illness or surgery, and those wanting to stay well and prevent aging to feel at the top of their game. 100% of the fluids, vitamins, and medications are absorbed immediately and provide rapid results. F eel Y our B est ! B e Y our B est ! o ne D ro P at a time . A few of the IV Hydration therapies offered at V-Infusion are: • ”About Last Night”- Hangover Relief • ”The Recovery Room”- Recover from illness, surgery, or Injury • ”Reset The Clock”- Jet lag recovery • ”Game ON”- Pre and Post workout • ”Turn Up The Heat”- Fuel your fat burning Power • ”The Vice Grip”- Migraine and headache relief • ”An Apple A Day”- General wellness (828) 322-1498
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105 FROST, SNOW, SLEET, AND FREEZING COLD!! WHAT IS THIS NIPPING AT OUR FINGERS AND TOES?? By Amber Starnes, owner of Kelly and Company in Hickory, NC 828-323-8477 2613 N Center St, Hickory, NC 28601 Could it be Jack Frost ready to paint a new pattern on a cold winter window? Or is a inspiration for what is to come for beautiful hair trends that compare to a Christmas fairy tale? Icy tones are always a go to for switching up our look in the winter season! But this year we are seeing lots of chalky pastel blossom tones! You can translate this to your stylist by asking for pops of multi colored highlights in tones of pastel rose, peach or almond. For those brave enough pastel plum can take your look to the next level ensuring you are the most fashionable in your friend circle!! If Color isn’t your way of expressing your style with your hair there are other options. Organic color and texture are making a huge come back! Natural colors of gray and white kissed by Mother Nature are excepted and appreciated. Let’s thank Father Christmas for this trend! Messy wind blown looks have graced many salons letting us except the natural beauty we already possess in winter of 2018 we are celebrating what has been given to us in inherently! Finally as color trends evolve and stylist become more artistic one thing that never changes is our past generations popping back up on runways and in magazines! 1990s old- school style is all the rave for winter. Banana clips, scrunchie bands and zigzag parts are being seen everywhere! This may seem like a high school classic but it’s a oldschool trend twisted with a edge by social media influencers and our rising generation. As seasons end and later are reborn it seems like past trends will go through this same transition helping us to appreciate our past. But at the same time treasure the present helping us to achieve winter bliss this season!
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107 At left, Foothills Bear Tee Bella + Canvas Triblend Soft with a stylish fit. At right, Bless Your
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108 SOUTHERN CHARM STAR K athryn denni s TEAMS UP WITH DONNA STEELE TO CREATE FURNITURE LINE KENSIE + SAINT Donna Steele of Opulence by Steele is working with Kathryn Dennis, star of Southern Charm . The duo will design a line of children’s furniture that is named after Kathryn’s children, Kensie and Saint. The furniture design uses clean lines, classic colors and a heaping dose of Southern charm to create a beautiful and cohesive style that is functional. The furniture is crafted for the children to cherish, and is made to be versatile as their needs change. Simple changes and additions allow these pieces to follow their owners to college and even their first apartment. The line is Made in America and is built in Hickory. This means that it’s being crafted by highly skilled hands, in a community that’s dedicated to its furniture industry. “Y’all, the day has finally come!” Dennis wrote on Instagram. “I am so excited to announce …. Kensie + Saint furniture for kids! I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to pour myself and my passions into something the same way I have poured myself into my children. I have paired up with an amazing woman Donna Steele with Opulence by Steele to create one of a kind, functional furniture, that your children will enjoy for years and years. The launch will be soon! Couldn’t hold my excitement any longer from y’all! Love y’all for all the love and support!”
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110 Your beauty , like the natural splendor of our mountains, is timeless. Just like the rocks beneath our feet, Your beauty endures. But unlike the abundant nature around us, which bares marks of time and storms, you don’t have to let time leave its marks on your face. Vital ity Ant i-Aging Center & Med ical Spa strives to help you feel your best on the inside and look your best on the outside to achieve a sense of complete well being.
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111 (828 ) 32 2-1498 www. vital itymed icalspa.com
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112 A Winter Wonderland On the appalachian trail Story and Photos by Kat Dellinger
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114 If you aren’t a fan of big crowds on your outdoor excursions, the one way you’re guaranteed to hardly see another soul is to go when no one else wants to be there. During a snowstorm or when it’s below 20 degrees is the perfect time. Hiking in the snow or when it’s below freezing isn’t for the faint of heart. A lot of preparation needs to take place before you head out. Are the roads to your destination going to require 4WD? Is the snow fresh or has it been a few days and iced over on the trail? Do you know the area like the back of your hand or is this your first time on that particular trail? Do you have the right clothing/ shelter for warmth to last you overnight if something happens and you can’t make it out? Do you have a water reservoir that won’t freeze? Dehydration is a real issue when it’s that cold. Evaporative loss is the main issue - it sneaks up on you because you’re not sweating like you do when it’s hot. All of these things need to be answered before you start your trek. Carvers Gap and Roan Mountain on the NC/TN border is a great place to “try out” your first winter hike. The roads are usually salted and plowed when it snows, but you should really have a 4WD vehicle to make the trip. The parking lot sits right in the middle of the Appalachian Trail (AT), giving you easy access to your hike. One of my favorite hiking partners, Mark, and I hiked from Carvers Gap to Grassy Ridge Bald and back at the end of November and were greeted with one of the most beautiful and challenging hikes we’d ever done. The temperature in the parking lot was 8 degrees and the wind was gusting around 20 mph with active snow flurries. We knew the temperature and wind on the mountain would be even colder and stronger so we bundled up in layers before getting out of the Jeep. I wore three undershirts (silk, thermal and wind proof) and two coats (nanopuff under and down on top). For my legs I wore wool leggings under winter leggings and had a pair of rain pants in my bag in case the snow melted and I started to get wet. On my feet I wore two pairs of wool socks and my hiking boots. I had a pair of micro spikes in my bag in case we ran into ice on the trail (because it was snowing so heavily, we weren’t too concerned with ice). Mark wore just as many layers as I did. We both wore two head beanies, flannel buffs for our faces and down mittens for our hands. We headed north on the AT and into the snow. Hiking in snow is slower because you aren’t as sure footed. Falling and twisting (or breaking) an ankle out there could be potentially catastrophic, so we took our time and enjoyed the trek. The majority of the hike gave us less than 20 ft of visibility. Other times we could see for 100 miles due to the speed of the clouds moving. We stopped for a quick snack on Grassy Ridge and turned around. The snow never stopped falling, so heading back to the parking lot after reaching Grassy Ridge was difficult. A lot of our tracks had been covered up by fresh snow, so finding the trail on the balds was a challenge. Fortunately, we’ve hiked this section of the AT over 20 times and were pretty comfortable with navigating it. With side excursions, the total mileage was around 6 for the trip and we were done by 1030. Plenty of time for lunch and a post-hike beer. Hiking in the snow is pretty singular. When the wind isn’t blowing you feel like you are on another planet - the trees are still, there are no birds chirping in the distance and the silence can feel like a thick blanket. Sometimes you think you can hear the rocks breathing from the water melting and the ice cracking. Be prepared before going out in it. Let someone know your plans, bring plenty of food and water, and take more than you think you need to keep you warm. Above all, know your limits.
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115 wpsymphony.org (828) 324-8603
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116 Knowing You When the wisest men and women share the same message, across millennia, we should listen. From Ancient Greek Philosophers to Dolly Parton, their message is consistent, but don’t take my word for it: by Carmen Eckard
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117 This above all: to thine own self be true. Shakespeare Knowing others is wisdom. Knowing yourself is Enlightenment. Lao Tzu Find out who you are, then do it on purpose. Dolly Parton ‘Know thyself’ was written over the portal of the antique world. Over the portal of the new world, ‘Be thyself’ shall be written. Oscar Wilde There is just one life for each of us: our own. Euripides Your visions will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes. Carl Jung Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind. Dr. Seuss Be yourself. The world worships an original. Ingrid Bergman To know yourself as the Being underneath the thinker, the stillness underneath the mental noise, the love and joy underneath the pain, is freedom, salvation, enlightenment Eckhart Tolle The better you know yourself, the better your relationship with the rest of the world. Toni Collette If you want to sing out, sing out, and if you want to be free, be free. Yusef Islam (Cat Stevens) γνῶθι σεαυτόν (Know thyself) Engraved on Apollo’s Temple I have only two rules which I regard as principles of conduct. The first is: Have no rules. The second is: Be independent of the opinion of others. Albert Einstein To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting. e.e. cummings
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118 Most people spend tons of energy trying to be like everyone else. Or maybe like everyone else, but just a little bit better. This makes for a population that feels like a freezer full of vanilla ice cream. Vanilla ice cream with perfectly manicured lawns, fancy cars, fake eyelashes and sprinkles on top. But we aren’t meant to be like everyone else. Each of us is unique and it’s our uniqueness, not the part of us that can fit into the expected boxes, that makes us special. When we know what makes us special, we better know how to better our lives and make a difference in the world. Why should you know yourself? You will be happier when you can express who you are. You make better decisions that will benefit your life. You’ll have less conflict and resistance. You won’t be so likely to fold to social pressure. More importantly, you will enjoy your life more. Vitality will increase. You will sparkle. Most importantly, you will be singular, as no one else is like you. Your individual interests, talents and skills make you better than anyone else on earth for some specific things. You will never find your “thing” or the best career path if you don’t know yourself. Just being alive until you are an adult is NOT enough to teach you about yourself. It doesn’t automatically happen as you age. You must intentionally learn you. What does it mean to know yourself? It means respecting your values in life, your beliefs, your body, your habits, your personality, your priorities, your moods, and your relationships. It means having a grasp on your strengths and weaknesses (without fearing either), your passions, what scares you, what you want most…it is being aware of the ways you are a total weirdo and the ways that you are like other people you see. It means exploring your limitations. It isn’t comfortable, because you have to look yourself square in the metaphorical eyes. Being honest with yourself about your weaknesses is very hard for some people, but it’s an important step. Required, even, for you to live your best life. How do you know yourself? Listening to your emotions is the MOST valuable tool. We, as people, have two points of reference. One never changes - it’s who we are at our basic level. This point of reference is what you’re trying to get to know, in fact. The other point of reference is who we are in the moment. This one is incredibly changeable. External and internal stimuli are constantly tugging at this. Our goal is to keep these two points of reference as close to each other as possible-TO THINE OWN SELF BE TRUE. Emotions exist as a guide to tell you directly, moment to moment, if you are succeeding in keeping these two points close together. It’s very simple, and once you get the hang of checking in with your emotions, the search for yourself is very easy. Positive emotions-happiness, joy, those exist to tell you that you are moving your points closer together. Things that make you feel happy are helping you stay true to yourself. All negative emotion is there to tell you that you are currently moving those points away from each other. Our job then becomes to listen to our emotions, to seek out happy feelings, and to find ways to focus on our situations that cause more positive feelings. Many times, the cause of suffering is external. Something happens in our lives that moves us away from ourselves and we can’t find happy feelings. That’s OK. Happy isn’t always a feeling that we can get to…it’s near the top of the emotional scale. It goes something like: loving, joyful, happy, Inspired, at ease, hopeful, neutral, insecure, worried, angry, sad, hopeless. So if you’re listening to your emotions to be true to yourself, your goal is to move up that emotional scale. That means if something has happened that makes you feel hopeless, it’s helpful to you to focus in a way that helps you find anger. If you are angry, it’s helpful to find a way to focus that brings you to disappointment. From there, it’s easier to find hopefulness, and from hopefulness, you can get to happy. When your two points of relativity are far apart, take small steps to move them together. Your goal is also to notice the things that make you feel happy or joyful and to put more of those things in your life. It’s to remove the things that make you feel sad or angry, when possible, and when it isn’t, to move up the scale as needed. This is the most simple tool available to us, because we all have emotions and they are generally pretty loud inside of us. We have been taught to ignore and to push down our emotions. Expressing them sometimes gets you labeled as needy, or even hormonal, but that’s because most people don’t know themselves and don’t value what makes them unique. You can’t let that steal your own joy and progress, so trust your emotions and express them when you need to. Take stock of your interests. What keeps your interest for a long time? What fascinates you? What traits are important to you? What words do you want people to use to describe you? What sort of temperament do you have? Where do you get your energy? From being alone, an introvert, or from other people, an extrovert. Do you go with the flow or do you really like things to be regimented? How do you process a problem? What sort of life goals do you have? They ask elementary students this all the time, but it’s better if you’ve answered these other questions first. I never personally knew what I wanted to “be”. Mostly because that’s asking someone to fit their desires and goals into a prepackaged box that’s sitting there already, which
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119 never sat well with me. But lots of people love those boxes and take pride in filling them perfectly. What are your goals? What does your perfect life look like? Take stock of your positive and negative traits. We are all flawed. Being scared of our flaws and hiding from them is destructive and doesn’t help our lives. Being open and honest about our flaws leads to finding ways to get around them. When we know what we aren’t good at, we know how to ask for help. Take a personality test. It isn’t even that the answer is that important, but asking yourself the questions and coming up with the answers will give you a lot of insight. The MBTI and Enneagram tests are both very good and widely accepted tests. Here’s the thing: you might not immediately like what you find every time. You may find, in fact most do, that what they thought they valued doesn’t line up with how they are spending their time and energy. In that case, don’t land on sulky and hurt and stay there. Make adjustments so that your life fits what you are. That, in fact, is the whole purpose of knowing yourself. Until we know ourselves, we put ourselves on a life path that was built for someone else, someone much more generic than us. But when we know ourselves, we become in charge of that path. We can let it meander into places we enjoy being, or we can build a direct and short path that leads straight to our goals. But until we know ourselves, we don’t have the required tools to build a path. The day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom. ~ Anais Nin Your life can be rich and full of all of the things that you enjoy, excel at, and love. The very first step is finding out what you enjoy, excel at and love. The next step is to blossom. You’ll know what comes after that. Use these QR codes to take personality tests which will help you know yourself better.
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120 As we age, we become more vulnerable to certain health issues, many of which go undetected until they start producing symptoms. That’s why it’s important to have routine screenings. Routine screenings are performed before symptoms appear, and designed to catch diseases early - when they’re more easily treated. Below you’ll find screening recommendations based on your age group to help you stay healthy now and going forward. • Colorectal Screening: • Colonoscopy at least every 10 years • Fecal Occult Test yearly or • Flexible Sigmoidoscopy every 5 years • Influenza Vaccine yearly • Sexually Transmitted Diseases, both partners should get tested, including HIV before initiating sexual intercourse • Eye (including glaucoma screening if your have family history or if you are African- American) and Ear Exams every 2-4 years • Dental Exam 1 to 2 times a year • Tetanus-Diphtheria Booster every 10 years • Shingles Vaccine – 2 doses MEN AGED 65 AND OLDER* • Full Checkup with Height, Weight, Skin Exams yearly • Blood Pressure Check yearly • Blood Tests for Diabetes, Cholesterol, and Kidney Dysfunction yearly • Discuss with health care provider about the pros and cons of prostate cancer testing • If a long-term smoker, discuss benefits/ risks of lung cancer screening with physician • Colorectal Screening: • Colonoscopy at least every 10 years • Fecal Occult Test yearly or • Flexible Sigmoidoscopy every 5 years • Sexually Transmitted Diseases, both partners should get tested, including HIV before initiating sexual intercourse • Eye (including glaucoma screening) and Ear Exams every 1-2 years • Dental Exam 1 to 2 times a year • Tetanus-Diphtheria Booster every 10 years • Influenza Vaccine yearly • Pneumococcal Vaccine –two doses • Shingles Vaccine – two doses if you haven’t had the new shingles vaccine that came out in 2018 • Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm screening with ultrasound one time for men who have ever smoked m en ’ S g uide to h e A lth S C reening S MEN AGED 18-39* • Full Checkup with Height, Weight, Skin at least every 3 years • Blood Pressure Check Yearly • Blood Tests for Diabetes, Cholesterol, and kidney Dysfunction at least every 3 years • Sexually Transmitted Diseases – both partners should get tested, including HIV before initiating sexual intercourse • Eye and Ear Exams, if problems occur • Dental Exam is recommended 1 to 2 times a year • Tetanus-Diphtheria Booster every 10 years • Influenza Vaccine annually MEN AGED 40-49* • Full Checkup with Height, Weight, Skin at least every 2 years • Blood Pressure Check Yearly • Blood Tests for Diabetes, Cholesterol, and Kidney Dysfunction at least every 2 years∙ • Colorectal Screening, discuss with MD if you are African American or have a family history • Sexually Transmitted Diseases, both partners should get tested, including HIV before initiating sexual intercourse • Eye (including Glaucoma Screening if you have family history or if you are African- American) and Ear Exams every 2-4 years • Dental Exam 1 to 2 times a year • Tetanus-Diphtheria Booster every 10 years • Influenza Vaccine MEN AGED 50-64* • Full Checkup with Height, Weight, Skin yearly • Blood Pressure Check yearly • Blood Tests for Diabetes, Cholesterol, and Kidney Dysfunction yearly • You should talk to a health care provider about the pros and cons of prostate cancer testing so you can decide if testing is the right choice for you. • If a long-term smoker, discuss benefits/ risk of lung cancer screening with physician
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121 Catawba Valley Health System is providing this guide to help men and their families manage their health. The best way to manage one’s health is with regular visits to a primary care provider. If you do not have a provider, you can call our Physician Referral line at 828.326.2876 to find a family practice near your home or business. *National Comprehensive Cancer Network are the guidelines adopted by Catawba Valley Medical Center’s Community Hospital Cancer Program
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122 Where the Wild Things Are: A Look at How We Look at Scripture by Heather Woods Davis How many of us feel confident when it comes to reading scripture? Would you consider yourself to be an expert when it comes to knowin g your Bible? That’s so much pressure, isn’t? And so many of us leave it to our pastors, scholars, and our theologians to be the experts for us. But I don’t think ‘expert’ isn’t really the end goal. I think when we approach as expert or beginner or something in between—well we lose our sense of adventure with the Bible. Because if you only think of say, the pastor as the expert you will get used to relying on an “expert” to tell you what the Bible says. And when we are constantly relying on someone else…well we don’t learn it, we don’t dive deeply into it and we can end up making scripture something it is not. Scripture stops being our story and becomes something we learn for the test. It’s almost like approaching the Bible is like going to the dentist—you feel like every time you go, you’re supposed to get something extracted—a tooth, the TRUTH, amma right? And so you end up fearful of what the dentist will say and do; in the same you end up dreading going to a Bible study. You feel like you didn’t brush enough or that you don’t know enough—that you don’t understand what you read, in the right way. But that’s okay because the preacher will explain it on Sunday, right? There’s merit to how we view scripture. And fear or dread or frustration are not the way I want you to feel about the Bible. How we see this book, how we see the Bible—matters. If you do a Google image search of the word Bible, you will see a lot of images that are a closed black book with gold lettering. Or maybe it’s burgundy. I mean let’s think about the connection here; between this visual image of the Bible as a CLOSED BOOK and how most of think about scripture. The Bible has a strong cultural iconic meaning— this symbol, just the image itself communicates something very powerful that most of us know, without even thinking about it. As a cultural icon the Bible communicates: -It means authoritative. A book called “the Bible”- is the ultimate authority. It is the first and last word on the subject. -It means univocal. A book called “the Bible” speaks for itself in one, unified voice, without contradiction. -It means practical. A book called “the Bible” promises to serve as a reference manual and a dependable guide for how to proceed along the path its reader has chosen. -It means accessible. A book called “the Bible” promises to speak to anyone and everyone clearly and simply, without ambiguity, in terms “even I can understand.” -It means comprehensive. A book called “the Bible” claims to cover everything human beings may ever possibly need to know about its subject, past, present and future. -It means exclusive. A book called “the Bible” admits no rivals, no alternative perspectives. It is complete unto itself, closed, self-contained within a single book, A to Z, alpha to omega, Genesis to Revelation. Nothing may be added or taken away. The cultural icon of the Bible represents religious faith as what closes the book on questions about the meaning and purpose of life. It puts them to rest in the name of God. “Faith is about believing the right things, and the Bible is the place to find them.” That is what the cultural icon of the Bible puts forth—most all of us either agree with that OR we can agree that, that mentality is how we as “Christians” have been taught to see the Bible via our culture.
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123 How often would you say you read your Bible? Pause for a moment and count up how many bibles you own. Go ahead, I’ll wait….(full disclosure, I counted all of mine, my spouse and our children’s and go a whopping 24) It turns out, people are buying Bibles in droves, but not reading nearly as much as we are buying them. You can buy a Bible for almost any persuasion or personality. The Busy Mom, the Dad Bible, the Student Bible, the Bible for Seekers…And I know what you are thinking, Heather this isn’t a bad thing, right? (Like I’m totally a dad and that Bible is for me.) Well not exactly—but what it points to is that we are searching, as mothers, fathers, students, as people for a Bible that holds answers; rather than the Bible holding stories and therefore meaningful ways for us to encounter and discover truth; ways for us to remember and continue to discover who God is and what God might be up to. Enter Maurice Sendak. Now not many of us would consider a secular Jewish New Yorker who wrote his most famous children’s story in the 60’s where we might go to think about Scripture. But preaching professor and scholar, Dr. Anna Carter Florence insists that if we are to break the cycle of dependency and entitlement, if we can break down our hope of “making sense of the Bible”, then she insists that we have to set ourselves loose with the text. And you know what? That is going to be hard for us. Even the mention of letting loose no matter the subject has some of us sweaty palmed and nervous. But if we are to let the Bible free of the chains that say it is a book only for answers, a book only about black and white certainty, if we are to let the Bible breathe a little—then we too must let loose a little. Or a lot. We must learn to stop merely talking about the biblical story on Sundays and start living as people who have been let loose with it. Because the scriptures are wild and dangerous and revealing. If we let ourselves loose with the Bible we will discover that scripture is wild. And if we start reading scripture together the words we speak are wild and let loose in the room and we don’t control what they do or where they will go. We don’t know what will happen except that it will be the wild and free vision of God’s reign breaking its way in. Imagine that! The wild and free vision of God’s reign breaking in on us, can happen if we will let ourselves loose with this book! So let the wild rumpus start, Maurice Sendak. Let’s put on our wolf suit and make mischief with the text. Ask the questions you never dared. Tease out a scenario even if it seems ludicrous. Look at the edges and see what is lurking, ducking, hiding, flitting, sneaking, pouncing, breathing just at the edges for us to see. Because, scripture is art. “[Our] scripture encounters us in so many rich ways. It is a storehouse of knowledge. It is a sourcebook of wisdom. AND it is art. Poetry, proverb, novella, epistle, epic, memoir, farce, myth. Our scripture is art. When you interact with art, you have to take a different approach.” In that space of making mischief isn’t important how much you do or do not know about the Bible. It isn’t important if you are the expert or the beginner. In the space of making mischief the credentials you bring is you—your stories, your life, your knowledge of who God is and what you see God doing. You are the one who is willing to sail in and out of weeks and days and even a whole year to land on the island where the wild things are. We need to be free enough to see where the text takes us. Letting loose with the text will free you—because when you approach it as art it frees you from the need to explain it or solve it, or torture a meaning out of it—we do so much better at making mischief; we’re less self- conscious, less burdened about the outcome; we can set aside the old ways we read the biblical text and be open to something new. “When the people of God read scripture together in a let loose, wild rumpus (mischief making) sort of way; with no other purpose than to simply speak and listen to the words that are written—the same thing happens every time—we discover our script that is in scripture. We see that our biblical scripture is a collection of scripts that God has given us to rehearse until something true emerges.” Start with verbs first. Verbs are cross cultural; we know what fear and shame, love and joy are. We know that to try and sew fig leaves together for a loincloth is as ridiculous as trying to hide from God. We know the verbs. Maybe skipping supper like Max is a good idea; I mean what have we really been feasting on this whole time? Empty calories? And when we open up our Bibles, do you think there are wild beasts out there waiting to devour us or are they ready for us to join them, exploring what the triune God is doing in this great world? It is time to make mischief with the text. Let loose. Let the wild rumpus begin.
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124 Known. by Leeann Mangum Three hundred and twenty. The number swirls in my head as I pour the formula in the bottle and shake. Three hundred and twenty. “I want more cereal please mama.” There are three hundred and twenty children in foster care in the county we live in. Two of them live with me. Sometimes, two out of three hundred and twenty feels like a drop in the ocean, insignificant and small. Small. His small pudgy hand grabs for the floor as he learns to crawl. Her small eyes light up with laughter as my husband tosses her up in the air. I do not know the three hundred and twenty. I know the two. I know what day his cheek muscles parted into his first toothless grin. I know the day she came to us, too scared to sleep so we rode around in the car until the crying gave into exhaustion. I know the softness of his baby skin after a bath and the way he smells after he is milk drunk on a bottle. I know the day she conquered her fear and went down the slide at the pool. I know. I drink from my “mom” coffee mug. “No Morning Sickness, Just Papercuts” it reads on the side. This has become my battle cry – a way of normalizing this journey we find ourselves on. Every journey – at least ones worth anything – come with hardship. This journey is no different. We have given up the luxury of sharing DNA and a last name to know two of the three hundred and twenty. Their days are pieced together from court date to court date as their permanency is decided. I sit in court and hear her life story, the story I know. This life story which has
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125 taken three years to live is recounted in two minutes. The words spoken are not the story of the dimples on her face when she laughs or the look of fear in her eyes when she thinks she is being left. The words spoken are the short version of the moments that have defined her life in her short three years. I know the timeline and dates better than the social worker telling the story. I know her story – someone has to. Three hundred and twenty. Most people do not want to dive into the uncertainty of foster care. But somebody has to dive to know. To know the three hundred and twenty. I know the two. When she cries my name in the middle of the night to come hold her; when he squeals when I walk in the room, I know. I know, they know they are known. Children are meant to be in families - would you like to find out more about how you can welcome a child in foster care into your family? Visit https://www.adoptuskids.org/ adoption-and-foster-care/how-to-adopt-and-foster/state-information/north-carolina for more information about your local foster care agency or speak with your local county Social Services. Want to help, but not ready to have a child in your home? Foster care is more than foster parents - it is a wide arrangement of Guardian Ad Litems, donors and support systems. To find out to how to become a Guardian Ad Litem and represent a child in court, visit https://volunteerforgal.org/. For other ways to support children in foster care, contact foster care agencies at near you, listed at adoptuskids.org.
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126 Dear David, Everyone always says "Be yourself" but how are you supposed to know what "Yourself" is? Sincerely, Confused in Consciousness Dear CIC, This is certainly a question for the ages and one that neither I nor most have an easy answer for. My immediate thoughts however, turn to passion. In my classroom and with my clients I often ask what makes someone passionate. What fires the engine of the hearts and minds to motivate them to move forward each day? Being able to clearly articulate and identify this often gets us on the path of figuring out who we are, at our core. It is also my observation that children are typically much more sure of who they are, before we socialize them to manage and control it in favor of fitting in. From this perspective “being yourself” is often actually uncovering the person that is already there and being them on purpose regardless of what others think. With hope to be helpful, DavidZealy-Wright LPC, LCAS, CSS Dear SAD, Seasonal Affective Disorder is a common experience for many of us as the temperatures drop and it suddenly is dark before dinner. A few suggestions would be to consider taking Vitamin D to compensate for the lack of sun as well as consider some light therapy. It is also important to make specific plans to get out of the house and connect with friends and or loved ones during the cold months. It is not uncommon to feel isolated if family is not near or there is simply less of a desire to get out in the cold. If family is not nearby or healthy for you to be around, try to set up a regular lunch or dinner date with a friend each week. Consider joining a book club or volunteering for a local nonprofit. There are many worthy causes in our area that are always looking for new volunteers to assist the populations they serve. Depending on the severity of your feelings of sadness and or isolation you may also consider consulting with a therapist to assess if there is a more serious issue present. With hope to be helpful, DavidZealy-Wright LPC, LCAS, CSS Dear David, When the weather is cold, I always feel a little extra isolated and a little extra sad. What can I do to feel more connected and happier? Sincerely, Seasonally Affected Depressive
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127 We are the preferred providers of oral surgery, wisdom teeth and dental implants for many area employers. No matter where your patients live or work, they’re close to one of our offices in Hickory, Lincolnton, and Statesville. Visit our website at www.omsdrs.com for a complete listing of participating employers and dental plans. Visit any of our three convenient offices!
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129 Winter is my favorite time of year! I love the idea of snow and twinkling lights but I am not sold on hosting my upcoming wedding during the winter season. What should I consider about the pros and cons of hosting a winter wedding? Winter is a lovely time to host a wedding but you must consider that the wedding should be inside as well as the reception, unless you choose to get married closer to the equator. You must also be completely cognizant that weather plays a major role in the overall planning of a winter wedding. Over the past few years the piedmont of North Carolina has experienced milder winters. We potentially have one or two snows and minor icing but not nearly to the extreme you would find in the mountains or northern areas of the United States. If you choose to host a winter wedding you should have plans for inclement weather to assist with guest travel to your venue. Contracting drivers through an established and insured agency to provide shuttle services is a wonderful idea. You should also discuss inclement weather planning with the venue you contract for the ceremony and reception, as well as the caterers, to see what their policies are concerning snow, ice, etc. as to their operations. Personally I have planned and coordinated winter weddings that have occurred during snow storms, and although it was a little more work to get guests to and from the event, the winter white coating on the ground added such a beautiful flair the wedding pictures, as well as the ambiance and feel of the day. There are many pros to a winter wedding. This is not considered a “wedding season” so you may find better rates on rooms, entertainment and venue costs. Generally you are not fighting for your “date” with others as there are many more options. If you are hot natured you can definitely benefit from the cooler temperatures as well. The lack of humidity will make any bride completely happy. Concerning décor, darker jewel tones for floral and dresses set a romantic backdrop. You may also choose to get married in December when more venues are set up for the holiday’s cutting your décor budget in half. A winter wedding is definitely more cost effective for the couples budget, just be positive that you have made sure that all details are covered. Eventfully yours, Tara B Tara H. Bland is owner and event specialist of Tara B’s Eventful Planning and It’s My Party Rentals. Tara has planned, designed and directed weddings and events for the past 18 years in the Foothills of North Carolina. Event fu ll y Yours. . .
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130 Rosemary’s Remembrances by Carmen Eckard Photo by Jon Eckard
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131 I reckon I’m getting old. That’s why I’ve decided to write all this down. I was writing my Last Will and Testament (not that I have much money to leave folks) but I realized the things I really wanted to leave to people, well they won’t hardly know what they are, so I figure I need to tell ‘em. I’m full of stories, but people are too busy for that these days. Anyway, I don’t even think I’m good at tellin’ tales, so I guess I feel better about writing them down and tucking them away. I suppose everybody collects stuff over the years, but I’ve tried to only hang onto the things that’s real beautiful to me, or make me remember something I love to remember. I’m gonna write about what each one of these things make me remember, and I might ramble, but darlings, my memory rambles these days, so it is what it is. Rosemary and Rue I’m starting with the one that makes me remember the hardest and brightest. If you’re reading this, you probably know me, and if you know me, you’ve probably seen the embroidery piece hanging in my dining room. It says: For you there’s rosemary and rue; these keep Seeming and Savour all the winter long: Grace and remembrance be to you. Most people think it’s a bit of nonsense but it’s really a quote from Shakespeare, from The Winter’s Tale. And that’s appropriate because that piece brings me right back to the winter of 1960, when I was 16 years old. It was one of the worst winters anyone could remember. We lived near the top of Long Arm Mountain, which is before the mountains get too mountainy. We weren’t usually isolated from the world, but that winter, we couldn’t get anywhere. It snowed almost every other day, like clockwork. It must of been February 13th that it all started because I remember that it ruined my Valentines plans and I was sore about it. The first blizzard swallowed up the roads. We hunkered down. We kept a fire burning, we kept our livestock alive, even bringing them all inside more than once. Mama had been canning food for near two decades and we had plenty to eat, but it was close quarters for us. My mama, Rue, and my Daddy, Earl and me, plus our two cows, two dogs and 8 chickens in our little house. Seemed like plenty of room all year long, with those cows and chickens outside of course, but suddenly, it was pretty tight. Felt like everyone’s breath was right up on your neck just about all the time.
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132 We only had two books in the house: the Bible and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare . Mama read to me from one book or the other every night of my life, ‘til I was old enough to read myself, then we took turns. After the first week of being snowed in, she settled in to reading me The Winters Tale . She had the sweetest, softest Southern lilt, and once Mama settled into Shakespeare’s rhythm, it was like listening to music. When she came to this passage, she paused before reading our names, a smile hiding at the corner of her mouth. “For you there’s rosemary and rue” Up to that minute, I didn’t know Rue was a plant. I thought it was just my Mama’s name, and I don’t think she knew it was a plant either. The footnotes said rue was “an evergreen plant used medicinally”. I was filled with joy at the idea that my Mama and I were both named for something so similar, and that Shakespeare put the words together. Rosemary and Rue. Rosemary and Rue. Rosemary and Rue. Just whispering it made me feel joyful. The second blizzard swallowed up the yard. The snow was so deep it was dangerous to walk in. We hunkered down harder. The wind coming down the chimney kept putting out our fire, but we worked to fight the bitter cold. We ate more green beans, more canned beets and the last of our bacon. We huddled closer together, warming our hands by the fire. We were getting a little cagey. Mom could tell we both needed a distraction so she asked me if I finally wanted to learn how to stitch. Usually her requests for me to learn to stitch were met with groans and dramatic rolls of my eye. I’d take those back now if I could. I miss my Mama everyday even all these years later and I regret all the sass I gave her. But that day, learning to stitch seemed like a grand idea. Planning is the first step of any thing good, so we talked over what our first project would be. I knew from the start I wanted it to say “For you, there’s Rosemary and Rue”. My Mama thought we should write the whole verse, which suited us well, especially as we were trying to gracefully weather a hard winter. We opened up her cedar chest, which was a rare treat. The earthy scent enveloped me and I closed my eyes as my Mama lifted up a box of colorful thread, with fabric and a hoop. Again, I felt joy. And connected to my Mama in a special way, like I knew her secrets. Even now a whiff of cedar takes me back to that very second. We stitched. We talked. We stitched more. My Daddy--he was there, quietly, but in my memories, it’s just me and my Mama, endlessly stitching, talking, laughing, loving. The third blizzard swallowed the world. Walking outside meant risking your life. We lost one of our cows and 4 of our chickens. With snow so thick you couldn’t see, keeping the livestock close and alive proved impossible. And still, we stitched. It was during the third blizzard, when it snowed so hard the whole sky was white, that I first noticed my Mama’s cough. But still, we stitched and we talked and we laughed. That laughter was ending with coughs more often than it didn’t. Mama always kept a good herb garden, and we
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133 had lots of dried herbs in our kitchen. I made her tea with honey and brought her blankets to keep warm. The fourth blizzard swallowed our lives. Drifts of snow higher than the walls of our house made any notion of escape or rescue impossible. We had no way to contact anyone. Actually, after all the snow melted, we found a pallet of food and supplies that the government had dropped, but it had fallen silently in the snow and was covered instantly. We still had food thankfully, but our only water supply was melted snow. My dad started fraying at the edges a bit-- I’d call it cabin fever. My Mama said he was stir crazy. He yelled a lot. I think back on it now and I suspect my Daddy had a drinking problem, and he ran out of drink during the storm. Like a lot of people in these hills, my Daddy had a proper still. He’d built it a few years earlier and made a good drink. That still got busted up a few years later by Sheriff Oaks, like about half the rest of the county’s. I reckon not being able to get to his still was making my Daddy on edge. We stitched. We whispered. We really didn’t laugh anymore. And my Mama’s cough got worse. I could see the worry behind her eyes. We finished our stitching. It was beautiful, but it didn’t ring true anymore. We were not keeping our Seeming and Savour. The fifth blizzard swallowed my Mama. On the first day of that blizzard she started coughing up blood, and there was no help to be had. My Daddy, he was a mess. He couldn’t decide if he wanted to cry or hollar, so he settled on both. I spent the days keeping the fire going, worrying about how small our log pile was, and making tea and food. In my spare time, I sat next to my Mama and read her Shakespeare. We’d been distracted by all the stitching and we hadn’t finished The Winters Tale , so I picked up where she left off. She savored the story, especially the part where Hermione, who had been frozen into a statue, came back to life. She laughed in delight when it happened, which set off a coughing fit that broke my heart. She faded, and we tried to help, but we couldn’t. That Winter was a ravenous thief. By the time the snow melted, my Mama was gone. She took my childhood with her, although it wasn’t her fault. Maybe it was the Winter that took that too. Couldn’t be helped, either way. But after that, I was a woman, just as quick as a flash. So I reckon I always kept this on my wall because it brings me memories of innocent joy, even as it follows them with heartbreak. It makes me feel, and I think that’s the most important part of being human, to feel. Grace and Remembrance be to you.
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134 A Winter Ride Amy Lowell, 1874 - 1925 Who shall declare the joy of the running! Who shall tell of the pleasures of flight! Springing and spurning the tufts of wild heather, Sweeping, wide-winged, through the blue dome of light. Everything mortal has moments immortal, Swift and God-gifted, immeasurably bright. So with the stretch of the white road before me, Shining snow crystals rainbowed by the sun, Fields that are white, stained with long, cool, blue shadows, Strong with the strength of my horse as we run. Joy in the touch of the wind and the sunlight! Joy! With the vigorous earth I am one. I dreamt I woke in winter— even the river silent, its tongue caught mid- sentence, like mine when someone looks at me too closely. It had been years since I understood winter so well I knew it to be inside my own bone-cage, since I had smelled that kind of white. SNOW WHITE Katherine Riegel
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135 Photo by Mike Koenig MikeKoenig.org White of the frozen rabbit my spaniel dragged in from the back yard, white of horse-breath in the barn, white of birds so desperate for seed they pretend colorlessness— except the cardinal, drop of heat, too neat to be blood, too brave to be symbol. I woke in winter and almost-knew what I had always almost-known, back in those dark five o’clock walks home for dinner: something about loneliness living in the well of the throat, something about fur and burrowing and black eyes waiting for the thaw.
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137 A Winter Blue Jay Sara Teasdale, 1884 - 1933 Crisply the bright snow whispered, Crunching beneath our feet; Behind us as we walked along the parkway, Our shadows danced, Fantastic shapes in vivid blue. Across the lake the skaters Flew to and fro, With sharp turns weaving A frail invisible net. In ecstasy the earth Drank the silver sunlight; In ecstasy the skaters Drank the wine of speed; In ecstasy we laughed Drinking the wine of love. Had not the music of our joy Sounded its highest note? But no, For suddenly, with lifted eyes you said, “Oh look!” There, on the black bough of a snow flecked maple, Fearless and gay as our love, A bluejay cocked his crest! Oh who can tell the range of joy Or set the bounds of beauty?
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138 For too long now, as I see it, there has been a smart handful of us ol’ girls that have been quiet for too long, like we’d been told to be. I figure it’s time to get loud, manners or reputations or not. Sometimes, we need to speak up, lest the devils win. They won’t win today, my sisters. Not today, nor ever again. If, and only if, you get loud. If you stand out on the front porch here and look real close, you can see the devil’s old house over there on the mountain. Nobody lives there now, and the house is all but fallen in. In front of that ol’ woebegone house stands a stately buck deer, his crowned head held high and regal against the fog and lingering snow. I see him out there right now, all glorious and proud against the backdrop of the white mountain and what’s left of that house where the devil used to live. He reminds me of Aunt Margene and Mama and Big Ruby and Snoot. He reminds me of… me. That ol’ deer stands there like he owns the place. I reckon he does. I’ll get back to the devil in a minute. Matter of fact, there were several devils running around here back in the day. I’d wager there’s still a few devils out there somewhere. Granny always talked about sheep’s clothin’ and sweet talkin’ and hot mouths that’ll tell us we’re the only ones, even when the ol’ noisy girls like Ruby and Mama and Cousin Snoot know better. Oh, yes, we know better. And so do you. And we’ve been silent for too long, just like we’d been told to be, but now the roost is open for rule. I reckon it’s time we become noisy ol’ girls like them. We’re past due, truth be told. In the warmth of the kitchen, Big Ruby is cooking something good. My nose can’t tell just yet what exactly it is, but ol’ Ruby ain’t never fixed a bad meal, and that’s the truth. I hear her slurping up a quick taste. It might be a venison stew. I hope not. I never could stomach venison. It’s too wild for my tastes, like that buck deer standing there on the mountain where the devil used to live. It’s too wild like us ol’ noisy girls. Wild and noisy things like us should only be in storybooks and love songs. You know it’s the truth. We don’t belong in a bowl or on some hapless plate. I hope it’s a good vegetable soup with plenty of tomatoes, the ones that Granny saved and canned up last September. I hope it’s got last summer’s green beans and sweet corn and taters in it. I’d even welcome a handful of lima beans or some okra and macaroni. I hope Big Ruby ain’t licked the spoon and put it back in the soup. Even if she has, I’ll eat it just the same. And I hope she makes cornbread to go with it, with plenty of lard or bacon grease and Granny’s homemade cow butter. I hear that ol’ iron skillet crackling and popping (it sounds like lard to me), and then Big Ruby starts singing along to the radio, her smooth voice lilting and ringing throughout the old house like a regular summer bird. It goes with everything, her singing. Like I said, Big Ruby ain’t never fixed a bad meal, despite what she’s been through, and those old songs she sings are like a dessert before dinner. It’s a Patsy Cline song, I think. I …fall …to pieces… Big Ruby would never fall to pieces. There was too much of her, both in body and in talk. She was Granny’s oldest girl, my Aunt Ruby, and buddy, she’d had a time. Her first husband, a handsome but shifty boy with a little bit of family money, left her when You ol’ Noisy Girls by Anna Wess at Appalachian Ink
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139 she was expecting Cousin Snoot. He left her for some floozy up in Grundy, and Ruby was never the same, or so I’ve been told. Granny had chased that boy off the hill with threats of hell fire, but he just kept running until he got to Buchanan County. He’d send Snoot a dress or two or a birthday card with fifty dollars or so in it. Small price to pay for having no daddy, I reckon. Aunt Margene was just a young girl then, but she remembers just fine how her big sister’s first devil came up here and broke all our hearts, especially Ruby’s and Snoot’s. Now Ruby was a lovely woman in her younger days, with coal-black hair and crystal blue eyes and loud laughter that would shake the sadness off a widow woman. She was once as dainty and svelte as Granny and Aunt Margene. But now, Big Ruby is…big. She’d make a good three or four of Granny, and that’s the truth. Too much lard in that cornbread, I reckon. Anyhow, Big Ruby married another fella when Cousin Snoot was a little girl, a fella that worked down at the Winn Dixie in the meat department. Granny said ol’ Winn Dixie took a liking to Ruby because he figured her first devil had left her some of that family money of his. That’s how it is in a small town, you know. Everybody knows who you’ve been with and where, and often times, they’ll use it against you. He was a pig’s ass, I’d heard Granny say. And then they’d go talk in secret about what Winn Dixie had done to Cousin Snoot after she’d come home from school when Ruby was slaving away down at the Mattie Williams Hospital in the kitchen, and how she’d found out about it and pulled her revolver on him and dared him to set foot in her house again. After that, Ruby gave up on a husband, and
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140 Snoot slept with her mama until she was in high school, and that’s the truth. Snoot had bad dreams and woke up talking about ghosts and such. And then Snoot up and married a boy with some family money and broke Ruby’s heart again. And not long after that, Snoot altogether disappeared, leaving that boy and her mama for a place where no memories lived. Snoot ain’t never said anything about it at all, but I wish she would. We’d go and find ol’ pig’s ass Winn Dixie and knock on his door and say, “you remember me?” And we’d ask him why he did what he did to Snoot and if he knows or cares how bad he hurt her, and we’d dare him to deny a notion of it. Oh yes, we would dare him. We might even tuck Big Ruby’s ol’ revolver in Snoot’s purse, just for good measure. If he hadn’t done what he had done, Snoot might have been the sister I never had. You never know. I was nearly thirteen before Big Ruby spoke of Snoot in my presence again, and even then, it was to tell us about her big wedding to some Yankee, some fella we hadn’t never heard hide nor hair of, some fella old enough to be her daddy. I think about Mama and recollect how I was never allowed to go up to her folks’ house when I was a little girl. Daddy wouldn’t hear of it; he’d said he’d be dead and gone before he’d see his daughter within sight of that son of a bitch. And I didn’t lay eyes on my mama’s devil, unbeknownst to my daddy, until my twelfth summer, and I swear, he didn’t look like a devil to me at all. He was just a skinny old man then, with not a tooth his in head. But it was around that time that I learned what he had done to Mama, and her just a little girl like Cousin Snoot had been, and how her own mother had told her just to shut up about it and not tell anybody. Good girls don’t talk about such things. And it wasn’t too long after that when I met my own devil. I wasn’t even thirteen yet, and he was going on thirty-five, at least. And no, he didn’t look like a devil either. Not at all. He wasn’t some stranger. He was an uncle, one I only saw when he needed a ride or a dollar, a jolly, round-bellied dimwit that I’d known all my life. But in the span of one afternoon, after he’d done his best to con me out of my culottes with a box of old cassette tapes, I saw him for the devil he was. And he did it while my mama was in the other room. He was brave. He knew what all the other devils had known: good girls don’t talk about such things. He thought I wouldn’t say a word. He counted on me being ashamed and confused and taken with the idea of cassette tapes. He was wrong. “My daddy will kill you,” I told him. Five words only, but they were salted with enough truth to make him take his dirty hand out of his shorts and stick his tongue back in his mouth and take his other hand off my skinny, twelve- year-old knee. He didn’t apologize. He didn’t say anything. He acted like he didn’t have a clue why I would make such a threat. But he knew. Yes, he knew. I didn’t see him again until the day he was laid out in his casket at the funeral home a good twenty years later. They all know. Oh, those devils are everywhere, I figure. I’d wager that most of us have laid eyes on one or two. Or three, like Big Ruby. They count on us being quiet. Ashamed. Confused. They warn us about our reputation and tell us nobody will believe us. Or worse, nobody will care. Not too long ago, they were right. But not anymore. Not even here in the hills with a clear sight of the devil’s house over there on the mountain. No, sir. And my own girls have
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been warned about you devils and your threats and your cassette tapes. My girls will holler and scream, right after they tell me and Mama and Big Ruby. Like that ol’ piano man said, we didn’t start this fire. But for some reason, we’re being criticized while we try to put it out. If anybody wonders why I go a’ mentioning devils and stirring that old pot, all they’d have to do is look at Mama or Snoot or Big Ruby and a right smart handful of girls I’ve talked to in my time. And you, too. Don’t let them shut you up, you ol’ noisy girl, you. You go on and holler and scream and tell. They’ll listen, whether they want to or not. They all know. They might even laugh at you or call you names. Sticks and stones, you noisy girls. Sticks and stones. But, Lord yes, Big Ruby is cooking something good. I can smell the cornbread and that soup a’ simmering. The hearty scent of it fills this old house like a regular blessing. And you, you, that ol’ noisy girl there, you come on up here on the mountain and we’ll have us a bowl and a slice of pone or two with Granny’s good cow butter, and we’ll eat and talk until the sun sets on the devil’s mountain over there. And then we’ll stand out here all glorious and proud like we own the place. I reckon we do. Anna Wess is an award winning author who writes at AppalachianInk.net. $35 Per month is the Best kept secret in Hickory . Come see what the Spa Athletic Club has to offer. (828) 328-5949 920 2ND AVE NW HICKORY
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143 Moses Cone Manor
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147 Photo by Kat Dellinger. Find info about this hike on page 112