Southwest Virginia Blogs

We all have something in us that makes certain settings very comfortable mentally.  To me having water or mountains creates that virtual space which lets my mind wander beyond the physical boundaries of real property. 

Having mountains and oceans both is pretty special, but  not many places are that lucky especially if you want your water to be  warm salt water.

I have enjoyed living on the side of a mountain overlooking Roanoke.  I have taken many shots of the sun coming up over the mountains or the evening light sliding away from downtown.

The inspiration that you get when you look across a wide valley or a wide open expanse of blue water keeps the wheels under the human spirit turning.

The first step in dreaming is to see beyond your space.  It helps loosen the bounds on our minds.

It was a strange experience for me, the few years that we lived in Columbia, Md.  Our house in Columbia was surrounded by huge poplar trees.  It wasn't long before I felt smothered.  When I got to our home on the side of a mountain in Roanoke, I felt liberated.  In  fact each time I went back to Northern Virginia, I would feel the land closing in on me.

As soon I would cross into the Shenandoah Valley, I would feel like the whole world was spreading out in front of me.  Now that we get the chance to spend some time near open water, I can feel my mind racing across the water.

I feel especially lucky to have lived in so many wonder spots from the coast of Nova Scotia to Roanoke and North Carolina's Southern Outer Banks.

Views inspire us but they can also provide a great feeling of peace as the day closes.

For thee seventeen plus years we've lived in Roanoke, we have taken part in a few peanut discussions.  Among those who really love peanuts, the debate as to which are best usually ranges from Virginia Diner to Hubs.

Once in a while another name slips in, but mostly since people started caring that their peanuts were something other than Planters,  Hubs and Virginia diner has set the standard.

About three years ago, we started visiting Beaufort, NC and were introduced to peanuts sold by local church group under their own label.  No only were they good, but they also seemed better than the Virginia peanuts we were used to eating.  Pretty soon we had brought some back for neighbors.  It didn't take long before we were getting requests to bring back some more of those church peanuts.

They come in glass jars that say approximate weight 8.5 ounces and sell for $3.25 these days.  The thing is that they just seem like fresher and better peanuts.  Perhaps they're done in small batches, but for whatever reason, they're the peanut for us and some friends who have shared our secret.

They have one other advantage, you don't have to go to an expensive gift store to buy them.  In fact yesterday I was headed to Wilmington from the Cape Carteret area at around 7 am.  One of my unfulfilled chores was to pick up peanuts before heading home.

There is not much open at 7 am in the Swansboro area, but the Ace Hardware on Highway 24 was shining brightly at that time of morning so I pulled in and sure enough they had plenty of church peanuts that I could haul back to Virginia.

There was an added benefit.  When I mentioned that we had a lot of rain the previous night, I was quickly told that their rain gauge had shown two inches.   Early morning shopping and some weather information is hard to beat.

Another coastal tradition that we have carried back to Virginia is the Core Sound "Crab trap" Christmas tree by Neal Harvey in Davis, NC.

I think it is a great idea.  It's made from PVC coated crab trap wire.  It folds up easily in a very small size.

Of course the tree won't cause as much controversy as NC peanuts being labeled as better than Virginia ones.

For thee seventeen plus years we've lived in Roanoke, we have taken part in a few peanut discussions.  Among those who really love peanuts, the debate as to which are best usually ranges from Virginia Diner to Hubs.

Once in a while another name slips in, but mostly since people started caring that their peanuts were something other than Planters,  Hubs and Virginia diner has set the standard.

About three years ago, we started visiting Beaufort, NC and were introduced to peanuts sold by local church group under their own label.  No only were they good, but they also seemed better than the Virginia peanuts we were used to eating.  Pretty soon we had brought some back for neighbors.  It didn't take long before we were getting requests to bring back some more of those church peanuts.

They come in glass jars that say approximate weight 8.5 ounces and sell for $3.25 these days.  The thing is that they just seem like fresher and better peanuts.  Perhaps they're done in small batches, but for whatever reason, they're the peanut for us and some friends who have shared our secret.

They have one other advantage, you don't have to go to an expensive gift store to buy them.  In fact yesterday I was headed to Wilmington from the Cape Carteret area at around 7 am.  One of my unfulfilled chores was to pick up peanuts before heading home.

There is not much open at 7 am in the Swansboro area, but the Ace Hardware on Highway 24 was shining brightly at that time of morning so I pulled in and sure enough they had plenty of church peanuts that I could haul back to Virginia.

There was an added benefit.  When I mentioned that we had a lot of rain the previous night, I was quickly told that their rain gauge had shown two inches.   Early morning shopping and some weather information is hard to beat.

Another coastal tradition that we have carried back to Virginia is the Core Sound "Crab trap" Christmas tree by Neal Harvey in Davis, NC.

I think it is a great idea.  It's made from PVC coated crab trap wire.  It folds up easily in a very small size.

Of course the tree won't cause as much controversy as NC peanuts being labeled as better than Virginia ones.

For thee seventeen plus years we've lived in Roanoke, we have taken part in a few peanut discussions.  Among those who really love peanuts, the debate as to which are best usually ranges from Virginia Diner to Hubs.

Once in a while another name slips in, but mostly since people started caring that their peanuts were something other than Planters,  Hubs and Virginia diner has set the standard.

About three years ago, we started visiting Beaufort, NC and were introduced to peanuts sold by local church group under their own label.  No only were they good, but they also seemed better than the Virginia peanuts we were used to eating.  Pretty soon we had brought some back for neighbors.  It didn't take long before we were getting requests to bring back some more of those church peanuts.

They come in glass jars that say approximate weight 8.5 ounces and sell for $3.25 these days.  The thing is that they just seem like fresher and better peanuts.  Perhaps they're done in small batches, but for whatever reason, they're the peanut for us and some friends who have shared our secret.

They have one other advantage, you don't have to go to an expensive gift store to buy them.  In fact yesterday I was headed to Wilmington from the Cape Carteret area at around 7 am.  One of my unfulfilled chores was to pick up peanuts before heading home.

There is not much open at 7 am in the Swansboro area, but the Ace Hardware on Highway 24 was shining brightly at that time of morning so I pulled in and sure enough they had plenty of church peanuts that I could haul back to Virginia.

There was an added benefit.  When I mentioned that we had a lot of rain the previous night, I was quickly told that their rain gauge had shown two inches.   Early morning shopping and some weather information is hard to beat.

Another coastal tradition that we have carried back to Virginia is the Core Sound "Crab trap" Christmas tree by Neal Harvey in Davis, NC.

I think it is a great idea.  It's made from PVC coated crab trap wire.  It folds up easily in a very small size.

Of course the tree won't cause as much controversy as NC peanuts being labeled as better than Virginia ones.

For thee seventeen plus years we've lived in Roanoke, we have taken part in a few peanut discussions.  Among those who really love peanuts, the debate as to which are best usually ranges from Virginia Diner to Hubs.

Once in a while another name slips in, but mostly since people started caring that their peanuts were something other than Planters,  Hubs and Virginia diner has set the standard.

About three years ago, we started visiting Beaufort, NC and were introduced to peanuts sold by local church group under their own label.  No only were they good, but they also seemed better than the Virginia peanuts we were used to eating.  Pretty soon we had brought some back for neighbors.  It didn't take long before we were getting requests to bring back some more of those church peanuts.

They come in glass jars that say approximate weight 8.5 ounces and sell for $3.25 these days.  The thing is that they just seem like fresher and better peanuts.  Perhaps they're done in small batches, but for whatever reason, they're the peanut for us and some friends who have shared our secret.

They have one other advantage, you don't have to go to an expensive gift store to buy them.  In fact yesterday I was headed to Wilmington from the Cape Carteret area at around 7 am.  One of my unfulfilled chores was to pick up peanuts before heading home.

There is not much open at 7 am in the Swansboro area, but the Ace Hardware on Highway 24 was shining brightly at that time of morning so I pulled in and sure enough they had plenty of church peanuts that I could haul back to Virginia.

There was an added benefit.  When I mentioned that we had a lot of rain the previous night, I was quickly told that their rain gauge had shown two inches.   Early morning shopping and some weather information is hard to beat.

Another coastal tradition that we have carried back to Virginia is the Core Sound "Crab trap" Christmas tree by Neal Harvey in Davis, NC.

I think it is a great idea.  It's made from PVC coated crab trap wire.  It folds up easily in a very small size.

Of course the tree won't cause as much controversy as NC peanuts being labeled as better than Virginia ones.

For thee seventeen plus years we've lived in Roanoke, we have taken part in a few peanut discussions.  Among those who really love peanuts, the debate as to which are best usually ranges from Virginia Diner to Hubs.

Once in a while another name slips in, but mostly since people started caring that their peanuts were something other than Planters,  Hubs and Virginia diner has set the standard.

About three years ago, we started visiting Beaufort, NC and were introduced to peanuts sold by local church group under their own label.  No only were they good, but they also seemed better than the Virginia peanuts we were used to eating.  Pretty soon we had brought some back for neighbors.  It didn't take long before we were getting requests to bring back some more of those church peanuts.

They come in glass jars that say approximate weight 8.5 ounces and sell for $3.25 these days.  The thing is that they just seem like fresher and better peanuts.  Perhaps they're done in small batches, but for whatever reason, they're the peanut for us and some friends who have shared our secret.

They have one other advantage, you don't have to go to an expensive gift store to buy them.  In fact yesterday I was headed to Wilmington from the Cape Carteret area at around 7 am.  One of my unfulfilled chores was to pick up peanuts before heading home.

There is not much open at 7 am in the Swansboro area, but the Ace Hardware on Highway 24 was shining brightly at that time of morning so I pulled in and sure enough they had plenty of church peanuts that I could haul back to Virginia.

There was an added benefit.  When I mentioned that we had a lot of rain the previous night, I was quickly told that their rain gauge had shown two inches.   Early morning shopping and some weather information is hard to beat.

Another coastal tradition that we have carried back to Virginia is the Core Sound "Crab trap" Christmas tree by Neal Harvey in Davis, NC.

I think it is a great idea.  It's made from PVC coated crab trap wire.  It folds up easily in a very small size.

Of course the tree won't cause as much controversy as NC peanuts being labeled as better than Virginia ones.

For the last few days, when I have had some spare time, I have been working on a movie using some footage that I shot a few weeks ago, along with lots of still shots that I have taken this fall.  I am trying to do a house, neighborhood, and area tour.

I have always been intrigued with creating the feeling of a special place for someone who has never been there.  I think I first got interested in this in the fall of 1970 after a college roommate and I returned from a trip across the west and up the Alcan Highway to Alaska.

If you have lived on the east coast most of your life, it's hard to comprehend the huge open spaces of the west from a photo. Showing someone pictures or even slides on a screen does not really do the job unless the person has a context that helps them understand the setting of the pictures.   It's also hard to really appreciate North Carolina's Crystal Coast unless you have been in a place with as much open water and blue skies.

Today we have far better tools mostly thanks to Steve Jobs and his iLife suite of applications that were the original digital lifestyle tools.  When you combine them with iTunes, you can create an amazing experience for someone who has never visited a place.  I guess the next step in making the experience even better is creating a podcast with interviews of the local characters who can add some color to the virtual tour.

Using iMovie HD, iPhoto, iDVD, and some tunes from iTunes you can create an impressive DVD that can be played on almost any television including fancy widescreen ones. The first DVD projects that I tried, I used a lot of video, now I am much more judicious with my use of video.  Of course if I had an HD video camera, I might use more video, but you can create a wonderful DVD with mostly still shots and a little video to tie it together.  If you can match some great music to it, then you're much closer to giving a person a feeling of place that isso hard to achieve with simple photos even good ones like the ones I have on my Sunrise Mountain photo site.  I haven't done voice overs yet, but they will probably be my next step.

If you're going to try this, you will not find products nearly well as integrated as they are on the Mac side.  There's no question you can do it on Windows, there are just more pieces to puzzle.

We've come a long way in technology the last 35 years, it's pretty amazing that we can suck video, photos, and music into our computers and put it on a DVD that family or friends can easily watch on their home entertainment systems.  I never would have guessed that this would be as easy as it is.  While it's popular to stick movies up on the web, putting up one that is ten minutes long with audio and high quality video isn't something that I would want to try. DVDs are cheap, easy to distribute, and allow you to see the high quality video on large screen high quality components.

A couple of Christmases ago, I took the time to go through our old video tapes and put together a DVD of the kids growing up.  It took a lot of time, but hopefully someday it will refresh some great memories for the kids just when the memories are starting to fade.  It will also allow the memories to be shared with the next generation.

With the power of this technology, I am really surprised that businesses, especially real estate firms aren't taking advantage of the power of this technology which in my mind is far more powerful that desktop publishing.  A real estate firm could easily bring this technology in house as a relatively inexpensive way to market upper end houses.  Based on the one that I'm working, I think that they could be an exceptionally powerful tool for real estate agents in the tough market that we have today.

With my most recent DVDs, I was fortunate to be able print picture labels directly on the DVDs with my new HP 5160 Photosmart Printer which I got on a deal at Staples for $59.95.  It certainly added a professional touch to my project.

The biggest danger I see is that these projects are so easy to tinker with that you end up spending more time than you want trying to perfect them, but maybe that just my personality showing through.

If ever there ever was a sign of global warming, it has to be that it is the middle of December and two Nova Scotia golf courses reopened this week according to a story in the Chronicle Herald.

That's definitely not the Canadian winter weather that I endured.  Seems like I remember some Nova Scotians once painting their golf balls orange so they could play in the snow.

All  golfers get a little desperate in the winter.  Few of them need much of a reason to abandon even Virginia and head to Pinehurst or Myrtle Beach this time of year.  Now maybe some of them can add Nova Scotia to the list of places where they can do winter golf.

I am sure the province could use the tourism dollars.  It would have the added benefit that the golfers once they got home would really appreciate their home weather.  They probably wouldn't even need to turn up the heat in their houses.

It has been unseasonably mild except in the Northwest corner of the country.  I know Roanoke was in the mid-sixties today and here on the coast, it was near seventy degrees.  I snapped today's sunset picture between the two bridges over the White Oak River between Cedar Point and Swansboro, NC.  That's close to Emerald Isle for those of you not familiar with North Carolina coastal geography.

As far as I am concerned the Nova Scotians can keep golfing in December.  I found plenty to do outside myself today.  There nothing wrong with fishing in short and sandals in December.

Actually the weather is almost springlike along much of the east coast.  Even my buddy in Halifax, Nova Scotia has temperatures above freezing.  The weather in Roanoke has been pretty nice and might even cause your mind to wander to the beach.

Actually the beach weather has been pretty good also with temperatures approaching seventy degrees Fahrenheit some days.  Still we all know in our heart of hearts that this cannot last and that we must have cold weather so the greedy oil barons ( I will leave coal out of this since I don't want to be lynched) can have their pound of flesh.

When we lived in Atlantic Canada, usually about this time of year, the temperature would start falling.  A huge dome of cold air would slip relentlessly south and east.  Each day would be shock to the senses.  Today's low temperature would end up being tomorrow's high.  Sometimes the cycle would continue for a whole week.  One of the worst episodes that I remember was in January 1982.  I actually looked up some weather records and found that on January 17, 1982  it dropped to one degree Fahrenheit in Augusta, Ga. and in Philadelphia.  In that particular episode of cold, seventy five cities in the eastern US set record lows for the day.

That day on our farm (now a B&B) twenty miles north of Fredericton, New Brunswick, and 1100 miles north and east of Roanoke,  the temperature bottomed out after a number of days of steady drops at minus forty degrees.  I actually remember the day well since our youngest daughter was born then.  It was so cold I actually hung blankets over the windows.  Though minus forty was very unusual, even more unusual was the snow and high winds which were said to have gusted to over 60 miles per hour.  Normally when it got that cold the winds became silent and there was no precipitation.  That day was different.  We had a near blizzard in arctic temperatures.  In fact the next day, something that rarely happened took place.  Schools were actually closed in our snow belt district. (The first year we lived there, we had three feet of snow) Officials were worried that students might touch power lines because in some places the snow piles had gotten within touching distance of the wires.

It's hard to say what kind of winter Roanoke will get this winter.  Mountain weather is a huge challenge.  USA Today had an article yesterday, "El Nino promises warmer, drier winter in north."

I haven't noticed if Kevin Myatt has issued his annual winter weather forecast for the Roanoke area, but I did notice he mentioned in his latest post, "Winter weather a matter of ups and downs," that Roanoke and Blacksburg were among the spots that did not have record lows late last week.  I picked up from the weather service that North Myrtle Beach, Charlotte, and a number of areas on NC's Crystal Coast recorded record lows in the seventeen to twenty one degrees Fahrenheit.

I am ready to put in my request for a winter weather Christmas present.  I would like one snow storm to come Christmas eve and be gone by Boxing Day, the day after Christmas.  That should do nicely.

If you are interested in deciphering the winter forecast for you area, here is a link to NOAA's final winter 2006-07 forecast.

The best I can tell Roanoke has an equal chance of being wetter or drier and cooler or warmer.  Just pick the weather you want and wish for it.  That will probably work as well as anything.

The North Carolina coast looks to have a fair chance of normal temperatures with the odds being favorable for a little more moisture. 

I guess we'll just have to see how all this plays out since there is no predicting it.

Actually the weather is almost springlike along much of the east coast.  Even my buddy in Halifax, Nova Scotia has temperatures above freezing.  The weather in Roanoke has been pretty nice and might even cause your mind to wander to the beach.

Actually the beach weather has been pretty good also with temperatures approaching seventy degrees Fahrenheit some days.  Still we all know in our heart of hearts that this cannot last and that we must have cold weather so the greedy oil barons ( I will leave coal out of this since I don't want to be lynched) can have their pound of flesh.

When we lived in Atlantic Canada, usually about this time of year, the temperature would start falling.  A huge dome of cold air would slip relentlessly south and east.  Each day would be shock to the senses.  Today's low temperature would end up being tomorrow's high.  Sometimes the cycle would continue for a whole week.  One of the worst episodes that I remember was in January 1982.  I actually looked up some weather records and found that on January 17, 1982  it dropped to one degree Fahrenheit in Augusta, Ga. and in Philadelphia.  In that particular episode of cold, seventy five cities in the eastern US set record lows for the day.

That day on our farm (now a B&B) twenty miles north of Fredericton, New Brunswick, and 1100 miles north and east of Roanoke,  the temperature bottomed out after a number of days of steady drops at minus forty degrees.  I actually remember the day well since our youngest daughter was born then.  It was so cold I actually hung blankets over the windows.  Though minus forty was very unusual, even more unusual was the snow and high winds which were said to have gusted to over 60 miles per hour.  Normally when it got that cold the winds became silent and there was no precipitation.  That day was different.  We had a near blizzard in arctic temperatures.  In fact the next day, something that rarely happened took place.  Schools were actually closed in our snow belt district. (The first year we lived there, we had three feet of snow) Officials were worried that students might touch power lines because in some places the snow piles had gotten within touching distance of the wires.

It's hard to say what kind of winter Roanoke will get this winter.  Mountain weather is a huge challenge.  USA Today had an article yesterday, "El Nino promises warmer, drier winter in north."

I haven't noticed if Kevin Myatt has issued his annual winter weather forecast for the Roanoke area, but I did notice he mentioned in his latest post, "Winter weather a matter of ups and downs," that Roanoke and Blacksburg were among the spots that did not have record lows late last week.  I picked up from the weather service that North Myrtle Beach, Charlotte, and a number of areas on NC's Crystal Coast recorded record lows in the seventeen to twenty one degrees Fahrenheit.

I am ready to put in my request for a winter weather Christmas present.  I would like one snow storm to come Christmas eve and be gone by Boxing Day, the day after Christmas.  That should do nicely.

If you are interested in deciphering the winter forecast for you area, here is a link to NOAA's final winter 2006-07 forecast.

The best I can tell Roanoke has an equal chance of being wetter or drier and cooler or warmer.  Just pick the weather you want and wish for it.  That will probably work as well as anything.

The North Carolina coast looks to have a fair chance of normal temperatures with the odds being favorable for a little more moisture. 

I guess we'll just have to see how all this plays out since there is no predicting it.

Actually the weather is almost springlike along much of the east coast.  Even my buddy in Halifax, Nova Scotia has temperatures above freezing.  The weather in Roanoke has been pretty nice and might even cause your mind to wander to the beach.

Actually the beach weather has been pretty good also with temperatures approaching seventy degrees Fahrenheit some days.  Still we all know in our heart of hearts that this cannot last and that we must have cold weather so the greedy oil barons ( I will leave coal out of this since I don't want to be lynched) can have their pound of flesh.

When we lived in Atlantic Canada, usually about this time of year, the temperature would start falling.  A huge dome of cold air would slip relentlessly south and east.  Each day would be shock to the senses.  Today's low temperature would end up being tomorrow's high.  Sometimes the cycle would continue for a whole week.  One of the worst episodes that I remember was in January 1982.  I actually looked up some weather records and found that on January 17, 1982  it dropped to one degree Fahrenheit in Augusta, Ga. and in Philadelphia.  In that particular episode of cold, seventy five cities in the eastern US set record lows for the day.

That day on our farm (now a B&B) twenty miles north of Fredericton, New Brunswick, and 1100 miles north and east of Roanoke,  the temperature bottomed out after a number of days of steady drops at minus forty degrees.  I actually remember the day well since our youngest daughter was born then.  It was so cold I actually hung blankets over the windows.  Though minus forty was very unusual, even more unusual was the snow and high winds which were said to have gusted to over 60 miles per hour.  Normally when it got that cold the winds became silent and there was no precipitation.  That day was different.  We had a near blizzard in arctic temperatures.  In fact the next day, something that rarely happened took place.  Schools were actually closed in our snow belt district. (The first year we lived there, we had three feet of snow) Officials were worried that students might touch power lines because in some places the snow piles had gotten within touching distance of the wires.

It's hard to say what kind of winter Roanoke will get this winter.  Mountain weather is a huge challenge.  USA Today had an article yesterday, "El Nino promises warmer, drier winter in north."

I haven't noticed if Kevin Myatt has issued his annual winter weather forecast for the Roanoke area, but I did notice he mentioned in his latest post, "Winter weather a matter of ups and downs," that Roanoke and Blacksburg were among the spots that did not have record lows late last week.  I picked up from the weather service that North Myrtle Beach, Charlotte, and a number of areas on NC's Crystal Coast recorded record lows in the seventeen to twenty one degrees Fahrenheit.

I am ready to put in my request for a winter weather Christmas present.  I would like one snow storm to come Christmas eve and be gone by Boxing Day, the day after Christmas.  That should do nicely.

If you are interested in deciphering the winter forecast for you area, here is a link to NOAA's final winter 2006-07 forecast.

The best I can tell Roanoke has an equal chance of being wetter or drier and cooler or warmer.  Just pick the weather you want and wish for it.  That will probably work as well as anything.

The North Carolina coast looks to have a fair chance of normal temperatures with the odds being favorable for a little more moisture. 

I guess we'll just have to see how all this plays out since there is no predicting it.

I once consider writing a travel book of the new south, something like "Burgers, Barbecue, Bagels, and Beans."  I decided that the research would do be me in before I could finish the book.  Bagels do not seem to be as popular as they were a few years ago so I am not sure they would be a good topic these days.  Beans are a far too complicated, but I do claim to have one of the best baked bean recipes around, "The Best Baked Bean Recipe ever."

I will remain content trying to find the best burgers while sampling some great barbecue when I am fortunate enough to run across a true barbecue joint.  My gold standard is the burger my buddy Stephen cooked me a couple of summers ago in Northern Virginia.  Unfortunately his burger stand is never where I need it to be.

This past week on one of my marathon drives in the rain, I pulled into a Cookout drive through burger restaurant in Sanford, NC.  If you are not familiar with Cookout, you should give them a try.  They have very good charcoal burgers. I have eaten at the one in Mount Airy, NC a couple of times with very good results. 

Unfortunately with my Sanford stop, I was in a rush so I ate my burger at the stoplights while driving through Sanford.  That is not a very satisfying way to eat a burger.  I had hoped to find a Cookout in Wilmington this weekend to actually enjoy one of their burgers, but I did not have any luck.  However, while searching for great burgers, I found a local chain called P.T.'s Olde Fashioned Grille.  One of their locations was not far from the University of NC at Wilmington, so I slipped down there for lunch break.

It was a typical crowded college place where you filled out your own order form.  I came away with a very large cheeseburger, fries, and a drink for $7.  It was an excellent burger.  It is a very different burger from the Burger in the Square burger that I nominated as the "The Best Burger in Roanoke."  The P.T. burger reminded me a little of one from "Five Guys Famous Burgers."

If you are in Wilmington, NC and looking for a very good burger with some salt and pepper home made fries, P.T.'s Olde Fashioned Grille is a good place to start.  Their three locations are at:

Fountain Dr (College)  392-2293

So. 17th St. (Hospital)  794-4544

Military Cutoff (Wright. Beach) 256-8850

I do not regularly use the same pictures on my internet posts.  I try to pick something unique for each site. This morning I ended up using the same shot on Coastalnc.org as I have used in this post.  The picture has such warm tones that it matches the weather, and I could not resist.

I was filling up with gas yesterday, and someone across the pump island asked me if I like this North Carolina winter?  It was pretty hard to respond with anything by a strong yes since I switched back to shorts as my standard clothing yesterday.

I know much of the country has enjoyed some warmer than normal temperatures.  When we have so many other problems to worry about, it is nice to take the weather off the list for a while.  I did notice that my friends in Halifax, Nova Scotia are seeing temperature just around thirty degrees Fahrenheit.   All I can say is that there are plenty of warmer places to flee to this time of year, and the Canadian dollar is strong, so they have no excuse.

It is so bright today that even with a filter on my digital camera, it is hard to get any blue sky.  That kind of problem is the right kind to have.

I do not regularly use the same pictures on my internet posts.  I try to pick something unique for each site. This morning I ended up using the same shot on Coastalnc.org as I have used in this post.  The picture has such warm tones that it matches the weather, and I could not resist.

I was filling up with gas yesterday, and someone across the pump island asked me if I like this North Carolina winter?  It was pretty hard to respond with anything by a strong yes since I switched back to shorts as my standard clothing yesterday.

I know much of the country has enjoyed some warmer than normal temperatures.  When we have so many other problems to worry about, it is nice to take the weather off the list for a while.  I did notice that my friends in Halifax, Nova Scotia are seeing temperature just around thirty degrees Fahrenheit.   All I can say is that there are plenty of warmer places to flee to this time of year, and the Canadian dollar is strong, so they have no excuse.

It is so bright today that even with a filter on my digital camera, it is hard to get any blue sky.  That kind of problem is the right kind to have.

We feel really fortunate to have The Fairway as our local restaurant.  It is a rare place that you can find a great burger and nightly specials that rival any fancy restaurant.

I have had a crown roast of pork chops that is as good as any that I have ever enjoyed.  Then if you are interested in some local specials, you find "Chicken pastry" which my mom would have called Chicken and dumplings.  I will even admit to eating their fried okra.  One of my favorite meals is their steak salad.  Of course I am also partial to their some of their sandwiches since they cook their own turkey and roast beef.

I have also found that they have a reasonably priced wine list to go with those special evening meals.  You can find their menu on line as PDFs at this link.   The Fairway is just south of the intersection of  Taylor Notion Road  and Route 58.  Their location is about one mile from the Emerald Isle bridge.

They unfortunately aren't open for breakfast or on Sundays, but that is a fair trade off for the great food that they offer the rest of the time.  Their phone number is 252 3939-6444.

This morning I read a couple of pieces, one in the NY Times by David Brooks,  "The Education of Robert Kennedy," and the other, "The job's not done," in the Roanoke Times by Jerry Fuhrman.

It occurs to me that one article is talking about learning the past while the other hopes to preserve the past by legislating it. Last night we stopped by one of our favorite spots in Croatan National Forest to watch the sunset.  A mother was there with her young son.  We did not notice him until we got close to the water.  He was climbing high up in a tree.  Eventually we struck up a conversation as we watched the sun burn into the water.

She said that she wanted her son to feel like he owned the world.  She did not want him to live in a world of "no you cannot do that."  That is probably an admirable strategy as long as there are limits to that ownership and an added measure of responsibility.

I am a believer in the government staying out of our lives as much as possible so we do have a chance to fairly own a piece of our world.   Having the government outlaw same sex marriage in our state constitution will have little impact on whether or not people form same sex unions. 

It will not change most people's opportunity to be happy.  It certainly will not help improve the lot of people in same sex unions who help drive our economy just as much as those in same sex marriages.

It is a interesting idea that we can create a more comfortable or safer society by trying to legislate people to be like us.  We are actually better off building a society that excludes no one except those who are a real danger to us.  You should take that to mean, that I am not in favor of holding people indefinitely without trial on charges just because they do not look like me or do not worship the same way that I do.

Is affirmative action a danger to our society?  I can think of plenty of other dangers that I would put well ahead of it.  If you want to see how American culture has changed for the worst, spend some time in our corporations that are held so dear by many in our society.  I wrote about this new corporate society, "Cult of the Buddies," back in December 2004.  That new corporate society is a far greater danger to American life than any affirmative action.  If your position in the corporation has more to do with who you know than what you can accomplish, we have some very serious structural problems.

Our experiences shape our prejudices and even how we write.   My life in Apple's buddy dominated corporate world colors how I see corporations.   I tend to view governmental power from the perspective of someone who got whacked on the head while attempting to go get a burger during the student marches in Cambridge in the late sixties.

I would like to see government have as little power as possible while still meeting our basic needs which in my mind do not include invading places like Iraq for specious reasons but do include providing basic health care for its population.

We have to understand in our minds what government can and cannot do.  Government can legislate all it wants, but if there is no enforcement there, then the legislation is worthless.  We have laws about age discrimination in business,  but talk to any male over fifty in the high tech world, and you will realize that most companies consider older employees an expensive burden even if the employees are highly qualified.  The laws are on the books, but with the current state of enforcement the companies can do whatever they want including putting older employees into situations where there is not a chance to do anything but fail.  It has even reached the stage that there are Dilbert cartoons on older high tech workers like these published this past Thursday and Friday.

Can government fix this? I seriously doubt it, and the cost would likely be prohibitive.  Can government legislate marriage between a man and a woman?  I have no doubt that government will try to do that, but I suspect over time it will fail.

We can all yearn for the fifties and sixties, like George Will in his "In the market for the '50s," or me in my  post, "Growing Up in the Fifties and Sixties."  Yet, society will change in spite of our desire to legislate it into the past.  The best we can do is learn from the past and build a society  that puts as few people at a disadvantage as possible.  That likely means protecting the rights of everyone  to be free from the  "Tyranny of the Majority" or those who happen to be in power at a given  moment in time.

If you think that power always stays in the same hands, that walls can protect our country, or that we can legislate how people live, remember that in ancient Greece, Sparta fell after it built its first wall.

David Brooks closes his article with this very poignant observation.

And the lesson, of course, is about the need to step outside your own immediate experience into the past, to learn about the problems that never change, and bring back some of that inheritance. The leaders who founded the country were steeped in the classics, Kennedy found them in crisis, and today’s students are lucky if they stumble on them by happenstance.

And so here we are reliving the past in foreign policy because those in power thought they were immune from the lessons of history and that they owned the world.

I can remember a lot of Christmas parades when I was a child growing up near Winston-Salem, NC.   I cannot ever remember being at one of those parades and being warm. 

Those parades created a lot of wonderful memories.  Still there is nothing like a small town parade to really kick off the holiday season.  Today we got to go to an old fashioned Christmas parade, and we did not even get cold.  In fact it was a nearly perfect afternoon for a parade.

The parade started a little after 4 pm and lasted for about forty-five minutes.  The kids around us had a wonderful time.  There was plenty of candy thrown to keep them busy.  I put up a slide show on the web with shots of most of the floats and some of the crowd.  It was a great all American event to get the holidays started with style.

I can remember a lot of Christmas parades when I was a child growing up near Winston-Salem, NC.   I cannot ever remember being at one of those parades and being warm. 

Those parades created a lot of wonderful memories.  Still there is nothing like a small town parade to really kick off the holiday season.  Today we got to go to an old fashioned Christmas parade, and we did not even get cold.  In fact it was a nearly perfect afternoon for a parade.

The parade started a little after 4 pm and lasted for about forty-five minutes.  The kids around us had a wonderful time.  There was plenty of candy thrown to keep them busy.  I put up a slide show on the web with shots of most of the floats and some of the crowd.  It was a great all American event to get the holidays started with style.

I can remember a lot of Christmas parades when I was a child growing up near Winston-Salem, NC.   I cannot ever remember being at one of those parades and being warm. 

Those parades created a lot of wonderful memories.  Still there is nothing like a small town parade to really kick off the holiday season.  Today we got to go to an old fashioned Christmas parade, and we did not even get cold.  In fact it was a nearly perfect afternoon for a parade.

The parade started a little after 4 pm and lasted for about forty-five minutes.  The kids around us had a wonderful time.  There was plenty of candy thrown to keep them busy.  I put up a slide show on the web with shots of most of the floats and some of the crowd.  It was a great all American event to get the holidays started with style.

I can remember a lot of Christmas parades when I was a child growing up near Winston-Salem, NC.   I cannot ever remember being at one of those parades and being warm. 

Those parades created a lot of wonderful memories.  Still there is nothing like a small town parade to really kick off the holiday season.  Today we got to go to an old fashioned Christmas parade, and we did not even get cold.  In fact it was a nearly perfect afternoon for a parade.

The parade started a little after 4 pm and lasted for about forty-five minutes.  The kids around us had a wonderful time.  There was plenty of candy thrown to keep them busy.  I put up a slide show on the web with shots of most of the floats and some of the crowd.  It was a great all American event to get the holidays started with style.