Pictured here on the right is Karen Caparolie, co-director of Pilot Mountain Outreach Center, with employees of the local Food Lion in Pilot Mountain and the first carts of cereal purchased using a $2,400 grant supplied by the Food Lion Feeds Charitable Foundation. (Submitted photo)

PILOT MOUNTAIN — The Pilot Mountain Outreach Center has received $2,400 from the Food Lion Feeds Charitable Foundation to help feed neighbors in their time of need. The Pilot Mountain Outreach Center will use the gift to purchase cereal for clients of the food pantry, officials there said.

Karen Caparolie, an Outreach Center director, expressed appreciation for this Food Lion Feeds Charitable Foundation gift, which will allow the organization to “provide a much-needed nutritious addition to our food distribution.”

The Food Lion Feeds Charitable Foundation is committed to supporting families facing food insecurity across its 10-state footprint. Established in 2001, the foundation provides financial support for programs and organizations dedicated to feeding local neighbors in the communities it serves. Since its inception, the foundation has awarded nearly $17 million in grants.

Woman missing after car runs out of gas

Winter’s longest month is almost over

Winter’s longest month now has only three days remaining. The month will soon be history followed by February, the shortest month of the year. Even though February is short it can be our snowiest month and perhaps our coldest month. As January comes down to its final days, the hyacinths, jonquils, and daffodils are preparing to produce spring flowers. Wild onions are showing up on the lawn and American violets now have heart-shaped leaves on them. Spring is over the horizon and 52 days away. There is still a batch of cold weather to deal with before and after spring arrives.

Groundhog day less than week away

The day is also known as candlemas in Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania Dutch have a custom of burning a candle all night as a signal that spring will be welcome. Spring is really the subject of Groundhog Day. If he sees his shadow that day we have six more weeks of winter. If he does not see his shadow, we still have six more weeks of winter. The groundhog is not much of a weather guru!

Getting rid of the creepy chickweed Grinch

The Grinch is green and ugly, and so is the chickweed that thrives during the winter months. It is green and ugly, but it is also easy to get rid of because it has shallow roots and practically grows only an inch or two beneath the soil. It is easy to pull up and throw out of the garden. Remove this pesky weed from the garden or rose bushes before it gets a head start. It is the easiest of weeds to get rid of.

We have gained a half hour of daylight

As the sunsets the wind-down of January, we will have gained a half hour of daylight since Dec. 21. It paves the way for a minute more of daylight each evening when the sunsets. We can continue to enjoy this increase every day until summer arrives and spring is a little more than 50 days away.

Preparing for the mowing season

The garden centers, hardwares, Home Depots, Walmart, Lowe’s Home Improvement and Ace Hardware already have lawn equipment displayed. If you need a new mower, now is the time to shop around for one and compare values. These shops have plenty of mowers waiting for you and you can choose the one that meets your needs. Check your sleeping mower during the last days of January. If your mower needs a tune-up, or some repair, now is the time to get your mower serviced. Most small engine repair shops are not as busy at this time of year. They will pick up your mower, service it, and return it to you for only a small fee. While it is being serviced, let them sharpen or replace the blade and check the battery and belts and get the mower ready for another season of dependable operation.

Making a butterscotch raw apple cake

Apples make great desserts in winter. This is a recipe that combines the caramel flavor of butterscotch with the tartness of raw apples and blended with chopped pecans for a wonderful winter treat. For this recipe, you will need one cup Crisco vegetable oil, two large eggs, two cups sugar, two and a half cups plain flour, three cups (seven or eight McIntosh or any tart apples), two three ounce boxes of Jello instant pudding, butterscotch flavor, one teaspoon pie spices, one teaspoon baking powder, one teaspoon baking soda, one teaspoon salt, one cup chopped pecans and one tablespoon vanilla flavoring. In a large bowl, add Crisco oil, eggs and sugar. In another bowl, mix plain flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and apple pie spices. Add to the sugar-oil mixture, and then add the chopped pecans. Peel the apples, cut into half inch cubes and run through the blender in “grate” mode and mix in a tablespoon of lemon juice. Add the apples to the mixture and the vanilla flavoring. Mix all the ingredients well. Spread the mixture into a 13x9x2 inch baking pan or dish sprayed with Pam baking spray. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour. Cool the cake completely. Mix the Jello butterscotch instant pudding mix according to the instructions on the Jello boxes. Spread the pudding on top of the cake. This cake can be prepared a day before you want to serve it. Top with whipping cream, Dream Whip or Cool Whip if you desire.

Applying dormant oil spray to fruit trees

The fruit trees and grape vines will remain dormant for several more weeks and can still be pruned and trimmed for better production and appearance. On a calm day as January ends, spray the trees and grapevines with a coating of dormant oil spray to protect them from aphids and insects or diseases. A bottle of oil spray mixed with the proper amount of water will coat most of the trees and grapevines with a shiny coat of spray. The oil will protect the trees and vines and will help harvest to be protected from diseases and insect pests. The job needs to be done before the middle of February when buds start to form. On a calm day with no wind or rain in the forecast, the oil spray will stick to the limbs and the sun will dry it into the limbs.

A bit of February lore

We have a bit of cold weather lore to kick off the month. This lore says, “If February produces much snow, a fine summer it will bestow.” This is a positive thought to begin the shortest month of the year. Even though short, the month is capable of dumping quit a few inches of snow. Even though summer is quit a few months away, its always a good thought on these days before February begins.

Seventeen more days to shop for your Valentine

It is getting closer to the season of hearts, flowers, candy and love. The stores and shops are bursting with plenty of hearts, flowers and Valentine gifts. On the last cold days of January, you can warm your heart by searching for and shopping for Valentine gifts for friends, sweethearts, husbands, wives, children and grand-children. No matter whether you purchase gifts , candy, perfume, gift certificates or cards, always include a small box of candy to enclose with the card or certificate, wrap with Valentine wrapping and place a bow on the box. This will make the gift extra special and a more expressive way to show love.

Getting rid of sticks, stones and litter

The lawn of mid-winter is bare, brown and at this time while it is still dormant, it is an opportune time to check for objects such as sticks, stones, obstacles and litter. These objects could get tangled in your mower blade later in the season. While the lawn is in the dormant stage, hidden objects can be discovered and retrieved and placed in the trash bin before they cause problems when you start the mowing season.

Strike is the best variety of green bean

When it comes to selecting the very best variety of green bean, Strike wins over all the rest of the green beans including the great favorite Top Crop. Strike is a great producer and totally string-less. They produce an abundance of quality beans all summer. They are long and pencil shaped and deliver clusters of beans when continually harvested. They will produce a harvest over several weeks instead of at one time. One of their attributes is that they grow upright and are easier to harvest. They can also be sown in late June to provide a second harvest. They are one of the best green beans for canning or freezing because of their uniform size and shape as well as their attractive color.

Keeping road salt rinsed from vehicles

Road salt in the winter really helps the highways to melt snow and ice but is not to good on your vehicle. After each snow or ice event, connect up the hose on a day when temperatures rise above freezing and rinse off all the salt. Also spray under the bottom of the vehicle to rinse off salt. Use a few paper towels and some glass cleaner to clean your vehicles wiper blades and windshield to clean away slush and salt.

Avoiding ice melt and salt on driveway

Using salt and ice melt on driveways can damage the grass on the lawn because the salts will run off with the water onto the lawn when it flows off the driveway. Use the snow shovel to remove the snow from the driveway. Grass has enough problems with the chemicals in many lawn fertilizers and so called turf builders.

If you use hoses to wash cars, fill birdbaths, or water perennials, always remember to disconnect the hoses and cover the faucets with the covers to prevent plumbing from freezing. Roll up the hoses and store them to keep water in them from freezing.

“Learning fast.” Officer: “Ma’am, I stopped you because you were going 80 mph.” Young lady: “Wow, that’s very neat! I just learned to drive yesterday!”

“Bad ride.” Fran: “I’ve got the worst kind of car trouble anyone could possibly have.” Jan: “What kind of trouble are you having?” Fran: “The motor wont start, and the payments won’t stop!”

The cardinal could be national Valentine bird

We can already see a natural Valentine on the front lawn on a mid-January morning when the colorful cardinals visit the feeders and birdbath. Frosty crystals with the winter sun shining on them and maybe a dusting of snow enhances the color of the cardinals. They are colorful in all four seasons but the white background of frost and snow creates a natural Valentine’s card. The cardinal could be the official bird for Saint Valentines Day.

Getting ready for a season of white stuff

Will we get much snow as we move on into the New Year? We are certainly hoping for a few hefty snowfalls and we know most children are also. Now is the time to get down to the serious expectation of some snow, sleet, ice and freezing rain and a wintry mix during January and February. Get the snow shovel out of storage or purchase one now because the best time to purchase them is when no snow is on the ground. Buy a new ice scraper or two and several cans of de-icer spray. Keep several flashlights handy in case the power goes off. Keep a few easy to prepare meals on hand and some sandwich ingredients and snacks for kids on snow days.

Editor’s Note: Community Comment is a periodic column in The Mount Airy News featuring commentary from community leaders in Mount Airy and Surry County.

Growth mindset includes helping students learn to work hard, keep trying, and learn from their failures. As Dr. Carol Dweck in The New Psychology of Success says, “We often ask ourselves when we face challenges, will we succeed or fail? Will I look smart or dumb? Will I be accepted or rejected? Will I be a winner or a loser?”

Painful experiences can be a setback but they do not have to define us. Each of us must overcome a fixed mindset where we think of ourselves as a certain person that doesn’t grow or change. The growth mindset says that our deficits can end up being our greatest strengths once we overcome them and grow to another level of maturity, skill, and passion. We also want to help our children develop this wise strategy for life.

Mount Airy City Schools (MACS) sets a high bar when it comes to academics, arts, and athletics using this growth mindset. The positive culture created in MACS is influenced by many factors. One of those is an environment where you can fail forward, learn from the failure, and come back as a resounding success. This is a personal attribute that is important for students to acquire before they face the adult world after leaving the guidance of K-12 schooling. MACS must provide an environment where students learn this important lesson and develop a winning attitude.

Dr. Dweck mentions a quote from John Wooden, a famous ball coach who says you only become a failure when you start to assign blame. We have to understand that we learn from failure and we learn to “fail forward.” This allows us to become more successful than imagined. We need to replace fixed mindset thinking such as “I’ve never been good at that and I never will, I’m not trying that if I’m going to fail, I always struggle with…” We can develop a “not yet” mentality and understand that a problem may not be solved “yet,” a weakness may not be overcome “yet,” or a skill is not developed “yet.” This changes a doomed future into a prospective positive one. It requires deliberate practice as a step in the right direction. The environment needs to allow for “risk-free” challenges to do better. If you fail then the encouragement is to get up and try again.

Children, when living in this environment of “fail forward,” will take risks, improve over time, and persevere toward success. Their improvement helps them grow strong and resilient. Educators, mentors, and parents can praise the effort and the determination over the natural talent and ability. “Hard work beats talent every time,” as we are reminded by several athletes such as Kevin Durant from the NBA. Students really need to hear how they are improving, be encouraged at how hard they are working, and be coached to be part of an amazing team accomplishing more together than apart. We can be careful how we choose our words, using terms such as, “You are growing and improving every day.” “Keep working hard and look how far you have come.” “To win is to be 1% better today than you were yesterday.” We need to remember growth is a way of thinking not a destination. Once we reach one milestone we can keep reaching toward the next goal. This can lead to a success that before we could not have imagined.

There are many ways this attitude is evident in Mount Airy City Schools. Our academic classes allow students to learn and improve skills through project-based and problem-based learning. This involves posing real world problems and situations and looking for solutions that often involve using science and mathematics skills as well as literacy. The problem-solving approach is similar to what students will use in careers after they graduate. These skills require sometimes not getting the correct answer right away but persevering until they have a workable solution with guidance from a teacher in the room.

Our robotics classes are great examples of this as we have competitive robotics teams beginning in fifth grade. The robotics teams are given a set of problems they need to solve through specific tasks completed by the robot. The robot runs that are programmed by students to accomplish these tasks look simple when they achieve their goal. But often, the precise robot runs take hours behind the scenes including many failed attempts. The students fail on a robot run, they reconfigure the robot based on their previous mistakes, and they find success after many tries. After failures once they are successful they gain points against competing teams. This led our middle school team, The Energetic Engineers, to win when they were competing against 36 teams in the most recent regional competition and both of our middle school robotics teams qualified for state finals. A former student said of the classes that used this mentality, “There is no such thing as failure, there is just an opportunity to get better.”

Another example of failing forward can be seen in our instrumental music programs. It takes hours of practice to be proficient when playing an instrument. Many fifth and sixth graders start out as beginners playing instruments. They may begin playing songs with five notes or less. If you’ve ever had a beginning musician you know they fail at sounding good for a while, but within a couple of years they are playing advanced musical compositions. Students often get the wrong notes to begin with or have the wrong embouchure. But, with daily practice and guidance concerning how to effectively play new notes, count complex rhythms, and develop strong breathing techniques they improve and the music matures and sounds beautiful.

Our recent state championship football win boasts another example of “failing forward.” Several of the interviewees after that game mentioned that lessons learned last year led to the wins this year. Mount Airy High School Football Head Coach, J.K. Adkins, stated, “Sometimes pain promotes growth as painful as that is. We identified the reasons why and we went to work, and the guys have done a tremendous job.” One of the players, Caleb Reid, mentioned the lessons of last year as well. “I think our composure has been better this season than last season. We’ve basically had no unsportsmanlike conduct penalties this year. We just go out there and play football, have fun, and do our job.” As the Mount Airy News says these efforts by the Mount Airy High School Bears will be immortalized forever.

MACS creates a winning culture by helping students to understand it’s ok to fail, as long as you fail forward. We can encourage students to develop a growth mindset that will do them well all of their lives. If you are interested in joining MACS please visit our website at https://www.mtairy.k12.nc.us.

Please allow me to clarify myself, before there’s any shots fired. As crazy and controversial as this message title sounds, I don’t mean you have any variety of beliefs to choose from as ways to get into Heaven. The one and only exclusive way you will ever get there is through Jesus Christ. John 14:6, “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no one comes unto the Father, but by Me.” See also John 10:9, “I am the door: by Me if any one enters in, they shall be saved.” And Acts 4:12, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under Heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”

I have placed my entire faith upon Jesus Christ alone, for my eternal salvation and entrance into His Heaven. What the title of today’s message means is this; we may just barely be saved, and enter God’s city by His grace, our small faith, and only that: or we can enter His presence in a grand, joyful and abundant way. Join me as I attempt to explain this with the authority of God’s Word as my reason.

I Peter 4:16-19, “…For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin with us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?” In answer to the questions this portion of Scripture asks; the end of those who will not obey the Gospel of God, and to “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ” for salvation, are “condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God…and they that believe not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abides on them,” John 3:18,36. At the day of judgment, the ungodly and the sinner will “appear” before God’s “great white throne” to be “judged every one according to their works:” their rejection of God’s salvation through Christ, and rejection of their sin. They will then be “cast into the lake of fire,” “there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” (Mark 9:43-47, Matt. 13:40-50, and Rev.20:11-15)

Now, to the statement of, “if the righteous scarcely be saved.” It is clear that the Almighty can fully save us from our sin, and the judgment. God imputes His righteousness upon us as we have faith in Him to save us, and as we turn to Him in repentance, are willing to receive Him as, and confess Jesus as our Lord. (Rom. 10:9-13, Hebrews 7:25) “He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him…”

However, on our part, we can trust in Jesus for His mercy and salvation, but sometimes our faith is little, and our commitment weak: but it is enough. We can be scarcely saved, and remain a spiritual child; with little growth, and small faith, and minimal fruit. In other words, scarcely, hardy, or barely saved.

Consider I Corinthians 3:8-15, “…every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor …Now if any one build upon this foundation (which is Jesus Christ) gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble (speaking of spiritual value); every one’s work shall be made manifest: …for it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every one’s work of what sort it is. If any one’s work abide which they have built there upon, they shall receive a reward. If any one’s work shall be burned, they shall suffer loss: but they themselves shall be saved.”

By God’s grace there are those who will be saved, but will go in empty handed, and regretful for not being more faithful to our Lord. They will be blessed to be there in that place He’s prepared for us, scarcely saved, but saved none the less.

The exciting and preferred alternative to being scarcely saved and empty of reward is this; to have a big entrance; a celebrated arrival into the presence of our Beloved Lord. II Peter 1:2-13, “Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord. According as His divine power has given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of Him that has called us to glory and virtue. Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these you may be partakers of the divine nature… giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, charity, For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ… give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if you do these things, you shall never fall: For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

We can do our Father’s will, and go into His heaven with abundant reward. The faithful will “bring forth fruit, some thirty fold, some sixty, and some and hundred,” Mark 4:20. II Cor. 9:6-11, “But this I say, He which sows sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which sows bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every one according as they purpose in their heart, so let them give; not grudgingly, nor of necessity: for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound towards you; that you always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work… and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness; Being enriched in everything to all bountifulness, which causes through us thanksgiving to God.”

It’s your choice how you enter Heaven; scarcely, or abundantly; empty, or full. My wish for you is a blessed and prosperous year, physically and spiritually; as you love grows in the Lord, and as you walk with Him each day: then one day, have an abundant entrance into His presence.

PILOT MOUNTAIN — The Pilot Mountain Outreach Center has received $2,400 from the Food Lion Feeds Charitable Foundation to help feed neighbors in their time of need. The Pilot Mountain Outreach Center will use the gift to purchase cereal for clients of the food pantry, officials there said.

Karen Caparolie, an Outreach Center director, expressed appreciation for this Food Lion Feeds Charitable Foundation gift, which will allow the organization to “provide a much-needed nutritious addition to our food distribution.”

The Food Lion Feeds Charitable Foundation is committed to supporting families facing food insecurity across its 10-state footprint. Established in 2001, the foundation provides financial support for programs and organizations dedicated to feeding local neighbors in the communities it serves. Since its inception, the foundation has awarded nearly $17 million in grants.

Spring bulbs getting ready to awaken

The bulbs of jonquils, hyacinths, crocus, daffodils and tulips are now under a bed of crushed leaves. In the next few days, apply a layer of bone meal or bulb booster on top of them. When we get a hefty snow, the melting snow will soak up the bone meal or bulb booster and take it deep into the soil and wake up the sleeping bulbs. By the end of January, they should begin to show tiny spikes of green peeking through the layer of crushed leaves.

Cold temperatures, frosty lawns, icy mud-holes

Freezing temperatures at night and crystals of frost on the lawn and roof in the morning and the cold wind blowing out of the north and maybe the forecast of some snow — January can bring a huge recipe of ingredients. We can have a few sunny days mixed in to make the month interesting. The temperatures during most of January’s days will rise above freezing and this is a blessing because it prevents the ground from freezing. In the Piedmont, we measure our snows in inches while in the midwest parts of the country, they measure snow in feet. In Minnesota when the last snow falls in April, some of the first snow of the season is at the bottom of the last snow that falls. Up north in New England, they receive their share of hefty snow also. A bit of weather lore for these areas of the country is, “if the weather of January is cold and gray, you can expect winter all the way into May.”

As January moves along we are looking forward to some January white stuff to whiten the winter landscape with the beauty that only snow can bring. A snow that makes trees crinkle and stars twinkle. A snow that covers the lawn, the garden plot, the woodlands and meadows and beautifies everything it touches. A wet snow that makes great snowmen and a bowl of Carolina snow cream. The kind of snow that makes the lawn look like diamonds when the street lights shines down on the snow. Snow brings a certain quietness to everything it comes in contact with. Snow has that certain quality that cleanses the earth and the environment and a magic that arrives with any amount of snow.

An abundant year for the 2023 four o’clocks

Hardwares, garden centers, seed shops, Walmart, Home Depot, Lowe’s Home Improvement, Ace Hardware and most supermarkets have colorful racks that are filled with packets of flowers and vegetable seed. Pick up several packets of four o’ clocks while you are shopping. Four o’ clocks come in an assortment of colors that include red, white, yellow, pink and wine. They also come in speckled and marbled colors. All these colors stand brilliant in a dark green, lush foliage. Four o’ clocks will grow in all types of soil and bloom from May all the way until the first frost. Packets of four o’ clocks in stores cost less than $2 per packet. They can be sown in rows or large containers.

Buying a sled or snow dish before snow arrives

As we move toward the end January, the chances of a hefty snowfall are good. Most children and grandchildren are looking forward to enough snow to make a snowman, go sledding, and do snow angels on the new fallen snow, plus enjoying a few snow days. Many gardeners are looking forward for snow to cover the garden plot and the lawn in order to kill off wintering insects, weed seed, fungus and organisms in the soil. The hardwares, Walmart and other businesses are now well stocked with sleds, snowboards, snow dishes as well as shovels, de-icer, ice scrapers, snow melt and salt.

Making a sharp cheddar cheeseburger pie

On a cold January day, sharp cheddar cheese and ground round or chuck make a great cheeseburger pie. This pie has very few ingredients but all of them blend together to form a tasty pie that will make a meal. You will need one pound of ground round or chuck, one eight-ounce pack of finely shredded sharp cheddar cheese, one envelope of Recipe Secrets beefy onion soup mix, one and a half cups of milk, one cup of Bisquick, three large eggs and two tablespoons Heinz catsup. Boil the ground round or chuck until very tender, mash with a potato masher and add one envelope of Recipe Secrets beefy onion soup mix and boil for several minutes. Pour into a 13x9x2 inch baking pan or dish that is sprayed with Pam baking spray. Stir in the Heinz catsup, spread the finely shredded cheese over the top of ground round or chuck mixture. Mix the Bisquick, eggs, milk until smooth and pour over the top of the shredded cheese. Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for 35 to 40 minutes. Allow to cool for five minutes. Will make eight servings.

Cranking up the riding mower

During winter months it’s always a great idea to start the riding lawn mower once a week and let it run until it warms up. Keep the mower filled with fuel to make starting easier. During each winter month, drive the mower around the lawn with the blade disengaged to engage all moving parts. Keep leaf blowers and weed trimmers fueled and start them once a week. A cover for the riding mower is a good investment and costs around $20. It’s always a good idea to keep engines operating during the winter. Wild onions are beginning to sprout on mid winter lawns and you will need the weed trimmer ready to run and trim the onions down to ground level to stunt their growth.

January can bring hard freezes to garden plot

During January, hard freezes are a possibility in the winter garden plot. This is not a bad situation because when the ground does freeze, the snow that falls will have a great chance to stick and stay longer to kill off insect eggs, larvae, and pests as well as weed seed. Frozen soil will also destroy many organisms and fungal diseases in the soil. My mother always said that when it gets cold enough for the soil to freeze, it is also cold enough to get rid of many germs that cause the flu and other viruses. There are plenty of hidden and good treasures and blessings in the cold hard freezes of winter.

Cardboard and plastic bags protect from freezes

During the month perennials such as American Bee Balm, Veronica and Forget-Me-Nots can be protected from hard freezes with cardboard and plastic grocery bags. Glue two pieces of cardboard together to cover the containers or pots of plants. Use for or five plastic grocery bags to cover the plants and the cardboard cover to cover the bags for two layers of protection. Next day when temperatures rise, remove covers to allow sunlight to reach the plants. Replace cardboard and plastic bags that evening before dark. Water very lightly once a week to protect the plants.

Early Valentine at edge of garden plot

As we pass the midway point of January, an unusual heart shaped green leaf appears as an early Valentine in the edge of the garden plot as well as an early heart in the foliage of the American Violet. Their glossy foliage is a herald of Saint Valentines Day and also a signal that spring is on its way. You can start a clump of American violets as a perennial on the porch or deck in a pot or container in a semi-sunny location with potting medium. In several weeks, the plant will produce blooms for almost a month. They will have lush, glossy foliage to continue into warm weather. They will thrive over winter and return every year.

Hyacinths are beginning to spike

The green spikes of the hyacinth are showing up as they appear through layers of crushed leaves as patches of green. They are now about three inches tall and an interesting sign of spring. In the next four or five weeks, they will be having flowers of red white yellow, purple, lavender and pink. They can now be boosted with handfuls of bone meal to promote blooms late next month.

One great reward about feeding birds during winter is that you never know what varieties will show up. Several times we have had crows to show up. One day they appeared and ate at the feeder and the next day we had an inch of snow. We don’t know if they were a sign of snow or not! We do know that crows seem to be more people-friendly than they used to be. Speaking of people-friendly, we think bluebirds are getting more adapted to people. We actually see them several times during the winter. They are really colorful and we wonder if they are like the robins who have adapted to our winters. Unlike the robins who sustain themselves on worms, grubs, and insects, the bluebirds visit the feeders and dine on seeds We certainly hope to see more of them in all the seasons of the year. We do not think it’s global warming, but that the bluebirds, like the robins, are just doing the math.

Three weeks until Saint Valentine’s

Saint Valentine’s Day is only three weeks away and there is still plenty of time to select those gifts for husbands, wives, children, and grandchildren and sweethearts. All the stores, supermarkets and florists have huge selections and choices of flowers, candies perfumes, and when all else fails gift certificates from favorite restaurants, and plastic gift cards from favorite shops.

Fruit trees and grapevines are dormant and late January through February is the opportune time to prune, shape, and trim them while the limbs and branches are bare. All of them are visible which makes pruning and shaping effective. Pruning not only makes harvesting easier, but also prepares the trees and vines to bear more

“Qualities of Life.” Pastor: “Does your husband believe in the afterlife?” Wife: (laughing as she replies) “You ask if he believes in life after death. Why, he doesn’t believe in life after supper.”

“Money, Honey.” Jonnie: “My wife never stops asking for money. Just last week, it was a hundred dollars; the week before it was $100; this week it was $300.” Donnie: “What does she do with all that money? Jonnie: “I don’t know, I never gave her any!”

“Adding Words.” After her husband died, his wife ordered a tombstone for him with the words, Rest in Peace. When she later found out her husband left her nothing in his will she requested to change the words on the stone, but the words had already been chiseled and could not be changed. “In that case,” she told the engraver, please add, “Till we meet again!”

The first members of the Galloway family emigrated from Scotland to North Carolina in 1783, and quickly established themselves as prominent figures in the local area. By the time Robert Richard “R.R.” Galloway, son of one of the original emigrants, was born in 1830, the family had become major land and business owners in the area.

Robert farmed a large section of land just outside of Mount Airy, alongside owning numerous businesses in town. When the city of Mount Airy was first incorporated, Robert served on the board of commissioners.

Robert would be married three times in all, first to Caroline Smith in 1849 (until her death in 1854), then to Mary Virginia Cardwell (from 1856 until her death in 1869), and to third wife Lucy Antoinette Blackwell (from 1874 until her death in 1894). Having originally lived on the outskirts of town, the family made the move into the city, believing it would benefit Mary Virginia’s health. Robert Galloway was the original owner of a house at 731 North Main Street. He lived in the house with his third wife, Lucy Blackwell Galloway. Before this, he had owned the house next door.

While married to Mary Virginia, the couple had four children. However, they would be met with grief when their daughter, Mary Kate, died at just 5 years, while Robert was away in the Civil War, in the role of a musician. Not long after he returned from the war, his wife also died. Some claim the father was haunted by the spirit of his daughter, and that a young, ghostly girl can be seen in the rooms where her father’s opera house used to reside.

Also while married to Mary Virginia, Robert Galloway built the Galloway Opera House. At the time that the building was being constructed, Galloway owned a planing mill (which turns wood into lumber), and oversaw the construction, acting as his own contractor.

Located at 420 North Main Street in downtown Mount Airy, the two-story building housed dry goods and general supplies on its ground floors, while located on the second floor of the building was the Galloway Opera House. The site was one of the first entertainment venues in Mount Airy.

The expansive opera house had seating for 500 guests, and during its heyday was the largest gathering room in the local area. Its size was made great use of, holding all kinds of events, from musical performances, traveling plays, graduations, political meetings, criminal trials, and church services. The theater operated from 1891 until 1909. When it opened on Jan. 6, 1891, the first performance was from the New York Theatre Company. Most theater companies passing through would spend a week or so performing at the opera house with numerous performances. The advertisement for Emma Warren Theatre Company, playing for one week at the Galloway Opera House in March 1897, in a different play every night, calls their show “strictly a clean show and nothing will be said or done to offend the most fastidious.” Admission was 25 cents.

The performance hall closed in 1909, and in 1912, the building was owned by the G. C. Lovill Company, a wholesaler which until then was located on the Prather block, and at the same time the stage from the second floor was removed.

In the early 1960s, the building became home to the Brannock and Hiatt Furniture Store, where the store remains to this day.

It is believed that throughout the building’s life as an opera house, the first floor was always used as various types of stores. At one point, Robert Richard’s son, R.J. Galloway, operated a store on the first floor of the same building which housed the opera house, selling everything from ladies dress goods, imported novelties, and fancy millinery.

R.J. Galloway, R.R’s son, was similarly touched by loss like his father. Married to Agnes Nutt, they had a daughter, also called Agnes. The young woman would attend Brenau University in Gainesville, Georgia, being a freshman there in 1926. Just with her aunt who passed away as a child, a ghost story has also popped up surrounding Agnes. The legend goes that Agnes’ ghost haunts the auditorium at the college, with various reasons given to her lingering presence, the most common being she committed suicide after being spurned by her lover. The fact that there’s evidence of her being alive and well until 1929, living in Mount Airy, until she passed away from tuberculosis does little to dissuade believers.

The Galloway family left a lasting impact on the community of Mount Airy. R. R. Galloway’s Opera House was a major Mount Airy institution for many years. Despite the family’s personal struggles, including the loss of loved ones, the legacy of Robert Richard Galloway and the Galloway family continues to be remembered through their contributions to the community and the historical significance of the Opera House.

Katherine “Kat” Jackson is an employee at the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History. Originally from Australia she now lives in King and can be reached at the museum at 336-786-4478.

Editor’s Note: Reader Diary is a periodic column written by local residents, Surry County natives, and readers of The Mount Airy News. If you have a submission for Reader Diary, email it to John Peters at jpeters@mtairynews.com

With snow piled yea’ high and a freezing wind screaming down off the mountain, we were “snowed in” and “nobody was going nowhere,” especially after dark. Why? Nights outside were deadly and they came early in the cold hard days of January. Pa said, “You git lost out there at night, boy, you gonna’ be a goner.” On such days, it was hard to stay warm, even with the wood heater jumping a foot off the floor. It was the worst days of the year; days that tried the soul.

We read everything in the house and re-told the stories of old to keep from going insane. Meanwhile, cabin fever raged among the older people who were afraid to go outside where they might fall on the ice and break something. What did the rest of us do? We fed the animals, milked the cow, threw another log on the fire, settled in for the duration and daydreamed of the spring that was sure to come again someday.

Then, from out of the blue, (like a gift from the gods) colored seed catalogues came in the January mail; a breath of fresh air on the darkest of days; a life-saver for sure. So I read, “Faith will never die as long as colored seed catalogues are printed” and I was a believer if ever there was one. They became our bibles and on the cold snowy days, we “sot by the far,” read them dog-eared and daydreamed of all the good things we would grow with the coming of spring.

Seeds saved from last year were worth their weight in gold, but the great catalogue seeds promised the Moon, seemed to me. “Just buy some of our extra-special seeds and grow watermelons, tomatoes and cucumbers like never seen before. All you do is stick our magic seeds in the ground, get out of the way and let Mother Nature do her thing.”

Having very little money, we could never buy all the seeds we wanted, so we chose carefully. When the order came in the mail, the pictures on the seed packets looked even better than the catalogue pictures and promised even bigger and better stuff than we’d already planned. We would grow watermelons big as a number two wash tub, tomatoes big as a wash pan and cornstalks so high, you would have to climb a ladder to get an ear of fresh corn. We would grow so much good stuff, we might have to hire help to eat it all and might need a bigger wagon to haul it on.

As the cold winds howled outside, we stayed by the fire and counted our blessings. With new seeds on hand, we were ready to go and knew in our souls; this would be the best year yet.

Editor’s Note: Reader Diary is a periodic column written by local residents, Surry County natives, and readers of The Mount Airy News. If you have a submission for Reader Diary, email it to John Peters at jpeters@mtairynews.com

It’s gonna’ snow.

After a couple of cold sunny days in the new year, high thin clouds climbed into the sky over our western mountains; the direction most of our weather came from. As the day wore on, the whole sky became “smooth cloudy” and nobody had to tell us it was going to snow; we just knew and how did we know? Grandpa told us so, “Gonna’ come a big ‘un, boys, you wait and see.” Pa knew too, “See that sun back yonder? She’s a’ wadin’ snow.” As our older neighbor (Jim Smith) told Mama, “She’ll be coming over that mountain back yonder ‘afore morning.” (Mama said, “It did.”)

Sound traveled far in the cold air and we could hear neighbors chopping firewood a mile away and “Big Rigs” climbing Fancy Gap Mountain ten miles away. Our chickens scratched in the yard like there would be no tomorrow and the horse and cow grazed non-stop, because they too knew it was going to snow.

My brother and I “got in” firewood by the wheelbarrow loads, carried extra water from the spring, fed the animals, milked the cow and kept an eye on the sky all the while: hoping to see the first snowflake. Why? Everybody said, “Catch that first snowflake on your tongue and you’ll have good luck. (I saw many first snowflakes over the years, caught quite a few, but never that prized first one.)

As the day came to an end, still no snow, but we “kept watch” by shining Pa’s flashlight up into the dark sky. He told us, “You all run my new battrys’ down, boys, I’m gonna’ have me some hide.” (It was a threat we heard often about many things, but hardly ever did it amount to any loss of my precious hide.)

As the night wore on, we “tired out,” climbed into ice-cold beds, shivered until we got warm and (far in the night) we slept; with visions of deep snow dancing in our heads. Oh, the places we would go and the things we would do tomorrow, if only it would snow.

Come next morning, Pa called us and said, “The old woman’s pluckin’ her geese up yonder, boys, and them feathers is coming down.” We hit the ice-cold floor running and sure enough, huge white flakes were floating down on a world fast turning white. Finally, at long last, the snow came and we could hardly wait to get out there and go “where no man had ever gone before” in un-tracked snow.

Have you heard that old saying, “You are what you eat?” There’s some truth in that; since the things you consume are broken down by your body, and ultimately influence your body’s health. Good nutritious vitamin-rich foods will have a more positive impact; while high-fat and sugary foods tend to have a more negative effect on your body. In other words, “Negative input equals negative output;” and in contrast, “Positive input equals positive output.”

Today, let’s consider this parallel to the spiritual health of our soul, mind, and emotional happiness; which ultimately also affects our physical being. The answers for our balance and contentment are all found in the Word of God.

Each of us individually, and also as the body of Christ, together the Church, are in for God’s richest blessings simply by dwelling in Christ, and allowing His Spirit to guide us in obedience to our Abba. Each day of this life here on planet Earth can be lived in victory, if we are submissive to His wise plan and purpose. He has promised us abundance of life, and fullness of His joy, just for abiding in our life-source Jesus Christ.

John 15:1-16, “I Am the True Vine…Abide in Me, and I in you, as the branch can not bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can you, except you abide in Me…They that abide in Me, and I in them, the same bring forth much fruit: for without Me you can do nothing… Herein is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit… These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full… I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of My Father I have made known to you… I have chosen you, and ordained you (Webster – to appoint, establish in a ministerial office), that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain.”

See also, John 10:10 and Eph. 3:14-21, “That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth and height; and to know the love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God. Now unto Him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, unto Him be glory… Amen.”

Wow, do I love all those excellent adjectives adding extra emphasis on our Lord’s work in our lives for His Kingdom, here and now; and our destiny in the world to come. If we are with Him, there is no way we can fail to enjoy the fulfillment we’ll experience in the eternal day of reward. Presently we can know the satisfaction in fulfilling our purpose here in this life. We can as the Word says, “comprehend” some of what’s to come, as we yield to the powerful life-changing, character-shaping Word of God, and work of His Holy Spirit in our lives. As this previous scripture stated, “be filled with all the fullness of God.” Our souls will flourish, as we remain planted, embedded, immersed in Christ.

The opposite of a spirit-filled, healthy Christian life, is a life lived according to self-will, pride, and the lusts of the flesh for this world’s wares. We are taught in the scriptures to deny the flesh; to even mortify, or put to death the old sinful nature. Romans 8:13, “For if you live after the flesh, you shall die: but if you through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live. Read also Col. 3:1-10. Romans 13:11-14, “And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us…put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts.”

There is no joy in being in rebellion to God and His will for our life. Living according to His purpose brings a deep lasting joy because it is there that He may bless us to the fullest. As the psalmist declared, “my cup runs over.” Ephesians 2:10 tells us, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them”. God our Father has appointed, and established us in Christ; set apart to do His holy work here on Earth, even as it is in Heaven. And He has equipped us with everything we need to accomplish His good will. I Tim. 4:7-8 and II Tim.3:15-17, “… exercise yourself rather unto godliness. For bodily exercise profits little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come… you have known the holy Scriptures which are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable… That the man of God may be perfect (complete, mature), thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”

Life here is much about investment. Here’s some options: we can waste the time allotted us by binge watching some far from wholesome show, or one of many other vain time consuming behaviors the world offers; you know, negative things. Or, on the positive side, how much more will we be benefited if we invested time in praying for, and doing God’s will; while being in constant fellowship with Jesus?

Yes, what about binging on Jesus? How much more could our soul prosper by choosing to read, study, and meditate in God’s Holy Word? Phil. 4:8-9 compels us, “Finally brethren, whatever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things…and the God of peace shall be with you.” Peace of mind, joy, fulfillment.

As time pushes forward, our collective technology advances at an ever-growing speed. Each year, new phones, computers, apps, and more are released, deeming their predecessors obsolete. It is so hard to stay ahead of the technology curve, that many consumers have adopted the “if it’s not broke don’t change it” rule. These advancements have also discarded some technologies and training as unnecessary. Things like watchmakers, cobblers, seamstresses, milliners, and stone carvers are not as common as they once were.

In this short series on lost arts, we’ve analyzed several different essential figures in our collective histories. One integral part of Surry County’s history is the North Carolina Granite Quarry. When quarry operations began in 1889 many talented individuals made their way to the foothills in search of secure work, one of those individuals was Big Jim.

Vincenzo “Big Jim” Alfano was an Italian immigrant born in Lazio, a region of Italy whose capital is Rome. He spent his youth in the small village of Lanzara with mountains and talented artisans. He began his unknown journey to Mount Airy, working as an apprentice to stone carvers in Lanzara, starting as early as 10 or 11 years old. During training, he worked on churches and cathedrals. At the age of 21 Vincenzo traveled to Egypt where he cut and dressed stone for two years, helping to construct/work on either the Assiut Barrage or Aswan Dams.

With experience and a little money in his pocket, the young carver boarded a ship to the Americas in 1907. The Ellis Island Foundation marks this year as the busiest for immigration to the states with 1.3 million people traveling to the USA in 1907. Determined to make a name for himself, Vincenzo landed in White Plains, New York working in monument shops.

On his return to Lanzara in 1908, he married his love Martha Avella of the same town. With few prospects in Italy, Vincenzo returned to the US, and Martha joined him two years later with their first child, Edward. The young couple finally settled in Philadelphia where the North Carolina Granite Quarry had an office. He was soon discovered for his talents by the quarry and was offered a job in Flat Rock, the world’s largest open-faced granite quarry.

With Martha and Edward in tow, the Alfano family traveled south with many other immigrant families to what is now known as the Granite City. Quarry expansions had begun and more workers were required to meet the growing demand for Mount Airy’s rock. The Thompson boarding house can still be seen on East Pine Street in front of the Quarry’s main entrance, and many families stayed here until they could raise funds to buy or rent their own homes. The Alfanos first stayed as tenants on the Old Merritt Farm. Vincenzo continued to excel in his carvings and workmanship and saved enough money to purchase his own home right next to the quarry at 719 East Main Street for $665. The family welcomed a second son in 1919 named Ugo.

Sometime before 1920, Vincenzo, or “Big Jim,” as he was now known, was blinded in one eye by rock chips. Despite being injured and without vision in one eye he continued to create astonishing works of art. During the depression, he was still making one dollar to everyone else’s 10 to 15 cents an hour. He created his intricate carving with just a hammer, chisel, and a “bushhammer.”

During his off time, he loved to listen to Opera either on the radio or from his extensive record collection, and he would host guests, feeding them Italian imported goods and wine from his own vineyard. The couple lived out the remainder of their days in Flat Rock, leaving their home to Ugo their youngest son. Some of the intricate carvings can still be seen at the home site, unfortunately, the building itself was lost to fire. Big Jim died on Dec. 4, 1947 just after welcoming his first grandchild into the world. His work can still be seen at the Mount Airy Post Office, Washington Monument, and Kitty Hawk. Martha and Vincenzo are both buried in Oakdale Cemetery under a granite carving created by their oldest son Edward.

Emily Morgan is the guest services manager at the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History. She and her family live in Westfield. She can be reached at eamorgan@northcarolinamuseum.org or by calling 336-786-4478 x229

Friday was The Day of Epiphany

The Day of Epiphany is also known as the Twelfth Night, Twelfth Day of Christmas and Old Christmas. The word “Epiphany” means to show, to reveal or to enlighten. On the church calendar, it marks the end of Advent and the beginning of Epiphany. It commemorates the day the Christ Child was revealed to the Wise Men from the East from Mesopotamia or Persia after their long journey across the desert. Jesus, at this time could have been 2 years old and his family in Bethlehem living in a house when the Wise Men arrived in Bethlehem.

Getting ready for the season of the heart

All the stores and shops are now adorning themselves with pink, red, and white as they prepare for Saint Valentine’s Day next month. The shelves are filled with racks of Valentine cards, candy displays, party supplies and floral arrangements and of course, there are plenty of gift cards. It’s not too early to order flowers from the florist if you would like to have them deliver them. Floral sections at supermarkets also feature roses during the month of January. Browse around on a cold winter day and check out all the offerings for Saint Valentines Day. Restaurants also have gift certificates that make nice Valentine gifts.

How much snow can we expect in January?

Will January 2023 be a month when we can expect quit a bit of snow? In past years we have not received as many January snows as we usually do. We don’t think it has anything to with global warming, but weather patterns seem different and temperatures don’t drop as much as they did a decade ago. Most of our snows now are produced during February. We could use a few snows whether they arrive in January or February. We need to remember that it doesn’t have to be very cold to snow if the temperatures aloft are ideal for snow. The cold usually comes after the ground is covered with snow. We do need several hefty snows to add trace elements to the soil and to kill off wintering insect pests and eggs. Snow is also needed to fight off viruses and germs in the air. Kids also need a snow break and some time to exercise and play in the snow. The garden plot also needs the snow so the sod will freeze a few times before spring arrives.

Keeping the scent of Christmas around

You can still savor the scent of Christmas even though Christmas is over. All you have to do is cut a sprig or two of spruce or fir from the old Christmas tree or greenery and place them in a vase or jar of water and set in a sunny location in the home. It will give out a fresh scent in the weeks to come. It will help relieve some after Christmas blahs.

The 195th edition of Blum’s Almanacs is now on sale at local hardwares. This is not only a useful planting guide but has much information, fishing calendars, recipes, moon phases, sunrise and sunset times and health information. There are lists of all the holidays and special days of the year plus garden information and plant zones. Plenty of information for every day of the year.

Plenty of robins on lawn in January

The robins used to be a sign of spring but now they seem to be with us every month of the year. The winter weather does not seem to have any adverse effects on them and they definitely seem to be well-fed. As they bounce around the lawn, the ground is not frozen and they are pecking around for worms and grubs. Their color is good and they are not shivering. They seem to have adapted to our Southern winters. They certainly have plenty of places to hunker down and take shelter. In the woods, they have hollow logs and trees. They also roost in outbuildings, in barns, under eaves of houses, in wood piles and in leaf piles. We enjoy them in winter and we believe they are surviving and doing well and not many are flying to Southern climates. They have acclimatized themselves and are no worse off in doing so.

Stocking up on plant food for spring garden

It’s still quite a few weeks away from the season of the garden, but it is not too early to stock up on plant foods that are organic and good not only for vegetables but also give the soil a boost as well. You can buy the Holly-Tone family of organic plant foods in four- and ten-pound bags at hardwares, garden centers, Home Depot, Lowe’s Home Improvement and Ace Hardware. You can choose from special blends such as Tomato-Tone, Garden-Tone, Plant-Tone. Flower-Tone, Rose-Tone and Holly-Tone for evergreens and azaleas. Four-pound bags are easier to handle in the garden and a bag costs less than $10. You save money when you purchase the ten-pound bags. They are totally organic and easy to apply. They absorb quickly into the soil and feed over a lengthy period. It is packaged in zippered plastic bags that are resealable and you just shake and pour from the zippered slot. You can purchase a bag a week and store in a cool, dry place and it will be there when the garden season starts. It has been proven in gardens for almost a hundred years. It has organic nutrients to promote growth of flowers and vegetables. Vegetables respond quickly to it.

Seed packets displayed in garden departments

It is early in the month of January and a sign of the spring and summer garden is now appearing in seed shops, garden centers, hardwares, Walmart, Lowe’s Home Improvement, Home Depot, and Ace Hardware. The seed racks are filled with packets of colorful flowers and vegetable seeds for the up and coming garden season. It may be early but you can purchase seed packets and stock them in a box in a dry place. Buy several packets each week and select the varieties and colors of flowers you want to plant in your flower beds and also the packets of vegetables that you plan to plant. They will not spoil. Make sure you buy packets that state on the label “packed for the 2023 garden season.”

Plow Monday: A New England tradition.

Plow Monday occurs in New England on Monday, Jan. 9. This day always occurs on the Monday that follows Epiphany. For New England farmers, it is the end of the Christmas holiday and the farmers return to their twelvehour schedules. It is now back to full time work and chores to begin another season of farming.

Another bit of weather lore

This is some crazy weather lore to begin the year of 2023. This bit of lore says that if rains much the first days after Christmas, it will be a wet year. My grandma in Northampton County had a different view on this piece of weather lore. Her view was that for the first 12 days after Christmas her prediction was each of the 12 days represented one month of the year and that day’s weather would determine the type of weather that month would bring. The first 12 days would predict what manner of weather would occur over next 12 months. We really think both these predictions are a bunch of crazy weather lore and certainly have no credible merits

Building up the immune system

The sun does shine quite often during the cold month of January, and we need these rays of ultraviolet warmth to build up our immune systems and protect us from viruses and germs. All you need to do is cuddle up with a toboggan, warm coat or blanket and a cup of hot black coffee. The front porch with a bright winter sun shining on you is a great way to spend some afternoon time on a winter day. The sun that shines today, on tomorrow may turn dark and gray. Harden your body to the warmth of the sun on a winter day.

Getting ready for a season of white stuff

Will we get much show as we move into the new year? We are certainly hoping for a few hefty snowfalls and we know that most children are. Now is the time to get down to the serious business of expectation of some snow, sleet, ice and freezing rain during January and February. Get the snow shovel ready or purchase one now. The time to by a snow shovel is when there is no snow on the ground. Buy a new ice scraper, de-icer fluid for the windshield washer and several spray cans of de-icer. Keep a few flashlights handy in case the power goes out. Have a few cans of easy food to prepare and some sandwich ingredients for quick meals if kids have snow days.

“A Lesson from Snowflakes.” We could all learn a lesson from tiny snowflakes. No two of them are alike, but observe how well they work together on a major task like tying up traffic on Interstate 40, Interstate 17 and US 52!

“Boring speaker.” During a long lecture, the speaker was interrupted five times by a listener in the balcony saying, “Speak louder, speak louder.” A man on the front row stood up and shouted, “What’s the matter, can’t you hear?” “No, I can’t hear” said the man in the balcony. The man on the front row said ” Well then, be thankful and shut up!”

New Years Day was Sunday, Jan. 1. There will be a full moon on the night of Friday, Jan. 6. and this moon will be named “Full Wolf Moon.” Friday, Jan.6 will also be the Day of Epiphany or Twelfth Night or “Old Christmas.” The moon will reach its last quarter on Saturday, Jan. 14. Elvis Presley’s birthday was celebrated on Sunday, Jan. 8. There will be a new moon on the evening of Saturday, Jan. 21. Martin Luther King’s birthday will be celebrated on Monday, Jan. 16. Benjamin Franklin’s birthday will be Tuesday, Jan. 17. The moon reaches its first quarter on Saturday, Jan. 28.

Here we are in January 2023 already! Just a short while ago we closed the chapter on 2022, right? Well, just like the media likes to look back over the past year’s events, I would like to remember the evidence of the goodness of God in this past year.

Yes, we came through trials, which the Lord gave us grace sufficient to bear. I and my family said our farewells for now to Daddy, as his maker called him home to Heaven, into the presence of the Lord; God is good! I have also ministered at several funerals of other dear friends and family in Christ, who were carried to their eternal reward; God is good! There were some family members, friends, and acquaintances, along with myself, who caught, then recovered from the COVID virus; God is good!

Through it all we experienced the faithfulness of our Heavenly Father, the comfort of the comforter, and the sweet friendship of our abiding Savior Jesus Christ. Life is often hard, but God is good, all the time, and all the time, God is good! I would like to say, along with the psalmist in Psalm 89:1, “I will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever: with my mouth will I make known Thy faithfulness to all generations.”

I’d like to bring to remembrance again, our recent celebration of Christmas, and consider God’s great and gracious gifts to you and I. Isaiah 9:6, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given…and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” Chapter 7, verse 14 tells us that another name for this child would be Emmanuel, which means God with us! We probably all have this one memorized, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes upon Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

It was because of God’s great love for His creature, mankind, that He gave us a precious baby boy. A baby boy who was God with us. Look back again at the previous names He is called. Meditate for a while on their meanings. Each and every need you and I have in life can be satisfied within Him. Jesus came as God’s gift, to bring us out of our darkness; out of our utter brokenness, and teach us the way to God. Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). To think about that kind of God love, that led Him to give such an immeasurably valuable Gift should amaze us constantly, without end. There is great overwhelming joy in knowing you have been given, and have received the most priceless present one could ever possess.

Romans 6:23 tells us, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 5:15-18 tells us this is “the gift of righteousness,” and that it is “a free gift.” Ephesians 2:8 says, “For by grace (God’s unmerited love and favor towards us) are you saved by faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not by works.”

“Free” means that you can’t buy it. You can’t do enough good works to earn it. We must also realize that even the faith you and I have towards Him is a gift of God. Consider Romans 12:3, …“God has dealt to every man the measure of faith.” But, a gift can only benefit the intended receiver if the intended receiver will accept it. Only those who will receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ, can receive the “free gift” of eternal life. Only those who will accept the present of the Savior can come to the Father in Heaven. Sadly many reject it. The Gift is offered. All we need do is believe Him, and receive Him. If you haven’t already, say yes by asking Him for it.

Jesus said to the Samaritan woman, (paraphrased) “If you knew the gift of God, and Who it is your speaking with, you would ask of Me, and I would give you living water… Whoever drinks of the living water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the living water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of living water springing up into everlasting life.”

Jesus is the fountain, and the Holy Spirit is that living water. Acts 10:45, “…ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” Oh what a gift. God’s own Spirit living inside of us, giving us eternal life, is a most valuable, kind and gracious gift.

II Cor. 9:15, “Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift.” Words are not enough to tell of the perfection of the Gift. It is beyond describing, although it is good and right to attempt to, because it is a gift that is so excellent, and so abundant that it should be shared with the whole human race. James 1:17, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights.”

If He is the Father of lights, who are the lights? The answer is, you and I. We are created in Christ Jesus. Made in the image of God who is light, we can shine forth His righteous light and love in this world we live in. Be His illuminators, to expel the darkness and share the hope of God’s gift. The gift and the giver are so worthy of our praise that we should give Him a gift.

“What gift can I give Him? I will give Him my heart.” Our hearts and our lives in worship of our Lord are the best we can present to Him who has gifted us with everything that is good and perfect. May we continually give Him thanks. May our lives constantly give Him glory and honor all the day long: better yet, all this year long. Cherish the gifts.

Living ornaments in trees deck the lawn

The trees around the lawn may be bare in December, but you can adorn them with lots of color and activity. All you have to do is keep the feeders filled with bird seed and keep plenty of fresh water in the bird baths. Empty the ice each morning from the baths and refill with fresh water when temperatures rise above freezing. You can attract colorful birds such as cardinals, junkos, blue jays, chickadees, mocking birds and sparrows. You may even attract a few bluebirds and visiting crows. Keep feeders and baths filled each day and you can enjoy living ornaments on bare limbs celebrating the season of Christmas.

Candy orange slices an old-fashioned favorite

Orange candy slices are a favorite old-fashioned gummy treat that have been around for well over 100 years. Most of them sold today are individually wrapped and sold from wooden kegs in country stores in clear plastic wrap or plastic pound bags. They still have that distinctive orange flavor and you can usually find them all during the year but especially at Christmas. Today, you can find not only orange slices but flavors of lemon, cherry and lime slices.

Making old-fashioned orange slice pound cake

This cake recipe is a taste of old-fashioned orange slice goodness. It has a lot of ingredients but it is a great tasting cake with plenty of flavor. To prepare this cake, you will need two sticks of light margarine, two cups of sugar, four large eggs, one cup of golden seedless raisins, one cup chopped pecans, one pound of candy orange slices (cut into very tiny pieces), three and half cups plain flour, one teaspoon of baking powder, half cup buttermilk, one teaspoon orange extract, two cups 10x powdered sugar, one can flaked coconut and one cup of orange juice. Cream margarine and sugar. Add eggs one at a time and set aside. Dredge golden raisins, chopped pecans and orange slice pieces in one cup of plain flour. Dissolve the baking powder in the buttermilk. Mix the other two and a half cups of flour, and all the other ingredients except the orange juice and powdered sugar. Grease and flour a tube pan and then line bottom of pan with a layer of waxed paper and grease and flour the waxed paper. Make sure sides of pan and tube are well-greased and floured. Bake at 300 degrees for two hours or until cake springs back when touched. Cool for at least 45 minutes and remove from the pan. Mix the cup of orange juice and two cups of powdered sugar and pour over the cake. Let cake stand in a covered cake container over night. It will yield twenty servings. Decorate with candy orange slices.

The old-fashioned sticky taste of peanut brittle

Peanut brittle has the taste of an old-fashioned Christmas. We remember our Aunt Florence making this concoction as a treat at Christmas when were were kids. She made hers with eastern North Carolina parched peanuts. She gathered them from fields after the harvest. After the harvest, lose peanuts would be lying all over the fields and farmers would allow neighbors to help themselves to them. Aunt Florence used Karo corn syrup and a double portion of parched peanuts in her brittle. Commercial peanut brittle in the 1950s was also very sticky. There is an improvement in 21st century peanut brittle because it has a corn starch coating and is not sticky but crisp. Some of today’s best is produced in Norfolk, Virginia by Old Dominion peanut company. Virginia is one of America’s largest peanut growers along with Georgia. Suffolk, Virginia has a large peanut storage facility for Planter’s Peanuts. Today’s peanut brittle is melt-in-your-mouth, addictive and still a Christmas tradition.

Making a batch of Christmas peanut brittle

Peanut brittle is simple and easy to prepare with only a few ingredients. For this recipe, you can use Planter’s canned peanuts or a bag of raw peanuts parched in the oven in their shells. You will need one cup sugar, one cup peanuts, half cup dark Karo corn syrup, half cup water, one teaspoon of real vanilla extract, one teaspoon baking soda. Combine all ingredients except the baking soda in a pot or sauce pan and cook on medium heat for two minutes, stirring to prevent it from sticking. Add the baking soda and stir well. Pour onto a cookie sheet lined with waxed paper. Cool and then break into pieces. Place in a tin, or covered container. Dust with a sprinkle of corn starch to avoid sticky on brittle.

Daddy’s gift of Christmas pocket knives

From my early boyhood days my daddy would always buy me a pocket knife for Christmas each year and it became a tradition. After graduating from high school and later moving to Winston-Salem, he continued that tradition of giving a pocket knife each Christmas because he knew I used them at work. Every year, before Christmas he would go over the state line to Emporia, Virginia, to an old fashioned hardware and find just the right knife. As the years went by I wore out many of these knives. In 1989 he bought his last knife for me. It was a Case three blader. Dad died in 1990, and I still have that knife as a precious memory. Daddy’s gifts of useful gifts of pocket knives and a father’s love.

Searching for real spirit of Santa Claus

This is a real life event as told by a beloved neighbor named Marye who passed away in 2004. She told me of this special event in the years before she died. See if you believe in the spirit of Santa Claus after reading her story.

This event in Marye’s life occurred when she was raising four children on her own. It was Christmas Eve. She had finished her work and cashed her paycheck, bought groceries, paid her bills, and bought what Christmas she could for her kids as much as she could afford. Early on Christmas Eve, she explained to her children and hoped they understood — she told them she wished she could provide more toys then Santa was going to bring next morning. She told them that she loved them, and that she had done the very best she could, because she really desired better for her children.

At 11:30 p.m., there was a knock on the door. She wondered who it could be knocking at that time of night, and especially on Christmas Eve. She went to the door and peeped to see who it was. She was shocked to see a man in a Santa suit with several boxes and bags scattered around him. As she opened the door, the man did not introduce himself, but said to her, “I know you’re having it rough trying to raise four kids. I felt led to do something to make Christmas merry for all of them.” He shook her hand, wished them a Merry Christmas and walked off into the night.

Marye took all the bags and boxes inside. The boxes and bags contained the very items she had wanted to buy for her children. Who was this man? We believe as Marye said in telling of this event, which is one of my favorite Christmas stories, that she believed he was the spirit of Christmas, a guardian angel so to speak, that came to answer the need of a loving and caring mother with a serious need at Christmas. Ah, yes, Angels-God’s messengers. They come on to the scene, entertain us unawares, and without much fanfare, and then they disappear into the night, leaving us to ponder their visitation. Marye is now in the presence of these heavenly messengers and yes, now she knows the one who came as “Santa” more than 60 years ago Christmas Eve.

Christmas morning in Northampton County

We always spent Christmas Eve at home and Christmas morning after Santa came, we would spend Christmas Day at grandma’s house in Northampton County. Here are a few Christmas treasures we remember about Christmas morning in Northampton County. 1) Collard greens that were cooked in an iron wash-pot seasoned with country ham. 2) Red Ryder air rifles. 3) Cap pistols with rolls of caps that would be powerful enough to sting your arms. 4) Real candles lighting a room. 5) Pallets full of cousins filling the floor. 6) Presents under a fresh cut cedar tree. 7) Grandma watching grandkids open presents she had bought at the five and dime store. 8) Presents that were wrapped and had Christmas seals on them and no fancy bows or wraps but tissue wrap in the colors of red, green, white and blue. They were wrapped just as they came from the store with no boxes or bows. But oh how beautiful they all looked pilled under that red heart cedar. As we move through the journey of life, we discover it is the simple things we remember and treasure most of all.

Merry Christmas to all our readers

We wish all of our Garden Plot readers of The Mount Airy News, The Yadkin Ripple and The Stokes News a very wonderful and Merry Christmas filled with love, joy and peace. It is our pleasure to write the column each week and share it with all of you. We thank these newspapers for publishing the column each week plus all of you who read it and we send our best to you.

Luke 2:8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

The Angel said he not only brought them good tidings but tidings of great joy. We read this scripture every Christmas and what joy do we have? At Thanksgiving what are we thankful for? I believe we should be thankful year round for Christmas and what God has done for us.

What is Christmas to you? Is it one time of year that you can feel warm and fussy inside about giving someone something? Is Christmas a time that we have turned into a ritual of doing the same thing, eating, sharing gifts with family and friends that we can’t afford to buy and the gifts we buy the receiver doesn’t need? Do we feel guilty if we don’t buy our children what they want and their wants become bigger each year? Where does it end? Don’t know if there will be an end but, the cost will come to reality soon after New Year’s when the bills come in.

You might be thinking right now, “well, Ronnie must be an old scrooge.” No, I’m not. I have some great memories of Christmas when I was growing up with a loving Mom and Dad. Also have great Christmas memories of Brenda and I with Keith and Kevin when they were growing up. But, can anyone reading this confess that Christmas has always been centered on what God has done for us? Has it always been celebrated in the gift God gave to mankind?

I wonder what Christmas means to a mother who has lost her husband who must take care of three or four children, working every day, never quite getting everything done, never making ends meet? What does Christmas mean to her? I wonder what Christmas means to a family in a foreign land that just heard about Jesus by a missionary? They are barely surviving and know nothing of shopping malls or Christmas trees. What does Christmas mean to them? I wonder what it means to missionaries who have spent their whole lives away from families and friends, who are sacrificing so much to take the gospel message to others who have never heard it? What does Christmas mean to them?

Sometimes I get the feeling that we are like the folks who decided to throw a party to honor a special friend. They sent out invitations, decorated the hall and had the food catered. All the people came together on time but to their surprise, the guest of honor was not there. Finally, they made the embarrassing discovery that no one had ever invited the guest of honor.

I wonder if that happens at Christmas time. Do we go through all the decorating and buying presents and preparing elaborate meals but somehow forgot to invite the guest of honor? Jesus is the reason for the season. It’s God’s gift to mankind. So we should say Glory to God in the highest.

It’s all about John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. Have you ask Christ into your life? There is no greater gift, no greater joy in knowing for sure that you will spend eternity with the Lord Jesus and have the forgiveness of sins. Do it today because tomorrow could be too late. Hebrew 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

From Brenda and I, we pray that you and your family have a safe and Christ filled Christmas.

The season of Christmas time is drawing near and Christmas Eve is only a little more than a week away. The approaching days before Christmas are always filled with excitement and expectations as we look forward to all the events that lead up to Christmas. It is our hope that the season of Christmas will always be near and dear to all of you and be filled with memories of love, joy and peace!

Two of winters longest nights

Two of the longest nights of the year will be with us in only a few days from now. On Wednesday, Dec. 21, we will experience the longest night of the year as winter begins. One bright spot of winter’s longest night is that for the next six months after this night, we will enjoy one minute of extra day light each evening. The second of longest nights in the minds of children occurs on the night of Christmas Eve which is Saturday, Dec. 24. To excited children and also many parents excited we can understand why this would be the longest night of the year!

Legend of the Christmas apple

Apples have always been a part of Christmas treats and also of Christmas desserts and decorations. In Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia, they decorate mantels, tables, and windows with apples and other fruits. Apples grow in almost every state in America. Their long shelf life paves the way for them to be an important part of many Christmas traditions and customs. One apple tradition says that if you check the apple tree on Christmas Day and the sun shines through its branches, the harvest of next season will be abundant.

Red Delicious apples make Santa decorations

Red Delicious apples are as red as Santa’s suit and here is how to make a Red Delicious “Santa” centerpiece for the coffee table or to give to kids and grandkids. For each Santa, you will need one Red Delicious apple, a bag of cotton candy which is available at must supermarkets, a pack of roley poley craft eyes, small Santa hats and orange and red M&Ms. Glue the eyes on the apple, glue a red M&M for the mouth and an orange M&M for the nose Use cotton candy or real cotton to form a nose, beard and moustache and for around middle of the apple. Make a hat with a piece of red felt or purchase a small Santa hat at a craft shop. Place the Santa in a foil pie pan. Circle it with greenery and several small candy canes and Christmas Hershey’s kisses.

Making a colorful Christmas Waldorf salad

Apples and Waldorf salad go together like peaches and cream. The apples that add tartness to Waldorf salad are McIntosh apples peeled and cut into half-inch cubes stirred into two teaspoons of lemon juice and three teaspoons of sugar. Add one jar of drained red maraschino cherries and one jar of green maraschino cherries, cut the cherries into halves, one can Bartlett pears cut into cubes, one can mixed fruits, one can fruit cocktail, drained. Mix all fruits together and add one three ounce box of Jello instant vanilla pudding mix, one teaspoon vanilla extract, one teaspoon apple pie spices, one tub of Cool Whip and fold into the fruit mixture. Keep refrigerated.

A journey back to the old general store

On the top of the hill from grandma’s Northampton County house, there was a general store that had a post office with a row of mailboxes in it and a fish market that was open all day each Friday. Fish and oysters were delivered fresh from the coast. One person cleaned the fish as they were ordered, wrapped them in sheets of newspapers and placed them in a bag. Collard greens, sweet potatoes and other produce were displayed outside the store. Fresh eggs, country hams, side meat, fatback meat, bacon slabs and fresh cut meats. There were cloth bags of flour and cornmeal in twenty five pound bags. A soda pop cooler featured bottles of soda for a nickel. A candy counter was there with a large selection to choose from.

The outside parking in front of the store was not paved or covered with gravel but completely covered with pop bottle caps. We remember the ordeal of walking on them with bare feet in the summer months. This type of store is a vanishing breed but still survives today if you search a bit to discover them. We are fortunate to have some in our area including Main Street Mount Airy, Virginia Produce in Cana, Virginia, Mast General Store on Trade Street in Winston-Salem and Ronnie’s Country Store on Cherry Street in Winston-Salem, and John Brown’s Country Store in King. All these vintage stores feature many special Christmas treats at Christmas with old fashioned candies, fruit cakes, hams, special items available to stir up Christmas cravings.

Searching for the spirit of Santa Clause

While growing up in eastern North Carolina in the 1950s, many events at Christmastime centered around a small Baptist Church. We took part in kids’ Christmas plays and Sunday School parties and get-togethers. The highlight of the Christmas celebration was on the Sunday night before Christmas when the Adult Christmas pageant was presented. As a “grand finale,” Santa would appear and pass out treat bags of goodies to kids and adults. The Men’s Brotherhood was always responsible for seeing to it that Santa was there.

On this event, the would-be Santa had the flu. This presented a huge problem for the Men’s Brotherhood and they turned to my father for a solution. Dad pondered the situation, and my mother suggested that he ask uncle Jesse if he would be “Santa” for us. Uncle Jesse consented to be our “Santa.” Uncle Jesse loved kids but he had no kids of his own. Uncle Jesse was not a member of our church. At that time, he was known take a little “toddy for the body.” On the night of the pageant, he was red-faced and jolly so he made a great Santa.

The other Baptist down the street was also having their Christmas event. Uncle Jesse dressed in his Santa suit and was driving his 1953 Plymouth down by the other church, windows down and shouting, “Ho, Ho, Merry Christmas.” That congregation thought he was their Santa, but he drove right on by still shouting “Merry Christmas Ho, Ho.”

Uncle Jesse (Santa) arrived at the church and walked in with the same “Ho Ho, Ho.” All the kids thought, “Surely he’s the real Santa we’ve never heard that voice before!” If they had gotten a little closer, they would have smelled Christmas “toddy” and a “nip” in the Christmas air. “Santa” passed out treat bags and left the church with several “Ho, Ho, Hos.” Uncle Jesse died at Christmas time in 1988. Inside his hospital room was a small decorated Christmas tree placed there by my mother.

Christmas tree memories: The perfect tree

Picking just the right Christmas tree was always an important task each year. As my brothers and I grow up in eastern North Carolina, we romped and fished along the Roanoke River. After Halloween, our thoughts turned toward Christmas. We would search the paths and trails along the river and seek out what we thought was the perfect tree. After a long and exhaustive search, we found a beautiful red-heart cedar. We marked it so we would know its location. When the time came to cut it in mid-December, we cut the tree and brought it home. It was definitely not perfect, because we discovered it had two tops on it. My mother knew just what to do to solve the problem, she took a roll of black tape and rolled it around the twin tops and placed a star in the tree to top it off.

Candles part of Christmas decor

At grandma’s backwoods home in Northampton County, there was no electricity, no running water or indoor plumbing. At Christmas time the house had the smell of candles, oil lamps and burning wood. The house glowed with light from oil lamps and candles in every room. The Christmas tree glowed, not with lights but but with holly with red berries, mistletoe with white berries, strings of popcorn, popcorn balls, long leaf pine cones, running cedar and paper chains. Candles glowed in the living room, but strangely enough no candles were on the kitchen table. We always thought it was because there would be so many relatives around the table, the lighted candles would always be a hazard. For memories of an old-fashioned Christmas, we like to light a few candles, especially votive candles and enjoy the glow and smell from them.

At Christmas, our uncles at grandma’s house would always make a bucket of egg nog on Christmas Day. They used fresh eggs from grandma’s hen house. The finished product was always golden yellow as a result of the fresh eggs. They had their own special recipe that included two and a half dozen beaten eggs, one and a half gallons of milk, four cups of sugar, three teaspoons of real vanilla, two teaspoons of nutmeg, two teaspoons of cinnamon, one teaspoon of cloves and four teaspoons of rum flavoring. The uncles always used plenty of real rum!

Christmas hard mix triggers childhood memories

One of the great memories of Christmas past and present is the Christmas hard and filled mixes of fruity, spicy and peppermint, spearmint and wintergreen. Each piece tastes like Christmas of long ago. Brach’s still produces this special treat every Christmas. This special mix can be purchased at many country stores and produce markets in our area. It is there and displayed in five gallon wooden kegs that you can scoop out and bag yourself.

The season of Christmastime is getting closer

The season of Christmas time is drawing very near and Christmas Eve is only a little more than a week away. The approaching days before Christmas are always filled with excitement and expectations as we look forward to all the events that lead up to Christmas. It is our hope that the season of Christmas will always be near and dear to all of you and be filled with memories of love, joy and peace!

Two of winters longest nights of the year

Two of the longest nights of the year will be with us in only a few days from now. On Wednesday, Dec. 21, we will experience the longest night of the year as winter begins. One bright spot of winter’s longest night is that for the next six months after this night, we will enjoy one minute of extra day light each evening. The second of longest nights in the minds of children occurs on the night of Christmas Eve which is Saturday, Dec. 24. To excited children, and also many parents, we can understand why this would be the longest night of the year!

Checking out legend of the Christmas apple

Apples have always been a part of Christmas treats and also of Christmas desserts and decorations. In Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia, they decorate mantels, tables, and windows with apples and other fruits. Apples grow in almost every state in America. Their long shelf life paves the way for them to be an important part of many Christmas traditions and customs. One apple tradition says that if you check the apple tree on Christmas Day and the sun shines through it’s branches, the harvest of next season will be abundant.

Red Delicious apples make Santa decorations

Red Delicious apples are as red as Santa’s suit and here is how to make a Red Delicious “Santa” centerpiece for the coffee table or to give to kids and grand kids. For each Santa, you will need one Red Delicious apple, a bag of cotton candy which is available at must supermarkets, a pack of roley poley craft eyes, small Santa hats and orange and red M&M’s. Glue the eyes on the apple, glue a red M&M for the mouth and an orange M&M for the nose. Use cotton candy or real cotton to form a nose, beard and moustache and for around the middle of the apple. Make a hat with a piece of red felt or purchase small Santa hat at a craft shop. Place the Santa in a foil pie pan. Circle it with greenery and several small candy canes and Christmas Hershey’s kisses.

Making a colorful Christmas Waldorf salad

Apples and Waldorf salad go together like peaches and cream. The apples that add tartness to Waldorf salad are McIntosh apples peeled and cubed into half inch cubes stirred into two teaspoons of lemon juice and three teaspoons of sugar. Add one jar of drained red maraschino cherries and one jar of green maraschino cherries, cut the cherries into halves, one can Bartlett pears cut into cubes, one can mixed fruits, one can fruit cocktail, drained. Mix all fruits together and add one three ounce box of Jello instant vanilla pudding mix, one teaspoon vanilla extract, one teaspoon apple pie spices, one tub of Cool Whip and fold into the fruit mixture. Keep refrigerated.

A journey back to the old general store

On the top of the hill from grandma’s Northampton County house, there was a general store that had a post office with a row of mailboxes in it and a fish market that was open all day each Friday. Fish and oysters were delivered fresh from the coast. One person cleaned the fish as they were ordered, wrapped them in sheets of newspapers and placed them in a bag. Collard greens, sweet potatoes and other produce were displayed outside the store. Fresh eggs, country hams, side meat, fatback meat, bacon slabs and fresh cut meats. There were cloth bags of flour and cornmeal in twenty five pound bags. A soda pop cooler featured bottles of soda for a nickel. A candy counter was there with a large selection to choose from. The outside parking in front of the store was not paved or covered with gravel but completely covered with pop bottle caps. We remember the ordeal of walking on them with bare feet in the summer months. This type of store is a vanishing breed but still survives today if you search a bit to discover them. We are fortunate to have some in our area including Main Street Mount Airy, Virginia Produce in Cana, Virginia, Mast General Store on Trade Street in Winston-Salem and Ronnie’s Country Store on Cherry Street in Winston-Salem. John Brown’s Country Store in King. All these vintage stores feature many special Christmas treats at Christmas with old fashioned candies, fruit cakes, hams, special items available to stir up Christmas cravings.

Searching for the spirit of Santa Clause

While growing up in eastern North Carolina in the 1950’s, many events at Christmastime centered around a small Baptist Church. We took part in kids Christmas plays and Sunday School parties and get-togethers. The highlight of the Christmas celebration was on the Sunday night before Christmas when the Adult Christmas pageant was presented. As a “grand finale”, Santa would appear and pass out treat bags of goodies to kids and adults. The Men’s Brotherhood was always responsible for seeing to it that Santa was there. On this event, the would be Santa had the flu. This presented a huge problem for the Men’s Brotherhood and they turned to my father for a solution. Dad pondered the situation, and my mother suggested that he ask uncle Jesse if he would be “Santa” for us. Uncle Jesse consented to be our “Santa”. Uncle Jesse loved kids but he had no kids of his own. Uncle Jesse was not a member of our church. At that time, he was known take a little “toddy for the body.” On the night of the pageant, he was red-faced and jolly so he made a great Santa. The other Baptist down the street was also having their Christmas event. Uncle Jesse dressed in his Santa suit and was driving his 1953 Plymouth down by the other church, windows down and shouting. “Ho, Ho, Merry Christmas.” That congregation thought he was their Santa, but he drove right on by still shouting “Merry Christmas Ho, Ho.” Uncle Jesse (Santa) arrived at the church and walked in with the same “Ho Ho, Ho.” All the kids thought, “Surely he’s the real Santa we’ve never heard that voice before!” If they had gotten a little closer, they would have smelled Christmas “toddy” and a “nip” in the Christmas air. “Santa” passed out treat bags and left the church with several” Ho, Ho, Ho’s.” Uncle Jesse died at Christmas time in 1988. Inside his hospital room was a small decorated Christmas tree placed there by my mother.

Christmas tree memories: The perfect tree

Picking just the right Christmas tree was always an important task each year. As my brothers and I grow up in eastern North Carolina. We romped and fished along the Roanoke River! After Halloween, our thoughts turned toward Christmas. We would search the paths and trails along the river and seek out what we thought was the perfect tree. After a long and exhaustive search, we found a beautiful red-heart cedar. We marked it so we would know its location. When the time came to cut it in mid-December, we cut the tree and brought it home. It was definitely not perfect, because we discovered it had two tops on it. My mother knew just what to do to solve the problem, she took a roll of black tape and rolled it around the twin tops and placed a star in the tree to top it off.

Candles are a huge part of Christmas decor

At grandma’s backwoods home in Northampton County, there was no electricity, no running water or indoor plumbing. At Christmastime the house had the smell of candles, oil lamps and burning wood. The house glowed with light from oil lamps and candles in every room. The Christmas tree glowed, not with lights but but with holly with red berries, mistletoe with white berries, strings of popcorn, popcorn balls, long leaf pine cones, running cedar and paper chains. Candles glowed in the living room, but strangely enough no candles were on the kitchen table. We always thought it was because there would be so many relatives around the table, the lighted candles would always be a hazard. For memories of an old-fashioned Christmas, we like to light a few candles, especially votive candles and enjoy the glow and smell from them.

Making country egg nog at Christmastime

At Christmas, our uncles at grandmas house would always make a bucket of egg nog on Christmas Day. They used fresh eggs from grandmas hen house. The finished product was always golden yellow as a result of the fresh eggs. They had their own special recipe that included two and a half dozen beaten eggs, one and a half gallons of milk, four cups of sugar, three teaspoons of real vanilla, two teaspoons of nutmeg, two teaspoons of cinnamon, one teaspoon of cloves and four teaspoons of rum flavoring. The uncles always used plenty of real rum!

Christmas hard mix triggers childhood memories

One of the great memories of Christmas past and present is the Christmas hard and filled mixes of fruity, spicy and peppermint, spearmint and wintergreen. Each piece tastes like Christmas of long ago. Brach’s still produces this special treat every Christmas. This special mix can be purchased at many country stores and produce markets in our area. It is there and displayed in five gallon wooden kegs that you can scoop out and bag yourself.

It’s that time of year again to buy a tree, blow the dust off the Christmas lights, and hang the stockings with care and all the other necessary stuff; listen to your kids tell you what they want Santa to bring them although you trip over every toy you might think of when you get home from work; and for going to the in-laws, company parties and don’t forget Grandma’s house.

I heard a story about a woman who was doing her last-minute Christmas shopping at a crowded mall. She was tired of fighting the crowds. She was tired of standing in lines. She was tired of fighting her way down long aisles looking for a gift that had sold out days before. Her arms were full of bulky packages when the elevator door opened full of shoppers. The people in the elevator tightened up to allow a small space for her and her load.

As the doors closed she blurted out, “Whoever is responsible for this whole Christmas thing ought to be arrested, strung up, and shot!” A few others nodded their heads or grunted in agreement. Then from somewhere in the back of the elevator came a soft single voice that said, “Don’t worry. They already crucified Him.”

We need to remember who is responsible for Christmas. 1 John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. 8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. 9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. 10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.

Propitiation means satisfaction. Because God is a holy God, His anger and justice burns against sin. And He has sworn that sin will be punished. There must be a satisfactory payment for sin. But God said in a sense, if I punish man for his sin, man will die and go to Hell. On the other hand, if I don’t punish man for his sin, my justice will never be satisfied. So God, became our substitute. He would take the sin of mankind upon Himself in the agony and blood of the cross, a righteous judgment and substitute for sin.

It’s our Lord who is responsible for giving eternal life to those that believe. It’s our Lord Jesus who is responsible for giving us mercy instead of death because He loves us. It’s our responsibility to praise Him, thank Him no matter how busy we get at Christmas or any other time.

There is always that question that separates Christians from non-Christians no matter what time of the year is. Would you consider yourself to be a good person? Non-Christians would say “yes” because they are basically good they will get into heaven. Evolution teaches that mankind is basically good and as we develop we continue to improve and become better people. Liberal “Christianity” teaches the social gospel, that through our own good efforts we can make this into a good world.

The truth of the Bible teaches different. Psalm 53:2.God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God. 3. Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

Don’t say that a loving God is going to send you to Hell, He’s not. The thing that’s going to send you to Hell is that you’re a sinner and you don’t want to admit it. (J. Vernon McGee)

It’s my prayer that those who are lost would receive the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ this Christmas. No matter how old you are or how young, God hears the prayer of repentance from the heart of a sinner. Don’t put it off another day. There is no better time than right now because, if you should die today, tomorrow would be too late.

Hebrews 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: Ask Christ into your life if you haven’t. Do it today. Romans 10: 9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Editor’s Note: Reader Diary is a periodic column written by local residents, Surry County natives, and readers of The Mount Airy News. If you have a submission for Reader Diary, email it to John Peters at jpeters@mtairynews.com

The old saying, “Woman’s work is never done” was a fact of life in the backwoods of the Blue Ridge Mountains of yesterday and if we could take a look, what might we find? She was Queen of her Castle (such as it was) and a hard-working soul who “kept” the house, chopped the firewood, worked the fields along-side her man, raised the kids and cooked the meals; (three a day, 365 days a year).

She washed clothes in a number two washtub over an out-door fire, ironed them with a flat-iron heated on the wood-burning cookstove, grew the garden, stored food for winter and shot the shotgun as good as any man; sometimes at her man.

Her word was “law” and anyone who crossed her path better have some heavy back-up or there would be H… to pay. She taught her kids “why and what for” with no more than a certain look that could burn a hole in a two-by-four. When she laid that look on her man, he looked up in the sky and asked his Maker, “Lord, what have I done now?”

Her only rest came at the end of the day; well after dark when all the work was done and all the kids were safe in bed. Only then could she kick back in her rocking chair, relax, wonder what was left undone and what tomorrow would bring. Whatever the case, she knew that with coming of the morn’, she would be ready to “go to war” once again and “fight the good fight” all over again.

Who might this wonder woman be? Maybe our Mama, our Grandmama, or other kin, who led the way to whatever we are today; a true mountain woman; a legend in her own time. So, let’s be proud of her and know, “they don’t make ‘em like her anymore and without her, you and I might not even be here today.”

Psalm 28:7 The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.

When some Christians have troubles or some health issue, a few fellow Christians ask themselves, “I wonder what he or she did to cause this pain and suffering?” This question was always asked in the Old Testament days more so than it is asked today. The book of Job is a great example of this very thing. The Bible says that Job was perfect and upright and one that feared God. Not only was Job a just man but, God had blessed him with riches, seven sons and three daughters. Job even took sacrifices of burnt offering before the Lord to pay for his family’s sins. So there was not another man like Job in all the world at that time or maybe never will be other than Christ Himself according to the Bible.

Job is a fascinating account of a man of God of long ago. Job’s suffering was one of tremendous pain and heartache. It all starts with a conversation between God and Satan. God asks Satan where had he been and Satan told God in Job 1:7 going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.

You might remember what the Bible says in 1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Satan wants to cause Job sickness and sorrows. He wants you and I to have sickness and sorrows. He really wants to kill each of us but God won’t allow it until our time is finished here on this Earth. So Satan can’t touch God’s children unless God allows it.

Job 1:8 1 says And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? Satan then says, you have built a wall of protection around your servant Job and all that he has. I can’t get to him but, if I could he would curse you to your face! God says OK, you may do anything you want to Job but you can’t kill him. Keep this in mind about this man called Job. He never knew why bad things were about happen to him and neither do we.

Question: Will we find out one day why we had all these different troubles in our life? I believe when we see Jesus and the Bible says in 1 John 3:2 but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. I don’t think our troubles here will matter anymore.

Satan within hours had wiped out all of Job’s livestock, riches and servants except for the four that brought the bad news to Job about his loss. Also Satan had killed his family except for his wife. Everything that God had blessed Job with was gone.

What did Job do? He says in Job 1:21 And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. 22 In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. After all of Job’s loss of everything he had including his family he still trusted in the God but, again Satan steps into Job’s life and struck him with a sickness near death. Job’s wife tells him to curse God and let Him kill you!

Three of Job’s friends came to comfort him and sit with him. But, they judged him by saying, Job must be a wicked man and God is punishing him for his sin. Job responded to them was something like this; I believe God is just and powerful as you do. I am not a hypocrite and I know of no sin between me and God. I would argue my case with God but I cannot find Him. Nevertheless, I will trust Him for He will justify me either in this life or in the life to come. It took a great deal of faith for Job to defend God’s judgment during his circumstances.

How about you, how about me? Can we trust God throughout all of our trials, troubles and sickness? I believe very few would have that kind of faith because many would question God and some would have turned from their faith in Him. God is completely sovereign in His dealings with His people and will never permit anything to come in the life of a Christian that is not for their own good and God’s glory. God does not have to explain His ways to us. It is enough for us to know that He cares and that He never makes a mistake. We don’t live by explanations, we live by promises.

Don’t know that I would have the faith of Job if I lost all my family and everything else but, I pray that God would give all of us enough to make it through this life and just to hear His words as He says, well done good and faithful servant. Adrian Rodgers said “Faith is not accepting from God what you want, faith is accepting from God what He gives.” It’s not my choice and I’m sure it’s not yours to have troubles but it is our choice to trust God with all. I would hope we all would say as King David did in. Psalm 28:7 The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him.

This time of year, Main Street here in Mount Airy sees a lot of foot traffic as people are shopping for the holiday. I always add a few books to my Christmas wish list, which made me realize I can’t remember a holiday where I wasn’t buying or receiving a book as a gift.

Bookstores today often include much more than just books. Some have built-in cafes to get specialty coffees and treats, trinkets and novelty gifts, games and toys, and a wide variety of things. As I walked Main Street this past weekend to start my shopping, I began to wonder what it would have been like to shop in a local bookstore 100 years, 75 years, or even 50 years ago? What types of things would it have sold? Who would have owned the businesses? What role did they serve in the community? Well, after plenty of research, let me paint you a picture.

J.D. Jenkins came to Mount Airy and opened his bookstore in the early 1880s right on Main Street. He experienced several years of success, and by 1892, joined up with another gentleman, L.S. Hadley. He built a two-story brick building next door for him to sell groceries, and even splurged to put down brick pavement in front of the two shops. Jenkins was not only a socialite and business-minded bookseller, but he was also a stationer. A stationer was someone who sold stationary at this time, or paper, ink, and tools used for writing. After gaining access to the train, many shops were expanding inventory options, and Jenkins was no exception. By 1900 he was even selling sewing machines in his bookstore.

As we move into the 1900s, J.D. Jenkins’ Book Store wasn’t the only bookstore on Main Street to offer luxury items. Moore’s Book Store liked to boast in the newspaper about offering “fancy goods of any kind.” In addition to a variety of books, it sold tobacco and cigars, stationery such as high-end writing paper and postcards, and even reading glasses from Hawkes Crystalized Lenses. They even advertised special days where someone would come in to test your eyes and adjust your glasses for you.

As we move into the 1910s to 1930s, a new bookstore, Creed’s Book Store (or J.W. Creed Book Store), came onto the scene. This shop was owned by A.E. Creed and would have been located between Franklin and Pine heading south (to the left of Snappy Lunch if you are facing the front of the shop.) The building was also conveniently located next to the Times-Leader newspaper building.

Creed’s Book Store carried books and stationery naturally, but also directly sold school books and supplies, as well as a variety of other items. The store burned down in June of 1931, sadly, and many damaged items were auctioned each night at the Marion Music House next door. Thankfully, the owners were able to rebuild, and soon after was able to resume selling the normal stock of magazines, newspapers, books, novelties and gifts, along with cigars and tobacco, guns, ammunition, and sporting goods.

By this time the Mount Airy Times had set up shop on Main Street, and would want to get in on the book selling. The Time’s Book Store operated in the front part of the Time’s office building on Main Street next to Wolfe’s Drug Store. The store was an extension of the paper and sold stationary and office supplies upon its opening in 1934. During their grand opening, they claimed in the paper to offer “…typewriters and filing systems for the business men; legal forms of all description for the attorneys and magistrates; and cardboard in all colors and sizes for the teachers and pupils of the various schools.” Many advertisements of the time marketed them as more of an office supply store than any kind of bookstore we would recognize today, but they still experienced years of success through the 1960s.

Hinkle’s Book Store followed and was a part of a chain of stores that originated in downtown Winston-Salem in 1925 by founder Sanford Hinkle. The store was the premier book supplier from the early 1960s to the 1980s.

This has in no way been a comprehensive list of all of the bookstores on Main Street throughout history, but hopefully offered insight by looking into some of the most well-known ones. In present-day, we have had a range of booksellers and for most of us today, Pages Books and Coffee comes to mind. In many ways, local bookstores throughout the years provided a way for us to educate and entertain ourselves, stay connected, advance our skills and professions, and even treat ourselves and our loved ones from time to time.

You may not be able to get your eyes checked or buy some ammunition at a local bookstore today, but for most of us, a coffee, a fun trinket, and Wi-Fi are a pretty sweet deal. I hope many of you consider shopping local this year when you can, to not only support your community, but to help continue preserving local traditions and history as well.

Cassandra Johnson is the programs and education director at the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History and loves to encourage others to find the history in the little day to day aspects of their lives from what roads we drive to work or to shopping.

Pearl Harbor remembrance: A day of infamy

This “day of infamy” as President Roosevelt referred to this event will be remembered on Wednesday, Dec. 7. It was 81 years ago that the empire of Japan launched a surprise attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor. The attack occurred just before 8 o’clock on a Sunday morning. It was a day of infamy that started at 7:55 a.m. on a peaceful morning in Hawaii with 350 planes involved in the surprise attack. Over 300 planes we destroyed and and 20 naval ships were destroyed including eight battleships. More than 2,400 military personnel and civilians died in the attack.

This day in history should always be remembered and the souls that lost their lives that fateful morning. We need to always keep our guard up and never allow such an event to ever happen again — always remember Pearl Harbor and the families who lost their loved ones on that fateful morning.

Mistletoe tops out the mighty oak trees

As the mighty oaks and hardwoods are finally shedding their leaves, they reveal clumps of greenery in their very tops as the mistletoe adorns their limbs. The mysterious mistletoe crowns the tops of the hardwoods. It is definitely out of the reach of most mortals. Only the brave and adventurous souls will attempt to harvest the elusive mistletoe.

The curious mistletoe has long held the traditions of romance and healing and a cure to neutralize poisons and certain other ailments. The old English custom of placing sprigs of mistletoe on the door sills and ceilings or every room gave men (as well as women) power to kiss everyone in the house.

Mistletoe is a mystery within itself, and it is a miracle it even exists. Its very propagation depends on the mighty oaks and other hardwoods as they become sustainers of life for the mistletoe which is a parasite. It thrives from the nutrients of the hardwoods. With the development of many acres of woodlands, mistletoe is not the commonplace greenery it was in the 20th century, but the mystique of it is still there. In the 1800s J. A. Sterry wrote, “A privilege tis to know to exercise time-honored rights when Christmas fires steam and glow, when loving lips may pout, although with other lips they oft unite – Tis merry neath the mistletoe!”

Celebrating with holly and ivy

How happy the holly tree looks, and how strong she stands like a sentinel all year long. Neither dry summer heat, nor cold winter hail can make that bright warrior tremble or quail. She has beamed all the year, but bright scarlet she will glow when the ground glitters white with the fresh fallen snow.

Holly is an ancient symbol of Christmas decorations with its glassy green leaves and bright red berries. Holly is common in the Eastern and Central United States and in areas east of the Mississippi River. The red berries are called “drupes” and only the female trees produce berries. Male trees must be in the area where the female trees can produce berries. The red berries are also named “winter berries.” The early Christians used holly as decorations because it is evergreen and eternal just as Christmas is a celebration of new life and life eternal.

You can not only deck the halls with boughs of holly, but also with strands of ivy. Ivy has long runners that can be used for decorating doorways mantels, window sills, and also to construct a natural advent wreath or wrapped around votive candles. There are more than 15 species of ivy. It is a running vine that creeps along the ground and also climbs walls and up chimneys and climbs the trunks of trees.

Picking out a live Christmas tree

As December arrives, so do the Christmas tree lots come alive and bright green and many area churches also have Christmas tree lots as fundraisers. Local supermarkets also have great line up of live Christmas trees. Follow a few easy steps to select your perfect tree for your family. 1) Let the whole family have a part in selecting the tree. 2) Check cut bottom of tree; it should be yellow and fresh-cut. 3) The tree should smell fresh. 4) Bend a limb or two, they should be springy. 5) Bounce the tree, if needles fall off, don’t buy that tree. 6) The tree should be dark green in color. 7) When you bring the tree home, soak the bottom of the tree in a tub of cold water for 24 hours. 8) Place the tree in a stand that will allow you to water the tree. 9) A cared-for tree will last over a month. 10) Never leave a tree lit when leaving the home.

Enjoying aroma of a Douglas Fir Christmas tree

Your tree may not be real, but you can still enjoy the fragrance of spruce or fir in your home. We are aware that you can purchase spray cans of tree scents, but the very best way to enjoy aroma of spruce and fir is to go to the Christmas tree lot purchase some trimmings from Christmas trees and decorate mantels and windows for a fresh evergreen smell. Pay these hard workers well for the clippings. These folks work long, cold, hard hours and deserve your support.

A nip in the air and a freeze on the ground

The nights are getting colder and there is a certain nip in the air that paves the way for frosty nights and soon the first of the hard freezes. This is not all bad news because the cold weather vegetables will benefit from the cold soil and actually be sweetened by the frost. When the soil freezes, it will kill off wintering insects and destroy some of their eggs and larvae. All the cold weather crops have a layer of crushed leaves on them as a protective blanket.

Making an easy, moist Christmas salad

This is an easy and colorful fruit salad to prepare for a Christmas meal and it only takes five minutes to prepare. You will need one can of pineapple chunks (drained), one can of fruit cocktail (drained), one can pears (diced), one can diced peaches (drained), one jar red maraschino cherries (drained), one jar green maraschino cherries (drained), two cups miniature marshmallows, one teaspoon orange extract, one tablespoon banana flavoring, one boxy (3 oz.) instant pistachio pudding mix, one tub of Cool Whip. Mix all fruits together. Add marshmallows, flavorings, pudding and Cool whip. Stir together for a minute. Cool in refrigerator several hours. Keep in the refrigerator after serving.

Bon bons and dark chocolate creme drops

As the Christmas season nears, we see the arrival of old fashioned dark chocolate creme drops with their familiar cone shapes and melt in your math flavor of dark chocolate coating and creamy vanilla filling. They are a once a year favorite from Christmas past that comes alive every year at Christmas time. Another old fashioned Christmas treat is coconut bon bons in their colors of chocolate, pink, white and yellow filled with sweet grated coconut forming Christmas flavor balls. They are featured at many country stores all during Christmas season.

Family Tree. A neighbor was boasting about his ancestors who came over on the Mayflower. The farmer got bored with all that bragging and said, “That’s too sad, in my business we always say, the older the seed, the worse the crop.”

Bald spot. The little boy told the barber while getting his first haircut, “I want my hair out like my dad’s with a hole on top,” he instructed the barber.

Empty pot shot. There was a man who shot an arrow into the air — and missed!

Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day will be Wednesday, Dec. 7. There will also be a full moon on Wednesday, Dec. 7, and it will be known as “Full Cold Moon.” The moon reaches its last quarter on Friday, Dec. 16. Wright Brothers Day will be Saturday, Dec. 17. Hanukkah begins at sundown on Sunday, Dec. 18. Winter begins on Wednesday, Dec. 21. The new moon of December occurs on the evening of Friday, Dec. 23. Christmas Eve will be Saturday, Dec. 24. Christmas Day will be Sunday, Dec. 25. The moon reaches its first quarter on Thursday, Dec. 29. New Year’s Eve will be Saturday, Dec. 31.

Editor’s Note: Reader Diary is a periodic column written by local residents, Surry County natives, and readers of The Mount Airy News. If you have a submission for Reader Diary, email it to John Peters at jpeters@mtairynews.com

If you traveled the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains back in the day, you probably met him, unless he wished otherwise. He was corn-fed, creek-baptized, lean as a fishing pole, wore clod-hopper shoes, bib overalls, a black floppy hat, grew a long black beard, carried a huge shotgun and was “mean as a snake when messed with,” so it was said.

But, he also had a heart of gold and would give you the shirt off his back if you were in need, or maybe just for the heck of it.

He was a man of the land who knew when it would rain, when it would snow, when fish would bite best, what kind and where. His hand-shake was his bond and he brewed the best corn likker’ on God’s Green Earth. “Them Revenoors” were the enemy and he liked nothing better than matching wits with “Them Devils.” By the time they stumbled on his still place, the still was long-gone and he was already cooking in another holler.

He was king of his castle, (such as it was) and a mean hickory switch kept his kids on the straight and narrow. When they asked “why,” he said, “Because I said so.” He chopped wood with a double-bladed axe, hunted, fished, and grew corn in the same fields his ancestors dug out of the woods at the beginning of time.

His foxhounds were his pride and joy and many were the nights he listened to Old Blue chase a fox three miles away in the mountainside: the best music known to mankind. “Old Betsy” was his shotgun and his best friend; he hunted with it; ate with it, and when Mama went on the warpath, he slept with it. At Christmas time, he made his own fireworks by shooting Old Betsy in the air at nothing.

Any doubts about him being a tough old bird went away on the last day of December, when he and his pals “took on a bait” of their “favorite beverage” and celebrated the coming of the New Year by skinny-dipping in an ice-cold creek at the stroke of midnight. (Each and all thanked their Lord for the big bonfire burning nearby.)

Who might this legend be? He could very well be my pa or your pa, or maybe our grandpa or great-grandpa; a rough, tough man from the hills who was afraid of nothing but his wife. He had no desire to see the world because he already lived in Paradise and spent his entire life within sight of the place he was born. One of his greatest joys was watching the seasons change, and the one he liked best began when the wild geese flew north in early February, which told him spring was coming again to his precious land.

Let’s hope and pray that maybe, just maybe, some of his traits have been “handed down” through the years and let’s never forget the legend who came before us: to whom we owe so much; a dyed-in-the-wool Mountain Man.

Editor’s Note: Community Comment is a periodic column in The Mount Airy News featuring commentary from community leaders in Mount Airy and Surry County.

Public schools in Surry County are strong. We have three great school systems including Mount Airy City Schools, Elkin City Schools, and Surry County Schools.

The Gallup Poll has polled parents across the US as to their satisfaction with public schools. The satisfaction rate hit an all-time high in 1999 with 83% and remains high in 2022 with 73%. Parents in general remain largely satisfied with the excellence provided in public schools (Gallup, 2021, K-12 Parents Remain Largely Satisfied with Child’s Education).

The John Locke survey of parents in North Carolina shows well over half of the parents in the state are satisfied with their public schools and over 70% of North Carolinians are choosing public schools (https://www.johnlocke.org/what-do-north-carolina-parents-think-about-education-and-their-schools/). Most polls are showing that generally the public feel good about public schools but want to make sure the schools address some key issues, one of those being safety.

Mount Airy City Schools has a comprehensive safety plan that we outlined earlier in this series of articles. The update I will address this month deals with how that safety plan is rolling out. We have many updates that are important in which we need parents and the community to partner with us. We have buzz-in systems at each front door and we generally ask folks to stay out of the building unless there is an appointment to come in the building. We ask for your ID if you do enter the building. We use an ID system that does a quick check and gives you a visitors pass. This helps our students and staff know that you are an approved visitor on the campus.

Each of our schools have created a School Emergency Response Team (SERT) plan where key individuals within each campus have a role to play in the event of an incident. Some of these roles are safety officer, operations person, communications person, transportation person, etc. The incident could be something such as a fire in the kitchen, a gas leak outside the building, an unknown person on campus, or an upset individual in the office. Any incident may call for a safety plan to be used. We also know that often there are weather-related incidents where the electricity or water have gone out in the school. We must be prepared no matter what the occurrence.

Our goal in working with the county emergency management, our local law enforcement, outside safety experts, and our staff is to execute the Standard Response Protocol (SRP). Your help with understanding the SRP and explaining it to your children and grandchildren will go a long way in keeping them calm in an emergency.

The Standard Response Protocol is based on the response to any given situation not on individual scenario. It demands a specific vocabulary but also allows for great flexibility. The premise is simple – these five specific actions can be performed during an incident. When communicating these, the action is labeled with a “Term of Art” and is then followed by a “Directive.” Execution of the action is performed by active participants.

Hold is followed by the Directive: “In Your Room or Area” and is the protocol used when hallways need to be kept clear of occupants.

Secure is followed by the Directive: “Get Inside. Lock Outside Doors” and is the protocol used to safeguard people within the building.

Lockdown is followed by “Locks, Lights, Out of Sight” and is the protocol used to secure individual rooms and keep occupants quiet and in place.

Evacuate may be followed by a location, and is used to move people from one location to a different location in or out of the building.

Shelter, State the Hazard, and Safety Strategy for group and self-protection.

We need your help in making sure you and your child understand the terminology described above. We know that it is unlikely for us to have a safety event as schools have put a lot of things in place to deter any safety concerns, but in the event there is a safety situation we want your child to feel safe and supported. We were able to conduct our first safety drills this fall in which there was a scenario played out in your child’s school. This allowed for the school to run their safety plan using their personnel and resources available at the time.

Students and staff were placed under “hold” and “lockdown” to develop muscle memory in the event of a real situation. I am happy to report that all schools were successful during the drill. The drill helped us identify areas where we are strong and areas where we can make improvements. Our local law enforcement participated in the drills and will continue to support us throughout the year in our comprehensive safety plan.

In the winter, we will continue with a drill using “secure.” This is used if there is an incident outside of the school building in the community and it doesn’t appear to be a threat. It would allow us to keep our building secure and not let anyone in or out during this time. It allows what is occurring inside the building to continue. The Mount Airy Police Department are typically who let us know of any community situation that would require a “secure” command. The activities inside the building can continue as normal during this command. In the winter, each campus will also be conducting safety table top drills with the local police department and outside safety experts. This allows for a more complex safety drill and opportunities for key people to develop muscle memory for their role.

Lastly, the spring will contain a more complex safety drill that might occur during arrival, dismissal, class changes, recess, and/or lunch. This drill will be a bit more difficult because of the students being in various places around the campus, but nonetheless an important time to practice safety. We believe that our staff and students will handle it like champs and they will be ready in case there is a situation that arises during the year.

John 3:1 There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: 2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. 3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

Nicodemus was a member of the Sanhedrin and was a Pharisee. Sanhedrin was the equivalent of our US Supreme Court. He was the cream of the crop of Israel so to speak. The 70 members came from the chief priests, scribes, and elders. They made religious decisions and laws of the land. So Nicodemus was as religious as you could get in Jesus day. He knew all the beliefs and had a hand in making those decisions into law for Israel.

There has been a lot said about Nicodemus and these passages, but I believe that Nicodemus was investigating the words of Jesus not so much for himself at the time although I believe Nicodemus ended up believing the words of Jesus. But, I also believe he was concerned about the people of Israel because, after all he was one of those on the council that made the laws of religion and an interrupter of the Old Testament. He believed the Bible but most Jews couldn’t see that Jesus was the Messiah to come.

Many today can’t see that prophecy is being fulfilled right before their eyes but it is. The investigation and open mind of Nicodemus lead him to being saved I believe, but the truth is it was a divine meeting set up by our Lord. I also believe that if Nicodemus hadn’t come to Jesus at night or in secret, he could have been scolded by the other leaders by not having a witness with him and may have never heard the saving words of Jesus. He could have been thrown out of the council altogether I believe.

Jesus statement; John 3:3 Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus response was a logical one with; Verse 4 How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? Nicodemus was eliminating the simplest explanation. But, Jesus explains exactly what it takes to be saved, born again. 5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

There are many explanations on these verses but let’s look at Jesus words close in verses 5, 6. Many believe be born of water means to being born of a woman, the fluid or water that the baby is carried in the mother. Makes since you must be born human. Many believe what Jesus meant about born of water was speaking of the Word of God which is referred to all through the Bible as water. (John 4:4) (John 7:37-39). Makes since because we must hear Gods word to be saved. Some believe that Jesus meant you must be baptized in the Holy Spirit. That makes since also because God sends the Holy Spirit to live in those who ask Him into their life.

So, I say it takes all the above. Jesus said in this same chapter 3 that for God so love the world, he came to this earth as a human born of a woman. The spirit of God in the flesh as a man called Jesus Christ. That’s what it means to be born again. This is also the reason Jesus said That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. We are born in the flesh to mend the relationship with God because of sin. We hear Gods word, it draws us by His love. If we ask Him into our life we receive the Holy Spirit that that seals us and gives us a new identity with God that we belong to Him through Jesus. So, we are born again when we receive the Holy Spirit. We are born with a choice, we hear Gods word as a choice and we receive Him as our choice. What eternal choice have you made? Jesus didn’t make salvation complicated. He made it your choice.

The last few days of November

Only a few more days and November will be over. It is hard to believe the season of Christmas is only one month from now. As the month of November comes to a close, let us keep the spirit of Thanksgiving alive and do not allow the Christmas rush to snatch it away. Please keep that attitude of thanks and praise for every day of life, for family and friends and all the blessings we receive and enjoy.

Hard freezes as November ends

Indian Summer is coming to an end and the nights are becoming frosty. The hard freezes are not far away. Ice in the mud holes will be a morning event. All cool weather vegetables will benefit from hard freezes and suffer no ill effects because they are protected with a layer of crushed leaves. It will not be very long until the ground will be cold enough for snow to fall and stick to the ground. Who knows, we may have a white Christmas!

Sunday will be the first day of Advent

Sunday, Nov. 28, will be the first Sunday of Advent which begins the time of preparation of the season of Christmas. It is time to place the Moravian star on the porch and keep it lit all night every night until the Day of Epiphany which occurs on Friday, Jan. 6. As you get out your Christmas decorations, unpack your lighted Christmas candles and light them each night as Advent season begins on Sunday. As we begin the holy season of Advent, the illuminated candles and Moravian star lights the way to celebrate the birth of Jesus and acknowledges the fact that he is the light of the world.

Poinsettias in supermarkets and stores

Now that Thanksgiving is over, the poinsettias are on display in garden centers, supermarkets, Walmart, Target, Home Depot, Lowe’s Home Improvement, Food Lion, Lowe’s Foods, Harris Teeter, nurseries and hardwares. Poinsettias come in colors of red, white, pink, orange and mint green. Purchase them in large containers so you can adorn them with bows and Christmas foil with large bows. Christmas ornaments can also be placed on them. They are tropical so keep them in a warm place away from direct sunlight. Water lightly once a week.

Christmas cactus are in full bloom

Unlike poinsettias that have to be pampered, the Christmas cactus thrives on the front porch all summer and prepares itself for Christmas all year long and rewards us with colorful blooms just before Christmas as they spend late autumn, winter and early spring in the semi-sunny living room. All they need is some good cactus medium, a small drink of water each week and a few tablespoons of Flower-Tone organic flower food once a month. After they finish their blooms, remove them when they begin to fall off.

It is cane time for the rose bushes

Prepare the roses for winter by pruning back the long canes and dead heading all spent blooms and hips. Dig around the base of the bushes and apply a cup full of Rose-Tone organic rose food and a layer of crushed leaves around the base of the roses. Cutting back the canes will prevent ice and snow damage and improve the appearance of the bushes.

Simplicity in a pot of fresh collards

Now that the Thanksgiving meals are over, it’s time for some down to earth nutrition from a bowl of fresh collard greens, touched by the frost and sweetened by its influence. Collards perform well in the acid soil of the Piedmont, but the coastal loamy soil of the Coastal Plains in northeastern and Southern North Carolina is where collards grow as large as hedge bushes. In Dunn they till and grow some of the largest collards in the state and some people even produce them in their front yards. Northampton County also produces some hefty collards. My mother and grandmother cooked plenty of collards during the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. On the days after Thanksgiving, the supper meal would be collards seasoned with ham bone, yellow cornbread and pinto beans. Across the Roanoke River in Roanoke Rapids the sidewalks, parking lots as well as service stations were lined with the greenery of collards. Area farmers sold collard heads in front of stores and businesses. The huge collard heads sold for between a dollar to a dollar and a half per collard head.

Getting darker early; staying dark longer

Daylight Savings Time ended earlier this month and we lost an hour of daylight and we are still losing a minute each evening and that adds up to plenty of darkness. There is a light at the end of the tunnel because after Dec. 21, we will begin to see a minute more of daylight each evening. It will be about six weeks before we can see much difference.

A hydrogen peroxide perk for winter overs

For a little extra energy and a quick pepper upper for plants wintering over in the home, add a few drops of hydrogen peroxide to the water before pouring on the plants each week as you water plants. An ounce per gallon is not too much.

An easy snack for winter birds

This is an easy snack for birds that will visit your lawn this late autumn and winter. Mix a jar of peanut butter with a jar of yellow corn meal and a jar of bird seed. Fill a foil pie pan with this mix and place it on the lawn near the bird bath.

Decorating with colorful holly and ivy

“The holly and the ivy, when they are both fully grown. Of all the trees that grow in the wood, the holly wears the crown.” “The holly bears a berry as red as any blood. And Mary bore sweet Jesus to do all sinners good.” “The holly bears a bark as bitter as any gall. Mary bore sweet Jesus, For to redeem us all.” Holly and ivy are both evergreens and have long been traditional decorations of Christmas.

“But give me holly, bold and jolly. Prickly shining holly; pluck me holly leaf and berry For Christmas when we make

merry.”- Christina Rossetti. Check the Garden Plot next week for more about the holly and the ivy as we usher in the season of Christmastime.

Making a bowl of sweet carrot ambrosia

With the Christmas holidays less than a month away, this is an unusual recipe for ambrosia with a new twist of vegetables as well as fruits. The grated carrots give this ambrosia added texture. You will need one small bag of carrots (grated), one can crushed pineapple, (drained), two cups miniature marshmallows, one cup flaked coconut, one small jar red maraschino cherries, one cup chopped green seedless grapes, one cup golden raisins, four tablespoons sugar, one tablespoon orange extract, one cup of sour cream, one tablespoon vanilla extract. Wash, peel and grate carrots in blender in grate mode, mix all other ingredients and chill in the refrigerator overnight. After serving, keep the ambrosia in refrigerator.

“Practice What You Preach.” A preacher once asked an actor why he had such a large audience, while he as a preacher had such a small congregation at his church. The actor told the preacher, “I act as if I believe what I say, while you preach as if you do not believe what you preach.”

“Downhill Drive!”Angry customer: “I thought you said this was a good car. It won’t go uphill.” Used car dealer: “I said, on the level, it’s a good car.”

“Night owl student.” Student: “I’m very tired, I was up until midnight doing my homework.” Teacher: “At what time did you begin?” Student: “At 11:55 p.m.”

Telephone directories were once a staple in every household across the United States and the world. The need for telephone directories has diminished in recent years with the prevalence of smartphones, largely because people are able to find business phone numbers by using the internet. In the US, current rules mean that mobile phone numbers cannot be included in telephone directories.

Some people still regularly rely on the books, such as historians, many of whom use the directories as research tools. While looking through the archive of telephone directories in Mount Airy, we can find a wealth of information and get a glimpse into the lives of those who lived in the area.

Through these phone books we can gather information that might not be available elsewhere, such as the names of spouses, occupation and place of employment, and where they lived. Typically, anyone over the age of 18 was listed in the directory. In researching local history, we can use directories to find out when businesses were established, where they were located or moved locations.

The first telephone directory dates back to 1878. Published in Connecticut, the directory listed only 50 contact details and took up a single page. Before the advent of telephones, directories were already in existence, but would merely list addresses. Additionally, early directories did not list its entries alphabetically but instead numerically.

In the early years of telephones, callers would merely provide switchboard operators with the name of whoever they were trying to get into contact with, and because of the limited number of telephones and the localized nature of telephone exchanges at the time, the operator already knew the number to reach every telephone.

It was not until 1879 when Dr. Moses Greeley Parker, a medical doctor in Massachusetts, made the argument for both including phone numbers and ordering these directories in alphabetical order by last name. This was during an outbreak of measles, with many switchboard operators being unable to work which put a strain on the telephone system. The new form of phone books meant the general public could find what number they needed to be connected to, rather than relying on the switchboard operator’s knowledge.

Before Mount Airy had phone books, Branson’s Business Directory was published. In the late 1800s, the Reverend Levi Branson hired more than 100 people to go throughout North Carolina to canvas businesses and compile a list of their locations. Businesses included churches, hotels, mills, teachers, mines, doctors, factories, and others, listed with their respective post offices and proprietors’ names. Sections of the book were divided up via county, and copies sold for $5.

Giving a glimpse into life in Surry County at the time, the 1890 Branson’s Business Directory provides the limited window as to when the Mount Airy Superior Court was open: “..meets seventh Monday after the first Monday in March and September, and the second Monday before the first Monday in November.”

The earliest General Directory of Mount Airy did not list phone numbers but rather it was a street directory. One section listed streets, the individual addresses and who or what entity resided there. Another section had an alphabetical listing of residents in the city along with their home address and occupation. Lastly, businesses were listed by their type such as barber shop, produce dealer or ice manufacturer in addition to their address.

The first telephone directory for this area is believed to be the 1917 directory from the Mount Airy Telephone Company, only 12 pages long, compared to later versions which could easily be over 200 pages in length.

The South East Public Service Company Telephone Directory of 1935 covered Mount Airy, Pilot Mountain, Rural Hall and Dobson. The first section of the book is taken up with “General Information for Telephone Users,” including How to Speak (“in answering calls, do not say ‘Hello,’ but announce your name or the name of your firm”). Due to the company only covering the local area, there was no need for area codes, as such, the phone numbers listed only had up to four digits. To contact the Mount Airy Furniture Company, located on Factory Street, you merely had to dial ‘1’, while the Mount Airy Granite Corp’s phone number was 9.

Other telephone directories published in the area include Miller’s telephone directory, which was published in Mount Airy from 1928 up to the mid 1960s, and Mullin-Kille Con Survey books from the late ’60s to the early ‘70s. Mullin-Kille phone directories were published in various towns and cities across the country. Like other telephone directories, they included listings for businesses and individuals as well as advertisements for local businesses. The directory branded itself as being “a numerical telephone directory and a complete buyers’ guide, and a classified business directory with special listings for nationally advertised brands.” As with other directories of its time, married women were listed alongside their husband’s name, except for “Married women engaged in some responsible occupation are listed individually in addition to their regular listing with the husband.”

Telephone directories are a valuable resource to locating people in the historical record when other sources are no longer around. Although seemingly mundane, everyday objects, they capture a moment in time just as a photograph would. However, while photographs fade with time, these sturdy, factual and comprehensive books remain an almost indestructible artifact of history.

Katherine “Kat” Jackson is an employee at the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History. Originally from Australia she now lives in King. She can be reached at the museum at 336-786-4478.

The only way to stay ahead of the leaf harvest is by raking, blowing, and vacuuming to the compost pile or din or by starting a pile of crushed leaves to use as a blanket for rose bushes and warmth for rows of cool weather vegetables. You can also run the mower over the leaves can and reduce their volume for the compost pile or bin.

Plenty of greenery still around

Even though there is a lot of brown, tan, and gray around in the middle of November, there is quite a bit of green that remains in the woodlands and along the roads and highways. The short leaf pines highlight the maples and birch trees that have already shed their leaves, the cedars and short leaf pines highlight the gray bark of the birch trees. Wild honeysuckle vines climb along ditch banks and up the trunks of bare trees and floors of woodlands. Greenery in all forms is welcome wherever it is found in every season. The Siberian kale is producing its own shade of green, as well as turnip, broccoli collards, mustard, cabbage and onion sets. The deck and porch still have plenty of perennials and pansy foliage adorning their containers. Our eyes can focus on all kinds of greenery as we approach the cold of the winter.

Plenty of time to lime

November is the opportune time to apply pelletized lime to the lawn. November is the best time to apply pelletized lime because November with its autumn rain, heavy frosts and possibly some snow will soak the pellets into the sod and prevent them from washing away. The possibility of sleet, snow, and ice in December will further dissolve the pellets deeper into the soil.

Ice in mud holes as well as the birdbath

The cold nights of November can freeze water in mud holes as well as bird baths, but a hard ground freeze may still be more than a month away. Frozen water in mud holes and bird baths make it hard for birds to find water. After the temperatures rise above freezing, empty the ice from the bird bath and replace with clean, fresh water. This will make life a bit easier for birds in the cold days leading into winter.

Enjoying the last of Indian Summer days

From now until the week of Thanksgiving, we still have days of Indian Summer that remain comfortable even though the nights may be much cooler with plenty of frosty mornings. Most of nature is preparing for a long winter nap. The garden is definitely not in nap mode with the greenery of Siberian kale, turnips, onion sets, curly mustard greens, collards broccoli and cabbage heading toward a harvest. Layers of crushed leaves will blanket the soil and protect the cool weather vegetables.

Season of heavy recycling on its way

Thanksgiving is only two weeks away and this kicks off a season of six weeks of generating a lot of trash that could be placed in the recycling carts. You can recycle all bottles, cans, plastic, milk, cartons, soft drink bottles, metal cans, card board boxes and containers, toilet tissue tubes and paper towel tubes, newspapers (bundled), and aluminum soft drink cans. Every item you recycle will prevent filling up landfills and will promote a healthier environment for our children and grandchildren.

Robins remain with us through the cold

Robins seem to have adapted to southern winters because we continually see them in all the months of the year. The ground does not freeze that often and robins can find a steady diet of food. They have plenty of places to winter over in and under barns and out buildings and in hollow trees, logs, and under the eaves of houses. They can also shelter themselves in piles of leaves and hay. The temperatures are not that freezing during the whole winter. They are around all winter and are not shivering, in fact their color is good and they seem to be well-fed active and healthy.

Making a tuna macaroni meat loaf

This is a mid-November great main dish for a cool evening and it has plenty of color and flavor. You will need one can of evaporated milk, three fourth cup of water, one and a half cups finely shredded sharp cheddar cheese, one stick light margarine, one and a half cups grated bread crumbs (run through blender in “grate” mode), one fourth cup diced onion, two ounce jar of diced pimentos (drained), two cans of tuna, half teaspoon salt, half teaspoon pepper three cups of cooked and drained macaroni and three large beaten eggs. Combine evaporated milk, water, cheese and margarine and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until the cheese melts, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add crushed bread crumbs that have been grated in the blender, add diced onion and pimentos, tuna, salt and pepper. Stir the cooked macaroni and beaten eggs into tuna mixture. Pour into a 13x9x2 inch baking pan or dish sprayed with Pam Baking spray. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and bake for one hour and a half or until loaf is firm. Cool slightly and cut into squares. Makes eight servings.

It may be a very small chance, but not any huge impossibility that some flakes of snow could occur in November. It has happened before but not very often. If and when it does occur, our mountains see the most of it and even then it is not heavy. The soil is still quite warm and even if a snow does fall, it will be short lived and melt fairly quickly. Remember: it does not take too many flakes of snow to generate excitement and in the middle of November, all of us could use that kind of excitement. Bring on a bit of white stuff!

The month to buy Christmas cactus

As we move into mid- November, Christmas cactus pots and containers in festive colors are being displayed at Food Lion, Lowe’s Foods, Harris Teeter, Walmart, Home Depot, Ace Hardware, Lowe’s Home Improvement and most hardwares and nurseries. Most are in full bloom and you can select the colors you desire, you can choose from red, white, pink and coral. They come in small or medium pots. As the cactus complete their bloom cycle, they can be transplanted to a larger container and purchase a bag of Miracle-Gro citrus and cactus starting medium that comes in an orange bag. This will prepare them for many Christmases to come. Feed the cactus in winter by feeding them once a month with Flower-Tone organic flower food and water lightly every ten days. All winter, keep cactus in a semi-sunny location. Use a plastic drip pan under the cactus container to prevent water from dripping on floor or carpet.

Winter wonderland of Siberian kale

Siberian Kale is a cole family vegetable that has its own color, texture and beauty that reflects the coming of winter. The deep emerald green and dainty texture of its leaves when frost touches them is unforgettable beauty as it thrives in mid-November temperatures. Kale is one of America’s most popular greens because of its sweetness and tender leaves. They blend well in salads or as a pot of greens. Siberian Kale can be harvested even when snow is on the ground.

Grandma’s hand grated fresh coconut

The easy way to prepare any thing with coconut in it is to purchase flakes or frozen grated coconut. My Northampton County grandma prepared her coconut for Thanksgiving and Christmas the old fashioned way. She always took the extra time to prepare fresh coconut. She would buy fresh, whole coconuts that were about the size of cantaloupe. Her process of preparing the coconuts started by punching three holes in the “eyes” of the coconut so she could drain the milk and reserve it because that would be the main ingredient of her coconut icing. When added to the hand-grated coconut, it would enhance the flavor to a whole new level. An axe or hammer was used to break open the coconuts into chunks. The next step was to separate the shell from the coconut “meat.” After this, the the “meat” of the coconut had to have a peeling removed to prepare the coconut “meat” for grating. This was a labor intensive task. The most labor intensive task of all was still ahead and that was hand grating the coconut chunks with a metal grater. A large pan would catch the coconut flakes as they came from the grater. Today, this process is much easier because you can run the coconut chunks through the blender in grate mode. After the grating process, the coconut was ready to be made into fresh coconut cake or coconut pies. These cakes and pies were special because fresh grated coconuts mixed with coconut milk makes the most moist cake in the world.

“Lost and Found.” Jan: “Did anyone here lose a roll of bills with a rubber band around them?” Dan: “Yes, I did.” Jan: “Well, I found the rubber band.”

“A sad song.” Jack: ” I spent $100,000 on voice lessons learning how to sing.” Zack: “I would like for you to meet my brother.” Jack: “Why? Is he a singer too?” Zack: “No but he’s a lawyer and he may be able to get your $100,000 back.”

The looks and feelings of Thanksgiving

It looks a lot like Thanksgiving and the cool autumn air has the feeling of Thanksgiving. The lawns have been turned golden brown by Jack Frost. Most leaves have fallen from the trees except for the stubborn oaks. The garden is in nap mode and only the cool weather vegetables remain active. The cardinals and chickadees have already visited the feeder for their pre-Thanksgiving meal. The aroma of turkey, dressing, and pumpkin pie floats through the neighborhood. The kids are playing in the street because there is not much traffic. Thanksgiving is a time of reflecting and relaxing before the Christmas rush and think about the upcoming season of Advent. Don’t allow the rush to overwhelm you. Use this season of Thanksgiving to enjoy family. Take special time to enjoy and be thankful for the blessings of health and strength during this year.

Corn bread is popular on November tables

During November when the harvest of turnips, mustard greens, collards and Siberian kale is in progress, cornbread becomes a staple at the autumn tables. There are two types of cornbread; one of them is baked and the other is fried in patties or cakes. Corn bread can be prepared with yellow or white cornmeal. Both are great, but the yellow is sweeter and a bit moister. We believe corn bread becomes more popular during November as the cool weather vegetables are harvested and cornbread becomes a major ingredient in cornbread dressing at Thanksgiving. My Northampton County grandma always baked her cornbread in the oven on a large wood stove with yellow corn meal, buttermilk, eggs, sugar, and butter. My mother prepared her cornbread on the stove top in a cast iron frying pan. There are many recipes for cornbread and this one is like my grandma prepared in her wood stove oven: Two cups of yellow cornmeal, one cup plain flour, two teaspoons baking powder, three tablespoons sugar, one teaspoon salt, two large eggs, one cup of buttermilk, two sticks melted butter of light margarine and half teaspoon black pepper. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, mix yellow cornmeal, flour, sugar, salt and pepper. Add eggs and buttermilk. Mix all ingredients well. Spray a 13x9x2 inch baking pan with Pam baking spray. Bake for 30 minutes until golden brown. Cut into squares.

Seasonings that make cooking much easier

McCormick’s certainly makes baking apple and pumpkin pies easier with their combination of spices in one container in the products of pumpkin pie and apple pie spices with all the essential spices already pre- mixed. Another great seasoning mix is poultry seasoning for fried chicken, gravy and dressing. As you prepare spaghetti, McCormick’s Italian seasoning, oregano and other spices make spaghetti easy to prepare.

A great way to decorate the dining room table for Thanksgiving and Christmas is to use decorative, glossy large paper plates instead of place mats. Use the glossy plates that have Thanksgiving and Christmas art themes during the holidays. An eight pack costs less than $5s. On Valentines Day, you can buy Valentine plates for Saint Valentine’s. Large paper plates can be inserted in them. Add a few candles to match your plates and you will have a nice table setting at very small price.

Purchasing a Moravian star for Christmas

The season of Advent will begin in a few more days and now is a great time purchase a unique Christmas decoration. They are easy to assemble, durable, weatherproof and simply beautiful. They are available at Moravian book stores, Gullians book stores and Salem Gifts on Hanes Mall Boulevard in Winston-Salem. Nothing makes a Christmas statement like a Moravian star shining all through the night.

Vermont Country Store is unusual

One of America’s best mail order general stores, and it produces catalogs all year long, is the Vermont Country Store. They feature items from days gone by and also practical and unusual items. One of their special items is “Blue Willow” dinnerware. They have a huge selection of old fashioned candies, clothing, jams, jellies and takes as well as cookies. The covers on their catalogs are truly works of art especially their Christmas catalogs. You can request one of their catalogs at this address, Vermont Country Store, P.O. Box 6998 Rutland VT 05702-6998.

Making a cherry banana nutbread cake

This is a great recipe for bread loaves or cakes for Thanksgiving or Christmas. It is moist with the bananas in it. You will need a half cup of light margarine, one cup and a half of sugar, two large eggs, four mashed bananas mixed with the juice of one lemon, one teaspoon of baking soda, two cups of plain flour, half cup of chopped pecans, half cup of chopped chocolate chips, half cup of red maraschino cherries, and one teaspoon real vanilla extract. Cream the margarine and sugar, add the eggs and beat well. Add the mashed bananas and lemon juice, add all the other ingredients, place in two small loaf pans or one tube pan. Line the bottoms of pan or pans with piece of waxed paper trimmed to fit. Spray bottom of pans with Pam baking spray apply the waxed paper and spray the pan, waxed paper and sides with Pam. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour or until firm and springy. Cool before removing from pans. Wrap in Glad or Saran clear plastic wrap. This will keep them moist and fresh.

Thanksgiving at grandma’s

Thanksgiving was always very special at grandma’s house in Northampton County. It always started the night before with pallets all over the house and every room filled with grandchildren. There was a huge sawdust pile behind her house and we would see who could roll down it the fastest. A huge woods was behind the sawdust pile and we would go there with our Red Ryder air rifles and have a shooting good time when things got boring, we would shoot at each other! The Thanksgiving meal was served all day long on a large round table with a turntable on top where the food was placed, when you wanted certain foods, you would spin the turntable to locate the food and serve yourself. Both layers of the table were covered with oil cloth and held on the table with thumb tacks. Food would remain on the table all day and the table would be covered with a huge linen tablecloth. A stack of plates was on the kitchen counter along with tableware and pie plates for desserts. After the meal, the table became an all day walk-in buffet. All the parents, aunts and uncles and other relatives brought favorite foods and desserts. The large table was an unforgettable sight with all those family favorite recipes. Adults always dined first and then the children. Wow! Things have really changed since the 1950s! All during the afternoon, family members and friends would sit on the porch and snack on food and desserts from the table or take naps. My grandma would take a nap because she had been up and running since 4:30 a.m.

Take time to enjoy food, family, togetherness

After reading the above paragraphs, you can see that Thanksgiving of yesteryear used to be much simpler and less complicated. In today’s 21st century, we need to get back to a much simpler lifestyle and take the time to enjoy life’s simple pleasures and the joys of everyday events. There are so many blessings all around us that we seem to take for granted or have become unaware of. Take precious time on this Thanksgiving, a special time to enjoy family, relatives and special friends in this year of Thanksgiving 2022. Who knows what another year will bring?

The Pilgrims Thanksgiving in year 1623

In the year 1620, 14 of the 18 women who came over on the Mayflower died that winter. Next spring, the ship, “Fortune” arrived at Plymouth with 44 new arrivals and short on supplies, food and clothing. This taxed the already short supply of food for the Pilgrims. Gov. Bradford had to enforce daily rations because they had to supply the Fortune with rations for their return voyage to England. The year of 1621 became a year of food shortage for the Pilgrims. The year of 1623 was a challenging year for them. After the corn was planted, there was no rain for weeks and the corn was stunted. Gov. Bradford called for a fast and prayer on a certain day. That fast lasted for nine hours. Next day, a rain fell and it rained for 14 days. It was what Gov. Bradford called “a gentle rain.” The corn quickly recovered. The governor called for a day of Thanksgiving, not a feast but a July day of returning thanks for the beautiful corn harvest. Never taking the blessings of God lightly. “Bless the Lord, O my soul and an that is within me bless His holy name.” Bless the Lord O my soul, and forget not his benefits.” (Psalm 103: 1 and 2.)

Best wishes and a wonderful Thanksgiving to all our readers of the Garden Plot in Mount Airy News, Stokes News, and the Yadkin Ripple. We wish you all abundant joy, good health, and all the blessings of God’s love and care.

Pumpkin pie for week of Thanksgiving

Pumpkin pie is great in autumn and really traditional at Thanksgiving. There are more recipes for pumpkin pies than any other. This one is very good and simple to prepare. You will need three cups of canned pumpkin, one cup of sugar, half cup light brown sugar, one fourth teaspoon salt, three tablespoons plain flour, one and a half teaspoons pumpkin pie seasoning, two lightly beaten eggs, one teaspoon vanilla extract and one can evaporated milk. Mix pumpkin, brown sugar sugar, salt, flour and pumpkin spice. Add beaten eggs to the mixture and mix well. Add evaporated milk and vanilla extract. Mix well and pour into two unbaked 9-inch pie shells. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes until firm. For a topping (optional), mix one cup light brown sugar, half cup plain flour and half stick melted light margarine. Mix well and spread on pies.

Editor’s Note: Reader Diary is a periodic column written by local residents, Surry County natives, and readers of The Mount Airy News. If you have a submission for Reader Diary, email it to John Peters at jpeters@mtairynews.com

By November, the crops were in, the hog was killed, the tobacco was sold and (after being broke all summer) we had money again. To celebrate, Mama fired up the wood cook stove and invited kinfolks in for a Thanksgiving Day Dinner.

On the big day, they came by the car loads; drooling with anticipation, and why? They knew nobody left Mama’s table hungry. The house was jam-packed and with so many people talking at the same time, you could not hear yourself think. Even so, I learned what a good crop year it had been, who grew the biggest hog, how bad the winter would be, whose car pulled Bate’s Hill in high gear, who wound up in jail, what for and who had “the best derned’ fox hound on God’s Green Earth, and that was just the men folks.

I’d had nothing to eat for at least a week (seemed to me) and was just about to “meet my Maker,” when Mama said, “Come and get it, you all.” Never would you believe the variety of foods she had laid out on the eatin’ table: fried chicken, ham, white-sop gravy, green beans, pinto beans, cornfield peas, cornbread, mashed ‘taters, baked sweet ‘taters, lemonade, Kool Aid, perked coffee, pumpkin and apple pies, cakes to write home about and her special biscuits that floated in the air, I swear. Once again, she had done herself good.

The men-folks ate “first table,” while the kids ate anywhere they could. Everybody “put it down the hatch” like there would be no tomorrow and when “full to the brim,” they cleared out and the women folks “took their turn.” When they “ate their fill,” they cleaned up, washed the dishes and talked about how good little Jimmy was doing in school, who sewed the best quilt, who canned what for winter, swapped recipes and gossiped about the women not there.

Meanwhile, back to the men. With bellies now full, they smoked, chewed, dipped, took a little nip from a fruit jar hidden out back and told big lies that were sworn to be the Gospel truth. The younger kids? They played hide and seek, cowboys and Indians and ran wild in the woods. The older girls primped in front of the mirror and talked about boys, while the older boys “rolled their own” cigarettes out behind the barn, cussed and talked about girls. Me? Never had I seen the like and I took it all in.

Late in the day, everybody loaded up, headed for home and all agreed, “It had been the best Thanksgiving Day Dinner ever” and come next year, they would do it all over again. Me? It was a sad ending to a perfect day; a day that would not be coming back for a whole year. If I had my way, every day would be Thanksgiving day.

Two thousand people packed the bleachers at Mount Airy’s Floyd Poore Park for a chilly October homecoming game in 1952. It had been a rough year for the Bears as injuries took out critical players and the losses piled up. Their hopes of a shot at the Class AA conference title had died the week before.

Local legend, Coach Wally Shelton, was pragmatic as ever when he told a Mount Airy News reporter, “We’d like to win this one.”

The team had four games left in the season, but this was the final home game. The team was also set to lose a class of strong players as Dick Belton, Sonny Cashwell, Bill Gruble, Frank Kurtz, Hugh Talley were seniors.

The crowd was excited. Mineral Springs was known for its aerial game, but the Bears had Belton and Cashwell, a duo that seemed charmed in game after game as the ball repeatedly found its mark. And the injuries seemed to be behind them.

The News favored Mount Airy 21-13. They were wrong.

The Granite Bears, with a defensive line on its best game and offense in overdrive would fight their way to a 39-12 victory.

The energy from the home crowd must have been a real boost that night. Football is king on Friday nights. And homecoming games in particular draw more than just family and friends as people often make special effort to show up that week.

The game is just the beginning because Homecoming, of all sporting events, has its own royalty; the Homecoming Queen and her attendants.

In the ‘40s and ‘50s at least, that court of young ladies was chosen by the members of the football team. Then the girls, themselves, voted which of them would be queen. The museum holds several photos of girls so chosen: Ivylyn Sparger, Beulah High, 1946; Yvonne Vaughn, Mount Airy High, 1957; Maxine King, JJ Jones High, 1962, Joy Dale Simmons, East Surry High, 1968.

Broad smiles, arms cradling a bouquet of flowers, sometimes a crown crafted of aluminum foil, they embody an ideal of smalltown wholesomeness and joy.

But beyond the game and the dance, Homecoming is a loaded word with so many meanings.

The mayor of Raleigh put out a call for all North Carolinians who had moved away to come to the “Home-Coming Jubilee and Reunion” at the 50th State Fair in October 1910.

“Thousands … have migrated to all parts of the country,” said the Mount Airy News article. “This state has played a great part in the winning of the west and in the development of all sections….People from the Old North State have set their mark everywhere but have never lost their love for their mother state.”

In 1919, as the unspeakable horrors of World War I ground to a close and sons, husbands, and brothers began to return, the Red Cross organized parades, community picnics, and band concerts to celebrate. Dressed in their uniforms and marching in formation, Surry’s levy of returning military personnel moved down Main Street as flags and bunting fluttered in the breeze and residents turned out to cheer their return.

On a smaller scale, homecomings have been organized in churches for 200 years. Sometimes they have been an annual call for parishioners to return once the summer labor in the field was done or to bring families back to a routine now that summer vacations were over. Sometimes they are used for a special occasion such as a significant anniversary celebration when members who’ve moved from the area are invited ‘home’ to celebrate with their spiritual family.

And, perhaps the warmest use of the phrase is something that is an African-American tradition. Homecoming (or Home-going) celebrations when a loved one passes away mark the sunrise and sunset of their days and generally include a celebration of the person’s life and impact as was the case for Lurenda Ellen Moore Berry.

“She was a respected church and community leader known for her kindness, creativity, generosity and wonderful cooking skills. Every visitor was a welcomed guest with whom she shared food, wisdom and encouragement.”

The program from her Homecoming details all she did in the Pinnacle community and in her own family, helping to raise her siblings after her parents died, her own family, and children she adopted.

“She strongly believed in the adage, ‘Let the life I’ve lived speak for me.”

As you read about the lady you are left with a sure sense that she truly had a homecoming.

I hope that wherever you find your Homecoming this year and as we look toward the holidays, that it is a good one filled with warmth and the love of home.

Kate Rauhauser-Smith is a volunteer for the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History with 22 years in journalism before joining the museum. She and her family moved to Mount Airy in 2005 from Pennsylvania where she was also involved with museums and history tours.

The royal beauty of autumn pansies

Plenty of color from mid-autumn and all the way through the winter is the beauty that pansies provide. An array of colors from lavender, cream, purple, wine yellow, orange, white, tan, bronze, burgundy and pink and combined with plenty of dark glossy green foliage to add more contrast to their colors. Pansies are tough as well as winter hardy and they produce floral beauty no matter how cold the weather gets. They will produce blooms even when snow falls. In the cold of late November and all through the winter, limit the amount of water you use on them because this will cause potting medium to freeze in the containers. Many hardwares, garden centers, nurseries, Walmart, Home Depot, Lowe’s Home Improvement and Ace Hardware have plenty of the pansies in stock and in full bloom. Use a few handfuls of peat moss in the potting medium when planting pansies to promote moisture retention. Buy a bag of pansy booster to give pansies a great start. Pansies are available in six- and nine-packs and come in assorted colors and varieties. They can be planted on the porch or deck. Water lightly once every week.

November prime time for Christmas cactus

The semi-sunny living room is now getting ready to glow with the colors of red, white, pink and coral of the Christmas cactus plants in full bloom. You can purchase Christmas cactus in full bloom at Food Lion, Lowe’s Foods, Harris Teeter, Ace Hardware, Home Depot, Lowe’s Home Improvement and at most nurseries. You can purchase them in small or medium containers. After you bring them home and they finish their bloom cycle, you will need to transplant the cactus to a larger container to promote long term growth. Buy a bag of Miracle-Gro citrus and cactus medium to start the cactus off for many seasons of growth. If you already have a Christmas cactus, you can root a cactus to share with friends and relatives. Just cut off a piece of the foliage and place it in a 16-ounce clear soft drink bottle and keep the bottle filled with water and place the bottle in a semi-sunny location inside the home. In six to eight weeks it will produce a root system and can be transplanted to a container of cactus medium. Always use cactus medium for better results and continued growth.

The perennial beauty of coral bells

The holy season of Christmas will be ringing its way in next month and the coral bells ring in all four seasons of the year from the front porch and back deck. They have beautiful foliage that covers their containers. Several times during the summer they produce red “bells” on long stems. You can also purchase coral bells in a purple color. The red is prettier but the purple is a lot tougher as well as bushier but both perform well through all four seasons.

Enjoy the crisp November calm

Splendor rides on the crisp breezes of November. It is certainly a time of calm as nature is in a slow down mode as we see the subtle signs that winter is slowly approaching — the Carolina blue skies, puffy marshmallow clouds and the soft sound of the leaves falling on the lawn. Brown leaves form a new carpet on the lawn. The birch trees are empty and leaving their silver gray trunks bare and glowing against a background of dark green red heart cedars, short leaf pines and honeysuckle vines that highlight the Piedmont woodlands. It is surely a time to enjoy the calm and crisp, fresh air of the days of November, frosty mornings and natural quietness.

The season of Dark Thirty is here

Daylight Savings Time has departed for another year and darkness comes an hour earlier each evening and we are still losing a minute of daylight each evening and will continue to do so until Dec. 21. It is always more difficult to get used to losing that hour of daylight. Winter is five weeks away, but losing that hour of daylight will make it seem much closer.

This has been the week of All Saints Rest

Since last Wednesday, Aug. 2, the week of All Saints Rest has been celebrated. The Swedish immigrants in New England used the first week in November as a time to rest at the end of the harvest. This would probably be the last few days before New England’s cold weather would set in. This would be a few day’s rest before the chores of the up and coming winter. Americans could learn a worthwhile lesson from these Swedish ancestors and take advantage of a few days rest before the rush of the Christmas season begins. We need to reflect on this Thanksgiving season and God’s blessings upon us. We need to be careful and not be overwhelmed by materialism and commercialism of the Christmas season, but rest and relax and concentrate on the blessings of the past year.

Some weather lore for Saint Martin’s Day

Saint Martin’s Day will be Friday, Nov. 11. On his day, it is said that we will have cold weather this winter if the leaves are still hanging on the grapevines and trees. We do know the grapevines have lost their leaves but the mighty oaks are hanging on to many of their leaves. Many of them will fall by Thanksgiving and some may just hang on for a cold Saint Martin’s winter (heaven forbid!)

Lime pellets great for November lawn

As the temperatures of November get cooler, it is a great opportunity to apply a layer of lime pellets to the late autumn lawn. Lime pellets perform well on the lawns of late autumn. The frost, rains, and possible snowfall will aid in dissolving the pellets in the soil and prevent pellets from washing away. A heavy snow will soak the pellets deep in the soil.

Ice forming in the November birdbath

Frosty November mornings bring a layer of ice to the birdbaths. As the sun warms things up a bit empty the ice and refill the bird bath with fresh water. Fill the feeders also and the birds will continue to visit the lawn every day.

Harvest mixes for Thanksgiving candy dish

The center of the dining room table can be adorned with a dish of November harvest candy such as Hershey’s harvest Kisses in autumn colors, old fashioned candy com, harvest M&M’s, creme pumpkins, and Indian candy corn. Add a few jack-be-little pumpkins and several ears of Indian corn for a colorful Thanksgiving centerpiece.

Making a trip to the turnip patch

Nothing hints of autumn like turnips from the late autumn garden. The cool November nights promote growth of hefty turnips and the cool soil gives them extra sweetness. The turnips are reaching harvest stage. They are one of the easiest vegetables to prepare. Just wash and peel the turnips and dice into half inch chunks and you can stick a fork through them. Remove from heat, drain most of the water, add a stick of light margarine, salt and pepper (to taste), one tablespoon of sugar or two tablespoons of white Karo corn syrup and two teaspoons of Bacon-bits. Mash with a potato masher or mix with the mixer. Turnips make great leftovers and can be fried or microwaved.

Broccoli, cabbage and collards in fall garden

The cool soil in the November garden will cause the cole family of vegetables to thrive and turn the late autumn into a beautiful shade of emerald green. They perform well because in the cool November days, they have very few insect enemies. Feed them every three weeks with Plant-Tone organic vegetable food. Keep soil hilled up on both sides of the row. As soil grows colder, spread a layer of crushed leaves in middle of the rows.

A few warm days during November

Early November still has some warm days remaining. You can take advantage of them to continue to rake in the leaf harvest and adding them to the compost pile or bin.

“The heavenly way!” Church visitor: “So what denomination are you?” Minister: “I’m a Baptist.” Visitor: “So you’re one of the narrow minded bunch that believes you are the only group that is going to make it to heaven?” Minister: “I’m even more narrow-minded than that. I don’t believe all our group is going to make it!”

“All alike.” All husbands are alike. They have different faces so their wives can tell them apart!

The moon reached its first quarter on Tuesday, Nov. 1. Daylight Savings Time will end at 2 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 6. There will be a full moon on Tuesday, Nov. 8. This full moon will be named “Full Beaver Moon.” Election Day will be on Tuesday, Nov. 8. Veteran’s Day will be Friday, Nov. 11. The moon will reach its last quarter on Wednesday, Nov. 16. The new moon of November will occur on the evening of Wednesday, Nov. 23. Thanksgiving Day will be Thursday, Nov. 24. The moon will reach its first quarter on Wednesday, Nov. 30, with November starting and ending with the moon in its first quarter phase.

Daylight Savings Time comes to an end

As of two o’clock am. Sunday, Nov. 6, Daylight Savings Time will end and we will return to standard time for the next six months and gain darker evenings and longer nights as well as shorter days. As the sun sets earlier, the temperature will begin to get more nippy each evening.

“Full Beaver Moon” will be November 8th

The full moon of November will occur on the evening of Tuesday, Nov. 8. This moon will be named “Full Beaver Moon.” The full moon will rise over the eastern horizon and with Eastern Standard Time now in effect. It will be bright when it rises into a cold and hopefully very clear late autumn sky. Enjoy this moon before going to bed that evening.

Editor’s Note: Community Comment is a periodic column in The Mount Airy News featuring commentary from community leaders in Mount Airy and Surry County.

Mount Airy City Schools (MACS) attracts families at a more consistent rate than most any other school district in the state. In a recent report by The Innovation Project (https://tipnc.org/), MACS had attracted more than 93% of its market share this year compared to 90.2% of their market share of families in 2020. This basically means that everyone that lives near MACS and has children is choosing our district to attend.

The state data is a good way to compare this percentage. Out of North Carolina’s students that could attend public schools, 77.7% do attend public schools. This is down from 79.4% in 2020. Public charter students account for 6.7% of all students, private schools also hold 6.5% of eligible students, and homeschool is up slightly from 8.3% of students in 2020 to 9.1% in 2022. So, MACS is about 16% higher than the state in attracting students to traditional public schools.

There are several reasons why families choose us. Academics are strong, workforce development is key, innovation makes us unique and different from anyone else, athletics are high performing, and the arts are required throughout the K-12 experience. These are a few of the reasons why we continue to attract students year after year. Once families are with us they rarely leave us which is a great indicator of our success. The number one reason our families choose us is our staff. Our teachers and administrators go the extra mile every day to make sure students’ needs are met and they create a winning culture.

Today, I plan to talk about the staff, academics and workforce development, innovation, athletics and the arts. Our staff is constantly improving and reflecting on its own leadership development. We have 15% of our eligible staff members working on the National Board Certification. This is a difficult certification that shows staff to be among the best in the nation. This portfolio of work helps staff members provide the best educational strategies and support for all students. Many of our staff members are working on master’s degrees in various areas along with several attaining their doctoral degree. When our EVAAS was made public last year 100% of our academic areas were in green or blue showing that our teachers were growing all students at a tremendous rate.

Workforce development is key. The state is developing the attributes all children should be able to demonstrate upon graduation. These attributes were developed in combination with industry. These attributes in a portrait of a graduate (https://www.dpi.nc.gov/districts-schools/operation-polaris/portrait-graduate) include adaptability, collaboration, communication, critical thinking, empathy, learners mindset and personal responsibility. MACS is developing our own matrix for what this would look like in each grade level. For example, as ninth graders all of our students take a financial literacy course that teaches students personal responsibility in finance. The topics covered range from economics, personal finance, income and education, money management and financial planning. This course is required for graduation as well as a requirement for our students to take career and technical courses in high school. Each school will have various ways to teach this graduate skills.

Athletics are high performing in our district because of the consistency of our athletic directors and coaches. We currently are leading the conference in all fall sports at the high school level. For instance, volleyball has won the conference tournament for the second straight year in a row. Families know that athletics teach students life skills such as developing strong team work, growing leadership skills, and communicating well with others. There is a place for all athletes within our school system from golf, to cross-country, to tennis, to soccer and everything in between. We believe the 20 sports we offer allows all talents and abilities a chance to compete. Having a winning culture with sports is reflective of your overall programs in a school and shows us why many families choose us.

We are known across the state for innovation, which is creating new and different solutions to problems that help benefit students. We have a dual-language immersion program, Chinese language and culture program, North Carolina Association for Scholastic Activities (NCASA) competitions at middle school as well as the Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program at high school. Our new sustainable agriculture program has baby quails that will help students understand sustainability through animals, along with our goals to have students learn to grow their own food. We want to create a variety of choices for students and help everyone succeed. Families love our menu of options when comparing schools to attend.

The arts are required for our students from kindergarten through high school with arts being part of the elective rotation K-5 as well as after school programs available such as Melody Makers. Once students rise to the middle school level they have the opportunity to take middle school chorus, band, and visual arts. The high school requires arts credits as part of a comprehensive curriculum that develops well-rounded young adults. Our program offerings of band, chorus, theater, and visual arts have many pathways for students to pursue. Since I was the band director for over a decade here in the system it is near and dear to my heart. Many of our graduates go on to have careers in the arts.

The multiple programs, success academics, workforce development, innovation, athletics, arts, and amazing staff all work together to create an option that nearly 100% of our community is choosing. At an age where school choice gives parents the most options with homeschool, charter, and private, our community is still choosing traditional public. We will forever be grateful for the support of our community that provides us amazing resources to develop a private school feel in a public school setting. We know why families choose MACS; find out how your child can join the winning team by visiting www.mtairy.k12.nc.us.

For families wishing to better understand what MACS has to offer them and for current families wishing to see what is found at the next school, visit https://bit.ly/AboutMACS21-22 There you will find a brochure highlighting many opportunities found in our system. Anyone wishing to schedule a tour can visit http://bit.ly/MACStour.

The foothills of North Carolina are a treasure trove of mystery and excitement for many who pass through them. These paths are where nature and history collide in the best ways. Growing up among the hills holds some of my fondest memories, outings downtown, playing in creeks, and so much more sprinkle my memories.

One of the places I treasured visiting the most was the two-story granite art “deco” United States Post Office in Mount Airy. The majestic double staircase leads guests into a foyer that could come straight out of the silver screen. The floral bronze grills grace the tops of the ornate post office boxes that hold mail for citizens, but for a child, they were gateways of mystery.

Aside from the beauty and mystery, this post office holds a lot of history. The lot at the southwest corner of South Main and Pine streets once held the Jenkins hotel. The hotel operated from the 1910s to 1920s, but by 1922 the Fire Insurance Sanborn Maps showed the lot empty. A small filling station sat within the lot that is now the post office parking lot.

Before being placed on South Main, the Mount Airy post office was housed in different locations throughout the city. One source suggests that Mr. Perkins’ Hotel, known as the Blue Ridge Hotel later, received the mail for a time. It then was potentially moved to Laurel Bluff and back to South Main.

In January 1932, plans were reviewed by Postmaster J.B Sparger for a new and elaborate post office. For over a decade before these plans, the town of Mount Airy had been vying for a more modern facility. The architect who won out was George Berryman of Raleigh. Construction companies bid on the job with Algernon Blair of Montgomery, Alabama. securing the job with a bid of $98,000. The land was purchased for $25,000 by the government leaving $130,000 of the $155,000 budget left for the building itself.

Originally the building was only supposed to be faced with the native Mount Airy granite, but citizens petitioned the Treasury Department in Washington, D.C., to amend the plans. Main Street was growing and more streets were being opened up and developed, the town wanted the post office to stand as a monument of the granite city. The petition was approved and granite was set to encapsulate the new structure, raising the final construction price tag to $125.000.

On Oct. 3, 1932 a program was held to lay the cornerstone for the new post office. The time capsule holds the names of officials, officers, club members, and other important documents. Civil War veteran Colonel Z.T Smith placed the copper box in the structure, with J.D Sargent, president of the NC Granite Corporation, sealing it in place. The building was finished by 1933, with offices on the second floor and space to grow.

The Mount Airy United States Post Office has resided at 111 South Main street for 89 years. Next time you are downtown, stop by the site and take in its historic grandeur, you won’t be sorry you did.

Emily Morgan is the guest services manager at the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History. She and her family live in Westfield. She can be reached at eamorgan@northcarolinamuseum.org or by calling 336-786-4478 x229

Halloween and frost on the pumpkin

The season of Halloween is only two days from now. The autumn air has that certain nip that is traditional as Halloween draws near. We have had several frosts to kick off Halloween and the autumn lawn has a carpet of leaves on it. The green of the lawn is beginning to have a brownish tint highlighting it. Soon we will have the first killing frost and some hard freezes. We have had several scattered frosts but none that are considered “killing frosts.” The frosts that knock out the warm weather garden usually occur in mid-November. We are getting scattered frost that sweetens the collards and a dusting on the rooftops. It will not harm the pumpkins and there are plenty of them this year.

Bringing in the late tomato harvest

Before a killing frost arrives gather all the green tomatoes from the vines and wrap them in sheets of newspapers and place them in box lids or shallow boxes and store them in a warm dry area and cover with whole newspaper sections. Check them once a week for ripeness. If you have a lot of room in the basement you can leave green tomatoes on the vines and hang them on the joists in the basement ceiling to ripen there. Check them often and harvest them as they ripen.

Celebrate Halloween by placing a pumpkin crisp on the table for the night of Halloween. This crunchy dessert has simple ingredients and contains plenty of pumpkin. You will need two cups of fresh or canned pumpkin, one large can of evaporated milk, one cup sugar, half cup light brown sugar, one tablespoon McCormick pumpkin spices, one tablespoon vanilla extract, two sticks light margarine, three beaten eggs, one box yellow cake mix, half cup chopped pecans, one teaspoon orange extract. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease a 13x9x2 inch baking pan with Crisco Shortening and then flour the pan. Line the pan with a sheet of waxed paper. Spray the waxed paper with Pam baking spray. Mix the pumpkin, white sugar, light brown sugar, pumpkin pie spices, vanilla extract, orange extract and beaten eggs. Mix all these ingredients together. Spread the box of cake mix over the pumpkin mixture and spread it out to cover the pumpkin. Sprinkle the pecans and golden raisins over the dry cake mix. Drizzle the two sticks of melted margarine over the dry cake mix. Bake at 325 degrees for one hour. Cool the cake completely. Turn cake from pan onto a cookie sheet or a cake board. The layer of pecans and raisins becomes the bottom crust. Frost the crisp with this topping: one eight ounce box of cream cheese, two cups of 1ox powdered sugar, one cup of Cool Whip, one teaspoon vanilla extract.

A bowl of witches brew

You can make this unusual brew for a harvest festival or Halloween carnival. It is tasty and unusual because of its purple color and taste. Make this punch in a large pot or a canner and serve it from a punch bowl. For this recipe, mix three envelopes of Crystal Light Concord grape powdered drink mix, one bottle Welch’s grape juice, one 46 ounce can pineapple juice, one 46 ounce can of water. Two 2-liter bottles of Fanta grape soda, two 2-liter bottles of Sprite (regular or diet). To serve the brew, mix half the punch base mixed with half Fanta and half Sprite. Use this formula to prepare the brew as it is replenished. Make an ice ring or two the night before by mixing two quarts of water in a pitcher and pouring it into a tube pan and freezing overnight. Run a little warm water over bottom of tube pan to loosen the ice ring from the pan. You can also freeze a bottle of grape Fanta to make ice rings. If you would like a clear ice ring, use bottles of Sprite.

Chicken stew on an October night

Chicken stew does not have to be prepared in a black iron pot to be enjoyed. You can make it for your household in an eight-quart pot. A great chicken stew can be prepared in your kitchen. You will need six or eight bone-in chicken breasts boiled until tender. Bone-in breasts are better because it makes a broth for the stew. When the chicken is done, remove the skin and bones; return the broth and chicken to the pot, and add a little more water to the broth and boil until meat begins to shred (this causes chicken to be in every bite of the stew.) When the chicken reaches this stage, add four sticks of light margarine and allow it to simmer for four or five minutes. Add two cans of evaporated milk and six cups of Vitamin D whole milk (nothing low-fat here!). Simmer for four or five minutes on medium low heat. Add two cans of chicken gravy and simmer four or five minutes. Add one teaspoon pepper, two teaspoons of salt, two teaspoons of McCormick poultry seasoning. Taste and add more of these seasonings to stew if desired. Keep the heat on medium low and mix a glass of cold water with four or five teaspoons of corn starch and stir until it is milky. Add a little at a time until stew reaches the thickness you are satisfied with. If stew is too thick add milk or water.

Pansies are flowers with a personality

Colorful jewels of the porch and deck during autumn and winter months are the pansies that have faces that resemble the face of a poodle. Pansies are tough and winter hardy. Along with their colorful flowers they feature dark evergreen foliage that enhances their flowers. They are tough enough to produce flowers when snow is on the ground. Pansy plants are available now and all the months of autumn and winter. They will produce flowers and foliage until early spring. They come in colors of burgundy, purple, lavender, pink, white, bronze and tan. They can be planted in rows, beds, pots and containers. Use Flower-Tone organic flower food, pansy booster and peat moss mixed with potting medium to get pansies on their way to a long and colorful autumn and winter and brighten winter bushes.

Still time to plant spring bulbs

There is still plenty of time to set out the spring bulbs of jonquil, hyacinth, crocus, daffodil, narcissus, tulips and snowdrops. They can be set out from now until the ground freezes. Place the bulbs root down in a furrow or hole about six to eight inches deep. Place a layer of peat moss in the bottom of the furrow or hole. Place bulbs root-side down and apply another layer of peat moss. Place a layer of Bulb Booster or bone meal on the peat moss and cover with of top soil and potting medium. Before the ground freezes cover the row or bed with a layer of crushed leaves. Water lightly once each week.

Setting out ornamental kale and cabbage

Ornamental cabbage and kale can add color to the winter porch in the dead of winter and all they need is a little layer of protection from the extremes of winter freezes. Keep a couple of towels handy and cover the cabbage and kale at night to keep them from freezing. Keep containers of cabbage near the rear of the porch. Ornamental cabbage come in colors of purple, pink, cream, lavender mint green and yellow. You can plant them in containers that summer annuals were growing in. Feed with Flower-Tone organic flower food each month and lightly water weekly.

Thunder at this time of the year is not that unusual, most of the time when thunder is heard in late autumn, it is short-lived and not severe. The humidity is low and the sound of thunder is caused by instability in the air. During the final days of hurricane season, we may have some thunder and lightning with these systems.

“A cocky situation.” Customer: “Do you have any cockroaches?” Sporting goods store owner: “Yes, I sell them to fishermen.” Customer: “I would like to purchase 20,000 of them.” Store owner:”What do you want with 20,000 cockroaches?” Customer: “I’m moving tomorrow and my lease says I must leave the condo in the condition it was in when I moved there.”

“A full tank citizen.” Citizen: “Hello, is this the city gas works?” Mayor: “No, this is the mayor’s office.” Citizen: “I didn’t miss it by much, did I?”

“Nay, Nay!” “About the only thing right you get from the horse’s mouth is his laugh!”

Editor’s Note: Reader Diary is a periodic column written by local residents, Surry County natives, and readers of The Mount Airy News. If you have a submission for Reader Diary, email it to John Peters at jpeters@mtairynews.com

For those of us who grew up in these mountains, there was never a doubt about where our next meal was coming from — be it meat, vegetables or fruit — it either came from garden, the fields or the hog pen. We’ve come a long way since and seldom do we even think about where our food comes from. We just mosey down to the local super market and choose our fancy from a wide variety of foods from all over the world, available all year long. Being an old timer who knows the score, let me say, “Things were not always that way.”

When I was a young pup growing up, every family I knew (come spring of the year) bought a young pig that had to be “slopped” twice a day. It was also fed corn and other foods the whole summer long and by late fall, it had grown into a huge fat hog that could hardly walk; the fatter the better. Why? The more fat, the more lard, which folks used for cooking every day of the year. Nobody wanted a skinny hog at hog-killing time

Came a frosty November morn’, Pa built a roaring fire under the scalding vat full of water. When it got hot, he shot the hog with a .22 rifle, (one bullet right between the eyes) and cut its throat with the butcher knife to “bleed it out.” (While all that was going on, I found other things to do in other places.)

We then loaded the hog onto the sled, hauled it to the vat, rolled it into the hot water to scald it so the hair would loosen, then scraped it off with butcher knives. Pa then inserted a hefty stick (sharpened at both ends) into the tendons of both back legs and with his “block and tackle,” hung the hog upside down from a tree limb, then he went to work.

Using his butcher knife, he split it open right down the middle, cleaned it out, washed it out, then lowered it to some planks on the ground. Then (with chopping axe and butcher knife) he whittled out hams, shoulders, back-bones and ribs, side-meat and tenderloin right there in broad daylight. He “salted down” most of the meat in the meat-box, but we ground some with a hand-powered meat grinder clamped to the kitchen table. Mama then seasoned it, fried it, canned it and it became canned homemade sausage stored in the cellar for winter time; some of the best food on God’s green earth.

On hog killing day, our whole hill smelled like raw meat and I could not bear the thoughts of eating anything that smelled that bad. At the end of the day, (tired and worn) we went to bed; thankful it was over, but knowing when winter time came, nobody would go hungry on our hill.

Come next morning, Mama cured the bad-smell problem with the smells of breakfast cooking on the wood cook stove; a stack of buckwheat pancakes yea’ high, white-sop gravy, home-grown eggs, “perked” coffee and best of all; fresh fried tenderloin; surely food from the gods. It was one of the few days of the year when nobody had to roust me out of bed; I hit the floor running, all by myself.

In II Chronicles 7:13-22, we see a list of requirements God gave to His people Israel; for Him to hear their prayers, forgive their sin, and bring them healing as a nation. These conditions for His help, and their reviving was dependent upon God’s people returning in obedience to God, their sovereign King.

I believe that if we, the people of God living here on this earth today, will hear and obey this same list of requirements; that we too can enjoy personal, community, and national revival. But will we hear and obey?

I believe that our God will chasten and correct us to the point of wanting to return to Him, if we don’t freely choose to. In other words, I believe He’ll make us want to fully return to Him; and want to let go of this corrupt old world. Let’s read, and heed the Holy Scriptures. “If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence (plague or disease) among My people; If My people, which are called by My name shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from Heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

We’ll come back to the last verse shortly. God will have His way with His bride, the church. Ephesians 5:25-27 tells us, “Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it; that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word. That He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.”

It’s evident and obvious that the church isn’t close to this virtuous character, and of chaste behavior toward her Lord right now. But, God will chasten, correct, and cleanse us; in order to perfect us; for our own good, and for His good pleasure.

You may ask, “How will God correct us?” Has anyone been observing the current events around our country, and around the globe lately? Our Scripture portion gave evidence of His correction through drought, crop failure, destroyed harvest, and plagues or disease.

Consider also these Scriptures dealing with the Lord using hurricanes (tempest), floods, tornadoes (whirlwind), earthquakes, wildfires, stormy wind, and hail, to turn us again to Him. (Job 37:9-13, 38:22-23, Psalm 46:1-3, 83:15-16, 148:8, Amos 4:6-9). And how about the C-virus or any of its variants? Hebrews 12:11-13 says, “Now no chastening for the present seems to be joyous, but grievous: none the less, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness…Therefore…make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.” Hosea 6:1-2, “ Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for He hath torn, and He will heal us; He hath smitten, and He will bind us up. After two days will He revive us.”

Doesn’t it seem odd that God would say, “My people, which are called by My name” need to “turn from their wicked ways.” This isn’t just about the Jews and the Old Testament. It applies also to so many professing New Testament Christians since the early days of the church.

Consider the letter to believers in James 4:8-9, “Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.” And again, Jesus’ strong messages of warning and call to repentance to the seven churches in Revelation chapters 2–3. Jesus said in Matthew 6:22-24, ”No man can serve two masters…Ye cannot serve God and mammon (the wealth of this world).”

God will not allow us to straddle this fence. We must choose, Him or the world. I John 2:15-17, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world…For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. (To try to have both is spiritual adultery) And the world passes away, and the lusts there of; but he that does the will of God abides forever.”

Please read all this appeal to the church in II Corinthians 6:14-7:1, “…what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? … And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God; as God has said, I will dwell in them; and I will walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. Therefore, come out from among them, and be ye separate saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. And I will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be My sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.”

There are many idols in our times now, even as there were in those days. We even call them by that name: sports idols, movie, TV and music idols… Anything and anyone who receives our affections or adoration in competition with, or in place of the one true God is a false god; is an idol. Romans 12:1-2 pleads with us to “present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God…And be not conformed to this world (pressed and shaped to it’s mold): but be transformed” (by God). With His indwelling Spirit, we have full access to this beautiful change in character! The answer is to be in Christ. (II Cor. 5:17). The motive is our love for Him, Who is to be chosen above all else.

By our humbling ourselves, and praying, and seeking God’s face, and turning from the ways that God calls wicked, He then replies, “Now Mine eyes shall be open, and Mine ears attentive unto the prayer that is made in this place” (II Chronicles 7:15). Psalm 84:1-13, …”Turn us, O God of our salvation… Wilt Thou not revive us again: that Thy people may rejoice in Thee?”

Evenings of Indian summer bring sounds and smells

With chimneys belching the smell of oak logs and wet leaves from the maples emitting their autumn aroma, the low sounds of the crickets at twilight and the crows making their last calls of the day, as the sun goes lower on the horizon, there is a cool nip in the autumn air. These are all the signatures of the beauty, color, splendor and majesty of autumn.

Season of fall fests, harvest festivals and chicken stews

The old fashioned cake walks with prizes of homemade cakes, fish ponds, bingo games, costume contests, pumpkin decorating, door prizes, hot dogs, chicken stew and hayrides and haunted houses — it’s the season for that kind of fun, topped off with trick or treating for the kids. Keep the porch light on to signal that trick or treaters and parents are welcome at your home. Have plenty of wrapped treats. Make it a memorable time for kids, parents and grandparents.

Getting the Christmas cactus inside for the winter

As we near the final days of October, the time is here to move the Christmas cactus, panda and asparagus ferns inside the house to spend winter in a semi-sunny room. The secret of Christmas cactus blooms in late November is the time they spend outside all spring, summer and early autumn. Before moving these plants inside trim them back, add some extra potting medium to fill the containers and add some Flower-Tone organic flower food. Use drip trays under containers to keep water off the floors and carpet. water lightly once a week.

Trimming evergreens as October comes to an end

Late October and early November is the time to trim and shape evergreens and also the best time to plant evergreens. They will not be dried out by the sun and will have a winter of snow and moisture to give them a great start. Every home needs some greenery in the form of evergreens. With the soon-approaching season of Christmas decorating, this is the opportune time to trim, shape, and plant evergreens.

Christmas cactus will soon be available

November will soon be here and the containers of Christmas cactus will be showing up in supermarkets, hardwares, florists, Home Depots, Lowe’s Home Improvement, Ace Hardware and nurseries. You can choose from red, white, pink, and coral. Most will have blooms on them so you can select the color you prefer. After they finish their bloom cycle, you will need to transplant the cactus into a larger container. Just purchase a larger container and a bag of Miracle-Gro cactus and potting medium and transplant the cactus into the larger container. You can also root Christmas cactus by placing a large sprig of foliage and using a clear plastic soft drink bottle (clear) and place the piece of foliage in the bottle of water and place in a semi-sunny location. When it develops a root system, transplant it into a medium container filled with cactus medium. Use cactus medium for healthier growth.

Making a macaroni and cheese salad

Macaroni and cheese salad is a great treat on the week of Halloween. The orange cheddar cheese and Thousand Island dressing make it a great table topper for the dining room. For this salad, you will need two cups of cooked elbow macaroni (drained), two cups finely shredded sharp cheddar cheese, one cup Mount Olive sweet pickle relish, one two ounce jar diced pimentos (drained), six boiled eggs (diced) one cup diced onions, half cup olives, one teaspoon apple cider vinegar, three teaspoons thousand island dressing, one teaspoon catsup, half cup mayonnaise; half teaspoon pepper, one half teaspoon salt. Mix the cooked macaroni, cheddar cheese, diced eggs, pimentos, pickle relish chopped onions, olives and stir all of them together. Blend mayonnaise, vinegar, thousand island dressing, salt, pepper, catsup. Mix the dressing with the salad ingredients. Chill in the refrigerator several hours before serving.

Visiting Halloween candy treat aisles

Plenty of trick or treat items and candy dish fillers are featured at the supermarkets and other stores. Most of them have decorated displays. Make sure that all the treats you purchase are wrapped varieties for the candy dish. You can choose from Hershey’s miniatures, harvest M&Ms, York peppermint patties, Snickers, Hershey’s Autumn Kisses, Milky Way and Three Musketeers bars plus ‘creme pumpkins and Reese’s pieces. These are traditional Halloween favorites.

Pumpkin pie spice: a great seasoning mixture

All the spices for a pumpkin pie combined in one tin container is what McCormick pumpkin pie spices is all about. This product certainly makes it easier to prepare a pie without opening five or six containers of spice and doing all that measuring. When preparing pumpkin pies, apple pies and turkey dressing or Italian spaghetti, McCormick makes spices like Poultry Seasoning for dressing and fried chicken, Italian seasoning for spaghetti and other Italian dishes. Apple pie spices for apple pies and dumplings as well as pumpkin pie seasoning and sweet potato pies and casseroles.

Preserving autumn leaves for autumn displays

To preserve autumn leaves in all their color and glory, use a small can of bee’s wax and melt it in a small pan and dip each leaf in the wax; remove and place on a paper towel to dry. They can be used on the coffee table or dining room table or the mantel for Halloween and harvest decorations.

A pumpkin patch on the dining room table

From the days before Halloween and into the month of November, you can decorate the center of the dining room table with your own pumpkin patch. All you need are several Jack-be-Little pumpkins that cost a little more than a dollar each and a pound bag of Brach’s creme pumpkins and a few colorful autumn leaves dipped in bee’s wax and dried. Place the Jack-be-Littles around the leaves and spread creme pumpkins around the the display. Keep refilling the cream pumpkins as they are eaten.

Making your Jack o’ lantern spicy

As trick or treaters and parents come to your home, welcome them with a scent of pumpkin pie. All you need to do is apply two teaspoons of McCormick pumpkin pie spices to the inside walls of the jack o’ lantern, light the candle and replace the lid on the lantern. The heat from the candle will spread the aroma of the spices for a pumpkin pie perfume.

Plastic grocery bags and thick cardboard

These two items make great covers for the perennials and annuals on the front porch to thrive during winter extremes without much labor involved. Instead of cloths and towels, you can use insulated covers made from cardboard and plastic grocery bags to cover the plants each night and remove them the next day when temperatures rise. To construct these covers, glue several pieces of cardboard together measured to fit the tops of the pots and containers. Use scotch tape to tape five plastic grocery bags together and glue to the pieces of card board. The cardboard and combined plastic bags will provide insulation for the plants. Construct one for every plant you want to protect from freezing temperatures, The weight of the cardboard will protect from winter winds and the plastic bags will provide insulation. Remove each day so plants can benefit from the winter sun, but replace at night when temperatures drop.

Frost on pumpkin and Halloween both here

Halloween is almost here and frost has visited the pumpkins a few times. There have been a few frosts in the garden plot and the lawn shows some signs of tan and brown. Many leaves have left the trees and the furnace is flexing its muscles. The crisp autumn air has a feel of Halloween and we are sure the kids and grand kids are ready for a night of trick or treating. Make it a fun night for them by leaving your porch light on to welcome them. By the way, share a treat with these caring parents also.

All Saints Day will be on Tuesday

All Saints Day is celebrated on the day after Halloween and All Saints day is also known as “Hallowmass” In New England, the Swiss immigrants celebrated the whole week after All Saints Day as All Saints Rest and a time after the harvest to rest, relax, and reflect. Sounds like a quality way to live a long life.

“Wishful Thinking.” Wife: “You’re always wishing for something you haven’t got.” Husband: “What else is there to ask for?”

“Fashionable?” Husband: “I find your new evening gown rather confusing.” Wife: “Why do you think so?” Husband:”Well, are you inside trying to get out, or outside trying to get in?”

“Nappy Time” Doctor: “You say you have not been able to sleep well?” Patient: “I sleep fine during the night, but during my afternoon naps, I just can’t keep my eyes closed.”

Have you heard the saying, “if you don’t feel close to God anymore, guess who moved?” It’s always us: never Him. In general, I believe that much of the Church in our times today has lost her passion for Jesus; her love has gotten tepid, lukewarm.

In Revelation chapters 2 and 3, Jesus charged the seven churches of that time, but also the symbolic churches of this present age. Jesus said, “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold or hot. So then, because thou art lukewarm…I will spew thee out of My mouth, As many as I love, I rebuke, and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent” (Rev.3:14-19). Jesus also said, “I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place” (Rev.2:4-5).

I point out, with three fingers and a thumb pointing back at me, that many Christians have at times gotten their eyes off our Lord, and are looking more at this world and its substance. We too often forget that our Savior has saved us from, and called us out and away from this world. It’s our old nature and carnal flesh that has an appetite for its pleasures. So I remind you, our redeemer has purchased us from this bondage, and unto Himself. Our Lord has called us to love Him; not love this world. (Mark 12:30, I John 2:15-17) Here then is a call to God’s church to fix our gaze back upon Him. Bride of Christ, keep your spiritual eyes of adoration upon the One Who is “altogether lovely” (Song of Solomon 5:16), Our “First love,” He who is worthy of our enthusiastic affection, and highest most loyal love.

II Chronicles 7:13-22, …”If My people, which are called by My name shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from Heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

Today we will study the third requirement God gives to you and I, to “Seek ye My face.” Our answer should be like David’s reply in Psalm 27:8, “When Thou hast said, seek ye My face; my heart said unto Thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek.” Just how do we seek God’s face? Well, how would you seek anyone’s face you love? You would search for them; you’d try to get in close proximity to them; you would set your vision in their direction and lock your eyes on them. Yes, God is invisible to us, but spiritually speaking, we can meet face to face; we can see His beauty. What I’m talking about is love; desire for our Beloved.

Psalm 42:1-2, “As the hart (deer) pants after the water brooks, so pants my soul after Thee, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. Psalm 63:6-8, “…My soul follows hard after Thee.” Hebrews 11:6 tells us, He rewards them that diligently seek Him. Diligently means to work hard at, to apply effort, to give much attention to. The opposite of our seeking the things of this world is seeking Him. Rather than our divided heart trying to split our love between this world and the Lord, our Lord wants to be sought after as the love of our life. Jeremiah 29:13 says, “And ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart”. It will take our time and our attention, it will take our “whole heart” to have this closeness with God, but there is the greatest reward for it! So, we make a choice. Let us now, for always choose Jesus.

In Matthew 6:19-21 Jesus teaches us, “where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” He tells us not to set our affections on the temporal things of this world, but on the everlasting better things of Heaven: our home. We must remember often that we are just passing through this world. We are foreigners. We are pilgrims. Our home and our treasure is Jesus Christ. As the psalmist declared in Psalm 90:1, “Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations”. In 91:9 he also calls the Lord his habitation, meaning where he lives. Jesus invites us to enter into Him and stay. John 10:9, “I am the door: by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved” , and John 15:4 & 11, “Abide in Me, and I in you… These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.” Only He can fulfill and complete us. The happiest ending our life story can have is intimate fellowship with Him, forever communing together as one.

Brothers and sisters, you who are in Christ; you who are called by His name, meditate long on this word of the Lord. Isaiah 57:15, “For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabits eternity, Whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and lofty place, with him (or her) also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” Lord Jesus, we turn our full gaze upon You, to seek Your face alone. Revive us unto Yourself again. Amen.

Set out spring flower bulbs

We are in the midst of Saint Luke’s Little Summer and will be until around Oct. 20. This period is usually a break in mid-October when we have mild, comfortable days and pleasant temperatures. Take advantage of these mild days to plant the spring flowering bulbs of jonquil, narcissus, daffodils hyacinths, crocus, tulips and snowdrops. They are available at hardwares, nurseries garden centers, Ace Hardware, Walmart, Home Depot and Lowe’s Home Improvement. Hyacinths come in colors of red pink, white, purple, lavender, yellow and purple.

When you purchase bulbs, buy a bag of bone meal or bulb booster to give the new bulbs a great start. Add handfuls of peat moss to the bed of bulbs for moisture retention. Plant bulbs with the root side down. Add peat moss to bottom of bed before setting out the bulbs. Cover the bulbs and add a layer of crushed leaves for protection.

Enjoying crispy apples from The Big Apple

The crispiest and most mellow apples come from the New York state area. Many of these apple were probably propagated by Johnny Appleseed himself. The country’s best tasting apples are the varieties of York, McIntosh, Jonathan, Winesap, Jona-Mac, Jona-Gold and Granny Smith. New York has plenty of mountain air loamy soil, acres of cool springs and snowy winters. A combination of these natural benefits adds up to the nation’s best tasting apples.

The last shades of green

The lawn is now experiencing its last stages of green for the 2022 season. The lawn of mid-autumn seems to be singing a wintergreen song. You can feel the moistness and coolness in the blades of grass. Helen Keller, a blind teacher and poet said, “To me the lush carpet of pine needles on spongy grass is more welcome than the luxuriousness of a Persian rug.” What wonderful words from this American teacher, poet and writer; blind but her touch compensated for her eyes. Thank God for beauty that cannot only be seen but touched, felt, and enjoyed.

Perennials adorn with winter green and color

It is great to see greenery and color in autumn and winter months. A porch and deck that is filled with perennials supplies that need. Perennials are tough and winter hardy and can endure the harshness of winter. The perennials of dainties, creeping jenny, red hot poker, daphne, bugle weed, coral bells, candy tuft, hen and chicks, Columbine, Veronica and sea thrift. All of these and others bring the porch and deck alive in winter.

Setting out pansies for winter of color

As October moves along, pansies can be planted. Most hardwares, nurseries, garden centers, Walmart, Home Depot, and Lowe’s Home Improvement have plenty of pansies in six- and nine-packs in full bloom in a variety of colors. They are tough and winter green and endure the frost and freezes of winter and produce flowers and foliage until spring. Buy a bag of pansy booster to give them a great start.

Kitchen comfort in middle of October

You can provide warmth and comfort in the kitchen in the middle of October as you prepare meals by using your oven. Bake your meals and spread warmth in the dining room. Close off the kitchen to build up warmth and then open doors to spread warmth to other areas.

Making a quick coconut whipped cream cake

This quick and easy to prepare coconut whipped cream cake has simple ingredients. You will need one box of yellow cake mix, one 18-ounce bag of frozen coconut (thawed), one tub of Cool Whip or an envelope of Dream Whip, four cups of 10x powdered sugar, one cup of sour cream and one tablespoon coconut flavoring. Mix and bake cake according to package instructions. Cool the two layers completely. Slice each layer in half to make four layers. Combine powdered sugar, sour cream, coconut and coconut flavoring and spreed on sides. Spread on the cut side of the layers. Spread the whipping cream on sides and top of cake. Store in refrigerator before and after serving.

Preparing outside faucets for winter

Prepare the water faucets outside the house by covering them with a layer of insulation wrapped with duck tape to prevent them from freezing temperatures. You can also purchase plastic faucet covers at Home Depot, Lowe’s Home Improvement, Ace Hardware and most plumbing suppliers at a cost of around $12 to $15. They attach to a fitting on the house and can be detached when you need to use the faucet. They are insulated and built to last many years. They are a good investment.

Staying ahead of the harvest of leaves

As we draw closer to November, the trees are getting emptier as we get toward October’s end. Stay ahead of the leaf harvest as the mighty oaks get ready to empty their load. Do not allow leaves to blow all over the area. Rake, blow or vacuum them to the compost or garden area. Make a crushed leaf pile or fill the compost pile or bin. We like compost piles because you can add crushed leaves, grass clippings, garden residue and keep it turned with a pitch fork. You can also use organic plant food to heat up the compost pile. A little water on the pile can prevent wind from blowing the leaves around.

Candy corn has been around for generations

Candy corn is a traditional confection that has been around for many generations and well over a hundred years. It is one product that has not changed ingredients simply because their ingredients are sugar, corn syrup, corn starch and flavorings. It was on my Northampton County grandmas kitchen table from Halloween until Christmas. Our parents always had it in our treat bags at Christmas. It still looks and tastes the same, and compared to the price of everything, candy corn is still consistent in price. Unlike many other products, it has not been watered down. Over the years, they have only changed the color when they added Indian corn which is brown, white and orange. It has been made by Brach’s for well over a century. Place a bowl on the dining room table and relive some memories.

Jack Frost will soon pay us a visit

Jack Frost will soon visit our area and sweeten the collard bed and add flavor to the Siberian Kale. It will touch the leaves and add more bright color to them in their autumn splendor. Frost adds a special touch to cool weather vegetables and hardens them up for a grand freeze later next month.

A bit of crazy Halloween lore

This is a bit of weather that could be connected to a Halloween prank. This lore says that if you see a cow thumping its ribs with its tail you can look for thunder, lightning and hail, we do actually believe this is a lot of bull! We may have some thunder and lightning and even that would be rare in October.

A pot of mashed turnips — an autumn tradition

On a cool autumn evening, nothing says fall like creamy mashed turnips. To prepare mashed turnips, peel about six or eight turnips and dice them into one inch cubes. Boil in water until you can stick a fork through them. Drain and mash them with a potato masher. Add a stick of light margarine, half teaspoon black pepper, one teaspoon salt, one tablespoon sugar or light Karo corn syrup and one tablespoon mayonnaise. Stir or blend until smooth and creamy.

Catch basins for winter-over plants

When bringing in containers of Christmas cactus, panda and asparagus ferns or snake plant to winter over in the house, use plastic drip trays to prevent water from draining on the carpet or floor. These round trays cost about a dollar each, and are a great protective investment Make sure to get the right size for the containers.

“Land of Milk and Honey.” Little Joey: “Mom, are there going to be any animals in heaven?” Mom: “What kind of animals are you talking about?” Little Joey: “Regular animals like cows and bees.” Mom: “I’m not sure, but I don’t think they will be necessary in heaven.” Little Joey: “Well, is there going to be enough milk and honey for everyone?”

“Visiting the grands.” The grandparents were so excited that the grandkids were coming to visit that they put an an extra $10 in the offering plate. The next Sunday after the grandkids returned home, they put an extra hundred dollars in the offering plate.”

Years ago, my late wife Diane; daughter, Rachel; son, Jeremy, and I always preferred a little vacation trip to the mountains in October to see the annual changing of the leaves.

We took trips to Virginia’s Mabry Mill, Massanutten, and Luray Caverns; but being North Carolinians from birth, and following up on our childhood Carolina mountain trips and later graduation from Boone, N.C.’s Appalachian State University, we naturally gravitated mostly to U.S. Hwy 421 West.

Back then, before there was much straightening and widening of the road on the last 10-15 miles to downtown Boone, a culture of roadside apples and homemade apple cider stands flourished, along with other stands advertising “BOILED PEANUTS!!!!!”

Over the course of several years, we had a favorite apples-apple cider stand we visited every autumn. It had a typical stand outside; but the rest of it had two tiny rooms with produce, the whole resembling one of those “mini-houses” so often featured on TV and what I like to call the computer news.

The proprietor was a small, middle-aged, thin man in a wheelchair. He had grown up in that area; and being a mountain man, he had that typical Appalachian Mountain accent. I don’t say this disparagingly of him; because my own relatives in the foothills of the Appalachians speak the same wonderfully familiar way.

His diminutive house was literally perched on the side of a mountain. Vertical, supporting beams under the “valley-ward”(in-the-air)side of the structure gave his business a reliable center of gravity. For a sort of comparison, just picture those stilted houses close to the ocean.

Every year, at the end of our fall mountain trip to the area, my late wife would say: “On our way down the mountain, we have to stop and see The Little Man.” We parked on a little crescent-shaped, off-road, dirt curb (all that was feasible for parking) in front of his store.

On every Sunday we stopped; and The Little Man would have an AM radio playing a live church service from somewhere in the mountains. Sometimes, when we picked a sack of apples, he would hand us another, saying ”This one’s better.” One year, after we got home and everyone was inside, I went back out to get our luggage from the car and found the back seat filled with broken glass and wet with cider! That jar had evidently fermented into something else and exploded.

But one Sunday, he wasn’t there; and someone else was running his store. When I saw our old friend’s empty wheelchair, I felt a sinking sensation in the pit of my stomach; and I thought of that scene with Tiny Tim’s discarded crutch in the ghost-of-Christmas-yet-to-come’s prediction in Dicken’s “A Christmas Carol.” I then slowly inquired as to The Little Man’s whereabouts and how he was doing.

The other gentleman said: “He’s fine. He doesn’t often get a chance to attend his church; and his brother came by and picked him up. His brother has a wheelchair for him, so he left his wheelchair here at the store.”

Some years later that whole section of Hwy 421 West was widened to allow for more tourists; and that particular store, along with many other little roadside stores and stands are long gone.

More room was made for the motoring, tourist public, but not for The Little Man.

The Hadley family has a long and enduring legacy in Mount Airy. The first Hadley in Surry County was James Alfred Hadley, who moved here in the 1890s. Hadley was mayor for two terms, and his mark on the town remains most notably with the Hadley House on West Pine Street.

The J. A. Hadley House was reportedly the first home in Mount Airy to use granite from the area for a large part of the construction. Built between 1894 and 1900, the house is symbolic of the late 19th century building boom that Surry County experienced. Built in the Queen Anne-style, the three-story house’s foundation, first story, and window sills were all constructed with locally quarried granite, while the second story and tower are made with brick. The original interior was ornate, featuring marble columns, and chandeliers of copper and brass.

J. A. Hadley was both a politician and prominent businessman, involved with several local businesses including tobacco manufacturing, a cotton mill (Hadley-Peoples Cotton Mill) in Siler City, and real estate development. At one time he had built and rented as many as 50 homes in the area. He served as Mount Airy’s mayor for two terms, the first from 1898 to 1900 and again from 1903 to 1905.

Hadley’s political influence extended beyond his mayoral term. Along with other prominent businessmen, J.A. Hadley was one of the signers of a denouncement of liquor in Surry County. This was in 1908 — the same year prohibition began in North Carolina.

Hadley-People’s Cotton Mill began as Hadley, Peoples, and Company – a general merchandise company that started in 1887, which also bought and shipped cotton in addition to the sale of merchandise. The mill is thought to have been in operation by 1895, with around 60 people being employed there at the time.

J. A. Hadley was a co-owner of the Hadley, Smith & Company Plug Tobacco Factory, along with Alfred E. Smith, who was also the head of the National Furniture Company.

The Hadley, Smith & Company Plug Tobacco Factory benefited greatly from the economic situation the area was in at the time. Tobacco was a booming industry with more than 1,500 tobacco farms in Surry County in 1850. At one point in 1891 a newspaper reported five tobacco factories or warehouses under construction in Mount Airy.

The Hadley-Smith Tobacco Factory was located a short walk down Pine Street from the Hadley house. Though the building still exists on West Pine street, it has been abandoned for some time.

After Martin Memorial Hospital was destroyed by fire in 1953, Mount Airy’s voters in Surry County approved a referendum to construct a new hospital, what is now Northern Regional Hospital. When a committee was looking for land on which to build Northern Surry Hospital in the late 1950s, J. A. Hadley’s widow, Swannanoa Brower Hadley, donated the land for the site.

The ancestors of J.A. Hadley influenced many of the places they lived in, just as much as the mayor impacted Mount Airy. The Hadley family came to the United States in 1712, when Simon Hadley II and his wife Ruth took their six children and made passage to America from Ireland. The family eventually settled in Mill Creek Hundred, Delaware. It is believed Simon first built a log home for the family, but in 1717 it was replaced with a brick house. It is not certain, but it is believed the house that stands on the location is the same house this early Hadley ancestor built, now named the Hadley-Denison House. In Mill Creek Hundred, Simon Hadley served as Justice of the Peace for many years, as well as a judge. Many of his children moved to North Carolina, including Joshua Hadley. Joshua, who died 1760 in Cane Creek, located in Chatham County, had resided in either Virginia and North Carolina since at least 1748. The family remained in the Chatham County area, until J. A. Hadley, Joshua Hadley’s great-great-grandson made the move to Mount Airy.

Katherine “Kat” Jackson is an employee at the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History. Originally from Australia she now lives in King. She can be reached at the museum at 336-786-4478.

3. William Hadley, the son of J. A. Hadley, lived next door, with his house being built around the same time as his father’s.

4. Hadley, Smith & Company Plug Tobacco Factory was also located on West Pine Street. Courtesy of Surry County Historical Society.

“Turn us, O God of our salvation…wilt Thou not revive us again: that Thy people may rejoice in Thee? …” Psalm 85:1-13.

Thinking on these words we realize that we have just read a prayer, a humble petition for the God who saved us to also bring us back to where we’ve fallen away from; where we need to return to. And where is that? Close to Him, and back into His will.

Part of the the way back home is to recognize we need to return. In Luke 15:11-24, Jesus tells the parable of the prodigal son, who left home, left his father, and “wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all…he began to be in want…” He wound up getting a job feeding pigs, and in his hunger, even began eating the same husks the swine were eating. Finally, “he came to himself,” recognizing that he would be far better off if he would just return home.

The next part of the story, and our advice for returning to God, is turning away from self and sin, and our coming home with repentant heart to the Father. Because God is good and “His mercy endures forever” (Psalm 118), we know our Father is watching for us to turn the corner on our way back to Him. We know He’ll come running to embrace us, forgive us, and restore us!

II Chronicles 7:13-22, “…If My people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from Heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

I believe this is a key scripture to our being revived individually, and as the church. Last week we saw how the first step in turning to God for revival is humbling ourselves. Today we will look at the second step, which is prayer. Notice in these verses that the Lord doesn’t say He’ll hear, forgive and heal if the world repents and turns to Him: The Lord says “if my people, which are called by my name” shall make themselves right with me, then I will have mercy and do all this good for them, and the land they live in.

We the church are the ones who know Him, know better, and know we need to return to Him. So we come to Him with words of prayer; as Daniel did in Daniel 9:3-19, confessing our own sins and the sins of our nation. The book also says that Daniel fasted. Sometimes the situation is urgent and dire enough that we need to pray, and fast. Isn’t our family and friends, and their eternal souls reason enough? So let’s set aside providing for the flesh, to seek the God of Heaven in spirit and in truth.

Hebrews 4:14-16 tells us, “Seeing then that we have a Great High Priest…Jesus the Son of God, … Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” Christians, I believe we recognize we’re not were we need to be. America is no longer a Christian nation. The church is now more blended with the world and its ways. The bride of Christ is not as pure and holy as she needs to be. Our light is not as bright as our God requires of us. Truly our Lord is the only answer for this grave problem, so we pray to Him to lift us back up where we belong; to revive us again. Through prayer, as we acknowledge our need for Him, He extends us mercy, and offers us help.

James 5:13-18, “…in the name of the Lord…the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up…pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual (producing the desired effect) fervent prayer of a righteous man (or woman) avails much.”

Notice that this scripture teaches us that we are to pray in the name of the Lord. His name is Jesus; which literally means savior, or the Lord is salvation. We’re acknowledging that we need saving, and He’s the one who can save us. We are to pray by faith. See James 1:6, “But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.” And Matthew 9:29, Jesus said, “According to your faith be it unto you.” And Luke 8:48 and 50, “be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole” …and, “Fear not: believe only… be made whole.”

Notice also that James instructs us to pray fervently. This means with great warmth of emotion. We should earnestly pour out our soul in prayer to our God. Jesus taught His disciples, and us also, to pray to our Father. In Matthew 6:5-13 we are instructed to acknowledge that Christ’s Father is also our Father by faith; we recognize in reverence that His name is holy; we desire that His kingdom come, and His will be done, here in Earth, even as it is in Heaven; we request our daily food provision; we ask for His forgiveness of any trespass against Him; we ask Him to lead us in His righteous ways; and we plead with Him to deliver us from evil, within and without. And all this is because His is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever, Amen.

One of the shortest verses in the Bible, but one of the most necessary to keep is I Thessalonians 5:17, “Pray without ceasing.” We must be in a constant frame of mind of prayer and continual communion with our God. This will keep our focus where it belongs, on Him and His will.

In closing today, realize that prayer is a two-way street. As we offer up our prayers to our Heavenly Father, remember to listen to what He replies. Psalm 85:8, “I will hear what God the Lord will speak.” The way we hear from Him is by preparing our hearts and minds to receive what He has to say to us through His word in the Bible. Read it daily, meditate on, and memorize it, do it. James 1:22, “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only.” Lord, “wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?”

Editor’s Note: Reader Diary is a periodic column written by local residents, Surry County natives, and readers of The Mount Airy News. If you have a submission for Reader Diary, email it to John Peters at jpeters@mtairynews.com

Our town, Mount Airy, is located in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Surry County; just south of the Virginia border. We go back to a time when stage coaches ran our Main Street; headed up over the mountain and down Winston-Salem way. We’ve seen good times, bad times and once upon a time, we were known as “Little Chicago,” but whatever came our way, we fought the good fight and saved the day.

Should you drop by, the stage coaches and covered wagons are long gone and no longer will you see Tommy guns sticking out of car windows. Those Big Rigs that shook the buildings when the truck route ran Main Street? They now run the by-pass, aka; the Andy Griffith Parkway. Should you come thirsty, you no longer sneak around to someone’s back door; the moonshine we were once known for has been replaced by “Bottled-in-Bond” sold by the government in our public liquor store.

Even so, some things never change and just like the city of Chicago, we tend to get a little windy when talking about our fair city. We may not be much to look at, but we are a friendly bunch with hearts of gold and should you drop by, everybody you meet will greet you with a friendly “hello.”

Should you come hungry, you’ll find the finest dining in all the land, with stick-to-your-ribs food like you’ve never seen before: ground steak sandwiches, pork chop sandwiches, Big Moe’s, corn bread and collard sandwiches, (with a strip of fried pork side meat thrown in.) Dessert? Our famous fruit “sonker” will lift you off your feet. Should you crave some illegal moonshine, we got that too; straight from the still. You just need to know where to go and bring some cash.

With that in mind, why don’t you stop by our little town, take a load off and sit a spell? We’ll pull up a chair down at the hardware store, sit around the pot-bellied stove and drag out our favorite beverage which will quench the worst thirst, guaranteed. We’ll talk about the good old days, learn who got caught doing what, pick out a tune on the old five-string and have ourselves a whale of a good time. So, my friend, what are you waiting for? Come on down to what us natives call “Moun’ Erry, North Ka’ Liner” and you’ll be glad you did.

October signals the abundance of pumpkins. They cover the entrance of produce markets in a sea of bright orange. They are also featured sprawled out on church lawns where they can be purchased at fund-raisers. As we begin October, take the kids and grandkids on a search for their own jack o’lantem by visiting a pick your own pumpkin patch.

There are two kinds of pumpkin patches; the first kind is a man-made patch where there are hundreds of pumpkins in rows and you walk through the rows and choose the one you want. The other type of pumpkin patch is pumpkins growing in the field. Kids actually visit the patch and harvest their pumpkin. Many of these farms have a hayride, playgrounds and refreshments. Many old fashioned country stores feature plenty of pumpkins, apples and Halloween candies, Indian corn and other decor.

Checking out a row or bed of purple turnips

The turnips sown earlier in September are sprouting and have two leaves. If the turnip sprouts are too thick, thin them out so they will have space to develop large turnips. Feed the turnips with Plant-Tone organic vegetable food once a month and keep soil hilled up to cover the vegetable food on each side of the row. As we move further into October, place a layer of crushed leaves between the rows for added protection.

The furnace and air conditioner get a break

These Indian Summer days of October are comfortable and are giving our furnace and air conditioner a break in the season. These October days are pleasant because the humidity is lower and provides us with a bit of natural air conditioning. A crisp breeze also brings some comfort. These are opportune days to finish all lawn and garden chores and also relax on the front porch.

Indian Summer paves the way for Jack Frost

It’s hard to believe with the pleasant days of Indian Summer temperatures that frost is only a few weeks away. We can expect some frost after the middle of the month, but not much of a killing frost until the end of the month. The light frosts will benefit the cool weather vegetables and harden them off for the heavy frosts and hard freezes that will arrive in November.

Making a plate of sweet pumpkin puffs

This is a great pumpkin recipe that is simple to prepare for an autumn dessert. You will need two and a half cups of Bisquick, one and a half cups of sugar, half teaspoon of pumpkin pie spices, two cups canned pumpkin, half cup milk, two beaten eggs, four tablespoons Crisco oil, four table spoons light margarine, and one teaspoon vanilla flavoring. Combine the Bisquick, one cup of sugar and the pumpkin pie spices. Mix in the two cups of pumpkin, one teaspoon vanilla flavoring, half cup of milk, two beaten eggs and four tablespoons Crisco oil. Mix all ingredients well for sixty seconds. Grease the muffin tins and fill the muffin cups two thirds full. Bake at 400 degrees for twelve minutes or until done. Cool slightly, remove from pans. Mix half cup sugar half teaspoon pumpkin pie spices, and four tablespoons of light melted margarine. Dip the puffs in the sugar. spice mixture. Makes at least 24 puffs. It can be made without the sugar-spice topping.

The four o’clocks have had a wonderful season

The four o’clocks have had a productive season. They have bloomed since the last of May and we still have several blooming on the front of the porch. They open earlier each evening because the end of Daylight Saving is drawing nearer. At this time late in the season, they are still in bloom at noon each day. We think it will take a hard freeze in November to finish their long season. They have became perennial and return each year. Four o’clocks are a great investment in foliage and flowers for three of the year’s four seasons.

Checking out the season’s crop of acorns

The forest floor has lots of acorns even though the squirrels have harvested their fair share of them. When there is a huge layer of acorns lying on the ground in mid-October they are sending a subtle message that they are waiting around for some snow before the year ends.

Red berries cover the limbs of dogwoods

There have been plenty of red berries on the dogwoods in spite of the fact that many have been eaten by birds. There are still a lot remaining on the limbs. We don’t know if an abundance of berries is any sign of a harsh winter or not. You can gather some of these red berries to decorate the dining room or coffee table for Christmas.

You can still set out a row or bed of onion sets

It may be close to mid-October but it is still Indian Summer. You can still set out a bed of onion sets. They are still available at most hardware’s and garden centers. You can choose from white, red, or yellow sets. The first hard freeze usually occurs in November and that’s how much time you have to set out those onion sets. At this time of season, you can go ahead and apply a layer of crushed leaves on the sets between the rows when you set them out.

The Christmas cactus ready to move inside

All the Christmas cactus have been outside on the porch in a semi-sunny location since mid-May. The time is now approaching to move them inside to the sunny living room before the arrival of the first frost later this month. They will need to be trimmed back a little and fed with Flower-Tone organic flower food and some cactus medium needed at top of the container. In the living room where they winter over, they will need to be in a semi-sunny location away from direct sunlight to prevent foliage from turning reddish. They will need a drink of water once a week but don’t over water them.

Preserving autumn leaves for harvest displays

To preserve autumn leaves in all their color and glory, use a can of beeswax and melt it in a small pan and dip each leaf in the wax, remove and place on a paper plate to dry. They can be used on the dining room or coffee table or mantel for harvest decorations with jack-be-little pumpkins and Hershey’s autumn Kisses, candy corn or creme pumpkins.

Making a jack o’ lantern and pie

You can make a jack o’ lantern and have a pumpkin pie with it later on by painting a face on the pumpkin with acrylic paints and place it on the front porch. Use acrylic paints in colors of orange, yellow black and white to highlight and color the face of the pumpkin. After Halloween, you can cut the pumpkin, peel it cut into chunks, boil until tender and mash with a potato masher or run through the blender in grate mode, and make into pumpkin pies.

The moon will reach its first quarter on Sunday, Oct. 2. Yom Kipper will begin at sundown on Tuesday, Oct. 4. There will be a full moon on Sunday, Oct. 9. This full moon of October will be named “Full Hunter’s Moon.” Columbus Day will be observed on Monday, Oct. 10. The moon will reach its last quarter on Monday, Oct. 17. The new moon of October will occur on the evening of Oct. 25. Halloween will be Monday, Oct. 31.

These tiny pumpkins are about the size of your fist and they make colorful displays for the dining room or coffee table. You can paint faces on them or use them as they are. Use Hershey’s autumn Kisses or creme pumpkins around base of pumpkins for centerpieces. The kids will love these decorations. Replenish the candy often.

Pumpkin carving kit is a good investment

The best and safest way to carve out a jack o’ lantern is with a durable and long lasting pumpkin carving kit. A quality kit with plenty of blades and attachments costs around $12 and will last for many years. They can also be used to carve melon baskets and cantaloupes. A kit includes attachable blades, a scraper, and a scooper and saw blades of all sizes.

Still time to plant pansies

Pansies are the annuals of autumn that will carry over into winter and early spring. As October arrives, there is still plenty of time to start containers of pansies. You can still purchase six and nine packs of pansies in full bloom at hardware’s, nurseries garden centers, Walmart, Home Depot, Lowe’s Home Improvement and Ace Hardware.

“Checking out the tomatoes.” Doctor: “That’s a horrible gash on your forehead, what happened?” Child: “My sister hit me with some tomatoes.” Doctor: “That’s amazing. I’ve never seen a tomato cut like that before.” Child: “Well, these tomatoes were canned tomatoes.”

“Silent treatment.” Father: “Your boyfriend stayed last night.” Daughter: “And did the noise bother you, Dad?” Father: “No, but the long periods of silence did.”

Editor’s Note: Reader Diary is a periodic column written by local residents, Surry County natives, and readers of The Mount Airy News. If you have a submission for Reader Diary, email it to John Peters at jpeters@mtairynews.com

Back in 2014, I got to play the part of Dr. Herman Einstein in a stage production of “Arsenic and Old Lace.” Peter Lorre played that part in the 1944 movie of the same name. Always an admirer of Lorre, I finally got to “be” Peter Lorre, utilizing my impression of his voice.

I have always admired the singing voice of the actor/singer Jack Prince, who played Rafe Hollister on “The Andy Griffith Show,” so, this year, utilizing my natural singing voice, I got to “be” Rafe Hollister in the Mount Airy Mayberry Days Parade.

Paying tribute to a character on stage involves “stage right” and “stage left;” while doing the same in a parade involves “stage straight ahead, rolling along underneath!”

My daughter Rachel, and her husband, Richard, had been attending the Mount Airy Mayberry Days for the past few years; and Rachel said I should portray Rafe Hollister in the Mayberry Days parade. So, on Sept. 24, Rachel, Richard, my son, Jeremy, and I met up in Mount Airy.

I began a week before by ceasing my shaving. This was an attempt to match up with what TV’s Mayberry Mayor Roy Stoner said about Rafe Hollister not being worthy of representing Mayberry at a choral festival: “He’s unpresentable!” “He’s seedy!” After not shaving for a week, I looked unpresentable and seedy! People think male actors in movies are hot when they have stubble on their faces; but in the case of a 71-year-old man, it’s just an old man who evidently forgot to shave.

To further look the part, I wore bib overhauls, a plaid shirt, and a fedora to which I had given a slightly crumpled look. Since Rafe did some moonshinin’, I carried a quart Ball Mason jar filled about one-third of water to resemble moonshine. Regarding the “Glass half full or glass half empty phrase,” I bet that with moonshine aficionados, a 1/3 quart of moonshine is always dishearteningly seen in the negative: being unfortunately, two-thirds empty instead of “one-third full.

Just so none of the parade-goers would wrongly assume my jar contained the real thing, I taped a homemade label to it, reading “190 PROOF H2O,” captioned with 3 Xs.

In the parade formation’s Truist Bank parking lot, I was welcomed heartily by veteran character portrayers from past Mayberry Days Parades, some with 30 years of experince! There was not one bit of snobbery towards the new kid on the block (or in the lot). I told “Mayor Stoner” I hadn’t shaved for a week in order to present myself as “unpresentable.” He said “And you’re seedy looking,” followed by a big laugh. I told him that coming from him, it was a great compliment — we both had a good laugh.

Briscoe Darling, Andy, Barney, Floyd, Howard, Otis, Colonel Harvey, Ellie, Mayor Stoner, Asa, The Man in a Hurry, The Fun Girls, etc. were all like long-lost family reunited.

I was overwhelmed by the response of the parade goers When I sang “The Lonesome Road” or “Ridin’ on that New River Train,” I was greeted by one of the greatest numbers of smiling teeth I’ve seen, smiles “Busting out all over!” Some people hollered: “Hey Rafe! Can I have some of what’s in your jar?” And some had me pause for pictures with them.

At one point in the parade, a gap was developing. So, a police officer (real, not Barney) motioned to me and asked me to move up a bit to help fill in the gap. I thought: “Gosh! I’m a float in the Mayberry Days Parade (as was each of the Mayberry tribute characters).

Partway through the parade, I realized something. It occurred to me that since a goodly number of those greatly smiling parade goers were of the Mayberry generation; they were reacting to someone bringing back a beloved TV character from their childhood There are many of us from that generation who can recite “The Andy Griffith Show” episodes (and we’re also getting a regular refresher course from ME-TV). In a way, all of those characters from Mayberry were formative for us. And thanks to ME-TV, newer generations are being “so formed!”

After the parade, we toured the Andy Griffith Museum and shopped. Due to my sciatica acting up while just standing, I had to periodically find an outside storefront chair. Upon striking up conversation with those around me (also sitting), I learned their reasons for sitting was sciatica. During one of my pauses, I received a ticket for “loitering” from Barney Fife. I thanked him and told him I would treasure it.

In the last store where we shopped, I saw some jars of Aunt Bee’s Pickles for sale. I passed them up, thinking they might contain her pickles with that kerosene taste; and that with all of the hubbub going on in Mayberry, Andy and Barney might not yet have had a chance to replace them with the store-bought pickles.

I suddenly realized that Mount Airy’s Mayberry Days had achieved for me that supreme goal of the stage: The suspension of disbelief.

Editor’s Note: Community Comment is a periodic column in The Mount Airy News featuring commentary from community leaders in Mount Airy and Surry County.

Our theme for the 2022-2023 school year is “Don’t Give Up. Don’t Ever Give Up.” We all know we can be 1% better every day supporting students. We know that students can be 1% better every day reaching and growing toward their goals. We don’t want to ever give up on a student and we don’t want them to give up on themselves.

Athletics has a long tradition of working toward winning for the team. This year, we have taken these lessons and translated strategies for a winning team to our school culture. Creating a winning culture where the team wins is what we strive to do. Leader in Me teaches this strategy to children but we can all benefit from it — Habit 4: Think Win-Win means, “I balance courage for getting what I want with consideration for what others want.”

We can all benefit from learning to create win-win situations instead of “I win” and “you lose” situations. Winning athletic teams outline communication and team building as their top strategies for success. More than 90% of our staff report on the recent working conditions that they are happy to be in our school system because they know that we keep children in the center of all we do. They contribute feedback through many teams at their school, surveys, and focus groups.

This feedback from our staff helps us to continually improve processes and builds healthy teams. Our district started the school year with all teaching positions filled which showcases a mixture of low turnover rates and others wanting to join our team. As our enrollment numbers have continued to increase over the past six years, we have added new positions to best support our students and staff. We have a small list of current openings at this time and anyone wishing to join our team can visit https://bit.ly/MACSjobs to learn more and apply.

These communication feedback loops allow us to hear information from multiple sources and perspectives. We have feedback loops available for school staff members with teams such as the Multi-Tiered System of Support team and School Improvement Team. We have opportunities at the district level such as the Staff Superintendent Advisory Team and Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund staff feedback sessions. We gather survey data each year regarding working conditions and provide staff opportunities to share with district staff how we can improve along with ideas from the classroom. This is similar to the game field where adjustments are constantly made for improvement.

Our community, parents, and students are important team players and are also powerful voices for us to listen and learn from. We have a Superintendent’s Business Advisory group, a Superintendent’s Parent Advisory Group, and two Superintendent’s Student Advisory groups. We also have students who sit as representatives during our Board of Education business meetings. We have scheduled public meetings this year for input on the Portrait of a Graduate, where you can discuss your ideas about what traits students should graduate. The dates are Oct. 6, Jan. 19, and March 2. If you are interested in joining this work email Carrie Venable at cvenable@mtairy.k12.nc.us.

Just as athletes are on winning teams our schools are also working hard to create winning teams. These high expectations and standards are critical to student success. Students can do the work, if they have educators and parents going hand-in-hand daily to move them toward their goals of being a teacher, doctor, technology leader, welder, health care worker, or any other aspiration. We hope to work with students to envision a successful future for each of them and then, by design, move them toward that success. We expect to have high standards in our classrooms and high expectations on our campuses. Students will rise to the level of expectation that we set just as they do when they are coached and encouraged along the way.

Winning coaches outline that teams must have high expectations and standards and make sure that every athlete reaches those standards and expectations. But, most importantly they need to understand why they are part of the team and why it matters. The team has a goal of winning every game and taking the championship. We know this translates into the classroom as well.

Why do staff members come to school every day, why are students part of the team of Mount Airy City Schools, and how can we empower students and staff to live in their “why”? Mount Airy City Schools believes every child deserves to graduate with a plan and tools to make them successful such as strong mathematical skills, strong reading skills, arts education, language acquisition, career and technical skills, and much more. Every year, we equip them, share tools with them, encourage them, and grow them to the next level. We have 1,800 reasons why walking through our doors every day. We must work together, communicate well, improve our practices, and empower students to win the game of life. We will never give up on any student and we want students to also work hard, gain skills, learn trades, and design their dreams with skills to achieve them.

Derek Jeter said, “There may be people who have more talent than you, but there’s no excuse for anyone to work harder than you do.” Bill Belichick tells his team, “Do your job.” If we all do our job better than anyone else in the state, the team will win. If we are all giving 100%, going the extra mile, being positive, building up our teammates and our administrators, encouraging children, and setting goals showcasing we believe in all of our students, we will win this year. We need everyone’s help to sustain a winning culture.

We know that to lead, innovate, and serve we also must embrace this year’s theme of “Don’t Give Up. Don’t Ever Give Up.” We hope the community will continue to work with us through the many opportunities and ways to engage. Please check out our website for more information on how you can contribute and be part of our winning culture. www.mtairy.k12.nc.us

For families wishing to better understand what Mount Airy City Schools has to offer them and for current families wishing to see what is found at the next school, visit https://bit.ly/AboutMACS21-22 There you will find a brochure highlighting many opportunities found in our system. Anyone wishing to schedule a tour can visit http://bit.ly/MACStour.

The blast tore through the chilled morning air, glass shards from shattered windows raining down on Mount Airy citizens as they ran to investigate. The scene of destruction must have been jarring.

A heavy fog shrouded the carnage, clinging to trees and adding to the surreal affect. Twisted metal, fluttering pieces of paper, and the mangled remains of a Ford pickup truck littered Franklin Street and the neatly kept lawns that lined it. The acrid scent of burning fuel filled the air as people tried to make sense of the wreckage.

Twenty feet from the truck lay the body of their neighbor William Cochrane. Someone brought a blanket to cover the young man out of respect as others called for emergency services.

It must have been a shock when Bill pushed the fabric from his face. “Don’t cover me. I’m not dead.”

It was 8:05 am, Monday, Dec. 31, 1951. Bill was headed to White Plains High School where he was an agriculture teacher who worked with the Future Farmers of America and also GIs returning to family farms after their tour of duty was done.

At 23, he wasn’t much older than many of his students. Athletic and affable, he was popular with students and staff at the school where he’d been teaching since he graduated from NC State in 1949. The Franklin native had deep roots in the far-western counties of Macon and Buncombe where his ancestors had lived since at least 1800.

He met Imogene Moses, a graduate of Appalachian State and Surry’s assistant home demonstration officer, here. Imogene grew up near Pittsboro, Chatham County, near Raleigh. The couple married August 25, 1951. They were looking for a home in White Plains where they regularly attended services at the Friends’ Meeting House.

The blast put an end to all of that.

The bomb was under the driver’s seat. It ejected Bill through the roof of the cab and amputated both legs. Police, recognizing the severity of Bill’s injuries, asked if he knew who could have done this.

“I don’t have an enemy in the world,” was the confused reply before he was taken to Martin Memorial Hospital on Cherry Street.

His students flocked to the hospital to donate blood but, despite extraordinary efforts by the medical staff, the trauma and shock were beyond them. William Homer Cochrane Jr. died 13 hours later. More than 3,000 mourners attended the funeral.

Rumors flew as the investigation got underway. Mount Airy Police Chief Monte W. Boone met with James Powell, director of the State Bureau of Investigation. Mount Airy Police Captain W. H. Sumner worked with SBI Agent Willis Jessup, former Mount Airy Police Chief.

City leaders posted a $2,100 reward for information leading to an arrest. The state added $400 and Bill’s hometown of Franklin where his own father was chief of police, added $1,300.

Governor W. Kerr Scott decried the indiscriminate nature of the murder that could have killed anyone. “The flames of righteous anger continue to run high in Mount Airy… every citizen should cooperate to the fullest with the Mount Airy police officers.”

Sumner and John Edwards and Guy Scott, SBI agents based in Elkin, tracked down Imogene’s former beaus here, at App State, and in Chatham County where she grew up.

They sent what they could find of the bomb to the FBI’s Crime Laboratories in Washington, D.C., where it was determined dynamite or nitroglycerine had been used. So, they tracked down dynamite sales.

The process was made more difficult by a dry season where many local wells dried up causing a spike in dynamite sales. Ed Draughn, a worker at the W. E. Merritt Hardware Store on Main Street, remembered selling two sticks and five blasting caps to a stranger the week before Christmas.

But there the trail ran cold — until April 1954.

Imogene moved back east to Edenton to be closer to family and to escape painful memories. There she met George Byrum, a city councilman. Two weeks before they were due to wed a bomb was found in her car. Not as powerful or sophisticated, when this bomb exploded it didn’t kill anyone, just put Edenton Police Chief George Dail in the hospital with burns.

SBI agents John Edwards and Guy Scott headed to Edenton to talk with a man they suspected from the start but couldn’t find enough evidence for arrest.

George Henry Smith, a childhood friend of Imogene’s, had asked her out a few times over the years. She never accepted. After being questioned he drove to the family farm where he lived with his parents, ran into the woods and committed suicide before they could charge him.

Imogene and George Byrum married and raised a family in Edenton. She and George both died in 2008.

There are those who believe young Cochrane’s spirit haunts the apartments and homes along Franklin Street where he lived and died. His story is recounted on the museum’s ghost tour each Friday and Saturday night. The tragic emotions of a life cut short ripple through time as he continues to wonder, “Who could have done this? I don’t have an enemy in the world.”

Kate Rauhauser-Smith is a volunteer for the Mount Airy Museum of Regional History with 22 years in journalism before joining the museum. She and her family moved to Mount Airy in 2005 from Pennsylvania where she was also involved with museums and history tours.

In late September, the soil of the garden plot is cool and workable. The vegetables of onion sets, turnips, Siberian kale, mustard greens, collards, cabbage, and broccoli can be planted or set out. Use plenty of peat moss in the bottom of the furrows and for a root crop like turnips, place a layer of peat moss on the bottom and on top of the turnip seed. Use Plant-Tone or Garden-Tone organic vegetable food during the cold winter to side dress the vegetables and hill up the soil on both sides of the row. As the season gets colder, cover between the rows with a layer of crushed leaves.

The leaves of autumn are now falling. Stay ahead of them and pile them up to use for compost, mulch, blankets, protection as well as crushed leaves. If you pile them up, use a sprinkling can of water on them to prevent wind from blowing them around. Vacuum them up as you need them.

Snow predictions for Saint Michael’s Day

Saint Michael’s Day will be Wednesday, Sept. 28. Special weather lore on his day says that if the mighty oaks are filled with acorns on his day, the fields will be filled with snow on Christmas Day. Could it be possible to have a snow that covers the fields on Christmas Day? Yes, and it happened on Dec. 25, 2010 when we received an eight-inch snowfall. In Northampton County, my grandma’s old homeplace, they received 13 inches of snow. The prediction of Saint Michael could have a bit of truth in it. My grandma may not have known about Saint Michael, but she knew about acorns on the mighty oaks and had her prediction about them as they bounced off her tin roof in Northampton County. She always said that a yard full of acorns in late September meant plenty of snow covering the yard in winter. Could fogs in August and acorns in September connect with the snows of winter?

The tomato plants that will produce green tomatoes in October to be harvested just before frost now have tiny green tomatoes that are developing. Feed them with Tomato-Tone organic tomato food this week so they can have one more boost of food. Keep an eye on the first frost and gather the harvest of green tomatoes. Wrap them in sheets of newspaper and store them in a shallow box. Check them in the box every ten days for ripeness. Keep the tomatoes sheltered in a warm dry place in the house.

Making a maraschino cherry pound cake

This cake has cherries in the cake and also in the frosting which makes it moist as well as colorful. You will need one and a half cups of Crisco shortening, three cups of sugar, three forth cup of milk, six eggs (separate whites from yolks), half teaspoon baking powder, three and three fourths cups plain flour, one and a half teaspoons vanilla flavoring, one and a half teaspoons cherry flavoring, one half of a ten ounce jar of maraschino cherries (chop the cherries into small pieces and save juice for the frosting.) Cream the Crisco and sugar. Add milk and egg yolks and beat until smooth. Add the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. Add the flavorings. Beat the egg whites until stiff and fold the chopped cherries into the egg whites and add to the mixture. Grease and flour a tube pan with Crisco shortening. Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Bake at 275 degrees until batter starts to rise then reduce temperature to 250 degrees and bake for two hours until cake is firm and a toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting. For the frosting, you will need three ounces of cream cheese, half stick light margarine, two cups 10X powdered sugar, one cup of chopped pecans, half of the ten ounce jar of chopped maraschino cherries, one teaspoon of cherry flavoring and juice from the cherries. Mix all the ingredients together except the juice from the cherries. Add only enough juice from the cherries to make the frosting smooth enough to spread.

American bee balm has long history

Bee balm has been a part of American history for more than 250 years and a part of the American Indian history for much longer than that. It was traditionally used by native Americans to sooth bronchial conditions, coughs, and colds. Leaves can be made into tonics and tea. The lavender and pink petals can be used in salads. When you trim back the bee balm for winter, trim back all the stems because next spring, the balm will produce a whole new season of stems, foliage, and flowers.

Splendor of September winding down

The calling card of September is now down to the last six days. We still have a few more weeks of comfortable weather and a bit of a nip in the night air to remind us that autumn is now with us. Days are still getting shorter by a minute each evening. Indian Summer is certainly being seen as well as felt. The wet dews are lingering each late September morning and the harvest of acorns is falling from mighty oaks. The season is slowly transitioning to future events of the first frost, colorful sunsets, and the departure of humming birds, as well as falling leaves as the autumn has officially arrived.

Row or bed of Siberian kale lasts all winter

Siberian Kale can now be planted in autumn’s garden plot. It is a tough, winter hardy green that will winter over. It can be be used as a salad or fresh cooked sweet greens. Seed of Siberian kale costs less than $3 an ounce and can be sown in rows or beds until the middle of October.

Preparing the Christmas cactus for a move

The Christmas cactus has been outside on the front porch since mid-May, and the first steps are being made to move all of them to the sunny living room where they will spend late autumn, winter, and early spring. The first step is to make sure they have enough cactus medium and to feed them with Flower-Tone organic flower food before they are moved inside in late October. Inside the house, they will bloom in late November. Inside the house, do not expose them to direct sunlight because this causes the foliage to turn reddish.

Still time to plant the flowering spring bulbs

The frost date is Oct. 15, and we usually don’t get a hard freeze until late in the month of November. That means you still have plenty of time to set out the spring flowering bulbs of daffodils, hyacinths, tulips, jonquils, narcissus, snowdrops, and crocus. Most hardwares, nurseries, and garden centers, as well as Home Depot, Lowe’s Home Improvement, Ace Hardware, and Walmart still have plenty of bulbs. You can buy them in mesh see-through bags or from individual bins. This makes it easy to inspect bulbs for rot or mold. Purchase a bag of bone meal or bulb booster to promote bulb growth and development. Apply a layer of peat moss when setting out bulbs.

Heating season near; keep filters ready

Autumn is now in its fourth day and we are in the beginning stage of the heating season. Many furnaces have already flexed their muscles or they will be in a few days. Keep several new filters on hand as the heating season gets underway. Change or clean filters once a month for a cleaner air flow and less dust in the home write the size of the filter on the side of the furnace with a black permanent marker so you won’t forget the size of filter to purchase.

Covering the air conditioner outside condenser

As the season of the furnace begins, the season of the air conditioner will soon be over. As the season of cooling comes to a close, cover the outside condenser unit with a vinyl cover to protect against winter temperatures and freezes. Find the size of the condenser and purchase a cover at a plumbing and heating contractor or Home Depot or Lowe’s Home Improvement, or at the dealer where your unit was purchased.

Organizing storage buildings for winter

The outdoor barn or shed during spring and summer becomes a storage area for tools, plant foods, peat moss, and supplies and as the gardening season moves along, it becomes filled and disorganized. This makes it difficult to keep up with objects you frequently need. As we approach the first days of autumn, it’s time to devote an afternoon to reorganizing the outdoor shed or barn and place lawn and garden tools in an order where they can be easily located to where you need them and they can be found when you need them. Remove everything from the building and sweep it out. Spray the area to control insect pests and critters. Replace the items in the order that you will need them next season. Leave rakes, snow shovels and tools for use in autumn and winter near the front of the barn or shed. Use control measures to prevent mice and other varmints from wintering over in the buildings.

“Tripped Up!” Jan: “I always get sick the night before I leave on a trip.” Fran: “Then why don’t you leave a day earlier?”

“Polluted Space.” Professor: “Do you know what will happen if we keep polluting outer space?” Student: “Yes, the Milky Way will curdle.”

“Alienated.” People are always criticizing my looks. Last week, I had a blind date, and she went home and reported having a close encounter of the third kind!

“Return to Sender!” Teacher: “Mrs. Philton, your son is a constant troublemaker. How do you put up with him?” Mrs. Philton: “I can’t, that’s why I send him to school!”

Protecting American bee balm in winter

Autumn has arrived and it is time to prepare the American bee balm for a long winter’s nap. It can winter over on the back of the front porch, but it will need covering and protection from harsh winter winds and freezing temperatures. You will need to trim back tall growth to about six to eight inches. Move the plant to the rear of the porch away from winds and exposure to extreme temperatures. Use several sheets of cardboard glued together place the cardboard on top of the bee balm and then place a dry towel on the cardboard. Remove them each day when temperatures warm up. Water lightly every week to keep container from freezing.

Editor’s Note: Community Comment is a feature of The Mount Airy News, presenting commentary from community leaders in Mount Airy and Surry County.

As a district, we know that safety is at the forefront of the minds of our students, parents, and staff. In the wake of one tragedy after another across the nation, many in our community rightly wonder what can be done in our area to ensure these acts of violence do not reach our schools. Surry County Schools commits to taking preemptive safety measures and having continued conversations evaluating our approach to safety in schools.

The Surry County Board of Education Safety Committee exists to provide Board of Education members, Senior Cabinet, law enforcement, and district personnel an opportunity to meet and identify safety solutions for schools and offices. Over the summer, the committee met three times to identify current needs and phased solutions. As a result of our safety committee, Surry County Schools will focus on enhancing communication during a safety event, provide additional staff training with the Surry County Sheriff’s Office on addressing daily safety protocols, providing additional uniformed officers at elementary school campuses, adding more keyless entry systems, and increasing the number of security cameras.

At this time, the district is evaluating all funding sources to place additional officers at all school campuses. Surry County Schools has nine school resource officers. The goal is to have a uniformed officer at each of our elementary schools to protect students in the case of an emergency.

As a result of the meetings, the committee identified the need to create a safety communication campaign that reaffirms safety norms for students and staff through visual cues. Our communications department was charged with developing this campaign over the summer. This fall, schools will participate in practice lockdown drills across all campuses to further prepare for emergency situations. The department has also created a video for the community that outlines safety norms in our schools and what families can expect when they visit one of our campuses. The goal of this video is to be transparent with our families and let them know what the district is doing to keep students and staff safe.

Along with the videos, another facet of the campaign is to promote the use of the Say Something Anonymous Reporting System. Last year, Surry County Schools began using the Say Something tool to allow students, staff, and families to submit secure, anonymous safety concerns. The district urges anyone to submit a tip if they are worried about someone, see something concerning on social media, or overhear a threat to submit a confidential tip to a licensed counselor who can help. The tip line can be accessed at 1-844-5-SAY NOW, online at www.saysomething.net, or on the Say Something mobile app.

The Surry County Schools is upgrading our mobile app to offer push notifications to our students, staff, and families. These push notifications will be able to alert anyone of a lockdown, shelter in place, or any other situation that may be occurring at their selected school. The mobile app will be available for download on the App Store and Google Play this fall.

If there is one thing we want our community to know, it is this: Surry County Schools is committed to being transparent with our families and providing learning environments that prioritize safety, trust, and wellness for our students. We look forward to ongoing discussions to look at our needs and resources to provide the best schools for our community.

Editor’s Note: Reader Diary is a periodic column written by local residents, Surry County natives, and readers of The Mount Airy News. If you have a submission for Reader Diary, email it to John Peters at jpeters@mtairynews.com

They come from “all over.”

When? The last week in September, by automobile and tour-bus loads, to our little town of Mount Airy.

Why? To celebrate Mayberry Days and the life and times of a native son who found fame and fortune along the way. You can see it in their eyes as they crowd the streets, searching for the easy-going life of “The Andy Griffith Show” they saw on 1960s black and white TV.

What do they find? A friendly little town where, when you walk down the street, you get a big smile from everybody you meet. Come Mayberry Days, multiply it tenfold and it becomes a circus; with Andy Griffith Show “look-a-likes” everywhere. There’s Deputy Barney Fife with that big side-arm on his hip telling someone to “Nip it” or go to jail. There’s Otis (the town drunk) riding his cow right down Main Street in broad daylight. Aunt Bee? Opie? Them too and many other look-a-likes, maybe even Gomer. Sad to say, I have yet to see Andy.

Just down the street; you’ll find Floyd the Barber snipping away at the same barber shop Andy knew. A couple of doors down; Snappy Lunch where Andy once ate; near the Blue Bird Café, where back in the back room back in the day, you could still drink beer after closing hours.

How about Goober? Him too; pumping gas and wiping windshields at his service station down on South Main. Need a ride to see the sights? For a very few bucks, those 1960s Ford squad cars will haul you around all over the town to see the same sights Andy once knew; including the home where he grew up.

Best of all is the Mayberry Days Parade, with hundreds of people lined up on both sides of the street to applaud and watch their heroes go by. Believe me; it’s a sight to see.

Being a native son myself, it’s pleasing to know that a hometown boy like Andy caused such a “to-do” and I hope and pray that all who come here find what they were looking for and go home with a big smile on their face; knowing they found Mayberry.

© 2018 The Mount Airy News