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April 2008
My secret revealed
OK, maybe it’s not the best secret, but I quite smoking. I’m on day 5 and I have wanted to confess this openly because if I fall off the wagon and light up, well, what would you think then? Thing is, I’ve read one should tell people because then one is less likely to continue smoking if one starts up again. Humiliation goes a long way. I really do have a desire to be a non-smoker so I decided that, yes, today I’m a non-smoker. I am doing it cold turkey because I would much rather purge my system than add something else like more nicotine. I’m a little fuzzy headed and at times I feel as though I’m going to go insane, yet I also feel a sense of freedom. Cigarettes and nicotine are a sort of bondage and this is long over due. I’m not looking for congratulations here, by the way. Frankly, I would rather not hear any of that and that’s partly why I haven’t wanted to openly confess this. Rather, I would like to address the question I’ve often pondered, why did I start in the first place? The short answer is still, I really don’t know for certain. I can tell you that when I was 15, standing in the high school parking lot — we were allowed to smoke at school back then — Steve Thomas pulled out a pack of smokes, I bummed one and that was that. He warned me not to do it, but I didn’t listen. Now, more than 20 years later I’m writing about quitting. It’s about time, I suppose. Today I am not smoking. Tomorrow? Well, I’ll let you know then.
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Albemarle Region’s Top Military Mom of the Year …
Well, I just received a call from Mary Cherry, proud mom of Sarah Hess who was in the top five nationally for Military Mother of the Year. She didn’t make the top spot, Mary told me, but making top five out of 400 entries sure is something, Sarah. So, being the math whiz I have never claimed to be, I figure that if Sarah made top five nationally, she automatically becomes the Albemarle Region’s Top Military Mom of the Year. Congratulations to Sarah because parenting is no small feat and, really, you’re doing it with one arm tied behind your back while serving as a member of the Coast Guard, so be proud of yourself Sarah, I know for a fact there are a bunch of folks around Swampland who are proud of you.
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It’s Monday … Yeah, and that means what?
Here, like anywhere, I run into people and I say, “So, how’s it going?” They usually reply by explaining to me that it’s Monday, and, well, you know, Monday doesn’t work out well because it’s just that, it’s Monday and Mondays are like that because, well, they’re Mondays; you know? The meandering sentence you just read is actually very intentional because that’s how it’s explained. Now the Monday meandering has a relation at the other end of the week known as Friday. So I see the same people and I ask them how the day is and they tell me that it’s Friday and it gets better after Friday. And that seems like it only leaves two days a week that might actually be enjoyable. While I get tired of work like anyone, I like my work and I wonder why enough of us aren’t doing the work we like. Why are we so anxious for the weekend and why is Monday the worst day of the week? And is there really one day a week set aside to be the worst day of the week? At any rate, meandering comments and run-on sentences are welcome just don’t tell me that you couldn’t find the time because, well, you know, it’s Monday and Mondays are like that; you know?
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Swampland People: Lesley Davis
Meet Lesley Davis …
Posting these profiles each week now, I find myself meeting people and becoming increasingly interested in who they are. I also find myself thinking hard about who I want to blog about and with that, right in front of me, I found a friend I’ve known for about a year now, 25-year-old Lesley Davis.
The reason I want you to know Lesley is because she has a terrific spirit. Since my wife Robin began Project Grow, a community garden project, there have been few people as dedicated to giving volunteer hours like Lesley.
I asked Lesley why she is volunteering and why she is so willing to put up so much of her free time to get this community garden project off the ground.
“Because I figure it will feed people somewhere down the line,” she said.
And she likes it, she added. She likes getting out there and helping people.
“And I’m learning stuff, too,” she said. “I’ve never really planted anything before this.”
So she’s learning about gardening and growing things and, she reemphasized, she “just knows that it’s helping people.”
Lesley Davis grew up in Elizabeth City. She graduated from Northeastern High School in 2000 and she currently works as a cook at Montero’s Restaurant, feeding people.
I suppose if I were to hand out the volunteer of the month award I would have to give it to Lesley. She seems to always be on call, and happy to do it.
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Top Mom: Sarah Hess makes top 5
If you haven’t met Sarah Hess or her daughter Savanah, here they are …
Some of you may recall that Sarah was entered into the Military Mother of the Year contest by her mother, Mary Cherry. The contest required the nominating party to write a 500 word essay.
A panel of judges then sifted through over 400 entries to narrow it down to 20. Well, Sarah, who is a member of the Coast Guard, made the top 20 list. Now she’s on the top 5 list and that’s thanks to votes.
Yes, you folks out in Swampland have made it possible for Sarah to make it to the top 5 by going to www.cinchouse.com, looking for the quick links box on the right of the Web page and clicking on “Military Motherhood Award,” where you cast your votes for Sarah.
Now the decision is down to a panel of judges. Sarah will be interviewed via telephone this week and the decision will be made toward the end of the week. Congratulations to Sarah.
Oh, and in the spirit of fair disclosure I suppose I should add that one of my boys has a crush on Savanah, but that in no way skews my vote … ya think?
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Rock Band!
Check out our latest video blog about the Rock Band video game and tourney.
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Local church launches volunteer blitz
Berea Baptist Church, will be participating in Operation Inasmuch on Saturday, going out into the Elizabeth City/Pasquotank County area to do volunteer work. Operation Inasmuch is a one day, statewide mission blitz.
Berea is offering many free services for the community to take advantage of that day. Some are car safety checks such as proper tire pressure, oil levels, water levels, fluid levels, and so forth, by local mechanics. There will also be child safety seat inspections by local fire department personnel from 9 a.m. to noon. Free health screenings such as cholesterol checks, blood pressure, and blood glucose levels will also be conducted by health professionals from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m., at the church on Hwy. 17 north.
Other projects include: • Building a handicap ramp; • Distributing items to the Wesley Hospitality House, Hope Line, Crisis Pregnancy Center, Albemarle Food Bank, and Rescue Squad; • Neighborhood Bible Study for children; • Building community garden containers at Albemarle Food Bank; • Nursing Home visitation; • Making “walker bags” for nursing home patients; • Distributing to meals for Meals on Wheels; • Trash pick-up on Berea Church Road; • Installing free smoke detectors in homes that need them; • Making hygiene bags for the homeless population; For people in need of one of these services, and would like more information, contact Susan Buckner at 264-2167 or 333-4131.
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Swampland People: Ed Schute
So there I was, wandering around Kenyon Bailey Garden Center, in the back looking for my friend Calvin, and I see a bin of ducks.
“Do they get along with chickens?” I asked a man standing there.
“I dunno,” he says, “Let me ask this guy.”
And over walks Ed Schute, 83, resident duck expert. I ask him the same question, he says sure and then I ask him whether the Peking (the one in the photo) is a male or female.
Ed holds the duck up to his ear and listens intently.
“This one is a drake,” he says, referring to a male duck.
Ed says he can tell whether a duck is a hen or a drake by listening to a sound they make in their throats.
“If it’s a high pitched sound it’s a hen,” he explains. “If it’s a low pitch it’s a drake.”
Ed is Kenyon Bailey’s resident duck man, I suppose. He says he was raised on a farm in Pennsylvania and grew to love ducks and chickens and still raises a few.
“I just never got out of the practice,” he says of raising farm fowl.
I enjoyed talking to Ed because I’m a chicken convert, with three at home laying eggs and taking on individual personalities so distinct that they are becoming loved pets as well; I don’t see eating Rosie, Yellow Feet or Bleep in the future.
Ed says he’s an all-around guy at the garden center and when people have a duck question he’s the go-to guy.
He came to Elizabeth City by way of Westchester, Pa., back in 1979. He married a woman from Pennsylvania whose son was finishing his time in the Marines and had married a girl from the area. So Ed and his bride came south.
Since then, Ed has remarried and he and his wife Cynthia live in a mobile home where they can’t house his ducks or variety of chickens. He says they live with a friend; he has to have those farm fowl in his life, he says.
“These are my life,” Ed says, looking fondly at the ducks.
So I found out that if I want to add a duck to our menagerie Ed is the man to talk with, the duck man, a regular guy making his way around Swampland.
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Rose Buddies are back!
Look, a lot of folks love the Rose Buddies and love all those folks who come in from ports afar to spend a day or two here, at Elizabeth City. So we thought we’d check out the first official day of the Rose Buddie season. To view the video blog go to photos and videos found on our home page. There you will see a list of videos, including Swampland Rose Buddies.
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And the heavens, they opened up …
Yes, thank God the sun is out! Seems more and more people were growing weary of the gray, misty days. Yet the wet is welcome. And to be sure more will fall. But for now, the sun shines beautifully over the Pasquotank and while many are jeering and cheering over recent political concerns - http://dailyadvanc.com - and business marches on as usual in northeast North Carolina, we can, for today, stand and face the sun, soak in its rays and feel the warmth of it pulse through every ounce of our being. Oh, and I don’t have to wear socks when it’s warm.
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Swampland People: Patsy Cartwright
Sometimes we go through the day running into this person and that and while we know them, we really don’t. Working in the Albemarle for three years now I’ve met a lot of folks and I love seeing them time and again and while they’re not what you might call typical newsmakers, they’re part of the fabric that makes up Swampland. So I thought why not blog about these people and introduce you to a few from time to time.
Patsy Cartwright is one of these folks. Patsy has worked at Todd’s Pharmacy on Poindexter St. in Elizabeth City for about four years now. I’ve enjoyed going into Todd’s to buy this or that and bantering with Patsy.
The first time I met her there was a little controversy over whether or not she really did see a seal crossing the causeway from the swamp to the river. It was a good laugh and all the ladies that work in Todd’s were enjoying the story.
I asked Patsy to tell me a little bit about herself and started with her age. “That’s not fair,” she exclaimed, smiling at me in that smile that seems to make people smile right back.
Patsy grew up in Powells Point in Currituck County. She says up until she was 18 she was a summertime beach girl. But marriage brought her to Camden then Elizabeth City and now to Hertford County over the past two months.
“For a larger home,” she quipped.
As I was talking to Patsy, regular Todd’s customers were vying for her attention, calling her by name. She’s like that; people just like talking to Patsy.
“I love my customers,” she said.
And they do seem to love her too. And so do the ladies she works with.
“We’re all like sisters,” she said.
And they are. They tease one another mercilessly from time to time. In fact I probably gained points with her when I pulled a note off her back that read, “Kick me.” The laughs from that gag by her fellow workers went on for sometime.
And laughs are good, especially in a pharmacy, I suppose. It is like a small family in there, led by owner William Owens who Patsy says she loves and is thankful to have a boss (can’t forget the brownie points, Patsy).
Patsy is the mother of three and the grandmother to nine children. She has a grandson, Paul Searles, who is serving in the Air Force in Iraq.
So what makes Patsy so popular at Todd’s?
“I’m so friendly,” she said, laughing, her co-workers giggling and laughing along.
But you know, it’s true. In three years I have yet to see Patsy be anything but friendly.
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Breast Cancer and fundraisers and you … me
In Sunday’s paper I highlighted the efforts of Anne Rixon to raise money for breast cancer research and treatment. She will walk 40 mile next month for the Avon Foundation fundraiser. Anne told me why she is doing this and you can read her story here http://www.dailyadvance.com/featr/content/features/stories/2008/04/06/0406Rixonwalkfeature.html . Later in the month and on into May you will begin to see more fundraising efforts through Relay for Life. You will likely read more stories raising awareness of these events. You see, it’s an important issue and a personal one for me. I lost my mother more than five years ago to breast cancer. It was a sudden loss because she had a tumor that couldn’t be detected and the symptoms weren’t readily evident until the cancer had made its way into the bone. The doctors agreed that a regular mammogram wouldn’t have found the tumor early on and even at the last stages of the cancer it was a difficult one to find. I won’t bore you with statistics here, you can easily find them, even in the story I linked to above. But what’s important here is that we remember that when individuals and groups get together for a cause such as this, it’s for a good reason and every little bit of help we can provide goes a long way toward finding a cure, or at the very least some form of prevention. And for those women who find themselves in need of treatment but don’t have the means to afford it, there’s help there too, and that is also listed on the story. So, read the story, and use the Internet to find out more. And I pray no one you know gets this terrible disease and you don’t have to understand firsthand what it does to a person. And if you do, or have, my heart is out to you. But thanks to women like Anne Rixon we do have hope.
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Early summer event looking for vendors
I received a call from Reta at the River City Community Development Corporation, a local non-profit, who said they’re looking for vendors for their upcoming Juneteenth celebration. The CDC, as they’re known locally, puts on this event each year and anyone who wants to have a booth should call Rita at 331-2925.
“Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day, is an annual holiday or holiday observance in 26 states of the United States. Celebrated on June 19, it commemorates the announcement of the abolition of slavery in Texas. The holiday originated in Galveston, Texas; for more than a century, the state of Texas was the primary home of Juneteenth celebrations. However, one small community in Arkansas (Wilmar) boasts that its celebration, called “June Dinner” has been consistently observed and celebrated, except for one year, since approximately 1870. Since 1980, Juneteenth has been an official state holiday in Texas. It is considered a “partial staffing holiday” meaning that state offices do not close but some employees will be using a floating holiday to take the day off.[1] Twelve other states list it as an official holiday, including Arkansas, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Alaska . In California, Governor Schwarzenegger proclaimed June 19th “Juneteenth” on June 19, 2005. [2] [3] However, some of these states, such as Connecticut, do not consider it a legal holiday and do not close government offices in observance of the occasion.[4] Its informal observance has spread to some other states, with a few celebrations even taking place in other countries.[5] [3] As of February 2008, 26 states have recognized Juneteenth as either a state holiday or state holiday observance; these include Texas, Oklahoma, Florida, Delaware, Idaho, Alaska, Iowa, California, Wyoming, Missouri, Connecticut, Illinois, Louisiana, New Jersey, New York, Colorado, Arkansas, Oregon, Kentucky, Michigan, New Mexico, Virginia, Washington, Tennessee, Massachusetts, and North Carolina, as well as the District of Columbia.” — Source: Wikipedia.
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Ian Lowry’s pen
There are few things as wondrous as a wunderkind; a young person who has amazing abilities that take others years to master. Ian Lowry is just such a person. You can read about him here, http://www.dailyadvance.com/featr/content/features/stories/2008/04/03/0403ArtFeature.html, but more important you can see the artwork this 17-year old is producing. Ian says he wants to study architecture. Clearly he has the eye for it. But don’t take my word for it. If you never step into an art gallery, this should be your opportunity to make a change. You should head down to the Red Rabbit Gallery and see Ian’s work. We have one sampling on the link I provided, but that’s not enough. And what’s more, years down the road, you’ll be able to say you knew him when he was just a lad. I promise, you will be impressed by this teenager’s efforts.
