The girls and I were returning from our drive in the country, flying down NC Hwy 421, loaded down with apples and keeping our eyes peeled for barbecue joints (down by the lake? T Bone Burnett, anyone?) A sign caught my eye: “Books 75% Off.” It was hoisted prominently over the 421 Flea Market.
This flea market (or “swap meet” in southern California vernacular) was deceptively ginormous. There were tables and pickup trucks laid out over a large field, selling used treasures from clothes to martial arts weapons and country home décor to GUNS! What appeared to be storage or industrial buildings at the rear of the property housed the actual flea market!… Read the rest
Category: <span>Just Plain Fun</span>
The travel log continues from Addison’s Inn located in beautiful Wilkesboro NC. Today we plan to travel along the apple trail, seeking the magical fruit, as well as more barbecue.
We began in Chapel Hill and no trip with the Salisburys is complete without at least one visit to a native Post Office. The Post Office is located across Franklin from UNC and has a number of wonderful murals throughout the customer lobbies.
The rotunda at the UNC visitor’s center displays a number of wonderful paintings, an energetic sculpture of President Polk, as well as a beautifully crafted clock and barometer.… Read the rest
Here we are outside Emma’s apartment in Carrboro. She is all settled in and is acclimating to southern living. Chapel Hill and Franklin St. are only about a mile down the road and she is within walking distance of a great little restaurant that specializes in health food: grits, bisquits, red hots and fatback.
After the apartment was moved in and decorated, Emma found it a bit gloomy so she hung a few strings of lights and voila! The place is quite comfortable with reasonable rent, utilities paid, cable and high speed internet are included. Emma, like her mother, can sure shop for a bargain!… Read the rest
We’re on the road in North Carolina, visiting Emma and sampling a little bit of Carolina barbecue.
bar·be·cue Pronunciation Key (bärb-ky) n.
1. A grill, pit, or outdoor fireplace for roasting meat.
2. A whole animal carcass or section thereof roasted or broiled over an open fire or on a spit.
3. A social gathering, usually held outdoors, at which food is cooked over an open flame.
The term itself comes from Haiti: “1657, from Amer.Sp. barbacoa, from Arawakan (Haiti) barbakoa “framework of sticks,” the raised wooden structure the Indians used to either sleep on or cure meat. Originally “meal of roasted meat or fish,” modern popular noun sense of “grill for cooking over an open fire” is 1931.”… Read the rest
Okay, so why does a hip, swingin’, fashion-conscious guy like me shop at Ross?
Obviously, there’s the value angle. Your clothing dollar will go much further at Ross than at some boardshop boutique or Harajuku mercantile where a sullen raggedy Ann or Andy, with black lipstick, scans your purchases while singing along with Green Day’s American Idiot. For me, it’s all about fashion. Where else could you hope to find a stylish RATT* t-shirt like the one I’m wearing in the photo? The moment I pulled it off the rack, my right arm involuntarily thrust it’s self heavenward and my butane lighter ignited.… Read the rest
Now, here’s something you don’t often find. But, our friend, (we’ll call her “Jay” to protect her identity from blog trolls and design stalkers), is always showering us with bits of thoughtful vintage technology. This is a rare 1958 prototype of the device, which would iterate and reiterate into the modern PalmPilot. Most people are unaware that personal digital assistants or PDAs (as those of us in the industry refer to them) have been around for some time. Originally, “personal” referred to the fact that you could keep them in a purse or pocket and “digital” denoted the method of searching through the tiny contact cards with your fingers or “digits.”… Read the rest
Poll: Fewer People Link Islam, Violence
By WILL LESTER
Associated Press WriterJuly 26, 2005, 4:14 PM EDT
WASHINGTON — The percentage of Americans who believe Islam is more likely than other religions to inspire violence has declined in the past two years, according to a poll taken after the London bombings. Just over a third, 36 percent, now say the Islamic religion is more likely to inspire violence, while 44 percent said that in July 2003, according to the poll conducted by the Pew Research Center and the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.
Pollsters are still mystified by an unexplainable plunge in the collective IQ of many Americans over the past two years.… Read the rest
In a previous post about Muslim terrorism, Brits Get A Wake-Up Call, I attributed London terrorist bombings to British Muslim’s disgust with western culture and a faithful reading of the Qur’an. I may have to take that back after reading this story in Ireland On-Line:
Would-be bomber was on benefits
26/07/2005 – 11:38:06
“One of the would-be suicide bombers who tried to blow up a London Tube train last Thursday had been given thousands of pounds in British taxpayers’ money. Yasin Hassan Omar, 24, was given £75 (€108.70) a week in housing benefit to pay for the one-bedroom flat where he has been the registered tenant since February 1999.… Read the rest
Today marks 29 years of marital bliss for Denise and I. This is a fitting weekend for the celebration. We will be spending it with Camille, Emma, and our wonderful friends, doing the kinds of things we love to do — it’s been a very busy weekend and will be, right up until our heads hit the pillow tonight.
I had to work yesterday and, as I was driving home down the Old Downieville Highway, with my sunroof open and Eric Whitacre playing, I was reflecting upon how blessed I am and the fact that all sorts of wonderful things have come my way in unexpected or unusual ways.… Read the rest
I am so grateful to live in a community, where we enjoy state of the art medicine. I turned 50 this year and went in for my very first colonoscopy. I’m feeling fine, but it’s a good idea for men my age to be examined for colorectal cancer or other disease. Here we are in the year 2005 and I find it hard to believe that most people undergoing this test will still be subjected to the barbaric colonscope, a long flexible tubular instrument inserted into the rectum and poked around the colon, while the doctor watches on a remote video device.… Read the rest
I promised Zombieslayer a post about my short venture into the world of record producers, fusion guitarists, “shred-heads” and, of course, those vultures who bring all fun to a halt — lawyers and record distributors. Dear ZS… I hope this meets with your approval.
One day sometime in 1990, I believe, I came home from work and Denise told me she had met some new neighbors and they were real nice. She said that “Mark” produced and recorded music – he was working on a children’s CD. I remember thinking to myself, “So, what’s new… everyone in Nevada City is recording a CD.”… Read the rest
I began my first in-depth study of The Apocalypse this week and I think I have some insights and revelations of my own, concerning the identity of the Antichrist and the Beast of Revelation 13.
First, let me say that Dan (the guy to the left of Macaulay Culkin) is not the Beast, nor is his friend, Michael Jackson, the Antichrist. Of that, I’m relatively certain. However, I’m not so sure about King Juan Carlos of Spain.
You see, he’s been fingered as the Man of Lawlessness by a number of “prophecy experts,” most notably Chuck Missler and Jon Courson. As a supplement to my serious study in Revelation, I began listening to tapes by these Bible teachers, in order to gain insight into the strategic trends, which are preparing the world to bow to the control of this spellbinding, power hungry, dynamic, world dictator.… Read the rest
Denise knows where to shop… when she heard there would be a flea market at a local Lutheran church, she charged right over there. “The churches with the older congregations have all the really cool stuff.” She came home with the most beautiful Christmas tree skirt I have ever seen, as well as some retro Christmas ornaments and… a little “special occasion tree” like my Grandma Louise used to have. Actually, it was a manzanita branch that looked like a tree, about a foot tall. She would decorate it for every season or special occasion. Now, we have one.
The biggest treat was this beautifully illustrated Barbecue Book by the publishers of Sunset Magazine.… Read the rest
If a movie won’t be playing at a theater, will its fans still line up outside that theater for days and days? If we’re talking about “Star Wars” fans, the answer is a resounding “of course!” It says so right here: Star Wars Fans At Wrong Theater
Former Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne donned his Emperor Palpatine getup and joined other diehard Star Wars fans outside the wrong theater, Grauman’s Chinese, for the latest installment of the legendary franchise. There was just one small problem: 20th Century Fox plans to open the film at the ArcLight theater, just a few blocks away.
Okay, so it’s not really Ozzy, but you have to admit there’s a real resemblance.… Read the rest
Denise and I had lunch at Fred’s in Nevada City on Saturday, ignorant of the fact that it was March 19 and there were rallies planned all over the country, marching for peace and protesting the war in Iraq. Now, I know I’ll be taken to task for this piece of satire, but I can’t help it. Funny stuff just happens to me all the time…
The demonstration in Nevada City was quiet and orderly… In fact, when I returned with my camera to document the event on the Broad St. overpass ten minutes later, it was over. The only evidence that an anti-Bush crowd had been engaged in a struggle against war, corporate greed, and poverty, were the three late-model Volvos left at the scene by lunching activists. … Read the rest
I was craving some Himalayan food on a sunny Saturday last Fall, so I decided to head down the Rough and Ready Highway to Didi Bhai. As I neared the old market, I saw an estate sale on the left side of the road. I couldn’t stop because I was on a mission: a buffet of curry, chutney, nan bread… you understand. So, on my way home I stopped and browsed around the small house and yard for treasures. I found one. The deceased are Christians and I found a few missing books for my library. There was also a Bible in near mint condition… leather, New American Standard… perfect for special occasions!… Read the rest
Teeing Off at the Kabul Golf Course
Regardless of your opinion of Bush’s War on Terror, I think everyone can agree that these freedom fighters have earned the respect of the world. Many groups suffered under the tyranny of the Taliban, but at least two members of the Kabul Gulf (Golf) Club have paid dearly for love of the game, going all the way back to the Soviet occupation in the 80’s.
“During the war against the Russians we were forced to close down,” said Mohammad Afzal Abdul, the 46-year-old club professional, who was a young boy when the course was built.
… Read the rest Moving to downeast Maine in 1993 was, in many ways, similar to the 60’s TV comedy, Green Acres. Like Lisa and Oliver Douglas, the Salisbury family struck out on an adventure to discover a little piece of rural America in Sedgwick ME. We made a splash, rolling into town with our 5 ton Ryder truck and ’67 Chevy Bel Air. Fortunately, we were from California and were looked upon as more of a curiosity, than a complete nuisance like other people from away (New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, etc.)
So, imagine our surprise to find that we had moved into the same town as Ralph Monroe, the eccentric carpenter from Green Acres.… Read the rest
I mentioned Dr. Nathaniel Horne in my Ground-Breaking News post. I believe Nathaniel was a resident at UCDMC when I was treated there for necrotizing fasciitis in 1998. He performed a skin graft or two on my affected leg and we got along nicely…
Fast forward to 2003 and the Salisburys are on the north shore of Oahu for Emma’s 18th birthday. Emma wanted a surfing lesson, so we got her one in Haleiwa. The class paddled out and I sat on the beach photographing everyone. About an hour into the lesson, a young man with a hat and su glasses walked up and sat down behind me and to the right.… Read the rest