The Teams You Love to Hate

November 7, 2009

Hold that Tiger

Clemson and Florida State are playing football on ESPN tonight.  The match-up doesn’t have the same intensity for me that it once did.  Once upon a time, back when there were but eight teams in the ACC, Clemson was the scourge of the conference.  Everybody hated Clemson.  I, on the other hand, loved Clemson.  It may have something to do with the fact that twice a year; I sent a rather large check to Clemson so my daughter could continue to study and gain life experiences in the shadow of Tillman Hall.  I rather enjoyed the bad boy roll among my non-Clemson friends.

It was difficult to get tickets to the games.  At first, were limited to watching from the top of the upper deck at Death Valley as the Tigers beat up on Furman or the Citadel or the Little Sisters of the Poor.  By the time she was a senior, we were actually able to buy season tickets in the west end zone.

That was before the ACC, in their infinite wisdom, allowed Florida State to join the conference.  That was the end of Clemson’s dominance.  The fans in the rest of the conference didn’t know who to hate.  They used to root for anybody but Clemson (ABC).  For a few years, Clemson had to settle for being a bridesmaid as Bobby Bowden and Florida State won all the marbles.  Florida State would play in the Orange Bowl and Clemson was happy with the Gator Bowl.

With the addition of Boston College, Virginia Tech and Miami, it became even cloudier as which team to hate.  Clemson, being part of the old conference was even looked upon fondly and occasionally rooted for.

Why do we hate certain teams?  Why hate rather than apathy. I grew up in northern Indiana, you either loved Notre Dame or you hated them. I was, and still am, a Purdue fan so the choice was easy for.  Even now I am for anybody but Notre Dame.

They baseball Yankees are another example.  Do we hate the Yankees because they are perennial winners?  Do we love the Cubs because of their struggles to finish above .500?  Although the Yankees have not won the World Series since 2000, I still found a number of baseball fans unhappy with the most recent Championship.

Now Florida State is on harder times and Clemson appears to be on the upswing but I am always nervous going into this game.  I may not even watch it because things always go badly while I’m in front of the TV.

CWC Short Prose Critique Group

Remember Me?

There were only four of us at the October meeting.  As facilitator I was disappointed in that and I am also disappointed in the fact that only a small group of members are volunteering to submit pieces for critiquing.  Everyone seems to have a good excuse but the result is the same.  I enjoy the interaction with the writers that do turn out but we are not fulfilling our charter.

One of the members commented to me that we don’t seem to be coming together.  What do you think about that?

If we want to become a viable group we need to increase participation.

I would also like to hear from members of other critique groups.

Please use this posting as a discussion forum by replying.

Happy Birthday Erie Canal

October 26, 2009

One hundred and eighty-four years ago today, Governor Dewitt Clinton of  New York State boarded the canal boat Seneca Chief and began the first official journey on the Erie Canal from Buffalo on Lake Erie to Albany on the Hudson River.  This journey marked the completion of the 363 man-made waterway that opened the Northwest Territory to migration and settlement.  An event surpassing — for it’s time — the Interstate Highway system and the Internet.

The departure of the Seneca Chief was marked by the roar of a 32-pound cannon.  It set off a chain of cannons thundering the news to every town along the canal.  As each town heard the boom, they fired thier own cannon.  It took eighty-one minutes for the message to travel from Buffalo to Albany and then down the Hudson to New York City, the ultimate destination for the Seneca Chief. 

The Seneca Chief arrived in New York City on November 4, 1825, completing Clintons dream of connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean.

Charlotte Writer’s Club Meeting

The speaker for the October meeting of the Charlotte Writer’s Club was Robert “Bob” Inman.  Inman is a former news anchor at WBTV, novelist, playwright and screenwright — not to mention being a great program speaker. 

Robert "Bob" Inman

His very human tales of growing up in Alabama, lurking in the next room at Mama Coopers on a Sunday afternoon to hear the adults tell family stories and testing out his Uncle’s WWII parachute enthralled us all — the very heart and soul of an American era gone by.

His novels include Home Fires Burning, Old Dogs and Children, Dairy Queen Days and Captain Saturday.  I encourage you to read all of them.  Even though I’m from “up north” I connected with many of his characters and the small town Alabama way of life.  His playwrighting includes Crossroads and the Christmas Bus.  He has written six screen plays for television including two for “Hallmark Hall of Fame”.

Thanks Bob for a great program.

Tamarack

October 8, 2009 – Julia’s Coffee – Charlotte, NC

We’re back in Charlotte now. We were away from home five nights and slept in Goodlettsville, TN; Waukegan, IL and Cambridge, OH. It started out to be a trip back to Tennessee with our daughter to attend her high school class reunion. Since we had lived in middle Tennessee for fourteen years we decided to accompany her back and reconnect with friends. The segway to Waukegan came about because we were invited to a 90th birthday celebration for my wife’s aunt.

We decided to return to Charlotte via Ohio and West Virginia hoping to see some fall color along the way. I was really impressed with what I saw of southern Ohio and West Virginia. Contrary to what the popular sterotypes would have you believe, West Virginia is not all Hatfields, McCoys and scenes from Deliverance.

Interstate 77 from Williamstown to Bluefield is now complete.  Although one is in the mountains the grades are gradual and the sweeping curves offer magnificiant vistas.  There were a lot of trucks but for the most part  they stayed in the right lane and kept thier spacing.  We never felt intimidated by them as happens in many other places.

We stopped at the Fenton Glass Works in Williamstown and then again at Tamarack in Beckley.  If you can make only one stop along the way, Tamarack  is the place. http://www.tamarackwv.com/ 

Tamarack is the artisian center for West Virginia.  It is overwhelming collection of local crafts.  Glass, wood, textiles, sculpture, etc. 

There is a food court there featuring daily specials created by chefs trained at Greenbrier.  That’s where we had lunch.  The food was delicious and was definitely worth the trip.

We arrived back home around p.m. completing an 1800 mile round trip.

Apple Pickin’ Season in North Carolina

Even though fall has just started, apple pickin’ has been in season here in North Carolina since early August.  My daughter and her family were visiting us over the Labor Day weekend and we decided to make a day trip to the Apple Festival in Hendersonville and while we were there visit an orchard and pick some apples.  My two granddaughters ( five and eight going on thirteen) were eager to experience picking thier own apples particularly since Grandma’s apple sauce might be the final destination for some of those apples.

After a search on the internet, we settled on Stepp’s Hillcrest Orchard located midway between Bat Cave and Hendersonville on Hwy 64.   Hillcrest is still a working orchard and the sales office and “gift shop” is in the same barn where the apples are packed and shipped.   http://www.steppapples.com/

In front of the barn was a large crate of apples with a sign instructing us to choose an apple and bring it to the counter for slicing and peeling.  The clerk impaled the apple on the tynes of a peeler something like the one shown and  turned the crank.  In one swift motion, the apple was peeled, sliced and cored.  It was truly amazing to watch.  The meat of the apple was sliced in a continuous helical slice — something like an apple slinky.  The apple was returned in a paper napkin and we walked around the store munching on apple slices.   

Now it was time to go out to the orchard.  There were seven of us and each one of us got a peck basket and a map of the orchard showing us the rows where the different varieties were located.  It was like being a kid in the candy store.  Three Galas from this row and two Jonagold from that row and four Golden Delicious from the next.  The fruit was still low in the trees so my granddaughters were able to grasp the apple in thier hand and with one smooth motion twist and and drop the prize in their basket.  I on the other hand lagged behind the group searching deep within the foilage for the biggest, the sweetest apple on the tree.  My basket was soon overflowing with these giant mutants.

The best was yet to come though.  The clerk up at the barn had told us to be sure and get some Cameo apples.  The trees in Cameo row were still young, not yet bearing Apples.  The exception to that was a single tree, about two hundred feet down the row, rising above the others like the tree of life in the Garden of Eden.  We couldn’t resist.  We loaded our already laden baskets with all the Cameos that  would stay on top and made our back to the check out. 

We ended up with eight pecks of apples at a pick-it-yourself price of $5 per peck.  We also had to buy one of the apple parer/slicer/corers.  When we got back home we couldn’t wait to peel some apples.  It was a ball.  Every one loves to peel and eat apples prepared this way. 

We cored up a bunch of apples (left the skin on) and my wife made some of her famous apple sauce for supper.  A perfect end to a perfect day.

Seagrove Potteries

Yesterday’s daytrip to Seagrove potteries in Seagrove, North Carolina was very nice.  We have lived in the state for twenty years plus but had never made the 1-1/2 hour trip from Charlotte.  A feature article in the July issue of “Our State” magazine was the catalyst that we needed.

“Gretchen”, our Garmin, routed us up to Albmarle and then over the low ranging hills that are the remains of the Uwharrie Mountains.  Along the way we passed through Uwharrie National Forest with pastoral vistas of Lakes Tillery and Badin.  This is a place I need to come back to someday.

There are over one hundred working potteries in the Seagrove area and thier works are known around the world.  The first potters settled in this area in the eighteenth century because of the quality of the clay and the need for utilitarian stoneware.

http://www.discoverseagrove.com/

We arrived in Seagrove around 11:30 and and found our way to the N.C. Pottery Center.  The pottery center is a combination of a museum, pottery sample display and a gift shop.  After marking our map for the “don’t miss” shops we headed out.

Before lunch we visited the Humble Mill Pottery, Lantern Hill Pottery, Uwharrie Crystaline Pottery ( a verydifficult process) and Seagrove Stoneware Inn and Pottery.  All very interesting and each one unique.  

Now it was time for lunch. The Seagrove Family Restaurant south of town on Hwy Business 220 had been the overwhelming recommendation and it closed at 2 o’clock.  From the parking lot we might have turned around and gone back to town.  I’m glad we didn’t.  It was the quintessential meat and three vegetables, small town restaurant.  I knew that we were in the right place when there were tables pushed together with multi-generational gatherings and at least half the males were wearing thier baseball caps.  This was my kind of place.  We both had homemade chicken salad with walnuts and grapes.  Bonnie had a platter and I had a sandwich accompanied by warm home-made potato chips.  Fortunately we both saved enough room to share a cherry cobbler

After lunch we headed southeast along Route 705, also known as the pottery highway.  For those of you who are pinto bean historians, we passed the original factory of Luck’s Bean Cannery just outside of Seagrove.

We stopped at a number of potteries along the way including the Dirt Works featured in Our State magazine but the one that stands out in our minds is the Crystal King Pottery.  We were intriqued by the name. It turns out that the proprieter is a young woman by the name of Crystal King.  A second generation potter, she is the daughter of the the King Pottery family who learned the trade from Dorothy and Walter Almond, eighth generation Seagrove potters.  The shop was delightful with pine paneling and soft country music playing in the background.  We had been looking for a trip souvenir and this is where we found it.  A seven-inch tall, lidded jar with red lillies on the top. It was inscribed with the verse from Matthew 6:28-29.  A wonderful comfort for these uncertain times.  It is now sitting in a promenient place on our fireplace mantle.

http://www.crystalkingpottery.net/index.html

Too soon the afternoon slipped away and we selected “home” on the Garmin and headed back to Charlotte to arrive home in time to freshen up and head out for dinner with friends.

Cruising on the Canadice

Cruising on the Canadice

In September of 2008, my wife Bonnie and I took a self-skippered cruise on the Erie Canal to celebrate my 70^th birthday.  While the trip certainly had a physical dimension, it was also a journey back in time.  Back to early 1800’s and the beginning of the westward expansion of the United States, back to a time when my great-grandfather Simeon must have worked alongside and canalled on these same waters.  I will be posting the log to that trip.

Piper Chief