The Red Fox

The red fox wasn't indigenous to North America, but it colonized the continent right after the last ice age. I had been taught that British colonists imported the fox, so the men could continue their fox hunting. According to more recent research, however, red foxes were here before the British.

The fox tends to adapt well to varying environments and have earned the reputation of being smart and cunning. "As sly as a fox" has become a common figure of speech. It uses it's tail for balance, to wrap up in on cold nights, and as a form of communication with other foxes. Foxes leave their scent on rocks, trees, bushes, and posts to mark their presence.

Foxes mate in the winter, and the vixen normally births from 2 to 10 kits a few weeks later. When they are born, the babies are brown or gray, and their red coats grow in about a month. Still, there are varying shades of red, often with some other color hairs mixed in. The male brings the female food and cares for her while she's tending the young.

Unlike the wolf, the red fox tends to be solitary and usually prefers to hunt alone at night. It eats small animals, such as rodents, rabbits, chipmunks, birds, frogs, and fish. It will also occasionally eat berries and fruits. They can become a nuisance when they overpopulate an area, and they carry rabies, but their beauty is undeniable.

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Cheesecake

As the last Thursday in July, today is National Cheesecake Day and a good day to celebrate, if you love cheesecake as much as I do. It's my all-time favorite desert. I've never eaten a flavor that I didn't like, but my favorite is turtle cheesecake, followed by the ones with fruit toppings.

Cheesecake is actually older than I would have guessed. Some historians believe a form of it was popular in ancient Greece, and a Greek physician wrote a book on how to make them. The Romans adopted it, after they conquered Greece. The earliest recipe we still have is found in an English cookbook from 1390. 

Modern forms of cheesecake in the United States and Canada usually use cream cheese; in Italy, ricotta is used; and Germany, the Netherlands and Poland use quark. The cake is normally baked in a springform cake pan, sometimes in a water bath to distribute the heat more evenly. Because cheesecakes are so dense, they often continue cooking for a while after they are taken from the oven.

There are lots of cheesecake recipes out there to try, and there's also some very good commercially prepared ones to buy. So, today is a good day to splurge, forget about the calories and fat content, and have a piece of your favorite one to celebrate.

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Cilantro 

"Cilantro" is the Spanish word for what we call "coriander" in English. It is indigenous to southwestern Asia, southern Europe, and northern Africa. It's also sometimes called "Chinese parsley."  The plant came to Mexico and North America with the Spanish. 

The plant is ancient. The oldest remains were discovered in a cave in Israel, and it's also been found in Egyptian tombs, like the one of Tutankhamen. Coriander was cultivated by the Greeks in the second century, too. The British colonies brought it to their American colonies in 1670.

All parts of the plant are edible, but the dried seeds and fresh leaves are the most often used. They have two different tastes. The seeds are used in cooking and as a spice, although they are eaten alone in a few places. The leaves have a different taste, almost resembling a citrus taste to some people, but others say it tastes soapy or rank.

Cilantro is often used in salsa and sauces. Many ethic groups cook with it. It's common in Mexican, Chinese, Indian, and Thai (which often also uses the roots) dishes. The leaves don't keep too long once picked, and they lose their aroma and flavor when frozen, heated, or dried. Therefore, they are usually used raw or added as a very last step when used in cooking.

They do have nutritional value. The fresh leaves contain the most vitamins A, K, and C.  The seeds have a lower vitamin content but also contain some important minerals. You can find plenty of ethnic recipes on the web but why not experiment with your own?

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Old Salem Tavern

Salem Tavern in the colonial town of Salem, which sits in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, today, holds a lot of history. Built in 1771, the tavern burned to the ground in 1784. Fire always posed a threat to establishments with a kitchen and heavy use of candles. The Moravians quickly rebuilt the structure on the original foundations. Since Salem had become an important trading town, the tavern, which functioned as an inn, had become a necessity.

Over the years, many important people stayed in the tavern. For example, in 1791, George Washington stayed for two nights when he was on his tour of the South. He even wrote a letter back to the Moravian brothers saying how indebted he felt for their kindness.

The tavern had more economical facilities for the common traveler and more luxurious ones for the wealthy gentlemen. This included both the dining rooms and the bedrooms. In the common rooms a man could end up sleeping with a number of strangers, depending on how many came to stay that night.

The inn also had a large cellar for storage, a bigger kitchen than many dwellings, laundry house, and barn. Today, there are two tavern buildings in the historic village. There's the tavern museum, a brick building that shows what the original building was like, and the tavern that serves meals to tourists. Both are worth the visit.

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A Turn-of-the-Century School

The little one-room schoolhouse in Corolla, North Carolina, looks much the same as when it was built. Historians dispute that date with some saying it was built around 1890 and others placing the date as late as 1905. It was a private school for the first years, and then from 1905 until 1958 it operated as part of the Currituck County Schools. One teacher taught varying grade levels

In 1958, the school closed, because the number of students had dwindled. The building became a private home and later housed an exhibit on the wild horses of Currituck.  Beginning in August, 2012, it opened as as a charter school that serves a small, multi-aged grouping of children, still with one teacher.

Outside is the flag on a pole attached to the building, an old hand water pump, and I'm assuming the steeple probably has a bell. When I went by in April, I couldn't go inside, because they were having class, but, through the screen door, I saw them all sitting around a center table. It looked quaint - almost like a step back in time to Little House days.

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The Change That Matters Most

The metamorphosis that takes place in the life cycle of a butterfly has often been compared to becoming a Christian and with good reason. The word "metamorphosis" comes from a Greek word that means "change." When we accept Christ as our Savior, he changes us and makes us a new person in Him. 

The old covenant was based on the law and condemned and punished. In a way, this law was temporary. Man could not keep it. The new covenant is based on Christ, not man's abilities, and is eternal. The benefits of the law eventually diminished, as man broke it over and over again. The glory of the new covenant is based on grace and shines brighter and brighter.

When the temple veil was torn at Christ's crucifixion, it symbolized our new access directly to God and the new relationship we could have with Him. Like the glory of Christ at His transfiguration on the mount, the ugly worm we were turns into a beautiful butterfly, not because of our goodness or beauty, but because of His. He took our ugly sin to the cross with Him, and when we accept the trade, He exchanges it for His righteousness. How glorious is that!

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Writers' Groups

A young friend of mine is trying to start a writers' group in our area, and it got me to thinking about them. I've only been involved with three writers' groups over the many years I've been writing, and all three of them have been very different.

The first one was the Charlotte Writers' Club. I lived 30 miles away from where they met, so that was the biggest obstacle to it. In addition, even back then, it was a big group that held good programs but gave little individualization. I did manage to win two awards for writing submissions, so that was encouraging.

The next one was the best in my opinion. It was started by Ruth Moose, who later moved to Chapel Hill to teach creative writing at the University of North Carolina. She hand selected the participants, and there were only five of us. All were serious about writing. We basically critiqued each other's work during the meetings. This came early in my writing career, and I learned so much from these women. 

I organized the last one. I advertised and pulled in around a dozen interested people. Joyce and Jim Lavene, who have published about a hundred novels, were a big asset to the group. I felt the problem with this one was that we were all so diverse. There were all levels of writers from beginners to professionals and many different genre interests. This seemed to fragment the group and make it more difficult to meet the needs of individuals. It remained relatively strong, however, until I moved, because my husband accepted a church to pastor 4 1/2 hours away. After I left, it folded.

I think writers' groups can be helpful, but not all of them are. It is hard to organize to meet the needs of all members but not impossible. From my experience, I think a small homogeneous grouping works best, but each writer should choose according to what works best for them. Writers, as much as any other group I know, tend to be independent people, and perhaps this self-sufficiency makes grouping writers more difficult.

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Totem Poles

Many groups of Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest are known for their totem poles. The word "totem" comes from an Algonquin word meaning "family group." Totem poles are not religious objects but give important information about a clan, culture, legend, event, or have some other special function. They vary according to the culture of the different groups.

The number of totem poles prior to the 1800's were likely more limited. Once the carvers obtained better carving tools through trade, they became easier to produce. Later on, there was a decline in carving totem poles, as members adopted more of the white culture around them. However, in more recent times, there's been renewed interest from tourist, historians, and collectors, and the art has revived.  

The poles are usually carved from a tree that doesn't rot quickly, like the giant cedar or western red cedar. The tree is cut down and taken to the carving site, where the bark and sapwood are stripped off. The back of the log is removed, and it's hollowed out to make it lighter and prevent the carved side from cracking. The pole is carved and then painted. It's usually raised in the traditional way by a large group of strong men and some scaffolding or supports. It's set vertically in a dugout trench and then filled in with dirt and rocks to hold it steady. A celebration usually follows.

Totem poles are interesting and a part of history. Seeing them standing majestically makes it easy to appreciate them as an art form. I'm glad that, for now, the art lives on.

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Campaign Buttons

When you listen to the news, you can already tell America is gearing up for the coming Presidential election in 2016. At one time, campaign buttons, matchbooks, emery boards, and other freebies were an important part of any campaign. With campaigns getting more and more media oriented, things like campaign buttons aren't as important as they used to be.

I have a small collection of campaign buttons from both political parties. The only one I've purchased is my oldest one - William Howard Taft, who was campaigning in 1908. I paid $5.00 for it years ago. The Truman buttons were free finds. I've managed to get the others when the campaigns were being launched. 

This memorability is getting harder and harder to come by, however. In the last campaign, the staff at the party offices wanted me to serve in some capacity first, although I did talk one worker into letting me having a couple. This is so different than in past years, when they would encourage you to take them. I thought the whole ideal was to get the word out and advertise.

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Ephesus

The ancient city of Ephesus lies on the Mediterranean in the present-day country of Turkey.  Built in the 10th century BC, it had been around a long time by the time the Apostle Paul journeyed there. In their long history, the Ephesians were ruled by many groups. They eventually became a part of the early Greek Empire and then the Roman. The city ruins show the influence of both.

Monument of Memmius

Both the Greeks and Romans worshiped many gods, and Ephesus had several temples, monuments, and statues to them, but it is most know for the Temple to Artemis, located just outside the city. In fact, this temple is noted as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Today, about all that's left of it is one pillar.

During early times, Ephesus was actually an important port city. Over the years, sediment from the rivers and other forces of nature have changed the coastline, and the ruins are now several miles from a port. During

Celsus Library

Paul's time, the city would have been a bustling center of business and culture. The ruins show this in the flat-stone streets, market place, library, theater, baths, latrina (toilets), shops, other businesses, and houses. The ruins are impressive, and the complete city must have been amazing.

Grand Theater

Of all the places I toured in the Mediterranean, I think Ephesus was my favorite. I especially loved the library there. I enjoyed individual sites at other locations, but I enjoyed Ephesus as a complete historic site the most. For one thing, it wasn't crowded in among the modern the way many sites in Athens, Rome, Venice, or some of the other places were. Ephesus seemed special.

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First Gold in the U.S.

The first authenticated gold discovery in the United States happened in North Carolina, not California. John Reed had been born in Germany and likely Anglicized his name when he came to America as a Hessian soldier during the Revolutionary War. He married and settled on a farm in Piedmont North Carolina, not too far from Charlotte.

Replica of rock

In spring of 1799, his twelve-year-old son, Conrad, went fishing in Little Meadow Creek, which ran through their property. He saw something shining in the water and waded in to get it. It turned out to be a pretty, shiny rock that was big enough to use as a doorstop. It held back a door at the farmhouse for three years before John carried it along on his annual trip to market in Fayetteville and took it to a jeweler. The man told him it was gold and asked him how much he wanted for the seventeen-pound piece. Reed told him $3.50, and the jeweler quickly bought it. Even at that time, the huge nugget was worth $3,600.

Little Meadow Creek often dries up in arid summers

When the Reed family later learned of the value of gold, they began looking for more. In partnership with three other men, they found it, and Reed began to accumulate some wealth and obtained more land and slaves. He died in 1845. A gold mine  operated on and off until 1912, when it closed for good. Today it is a State Historic Site.

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The Bonner House

The Bonner House is one of the interesting buildings in the historic, colonial town of Bath, North Carolina. Built in the early 1800's, it was innovative for its day. A bedroom and the dining room were in a separate wing with a storage attic overhead. The rooms on the first floor had an extended roof in the back, and the windows were left unshuttered. The interior has many extra features, including hand-carved mantels, blown-glass window panes, wallpaper borders, grain-painted doors, and finger-painted baseboards.

Built overlooking the Pamlico River, the scenery was breathtaking. To take full advantage of this, Joseph and Sally Ann wanted a wide front porch where they could sit in rocking chairs, talk about their day, and watch the fishing boats come in. There's also a back porch that overlooks the garden, a separate kitchen, the necessary, and a grape arbor. As it turned out, their spacious home would be needed for their five children.

Joseph Bonner owned naval stores, a lucrative business common to the coast of early North Carolina. He also owned 3,000 acres of farmland that produced corn, oats, and rice; 35 slaves; and sheep, cattle, and hogs. Later, as his farm became more profitable, he gave up the naval stores to manage the farm.

Today, the Bonner House is still a lovely example of 19th century architecture. Guided tours are available.

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