A buck starts here

Magnet #1220 - Dan Nicholas Park

One of the top attractions in the state of North Carolina is Dan Nicholas Park. Most of us take it for granted because we grew up with it, but it really is a great state park.

Save the World Couple and I went to play putt-putt today, something I haven't done in ages.

It's funny how the two courses that I've played several times over the years have grown smaller. The once-insurmountable windmill, wishing wells, loop-de-loops and roundabouts seem to have gotten easier.

We had a fun time, playing both courses - I got two holes in one! Go me!

Of course, for other folks, that would signify a good round or two, but it really just offsets the number of times I blew par...by several strokes. Thank goodness they cap us at six!

The rest of the park, however, has changed drastically over the years. We grew up with paddle boating and an aging nature center and petting zoo. Now, there's a carousel, a zoo and aquarium (which ya'll know I refuse to visit), and a little corporate sponsored choo-choo train!

And when I say corporate sponsored train, I mean, I'm talkin' the Stanback Train, sponsored by the Salisbury Post, riding over the so-and-so Trestle, under the Cheerwine Tunnel, and through the woods (sponsored by Nature, I guess) into the Suntrust Tunnel.

We're talkin' crazycakes local sponsorship - I was both amazed and appalled. But you know what? It works, because I remembered most of the sponsors...and I just blogged on the local goodwill.

Mind you, I also benefited from this local goodwill because the price tag for the train ride?

A single buck.

Escape home to New York

Magnet #1151 - Wall St

My last MTA magnet. I loved these little guys - so pretty, and such a good use for old subway maps. I wonder if they have more...I shall find out soon!

Yay, I'm comin' home to NYC next week! Mind you, it's just a short visit, and I'll have to come right back home to NC afterward (because they've finally decided on which course of action to take with my heart patient dad) but that's ok - I'm comin' home!

If you read this blog at all, or you know me at least a little bit, you know how much I love NYC. I don't even have to be outside of my apartment to love being in town, but it's truly one of my favorite places in the whole wide world. (Both my apartment, and my town.)

The first thing I'm doing when I get there is stopping at Perfecto's around the corner for a slice. I didn't think I'd miss NYC pizza all that much, but after stops at Pizza Hut, Sbarro's, and Cici's...plus frozen pizzas by DiGiorno's and CPK, I just want a slice. A nice, giant, greasy plain slice that drips over the edge of my paper plate, that will burn my mouth the second I bite into it. That's it. Oh. And maybe some garlic knots.

Then breakfast is totally gonna be City Diner down the block for my scrambled eggs, sausage and home fries, toast and strawberry jam - and coffee. Real and proper diner coffee. A real and proper breakfast. How I've missed it so. Not that it's all that bad here, but diner coffee can't be replicated by Dunkin or Krispy Kreme or Starbucks.

After that, I'm headed across the street to get my haircut by Autumn at Dramatics NYC. No, that's not her real name - they all use fake stage names (Rolex, anyone?), but she has to fix my hair. This dude mangled the heck out of it here in NC, and I can't stand looking at it anymore. I will be SO happy after she's done!

That will all hopefully be done in time for my jam-packed schedule of lunches, drinks, dinners, museums, and random events, etc. My Google calendar's already doing that annoying +2, +3 events thing in the month-view.

It's so funny, you can definitely tell I'm headed back to NYC specifically, because I'm already trying to overschedule everything and everyone - going from place to place, seeing as many people as I can see, and doing as many NYC things as I can squeeze in. (I can't help it, you try being stranded on 22 acres in the middle of nowhere!)

I've already mentally written down grabbing a 7-day MetroCard the second I get in, even though I'm really only home for four days. I'm gonna need it with all the running around I'm gonna be doing.

Someone in New York already told me to slow down, that NY would still be there when I got back home, but honestly, if there's anything I've learned in the last year, it's to do as much as you can, when you can do it.

And nowhere better to do it in the world, than New York City.

Pine Bank Arch

Magnet #1091 - Pine Bank Arch, John Hall

John Hall shot this image of Pine Bank Arch in Central Park, back in 1996, the year after I moved to New York. It's gorgeous, no?

It was built in 1861, just at the beginning of the Civil War. If you want to get technical, it's really a bridge, and is about 80 feet long, and about 11 feet up (to allow for the bridle path below). It's also one of the few remaining original cast-iron bridges left in the park.

Snow-covered Central Park is pretty much how I left New York a few weeks ago before I came down here to North Carolina to take care of a family emergency. Who knows what it'll look like when I get back up there. When I do, though, I definitely have to take this Forgotten NY tour - would love to be able to see all of the stunning bridges and arches the park has to offer. You kind of just take them for granted when you're there, but flipping through those bridges makes me want to spend the day in the park.

For now, though, I'll definitely enjoy the spring temps of NC - it's supposed to be 73 tomorrow and in the high 60s this weekend.

Yep. I just did a magnetblog about the weather. Too bad I didn't think about the weather before I packed all my sweaters a couple of weeks ago!

Why, oh, why can't it be bears?

Magnet #1089 - Colorado Bear

So, during this indefinite stay in North Carolina, I've been surrounded by all sorts of flora and fauna.

Deer. Coming from every which way. I was driving back from the VA early Sunday morning and came across a whole passel (yes, I just said passel) of deer checking out the Historic Salisbury sign.

Ducks and geese. Crossing the road. I kid you not. For years we've been seeing Duck Crossing signs at City Park - my favorite road sign of all time. But we've never actually seen them crossing the road. Until last week, when they stopped traffic.

Cows, horses and donkeys. Given that we live 10 minutes outside the "city" limits, it's not surprising that I pass pasture after pasture full of them. Of course, there was that dead cow on his side on Providence Church Road, in full-on rigor mortis. Eww.

Raccoons. They're freakin' stealing my trash from the backyard. Or, at least I hope it's just raccoons, anyway.

Tigers. Ok, fine. The I-85 billboard for Tiger World, in Rockwell, of all places. My BIL and I are planning to visit once the season begins. I wonder if they have magnets. Hmmmm.

And don't even get me started on ladybugs, beetles, and other tiny creatures of this earth. Blech.

Or the roadkill! Double blech!

All I have to say is if I have to see NC wildlife, why the hell couldn't it be bears? I've only ever been to the Denver airport, so all I really know about the state is what I've learned from Mork & Mindy. But, I've heard stories of friends of friends who live there and they've had bear in trees in their backyard!

Me? All I get is deer stands and target practice in my backyard.

And raccoons. Don't forget the blasted raccoons.

Just. Behave.

Magnet #1038 - Don't Bother Me

I used to have this pin/magnet at my work desk, having bought it the day we went looking for button-making machines in the city.

Yes. Button-making machines. And that's not even the weirdest wild goose chase I've been on for work.

But, it's so true, this magnet.

When we were little, and we were having a crisis in the car (a mysterious odor coming from the engine - the fanbelt; the car exploding exploding - twice!; the car not starting, etc.) our first reaction was to immediately shrink back in our seats, and not make a sound.

Just. Behave. While the adults dealt with the situation at hand.

It's probably why you don't see my sisters or me in this picture, as my dad and BIL try to navigate this tree out of our driveway in the wee hours of the morning...

Rails of the past

Magnet #1012 - Salisbury Station

My other magnet from Critters, part of my Small Business Saturday in Salisbury. I couldn't resist getting two magnets, especially since I feel like I've come through here so many times just this year - and I have the Amtrak Guest Rewards points to prove it!

It's another reason to love the train - rather than having to drive the hour south to Charlotte or north to Greensboro for the airports, my parents can drive the eight miles into town to pick-up/drop me off at the Salisbury Station.

It's a really cool mission-style station, designed in the early 1900s by prolific NC architect Frank Milburn, one of many of his stations for Southern States Railway. (For those in the know, he's also the guy who designed what must be the tallest building in downtown - the seven- or eight-story Grubb-Wallace Building, up on the square.)

But, the shame of it is, you never really notice the station's facade if you're driving right in front of it. It sits so close to the street, that you can't enjoy it, so you have to look at the building from afar.

It's terrific that the NCDOT and Salisbury have managed to keep the building from demolition, by maintaining it as the Amtrak station, but also as office and events space. It even has its own place in history at the Smithsonian!

Truly one of the best places to feel like you're stepping back in time. Much like Salisbury.

Small Business Saturday in Salisbury, aka #smallbizsat

Magnet #1009 - Historic Salisbury Bell Tower

Some friends from Chapel Hill come visit me while I was at home in Salisbury, NC. I was excited for them to come visit, because it's been a few months, but also, because it's Small Business Saturday, promoted on Twitter and Facebook as such by American Express. And ya'll know I love participating in stuff like this.

We met up at Spanky's for sandwiches and ice cream (made 40 feet away from the spot you order it!). The guy who owns it, used to own the same fish market my parents loved going to in the 80s. The summer of 92, I worked in "downtown" Salisbury and even back then, Spanky's had the best roast beef sandwiches in the world. You know what? They totally still do.

Then, my friends asked for an impromptu "joy tour" of Salisbury. Totally unprepared! We really should have dropped by the tourist information center, because we missed so very much.

And ya'll should know by now that any joy tour provided, is usually riddled with half-a-facts and odd anecdotes, and this time around, they got none of the actual history and quite possibly the most boring-ist tour ever!

To wit:

We drove around Salisbury, past the courthouse and jail, Hap's Grill, the pretty historic houses, the old Earle's office supplies store (one of my faves), the Salisbury Post building, the Confederate Angel, the town's historic mural, my parents' old office, the library, my old church, the old YMCA, Salisbury High School, the hospital, and WAKE UP!

Yeah, that took about 30 minutes.

The next hour was a drive down to Catawba College, Jake Alexander Blvd, my BFF's dad's mechanics shop, my BFF's grandfather's old house, Granite Lake, Granite Quarry, my parents old office, Granite Quarry Elementary School (and playground), the house on Jack St. I grew up in, Granite Knitwear, East Rowan High School, the band room, the football stadium, Erwin Jr. High, and WAKE UP!

Finally, we ended it with a quick jaunt up and down Main and Innes streets, supporting Small Businesses like nobody's business, shopping at the (what have they got against romances, anyway) independent bookstore, having orangeades (best in the world, I swear) at the soda fountain in Innes Street Drug Store and picking up some Cheerwine cakes, buying magnets at Critters (no kidding, that's the name), and browsing through (not O.O. Rufty's, but close) a general store. (Not at all done with #smallbizsat, I ended the day with a quick drive-thru for superyummy Hendrix BBQ, where they meet you at your car to take and hand-off your order.)

It was pretty fun pretending we were tourists in my adopted hometown. (Adopted only because even if I moved when I was 5, I was still the Yankee when I graduated.)

It was definitely a little embarrassing the amount of information I didn't know about Salisbury, even living there for nigh on 20 years. Like, who knew the bell tower shown here was the First Presbyterian Church Bell Tower? Ok, likely every Salisbury native knows that. But I'll admit, I sure didn't.

And, up until just now, I didn't even know til this photography blogpost, that the tower was originally attached to the giant, original First Presbyterian Church, a place of worship that was razed in 1971!

I can't believe they razed the church to rebuild down the street! Good grief, it's Penn Station all over again.

When will I ever use this in real life?

Magnet #930 - Sholes, Glidden & Soule TypeWriter patent

Another magnet from my National Archives patent set, it's the type writer patent from the 1800s.

I never took typewriting in high school. Nope, my mother refused to let me give up one of my regular class periods in school for it, and she sent me to the Salisbury Business College during the summer for several of their classes, from Teen Typing to Word Processing.

While I must not have liked going, I remember a couple of things from those classes. First, that I was really the only teen in the class - the rest of the class were adults, none of whom looked like they were having as much fun as I was typing asdfghjkl;asdfghjkl;asdfghjkl; or 12345678901234567890 or qwertyuiopqwertyuiop. (OMG, is THAT where qwerty keyboard comes from? *runs to Google*)*

I remember the first class we took the classes on those old, very old, giant IBM Selectric typewriters, but when I moved up to the other computer classes, we were working on those old Radio Shack TRS-80s with 5.5" floppies. Whoa.

And finally? This is how young I was...every session, we'd get a little break. And I loved running to the breakroom with whatever change I could scrounge from the house and buying some silly snack and drink out of the vending machines. I lived for those snack breaks!

But, I have to hand it to my mother - those classes (like my 9th grade Home Ec class) served me well. I knew how to do straight-up admin work (business letter formatting, etc.) before I went to college, which meant I could work as an admin during school breaks.

Plus, to this day, I can type like no one's business. Some could say it was the classes, but it could have been the 13 years of piano as well.

asdfghjkl;asdfghjkl;asdfghjkl;asdfghjkl;. (How odd to type that now. I mean, really, who types all the keys in a row in real life?)

eta:
*Well, what do you know. It IS where QWERTY comes from. Ya'll, I know I should have known that, but I didn't. Dang.

Bright lights, big city

Magnet #921 - Times Square, 1939

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I love Times Square. I love the way it's grown and changed over the years, and bright lights have been its only constant.

It's why I love seeing these images of old-time NY - either in books or on magnets, like this one from my magnet guy in Union Square.

It's definitely a far cry from where I grew up, where the most lights we have are downtown, when the Christmas star goes up. Also, I use the term "downtown" loosely, given that we have maybe four square blocks of a downtown.

Still, there's something to be said for living in the sticks.

At night, you can look up and sometimes, your only light source are the moon and stars.

Raccoons come up on your backporch to say hello! In broad daylight!

Bunny rabbits hippity-hop to get out of the car's way. Every single time you come home! That's not even counting the deer that live in the woods in front of the house.

Hummingbirds flock to your backyard.

And, aside from the wildlife, you get to speed like a freakin' demon on the backroads.

You get to pass cop roadblocks on the backroads. (Thankfully, I wasn't speeding, but it's actually kinda awesome, they had me show my license. Dude didn't even tense up when I reach into my [albeit cartoon] giant totebag for it.)

And, if you're me, on the way to the highway, you pass what's totally a biker gang hang-out, complete with the Rebel flag and American flag, next to an auto collision shop.

Oh hells, yeah, there's some Sons of Anarchy action going on there. (Awe. Some.)

Make thy books thy companions.

Magnet#839 - Book worm

My friend picked this one up for me at this year's BEA. Love it - it goes with my matching mug from DCsis!

Summers were the best time of year for us growing up - for most kids it meant running around outside all day. But for us, it usually meant more time at the public library.

My parents would drop us off, and we would literally run all over the place. Now that I look back on it, basically the librarians were our babysitters and the library, our playground.

Now, sometimes that was great, sometimes not. Generally, we were pretty well-behaved bookworms - the darling little Filipino girls timidly peeping around the corners. Other times, we could get a little unruly, running around the stacks and staircases and water fountains.

But for the most part, you could find us nestled in the aisles, each in different sections of the library, reading our treasures, or finding new ones. And we each had our checklist of what sections to go through - after I outgrew the summer reading program, my favorite part was poring through the paperbacks section - looking for new authors and romances to read. Then doing the same thing through the hardcover fiction aisles. I'm glad I never discovered the joys of nonfiction there, otherwise, I truly would never have left the library.

As it was, no matter how often we'd visit the library, though, each of us would always, always, always leave with giant stacks of books to bring home - arms full of new people, places and things to discover. We'd check out so many books, it was hard, sometimes, to keep up with them.

Yep. Or, at least that's what I learned that one summer I wracked up $30 in overdue fees. Even Sonja the librarian was like, how is this even possible when you're here so often? Then she cut me a break and like brought it down to $20. Hee. Love those small-town libraries.

*Make thy books thy companions. Let thy cases and shelves be thy pleasure grounds and gardens.

- Judah ibn-Tibbon (12th century)

Salisbury city limits

Magnet #828 - Salisbury, NC

Home, sweet, home. Even if I never actually made it to the square, and only to all points east of town - home. Best friend's house. The gas station up by Dunn's Mountain Church Road. Annnnnnd that's pretty much the extent of the less than 24 hours spent here.

But, you know what? Family, friends and good food? Yep, that's pretty much all you need.

Though, I realized why I moved away. Or, rather one of the reasons.

Dang, it's hot as hades up in this town!

Make real the glory*

Magnet #730 - Salisbury Cathedral

Salisbury, England, is a sister city of Salisbury, NC. I haven't a clue if that's official or not, but I do remember a high school choral group going over there to sing in at Salisbury Cathedral, and them calling it a sister city, so let's go with yes, official.

I've not been to Salisbury, England - I think this magnet came from my sister. The cathedral was built in the 1200s - dudes, that's 750 years ago! It never ceases to amaze me that these giant structures were built so long ago, and they're still standing. Yet, I don't ever have that feeling about today's new builds that they'll last out the century. Hmmm.

What makes this cathedral different from most religious structures of this size, is that it was fully built within a century, that is 1220-1258, and without any major additions afterward. It was built in one style - Early English Gothic - and one style only...rather than other cathedrals built over several centuries that end up having several architectural styles incorporated into the buildings - depending on the time and the architect in charge.

The Cathedral has the tallest spire in Britain, coming in at just over 400 feet. Plus, it has the country's oldest working clock, from the 1300s. And, it has one of the four existing copies of the Magna Carta from 1215. Lots of stuff to see and do here.

I picked it for today, because I'm watching BBC-America's airing of the BAFTAs - the English Oscars, which are always fun to watch, but also because I've been thinking about Salisbury, NC, these last couple of days, as I watch the statuses and comments on my home Facebook account fly by.

It just amazes me how people that I grew up with high school and college know each other - even if they were from different parts of my life, from different areas of Salisbury. And yet, they all go to the same games, meetings and churches, not always realizing that they have me in common.

It's weird, that. But, I guess that's what happens when you grow up in a town as small as ours.

* From the cathedral's mission statement: Salisbury Cathedral exists to make real the glory and presence of God in the world.

Field trip!

Magnet #635 - NC Transportation Museum

Meet Spencer Shops. At least, that's what we called it growing up in Salisbury, NC. Really, it's called the NC Transportation Museum, dedicated to preserving the history of the Southern Railways and this, one of their largest servicing centers.

Southern placed the center there because it's a good halfway point between Washington, D.C., and Atlanta, GA. It was once the largest employer in the county, and has seen its fair share of ups and downs over the years.

Now it's a transportation museum, where local schoolkids get to visit to learn more about the railway industry, get to sit in a railcar, and even get to ride the superdupercool turntable, where they...turn the railway cars around. So much fun!

My sisters and soon-to-be-BIL to visit during their last trip home to relive my sisters' fond memories of the place. They came back from it, saying it was the coolest thing ever - especially now that it's totally renovated. And now, of course, I want to go back.

That's actually what I'd love to do for a lot of the field trips we did growing up. No, I don't want to repeat that field trip to the funeral home, but there are certain field trips that I'll always remember.

Old Setzer's one - it's this one-room wooden schoolhouse, tucked away back in the woods. And every class got to spend one schoolday in the schoolhouse. The assignment would be for kids to run out to O.O. Rufty's, the old school general store with the creaky wooden floorboards, and buy one of those tin lunchpails, and have our moms cook up some old-fashioned ham biscuits or whatever, and then we'd spend the day at the school, learning lessons on old chalkboards and playing ollie-ollie oxen free over the schoolhouse roof.

So much fun. Although, now that I think about it, that's a lot of trouble to go through for a day of class.

How sweet it is

Magnet #250 - North Carolina Magnet

When I moved from NC to NY in the 1990s, people wondered how a girl who grew up with a Salisbury population of about 24,000 (1,800 if you count Granite Quarry, where I really lived), would fare in a city of 7.3 million. Thirteen years later, and I'm still here, and loving it.

It's not easy, because you do tend to become anonymous in this town. That's awesome, especially when your underage Food Lion purchase of Zima in NC gets reported to your mother, not the cops. (Slight exaggeration, but not by much.) But, you make a few good friends in town and you make it just fine.

Of course, there are trade offs. Grass. Tourist-free zones. Fresh air. Open spaces.

But dudes, where else in the world do you get an email in the middle of the day to see James Taylor and Regis Philbin on Letterman? Where else do you get to see a very unassuming JT come out unnoticed during a break to say hello to Dave, and then hear him jam a number with the CBS Orchestra off-cam, and then hear him sing "Seminole Wind" on-cam?

And where else would I be home to magnetpost about it, while the show is airing, and before the JT performance to come?

How sweet it is, indeed.

Thanks for the tix, Erin! It was the pink of perfection!

A Natural-Born Alien

Magnet #247 - Doctor Who's Slitheen

So, we established yesterday that we moved from Chicago and its snowy, snowy environs down to sunshiny Salisbury/Granite Quarry, North Carolina, when I was in Kindergarten. And, though I was fairly young, I remember feeling very much like an alien on the playground.

First, the alien name: Supposedly, that's when I started going by Joy in school. I swear, I was told it was because no one could pronounce "Linille" as my first name, though now I'm rethinking that train of thought, given the kidnap thing. So already, I was kinda getting used to the name - apparently that took, given my penchant for, well, my name.

Second, the alien language: I remember the first day of school. Because my last name begins with Ab...I was first in the lunch line. The teacher told me to lead the line from the classroom, and "stop down yonder."

I got in trouble. Because I kept going. Because I didn't know what the hell "down yonder" meant. C'mon, I mean, even now, can anyone tell me what "down yonder" actually means?

Third, the alien accent: I was lucky to understand the words "down yonder," cuz on top of not understanding the Southernisms (which we ended up buying a book about later on, which explained so much), I couldn't understand the thick accents. Seriously. Northern versus Southern accents are hard to get used to. Still are, sometimes.

Fourth, the alien environment: No snow. There was NO snow in North Carolina. At least not smackdab in the middle of the state. And how was Santa going to find us without snow? So what'd my very sweet parents do? They packed me up in the car and drove me up to the mountains of North Carolina to prove that it did snow there. I swear, I remember being let out of the car to touch the snow and being very happy.

Finally, the alien communications: So small was Salisbury, that our moving to town made the front page of the local news section of the local newspaper. A whole article about the new family in town, and the kid they had to tote up to the mountains to prove the existence of snow in the South.

Anyway, there were many other things over the years that made me feel like a alien in NC, and the ensuing culture shock from it...but, I probably have magnets for those, too.

(Mind you, they probably wouldn't be a Doctor Who Slitheen from Raxacoricofallapatorious, but this was apropos to the subject, and also, pinkish for NBCAM!)

eta:
Today's DW shout-out is also because I had a dream last night that I was pals with David Tennant. And went to watch his new show: Hamlet.

The musical.

David Tennant wasn't that great of a singer in it. Also, mysteriously short.

I'm just sayin'.

The Old Man and the Sea

Magnet #228 - Shrimpy McShrimperson

A friend of mine bought this for me at the San Gennaro Festival last year, just because he was there, and just because it was a funny little thing.

What he doesn't know is that my dad is a big-time seafood eater. Won't touch meat or fowl of any kind, but if it swims in the water, he's generally all over it.

Growing up, we had two sets of meals cooking - the Filipino dishes for my dad, usually with shrimp, crab, squid, fish, etc., and then the American dishes for my sisters and me.

I swear half my early childhood was spent on a fishing pier or lakeshore, or driving to seafood restaurants or fish markets. The restaurants were dotted all over NC - Pat 'n Mick's in Albemarle, or any Mayflower Seafood, or hell, even the kids at Captain D's know my dad.

The fish markets were the five-hour drives to Washington, D.C., or South Carolina. That eased up a bit when my dad got to be friends with the fishmonger in our hometown, and knew when the freshest deliveries were made. You see, that's what you do in Salisbury, NC, you end up pals with the fishmonger...the one who owns Spanky's, the (best) homemade ice cream and sandwiches shop in the town square. (And that's what I miss about the 'bury, ya'll.)

The fishing hasn't stopped though. You'd think by now my parents would have fished out the entire eastern seaboard. The funny thing is, my mom is actually the better fisherperson - she's a veritable Ariel of the sea, while my dad always catches the ones that got away.

It's kind of unfair, I suppose, given that mom usually ends up having to clean the fish in the end. Whenever I hear or see seafood, I can still see my mom as she's angrily gutting the fish...and hear her voice ringing in my head, "joy, never marry a man who loves fish!"

Café con joy

Magnet #119 - Columbia Restaurant

Writing this post as I've just polished off my second café con leche to help me power through the night...

I may never drink Starbucks again, folks. The Cuban Roast Coffee from Columbia is probably the best coffee I've ever had - and that includes the fanTASTic coffee with brown sugar I had in Toronto. Good gravy. It's just freakin' awesome.

This magnet was given to me by a friend who just recently visited from Tampa - she and I recently reconnected on Facebook (hmmm, I seriously need a FB magnet). We spent quite a bit of time together growing up down in Salisbury, NC. Then her family moved, and though our parents kept in touch, us kids didn't.

So how great is it, that even though we hadn't spoken since 1987, we were still able to spend two hours on the phone, just gabbing away and catching up. And, after spending a couple days hanging around NYC, we realized that even though she moved a few states away - we still shared many of the same experiences - with our parents, our sisters, our cultures and our upbringing in small Southern towns.

They say no one knows you better than family...but I guess it's really family - plus those who knew you when...

I like calling North Carolina home

Magnet #28 - Salisbury, NC

The joyfam's hanging out this weekend, here at home, in Salisbury, NC. This is the Hall House, in our historic district.

Seems like everytown, USA, has such a district - or rather, they're just realizing that it's quite the marketing tool to attract the attention of history buffs and snowbirds everywhere.

This one caught the eye of one George Clooney, who actually filmed parts of his period comedy/drama/feel-good-sportsfilm of the year, Leatherheads, here. Caused quite a stir, too.

And now, next Wednesday, he'll be here in Salisbury as part of his press junket. Will I still be here? Of course not. I'm leaving Sunday.

Once again, I'm a step behind George.

Just like any good stalker should be.