Happy Halloween

First, you buy the pumpkins. Scott's Pumpkin Patch was our source this year.

Next, you carve the pumpkins.

 

 

Finally, you sit your pumpkins on the front porch for all the trick-or-treaters to see.

Oh, and somewhere along the line you should try on a Halloween mask as well. This one was from the Ghastly Geezers collection.

Happy Halloween from the Taylors.

Fair Thee Well

Where else but the State Fair can you get your picture taken with a firehouse dalmatian mascot, have your choice of any number of fried food selections, and sit in the "Peanut" section of an arena for a concert by a former American Idol contestant?


We visited the North Carolina Fair on Thursday before heading to Nashville on Friday. The timing of our trip was dictated, as you might have guessed, by the Anoop Desai concert. Erica's been a fan since back in February when we saw him at a Clefhanger's concert.

Clay Aiken, another N.C. native and Idol contestant, reportedly sold out his concert at the fair in nine minutes when he appeared there a few years back. They added a second concert because he was so popular.

Anoop didn't quite sell the place out this year, but there were many enthusiastic pre-teens in attendance, so he had that going for him.

Durham Bulls Championship Celebration

Last week we visited Durham Bulls Athletic Park for the final time of the year. The Bulls held a celebration of their victories in both the International League Championship and the National Championship that included free food and drinks, visits to the locker room, autographs from players, and access to the field. It's fair to say we'll be renewing our mini-plan for next season. You won't find a better bargain in sports.

The Annual Anniversary Trip

In keeping with what has become something of a tradition, we headed to the Inn at Corolla Light recently to celebrate our wedding anniversary.

Love was certainly in the air at the Outer Banks that weekend. You could sense it from the two weddings that were booked at the Inn. Heck, you could even see it if you happened to walk past the Soundfront room where a couple celebrated their shared affection without the benefit of closed curtains.

Suffice it to say the place lived up to its self-described reputation as "a premiere romance destination."

For all of its seclusion - real and imagined - the town of Corolla and its neighboring Outer Banks locations provide enough variety that our choice of activities has changed by year.

We've celebrated our anniversary dinner at the same location each visit, we always make time in our schedule to observe the postcard perfect sunsets over the Currituck Sound with wine and snacks, and we hit our favorite spots like Outer Banks Coffee Company. However, our schedule accommodates changes as well.

This year we traded the lively tones of the Duck Jazz Festival from last year for the more serene rhythms of the ocean as we relaxed on the beach, reading and watching sand crabs do their work. Sand crabs are more interesting than you might imagine. Either that or we're just easily amused.

Rather than climb the 214 steps of the Currituck Beach Light House we instead hopped in a 4WD vehicle with our tour guide, who was equal parts knowledgeable and likable, for a visit with the Wild Spanish Mustangs of the Northern Outer Banks.

"No vacation to the Outer Banks is complete without attending a service at the Corolla Chapel," according to, well, the people who run the chapel, so we added that to our list of new experiences.

We even made sure to adjust our routine while driving home.

Last year we stopped to play miniature golf at Jurassic Putt; this time we bought a kite - "Captain Barkley" - and took him out on the beach for his inaugural flight. It was among my favorite moments of the weekend. Captain Barkley rocks.

We also made a stop for boiled peanuts - Erica insisted that I try them for the first time - on the way home. 

It was a full, fun weekend away from home with my beautiful wife of three years.

Honk If You're Holy

I became a bit rushed on Tuesday night as I headed toward my church for the first meeting of a small faith group I joined. I believe the adjective small refers to the size of the group rather than the collective level of faith among its participants. We're just getting started, though, so I may soon learn otherwise.

But I digress.

The church is located on the UNC campus and driving there can be tedious when students are crossing the roads. Thus the rushing on my part.

In my haste I honked my horn at a driver who quickly switched lanes without signaling as we both made a left turn at a traffic light. That's a regular move in North Carolina - changing lanes without a blinker - so I should be used to it by now.

I should also know better than to honk my horn, which is an infrequent occurrence in these parts.

And I should really know better than to honk my horn at someone so close to the church. As luck would have it, that's where they were headed as well. I pulled into the parking lot behind them.

Perhaps my new motto should be "Honk if you're holy."

Playmakers

Normally when we talk about Playmakers it has something to do with sports. On Saturday, however, it carried a different meaning as we enjoyed our first visit to Playmakers Repertory Company in Chapel Hill for the production "Opus."

Opus is an engaging five-person show that investigates the creative battles and associated personal struggles between members - past and present - of a dynamic string quartet. Occasional doses of humor offset an otherwise intense production. Opus has received great reviews, which in our shared opinion are well deserved.

My dad purchased a season pass to Playmakers for us as my birthday present back in April. Hopefully the later productions will match the quality of Opus. It certainly won't be easy.

Falcon Fans

The mighty Falcons of Jordan High School are now 2-0 under the watchful eyes of the Taylors. Jordan used a goal-line stand at the end of Friday's game to secure a homecoming victory over the winless Northern Durham Knights. Jordan is 5-2 overall.

We've enjoyed the enthusiasm and community feel that the Jordan games offer. The school's marching band is also quite entertaining. On Friday they performed while decked out in an amusing variety of Halloween costumes from the Chick-fil-A cow to Tigger.

We became bigger fans of the team earlier in the week when we heard head coach Stuart Albright discuss his new book about high school football in North Carolina.

Albright, a native North Carolinian who returned to the state after recieving a master's degree in education at Harvard, had all the right things to say about how football can teach kids about teammwork and responsibility while also instilling an oftentimes needed sense of confidence in the players. He offered some telling personal anecdotes about players whose lives have greatly improved as a result of their participation in football.

In short, the guy remembers the all-too-important lesson which is often forgotten by players, fans, and adults alike: football is just a game. However, the sport can be a tool to instill values and pride in young men.

It's probably no surprise that we purchased an autographed copy of Albright's book, "Sidelines."

Here's a description of the book from Albright's website:

Every Friday night in autumn, stadium lights illuminate the rural farmlands and concrete cityscapes of America with a glimmer of hope. Sidelines is an insider’s look at the fascinating world of high-school football, and, beyond that, it is also about the death and rebirth of the American community. Stuart Albright uses football to explore our nation’s complicated history of race and public education and to explain why some communities continue to thrive while others are slowly dying away. Sidelines tells the story of nine very different communities across North Carolina, from deep in the Appalachian Mountains where a team of Cherokee Indians carry the hopes of an entire tribe on its shoulders, to military outposts where the War in Iraq dominates every aspect of daily life. We meet resilient coaches in urban schools on the brink of state take-overs and men who lived through segregation, fire bombings, and shattered dreams. Sidelines profiles ordinary coaches and community leaders who do extraordinary things.