Union Lifestyle May 2012

Lifestyle UNION

‘The Color Purple,’ 27 years later.

Cupcakes – small size, big trend.

Melt-in-your-mouth strawberries!

Sci-fi author tops lists at Amazon.

May 2012 t www.UnionLifestyle.com

Onlinewww.UnionLifestyle.com

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Monroe, NC 28111-1064

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16th Annual

Hospice of Union County

Golf Tournament

Presenting Sponsor - Griffin Motor Company

May 21, 201211 a.m.

Providence Country Club

Each player receives 18 holes of golf, golf cart rental, range balls, lunch,

beverages, prizes and dinner at awards reception.

Sponsorships Available

Previous golf tournaments have raised more than $15 million.

For more information on the

tournament or to register,

call (704) 292-2130.

Hospice of Union County

www.UnionLifestyle.com

Union Lifestyle l May 2012 3

ContentsUnion Lifestyle t May 2012

6Little cakes are a big

hit for snacks, and

weddings.

8Uber-couponer

saves thousands

of dollars.

10Bibi creates

beautiful tastes in

Monroe.

12Nothing says spring

like strawberries

from the patch.

14Local man will

never forget

“slapping” Oprah.

18126-year-old beauty

takes starring role.

20Master Gardeners

give tips for a

green thumb.

24Restoring an historic

house not a

money pit.

26Local sci-fi author hits

Amazon ratings

repeatedly.

28A mother looks

back at life with

her daughter.

3015 entertaining and

fun things to do.

16June

LifestyleUNION

May 2012

Vol. 1, No. 4

Editor

Nancy E. Stephen

Contributing Writers

Deb Coates Bledsoe

Luanne Williams

Photographers

Deb Coates Bledsoe

Nancy E. Stephen

Union Lifestyle

A publication of

Cameo Communications, LLC

PO Box 1064

Monroe, NC 28111-1064

(704) 753- 9288


www.facebook.com/

UnionLifestyle


4 Union Lifestyle l May 2012

I like to think that I’m reasonably

intelligent and somewhat organized.

Friends laugh at me when I reveal my

computerized list of paper products

for the kitchen. They think the list is

ridiculous and I’m obsessive; I think I’m

practical.

How else would I remember the

multiple packages of horn of plenty-

themed products as a result of the big

Thanksgiving party that didn’t happen?

Or the nine varieties of spring napkins

and plates just waiting for a ladies’

lawn party?

I can’t help myself; I like lists so that I

don’t have to remember semi-useless,

non-time critical things (such as the 55

counties of West Virginia in

alphabetical order that I learned in the

fifth grade and that still take up space

on my mental hard drive.) Who needs

to know about Thanksgiving products

in May?

My list-making predilection is handy

for computer information.

Back in the day when Al Gore created

the Internet (!), sites required a login

name and password. That was easy; I

used the same one for everything –

Nancy and Stephen. Not so creative,

but I could remember them.

But then hacking became a business

and that combination only worked for

some sites. Others wanted numbers,

too. That was relatively easy; I just

added a “1” behind the password.

Until that no longer worked. Soon we

needed more than one number and

the login needed eight characters.

Since Nancy1 is not eight characters, I

added more numbers – at the

beginning, end and in the middle,

whatever each site requested.

At this point, it was more than a little

complicated, and my collection of

favorite sites had developed

significantly. I had no idea which login

and password went with which site. So

I started my computerized list of sites,

logins and passwords. It’s now an

alphabetized spreadsheet with more

than 150 listings, updated regularly.

The variety is quite amazing; the

number of twists I put on my name is

a tribute to my creativity and slap to

my intelligence. What was I drinking

the day I thought the German spelling

of my last name was a good idea?

And yes, while the list is on my

computer system, allegedly hidden

under a name that hackers would

never suspect and I often forget, it’s

also on paper, hidden in a place that

seems to move around on its own.

It now appears that another list should

be created – of “secret questions”

designed to let me access a site when

I’m away from my desk and forget the

password. A recent debacle with a site

and the questions I answered more

than 15 years ago made me question

my sanity. I didn’t know the answers.

First question: What school did you

attend?

Are we talking high school, college or

grad school? With the three strikes

and you’re out mechanism embedded

on the site, I was out after three

attempts. I only went to four schools;

what was the answer?

Second question: What was your

Editor’s Letter

[email protected]

dream job as a child?

Really? My dream job changed with

the seasons – ballerina, caterer, music

therapist, rock band groupie, Tom

Selleck’s wife – and the list goes on.

No idea what the answer was; I

couldn’t even guess.

Because time was critical, I steeled

myself and picked up the phone,

hoping for a quick resolution. Not

likely.

After 90 minutes trying to reach a real

person – hit 1 for billing, 2 for the

director of underwater basket

weaving, 3 through 9 for other

obscure departments – I started

smacking the 0 button repeatedly,

shouting a few words that Mother

would not approve.

“Our next available customer service

representative will be with you in

(pregnant pause) approximately 17

minutes.” Seriously?

Eventually, a very nice customer

service person answered the phone

and could see those secret answers. I

listed all four schools, none of which

was right. But I was on the right track,

she said.

Was there another name I might have

called one school? Oh yeah, I knew

the answer; it was a cheesy nickname.

Back then, I evidently was so panicked

that someone might learn my

password and abscond with all my

vital information that I chose a very

obscure answer, “knowing” that I’d

never forget it. And, of course, I did.

Apparently, I need to choose only

those questions with a non-subjective

answer, such as my mother’s maiden

name or my hometown. Or make

another list.


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which Sarah Jessica Parker bit into a pink-frosted cupcake

outside Magnolia Bakery in New York City.

Whatever the impetus, cupcakes have sweetened the dessert

menus in many restaurants and created a niche industry of

their own.

Union County has a bakery dedicated to the miniature

confection. Yvette Stevenson, owner of Gimme A Cupcake in

Monroe, bakes thousands of cupcakes each week with a menu

that changes daily and boasts such unusual flavors as Maple-

n-Bacon, a breakfast cupcake with maple syrup baked into a

yellow cake with maple butter cream and turkey bacon

sprinkled on top. Not your traditional cupcake!

“The great thing about cupcakes is that there’s such a

variety,” she says enthusiastically. “People like the fact that

they don’t have to eat a whole cake, so it’s portion control.

It’s fun, it’s crazy; everyone loves it. “

Nancy Boru of Dolce Paradiso Bakery in Indian Trail agrees.

“I think cupcakes are popular because they’re individual.

People can have a variety of cupcakes and not feel guilty.

And they don’t have to share,” she said, laughing. “I think it

has to do with not sharing.

By Nancy E. Stephen

They’re not just little cakes. And they’re

certainly not just for children’s birthday parties.

Cupcakes have shot up in perceived sophistication since the

original Hostess cupcake burst onto the snack food scene in

1919. (The signature seven squiggles of white icing and

vanilla-crème filling were added in 1950, pushing the treat

into the best selling snack cake in history.)

Oh no, cupcakes these days range from sophisticated wedding

cakes to themed cake parties for children and adults alike.

And the flavors soared past chocolate and vanilla years ago.

Icing – now that’s yet another story of complicated flavors

and design.

What started the current cupcake phenomenon is not certain.

Some date the craze to a 2000 “Sex and the City” episode in

Little cakes are a giant hit


Yvette Stevenson of Gimme A Cupcake in Monroe makes more than 35 varieties of cupcakes each week.

“We can do much more with

cupcakes, with individualized

details. They’ve become a very

popular item for wedding

receptions, even sophisticated

ones,” she said.

Gimme A Cupcake also caters to

special diets. Wednesday through

Saturday, the bakery offers 90-

calorie cupcakes. She also bakes gluten free and diabetic

cakes by request.

Because she specializes in cupcakes, Yvette makes thousands

of the trendy treats every week. But every week is different.

“One week, we may do more than 1,500 cupcakes, another

week we may do 800.” And that’s not counting the wedding

cakes and cupcakes and special event cupcakes, typically for

the weekend.


“You can get a variety of cupcakes

and have a variety of tastes instead

of a big cake that’s the

same,” she added. Although

a full bakery, Dolce

typically has at least seven

varieties of cupcakes in the

case.

The bakery’s most popular cake

is red velvet with cream cheese icing

– “people love red velvet” – but Nancy stirs up other

varieties, such as spice cupcakes with maple frosting or Coca

Cola cupcakes.

Yvette says a baker can do a lot with cupcakes, “they’re

anything but boring. With cupcakes, the sky’s the limit. You

can make different flavors, different designs.” She makes 35

flavors each week, with at least seven flavors each day.

Sarah French of Blu Heaven Cakes, a custom bakery in

Monroe, bakes cupcakes for many weddings and believes that

up to 40 percent of local weddings feature the miniature

cakes.

Gimme A Cupcake

1736-E Dickerson Blvd., Monroe

(704) 635-8737

Tues. - Thurs.

10:30 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Friday

10:30 a.m. - 6:30 p.m.

Saturday

9 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Blu Heaven Cakes

Cakes by special order

(704) 242-0753

Dolce Paradiso Bakery

4409 Old Monroe Rd.

Indian Trail

(704) 557-0438

Mon. - Fri.

8 a.m. – 7 p.m.

Sat.

8:30 a.m. – 7 p.m.

www.MonroeAquaticsAndFitnessCenter.com 704-282-4680

2325 Hanover Dr.in Monroe

Waterpark Opens

Friday, May 25th!

Across from Lowe’s,just off U.S. 74.

Fitness and fun for the whole family!Call for joining fee specials!


“One

lady at Walmart

says she likes coming to work

on the days she knows I'm coming just

to see how much I can save”

A mother of three, Diane got serious

about using coupons when her husband,

a sergeant in the U.S. Army National

Guard, was deployed overseas, and she

needed to reduce her grocery budget.

“I just started doing YouTube searches

on how to coupon and clipping coupons

out of the Sunday paper,” she said. “My

mom used to do it, so I knew that you

could save a lot doing it.”

Last year, Diane saved approximately

$2,400 costs using coupons.

Diane now spends about an hour each

Sunday clipping and sorting coupons

and seven to 10 hours a week shopping.

“But hey, what girl doesn't like to

shop?” she says.

By Luanne Williams

Shoppers in the

checkout line behind Diane Wright may

wince when they see her whip out her

coupons. But more than once, the

Monroe woman has seen a pained

expression turn to awe when the person

realizes how much she's saved.

“I've spent $177 at Bi-Lo and paid less

than $20 at the sub-total,” Diane said,

giving one example of her couponing

prowess. She even has store employees

who cheer her on.

Shopping hours

are broken up as

she heads out

to a different

store every

day —

Harris

Teeter, Bi-

Lo, Kmart,

Food Lion,

etc. — to

make the

most of

special deals at

each. She lives

within two miles of

the supermarkets and

Target, so the frequent

trips are cost-effective.

“A lot of stores have daily deals

that they don't advertise,” she

explained. One secret is matching those

daily deals to a coupon, which works

especially well if the coupon is

doubled.

For example, Harris Teeter recently put

French's mustard on sale for 59 cents,

which made it free when the store

doubled her 30-cent coupon. During

the store’s Super Double Coupon week,

manufacturer's coupons up to $1.98

face value are doubled.

“By the end of the seven-day (Super

Double) run, I had 21 gallon cartons of

milk, 42 smart balance tubs of butter,

21 toothpastes, 21 pounds of bacon, 21

bags of potato chips, 21 carpet fresh

and 21 body lotions – all for around

$30,” Diane said.

Because she never knows what a store

will discount, she keeps her coupon

binder in the car except when she's

loading it, filing coupons in product

categories to save time and effort.

Uber-couponer $ave$ thou$and$


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“Organizing is what makes most people

not even try, but this is the most

important thing to couponing

successfully,” Diane advised. “It takes

longer to get started. Then, as each

week passes, you will see you are

getting faster because you are organized

the right way.”

Diane said it took about a year to get

proficient at couponing. Now her

system works so well that she and a

friend, Amanda Vaughn, started a

business to share their knowledge. The

goal of The $avings Champs is to teach

others how to shop “wiser, smarter and

save money in the process, by cutting

their weekly grocery bill in half by

means of coupons.”

They've held classes at South Piedmont

Community College, Monroe Aquatics

and Fitness Center and other area

locations as well as private parties.

They also work with Girl Scouts to help

them earn Savvy Shopper badges.

In addition to classes, they offer in-

home coupon parties and in-store field

trips, plus discount classes for those

receiving government assistance.

Most questions revolve around coupon

policies, which shoppers need to know.

“Sometimes you get a cashier who

doesn't know about the policy and you

have to explain and ask to speak with

someone familiar with it,” she said,

adding that successful coupon users

must be willing to assert themselves.

She said the key is to “smile and stay

polite.”

For information on couponing classes,

go to www.TheSavingsChamps.org.

Luanne Williams is a former

newspaper editor and a freelance

writer.

Five quick coupon tips

1 Get organized. The best coupon in the world won't benefit you if it's

lying in a heap on your kitchen counter. Find a system that works for you

- a binder or file organized by product category or expiration date.

2 Forget brand loyalty. Your concern is the bottom line, not being a

loyal customer to a certain manufacturer.

3 Match your coupons to an item already on sale as much as possible.

Don't overlook unadvertised daily deals as well as opportunities to

double or triple your coupons.

4 Buy in bulk if you have storage space. Better yet, share with others

when you get an especially sweet deal.

5 Familiarize yourself with the store's coupon policies to avoid

surprises at the checkout.

Uber-couponer $ave$ thou$and$

www.spcc.edu


S ometimes good

food has to be sought out; it’s not on

the main highway through town and

your initial impression of the location

might be slightly disconcerting.

But get over

that, folks!

Bibi, a

beautiful

taste, is

located in

front of the

Monroe

Police

Department,

but the

location

makes absolutely no difference. Think

of it this way – you couldn’t be safer!

Realistically, diners – whether they’re

eating indoors or outdoors on the stone

patio – are just aware of the delicious

food.

We think this is one of the best times of

the year to enjoy Bibi because of the

outdoor seating.

Chef-owner Jahson Oshita has created

an eclectic menu that satisfies those

seeking more than steaks and grilled

chicken, but is mainstream enough for

a crowd of adventurous eaters, meat

and potato eaters, vegetarians and

picky children to enjoy.

We’ve enjoyed everything from lunch

salads to hot sandwiches to “stuff in

bowls” – their term, not ours. And all

has been very tasty.

A recent lunch of blackened fish on

but they order it every time they visit.

We can’t stop eating the seared tuna,

whether it’s a “happitizer” with pickled

ginger and preserved lemon wasabi that

is the hottest we’ve ever happily cried

through ($8.75) or an eight-ounce tuna

steak with cranberry-apple chutney,

served with steamed rice and seasonal

vegetables ($17.50). We recommend

the house-made hot tea that combines

ginger, cinnamon and cayenne. The red

pepper is a nice touch.

The menu plays with unusual pairings,

such as bacon and collard dip ($5.75),

crispy corn cakes with Serrano chilies

and roasted red pepper crema ($4.50)

and fried tofu with sweet chili dipping

sauce ($4.25). These appetizers are a

great way to sample some new tastes.

Oshita, who describes himself as half

Japanese and half Alabaman, is happy

to put his own twist on traditional foods

but is thrilled to plate some very

unusual dishes for adventuresome

eaters to try, such as ochazuke, which is

Bibi creates ‘a beautiful taste’ in Downtown Monroeopen-faced ciabatta was delicious.

Served with a Cajun tartar sauce, the

fish was cooked perfectly and the

seasoning had enough kick to enjoy but

not be heavy-handed. Although we ate

only a small portion of the bread, it was

scrumptious, too. Our diet almost bit

the dust! The sandwich is served with a

side of your choice for $7.95.

We chose beans and rice, knowing that

the portion

would be

more than we

needed,

having had

the “stuff in

bowls”

portion

previously.

Another diner

chose the

seasonal fruit,

which was

fresh and juicy. That portion could have

been larger, though.

The warm, roasted root vegetable salad

is another of our favorites. It’s a

wonderful blending of rutabaga,

turnips, sweet potatoes, carrots and

parsnips with sautéed cabbage and

lightly topped with spiced

walnuts and goat cheese.

Even Dr. Oz would approve of

this salad! For $8.50, you have

more than your day’s servings

of vegetables.

Other diners enjoyed the fish

taco, served with tasty jalapeno

coleslaw and corn tortillas for

$7.95 and the Bibi spinach

salad for $8.50. Friends rave

over Mamma’s Cornbread

Salad, which we haven’t tried, Fish taco with jalapeno slaw

Restaurant

Review

Blackened fish sandwich


Bibi creates ‘a beautiful taste’ in Downtown Monroe

Bibi spinach salad

How we award stars

AMBIANCE - Based not only on the décor, but the quality of restrooms,

noise buffers, etc.

MENUS - Rated for depth of items, as well as variety and ability to meet

the needs of all diners.

QUALITY - Based on taste, portion size, creativity, flexibility to meet

individual dietary preferences.

SERVICE - Rates the wait staff on attentiveness and the kitchen on speed

and cooperation, etc.

VALUE - Balances the quality of food with the cost.

OVERALL - Average rating by diners in all categories; five stars is the top.

steamed rice with kimchi, umebushi,

oshinko and bonita flakes and served

with green tea (poured over top) – a

dish not on many Southern menus.

The menu features daily specials,

recently including tomato orange

coriander soup, a shrimp and stuffed

strawberry appetizer, plus peppered

strawberries with vanilla ice cream.

Bibi has a small beer and wine menu.

2324 E. Franklin St., Monroe

(704) 288-1766

Mon-Sat 10:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.

Ambiance - If you sit on the patio,

you’ll experience good food in a

great setting. Inside, it’s relaxed and

casual, and there’s a side room for

special functions. (4.25)

Menu - It’s not the largest menu, but

we’re thrilled to see multiple side

dishes of healthy choices. The daily

creative specials should be tried.

(4.25)

Quality - Fresh ingredients,

delicious preparations. Presentation

is pleasing as well. (4.25)

Service - This is the one area the

restaurant should improve. We

question the wait staff’s attire;

maybe that shouldn’t matter, but it

does. Our mothers (or grandmothers)

would call it inappropriate; actually,

so would we. A restaurant this good

should not be hampered by this

visual distraction. (3)

Value- Prices are reasonable and a

good value especially considering

the generous servings. (4.25)

Overall – 4 stars

www.ucedfoundation.org

Yum, yum!You can’t beat local strawberries

times, plus individual farm requirements

regarding containers, etc.

Creekside Farms

3424 Lanes Creek Rd., Marshville. (704) 624-

5476 or (704) 624-2631.

The Hunter Farm

13624 Providence Rd, Weddington. (704) 846-

7975 or (704) 846-3277. Also has berries at a

roadside stand at Hemby and Providence roads.

M&M Farms

7118 Alexander Farm Rd., Monroe. (704) 574-

9200. Pre-picked berries also available.

Piedmont Produce

9601 Morgan Mill Rd., Monroe. (704) 753-2300

or (704) 753-4614. Also has picked berries at

Piedmont Produce General Store located at the

Highway 218/Morgan Mill Road intersection.

And if you don’t want to pick strawberries

yourself, visit these sites and other roadside

stands.

Cook Farms

3020 Plyler Mill Rd., Monroe. (704) 634-3936 or

(704) 634 - 3937.

Union County Farmers’ Market

802 Skyway Drive, Monroe. (704) 283-3625

Waxhaw Farmer’s Market

Corner of Price and Church streets in downtown

Waxhaw. Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

By Nancy E. Stephen

Nothing says spring in the

South like biting into a large, juicy strawberry

that’s just been plucked – still warm – from a

sun-warmed field. It’s instant gratification.

Watch a toddler pop a whole strawberry into his

mouth and wait for the inevitable beginning of

juice dribbling out, down his chin and onto his

formerly clean shirt.

Did we say toddler? Heck, watch anyone eat a

fresh-from-the-earth strawberry and wait for the

strawberry stained lips to curl in a smile of

satisfaction. It’s the strawberry miracle; you

can’t help smiling.

This year, strawberry plants burst into bloom

and fruit early, courtesy of a warmer than

normal winter. And although growers suffered a

bit of angst in mid-April as a frost threatened to

damage area fields, most were well prepared to

protect their many acres of yum.

Several county farms have you-pick-it programs

for strawberries, which can save you a couple

of dollars per bucket, but the real benefit is in

the fresher-than-fresh taste.

We recommend calling before you go to ensure

that strawberries are available and picking

Yum, yum!You can’t beat local strawberries

Alicia’s Favorite

Summer Side Salad

This is one of our favorite strawberry

recipes. It’s not a typical pie or dessert

(and we enjoy them too), but it’s a good

change of pace.

The tang of feta cheese contrasts nicely

with fresh strawberries, and sliced

almonds add a delightful crunch. And

the salad takes just minutes to make. If

you’re in a hurry, bottled poppy seed

dressings are available in stores.

Our apologies to Alicia for not giving her

full credit, but this recipe has been

passed for years through several

families and no one knows who Alicia is.

Salad PreparationCombine greens, strawberries, feta cheese, almonds and about

1/4 cup dressing in a medium bowl, refrigerating extra dressing.

Toss together lightly. Divide into individual salad bowls or serve

from a contrasting bowl; we used a wooden bread bowl. (We

serve the dressing separate to allow individual portioning.)

Dressing PreparationIn a blender or food processor, combine honey, vinegar, salt, dry

mustard and onion powder. With the motor running, drizzle in the

oil. Add the poppy seeds and pulse to mix gently.

Refrigerate up to three weeks. Shake or stir briskly before

serving.

Per serving

160 calories, 14g carbohydrate, 4g protein, 11g fat (59% of

calories), 8mg cholesterol, 3g fiber, 179mg sodium.

Salad

5 cups washed baby field greens

1 cup sliced fresh strawberries

1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese

1/4 cup sliced (not slivered) almonds

Poppy Seed Dressing

1/3 cup honey

1/4 cup white vinegar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon dry ground mustard

1 teaspoon onion powder

2/3 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon poppy seeds


By Nancy E Stephen

No ot everyone can slap Oprah Winfrey

and get away with it, but Phil Strong of Monroe did just that

– in the 1985 movie “The Color Purple.”

“It was through (producer Steven) Spielberg’s magic,” he

quickly explains.

“Purple,” which was filmed primarily in Marshville and

neighboring Anson County, was the screen version of Alice

Walker’s 1982 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about the 35-year

liberation of Celie Johnson, a black woman oppressed by her

father and husband in rural Georgia.

Phil, then 52 and recently retired from the Highway Patrol,

played a small Southern town mayor who is offended when

Oprah’s character says “Hell, no” to his screen wife when she

asks Oprah, “Would you like to work for me, be my maid?”

Phil “with his chest all pushed out, walks up to Sofia,”

according to the script.

“Girl, what you say to Miss Millie?”

“Hell, no.”

Former highway

patrolman ‘slaps’

Oprah Winfrey –

and lives to tell

about it

A surreptitiously shot photograph by Marshville Photographer Bruce Curlee shows

Phil Strong just seconds after he “slapped” Oprah Winfrey.

The momentous scene that follows is detailed in the script by

a brief notation: “The mayor slaps Sofia.” The scene took

many hours to film before they got it exactly right and from

every imaginable angle.

Phil screen-slapped Oprah by slapping in front of her face as

she jerked her head in response. The sound effects were

inserted later.

Oprah’s character retaliated and threw a wicked right at the

mayor’s chin, but that, too, is cinematic magic. An old truck

drove in front of the characters just as Oprah drew back her

fist. When the truck had passed, Phil was on the ground in the

dirt.

“They wanted to have a stuntman stand in for me, but I did

my own stunt,” he said. “I guess I spent an hour and a half on

the ground.” He pocketed about $361 per day on the set, with

extra for doing his own fall. He still earns residuals when the

movie is shown – “just a small amount. I don’t get the big

money,” he said chuckling.

The slapping scene “occurred” in winter, with Epson salts

scattered on the ground for snow. In fact, it was a typical

August day in Union County – 90 degrees with humidity. And

Phil was wearing a wool suit with a heavy wool overcoat and

perspiring heavily. Director Spielberg was in shorts.

Phil keeps a scrapbook with press clippings, napkins, daily

production call sheets, all memories of his experience. An


autograph by Oprah reads: “Phil – My

mayor friend – nice punchin’ with you.”

Spielberg wrote: “To Phil, The best

mayor in Hartwell County!”

“It was amazing, I just had a ball,” he

recalled recently as he flipped through

his scrapbook.

Memories include riding to Wadesboro

with Whoopi Goldberg for his second

day’s shoot; no elaborate limousine for

her. “I enjoyed just being a part of it,

being with them. I had a ball with these

people,” he recalled, calling them all by

a single name – Oprah, Fishburne,

Quincy, Spielberg. “They were a fun

group to be with.

“I had a good time, there’s no doubt

about that.”

Phil gave Spielberg a baseball cap with

the Highway Patrol insignia because the

director wore a cap every day. Although

Spielberg didn’t wear it then, years later

Phil found pictures on the Internet of

Spielberg wearing the cap.

“After my scenes were over, I rode to

Wadesboro one day to see what was

going on and the deputies let me on the site,” he recalled.

Quincy Jones was sitting down the street, away from the

actual filming. “I greeted him, congratulating him on a recent

tribute in a national magazine.”

He recalls adding, “I just wanted to

congratulate you on your honor and to tell

you to enjoy your honor. ’Cause when this

movie comes out, the cream is going to rise

to the top,” he remembers saying, spreading

his arms expansively to indicate exactly who

was the cream, laughing all the while.

Quincy started laughing so loud that

Spielberg had to stop filming, “and I thought

I should get out of there.”

When the movie came out, Phil and his wife

went to a premiere in Charlotte, where “I was

really surprised when they put my name in

the credits.”

Calling his experience unforgettable, he adds,

“How many first-time actors are lucky

enough to be in a movie that was nominated

for 11 Academy Awards?”

Phil Strong treasures a scrapbook with memorabilia from his two days on the set of

“The Color Purple.”

A younger Phil

was surprised to

see his name on

a dressing trailer

(left side) “just

like the real

actors.” The extra

wore a three-

piece wool suit

with a wool

overcoat for the

“slapping” scene,

despite the day’s

90-degree

temperatures.


By Nancy E Stephen

In April 1984, the town of Marshville came

alive with fright when a freight train carrying chemicals

derailed in the center of town.

Just one year later, the town came alive again, this time with

delight, as movie producer Steven Spielberg brought now-

powerhouse celebrity Oprah Winfrey, then a local talk show

host in Chicago, as well as Whoopi Goldberg, Danny Glover,

Rae Dawn Chong and Laurence Fishburne for the filming of

“The Color Purple,” Spielberg’s first serious drama. Prior to

“The Color Purple,” he was best known for “E.T.: The Extra-

Terrestrial.”

Spielberg and company wanted absolutely no local publicity

about the filming; in fact, press was banned from the sets.

Even the Los Angeles Times was not successful in

interviewing Spielberg. But several local reporters and

photographers surreptitiously gathered information and a few

images.

“Spielberg and his Moon Song Productions have been . . .

running around small towns and back roads with the kind of

speed that the film’s reported $7 million budget demands,”

according to the “Chicago Tribune” at the time. “The lack of

publicity coming out of this part of the Carolina Piedmont is,

however, pure Spielberg: a combination of paranoia and the

desire for total control over all aspects of the production.”

For several months, main streets of Marshville were

transformed into an early 1900s look, with tons of red clay

and straw dumped on the town’s White Street and water,

power and telephone lines moved underground at movie

company expense. Current-day buildings were turned into

turn-of-the-century stores and a café.

Spielberg’s company spent an estimated $4 million in the area

during seven weeks of filming, which went to area

restaurants, service stations and dry cleaners as well as

building owners, security guards, cooks serving as personal

chefs, truck drivers and technicians.

The Color Purple was a box office success, according to

Wikipedia, staying in U.S. theaters for 21 weeks and grossing

more than $142 million worldwide. In terms of box office

income, it ranked as the #1 rated PG-13 movie in 1985.

Although nominated for 11 Academy Awards, including Best

Picture, Best Actress for Whoopi and Best Supporting Actress

for Oprah, it won none. Spielberg was not nominated for his

direction.

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Marshville streets transformed for 1985 film

Barbara Dunn not only was in a scene with Whoopi

Goldberg, “I got to know Whoopi well.” The Dunns owned

the facility where Whoopi took her clothes to be cleaned.

“She came in a couple times a week; she had a little

Volkswagen convertible and wore high top tennis shoes.”

What impressed Barbara about her one day on the set were

the “details for every little thing. I’d never seen how they

make a movie before; I really enjoyed the experience.”

Although extras were instructed not to talk to anyone on the

set or to take photographs, “you couldn’t help looking at

everyone all the time – they were right beside you.”

When the movie came out, “it was really something to see

me there; a lot of people had been cut. I was just a blip,

though.”


Marion Holloway, owner of

Holloway’s Music Center in

Monroe, recalls his one day

on the set of “The Color

Purple” with affection and

amusement.

“They came into Rotary and

said if you wanted to be an

extra to let them know. And I

have enough ham in me; I

decided yes.” He was among

the dozens of area residents

who were extras in the film.

“I didn’t have a speaking

part – I had a screaming

part,” he recalls, laughing.

“A shouting part.

“I was reading a newspaper

when Phil and Oprah got

into their match, then I ran

up and got right in her face

about her hitting the mayor.

“How could you do this to

our mayor,” he recalls shouting. “ I can’t believe you would

do that.

“Spielberg had encouraged us

to use the vernacular of the day,

and I had already decided that I

was not going to compromise

myself by using profanity.”

Although “standing right beside

Spielberg and watching him do

his directing was quite a feat,”

Marion’s most memorable

recollection is with music

director Quincy Jones.

“Before the film crew came,

the advance crew came into our

store downtown and asked if

we could set up Quincy Jones’

equipment in the condo he was

renting (in Monroe.) Meeting

and working with Quincy Jones

was a highlight to me.”

Jones shipped his own

equipment from California, and

Marion put it together in a

spare bedroom. Marion also furnished drums for a scene, but

just a brief glimpse is shown.

Local ‘ham’ has minor ‘screaming part’

Marion Holloway had a “shouting part” in the movie.

The details. The experience.

A blip on the screen.

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t “Homeland” (2011) showed Downtown Monroe.

t “Of Whom Am I Afraid” (2008) in Monroe along Franklin

Street.

t “April Fool’s Day” (2007) outside the Historic

Courthouse.

t “Negros With Guns” (Robert Williams documentary)

(2006) showed Monroe.

t “Shake, Rattle and Roll” (2003) in Waxhaw.

t “The Secret” (1997) in Monroe

and surrounding area.

t “The Protected Wife” (1996)

showed Monroe.

t “No Recourse” (1996) showed

Monroe.

t “Life Estates” (1996) in Monroe

and Waxhaw.

t “And Then She Was Gone” (1996)

on Main Street in Monroe.

126-year-old beauty stars in many moviesUnion County is home to a movie star featured in at least 10

movies. It’s the 1886 Historic Courthouse in Downtown

Monroe.

The building can be seen in many movies, including the

recent “Blood Done Sign My Name” in 2010 with Ricky

Schroeder and Nate Parker. The courtroom with balcony

hosted a pivotal court scene, below.

An upcoming movie, “Banshee” will be filmed around the

Historic Courthouse later this year for a new Cinemax series.

Other movies filmed in Union County and their locations

include:

t “The Trial” (2010)

used Main Street in

Downtown Monroe

(above) and the

Historic Courthouse.


126-year-old beauty stars in many movies First-known movie filmed in 1941 in MonroeAlthough “The Color Purple” may have been the first national movie filmed in Union

County, it wasn’t the first movie.

In 1941, a film producer named Melton Barker was hired to film a two-reel comedy

similar to the “Our Gang” comedies, but in Monroe with local talent. Wheeler Smith,

owner and operator of the Center Theatre on Main Street, sponsored the production,

which was called “The Kidnappers Foil.”

Barker continued making local movies from the 1930s to the early 1970s, according

to MeltonBarker.com, with his company Melton Barker Juvenile Productions. The

film was made across the country – from Texas and New Mexico to North Carolina

and Indiana.

According to a story in the July 21, 1941 “Monroe Enquirer,” the intent was “to give

local children an opportunity to see and hear themselves on the screen and compare

themselves with Shirley Temple, Freddy Bartholomew, Spanky McFarland and other

celebrities of the screen.”

Children, or their parents, registered for auditions, which included singing and

dancing talent. But “all types” were needed to fill out the cast, including “tall and

short youngsters” as well as “fatties and leans.” Approximately 56 local children were

in the film.

The quick-turn production was filmed and viewed within one month, quite different

from today’s filming process. No known copy of the film exists.

t “Blessed Assurance” (1995) in Monroe’s Winchester

neighborhood.

t “Bandit Goes Country,” “Bandit’s Silver Angel,” Beauty

and the Bandit” and the creatively-named “Bandit Bandit”short-lived TV series (1994) showed Monroe.

t “Set For Life” (1994) filmed in Weddington, Waxhaw and

then Union Regional Medical Center.

t “Death in Small Doses” (1993) showed the Historic

Courthouse.

t “Scattered Dreams” (1993) filmed in Marshville and the


t “Death In Small Doses” (1993) showed the Historic

Courthouse.

tA BBC documentary (1991) on the trial of Byran De La

Beckwith, who was charged with the assassination of civilrights leader Medgar Evars, used the Historic Courthouse.

t “The U.S. vs. Dr. Jeffrey MacDonald” (1989) used the


t “Preacherman” (1971) on Camden Road.

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Want a GREEN thumb? 10 tips for Union County gardeners

By Luanne Williams

Amild winter

and an early spring have even the

most amateur of gardeners wielding

the spade this year. And soil (or

should we say clay and rocks for

many of us here in the Carolina slate belt) is already being

turned all over Union County.

If you haven't gotten into the act or perhaps feel you may

have fumbled a bit getting out of the gate this year, never fear.

There's still plenty you can do to get growing and lots of

resources to help.

We talked with a number of Master Gardeners with the Union

County Cooperative Extension to compile this list of 10 tips

as a good place to start.

1 Take a test. A pop quiz, already?

Don't worry. It's not you that needs

testing, it's your soil.

The N.C. Department of Agriculture

will test it free of charge. Just pick up

a kit from Cooperative Extension and

follow the instructions. The test will

tell you the acidity of the soil (pH) as

well as levels of several nutrients

necessary for plant growth and

recommendations on lime and fertilizer. Knowing what you're

working with can help you avoid a number of pitfalls. For

details, call (704) 283-3801.

2 Start small. It's already May and though you would surely

love to win Lawn of the Month for June, experienced

gardeners say it's best not to start too big of a project that may

leave you overwhelmed long before harvest or that visit from

the neighborhood prize committee. They recommend focusing

on a manageable size bed and choosing a few of your favorite

plants, whether ornamentals or veggies, to get started. Then

build on that success.

3 Choose wisely. One of the Master Gardener mantras is

very simple — “right plant, right place.” No matter how

lovely that pink flowering dogwood looked at the nursery, it's

probably not going to flourish in the middle of your sun-

soaked front lawn. A little effort on the front-end — finding

out what a specific plant needs in the way of soil, sun, shade

or moisture — can save a lot of hard work and heartache.

4 Get in synch. Most seasoned gardeners add “right time”

to the “right plant, right place” recommendation. Just because

a particular plant is in the seed catalog or covers a quarter acre

at the home improvement store this weekend doesn't mean it's

necessarily the best time to put it in the ground. In fact, many

fruit trees and perennials fare better with a fall start.

And local experts say if you are looking for that lush green

lawn and have a cool season grass, late summer to early fall is

the time to plant. Not now in the throes of spring.

Greene’s Nursery and Garden CenterHelping ‘Sweet Union’ bloom for 50 years.

2476 Secrest Short Cut, Monroe :: (704) 283-6305

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Everything you need for your lawn and gardens.

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2317 E. Lawyers Rd.

Monroe, NC 28110

(704) 283-5696

www.LathamsNursery.com

Warm season grasses can be planted by sprigs or plugs, but

they'll need consistent watering this summer.

5 Go native. Although you may not be native to the Tar

Heel state, lots of plants are (more than 5,700 species, in

fact). Using native plants as often as possible is not only

beneficial to the local wildlife (bees, birds, you name it), but

because they are more suited to the environment, the plants

tend to thrive better and are all-around less needy.

6 Think outside the bag, bale or bottle. Mulching not only

looks nice but it helps retain soil moisture and temperature

while discouraging pesky weeds. But mulching doesn’t have

to involve a bale of pine straw or a bag of pine bark. Grass

clippings, leaves and shredded yard waste can all play a role.

And before you grab chemical pesticide, consider more

natural alternatives like attracting beneficial insects to do the

job for you. Pest control starts with strong, healthy plants and

can include non-toxic, homemade remedies as well.

7 Consider composting. You don't have to have a

complicated contraption to get healthy compost. A simple

wire pen is a good start. Recycling yard waste can save you

money by becoming a soil nutrient additive. Capturing rain

water from your roof is another good garden recycling tip.

8 Keep it contained. Even the smallest of lawns or a tiny

patio can become a successful vegetable or flower garden

with the help of a few containers as long as they drain

adequately. Choose varieties that are suited for small spaces

and make sure you give climbing vines somewhere to go.

Raised beds are another good option.

9 Plant something for your plate. Even if ornamentals are

your thing, consider introducing something edible. Perhaps a

pot of Swiss chard on the patio, a cherry tomato in a hanging

basket or a patch of attractive herbs that can punch up your

garden and your gumbo.

10 Don't go it alone. Whether you're just starting out

and don't have a clue what to cultivate or have gardened for

decades but find yourself baffled by a blight or bug, help is

available. The Master Gardeners operate a Grow-Line

number, (704) 283-3822, and e-mail address,

[email protected], for you to call or write with

your questions in addition to a host of other resources. You

can also catch up with them on Facebook or on the group's

website at MasterGardenersUnionCountync.org.

Most importantly, when it comes to gardening, enjoy

yourself. If you like what you're creating, you are more likely

to spend time there, and therefore more likely to spot a small

problem early and solve it before it becomes a big disaster.

Luanne Williams is a former newspaper editor and a

freelance writer.

www.LathamsNursery.com


Anyone can grow food for their

table, add beauty to lawn

Not everyone can have a lush lawn and a prolific vegetable

garden, but anyone can grow something for the table and add

some beauty to their landscape with a little bit of forethought.

That's the theory of Roger Littell, who says even seasoned

gardeners like himself sometimes spend too much money on

plants that look great at the nursery, but may not be suited to

conditions in the backyard.

“The big thing is to be realistic. Don't expect a plant that

needs six to eight hours of full sun a day to grow in a place

where it only gets one to two,” said the president of the Union

County Master Gardeners.

And if it's a cool season grass like Fescue that you've planted

in your lawn, don't be surprised when it goes dormant in the

heat of summer, he added.

“Typically the grass that people plant where they have limited

sun is a cool season grass which does best in spring and fall,”

he said. “In the summer, it's going to look awful. I don't care

how much you water it, it's going to go dormant.”

He said homeowners often mow the grass too closely and

seed at the wrong time. Fall is the time to plant cool season

grasses, not late spring when the weather is already heating

up. An alternative for a full sun lawn would be a summer

grass, Littell said, but cautioned that it would need to be

sodded or plugged.

Rather than worrying over the grass this spring and summer,

he suggests homeowners put their efforts into getting their

soil tested so they know exactly how much lime or fertilizer

they need and don't waste money buying what they don't.

Then, in September or October, they can plant a cool season

grass and expect a better outcome.

Meanwhile, Littell would rather see gardeners planting

something they can enjoy in their salad or skillet. And he said

they don't have to have a lot of land to do so.

“I have a huge pot of Swiss chard that I planted in the fall

which came back in the spring. I've got arugula, spinach and

none of it is in the ground,” he said.

Also in Littell's 25 to 30 containers are a variety of culinary

herbs in addition to ornamentals that he uses to add beauty to

the landscape of his western Union County home.

Old-fashioned plants making a

comeback in area gardens

With some seven acres of flowering shrubs, Beda Trenning-

Helms can look out any window of her Olive Branch home

and see beauty blooming.

A 15-year veteran of the Union County Master Gardener

program, she likes a lot of mixture in her flower beds and

loves seeing some old-fashioned plants making a comeback.

“When I put in plants, I don’t like to put them just in one little

spot, but in different locations around the house, a lot of

mixtures of color. Then when one plant starts to decline, other

blooms are coming on so you never have a dead garden spot,”

she said, admitting that “it takes a lot of trial and error.”

Among her favorite plants are day lilies and poppies, irises,

bachelor’s button and forsythia. She’s glad to see bridal

wreath spirea gaining in popularity after having “fallen on

hard times” and is also seeing the snowball bush variety of

the hydrangea family coming back into vogue.

“Some of these very old-fashioned plants are now making

inroads and returning,” said Beda, who has long enjoyed

flowering quince, which is also getting attention these days.

When new gardeners ask her for advice, she suggests they

first take a look at friends’ or neighbors’ gardens to discover

what grows well in their area and determine what they like.

Then find out when is the best time to plant the particular

flowers they are interested in planting.

“I would say start with a small area, go with your favorite

color and stick to native plants,” she said, adding that

planting something with white blooms makes the colors stand

out even more. She suggests mulching with last fall’s leaves

and taking care not to plant so much or such high-

maintenance plants that you find yourself “holding the hose”

all summer. “Remember summer does come, and watering is

a challenge.”

Know your ground before you

start putting plants in soil

Master Gardener Sonia McElveen grew up in South Carolina

and started driving a tractor as soon as she got big enough to

press the pedal. “For as long as I can remember, I've been

doing something in the

garden or in the field,”

said the Radiator

Specialty chemist.

This year, much of her

toiling has been at the

Teaching Garden at

Union County Ag

Center, where she

enjoys the camaraderie

and learning something

new every time she

goes.

“Being a Master Gardener doesn't mean

you know it all. It means you are willing

to learn new ways of doing things.

That's the fun part of the experience.”

Sonia said since many Union County

residents are transplants, it’s important

to realize the way they gardened

previously won't work here. “The soil is

different and the types of plants that do

well here can be a lot different from the

ones they might be used to," she said.

While she laughed that her chemistry

background makes her an unwitting

target for questions about insecticides,

she said gardening is a science. “You're

evaluating, picking out variables, what

could go right, what could go wrong.

You have to be able to determine

diseases, environmental reasons; it's

always problem solving."

For her own lawn, she's planning to go

native as much as possible to create a

welcoming habitat for bees and other

wildlife and would eliminate every sprig

of grass, given a choice.


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CITY

OF

MONROEa heritage of progress

Success is when the right insects

eat your plants

How do you know when you're a successful gardener? When

your plants are getting eaten by the right insects!

At least that's the thought of Annie Howell who turns the soil

in her lawn, already a certified wildlife habitat, between

Wesley Chapel and Mineral Springs.

An avid Master Gardener with a bent toward butterflies,

Annie was thrilled when Viceroy caterpillars chewed the

leaves off a pussy willow the year she planted it. Now she's

busy creating a monarch way station so the fancy fliers have a

place to rest and raise a brood between Canada and Mexico.

“Monarchs need milkweed, and it's disappearing,” she said,

explaining that it's just one of several plants that she's putting

in to benefit the bugs.

Annie spends most of her time, as much as eight hours some

days, transforming the lawn that began with the typical 20 or

so builder-supplied shrubs into a bloom-filled butterfly haven.

“I started five years ago and it is still a work in progress. I

don’t think you can ever say that a gardener is done.”


By Deb Coates Bledsoe

iThere were those who told Don Hinkle he

might want to rethink buying the 139-year-old historic

property known as the John Herron Williams home on Old

Monroe-Marshville Road.

“I think people have trouble seeing behind the vines,” Don

said. “You have to look past that and you have to look past a

little sweat equity.”

Don and his wife, Laura, felt that the purchase of the home,

which according to the deed was built in 1873 although the

historic plaque reads 1880, was making an investment into

preserving history.

“We were looking for a piece of property to buy and we love

historic homes,” Don said. “We were also looking for

property with land where the kids could play and we could

grow a garden.” Standing on the front porch of the Williams

home, looking out over the land, made the decision easy.

“It’s so rich in history,” he said. “It’s still a very rural

community, mostly agriculture. The Williams family still

farms the land. I think it’s neat; it’s still a connection with the

family.”

Don said it’s not difficult to go back in time and imagine

what the home’s front yard looked like 100 years ago. “After

a long day in the field, they would come out on the porch.

That was their entertainment. They would sit on the porch

and visit with one another.”

So the Hinkles followed their hearts and purchased the home

and 30 acres in 1997 for around $88,000. He remembers the

purchasing process wasn’t easy.

“They gave the house zero value,” Don said. “It was

overgrown. It was historic. It needed paint and a roof. They

didn’t think anyone could live in it. It was a challenge

purchasing the place, as there are no comps for the house,

nothing to compare it to.”

But none of this alarmed Don. When he walked through the

Restoring an historic home not necessarily a money pit house, he saw nothing that swayed him from the purchase. “I

didn’t see anything with the house that wasn’t just paint or a

new roof. It just needed tender loving care. It had obviously

been neglected, but when I crawled under the house, I

couldn’t see any structural damage.”

The most pressing piece of business, however, was moving a

hive of bees that engulfed the entire side of the home. “The

bees had built honeycombs that went up to the second story

window,” he said.

A building inspector said the house was in really good shape,

and a termite inspection also had a positive outcome. “We

were pleasantly surprised that the only thing we found were

the bees,” Don said.

The home had only one toilet and a sink located behind a

curtain in one room. There was also a sink in the kitchen, but

the home had only cold-running water. The challenge was to

update the home without destroying to its heritage.

“You see the way the home was intended to be. I didn’t want

to change that. I wanted to hold the integrity of the house.

You have to give up some things like updating the kitchen.

We had to modernize it some, but we tried to put some

vintage pieces like a claw foot tub in the bathroom to

maintain some historical reverence.”

To keep down cost, Don, an IT project manager, has done

most of the work. “It keeps it affordable. It helps that I grew

up on a farm. You learn to do a lot of things yourself.”

The first priority was a new roof. “Once I got the roof done, I

knew I could take my time because I wasn’t going to lose the

structure due to water damage.”

Don then sanded the floors down to the original wood and

ripped up all the linoleum. He turned a room off the master

bedroom into a spacious bathroom, with a hint of vintage

décor, but the convenience of modern times.

He’s placed new copper piping throughout the house and

brought the electrical up to code. The house’s foundation sits

on large quartz rocks, so Don added cement blocks at various

locations under the house to “help stop the bounce as you

walk on the floor.”

In the 15 years since he purchased the home, Don estimates

that he’s only spent around $10,000. “You think of what a

money pit an old property can be, but we really haven’t spent


Restoring an historic home not necessarily a money pit that much money. We’ve done most of the work ourselves,

so I’m not paying contractor labor. It’s mostly materials.

“Now the challenge is to keep up the ongoing maintenance

of painting and refinishing the floors.”

He plan to continue restoring the home. “It’s sort of a time

capsule,” Don said. “This is a piece of Union County

history. I just want to preserve it. It’s an antique, a piece of

history and if you go changing it, you lose that story, you

lose a piece of it.

“It’s important, whether it’s my kids or just the people who

come to visit, that they see the way it used to be. Someone

intended the home to be like this and I don’t want to go

change his dreams. I think how hard it was to build this

home. There’s a lot of craftsmanship here. I don’t want to

take away from that.”

Deb Coates Bledsoe, a former newspaper editor, is a

freelance writer and photographer.

Don Hinkle purchased the John Herron Williams home 15 years ago

and has spent approximately $10,000 restoring the house, saving

money by doing all of the work himself.

John Herron Williams was 22 years old when he moved

his 20-year-old bride, Cora Alice (Bivens) Williams, to

the small 1,200 square-foot home on Old Monroe-

Marshville Road. The year was 1878.

The one-story home sat on 120 acres of land that had

been his father’s. Two years later, John enlarged the

home with the construction of a gabled ell that housed

the kitchen and dining room. Fifteen years and 11

children later, John and Cora enlarged the house again,

making it about 2,000 square feet. In 1895, a second

level was added to the original portion of the home.

The home rested on brick and fieldstone piers and

featured a bungalow style porch, constructed in 1925,

that ran across the front.

Behind the home sat several outbuildings including a

smokehouse, well house, carriage house, cotton house,

wagon and buggy shelter and storage shed, plus two

large barns used in the family’s farming business.

Six of their daughters were married in the house, each

coming down the stairway and into the parlor where the

ceremonies were performed.

Williams died in 1936, and his widow continued to live

in the home until her own death in 1956 at the age of

98. One child, Martha Cornelia “Connie” Williams,

remained in the home until her death in the early 1990s.

Information from the Union County Heritage Room.

By Nancy E. Stephen

How do you know when you’ve

become a success?

Is it when Wikipedia has an entry about you? Or when

your collection of science fiction novels is ranked 75th in

all of Kindle sales and first in high tech science fiction?

Or maybe it’s when publishers are pounding at your door,

wanting to get in on this highly-successful writing career

of yours that needed no publisher to get started? Or when

foreign translation rights to your books are purchased?

Movie deals are discussed?

For 36-year-old Union County native Hugh Howey, all

those occurrences are great, but that’s not why he writes.

“It's something I've always wanted to do at least once, like

climbing a mountain, just to say I did it.

“I tried quite a few times over the years and always gave

up. With the first Molly Fyde book (Molly Fyde and the

Parsona Rescue), I finally had a story that I really needed

to see through to the end. After that first one, I became

hooked on the process.”

In essence, he can’t stop himself from writing now.

“I enjoy science fiction because it's an escape and it's the

best genre for satirizing the human condition. You can

tweak some facet of our environment and see what the

results would be.


“The ‘Wool’ series turns all of humanity into an

observable microcosm and explores how we have to treat

one another in order to survive with limited space and

resources. It distills real issues that are normally so big

that we can ignore them into problems we can begin to

tackle and mull over.”

Hugh began the successful “Wool” series in 2011, initially

as a stand-alone short story. Now, the first five segments

have been combined into the Omnibus edition and he’s

already released the sixth segment, “First Shift – Legacy.”

In all, he’s published 14 books since late 2009 and doesn’t

appear to be slowing down. Sales reached into the

hundreds of thousands in the first three months of the

year, and they, too, don’t appear to be slowing. Neither do

the reviews or national and international press.

Sample reviews on Amazon read: “Probably destined to

be a science fiction classic,” “Simply the best” and “Best

book I’ve read in the last year.”

Recently, there were 478 reviews on Amazon of the

Omnibus edition with 439 giving the book five stars. “It’s

bizarre to have that much feedback,” Hugh commented.

Hugh didn’t envision himself as the prolific writer he’s

Union County

author hits

Amazon’s top ten

lists repeatedly

Hugh Howey and his dog, Bella Luna, spend time at the computer.


Stafford Place Executive Offices

Suite A-2, 1201 Stafford Street

Monroe, NC 28110

t

Mon-Fri 10 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.

Sat 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.

t

704.296.5531

www.JamesMichaelCo.com

James Michael & Co.

Perfect for

Mother’s Day and GraduationsPrices start at $40.

The SouthernGate Collection

become when he was a child, more “that I would have a

series of jobs while I explored the world rather than lock

myself into a career.”

He did that for a few years, captaining multi-million

dollar yachts up and down the East Coast and in the

Caribbean. “The captaining came from time spent on my

own sailboat while I was in college and the time I spent

cruising around the Bahamas. When I found out people

would pay me to drive their boats, I decided I'd found my

calling.”

Just temporarily.

In an interview with “Wired,” Hugh explains his transition

to writing.

“Ever since I was 12, I dreamed of being an author. I just

never had the fortitude to see any of my stories through to

completion. I would start a book, get a few chapters in,

and grow bored or get distracted by something else.”

Later reviewing books for a website, he attended a book

conference where an author was asked, “What’s the best

advice for getting where you are now?”

The answer was quick – quit dreaming about it and start

doing it.

“It was totally talking to me, dreaming but not actually

writing,” Hugh said. “So I started writing. I had no

thoughts that it would get published or that it would be

worth reading.”

Obviously, for thousands of readers, his books are very

worth reading.

All of Hugh’s books (titles listed below) are available at

Amazon.com.

Half Way Home

Molly Fyde and the Blood of Billions

Molly Fyde and the Fight for Peace

Molly Fyde and the Land of Light

Molly Fyde and the Parsona Rescue

The Hurricane

The Plagiarist

Wool

Wool 2 - Proper Gauge

Wool 3 - Casting Off

Wool 4 - The Unraveling

Wool 5 - The Stranded

Wool Omnibus Edition

First Shift – Legacy

Hugh Howey and his dog, Bella Luna, spend time at the computer.

www.JamesMichaelCo.com


By Luanne Williams

It t was almost 20 years after “What to Expect

When You're Expecting” was published, and virtually every

post-teen woman I knew was either pregnant, a mother or

grandmother. Armed with loads of advice and flanked by

supportive parents and in-laws, I still had boatloads of

unanswered questions.

Yes, I had been a step-mom, but not to babies. Yes, I had

baby-sat infants, but not my own. And yes, I knew that

virtually every mother in history probably grappled with

some of the same issues when that squirmy little life was

placed in her arms, and most of them survived. But a control

freak and over-analyzer by nature, I truly wanted to know

more about what to expect. And I wasn't even pregnant.

Instead, my husband and I were awaiting a call to travel to

China to bring home a year-old girl.

The referral picture took our breath. She seemed to be

speaking right to our hearts, “I'm waiting for you. Are you

coming?” We felt as though we couldn't hop a plane quick

enough.

Fast-forward to today. She's 10 with waist-length hair, long

manicured nails and dark, almond eyes that alternately melt

my heart and infuriate me as they regularly roll back into her

head with pre-teen disdain. One minute she's deep in a book

and looks like a college co-ed home for spring break, and the

next she's chasing a toad across the patio, shooting a slingshot

or crying over an ailing fish.

Nearly a decade after my question-filled crisis, I'm not sure

Blessings of motherhood more bountiful than I could anticipate

Scott and Luanne Williams, just a few days after bringing baby daughter Dayli home from China in 2003.

I'm any more prepared for the task of motherhood than I was

on day one. But the blessings have been more bountiful than I

could have ever anticipated, the life lessons more valuable

than any chapter of my stash of parenting books.

For example, she quickly taught me that “being” is usually

more important than “doing.” Being available, being kind,

being attentive, being real. After years of “doing” a fast-paced

deadline-oriented job, this hasn't been easy for me. But I'm

realizing that very often she could care less what her Dad or I

are doing as long as we're with her and there's an opportunity

for interaction.

From the start, she also reminded me how much fun it is to

learn something new or to relearn something long forgotten.

Periodic table? Diagramming sentences? Latin vocabulary?

Whatever it is, learning alongside her and seeing the light

bulb come on when she “gets it” has been an absolute blast.

She's also shown me that sometimes spontaneity can be better

than the best laid lesson plans. For her, the slightest breeze is

a call to kite flying; nearly every

night is perfect for stargazing, and

every piece of paper suitable for

origami. No reason to wait for a

more opportune time. Just do it.

Like every child who came before

her and all who follow, she's

challenged her mother's patience,

(perhaps even sent me to the brink

of sanity if I'm to be honest),

broken her Daddy's heart more

than once and made life infinitely

more interesting than it was

before she showed up. To imagine

her living a life on the other side

of the globe that would not have

intersected with ours is absolutely

unbearable.

Even as I struggle on a daily basis

to figure out what's best for her

and to settle into a parenting

pattern somewhere between

hovering helicopter and super-lax

laissez fair-ist, it occurs to me that

there is no amount of preparation and no mountain of

information that could ever have made me ready for what was

to come beginning on that “Gotcha Day” in January 2003.

And even now, there's no fail-proof plan laid out for the next

decade or beyond. Just as the frustrations lay me out flat

some days, the unexpected joys will no doubt continue to

catch me off guard.

Author Elizabeth Stone said making the decision to have a

child is “to decide forever to have your heart go walking

around outside your body.”

I couldn't agree more. Sounds exactly like “what to expect

when you're expecting,” whether there's a pregnancy involved

or not.

Happy Mother's Day 2012.

Luanne Williams is a former newspaper editor and a

freelance writer.


Blessings of motherhood more bountiful than I could anticipate

Scott, Luanne and Dayli Williams on a recent vacation.

ComplimentaryPortfolioReview

Terry N Estes, CFP®Financial Advisor.

114 East Jefferson StreetMonroe, NC 28112704-283-1589www.edwardjones.com

Member SIPC

Beach, Blues

& BBQ

11 a.m. – 7 p.m.

Downtown Monroe

Homemade Jamz Band, noon to 2

p.m.; Da Throwback Band, 2:30 p.m.

to 4:30 p.m. and Coastline, 5 p.m. to

7 p.m.

Carnival rides, food, arts, craft

vendors, "Touch-a-Truck" and Job

Ready Partnership dessert

competition.

Info: Tonya Edwards, (704) 282-4695

or [email protected].

Union County

Chamber ofCommerce GolfTournament

10:30 a.m. – 7 p.m.

Firethorne Country Club

Player packages include lunch,

dinner, awards reception and raffle

drawings following play.

Register online at

www.unioncountycoc.com


1515things to do in

Union County

14May

5May

Cruise In /Harley DavidsonAddition

6 p.m. – 9 p.m.

Downtown Monroe along Main Streetis lined with classic cars for thismonthly event. Downtown restaurantsand merchants are open.

Free.

www.HistoricDowntownMonroe.org

11May

The Fantasticks

May 11, 12, 18, 19

7 p.m. each night.

Parkwood High School Fantasticks isthe longest running musical in history!

(704) 764-2900 for information.

11-19May

SpringFest

in Waxhaw

May 12: 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.

May 13: Noon – 6 p.m.

Downtown Waxhaw

This family fun event features morethan 100 artists and crafters, kidszone, live entertainment and food.

New this year for Mother's Day are amother-daughter tea party, Mother'sDay gift making and mommymakeovers.

Rain or shine and free.

Details: www.waxhaw.com.

12,13May

16th AnnualHospice of UnionCounty GolfTournament

11 a.m.

Providence Country Club

Supports mission of providing

compassionate, quality care to those

with life-limiting illnesses, regardless

of the ability to pay.

Info: (704) 292-2130.

21May

Union SymphonyOrchestra –“AmericanMusings”

4 p.m.

Batte Center at Wingate University

$15-$25

Online tickets: www.carolinatix.org

6May

Drumstrong

2012

May 19, beginning at 11 a.m. and

ending May 20 at 5 p.m.

Misty Meadows Farm, Weddington

Drumstrong was created to be a

vibrant part of BEATing cancer.

This year they will drum for 30 non-

stop hours! Individuals and teams

raise funds through pledges per hour

of drumming.

Includes health expo, vendors, kid

zone, yogathon, belly dancers,

parades, camping, drum circle.

$30 per person; $50 per family for the

entire weekend.

http://townofweddington.com/

community/events/

19-20May



www.carolinatix.org

www.waxhaw.com


www.unioncountycoc.com


Music on Main

6:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.

Main Street in Monroe

Music by Billy Scott & The GeorgiaProphets (beach variety)

Bring your chairs.

Free.


24May

Gatsby Gala

BenefitsMuseum of theWaxhaws

Henry Hall Wilson House

1301 Frankln St. in Monroe

7 p.m. - ?

Casino games, food, music, dancing.

$75 a person

www.MuseumOfTheWaxhaws.com

2June

Cruise In

Main Street, Monroe

6 p.m. – 9 p.m.

Downtown Monroe is lined with

classic cars for this monthly event.

Restaurants and merchants are open.

Free.


8June

JAARS Day

9 a.m. - 4 p.m.

The JAARS Center in Waxhaw

Event designed for families to learn

more about worldwide Bible

translation and JAARS support

services.

At most JAARS Days you can:

Watch aviation demonstrations, learn

how Bible translators work, chat with

translators and other missionary

speakers, attend missionary stories

and other events for children.

Free

Info: (704) 843-7070

9June

Indian Trail

Family Fun Day

11a.m. - 6 p.m.

Crossing Paths Park, Indian Trail

Come out for some good old familyfun!

Free games, rides, food and craftvendors, music and more.

Info: (704) 821-5401

2June

Music on Main

6:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.

Main Street in Monroe

Music by SummerDaze (variety)

Bring your chairs.

Free.


Stallings MovieNight and BikeSafety Event

Fairhaven Park, 1025 Fair Oaks Drive

At 5 p.m., kids can learn about safebike riding practices.

A family-friendly movie will begin atdusk. Don’t forget your blankets andlawn chairs!

Free.

16June

28June

4630 W. Highway 74, Suite A v Monroe, NC 28110

(704) 289-6317 Phone v (704) 283-9438 Fax v www.cbmcpas.com

QuickBooks support

Payroll services

Financial statements

Business tax returns

Personal tax returns

Bookkeeping services

Your partner for financial success!

Dixon knowshealth care insurance reform

and can show how you can benefit.

704.254.6437

Schedule a free,

no pressure presentation

for your organization.

Dixon S. Hall, MAAAI, AIM, AIS, AU, ChFC, CLU, LUTCF

http://finsecurity.com/Dixon1

Got an event

the public would enjoy?

Submit your activity with all the

details – who, what, when,

where and why – to Union

Lifestyle for inclusion in the

magazine and/or online.

Send your information to

[email protected].

www.cbmcpas.com



www.MuseumOfTheWaxhaws.com


4918 U.S. 74 W

Indian Trail, NC 28079

(888) 243-0406

www.MetroHondaNC.com

Where everyone

knows you by name.

Bring in or mention Union Lifestyle

and receive a 25,000 mile

complementary maintenance

on any New or Used Car Purchase.

www.MetroHondaNC.com

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