Last weekend, a friend and I went wafting on the Eno River on Sunday afternoon. Our guide was “River Dave” Owen, a congenial dark-haired man who is intimately familiar with the Eno. He seems to know every tree and treefrog as he leads flotillas of wafters up the river and then back to the millpond. […]
Carol Wills
Posted inNews
Fall is close if …
Your marigolds are going to seed. You have to squeegee the dew from your car windows before you drive to work. The spiders that hung out on your deck all summer are trying to get into your house. Your mailbox is full of catalogs urging you to buy warm clothes that you won’t need until […]
Posted inNews
No pain in vain
My former mother-in-law, may she rest in peace, always used to say that you get sick in the part of your body that is the weakest. I think her problem was her lungs; she was a fierce smoker. My problem–and my mother’s and sister’s and daughters’–has always been headaches. We have to plan our lives […]
Posted inGuides
Living in Space
The first impression you get when you step into the Devereux Street home of John Reese and Dan Lilley is one of ease and freedom–lots of room to breathe. Looking at this beautifully arranged and thought-out living space, it’s hard to imagine the building as they first saw it. “The house was in bad shape, […]
Posted inGuides
Houses Tobacco Built
When you mention “Durham,” people often think of tobacco, given that the city was largely founded on revenue derived from the manufacture of cigarettes. Until recently, you couldn’t draw breath downtown without filling your lungs with the smell of cured tobacco. Too bad it’s not as healthful as it is fragrant. The tobacco industry may […]
Posted inNews
To tell the truth
Last week, I was called to the Durham County Judicial Building to fulfill one of my highest responsibilities as a citizen–jury duty. After hours of sitting in the overheated jury-pool room reading old Newsweeks, we, the potential jurors, filed into the courtroom for selection. The lawyers and their clients were sitting at tables in front […]
Posted inGuides
Painting and healing
Sandee Washington invites me into her dining room and points to a wooden chair by the window. “This is the first piece I made, and I wanted to keep it, because I was coming alive–do you see?” she says. The chair is painted blue and there’s a crescent moon on the seat, an albatross on […]
