June 2022

The foods we love are celebrated every day.  There are hundreds of foods and drinks being celebrated throughout the year, recognized with a day to consume and appreciate them.  The all-encompassing National Food Day falls on Oct. 24 each year. It was first observed in 1975, created to encourage people to eat more nutritious food.…

Lisa Creed’s artwork can be found displayed at the Ritz Carlton Pavilion in Washington, D.C., or at Duke University’s Office of the Provost and Hart House — otherwise known as the president’s residence — and in the backdrop of television shows One Tree Hill and Under the Dome. Her art has received national awards, been…

Rap, tap, tap goes the riff on the cymbal as the piano plays mezzo forte and the alto sax and trumpets file in with a response. The composition of compelling music can be transcendent. It can enable one to escape, to dream, and to perhaps surrender. The same can be said about the composition of…

In the early 1950s, America was returning from a wartime foundation to a peacetime economy and the prosperity that marked the years preceding the Second World War. Factories that had been geared to produce aircraft and ammunition retooled to manufacture automobiles and appliances. And a jump in post-war births resulted in what would be called…

The North Carolina Blueberry Festival returns to Pender County on June 18 after a two-year hiatus caused by the pandemic. Festivities include bands, a car and truck show, cycling and running events, arts and crafts vendors, and of course everything blueberry — fresh local fruit from farmers in Pender, New Hanover, Bladen, Duplin and Sampson…

North Carolina has 44,000 acres of coastal and estuarian reserves preserved in 10 sites ranging from south of Bald Head Island to the Outer Banks, habitat for flora and fauna of ecological and historical importance to the state.  The sites are managed by the N.C. Coastal Reserve and National Estuarine Research Reserve, a program of…

A loggerhead sea turtle comes ashore at Figure Eight Island to lay her eggs in May 2019. Loggerheads nest during the night at the same beach on which they hatched, laying approximately 100 eggs in each clutch.

The high temperature where I live in Colorado is 8 degrees. I check the calendar, counting the days until summer. It can’t get here fast enough. Then his words come back to me. “Never cross off life.” My interest in the refrigerator calendar’s colored Xs and sticky notes had prompted Uncle David’s words of wisdom:…

Atlantic hurricane season officially runs from June 1 to Nov. 30. In preparation, remember that Mother Nature does not always abide by this time frame. Coastal North Carolina has experienced storms before and after those calendar dates.  In anticipation of hurricane season, property owners should review and update all building and/or contents flood insurance coverages…

The Cape Fear Museum of History and Science’s photograph collection, consisting of more than 15,000 images, can now be accessed online by researchers and the general public. Website visitors can browse the database or search using keywords. A search of “Wrightsville Beach” currently yields 743 results, including this postcard by Jack W. Loughlin of a…