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Community

Homeland Security

Down here at the bend we measure security in terms of community. We live amid friends, people that help us when we need help. Unlike places we lived before where neighbors were distant and aloof, here everyone is into potlucks and parties. Which is why we moved here. We came and saw what kind of community […]

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Environment Our Life

In Our Backyard

We grow food in our back yard. The Sunken Gardens of Moncure is the name we gave to the old swimming pool Lyle filled in with dirt in 2009 and that Bob fenced in the following year. We have a compost pile, wood pile, fruit trees, two cars, one run on biodiesel, and a few […]

Categories
Food Kumasi Observations Our Life Shopping

Not in Ghana

Sometimes I wake up and think for a moment I’m still in Kumasi but that notion vanishes as soon as I begin listening to the sounds of the pre-dawn day. You know you’re not in Ghana anymore when: The first pre-dawn sounds are tires on asphalt, not half a dozen roosters Its freezing outside and […]

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Community On Winter

The Exorcists

Shortly after sundown on the vernal equinox, a group of people gathered to light a bonfire and exorcise winter from their rural neighborhood in central North Carolina. Dancing, chanting “Winter, go away!” as the flames sent sparks rising to a starlit canopy, they believed they were bringing on a new, warmer season. Bob and I […]

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On Winter

Going Through the Motions

It’s my morning to write and I can’t think of anything to say. The sun is going through the motions on another cold day, rising to spotlight the branches of the oak across the street. The squirrels are fighting over bird seed. Traffic dribbles down the Moncure Pittsboro Road. The forced air heat and refrigerator […]