Show & Tell Friday (okay, Thursday) - The Local Edition

* I’m posting this today because I’ll be away from my desk all day tomorrow. Enjoy!

Oh, Spring has officially sprung! (Winter, cover your ears.)

This week it hit a high of 82 in my mountains–yes, I like to call them mine, sort of like Stephen, the mad Irishman in the movie Braveheart, who calls Ireland “my island.” Love that guy.


Anyway, the birds are singing, dogs barking in glee, flowers blooming, and the walkers, runners and bikers are out in full force. What a glorious time of year!
 



Some fabulous things to share today, mostly regional/local. Enjoy!

1.) I’m a graduate of Clemson University, and I earned a double degree in both English and

Speech & Communications Studies, which was a relatively new major when I was there. So I was thrilled to discover that Clemson University’s Debate Team won the National Educational Debate Association’s national tournament! For the last six years, this title has been won by Ball State, but my Tigers–a rookie team just started in 2012–took it this year. As a grad, I love it when my alma mater does well. Check them out here.
 

2.) Writers, check out debut author Shannon Huffman Polson’s post at SheWrites about the publishing process of her first book, which also coincided with a miscarriage. It’s a memoir called North of Hope, and Huffman’s story of the book coming to life–and of her personal journey as a mother–is well worth reading.

 





3.) The Assault on the Carolinas, Brevard NC’s big bad road race, is this weekend!

Everyone is gearing up, including local breweries and bands. Head to the mountains for a racing good time!
 




4.) The Cradle of Forestry in Pisgah National Forest will have its opening day this Saturday, April 13th. Step back in time to the days of the first forestry school in America. There’ll be Percheron draft horses plowing the fields, old-time fiddle music, arts and crafts, and so many other cool Blue Ridge traditions to discover along the Biltmore Campus Trail! For more information, click here.

On a side note, my entire family and I are big fans of Pisgah National Forest, and of the Cradle. It’s cool enough having a national forest as your unofficial back yard, but the Cradle hosts an innumerable amount of fun events over the course of the Spring, summer and Fall. If you’re from nearby, it’s a no brainer to head on up to cooler heights. And if not, believe me when I tell you, it’s worth the drive!

Don’t believe me? Here’s a shot of my daughter from the Forest Festival Day and International Woodsmen’s Meet back in October. The dimples only appear when she’s really happy.

 

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Ode to Late February

Late February is a tease, a come hither thrown over the shoulder of an appealing stranger in a crowd--a hip cock from an insouciant teenager. It's the warm breath of an almost-kiss, an already-broken promise from an unrepentant sinner.

Late February knows no moral bounds; it's a trust-funder ever at leisure, uncaring at the change of weather or the stock market or the law. Late February is a short season of caprice: a temptor with a bedroom-eye on the prize... a dangerously attractive schizophrenic capable of both astonishing ire and lazy charm, often one within moments of the other.

Late February is a liar, this I know. It woos with warm mornings and birdsong. It's a wronged lover still powerful, the kind who slips benignly back into your life emitting the heady perfume of the past and then snaps out, fangs exposed, to bring blood.

Late February makes promises of yellow daffodil and blue sky, of skin exposed and sun on an upturned face. Late February is a fifteen year-old lacking control of his hormones. It's not his fault; he can't help it.

Late February is a Greek god casting ancient dice onto the human table. It's a toddler pulling the ears of her ever-patient dog, a preteen in a dandelion field. He loves me, he loves me not.

Late February is the relative who hurts you most, because you love him enough to allow it. A Janus-faced friend bringing both the shade and the sun, and to enter each is to feel a fire, hot or cold depending.

It's not that Late February can't decide whom to be, friend or foe, winter or spring. It simply likes having power over the toss.