Author Archives: zonker

WINnovation at the Angus Barn

photographs by Jill Knight Under twinkling lights in the beautiful setting of the Pavilion at the Angus Barn, nearly 200 people gathered on a mild September evening for our major fall event: WINnovation. Presented by Bank of America and Walter,…

Home & Garden: Flora-bundance

by Jesma Reynolds photographs by Catherine Nguyen When Bill and Judy Fitzgerald signed up six years ago for one of the cottages at The Cypress of Raleigh, an elegant North Raleigh senior living community, they were hoping to relieve themselves…

An unassuming trailblazer: Holly Aiken

by Samantha Thompson Hatem photographs by Chris Fowler Holly Aiken is talented at many things. Making cool handbags. Creating captivating window displays. Trailblazing where others wouldn’t. But singing her own praises? It’s not part of Aiken’s style. Yet her modest,…

Spotlight: Camp needlepoint

Needlepoint Retreat by Jessie Ammons Serious stitchers will convene in the mountains this month for Elizabeth Bradley Home’s annual needlepoint retreat October 2-4 at Asheville’s Grove Park Inn. Attendees will dive in to two full days of instruction on a seasonal…

From our fields: Whole grains

by Kaitlyn Goalen photographs by Jillian Clark I first discovered that I loved to cook through baking. As a teenager I jumped at the chance to make cakes, pies, and sugar cookies, spending hours on lattice crusts and intricate icing…

Let’s do this

  by David Menconi Co-writing someone else’s memoir involved a number of firsts, but probably the biggest was this: It was the first time I was ever interviewed for a job on a band bus. It happened in the summer…

The designers of Boylan Heights

by Amber Nimocks photographs by Travis Long Maybe Boylan Heights owes its creative spirit to close quarters. Living there means knowing one’s neighbors, and those neighbors tend to be creative types with eclectic interests. The neighborhood, which spans just six…

Spotlight: Hit the Road

Rural Academy Orchestra by Mimi Montgomery In our age of instant, at-your-fingertips entertainment, The Rural Academy Theater is doing things a little differently. Each year, these Pender County-based performers take some of their original shows and hit the road in a horse-drawn…

Sweet Home Carolina

by Kevin Barrett, cocktail director at Foundation photographs by Jillian Clark Did you know North Carolina is the number one producer of sweet potatoes in the U.S.? I didn’t. It provides over 40 percent of the domestic supply. North Carolina…

Home & Garden: Mossology

by Liza Roberts David Spain is an artist whose medium is moss. Yes, moss. That spongy, green, felt-like plant that sprouts in humid nooks and wooded glens. A pioneer in the burgeoning world of moss landscaping – and heralded by…

Fanny and I go way back

by Tony Avent illustration by Ippy Patterson Aster oblongifolius  – “Fanny” – and I go way back. Back to 1992, when I learned about it through Ruth Knopf, the antique rose expert at South Carolina’s Boone Hall Plantation near Charleston….

Spotlight: Weekend of words

West End Poetry Festival in Carrboro by Mimi Montgomery You don’t have to be an experienced wordsmith to attend the West End Poetry Festival in Carrboro. Hosted October 16 and 17 by the Carrboro Poets Council, the gathering marks the 10th…

Other people’s stories: Patrick Torres meets his new city

by Andrew Kenney photographs by Nick Pironio Patrick Torres watches from the front of the hall as people take the stage one by one. He hears them lay bare their own true stories: The woman who found a moment of…

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