I’ve lived here all of my life, but learned something new about the area Monday.
When the gas line ruptured on Hwy 9 near the nursing home, Joel tweeted about it being near Goar Hill.
“It’s Gore Hill,” I told him. Since he is not “from here,” he often needs to be schooled about local names, etc.
Then he turned around and schooled me.
Lisa McNeece
He said that Margaret Starks Hill of Pittsboro sent him an email a couple of weeks ago about the correct spelling– Goar Hill, where she lives at the top.
She said it was her homeplace, and her parents bought it from G.M. Goar back in the 1940s.
Mr. Goar was in the old photo that ran in the Jan. 15 paper of the reunion of the Pittsboro class of 1922.
I would have bet my life that it was Gore. That’s going to take some getting used to.
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I was really excited when actor Johnny McPhail sent me an email last week with the subject line “Bruce connections.”
Johnny sent me a link to the webcast of a radio show in Seattle where he was interviewed by Joe Bryant about his recent role on HBO’s True Detective.
Joe is the son of Bruce native Wade Bryant, and a grandson of Selma and Verlon Bryant.
You can search for Bob Rivers Show Johnny McPhail to get to the webcast.
It was very interesting to hear Johnny and Bob talk about Bruce in that setting.
Another radio station employee noted that Joe and Johnny had similar accents.
Johnny said he is amazed about the contacts he got from all over the U.S. and some from Canada about his appearance on True Detective.
He said his Facebook crashed about two minutes after the show’s finale.
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On my reading list– I just finished Say You’re Sorry, which was excellent and have just started Innocent Sleep.
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With Joel, Celia and Whitney out of town last Thursday afternoon and Marshall in the field bedding sweet potatoes, I ended up taking pictures at a softball game with both granddaughters in tow.
Five-year-old Addi Clarie is no problem, but it was a little different with 2-year-old Ellie Kathryn.
It was a spring break game at Vardaman for the Lady Rams and Calhoun?City Lady Wildcats.
For the first 15 minutes, Ellie Kathryn rode my hip, which made it a little more than difficult to hold the camera, much less take a photo.
Then I got her and Addi Claire a bag of popcorn. That helped a lot. After they tired of that, they saw a little boy from day care, Grayer Long.
Grayer had a bag of potato chips, so Ellie Kathryn followed him around for 10 minutes with her hand held out for a potato chip.
Machelle Denley saved the day. She and daughter Jemma and Grayer and his mother Kayla took Addi Claire and Ellie Kathryn over to a small fenced area for them to “play in the dirt.”
So I headed to the dugout to get some pictures without my assistants.
Every once in a while I peeked around the corner to make sure all was okay. And it was for about 15 minutes.
Then I heard a wailing Ellie Kathryn crying “NANA!” It took her that long to realize she couldn’t see me, and that was the end of the photos at the softball game.
I had seen Gayle Bullard pull up to the field with his Yellow Lab Bud riding in the back as always.
I told the girls we would stop and visit him on the way out.
They hugged and loved on that dog for 10 minutes, and Ellie Kathryn cried when we left. Maybe I should have left the two of them in the back end of the pickup with Bud while I was taking pictures.
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Just when we think our cell service in Bruce is going to improve, it gets snatched away. Right now the FCC?says the planned tower by Bruce Community Living Center is too tall.
Hopefully that will get worked out.
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Lots of events coming up with the Calhoun City Chamber’s Spring Fling on Thursday, March 27 at the Methodist Corner. Several businesses have registered to host booths showing some of their spring offerings.
Bruce will host a different kind of Spring Fling on Saturday, April 19 on the square that will include a community Easter Egg Hunt. Easter is April 20.
The weekly Throwback Thursday’s (farmer’s market) will be starting back in May on the Bruce Square as well.
Becky Wright told the chamber Monday they already had vendors and musicians signing up.
E-mail Lisa McNeece: lisamcneece@gmail.com follow her on twitter @lisamcneece