The Root of the Jack O'Lantern

It was all Stingy Jack's idea. Originally carved out of turnips and potatoes, the tradition of  carving pumpkins into Jack O'Lanterns stems from an Irish folktale about the devil and a sly man named "Stingy Jack." 

“According to the story, Stingy Jack invited the Devil to have a drink with him. True to his name, Stingy Jack didn’t want to pay for his drink, so he convinced the Devil to turn himself into a coin that Jack could use to buy their drinks. Once the Devil did so, Jack decided to keep the money and put it into his pocket next to a silver cross, which prevented the Devil from changing back into his original form. Jack eventually freed the Devil, under the condition that he would not bother Jack for one year and that, should Jack die, he would not claim his soul. The next year, Jack again tricked the Devil into climbing into a tree to pick a piece of fruit. While he was up in the tree, Jack carved a sign of the cross into the tree’s bark so that the Devil could not come down until the Devil promised Jack not to bother him for ten more years. Soon after, Jack died. As the legend goes, God would not allow such an unsavory figure into heaven. The Devil, upset by the trick Jack had played on him and keeping his word not to claim his soul, would not allow Jack into hell. He sent Jack off into the dark night with only a burning coal to light his way. Jack put the coal into a carved-out turnip and has been roaming the Earth with ever since. The Irish began to refer to this ghostly figure as “Jack of the Lantern,” and then, simply “Jack O’Lantern.”

In Ireland and Scotland, people began to make their own versions of Jack’s lanterns by carving scary faces into turnips or potatoes and placing them into windows or near doors to frighten away Stingy Jack and other wandering evil spirits. In England, large beets are used. Immigrants from these countries brought the jack o’lantern tradition with them when they came to the United States. They soon found that pumpkins, a fruit native to America, make perfect jack-o’-lanterns.”

— www.history.com/topics/halloween/jack-olantern-history

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(photographs taken at Fearrington Village Pumpkinfest in Pittsboro)

Magic Touch

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(photographs taken at the historic Horace Williams House in Chapel Hill)

All Roads Lead to China

(photograph taken on Franklin Street between Columbia and Henderson streets in Chapel Hill)

Channelling Joplin

“Don’t compromise yourself. You are all you’ve got.”

— Janis Joplin

(photograph taken at Weaver Street Market in Carrboro)

Get His Goat

Clearly I was interrupting his afternoon siesta.

(photograph taken at Fearrington Village near The Barn in Pittsboro)

Pick Up Lines

This blunt-nose beauty seen in Chapel Hill is like a metaphor for Americana. The Chevrolet Apache half-ton pickup with its iconic curved body lines remains a distinct classic more than 50 years since its introduction. In 1958, the 6-cylinder light duty truck was designed with quad headlamps and wrap-around windshields -- an industry first -- intended to give drivers more visibility. Original price of the base model ran about $2,300 in 1958. Today, upwards of $50,000 in pristine condition.

(photograph taken off of Battle Lane in Chapel Hill)

Can You Dig It?

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(photograph taken on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill)

Light Painting

Imagine reaching into the sky and plunging a dip pen into the phosphorescent arcs of fireworks streams, then painting across the sky. In lieu of the pen, use the camera lens to stretch these colors into swirls and sweeps, gushes and drizzles. This technique is called painting with light and occurs when a light source is in motion while taking a long exposure photograph.

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(photographs taken of fireworks over Governors Club in Chapel Hill)

Under the Banner

“I hope that every American, regardless of where he lives, will stop and examine his conscience about this and other related incidents. This nation was founded by men of many nations and backgrounds. It was founded on the principle that all men are created equal, and that the rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened.”

— John F. Kennedy, Civil Rights Address

The banners in the above two images appeared for a brief time during Carrboro's July 4th Celebration near the corner of Greensboro and Weaver streets in Carrboro. Below, two images of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's confederate soldier, dubbed Silent Sam, partially cloaked in a white wrap after the controversial statue was defaced with graffiti reading "black lives matter," "KKK" and "murderer." Media news outlets peppered the lawn near the statue, which was erected in 1913 as a tribute to UNC alumni who died in the Civil War and also UNC students who fought on the side of the Confederacy.

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Silent Sam controversial statue of confederate soldier dubbed Silent Sam.

(photographs taken in Carrboro and Chapel Hill)

Carrboro: Faces of the Fourth

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(photographs taken at the Carrboro July 4th Celebration at on Weaver Street down to Town Hall)

Road Trip: Carolina Beach at Dark

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(photographs taken at Carolina Beach, NC, about a 2.5-hour drive from Chapel Hill/Carrboro on 1-40)

Sidewalk Swingin'

“There is a place where the sidewalk ends and before the street begins, and there the grass grows soft and white, and there the sun burns crimson bright, and there the moon-bird rests from his flight to cool in the peppermint wind.

Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black and the dark street winds and bends. Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow we shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow and watch where the chalk-white arrows go to the place where the sidewalk ends.

Yes we’ll walk with a walk that is measured and slow, and we’ll go where the chalk-white arrows go, for the children, they mark, and the children, they know, the place where the sidewalk ends.”

— Shel Silverstein, Where the Sidewalk Ends

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(photograph taken on the sidewalks adjacent to Weaver Street in Carrboro)

Live Art: Command Performance

Flecks, streaks and arcs dart across a blank mat board as artist Marcelle Harwell Pachnowski paints among a backdrop of spectators and a rumbling band. Crouch. Head tilt. Lean. A live performance emerges as the artist's bold colors flash across the surface of the large-scale piece....culminating in a rendering, worthy of a bow.

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(photographs taken at Weaver Street Market in Carrboro)

Pour Out Soul

“Soul music is about longevity and reaching and touching people on a human level. And that’s never going to get lost.”

— Jill Scott

Rhonda Robichaux's (above) striking voice, rich in soul, charges across a crowded lawn at Weaver Street Market in Carrboro. She and her band perform again in Carrboro on Independence Day.

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(photographs taken at Weaver Street Market in Carrboro)

Glorious Indeed

(photograph taken at Town Hall off on Main Street in Carrboro)

Head and Shoulders Above

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(photograph taken at The Lumina theatre in Southern Village in Chapel Hill)

Train of Thought

“It is what you read when you don’t have to that determines what you will be when you can’t help it.”

— Oscar Wilde

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(photograph of Southern Rail located at 201-C East Main Street, the corner of Main and Weaver streets in Carrboro)

By a Nose

BowBarr's long-lashed, mustached "Carrboro Man" mural juts out by a nose around the corner of the building located at 705 West Rosemary Street in Carrboro. It was created by local artist Scott Nurkin in 2013 whose cadre of signature murals around town include Greetings from Chapel Hill (off of Rosemary Street near Colombia Street in downtown Chapel Hill), and the newly painted Dean Smith mural (off of Smith Level Road and US 15-501 in Chapel Hill near the Orange/Chatham county line).

(photograph taken off of Rosemary Street in Carrboro)

Porch Sittin': Relax and Watch the World Unravel

(photograph taken near the corner of Rosemary and Main streets in Carrboro)

Mirror Mirror on the Wall

(photograph taken of Salon 2eleven on the corner of Main and Lloyd streets in Carrboro)