The cup

About a month ago, my favorite drinking cup had a mishap with gravity and I needed another one. This cup was a piece of pottery from the Seagrove area. It had dented sides that fit my hand perfectly. I bought my other cup several years ago........... and to remember where, out of a couple of dozen potters in the area..........was going to be a brain squeeze. Liz took over camera duty so I could focus all my brain cells on finding the right potter. Liz, with her artistic eye, is an excellent photographer and all the images are hers.
I choose a country route through the rolling hills of the Uwharries which took us through Coleridge. Coleridge was a cotton mill community on the Deep river. The mill is no longer producing cotton products or a community....................only photo opportunities.
When we approached the Seagrove area, I knew it was going to be a hit and miss endeavor. Each potter store we explored, I quickly scanned for the cups while Liz was chasing light with her camera. After several false alarms, I recognized "Hard Times pottery" as the place I remembered..........except........it was closed.
I hesitated to leave and wondered, sense this was a private residence, the owner may be sitting in her kitchen......... watching us with binoculars.........trying to decide, are they buyers or lookers. I tried to look as disappointed as I could. I imagined I just found out I was adopted and my parents are from the South Bronx and has never had grits or fried bologna. After a few moments, a car pulled up........and it was the owner.
She had three cups left and one fit perfectly. On the way home, I was thinking that Liz and I just had a wonderful treasure hunt. I found two treasures.....a cup........and another........"remember that time".......with Liz.

Johnsons cheeseburgers

Liz and I took a day trip to Johnsons in Siler City for cheeseburgers. So you may ask, why go over an hour away and to, of all places, Siler City for cheeseburgers? The best way to answer this is to say...........just go............ and then you will understand. Johnsons is on Highway 64 in Siler City. Mr. Johnson opens around 10:30 A.M. for lunch only and stays open until the hamburger meat runs out. Johnsons was opened in 1946 by Mr. Johnson's father and only the prices have changed. The meat is still bought locally and prepared by Mr. Johnson from the processing to the grill. He tops his cheeseburgers with a generous portion of Velveeta cheese and all the fixins as you request.

Entertainment at Johnsons

Going to Johnsons for their cheeseburgers is worth the trip alone.............but the entertainment is an added bonus.
The show is a traditional southern event called "who are you?" and is often performed in small local diners, especially if you are from out of town..........you become the star of the show. As I stood at the end of the bar to take an overall photograph of the interior, the person at the end of the bar asked, Who are you with?........a newspaper or a magazine?..........My innocent answer was,"just for me, just for fun." Immediately, the person to his left threw an elbow into his side with the question,"what he say?" The elbows continued down the line until everyone sitting at the bar knew it was just for me, just for fun. I felt like I did when I was a kid and our family would go see our relatives after church on Sunday. I would have to go to the bathroom and prayed I wouldn't fart out loud.
Liz and I sat at the bar where the person on both Liz's right and my left asked,"Who are you?" Liz's friend grew up in Siler City, was in his late 60's and was the baseball coach at his high school. My bar friend was a middle age woman, moved to Siler City 30 years ago from somewhere else. Two years after she moved to Siler City, she lost her husband. He died on duty as a policeman on Christmas night. She is a regular at Johnsons and everybody knew her . She elbowed me(as a rule, always start with an elbow to the side) and pointed to a couple of motorcycle dudes and asked, I wonder who they are and where they are from?" I said, Why don't you go ask them?" She was off her stool before I could finished my sentence and in only a few moments created a group laugh with total strangers. There are no strangers at Johnsons.