Greensboro Daily Photo

Bumble Bees: The Great Pollinators

Here we see a close up of a bumble bee in a lavender garden in northwest Greensboro. Locally, the lavender has passed its peak, at least for the first blooming. Bumble bees* have been visiting diligently since the first hint of a bloom. Actually, North Carolina is a great habitat for bumble bees, in that it isn't as hot as some of the other southern states. Ted Mitchell, who curated the North Carolina State University bee collection for more than thirty years, wrote two books on about bumble bees. Bumble bees are mid-identified as there are some copy-cat species (more here). Since sharp regional decline among honey bees has been noted in the region, those bumble bees and bumble bee "wanna-bees" are increasinly important to pollinating our plants. If you are an expert in been, please let us know if the above are bumble bees, or not........

*Everything you ever wanted to know about the body of a bumble bee can be found here! Locally, when we want to know about bees and beekeeping, we head to the Yanceville Curbside Market and talk to Mr. Mullins who has been selling honey there for years.

T is for Tolerance

Today, we are at Guilford College celebrating ABC Wednesday. After reading the article in Sunday's News & Record by Guilford College President Kent Chabotar, we were inspired to use Guilford College to represent "tolerance." Chabotar, who has been president and professor of political science at Guilford College since 2002, reminds us that the college's Quaker founders risked so much to promote peace and tolerance. He also quoted President Kennedy, saying that "(t)olerance implies no lack of commitment to one's own beliefs. Rather it condemns the opression or persecution of others."  

Increasingly, it is getting harder to find people who tolerate people with beliefs other than the ones they hold. We are a society dichotomized into democrats/republicans; liberals/conservatives; on and on. Chabotar says that to promote diversity of ideas, you need to "(t)hink it possible you might be mistaken" and we need to "(p)rotect the rights of others to be different." Finally, he quotes Voltaire about dissent: "I do not agree with what you say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it" (N&R, 5/27/12, p. H3, col. 3). As Greensboro becomes increasingly diverse, how can we maintain that core Quaker value- TOLERANCE?

Thank you, President Chabotar, for getting us to ponder: TOLERANCE.

O. Henry Portrait

Today, we bring you a portrait of Greensboro's world famous writer, O. Henry- born William Sydney Porter- who lived from 1862-1910. This painting was commissioned for the opening of the new O. Henry Hotel in 1998. The original O. Henry Hotel was built in 1919 and torn down in 1979. The current property evokes the old-world charm of the original hotel and gives a nod to O. Henry himself.

Local artist Frank P. "Chip" Holton, III did a great job of making the painting look like it was painted during O. Henry's lifetime. Also, he situated the painting in Greensboro as O. Henry is reading a Greensboro newspaper. Holton has made over 500 pieces of original art for the Quaintance-Weaver group. In the Quaintance-Weaver properties alone, Holton has quite a reperitore;  with his art ranging from modern to traditional to a 17th-century inspired mural- a still-life. If you have a little time one afternoon, stop by for tea at the hotel and have a closer look at the above photo. As for us, we hope to interview Holton this summer so we can find out how he decided to paint O. Henry in this pose. Happy Tuesday, folks!

 

 

Happy Memorial Day

This photo was taken last year at the Memorial Day service at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Greensboro. A service was held there yesterday. Hopefully, it was well attended. We're trying to find events today, but a google search did not produce many results. It appears that nearby Thomasville is having  a parade and wreath laying ceremony (more here) and the Stratford Retirement Community in High Point is having an event. We hope that the flag raising ceremony will take place at Friendly Center; however, we can't find it advertised. Speaking of advertisement, there is no shortage of announcements for Memorial Day sales in retail stores. If you know of an event remembering the hard work of our veterans, do let us know.

In the meantime, happy summer, dear readers. Children are chomping at the bit to be finished with school. Teachers are scrambling to figure out how on earth they are going to get their end-of-year checklists completed. In the midst of all this consumerism and closing out of the school and haralding in of summer, let's do set aside some time to thank our veterans.

Mt. Pisgah United Methodist Church

Mt. PIsgah United Methodist Church is located at the corner of Pisgah Church Road and Battleground Avenue. We've featured it several times before (here & here). However, it just looks so majestic as we are leaving the Lowe's Home Improvement Store that we can't resist photographing it! This congregation of over 1,200 people dates back to 1845-- before the Civil War. The original one-room wooden building was located about a half a mile west of the current brick building.* The church offers both traditional and contemporary, non-liturgical, services. 

We hope you are enjoying your Memorial Day Weekend. In driving around town yesterday, Greensboro sure seemed empty. Greensboroians are like that. On extended weekends, the mountains, lakes, and the beach lure our citizens away only to have them return and be thankful that they are part of our community. We bet the people at Mt. Pisgah feel the same way after missing a week or two of church.

*history here. 

See you at the Pool

In Greensboro, Memorial Day weekend is a huge weekend for swim and racquet clubs. With only 8 days of school left, many families opt to stay in town for this last three-day weekend before the start of summer vacation. In the above photo, we feature the pool at Starmount Forest Country Club, just off Holden Road at Market Street. Starmount Forest, dating back to 1930, is a private country club on 150 acres.* Starmount is the English translation of Sternberger. It may have been quiet on the day we took this photo; however, if you drive by this weekend, during the day, it will be teeming with joyful children thrilled to have a three day weekend and to have a chance to hang out at the pool.

We hope you are having a great weekend. Will you be swimming? Last time we checked, the water was above 80 degrees-- swimmable! See you at the pool.

We're sharing this with Weekend Reflections.

*their website here.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game............

Take me out to the ball game. Take me out with the crowd.* This 1908 song is the unofficial anthem of baseball. While it is traditionally sung during the seventh-inning stretch, the song is on the tip of everyone's tongue when they think of baseball. The Greensboro Grasshoppers won't be playing at home until their Memorial Day game on Monday; however, the above photo reminds us that it is a holiday weekend-- a time for family and friends... and photos galore. The stadium is the perfect place to get a postcard perfect picture with the word GREENSBORO, providing a sense of Americana to your photo.

Currently, the Bryan Foundation owns the stadium; however, the ownership group of the Grasshoppers is hoping to purchase the stadium. The ownership issue has created a little bit of controversy. The important thing is for the stadium to remain the affordable, vibrant place for family-friendly fun. Greensboro loves its baseball. May "take me out to the ballgame" ring loud and clear for decades to come. Happy Friday, dear readers. 

 

*reference.

Hydrangea-gold

Believe it or not, our flora photos are extremely popular. People consistently search the ornamental cabbage photos; so much so that we now feature one a year. Additionally, our Lady Banks Rose photo is one of the most searched photos. One man even went to the house of this featured specimen to get a cutting to propogate. These are the photos that tend to bring visitors worldwide to GDP.

Closer to home, readers help us identify what we have seen on our "nature" walks (here). Today, we are featuring  a hydrangea with a marigold stuck in the middle. We're pretty much purists when it comes to photos and don't ever Photoshop photos. However, we were not above sticking a marigold in the middle of a hydrangea to add a little color to our life and to the yard. So, happy Thursday, readers. The children of Guilford County Schools are really excited that they're on the ten day countdown until summer and teachers are madly trying to figure out how they're going to keep all of the students engaged with all that summer excitement on the horizon. Here's to keeping everything beautiful in our gardens, hearts, schools and lives..... one day at a time!