We Love Durham NC

Swiper, No Swiping!

Sunday morning found us motivated to do some home improvement, so I went around measuring things that needed parts replaced and taking notes. We took these notes to the Home Depot and started filling our order. We quickly traded the buggy for a flatbed cart that I found parked in a long row of such carts outside the building materials entrance.

We gathered lattice pieces, measured and cut molding, waited in a longish line to ask about stair treads, looked for fence parts in three different places, looked at trees, and found some items on sale, too. The cart was loaded and it took about an hour and a half.

The last item we needed was a length of foam to cover the A/C pipe. I parked the bulky cart, went one aisle over to ask an orange-vested employee where I could find foam tubing, and went over one more aisle to get the tubing. We quickly measured it and turned around to get our cart, which was now… gone.

Stunned, we walked up and down the store looking for the cart. By this time, the kids were exhausted, hungry, and worried that I was going to try to gather the items again. (I wasn’t.)

No cart. The fencing guy came by and said, yeah, you have to hold onto your cart or people will dump your stuff and steal the cart. The cashier confirmed this.

I cannot believe someone will up and steal your cart in the Home Depot.

Broad Street Cafe Photos

On Saturday, we walked over to Broad Street Cafe and my first thought was somebody burned something. Then I saw the wood stove and remembered why it smelled like that.

Here’s the old play area. A lot cleaner, but no puzzles. When I first got there on Saturday, though, there were more kids than adults in the cafe. They were sitting at the bar playing Nintendo DSs. The kids’ music and storytelling events will return in November.

Other impressions: there are a fair number of vegan options on the menu, but not pastries because those are from Guglhupf. It looks very upscale in the cafe now, but still comfortable. The stage is flanked by black velvet theater curtains, looking more like a stage.

New Science & Math Students Move In

or, New Science & Math Students Maius Opus Moveo In

Move-in started at 9am this morning at the School of Science and Math (a magnet boarding school for academically talented juniors and seniors from across North Carolina, located in the old Watts Hospital at the corner of Broad and Club).

I was an alumni volunteer, positioned at the Reynolds circle with teachers sporting yellow t-shirts, members of the student orientation committee, current seniors, and current parent volunteers. As soon as a car backed into the circle, new students and their moms and dads and siblings were met with a whoosh of volunteers ready to carry dorm-gear up stairs and elevators. Inside, smiling student greeters handed out packets, water, fruit snacks.

What room is this going to? Is that Reynolds C, D, or E? Okay, grab a hand-truck for the fridge. Let’s go. Hold the elevator! So where are you from? Oh, I know somebody from there. Here it is, what a great room you got. Okay, you’re set, have a great year!

So many things the new students brought! Coordinating bed linens, plastic baskets of toiletries, laptops, mini fridges, DVD collections, posters were common; but also a harp, a guitar and amp, a blender, a papasan chair. With so many more students, I saw many double rooms have been converted to triples, and the single on my old hall is now a double. It’ll be a tight fit for the chair, I think.

I wandered over to Bryan to see other alumni volunteers, but quickly hurried back to Reynolds. Bryan has changed so much, I wasn’t much use. I couldn’t even find my way out of the building from that side of campus! Before I left, I recognized Dr. Boarman driving gear across the lawn to the Bryan/Beall entrance in a golf cart (steel ramps covered the stairs).

I also saw the most charming scene, and regretted leaving my camera in the car. A family was helping their son move in, and the little sister–maybe 3 years old–led the way, carrying a lamp shade, excitement and determination on her face, not realizing her brother was leaving home for good but perhaps one day looking back with inspiration, his experience sparking her own little fire of interest in math and science. It was more touching than I can describe. The whole morning was pretty darn touching.

Happy adventures, juniors! Make the most of it.

Broad Street Cafe Discount for Duke Employees

The newly renovated Broad Street Cafe is offering a 10% discount for Duke employees with a valid ID.

Duke families, I bet you’ll be surprised at the number of local businesses offering discounts. Click here for a directory. 

State of Durham’s Children 2008 Features Jim Hunt

North Carolina’s Education Governor, Jim Hunt, will deliver the keynote at the State of Durham’s Children event on the morning of September 23rd.

Click here to download the State of Durham’s Children 2008 flyer (PDF). 

Blacklighting

We went blacklighting last night at the science museum in Durham. Blacklighting is sitting in the dark with a really bright light, watching and collecting bugs attracted to that light.

The two blacklight stations were set up on the boardwalk leading to the bears and lemurs, one halfway and one down at the water area. The boardwalk, of course, goes over and beside the pond, juicy with bug life. The best time to blacklight is after a heavy rain when there is no moon, so conditions were not ideal, but we were able to see moths and beetles and various flies.

Leon, the entomologist who does the bug outreach programs, also to school groups, held an excellent Q&A as the last bits of sun went down. We learned that there are 4 kinds of “bugs” including insects, spiders, ‘pedes, and the kind you eat (shrimp and other crustaceans), and that there used to be a 5th kind, the trilobites.

About 75 people attended, mostly parents and children, but also some groups of adults. We were there from 8:30 to 10:30pm, and as the night wore on, most people left except the hard-core bug collectors.

A bright mercury light was set up to attract the insects, a UV light made them want to hang around, and a large sheet was hung to allow for easier viewing, and to give the bugs something to land on.

Our best find was a very big diving bug. (Looked like a roach to me.) The middle-school aged boy who had a container to capture it held it between his finger and thumb and said, “It’s biting me, ouch.”

Next time we will think to bring lots of containers to transport the bugs home and strong flashlights to spy all the loud frogs in the pond. And, yes, it does seem very backward to bring bugs into our house, but ’tis life with the Boy. As long as they stay downstairs, m’kay? And in their enclosures.

Oh, we also saw a bullfrog eating a tree frog, and heard a frog called a Banjo Frog. It really sounds like a loose banjo string.

Look at a Durham Naturalist’s photos of moths and other bugs here. 

Daisy Cakes Cupcakes Day Two

I asked Ms. Daisy Cakes what time the pop’t arts sold out. She said last Saturday they sold out at 10:30. For today, they had made a double-batch, and they sold out at 10:30. So next week, perhaps a triple batch. Or perhaps we’ll roll ourselves out of bed a little earlier.

I did try a little sample of the pop’t art trimmings (no filling). It tasted like a crispy butter cookie. Yeah, next week earlier for sure.

We’ve tasted all the cupcakes now except the banana. The best is the Pink Lemonade.

A friend had the special of the day (pictured below), a cupcake with maple/brown sugar crumble topping.

Two other additions this week: a pop-up tent for shade and a seating area (2 tables with chairs). People were grabbing all other shady areas to be found, on the stairs near Central Park School, beside nearby buildings, and on the Old North Durham playground.

Eye on University Marketplace: Middle of August 2008

Aaron Rents is gone, the pieces separated into recycling-friendly piles of rubble. The demolition company is hard at work on the old Kroger building now.

Sitar India Palace is still open, as reported. There are signs directing traffic around the fencing into the parking area.

Drawing Class at the Library

We were at the Main branch of the library for the Boy and some companions to take a drawing class. It was one of the library’s free programs for kids. Our favorite children’s librarian–the one from Minnesota if you’ve ever chatted with him–is also an artist, and was giving the lesson in the children’s room class area. I like that the lesson was about drawing clouds. You can’t imagine that you’ve gotten a cloud wrong (the Boy is an art-phobe). Next lesson they’ll be outside drawing trees. Excellent! Happy little trees.

The favorite librarian said most of the large drawings in the library, of book characters like Arthur, Winnie the Pooh, Harry Potter, were done by projecting the image on a sheet taped to the wall, then tracing the image. Others are done free-hand, like the dinosaurs on the back wall.

Voter Registration Outside Main Library

These two ladies were registering people to vote outside the Main branch library today. They had lollipops and everything. They said they did not work for an organization, though that’s a profile of Obama on their hats (they said “Obama” as I snapped the photo).

Harris Teeter Opens at Hope Valley Commons

Harris Teeter opened yesterday as the anchor of the new shopping center at the corner of Highway 54 and Hope Valley Rd. (Highway 751), Hope Valley Commons, in the rapidly growing Southwest part of Durham.
The store is similar to the one on Martin Luther King Parkway, but newer and bigger than the one near the corner of 54 and Fayetteville.

Some features of note:

• olive bar
• salad bar
• large prepared foods / deli area
• order ahead and pickup groceries at scheduled time
• open 24 hours
• pharmacy
• Harry the Dragon ride for little ones*
• parking reserved for customers with children, beside a covered tent for buggies (like the Chapel Hill North Harris Teeter)
• rocket-themed buggies for kids
• Starbucks (looks like Durham increased the number of Starbucks while other towns were losing locations)
• large floral selection

As others have noted, the parking lot seems smallish, and I learned not to park in the main row coming off the entrance because of the number of incoming cars. We will probably continue to shop at the MLK location, but this Harris Teeter has a large market in the neighborhoods south of us.

The dragon ride is 50 cents and the song has changed. I miss the “Go Harry! Go Harry! Go Harris Teeter Dragon!” but it’s good to see he’s back in service.

National Night Out in Our Neighborhood

Our neighborhood held its inaugural National Night Out celebration last night, along with 74 other neighborhoods in Durham and countless neighborhoods across the US.

About 1/3 of our street came to the potluck, which featured kielbasa, cream cheese grapes, potato salad, corn/bean salad, melon, several seasonal tomato dishes, brownies, cupcakes, sodas, and sweet tea. We met new neighbors and people who’ve lived here for 20+ years. We met three generations of a family; the mom said she used to babysit for the kids who lived in our house years ago. We talked about which company does the best fences, schools that our kids or grandkids will be going to this fall, the neighborhood creek, and what the marks on our road mean (it will be re-graded and paved soon).

National Night Out is a crime prevention awareness event, and so police officers stopped by. They had jr. police officer stickers for the kids, and patiently answered their questions: Is that a real gun? (yes) Will you handcuff me? (no) Can I at least see your handcuffs? (yes) Can I hold your gun? (no) Can I see your bullets? (yes) Is your job dangerous? (yes, every day) Did you know I can climb on my bunkbed without a ladder? (no, cool)

The kids ran off to play in the backyard, and the adults had a chance to thank the police officers for their service to the city, and to offer sweet tea and brownies.

Later, we all walked around the neighborhood, chatting and dropping off people at their homes. As the sun set, the flashlights came out, and we saw bats.

I can’t wait for next year. We’ll make ice cream next year.

Tacos y Tortas

There is a new grill inside the convenience store at the corner of University and Dixon, called Tacostumbras. The convenience store cashier said, yes, they have lunch and dinner but also breakfast, from 9am to 9pm, and that the sandwiches are the best, yes, ham and turkey but also some nice “Mexican sandwiches” with spices. I am not sure if a Mexican sandwich is a sandwich as I would define it (that is, having two slices of bread) or if that was his description of what I would call a burrito or quesadilla, but I do know I will be finding out soon.

I am sad sometimes we no longer live in walking distance of a convenience store. There are always so many good stories inside.

Snips and Snails and Lizard Tails

The Boy ran in the house, holding something thin and blue-green, followed by the three girls with their eyes big and round. “I was holding a skink and it dropped its tail!” Everyone started telling the story at once… they had captured a skink (a hard thing to do) and the Boy was holding it by its tail (and under its body, he corrected) when all of a sudden it dropped its tail and ran up a tree. I am sure they were being gentle enough, but the thing must have been very frightened of little-kid squealing.

So now we have a skink tail in our nature tray. “Put it by the dead stuff,” he said. You know, the cicada shells and dried crawdads.

Harris Teeter School Donation Program

If you shop at Harris Teeter, don’t forget to re-link your VIC card to the Together in Education donation program for the new year starting August 1st.