Tennis With Love & Janice McDonald

September 8, 2022April 24, 2025 bgibson135

The above picture was taken for and appeared in a local Myrtle Beach business promotional booklet. It came out weekly. The publication’s name was “Coast”. *Not sure if it was for this publication, or whether we were running ads in the local newspaper, but I recall wrestling with creating small ads for TWL. When you have limited space, every word and image counts, and that provided creative fun. How do you catch someone’s attention with the fewest items? Which words or images need to be bigger, smaller or left out completely?

I see that the above COAST Magazine from 1985 had a $2 price on it. I thought the magazine was a free publication, sent out as advertising for the various Myrtle Beach businesses.

I had graduated from UNC-Wilmington the previous year (1976) and was playing a bunch of tennis, living with my mother in Jacksonville, North Carolina. I don’t recall how I met Doug Echols, but he was the Wilmington businessman who purchased the name, “Tennis With Love” from some ladies who had a small tennis specialty shop, with that name, in Wilmington, NC. I interviewed with Doug and he selected me to be the manager of “Tennis With Love” located in the Rainbow Harbor shopping center in Myrtle Beach, SC. *I thought TWL had closed in Wilmington until I was googling this morning and found they had moved down Oleander Drive into a small house. I drove by this location just yesterday & didn’t see the sign. Might try to stop by sometime now that I know they are still active. I thought it was just a women’s tennis shop, but I see by visiting their current web site that it is not.

I often had questions as to whether Doug really wanted “Tennis With Love” to “work” or whether he was intending to use it for a tax write-off. I wish you could have seen the above picture in color. Behind the two girls in the picture, on the wall, was painted a large frog with a great big tennis ball for a stomach. *The picture of the frog had been drawn directly on the painted divider wall. And, because Tennis With Love did not last very long, when it came time to clear out, the ornate frog had to be left behind. I’m guessing that it was probably destroyed when the divider wall came down.

I say “two girls”. The girl in the white pants was a secretary for the “Rainbow Harbor” shopping center. I don’t recall her name, and the first of two Myrtle Beach “malls” hadn’t been completed yet. *I seem to recall that Doug had been negotiating with someone for a spot in the first mall in Myrtle Beach, but something had happened and I think it was “Foot Locker” got the advantage and went in the mall. Doug had to settle for second best. And that probably was the death knell for TWL. You see, the shop looked great. I was an avid tennis player (would later teach tennis to adults & youth on a “city” level), and I knew the language and game in 1977, so I was a good match for TWL.

“Death knell?” Well, the thing about being in a mall, or not, was that if it was a rainy day at the beach, what do people do? They go to the mall to eat or shop, and that provides “foot” traffic, which at Rainbow Harbor there might be several hours where no customers (or potential customers) came into the store.

The other “girl” in the white tennis dress, and I recall that even for her ultra thin frame, it was a tight fit to get into this dress (just for the picture), was Janice McDonald. I’m guessing that she was probably a Sophomore in college, and this was her summer job. A couple of years later (1979) Janice would win the Miss South Carolina USA contest, and go on to be a world traveler, and television producer (CNN), and even a writer (The Varsity).

There was a deli next door to the tennis shop and I had many good sandwiches there, including Blutwurst. I had even worked out a deal for a discount on the meals I had at this deli. *I do recall that as TWL was “folding” it came time to pay my current tab, and they didn’t give me the discount;-) Still, I think I came to love blood sausage and those other specialty meats from this time.

During my short time in Myrtle Beach, I joined the Myrtle Beach Tennis Club, and got to “call lines” for an exhibition tennis match that included Roscoe Tanner. I don’t recall who the other player was (Stan Smith?), but he was as probably well known. *My memory, not their notability. I do recall that during the exhibition match, I called a ball “out” and I think it was Stan Smith that came over, looked at the spot, and marked it by circling with the edge of his tennis racket. **Now, I might guess that I called it wrong, but he said nothing, and went ahead and finished the match, and I called it as I saw it. ***Not fun calling lines, because if you do it properly, you can’t spend time enjoying the match.

I do recall that the Inter-Coastal Waterway butted up right next to the courts, and at least once, I saw a large boat passing close by, just behind the court fencing.

I think this is the Doug Echols that was a little older than myself (b.1948), and who died in 2006.

I don’t recall what car I was driving in 1977. Could have been the 1971 Pontiac LeMans that mom had bought me for my high school Senior year present. We did have a butterscotch colored AMC Pacer around this time. I did live in Socastee in a shared mobile home.

I think I bought, at wholesale, a pair of Fila tennis shorts & a shirt. I do recall that even at wholesale prices, they were very expensive. It would be amazing to see how small the shorts were, since I have been a “fat” man most of my life, but then I was probably in my prime.

I had one of these that I called a “Red Head”. This was my favorite racket because it combined power with control. Not too long afterward, the larger headed rackets came out and made this an inferior racket because it had such a small “sweet spot”.

I loved opening a new can of tennis balls, listening to the whoosh sound as the compressed air escaped. The “fresh” smell. I preferred playing with Wilson tennis balls because they had less knap than did the Penn balls.

One time, I wore out a brand new pair of tennis shoes in one month. They weren’t poorly made, but I was playing a bunch of tennis. I might play so much tennis that when I went home to rest, my big toes would hurt, and they might still be sore the next day as I was going back out to the courts. I did use Shoe Goo to temporarily repair my worn out shoes, but found that the price of Shoe Goo and the length of wear it provided meant I could buy a new pair of shoes about as cheaply as continuing to apply the Shoe Goo.

My favorite courts were located across town at the Jacksonville High School. At some point, I began to bicycle across town to the courts, even though I had a car. Surprisingly it took only a short time to go across town. Maybe 15 minutes or less, so this was a disappointment as far as getting any real exercise.

During my tennis days, I did go to Richmond, VA (I think.) to a Tennis Vendor’s convention. I also saw Roscoe Tanner, a left-hander, and recall that although his left arm was extremely developed, his right arm looked weak, as though he had suffered some disease in it like polio.

And, I bought a professional quality tennis racquet stringer. I think it cost between $200 – $400, which was a good chunk of change, back then. This was a large, floor model. I don’t recall the name of the company that made it, but probably will. *Googled, and the company was “Wingfield”. Stringing machines are now small, table top models.

John Merritt gave me a couple of white Prince tennis racquets (for free because he felt sorry for me) and I think it was one of those I was using when I blew out the ligaments in my right knee.

*John was sort of a Neanderthal, stocky, muscular man who drove a vintage Corvette convertible. He was a few years older than me, and had “student taught” at Swansboro High School, but not taught me, and I think he was J.V. Football coach at least one year at Swansboro. But, that would have been about 1970-1, and several years later we would meet again and become tennis buddies. For a long time, when we shook hands he would squeeze my hand incredibly hard making me cringe. And finally, one day I decided that I wasn’t going to cringe. I decided that if he broke my hand, I was going to make him pay for the medical bills. When I didn’t cringe, I said something to the effect, “You break it, you pay for it,” and from that time onward he never put the mega-squeeze on my hand;-)

Of the racquets shown above, my favorite was the Red Head. The Head racquet with the brown plastic throat piece is hauntingly familiar, so I must have had one of those. I know I had a Pancho Gonzalzes signed wooden racquet, that I eventually painted solid blue. I strung it with fishing line once, and it only took one swing of the racquet for the ball to slice through the fine string. But, I also strung it properly, but unaware, I began to have incredible shoulder pain. It finally dawned on me to stop using this wood racquet because it was injuring me. I hit a few times with a T-2000 racquet, but don’t recall if I actually owned one, but remember stringing one and hated the extra effort it required on the Wingfield stringer. I hit with the green Yonex that someone else owned, but didn’t like it. I think the aluminum frame was too light and didn’t give me power on the ball.

Hauntingly now, I have an image of an oversized headed racquet that I must have owned and enjoyed using, but I can’t seem to find an image of it online, and I’m not sure who made it. Could have been a Head racquet, maybe even an early Prince, but it had a light greyish plastic throat and I “have the feeling” that I enjoyed hitting with it. May have been what I was using when John Merritt gave me the two white Prince composite racquets. It wasn’t an Arthur Ashe racquet. *I eventually gave the two Prince racquets to Jeff Mitchell.

Finally found it! It was a racquet made by PDP (Professional Design Product). I think I had the grey throated version with the orange decal in the throat. Note the similarity between the Red Head and these PDP racquets. *Yes, for me, before going to the oversized headed racquets, this PDP racquet was my favorite. I was always looking for power & control because I had small wrists and hands and had to play a lot of tennis to have enough strength.

I think I read somewhere that you had to hit 350,000 tennis balls before you could become “good”. And, between the playing, and hitting against “the wall,” I easily surpassed that 350K benchmark. I was never that good at the net, because I had small wrists and didn’t have a lot of strength to block shots at the net. I had a decent backhand and forehand, and I enjoyed putting English on my serves. I liked changing up speed and slice or top spin, on my opponents, and trying to move them around, forehand and backhand.

NOTE: I’ll mention this other, slightly tennis related, note here. My second year in college, at Chapel Hill, I had a Freshman roommate that replaced the previous roommate (who came from Liberty, North Carolina, and had a girlfriend in Sevierville, Tennessee) who dropped out of college during the school year. The replacement guy was from Raleigh and he knew how to “cuss up a storm.” In fact, he was the first person I heard that used more than one cuss word in a single sentence. Not verbatim, but he might have said something like, “You motherfxxxing asshxx cocksuxxer.” A string of profanity. Unfortunately, I thought that was something to be emulated. I don’t recall his name, but he was an experienced tennis player and had a couple of gray Arthur Ashe composite rackets. I recall picking one up from off his bed in the dorm room. I wasn’t interested at all in tennis at that time, and he could have provided me with an excellent introduction to the sport, but I never asked. It would be the next year, when I was attending Campbell College, that I would start to teach myself how to play on their tennis courts that were located behind the Campus Post Office. *That building is no longer the current Post Office, and the tennis courts are no longer located there.

Our dorm room (318?) was located in Aycock Dorm (that dorm name dropped many years later because of that Governor’s racist tendencies). Most of the year, our room window would be open because we had really good heat from the radiator, and the room would just get too hot if the window was closed, even on most cold days. Well my cussing roommate had a game he played with the people that lived across the quad in Lewis Dorm. He would go to our open window and yell out across the way (not even sure you could actually see across because of the trees), “Lewis, Lewis, Lewis…” waiting between each time he said the name “Lewis.” And finally a reply would come from someone in Lewis dorm, “What.” And he would always say, “Eat Shit!” He did that over and over again, and I don’t know why anyone in Lewis Dorm would have ever answered him after the first half dozen times. “Lewis?”

Many years after my stay in Aycock Dorm, the open area between Aycock and it’s neighboring dorm were joined adding extra internal dorm space. Where we had parked bicycles was now part of the inside of this conjoined double dorm. *I did try to visit Aycock once, and got up the stairs at the one end of the 3rd floor when the warning bell, closing the dorm to outsiders, rang. It was then that I realized that Aycock was no longer a men’s dorm, but had been changed to a woman’s dorm. I turned around quickly and headed down stairs.

I recall that one time I flew high above Aycock Dorm in a Marine helicopter. The Marines were doing a recruiting stunt at Carolina, and were offering helicopter flights to students. To my chagrin, the immediately previous flight to mine, they had flown the helicopter all the way back down to the Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) at Jacksonville, North Carolina. That would have been a really fun trip. Not sure how quickly you could have made that trip, since you might be able to go 150 miles an hour, and fly mostly in a straight line. But on our flight, we flew high above Aycock Dorm, so much so that the utility trucks, that were painted Carolina Blue, were smaller than my little finger nail. *I’m sort of surprised that I actually took that helicopter ride. Apparently, I’m not deathly afraid of flying, or I would not have taken that trip.

I recently drove down to Washington, North Carolina and between Wilson and Greenville, on Highway 264, there is a sign for the birth place of “Charles B. Aycock,” the North Carolina Governor. He was a contemporary of Governor Lindsay Russell (a distant relative of mine) who immediately preceded Aycock in the Governor’s Office. Aycock & Russell were both lawyers, but different Parties, but both respected one another. When Russell left office, he left the Governor’s Mansion well stocked with food, and in a nicer condition than his (Russell’s) predecessor had, with empty alcohol bottles strewn about the place.

NOTE: I took the AMC Pacer with me to Seminary, in Lousiville, KY in 1981 (the year after my mother’s death). The Pacer eventually had problems with it’s “rack and pinion” front steering mechanism. I think it was explained that one or more ‘teeth’ had broken off, which would mean steering the front wheels, when turning, would “skip a beat”. I think I spent $600 to get this fixed on the Pacer, and then drove it down to Georgia and gave it to my dad. Not sure when I came back to visit my dad, but by that time, the Pacer was acting as storage for some of his junk, and sitting lifelessly in his yard. *At one time, I think I counted about 14 derelict vehicles in this yard… and a partially constructed garage. Both the garage and his sprawling house were both deteriorating as my visits spanned several years.

When dad died I told Donna (my half-sister) that all I wanted was his last driver’s license. He had collected an enormous amount of “junk” throughout the years (tools, knickknacks, etc.) and all this stuff cluttered his domain. But, I also gave Donna and Sara (his last wife that he had divorced before his death, but they were still living in the same house together at the time of his death) a bit of advice, that they chose to ignore… I said, “If you arrange for someone to come in and clear off the lot, make sure that the arrangement is for them to take everything. Don’t let them ‘pick -n- choose’ over the best stuff and leave you with the junk to get rid of.” Sometime later, I think it was Donna that mentioned that ‘they’ had come in and took all the good stuff, and now she & Sara were having to pay to get the junk removed. **I tried.

Air Conditioned Lawn Mower

May 30, 2022March 2, 2025 bgibson135

I was online and came across an image circa 1957. The photo was of a woman in a plexiglass domed lawnmower, with her husband relaxing nearby, laying on a lawn chair, in their yard. The black & white advertisement must have been interpreted from the actual photo.

We probably laugh like they did, 65 years ago, when they saw the photo. This led me to recall an event that happened a few years ago, when I was eating lunch at The East Village Grille in Asheville, NC. This restaurant, as you can see, is located almost on the main thoroughfare, with not even enough room for a sidewalk between the building and the road. Note the windows located next to the street. The Grille is located diagonally across the street from the VA Hospital. [ NOTE 12/13/23 ]: I just did a zoom from Google StreetView, and there is actually a sidewalk, but it is jammed between the street & the restaurant building. [ end NOTE ].

StreetView of East Village Grille across from VA Hospital

I was seated in a booth, facing out, toward Tunnel Road and I could see that someone was mowing the Hospital lawn directly across the street. I included the picture of a John Deere lawnmower above because it was this type of mower that was being used. Note the steepness of the bank on which the trees are growing.

I wasn’t the only customer in the restaurant that began to watch the mower.

At first I thought that the bank was too steep to mow using this tall mower. I thought it would be too “top heavy” and might tip over. But the person mowing didn’t hesitate. He turned the mower so that it was headed directly up the bank. He went up the hill, and then backed down. He moved over slightly and then went up & down again. He did this until he was past the trees, and then he started mowing, running parallel to the road. The mowing completed without an incident.

As I said, several customers either looked, or turned to look (when their table mates pointed it out) at the mowing event. So, although we laugh at our home lawn mower being air conditioned, it makes perfect sense for someone that has to mow a large area, especially in the summer heat.

NOTE [05/30/22]: I tried Tiger Sauce (c.2011) for the first time while eating at the East Village Grille, and during my Pastrami Reuben Tour (c.2017), this was the second restaurant where I ordered a Pastrami Reuben. The sandwich here was a little less delicious, but this would have been ranked #2.

ADDENDUM [01/02/25]: I visited Asheville back in September 2024, just about five weeks before the Hurricane came through and devastated the area. I only spent a day there, and I ate at the East Village Grille for dinner the first & only night. They had changed their menus which at one time had been quite a few pages, but now was pared down to about maybe 6 pages, two sided, and laminated. The waitress said they no longer offered a Pastrami Reuben. How sad. [end NOTE]

ADDENDUM [05/31/22]: The “Southern Highland Craft Guild, Folk Art Center” and the “East Village Grille” are about 2,500 feet (about half a mile) from each other, “as the crow flies” and with the VA Hospital Complex being directly between the two. That amazes me, because I normally would have thought of these two locations as being a great deal further apart. I normally stop at the Folk Art Center after driving down the Parkway, having come from Weaverville, and up the back way to the Parkway. For the public, except for “bus groups”, you can only get to the FAC from the Parkway. Staff have to come to the FAC a different way, and there appears to be no connecting way between public parking and staff parking.

When you come to the FAC, the area is shrouded in trees and having been there several times, I did not realize that just a few yards past the trees is a large nursing home.

It is a short distance from Tunnel Road to the entrance of the FAC, but coming from the opposite direction, via the Parkway, you are lulled into thinking you are deep in the forest.

The FAC parking area is surrounded by trees and vegetation, and this is the walk up to the FAC.

[ADDENDUM 02/14/25]: I visited Asheville last year, about 5 weeks before Hurricane Helene came through and severely devastated the area. It was a short, but extremely pleasant visit & stay at a Quality Inn near downtown. I arrived in Asheville in the late afternoon, and went immediately to the East Village Grille for dinner. Their extensive menu had been severely shortened, and they no longer offer a Pastrami Reuben. I think I had a Philly Cheese steak, which I’ve had before (Tiger Sauce intro years ago.). [end]

Fried Apples with Bacon

September 26, 2021January 5, 2025 bgibson135

Not sure where I bought the “Carolina Bright Leaf Brand – Old Fashioned Hickory Smoked Sliced Bacon” but may have been at Publix. [Not Publix, I checked.] I’m thinking that most of the other bacon seemed to be higher priced and that is why I went with this cheaper brand. When I opened the package this morning, I noted how much fat appeared in the slices and how little lean, and I thought that this bacon would “cook away to nothing,” but I was pleasantly surprised when the bacon cooked perfectly. I would buy this again, if I can recall where I purchased it.

I sliced up an Envy apple for frying. I use an apple corer, but am never sure how to make sure the corer goes straight down through the apple’s core. I’ve also started to cut the apple in half, after coring, and then slice the halves. *I bought several Envy apples at Publix. Publix appears to have higher prices on their veggies/fruits, but I noted that the Envy apples were on sale for about $1.49 / lb. They appeared firm, and larger.

I use my pumpkin pie spices: cinnamon, mace, nutmeg and cloves, and sprinkle some Splenda sweetner on the cooked apple slices.

[ADDENDUM 01/05/25]: For a while, I liked the Pepper Bacon (about $14 for two pounds of bacon) that I got from Lee’s Fresh Market near Benson, North Carolina, but I’ve gone back to the Bright Leaf brand. IGA is not the only store that carries Bright Leaf. Pate’s has Bright Leaf, but it is more expensive than IGA.

I have tried one cheaper brand of bacon than Bright Leaf. I got it at Lee’s, but it ended up being too fatty and was inconsistent in the sizes of each bacon strip. Not worth the cheaper price.

My ritual for quite a while was to sift each spice from it’s jar, but then it came to me to get a separate empty spice jar and mix all the spices I used each time into the one jar. That way I just sift the Splenda sweetener on the fried apples and then use the one mixed spices over that. (Mix: cinnamon, cloves, coriander, mace, nutmeg, and pumpkin spice {a blend that already has all the other spices, except for the coriander in it}). The coriander is not one of the “warm spices,” but it adds just a hint of citrus.

[end]

This is one of those memory meals that mom would cook every so often for breakfast. She really didn’t like to cook and preferred to be outside doing yard work… or perhaps sewing a dress for work. Butterick Patterns

Memory Meals handed down from my mom: fried chicken, ham & rice soup, fried apples, corned beef/potatoes/onions

But, my mom’s sister, we called her “Sis” could really cook. Mom and I lived with Sis, in Hubert, starting about 7th grade (moved up from the old home place, where Burger King is now located in Swansboro). When I came home from school, the bus ride took about an hour total (have to go from Middle or High School to Elementary School and then back past my school to almost Jacksonville (in Hubert), Sis would always have two meats and about three vegetables on the stove. And Sis knew how to cycle these through, so that she might combine a meat and several of the left-over veggies at the end of the week into a soup. Sis was a business woman, running a large trailer park that catered to a large Marine population.

I’ve said it before, but both Sis and her daughter, Mary Ann were good cooks. I don’t recall the differences in the way they cooked, and I would say that both were “country cooks,” but only once do I remember something that tasted awful, and that was a clear (?) sauce that Mary Ann made, just once, and it wasn’t good. Everything else was delicious! I love a ‘mess’ of black-eyed peas and seasoning meat, maybe later extended by adding potatoes. Or, butter beans and ham hock with some pastry.

I recall some green beans with potatoes and seasoning meat (not Sis or Mary Ann) that I had at a seniors community meeting down in Bear Creek once (my Region “P” days). I think it may have been Essie Davis (not the Australian actress, but one of mom’s carpool people when Gilbert Trott used to drive his old black Chevy to work) that fixed the green beans, and they were so good that I went back for a second helping instead of getting dessert. But, the Seaboard Station Restaurant in Hamlet, NC makes some delicious steamed cabbage that is sweet, but not too sweet. I don’t think they use any seasoning meat in the cabbage, but they must add just a pinch of sugar. Their black-eyed peas aren’t seasoned and not as good as they could be. I fix better at home.

NOTE: After school and a long bus ride, I would get to Sis’s in Hubert around 4 pm, which was when the “Dark Shadows” TV show came on.

Jonathan Frid as Barnabas Collins in Dark Shadows

ADDENDUM [10/17/21]: The Envy apple was good for frying. I’ve also tried the Ambrosia and Gala apples. Ambrosia seems to cook more quickly. I think it was the Gala apple that had a tartness that I didn’t like in the fried apple finished product.

NOTE [09/26/22]: I now use the Gala apple for frying. I’ve realized another trick that speeds up the process. Instead of frying the bacon in the same pan as the apples… bacon first & then apples, I only fry the apples in the pan. I cook the bacon in the microwave and it takes about four minutes total cooking time. The bacon comes out perfectly cooked. Not too crunchy nor limp. I can also heat some water in the microwave for hot tea during the cooking time for the apples.

If I haven’t noted it elsewhere, I now cut the apple in half first, and then use the apple corer to removed the hard parts from each half. Normally this entails slicing in from both ends and the hard part comes out in the corer. [end note]

My Funny Valentine

August 3, 2021August 11, 2025 bgibson135

Looks like the ingredients for a Greek Salad, but also includes the dressing ingredients, and then they are listed separately. I realized that Romaine Lettuce was missing from the list so I’ve added it below.

Olive oil
Lemon juice
Red Wine vinegar
Mustard
Oregano
Basil
Majorham
Ground Pepper
Salt
Agave Nectar
Sweetner

Spring Greens
Vidalia Onion
Yellow Bell Pepper
Romaine Lettuce
Kalamata Olives
Cherry Tomatoes
Feta Cheese

Greek Salad Dressing

6 Tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 1/2 tsp minced garlic (1 large clove)
1 1/2 Tbsp finely minced fresh parsley
1 tsp dried oregano
3/4 tsp honey
Salt, to taste

A few years ago the road in front of Sherefe, is that Green Street, was torn up and being repaired. This hindered the number of customers and the owner closed this location and I think I heard he was focused at his other restaurant across town. They had a lunch special on the lamb and I tried it. I’m not sure I had ever had lamb, or cooked in this way, and when I tasted it, I was wowed. It tasted great! The Publix lamb shoulder, right below, looked good. I just cooked it in a pan on the stove top and it turned out great. I had cooked one about a week ago, and browned it on the stove top and then put it in the oven for a short time. Didn’t think I needed that the next time.

Harris Teeter $9.99 per lb. Publix $7.69 per lb.

The Publix lamb was packaged more like it was local, and it was about $1.30 per pound less.

[01/04/25]: I have no clue why I entitled the above posting “My Funny Valentine.” The posting date isn’t February 14th, and there seems to be nothing about those song lyrics in the post. The soup shown was from Sherefe. I think it was sweet potato soup and it was seasoned wonderfully. But, after quite a while they offered it again, and this time it wasn’t flavored as it had been that one time. Oh, well…

I’ve bought a new wok recently. Actually, I bought a new electric wok, and a new stove-top VinChef wok (not electric, but oven safe). I’ve used the oven-safe wok a couple of times to broil a couple of pork chops, and maybe a steak. It worked well. *I love the patina that’s formed on the Vinchef pan. [end]

[08/11/25]: I’ve mentioned previously how I eat in cycles. I might eat the same breakfast at the Rainbow for 200 days, and then for an unexplained reason (at least to me) I want something different. The Rainbow breakfast was probably pretty close to this each morning: “Two eggs over medium, with bacon (later patty sausage) and potatoes (later grits) and whole wheat toast (sometimes buttered, sometimes not). And, coffee with creamer and sweetener (the sweetener was after years of sugar, and then being diagnosed as a Type 2 diabetic).

*Unfortunately, over the years the Rainbow “dumbed down” their ingredients and the eggs weren’t “as good,” and the bacon “sucked” and the coffee might or might not be good. And the coffee they use is the same, day after day, and also the same as that used over at JK’s Restaurant. I don’t know if it is the person that makes the coffee that morning or not, but it can be good and it can suck. Even a metallic taste on some mornings. I think the dumbing was mainly due to being able to maintain their low prices, but even those prices crept up over the years and I seem to recall one morning coming to the realization that a cup of coffee cost about $2.65 plus tax. And then I made some sort of joke about “That and $2.65 will buy you a cup of coffee at the Rainbow.” The phrase some reference to a funny line in a movie or TV show. Probably a 1930s or 40s Black & White movie, Film Noir… but the character would have said, “That and a dime will buy you a cup of coffee.”

Well, I rarely eat at the Rainbow for breakfast any more. When I worked, and the Rainbow was just about half way between where I lived for many years, and my work at Fayetteville State University, it was a perfect “stop off” for breakfast instead of me cooking at home. Quick in, quick out.

COVID was a major game changer, and I started eating almost entirely at home, but since COVID, I have begun to eat out more. But Taco Bell, which was a once or twice a week meal has become a rarely over a year visit. *I’ve stopped Taco Bell (they had a crew at their Ramsey Street location that were excellent at their efficiency – take the order, prepare it correctly and quickly, take your money, give you the bag of food and you’re gone) because of the calories [920 total] in my favorite meal (a Beef Burrito Supreme [390], a Bean Burrito [360] and a Crunchy Taco [170]). Shortly before I stopped, I would only choose two of the items, instead of three, but then even that became a stretch when I became more committed to eating better. I couldn’t afford the calorie count in a day and still eat all the nutrition that I needed. **And that is why I’ve sworn off Smithfield’s Chicken -n- BBQ.” I just checked online, “1960” calories for a “Combo Dark” Meal. Heck, my whole daily calorie goal is only 1880 calories. I rarely hit the 1880 goal, but I’m closer than I would be if I had one meal at SCNB. And their “unsweet tea” sucks! Sweet tea delicious but I’m a Type 2 and don’t need the sugar.

Oh, and during my 24 years of work life in Fayetteville, I would go to Golden Corral for maybe one or two lunches a week, and across town to the GC across from the Mall for a Saturday or Sunday morning breakfast buffet. No telling how many calories I got from eating there. But I didn’t stop going their because of the calorie count. No, they both built and then closed the location nearest me on Ramsey Street, and finally it is now a 7-11 Convenience Store. They tore down the old Mall location and rebuilt it, but the layout was different (a negative) and the acoustics were horrible (sound bouncing off the bare walls) and the seating a little too close together. Originally they had an undulating pattern to their various food type locations. There was a little alcove for the salad bar, an alcove for the veggies and I think one for the drinks & dessert section. The new layout was one long, straight bar, and this meant that when you went to get an item, you were being confronted either from the left or right by other customers.

COVID killed Golden Corral for me and another favorite buffet, the Hibachi Grill.” When the Hibachi Grill came to town it killed a favorite small Chinese restaurant, “China II.” China II had a “Jalapeno Pork” dish on their buffet that was soooo good. But, you suffered at about 2 am after having that lunch. But the night pain always seemed to be worth the deliciousness at lunch time.

I loved a bunch of items on the Hibachi Grill, but COVID meant I stopped going there as I also stopped going to the Cracker Barrell for Sunday breakfast. For several years, I ate almost every Sunday, at the Cracker Barrell Restaurant over off of I95. Even with the “metallic or chemical” flavor of some of their breakfast items, I enjoyed that breakfast each morning. But, I did hate their coffee and got into the habit of ordering their hot tea which I enjoyed. *Ironically, and I’ve written about it elsewhere, during COVID I ran out of my favorite bagged coffee beans at home and had to scrounge, and found a bag of ground Cracker Barrell coffee in the back of one of my shelves. I’m thinking it was a present from maybe Deborah Savage, because I wouldn’t have bought coffee from CB and if I had I would have wanted the whole bean so I could grind it at home periodically.

But I made a cup of coffee from the Cracker Barrell bag. It was delicious. I didn’t think about my hatred of the CB coffee in their restaurant. The next morning I made some more and it was good again. And I didn’t think about my hatred of their coffee when ordered in the restaurant. Finally on the third day I made and drank another good cup of coffee and I then realized, “I hate Cracker Barrell coffee!” But this was good coffee. It was also during COVID and I wasn’t going out to eat anywhere. So I drank myself through the bag and just about the time that COVID restrictions were beginning to be dropped, and I had my second follow-up vaccination, I went out for a haircut and a first visit after a long time to CB.

I had breakfast at CB and then looked for a bag of their coffee. They only sell their coffee as regular or as decaffeinated ground coffee. No whole bean. The bag color had also changed from a shiny bronze theme to a light shiny blue. But, and I didn’t find this out until I got home and made my first cup from the new bag… the coffee from the new bag, sucked. They had changed the recipe and it wasn’t the coffee I had enjoyed repeatedly from that old bronzy bag. Damn.

And now to end this pain because it is almost 7 am and time for me to check my blood glucose level and weigh before fixing breakfast. I haven’t had a stir-fry meal in quite a while. I enjoy fixing stir-fry. It is quick to prepare the various ingredients, quick to cook in the electric wok, and clean-up is a breeze. But as with other food cycles this is one for the present time. I also haven’t broiled a round bone lamb chop in a long while although I do have at least one package in my freezer. They cook really well on HI in the oven Broiler (20 minutes on one side and then about 5-7 minutes on the other side. The Vinchef wok goes in the oven, and I just have to be careful when checking it and taking it out because the handle becomes quite hot.

Seems like I am forgetting one other item I haven’t fixed in a while, but it will come to me later. I hope.

[end]

New Car for an Old Man

May 3, 2018April 2, 2025 bgibson135

I went back to Hendricks Toyota in Fayetteville last Saturday and asked to test drive a Camry and a Prius. I never got to drive the Prius, but in the feeding frenzy, bought this white 2018 Camry SE. I know it is a sporty looking car, but the two things that really sold me were: 40 mpg Highway, and the Entune 3.0 entertainment/navigation System… and payments under $350 a month.

I’ve put a bunch of miles on it already, and here is a picture of my first fill-up, which took over 11 gallons, and with the recent rise in gas prices, over $30 total.

But the car does feel good when I’m in it, and it has a bunch of bells-n-whistles that are exciting. If the car drifts over the center yellow line, there is a warning, and the car slightly turns itself back into the original lane. I let it drift first to the left and then to the right without me intervening and after the second warning there was a louder, flashier warning. I didn’t see what it said, but it was probably something like, “Are You Dead?” Not sure if it would have slowed the car to a stop, but that might be the next logical step.

I can hook my Samsung smartphone up by USB cable, and a real-time navigation map will display. If the phone loses connection, the map goes brain dead. I’ve found some dead spots in town where the map stops working for quite a few blocks and then starts back up.

I wasn’t looking at buying a Toyota, but drove a Corolla from Enterprise when the Civic died, and liked the mileage display and how easy my phone paired with the Entune System in the loaner. That got me thinking about Toyotas. I was still planning to try a new Honda Accord, and maybe even another Civic, but got sidetracked along the way.

20180421_101719 — Ford Fusion Gear Control

I did test drive a Ford Fusion and a Kia Optima. Both vehicles felt good. The Fusion felt really good and had a larger screen display and a knob for a gear shifter. *I went back home after test driving the Fusion and found it was ranked 14th in the list with a Camry being 1st and a Honda Accord being Number 2. **About a week ago, I saw something on TV that Ford was planning to phase out all but trucks and SUVs and that made it for sure that I wouldn’t buy a Fusion.

Turmoil

April 18, 2018April 2, 2025 bgibson135

Last Thursday, I was returning home after having gone to the Mall, after work, to get a massage, and then dinner at KFC (Senior Buffet). This was one of the “cleaning” days in which Marie spends two hours cleaning my apartment. This is done every two weeks, on Thursday.

The massage went really well. I hope I remember the masseuse, because he massaged hard enough, and around the shoulders to really make it feel good afterwards.

I then went to KFC for the Senior Buffet, which is about $8+ including tax and drink.

It takes about 12 minutes to drive from the Mall to home just off of McCloskey Road. Everything was fine until I came to a stop, first in line (only in line, which was unusual) at the stop light for the ramp off of I295 onto Ramsey Street. When I stopped, the dashboard light lit up and then most went dark. There as a small puff of colored steam from under the hood and the engine went dead. I tried several times to restart the car, but it wouldn’t.

Several light cycles went through and a black man asked if he could help push me out of the way. I thanked him and we managed to get my little Civic in what was a “blind spot” to the different traffic patterns beneath the I295 overpass. Ramp traffic could get by, the two lanes. The two lanes heading up Ramsey could go by, and the two lanes from Ramsey heading up the ramp toward Bragg could also pass. I stood beside the car and waited for AAA and an police officer to arrive.

A Deputy Sheriff arrived shortly before the Mitchell’s tow truck sent from AAA. I was quickly hooked up (the car) and the deputy blocked traffic, both ways so that the wrecker could do a U-Turn back up Ramsey Street to Black’s Tires. This was after Black’s Tires had closed for the day, but I called them, first thing on Friday morning.

I was already scheduled to be on Vacation for Friday, so that worked out well. Black’s Tires opened at 7:30 am, and I called then and let them know I would be bringing the keys by after I got a rental car.

20180413_124845 Enterprise Rent-a-Car opened at 8 am, and I called, but it was going to be 1 pm before they could send someone to pick me up at my apartment. It wasn’t an issue of not having the type of car I wanted, and I ended up getting a Black 2018 Toyota Corolla, which I liked.

The Hendricks called on Friday morning to ask how I was doing. They had seen me standing by my car the night before, but by the time they had turned around I was already gone (with the tow truck). Funny, but I had seen the Hendricks also, not realizing they had seen me. They were passing by closely looking

20180413_091012 — The Hendricks driving away in their new Avalon, after dropping me off.

at my car, but not at me. I wasn’t sure if they recognized my car, and didn’t know they had already seen me. *They were nice enough to stop by, with their new Avalon, and take me to Black’s Tire to leave my keys.

Black’s Tires called and I was going to need a new engine. They had two choices, a used engine with 67K miles on it, for about $3.9K, or a rebuilt engine for about $5K. I went with the cheaper choice. *I was already planning to give Jeff Mitchell my car, so that Chad, his oldest boy could have a car. Chad is taking Driver’s Ed in June. I might have kept the car longer, but now plan to get me a new one sometime by June and give him the white Honda Civic (2011).

The engine install was supposed to take until either Thursday or Friday. Ordered on Friday, but not expected to arrive before Wed. But, Black’s Tire called yesterday, Tuesday, and said my car was ready to be picked up. I asked if I could pick it up this morning, Wed., to which they said, “Yes.” The bill was an even $3,884. I moved money around in my MFCU account last night and wrote the check this morning.

I ate breakfast this morning at the Rainbow. Afterwards I leapfrogged to Enterprise and was checked out quickly for about $189 total. They drove me down to Black’s Tire. *I forgot to get my parking pass, leaving it on the mirror in the rental car. I only noticed this just before entering FSU and had to turn around.

The car wasn’t at Enterprise. They had taken the return rental to Firestone for an oil change. I went to Firestone and, yep, the parking pass was hanging from the mirror. I got it and headed on to work. *I need to let the FSU Police know that the sticker is back on my own vehicle.

I go to lunch after noon and on the way back to work I hear a squealing beneath the hood. I turn around and head to Black’s Tire.

Black’s looks at it, fiddles a little and sends me on my way. I don’t make it to the next traffic light before I hear a flapping under the hood toward my right front tire, and the battery light comes on, bright red, and stays on. The power assisted steering is gone but I make it around onto Ramsey Street and then right back into Black’s Tire.

They take another look and after about an hour I’m told they had the wrong sized belt. I wait, and wait, and eventually I am told they have tried 3 different belts and none of them have fit. *Ends up that, probably when I turned on the air conditioning, something that wasn’t bolted down came loose and part of the air conditioning unit that includes the belt shifted, and this caused the total belt length to modify and not fit correctly. They finally figure this out and I am pulling out of Black’s Tire at 4:59 pm… to head home.

Seems to be working. I made it home and now this morning to breakfast and now am at work.

French Onion Soup @ Home – Yum!

August 9, 2015August 9, 2015 bgibson135

A few years ago, I drove out to a motel along the I95 highway near Fayetteville, NC for dinner. This was just for something different. When I looked at the menu, I saw that there was “French Onion Soup” as an option. My eyes lit up! I hadn’t had French Onion Soup in years. Not something you would make at home, and rarely an option for the restaurants that I normally visited during a week. I’m not sure when the first time that I had this soup, but my mind navigates toward my time in Louisville, KY and Gary Golden.

Gary was at Southern Seminary in the early 1980s when I was there. Gary was a “foodie” years before that would become a popular term. We shared an apartment for a while. During this time, I think he made some French Onion Soup. He ended up becoming a campus minister at Dartmouth (I think it was Dartmouth.) He was from Texas, Texarkana, where his mother still lived. One Christmas Holiday he drove down to Alabama and picked me up. We then went to Texarkana. He left me at his mother’s house while he went out to visit his old compadres.

I think we left his mom’s house on Christmas night and drove through the night toward Lousiville. Our route meant that we barely crossed through Arkansas in the early morning night. As the sun began to rise, I was driving and Gary was asleep… the sky became a beautiful burgundy tapestry, sort of like a beautiful old sofa, rippled and dimpled by tacks.

I think we spent a night at the Seminary and then drove across several states and spent a night with another friend of Gary’s in Maryland (maybe DC). Finally, we ended up in Vermont where Gary was living while ministering in NH at Dartmouth. We spent a couple of days at Gary’s place, and did not go out much. He had a wonderful view of the countryside for a great distance as the house was raised on stilts and there was a deep snow covering the land. *Deep may be a relative term. This would have been deep for the North Carolina coast where I grew up.

After a few days, Gary drove me down to Boston. I think the night before I was to fly out of the airport there for Jacksonville, NC. It seems that this might have been 1984. We ate at a restaurant in I think, Faneuil Hall Marketplace. I don’t recall the name of the restaurant, but I ordered both Boston Scrod and Boston Baked Beans. They don’t really go together, but I wanted to be able to say that I had eaten both. I’ve had better baked beans as these I seem to recall were under cooked and hard.

I think Gary and I stayed at a motel near the airport, although maybe not. I was reading a book on the airplane. I think it was Dune, and I recall hoping that we would land safely so that I could finish it. We had been above the clouds that morning and the sunrise was beautiful, but as we neared Jacksonville, we dropped down into the mist with no visibility until we were almost on the ground.

It must have been Mary Ann and/or Ray that picked me up at the airport. I don’t recall the visit much, but I flew out of Jacksonville for Charlotte at the end of my family visit. It was a quick flight, rising to a pinnacle and then almost immediately dropping at a similar angle to land. I recall looking down on the Carolina countryside which was not very far below. I don’t recall the friend that picked me up at the Charlotte Airport, but I think he had been one of my tennis buddies in Jacksonville and was going to school in the Charlotte area. The flight had taken about 30 minutes in the air, but I think it was an hour and a half on the ground before we were off the plane.

I took the bus from Charlotte and arrived at the main bus station in Atlanta, GA. The parents of a friend (from Lineville, AL) had driven to pick me up in Atlanta to take me back to Alabama. Their daughter was supposed to pick me up, but she had gone off to do other things.

I think this holiday was when I managed to go through 26 States in 15 days. If I had driven across the River in Louisville, I could have added another state (IN).

—

A few days ago, I thought of making some French Onion Soup at home… in the slow cooker. I had done this at least once before, several years ago. It had turned out well, and going online, I was reminded of how easy this can be. I had bought some Swiss Cheese slices, and then some yellow onions (so I wouldn’t waste the last of my Vidalia onions), and I think I purchased a box of Beef Broth, although the one I used, I had had for some time.

I might have fixed this yesterday, but in the morning I had turned on my dishwasher as I left to drive to Raleigh. I had my slow cooker crock pot in the washer. To my surprise, when I returned, I checked the dishwasher and the crock and saw that it was still dirty. I checked the other dishes and they had not been cleaned either. I looked down and saw there was no detergent in the first tray, but the second tray was still closed. This was proof that I had started the washer, but something odd had occurred and the process had stopped somewhere along the way. I restarted the process and this time, it completed successfully.

This morning, perhaps closer to noon or 12:30 pm, I got the crock out and started chopping some yellow onions. I used a couple of large ones, and a medium sized onion. Some olive oil, a little balsamic vinegar, freshly ground pepper and a little powdered garlic… turn on High and go off to do other things. After several hours, I added the box of Beef Broth and a little extra water, and some salt. Later, I went to sleep during the afternoon.

I awoke about 6:30 pm.

Eventually, I got out a soup bowl (with small handles). I sliced some French bread and buttered the slices, adding some powdered garlic and toasted them up. While they were toasting, I got out the Swiss Cheese slices. I ladelled some soup out of the crock into the bowl, placed the toasted bread across the top and finished by adding the Swiss Cheese, and a little grated Parmesean over the top. I put the broiler on HI and put the bowl on the top rack of the oven. I checked several times, not wanting this to burn, and noting smoke coming off of something in the oven.

I got out a dinner plate and took the hot bowl out of the oven with my pot holders and took it and a spoon to my easy chair in the living room.

I dipped the spoon into the cheese, bread and soup and lifted it up, the cheese stringing high above the bowl. I blew on the hot soup and then into my mouth. Delicious! So easy to make. It takes a little time, but so worth it.

Okay, so it’s about time for some more “home made” Chili. Same slow cooker, but I’ve now found some special flavors that I like… The dried Spanish Chorizo and extra Paprika (alot of Paprika), with a little sweetner.

Naval Medical Field Research Lab, Building 66, Camp Lejeune, NC

April 6, 2015October 28, 2017 bgibson135

My mother, Vivian M. “Mick/Mickey” Gibson worked about 45 years as a Civil Service secretary. Most of her time was stationed aboard Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base. I recall that one of her secretarial jobs was at Building 66, the Naval Medical Field Research Lab on Base. The time would have been the early 1960s. I found an official document regarding the NMFRL-CLNC-1963-AD0422922 online.

I rode with my mother, or drove to pick her up, on Base many times through the years. If you were near the traffic circle when the flag was schedule to come down (maybe 6 pm??), all traffic stopped, even in the circle, until the ceremony was over. Mom worked at the Industrial Relations Labor Board (at the main entrance to Camp Lejeune) when she first started working on Base. But, many years, when we were living in the old house on the corner of Hwy. 24 and Queens Creek Road (now the Burger King), she would leave about 7:30 am, and return about 5:30 pm going along Queens Creek Road and on Base via the “Back Gate” (Hwy 172). *Interesting that they built a million dollar hi-rise bridge down at Sneads Ferry some years ago, and a short time later closed public traffic down Hwy 172.

My first dog was “Lassie”. I’m not sure if it was legal, but Rip Jackson had rescued the dog from the Lab. It would have been one of their many test subjects. *One of those mental images that has stuck with me through the years, although I never actually saw this, was that as part of the testing procedures, they would put a cadaver’s foot in a boot and blow it up to see the results. **Note that this was the Vietnam War Era.

Some of the names I recall of persons that she worked with, some secretarial and some not, were Barbara Brainerd, Robin Short & “Rip” Jackson. One Christmas, mom had Rip Jackson put together some fishing equipment and she gave me that as a present that Christmas. I still have the Penn “9” reel, which sits above my bathroom medicine cabinet.

Penn 9 Reel that was part of the fishing tackle Rip Jackson purchased for my mother.

It does not work properly now, but probably could be put in working condition fairly easily.

There was a metal fishing tackle box in a copper colored finish. I recall one lure which looked like a bright pearline white shrimp with several hooks hanging down beneath it.

On Christmas morning, mom and I rode down to the Bogue Sound Fishing Pier. It was a cold, bright sunny, morning, but there were several fishermen on the pier. Neither one of us knew what we were doing. There was an old fisherman located on the pier near where the waves were breaking down below. He was pulling in sea trout on a regular basis. Mom nor I ever caught anything. *We joked about moving near to the old fisherman, and then he would move away from us. I guess we were messing up his fishing;-)

Aunt Pete & Ervin & Boat 521 Riverside Drive Portsmouth VA 1970

I probably did not go fishing again until Irwin Wilkins took me out on his boat during one of the summers when I was up living with my mother in Aunt Pete’s home on Riverside Drive, Portsmouth, VA. Irwin was my Aunt’s long time “beau”.

Irwin had about a 16ft. boat with an outboard motor on it. We would put out from my Aunt’s wooden dock. There was a great difference depending upon the tides. Once we almost got stuck going out, and would have either had to sit in the boat until the tide came back in, or tried to make it to shore in knee deep mud. Irwin worked at getting his boat out from the small receding water channel, and finally with much work succeeded. We would have been out in the James River.

The “body language” tells it all. I’m taking the picture. Glad I was oblivious.