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2 weeks ago | 
thepilot.com | Deborah Salomon
Annie Hallinan is a wee lass with a Scottish brogue, a twinkle in her eye, a pixie hairdo, an infectious smile and tart one-liners. She surrounds herself with rescued cats and dogs. For many years, Annie and her dashing pilot husband occupied an Italian villa with gardens in the magical kingdom of Southern Pines.
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3 weeks ago | 
thepilot.com | Deborah Salomon
Architectural styles can take a while to develop a following. Like bouillabaisse and paella, their ingredients are myriad, complex. They can age like fine wine. Apply these guidelines to mid-century modern, made popular by a coterie of forward-thinking architects — some associated with N.C. State, others espousing Japanese concepts — who left their mark on central and eastern North Carolina beginning roughly in the 1950s.
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4 weeks ago | 
thepilot.com | Deborah Salomon
The grassy circle seems carved out of the woods, delineated by towering trees and flowering shrubs. No headstones, only small, flat, engraved footstones identify its purpose. A doe and her fawn stand, still as statues, watching me, then dash off from this incredibly beautiful little Jewish cemetery outside Carrboro. Rarely is anyone else there. Once, on Mother’s Day, I saw a family standing by a grave as they recited the prayer for the dead.
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1 month ago | 
thepilot.com | Deborah Salomon
Food and faith have partnered since Eve polished that fateful apple. The loaves and the fishes, water to wine, the Pascal lamb, a Sabbath challah bread. Hindus use ghee (melted butter) in religious rituals. Buddhists reject organ meats. Muslims and Jews are forbidden pork.
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2 months ago | 
thepilot.com | Deborah Salomon
Help! The quaint, artsy villages of Pinehurst and Southern Pines, connected by Morganton Road, are going, going, nearly gone. Not the villages themselves — still inhabited by interesting (read the obits) retired CEOs, attorneys, professors, industrialists, military brass and attractive young families, many from points north. The road illustrates this urban tragedy. And it’s about to get much worse. Traffic will rival beltways encircling Boston, Charlotte, even Manhattan.
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2 months ago | 
thepilot.com | Deborah Salomon
Long before the advent of college hoops, Mmmarch meant mmmaple — an all-natural, super-sweet syrup priced alongside single malt scotch. Climate complicates its creation: A deep snow pack, sunny warmish days and cold nights portend a good crop. Anything else can add up to zero. Almost all the American supply comes from Quebec and northern New England with a smattering from Michigan, other border states. Nevertheless, Vermont’s elixir owns the gourmet cache.
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2 months ago | 
thepilot.com | Deborah Salomon
I decided to check out the new BJ’s Wholesale Club at 8 a.m., on the morning after it opened, to avoid the hordes. This 30-year Costco devotee hoped for the best, or at least a happy result. I was, as the song goes, “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered,” beginning with membership choices and their caveats, most nonapplicable to me, a single- person household. So I took the simplest deal for which, after 72 hours but before a length of time I can’t remember, my purchase will be credited $40.
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Mar 10, 2025 | 
thepilot.com | Deborah Salomon
Who says you can’t tell a book by its cover? Or, for that matter, a house by its façade? This one — with bright yellow clapboards, bumpy fieldstone walkway and fanciful front porch — almost shouts “Welcome!” from the end of a long wooded driveway opening onto a busy road. Carry-On Cottage, its name posted on a tree, was built in 1937, and sounds as upbeat and admired as one of its previous owners, Miss Hall, a legendary fourth-grade teacher. kAmuFCE96C AC@G6?2?46 :D F??646DD2CJ] v:G6?
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Mar 8, 2025 | 
thepilot.com | Deborah Salomon
Who says you can’t tell a book by its cover? Or, for that matter, a house by its façade? This one — with bright yellow clapboards, bumpy fieldstone walkway and fanciful front porch — almost shouts “Welcome!” from the end of a long wooded driveway opening onto a busy road. Carry-On Cottage, its name posted on a tree, was built in 1937, and sounds as upbeat and admired as one of its previous owners, Miss Hall, a legendary fourth-grade teacher. kA 4=2DDlQAbQmuFCE96C AC@G6?2?46 :D F??646DD2CJ] v:G6?
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Feb 13, 2025 | 
thepilot.com | Deborah Salomon
No, the jolly gent sporting red shoes wasn’t an elf who missed the last sleigh back to the North Pole. Neither was he declaring allegiance to a sports team, say the Kansas City Chiefs or N.C. State Wolfpack. Target employees, including 69-year-old retiree Mike Askwith, wear red shirts. So far nobody has gone the shoe route, which identified Askwith as the super-friendly employee who helped customers navigate the self-checkout. After his shift Askwith went home to a Pinehurst gated golf community.
