Generations have passed away and former glories have been forgotten, but the Evans house still stands. It will be open to the public Sunday, May 20 from 1-4 p.m. at no charge to celebrate the historic Tree Streets and “a day in 1914.”

Located at 1006 Southwest Ave., across the street from Veterans Park and South Side School, the brick Four-Square style house has been completely renovated and, in parts, updated.

The open house will feature music from the era, rooms re-created to suit the style of the time, and a display of artifacts representing the early 1900s. Refreshments will be served on the breezy side porch, and visitors who attend in period dress will be eligible for a door prize drawing.

The current owners, Robert and Elizabeth Bunting, who, interestingly, share the same first names as the original owners, moved into the house last summer.

The couple, who moved from Charlotte, N.C., picked the Tree Streets for its neighborhood feel and sense of history. It may be possible the house picked them. It was love at first sight for Elizabeth, but the house did not have a “for sale” sign out front. “I wish that house were for sale,” she said when she saw it on one of her drives, scouting the neighborhood for available houses.

Though there wasn’t a sign out front, the Four Square was listed online. Three days after it went on the market, the Buntings bought it, surprising the owners who didn’t expect a quick sale in a down market.

The house was move-in ready save for a chimney damaged by the April 2011 tornado. “The kitchen was redone in 2006. They completely gutted it and started from scratch,” Elizabeth said.

They did leave the original bead board ceiling, however. For Elizabeth, the kitchen clinched the deal – the house has all the charm of an earlier time but with modern conveniences.

As for Robert, he knew as he walked up the porch steps, “this was the house for us.”

Ken Harrison, Tree Streets historian, who is providing artifacts for the open house display, said the house has its original windows, doors, oak floors and trim, except for the kitchen. The double-paned interior doors still have the original glass.

Robert Evans was an insurance agent who had an office downtown, Harrison said. When the house was built, the development was only five years old, and the area called Stump Town because the developer had cut down all the trees to make the lots even.

Evans’ home sat in an expanse of vacant, treeless lots until the neighborhood built up around it.

“Some built houses from scratch, some from kits,” Harrison said of the Tree Street homes. From 1908 to 1940, Sears and Roebuck produced kits containing mass-produced, pre-cut materials, which were delivered to the customer’s lot, and built by whomever knew “what end of the hammer to hold.”

Harrison thinks Evans’ Four-Square was built by hand, however.

The Buntings are the fifth owners of the house; it stayed in the Evans family until 1988, when Robert and Lizzie’s youngest son John had to give it up because of advancing years.

Like many old houses, the Four Square has stories to tell, including a ghost story, Harrison said, “to be revealed the day of the tour.”

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The area’s two major farmers markets are outlets for these growers, along with bakers, crafters and some traditional farmers. This week both the Johnson City and Jonesborough farmers markets will open for the season.

In 1976, the Johnson City Farmer’s Market began as a cooperative effort between markets in Johnson City, Kingsport and Bristol. It operated out of the parking lot of St. John’s Episcopal Church on North Roan Street, until moving to its current location in 2003. Now in the more spacious city-owned parking lot at South Roan Street and State of Franklin Road, the market features between 40 to 60 vendors during the summer and draws thousands of customers.

“At the height of the summer, during July and August, we have upwards of 3,500 to 4,000 people coming through on a Saturday and 1,500 to 2,000 on a Wednesday,” said Blair Eldred, president of the market. There would be even more vendors, he added, if the market had not set limits in 2011 on the number of arts, crafts and concessions sold.

The market is open on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. May through November and from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the first and third Saturdays of the month from November to April. The winter market was added this year.

The Johnson City Farmer’s Market follows the 50/50 rule, in keeping with state sales tax laws, Eldred said. “As long as the farmers grow 50 percent of what they sell, they can bring in 50 percent outside produce.”

Items for sale include produce, plants, arts and crafts, concessions, meats, baked goods – including the popular Auntie Ruth’s doughnuts – and cheese. Eldred describes the market’s vendors as “traditional farmers,” some of whom have been with the market since it started. There’s also been an uptick in the number of specialty growers.

At the Jonesborough Farmers Market, specialty growers are its lifeblood. Beginning with eight vendors when it opened in 2008, the market grew to a peak of 37 vendors this past summer, with an average of 25 on any given Saturday.

The Jonesborough market operates by the 100 percent rule. “Our rules are you can’t resell anything,” said Karen Childress, market manager. “You have to produce it yourself.”

The mix includes microgreens, lettuce, shiitake mushrooms, honey, jellies and jams, lamb and beef, eggs, plants, 47 kinds of chili peppers and other seasonal items. Many of the growers eschew chemicals and pesticides, and customers are free to ask if they have concerns. The same applies to the Johnson City market.

Crafters and bakers offer homemade wares, including artisan breads and desserts.

The Jonesborough market, which is held on the east side of the Washington County courthouse in downtown Jonesborough, combines traditional farming with specialty growers.

“We’ve got a pretty good mix leaning toward a new generation of backyard entrepreneurs,” Childress said. “Our applicants tend to be younger, definitely on the entrepreneurial side.”

The market is open Saturdays from 8 a.m. to noon May through October. Online ordering begins in November and runs through April.

Childress expects to open the market Saturday with as many as 30 vendors, up from 23 last year. New additions include more produce growers, including a USDA-certified organic grower, a sausage and pork vendor who makes handmade sausages in their own Tennessee Department of Agriculture-inspected facility, and a grass-fed beef vendor who will be at the market twice a month.

Asked what to expect on opening day, Childress said, “Customers will find several varieties of lettuce, salad mix, kale, mustard and turnip greens, radishes, bunching onions, baby bok choi, fresh and dried shitake mushrooms, Earlyglow strawberries, leeks and eggs – all sizes and colors, large to small, blue, green and brown.”

In addition, there will be animal-welfare-approved lamb cuts, sausages and pork cuts, goat cheeses, honey, breads, cupcakes, jams and jellies, crafts, kitchen items and plants.

A third farmers market, at East Tennessee State University, opened April 5. The last market of the spring semester is Thursday; it will reopen in the fall. This new market serves ETSU students, staff and faculty.

Located in the parking area between the D.P. Culp University Center and the Reece Museum, the ETSU Farmers Market is open from 9:30 a.m.-1 p.m. on Thursdays. Vendors and farmers must be within 100 miles of the university, organizer Rachel Ward said.

Farmers markets not only offer a way to buy fresh, locally grown food, they also are gathering places, where friends meet for coffee, doughnuts and pastries, or stop to listen to the live music each market features. The sense of community created by the markets is important, both Childress and Eldred said.

“You have the opportunity to talk to the person who grows your food and visit them from week to week, and it naturally develops a lot of relationships and sense of community,” Childress said. “Being able to speak to the person who produced your food is unique. The market is a good place to catch up with people and see people, among the customers. It’s fun and it’s social; you get good food and everybody has good feelings about it.”

Online:

johnsoncityfarmersmarket.com

jonesborough.locallygrown.net

“We did out normal stuff. Mark wasn’t walking at the time, so I was carrying him around, running around until the doctors appointment at 11,” she said.

Ali expected to be checked out, reassured and sent home, but an ultrasound revealed she was in labor and fully dilated. Her second child would be born that day, at 26 weeks gestation, a full 14 weeks early. She was totally unprepared.

“Mark was induced at 39 weeks and weighed 9 pounds,” Ali said. “I had no thoughts we might have a preemie.”

At the doctor’s office Ali was put on a stretcher, put into an ambulance and taken to Johnson City Medical Center. At 1:08 p.m., Anthony Gibbons was born via C-section, weighing 2 pounds 7 ounces. Before his mom could see him, he was whisked off to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

“I couldn’t go up to see him. I couldn’t get out of bed until they undid my IV, which was 12 hours later,” Ali said. “I asked, ‘How long do you think he’s going to have to stay?’ I didn’t have any idea and wanted to try to play this cool.”

She was shocked when a nurse told her premature babies usually remain in NICU until their due date. “It’s October. He’s not due until January,” Ali thought.

Her husband, David, affectionately called “Fudge” by friends and family, went up NICU to find out what was going on. Neither was prepared for what was happening. The two lost their bearings in this strange new world.

“Tony was on a ventilator right off the bat. He wasn’t breathing on his own,” she said. Twenty-four hours later he was off the ventilator but required supplemental oxygen.

The March of Dimes reports only 6 percent of babies are born earlier than 28 weeks. In 1976, when Johnson City Medical Center’s NICU first opened, babies under the gestational age of 28 weeks weren’t even accepted for treatment. They were provided comfort measures until they died. Fortunately, great strides have been made in neonatal medicine since then.

Still, Tony had a host of problems. His skin wasn’t completely developed. His patent ductus arteriosus (PDA), which is open in the womb to allow the baby to receive oxygen from its mother, wasn’t closed.

“It took two rounds of medication to get it closed,” Fudge said. “If the second hadn’t worked, he would have had to have surgery.

“He had one blood infection that lasted a really long time, it took a while for his lungs to get where they were supposed to be, and eating was a little rough at the beginning.”

A baby in the womb typically doesn’t learn to eat, swallow and breathe simultaneously until after 33 weeks, Ali said. “It wasn’t until we got close to that milestone that we even began to start to feed him from a bottle instead of the NG (nasogastric) tube.”

The Gibbons have nothing but praise for the NICU staff. They had entered unfamiliar territory, and needed help negotiating it.

“We didn’t know anybody else who had a preemie before this happened,” Ali said. “We had no idea what to expect. The staff was so understanding and encouraging. They were eager to let us be involved with him and let us do things we could do with him when we came to visit.”

Tony had to reach several milestones before he could be released: He had to weigh at least 5 pounds, he had to be able to sit in a car seat without having his blood pressure drop, he had to eat properly and be on room oxygen for 24 hours in an open crib without experiencing any problems.

Ali was released from the hospital after three days. Sixty-seven days later, Tony was released to go home. It was Dec. 18, 2009, one week before Christmas. He weighed 6 pounds.

Today, Tony is in good health, having been spared the long-term consequences of premature birth. His family is grateful.

“We are very blessed,” Ali said. “There were people around us in the NICU that were not as fortunate as we were.”

Tony, at 21⁄2, 15 months younger than his brother, only weighs 4 pounds less than Mark.

“He is fearless. He is absolutely fearless,” Ali said. “We joke about how he didn’t want to be left behind from day one. He is full of life.”

When she thought of opening a business, she envisioned a shop, painted pretty, pretty pink with a beautiful chandelier, where women could come to feel good about themselves.

What she had was a rundown building in need of a complete overhaul. “This was a train wreck,” she said of the building. “There was more than 20 years of water damage,” and she had little money to complete the renovation.

“I don’t know if it’s courage or stupidity that I’m actually stepping into this,” she said when she decided to move her small clothes shop from a downtown emporium to the building at 102 Main St. “You grit your teeth, close your eyes and just jump. If you’re passionate enough and you want something bad enough, you find a way.”

First Lisa found her way to the dump, where she rummaged through cast-off items that could be used in the renovation.

“God made some people brain surgeons and this is what he gave me,” Lisa said of her ingenuity. “All my life I’ve turned trash into treasures.”

Discarded windows were used to make a bathroom ceiling; the three-way mirror was made from old doors and inexpensive mirrors.

For her chandelier, she found a “basic Williamsburg base” for $5 at a thrift store, added industrial wire “bent like sticks to look like a branch in spring ready to bloom,” and chandelier crystals she had collected for years. “I never pass up chandelier crystals,” she said.

She and her husband ripped out, scraped, sanded, nailed up, put down and painted every inch of the space. When she wasn’t working on the renovation, Lisa painted other people’s houses to earn money to put back into the business.

“It took us 70 days and nights to renovate this store,” she said. “The first 60 days were a labor of love, the last 10 were just labor.”

When it came time to paint the interior, she chose pink because it was the color of her bedroom when she was a little girl playing dress up with her friends.

And having fun with clothes – good quality, inexpensive, gently worn clothes – is what Forever A Diva is all about, Lisa said.

“I get the women to play dress up. I help them find clothes they will actually wear. If you don’t love it, you’re not going to feel pretty in it,” she said.

“My little store is my playhouse. It’s my way of getting to make some money to do what I really love and that’s just being around women of all ages, to be an encouragement to them and they are an encouragement to me.”

Lisa carries everything from blue jeans to evening gowns in sizes 0 to 2X. Through relationship she has cultivated with women throughout the Tri-Cities, she is able to carry brands like Talbots, Chico’s, Kasper, Ann Taylor and Lucky Jeans. By stocking “recycled” clothes, Lisa said she is able to pass on significant savings to her customers.

“I sell Kasper or Ann Taylor suits for less than $40. They retail for $250 to $400,” she said.

Lucky Brand jeans that retail for more than $100 sell for $24 a pair.

There are also accessories like handbags, sterling silver jewelry and shoes. “I have a fetish for shoes. I love Italian shoes,” Lisa said with a laugh. “Italian shoes make me shake.”

She recently expanded into home furnishings and floral design, reworking unwanted and unloved materials into something new and beautiful.

It’s not surprising to find that her overarching goal in opening the store is to help women discover their best selves.

“It’s amazing how many women can’t see how beautiful they are,” she said. “I help them find clothes to bring out the assets and camouflage the liabilities. In the right-fitting outfit, standing in front of the mirror, their shoulders go back. I love the moment when you see her look at herself like she’s her own best friend.”

Forever A Diva is located at 102 Main St. in Erwin. Hours are 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. For more information, call 735-9196.

Jan Hearne is Tempo editor for the Johnson City Press. Reach her at jhearne@johnsoncitypress.com.

Rocky Mount is the site of the Cobb-Massengill home, built in 1769 by William Cobb, considered one of the first settlers of this region.

The site is significant because of its central role in the formation of the state, functioning not only as a home to the Cobbs but also as the headquarters for William Blount and as the first capital of the Southwest Territory.

On May 26, 1790, 21 years after Cobb built his home in the wilderness, the United States government established “the Territory of the United States South of the River Ohio.” President George Washington appointed Blount to serve as territorial governor and superintendent of Indian Affairs.

Blount ran the business of government at Rocky Mount until 1792, when he moved to Knoxville, establishing the new capital there. Four years later, Tennessee was admitted to the Union as the 16th state.

The house and farm passed to Penelope Cobb, daughter of William and Barsheba, upon her marriage to Henry Massengill Jr. Rocky Mount remained in the Massengill family until 1959 when the state of Tennessee purchased it for preservation as a historic site.

The house and farmland came to the state’s attention through the work of Pauline Massengill DeFriece and her efforts to form the Rocky Mount Historical Association in 1958.

“In 1962, we opened to the public,” said T.J. DeWitt, the museum’s education director. “At that point we had the house and kitchen, and, I believe, the weaving cabin, which was the smokehouse at the time.”

Volunteers kept the museum running throughout the 1960s. They conducted tours and collected artifacts related to the Cobbs, Massengills and the area’s early history.

A watershed year for Rocky Mount was 1974, when E. Alvin Gearhardt Jr. was hired as its first professional director.

Gary Walrath, the museum’s current executive director, described Gearhardt as a “true legend and innovator,” saying he “took Rocky Mount from a little-known historic site to a position of prominence statewide and nationally.”

By 1979, the museum had obtained accreditation from the American Association of Museums. The accreditation process was rigorous and the guidelines stringent, but Gearhardt was determined to protect and preserve the site’s artifacts while furthering its programs.

In the early- to mid-1980s a handful of museums were switching from third-person to first-person interpretation. Until then, visitors were greeted with information delivered by a guide, sometimes dressed in period clothes but definitely of the present time.

“They were showing the objects and saying this is a birdcage Windsor chair from the 1812 era, and this clock dates to the 1700s, and they would talk about the whole history of the house,” DeWitt said.

A few sites, like Conner Prairie in Indiana and Plimoth Plantation in Massachusetts, were using guides who stayed in character and spoke of the times in which they lived, never acknowledging the modern era.

“One Christmas,” DeWitt said, “there was an interpreter at Rocky Mount who just pretended she was getting the governor’s wig ready. She asked visitors, ‘Can you hear the stage coach coming?’ and they said they did.

“We’d been looking for a way to make the whole program interactive, something special. Over the winter we started developing a living history program. We picked 1791 as the year to show. People took on the personas of the Cobb family, the Massengill family and composite characters like a store owner, an overseer – not true historical characters but characters representative of historical characters.”

Ten years to the day after the museum opened Emily McClellan came on board. She made the transition easily from third-person guide to first-person interpreter, portraying the role of Mrs. Cobb for decades now.

“This will be her 40th anniversary,” DeWitt said. “She was instrumental in developing first-person interpretation along with Alvin Gearhardt.”

Grant Hardin, also a longtime re-enactor, portrays Mr. Cobb. He and Mrs. McClellan are joined by a “dozen or so” paid interpreters and about 20 volunteers who help out throughout the year, DeWitt said.

Five years after Rocky Mount became a living history site, a new 6,000-square-foot educational wing with a 175-seat auditorium and three additional classrooms were completed.

“This past year we finished another renovation with all new exhibits, and we renovated the interior and put in all new exhibits,” DeWitt said.

In addition to the re-enactors, historic buildings, interpretive exhibits, period gardens, cooking and crafts, special events throughout the year continue to draw visitors to Rocky Mount.

Woolly Days, featuring sheep shearing, spinning, weaving, cooking and gardening, will be held April 14.

Other popular events include Spirit of the Harvest in October and the Christmas Candlelight Tours.

For more information about Rock Mount, visit www.rockymountmuseum.com.

It seems a bit warm for this time of year, and strangely devoid of humans, but recognizable, nonetheless, until ... Was that a tapir?

Though it’s not possible to know for sure, researchers at the Gray Fossil Site can describe what life was like in this area 4.5 to 7 million years ago based on their discoveries.

“(The forests) were very similar to what we have today,” Dr. Steven Wallace, curator of the East Tennessee State University and General Shale Brick Natural History Museum, said. “The climate was warmer by a few degrees, just enough to get alligators up here.”

Yes, alligators. Wallace said they have found alligator fossils “curled up” as if perhaps burrowing and others flat out “like Superman.”

Though clearly recognizable as alligators, the fossils suggest some variation on our present-day reptiles. “The species we’ve got would have had slightly different tolerances,” Wallace said.

The slightly warmer temperatures during the late Miocene era did make life possible for a variety of animals lost from this area; they would be recognizable but undoubtedly look out of place.

That stroll to the pond might offer a glimpse of a saber tooth cat, about the size of a lion; three different kinds of peccary, a piglike mammal now ranging from the U.S. Southwest to South America; pot-bellied rhinos; short-faced bears; red pandas, albeit larger ones than found at the Knoxville Zoo; camels; shovel-tusked elephants; and a lot of tapirs.

“Tapirs are by far the most common animal at this site,” Wallace said. “If you were walking around this forest, these guys would be running around.”

Tapirs are found in great numbers because of the pond that once covered acres of land in Gray. The fossil deposit covers 4 to 5 acres, but it may have been 10 acres originally, Wallace said, adding, “We haven’t found the edges yet.” When researchers do, they hope to find more complete animals closer to shore.

Tapirs are water lovers and browsers, which is why so many tapir fossils are being found at the site. “It may be the ideal habitat for them,” Wallace said.

One horse tooth has been found at the site, from a three-toed horse about the size of a deer, suggesting horses were at the site but not in large numbers.

The pond also was home to turtles. “This is a unique turtle locality. We have found six or seven different types of turtles and a lot of them,” Wallace said. Among them are box turtles and common sliders related to today’s red-eared slider, which still lives in the area.

While the temperate forests of the continent were giving way to open grasslands to the west and conifer-dominated forests to the north, the Gray Fossil Site may have been a place of refuge amidst the change.

Unlike the LaBrea Tar Pits in Los Angeles, the Gray Pond was not a trap, which is why so few carnivore fossils are being found. An animal trapped in a tar pit struggles and cries out, attracting predators. The predators attack and become stuck themselves. At Gray Pond, life progressed naturally. Creatures lived; creatures died. And through attrition over perhaps less than 15,000 years – the time it took for the pond to silt in and cover up – remains were left behind to fossilize in perfect paleontological conditions.

Today, 12 years after it was discovered during road construction, the old pond is the site of the ETSU General Shale Brick Natural History Museum and Visitor Center at the Gray Fossil Site. While further digging and research are being done, visitors can tour the museum to learn more about this area and how it looked millions of years ago.

For more information, go to www.grayfossilmuseum.com.

Since the fall of 1963, when then-mayor May Ross McDowell and the mayor of Guaranda established the Sister City alliance, people from the two towns have been learning from each other.

Guaranda is almost due South from Johnson City, sharing its time zone during the winter. Located in the Andes Mountains at an elevation of about 8,800 feet, Guaranda has a mild climate, neither too hot nor too cold. Because it is just south of the equator, it never freezes, allowing Guarandans to grow apples, roses and oranges year-round.

Dr. Tim McDowell, a member of the Sister Cities program, botanist and assistant professor of biological studies at East Tennessee State University, has traveled to Guaranda with his students.

“The town is quite wonderful,” he said. “It’s a market town and provincial capital. They have three large markets so people from all over the countryside bring in their produce and people come from all over the countryside to buy produce, dry goods and tools.”

The markets are bright with the color of fresh fruit like bananas, mangos and tangerines and the native dress of the Quechua, who make up about 70 percent of the population. Both men and women wear hats, and the hats are distinctive for each province, McDowell said.

The area is also known for its Carnival masks – Guaranda hosts the largest pre-Lenten Carnival in Ecuador – and the white liquor Pajaro Azul.

Theresa McGarry, also a Sister Cities member and a linguist at ETSU, taught English at the State of Bolivar University in Guaranda for several weeks in 2006. She is just one of several educators who have benefited from the exchange between State of Bolivar University and ETSU. Currently Dr. Jerome Mwyinyelle of ETSU is teaching in Guaranda.

“Quillen School of Medicine has sent medical students and nursing students to the field clinics and to State of Bolivar University,” McDowell said. There they are able to study and treat diseases they wouldn’t normally encounter in the United States.

Though Guaranda’s average income is lower than Johnson City’s, McDowell said Guarandans do not lack the basics.

“The State of Bolivar is among the poorest states of Ecuador,” he said. “But I think there’s a good level of basic provision for people. It’s a country where the people have good health care and good diets in general. There’s a national health care system there.”

In Ecuador, the price of gas, bread, rice and bus travel are all subsidized. “The price of gas is fixed at a certain price,” McDowell said. “Rolls are always 10 cents across Ecuador.” Bus travel is inexpensive, and the bus transit system is extensive.

More than 10 years ago, Ecuador adopted the American dollar as its national currency, sparing visitors from Johnson City confusing currency conversions.

Meals are hearty in Guaranda with a soup course at lunch and dinner. Because of the high elevation, farmers grow a maize, potatoes, cabbage and wheat. Guinea pigs, called cuy, are roasted on a stick. “Cuy is considered a celebration food,” McDowell said.

The town itself is named after a Quechua warrior named Guaranga, who turned back the Spanish conquistadors when they first made their way into Ecuador.

“The Spanish came back some years later with much greater force and overwhelmed Guaranga, but he has been the hero the town identifies with,” McDowell said, adding the town has erected a statue honoring Guaranga.

On most days, snow-capped Chimborazo, the highest mountain in Ecuador and the second highest mountain in South America, can be seen from Guaranda, which is 30 miles from the foot of the mountain. At 20,800 feet, Chimborazo is far higher than Mount Mitchell, the highest point in the eastern United States at 6,684 feet, and the air in Guaranda more rarefied.

In Ecuador, McDowell, said, everyone has a cell phone and Internet is widely available in Internet shops, so Guarandans are connected to the wider world not only through their exchanges with Johnson City but also through technology.

“Over the years, the Sister Cities program has sustained activity with Guaranda more and longer than any other Sister City,” McDowell said. “It has been passed along like a relay baton among groups and people throughout the years.”

The relationship was formed to promote friendship and understanding, but it has proved to be much more, enriching the lives and cultures of both towns for nearly 50 years.

The Sister Cities program meets the second Thursday of each month in downtown Johnson City. For more information or to become a member, call Doug Carter, president, at 926-9193.

Reach Jan Hearne at jhearne@johnsoncitypress.com.

She left with “big fanfare” in 1994, and wondered how she would fill her days.

“I had to have something to do after I got the house cleaned up,” she said. “There’s only so much cleaning you can do.”

Magdalene decided to make a memory quilt to honor the people she worked with and to commemorate key events of her working life. This wouldn’t be her first quilt; she had been doing needlework since she was a young girl.

“I learned to quilt from my mama, Mattie Preston. She used to have quilting parties with two or three ladies getting together to help each other quilt,” she said. Her mother taught her to embroider, too, a skill she would draw upon in designing and creating her quilt.

Dresden Plate was the pattern she chose for the quilt because she had made one before, and its center circle and radiating “blades” lent themselves to embroidery.

“If I made it and put white in there, I could put the names of the people who meant something to me, people who were close to me one way or the other,” she said.

She cut each of the pieces by hand using scraps of fabric from dresses, shirts and other pieces of clothing accumulated over the years. The only fabric she purchased was the unbleached muslin used for the backing.

“After I made all of the squares, I went back and embroidered the names on it,” she said.

Those names include friends like Marie Simmons, supervisors like Lee Miller and the “big shots” at the hospital during her time there.

Other pieces commemorate events like the move from Boone Street and Watauga Avenue to the hospital’s current location on State of Franklin.

“The day we moved in 1980, Miss Miller said, ‘Don’t even think about clocking out.’ We only had 200 trays (in the cafeteria) on moving day, so they were constantly washing trays and dishes. There was no cooked food that day, and we only had one register to catch the people who had to pay. The people who helped move weren’t charged for their food,” she said.

Another square remembers the blizzard of 1993, a day described on the quilt as “snow,” “ice” and “cold.”

“They sent for me and Marie,” Magdalene remembers. “We worked for 12 hours, and they put us up in a room upstairs. We spent the night. Nobody could get to work but the ones that were there had to do what they had to do.”

Marie Simmons has her own square. Embroidered on the blades are the words “cook,” “queen,” “banker,” “peace maker,” “friend” and “5 stars.”

Marie encouraged Magdalene to save money. When she got her first raise, Marie told her, “You’re going to pretend you didn’t get that,” and urged her to put aside the extra earnings.

“I learned how to live within my means,” Magdalene said, adding, “It’s not what you make, it’s what you do with it.”

One square, 1964, includes the names of the people she worked with when she started. “Some of them have gone on to glory now,” she said. And 1994, lists those working with her shortly before her retiremen. “In Memory” pays tribute to friends who’ve passed away.

The quilt took her two years off and on to make, but it took 30 years to create the memories she preserves.

“I have shown it to different people. They just think it’s a rag quilt,” she said. “I especially showed it to Marie. She thought it was sort of nice she had her own square.”

Magdalene also showed the quilt to her niece Christine Anderson, who immediately saw the value of it.

“Aunt Maggie, don’t you know that’s history?” Christine asked.

“No,” Magdalene said, “That’s my memory quilt.”

On Feb. 11, a cold, windy Saturday, Patrick, family and friends came together to hang a Quilt Trail panel on the farm’s barn. Though the barn was built in the 1950s, the quilt panel tells the story of the farm and its stone house, which dates back to the 18th century.

The Sterns see themselves as stewards of the house and its history, and the history is significant.

In 1791, Thomas Embree, who ran his father’s iron business, had stonemason Seth Smith build the limestone house; it is one of four stone houses in this area designed and built by Smith. Thomas, a Quaker, and his wife, Esther, had four children, including son Elihu, born in 1782.

In Jonesborough in 1820, Elihu published The Emancipator, the first periodical in the United States devoted solely to the abolition of slavery.

While he was firmly against slavery, Elihu paradoxically owned slaves. “His first wife died, he remarried, and his second wife had slaves. He could not afford the fees to free them,” Patrick said.

The slaves, a family, lived in the basement of the stone house. The slave quarters consisted of one large room with a fireplace and a dirt floor. It was said the house was part of the Underground Railroad, and the Civil War Battle of Limestone Station was fought around it, long after Elihu’s death in 1820.

Patrick was familiar with the Quilt Trail of Tennessee, a project showcasing the barns and heritage quilts of this area. He didn’t have a particular quilt or pattern associated with his house, but he wanted to hang a quilt panel reflecting the house’s rich heritage.

He was unsure where to start until he saw an article in the Johnson City Press about a Civil War commemorative quilt designed by Virginia Kennedy of Jonesborough. He called her and said, “If you’d be so kind to help me,” and she was.

“You get your picture in the paper with something and then you’re an expert,” Virginia said and laughed, admitting she was intrigued by the project.

“(Patrick) knew nothing about quilts and not a whole lot about fabric and color,” she said. “He told me he wanted me to celebrate the history of the farm, including the history of the house that belonged to the Embree family. One quilt block couldn’t handle all of that; there were several things involved he wanted to recognize.”

The panels on the Quilt Trail are based on family quilts, using a single pattern, but Patrick needed to deviate from that scheme after Virginia came up with five different quilt squares telling the house’s story.

“I told him how to get in touch with the Quilt Trail folks to make sure what he wanted to do would suit them, and they seemed happy with that,” Virginia said. “As far as we know, this is the only panel with that many quilt blocks on it. Most are the same one or four of the same pattern.”

The center is the Chained Star, which represents slavery; the top is Farmer’s Field, for the land’s history; on the right is the Box Block, which represents the Emancipation newspapers; on the bottom is Lincoln’s Platform; and on the left, is the Underground Railroad.

“I just pulled the fabrics from my Civil War stash,” Virginia said of her extensive collection gathered over years of quilting. “I said, ‘something here is going to appeal to you.’ That’s how we arrived at the colors.”

Though he didn’t anticipate doing it, Patrick ended up painting the design on the panels.

“This was more geometry than art, and I’m good at geometry,” he said modestly. “It’s tedious but not artistic. It was just sticking with it, getting it done.”

He also came up with the octagon arrangement so he could have bigger blocks that could be seen better from the road. The final design takes up a 12-foot-by-12-foot area.

Once the barn was structurally prepared to hold the panel, a crew was assembled, and something resembling an old-fashioned barn raising was held. On hand were Patrick’s son-in-law Angel Argueta; Chris Dulaney, who built the structure to support the panel; and Jimmy Crain, whose childhood scrambling around a tobacco barn held him in good stead as he set up the pulleys. Crain also is married to Janelle Kyker, whose family built the barn and once owned the land it sits on.

Each block was hoisted up separately, then joined.

Back at the house, friends, including Virginia and her husband Bill, gathered for a 4 p.m. supper after the panel was in place.

“(Patrick) shared the story of the quilt panel project and the importance the place and its history have for him, as well as his desire to have history and story to continue to be shared there,” Virginia said. “Several men brought guitars and we sang ‘Amazing Grace’ and some patriotic songs. Then we enjoyed food together and talked a lot. You just thought, ‘This sort of thing doesn’t happen many places these days.’ ”

For his part, Patrick was deeply moved by the people who stepped up to help and for the way they all worked together to get the job done.

“It was one of those days you’ll never forget,” he said.

Reach Jan Hearne at jhearne@johnsoncitypress.com.

To find the right location, Sara went to the website findyourspot.com and answered a series of questions about desired climate, recreational opportunities, cultural activities and more.

“Tri-Cities came up on a list of 10 possible places,” Sara said. It fit her need for a good climate that was conducive to coffee drinking (Charleston, S.C., and Savannah, Ga., were on the list, too, but she ruled them out based on their hot and humid weather); access to “the great outdoors”; a downtown area with affordable spaces; a Monday through Friday customer base; and reasonable proximity to airports.

Her first trip to the area was in spring, not a bad time at all to “meet” Northeast Tennessee. “Spring here is knockout beautiful,” Sara said. She and her daughter, Victoria, were impressed.

Decisions were made; plans were made; plans fell through. Victoria had hoped to sell her coffee shop in Pittsburgh and make the move with her mom, but the shop didn’t sell. Sara forged ahead alone. She grew up moving and adapting to different cultures, languages and locales.

Wanderlust is woven into Sara’s family’s DNA, going back at least two generations. Sara’s grandfather was a naval engineer in Switzerland who studied in England, where he met his wife. The two immigrated to the United States, sailing separately because they hadn’t yet married. Family lore has it they were met on the docks by a minister and were immediately wed.

Sara’s dad was chief information officer for the United States Information Service. While he was posted to the state department in Vienna, Austria, after World War II, he met his wife. “Mum,” as Sara calls her, had joined the Women’s Army Corps when the war started and was sent to New Guinea. After the war, she wanted to take part in the reconstruction of Europe, signing up as a civilian. “Mum set out her terms and landed in Vienna,” Sara said.

It was there her parents met through mutual friends and were married. Vienna is also Sara’s birthplace, but that’s not necessarily where she’s from.

“The worst question you can ask a diplomat’s child is ‘where are you from?’” Sara said. “We have no idea. Mum said she was raising us to be citizens of the world.”

Sara went to nursery school in Berlin. When her family returned to America, Sara and her brother didn’t speak English very well and didn’t understand why the other children didn’t speak German. Early in 1963, the family moved to India.

“It was the era of ‘Camelot.’ Kennedy was on the throne, and America could do no wrong,” she said of the Indian attitude toward Americans. She describes her life there as magical. At the time, India, which had gained its independence from Britain in 1947, still was “more English than England.”

Five years into their stay in India, Sara’s dad was assigned to Vietnam. Her mother had three choices: return to America, move to Bangkok or say in India. They were settled, had friends and knew the country, so they stayed.

The idyll ended in 1971 when they returned to the United States. “We came back to a country at war with itself,” Sara said, referring to the riots and protests of the times. Her parents put Sara and her brother in D.C. public schools, where they were “mugged weekly” and had their lunch money stolen. When Mum found out, they transferred to a private school in Maryland.

Having grown up on her mother’s stories of “Army fun,” it felt right for Sara to join the Army reserve while she was in college. She served as a drill sergeant at Fort Jackson, S.C., in the summer. Turns out, Sara’s mother was not happy about her decision. There was a war on, she said.

Sara’s choice also presented problems at her college. Guilford College in Greensboro, N.C., is a Quaker school, and Quaker beliefs do not include war or the mechanics of war. “So, obviously a Quaker college was not the place for me,” Sara said.

But the Army Reserve was. “I thought it was a terrific thing to do. My summers were spent at the Pentagon or pushing men at Fort Jackson, and I loved it. I was really good at drill and ceremonies,” she said.

She met and fell in love with her husband at Fort Jackson. He was the training NCO at the White House.

The couple lived in D.C., Hawaii and San Francisco. Their daughter was born. After 20 years, the marriage ended.

“In all that to-ing and fro-ing, I came back to D.C.,” Sara said. There she worked for 13 years in the Washington office of the San Francisco Convention Bureau. In 2005, she ran a weeklong conference in Mozambique.

The woman who had circled the globe at least three times before she was 10 decided it was time for another move. “Moving to me is ‘oh, boy. What’s next?’” she said.

Thus, the quiz, and thus, Johnson City.

On March 1, 2008, Sara opened her coffee shop, Coffee & Tea Haven, at Nelson Fine Art. A year later, she moved to her current location at 300 E. Main St. Her shop is at the rear of the lobby in King Centre, complete with exposed brick walls and a fireplace. There is always a jigsaw puzzle in progress, a newspaper, free WiFi, coffee, hot chocolate, snacks, sodas and tea. Her bagels are brought in from Bristol, and her son-in-law Ace is now on board, making paninis.

The shop is open from 8 a.m to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Asked if she made the right decision, Sara said, “Johnson City lived up to my expectations as a whole. People absolutely made it seem so welcoming and so possible. In the world’s worst economy, I am still open.”

Victoria made it to Johnson City, too, but not as planned. This past summer Sara was diagnosed with leukemia, and she needed a helping hand or two or four. After a harrowing few months, she is doing better, and Sara has an eye toward the future.

“I think I have another move left,” she said.

No doubt, she does.

Reach Jan Hearne at jhearne@johnsoncitypress.com.

Ted Olson, professor of Appalachian Studies at East Tennessee State University, along with Bear Family Records of Germany, released the Grammy-nominated Bristol Sessions boxed set in 2011. This year, they will begin work on the lesser known, but important, Johnson City Sessions.

It is their hope the public will be able to help them compile the music, photos, stories and memorabilia that will make the boxed set complete.

“It is about time that the recordings will be re-issued,” said Richard Weize, owner of Bear Family Records. “With (the Johnson City Press’) help, we possibly can get more information on the artists.”

Many of the old 78s still may be in the hands of family members, Olson said. They’ve been stashed in attics, closets or trunks, thought to be of value only to the family. In fact, they are of great value to those involved with compiling the boxed set and to music fans around the world.

It will be Christopher King’s task to remaster the originals into digital form. “His challenge is to find the best possible recording in existence,” Olson said. “While we have a list of everything that was recorded in Johnson City in 1928-29, their whereabouts aren’t all known.”

King said he hopes to find “non-compromised” copies of each recording from the sessions. “Some are extremely rare and many have been compromised by wear and tear associated with the playing of these old records,” King said, adding another challenge will be to get a “lifelike” sound out of the handful of dubbed copies of these discs where the original master was destroyed.

In 1928, Frank Walker of Columbia Records was hoping lightning would strike twice in the Tri-Cities area. The Bristol Sessions recorded by Ralph Peer of the Victor Talking Machine Company were tremendously successful, making stars of The Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers.

Walker put an ad in the Johnson City Chronicle asking “Can you sing or play Old-Time music?” “Musicians of unusual ability” were invited to “call upon Mr. Walker or Mr. Brown of the Columbia Phonograph Company at 334 East Main Street.” That address was the location of a defunct lumber company at what is now Colonial Way near WJHL.

“The Johnson City Sessions were better organized,” Olson said. “There was more advertising, more scouting, more capital put into promotions up front.”

The ad ran three times in late September and early October. Olson said that more singers and musicians participated in the Johnson City Sessions than in the Bristol Sessions.

“They saw the ads and made it to the tryouts on Oct. 13, 1928, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The recording sessions were held over four days, Monday, Oct. 15 to Thursday, Oct. 18. A few of the musicians who saw the ad and heard it was happening had already recorded for Ralph Peer,” he said, “but most of those who recorded in Johnson City were not part of the Bristol Sessions.”

Among them were the Roane County Ramblers from the Kingston-Harriman area outside of Knoxville, who became one of the biggest bands to emerge from the Johnson City Sessions of 1928. Charlie Bowman of Gray – who recorded for Walker along with his brothers and sisters – was “a real success story,” Olson said.

While many of the musicians who recorded in Johnson City lived in East Tennessee, he pointed out, some of the musicians probably traveled from the Greensboro-Burlington area of North Carolina or from the Corbin, Ky., area.

Admittedly, the Johnson City Sessions have been overlooked by history, but Olson has long recognized their importance.

“Those recordings are strong and dynamic, featuring a diverse range of material. They were well-received by record buyers of that generation and were talked about for years.”

Olson turns to the Harry Smith Anthology of American Folk Music to place the Johnson City Sessions in historical perspective. This 1952 anthology of 78 rpm recordings became a major anthology of American music, influencing artists such as Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and Jerry Garcia. It was reissued about 15 years ago on CD, becoming “ a cause for great attention,” Olson said. “It won Grammies and was widely discussed.”

Only the most powerful records made it on to the anthology. Among them were the Johnson City Sessions recordings of Bill and Belle Reed’s “Old Lady and the Devil,” the Bently Boys’ “Down on Penny’s Farm” and “The Coo Coo Bird” by Clarence “Tom” Ashley. (As a historical side note, it was on Ashley’s front porch that the young Doc Watson was first recorded.)

Like Walker, the crew behind the Johnson City Sessions boxed set, hopes lightning will strike twice. The Bristol Sessions boxed set has been nominated for two Grammy Awards, and it has been embraced by the music community worldwide.

There is no set date for completion of the Johnson City Sessions box set because, as Olson said, “Bear Family Records works very carefully.” Still, it is hoped the set will be released sometime next year.

Olson believes “the more the community can get involved, the better.” He wants the set to include a photographic representation of each of the artists, along with stories, letters and other documentation about the musicians who recorded during the Johnson City Sessions of 1928-1929.

Those who have material they would like to share, should call Olson at 439-4379 or email olson@etsu.edu.

“While our fall season was rich in several genres of visual art, film, music and theater and attendance was our best ever, our spring 2012 season just naturally blossomed with virtually every aspect of the arts you could imagine,” school director Anita DeAngelis said. “If it’s in the arts spectrum, we have it covered this spring. We are thrilled to be able to appeal to almost every taste in the next few months.”

n Through Feb. 17, ETSU’s Slocumb Galleries will be the home of the “Society of Illustrators Annual Exhibit: Illustrators 53,” featuring 40 works, a representative sample of the best, award-winning commercial art from the past year. Artist Charles Vess, whose illustrations have been exhibited at the Society of Illustrators in New York, will present a lecture at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 16, in the Ball Hall auditorium, with a gallery talk and reception to follow. The exhibit, lecture, gallery talk and reception are free and open to the public. Gallery hours are 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. weekdays, with extended hours during receptions.

n The second week of February expands to include prize-winning novelist, poet and short story writer Ron Rash, who will read from his work and, afterward, answer questions and participate in discussion in ETSU’s the Ball Hall auditorium, Room 127, starting at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 7. The event and subsequent reception with the author, sponsored by Mary B. Martin School of the Arts, is free and open to the public. Rash, the Parris Distinguished Professor of Appalachian Culture at Western Carolina University, is an Appalachian native from Buncombe County, N.C. In addition to nine novels – including his 2008 novel, “Serena” – he also has numerous collections of short stories and poetry in print.

n On Wednesday, Feb. 8, the sounds of strings and piano will swell as the Miami String Quartet, all music faculty at Kent State University, will perform with ETSU music faculty member Chih-Long Hu at 7:30 p.m. in Culp Auditorium. The quartet, lauded by the New York Times as “everything one wants in a quartet,” is known not only for its classical repertoire, but also for its strong interest in music education and encouraging new music, which has led to many commissions, premieres, festivals and scholarships. Tickets are $5 for students, $15 for senior citizens and $20 for general admission.

n On Monday, Feb. 13, Mary B. Martin School of the Arts will present “NY Export: Opus Jazz with Executive Producer Ellen Bar” as part of the South Arts Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers in Culp Auditorium. Following the free 7 p.m. screening of her film adaptation, Bar and the audience will engage in a discussion about the film and her work as a filmmaker. A reception with the filmmaker will follow the Q&A. Shot on location in New York City, “NY Export: Opus Jazz” takes Jerome Robbins’ 1958 “ballet in sneakers” and re-imagines it for a new generation, starring an ensemble cast of New York City Ballet dancers, and photographed on 35mm film. Southern Circuit is the nation’s only regional tour of independent filmmakers, providing communities with an interactive and communal way of experiencing independent film.

n To conclude its February events and in honor of Black History Month, the Mary B. Martin School of the Arts will welcome actor-director jeff obafemi carr to the VA Memorial Theatre stage on the grounds of the Veterans Affairs Medical Center at Mountain Home. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 23. Carr will perform his one-man play, “How Blak Kin Eye Bee?” Termed by critics “a masterful work of theatrical art,” the play features carr portraying a full cast of true-to-life characters who take audiences on a funny, touching and thought-provoking journey of discovering what it means to be African-American in a changing world. The 90-minute play features music, multimedia and audience participation, as well as carr’s seven unique characters. Tickets are $5 for students, $15 for senior citizens and $20 for general admission.

n For the spring’s second South Arts Southern Circuit Tour screening, writer/producer/director Anne Makepeace will accompany her documentary “We Still Live Here” to Culp Auditorium at 7 p.m. Monday, March 12. Celebrated every Thanksgiving as “the Indians” who saved the Pilgrims, then largely forgotten, the Wampanoag of Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard in this documentary are saying, “We still live here.” After the feature independent film, which recently won the Moving Mountains Award at Telluride, Colo., and the Full Frame Inspiration award in Durham, N.C., Makepeace and the audience will engage in a discussion about the film and her work as a filmmaker. A reception with the filmmaker will follow.

n The visual spectrum expands in late March to include still photography, spanning from decades-past to present. From March 26-30, Slocumb Galleries and MBM SOTA will present “Kingsport Revisited,” the culmination of a summer course taught by ETSU Visiting Assistant Professor of Photography Joshua Dudley Greer, featuring dozens of archival photographs of “The Model City,” paired with new images. For the class, students researched the photography collection of the Kingsport Public Library & Archives and re-photographed locations around Kingsport. The resulting exhibition illustrates the changes in landscape, architecture and culture in Northeast Tennessee by pairing the new photographs with the originals. Admission is free.

n April will feature “Sahkanga,” with writer/director John Henry Summerour, as the last Southern Circuit Tour screening for the 2011-2012 year on Monday, April 16, at 7 p.m. in Ball Hall auditorium. Summerour will answer questions after the film and be available during a reception, all free and open to the public. Based on actual events, “Sahkanaga” depicts a gruesome discovery in the woods, which sets into motion an unusual coming-of-age story as an Appalachian teenager copes with a secret that could destroy a family business and hopes of love.

n Mary B. Martin School of the Arts will conclude its spring season with a concert by Kingsport’s Symphony of the Mountains, featuring the world premiere of the winning piece in the “Magnum Opus: A New Composer’s Competition,” on May 5 at 8 p.m. The competition, a collaboration of SOTM and MBM SOTA, was established to highlight the quality of the performing arts throughout Southern Appalachia and to encourage the composition of new original works to be performed by a professional symphony orchestra. The winning composition will open this concert, followed by the world premiere of Mark Harrell’s Euphonium Concerto and Sibelius’ Symphony No. 1. For tickets to the concert in Toy F. Reid Eastman Employee Center, call 392-8423.

For more information or tickets for any of these events other than the SOTM concert or to arrange special assistance for individuals with disabilities, call 423-439-8587 or visit www.etsu.edu/cas/arts. The Mary B. Martin School of the Arts may also be found at www.Facebook.com/ETSU.MBMSOTA.

That you should care for me

’S awful nice, ’S paradise

’S what I love to see

– George and Ira Gershwin, “’S Wonderful,” 1927

Even if you don’t know it, you’re probably familiar with “Rhapsody in Blue.” There’s a better than average chance you’ve heard the 30 seconds of trilling clarinet that open the 1924 American classic. Maybe you’ve heard strains of the iconic piece in a United Airlines commercial. Or in the New York episode of “Glee.” Or in Disney’s “Fantasia 2000.” Or in Woody Allen’s “Manhattan.” Or even in a Nintendo Wii game.

There’s a good reason “Rhapsody in Blue” is the ubiquitous, timeless musical representation of a bustling New York City and composer George Gershwin is considered an American master. Allow the Jonesborough Repertory Theatre to demonstrate in its new production “’S Wonderful” beginning Thursday evening.

By the end of the show, you’ll be more than familiar with the composer’s signature piece and with the brothers Gershwin canon. And, if you’re already a Gershwin fan, you’re in for a singing-and-dancing treat bathed in blue.

Of course, not every song by George (music) and Ira (lyrics) can fit into a stage production that runs just under two hours. The show – full title: “’S Wonderful: The New Gershwin Musical” – opens with that rhapsodic clarinet solo, setting the stage for five stories that weave 42 Gershwin tunes through vignettes from 1924 to the present.

A curtain opens to reveal nearly 30 singers, dancers and musicians in period costumes performing a medley of featured songs. The script for the show, which premiered in 2010, calls for five actors to tell the five stories, but director Jennifer Schmidt wanted a more robust singing and dancing experience for the production.

Pre-recorded music was an option, but not one Schmidt was willing to consider. “You can’t compromise on the band,” she said. “And this way the audience is getting two bangs for their buck ­– live music and a show.”

The rich set decoration features a baby grand piano, backlit music stands, vintage microphones and projected landmarks establishing locales.

Between scenes, dancers set the stage for the upcoming story pirouetting to “Rhapsody” played by the seven-piece band.

“It’s Gershwin, you have to dance,” Schmidt said.

Many of the cast members share Schmidt’s love of the songs of the great American composers of the 20th century – the Gershwins, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin – and regularly appear in JRT productions of “1940s USO Show,” which Schmidt wrote and directs annually. Over the years she and others have collected their own 1940s costumes and the theater has added to the wardrobe when budget allows. “We have a room for the era,” Schmidt said.

Many cast members recently invested in vintage-style ballroom dancing shoes, adding to the authentic look and feel of the show and to Kristin Belisle’s choreography. “And to our ability to walk by the end of the night,” Schmidt said.

Holding hands at midnight

’Neath the starry sky

Nice work if you can get it

And you can get it if you try

– George and Ira Gershwin, “Nice Work if You Can Get it,” 1937

The first story, “Nice Work If You Can Get It,” is set in 1924 New York City. We meet Harold (Lucas Schmidt, Jennifer’s son), a newspaper typesetter who dreams of being an investigative reporter. In a lunch-hour quest, the lanky lad finds himself dressed in a wedding gown and garters, handcuffed to a beauty (Emily May) with expensive taste. Songs include “Nice Work If You Can Get It,” “I Got Rythm” and “I’ve Got a Crush on You.”

Summertime and the livin’ is easy

Fish are jumpin’ and the cotton is high

Oh, your daddy’s rich and your ma is good-lookin’

So hush, little baby; don’t you cry

– George and Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward, “Summertime,” 1935

The show then moves to New Orleans 1957 for “Of Thee I Sing.” JRT newcomers Kristy Biedleman and Jill Janitis play best friends who part ways because of, what else, a man. He’s played by JRT vet Josh Baldwin. Songs include “It Ain’t Necessarily So,” “Of Thee I Sing,” “A Foggy Day” and “Summertime.”

You like potato and I like potahto,

You like tomato and I like tomahto;

Potato, potahto, tomato, tomahto!

Let’s call the whole thing off!

– George and Ira Gershwin, “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off,” 1937

Then, back in time and across the Atlantic to France on the eve of World War II. Husband and wife Ben and Shelley Bolt play a GI and a waitress in “An American in Paris.” Besides the title tune, songs include “Our Love is Here to Stay,” “Fascinating Rhythm,” “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off.”

I love your funny face

Your sunny, funny face

Though you’re a cutie with more than beauty

You’ve got a lot of personality for me

– George and Ira Gershwin, “Funny Face,” 1927

“Funny Face” takes us to Hollywood in 1948 where makeup artist Jane, played by Susan McNabb, lives out an on-screen fantasy with matinee idol Gene, played by McNabb’s husband, Jeff McNabb. Songs include “Do, Do, Do (What You’ve Done, Done, Done Before)” and the title song.

There’s a somebody I’m longin’ to see

I hope that he, turns out to be

Someone who’ll watch over me

– George and Ira Gershwin, “Someone to Watch Over Me,” 1926

In the final story, set in the present day, Pam Williams is a grandmother reading a letter to her grandson, educating him on the timelessness of Gershwin love song. “He Loves and She Loves” includes “Someone to Watch Over Me” and “They Can’t Take That Away From Me.”

“’S Wonderful” runs Feb. 2 through 12, Thursdays through Sundays. Performances are Thursdays and Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays 3 and 8 p.m; Sundays 2 and 7 p.m.

For information on tickets or to make a reservation, call the Historic Jonesborough Visitors Center at 753-1010 or purchase online at www.jonesboroughtn.org. You can see production notes and the cast list at jonesboroughtheatre.com.

Ticket prices: general admission, $14 and students and seniors, $12.

The theater is at 125½ West Main St. in downtown Jonesborough, across from Jonesborough Presbyterian Church, next door to the Historic Eureka Inn.

Because her trajectory was so straight, it’s difficult for Jesel to talk expansively about the shop’s genesis. “I don’t know how it happened,” she said. “It just happened.”

Of course, there was much more to it than that. First there was the dream, then the training. She graduated from East Tennessee State University with a degree in fashion merchandising with a minor in art. She worked retail at Atlantis, where she still works part-time until she can get her shop up and running, and she kept her eyes open.

“Before I opened, I started paying attention. Every single day I would see at least one person in tie dye, so I knew there was a market for it.”

Unlike love beads and fringed jackets, tie dye did not fade away with the hippie era; it’s appeal spans generations. “Tie dye has never gone away,” Jesel asserts.

What has changed is the process. In the 1960s and early ’70s, tie dyeing was a messy affair, involving Rit dyes and vats of hot water, repeated dippings and smelly vinegar used as a fixative to keep the dyes from running and fading when washed. Today, fabric paints are mixed in squirt bottles, fixers are more sophisticated though still natural, and tie-dye colors can be set in the microwave in one minute.

Jesel learned the basics from a friend’s mother in Hilton Head, S.C. Then as head of children’s activities at Salty Dog Cafe in Hilton Head, she put her newfound knowledge to work. It wasn’t until she served as an unpaid intern on the Blue Plum Merchandising Committee, however, that she began to explore the craft.

She returned to Hilton Head for more instruction from her friend’s mother. “I spent three or four days with her, and she taught me all about tie dyeing and what websites to go to for the supplies and everything that I needed.”

More than 80 people had T-shirts tie dyed at Blue Plum that year, she said. The fundraiser’s success piqued her interest.

Though Jesel was proficient in the craft, she began to see tie dyeing as an art form. She moved from the standard peace symbols and hearts to creating her own designs: ladybugs, coffee cups, bats and pumpkins for Halloween, sports symbols and guitars. The more she did, the more possibilities opened up to her. She moved to handpainted clothing, sketched freehand then painted with fabric paint thickened with sodium alginate (dried ground seaweed).

“I use it like any other paint,” she said. “Once it’s thickened, it doesn’t run like regular fabric paint.”

Rubber bands are her most basic tools, and her medium is natural fabric – cotton, hemp and bamboo. “Bamboo is a good fiber to work with because it holds the color so beautifully and it’s so soft,” she said.

Jesel is an enthusiastic proponent of upcycling, another word for repurposing, in which an item is reworked and reused rather than thrown away.

“I go to thrift stores; I go to consignment shops,” she said. “I look for natural fibers that need some life.”

She orders some things, like bags, and tie-dyes or handpaints them. Her most popular item is socks, but her inventory includes fingerless gloves, hats, scarves, dresses (one described as “so incredibly soft, you could melt into it”) and lots of T’s.

She hopes to add a line of supplies so that other tie-dye aficionados can create their own pieces. “If I can do this, imagine what others can do?”

Though Jesel tends to use more earth tones than hippie brights, and she is careful to avoid the “head shop” look at her store, she took a look around the shop and said, “It does look like a rainbow exploded in here.”

2Dye4 is located at 111 Spring St., Suite 4, which is in the breezeway between Spring Street and the Downtown Square parking lot.

In the chaotic days after 9/11, Pelletti’s job was to track down every crop-dusting plane in Minnesota, following up on a tip that warned the next attack might involve small aircraft and chemicals. She’s exactly the kind of person we wanted on the job when lives were on the line.

Being airborne – and doing it with exacting attention to minute detail – is second nature to Pelletti. Her mother, a pioneering pilot, took Pelletti on her first flight when she was 10 days old.

“My mother was meticulous about safety,” said Pelletti, who now lives in Piney Flats. “By the time we loaded the plane, my mother knew what everything weighed, even the Thermos bottles were marked with masking tape when we packed for long trips to Mexico,” Pelletti said, by way of explanation about why she and her husband removed two of the six seats of their Beechcraft A36 Bonanza.

“Just because you’ve got the space, doesn’t mean you can carry the weight,” she said, recounting what happened when an overloaded, unbalanced plane like theirs took off from Elizabethton and failed to clear Holston Mountain, killing the five people on board.

In the rarefied world of commercial aviation, where women make up about 5 percent of the 53,000 members of the Air Line Pilots Association, Pelletti is in the even more elite group of women qualified for the “left seat” of a commercial jet. Pelletti has the Ph.D. of flying, the highest commercial pilot rating – airline transport pilot – the prerequisite for assuming the controls as captain.

Much of Pelletti’s extensive training was put to use at the FAA, where it was her job to ensure the people taking the controls knew what they were doing. After retiring from the FAA in 2009, Pelletti and her husband, Patrick, settled down in East Tennessee. She’d had enough of the Minnesota winters and neither of them wanted to live in Florida, where he’s from. “Somebody mentioned Nashville and we came (here) and looked around and fell in love with it, we love the people, the climate,” she said.

“Settled down” isn’t the precise term for the Pellettis. As a 747 pilot for Atlas Air charter service, Patrick Pelletti, a retired Air Force officer, regularly flies around the world. Janice Pelletti tries to fly at least once a week, but mostly stays closer to home these days. She’s putting her sharply honed organizational skills to different uses: working with kids and dogs.

As coordinator for READing Paws of Upper East Tennessee, Pelletti puts certified therapy dogs, like her own Carl, a breed champion and award-winning Rotweiler, into schools and libraries and bookstores to encourage reluctant readers. In the most kid-friendly combination since macaroni met cheese, therapy dogs are trained to give their undivided attention to kids as they read. The concept, formalized in 1999 by Reading Education Assistance Dogs – READ – has made its way into libraries and schools throughout the United States and Canada as the READing Paws program.

Pelletti organizes the area’s volunteer teams of certified therapy dogs and their handlers, coordinates their READing Paws training and makes sure teams are where the kids, parents and teachers expect them to be.

The rules and regulations for getting dogs certified and insured to work with kids isn’t as intricate as, say, the checkride for a DC-9, but an uncrossed “T” here, an undotted “I” there can mean a disappointed second grader misses the confidence boost he needs to get comfortable reading aloud in school.

Pelletti’s also busy working on a venture she hopes will entice more girls to take up flying or consider other careers in aviation. Pelletti, a former Girl Scout, and other female pilots will host a Girl Scouts aviation career fair in Knoxville April 14.

“A lot of girls and women think they have to know a lot of math to have a career in aviation, and they lose interest,” she said, repeating the advice she heard in her early days in commercial flying: “You just have to know how to add and subtract to make sure your paycheck is right.”

“We thought about holding the fair in the Tri-Cities, but we didn’t have enough women pilots to make it work,” she said. Instead, she’s working with other Tennessee members of the Ninety-Nines, an organization founded by Amelia Earhart and 98 other female pilots in 1929. The Ninety-Nines will fly into Knoxville to staff the demonstration and information stations at the fair, putting female faces on the many aspects of aviation.

To pay for her early training and learn the aviation business from the ground up, Pelletti worked the flight line of a small Minnesota airfield, fueling and washing aircraft. She’s also a highly qualified Gold Seal flight instructor, a top FAA designation. She’s been captain of an air ambulance carrier, a corporate pilot and is a commercial glider pilot.

When Pelletti’s mother, Rita Orr, died in 2009, she was celebrated for her pioneering work in aviation – as a Women’s Air Force Service Pilot in World War II, as campaign pilot for a Minnesota governor and for founding the Minnesota chapter of the Ninety-Nines. But her six decades of work for the Red Cross and the American Cancer Society got almost as much attention. “Her volunteer work, that is what she was most proud of,” Pelletti said.

Ever her mother’s daughter, Pelletti is anxious to get started on yet another volunteer gig. She’ll be working with the animal rescue group A Voice for Pets and a network of pilots who fly animals to their new families.

Orr did more than inspire her daughter to take to the skies; she imbued Pelletti with the volunteer spirit. Maybe that’s why she’s taken to her adopted state so easily.

Reach Pat Everheart at peverheart@johnsoncitypress.com.

And if you’re old enough to remember any of that pre-DVD, there’s a good chance you’re old enough to be slightly mystified about the latest step on the evolution of Family Movie Night: from DVD to streaming video.

In a way, movie night has come full circle. Gather around the TV, push a few buttons – or in the old timey times, pull a knob and turn a dial, maybe adjust the rabbit ears – then sit back and be entertained. The idea’s the same, but getting there takes more prep work.

In case you’re in that gray (or darker) area of understanding and you don’t have a teenager handy to explain it all – or better yet, just do it for you – we’ve put together a primer on getting movies into your living room. We’re not attempting to cover every option, that would take a whole special supplement, which would be outdated by the time it reached your doorstep.

In search of the vanishing rental:

Movies and boxed sets of TV series are easy to come by ­– if you’re in the market to buy. But if you’re looking for a rental for a spontaneous movie night, your options are rapidly diminishing, going the way of those tapes we often forgot to rewind. In 1999, more than 90 percent of $13.2 billion in home entertainment spending went to VHS tapes. In just 10 years, the percentage had fallen to zero. Just a couple of years ago, it was still easy to cruise the aisles at a video store to find something that, one, everybody could agree on and, two, was in stock. You don’t have to be Steve Jobs to see where that’s headed. The movie store hasn’t completely disappeared, but the pickings are getting fewer and farther between.

Your best bet for finding video rental in your neighbor is most likely a kiosk; Redbox and Blockbuster Express are the most plentiful. A quick Internet search for kiosks within 15 miles of the 37604 ZIP code turned up 25 Redbox locations and 15 for Blockbuster. On the vendors’ websites, you’re able to locate kiosks and find and reserve specific titles before you head out. Rentals are $1 to $3 depending on demand, how you reserve it and how long you keep it. Websites: redbox.com; blockbusterexpress.com.

If you’re planning a day or two ahead, Blockbuster and mail-order video pioneer Netflix offer quick service and monthly memberships for unlimited rentals. Netflix starts at $7.99; Blockbuster plans start at $9.99.

Hardware:

All manner of electronic devices can be turned into mini movie screens – smart phones, smart TVs, tablets. If you’re content with a smaller screen and your computer is already hooked up to the Internet, you can skip the TV altogether. It’s just a matter of deciding where to get the video to stream and then downloading the free software.

But to stream video – movies, TV shows, YouTube – to your television set or home theater, you need to connect your TV to the Internet. The faster the connection, the better. High-speed cable is probably the easiest for most consumers. Unless your TV set is new and Internet-ready, you’ll need a device to bridge the connection. Blu-ray DVD players and game consoles are among the most popular devices. Other set-top boxes like Roku and Apple TV are made just to connect TV sets to the Internet.

If you’re thinking of waiting a year or two, Internet TV may be your ticket. USA Today reported that “connected TVs” are the pre-show buzz leading up to this week’s International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Expectations are high that Apple’s iTV (not to be confused with the $99 Apple TV) is waiting in the wings.

“I do expect Apple to make an attempt,” Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak said in USA Today, “since I expect the living room to remain a center for family entertainment, and that touches on all areas of consumer products that Apple is already making.”

Samsung, LG and other manufacturers make “smart TVs,” which come with keyboards, Web browsers and apps. Sony makes a smart Google TV. But unless you’re an early adopter with lots of disposable income, you’ll probably want to wait at least a couple of years until Apple and the other big players duke it out and the dust settles on which technology will dominate and prices fall. We’ve all been around this block a few times.

The devices:

If you already have a game console – a Nintendo Wii, a Microsoft XBox 360, Sony PlayStation 3 – or a Blu-ray player, you can skip this section and go right to the manufacturer’s website and find out how to start streaming video.

But if you just want to stream movies and TV shows and you’re not a gamer, or if you have a standard DVD player, a couple of boxes are your ticket.

– Roku: This is an small, inexpensive box with a wide range of options for streaming services ­– Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon and HBO GO – and a long list of special interest and niche channels. Prices are $50 to $100. The company Website says Roku is the No. 1 selling streaming player. Dedicated streaming players are a small part of the streaming market, but Roku has edged out the other main player, Apple TV, according to a Nielsen survey on how Netflix and Hulu customers are streaming. Website: Roku.com

– Apple TV: Apple took its first serious crack at consumer television in late 2009 when it introduced the second generation Apple TV with a slashed price tag and more interactivity. It’s in the Roku price range ($99) and plays well with other Apple products. Options for unlimited streaming content are small compared to the Roku. Netflix is built in. Rumors have circulated about the possibility of Hulu Plus being added to Apple TV, but so far it hasn’t materialized. Of course, the iTunes store is ready and waiting for your purchasing pleasure, and YouTube and a few other channels are built in.

Stream or download?

Streaming video means instant watching, and you have to be connected to the Internet to do it. When you aren’t connected, the movie or show disappears without a trace. With iTunes and Amazon, you have the option to download a movie or TV show to a device to watch when you aren’t connected. Those two services also offer titles for rent or purchase. If you download a rental, it disappears from your account at the end of the rental. If you buy it, it stays in your account.

The Streamers:

The big players are Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime and Apple’s iTunes. Unlike iTunes, the other three offer subscription services for unlimited streaming, which make them attractive unless you want the newest releases right away and you don’t want to bother with renting DVDs or you don’t want a copy to have and to hold from this day forward.

– Netflix: Before its megablunder last fall, Netflix was probably the perfect service to ease you through the transition from a product you can touch to movies and TV shows that appear at the touch of a button and then disappear. That changed in September when Netflix broke the rule about not fixing something that’s wasn’t broken. Netflix told its 10 million customers – many of whom had blithely cruised between streaming and ordering DVDs through the mail – that the services would become separate and the price was going up. That went over like a lead balloon filled with New Coke and subscribers left in droves. Netflix decided not to separate the services after all, but the monthly cost of mail-order DVDs went up from $2 more than streaming to $7.99 more. Netflix prices: unlimited streaming, $7.99 a month, unlimited DVD rental (one at a time), $7.99 a month. To combine unlimited streaming and DVD rental, the fee ranges from $15.98 a month to $29.98 depending on how many DVDs you want at a time. If you want the newest releases from Netflix, you’re going to need the DVD package. Subscriptions are month-to-month. Website: netflix.com

– Hulu: Hulu began as a free service for streaming recently aired TV episode to computers – just PCs, though. It’s now offering Hulu Plus for $7.99 a month. Instead of offering just the latest episodes of current TV, Hulu Plus has full seasons of current and older season TV shows and a large collection of movies. Many of the TV shows have not available online before Hulu Plus added them. Hulu Plus includes ads, which the company says keeps “Hulu Plus under eight bucks, while still providing users with access to the most popular current season shows on the devices of their choice.” Subscriptions are month-to-month. Website: hulu.com

– iTunes: The Apple service has an good selection of new releases for rent or purchase – streaming or downloading – but so far, there’s no hint of a subscription for unlimited streaming. Apple products are known for working seamlessly with other Apple products, but not so much with products outside the family. If you’re an Apple purist, you have plenty of options for watching your iTunes library stored on the iCloud and more are on the horizon. New releases rent for $3.99 and sell for $14.99.

– Amazon Prime: If you’re a regular Amazon shopper and a Kindle user, Amazon Prime may be the best deal for you. For $79 a year, Amazon Prime customers get free two-day shipping on millions of items, unlimited instant streaming of more than 10,000 movies and TV shows and free rental of a Kindle book every month. Subscription is annual. Regular streaming from Amazon ­– for purchase or rent – is per title. Some older movies and shows rent for 99 cents. You can buy current TV episodes for $1.99 and movies for purchase start at $4.99. As with iTunes, purchased titles stay in your account for future streaming or downloading, but you won’t get a physical copy of the movie or program.

The American Psychological Association asserts change is possible, however, and offers these tips for making and keeping New Year’s resolutions:

Start small – Make resolutions that you think you can keep. If, for example, your aim is to exercise more frequently, schedule three or four days a week at the gym instead of seven. If you would like to eat healthier, try replacing dessert with something else you enjoy, like fruit or yogurt, instead of seeing your diet as a form of punishment.

Change one behavior at a time – Unhealthy behaviors develop over the course of time. Thus, replacing unhealthy behaviors with healthy ones requires time. Don’t get overwhelmed and think that you have to reassess everything in your life. Instead, work toward changing one thing at a time.

Don’t beat yourself up – Perfection is unattainable. Remember that minor missteps when reaching your goals are completely normal and OK. Don’t give up completely because you ate a brownie and broke your diet, or skipped the gym for a week because you were busy. Everyone has ups and downs; resolve to recover from your mistakes and get back on track.

Ask for support – Accepting help from those who care about you and will listen strengthens your resilience and ability to manage stress caused by your resolution. If you feel overwhelmed or unable to meet your goals on your own, consider seeking professional help. Psychologists are uniquely trained to understand the connection between the mind and body. They can offer strategies as to how to adjust your goals so that they are attainable, as well as help you change unhealthy behaviors and address emotional issues.

Talk about it – Share your experiences with family and friends. Consider joining a support group to reach your goals, such as a workout class at your gym or a group of coworkers quitting smoking. Having someone to share your struggles and successes with makes your journey to a healthier lifestyle that much easier and less intimidating.

Organizations in our area to turn to include:

WEIGHT LOSS

GREYSHEETERS ANONYMOUS, Tuesday, 6:30-7:30 p.m., Grace Fellowship Church, 1 Fellowship Point, Kingsport. A 12-Step program for men and women who have a desire to stop eating compulsively. (Joy at 631-6587 or Doreen at 967-0253)

OVEREATERS ANONYMOUS, Tuesday, 7:30-9 p.m., Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church, 225 Princeton Road. A 12-step program for people who meet to recover from compulsive overeating or undereating. (282-6722)

TOPS (Take Off Pounds Sensibly) No. TN3021, Tuesday, 6 p.m., Oakland Avenue Baptist Church, Oakland Ave. (928-3244)

ADDICTION

AA CENTRAL GROUP, Mondays, noon, 6 and 8 p.m., 213 E. Maple St..

AA PHOENIX WOMEN’S GROUP, Mondays, 7 p.m., Jonesborough United Methodist Church, Main Street, Jonesborough, for women only.

CELEBRATE RECOVERY, Mondays, 6:30-9 p.m. University Parkway Baptist Church, 219 University Parkway. A confidential Christian recovery program for adults with hurts, hang-ups and habits. (www.greatpages.2itb.com/cr.html, 926-5841)

ADULT CHILDREN OF ALCOHOLICS, Mondays, 7:30 p.m., Wesley United Methodist Church, 225 Princeton Road. A 12-step group open to anyone who grew up in an alcoholic or otherwise dysfunctional family. (926-9402)

AA EYE OPENER GROUP, Tuesdays, 7 a.m. St. Mary’s School, 2211 E. Lakeview, Annex B, St. Anne’s Classroom. Meeting open, features discussion, nonsmoking and is handicapped accessible

AA UNITY GROUP, Tuesdays, 7:30 p.m., Watauga Avenue Presbyterian Church, 610 E. Watauga Ave. (282-9657)

AL-ANON NEW BEGINNINGS FAMILY GROUP, Tuesdays, 7 p.m., Covenant Presbyterian Church, 603 Sunset Drive.

AL-ANON NEW LIFE FAMILY GROUP, Tuesdays, 10 a.m., Harrison Christian Church, Peoples Street and Browns Mill Road. A 12-Step recovery/support group for family and friends of alcoholics.

AA CENTRAL GROUP, Wednesdays, noon, 6 and 8 p.m., 213 E. Maple St.,

AA EYE OPENER GROUP, Wednesdays, 7 a.m. St. Mary’s School, 2211 E. Lakeview, Annex B, St. Anne’s Classroom. Meeting open, features discussion, is handicapped accessible and nonsmoking

JUST FOR TODAY GROUP OF NARCOTICS ANONYMOUS, Wednesdays, 8 p.m., Crossroads Alcohol & Drug Center, 409 E. Elk Ave., Elizabethton. (800-677-1462)

AA GREAT AWAKENINGS, Thursdays, 7 a.m. Munsey Counseling Center, 215 E. Market St. Meeting open, features discussion, is handicapped accessible and nonsmoking

AA CENTRAL GROUP, Thursdays, 213 E. Maple St., noon, 6 and 8 p.m.

AL-ANON NEW HOPE, Thursdays, noon, Covenant Presbyterian Church, 603 Sunset Drive. A recovery/support group for family and friends of alcoholics.

HOPE ON THE HORIZON AL-ANON FAMILY GROUP, Thursdays, 7 p.m., Cherokee United Methodist Church, 2615 S. Roan St.

JUST FOR TODAY GROUP OF NARCOTICS ANONYMOUS, Thursdays, 9:30 p.m., Cross-roads Alcohol & Drug Center, 409 E. Elk Ave., Elizabethton. (800-677-1462)

LIVING AA, Saturdays, 9 a.m. Munsey Counseling Center, 215 E. Market St. Meeting open, features discussion, is handicapped accessible and nonsmoking

AA CENTRAL GROUP, 213 E. Maple St., Saturdays, noon, 6 and 8 p.m.

WOMEN WITH SEXUALLY ADDICTED SPOUSES/PARTNERS, Sundays, 7:30 p.m., First Baptist Church, Sanctuary Building Room 215, 200 W. Church Circle, Kingsport. Information: 247-4122, Ext. 17.

AA CENTRAL GROUP, 213 E. Maple St., Sundays, 11 a.m., 6 and 8 p.m.

NICOTINE ANONYMOUS, 213 E. Maple St., Sundays, 1 p.m.

GRIEF SUPPORT

GRIEF SHARE: GRIEF RECOVERY SUPPORT GROUP, 6 p.m., 101 Med Tech Parkway, Suite 101, Medical Center Hospice office. (431-7699)

SURVIVORS OF SUICIDE SUPPORT GROUP, fourth Monday, 6-8 p.m., Boones Creek Christian Church, Entrance K, Room 403. SOS is for individuals who have lost someone to suicide or for individuals who are interested in suicide prevention or who might have helpful information to share. (Linda Phipps Harold, 423-361-2087)

COMPASSIONATE FRIENDS, third Tuesday, 6 p.m., Jonesborough Presbyterian Church, 128 W. Main St., Jonesborough. Compassionate Friends is for parents who have lost children of any age. (913-1214)

SURVIVORS OF SUICIDE, first Friday, 7 p.m., Bristol, Va., Crisis Center, 100 Oakview Ave. (276-466-2218, 276-628-7731 or 928-8522)

HEALTH/MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES

ALZHEIMER’S COMMUNITY GROUP, Tuesdays, 6 p.m., Sycamore Shoals Hospital classrooms, right side of hospital entrance, Elizabethton, second Tuesday of every month. (542-1358)

AUTISM OUTREACH, 6:30-7:30 p.m., second Tuesday, Belmont Baptist Baptist Church, Mount Carmel, sponsored by Friends of Belmont Baptist Church, activity building behind the church, child care during meeting can be arranged (357-9898)

MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS SUPPORT GROUP, 6:30 p.m. second Tuesday of the month, Quillen Rehabilitation Hospital Cafeteria, 2511 Wesley St. (Bonnie Aubin, 467-2597)

MENDED HEARTS, fourth Thursday, Niswonger Children’s Hospital conference rooms. For parents and families of children with heart defects and heart disease. (341-6455 or www.mendedhearts.org)

NATIONAL ALLIANCE ON MENTAL ILLNESS, JOHNSON CITY AREA, second Thursday, 7 p.m., Harrison Christian Church, 2517 Browns Mill Road. (543-4315)

DISABLED AMERICAN VETERANS, third Friday, 5 p.m., 302 W. Oakland Ave. (926-0734 or 360-8549)

ASSISTING SPECIAL KIDS NETWORK, third Sunday, 3 p.m. meeting, Boones Creek Christian Church (Mary Kibbe 913-2203 or asknetwork.org)

WOMEN’S GROUPS

TRI-CITIES MARINE CORPS LEAGUE WOMEN’S AUXILIARY, 7 p.m. second Tuesday of the month, Gray Tennessee Community Center. (Chris Larkey, 282-4905)

WOMEN OF THE MOOSE, Tuesdays, 7:30 p.m., 1801 W. Lakeview Drive.

THE BLUE RIDGE QUILT GUILD, first Wednesday of each month, 10 a.m.-noon, Our Savior Lutheran Church.

KINGSPORT’S BREASTFEEDING SUPPORT GROUP, 1 p.m. second Thursday, 6:30 p.m. third Thursday, Colonial Heights Baptist Church conference room. (877-997-8677)

MOMS IN TOUCH INTERNATIONAL, INDIAN TRAIL MIDDLE SCHOOL CHAPTER, 8:30 a.m. An international organization of moms praying for their children in schools. (467-4252)

MOMS IN TOUCH INTERNATIONAL, LAKE RIDGE CHAPTER, 8:30 a.m., 205 Emerald Chase Circle. An international organization of moms praying for their children in schools. (467-4252)

NEWCOMERS CLUB OF JOHNSON CITY, third Thursday, 10:30 a.m. social time, 11 a.m. business meeting, Johnson City Country Club, 1901 E. Unaka Ave. Buffet lunch, at a cost of $12, by reservation. (477-3646)

JOHNSON CITY WOMEN’S CLUB, second Friday, 10:30 a.m. social time, noon lunch, Johnson City Public Library (June Ingram 753-4665)

CIVIC GROUPS

BUTLER RURITAN, fourth Monday, 6:30 p.m. potluck, 7 p.m. meeting, Butler Ruritan Hall, Piercetown Road, Butler. (768-3159 or 768-2432)

ROTARY CLUB OF JOHNSON CITY, noon, Johnson City Country Club. (928-5771)

SIERRA CLUB, 7-9 p.m., Princeton Arts Center, 2516 E. Oakland Ave. (753-9697)

NATIVIC CIVITAN CLUB, noon, Holiday Inn. (461-1243)

BLUE KNIGHTS TN6 MOTORCYCLE CLUB, dinner 6 p.m., meeting 7 p.m., third Thursday of each month, Golden Corral, membership open to all active or retired law enforcement with a motorcycle. (232-8825)

FRATERNAL ORDER OF POLICE UNAKA LODGE 93, fourth Thursday, Erwin, membership to all retired or active certified full-time law enforcement officers, including full-time POST-certified officers and active FOP members transferring intothe area (retired officers may also qualify). (Dan Moeser at 232-8825)

JOHNSON CITY CIVITAN CLUB, 6 p.m., D.P. Culp Center, ETSU

JOHNSON CITY LIONS CLUB, Johnson City Country Club, noon, first and third Thursdays of each month. Board meetings are held the second Thursday of each month at noon.

ARTS, MUSIC & COLLECTIBLES

DIFFERENT STROKES FOR TOLE FOLKS, 10 a.m., second Tuesday, January through May and September through December, Northeast Church of Christ, 2217 Beechnut Drive, Kingsport, local chapter of the National Society of Decorative Painters art group (323-2476)

THE HILLS ARE ALIVE! CHORUS OF SWEET ADELINES INTERNATIONAL, 7 p.m., Carolina Pottery Outlet Mall, Suite 247, Exit 66 off I-81. (926-5572 or 239-7379)

KARAOKE KLUB, 7 p.m., Holiday Inn of Johnson City. Members are not required to sing. (426-1810)

WATAUGA VALLEY ART LEAGUE, 2 p.m. third Sunday, Johnson City Seniors’ Center. (Patsy Kelley Reading, 743-7799)

STATE OF FRANKLIN ANTIQUE BOTTLE & COLLECTIBLE ASSOCIATION, fourth Tuesday, 7 p.m. Appalachian Fairgrounds ticket office, Gray. (Fred Milner, 928-4445)

OTHER

EAST TENNESSEE CHRISTIAN SINGLES, first and third Tuesdays, 6 p.m., Munsey Memorial United Methodist Church. Dinner and program; reservations by Monday. (461-8070, Ext. 201)

TOASTMASTERS INTERNATIONAL, Volunteer Toastmasters local chapter, first, third and fifth Thursday, 6:30 p.m., Jonesborough Public Library (477-3071 or 753-3005)

UNICOI NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH, third Thursday, 7 p.m., Unicoi Town Hall. (743-3267)

VOLUNTEER TOASTMASTERS CLUB, first, third and fifth Thursdays, 6:30 p.m., Washington County-Jonesborough Public Library. (753-3005)

Participants are asked to meet in the park near 230 E. Main St. and to wear red. Bring signs and musical instruments.

The production is open to deaf and hearing actors with approximately eight men and nine women, as high school students and adults are encouraged to audition. Auditions will also pay special attention to skills in dance and American Sign Language.

Auditions will include scenes from the “Arabian Night’s” script. Monologues, short dance or sign language demonstrations are encouraged but not required. JRT Stage Hands Productions use both spoken English and American Sign Language to communicate dialogue while acting out each play. Shows are performed using shadow interpreting. All specified performances are communication accessible to both hearing and deaf audience members.

“Arabian Nights” will run March 8-18 with performances Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m.

For more information, call the Jonesborough Repertory Theatre at 791-4440.

His award-winning series about FBI agent Patrick Bowers includes “The Pawn,” “The Rook,” “The Knight,” “The Bishop” and “The Queen.”

You can learn more about James and his writing at www.stevenjames.net.

But it wasn’t until 1971 that the Vanderbilts started making wine, and it took another decade or so before they made good wine. In fact, the first bottle produced at the Biltmore Estate was described by W. Cecil Vanderbilt as making “for a pretty good-looking bottle of wine, just don’t drink it.”

Over the years, the Biltmore Winery’s reputation has improved a good bit. Located in the Antler Hill section of the Biltmore property about a five-mile drive from the main estate, it’s the most visited winery in the country, hosting more than 1 million people each year.

A guided tour of the facility, complimentary with admission to Biltmore Estate, takes visitors down a long stone cellar tunnel that originally was used to dispose of manure droppings from the milk cows kept just above. The building was originally a dairy barn, designed by Biltmore House architect Richard Morris Hunt.

But that distinctive bovine aroma no longer wafts through the cellar, which now houses a few displays, including the wine “library” with bottles of everything they’ve made.

Then comes the winery itself, where visitors see the huge stainless steel fermenters and the oak barrels used to age the wines. Finally comes the best part, as people end up in the large tasting room next to the winery gift shop. They can sit at the long bar and choose complimentary samples from 20-plus Biltmore wines.

Those who want to try Biltmore’s more expensive wines can do a Premium Tasting for $3 per taste or three tastes for $8. Invariably, wine lovers find something they like and end up leaving with a bottle or two in their arms.

Some wine lovers dismiss the Biltmore label, assuming it’s not as good as something from Napa Valley or anywhere on the West Coast. And it still generally takes a back seat to the best of the West. But Biltmore’s reputation is improving. Over the last few years the winery has won a slew of gold medals, and even very particular wine drinkers are starting to take notice. Among the honors in 2011:

• Five Biltmore wines scored 90 or higher at the recent Consumer Wine Awards in Lodi, Calif.

• Biltmore Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon earned a gold medal at the San Diego International Wine Competition.

• The Biltmore Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon – Alexander Valley was rated 92 points by the Beverage Tasting Institute.

• Biltmore Reserve Pinot Noir – Russian River Valley won a gold in the Dallas Morning News Wine Competition, the largest commercial wine competition outside of California. It was open to wines from all regions of the world.

• Biltmore earned a Best of Class in three categories out of more than 5,000 wines at the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, the largest competition of American wines. Honored were Biltmore Estate Sparkling Blanc de Blancs, Biltmore Sauvignon Blanc and Biltmore Century Red, while Biltmore Reserve Chardonnay-North Carolina earned a gold medal.

At the wine website snooth.com  , eight Biltmore wines rated at 4 out of 5 or better, and 19 scored at 3.5 or better. “They seem to be turning out some very good wines. They’re worth taking a look at,” said Rick Jelovsek, a Johnson City wine educator and consultant. “They’re really up-and-coming, but it didn’t used to be that way. I’d say probably the last five years they’ve picked up.” The winery has won more than 300 medals, and much of the credit goes to Biltmore winemaster Bernard Delille and winemaker Sharon Fenchak, who bring very different backgrounds to the job.

Delille is from France, came to Biltmore in 1986 and become winemaker in 1991.

He has experience as a winemaker in the Pyreneese Atlantiques region of France, has a masters degree in biochemistry and loves sparkling wines made in the traditional methode champenoise, with a second fermentation taking place in the bottle.

Fenchak is originally from Pennsylvania, holds degrees from Georgia and Penn State, and came to Biltmore in 1999. She became a winemaker in 2003 and is especially involved in research and development for new grape-growing methods.

The first grapes were planted here in 1971, while Biltmore Winery officially opened in 1985 and celebrated its 25th anniversary last year. There are 94 acres of vineyard along the French Broad River, producing more than 250 tons of grapes annually, all hand-harvested.

Many people assume all Biltmore wines are made from grapes grown on the estate, but growing some types of grapes in the mountain climate is difficult. So about 80 percent of the grapes in Biltmore wines actually come from Washington State and from Napa Valley and Alexander Valley in California. Biltmore has them trucked to Asheville and produces all the wines here.

Delille and Fenchak have found the grapes that work – Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Chardonnay, Viognier and Riesling – and the ones that won’t grow here – Zinfandel, Syrah and Pinot Noir, in particular.

“That can be challenging trying to grow French varietals here,” Jelovsek said. “They not only have the challenge of growing French grapes on the East Coast, but they also do it at a higher elevation, so with the cooler climate they’re at more risk in bad winters.”

In fact, the winter of 1995 included a three-day span so brutally cold that Biltmore lost 100 acres of their grapes. It was a major setback, but the winery forged ahead, and now is among the leaders of a burgeoning North Carolina wine scene, with more than 100 wineries in the state.

The search for grapes and hybrids that will grow here is an ongoing process, so Biltmore maintains a small experimental vineyard on the hillside next to the winery. (The main vineyards are in a different part of the estate.)

Cost for visiting: While the winery is free, Biltmore Estate admission ranges from $54 to $64, depending on the date. There are discounted dates and specials, so researching online is worth the effort. Buying online at least seven days in advance saves $10. For more information, visit www.bilt  more.com  .

But if you want the feel, the flavor, the spirit of the campus – a much more personal and ephemeral prospect – you want an artist who has lived and breathed campus life for a good part of his life. You’re going to want Billy Bledsoe and “The Centennial Painting.”

“With the exception of my hometown, the ETSU campus is where I’ve spent the most time,” the renowned Jonesborough painter said. “I met my wife there, I was an art student there. It’s a huge part of my life.”

The idea of capturing the ETSU essence for the school’s centennial had been in Bledsoe’s mind throughout the year-long anniversary. He wanted to give it his perspective, which is much more evocative than realistic.

But like many creative people, Bledsoe has more ideas than he knows what to do with. Enter friend, fellow alumnus and event planner Susan Lachmann, who is much more driven by deadlines. Sure, Bledsoe can meet a deadline when it’s imposed by a client or some other outside force. But when the deadline is of his making, well, not so much.

“It became obvious that I was going to have to set the deadline if this was going to get done,” Lachmann joked. “I encouraged him because I love Bill’s style – the bold color, big lines, approximations, really, suggestions of a place through color and shape. He has a true signature style. You know when it’s a Bledsoe.”

When Bledsoe got to work putting oil, acrylic, watercolor and even Sharpie to canvas, the work was finished in about a month.

The painting that resulted wasn’t part of the official ETSU centennial celebration – which ended in October on the school’s 100th anniversary – for a couple of reasons. First, the painting wasn’t commissioned by the university (or anyone else) and second, Lachmann, knowing a thing or two about staging an event, didn’t want the work to be lost in the flurry of a hundred other campus observances. Plus a commission comes with client input and Bledsoe had a personal vision that no steering committee could share.

Bledsoe set his ETSU vision in the fall partly because of the school’s history, but mostly because of how beautiful the campus is in autumn and because so many of his memories of the school are from the fall.

“I love that the painting takes you straight down the center of campus with the columns and the bell tower and the smoke stack with the old ETSC lettering,” Lachmann said. “I never got the whole sort of grand feel of campus until I saw it through Bill’s eyes, the artist’s eye. I’ve been on and off this campus for 20-plus years and I have only this moment come to see it in this broader birds-eye view and I love the design of it, how the entire landscape is presented.”

Probably because of his artistic bent, Bledsoe the student felt the campus was missing something. “When I was in school, I always thought there should be a clock tower, (as students) we were begging for a clock tower like every other campus I’ve ever been on has,” Bledsoe said. “I really glad that I didn’t have to invent one for the painting.”

Lachmann, on the other hand, wasn’t a fan of the carillon, which has been part of campus since 2005. “But this painting is changing that for me, I see how it fits.”

Bledsoe’s artistic liberties – in addition to his skilled technique – make the painting almost whimsical. The WETS-FM transmitter tower has never been on campus – broadcast signals like high places like Holston Mountain – but as Lachmann points out, WETS is a huge part of the campus experience so the towers fit perfectly into Bledsoe’s world.

“‘The WETS lettering and the towers bring back the good old days and memories of a lot of fine music,” she said. “It reminds me of the little house on Maple Street and mighty local, original programming.”

The campus radio station is where she and Bledsoe first crossed paths when Lachman, a longtime WETS host, interviewed Bledsoe about his art.

In the real world, the Memorial Center – aka the Mini-Dome – is better known for its functionality than for its aesthetic charm. In Bledsoe’s world, instead of resembling a colossal half-buried beer can, the dome’s slope mingles charmingly with the blue mountains and rolling clouds of the background.

So, if you’re looking for the best parking for tonight’s Percussion Ensemble Concert in Mathes Hall, the real world is definitely where you want to be. But if you’re hoping to relive that kiss under the moonlit amphitheater, Bledsoe’s world may be just the ticket.

Bledsoe will offer 100 signed and numbered prints of “The Centennial Painting” (for $50) during a reception at Nelson Fine Art in downtown Johnson City, Tuesday, Dec. 13, from 4 to 7 p.m. He also plans to produce 10 debossed, hand-painted prints (for $150). You can contact him at BillBledsoe2011@yahoo.com.

Daisy is a Maremma, an Italian breed, but the active workers are Akbash from Turkey. Except, of course, for Maggie, who is the daughter of Daisy and Nash, a 190-pound Akbash, who had a brief relationship with Daisy shortly before he was neutered. The resulting Akbash-Maremma mix has proved to be an effective one, and Chris wishes she had kept more of that litter.

Asked why she chose these breeds, Chris said, “Because they’re not Pyrenees. I don’t want to sound like a snob, but Pyrenees have been raised as pets; they have lost a lot of their natural abilities, and not through their own fault.”

Akbash, on the other hand, operate on pure instinct, having been bred for their calling for more than 3,000 years.

“The Akbash will protect anything they grow up with,” Chris said. “The dogs are born in the barn with the lambs and spend their whole lives with them. They accept those lambs as litter mates.”

There is one problem with this strong attachment: As youngsters, the very large, very strong dogs want to play with the lambs and have a tendency to get too rough. Chris, husband Ray and daughter Sarah have to keep an eye on them until they mature.

In our area, there are two major threats to sheep: coyotes and dogs, with dogs being more destructive.

“Coyotes just kill to eat; dogs will kill for fun,” Chris said, adding she hasn’t had any trouble with her neighbors’ dogs where they live now.

Chris has been raising sheep for 20 years. “I was doing sheep before sheep were popular,” she said. “I bought them for my border collie. You have to have sheep to train your dog. I started with five and fell in love with them. I’ve been as high as 500, but after three years of drought, I’ve cut way back.”

Sixteen years ago she bought her first guardian dog; 15 years ago she saw the first coyote on their land.

“Now coyotes are everywhere,” she said. “But I’ve never lost a thing to a predator since I got the dogs.”

The dogs will surround and kill a coyote if they can, Chris said. Maggie, the Maremma-Akbash mix, carries a battle scar on her face from a coyote she cornered. The dogs also keep the area free of possums and raccoons and chase off hawks that threaten the guinea fowl and free-range chickens whose eggs Chris sells at the Jonesborough Farmers Market.

Most amazing is the way the dogs operate as a team, dividing up duties and pulling together when danger threatens.

On Nov. 8, one of the ewes went into labor. Chris said three dogs surrounded the ewe protecting her while she was most vulnerable, the fourth dog gathered the other sheep together and kept watch over them.

Ewes can lamb twice a year, but Chris lets hers lamb just once. Those are busy times for the guardian dogs. Not only do they protect the ewes, they help the moms clean up the newborns and begin right away to protect the new generation.

“Ewes often have twins born an hour and a half apart,” Chris said. “The first lamb is up and running in that time and will wander away from the mother. The guardian dogs get the lambs and push them back to their mother. That can’t be taught, that’s instinct.”

During the long hours of lambing, Chris said the dogs work in shifts; three will remain with the ewes while a fourth comes back to the barn to eat. On a normal day, the dogs work “graveyard” shift, from dusk to dawn, then they laze in the shadow of the barn during the day.

Akbash and Maremma are strong and fierce if threatened by a predator, yet they are very friendly toward people. Some say you should never touch a guardian dog, but Chris disagrees. “What if you need to handle them?” she asked, and in Nash’s case, she most definitely did.

The 190-pounder was bitten by a black widow spider and his eye swelled shut. The Wilsons had to put drops in his eyes. A dog unused to being handled would have been impossible to treat.

Chris’s dogs approach non-threatening strangers, lowering their heads to be petted and paw at Chris for affection, but it’s clear they aren’t house pets. These guardians spend their lives with their adopted litter mates, doing what their breeds have done for millennia: keeping their flock safe. It is a noble calling.