Author: danrouth

Greensboro, NC based commercial and editorial photographer.

Molasses Creek

Music, Portraits


I went by an afternoon concert in High Point on Sunday and heard neighbor and Grays Chapel native Gerald Hampton play his mandolin with the band Molasses Creek. A hot evening produced some hot music. Along with Gerald, Gary Mitchell, Dave Tweedie, Marcy Brenner and Lou Castro (all four from Ocracoke Island), produce tight instrumentals and smooth vocals. Their repertoire goes from Bob Wills tunes to Peter Paul and Mary to original work with Cape Breton style fiddle. It goes from the Ink Spots to Dolly Parton and to traditional bluegrass with the addition of world class banjo picker, Stan Brown from Coleridge. For more info and to hear the band, go to http://www.molassescreek.com.







(Photographs copyright 2010 by Dan Routh)

Zimmerman Vineyards

Agriculture, Wine


I stopped by Zimmerman Vineyards this past weekend. Norman and Leslie Zimmerman run Randolph County’s first and only winery. They produce a variety of very fine red and white wines on their property near the Uwharrie River. Norman is passionate about his grapes and his wine. You can purchase wine on site and they have a tasting room. For more info, check their website at http://www.zimmermanvineyards.net/.





Joepyeweed

Butterfly, Farm, Flowers


Butterflies are abundant this year on our farm in Grays Chapel, North Carolina. In fact, I don’t remember ever having as many in our yard. There are literally hundreds. Sometimes it seems as if our yard is alive and moving in one big dance. Part of the reason is my wife has chosen plants and flowers for our yard that attract the butterflies, but another big reason is the large number of wildflowers we have growing on other parts of the farm. I clip my pastures, but I don’t trim close to the creeks and fence lines and the result is a large population of plants such as joepyeweed which act a magnet for all sorts of butterflies. I didn’t set out to do it on purpose, but a lack of time and money to keep things manicured has resulted in an abundance of wildlife.

(Photographs copyright 2010 by Dan Routh)

Truman’s Limo

Automobile, History


Sunday my son and I stopped by the North Carolina Aviation Museum in Asheboro, North Carolina to take a look at their newest artifact, a 1948 Lincoln limousine used by President Harry Truman. At 6500 pounds, with bullet proof doors and a Sherman tank transmission, it’s quite a vehicle and will soon be undergoing restoration. Above, local attorney Alan Pugh sits in the seat that the President occupied many times. Alan considers Harry Truman his favorite modern President.




(Photographs copyright 2010 by Dan Routh)

Turtle Fishing

Family, Farm, Poetry

Turtle Fishing

Under stagnant algae blooms
where slimy catfish feast on muck,
a spiny snapping turtle looms
before it bites a baited hook.

He sinks the point into his beak
then feels a tugging from the line
towards which he cannot help but creep
and follow with his ancient mind.

It leads him right up to the edge
of where the water meets the air;
A skillful hand then starts to dredge
his shell out from his muddy lair.

The turtle now alone on land
begins to hiss and snap with ire.
My grandpa then wipes off his hand
to cock the .410 bore and fire.

I watch him then remove the hook
to add a piece of beef as bait.
It was the second time he took
a turtle from the pond that day.

“I’m only gonna take a few,”
he said before he cut the beef.
“We’ll only get the old ones who
are eating all the baby geese.”

The buzzards would have only five
big shells to pick away for meat.
The goslings then could learn to fly
with baby turtles at their feet.

There was a time I wondered why
we could not let the turtles thrive.
But looking back I realize
that death helps new things come alive.

(Poetry copyright 2010 by Devin Routh. Used with permission.)

(Photographs copyright 2010 by Dan Routh)