Fun to serve! Fun to eat! It's a no-fuss Thanksgiving Turkey!

Next week we celebrate Thanksgiving and hope that you have your turkey decorations in order because you will find nothing but Christmas in the stores.  Hardly is there time to even think Halloween when ornaments, wrapping paper and artificial trees greet you at the door of every store.  But Thanksgiving means family, fellowship and food.  The late Erma Bombeck said it well:  Thanksgiving dinners take 18 hours to prepare.  They are consumed in 12 minutes.  Half-times take 12 minutes.  This is not coincidence.  (Football fans listen up!!)

So since many of us will eat our way through the holidays, beginning right now … today Around Davidson has a few notes about food as well as news of a notable brunch last weekend when Didi Wayland was honored at Davidson College.  We also mention Robert Whitton’s Saturday service.

John Kuykendall (l) presented Didi Wayland with the John W. Kuykendall Community Service Award last Saturday at Davidson College (Bill Giduz photo)

A COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARD FOR DIDI

If you have lived in our area for a while, you now that “Didi” refers to Didi Wayland or John Edwin Wayland, Jr.  Born in 1924 in China of Presbyterian minister missionaries, John Edwin Wayland, Sr. and Rosalee, and delivered by our own Mayor John Woods’ grandfather, he was immediately known as “Didi.” In Chinese, that means “little brother.” When his parents fled China with him and his two sisters, they settled in Malden, W. Va., where Didi started school in 1930.

In 1942 Didi entered Davidson but was drafted before completing one semester.  Trained as a Medic with a rifle platoon, he spent 3½ years in the Army including taking part in the assault on the beaches of Normandy.  Once stateside again, he re-entered Davidson College and graduated in 1949.  Continuing his education at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Ga., The Reverend Didi Wayland returned to our area and spent the next 46 years at Cornelius and Bethel Presbyterian Churches.  He also served Hopewell Presbyterian as a Parish Associate for more than a decade. 

Now fully retired at age 87, Didi still consents to some funerals and occasional speeches.  He and wife late wife, Jane Price, raised three children:  John E. Wayland, III, of Davidson; Tim Wayland of Cornelius; and Jane Lee of Arizona.

For this very well known minister in our area, it was only fitting for Davidson College to recognize him this past Saturday with the John W. Kuykendall Community Service Award.  Given at the Avant Garde Homecoming brunch (for graduates beyond their 50^th reunion) and presented by President Carol Quillen, the award was a great honor for Didi.  We congratulate him and his whole family.

Dad Rodney Graham and children, Emma Claire (l) and Marshall, enjoyed mid-morning ice cream cones.

FORTY DEGREES AND ICE CREAM

“I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!” That had to be running through the minds of those hardy souls dressed in winter coats and toboggans who arrived at Carolina Cones last Saturday for free ice cream. Gary Winge, who has owned the former Bantam Chef, Fish Market, Video Store, Soup Shop, for the past 30 years, now closes for four months in the winter. The last of the pansies and mums are gone and the garden shelves now await spring flowers in March of 2012. But what to do with the ice cream remaining in the display cases? Give it away – until the freezers are restocked next spring.

The free cone giveaway started at 10 a.m. and there to chase the morning’s breakfast pancakes with ice cream were Rodney Graham with his children, Marshall (9) and Emma Claire (7). The children enjoyed “birthday cake” and “butterfinger” ice cream while our newest Davidson Town Board member enjoyed “peanut butter cup” and “rocky river road” combined in one cone. (Good thing they came early before the later crowds who managed to consume 240 gallons of ice cream until the last scoop was handed out at 5 p.m.)

Ice cream is better than corn flakes according to Ed Palmer

We just missed another “early bird,” Minerva Bullock, who was with her daughter, Karen, but did spy Ed Palmer enjoying ice cream in a corner booth. (It was a little chilly at 40 degrees to grasp a cone with mittens!) How nice to catch up with Ed who retired this past August after 41 years of teaching psychology at Davidson College. Before Davidson, Ed taught for two years at Western Maryland College for a grand total of 43 years in the classroom. What is Ed planning for retirement activities? Cleaning out his house and visiting grandchildren for sure.

Ed’s son, Eddie, is the Program Director of KIX-96 in Savannah, GA. Eddie and his wife, Ivy, have two children: Boomer (4) and Natalie Shay who arrived just last August 18. His daughter, Jennifer and her husband, Mark Bowler, both are professors of psychology at Eastern Carolina University (ECU). They also have two children: Mason (3) and Mitchell (1). Congratulations, Ed, on your retirement and maybe at Christmas, we can get a photo of you with these four wonderful little ones.

French pastries are tasty 24 hours a day

AMELIE’S IS AMAZING

Having chased my Special K cereal with peppermint ice cream, the next step had to be a fresh French pastry.  Time to check out Amelie’s French bakery in NoDa.  This bakery/restaurant recently had its “name in lights” when the owners were invited to the White House to honor small business achievement.  Amelie’s began on a shoe string in 2008 and now has over 60 employees at two locations in Charlotte.  Open 24 hours a day, the restaurant serves breakfast items, soups, tartines, sandwiches, lots of coffee and specialty lemonade, limeade, iced tea and iced coffee.

At NoDa there are intimate sitting areas in each room plus tables outside. Laptops are humming next to family gatherings.  And yes, their pastries, breads, cakes and tarts are to drool over.  Check them out on www.ameliesfrenchbakery.com and ruin your diet for at least one meal. Ah, yes, and now it is back to yogurt and water … but what a wonderful food day!

Megan Blackwell served juice and cider during Open House at The Village Store

“GOOD EATS” WHILE YOU SHOP WITH MEGAN AND CREW

Getting a jump on holiday shopping was possible this past Sunday at The Village Store.  Hours were 10-5, coupons were available for a discount on one item, and hot cider with finger food was front and center in this charming store.  Owner Megan Blackwell was on hand to greet customers with her trusty staff all decked out in holiday colors.  One has to love the selection and best of all, the free gift wrap.  Retail takes a lot of work (and planning)!  The Village Store is open on Sundays now from 11-4.  Be sure to stop in.

Robert Whitton

JUST A NOTE

Elizabeth Woods began this column almost 50 years ago with three rules:  (1) Ask permission before writing about a person; (2) no trip reports until the family is back in town; and (3) no obituaries because there is a separate part of the paper for that.

We abide by Elizabeth’s rules and include no obituaries but want only to mention that a community-wide service will be held for Robert Whitton next Saturday, November 19, at 10:30 a.m. in the sanctuary of the Davidson College Presbyterian Church.  A reception will follow in the Lilly Gallery of the college. Our hearts go out to his wife, Amy, and all the family as well as the family of the man driving the car which hit Robert.  Have you noticed how cautious drivers are now when approaching town?  Pedestrians seem to be more careful as well.  We hope it continues.  This accident will impact the two families involved for a long, long time.

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Have news for Around Davidson? Write to Brenda Barger at hbarger@bellsouth.net.