OK, haters, time to stop.

Just a note to all those well-meaning folks who keep sending me e-mails with "who is Barack Obama" or "antichrist" in the subject line: you can stop now. The election is over. The people have spoken. There's not a thing you can do about it except settle down, say a prayer for our new President and hope that God gives him the guidance to do the job. Circulating hate-filled e-mails is just not the Christian thing to do, so please stop.

Cheap gas??

OK, this seems pretty silly for this to be the first thing I've written about in (how many?) months, but I went to fill up my car with gas a couple of days ago and it only cost me $31 and some change!!! I felt pretty smart until somebody called the radio station and said they found gas for$1.99 a gallon in Asheboro. Now, if I could only be sure these low prices would last.

I remember Mama

Less than two weeks after being diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of lymphoma, she was gone. My mother, one of the strongest individuals I've ever known, could not fight off this final assault on her broken body and passed away peacefully last Friday night at 8:40.

For those who do not know Lee Nichols Upchurch, please allow me to fill you in on some of the details of her life. She was born November 10, 1924, in Durham, NC, the first child of Owen and Sara Nichols. Mama graduated in 1945 from Women's College (now UNC-Greensboro) with an undergrad degree in social work. The following year, she married Silas G. Upchurch, and embarked on a journey around the world, thanks to daddy's career in the Air Force. They lived in Japan, Germany and finally England, where I was adopted. They returned to the States in 1961. Only two years later, my father was diagnosed with prostate cancer and died in November 1965 at the young age of 45. My mother, with no marketable skills to speak of and a 5-year-old in tow, moved from Maryland back home to North Carolina and enrolled at Duke University. In 1970, she earned a Master's Degree in Education and started teaching. For most of her 20-year career, Mama taught 7th-grade language arts and social studies in the Durham County Schools. I am still amazed at her incredible will and strength, and the fact that she was able to pull it all together after being widowed so early in life.

Mama's downturn began shortly after retirement. It started with short-term memory problems and forgetting how to get to my apartment. It got really scary when she believed she was being followed, her car and phone were "bugged" and that people were living in her attic. The dementia that seems to affect so many of Mama's family was apparently coming home to roost. In all, we went through 15 years of mental illness and related hospitalizations, and I saw things that scared the hell out of me and made me fear for what her future would be like.

In the summer of 2007, Mama finally had to move into a "memory care" facility because she was so confused about people, places and events. By October, we noticed a rapid decline in her physical health as well. This tough old broad was finally giving out. She entered the hospital in early February after we thought she'd had a stroke. No evidence of stroke was found, but Mama was aspirating when she tried to swallow, so doctors put in a PEG tube and released her two days later for recovery. Three days after that, she was readmitted and that's when blood work revealed the lymphoma-- which hadn't even shown up just the week before. On Monday, February 11, Mama was moved to Hospice Home at High Point. She died there just four days later.

My family and I would like to thank the doctors and nurses at High Point Regional Hospital who took such good care of Mama, especially the ER staff. But a special place in my heart goes to the amazing people at Hospice Home. Their unconditional caring and devotion to what they do is unmatched anywhere. They enabled Mama to regain a lot of the dignity she had lost late in her life and kept her comfortable to the very end. Laura, Martha, Donna, Janice, Rodney, Brenda, Crystal, Sherry, Dr. Nelson, everyone...I cannot thank you enough. You are angels right here on Earth and you are truly doing God's work.

Mama, fly away, be free and I'll see you again someday.

My big fat redneck weekend!

Gosh, how'd it happen that I haven't blogged in so long? I'm almost ashamed. But I have to tell you about a most excellent adventure I had last weekend. John and I (Pat decided he'd be better off working in the basement) took off Saturday and went down to Lowe's Motor Speedway and took what may well be the very best five-dollar tour a person can go on. For a measly five bucks you get a personal tour of the superspeedway, outside and in. Stacy, our fabulous & friendly tour guide, led us on an hour-long tour of the facility-- capped off by a 75mph van ride around the famous 1.5-mile tri-oval! She even stopped in turn one so we could feel the 24-degree banking. Most impressive. The Jeff Gordon racing school was going on, so we had the added thrill of stock cars whizzing loudly around the track. We got to stand in the winner's circle as well as the pits, and got a nice ride through the garage area, too. Afterward, I decided we just hadn't had enough heart-pumping NASCAR excitement, so John & I picked up a folder and followed the Dale Trail through Kannapolis.

I have seen the Promised Land! Now, how long is it 'til Daytona?

In memoriam

We lost Boo Tuesday evening. She was the best dog we ever had.

She was a Valentine's present from Pat to me in 1995. That day in February we had gone to the Guilford County Animal Shelter because our home had been broken into and the police officer told us the best advice he could give was, "Get a dog." From the moment I saw her, I knew she was it. This cute little ball of black fur with a white chin sat smack in the middle of her kennel and looked up at me with smiling brown eyes and a wagging tail. We walked out that day with our "first baby" and learned very quickly that she loved listening to Gordon Lightfoot, hated squirrels, and had to always be touching either Pat or me.

She was the smartest dog I'd ever owned...housebroken in two weeks! Boo loved chasing a tennis ball and quickly evolved into an awesome frisbee catcher. She also loved going for car rides and went with us nearly everywhere.

When John was born, her feelings got hurt. But after a few weeks she must have realized that he wasn't going anywhere, so she may as well make the best of it. While she didn't exactly warm up to him, she became very protective and would make a low, menacing growl whenever anyone walked past the house. When John became mobile, Boo was the first thing he went for. Why not? She was a gigantic, living, breathing stuffed animal! He would crawl all over her and I never once heard her make the slightest sound of protest. When she'd had enough, she'd just get up and move to another place in the house.

In early October of this year, Boo was diagnosed with lymphoma. The vet gave us some prednisone to keep her comfortable and it really did seem to make Boo feel a lot better. Her appetite returned and she got playful again. But on Tuesday she couldn't even get up off the floor. When her breathing became labored, Pat rushed her to the vet. She died on the way.

Boo-girl, we will always love you as our "first baby." I hope you're chasing frisbees in heaven.

It's always fair weather!

It's as if God knew it was fair time! The temperature has finally dropped to comfortable levels, with that fall chill in the air. Friday was the first day of the Dixie Classic Fair, so the family decided to spend a night out. Even if you don't ride anything, it's a terrific place to people-watch. What always strikes me about the fair is the fact that you see all types of people: the fair doesn't discriminate and it appeals to everybody. John drags his parents out onto the midway to try his hand at the games of skill(?) and make me ride the Scrambler while Pat sits on a nearby bench. Pat enjoys the Village of Yesteryear; I always head for the livestock barn. I'm funnel cakes, he's Polish sausage and John always wants a hot dog and ice cream. One thing we can all agree on: the demolition derby! What's not to love about cars crashing into each other until their radiators explode? And when the evening got late, we even got to see a couple of girls in a fight and the police throw them down and put them in cuffs. It doesn't get any better than that...at least until next year. See all the fair action here.

Oh, what a relief it is!

Whew! At last, some cooler air. For the first time since I don't know when, we turned off the a/c and slept with all the windows open last night. Woke up this morning freezing! (It was in the mid-50s, but when it's been over 90 for the past month, 55 is freezing.) It was too pretty to stay home today, so we drove up past Yadkinville to our favorite little winery, Laurel Gray. They're running low on the 2005 barrel-fermented Chardonnay, which is as good - if not better - than many California chardonnays I've tried. We even got to sample some of the Cabernet grapes which were just harvested. Very sweet and delicious. Support your local NC wineries!