March 26, 2024 - Chanticleers, Now, Hiking, Homicide

After a hike in the mountains, I crack the Case of the Family of Chaucerian Chickens

Nuggets of Information: Shockers and Blue Hoses 

This past weekend found us back in Boone, this time for the Spring Family Weekend. We rented a great mountain cabin with our friends Mary Jane & Nick. Their son Ian is also a freshman, and their daughter Bailey is Alex’s age. We had a blast!  

One part of our weekend was attending the App State – Coastal Carolina baseball game. It was a beautiful day, and the game was exciting! The Mountaineers went up early, and by the time we left to get on the road back to Atlanta, they were up 4-0. But Coastal Carolina came back, took the lead, but App State rallied to win 9-8.  

I was particularly interested in the nickname of Coastal Carolina – the Chanticleers, pronounced SHON-ti-cleer. A Chanticleer is a rooster, made famous in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, in “The Nun’s Priest Tale.” According to Britannica.com:  

“The protagonist of this mock-heroic story is Chanticleer, a rooster with seven wives, foremost among them the hen Pertelote. Pertelote dismisses Chanticleer’s dream of being attacked and tells him to go about his business. A fox soon approaches and flatters him, recalling the exquisite song of Chanticleer’s father. The vain rooster is thus tricked into closing his eyes and crowing, only to be seized by the fox and carried off. As Chanticleer’s owners and the animals of the barnyard run after them, Chanticleer suggests that his captor yell to tell them to turn back. When the fox opens his mouth, the rooster escapes. The tale ends with a warning against flattery.” 

Some of my other favorite college/university mascots:  

• Wichita State Shockers 

• Presbyterian Blue Hose 

• Kent State Golden Flashes 

• Evansville Purple Aces 

• Stetson Hatters 

The most common Division One Mascot names? 

• Panthers – 8 programs  

• Wildcats and Bears (tied)– 9 programs  

• Eagles – 11 programs 

• Tigers – 13 programs 

• Bulldogs – 14 programs 

For a single city with two great mascot names, drive south from Atlanta to Macon. They feature Coastal Plain League baseball team the Macon Bacon, and they used to have a professional ice hockey team in the Central Hockey League called the Macon Whoopee. My jersey size is Men’s Large, in case you want to buy me some merch... 

Enrichment: Family Time 

The last six weeks have provided us with several family together-time opportunities. In mid-February, we visited Samantha for an impromptu Presidents’ Day weekend trip. Then she came home for her Spring Break a couple weeks ago. We just had the Spring Family Weekend. It was great seeing Samantha and having the family all together. We are only about 6 weeks away from the end of her Spring semester, and she’ll be home for the summer.  

Peering into the bedroom at the cabin we rented and seeing the two sisters sound asleep together made me feel like everything is okay in the world – if only for a couple days. The persistent parent-worry lessens when everyone is under one roof. My mom used to tell me that any time she heard an ambulance – even when us kids lived in Atlanta and North Carolina – she would instantly worry about us. I get that feeling now.  

I’ve written before about mindfulness, meditation, and how valuable being aware of the present can be. As Master Oogway said in Kung Fu Panda, “Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the present."  

As I get older, I seem to worry less about the future, and am not at an age where I dwell on the past. The sweet spot is the now. Walking through the woods, sitting at a college baseball game, enjoying a waffle bar in a VRBO house, grocery shopping with the family. Big important milestones still happen. But the quiet times, the routine outings, the simple interactions – living fully in those moments, and appreciating the people around you – those are what add richness to life.  

Workshop: Feeling Loopy 

This weekend we went on a hike – the Green Knob Loop, part of the Julian Price Memorial Park Trail System. Samantha had hiked this loop before and was our fearless guide. We parked along the Blue Ridge Parkway, at a scenic overlook. It was cool and overcast, and the trail was in good condition.  

Our hike started with a small descent down under the highway, into the woods and then a gradual ascent. We emerged from the woods into a huge open meadow – so beautiful. We even saw two white-tail deer, who seemed as interested in us as we were in them. There were a few stream crossings but even with the rain the day before, nothing too treacherous.  

According to our trackers, we went about 2.6 miles, with an elevation change of around 600 feet. It took us about 90 minutes. The hike ended with a climb back out of the valley, finishing with some steep steps back up to the scenic overlook.  

The Blue Ridge Parkway stretches between Virginia and North Carolina, at a total distance of 469 Miles. For a list of trails by milepost, check out the blueridgeparkway.org site.  

Selected Content: The Detectives That Never Sleep 

Boo’s N.E.W.S. Muse Lisa loves her true-crime murder shows. And she loves the Dick Wolf universe – Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Law & Order: HBO Max Password Sharers. So when Netflix released a new Dick Wolf documentary series Homicide: New York, it went to the top of our queue.  

This 5-part documentary centers around detectives in Manhattan, which is split geographically – North and South. Each episode features a single high-profile case. The production value, visual effects, and archive footage really set the tone of each episode. But the best part is the interviews.  

The detectives featured were closely involved in the cases depicted. I would NOT want any of these people coming after me! They explain their investigative process from start-to-finish, but also are refreshingly candid and vulnerable at times. Their interviews stand out, but so do the interviews with witnesses and family members who lived through these crimes. Their commentary adds a depth of emotion to what happened. Hearing family members describe how they felt during these cases is heartbreaking.  

Wolf does a great job with the timing of these episodes – gradually revealing information as it came out back during the original investigations. Sometimes this means the show may jump ahead months at a time – or even years.  

If you are a fan of true-crime, we enthusiastically recommend Homicide: New York – streaming on Netflix. Check out the trailer.