We had, to be sure, a day or two — even a streak of a few days — where the weather sunk into the 30s and a haze of ice might have awaited us on the windshield.
But when we finally had a low temperature sink below 32 degrees this past week, it was the first time this year for that milestone. And after a brief flirtation with freezing temperatures, we headed back into the 60s by week’s end.
Winter, though, can only be forestalled so long. And this afternoon, as the Durham Christmas Parade winds it way through downtown, we can expect falling temperatures and perhaps snow.
It is, after all, about time.
Between now and March, we’ll see our share of winter weather. Enjoy!
n The movie palaces of an earlier era are gone, never to return. We understand that.
And downtown movie houses of any sort are an endangered species. Audiences and first-run movies and all that overpriced buttered popcorn have decamped for the suburbs, or at least outlying neighborhoods.
Given that, nostalgic movie buffs throughout he region must have given a shout-out this week when Chapel Hill’s Varsity Theatre reopened its doors after several dark months.
The theater, an art house for much of its later career, had succumbed earlier this year to a shortage of customers and competition from modern multiplexes.
But an enterprising and optimistic couple, Paul and Susan Shareshian, have acquired the venerable movie house and reopened it last weekend with “The Wizard of Oz.” The Shareshians think there is a downtown audience for older films as well as more recent releases at cut-rate prices.
As we’ve said before, we think the odds are long. But we are excited about the Shareshians’ efforts, and can only wish them every bit of luck. We hope the Varsity reincarnate has a long and prosperous future.
And we think the Shareshians’ are deserving of this week’s Durham Grit Award for their gamble.
n He was an outsized character in an era when journalism seemed to breed outsized characters.
Ed Hodges worked a half-century for this newspaper, since back in the days when it was The Durham Morning Herald. He joined the paper in 1949, just a few years removed from his distinguished service in World War II.
Mr. Hodges typified the Greatest Generation with his work ethic and his affection for the people about whom he wrote. “He loved people, and he loved children especially,” his widow, Betty Hodges, recalled this week after Mr. Hodges died on Wednesday after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. Betty Hodges, like her husband, had spent most of her professional life writing and editing for this newspaper.
The disease, as it so often does, had robbed Mr. Hodges of the recollections of not only his varied career but also the rest of his vibrant life.
Harold Moore, a longtime colleague as photographer and photo editor at the paper, had this to say: “I think he realized the importance of being a journalist. He put his all into every story.”
That’s an epitaph anyone in this profession would be proud to leave behind.
