The Pike County Extension Homemakers Meeting

This past week, my pal Val dragged me to the Pike County Extension Homemakers meeting. I'll unpack this for you. 

Pike County is somewhere in Southwest Arkansas*. It's claim to fame is that it is the home to the Crater of the Diamonds State Park, the largest you-dig diamond mine in the US. Small cities named, Murfreesboro, Delight, East Delight, Daisy, Kirby and Hopewell reside in Pike County. The entire county has a population of around 10,000, so take the term, "cities" lightly.

Printed inside is the agenda and the
"Extension Homemaker" creed. 

The Extension Homemakers is a volunteer group focusing on family sciences ("home economics" is the term I heard in school). They meet to discuss such topics as food preservation, sewing, community involvement, cooking, gardening and whatever else falls into this category. Val has been trying to get me to join and I've begged off. Anyway, the Extension Homemakers is big around here. 

The Pike County Extension Homemakers held their meeting and opened it up to the area. And the area responded with a ton of people driving from all over to attend. Val and I drove about 70 miles. The day's topic was on quilting. 

Here's the great news. Many folks brought quilts and most told a brief story behind the quilt. One woman had been in a coma at the age of 37. She remembered nothing from before her accident. He daughter brought her a quilt and explained that the woman had made it for her. Another brought her baby quilt telling the story of her mother, finding out she was pregnant after her father went off to WW2. Her mother worked as a phone operator during the day and made the quilt at night. She didn't meet her father for four years and has memories of dragging it with her, out the door the day her dad came home from the war. Those kinds of stories.  

Here's the not great news. Our speaker, Mr. Sam Somebodyoranother, I heard talk two months ago when Val dragged me to a homesteaders conference. He gave the same talk, which he did not deviate from in the slightest. And dare I say, he gave the talk to the same audience. 

I did find out this time Mr. and Mrs. Sam worked for twenty years as school teachers in Fort Defiance AZ (on the Navajo reservation) and we spent a fun moment boring Val about all things Arizona. Fabulous fact: my father helped build the massive powerplant outside of Holbrook, AZ. The Sams and Val know this. And now you do too. 

Lunch was a combination of mayonnaise-based foods and super-sweet desserts. Though I would have had more than grapes, cheese and crackers (plus one of those pieces of cake) had their been more options, I would have been shocked if anything else had been served. Which brings me to this: if this is a group "dedicated" to food management and a better lifestyle, why couldn't the menu be more varied? Sigh... I guess I should be happy there wasn't a chicken spaghetti in sight. 

I am not going to inundate you with the thousands of quilt pictures I took, but these two are worth a view. 

A BOOK QUILT!!!! 

This is hand sewn. That means, a needle and thread.
Though this picture doesn't do it justice, there are so many intricate details.
It was by-far the most elegant quilt there. 

*The only reason this is a foot note is because I couldn't figure out where else to put my glowing adulation. Arkansas is one of the most underrated states. It is gorgeous. The people are wonderful. The vibe is terrific. Little Rock is pretty cool and has the metropolitan feel without being too big. And if there was work for Marty almost anywhere in the state, I'd be on board in a heartbeat.  

An Easter Tale of Two Churches

Let me put this out there. 

Sunday, I went to Easter mass at the Catholic church. I arrived early enough to find a suitable place to sit. In the lobby and even after I sat down, I smiled and said, "hello," and "happy Easter" to a handful of folks. NOBODY responded. 

Nobody! 

Not one! 

Nada!

NOT EVEN PEOPLE WHO KNOW MY NAME could be charitable enough to say hello. 

Given this is the South, this must have killed these folks not to be friendly. 

Also, nobody originally sat next to me. I had 95 percent of a pew to myself. I saw Sherman across the way, holding a seat for his girl* but he was too far away for me to make any kind of polite acknowledgement. 

With five minutes to go before mass, a father of a family of four came over, asked if I was holding the pew and proceeded to sit him and his family next to us. As the family walked by, I said, "Hello," "Good morning," and "happy Easter." No acknowledgement. Sheesh. 

Polly ran in and slid next to Sherman right before mass started. I looked at the time. If I hurried I could make service at the Church of Christ.  

So, I did. 

As soon as I arrived at the Church of Christ, I met Corona Patty at the entrance. She said hello, good morning AND happy Easter. I met up with Ms. Judy** and chatted with her for a bit before Corona Gail slid in, grabbed both of our shoulders and declared, "Two of my favorite people." And I'm certain she meant it. 

Ms. Jane (her first name is "Ms.") greeted me with an, "I heard you..." and then proceeded to tell me the latest bit of gossip about me. I also corrected her while being in too good a mood to hold a grudge against Little Miss Hates Me for spreading such things--I know she was the source, bless her heart. And honestly, I don't care.   

At the pew, Corona Joan gave me a hug and I whispered, "Just fled mass." Corona Joan is also Catholic, whispered back. "Good move." Her Majesty, Deb, Queen of The Everything came in and sat next to me. That is, until she smelled a new person, jumped past Joan and myself, greeting the newcomer and inviting the unsuspecting woman to six upcoming events. And this is all before the service started. 

I sat in the pew during service with a light heart, genuinely happy to be there. This was a mass of loving folks all living in communion. 

*I explained to Sherman that day at Easter lunch, he could have a girlfriend with long beautiful hair or he could have a girlfriend who arrived anywhere on time. 

**Someday I simply must write a blog post about this beautiful soul. 

A Trip to Carthage Texas

The Texas Country Music Hall of Fame

Carthage Texas has a rough population of 6000 folks. When I started working on my current book, I ended up doing a deep-dive into Carthage. However, none of my deep-dive made it into my book. 

For those of you unfamiliar with Carthage and dying to know where it is, head south of Texarkana until you reach it. It should take you about an hour and forty minutes. The city (I checked, it's a city) is twenty miles from the Louisiana border. It qualifies as a place I would consider living if Marty found employment because it has two Dollar Generals. I believe it also has a hospital and a Wal-Mart Supercenter. The downtown also has a charming park, surrounded by old, musty buildings  which appear to be boutiques, thrift stores, eateries and--I'm not making this up--two Edward Jones investment houses. Yep, you can stand in front of one Edward Jones office in the downtown square, look across the park and see the other Edward Jones office. 

I've wanted to visit Carthage for a while now, because I discovered the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame is located there. It isn't that I'm a huge Texas Country Music Hall of Fame kind of girl, but because of so many summers spent with Bonus Dad looking for obscure small-town museums, I was intrigued. So, after Marty finally gave in, he drove me to Carthage. 

I'm ready to go back. 

Let me first say, we ate at the Texas Tea Room.* It was the BEST food I've eaten in East Texas. Ever! We brought leftovers home, but others who live here absconded with them and also expressed their appreciation and admiration to what good food tastes like. I suggested they open a franchise in Texarkana, but I'm not sure the owners are that ambitious. Probably for the best. The zucchini I had was grilled. In Texarkana it would have to be fried. 

I made this picture large so you might have a better view. This is an old-time a safety deposit box sitting in the lobby of the Texas Tea Room. 

After lunch, we headed off the city center about 300 feet to the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame. The place was more interesting than Marty feared. I thought the history was fascinating. It consisted of a gift shop and two rooms with displays. There was a conference-center kind of place as well--probably for live performances. A working (and free--the docent in the gift shop promised me) juke box sat in the display rooms and we were able to pick out a few songs to liven the mood as we walked around. We spent about two hours in there, soaking up the history and music. Time well spent.  

Photos below, but first, a couple of notes:  

To be inducted into the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame one must have been born in Texas. Except the Oak Ridge Boys. Only one is from Texas so the governor at the time made the others honorary Texans so they would be able to be inducted. 

Eagles' Drummer Don Henley is from (and rumor has it, currently lives) in East Texas. He's been "invited" to be inducted. But so far (according to the docent) he's had schedule conflicts. 

This one surprised me. I thought Buck (former owner of KNIX in Phoenix) was from Arizona. 

Dale Evans

I wish I would have taken a better picture of Buddy Holly's display. It was rather large. 

Marty is a HUGE Roy O fan. 

The Gambler Himself

We've got Willie, Waylon, and Kris Kristofferson
 (and a few others) in this display.

*For those who aren't familiar with the term, "Texas Tea" means oil. There are tons of brownfields (oil fields) near Carthage. 

Before and After

Before

Ta-Da! A black Sharpie was used for the "Welcome." 

Snake Stories

Every day this week, I've thought of writing a snake blog. Well here I am. Let me just start with this: snakes around here are as ubiquitous as sunshine in Phoenix, palm trees in Florida and winter snow in Canada. Essentially, yep. They are here. The topic of snakes and anything adjacent is part of polite conversation. 

In the last four years, I've learned to co-exist with the thought of snakes. I don't do well co-existing with the actual critter. As young children, my siblings and I had a traumatic experience with a rattler. My brothers are the exact same way about snakes. I cannot go to the reptile house at the zoo. I cannot look at a picture of a snake. After finding one in my greenhouse last fall, the floor in there is now covered in sulphur. I am who I am. The end. 

Snake story 1: 

My pal Joy wanted to see a movie this week. We saw Zootopia 2, which happened to be about a poor, misunderstood snake. Just no. We were the only ones in the theater at the matinee showing of a kids' movie, so we ended up chatting more than watching the movie.  

Snake story 2: 

My hairdresser, Crystal, lives on 800 acres, south of Fouke, Arkansas. Though, I wouldn't expect y'all to know where this is, think of it next to the Sulphur river, about 10 miles from the Arkansas-Louisiana border. About here. 

Around that red star. Kinda. 

Anyway, Crystal grew up on these 800 acres. This is woods, wilderness and boonies. There is more poison ivy per square foot in this area than anywhere else in the state of Texas--that level of "boonies." Last weekend, Crystal found a snake in her front yard. And this has upset her. Her front yard! "Why couldn't it be in my back yard?" she asked me. I hate to tell her this... 

Anyway, the snake slithered into a hole and she put a concrete block on the hole. I didn't point out there's probably a second hole. Hopefully it's in the back yard. 

Snake story 3:

Deb lives in a normal neighborhood. The neighborhood was established around 1980. Because it's East Texas, there are ponds everywhere. But please note, it isn't a wildlife kind of neighborhood. It's just a regular suburb. 

Driving back from her house this week, I found this sign. 

This isn't a lake. It is the size of the retention reservoir
found at the end of my former street in Mesa AZ.
Maybe 1/4 of an acre? Can we please stop normalizing critters? 

Snake story 4: Today I visited a friend who lives outside of Texarkana in an unincorporated part of town. She showed me her green house and millions of awesome plants she has. She then told me, oh yeah! She found a snake inside her green house yesterday. It got away. She also found a copperhead closer to her children's swing set last weekend. That one is now dead. Neither of these two locations are near each other, so this is two different snakes. 

We then went on a county-wide hunt for sulphur: the magic ingredient which is supposed to repel snakes. On our third stop, we found a 50 pound bag of the stuff. 

Random Monday Ramblings

Today I went to the doctor for my chronic 1,000-car pileup headaches I've been dealing with. Doc said, "stress." Sure. Okay. I mean, she's not wrong about that stress thing. 

While I was at the doctor's Marty had an interview. The person interviewing him made the interview go long because he was telling him the "best places to live" in this job's particular city. I'm not even googling to see if there's a Trader Joes.

I then went to lunch at the new First Watch in town. I met Deb. Both of us had this crazy idea that it couldn't possibly be crowded on a Monday! How wrong we were. By the way, First Watch hasn't changed. The menu is expensive and exotic for Texarkana. The service was so bad that Deb, a refined Southern woman, gave a generous11 percent tip.  

Oh yes, I told Deb about Marty's interview. To be fair, she already knew because Polly told her last week. But, it was a mistake anyway. Why? Because the newest Corona, Little Miss Hates Me, and her sweet and darling mother (she's wonderful!) came in and because there was no place to sit, they were invited (by Deb, Patron Saint of all Lost Souls) to cram into our two-person booth. And guess what came up in polite conversation? Grrrr... Little Miss Hates Me also is a terrible gossip. 

I think by this time tomorrow half of Texarkana will know Marty had an interview with this organization and it wasn't for a local job. Also, half of Texarkana will not care it was a first interview, there are several candidates and so far nothing has come of it and might not. 

For the record, I did not say to Deb, "Don't tell anyone," because 1) it hadn't come up as a point of conversation and 2) there hadn't been time between me mentioning Marty's interview and LMHM and her wonderful mama sitting down.

Speaking of LMHM. She wanted to tell me Ms. Judy needs me to take her to the upcoming woman's banquet at church. Oh dear! I need to talk to Ms. Judy. I'm out of town that weekend and won't be going to the woman's banquet*. That's too bad. I adore Ms. Judy. She doesn't drive and I and would be happy to take her anywhere I'm going.  After living in the South, I know LMHM didn't mean anything untoward (this time) by mentioning this. It's standard practice: get your news from whomever is dishing it out. But it still bugs me.  

And let me pinch my forehead while I speak of gossip for a moment. I got a text message from one of the Master Gardener's wishing me well now that I've moved to Arizona. Huh? What? Huh? I wrote back, letting him know I live in Texarkana, just taking a break from Master Gardeners right now. Yes, yes. I know this will change at some point, but this is what is true for now. I haven't moved anywhere. Nor have I mentioned to anyone in that organization my living situation. The dude doesn't even go to the Church of Christ! So, I'm really curious about his info source. Geez! His note made my head hurt.   

After lunch, I met Pete the Painter who gave us this outrageously low quote on painting our exterior trim and our bathrooms. Both need to happen before the house goes on the market. I can paint the bathrooms, but I'm not getting on a ladder and painting the exterior--especially if Pete the Painter will charge per hour than less than the cost of a First Watch meal. 

Oh yes! My pal Joy sent a note saying, "see you tomorrow." We hadn't yet picked a destination for our upcoming nature walk. So, I asked where we were going. She replied we were going to the movies. Movies? Okay then. You know, I might get a reasonable nap in the movie theater. There might be something to this. 

I should also mention Corona Krissy called me. She felt we should get a group together on Friday to celebrate my accomplishment of making it another year around the sun. Friday is Good Friday. It is the beginning of the holiest of all religious Christian holidays. And, I fast on Good Friday. So, is this possible to do this after 8 p.m.? Krissy told me it is not possible but respects my beliefs. She informed me another day will be selected. 

Though I love these women and enjoy hanging out with them, I don't want to celebrate my birthday. In fact, the very idea is giving me a headache. 

*Out of town in this case means anything from I'm dragging Marty away for a Galveston weekend to I'll be at the Wal-Mart in New Boston, Texas at the very time of the banquet and won't be available to eat chicken spaghetti. But actually, I do have tentative plans.    

Small and Meaningful

Small and Meaningful

The decision has been made and I'm outvoted. We will eventually be moving. Most around here don't know this, but if anyone is paying attention, they can see the small and meaningful actions being taken to for our home to be put on the market.

Where are we going? Don't know. More on that later. 

Anyway, back to small and meaningful actions. Yesterday, Marty and I tackled more of the front yard. Before you smirk, please understand, revamping the front yard is a massive undertaking. So far, we've reseeded the grass and added a flowerbed in the side yard. And now we've managed to rebuild the bed on the North side of the front yard. The one in front of Buck's room. The flowerbed was covered in wild strawberries, dandelion, burweed and--Heaven help me--green briar. For those who aren't familiar with green briar, it is an unpleasant pokey plant that grows 1,000 feet per second. And it takes over whatever it wants to take over. Essentially, it is the Leon of plants. 

Speaking of Leon, while we were working in the front, Marty turned around and found Leon behind him in the grass, hanging out, and staring at at us. When the cat realized he'd been caught outside, he just sat down, purred, and waited for Marty to bring him back inside.

Anyway, significant progress was made on the front flower bed. Eventually I'll add flowers. But right now I'm happy the weeds are gone. We still need to tackle the rest of the front flower beds, but that has to wait until April, when we have money again. 

Before.
Lots o' weeds. 
Note the rusted trellis with the sunflower hanging from it. 

     

After. There's lawn on the grass side of the castle rock. I promise.
It looks better than the picture suggests. 
Oh, and notice Luna.  

 

Remember the rusted trellis? 

Still needs to dry and a
few details will be added before it goes back up.