Summertime

Summertime, and the living is easy! But it is the strangest summer weatherwise I can ever remember ... temps in Arkansas in the 80's in July, and we have had lots of rain. I have never seen such green grass in the summer months. If only I had not planted my dogwoods in the woods where they get direct afternoon sun.

Days are spent puttering which is my favorite retirement hobby, but I do put off necessary chores! Don't ask what. I don't want to think about them! I am now a youtube user! So I sit around each morning and create movies. I am soonbgone2 on You Tube.

Robert is in town this week and yesterday we had a great visit. We met Kay to look at a garden home in the afternoon and had a nice visit while waiting an hour for the realtor to arrive. How nice to take your own realtor, even if ex, along. When we finished it was time for supper and Pompeii was a good choice. We shared chocolate cake after spaghetti, lasagna and wine, and declared it Robert's birthday dinner. Jeff and Wookie came down and visited after we got back home. Kay, sorry you had to go grade papers!

Now to go to the historical society and get the new book on the end of the gambling era in Hot Springs which was written by the head of the state police at the time. Leon is going out for biscuits and gravy. No thank you.

Farmer's Market

This little girl provided us some entertainment at the Farmer's Market on Saturday. How wonderful it must be if your dad owns the watermelon trailer.

Oklahoma City

We took a couple of days from our not so busy schedule to visit "where the buffalo roam." And they indeed seem to roam all over town painted with fine designs. This one was at Bass Pro.


The focus of this trip was Josh, Leon's oldest grandson. We were also delighted to meet Melissa.

Leon's daughter and other grandsons came from California. Blade, Trisha, Josh, Melissa, Leon and Gunnar pose at Abuelo's, a Mexican restaurant where we had dinner in Bricktown. Bricktown is an old towntown section of OKC that has been refurbished from the once busy business/factory district that it was.

We also visited the Oklahoma City memorial. When I was first there years ago there was just a bombed out building with a chainlink fence acting as a memorial created by the throngs of people who visited the site. Sections of fence are also a part of the city's memorial.

168 chairs fill the area where the Murrah Federal Building once stood to honor the lives of those who died when the building was bombed on April 19, 1995. Names are engraved on each chair and they are in nine rows, placed according to which of the nine floors the victims were on.

The reflecting pool lies alongside as a reminder to all who visit on what was once N W Fifth Street.

On our return home we stopped in Shawnee. And .1 mile from our restaurant there just happened to be a geocache. We stopped and signed the log. Horses are the animal of choice for painting in this town and this one was the location of this cache.

Harvest

A farmer I am not. I have no luck with a garden. I build it, then I dismantle it. This year I have planted a few squashes. I almost missed this zucchini. At last, I have a summer harvest!

Frozen Strawberry Layer Cake

Hot summer days call for something cool and refreshing, yet light and easy to make! Normally that would be watermelon but when I want to make it look like I cook I like this recipe. It is my new favorite summer dessert!

Frozen Strawberry Layer Cake
3 weight watcher points; serves 12

Ingredients
6 cups sliced strawberries
1/2 cup sugar ( I use Splenda)
2 T fresh lemon juice
1/2 t salt
12 oz. Angel Food cake cut into 1/4” slices (Warning: Walmart's is only 9 oz)
4 cups fat free vanilla frozen yogurt

Instructions
Simmer strawberries, sugar, lemon juice and salt for 15 minutes. Mash about half the berries. Cool to room temperature.

Thaw the yogurt so it is spreadable.

Line the bottom of a 9 inch springform pan with 1/3 of cake slices cutting to fit the shape of the pan. Top with 1/2 frozen yogurt and spread to sides. Spread 2/3 cup strawberry sauce over the yogurt. Top with 1/2 of remaining cake slices, the remainder of the yogurt and 2/3 cup strawberry sauce. Finally seal the top with the remaining cake slices. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze at least 6 hours or up to 3 days. Let the cake stand at room temperature 10 minutes before unmolding. (Longer is better in my opinion).

Ouch!

Up at 4:30 today so Leon could be at the hospital at 5:30 for his lumbar puncture. He has a shunt that drains the excess spinal fluid and he feels sure it has come loose or broken. Finally the day has come to get his spinal fluid level checked. Sure enough the shunt is broken so now he can schedule surgery to get it fixed. All went well. I had no idea the hospital had such good biscuits and gravy!

July 4

Saturday was a fun filled day which began with a few geocaching stops. There were two caches within 1 mile of my house that we had visited several times with no luck! While 2 Dog Knight, aka Don, is in town we thought we might solve the dilemna and indeed we did. I never knew what a "skirt lifter" was and had no idea that the base of the lamp post could be lifted. Had I visited the one shown I might have figured it out because the other spots had many other options. As soon as we did the first one we realized the other two were the same. Mystery solved! It helps that Don has 1700 geocaches under his belt.

The farmer's market had a good crowd and we were among them in search of some homegrown tomatoes. We scored again and treated ourselves. Now I can make my chilled dill tomato soup.

Kay, Mary and David joined us for a cookout to celebrate the red, white, and blue. We had a feast that included brats, pork tenderloin, corn on the cob, fresh tomatoes, potato salad, pea salad, Santa Fe salad, and mojitos. Then we were treated to Mary's homemade ice cream topped with frosted blueberries to accompany my strawberry cake! The day ended with a bang as Jeff put on a fireworks display atop the hill.

Gallery Walk

Again it is the first Friday of the month and time for gallery walk. We decided to eat German food first at Brau Haus in the hopes it would be a little cooler when we strolled the streets. There was a gentle breeze and a large crowd for Don's first gallery walk. Not a bad form of entertainment for our out of state guest! We were delighted that Kay joined us also.
I spotted the reflection of this building where I once worked for First Federal Savings as we were headed to the car. For some reason I was fascinated.

Summer delights

The daylillies sparkle at this time of the year. I like the new fancy ones but I am just as content with the old time orange glow! The hummingbirds are high in the Mimosa trees and not the least bit tempted by my feeder! Yesterday we harvested plenty of garlic. This morning I have been to the butterfly garden - no butterflies - just me!
It is time to celebrate the red, white and blue! We practiced last night with grilled chicken and vegies. Don has graced us with his presence for several days enroute to Houston. He is winding up his trip to Pennsylvania to visit family.
Leon got a new trailer hitch put on the 5th wheel yesterday so we can add a rack and take more toys when we travel but right now there are just too many projects at the dead end!

Lake Catherine

Leon could hardly wait to get the new Hobie into the water so on Sunday morning we joined the crowd at Lake Catherine State Park to put the kayaks into the lake for a trial run. The photo seems to say it all. Leon was delighted and likes the stability the boat provides.



We grabbed some sandwiches from Subway on the way to the lake and were sure glad we had.

Little Rock

On Friday my girl group and I enjoyed a visit with our friends Mel and Diane in Little Rock. After our delicious lunch at Mel's Kay, Darla, Chris and I got a little obsessed with our new iphones as we sat around the table sharing different information. I showed Cissy how to visit her daughter on Facebook while Mary shared her new cell phone number!





Leon and I returned to Little Rock on Saturday to pick up his new kayak. He has wanted a Hobie kayak since he tried one in April and today was the day!




It wasn't far from the kayak store to Pei Wei, our new favorite haunt for lunch in Little Rock.






We stopped at Kay's as we returned home and Leon showed off his kayak! Didn't he pick a nice color to match his truck? I just hope he can find it in a muddy river! A 97 degree forecast for the first day of summer tomorrow might be cause to take to the lake.

A busy week

Kittens, anyone? One got run over, one ran off, now down to two camo kitties hiding in the woods at Jeff's. One is ok with being picked up but not the little hisser! She/he slapped the little brother/sister and caused him/her to run off never to return.


It has been a busy and fun filled week even though hotter than the hinges but probably not as hot as Texas! Polly retired as library media specialist at Bismarck and that was an occasion for us librarians to gather for food and friendship Monday. Her son offered his Hot Springs home and we had a really good visit. Thanks, Bruce!



We counted 6 retirees in the group and several more to join us in a year. Here Polly was retelling our registration process at UCA when four of us traveled 90 miles way to often to get our masters degrees.


June 16th we always find cause to celebrate Kay's birthday with food! It was always a cookout with Baskin Robbins mint chocolate chip cake but this year Pompeii's provided an excellent Italian menu and made her a chocolate cake!


Will and Julie came to town for a few days and we were delighted they could join us. Smile,Will, your birthday is coming! Jeff and Joe completed the group. Thanks, Kay, for providing us this opportunity for a great meal and visit.


Each year the Hot Springs Technology Institute convenes at Hot Springs High for a technology workshop and they offer some good workshops. I decided to crash the party on Wednesday and go to the iMovie presentation for Macintosh! I ran into so many friends and the superintendent suggested I stay for lunch. I never pass up McClard's bar-b-q so I took that as a welcome and even stayed for a session on Garageband! So much can happen so fast while I am out in the woods not paying attention to technology!! I caught Kay waiting for a session and joined her.

Leon went into the woods one day and came back with 10 chigger bites. He is not venturing out much. With a temperature of 98 forecast with a heat index of 100 he will probably not venture far today either!

Daylillies and sunshine

It does seem like summer is here although we have only had the a/c on one day. But it is sure warmer here than it was in Las Vegas and the humidity is much higher! We got an early start this morning and went to a few estate sales. Once Leon found some treasures he equated it to geocaching!

I ran some errands and planted some zinnias and Leon finished putting vent covers on top of the 5th wheel. Then as the black clouds billowed and a storm blew through with high winds but no rain we went to Mary's and put a new working door knob on for her! With our day's work done we relaxed on the deck with a beverage while grilling vegetables and enjoyed the splash of orange day lillies blooming profusely by the pond.
We were delighted to have a visit from Darla and Amelia and soon Kay joined us. Sitting on the patio visiting with friends and family just seems the way summer should begin!

And of course this strange bug joined us! That is also part of summer in Arkansas.

Vacation time

We took the fast lane .. the plane .. to Las Vegas for Leon's daughter's wedding.

Hot Music

Hot Springs is lucky to have a first class music festival which is held each spring. The Hot Springs Music Festival began on May 31st with a fanfare on the steps of the Arlington Hotel. Music will be rehearsed and performed in various venues around town. Check the website for a schedule and treat yourself.


Leon, Kay, and Mary found a shady spot in Arlington Park from which to enjoy the too short fanfare while I wandered about with the camera.

For Hire!

Good ole' summertime! The rains have subsided for a while and the low humidity and sunshine are welcome. We have been busy trying to get the grass back to an acceptable height. Wednesday morning we mowed David's yard and then went over to Woodlawn to tackle the jungle there! We managed to bend the blade on the push mower and I overfilled the oil on the riding mower. After a trip to Airport Road Small Engine we were good to go again but a shower stopped our progress.
Wednesday I had a delightful visit at lunch with Kathy Lease, our former assistant principal at Lake Hamilton, whom I have not seen in decades! Also along were Margie, Chris, Darla, Golden, Carolyn, and Joy. It was nice to catch up and learn that she has 3 grandsons and will be able to spend more time with them after retiring this year!
After lunch we were mowing again. This time it was Kay's yard which looked not so bad in the front but the back yard had been neglected for too long. Then it was time to work in our woods! The chain saw took care of some unwanted trees and Leon hooked them up to the quad for a trip to other woods! I fed the smaller sumac to the chipper/shredder.
At last it was time to initiate the beer garden! We made a toast to Roy and enjoyed a tall cool one. We were too exhausted to do any more!

Memorial Day

We had a memorable but quiet Memorial Day. The rain finally stopped and it seemed appropriate to have an impromptu cookout so we put out a call to Mary, Kay and Jeff. We helped Kay finish the margarita bucket while we snacked on veggies and guacamole. The new pineapple chipotle salsa added an interesting twist. Grilled chicken, potatoes, corn, and slaw filled our tummies and the mosquitoes stayed away long enough for us to enjoy the outdoor air.

Show and tell

A simple trip to Little Rock was planned to look at kayaks and buy some shorts at Academy. When the truck quit running the plans quickly changed. While the tow truck was on the way the truck decided to run again. The accelerator wasn't accelerating the truck and then it did! So we drove to the Dodge dealer to learn that $850 needed to be spent for an accelerator sensor. We chose to not sit in the waiting room and they gave us a ride to Midtowne.
Thanks to Mel, we wanted to try Pei Wei, an Asian diner, for lunch. The place was packed and we could understand why. Several doors down is the Chico's store so I got enthused after checking the sale racks. Leon patiently sat while I picked out a few necessities. We found our way across University Avenue to Park Plaza shopping mall and I was about to get enthused again when the Dodge boys came to pick us up.
We then looked at kayaks on Kavanaugh and shopped for Leon some shirts and shorts on the other side of town. We even stopped in Bryant at the Lowe's store to pick up some needed items. The day was long and we were tired but we agreed it was a fun day.

Crystal Springs flood

Leon drove up to Crystal Springs campground to see what the area looked like while Lake Ouachita is flooded. This is the site where we were camped three weeks ago. The campground is now closed.

Last year the flood waters on DeGray Lake receded two days before our camping group arrived. We have decided not to push our luck next year!

Mow, mow, mow

I am starting to feel like I live in the Amazon! All of the recent rains have really caused the grass and weeds to grow, but I am catching up after two productive days. While weed eating I discovered that my little gardenia bush is blooming. That made it worth all of the work. Then it was time to plant some lantana only to realize what I planted last year is starting to sprout. I then turned my attention to my new herb garden and put in some parsley, sage, basil, chives, and oregano.
A portion of the Crystal Springs campground, where we camped for a week, is now closed due to high water. How lucky we were to have such perfect weather for our campout!
It has felt like summer for the last two days which prompted Leon to change out the non-working ceiling fan in the computer room! And that only made me think maybe we need one in the kitchen and/or the dining room. I guess I shouldn't push a good thing!
We have been doing a little geocaching near the house. I don't know why people think it is clever to hide things where folks are everywhere. It isn't my idea of what geocaching is about. How fun is it to tromp thru the tall grass and chiggers to find a tube nailed to the back of a fence surrounding a shopping center or to look in the bushes in the middle of the shopping center. But they are too close to home to ignore! So off we go. It is a great excuse for a morning walk.