Back Roads

September is here and it's a great time to get out and enjoy the cooler weather, autumn color and the quirky places that are down country roads no matter where you live. "The Pig Trail'... that's what the locals call the road that many use to go to and from Razorback games, is a breathtaking drive. Curvy roads twist and turn, around every bend the historic road passes waterfalls, rock formations and scenic mountain views! The Oark General Store sets off highway 215 in Johnson County waiting for customers to take a step back in time. Listed on the National Register of Historic Buildings, the oldest store in Arkansas has been there since 1890. It serves the community with everything they might need as well as being a great place to get a bite to eat.

Sometimes you just have to turn off the main road and see where life takes you. You might just be missing out on a great place to fish or maybe a farmer who sells fresh eggs or extra veges from his garden. In Arkansas they still do that, you'll see a handmade sign nailed to a fence out front!

Daddy, his brother Walton and cousins Luster and Herman

(deer hunting season, 1949)

I inherited the love of backroads from my Dad. He knew every dirt road in Boone County and people all along those roads that he hunted with. It's almost deer season in Arkansas and hunters are getting out in the woods, placing their deer stand and feeders in anticipation of November opening day. It was my Dad's favorite time of the year and he looked forward to being in the "deer woods." There's a sereneness to the woods, just the sound of your footsteps. You are alone with your thoughts, it's a time to reflect on what's really important in your life. 

I love to take short cuts, the backroads that cut off miles or time to my trips. No matter where we have lived, I have found an easier path to the places I go most often. My trip to town now is mostly country. It takes 5-10 minutes tops to get into Rogers and then maybe another 5 minutes to the grocery store. If I go 2nd Street to Walnut there are six stoplights. If I go the back way...there is only one. I save time and gas. I like that way best!

When we lived in Springdale, it was twice that many lights if I went the path that all the other "rabbits" followed. But I didn't go that way. If I went down Silent Grove Road, by the old pump station I got to see a pretty little creek and the trees hung over the road like a lane in Merry Old England. I've never been to England, but I have seen pictures and they look just like the back way!

It won't be long and the leaves will begin their big show. The Sumacs first, turning a brilliant red. The Dogwoods follow suit shortly after, they already are covered with the red berries that will provide food for the birds and deer this winter. It's been so hot and dry, we don't really know how much color we'll see out of the oaks, maples and poplars. Normally, you can look across our mountain and see all shades of red, gold and orange. I have my fingers crossed that the recent rains will make a difference!

 No matter where you live, get the map out and plan some little day trips to the pretty parts of your state. Go down some country roads that you haven't traveled. The things you see and the people you meet add that something special that makes life interesting!

Spooning Weather

Accuweather has some bad news for us here in the Midwest. They say buy a snowblower and hunker down. Accuweather actually said, "People in Chicago are going to want to move after this winter." Now that's scary.

Here in Arkansas, we have a way to forecast our winters with the lowly persimmon tree. Not too much to look at, it's scrubby and rarely grows to it's full potential. They are plentiful on farms, mostly a fencerow tree. Wild animals are about the only ones that enjoy the mature fruit that is sticky sweet. Before they are ripe, they'll make your mouth pucker!  

But inside this golden little orb Mother Nature has hidden the forecast for winter. When you split the seed open you'll see the shape of a knife, fork or spoon.

Old timers say the knife forecasts cutting cold, the fork a mild winter and the shape of a spoon means we'll be shoveling lots of snow.

There's a spoon inside each of these this year. And the fact that the tree is loaded with fruit is yet another sign of a bad winter... Mother Nature providing for the animals.

The Farmer's Almanac doesn't exactly agree with Accuweather. They are predicting a milder winter than last. The Almanac was my Dad's "go to" source for weather and planting. He'd buy a copy and by the time he was finished with it, the cover would be completely worn off, the pages dog eared.

I hope the Almanac is right and it's not going to be as bad as last winter. We had record cold and record snowfall.

If I was smart I'd gather up some of these persimmons for Ozark Pudding!

Home Sweet Home

We moved a lot when our daughters were growing up. I've counted before, 18 addresses in 45 years. Not enough time to put down roots with many of the houses. Home should always be that place where memories are made. It has to be much more than four walls to feel like home and a Mother's job is to add the ingredients needed to make the warm and fuzzies.

If you reach back into your childhood those feelings are stirred when you remember how you felt in the security of those walls. It wrapped around you like a blanket and protected you from the outside world. I can remember my bedroom...the wallpaper was pink roses. I can see the white curtains moving gently with the cool breezes from a south window. It was an old house, on the corner of Summit and Division with a big wrap-around porch. Mom had the banisters full of pots of begonias and impatiens and ferns. I would set out in the swing and watch as neighbors mowed their lawns or walked to the neighborhood market. Inside, Mom was almost always in the kitchen cooking.

Since our daughters are eight years apart, their strongest memories would most likely be two separate houses. For Stephanie the house on Birch in Harrison is where she learned to ride a bike, celebrated many birthdays and wondered how Santa got in the house Christmas Eve since we didn't have a fireplace! For Amy the house at Horseshoe Bend is where she lost her first tooth, learned to swim and played long summer days with our dog Lizzie. It's not far from here, if you go by boat it's only a few coves away. It seems like such a long time ago that we lived on that little farm, 25 years can seem like an eternity while feeling like a "blink ago."

Every house had celebrations...holidays with family gathered, sleepovers with best friends and private "alone in their bedroom" time when they played and pretended and grew up. 

In their heart and minds will forever be the color of that bedroom or the pictures in the hallway. Etched in their memories are playing house or riding their bikes or just setting and dreaming about their future.

Home is as simple as the front door...

...or the sound of the doorbell~

It's that feeling of welcome and being the most important thing in your parents' lives. That is what being a Mother is, and a Father too. Forever that bond that never goes away, only gets stronger. Even when we are separated we hold those memories most dear.

The Bridge of my Childhood

When you cross over the bridge of my childhood...also known as Lake Taneycomo Bridge you enter a world unlike any other. 

It has houses that defy common sense...

The Titanic shouldn't be on the corner of Gretna and Highway 76...

Planes have landed on waterfalls... 

Ivy skulls invite kids to come play mini golf,

and a 100 foot chicken invites you in... for fried chicken nonetheless!

Or you can go back through the bridge of my childhood and this time it takes you back to a time I am familiar with.

I remember catching big stringers of crappie in the springtime of the year. 

In every nook and cranny there were old coolers that kept our pop cold and kerosene lamps that lit our campsites. Orange life vests were stowed under the seats of Daddy's old fiberglass boat, waiting for our weekend fishing trips.

That lake has given countless memories to countless families through the years. Long Creek, Blue Eye, Shell Knob we fished each cove, caught our limit and took them home.

Branson, Missouri is a unique place that has something for everyone!

Where the deer and the squirrels roam...

I grabbed the camera on my way out yesterday, a quick trip to town for ricotta to make lasagna. If I don't get some pictures soon, the leaves will all be off the trees. This summer's drought and record high heat has already taken it's toll on many trees that dropped leaves early to save themselves. Mother Nature has a way of persevering.

The colors are not near as bright as a normal fall, the mountains here are dotted with hardwoods mostly and a few cedars and pine trees. Oaks turn a golden or orange, poplars a bright yellow and the reds are dogwoods or maples. There are hickory, elm, ash and walnut trees too, and species native to Arkansas like Chinquapin and Maple Leaf Oaks. 

These mountains above Beaver Lake where we live have pioneer species of trees like red cedar, sweetgum, sassafras, locust, sumac, and persimmon. Along the lakes and streams willows, cottonwood and bald cypress are pretty common. 

Not too long ago, there was a logging company that came in and thinned a hillside off Old Prairie Creek Road. There was some concern at the time that they would damage the area, take too much, but in reality they did the forest a favor. You can see in these pictures that the woods here are overgrown, packed. When that happens, trees are crowded and fight for enough moisture and light to thrive. 

We're still down from normal rainfall, a deficit of almost 10 inches for the year. Sometimes we make it up over the winter and spring, but some of the trees are stressed now after two hard summers. 

I love this drive home, along the lake, curvy and hilly you can't go fast so you have time to unwind and enjoy the scenery. It's a trick that Mother Nature does, makes us go slow so we pay attention to what really counts. 

Home Sweet Home where the deer and the squirrels roam... at least here on Granny Mountain!

Hedgeapples

I nearly peed my pants when I saw the big green balls laying everywhere in Ensley Park last week when we were in Topeka! I don't even remember the last time I saw a Bodark tree, they are kind of hard to find. My Grandpa had them as fence row trees, to mark the boundaries of his pastures. Scrubby and gnarled, he attached barbed wire to them and for decades they did the job of holding the cattle in. By the 1960's he began to replace all of those fences with posts and new barbed wire, and in time the trees simply died. 

Osage Orange, hedge apples, horse apple, Bodark, I've heard all of these names to describe them, they are a favorite of squirrels but poison to humans. Folklore tells us that hedge apples deter spiders, crickets, bugs and cockroaches from getting in your garage or basement. If you Google for info, you see that it's true, one university study showed that a natural chemical in the hedge apple deters cock roaches. People put them in dark corners, by doorways and porch steps to prevent insects from entering the house. Everyone that uses them swears that they work!

I don't remember a can of bug spray being a staple at my house as a kid, but the hedge apples were placed in the basement and in the garage and I don't recall ever seeing bugs. Maybe not as well as a commercial pesticide, but they are a green choice for those of us who like that.

We had to dodge the falling bombs, they are heavy, but Aunt Nadine and I gathered up enough for her garage, her sister's and mine in a couple of minutes. We'll let you know if they work!

BB&B Smiles

Even if I told you how much fun Bikes, Blues and BBQ was, you wouldn't believe me! So, I thought I'd just show you people's faces... that tells a lot!

Best seats in the house for the parade of bikes!

Guy Fieri comes every year... 

You thought motorcycle rallies were just for seasoned bikers?

Dream jobs, photographers!

Not to mention you meet  the most interesting people! 

We love rolling out the red carpet for thousands of visitors each year and we hope they enjoy the Ozarks as much as we do! There's lots to do, and the scenery is probably one of the best parts of the trip. For motorcycle enthusiasts, the road is the main attraction. If you'd like to see some amazing photos of the rally, go to Shot by Aponi. Laurie Harris is a gifted photographer and artist who captures Arkansas' beauty and people better than I can ever try to explain!