Getting Set for the New Year

We have had a good Christmas! It started earlier this month when our friends, Ray & Carolyn, came for our Christmas party.




Dennis & Gwenda who are our younger, old-time friends drove down from Batesville to be a part of our celebration.




Our daughter, Lauri, and her friend, Susie, were a big help as were Mike and Betty.
We had a lovely, meaningful service at church on Christmas Eve. Lauri and Susie came for Christmas brunch. Our weathermen were forecasting a possible blizzard, so we encouraged Lauri to get back to Memphis before nightfall.



We did have a snow covered yard by midnight, so we were happy to know Lauri was home safely.
We are now looking forward to a New Year's gathering with Ray & Carolyn, and possibly Robert & Olivia. This will be the 50th consecutive New Year's Day that we have been with Ray and Carolyn.
- Posted by Lamar using BlogPress for IPad

Merry Christmas

The weather is nice, but cold. The decorations are up, And the meals are planned. There are no elaborate gifts under the tree, but that's o.k. Since we have everything that we really need.




I wish a Merry Christmas to everyone and hope the New Year holds wonderful things for you.


- Posted by Lamar using BlogPress for IPad

Cool Weather

It looks as if we are finally going to have some cool weather for a spell. We may get Dow to below the freezing point tonight. We have already brought all the potted plants into the garage or the screened in porch (well the ones we plan to winter-over). And, I covered the two ferns on the front porch.

The crape myrtle leaves have been looking pretty, but they will soon be gone.

This rose blossom is no longer there, but I enjoyed it for several days.





This is one of the last blossoms of the season. It's a rose the we have had for several years, Sunsprite.

Harvest Time

It looks as if the rice harvest is just about over here in St. Francis county. I had planned to get some close up pictures of rice so I could post them on the blog, but after driving around, I didn't find any good location.



This is a photo of the one field of rice that was still standing.



This shot shows a field that has been harvested.

There is still a lot of cotton and soybeans that is yet to be harvested.


- Posted by Lamar using BlogPress for IPad

Location:Baker St,Forrest City,United States

Back Home

We are back home after having a good visit with our friends Ray & Carolyn.




I didn't get a photo of them at the reception in celebration of their 50th wedding anniversary, but Dr. Lou sent some that he took.


- Posted by Lamar using BlogPress for IPad

Location:Forrest City, Arkansas

An Anniversary

Yesterday was the 50th wedding anniversary for Ray and Carolyn Karrer. Lynda and I met them at a dinner our church gave to welcome new teachers to Odessa, Texas. We've been friends for the past fifty years lacking two weeks.

A Pleasant Weekend

Lynda and I went to the Forrest City Little Theater's production of "The Sound Of Music" last night. Our friend, Joan, went with us. The group did a wonderful job.

We were surprised to see Debra there. In fact she was sitting on the row behind us. She by today for a short visit before driving back to Mississippi.

Thinking Back

Lynda and I both love to travel and being in the. Teaching profession gave us time for traveling. The first three summers of out marriage were spent going to summer to get our masters degrees. Even though I had not finished my masters, we decided we would spend some time during the summer of 1964 seeing some of Texas.

We were fortunate enough to visit the Capitol in Austin, San Jacinto monument, and the Alamo in San Antonio. These are still some of our favorite places.

A Good Saturday

Today was a fairly lazy day, but I did get a few things done. I drove by the farmer's market hoping one of the guys would have some fresh peas. A few days ago I got some pink eyed purple hull peas that were very good, but today I was out of luck. Maybe early next week.

I baked some biscotti. I have several recipes, but I tried a new one I found online.

For supper, I fixed Navajo tacos.

A Pleasant Meal

This morning we had brunch. For the past several years we have taken turn with Betty & Mike preparing Monday suppers. Betty is involved with the local little theater group's production of "The Sound of Music" and they are at the point of nightly rehearsals, so we decided to have a Tuesday brunch instead of a supper.

Connected to a keyboard via bluetooth

This is the photo of the keyboard.

We drove o Memphis so I could go to Best Buy to get the keyboard. It is so much easier to type with the keyboard rather than using the virtual one on the IPad.

A Bit of Rain

Well, we finally have had a bit of rain. The last time I checked the rain gauge, there was 1 inch. It has rained some more, but not very much. The rain has kept the temperature down. We had several above 100 degrees temperatures earlier, so the 80-degrees temps are nice. And, it gives us a break from watering the flowers.

The second crop of figs should start getting ripe. Lynda's hanging basket looks good after the milder weather. I wish the bougainvillea was hardy here in eastern Arkansas. Last winter we stored one in the garage. It survived, but is slow to re-bloom.

This year I have a few cleome growing. I first became aware of this flower in 1979 or so. I first saw them (or at least to really notice them) in the garden at John Quincy Adams' home. One of the gardeners gave me a young plant and I brought it back to Arkansas. Since they are good re-seeders, I had them in the garden for years but somewhere along the line we lost them. it's good to have them back!

July 2012

We've had several celebrations (quiet ones) the last several weeks. L.K. and I celebrated our 52nd wedding anniversary on June 25th, then the next week we had her birthday on July 2nd, then independence day, and today is my birthday (July 7). Two of Lynda's cousins (Carolyn and Valerie) came for a short visit and we drove over to Memphis to visit Lauri and have supper at the Bar-B-Que shop.They left after brunch today on their way to Mena to spend the weekend with their Mom in Mena before heading back to the Dallas area.We haven't done a lot of traveling this summer. I ended up having two surgeries to take care of some hernias. It wasn't real fun, but not as bad as I had thought it would be. The first was in March, and Lynda and Lauri took great care of me. The second was the latter part of June. I've about back to normal activity, now. (But that isn't all that active)!

May

It's hard to realize that it's already May! The roses were the best that we have had in ages. I've enjoyed sitting under the arbor with a cat in my lap just looking around at the blooming flowers.

A Beautiful Spring Day

Today was a lovely day. I slept a bit late and didn't go to church with Lynda. After lunch I did get some more shots of the flowers that are blooming.

Small cranes near a money plant. Azelea in background.

This is the area near the Baker Street entrance.

Azelea

Formosa azelea

One of our little rabbit statues among the aguga

More Springlike Weather

I saw the first azalea bloom on our bushes yesterday. The temperatures this week are supposed to 80 degrees are near. Of course we can probably expect a blackberry winter later in the spring. We hav

e reports that the bluebonnets should be pretty down in the Texas hill country this spring. We are hoping to visit Austin and points west after Easter, so maybe we'll be lucky again.

Springtime in Arkansas

Today was a typical spring-like day. Everything about it was nice, except maybe the wind. Some stormy weather is in the forecast for the latter part of the week. Here is a shot of the trumpeter swans that we saw about a month ago.

About two weeks later we drove back to Searcy to see some bald eagles that were hanging out there. We didn't see any. Next year we'll try to be a little earlier in January or February. Our drive wasn't a total washout since we did get to eat at Who Dat's in Bald Knob. It's a popular place so we had to wait a bit, but the food was delightful.

After the possum haw finally lost it leaves, it added color to the landscape with it red berries until in late February a flock of birds (not sure what) stripped the tree within two days. The daffodils, snowflakes, Carolina Jasmine, and forsythia have bloomed and have brightened up the place.

Our arbor with Carolina Jasmine

Forsythia and daffodils

Snowflakes and daffodils

Checking on the Arkansas Swans

Yesterday we drove up to the Heber Springs area to check out the trumpeter swans that have been wintering there. Lynda and I, along with Mike and Betty, arrived at Magness Lake about lunch time. We watched the swans and ducks for several minutes, then drove into Heber Springs and had a picnic lunch at the park.

A New Year

I'm a bit late posting about the new year! Lynda and I drove to Paris, Texas on December 28 to be with our long-time friends, Ray and Carolyn. January 1, 2012 was the 49th new year's day that we had spent together. We didn't do much celebrating on New Year's Eve; just watched television and had a small glass of eggnog. I was in bed by 12:20! On New Year's Day we had our traditional noon meal. German sausages, red cabbage, black-eyed peas, German potato salad and cornbread make up our menu. David & Jeanie and Neal & Carolyn joined us for lunch. Eddene & Ann had planned to come, but had to cancel because of a family illness.