Radom shots

Just a few random shots....
These are some rivers in my area.

This is the Cossatot River. It is known for canoeing and can be dangerous at times. Very very clear spring water feeds it and it is so much fun to play in this river. I remember going there when I was a young child and getting leeches. Leeches will not live in any water that is not clean...so you know it is a clean enough river to drink if it has leeches. (I can hear you saying yuck!!!)

This is close to the headwaters of the Little Missouri River. This is a park area called the Little Missouri Falls. Many visit in the summer to enjoy sitting in the spa like falls. But watch out!!!! Water is cold enough to bring on hyperthermia.

I have been trying to eat better the last few years. My heritage is Danish on my mother's side of the family. Grandparents all immigrated from Denmark. Mother was full Dane. Anyway much of the foods they eat are finger type foods and I love eating this way. Here is a meal I would love.

I'm soon to work on a new outdoor project. I got some old wooden shutters a few years ago. I painted them red and used them in my youngest son's café for decorations. When he sold the café I then used them in my own collectible shop. I couldn't bear to sell them and so have had them stored for the past few years. I am now wanting to make some of these for yard art.

We ate our first new potatoes yesterday. We planted 2 kinds. We planted a yellow potato for the first time and the plants are huge and bloom so beautifully.

We only dug 2 small hills of the plants that looked the worst and we have a mess of new potatoes for at least 3 eatings.

Our squash and cucumbers have small fruit now as well. It is taking them so long to mature. Up in the summer with the summer heat, they can ripen overnight.

We have loads of sand plums or what we call wild plums. Hubby dug up the trees a few years ago on the side of a road and planted them in 2 spots. They spread by root and so now our tiny bushes are these huge masses. See the tiny fruit...and they make such great jam.

Our baby blue birds have left their nests. Sometimes they will nest up to 3 times in a season. They are such gorgeous birds.

As always in the bird kingdom, the male is brighter than the female.

Our garden is looking really nice. The corn is tasseling and the beans are blooming and setting little beans. The green sweet peas are about filled out enough to pick. We are going to dig a few new potatoes today for our lunch.

Today is Memorial day so I'm remembering the reasons why we have this holiday. Here are my main reasons. My dad, hubby's day, hubby and 2 sons.

Today is also a very special day as it is my hubby and my 36th anniversary. We are not doing anything special but just enjoying life and our home place.

We are due more rain. So far for the month of May we have had over 13 inches. But it really hasn't drowned our garden too bad. It has stressed our beans is about all. But the rain we are supposed to get for the next 2 days are supposed to cause flooding.

We shop in Hot Springs, Arkansas at least once or twice a month. It is the biggest town nearest us. The town itself is a National Park and is known for it's Hot Bath houses. It has been a destination for people wanting to try healing hot waters. There are open springs and then there are the old historic bathhouses.

There is also the only horse racing track in our state. The town is known for the doings of the Mafia back in the 1920's. In fact Capone hung out at the Ohio Club downtown. The old Ohio Club is still there.

Hot Springs downtown lies between 2 ranges of the Ouachita Mountains and therefore it sometimes has flash flooding. They have asked people not to park on Central Avenue for the next few days due to the rain we are supposed to get.

I just love our area as you can tell.

Here is a photo of our oldest son and his family.

Our hawklets are flying the coop. We watched them all day yesterday as they ventured out onto the tree branches. They are gorgeous and fully feathered. The parents have left and now it is up to them to fly. Last year one stayed up in the tree for a few days with no food or parents helping until finally he got brave enough. This year they both seem to be eager to leave.

We got our cedar back from the little sawmill. I'm so excited. now it is drying in the rafters of our big shop. Then hubby will make me a new bed and chest of drawers. Can't wait.

On Monday, one of my Daughter-in-Loves brought Miss Molly out for a visit after school. Molly brought one of those old fashioned magnetic metal shavings hair shaker thing. We had so much fun walking around the place and playing.

Our state of Arkansas is just gorgeous. We seem to have almost all landforms. We personally live in the Ouachita National Forest and mountain area which is on the western side of the state. I thought I would share a few photos of places near where I live.

This first picture is of the Ouachita Mountains. You can see they are low mountains but spaced close together unlike the Ozarks.

Like I've mentioned before we are surrounded by many clear cold rivers and creeks all of which are spring fed. This next photo is of one of those creeks. I don't know the name of the creek but the area is a tiny camping area called Bards Springs. It is near Albert Pike where all those campers drowned a few years ago. This is a manmade dam on this creek.

I grew up in Texarkana. Texarkana is a dual city with part on Arkansas side and other on Texas. I grew up on the Arkansas side. It is a very historic city mainly due to the railroads that tended to meet there. In fact my grandfathers on both sides worked in some capacity for the railroads. There is a street in Texarkana, Arkansas that was a street over from my paternal grandmother's house called Beech Street. Most of the streets in that area are named for trees. I lived on Hickory Street. Anyway, most of the streets originally were brick paved as Texarkana had a brick factory. All have been paved over except for Beech. It is such a lovely street with stately old trees and houses.

For some reason I could not download that last photo and it wouldn't let me edit it so trying again to add the old window with the cross stitching I did for my friend. It has their names on it.

Another thing I made one year was cross stitched pears. I got these patterns online I think on Not Forgotten Farms..but I just love these.