Spring, good time for reading, vacations
We had several nice rains as the month of March slipped away. All the moisture has brought a lovely green hue to pastures and yards and lawn mowing has begun in earnest. Lots of early purple iris are blooming out by the cellar, and the Oklahoma redbud is also in full bloom. The peonies are growing taller each day. It’s a beautiful time of year now that spring has come to the Ozarks.
March was National Reading Month, and I did my best to celebrate by reading in every spare moment I had. I’m a people person. I like meeting and visiting with folks and making new friends. Meeting them in books is fun, too, so I’ve always enjoyed reading biographies and autobiographies. In recent weeks, I’ve read “Knock Wood” by Candice Bergen, “Watch Me” by Angelica Huston, Katherine Hepburn’s “Making of The African Queen” and “Lucky Man” by Michael J. Fox, as well as “The Longest Ride,” a fiction bestseller by Nicholas Sparks.
If you are an avid reader and want to purchase books at a bargain, check out the library book sale this Saturday. It’s at the old Gravette Library building on Charlotte Street. Hours are 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. All proceeds will benefit the library.
Midweek is usually relatively quiet, but the last twoWednesdays were filled with activity. I accompanied Jim to Bella Vista on the 22nd when he went to put up a couple of ceiling fans at a home overlooking Lake Rayburn. Jim installed grab bars in the bathrooms, and then I assisted him when he started on the fans. When we returned to Gravette, I went to take a photo of a home damaged in a wreck earlier in the day. On the final Wednesday of the month, I drove to Springdale for a meeting on police reporting at the newspaper office there.
Near the end of the month, we received a note from my aunt in Kansas City. She wrote that after two falls in January and one in February which resulted in an overnight stay in the hospital, Uncle Holland had agreed to physical and occupational therapy. Both are scheduled for twice a week. I called my sister Nancy to share the news and learned that she and her husband had plans to sell roosters at the Southwest City sale on Saturday and Marlin is hoping to attend the Great Appalachian Homesteading Conference in Tennessee early in May.
I had an extra chore the last week of the month when I cared for three cats for a friend who was on vacation. I went to his home twice a day to put out food and water for the critters. One little fellow received a pill and eye drops on alternate days. Another of the kitties warmed up to me. I visited the home Saturday after their owner had returned and enjoyed watching videos of his travels in Brazil and Argentina. An email on Friday brought a couple of interesting photos from another friend vacationing in Hawaii.
We had a busy weekend. Jim finished a roofing job in Rogers on Saturday while I attended the Smoke on the Border barbecue competition in Hiwasse and took a few photos there. After he came in, we ordered fish sandwiches from Sonic for supper. Our son Josiah made a brief visit Sunday evening and brought his dad some tax forms he needed.We watched the Academy of Country Music awards that night.
This promises to be a busy week as well. April’s meetings began with a museum commission meeting Monday night and a library commission meeting Tuesday night. We plan to sign up for farmers market produce coupons on Thursday, and I’m looking forward to an anniversary party on Saturday evening. Hopefully, we can manage to have a couple of quiet evenings at home Thursday and Friday.
Susan Holland is a longtime resident of Benton County and a reporter for the Westside Eagle Observer. She can be reached by email at sholland@nwadg.com. Opinions expressed are those of the author.