More Memories.........

Oh, the happy memories these photos bring back......These two pics and many more we have were taken with Mama's Brownie Hawkeye camera, summer of 1968 or 1969. They were taken at Lake Poinsett State Park just outside of Harrisburg, Arkansas. I was either 4 or 5, and my Mama, Daddy, sister Lisa (Cecil), Grandma Martha Hervey, (Mama's mother), Mama's brother Charles Headrick and his wife, Ethel and their 4 kids (my cousins), Tyrone, Jeannie, Julie and Jerry were all there for the day. That's my cousin Jeannie on the left, and me in the foreground of the pic. Notice how brown I am and how blonde my hair is? My hair is quite a bit darker now, except for the "platinum blonde" hair I have in abundance, especially framing my face :) Notice there are only 4 of those swing horses for 6 kids........Begin to see the possibilities for some minor disagreements, here? lol....

When we went to the park, we always got there early in the morning and spent most if not all day there. We always took the cast iron pots and skillets, and food to cook there. If Daddy and Charles happened to catch any fish, we cooked those, and if not we had fried potatoes, and whatever else the women could scrape up. We kids gathered sticks and dead limbs to use for firewood, and we built a fire and braced an old metal fan grill over concrete blocks with the fire under it to cook over. I can still remember the "pine" smell of the park, and the smoky smell of the fire and the food cooking over it. Food always tastes better cooked and eaten outside, in my opinion. Oh, the fun we had!! We were so close in those days, and now all the cousins have moved off to different parts of the country. Julie lives in Pocahontas, Arkansas, about 40 miles away. The last time I saw her was when Mama died last April. Jeannie and Jerry live in Denver, Colorado, and Tyrone lives in California. I haven't seen him since Grandma Hervey died in 1981. It's sad, we used to be so close, didn't we, sisters?

On to the news of the day, not that there is much. Sisters, remember Dana, Janiece S.'s daughter? The one who is my age? Jessica, Chris, his friend Jason and Dana's daughter, Jerra are double-dating tonight. They are supposed to go eat, then to play pool or bowl or both. Jessica has to be back by 11 tonight because we have to be up by 6 or so to get ready to go to Jonesboro for her Mock Trial competition at 8 am. There are 2 rounds tomorrow and if she makes it through both rounds, her team will go on to Little Rock for the state competition next weekend. I don't particularly care for the crime scenario they chose this year for the trial, personally I think the case is too vague, but they didn't ask me. I've helped her as best I could with her closing statements, but I don't know if it's going to be strong enough to help her team or not. More on that tomorrow.......

It was pretty again today, 60 degrees and sunny. The weather geeks are calling for a 40 percent chance of showers overnight and into tomorrow, and a little cooler. That's acceptable, I guess. We still need the rain. One of my daffodils is officially blooming, I saw it earlier today. I hope they don't get their blooms froze off, but it could still happen. There is still plenty of time for more freezing weather. April 15 is the average last frost date for this area, and the farmers around here usually have cotton and soybeans planted right around that date, if the ground is not too wet to work. It's going to have to rain quite a bit between now and then to make it too wet, but I guess it could turn out to be a wet spring, still yet.

I am going to go ahead and try to post this and talk to Cecil and Bill and maybe Ducky, if she is on messenger tonight. More tomorrow, good Lord willing.....