Winter Cold

This year’s season for cold weather hasn’t disappointed. Two arctic blasts have hit the area, one over the holidays and the most recent partially captured in the picture above (taken in the Ouachita Mountains around the area where I grew up). Once again, I was ready with my generator, plenty of gas and oil, multiple gallons of fresh water, candles, matches—all the usual items needed for getting through an extended and rough cold snap. The latest storm system gave me single digit wind chills and thermometer readings in the teens—and almost 7 inches of snow on a ¼ inch sheet of ice. Thankfully, I had power the entire time—unlike last year’s Ice Storm. If the Ice Storm link is broken, go to my February 2009 post, same subject.

The Fourth Of July

…Was My Dad’s Favorite Holiday

In the late 1940s and beyond, we lived in the Hodges’ Addition of my hometown of Booneville, Arkansas. From there, looking south, are the Ouachita Mountains. Perched on the northern edge of those mountains was the State Sanatorium where every year that I can recall as a child (weather and financing permitted), the annual fireworks display would be visible for miles around. Every 4th of July since those days, memories of that era come back to me. Family would sit out on the front lawn in the white Adirondack chairs my dad built for my mom, waiting for dark and the arrival of the bright, colorful pyrotechnic displays and listening to the stories of those gathered around. I remember homemade, hand-cranked ice cream, honey in a big mason jar with the honey comb still in it, ice cold watermelon, egg salad sandwiches, firecrackers and sparklers and chasing lightening bugs. All these memories and more, come back to me every year as the country celebrates Independence Day.

Hope everyone makes some of their own wonderful memories this year. Have a safe, fun Fourth of July!