Apple Dumplings...It's What's for Lunch!

Hung out with the fam this morning, then went to Wal-Mart for a new coffee pot, and even ran into a couple of stray cousins there.

Lunch was at the Farmhouse Restaurant in the Historic Downtown area of Branson. Apple dumpling with cinnamon ice cream.

 

Then back to the trailer for a nap, before meeting back up with the family for supper, then...go-karts!  No, I didn't ride one, and, surprisingly, neither did the Cowboy.  We just cheered the youngsters on as they zoomed round and round.

 

Now it's after midnight, and Charlie's telling me it's time for bed, so "Good night!"

Branson

My cautious daughter is concerned about using the grandgirls real names online, so I asked them what they would like me to call them on my blog.  I've heard them call each other "J" (their real names both begin with J), but that would be confusing here.  So the ten year old said her sister calls her "Indigo" sometimes, and the eight year old wants to be called "Blue Jay." 

I said all that to say this:  My sweet Blue Jay has asthma, and it kept her home from her church's summer song/dance/praise camp today.  She was bummed.  It's times like these I'm so thankful for modern technology.  In between her doctor appt., and chest x-rays, I got to text back and forth with her, and sort of keep her mind off her rotten-no good-very bad day. Prayers would be appreciated. 

Meanwhile, here at Branson, it was a lovely day.  We met up with some of Cowboy's family at Stone Castle Resort, where the reunion we came here for is being held. 

Here's the Cowboy nest to the Resort's Knight-on-a-White-Horse statue.  Of course, You-Know-Who has always been my knight in shining armor. (Hint: the one on the left with the great legs!)

After visiting with the family for a while, they left in different directions, some to take care of reunion business, some to take kids to ride go-karts.  We went for lunch.  At this cute little diner.  Pizza and funnel cake.  Yum!  What?  Yes, I do know we eat like teenagers.  It wasn't too bad, though.  We learned a long time ago to share meals when we eat out.  We save money and calories that way.

Next stop, the Andy Williams Moon River Theater.  This water feature was part of the landscaping.  Very pretty.

We were there to see this a cappella group, The Cat's Meow.  Look them up on You Tube.  They are talented to the max.  And very high energy.

Back in the fifth wheel, we just chilled and hung out with Charlie Chihuahua for a while. 

He was not happy when we left him again.  Just look at that sad little face.

I really don't understand why they won't let me take Charlie into the theaters.  Think I could convince them he's my seeing eye dog?  It might help if he would quit biting people's ankles.

 

Anyway, I wouldn't have missed this show for anything in the world.  Not even for Charlie.  It's called Smoke on the Mountain.  Hilarious.  And perfect casting.  We laughed. Out loud.  A lot.

 

Well, that was my day.  The next couple of days will be devoted to family.  Really looking forward to visiting with them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Branson - Yesterday

Jim Stafford Theater. We enjoyed the show, but not as much as we anticipated.

The Keeter Center. We ate lunch at the beautiful restaurant inside the lodge. This is part of the College of the Ozarks in Hollister.

We ate supper at Mel's Hard Luck Diner. Like a diner, but with (very talented) singing waiters. Fun!

We spent the morning in the older part Branson. We shopped at Dick's 5 & 10, then went over to the Branson Centennial Museum. Really nice people there. And Cowboy found a geocaches inside the museum.

This is the first time I've tried a whole post from my phone. Hope it works!

Arkansas Scenic Byway 7 - What a Drive!

Hey, Y'all! We're in Branson!  The next few days will be busy busy busy, so I have to decide if I want to do lengthy "catch up" posts later, or short posts each day.  I'm gonna try to do short posts each day, heavy on the photos.  But first, I want to show you some pics we took on the drive up here.

We left Lake Dardanelle State Park in Arkansas yesterday about 9:00 a.m.  As you can see, Charlie Chihuahua was ready to go!

 

I kind of hated to leave this beautiful place.  This is a photo the Cowboy took the previous night. 

 

 

 

I'm not sure we'd have driven to Branson on Scenic Byway 7 if we'd known what a roller coaster ride it would be.  At one point, we were coming down a 7per cent grade for 3 1/2 miles, with lots of hair pin turns.  Eeekkk!!! Scary.  Especially pulling a 29' Fifth Wheel.  So thankful for Cowboy's driving skills.

 

But the scenery was absolutely fantabulous!

Lots and lots of wildflowers.  Gazillions of them!

Beautiful vistas.

Quaint little "towns."  I believe this is the smallest library I've ever seen.

These mountain folk were sitting out front of the shop to welcome us.  They didn't seem to have much to say, but the lady inside sure was a talker.  All the people we've met have been super friendly.

 

We're staying at Holliday Hills Silverleaf Resort and Campground.  The condos and the golf course here are gorgeous.  The campground, not so much.  But with our Coast to Coast membership, it's just $10 a night, so we're happy to call it home for a few more days.

 

We're going to see Jim Stafford tonight.  We've both like him since the 60's.  He must be old as dirt, but I bet he's still funny.  I'll let you know!

 

Later!

Ashdown, Arkansas

 

Random photos from Ashdown, Arkansas

 

 

 

 

Does anyone know what this gorgeous flower is?  It was growing on a big shrub.  It's a brighter pink than the photo shows.

 

Cowboy found this.  Closest thing to an alligator he saw all week.  He was so disappointed.

Lonesome railroad tracks.

 

Another one of the Cowboys' pics.  I found it on his phone.  I have no idea where it is.

 

That's all folks.

 

More tomorrow!

Even in the Small Things.

R.A. Torrey once said "The chief purpose of prayer is that God may be glorified in the answer."

I don't know if that's the chief purpose or not.  There's lots of reasons to pray.  But I believe in giving glory to God every day, no matter what.  And when a prayer is answered, no matter how seemingly insignificant a request, I can't help but praise Him!

 This is my I-phone.  Shattered.  I dropped it about 3 feet.  Onto a concrete floor.  It was dead.

It's insured, so we immediately took it to the AT&T store.  They said we could pay $200 deductible, and they would mail me a new phone.  In a few days.  To my home address.  This is a problem.  I'm not going to be home.  For a while.  And...$200....really?

Y'all.  I need my phone.  It has my contacts.  My friends live in my phone.  It has my lists.  Lists of everything.  My calendar.  My books on the Kindle app, and more books on the Audible app. My photos that I hadn't transferred to the computer yet. My Bible.  Several versions of the Bible, actually.  Even my prayer list is on my phone. 

So we went back to the fifth wheel, to try to decide what to do.  And I prayed.

Next morning, I still didn't know what to do.  We hooked up the fiver to head north.  I didn't really have a chance to think about it until we were actually in the pickup heading down the road.  I'm not claiming to have tons of faith.  But I had prayed.  I felt a little silly trying to turn it on again.  I'd tried several times the day before.  Two guys at the AT&T store pronounced it dead. 

So anyway, I pushed the button.  Guess you know by now...it WORKED!  And I've been seriously praising the Lord ever since. 

Just had to share. He deserves the glory!

PS - just a thought - What if I hadn't had enough faith to try it one more time?  How many prayers does He answer, and we just give up without even checking it out?

Sunday



Today was a lovely laid back Sunday.  We worshipped with the friendly folks at First Baptist Ashdown, this morning.  A very pretty mid-sized church, and one of the friendliest we've ever visited.  We were greeted first thing by the pastor, Butch Riddle.  He was standing in the entry as we came in, and made us feel so very welcome. He let us know right quick that he is from Fort Worth, Texas!  But he has been preaching here for well over 20 years. 

We enjoyed the morning service so much, we returned for the evening service.  The youth group performed the show they have performed at other churches.  They call themselves First Act, and they are good.  They sang, performed a couple of dramatic skits, and even signed to several songs.  It was very creative and very well done.

After the morning service, we ate at Medrano's Mexican Café.  Pretty good stuff.  Since we come to Millwood Landing pretty often, we are happy to have found a church and a Mexican restaurant that we enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

Today being Father's Day, our kids were on our minds a lot today.  We've been blessed with two of the best.  And our children are blessed to have the Cowboy for their dad.  He's the hardest working man I've ever known, as well as the most tender hearted. 

We are also both missing our own dads today.  We were both blessed with hard working, Godly, honest, generous, larger-than-life fathers. 

Yes, it's certainly been a day to reflect on just how blessed we are, in so many ways.

 

Historic Washington State Park

I've been trying off and on all day to write something that would convey my excitement about where we went yesterday.  I just don't have words. So I'm just going to post the pictures, and then write a little about each one.  Just trust me when I say, we had a great day.  And if you ever get a chance to visit this place - do it!

So, this is where we were.  Historic Washington State Park.  It's a town.  Established in 1824. Where real people still live in real homes.  And, it's a state park.  Confusing at first.  But most of the buildings in town are owned by the park, and have been made into living history museums.  With real live people in period clothing in each building, who give guided tours and demonstrate how the folks lived way back when.

This home is now a wonderful restaurant called Williams' Tavern. We had a wonderful lunch with fried catfish, black eyed pea salad, fried squash, corn bread, yeast rolls and sweet tea.  And I hear their fried green tomatoes are the best!  And the price was less than a catfish meal at Red Lobster. Can't beat that!

 

This is the interior of the 1836 courthouse.  The nice man there told us that Washington was the seat of Hempstead County for several years.  And a prosperous little town it was, too.  But the town fathers turned down the railroads offer to build a line through the town. I mean, who wants a stinky old train running through town? No telling what kind of riffraff might come in! Then two years after they built a new courthouse across town, the county seat was moved to Hope, Arkansas.  And the town just kind of withered away.

 

 

This sweet lady showed us around the Sanders House and Farmstead.  She had such a nice laugh.  Everyone working at the park really seemed to love their jobs.

 

 

 

 



 

 Lucky for us, theses old homes are not exactly like they were in the 19th century.  Electric lights and central air conditioning have been discreetly added. 

 

 

 

 This huge Magnolia tree is the largest in the state.  I think they said it was planted in 1836. You can't see it, but the street on the other side of the tree has been closed, because the tree has taken over the street!  This is near the Royston Log House, where a very nice man told us about living in the 1830s–1860s.

 

 

This gentleman  was in the old newspaper shop, where there is a good collection of old printing equipment.  Cowboy even got to run an old printing press here!

 

 

 Next stop was the antique gun museum.  And the Cowboy was in hog heaven, for sure. I thought we'd never leave this place!

 

Another view of the magnolia tree.

 

These 3 pictures are furnishings from the Royston log cabin. 

 

This last pic is from the Block-Catts House, built between 1827 and 1832, a Federal "I" Style building that served as the home of Arkansas's first Jewish settler, Abraham Block. The House is also the oldest two-story, wooden-framed building standing in the state.

We also visited the candle shop, where we got to make our own candles, the 1874 Courthouse, and a re-creation of a frontier Blacksmith Shop. Constructed in 1960, it preserves the legacy of Bowie Knife. It also contains two working forges dedicated to preserving the traditions of Blacksmithing. 

Evidently, in 1831, James Black, the best known blacksmith in Washington, forged  the original Bowie knife for the frontiersman James Bowie.

There are lots of other buildings in the park that weren't open yesterday.  I can't wait to come back with the grandgirls and see some of the things we missed!

Here's a couple of websites where you can learn more about the Historic Washington State Park:

http://www.historicwashingtonstatepark.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historic_Washington_State_Park