Get Ready I'm Coming Back With New Posts

Been away from the blog for a while.  Had a few adjustments to make and many things to finish up and wrap up since December 2011.   Look for new info other than the house updates including some food and travel interest info.

I'll let you know when the first new post is up.  Thanks

The Cooking Ladies Noted Cook Book Authors, Traveling Journalists And Great Friends

Our very dear friends Phyliss (Hinz) and Lamont (McKay) better known as The Cooking Ladies (www.thecookingladies.com) (Donald on the left)  visited with Jane and me this past Thursday.

We had a chance to introduce them to Donald and Kay while the ladies were on their way to another season of RV traveling reporting on luxury resort locations, attractions and recipe collections from across this country and Canada.

Phyllis (above left)  and Lamont (above right) are two happy Canadian ladies that Jane and I met several years ago while RVing in Florida.  Both have been restaurant owners and noted chefs all their lives.  Several years ago, they decided to partner up, sell their restaurants and trade all of their possessions for a luxury motor home and travel the USA and Canada and experience the life of recreational vehicle traveling while continuing to pursue their love of culinary interest.   They are authors of several cook books that have been best sellers in Canada and are very well recognized in the USA.  Currently they are contributing to RV Lifestyle, one of the largest Canadian publication for the Canadian RV industry as well as working on several TV projects and programs.

You really need to go to their website, www.thecookingladies.com. and to their face book pages and check them out.  (They are piloting a new recipe comment page and your participation could help them with their eventual TV opportunities)  The videos of their appearances at many national RV trade shows  are are guaranteed to make you laugh and just feel good.

They shared stories of their recent trip to Cuba (but have opted not to include that on their videos as yet).  Canadians can go to Cuba and many do but Phyllis and Lamont, as we have grown to expect, took a couple of "off the beaten path" visits with some local Cuban nationals.  Some how they became involved with a very private and personal voodoo ceremony and learned far more than they ever wanted to know about the voodoo culture.  Seems they have a strong feeling of protection now?   That story was indeed funny but they also became involved with a caring and giving effort to the Cuban people as usual demonstrating the cooking ladies great love for people and compassion for all.

A special thanks to the ladies for coming and visiting with us and we know they will have great posts
and funny stories on their continuing face book pages and website.

All too soon, the ladies were "on the road again" after leaving us with a happy smile on our face and a need to see them again soon.

Thanksgiving 2011- At The Curry Farm With Donald and Kay

Well, it was that time again, Thanksgiving 2011 at Donald and Kay Curry's home.  A little smaller crowd this year but everyone had a great time.  Both of Tommy and Cookie's children didn't make it, Ashley and Matt Paisley were at home in Fayetteville due to school requirements and Jake and Christen Arendt were lost in Little Rock somewhere?  But, "Crappie" Jake (known for catching crappie with his PaPa) was able to come with Tommy and Cookie.  We all surely missed our beloved Gail (Johnson) who passed away in July and all of her children and grand children.  We'll all make a special effort to get them back next year.

Crappie Jack

 After too much eating we all got together for the family picture and trying to stay awake.

Kinda like "small groups" break off and just visit when you have this many people at one time.

Jane, Kay, Tommy, Mark, Cookie, Donna and Crappie Jack were trying to block the door way to the food line.

Think things don't get close during these thanksgiving gatherings, take a look at the picture below.  I think everybody had about 1 square foot of space in a very large room.   Makes deodorant and tooth paste have a new meaning don't it? (everybody was thinking "when are we gonna eat?")

Well, finally everybody began putting food out on the table.  And man was there some good eating here.  A little cajun influence from Lisa and Dennis including boo dan and cajun dressing, , a little mid-west ham from Tommy and Cookie,  a little venison from Jane and me (actually provided by J-Mac and Betty Tooke) and all kinds of veggies and deserts from Kay and Donald and all the family.

Guess who was first in line?

After everyone just got plain tired from eating the real reason for getting together began to unfold.  As usual, there was a "sisters" table and discussion.  Can't say what was discussed as no men are allowed or  invited.  I think I overheard something about "no matter what we......."

The men were intent on discussing more important things like barns and chicken farming and hunting.  Some of more intellectual ones just stood around with our hands in our pockets and listened (or took pictures).

God is good and blessed our families this past year as in the past.  We pray for the soldiers fighting to give us our blessing of being together and enjoying the good things of life. 

Come see us and have a happy Christmas season.

How About This New Front Porch

We finally got back around to the front porch in our projects.  Our entire process was to work on and complete this remodeling project based on our required needs and our most desired wants.  As you may remember we started with the bathroom, because, well our priorities were arranged to take care of the daily issues and needs.  (Duh!)  Then we moved on to the living room, dining room and kitchen, again our priority needs.   Recently we posted the sun room completion and that was really one of our most desired "wants'.   Finally, we have gotten to another of our "wants", the front porch.

Now we can have a party on the front porch.  We enjoy sitting on this porch each morning at sunrise and evening at sunset.  Its the best place in the world to start a day and finishing a day.  Really, if we do this everyday, we never have a bad day.

We still have a few things to do to get the finished look we want but there is plenty of room for everybody to come and sit with us and enjoy the moment.  We will be completing the walkway and steps in the next few days but we're so proud of this part we wanted to show it.  We'll actually pour a semicircle platform where the step is located now and then add a brick step to get up on the porch.

We also have two swings on the porch and that makes a real good space even better.

Winter's coming, deer season is around the corner and thanksgiving is not that far away.  Come see us and we'll see that you have plenty to eat.

(PS  How bout them Cardinals?)

Fall In Cleveland and Bradley County

Fall evidently comes to south Arkansas just two days before winter.  The temps down here are still in the 90's and upper 80's in the daytime and 60's in the evenings.  But, fall is normally for the time for state fairs and museum openings, etc.  This past week Jane and I visited the Bradley County Museum to see what we could find.

The museum is in the old Dr. John Wilson Martin house, 200 Ash Street Warren AR.   Dr. Martin was one of the first doctors in the area and was involved with the establishment of Warren as a community for logging and some farming.  The house is beautiful old home and very well refinished on the outside.   The design was representative of the more affluent class of life in its time.  Two story with porches on the first and second floors, a "T" type design with the cooking area in the back of the home with room designed for food storage adjacent to the cooking (and most often eating) areas.   The floors and ceilings were all hardwood construction and they are still in fairly good condition.  All materials are from local production of beautiful hardwoods and pine woods.  We wish there were more facts and information about the place and its history but the visit was very interesting and enjoyable.

One of the more interesting pieces in the museum was a device that ladies apparently had to use to get their hair "fixed" in the olden days.  

 This device was about six feet tall and looked like the execution device in a federal prison.  The main power came into a "tree" of off shooting lines with huge "paper clip" ends that were clamped onto the ladies curls.  Electricity or current traveled through the lines and heated the clamps.  Keep in mind the lady sat down under the center of this thing and had all of about 240 volts of power running to her hair (and within inches of her brain).

The closeup will give you a better of an idea about the beauty parlor of the early years.

I know the person that invented this machine was proud but,,,, I think it could have been more adaptable to the armies of eastern european disciplines.

The staff was very helpful and allowed us to freely walk and enjoy the museum.  There were various pictures and artifacts to enjoy and we wish there would have been more information about those items for us to enjoy and share.

Another reason to come and visit us, we'll take you to this museum and several others one in the area.

Great history in the area.

Come see us

Sun Room, Sun Porch, Sleeping Room (whatever) update

We have been waiting to get into this room for over a year and a half and as you may can tell we're really enjoying the finishing touches.  Jane has had a chance to do a little decorating but there is more to come.

The weather cooled off to high 70's or low 80's during the day and upper 50's during the evening hours the very day we began to occupy the sun room.  Boy has it been perfect, no A/C no heat just the normal weather and beautiful sunsets.

Thought you might like to see some more of the improvements we've made just in time for TV football time.

 The room is 18.5' X 17' so its spacious enough to have plenty of room.

The ceiling is original as the wall is and both are tongue and groove bead board.  We were able to save all of the walls and ceiling with a little hard work and paint.

Loving it, we're blessed, come on down and visit us, we'll keep the light on for you.

The Long Awaited "Sun Porch"

Well, we've finally gotten to the back of the house in the remodeling and are we excited.  One of the major reasons we have been so excited about being allowed to remodel this ole house was the expectations of getting the Sun Porch Room completed.

As you may know, the Sun Porch was sometimes called a "Sleeping Porch" in olden days.  The room is on the south and west corner of the house and that's where the primary winds come from.  In the days before air conditioners people would line the walls with windows and open them up in the summer to enjoy the summer breezes and sleep in comfort.


As you may remember we had some pictures of the sun room with the windows being replaced.  This was one of the first things we did when we got here because the old room was in such bad shape we were afraid that we'd loose the windows and the room.   We had to remove all the windows on the west end of the house, rebuild the sash board and most of the windows and put them back in place.




Took all of us as you may remember, including Kay to help get them back in place and re-installed.  We put off any more restoration of the room as we worked from the front of the house to the back taking care of the bath, kitchen and bedrooms as our initial priorities.

We used this room for our work area and store room for about 14 months until we could get the other rooms completed.  This was Jane's painting room, my sawing and framing room and storage for everything we could get in there during the past winter.

For most of the time the room was not heated or cooled while we used it for the storage and work area. 

We, we haven't finished the room totally yet, but, we've got it cooled, heated, the flooring down, the ceiling repaired and all of this is painted.  We just finished installing our wall mounted TV and got some furniture moving in.  Couldn't wait to "show it off".   We'll do more and write about it later but we can finally see some progress and closure to the room.  

The room is a bright green with all white wood work and floor is Oak laminate. This shows a few of the west windows and the door opening from the "mud room" and back door.

The couch-ottoman and chairs were given by Donna (thanks again) and the glass table came from the "River" property that Donald and Kay add for several years.  This view is the southwest corner looking from the TV wall.

This view is coming in from the hall way and the front of the house.  There are more doors in this house than Chin's in a Chinese phone book!  But,,,,, we use every one of them, doors that is, not Chin's.

Once again, we have to say how blessed we are for the opportunity and the experience.  Again, come see us and enjoy with us.