Tinkerbell Wings

During my outings around town this week I happened on another yard decked out in pink.  Above, we have the sitting area under the front window complete with a window box of bright pink impatience.  Below is a photo of the pink fencing I noticed in the backyard.  

 Every Wednesday the Old Salt and I are my mother's chauffeur to and from the bowling alley where she plays on a ladies league.  While waiting for her league to finish this week, I met a lady named Jane.  I noticed Jane, when she took her turn to bowl, because she was wearing a pair of pink angel wings.  When I got the chance to meet Jane she explained she bowls under the nickname Tinkerbell and never bowls without her lucky pink wings.  Jane is a delightful woman who has written a little ditty about her lucky wings and was nice enough to perform it for me. She created a little dance to go with her rhyming song.  I will have to remember to take a camcorder with me one of these weeks so I can record Jane and her lucky little song and dance.  

Linking to Pink Saturday 

PeeWee Football

The Old Salt started playing football in the sixth grade and played every year through high school.  He even played on a team after high school that played a circuit that included playing prison teams in Oklahoma.  If the stories I hear are true he was a over achiever who managed to make the team every year in spite of being the smallest lineman in his conference.  

Needless to say he still likes football.  I have a nephew who has been playing since he was on the pee wee leagues and is now on his high school team.  The Old Salt has been keeping tabs on my nephew ever since we married and we occasionally go watch him play.   

Recently, we were passing the junior high school and noticed one of the pee wee teams, called the Gator's practicing on the field.  The team's green uniforms brought the Green Day meme to mind.  So we stopped to get a few shots and ended up staying for most of the practice session.   

This stop turned out to be my lucky night for things green.  

While there I noticed new team jerseys, waiting to be passed out, in the back of a truck belonging to one of the team's coaches.   

I loved the personalized license plate.  

I also spotted this green mini cooper belonging to one of the parents in the parking lot.  

I even captured a green cell phone   belonging to one of the Dads.

Linking to Green Day 

Warning Post

Sharing a few recent captures of warning signs in my area. 

I've heard this warning spoken for years, but, this is the first time I have actually seen someone using it in print.  

This weathered sign is in the window of a house near my doctors office.   



Linking to Signs, Signs 

E. A. S. Y. Tuesday

I am once again participating in Easy Tuesday hosted by Renae of "Simple Sequins" and her sister Mary of "merrydotdandy." This week I am featuring items that spell out the word E-A-S-Y.  

         E is for entrance, A is for Anchor, S is for steps and Y is for yaird!

E N T R A N C E

I was on the hunt all week for photos that would spell out the word EASY.  I happened on this entrance to the D Bar S Ranch while the Old Salt and I were out and about this week in search of new photo opts.  I somehow think of ranches being located in places like Texas, so in my book this was just another Missouri cattle farm. But, perhaps being able to call yourself a rancher is somehow more classy than just being a farmer.  Then again, I guess a ranch is just a farm that grows cattle.  

                               A N C H O R

I remembered this old ship's anchor thats been resting in front of a building on Front street for decades. The seating area faces the river and is a great place to relax while taking a stroll around the downtown shops.  This building is currently home to a Restaurant and Pub called Marquarts Landing.    

S T A I R S

Please, try to not step on the shadows as you climb these stairs.  

I saw this stairway at Roaring River State Park in Cassville, Missouri.  The stairs climb a steep hill leading to the hiking trail which takes you to the observation platform overlooking a trout hatchery.  

Y A I R D

Yaird is a noun that means garden. Okay, so I'm showing off.  Let's just go for  simple and say yard.  This is my favorite yard in town.  I photographed this  house more times than I can count. The yard changes with the four seasons and each is spectacular.  This year's drought caused the summer version to be less colorful than usual so I have shared the spring version.  Whether you call it a yaird, a garden or just a yard, this one is always a delight to the eye.

Linking to:

Easy Tuesday

Our World Tuesday 

Eureka Springs Mural

 First 100 Years of Eureka Springs

This historic mural (12 feet high by 55 feet wide) dramatizes the early days of Eureka Springs, Arkansas; from the Indians who first camped there and discovered the curative properties of the many springs to the tourism of the early 20th Century. This painting was done by members of the Eureka Springs Guild of Artist and Crafts-people.  It was designed and supervised by well known artist and muralist Louis Freund, a longtime resident of the area.

The above information was taken from the "Arkansas Ties" website where most of the history of this mural can be found. It not only gives enlarged photos of each section of the mural but explains each event depicted. Click here to visit the Arkansas Ties website. 

Linking to Monday Mural

Everything is Pink on Cedar Street

Early one morning last week the Old Salt and I took a walk around the historic district of our downtown area.

On Cedar Street I  noticed that one of the grand old houses had what I would called an in-law apartment added onto the rear of the side yard and connected to the back wall of the house. 

I was surprised to see that the entire side yard, which had become the front yard of the apartment, was decked out in a shocking pink.

Everything from the birdhouse hidden in the bushes to the watering can left on the sidewalk were all painted in a bright pink. 

How many pink items can you count in these photos?  My answer will be at the end of the post.

Linking to Pink Saturday 

I counted fifteen items within the four photos.  

Fencing in the New Fence

My sister moved into a house in the horse friendly community of Wildwood, Missouri a while back. They chose the location because it backed onto a state park with lots of riding trails for their horses.

Apparently, the lady across the street was unhappy about having a couple of dogs and several horses as neighbors because she had a barbed wire fence installed to protect her new wooden split-rail fence from the animals.  

My sister expected this to be a temporary measure until the lady realized the animals would not be trespassing on her property.  But, it is now two years later and the double fences are still standing.  

How many people do you know who would fence in a fence?

Linking to Friday Fences

Silos, birds and that dang wire

There are times in life when a missed opportunity or special moment gone wrong just can't be corrected or recaptured.  Sure this could be one of those emotional, sappy or philosophical posts that has everyone all misty eyed but that is not going to be the case.  What you have instead is a mini rant on my problems with capturing a bunch of starlings on the wire of a silo.  

Several years ago one of my friends moved to an old farmhouse in the country.  I visited her often and many of my barn shots have been taken on the drive to her home.  I always have my camera in my lap when I am the passenger.  One day two years ago I noticed the birds liked to congregate on the wire above her neighbor's silo and took several shots.  This was the best of the lot and as you can see I zoomed in too close and cut of the top of the shot.     

I have been trying to recapture that shot ever since. I have taken dozens,  of shots that end up like the one above. Seems that every time our car gets anywhere near the farm in question, and I raise the viewfinder to my eye, the birds take off and I end up with lots of small black dots in the sky. 

A few weeks ago my friends moved back into town. I will probably never have the need to travel to that part of the country again so my hopes of recreating this shot will likely never happen.  

This experience however, has me checking out the tops of all the silos I come across.  I've noticed that most don't have this wire circle on them. I did come across this silo with a bent wire (and not a bird in sight) during a recent drive in the country while searching for an estate sale. 

Our old beater needed new car tags this month and in order to pass the emissions inspection, our state requires, we had to replace a sensor. In order to get the sensor to reset and allow the wagon to pass the inspection I needed to take it for a long drive.  I decided to use the trip as a photo opportunity and headed to a rural area I seldom visit.   

I finally, as my little brother once said, "lucked up."  I captured the above shot of birds on the wire ring of a silo. Not near the number of birds I was hoping to find but a decent shot, just the same. 

Like I said at the start of this post  "There are times in life when a missed opportunity or special moment gone wrong just can't be corrected or recaptured."  And, I guess I will close the book on trying to recapture a silo wire full of birds.   

Linking to Rural Thursday   

Hillerman Park and Lions Lake

It is no secret around this site that the Old Salt and I are normally nocturnal in our habits. But, several situations, last week, required our being up and out every day before sunrise. Since early to rise makes for early to bed we have not yet slid back into our normal late night schedule.  I'm sure that will happen gradually over the next few weeks but until then we have been making the most of these early morning hours by getting out with our cameras.   

I already posted several of the photos I took during last week's spell of being up before the sunrise.  You will find them here, here and here. Forgive me if I have worn you out with my ramblings about our recent early morning adventures, but I have to share one more.  Today I want to share a few more of the shots taken during our recent hike around Lions Lake with some of the history of the area. 

Sunrise over Lions Lake 

Lions Lake is a ten acre lake constructed in 1955 and sits  in the middle of the ninety-five acre Hillermann's Park.  The lake was named for the Lions Club of Washington, Missouri who raised the funds to construct the lake and continue to support improvements to it.  


A walking trail circles the lake and this photo shows the entrance from the parking areas.  The Gazebo seen in this shot is a popular spot for wedding and graduation photos.    

The entrance to the walking trail starts and ends with this arched footbridge.  The bridge crossed the overflow lagoon near the small  parking area.

The four end posts of the bridge are decorated with these cute little gold frogs. 

 

I took this shot from the path a short distance from the footbridge. I love how the clouds are reflected in the water.  It also gives you some idea of the size of this lake.    

The expanse of green behind the building in the photo above is used every year to set up the carnival rides during the Town and Country Fair.  This building was constructed last   spring and used for the first time at this year's fair.  The fair is held annually during the first week of August.  This building and the concrete stage behind it (seen in the smaller shot) now provide a permanent stage and stormproof venue for the many outdoor concerts held in the park each summer and the celebrity entertainers who perform during fair week.  






This shot was taken near the dam.  I liked the colors in the rocks and how the clouds are reflected in the water.   

You never know what you will see while walking the   trail. I have taken photos of kids flying kites to feeding the ducks. Celebrations in one of the many pavilions to volleyball games played on the special beach style court. This trip it was a lost pair of sunglasses someone hung on a chain of one of the swings that circle the lake in the hope the owner would find them. 

There is no shortage of water fowl around the lake regardless of the season.  These ducks and geese seem to have found a permanent home here. The flocks of migrating birds will soon begin to take rest stops here bringing crowds out to watch their V-formation's in flight and their antic's in the water.   I have even photographed this lake in the dead of winter when a small area around the fountain was the only unfrozen place for the flocks of birds to feed and swim, the ice was covered with hundred's of sleeping birds. I have often wondered if the birds wake up to change feet or if they do it in their sleep.   

This shot was taken from the dam looking across the lake to the cattle shed on the main fairground area of the park.   

I will close with these lovely flowers that were growing at the waters edge.  

Linking to:

Outdoor Wednesday

Water World Wednesday

Watery Wednesday 

NF Waters #40