Crystal Bridges - A quick initial trip

The heralded new Crystal Bridges Art Museum in Bentonville is all that it has been touted to be. We were happy to go on our initial visit with our nephew Ryan and his wife, Kalen, as well as Ryan's grandparents, Pat adn Jack  This museum is definitely world-class and is a treasure for Arkansas and the US. We are already looking forward to our next visits!

 Tree sculpture at entrance

 Over 20,000 spools of thread suspended on bead chains; viewed thru a glass orb and it appears in detail, right side up.  Unbelievable!

 Incredible architecture - will be more impressive when the pools are filled

 Norman Rockwell's famous "Rosie the Riveter"

View from the back since this site is PG :) 

Even though this artist's self-sculpture is much larger than real-life, it is so realistic it is spooky.

Started our house today!

The contractor started site prep for our house this afternoon! The actual work began after we had left the site. With December temps in the 50s and no ticks, chiggers, snakes, or poison ivy to contend with, we thought a hike on our land would be a grand idea. And we found some nice photo ops - not necessarily anything unique other than the fact that they are on our property to enjoy from now on on a regular basis!

              House will be situated between the two largest oaks

Checking the stakes

View from the back of our house

Charlcie on the old spring box on the property

watercress in the spring box

The view from below where the back of our house will be

Looking below where the screened porch will be

Birds

One of our favorite things to do these days is to watch the birds flock to the feeders. By the dozens, cardinals, goldfinches, doves, titmouse, chickadees, on and on. There are such concentrations of them, a chicken hawk has discovered them and swoops down from time to time - he's failed to catch a bird yet, but he does rest on our deck rail (but not long enough to grab a picture so far).

Christmas with Ben and Myka

Ben and Myka made the trek to Cotter for celebration of his birthday and so we could have our Christmas early before the road trips to the various family observances. We had a fantastic week-end as always - wish we could have them more often - they are kinda fun for a young couple :) Well, that and the fact that we love them!

This young man sure is proud of his iphone Otter box!

Another basset in the family!  His name is Cotter.

Are they good lookin' or what?

Pic quality is not up to standard, but shows the happy group.  Dinner at PJs!!

Girls' Craft Day at the Vaughn's

It was the ladies time to do a craft project, while the men stayed clear. They had a great time designing and building the project for this year: table-top Christmas trees. They all turned out individually unique and very cool. A raucous game of "Fact or Crap" kept the laughter volume in the upper decibel range. The guys were allowed to join the girls for dinner to cap off a fun day!

Marsha, Laura, Nancy, Charlcie, Mary, Terri, Allie proudly display their creations

Fishing with Jeff

Nephew-in-law Jeff Poole came to visit for a couple of days. He is as passionate about fly-fishing as I am and was on a week-long fishing vacation and stopped to fish with me. We had a great couple of days of cool, but sunny weather. Bull Shoals was not wadeable so we tried a few locations on the Norfork. Jeff out-fished me again, and on my home waters!

Nice 16" rainbow caught below Norfork Dam

Catch of the Day.  Having a little fun with Jeff

Another fisher keeping an eye on us

Thanksgiving 2011

Thanksgiving time finds us splitting time between Siloam Springs and Ft. Smith. Schedule wouldn't permit Myka to make the trip, but we were very happy Ben could join us. We had Turkey Day dinner in Siloam, and then on Friday we met my Dad at Cracker Barrel in Alma for a late breakfast before Ben continued on down to Little Rock. Charlcie and I went to Dad's to spend the night. We watched the much anticipated Razorbacks and LSU match up, and were bummed by the outcome. We take solace in the fact that our only two losses of the season were to the #1 and #2 ranked national teams. Another great time with our families.

Beautiful morning at Charley's

Ben, Chris, and Ryan; a little football messiness

Chris and Ryan celebrating Chris's field goal

Time out from the post-dinner exercise walk for a group pose

To Little Rock to watch the Razorbacks

Went to Little Rock to attend Razorback games with Ben and Myka; a loss to Houston by the basketball team on Friday and then on Saturday we got to see the Hogs slam Mississippi State. Had a great visit with our kids. We have been trying to detour for some of the incredible sights while traveling down Highway 65. This time we visited two access locations on the Buffalo River, first at Gilbert and then Tyler Bend.

The old Gilbert General Store

Facility at a little country church

Enjoying Cousins and their spouses

We were excited to have my cousin Mike and his wife Laura down from Whitewater, Wisconsin to stay with us for a couple of days on their rounds visiting kinfolk in Arkansas. We always enjoy spending quality time with them whenever we get the opportunity - especially reflecting back on times together growing up, catching up on news of family scattered across the country, and punctuated by lots of smiles and laughter!  Their visit was made more special as we were joined by my cousin Lonnie and his wife Karen. Lonnie was selected as the superintendent of Mountain Home Public Schools around the same time we moved up here - a wonderful coincidence as far as we are concerned. This bunch of cousins and wives from the Meyers side of the family had a great time together!

 Charlcie, Mike, and Laura

 Mike and Laura with iconic Cotter Rainbow bridge in background

 Laura and Charlcie leaving us:  faster they talk, faster they walk!

Charlcie, Larry, Laura, Mike, Lonnie, Karen

Veterans Day 2011

A special Veterans Day 2011! Charlcie joined her sister Tami in the Branson VA Clinic entry in the Branson Veterans Day Parade (the largest in the country by some accounts), and followed that with some marathon shopping. Meanwhile, Dad and my brothers came up for a couple of days of fun and frivolity with the primary goal of getting Dad back to some choice trout fishing before winter arrives. Special times with family!

 The Tabor Men: Larry, Merrill (Dad), Steve, Ron

 Steve: Net Man-in-training

 All Hands on Deck

 One of dozens brought to hand

Tami and Charlcie: Stars of the Branson Veterans Day Parade