John's Place 2013

We always enjoy our annual summer outing to Indian Creek in Southwest Missouri. The proprietors of John's Place, our friends Kim and Nancy, are part of our Cabin Group (also known as Soccer Parents Roadtrip Group), and host our group of couples each year for a week-end of floating, fishing, and relaxing. As always, we had a great few days of laughs, tall tales, and all-around good times with some of our favorite people. Sam and Marsha, Dennis and Mary, and George and Kathy participated - we missed Larkus and Terri this year.

Small smallmouth bass

Prettiest and spunkiest species in the river.  These little guys will attach anything, no matter the size

Can't believe this sucker took a topwater fly

Fat perch

Ozark rock bass (I think)

A little bit of flora and fauna

 A sampling of the acres of black-eyed susans in the pastures that surround us

 Witnessing many groups of bucks roving around.  This guy was one of seven that were wandering down our drive

This little thief didn't wait 'til dark to start his pilfering.  Hard to get a good clear shot through the windows and in low light

Garvan Woodland Gardens: Hot Springs, AR

This is our second visit to Garvan Gardens. The woodland gardens are quite a treasure. The visit this time was made extra special as we were treated to the art glass installations by James Hayes. As you can see from pictures of some of these pieces, the glass displayed in various natural settings is quite impressive.

Fay Jones designed chapel

 

Anniversary Trip

For our anniversary celebration, we chose to spend the week-end in Hot Springs for old-times sake. We stayed at the Arlington Hotel, dined at McClards, Pancake Shop, Bella Arti, and Fisherman's Wharf. We enjoyed a day at Garvan Gardens (pics on next post) and participated in the Art Walk on Friday night. On the way down to HS, we spent the night at Petit Jean State Park lodge, and hiked and dined with Tami and Kevin and their friends. We also stopped on the way and on the return from Hot Springs to visit Ben, Myka, Charlie and Tucker. We had a great few days to mark our 39th!

 

Before our hike on Cedar Falls trail

Cedar Falls

Sisters

Wifey in front of the Arlington Hotel

My favorite breakfast haunt of all time

More wildlife

 Newly born fawn in back of house.  Mom came to get it very soon after this shot

 Hummer that hit the window.  A little TLC got him over his headache and he was on his way!

Tom 

Return to Crystal Bridges

We were able to return to Crystal Bridges Museum for the Norman Rockwell exhibit. We have always admired his work and to see all his works in person was a real treat. This museum is a true treasure for Arkansans - not only for the art, but also the architecture and landscaped grounds and trails.

 



 

The shape of the buildings reminds me of my favorite critters, the box turtle.  Looks right at home in the Ozark woods, just like the turtles.

This sculpture is so realistic it is creepy.  Hopefully it wasn't created by a taxidermist.  Most folks pass by it thinking it is a man resting on a bench.



Crooked Creek Clean-up Float

We participated in the annual float to pick up trash on Crooked Creek. This event is sponsored by the Friends of the Norfork and White Rivers organization, and was our second year to join then. The even is capped off by a crawfish boil and live music at a Game and Fish pavilion. It's rewarding to do a good deed and then cap off the day with a fun and
entertaining social event.

Back to the blog: Miscellaneous sitings at Trout Lily

So due to the early arrival of our twin grandsons, our little blessings in the form of Charlie Monroe and Tucker Cash, I have taken a four month hiatus from the blog. So lots of catching up to do. Mostly just pics I have collected in the few spare moments we have had. Will probably not load up the blog with grandson pics at this point - there is a link to the Tabortwins blog on this blog in case you are interested.

Barn swallow nest off screen porch

 



 Large moth

 Tami and Charlcie

 Hummingbird enforcer - waiting to chase off any others

 Hummers

 Salmonfly stonefly - exciting insect for flyfishers - steak dinner for trout

 Our "Cotter" trout addition

Can you spot the goldfinches?



Controlled burns

In the past week, the National Forest Service, National Parks, and other agencies have been involved in several controlled burns of forests in Arkansas. The largest is in the National Buffalo River wilderness area. Since we are just a couple of miles upriver of the confluence of the Buffalo and White Rivers, we have observed a lot of smoke from the fires. Evening and night we were able to observe the actual lines of flames as they climbed up and down the mountains - actually a pretty impressive sight in my opinion - and I love the smell of a good leaf fire!

Bluebird morning, turkey afternoon

With the recent spring-like weather, we have been able to hike around our acreage (and others), paint/place our bluebird houses, and monitor the wild turkeys that have been frequenting our yard lately. We have discovered that sometime in the past, a very large area of this development was utilized as a "Commercial Game Bird Shooting Resort" as identified by the several dilapidated signs that we have located hanging on trees on the outer borders. We will have to do a little research into this and hopefully get the full story.

Back of our house from rock garden below 

 We had a fun time painting the bluebird houses before mounting them on the posts in the field

Beautiful Tom



Tom (x4) along our driveway - picture taken from our bedroom window

Derek and Janell in Arkansas

One of the most recognizable and talented artists in the fly fishing world is Derek DeYoung. We were pleasantly surprised when Dally's fly shop arranged from them to spend a week here fishing and a day of painting at the shop. Derek's work appears on covers of the top industry magazines and articles, and on many of the products on the market. His passion for fishing matches his passion for his art, and it shows in the final works - what impresses me the most are the vivid colors that are captured and are reflective of the beauty of the subjects. The talent is obvious, but what is especially notable is the fact that Derek and Janell are the nicest young couple you could hope to meet. We have been impressed since first contacting Derek relating to Trout Unlimited fund raisers, his taking a day off to take us fishing for grayling in Montana, and visiting with him and Janell here in our neck of the woods. And we hear they could make a return trip next year! As soon as we win the Powerball drawing, then one of the first acts will be to purchase some original works :)

 Janell and Derek

 

 

At home with the critters

Always deer - getting closer and closer to the house. And we will have to start protecting our landscaping very soon. So far, all that has been installed is deer-resistant. We will have to come up with a plan for defense against deer as we complete our plantings. With the ice storm this week, we have observed some very interesting bird movements. Dozens of robins and cedar waxwings have flocked to our yard and trees, especially the large hackberry tree at our entrance. The tree is loaded with berries that attracts these birds, and the ice storm has deposited many berries on the ground, so we observe huge groups on land and on limb. As I've said before, it doesn't take much to entertain us! Always click on the pics to see full size - and in this case, be sure to click on the bird pic - they sure are pretty little things.