WESTSIDE — We’re past the midpoint of August and, fortunately, we’ve had a pleasant change in the weather.
We haven’t had much rain, but a couple of showers in recent weeks have relieved us from watering for a few days. Best of all, temperatures have dropped into the 70s, a welcome relief from the 90s and 100s we endured for so long. Now there’s at least a hint of fall in the air, good football weather and the season begins in little more than week. Get out and support your local team. We’ll be on hand to cheer for our Lions.
Another Gravette Day is in the books and it was a good one. I went out to the high school Friday evening for the Miss Gravette pageant, quite an entertaining performance. All the contestants were charming young ladies, making the final decision tough for the judges. Saturday morning we watched the parade, and grandson Matthew collected an impressive amount of candy. Then I visited the park to watch the tiny tot contests and the crowning of Miss Gravette. I enjoyed some tasty fresh-squeezed lemonade, visited daughter-inlaw Heather and granddaughter Alyssa in the Girl Scout booth and stopped by the farmers’ market before heading home.
On Gravette Day afternoon, my sister Nancy came down and we drove to her son’s home in the country near Centerton. Friends and family members were gathered there to help her granddaughter Nevaeh celebrate her fourth birthday. We enjoyed visiting with the other party goers before being treated to hot dogs, nachos, birthday cake and soft drinks. After we ate our snacks, Nevaeh hit the pile of gifts and the wrapping paper began to fly. With her mother snapping pictures and Grandpa sacking up the trash, she made short work of opening the packages and then joined her uncle and several other young friends in the pool.
Only three days later, Jim and I celebrated a milestone anniversary, our 20th. It sure doesn’t seem as if it could have been that long, but when we look at the photos in our wedding album and see the changes in our guests and ourselves, well, maybe so.
I was one of the lucky winners in the recent recycling survey drawing, so we cashed in my prize Sonic gift certificate and dined on cheeseburgers, tater tots and onion rings for our anniversary meal. Then Jim took me out for a tasty buffet meal later in the week.
We received some sad news on Wednesday when Mama’s brother called to say Aunt Merle had died. She’d been here for her sister Leta’s 101st birthday last month but had been hospitalized for a few weeks with heart problems. Now Leta is the last of Mama’s four sisters. (Amazingly enough, shewas able to get out and watch the Gravette Day parade.) Merle will be greatly missed. She was a very sweet person, a classy lady. For many years she operated Estes Park, a popular mobile home park in Tulsa, and we always enjoyed our visits in her home.
August is the birthday month for three of our newspaper staff members, so we had a little celebration at the office on Friday. Gifts and cards were exchanged and we got our sugar fix with a variety of cupcakes and some delicious ice cream laced with chunks of chocolate and crispy rice. It was a relaxing interlude with coworkers at midday before returning to work on this week’s issue.
Saturday afternoon I picked up my friend Lowess and we went to our monthly quilt class. We had a variety of tasty snacks, then received instruction on a “Salt Lake City” quilt block. Judging was done on several hats made from ties, and prizes were awarded for the top three entries. Quilts, quilt blocks, afghans, knit booties and scarves were displayed in a show-and-tell session and several ladies made cell phone holders from ties.
On Sunday we took friends from Sulphur Springs with us to Southwest City. We stopped on Togi Hill west of Noel on our way home, where I visited briefly with a friend who’s recovering from a broken pelvis. I took her a gift bag and we exchanged books before returning home for a late breakfast.
Susan Holland, who works for the Westside Eagle Observer, is a lifelong Benton County resident.
Opinion, Pages 6 on 08/22/2012