Wow! Can you believe it, kids (parents and teachers, too)? Summer vacation is more than half over. That's right. As of last Friday, seven weeks of the 12-week summer break was gone. Hope you've been enjoying it and making the most of your opportunities for summer fun and learning.
One can enjoy a relatively peaceful summer, relaxing and reading (that's my dream), sunning and swimming, picnicking with family and friends, or you can choose to participate in many of the summertime activities in the area.
A wise woman once said, "There is no pleasure in having nothing to do. The fun is in having lots to do and not doing it."
A whirlwind of activities has kept the weeks flying by for us. Jim and I took grandson Matthew to participate in the fishing derby at the Sulphur Springs Independence Day celebration. He was disappointed that his fishing wasn't as successful as at Centerton. He got hot and sweaty, had no bites and, to top it all off, someone kicked over his glass of lemonade after he drank only about half of it -- she was nice enough to buy him another glass. True to his usual cheerful form, he said he had fun anyway.
I took my camera and notepad and returned to Sulphur Springs in early afternoon to document some of the other activities in the park. The car show drew several entries and many turned out to admire the vehicles and watch the trophy presentations and burnout afterward. Pageants, a duck race and a watermelon eating contest were among the attractions, and the youngsters enjoyed the horseback rides, mini train rides, camel rides, bounce houses and cake walk.
We had no midweek meeting at the Kingdom Hall as members of our congregation were preparing for the "Remain Loyal to Jehovah" convention in Fort Smith over the weekend. I made the trip down Friday, Saturday and Sunday with my friends Inger and Terry Johanessen and we enjoyed many Bible-based talks and videos. Friday's focus was on Jesus as a perfect example of God's "loyal one." Saturday's sessions presented teachings on the Bible book of Job and remaining loyal despite intense suffering, and Sunday afternoon's session was highlighted by a feature-length film on King Hezekiah and showed how he "held fast to Jehovah" while being besieged by his enemies.
Meetings were held in the spacious Fort Smith Convention Center, and we were able to admire several of the outstanding murals painted on the sides of buildings along Garrison Avenue during our commute. The mural project last September brought in seven artists from six countries who painted 11 colorful designs on several old buildings. On Sunday evening, we sampled the catfish dinners and ribs at Big Jake's Cattle Co. in Van Buren before heading home. We stopped at Natural Dam on the return trip where several swimmers, young and old, were cooling off in the waters of Mountain Fork Creek.
Family members were off work for the July 4th holiday, so our son and family came to our house to watch the city fireworks display Saturday evening. I went to Pop Allum Park to take a few photos and enjoyed a couple of pieces of watermelon and a hot dog, thanks to Gravette firefighters and city employees. I mingled with the holiday crowd and visited with several of the guests before driving home. Sister Nancy visited us the first of the week and brought us a new supply of fresh eggs.
Last week was a busy one with Lions Club and library commission meetings on Tuesday and a photo session for the summer reading program and book signing on Friday. We installed new officers at Lions Club and discussed further plans for the August 6 library gala at our library commission meeting. I went to the book signing and enjoyed visiting with the area author. I bought one of her books, although I don't know when I'll have time to read it.
I went to the farmers' market last Saturday morning and bought new red potatoes, green onions and a couple of zucchini big enough to fry. Blackberries from an area berry patch will be nice additions to my cereal this week and a box of peaches from Taylor's Orchard are tasty natural desserts. Then I went with Jim to Noel where he added a coat of sealer to some floors he's been working on. When he finished his work, we drove to an area grocery store and purchased a pair of ribeyes which made a good supper that evening with our red potatoes.
Susan Holland is a long-time resident of Benton County and a reporter for the Westside Eagle Observer. Opinions expressed are those of the author.
Editorial on 07/13/2016