What's been happening in your neck of the woods?

Burning Bush in the early spring - PL 

 

          Before I set the current journal aside, I'll share some of the jottings I felt strongly enough about to ... well, jot down.

          First, grandson Billy spent his 25th birthday at his home in Arkadelphia. He was a little under the weather. I sent last-week’s column/ post about him, and he called soon after he read it, ala my wish to keep in better touch. He said he’d learned since he wrote that essay that writers weren’t supposed to thank their readers. I thought his ‘voice’ came through very well.

Several years ago, I bemoaned the retirement of Meredith Oakley as editor of AD-G’s VOICES page. But I am enjoying Brenda Looper’s weekly columns on situations she deals with as associate editor of that space. She is a self-admitted ‘word nerd’ with a great sense of humor.

            Being a big supporter of Dale Bumpers, and having read his book, Best Lawyer in a One-Lawyer Town, (2003), I was saddened to learn he has dementia. All the brouhaha over his diary entries gives me a pain. Anything to discredit or cast blame on the Clintons. I sort of hope she doesn’t run for president. She’s endured enough as it is. Why would she want to go through all this again?

            With the sale of her painting, “Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1,” Georgia O’Keefe’s work is now considered in the top tier of 20^th - century artists internationally. This from an article by C. Bahn, in the state paper.

            In world news, an article by A. Shaheed (AP) says Iran executes more people per capita than any other nation. (Shudder.) A news-in-brief said Yemen is the Arab world’s poorest country. And don’t even mention the Cotton, et al. fracas.

            A piece from the Northwest AD-G  by A. Buckley inspired this poem:

                                    Pea Ridge / changing the habitat/ to attract bobwhites

            The header on a picture last week said, “Cranes in the mist.” Oh, what a good haiku first line, I thought. But I couldn’t see any birds. Then I read the caption: “Construction cranes peek out of the mist.” Ohh.  (Picture by R. McFarland)

            I had to sign for a certified letter the other day. What in the wide world? I thought. What have I done now? Or is Billy in trouble?

            It was about plans for a 120-lot subdivision proposed to be built across Couchwood Road, which is adjacent to my property—the reason I received the letter. A public meeting will be held in early April for any discussion.
           My first thought was, there goes the neighborhood! The quiet, the hayfield, the old Indian mounds we as children thought might hold some treasures, the added traffic, both sounds and fumes--as if traffic today isn’t enough.

 Sigh... Progress... Change... Inevitable... Country becoming town... Like it or lump it, etc...