New People!

October 2014:  It's wonderful to be back "home" in Texarkana!  Can't wait to see family, friends, and to enjoy the nature in NE Texas!  And super excited about meeting some "new people" - literally, new people!  Our drive down from Branson was lovely!  Monarchs galore -- and all heading south. Just like they are supposed to! 

the pond behind Shady Pines RV Park

10-6-14:  Arrived late this afternoon at Shady Pines RV Park just outside of Texarkana.  Rocky and I explored around the pond and watched a blood moon begin to rise.  Of course I only had my phone camera, but it'll be a nice memory anyway.

Blood Moon a'Risin'

swamp sunflowers

they are a brilliant yellow and everywhere down here!

along with plenty of Goldenrod

tons of spider lilies in the area, too

Pretty flora around the pond. Much of what we'd been seeing on our way from Branson. So pretty!

following Gus and Bailey

Gus came out and we did a little catching up!  Does my heart good to see him looking so good!

love seeing Gustopher again!

Gus loves selfies as much as David

is Ava a doll, or what?!

Ava and Gus

David and Ava drove around a bit

captive audience?

10-7-14:  After visiting Edith (and our hairdresser, Carol)  we stopped by to see Gus over at the Campbell's house.  Pretty little Ava loves her some Gus.

Dawn and me

10-8-14:  Good friends from Michigan, Ron and Dawn Perkins,  arrived today on their way to New Orleans.  So glad to see them!  They are going to stay at Shady Pines a few days, so we'll see what kind of trouble we can get into.

Dawn brought me a beautiful "holiday" scarf -- loved the tag, too! I immediately ordered some for my knitting projects from knitterella.com

The Perkins and us at Buffalo Wild Wings

Saw Becky Fellers, Kristin, and other LE folks at supper -- see David photobombing ?

Kathy Douthit

Dawn and me hitting the Yarn Garden

10-10-14:  Ron and David wasted no time heading to New Haven Golf Course this morning.  So glad Ron is here to play with him. Dawn and I followed them out to get our fiber! Enjoyed The Yarn Garden again.  Great selection and fun visiting with my former colleague, Kathy D.

Gus modeling his Shocker shirt

James and Joseph Goff

Looking forward to seeing those 2 cutie pies soon!  I haven't met Joseph yet!

Game Day is always fun in Texarkana!  WPS!  (oh, and hook 'em horns)

10-11-14:  Had a quick visit with Gus before heading over to Smoky Joe's to visit with some of the Goff's!

Rocky getting ready to call the hogs!

big brother, Bill, met us at Smoky Joe's

finally got to meet this sweetheart - Joseph Goff

Jakeb is loading my baked potato while I hold Joseph

a glimpse into the future?

adorable James Goff

my number 1 nephew, Jakeb

blast from the past 

a pic that showed up in curious places the last year I worked at the ms -- hmmm, the new one just may appear there, too

have you ever seen a cuter hog fan?  James is a cutie pie, too.

Lacey Goff -- I think Joseph is under there somewhere

part of the group

Glad that Ron and Dawn joined us for our little family get-together!  I translated.  haha

Nanette Adams King

10-12-14:  David and I visited Heritage Church with Gus this morning.  Today is his 31st birthday! Hard to believe.  That means I am OLD! What a nice surprise seeing Nanette Adams King there!  We were friends back in the day at Texarkana College.  We prob wouldn't have recognized each other if it weren't for facebook!

We enjoyed that church:  great preaching and music.

Edith, Gus, and me at On the Border for his bday lunch

3 of my fave people!

Enjoyed the morning and lunch with the birthday boy!

I'm out of town even in Texarkana!

10-13-14:  Showed Ron and Dawn a little bit of Texarkana today and enjoyed lunch at McAlister's  They were happy to see we had one of these down here.

always a happy couple!

or, are they? :)

loved running into one of my pop's favorite people in the world - Kathy Bramlett! Facebook helped us to recognize each other, too!

Dawn and Ron on the line at the Texarkana Downtown Post Office

looking south from the post office

a reminder of the JFK visit to Texarkana when I was little -- my daddy put me on his shoulders so I could see the prez

Cooper!

10-14-14:  Enjoyed a little outside time today.

Rocky loves a good photobomb opp

and David operated on a persimmon seed and found we have the SPOON here, too!  looks like Texarkana may be shoveling snow this winter.

we'll see how accurate accu-weather will be!

Asher totally nailed my Kansas hair!

Got the above text from Justin today.  Asher included us in his family book at schol.

we love seeing Jillian and Alicia -- even if it does have to be at the dentist!

10-14-14:  And the appointments begin!  One of the things we do when we stay in Texarkana is catch up on dr and dentist appts. Yep, we know how to have a good time!

view of the lake near the spillway

10-15-14:  Gus took me out to Wright Patman Lake this afternoon.  I was whining about how there are no nature centers in the Texarkana area even tho the nature here is wonderful!.  He corrected me and told me there is a little one at the COE office at the lake.  So off we went and I did learn some things.  We sat and watched the herons and egrets for a little bit, too.  Beautiful day!! And great to enjoy some of it with my son.

our farewell supper at Ironwood Grill with Ron and Dawn

Cooper's "on the road again" eve Blue Bell

Sure gonna miss Dawn, Ron, and Cooper!  It's been great having them here with us.  The guys got to play golf twice, Dawn and I did a little damage shopping, and we learned a new craft!  The "Watch Locket" that Joan and Patrick introduced to me! Fun week!

Cooper is ready to roll -- I think I heard him count to 3

10-16-14:  Said "cya down the road" to the Perkins this morning.  Until next time, Friends!

Cuz'ns

David, Gus, and I met cousins Janis and Shelby for a sandwich today.  Great seeing them and catching up on that side of the family.  Lots of laughs!  Mostly at Janis' expense!

Shelby said "chin down" -- Janis and I crack ourselves up

Shelby, Janis, me, Gus

no problem making faces in this family

until next time!

Niecey and Great Niecey

After a fun cousin visit, David and I went to see my "niece", Keasha Alexander, and her beautiful baby girl, Olivia.  Oh my, how pretty that baby is!

totes adorbs

Beautiful girls!

Ok, Keasha isn't really my niecey.  We used to work at Lifeway together.  From the first moment we met, we thought the other reminded us of our family -- looks and behavior, etc.  So she calls me Aunt Becky and I call her Niecey.  Then when Obama and McCain ran for Prez, I said folks could write me in.  So Keasha began calling me Aunt President Becky.

Olivia and Great Aunt President Becky

I could do this all day long!

What a blessing to get to meet this little doll!

new park in Texarkana

10-17-14:  David and I went for a walk today at Bringle Lake Park.  Very nice new park in north Texarkana.  Bringle (aka Waterworks) Lake has been here as long as I can remember.  But no access on the south side of the lake until very recently -- other than trails.  The north side of the lake was accessible near Wamba.  So this was a treat for me to get to see Bringle from this side.  The city did a wonderful job!

David on one of 2 observation decks on the lake

it's a small lake, but evidently good bass fishing

lovely

David found us some color

this island is covered with Swamp Sunflowers right now

plenty of picnic tables at Bringle East

 nice playground

After we walked the boardwalk from Bringle East to Bringle West, we met a young fireman that was also walking the trail.  He told us that there is a significant rattlesnake and copperhead problem on the East side of the lake and thinks the city should put up signs -- since that's the playground side.  He showed me a pic of a small rattler that he killed there yesterday.  Gators and rattlers and copperheads, oh my!

pretty look at some of the wetland from the boardwalk

tons of monarchs along the shore -- about the time we'd lift the camera they'd fly away.  south.

David snapping pix of the American Beauty

it's abundant along the trail

edible, but can be nauseating

people actually do make jams and preserves from it -- but you prob won't see it in a store

David captured some lovely colors in this shot

Really enjoyed our time at Bringle Lake and left there saying we'll definitely go there again. I posted on facebook how much we enjoyed it.  Then a post popped up from Txk Today reporting that a man was robbed at gunpoint at Bringle West about an hour or so after we left.  I was hoping it wasn't the nice fireman we talked with.  And it concerned me that there were several ladies using the trail -- some alone.  Maybe we won't definitely go back!  Then tonite a news post on fb said a man was arrested because he lied to police about being robbed at gunpoint out there.  Ok, we'll definitely go there again!

got to visit Spice for a bit this morning!

Panties!

Got our Panties on tonite with Kathey and Cranford.  Of course, the girls won.  But Cranford and David got some new hair out of the deal!

David counting their final round -- didn't take him long

panties for the Panties champ!

Great to be back on our game!

true cowboy

10-18-14:  Game day again!

My main Razorback man wearing his Kansas State cap for a little bit

Sherry came out to the rv park for some craft time!

Great seeing one of my LEMS friends this morning.  We had fun crafting for a bit!

Time is already flying!  But we are excited to spend more time with family and friends between now and Thanksgiving.

Much love from the Piney Woods,

Tiger Woods, Aunt President Becky, and Razorback Rocky