An Arkies Musings

Today, Gina was given the Volunteer Of The Year Award at the annual Rotary Club banquet. About a month ago we were invited to attend the banquet. I knew that Gina was going to receive the award, but they asked that I keep it a secret from Gina. It was a nice surprise. The banquet was held at Mena Mountain Resort . I had not been to the Resort before today, and I was very impressed. Mena Mountain Resort is one of the best-kept secrets in Western Arkansas, their brand-new facility offers the type of fine amenities you would only expect to find in a luxury resort. It's not the kind of thing we have ever seen before in Mena. Construction began in January 2006 and was completed in the spring of 2009. The resort consists of a total of 15 guest suites, a clubhouse, pavilion and pool. Also on the property is a 3 bedroom cottage with full kitchen, large living area, and a private fenced yard. Here is a view of the balcony from one of the suites. After a very nice meal provided by t...

It's time again For ABC Wednesday . If you aren't participating in ABC Wednesday , you are missing out on a lot of fun. This week the letter is "B". B is for Belize. My favorite place to visit is Belize. Belize is a small country in Central America. Gina and I first went to Belize in 2004 with 15 members of our church to help build a church in San Pedro. Since then we have returned 3 times. When we are visiting in Belize I love to get up early and watch the sun rise over the ocean. After watching and photographing the sunrise, I like to walk through the town and watch it come to life. Life is hard in Belize, but it's people are so vibrant and full of life. Every morning that I am there I spend a couple of hours just walking through the town and photographing what I see. I get off of the main street and see what the real community is like. When I get back home I keep up with what is happening in Belize by listening to the LOVE-FM morning show. Each morn...

This is my entry in a neat meme called I Heart Faces . Click on this button to check it out This week the theme is "at the beach". This photo was taken at the beach in San Pedro Belize. After I took this picture we became good friends with her family. You can learn more about her family here .

Today a group of us from church visited the Cossatot River State Park . We had a great time. The weather was cool for summer, with just a little rain. When we arrived at the vistors center, Park Interpreter Shelley greated us, and spent the next few hours giving our group a special tour. After watching a movie about the Cossatot River, Shelley showed us pelts and skulls of area animals. She then showed us the salamanders, lizards, and snakes that are kept at the visitor center. Kaitlyn and Trey really liked getting to handle the snakes. After going through the visitor center, Park Interpreter Shelley took us to the river. The scenery was beautiful and the weather was perfect. The kids enjoyed swimming and throwing rocks into the river. The Cossatot River is Arkansas's premier whitewater experience and is known as the best whitewater float stream in mid-America. Located in southwest Arkansas south of Mena, the Cossatot forms Cossatot Falls, a rugged and rocky canyon that cha...

Several years ago my wife Regina decided to have Lasik eye surgery. After doing a lot of research and talking to people who had the procedure done she was comfortable with the idea of someone cutting on her eyes to improve her vision. LASIK is a surgical procedure that can reduce a person's dependency on glasses or contact lenses by permanently changing the shape of the cornea. For clear vision, the eye's cornea and lens must bend light rays properly, so that images are focused on the retina. If the light rays aren't clearly focused on the retina, the images you see are blurry. During LASIK, a special knife (a microkeratome) is used to cut a hinged flap of corneal tissue off the outer layer of the eyeball. The flap is lifted out of the way and the laser is used to reshape the underlying corneal tissue. Before the surgery, Gina had worn glasses since she was a teenager. She had to place her glasses in the same place every night, because she couldn't see well enough to ...

It's time again For ABC Wednesday . If you aren't participating in ABC Wednesday , you are missing out on a lot of fun. This week the letter is "A". We are starting a brand new round of ABC Wednesday. It is brand new to me, because I have been too busy for quite some time to participate. A is for Autumn. Autumn has double meaning for me. I love to crisp cool weather and beautiful colors of Autumn, and my oldest granddaughter is named Autumn. AUTUMN PEACE This summer while Autumn was visiting us with her sister Rebekah, we decided to dress them up nice and go to the park to take pictures. The idea of taking their pictures together didn't work out too well. This is the best one that I was able to get. AUTUMN AND REBEKAH I was able to get some better shots of the girls separately. AUTUMN AT THE PARK REBEKAH THE TREE HUGGING LIBERAL Autumn is named after the season Autumn. Maybe if she had been born a couple of months later she would have been named Winter....

This is my entry in a neat meme called I Heart Faces . Click on this button to check it out The theme this week is focusing on "feet"...not "faces". This photo was taken in San Pedro, Belize on our last trip there. Bicycles are the main mode of transportation for kids and adults. This little girl was getting ready to get on her bike when I snapped this photo. This photo was taken on the famous Seven Mile Beach on Grand Cayman. As I was walking along the beach taking pictures I noticed this woman taking photos also. Her brightly colored cover up added interest to the beautiful sandy beach with fresh footprints on it.

When I was growing up I loved to make lists. I kept a list of the books that I had read from the Longmont Public Library. I kept a list of baseball players and their statistics. Each week I would make my own Top 40 list. Do you make lists? What kind of lists do you make? Today your lists may be on your computer or your phone, but I bet you make lists. Lists keep us organized. I recently read a story written by Christian author Max Lucado. On a plane he was seated next to an attractive young woman. The young woman was very nervous about flying, so he took out his Bible and read some reassuring passages. As they talked she told him that she was a believer once when she was young. Max asked her, “Do you believe in heaven? "Yeah." "Do you think you’ll go there?" She looked away for a minute and then turned and answered confidently, "Yeah. Yeah, I’ll be in heaven." How do you know?" "How do I know I’m going to heaven?" She grew quiet ...

I'm sure that you have heard the saying, "When life hands you lemons, make lemonade". Last weekend I had the opportunity to make lemonade. Actually I had a wonderful weekend. Gina and I traveled to Columbia, Missouri to visit my sister and her family. We really enjoyed our time with family and appreciated the cooler weather. We decided to go to the St. Louis Zoo even though the weather forecast was 80 to 90 percent chance of rain every hour. The weather cooperated, and we had only one short rain shower while we were at the zoo. It was cloudy and cool, just wonderful weather for walking around the zoo in the summertime. The St. Louis Zoo is a great zoo, and admission is free. In 1910 the City of St. Louis set aside 77 acres in Forest Park for a zoo. State legislation provided that "the zoo shall be forever free," which has made the Zoo accessible to millions of visitors ever since. I was excited about visiting the zoo and being able to take lots of pictu...