An Arkies Musings

This is my article as published in the February 19, 2015 issue of The Mena Star . Do you know a child who survived leukemia? Do you have a mother, sister or aunt whose breast cancer was found early thanks to a mammogram? Do you have a friend or coworker who quit smoking to decrease their risk of lung cancer? Each of these individuals benefited from the American Cancer Society’s research program funded by Relay For Life. Every day scientists supported by the American Cancer Society work to find breakthroughs that will take us one step closer to a cure. The Society has long recognized that research holds many answers to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer. As the largest source of non-profit cancer research funds in the United States, the American Cancer Society spends approximately $130 million each year on research. Since 1946, the Society has invested a total of $4.5 billion in research. The investment has paid rich dividends: the five-year survival ...

I love history and learning.  Many things we learn about history are a bit uncertain, but it is always a little frustrating when you can't find out with any certainty the history of someone or something. The origin of St. Valentine and Valentine's Day is one of those topics. Who was Saint Valentine?  According to the website Catholics Online , The origin of St. Valentine, and how many St. Valentines there were, remains a mystery. One opinion is that he was a Roman martyred for refusing to give up his Christian faith. Other historians hold that St. Valentine was a temple priest jailed for defiance during the reign of Claudius. Whoever he was, Valentine really existed because archaeologists have unearthed a Roman catacomb and an ancient church dedicated to Saint Valentine. In 496 AD Pope Gelasius marked February 14th as a celebration in honor of his martyrdom. It is unclear how the modern idea of celebrating Valentine's Day by giving gifts to your romantic partner...

Last weekend my daughter and her family met us in Uncertain, Texas for the weekend.  We had a great time at Caddo Lake, taking a boat tour of the lake.  We spent Sunday afternoon in Jefferson, Texas attending the Mardi Gras parade.  While some of our group were shopping the antique stores in Jefferson, the rest of us took a walk on the nature trail along Big Cypress Bayou. My seven year old grand daughter loves to take photos with my camera. As we were walking on the nature trail along Big Cypress Bayou I let her use my camera. I am a proud Papa, but I really think she has an eye for photography. All of the photos in this post were taken by her. I can't wait to see more work from this budding photographer.  I think she has a great future.

We spent last weekend in Uncertain, Texas on the shores of Caddo Lake.  It was so eerily beautiful and relaxing.  We rented a lovely house on the lake shore called Hoot n Holler . Caddo Lake is on the border of northeast Texas and northwest Louisiana.  It includes one of the best examples in the southern United States of a mature bald cypress forest, and is one of the largest cypress forests in the world.  The moss-draped cypress groves makes it look like a Louisiana swamp. The lake is a maze of bayous and sloughs, and is the only natural lake in Texas. It is the largest natural lake in the south, approximately 33,000 acres of water. Before 1800 the Caddo Lake area was a series of bayous, creeks, ponds and low lying areas that flooded often and held water for sustained periods of time during the rainy seasons. Around 1800 a chain of natural events changed the landscape of the cypress valley and became what we know as Caddo Lake. A huge log jam on ...