roundup

Can you recognize this place? That's the Goose behind the coon dogs, most likely those of Junior Parrot. The picture was taken some years back as part of an Ozark shoot by National Geographic photographer Randy Olson. You can see the rest of the pictures here, though only one other frame is of Thomasville.
  In other news, Wear Your Music is featured in People mag and Hannah in open forum. And a beautifully restored storefront is available in greater downtown Woonsocket.

boiling up

The storm came suddenly.
The kid from next door ran over, afraid of the thunder. We went out in the road and watched it come.
   "I hate storms," he said.
   "I love storms," I said. "I just hope it doesn't knock out the Internet because I can't wait to watch Barack Obama tonight."
   "Barack Obama!" he said. "I hate Barack Obama!"
   "I love Barack Obama," I said.
And then we ran back inside and the storm passed.

placeholder

Scuse me while I kiss the sky. Yes, I have been real busy starting to book for next season and entertaining, so have been letting the blog slide. I promise I'll be back on my game—soon. Maybe next week. . .

health food

Get yer biled nuts here! You know that boiled peanuts are better for you than roasted, don't you? More flavenoids. Prevent cancer, heart disease, promote weight loss etc. You can read about it here. And these organic babies from New Mexico also happen to be delicious. You can order through Amazon.
And yes, these on the left are not for birds!

the fantasy biz

I am in the fantasy business. I sell golden summer days and happy families and sex to the sound of the waves. I sell long walks with your lab on the beach and lobster dinners and castles in the sand. I do not sell sunburns and cobwebs and broken outdoor faucets and grills with starter buttons that don't work and doorknobs that fall off and scraped floors and rainy days and squabbling children. Over the course of a season, all of those things happen. But given even one transcendent moment, everyone who books a Block Island rental will remember only the good and come back for more.
     Because everyone's in the fantasy business.

labor/vacation

Does one post on Labor Day? Well, here's what a few did on vacation. My terrified sister and family (above) ziplined through North Carolina. Debby and family retreated to the Massachusetts waters of childhood. And cave afficionado Frank could find nothing worth shooting in Arkansas' dilapidated Onyx Cave except possibly the proprietors.

and the rains came

Folded up the sun umbrella and the lounge chairs and brought them inside.
It is raining, really raining, thanks to Isaac. Flash flood warnings—the lot. More inches expected. The Eleven Point should be running good by Sunday.

od'd on the gop

Yes, the Democrats in southern Missouri now have their very own hq where they can hang out with like-minded people in the area—all ten of them. Recent polls have Romney up by 16 points in the state, and judging by what I hear from the neighbors, I wouldn't doubt it.
Even us Dems were captivated by the spectacle of the Republican convention. Here's Franks's take:
        Romney and Ryan, the pair,
        are laying their platform bare.
        What the men share most
        of which they can boast 
        are two heads of remarkable hair. 
However, we are now sick of them and just hope (if we were religious like them, we'd pray) that we don't have to see them for four more years. Maybe I should register in Missouri.

more art, blurry

The collection of contem- porary art at Crystal Bridges was thin, but what there was the kids really liked. I liked the two paintings.

handfasted

Hannah took this picture of her grandparents a few days ago, when everyone realized that soon Shirley, 95, was going to leave Walter, 100, to carry on alone. Now that has come to pass. She died at home as she had wished, surrounded by her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren, and with her husband of some 75 years. "I'm not afraid any more," she confided towards the end. "Just very, very tired."

water

The water in the swimming hole is still deep, but the river has shrunk so that lots of fish have taken to hanging out there, mainly bass less than a foot long. The current is lackadaisical, and algae is growing along the shore. At this moment it looks as if Wannabe Hurricane Isaac is headed thisaway but will drop its rain in northern Arkansas just shy of us. I'm sorry for the folks in the gulf, but we could sure use some serious precip in these parts. Like to see that river running swift and clear again.

drought

At the end of the day, Dianne moves the cattle from one dusty field to another.

outdoor sculpture

The architect of the Crystal Bridges museum, Moshe Safdie, used a natural spring to fill reflecting pools under and around the museum. Outdoor sculpture dots the walking and biking trails in the wooded area around the museum. One of the best known is a version of Robert Indiana's "Love."

And speaking of outdoor sculpture, how about this puppy! The seven-story Christ of the Ozarks. No, it's not on the museum grounds, but in Eureka Springs, Ark., about 40 miles away. No you can't go inside.

ozark home

"Rural sounds exhilarate the spirits and restore the tone of languid nature," said Cowper,  or so I believe. But what with the cattle bellowing, the coyotes howling and the damned cockerels crowing all night, I'm not sure how the tone is meant to be restored.
  In other rural news, road kill is primarily armadillos and possums, the turtles are once again crossing the roads, and, along with gun racks, Rep. Akin's antiabortion views remain mainstream. You people on the coasts who are shocked—shocked!—apparently have no understanding of rural America.

kindred spirits

 You can see the effect of viewing the Hudson River School paintings in my picture of the Civil War battleground at Pea Ridge, Ark., (above). At left is the much mourned former property of the New York Public Library, Asher Brown Durand's "Kindred Spirits," which they sold to Alice Walton for $35 million. In her museum you can walk right up to the paintings and photograph them.
  My photo would be better if the doe and her two fawns that Frank caught au naturel on the battlefield (below) were visible in my frame. preferably on the precipice. Or maybe a mountain goat. . .

skyspace

 When I walked into James Turrell's commissioned sculpture, "The Way of Color," I literally staggered. Dianne was behind me, and she saw me lose my balance. It's basically a round space with a hole in the top, promising "a different experience" for every viewer depending on the light and time of day. My experience was different, all right. Vertigo persisted after I had left the space, and Dianne said she felt it too. Yes, we ate different things for lunch!

my new favorite painter

The whole reason I went to Walmartland in the first place was to go to the Walmart heiress's museum, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art (though I cannot recommend their website whatsoever). The collection is wide ranging but spotty. Famous people with mediocre work, not-so-famous people with beautiful work, and some very famous people with very great work.
  I'm no critic, but I know what I like. Well, actually I am a critic, a critic without much of an eye or many credentials or really much knowledge.
   But I loved the museum. And this was my favorite painting, done by a painter I knew little about, Marsden Hartley. Yes, I am not stupid and I can see that he was influenced by others of the period. But, hey, I don't care—I have a whole new oeuvre to discover! And I do love this painting, which does not strike me as derivative at all.
  Upcoming: More art posts! I know y'all can't wait. . .

house that sam built

Five and dime, downtown Bentonville, Ark.

Walmart on the strip outside Bentonville

There is much—oh much—to say about our visit to the world hq of Walmart, but I can't really get started until I look at the hundreds of pictures I made of American art. So here's  a scene setter. Check out the weaponry, the  town square—and know that you are in the deep red heart of America.
   PS I don't personally boycott Walmart, but I sure know people who do. Most of them send their wives. . .

fried pies

I don't know how local this phenomenon is, all I know is that I had never had a fried pie until I moved to Thomasville. And I never had a fried pie until I got one from Babycakes, which by the way, posts available kinds of pies every day on  facebook/babycakesfriedpies  from the peach, which I tested, to strawberry-rhubarb and even chocolate. So next time you're in Mountain Home, Ark., don't pass it up. Heh, heh.

no regrets

. . .not yet, anyway.

In other news, our own Chien-Chi Chang was named one of Asia's 20 most influential photographers. He probably wouldn't care for the qualifier, but yes he has. . .