Our Weeping Cherry Tree Sings: "Set Me Free"

Last Fall we tied the limbs down on our flowering cherry tree in the front of the house. The limbs were going multiple directions. We were told by our landscaper that we could "shape" the tree. The first photo shows the limbs in the tied position. The next photo is the "big bong"; the limbs were set free. Overall, the results were fairly positive from our POV.

We have also enjoyed the daffodils we planted last Fall. They have been colorful for several weeks now. They also don't get eaten by the deer!

Garvan Gardens Tulip Extravaganza

On Monday, 23-MAR, we (Rosie, Bob and Sam) went to see the Tulip Extravaganza at Garvan Gardens in Hot Springs, AR. We picked the perfect day! The tulips were simply outstanding, the redbud trees were still in bloom and the dogwoods were just starting to bloom. We won't bore you with a lot of prose, but simply let you enjoy multiple photos from around the gardens.

The azaleas and the Japanese Maples were also very beautiful.
Rosie and Sam enjoyed the beautiful colors.
Sam was getting a bit tired at the end. I think he was ready for a drink of water.
We hope you can tell from the photos that the colors were simply outstanding. Even in the photos, the red tulips took on a real 3D appearance. As we said at the beginning, today was a great day to go. We're supposed to have severe thunderstorms tomorrow and most of the week. Many of the flowers and flowering trees may lose some of their splendor following the storms.

Hope you enjoyed the photo tour of the Garvan Garden Tulip Extravaganza.

Wye Mountain, Bigelow, AR

Sunday afternoon was such a nice sunny day (temp in low 70s) that we decided to visit Wye Mountain and the daffodil festival run each year by the Wye Mountain Methodist Church. We had seen photos of the festival in the newspaper and on TV but had never been there. Wye Mountain is right outside of Bigelow, AR. Ever heard of it? I didn't think so. It took us about 50 minutes to drive to Wye Mountain in MINI.

Since this is run by the Methodist church, they have a cross in the middle of the field (on a hill). They also hold their Easter service at the cross at sunrise (starting 5:30 am - way before sunrise). The cross is a bit difficult to see, but it's to the right of the big tree.

They were also digging up bulbs to sell. Here's wheel barrel with flowers and bulbs.There were quite a few visitors at the field. Not surprising for a beautiful Sunday afternoon.There were a lot of young parents taking pictures of their small children in the daffodils. Many of these were probably going to be Easter pictures for grandparents and relatives.

We both enjoyed the flowers.

We plan to go a little earlier next year to hopefully catch the flowers at more of their peak. We'll also go during the week when there are fewer visitors.

Helping the Economy!

We didn't get a stimulus check, but we decided to do our part to help the US economy anyway. A couple of weeks ago we drove to Memphis and bought a MINI Cooper S. We (i.e. Bob) had looked at one for a long time and talked to several MINI owners. However, there isn't a MINI dealer in Arkansas; so off to Memphis we went. Luckily, the MINI only needs to be serviced every 12,000 miles (uses synthetic oil). We won't need to go to Memphis every 3 months for servicing. Here are a couple of photos of MINI:

MINI has a 6-speed manual transmission and is a fun car to drive. It corners great! A gas mileage check of the second tankful averaged out at 33 mi/gal - not bad for a mixture of highway and "village" driving. See ya'll on the road!
FYI Rosie calls the car "Mini Me".

Little Rock 5K Run/Walk and Half Marathon

On Sunday, 15-MAR-09, Bob and Rosie participated in the Little Rock Marathon, Half Marathon and 5K Run/Walk. Rosie walked and ran in the 5K while Bob ran the half marathon. The weather was rather cool on Sunday morning; temperature in the upper 40s, very humid and cloudy. However, as Bob got going in the half marathon, the weather was just fine! Bob and Ana MacKendrick - friends from Hot Springs Village - also went with us to LR. Bob M ran the half marathon with Bob C.

Rosie's walk/run started at 7:15, a little bit before sunrise. Here's the starting line for the walk/run: (note workers in heavy coats!)

Rosie found her area and was ready to go!All of the 5K walk/runners went into the same corral for the start. The marathon and half marathon broke runners out based on projected finishing time. The two Bobs were in corral C. FYI, there was corral E (elite runners), corral A, corral B, corral C and corral D. So, you can quickly tell we weren't the "speed burners" of the bunch.

Here's Rosie at the finish line with her medal and goodie bag (basically junk food). Rosie finished the 5K in 41:31 or 13:24/mile.

Here's Bob and Bob before the race started trying to keep warm.

Here's Bob C coming to the finish line (behind some guy named Steve whom I don't know). Bob C. finished in 1 hr and 56 minutes or 8:52/mile. Slower than last year, but under his 2 hr goal.

The Bobs celebrated the end of the half marathon by trying to keep warm and eating yogurt. Doesn't Bob M look like Superman in his cape?

Here's a picture of the whole gang: Bob C, Rosie, Bob M and Ana. Ana did a great job of keeping up with all our stuff and generally taking care of us. Thanks Ana!

This is Bob C's second year for the LR half marathon. Hope we can do this again next year!

HSV Day at Oaklawn Racetrack in Hot Springs

Sunday, 22-FEB, was Hot Springs Village Day at the Oaklawn Racetrack in Hot Springs. We got free parking, free admission and free reserved seats. We also won $2.00 based on the ticket we got in the mail; maybe that paid for our gas. The track was nice. We had a chance to see the horses up close and enjoyed watching them race from either indoors (from our reserved seats) or outside on the rail of the track. As expected there is a statue of a horse and jockey at the entrance. Just inside there is a horse statue at the information booth. We just had to get a shot by the "helpful horse" (thanks Pat!).

Before each race, the horses are prepped inside. They're walked around this prep area until it's time to go. Then the trumpet sounds, the jockeys get on their mounts and it's off to the track. Note: we thought number 5 looked good and strong. So we picked him to win the 3rd race. He started strong but ran out of gas. He finished near the back of the pack. Glad we didn't place a real bet!Next is what we call the "parade of horses." The horses are slowly walked over to the starting gate.Here they come - "down the stretch" towards the finish line.Here's a 7 second video of the finish of the 3rd race of the day. Lots of yelling and excitement in the background.

After each race the tractors go around the track to get it smooth for the next race; the racetrack version of ice hockey's Zamboni.

We didn't place any bets, so we didn't loose any money. Good thing too. It seems like every horse we picked didn't do that well. Maybe we were a bad luck charm. We did get to try one of the track's famous Ruben sandwiches; they were good. We had a fun day at the races. We'll go back next year for HSV day.

Daffodil Days at Garvan Gardens, Hot Springs, AR

On Wednesday, 18-FEB, Rosie, Bob and Sam went to Garvan Gardens in Hot Springs to see the daffodils which were just starting to bloom. Rosie and Sam look really cute in a field of daffodils.The camellia were still in bloom. Some had dropped their petals to form a carpet on the ground around the plant - just lovely.We also saw one early blooming cherry tree. Sam and Bob are enjoying the sunshine and the natural beauty.Rosie also got a photo of a white flowering quince. This one seems a bit protected so it bloomed early - we think.Finally, the view under the Japanese arched bridge was really nice - an excellent frame for the small pond and flowering cherry tree. The daffodils have just started to bloom; more will be "popping out" soon. We plan to return to Garvan Gardens next week when Karen and Logan make a brief visit to HSV for Rosie's birthday.