This student, Brent Pickens, was in my art class in the 80's.  He was talented, sincere, gentle and already a magician in high school.  I was pleased to see this article in the paper a few days ago with his picture, his toy characters surrounding him, with an announcement that he was doing a show at one of the churches. One thing I can say about him is that he looks more mature now, and guess what that makes me?  Some of the old-timers from Searcy may remember his dad who was a teacher for many many years, Mr. Pickens he was called. Brent and Cheryl, if you read this, congratulations on your success and one of these days I'd like to see your show. This article appeared in the Searcy Daily Citizen. 12/17/2009

This is another picture that was going to be history because the builder/architect's widow was dumping them.  I, being a half-way packrat, saved them. We have so many little rock and brick-trimmed houses in Searcy that date way back.  This is one of them. The question to my Searcy readers is to tell me where it is/was?  I think I know but I need verification. So this is one of those, "Who useta live there?"  I'm including the floor plan this time.   12/15/2009

Memories.... That's what Christmas is... Especially for the ones who are gaining in years... Each year I stress over the commercialism of Christmas, the installation of decorations in November or earlier.... Each year I swear that I am not going to drag out the old antique decorations at my house and I'm surely not going to buy any new ones since the house is practically empty with no little ones waking before dawn and dragging me out.  Husband is a baby, himself.  He starts saying, "Are we not going to have any decorations for Christmas?"  I say to him, "You know where they are.  Go get them out."   He does nothing.  But every few days I get this pathetic sad look from him. Finally, about now, two weeks before Christmas, which is plenty of time for decorating, I start dragging out the ... 12/13/2009

Having saved old house plans and pictures from a widow who was dumping them, I'm sharing another one. This one came with three pictures and the floor plans.  I love this first one with the garden growing on the right.  Note the tall imposing chimney.  Window flower boxes!!  What a nice side view.  The shutters are nice, the mail person would bring the mail right to the porch and there's a porch swing, of course!!  Notice there used to be lots of wooden door steps.  That garden must have been in the back yard too.     Then along came the 50's (probably) when they must have had traveling awning salespeople.  I'm saying that just judging by the number of houses that have those awnings over windows and doors.  Looks as if this salesman did a warped job of installing.  And the window boxes a... 12/11/2009

Before and after.  Searcy Arkansas houses before today and now!  We've had a little fun with them.  Now I have only before!  I can't find these houses.  I obtained these images from a widow who was throwing away her husband's photos of houses he'd built or designed.  Several were findable in Searcy Arkansas as I drove around. Here are two that I can't locate.  Perhaps you readers will remember and tell me where they were. Definitely he liked the floor plan and just did the mirror reverse.     So, Searcy readers, can you tell me where these houses WERE or where they ARE?  12/08/2009

Found!  Another great old picture that was probably taken in the 50's.  My mother-in-law is right in the middle of this group.  It is an Eastern Star function that is probably on the state level.  I say on the state level because we can't recognize any other Searcy folks. Wyndelene Duncan was part of the Eastern Star, which is a division of the Masons.  The young girls as they grow up are called Rainbow Girls and the boys are part of DeMoley, or so I'm told.  On the back of this picture Mrs. Duncan wrote down names.  The person is called Grand Electa, Grand Martha, Grand Chaplain, Grand Adah, Grand Esther, Grand Marshall, etc.  What they all meant may be secret.  She did not have a name for herself on the back. What I like is the way they all have on dresses just alike!  Except for one... 12/04/2009

What a good looking bunch of guys, right?  In this picture they are in front of someone's home in Little Rock and dressed for a funeral. Funerals were their business also.  The one in the center is Elvis Danial, father of a blogging friend, Marian Daniel Ingram.  She supplied this photo. The one in the light colored suit to the right is Clifford Daniel, who also helped run and own Daniel Funeral Home in Searcy Arkansas.  The old Daniel Funeral Home is now Roller-Daniel Funeral Home and is located on East Race Street. Here's what she says, "My dad is in  the middle and five of them are his "own" brothers. They also had four sisters.  My grandfather, Will Daniel, had six sons and one daughter with his first wife, Emma, and they lost two besides.  She died in 1911 and then in 1913, he mar... 12/03/2009

I made the statement once before that now when we go through old pictures and junk drawers we find perfect blog fodder.  What a great old picture this one is!!!  Handsome man!  Beautiful horse! This picture shows Joe Webb astride Rodgers Perfection, World's Grand Champion Walking Horse in 1959. He was owned by Dr. & Mrs. Porter Rodgers of Searcy, Arkansas.  Dr. Rodgers was a beloved Searcy physician who owned a hospital named after himself.  He owned lots of land and horses, I believe, and had his horses trained by Joe Webb, who also lived in Searcy Arkansas. Joe Webb also owned a riding camp which all little kids wanted to attend.  My daughter loved horses and we finally saved up enough money to send her to camp one summer at his camp.  She was thrilled, thrilled! 12/02/2009

Having saved several old pictures of houses in Searcy from being thrown away forever, I wondered where they were located.  I kept the photos in my car and tried to identify them.  Here's another one on a street in Searcy Arkansas.  Looks as if this house has a shingle roof.  It is obviously not new because the shrubs are so big but the builder must have been taking pictures of houses he'd done.  The house plans were also in the soon-to-be-discarded pictures that I saved.  Here is the house today.  Super sleuths, blogging buddies, do you remember it? 11/28/2009

My cat, made famous by a blog that included Raven and Nutsy, has disappeared. My cat, who just came up to our house and made her home on our back porch 7 years ago, has gone. My cat either found a better place to live and ran away or she has been done in by something larger than she was.  We miss her.  My husband even admits that he misses her.  In fact, he was the one who told me to come see what was on our porch that day 7 years ago.  A cat and two kittens!!  He said, "If you give them some milk, they'll stay." He swears that he said, "!!$$##&&%!! Don't you give them any milk or they'll stay!"  But that is just the red-neck-expected response.  He is really pretty gentle.  Once we got rid of the two kittens which quickly turned into 7 kittens, we had the cat spayed and the job became e... 11/27/2009

Two more pictures contributed by my blogging buddy, Anita Hart.  Her mother is in each of them and they were traveling.  The first picture shows the ladies in Hot Springs Arkansas in the mid 50's.  She has the identity of some of them.  Her mother, Corrine Hart, Inez Pickens (Dean of Women at Harding College), Margurrite O'Bannion (Exec. Secretary to Dr. George Benson), Myrtle Roberson (owner of the Rendezvous Restaurant), and an unknown lady with the long fur tails. The long furs were so popular then.  I think the more furs you had, and they still had the heads on them, the more money you had. Personally, I never had any fox or fur heads and tails.  They definitely had to have on high heels (but not as high as today's!) hats and gloves and the little purses that matched the shoes.   Th... 11/26/2009

Having inherited a few old pictures of Searcy Arkansas houses that a widow was throwing away, I have posted a few on these blogs to see if Searcy residents recognize them.  The designer of the houses had taken photos and saved the photos and the floor plans.  Once he died the widow wasn't keeping them.  I kept them from being lost forever. Here's another picture of a newly built house.....or at least one that wasn't very old. And here is the same house today.  It appears largely unchanged, doesn't it.  Those little trees really grew!!! 11/23/2009

It's another year of Winter weather. Drag out the old Winter clothes and put up the Summer ones. I have done that.  Now eliminate the ones that you no longer wear!!  OK, I can handle that..... How about this nice green pant suit.  Man, I look good in that!  (Well, perhaps I "looked" good in it.)  It is tailored.  Pleated pants that go to the waist. The jacket is long enough to cover any widened hip flaws.  I'll think about giving this away because it is lined and hot and my office is TOO hot. Okay, here's another lovely suit.  The jacket is a little shorter but it still covers most hip problems.  Pants also go to the waist and have belt loops for me to hang my phone.  But it is very old and perhaps should go?  Here's a gray suit.  I liked it too but it was sans belt loop pants.  Looky!!... 11/21/2009

A friend of mine, eons ago, was preparing to move and had a lot of things to throw away.  Being a scavenger, I claimed some of it.  One thing she had was several pictures and floorplans of houses in Searcy that had been designed and built by her husband.  I guess they were built probably in the 40's and 50's. The houses were not fancy.  I kept the pictures in my car for a long time and tried to find which ones they were because they were not addressed. Here's one of the old pictures.  And here's the way it looks today.  Anyone remember it?  Interesting to compare, isn't it? 11/20/2009

Driving through old Searcy Arkansas, which is being restored and revived, I notice the tall old buildings with the little chimneys on the side.  Nearly always the building is taller in the front and slants down toward the back and these little chimneys are at intervals.  This old building has been restored with an architectural firm and a law firm having done the makeover.  The  brick squares above the store fronts look almost like they could have been ventilation. Then we have the two rounded filled-in brick spots on the side.  Explain away if you can. The one on the right has been restored nicely and it also has the slanted roof and chimneys.  The building that says auction has also, I think, now got a new front which I need to photograph.  Here's a closeup of the brick architecture o... 11/10/2009

Advertising was big when this thing was published just as it is today.  We might even pass these things out as ad gifts if times hadn't changed. Hotels were featured here.  In Little Rock, Arkansas check out the Grady Manning, The Marion, The Albert Pike and The Lafayette.   You youngsters give up?  I found this in a stack of old stuff and it brought back memories.  On the back of this advertisement, which is slick and attractive on the front, there is a very porous paper which was used to blot ink!!  I hate to admit that I can remember when ball point pens were "discovered."  Before that you either used a pencil or an ink pen.  The ink pen could be the kind you dipped in an ink bottle or it could be a fountain pen.  Either way it had to be blotted.  These little conveniences were found... 11/08/2009

Pioneer Village, a part of the White County Historical Society, held an open house today.  I attended.  It was delightful and brought back so many memories.  Here's the main house that is NOT for sale. And here are few shots of the rooms inside it.   An amazing thing about this house was how many bed spaces it found.  There must have been enough bedspaces (can't call them rooms) for 5 or more kids to have a sleeping spot.  Here's a picture of one of the least favorable things from yesteryear....the out-house.  But who ever heard of a log out-house?                                           Pioneer Village is located on Higginson Street in Searcy Arkansas.  It contains a post office, general store, school house, blacksmith shop, a depot, smokehouse, barn and an old jailhouse in addition ... 11/08/2009

Sobering old photos!  These pictures are sorta continuing the story we started a few days ago regarding the house on Arch Street in Searcy Arkansas that has been changed so much. These are what we need when we are feeling as if times are awfully tough.  Blogging buddy Anita supplied these photos of possibly some of her relatives, definitely at her home on Arch Street in Searcy. The question is whether this man is absolutely worn out from working, whether the car hit the tree, or whether he is just doing what he usually does everyday.  If he'd had air-conditioning and TVs as we have today, he'd not be doing the nap at this place! Another question here.  Is she exasperated because of the man's behavior under the tree?  Is she just showing off her legs?  I can remember hanging clothes on a... 11/06/2009

Halloween parties are fun!  The elaborate costumes that some folks buy or rent are amazing to see.  We attended one last night and the star of the show could be this butler.  He talks, he growls, his eyes shift and he makes you feels as if he is alive!!  Or could come alive!!  Or may be alive!  After all, it was Halloween when spooks run free.  Those eyes followed me all night long.                     The guy on the left owns this spook and that guy on the right is the owner's twin!  And the couple on the right************************ *******************we were underdressed!  11/01/2009

Formal gardens still exist in parts of the world, I'm sure.  But in Searcy Arkansas I see only one example of what I think of as formal.  This house is on the Historic Register and has a vast history.  One of the stories that I heard was that the lovely wood shades which show on the windows here had been thrown away once.  The neighbors hauled them out of the trash and saved them until a person bought the house who would appreciate them and then they gave them back.   The yard, let's say garden, is always perfectly maintained just as you see in these pictures.  This is not new landscaping.  The little shrubs have been small for years.  I assume that they are a type plant that does not grow large.  The owner seems to maintain the garden himself because I see him out in the garden a lot. ... 10/30/2009