Category: Stuttgart

Ending on a high note

December 6, 2011
A joint church choir sings during "The Messiah."

My favorite part of being a journalist is that it forces me to attend events that I normally wouldn’t attend otherwise. I usually end up enjoying myself immensely, and last night was no different. I attended “The Messiah” composed by George Fredric Handel at First United Methodist Church.

The Arts Center of the Grand Prairie’s Lennox Performing Arts Series, Grand Avenue United Methodist Church and First United Methodist Church presented the event that had Charles Law conducting 21 pieces with a joint church choir as well as soloists Melissa Thoma, DeWitt native Satia Spencer, DeWitt resident Jess Essex, and Mark Wyers. Musicians were Kiril Laskarov on violin I, Beth Massa on violin II, Joe Joyner on viola, Casey Buck on cello and Amy Law (not pictured) on organ.

The church, already perfect with its beauty and calming atmosphere, was a great setting for the event with its lighted candles and Christmas tree.

Monkeying around

November 28, 2011
I saw a monkey in camo on Friday. It was a sight I've never seen before, and it was pretty darn cute. It was also appropriate as the little guy was in the duck and rice Capital of the world — Stuttgart, Ark. It's pretty much required for residents to have some sort of camo in their closet (a memo I conveniently lost, lol).

Say a little prayer

November 27, 2011

Today’s worship service officially ended the Wings Over the Prairie festival. The event entailed a male Labrador retriever and his owner helping others find Christ through a hunter’s experience.

Kingdom Dog Ministry's Hank Hough and one of his three dogs visited Stuttgart on Sunday.

Despite an interesting weekend — my mother came and spent the night with me Saturday — it was a dreary weekend with it raining pretty hard Saturday night. Sunday was cloudy with great puddles of water every where.

Drip drops outside of my house.

Wings Over the Prairie

November 26, 2011
A Stuttgart contestant in the Junior World Championship Duck Calling Contest on Saturday.

It’s finally here. It’s Wings Over the Prairie Festival time here in Stuttgart and hunters are sprawled all over downtown Stuttgart as they listen to the sound of duck calls. I’ve been covering duck calling contests all morning, and can happily announce, I have just finished covering my last one. Yay! Now, its time to check out the other parts of the festival: The Carnival and Gumbo cookoff! Can you say FUN!!

Sitting around

November 2, 2011
Northern Mockingbird

I brought my camera outside with me on Halloween night since the birds were making a ruckus that night. I decided I would bother taking a picture if a bird or two landed right in front of me.

European Starling

Well, a Northern Mockingbird did. An European Starling also landed on some telephone wires near me, which I considered was acceptable to photograph as well.

I have to admit, it’s tough identifying the birds, but its also exhilarating when I finally do figure out the names. Of course, I have to get a second opinion on my tentative discovery, but so far I’ve correctly identified the birds.

It’s a …

November 1, 2011

A picture is worth 1,000 words. For me, a picture helps to correctly identify what I see. I have a horrible memory so it helps having something to go back to refresh my mind.

Yesterday, I was sitting on on my back steps when this wasp fell in the leaves beside me. He kept trying to climb up on a leaf which would then tilt over knocking him to the ground.

I spent this evening trying to identify him. I think I have him identified as a red paper wasp (Polistes carolina). I’m still checking to make sure, but what do you think?

My fine china.

October 31, 2011

I bought my first set of fine china in high school at a local antique shop. It was the Marywood pattern (2181) in the Noritake Contemporary Fine China, which has a blue floral band with a platinum trim (see above).

My purchase included a set of four and I immediately fell in love with the pattern. The pattern, which was sold between 1971 and 1996, was already discontinued when I made my purchase. However, I’m still looking at ways to purchase more.

Even if I can’t find more, the pattern is still one of my favorites and its great to now be able to use them in my own home.

Owls

October 26, 2011
the Great Horned Owl

Students examine a barn owl.

My morning started off pretty cool. I photographed these two guys being introduced to a local preschool class who was learning about dark, light and night. The owls belong to a local nature center. 😀