Fall events, 2020
Since dropping Kenny off, we've had a couple tropical weather bouts...The first was Tropical Storm Laura, which had hammered Louisiana as Hurricane Laura before weakening to a pretty strong Tropical Storm when in came through the Monticello area a few days after we returned from taking Kenny to school. And just in past few days, Louisiana got hit again by Hurricane Delta, which wasn't as strong (thankfully) and passed through southeastern Arkansas as a weaker tropical storm/depression before quickly moving on. We got through these tropical systems in pretty good shape; pray for those elsewhere who were not so lucky!
Actually, most of this fall has been fairly dry, and pretty pleasant weather, with only a limited number of really hot days and some pretty pleasant ones. The picture below is of Hope and I enjoying a hike at a local state park on one such day...more on this state park a bit later:
While driving around later that same day, Hope and I came across the following spectacle in a small town not far west of Monticello:
The red patch in the middle is an absolute thicket of what are known around here as "surprise lilies". Surprise lilies (a close-up of a few in our yard is provided below) are plants that are often called "spring ephemerals"; in this case, they put out their leaves in the late winter and through much of the spring, but then fade away and disappear as the spring turns to summer. They remain unseen until late summer (here, usually September), when they shoot up a single flower stalk from a bulb in the ground. When these bulbs self-divide, you get the clusters of flowers as seen above.
Although they may look weird, these short-lasting flowers are a neat part of life here in the South during the early fall. They are not fragrant at all, but their bright red color does attract butterflies and other pollinators.
As with many of y'all, we spend a fair amount of time during the pandemic enjoying each other's company...often around food (I'm baking some homemade bread bowls for soup for dinner tonight as I type!). Bragg Family South has been blessed to have access to some good local treats, such as the tamales made by some friends we go to church with (that green salsa is HOT!):
Below, Beth goofs off with her ice cream-based drink she concocted:
And the busy work...such as painting rooms, including Beth's new room (which she took over from Kenny), Beth's old room (now Hope's home office), and our dining room (well, just because it needed it!). In repainting the dining room, we move Hope's curio cabinet, which required it to be unloaded and then reloaded...
Our big event over the past couple of months was last weekend's camping trip to Moro Bay State Park about an hour southwest of Monticello. Our hike earlier in the month to this state park was a scouting trip--for a scouting event we helped out with. Hope is still involved with the local scout pack/troop, so when I was asked to help the local scout council put together a day-long program for the forestry merit badge, I agreed. Below, we enjoyed our dinner the first evening, cooked over our campfire:
My voice was a bit weak for the next day or so after having talked for over 7 hours through a face covering to be loud enough to be heard, but it really went well, and I hope they all enjoyed it.
We don't get the fall colors like those of you in the Northwoods do, but a few of our trees are starting to turn color, so with the cooler temperatures and the return of football, it really does start to feel like fall! Yay!!!
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Lulu