do south magazine: happy – march 2014
DESCRIPTION
Do South (formerly @Urban magazine) is a free, monthly lifestyle magazine focusing on the great state of Arkansas, primarily the NWA and River Valley areas.TRANSCRIPT
HAPPY MARCH 2014DoSouthMagazine.com
TARNISHED CHARMAfter her father died, Ivy moved back home, and with encouragement from her mom, decided to change career paths. What happened next is a charming story filled with hope, history, and a whole lot of bling.
42
IRISH WITH A TWISTGive tradition a twist this St. Patrick’s Day with the Twisted Irish. Your friends will be green with envy.
56
DO GOODWhen Steph realized her fortieth birthday was looming, she took action and decided to make it a day filled with forty acts of kindness. It turned into one of the best days of her life.
26
THE EDIBLE NESTSpring into action with these bird nest cupcakes in Mason jars. So easy, so adorable, and such a great way to usher in spring.
22
Subscribe to Do South! 12 issues per year for only
$20, within the contiguous United States. Subscribe
online at DoSouthMagazine.com, or mail check to
7030 Taylor Avenue, Suite 5, Fort Smith, AR 72916.
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Catherine Frederick
MANAGING EDITOR
Marla Cantrell
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Jeromy Price
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Brenda Baskin
Marla Cantrell
Marcus Coker
Rusty Henderson, DVM
Stoney Stamper
Catherine Frederick
Anita Paddock
CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS
Catherine Frederick
Jeromy Price
PROOFREADER
Charity Chambers
PUBLISHER
Read Chair Publishing, LLC
FOLLOW US
ADVERTISING INFORMATIONCatherine Frederick479 / 782 / [email protected]
EDITORIAL INFORMATIONMarla Cantrell479 / 831 / [email protected]
©2014 Read Chair Publishing, LLC. All rights reserved. The opinions contained in Do South are exclusively those of the writers and do not represent those of Read Chair Publishing, LLC. as a whole or its affiliates. Any correspondence to Do South or Read Chair Publishing, LLC., including photography becomes the property of Read Chair Publishing, LLC. Do South reserves the right to edit content and images.
22
42 56Features
26
CONTENTS
D O S O U T H M AG A Z I N E
fort and we sold it. All I could see was barren ground begging
to be planted. It would be a thing of beauty. I sketched it out. It
would even have solar lights and walking paths. We would have
fresh vegetables coming out of our ears.
Then one weekend I went to Little Rock to visit my father and I
came back to a backyard basketball court complete with three
point line. Husband and son who love basketball – 1, Mom and
garden – 0. One of these days my dream will come true. Perhaps
a front yard garden! Is that wrong?
But gardening isn’t the only thing that signals spring. There’s
also St. Patrick’s Day, which is right around the corner. If you’re
wondering how to celebrate, check out the Irish Push-Up recipe
on page 60. Yum!
Easter is soon after, and you’ll want a spectacular table. Check
out our decorating tips, including a centerpiece made with
fresh flowers and egg shells, and our bunny hop table runner!
When you’re through cooking and crafting, check out our story on
Steph Gibson who turned turning forty on its ear by performing
forty acts of kindness. Read “The World’s Greatest Love Story,”
a tale of two people so in love they seemed invincible. Then
read “Tarnished Charm” and find out what happens when you
stop trying to climb the corporate ladder and do exactly what
you love.
All this, plus a new twist on corned beef and cabbage, a drink
that's smooth from start to finish, and tips on some of the best
things to do in the month of March.
Me, I’m going to be planning my garden. No way my neighbor’s
going to have a bigger, better garden than mine! Even if I do
have to take over my own front yard.
To reserve this free space for your charitable non-profit organization, email: [email protected]
Bring on spring! Flowers and green grass. Warm temperatures.
Flip flops. I’ll even take the allergies. I just want to walk the dog
without having to wear my thermals. Now, you don’t need to
remind me of that statement when I am complaining that it
is 101 degrees outside. I live in the now. And right now, I am
starring out my window at the brown earth, save the pine trees
which are bent and broken from the last round of snow and ice.
What I need is some color, some sign of life! I’m ready to lock
away the winter gear and break out the gardening tools. It’s
time for this farm-loving girl to dig in the dirt and put plants
in the ground. I’m keeping my square foot, raised bed garden
this year, just going to switch up the plants a little and try my
hand at vertical gardening. I know it’s not quite time, but my
neighbor told me he’s already planted a bazillion onions, and
since gardening is a little unspoken competition between us
every year, I’ve got to get busy. I don’t like to lose.
I had my sights on a huge garden this year. I’m talking like a 30’ X
20’ area in my backyard. You see, my son outgrew his very large
letter from Catherine 05
Yellow daffodils and lower gas bills,
Baby squirrels and giggling girls,
Half-bloomed roses and sun-kissed noses,
Tender pale green lettuce,
Purple clematis on a trellis,
Fifty gals and laughing fellows,
Red hens and little fuzzy chickens,
Picnics and cookouts with the fixings,
Rambunctious kids running like the dickens.
Each day shares more warmth,
As a burgeoning Earth,
Once again celebrates rebirth.
Serenade to SpringWORDS Dee Ann Ritter
lifestyle 07
D O S O U T H M AG A Z I N E
Fort Smith, AR 72903479.484.7100
basingeraesthetics.com
Janet NewmanRN, Aesthetic Nurse
Basinger Aesthetics
08 UPCLOSE&PERSONAL
D O S O U T H M AG A Z I N E
About Basinger Aesthetics Basinger Aesthetics is so much more than an
aesthetic office. It’s full of life and people who care
about each other, and more importantly care about
the integrity and quality of care that we give our
patients. It began more than eight years ago with
the start of Vein Clinics of Arkansas and Dr. Norma
Basinger bringing the most advanced treatment for
varicose and spider veins to this area. It has evolved
into a place where both women and men can go for
aesthetic services, whether it be for those little lines
that bother us every time we look in the mirror, or
things that affect our quality of life, such as scarring,
leg ulcers, or painful varicose veins. I love the fact
that we never stop learning and always stay in the
know of the latest treatment available.
Where is your favorite spot in Arkansas? Anywhere there's a creek and swimming hole.
If you could go back in time, what year would you travel to? I don’t look back, but I suppose it would be interesting to be at my own birth (1970).
If you had to evacuate your house immediately, what is the one thing you would grab on the way out? My family.
Who's the one person who helped make you who you are today? My husband and kids (I can’t pick just one). When you get married and have kids you think you are going to mold them into something perfect and great, but they actually mold you, then you realize how silly you were for thinking you had any control.
What is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for you? Unconditional love.
What is the favorite food from your childhood? Spaghetti.
What is one food that you will not eat? Pig’s feet.
Where was your last road trip? Tulsa, taking my daughter to record a mini album with her voice teacher who was visiting from Italy. How cool is that?
Do you have a nickname? Flutter Fly, AKA Fairy
What is on your playlist right now? Katie Perry, Billy Joel, Sarah Barielles, Michael Buble, Miley Cirus, Faith Hill.
Favorite song from your teen years? Janet Jackson's "Love Will Never Do"
Last movie you saw? Lone Survivor.
Last book you read? My Story by Elizabeth Smart.
Who was your favorite teacher? Mrs. Sheffield at Christ the King.
Best advice you’ve ever been given? If you think the grass in greener on the other side, then you should water your own lawn.
Most sentimental thing you own? My wedding ring.
Strangest place you’ve called the Hogs? Sports bar in Miami.
What’s the best part of your job? That people actually enjoy coming into our office. There is such a good vibe there, it’s so nice seeing people leave smiling, and feeling better than when they came in. And the people I work with, I cannot say enough about how amazing they are at what they do, and how much joy I get from just being around them.
Just keep swimming, just keep swimming.
3 things I can’t do without
— Dori from Finding Nemo
My phone Diet Coke Botox
UPCLOSE&PERSONAL 09
D O S O U T H M AG A Z I N E
WORDS Stoney StamperIMAGES courtesy Stoney and April Stamper
Don’t Feed the Llamas
10 lifestyle
D O S O U T H M AG A Z I N E
Change is inevitable. Sometimes, change is easy, and
other times it is very, very hard. It was in 2011 that my
wife, April, and I decided to spend the rest of our lives
together, to combine our families and become one. She had
two daughters, and although I loved them, and they loved me
(mostly), it was still a hard adjustment for all of us to make.
And then, shortly thereafter, I had a great job opportunity
offered to me. The only problem was, the opportunity was in
Texas. After a lot of discussion, worry and debate, we decided
that the job was the best thing for our family. So, that spring I
moved by myself to Tyler, Texas and got the house ready. The
girls finished out their school year in Oklahoma, and then April,
Abby and Emma, fairly reluctantly, became citizens of the state
of Texas, in May.
It was a traumatic thing, moving them away from their home,
their school, their friends and family. And not just for the girls.
April had quite a bit of adjusting to do as well. To top it all off, we
had just learned that she was pregnant. To say that there was a
lot of tension and stress flowing through our little home would
be quite an understatement.
To try and make the move as easy as possible, I was pretty much
willing to do anything or go anywhere, if I thought they might
enjoy it. So when I saw the sign for a nearby safari park, I knew
that it was something that all my animal loving girls would like.
So one hot, muggy Saturday afternoon, we made the thirty mile
drive to this drive-through zoo. I’d been to one of those before,
but not since I was a little kid. And frankly, there were a few
traumatizing events that happened then, too. So, I’m not sure what
it was that made me think that this time would be any different.
However, I was so happy that the girls were finally with me in
Texas, and I wanted to see them laugh and be happy. So, we
checked in at the office. I paid for our tickets, bought us each a
bag of food for the animals, and we made our merry way into
the happy land of goats, deer, deer, goats, a few cows, some
ill-tempered Sicilian donkeys, goats, deer, buffalo, and maybe a
few pigs. And some goats and deer. Seriously, like, it was mostly
goats and deer. Ok, you get it.
Anyhoo, there were also some llamas. Some stupid, sorry, no-
count llamas. And llamas are jerks, you guys. Huge jerks.
As we approached the llama area in my brand new truck, they
quickly perked up, looking in our direction, and then all three of
them came hurriedly towards us at a high lope. The girls oohed
and awed over the cute little llamas. “Oh look at them! They're
so cute! Look at their ears, they’re so big! Look how long their
eyelashes are! Oh, I’m gonna feed them!"
I've always been pretty good at doing different, funny voices,
so I began talking the way I thought a llama would, just saying
silly things that would make the girls laugh. And man, they were
laughing. I felt great. They're having such a fun time, I thought.
They're so happy, I thought. Way to go, Stone, I said to myself.
As the girls began to feed them, it was easy to see that there
was definitely an alpha in the pack. He made a funny hissing
noise that the girls thought was so cute. He pinned his ears
back, and would stick his head through the window to get the
food. Having been around horses all my life, I could tell a ticked
off animal when I saw one. And he definitely was. I told the girls
to be careful. I told them he was about to get ignorant. But no
one listens to me. I’m just their chauffeur. And arm candy.
I rolled my window up when he came around to my side,
because I’m smart. Even with their heckling (mainly April’s) I
would not roll it down.“Girls," I said, "he’s not playing. I’m telling
you, he’s getting ready to throw a fit.” To which April replied,
“Oh, quit being such a baby!" She paid for that silly remark.
Unfortunately, we all had to pay for it with her.
This big llama began to butt his head against my closed window,
yet still no one heeded my warnings. He went around to April’s
lifestyle 11
D O S O U T H M AG A Z I N E
side, and hissed. Then she gave him some food. He took it, and
hissed again. I said “Roll your window up!" To which she replied,
“He’s just playing!"
And that’s when it happened. He unleashed the most wretched
combination of bodily functions that have ever been combined
on this earth. It was a massive conglomeration of a gassy,
belching cough that was filled with puke, and slimy green goo,
and he topped it off with a hair-raising scream at the end. All of
this, no more than three inches from April’s face.
In an instant, we’d gone from having a blast to one of the worst
days of my life. There was awful green stuff all over everything.
April had her hands over her slime-covered face, and had yet
to make a sound. I blacked out. I do not know what I said, but I
expect it wasn’t PG. I didn’t know if April was laughing, or crying.
And frankly, I don’t think she knew.
The smell was, simply put, unbearable. This horrible green
substance was all over the inside of my windshield, on my dash,
covering my rear view mirror to the point that you could not
see anything in it. My GPS screen, yep, covered. Steering wheel,
check. Sun visors, check. My plaid khaki golf shorts? Slimed. My
face, my neck, my ears. Everywhere.
All this time, April had yet to look out from her hands. The girls
were in the backseat, laughing as if they have just witnessed
the funniest thing that has ever happened, and the cab of the
truck could not have smelled worse even if the llama had done
what he had done inside the cab. April uncovered her face,
and I couldn't really get a grasp of her emotions. She definitely
wanted to cry. But she also knew that this was pretty funny. Her
hair was just mangled in this stuff that came out of the llama.
And the truck looked like a bomb went off inside of it.
Well, here was our main problem. We couldn’t get out o! I’ve
never had to fight the urge to jump out of my truck so bad.
But we're surrounded by llamas. Ticked off llamas. I began to
drive away, and they followed us. They kept coming and they
wouldn’t leave us alone. I drove faster. They ran faster. We were
bouncing around the cab as I drove forty miles an hour across
a pasture. I felt like I should be singing Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
But we finally get rid of them. We were free! I bailed out of
the truck, wiping this awful mess off of my body. I don’t think I
could've felt dirtier if I’d been that guy that fell in the state park
port-a-potty, trying to get his wallet. It was awful. The girls were
still laughing. April was still getting her wits about her, trying to
decide just exactly how upset she actually was. My new truck
had been defiled. And I was already making plans in my head
to trade it off.
So, as we were leaving, we noticed another car pulling into the
llama area. We watched those crazy animals take advantage of
another unsuspecting family. And then we laughed and laughed.
It was such a long drive home. The smell was something I’ll
never ever get out of my head.
And that's the story of our first Family Day. Starting out, I wanted
a fun, memorable day that the girls would never forget. And I
promise you, none of us ever will.
Stoney Stamperis the author of the popular parenting blog, The Daddy Diaries. He and his wife April
have three daughters: Abby, Emma and Gracee. Originally from northeast Oklahoma,
the Stampers now live in Tyler, Texas. For your daily dose of The Daddy Diaries, visit
Stoney on Facebook or on his website, thedaddydiaries.net.
12 lifestyle
D O S O U T H M AG A Z I N E
D O S O U T H M AG A Z I N E
Clinton
Hogan
Rainy
Pebbles
Harley
Bullet
F
F
M
M M
M
Rescue a RescuePoteau Pound Pups is run completely by volunteers and operates solely on public donations.
For more adoption information, please contact one the numbers listed below.
Poteau Pound Pups is a foster-only rescue, so there is no facility. All animals are currently in foster homes being socialized and cared for by loving families. All animals are spayed or neutered, up-to-date on vaccinations, and heartworm negative.
PoteauPoundPups.org
PoteauPoundPups
Angela Meek 479.883.2240 Mitzi Burkhart 479.651.4445 Cheryl Greenmyer 918.471.8514
Donations are always needed and greatly appreciated.
14
D O S O U T H M AG A Z I N E
Let’s take a look at why dogs chew so much, what to do when they chew something they shouldn’t, like shoes or furniture, and what you can do to redirect your furry friends.
Information contained in this article should not be construed as specific medical advice for your pet. If you have a concern about your pet, contact your veterinarian.
Communication: Puppies chew to communicate with their environment. For the first six weeks of their life they use their mouth and nose to find mom and fill their bellies. Puppies will chew when they’re teething. This is a natural mannerism to help remove those baby teeth. This behavior will stop generally around five to six months of age. Some dogs may continue this as a puppy trait until eighteen months. Age and breed appropriate chew toys are often an easy remedy to this action.
Anxiety: Anxiety will induce some serious chewing. I once had the best Irish Setter to grace this earth. A perfect dog in many ways yet, on the night of the Great Fort Smith/Van Buren Tornado in April, 1996, she chewed the leg of a table into sawdust, while we slept.
Boredom: Boredom is another common reason for our canine friends to pick up the chewing habit, and this is true for both puppies and adult dogs. Chewing, especially in adult dogs, is a sign of pent up energy.
Remedies: Offer several appropriate and safe toys. Keep items you deem sacred out of harm’s way. Reward good habits rapidly and often. On the other hand, discourage bad habits only when you witness the crime, never after the crime has occurred. A good solid “NO!” should get the message across. If your furniture is taking a beating and verbal commands aren’t doing the trick, try wrapping chair and table legs with aluminum foil. You can also apply chili pepper, or vinegar solutions to the item being chewed. The odor will be offensive to your dog and can discourage chewing. Antiperspirants such as Arid Extra Dry will deter chewing without damage to your furniture. If you suspect separation anxiety, minimize interaction with your dog a half hour before you leave the house, and do the same for the first half hour after you return. This helps Fido stay calm and cut down on the excitement and anxiety when you leave and return. Lastly, if you suspect your dog is bored, go for a walk! Exercise and attention are both excellent remedies for bored puppies and dogs that chew.
Have a question you’d like to see answered here? Email it to [email protected].
Why Dogs ChewWords Dr. Rusty Henderson, D.V.M. Eastside Animal Clinic
15
D O S O U T H M AG A Z I N E
Canoe/Kayak Program
12th Annual Grape Escapes
Dancing with the Stars of Northwest Arkansas
Devil’s Den’s School’s Out, Park’s Are In
Saturdays from March 1 - November // Noon – 2 // Free
March 7 // 6PM // $100
March 8 // 6:30pm – 11pm // See website for details
March 21 - 29 // Call for details
Go canoeing or kayaking at the Nature Center at 8300 Wells Lake Road. Available every Saturday from March through November, weather permitting. A parent or guardian must accompany children. The center even provides life jackets and instructions, to make learning that much easier.
Bost invites you to a night of great wine, live auctions, entertainment and unbelievable door prizes at the 12th Annual Grape Escapes. This charitable event features samplings of over 350 wines from around the world and tastings from 13 area restaurants and caterers. The event will be held at the Epic Center by MovieLounge in Fort Smith.
You’re invited to the 7th Annual Dancing with the Stars of NWA event. The night features dinner, silent and live auctions, and, of course, dancing. Five local executives will perform with their talented dance partners to raise funds for the Amazeum children’s learning center. The event will be held in the John Q. Hammons Center in Rogers.
Looking for a cure for spring fever? Take your kids and head out to Devil’s Den State Park. All week, there will be nature programs, hikes, games, and crafts. Many are free, but a few require reservations and a small fee. Call for details.
Fort Smith, AR // 479.452.3993 // rivervalleynaturecenter.com
Fort Smith, AR // 479.478.5554 // bost.org
Rogers, AR // 479.696.9280 // amazeum.org
West Fork, AR // 479.761.3325 // arkansasstateparks.com
1
2
3
4
16 entertainment
D O S O U T H M AG A Z I N E
Spring Fling at Heifer Village
Iron Pig Festival
Women’s Backpacking Clinic (Beginners)
6th Annual Fort Smith Heritage Festival
March 24 - 29 // 10 – 4 // Free
March 22 // See website for details
March 22 - 23 // $40 // See website for details
April 5 // See website for details
Want a fun leaning experience this spring break? Kids will get to create their own “sheep” craft to take home and learn how animals provide materials like wool that can be made into gloves, scarves, and blankets. They’ll also see a bee hive, try on beekeeping suits, and create pollination mobiles to take home.
Make your way to Drake Field in Fayetteville for the Iron Pig Festival. This is a 4-in-1 event that features a duathlon, 5K run, 1 mile fun run/walk, and bike time trial. This is a great way to kickoff the race season for athletes ready to work out that cabin fever. This event will take place in front of the Fayetteville Executive Airport.
Hosted by the Pack Rat Outdoor Center and designed with the beginner in mind, this clinic equips any outdoors enthusiast with various backcountry skills like meal preparation, fire-starting, clothing/footwear, water filtration and much more. The outings take place on sections of the Ozark Highlands Trail and range from 5 – 10 miles a day. Contact the Pack Rat Outdoor Center for more information.
Celebrate Fort Smith’s history at the 2014 Heritage Festival. The event is free and will include free trolley rides of the Heritage Trail, Old West action, wagon rides, a petting zoo, the Choctaw Youth Dancers, live music and food! The Heritage Festival benefits the Meals for Kids program to help feed local children through the summer. The festival will take place in Downtown Fort Smith.
Little Rock, AR // 501.907.2697 // heifer.org
Fayetteville, AR // 479.571.8786 // ironpigfestival.com
Fayetteville, AR // 479.521.6340 // packratoc.com/events
Fort Smith, AR // 479.782.5074 // csclearinghouse.org
5
6
7
8
entertainment 17
D O S O U T H M AG A Z I N E
I think most Grisham fans will be delighted with this new
book by one of the greatest courtroom storytellers in the
South. Sycamore Row takes place in the same town in
Mississippi as John Grisham’s first book, A Time to Kill, which
is one of his finest. In that novel, Jake Brigance, a young lawyer
fresh out of law school, defends a black man who’s accused of
murdering a white man who raped his daughter. Jake won the
case and received national fame, but he only made
$900, his home was burned down by the Klan, and his dog was
killed in the fire.
Sycamore Row begins three years later in 1988 with the suicide
of Seth Hubbard, a reclusive landowner and twice divorced
cantankerous old man who’s dying of cancer. He hangs himself
from an ancient sycamore tree on timber land his family got
back in the 1930s by unscrupulous means.
Seth mailed a letter and a hand-written will to Jake Brigance,
which was to arrive on the Monday morning following his death
on Sunday night.
Seth instructs Jake to make sure that his will is probated
carefully and that his children and grandchildren are to get
nothing. His brother, if he can be found, will get a percentage,
but the bulk of it will go to his black housekeeper, Lettie Lang.
Jake will be the attorney handling Seth’s affairs, and he will be
paid out of the estate, which is worth around 26 million dollars.
Jake knows the children and grandchildren were left everything
in an earlier will that was drafted by a big shot Memphis firm.
He knows there will be trouble, and there certainly is, with a
bus load of lawyers representing the Hubbard family and the
relatives of Lettie Lang, who suddenly have taken an interest in
their poor cousin with the no-good husband.
Jake and his family are living in a small rental, awaiting an
insurance claim to be settled on their torched home. This
Hubbard case will bring a nice monthly paycheck, and Jake is
happy about that, but he’s not prepared to deal with the turmoil
and racial hatred that follows. He does have legal help from
Harry Rex and Lucien, two intelligent drunks whom fans will
remember from A Time to Kill.
It’s a real page-turner, and one I recommend for the sheer
pleasure of reading a well-told story of a small town lawyer in
Mississippi who takes on the big city law firms.
By John GrishamRandom House : $2895
Sycamore Row
review Anita Paddock
18 entertainment
D O S O U T H M AG A Z I N E
iTunes: $297
lennonandmaisy.com
Lennon and Maisy
review Marla Cantrell
Singing sensations Lennon and Maisy Stella were born in
Canada, but Nashville is their home. Not just the city, but
the ABC drama Nashville as well. It is there the two young
singers play the daughters of the show's lead star, Connie Britton.
What catapulted Lennon (fourteen) and Maisy (nine) to
stardom was their massive YouTube following, particularly
their cover song of Robyn’s “Call Your Girlfriend.” In it, the
two sing perfect harmony, sitting together at a table, with no
musical accompaniment except their own hands clapping, and
intermittently using what looks like empty butter containers
more or less as drumsticks. It is such a pure setup for their
immaculate voices, with Lennon singing melody and Maisy
picking up harmony. To date, that video has been watched
more than 22 million times. Soon, national news agencies were
tracking the girls down for interviews, and not long after, the two
got a gig at the famed Bluebird Café in Nashville. A customer
there taped the whole thing, posted it online, and before long
the producers of Nashville came calling.
If you’ve not heard these sisters, a quick visit to YouTube will
remedy that. There, you’ll hear them sing hits like the “Ho Hey,”
a song made famous by the Lumineers. Then check out iTunes,
where three of their songs: “Call Your Girlfriend,” “I Won’t Give
Up” and “Headlock” are sold as a package for $2.97. And finally,
check out The Music of Nashville: Season 2 Volume 1. On it,
Lennon and Maisy sing two of the thirteen songs.
And while Lennon and Maisy don’t have an album of their own
yet, it’s bound to happen soon. If you listen to them without
knowing their ages, you’d never believe these voices belonged
to two girls this young. They’re extraordinarily talented, and
their mother says she knew they were destined for stardom, she
just didn’t expect it so soon.
The sisters spent their earliest years on a 170 acre plot of
farmland, without a TV or internet access. Their parents, Brad
and Marylynne Stella, performed as The Stellas, singing vintage
country, with quite a following themselves. The family’s home
was filled with vinyl records, and the girls listened to a lot of
Roger Miller and Marty Robbins. It paid off. Just last year, the
girls performed at the Grand Ole Opry.
It is going to be fun to see where these two end up. Several TV
critics claim the girls are the highlight of Nashville, and when
they’re allowed to sing you’ll see why. Theirs is a rare talent, so
rich, so soulful, it’s hard to forget them.
I Rate It
20 entertainment
D O S O U T H M AG A Z I N E
The Edible Nest
Chocolate Easter bunnies are a must for the kiddos, but adults need a sweet treat too. Whether you give these as a gift, use them as edible table décor, placeholders for your Easter meal, or simply bake them up because they’re so darn cute, you can’t go wrong with these adorable, edible nests.
MethodPreheat oven to 350°. Place 24 cupcake liners into muffin tins. Combine one box white cake mix, three egg whites, 1 ¼ cups buttermilk, 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil, and 1 teaspoon lemon extract in a mixing bowl. Beat with electric mixer until combined, then mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Pour mixture into cupcake liners and bake for 16 - 18 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Do not over bake. Let cool completely. Spread (1) 6oz package of shredded coconut onto a cookie sheet and toast until lightly brown, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Let cool completely.
AssemblyPlace one unwrapped cupcake upside down into each of the (8) half-pint Mason jars. Top with one Tablespoon of store bought lemon curd, spread to cover cupcake. Place (1) 16oz container of cream cheese frosting into a piping bag or a double lined Ziploc® bag with the corner cut about ¼” from end. Pipe frosting on top of lemon curd. Spread to cover cream cheese. Top with 1 Tablespoon toasted coconut. Add another unwrapped cupcake, right side up. Top with 1 Tablespoon of apricot-pineapple preserves (from a 16oz jar). Spread to cover. Pipe another layer of frosting to cover preserves and to form a slight mound. Press toasted coconut into frosting to make a nest by pushing in the center of the frosting with your thumb, creating an indention. Cover frosting with coconut completely. Add three candy coated blue eggs in the center. Repeat for each jar. Makes 8.
WORDS Catherine Frederickimages Jeromy Price
22
D O S O U T H M AG A Z I N E
EggstraordinarilyBeautiful
Welcome spring with beautiful flowers in unique containers – eggs! Make one egg and place it on a single egg cup for use as a place setting, or make several and use them as a centerpiece for a bright, beautiful pop of color.
MethodGather 12 eggs and crack away the top of each egg. Open the top of the shell enough for the contents to come out. Rinse out each shell. Using tweezers, remove as much of the inner eggshell membrane as you can. Rinse the egg out again. Cut flowers of choice 3-4” from the stem. Fill eggshell with a bit of water and place into container of choice. Fill each shell with a flower and display.
words Catherine Frederickimages Jeromy Price
23
D O S O U T H M AG A Z I N E
Peter Cotton TailHere comes Peter Cotton Tail, hopping right across your table! But don’t worry, he won’t eat much, and even though he’s chocolate brown, he won’t melt. What he will do is grace your Easter table in the cutest way possible!
MethodPurchase burlap table runner (much easier as the edges are already hemmed and will not fray). Print out bunny silhouette from the URL below (tip: print out as many bunnies as you will place on the runner – makes it easier to space them out). Place paper under runner so paint doesn’t seep through. Space silhouettes onto runner, then using a brown Sharpie®, trace around each silhouette. If your runner falls over the ends of your table, you may want to turn the silhouette on each end of the runner so the bunny is sitting horizontally and not vertically. Using brown acrylic craft paint, paint the bunnies. Let dry completely. While paint is drying, create pom-poms for the tails. For pom-pom making instructions, visit our website at DoSouthMagazine.com. Once paint is dry, attach pom-poms for tails with craft glue or a glue gun.
Bunny Silhouette: www.openclipart.org/detail/116629/1296480840
words Catherine Frederickimage Jeromy Price
24
D O S O U T H M AG A Z I N E
S T E P H G I B S O Nwords Marla CantrellImages Jeromy Price and courtesty Steph Gibson
26 people
D O S O U T H M AG A Z I N E
On January 28, 2014, Steph Gibson turned forty. Several things
happened in the weeks leading up to her big day. She’d been
on Pinterest, and she’d come across a few posts about random
acts of kindness. There were lists of things you could do, simple
things to brighten someone else’s day, and the lists sparked
something in Steph. She started thinking about her husband,
who was likely struggling with a plan to make her birthday
spectacular. What pressure, she thought, for this man she loved
so much.
Then she read a novel called Wonder. The book touched her
deeply, and two of the lines kept coming back to her. Our deeds
are our monuments, and Whenever you have the choice of being
right or being kind, be kind. “And that thought, choose to be kind,
just stayed with me,” Steph says.
So she decided. She would perform forty acts of kindness,
beginning on her birthday. Instead of expecting flowers and
gifts, she would touch the lives of forty people, some she knew
and others she’d never met.
This mother of four couldn’t believe how much fun the planning
was. She, with the help of her sister, made a list. Steph’s oldest
daughter printed labels that read: Today is my fortieth birthday.
I’m celebrating by making other people smile. With the plan in
place, Steph waited impatiently for the day to arrive.
“When we got up that morning, I put on some really loud dance
music and my kids and I were singing and dancing, which wasn’t
typical for me. And my husband walked in and smiled and shook
his head. He said, ‘This is who I married.’ We were all so happy.”
Her first stop was supposed to be at a construction site near her
Fort Smith, Arkansas home, where she’d seen the workers for
weeks on end, huddled around a trash barrel turned outdoor
fire pit, trying to get warm. She bought donuts and hand
warmers they could put inside their gloves. It was before six in
the morning when she arrived, but the workers had been sent
to another job.
It was a small setback. Later in the day, she found another group
of construction workers, equally cold, equally hungry, who were
awed by Steph’s kindness. She and her sister went to Garrison
Avenue, and dropped quarters in the parking meters in front
of the water department. She went to Sonic and bought $5
gift cards that she then taped above several speakers, so that
people pulling in to order would get a sweet surprise.
There is a man named Stanley who works at Chick-Fil-A, who
always has a kind word, and Steph baked him one of her much-
loved homemade, giant chocolate chip cookies and took it to
him. She drove to the 188th Fighter Wing, where her husband
works, and stopped at the security station. “They miss a lot
of the fun stuff that goes on because they have to stay in the
booth to make sure everything’s secure. So I made one of my
giant cookies and took it to them.”
Steph found a Redbox machine, and taped a package of
microwave popcorn to it, so that the next person renting a movie
would see it. She went to Lin’s Garden Chinese Restaurant and
left quarters in the candy machines. She bought lunch for a
friend; she took more flowers to the hospital and left them at
the nurses’ station, so they could find just the right patient to
give them to. She delivered bouquets to two women from her
church, because Steph said they do so much for others. But
the most touching moment came when she arrived at the main
branch of the Fort Smith Library for the children’s story hour.
She carried forty balloons with her, and waited for the librarian
to finish reading. She stepped into the room, handed out the
balloons, and talked to them about Leslie Creekmore, a twenty-
nine-year-old woman who worked at the library, was twenty
weeks pregnant, and in January contracted the H1N1 strain of
the flu that became double pneumonia. Leslie lost the baby,
and was being treated at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis.
Her husband, Chris, never left her side. Sadly, Leslie passed
away on February 10.
But on that day, Steph and thousands of others were praying
for a miracle, and staying connected through a Facebook page
called Love for Leslie. Steph and her children knew Leslie from
their frequent visits to the library, and wanted to find a way to
show this young woman how much she was cared about. So,
after handing out the balloons, she asked the kids to remember
to pray for her.
As the day rolled on, Steph found more and more people to help.
Some of what she did was simple. She started a conversation
with a woman in an elevator, and learned the woman had
cancer, and needed someone to talk to. She opened doors for
people. She found a woman pumping gas and handed her one
people 27
D O S O U T H M AG A Z I N E
of her Sonic gift cards. But there were other things, like making
dinner for the firefighters stationed closest to her house that
took time and planning and effort.
Steph thought about her oldest friends, women she’d met when
she lived in Michigan, who were now scattered across the U.S.
“Vegas, Utah, New Jersey, St. Louis. I sent them a message and
told them I’d love for them to come to Arkansas but I knew they
couldn’t. I said I wanted them to do acts of kindness in my honor
on my birthday. So all through the day I’d get texts from them.
My friend in New Jersey is awesome. She said she was doing the
best she could, but the people there were skeptical and thought
she was out to get them. She ended up giving a free Zumba
lesson to one of her students, who was having a hard time.”
And so, all through the day and the following two days that it
took Steph to finish her list, momentum built. She is humbled by
what this project brought, and she understands what kindness
means in a world where we’re so often bombarded by what is
bad and what can’t be fixed and what brings us sorrow.
Her last act on her birthday was taking flowers to a neighbor
who is widowed. “I didn’t really know Maxine. I’d only met
her when I was out walking, and I’d stop and say hi. She’s the
sweetest lady. I took my kids with me, so they could feel what
it feels like to have someone smile so big and say, ‘You thought
of me?’”
Looking back, her fortieth birthday was a kind of miracle. “I had
a huge smile all day long. It was better than anything anybody
could have done for me. Other than my wedding day, the birth
of my children, and the day I was baptized into the church, it
was the best day of my life.”
Steph is sitting near a window where sunshine pours in, and the
light dances off her silver earrings. “One act of kindness paid
forward can change people’s lives,” she says. “It can change
how a community sees each other, and treats each other. The
results are boundless.”
It is a great thing to ponder. If each of us reached out to someone
every day and tried to make their journey a little brighter, who
knows what a dazzling world this could be.
Each month, DoSouth Magazine will feature the story
of someone in our community who is making the
world a better place. If you have someone you’d like
to nominate for our Do Gooder Award, email editors@
dosouthmagazine.com.
28 people
D O S O U T H M AG A Z I N E
VIRGIL’S PEACH LEMONADEHARNEy & SONS ORGANIC BEVERAGESOld FashiOned FOOds oldfashionedfoods.com
TROyER® NATuRAL MARBLE CHEESE AND uNSALTED ROLL BuTTERAMISH WEDDING® NATuRALLy GOOD FROG JAMFarmer’s COOPfarmercoop.com
ZuM BAR® GOAT’S MILk SOAPZuM TuB® BATH SALTS Old FashiOned FOOds oldfashionedfoods.com
2ND EDITION SquARE FOOT GARDENING BOOk By MEL BARTHOLOMEWBONNIE® COLD CROP PLANTSFarmer’s COOPfarmercoop.com
30
D O S O U T H M AG A Z I N E
RIVER CITy DELI CLuB river CiTy deli7320 rogers avenue, stonewood village myrivercitydeli.com
SLATE PLANT STAND WITH FOLDING BASE yeagers hardware yeagershardware.com
HALF SOuR PICkLES AND SWEET TOMATOES By THE POuND river CiTy deli7320 rogers avenue, stonewood village myrivercitydeli.com
TEA LIGHT AND OIL BuRNING LAMPS yeagers hardware yeagershardware.com
31
D O S O U T H M AG A Z I N E
G O G R E E N
Eat the Beanwords Marcus Cokerimage courtesy City of Mulberry
32 people
D O S O U T H M AG A Z I N E
Everyone knows that oranges come from Florida, and apples from Washington. But here’s a question: Where does
the vegetable edamame (pronounced e-də-'mä-mā) come from?
If you said, “Mulberry, Arkansas,” you’re on the right track.
Edamame means “beans on a branch,” and is an immature
soybean, which means that it’s picked early. For centuries, it’s
been a staple food in Asian countries and was first introduced
in the United States in Japanese restaurants as a snack food
eaten with Sake or beer. Over the last
ten years, it’s grown in popularity in
the United States, with Americans
consuming 25 to 30 thousand tons
of edamame annually. Ninety-eight
percent of that total is imported,
with ninety-five percent coming
from China.
Those numbers, however, don’t
account for American Vegetable
Soybean & Edamame, Inc. (AVS). AVS
is an edamame processing plant that
opened in Mulberry in 2012. The
plant is unique not only because it’s
processing edamame in the United
States, but also because it’s the only
facility in the United States that’s
dedicated solely to edamame.
AVS is owned and operated by the
family of Dr. Gene Chung, who has
been in the food business for over thirty years and importing
and distributing edamame from other countries since 2004.
Aware of consumers’ concerns about food safety issues in China
and their desire to bring jobs back to the United States, Gene
and his family decided to start growing edamame themselves.
Arkansas, which produces 3.2 million acres of soybeans
annually, turned out to be the perfect place to do so.
“We had met a contact in Arkansas who really helped us think
about how to do edamame in the United States. After a while,
we realized the missing link was having a processing facility,”
says Ray Chung, Gene’s son and chief financial officer of AVS.
“It’s worked out well, and we’ve been very impressed with
the infrastructure and how efficient everything is in the state.
Plus, although we don’t have any scientific evidence, we just
know our Arkansas edamame tastes better. I suspect it may be
because the land in China has been farmed for centuries, so it’s
most likely been depleted.”
With Arkansas being the tenth largest producer of soybeans in
the country, AVS had an easy time finding growers for edamame.
Ray says, “All of our growers have very strict guidelines that we
follow, as all of our products are verified as non-genetically
modified. Additionally, they are organic, which means only
approved chemicals and pesticides
are used.”
The venture has been good for AVS, but
it’s also been good for Mulberry and
its 1,655 residents. When the plant
first opened, the city hosted a job fair
for those interested in employment at
AVS. Initially the company hired forty
employees, but currently has about a
hundred. “We only expected twenty-
five people to show up, but they were
lined up down the street. There were
150 applicants that day,” says Mayor
Gary Baxter.
“The AVS facility cost 11 million
dollars, and that brings a lot of value
to the community,” says Mayor Baxter.
“When the company first approached
us, there was talk about tax breaks
for them to come to Mulberry. But the owners said, ‘We’re not
even going to go there. We want to pay the taxes to support
the community and the schools.’ So there are the jobs and the
property taxes, but there are also a lot of peripheral benefits,
like the products bought locally used in construction and the
fuel and water used on a regular basis. It’s all very positive.”
The edamame that AVS produces is planted in spring and
harvested in summer at the peak of ripening, before hardening
time. First, the pods are washed by machine and “de-haired.”
Then they are cooked with hot water (194 to 203 degrees
Fahrenheit) for 80 to 100 seconds and sent to a blast freezer
for quick freezing. This process is called blanching. Ray says, “It
people 33
D O S O U T H M AG A Z I N E
has to be processed quickly because soybeans have an enzyme
that will break down the product and cause it to spoil. With every
hour that passes, the sweetness decreases if you don’t blanch it.”
The final step is that the edamame is packaged for consumption.
“Our Imperial brand product, which is simply packaged
edamame, is sold at Sam’s Club and comes from our Arkansas
crop. AVS also packages our other product, Cruncha Ma-Me, and
we’re making the switch so that it will come from our Arkansas
crop as well,” says Ray.
“Cruncha Ma-Me is a snack we make with fresh edamame that’s
been freeze-dried. (Freeze-drying involves a vacuum chamber
that causes water to flash straight into a vapor.) Most snacks
are baked or fried or roasted, and the high temperatures kill the
nutrients. Freeze-drying, on the other hand, is a good way of
preserving nutrients and flavor. Think about food for astronauts.
It’s great for kids because it’s tasty, high in protein, and more
portable than regular edamame. It comes in a variety of flavors
and can be purchased through Amazon.com.”
Edamame can be eaten by itself as a finger food, but it can also
be used as an ingredient for soups, salads, or vegetable dishes.
Similar to large green beans, edamame beans come in a pod,
which can be snapped open to remove the beans for eating.
Most people add salt to the beans, and AVS packages their
products with sea salt packets for those who wish to use them.
The beans are about forty percent protein, high in fiber, and low
in fat. They have about 189 calories per cup. “I’d never eaten
edamame until I heard that AVS was interested in coming to
Mulberry,” says Mayor Baxter. “Then I tried it as an appetizer at a
restaurant and really liked it. We’ve started calling Mulberry the
edamame capital of the United States.”
With AVS planning to expand its already 33,000 square foot
facility by fifty percent, Arkansas is quickly on its way to
becoming a top edamame producer. As consumers, we benefit
from a great-tasting product that’s good for us and is practically
grown in our own backyards. Ray says, “More and more people
are becoming concerned about where their food is coming
from. Traditionally, we’ve had a very industrial food supply
chain where people didn’t know where their food was coming
from. But people are starting to understand the different issues
like genetic modification that arise from that chain. It’s really
important to many parents with young kids. Plus, we’re bringing
jobs back to the United States, and I love that we can support
the community and provide jobs to local residents.”
It’s no small thing – providing a healthy, organic product that’s
made in the United States. And just as the individual benefits,
so does the community of Mulberry and the state. Because just
like Florida has oranges, and Idaho has potatoes, Arkansas now
has edamame, and that’s something not only to eat, but also to
be proud of.
On Saturday, March 29, 2014, the City of Mulberry and
AVS will be hosting the First Annual Edamame Festival
at the Mulberry City Park. The event is free to attend
and will last from 10 AM to 5 PM, rain or shine.
The festival will include a variety of vendors, a
bounce-around, an antique car show, live music by
Bill Rogers and others, a pageant for young children,
a three-on-three basketball tournament, a disc golf
tournament, and helicopter rides.
AVS will provide edamame and Cruncha Ma-Me for
sampling, as well as other delights like edamame
salsa and edamame guacamole.
Mulberry City Park
419 Mulberry Highway 64 West
Mulberry, Arkansas 72947
For more information, including information for new
vendors, check out Mulberry City Limits on Facebook,
or contact the mayor’s office at 479.997.1321 or
34 people
D O S O U T H M AG A Z I N E
35
We’re all about making life simpler. Try these household
tricks to save time and money. You can thank us later.
Color Coated
Don’t waste your money on fancy keys or
key covers to identify which key goes to
what. Break out some fingernail polish and
coat the top portion of the key, on both
sides. Place on a hard surface with the top
portion hanging over the edge and allow to
dry completely.
WORDS Catherine Frederickimage Jeromy Price
36
D O S O U T H M AG A Z I N E
Sliced Tomatoes
What’s easier than slicing through a cherry
tomato? Slicing through fifteen at once. Place
cherry tomatoes on the top of a plastic lid, then
place another plastic lid, top side down, on top of
the tomatoes. Holding the top lid in place, run a
long, sharp knife through them horizontally, all at
once. Viola!
Hair Removal
Pet hair everywhere? In a rush and no time to
break out the vacuum or waste strips from the
sticky roller? Grab a squeegee and rake it across
your furniture or carpet. The pet hair will be
removed with ease. Don’t try this on your cat. Trust
us, it doesn’t work.
37
D O S O U T H M AG A Z I N E
A cold wind is blowing when I leave the warmth of my car and walk up the sidewalk
to the front door of an artist I’ve long admired. Kay Morgan Aclin is an award
winning watercolorist whom I’ve known since we were young mothers, traveling
the state, taking our children to tennis tournaments. In those days, I had no idea of her
artistic skills.
Kay answers the door, smiling that beautiful wide smile of hers I recall so well. Dressed
in jeans and a red sweater, with her blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail, no one would
believe she has children in their early fifties. We sit at her kitchen table, reminiscing about
the good old days of sitting in lawn chairs, sweltering under a summer sun, watching our
kids on the court.
The Life and Art of Kay Aclin
WORDS Anita Paddockimage courtesy Kay Aclin and Jeromy Price
38 people
D O S O U T H M AG A Z I N E
Kay has lived in Fort Smith, Arkansas since 1971, arriving
here with her husband, Dick, who is still practicing pediatric
medicine. They both grew up in Hot Springs, and they married
in 1961 while he was still in medical school.
Deeply rooted in Arkansas, her maternal grandfather owned a
cigar store on Spencer’s Corner in Hot Springs, where the Blue
Moon Art Gallery now sits, and where Kay is the featured artist
for this month.
“Our family was surrounded by art,” Kay says. “My mother
was years ahead of her time as an artist. She was fashioning
twigs and dried flowers into art pieces long before they were
being sold in little exclusive gift shops.” Always encouraging
her daughters with praise and devoted interest, her mother
remained instrumental in their developing talent. She and her
mother’s pals are often the subject of Kay’s watercolors.
Kay and her sister, Carol, who at age twelve was the youngest
member of the Artist Society of Hot Springs, began drawing as
children. “That was fun for us,” Kay says. “We’d sprawl across
the front porch with our papers and pencils and crayons and
be perfectly happy. I guess I thought everybody could draw
because I never felt like I had any kind of special gift,” she
remembers. “It was just a part of me. I also loved to dance, and
I took lessons in ballet.”
After her husband graduated from med school in 1963, he was
stationed with the Air Force in Biloxi, Mississippi. Kay taught at
a local art center. “I taught Folk Art and also sold gift items such
as boxes and note cards at gift shops that catered to tourists.
I was happy to sell my artwork, but I always counted myself
blessed that I didn’t have to depend on it as a sole means of
support. I’ve been very, very lucky.”
At first, Kay painted in both oils and watercolors. “I discovered
that I liked watercolors better, and that it was hard to jump back
and forth. I liked the spontaneity of watercolors, its looseness.”
She likes a variety of subjects, including landscapes and figures.
Only recently, Kay has found an interest in abstracts that have
ultimately brought her joy and a new circle of admirers.
Her work has been hailed as spontaneous and diverse, with
exciting contrasts and colors. As a member of the National
Women in the Arts and Mid-Southern Watercolor Society, her
work is in permanent collections at the Arkansas Art Center
in Little Rock as well as RAM, the Regional Art Museum in Fort
Smith. Her art has been exhibited in the Governor’s Mansion
and featured in a book celebrating Arkansas authors.
Kay has passed on her love of art to her grandchildren. As soon
as they arrive for visits, they want to go upstairs to her studio.
They have their own areas to work in, and they are careful to not
intrude in their grandmother’s space. In 2005, grandchildren
Katherine, Sarah, and William Aclin had their own showings at
the Center for Art and Education in Van Buren. They prepared
their artist statements, with then eight-year-old William saying
he “loved to see his accidents turn into surprises.” Eleven-year-
old Katherine said “art was freedom for her imagination,” and
Sarah, nine, thought of “art as an adventure.”
Kay finds happiness in teaching art, particularly to children,
whether it’s on an art excursion to the Janet Huckabee Nature
Center or teaching in a summer art camp. She recently presented
a watercolor portrait to Fort Smith’s Ballman Elementary,
depicting schoolchildren sitting in a circle with books in their
laps. “It was so much fun,” Kay says, “watching those children
picking out which child looked the most like him or her. I think
it’s essential to introduce children to the arts. The more they
see, the more they will say, ‘I can do that, too.’”
Kay Aclin
people 39
D O S O U T H M AG A Z I N E
My personal favorite is the one that hangs over my fireplace,
depicting a woman in a library surrounded by books. Kay gave
me that picture during a sad part of my life, and it has always
brought me happiness, which is what art should do.
Kay’s favorite quote is one by Einstein that says “Creativity is
intelligence having fun.”
She believes an artist must be aware and willing to experiment.
She talks about a group of artists on a bus tour while traveling
in Italy. It was raining when they arrived at a village church, and
only four people were willing to risk braving the downpour. The
priest saw them and took them on a special tour up into the
floors where tourists had not been allowed. He showed them
works of art that were hundreds of years old and had never
been seen on public display.
Kay smiles her biggest, her best. “I was one of those tourists,
and the moral to that story is something every artist should
heed,” she explains. “Don’t be afraid to get out in the rain.”
Kay is the featured artist for March at the Blue Moon
Gallery, located at 718 Central Avenue in Hot Springs.
Visit their website bluemoonartgallery.com.
40 people
D O S O U T H M AG A Z I N E
Tarnished Charmwords Marla Cantrellimages courtesy Ivy Hagedorn
42 people
D O S O U T H M AG A Z I N E
Not so long ago, Ivy Hagedorn was a retail manager for a Cracker
Barrel in Kingman, Arizona. It was a job she enjoyed, and the
thirty-five-year-old had been with the company since working
at one of their Missouri locations during her college years. But
two things happened while she was in Kingman: a long-term
relationship fell apart, and her father unexpectedly died.
Ivy rushed home to Joplin to be with her mother, and in the
weeks that followed she made a decision. She wanted to move
back, and so she did, in the spring of 2012. Of course she’d need
a job, and Cracker Barrel didn’t have any openings in the area.
She planned to look, but her mom took her aside and gently
suggested that maybe she should slow down, take a break, and
see what happened.
In Arizona, she’d spent her downtime creating collages, large
scale paintings, and mixed media pieces. Her mother, an
antiques dealer, would send Ivy care packages filled with
treasures like tiny glass bottles, or pieces of old jewelry she’d
found at auctions and estate sales, and those would find their
way into Ivy’s work. When she moved, she brought all these
things along. Soon after, Ivy’s aunt offered her a space for a
studio, and she got to work.
By the summer of 2012, Ivy’s attention had turned to jewelry
making. She’d taken art in high school from a teacher who
encouraged her students to try every medium, and during that
time Ivy learned to solder and make polymer beads. She looked
in her old printer’s cabinet that held the old rhinestone pieces
she’d been collecting, and inspiration hit.
She started making one-of-a-kind necklaces, using pieces of old
jewelry, adding pearls at times, and tiny antique light bulbs, old
keys, or pieces of fishing lures. Her friends fell in love with her
eclectic work. So in the fall she headed to an arts and crafts
festival in Neosho, Missouri. Her jewelry was a big hit, and
Ivy realized that she may have found a way to make a living
without ever punching a time clock again. Up until that point
she believed she’d eventually go back to the corporate world,
which seemed like the most responsible thing to do. “I finally
decided that life was way too short to always do what you’re
supposed to,” Ivy says.
And so she came up with a name for her company. She called
it Tarnished Charm. Ivy set up an Etsy store, and a Facebook
page. Before long, she was thinking about jewelry all the time.
Ivy stayed up late, working on designs, crafting new pieces. She
kept a notebook by her bed so she could make quick sketches
if an idea struck her in the middle of the night.
She started adding new lines, like hair clips made from old cuff
links and screw-back earrings. Ivy scoured antique shops, estate
sales and auctions, and started buying vintage rhinestones
online. She grew to love dress clips that were invented in the
1920s, mostly sold in sets of two, and became popular in the
1930s. The clips were often ornate, many in the Art Deco style,
and women would wear them, particularly on corners of square
necklines. When dress styles changed, the clips lost favor,
Ivy Hagedorn
people 43
D O S O U T H M AG A Z I N E
although Ivy is still flummoxed as to why, since the pieces were
so versatile. Women wore them on chains as necklaces, and
even on hats.
Finding dress clips, and all the other pieces that find their way
into her designs, is not easy, but Ivy thinks it’s worth it. “I don’t
use reproductions,” Ivy says. “Ever. There are so many things
squirreled away in people’s homes, things people are throwing
away. Why do we need to buy all these things made in China,
when we have all this great stuff here that we can reuse? I buy
a lot of things that need to be repaired because those pieces
probably wouldn’t ever get used or appreciated again. Maybe
it’s a broach that’s missing some rhinestones, and I have to go
to my collection and refit the missing stones.
“I work on an old watchmaker’s bench from the 1800s, and I
have a table for my metal work. When I go to shows now, I’ll take
a huge, heavy bag full of stuff I’m working on, and I’ll work at
the shows. People have literally bought things off the table, as
soon as I’ve finished. The shows are a lot of physical work, and
long days, but there’s nothing like connecting with people, even
if they don’t buy. The comments I get from people are almost
overwhelmingly positive, so it’s nice.”
She’s even had people who say they can spot a Tarnished Charm
necklace when they see someone else wearing it. That’s a great
feeling for Ivy. She has many repeat customers who bring their
friends to her shows, or send them to shop online. And she has
others who want custom pieces made. “People will give me
their mother’s pieces, or their grandmother’s, and I’ll turn it into
something for them. That’s special, to take something that was
sitting in their jewelry box for years and turn it into something
they could wear every day. One of my favorites was a lady in
Joplin who literally brought me a giant bag of her grandma’s
and mom’s jewelry and said, ‘Do what you want with it.’ She
wanted a lot of necklaces. I made one memory necklace with
all these little pieces on it, like a charm necklace. When she
opened it up, she started tearing up. All the pieces on it meant
so much to her, and she hadn’t realized I’d be able to work with
all those bits and baubles.”
It’s that kind of challenge, and that kind of reward, that keeps
her excited about her work. Ivy is doing exactly what she wants,
every single day. She looks back at the decisions she made. In
high school she considered going to art school, but she chose
academics instead, becoming an honors international studies/
political science major. As graduation loomed, she considered
grad school, but the thought of writing paper after paper didn’t
appeal to her. She was already working for Cracker Barrel and
they offered her a management position that took her to Kansas
City and on to Kingman.
Her work in the retail shops at the restaurant chain served her
well. She can set up one heck of a display at arts and crafts
shows, she knows how to market, and she’s overcome her
natural shyness in dealing with people.
Now that she’s come to this place in her life, all those seemingly
unconnected events suddenly look like a well thought out
plan. And each step eventually led her right back home, where
she’s undeniably happy. She’s so glad she took the chance, and
that her mother encouraged her to take a break, to just let life
happen for a little while, at a time when that’s exactly what she
needed. Ivy loves that every day she wakes up with a new idea,
a new design, a new way to make a piece of jewelry that will
bring joy to the person who sees it and decides she just can’t
live without it.
To see more of Ivy’s work, visit Tarnished Charm on
Facebook and Etsy.
44 people
D O S O U T H M AG A Z I N E
people 45
D O S O U T H M AG A Z I N E
Eighteen-year-old Dorwin Shaddox bought another Heath
bar. He’d gotten one earlier, but gave it to a friend, so
he’d have an excuse to go back to the lobby. The girl
working the concession stand at the Buffalo Movie Theater was
the prettiest thing he’d ever seen, and he wanted to make sure
he had a chance to talk to her again. Earlier, she’d mentioned
she was dating the projectionist. Dorwin was dating someone
else too, but there was no harm in standing at that counter, just
long enough to buy candy and look into those sparkling eyes.
It was 1968. Dorwin was a “river rat,” born and raised beside
the Buffalo in Pruitt, Arkansas, but as he grew older, he worked
and socialized in Harrison. The movie theater was there, and so
were many of his friends. After one late night of fun, his buddy
James worried that he might not be able to get up in time for
work the next day. He gave Dorwin directions to his house, and
asked him to come wake him up.
The following morning, Dorwin drove his Chevelle down the dirt
road. “I thought my family was poor until I saw where James
lived,” he recalls. “It was a shack.” Dorwin knocked, and the door
creaked open. There before him stood Patsy, the concession
stand girl, her blue-green eyes and pink bathrobe brightening
the drab front porch. Dorwin was dumbstruck. He had no idea
that James had a sister, much less a beautiful one who worked
at the theater.
A few weeks later, James invited Dorwin to a party at his house.
Patsy was there with her boyfriend, but they weren’t getting
along. Dorwin had earlier determined the girl he’d been dating
wasn’t the one he planned to spend his life with. After Patsy’s
boyfriend left the party, the two stayed up late into the night,
talking and getting to know each other. She broke up with the
projectionist soon after.
TheWorld’sGreatestLove StoryWORDS Brenda Baskinimage courtesy Dorwin Shaddoxand Brenda Baskin
46 people46 people
D O S O U T H M AG A Z I N E
On their second date, Dorwin told her he loved her, and he meant
it. “I never knew what love felt like ‘til I met her,” he recalls. A
few months later, he stopped in front of the local Whataburger
and asked her to get something out of the glove box for him.
She popped it open, and there was a cardboard envelope. On
the front was written, “Patsy – Please Open.” And that’s how he
gave her the ring.
He was poor, but wanted to assure her parents she’d be well
taken care of. He went to her house and sang the Charlie Pride
song, “All I Have to Offer You Is Me,” then asked her father for
his daughter’s hand. It must have been a good rendition. On
August 14, 1970, nine days after her eighteenth birthday, James
“Dorwin” Shaddox and Patsy Alaine Thomason married. Patsy
held a bouquet of daisies, the only flowers they could afford.
They rented a small house on Union Road in Harrison, and both
got jobs at Walmart so they could be together. Two years later,
daughter Misty arrived, followed by Kevin, then Christy. The
family struggled financially, but the Shaddoxes were fueled by a
desire to succeed. They saved their money, and in 1978 bought
a Century 21 franchise. They then bought a convenience store
and a small apartment complex on Highway 7 South, and set
up shop in one of the apartment units. It was the beginning of
what would become one of the most respected real estate firms
in Boone County.
Dorwin attributes their success to Patsy, who was considered
the best closing agent around. “She was wholesome and kind,”
he says. “People in town called her ‘Honest Abe.’” They won the
Realtor of the Year award thirteen times between them—eleven
by the Regional Board of Realtors and twice by the state.
From day one, Patsy’s desk sat next to Dorwin’s, and they
worked side-by-side throughout their entire marriage. In their
spare time, they hunted, fished and traveled to almost every
state in the US. They worked with the Special Olympics and
established the annual Garth Shaddox Fishing Derby at Lake
Harrison (now in its seventeenth year), in honor of Dorwin’s
late brother. “Everything we did, we did together,” Dorwin says.
People teased them because they were always holding hands,
but over the years, while many of their friends’ marriages ended,
they grew even closer.
In 2004, Dorwin’s legs were crushed in a four wheeler accident.
It was then doctors discovered a cancerous tumor in his lower
back. It rendered him unable to walk or drive, and his vision
was severely impaired. Patsy tended to him while running
the household and the business. She’d always said that she’d
give her life for his, and every night, as they lay in bed, Dorwin
remembers her praying aloud: Take it from him and give it to me.
Together, they fought Dorwin’s cancer battle, and after two
years, he won. He and Patsy were eager to get back to business
as usual.
In June of 2010, they were hired to auction off a turkey farm.
They rolled up their sleeves and went about cleaning the place
up. The mold and feathers made Patsy cough a lot, but after
three weeks, the place sparkled.
A few days after the auction, Patsy sat beside Dorwin at her
desk, filling out paperwork. She got up to go to the back, but
a moment later, she returned. Gasping for breath, she told
Dorwin that something was wrong, then fell to the floor. Dorwin
scooped her up and took her to the doctor who examined her
and immediately sent them to the hospital.
Patsy had a small spot of cancer above one of her lungs, and it
Dorwin and Patsy Shaddox
people 47
D O S O U T H M AG A Z I N E
had probably been there for a while. Dorwin says that normally, it
would have been slow-growing, and probably treatable, but while
working in the turkey houses, she’d developed histoplasmosis,
a fungus of the lungs caused by (among other things) bird
droppings. The disease accelerated the growth of cancer so
quickly that it was cutting off her oxygen supply. “They gave her
three weeks, maximum,” Dorwin says, his voice breaking.
The day she came home from the hospital, fifty friends stopped
by, and they kept coming until the end. Patsy held her husband’s
hand. He remembers her instructions. “She said, ‘Dorwin, when
I’m gone, I want you to dance. I know we danced together some,
but we didn’t do it enough. I want you to dance more.’”
Heartbroken, he prepared for the inevitable. He drove to Pruitt
to choose their plot at the Shaddox Cemetery. There he spied
a black gum tree, one of the strongest trees on Earth. Two
branches grew from its one sturdy trunk. Dorwin pointed to the
grass beneath it and said, “That’s the spot.”
Patsy died on August 7, 2010, seventeen days after her
diagnosis, nine days before their fortieth anniversary. Her
memorial service was one of the biggest the city of Harrison
had ever seen. Between 500 and 700 people crowded into the
church to honor the woman who had touched so many lives
with her kindness.
It took Dorwin seven months to decide on her headstone. If you
go to the Shaddox Cemetery on the Mill Creek hiking trail, you’ll
see it. Its glossy newness stands out among the other markers,
some of which date back to the Civil War. On the left side is
Dorwin’s name; on the right is Patsy’s. There are daisies etched
into the granite, a reminder of the day they began their lives
together. On the back are the names of their children. Beneath
are the words, “The World’s Greatest Love Story.”
Dorwin visits her often. One day, while sitting on the grass
beneath the black gum tree, his legs still hurting from his earlier
accident, he decided to share their love with the rest of us. He
had a bench placed near Patsy’s grave. Shaded by ancient trees,
it reads Dorwin and Patsy Shaddox in large letters across the
top. Beneath that is a simple suggestion: Have a seat and hold
hands. Countless passersby have done just that, carrying on the
tradition the couple was famous for.
After Patsy’s death, Dorwin closed their business and never
returned. He bought a tractor and some land near his house and
spends hours there, clearing brush, digging a pond, thinking.
His children visit often, and he spends a lot of time with his
grandkids. In 2012, the Arkansas Board of Realtors established
the Shaddox Hearts and Homes Award. It’s given annually to an
agent whose actions are “compassionate, kind, caring, generous
and committed. Engraved in the award is a picture of a couple,
standing close together. The first recipient was Dorwin.
It’s hard to move on, but Dorwin’s trying. Daughter Misty reports
that finally, he’s dancing again. “He can cut quite a rug,” she
says and then laughs.
Still, he knows he’ll never completely get over losing Patsy.
“There was no one like her,” he says. “It was the world’s greatest
love story.”
Do South readers are invited to visit the Dorwin
and Patsy Shaddox Bench page on Facebook, where
everyone’s encouraged to share their own hand-
holding photos.
For directions to Shaddox Cemetery and the Mill
Creek Trail, visit trailheadfinder.com and search for
Mill Creek Trail.
48 people
D O S O U T H M AG A Z I N E
WORDS Marla Cantrellimage courtesy Amber Ebbrecht
50 people
D O S O U T H M AG A Z I N E
In September, 2013, Collin Ebbrecht was turning two. His
mother, Amber, was looking for something extraordinary to put
in the gift bags she planned to hand out. She scoured her stash
of cookie recipes and once satisfied, decided how she would
decorate them. Amber picked a chevron pattern would go well
with the theme of the party, which was Thomas the Train, so
she went to Collin’s room and pulled out his Thomas toys and
set them on the kitchen counter. She mixed up the icing and
added food coloring until she got the colors to match the toys
perfectly. When Amber was finished, she had a trove of cookies
that were the hit of the party.
Some of the guests couldn’t believe Amber was able to create
something so beautiful. You should sell these, they said, and
Amber listened. At the time, she was on maternity leave with
her newborn, Benjamin. She had several weeks left before she
returned to her job as the art teacher for Holt and Oak Creek
Middle Schools in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The timing was perfect.
Amber came up with a name: CeBe’s Custom Cookies, a play on
the first letters in her sons’ names. She designed a logo and set
up an online Etsy shop. She read hundreds of blog posts by fellow
bakers, picking up tips on which equipment to buy, and insider
accounts of which recipes were hits and which failed miserably.
Before long, the orders were coming in, from the Etsy shop,
of course, but also from people who’d seen the cookies she’d
made for Collin. What set Amber apart is her decorating skills.
Her work as an artist showed in the intricate designs, some so
ornate they look more like pieces of art than cookies.
She was also able to make templates for cookies when she
couldn’t find a cookie cutter to suit her. And her work with color,
knowing how to put colors together, knowing how to create
those rich hues, brought more and more business.
Often, she’s asked to design something to match a shower
invitation, or to put monograms on cookies. When left on
her own, she comes up with such detailed designs they look
like miniature works of art. One of her recent designs has a
tiny clothesline where hearts are attached with even smaller
clothespins, all set against a blue-sky background. She makes
chicken shaped cookies so adorable it seems a shame to eat
them. She makes cookies in the shapes of mittens, and cottages,
and some that look like chalkboards.
people 51
D O S O U T H M AG A Z I N E
One of the nicest things her customers say is that they want
to eat the cookies, but taking that first bite is hard to do. They
want to keep them in tact so they can keep enjoying the little
masterpieces Amber’s created.
Her secret to the buttery, sugary wonders is kept under wraps.
What Amber will say is how much she loves what she does.
It’s a process that takes a lot of time. She’s come up with her
own recipes, which include pumpkin spice, chocolate hazelnut,
poppy seed, and vanilla almond. The cookies require drying
time, and the Royal Icing, which hardens after applying,
takes experience to get just right. Amber makes it in three
consistencies for different areas, depending on the design. And
those gorgeous details, like the miniscule roses, are painted on,
something she loves to do.
Even the packaging is beautiful. The cookies are wrapped
separately, placed in a windowed box and decorated with a
handmade fabric bow attached with twine.
Her family loves what she’s doing. “My husband waits for me
to make a mistake, to have a cookie he can eat,” Amber says.
“And I eat my share. It’s a good thing I like to run, or I might be
gaining a lot of weight. I also chew gum when I’m baking, just
so I can avoid any temptation. I think baking is therapeutic, the
kneading of the dough. I love every step in the process.”
It’s a lot to do, teach fulltime, bake in her off hours, keep up with
her family life. But she’s happy to juggle it all. Every step has
led here, she says. What she’s learned as an artist plays heavily
in her designs. And even before that, when she was growing up
in Van Buren, she had a head for business. “I was always selling
something. I’d find things I didn’t need anymore and set up a
table in the driveway and open shop. Once, I painted rocks and
tried to sell them door to door.” Amber laughs. “I remember that
because I dropped one on my dad’s car. I don’t think he’ll ever
forget it either.”
She doesn’t know where CeBe’s Cookies will lead, but she
would love, one day, to own a combination bakery/art school.
She thinks the two things would work beautifully together. She
imagines customers coming in, the place filled with cookies
and pastries and goodwill. She would be smiling, she says, they
would be smiling. It would be a happy, happy place.
To order CeBe’s Custom Cookies, visit Amber’s
online shop at etsy.com/CebesCookies. Since all her
products are custom made, plan to order at least two
weeks early.
Amber Ebbrecht
52 people
D O S O U T H M AG A Z I N E
Please drink responsibly.
RECIPE Burford Distributingimage Jeromy Price
Add ingredients to glass
in the order listed above.
Care must be taken when
adding the Guinness to
prevent excess foam. Do
not add ice.
Sponsored byBurford Distributing,Fort Smith, Arkansas
1 oz Minsk Vodka1 oz Coffee Liqueur1 Splash Coca-ColaFill with Guinness Stout
54 taste
D O S O U T H M AG A Z I N E
WORDS Catherine Frederickimages Catherine Frederick and Jeromy Price
56 taste
D O S O U T H M AG A Z I N E
This is a busy month in my house.
My son’s birthday is in March, as is my dad’s and my husband’s.
My son was born on St. Patrick’s Day, and we have a great
time celebrating each year. And my dad started a tradition
that included his family birthday party being sprinkled with
splashes of green. From the cake, to a special St. Patrick’s Day
shirt, to flashing green shamrock glasses, we’ve seen it all on
Dad’s special day, and it’s something we’ve come to expect.
We have another, fairly new, tradition during the month of
March. We must have our corned beef and cabbage with a side
of soda bread! I must admit, up until a couple of years ago, I had
never tried it and I was adamant that I wasn’t missing a thing.
But fate stepped in when my family and I were invited to a St.
Patrick’s Day celebration at a friend’s house. Low and behold,
what do you think they served? Yep, corned beef and cabbage
and potatoes. What’s a girl to do? I couldn’t be rude. So I made
a small plate. Then went back for seconds and thirds. I was
hooked, and so was my family.
I love a traditional meal of corned beef and cabbage but thought
this recipe also looked interesting. It swaps out the cabbage for
spinach, and wraps up this new twist on tradition into one beautiful
braid. I recommend serving it up with Dijon mustard, Thousand
Island dressing, or creamy horseradish. And, if you happen to be
looking for an Irish blessing to go along with the meal, try one of
our favorites: May your thoughts be as glad as the shamrocks. May
your heart be as light as a song. May each day bring you bright, happy
hours that stay with you all the year long.
taste 57
D O S O U T H M AG A Z I N E
METHODHeat oven to 375°. Line baking sheet with a silicone mat or spray with cooking spray.
Boil 2 large red potatoes, let cool completely, then cut into ¼” slices, set aside.
Thaw and drain 1 cup frozen, cooked spinach, set aside. Unroll 2 Pillsbury Recipe
Creations seamless dough sheets onto prepared baking sheet. Place sheets side-by-
side lengthwise and arrange into one large rectangle, pressing the seams together
with your fingers. Place 6 oz sliced corned beef in center of dough in an 8” wide strip.
Add spinach, then add potatoes. Top with 1 cup shredded white cheddar cheese.
Using a knife, slice 1” wide strips on long sides of dough, making sure to cut the same
number of strips on each side, cutting to within a ½” of the filling. Fold in the short
sides, then alternately cross strips over the filling to make a braid. Brush finished braid
with egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 Tablespoon water), then sprinkle with caraway
seeds. Bake 25 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool 10 minutes before slicing.
TIP: If you can't find seamless dough sheets, use crescent rolls instead, pressing the
seams together with your fingers.
58 taste
D O S O U T H M AG A Z I N E
WORDS Catherine Frederickimage Jeromy Price
60 taste
D O S O U T H M AG A Z I N E
These containers bring back memories of orange sherbet push-ups from my childhood. My friends and I could eat a box of those in no time flat. I had one last summer. It was good, but not as good as I remembered. But this push-up, the Irish push-up, is a new favorite. It’s packed with chocolate brownie cake, pudding, whipped cream, and topped with an Andes Mint®. So dig in! Or should I say, give me a push up?
Preheat oven to 350°. Line a 13 X 9 pan with foil, then spray with non-stick spray. Pour one box chocolate cake mix into a large bowl and set aside. In a medium saucepan, combine 2 cups milk and 1 small box of chocolate pudding mix (not instant) until slightly thickened. Add pudding to the cake mix and stir to combine. Spread mixture into the pan and press down with your fingers – careful, the mixture may be hot. Sprinkle the top of the mixture with 1 bag Andes® Mint Chips (in the baking section). Bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool completely.
In a medium bowl, add 1 (4oz) package of instant vanilla pudding, plus 3 to 4 drops of green food coloring, 1 ½ cups milk, and ½ cup Irish Coffee creamer, mix well to combine, then place in refrigerator to set. Using the top of the push-up container, cut cooled brownies into small circles. Place a brownie circle in the bottom of the push-up container, top with a dollop of the green pudding mixture, add a swirl of whipped cream, then top with an Andes Mint® and green sprinkles.
{ METHOD }
TIP: If you’re not using the push-up containers, prepare as directed above, and repeat layers depending on the size of dish you’re using. Find Wilton® Treat Tops with Stand at local craft stores and big box retailers.
taste 61
D O S O U T H M AG A Z I N E
River Special, with extra hot sauce, and ate it all before the hulk of a car pulled into her gravel driveway.
At home, she turned on every light and both TVs. Harrell’s work boots were still by the front door, caked in mud, dappled with cement. He worked hard, pouring concrete, painting houses, putting up drywall. Their own house was a hodgepodge of job site castaways. Mismatched doors. Flooring that ran from linoleum to tile to wood. Not one door knob was like another. But in the sunroom there were bookshelves the color of honey, smooth and straight, made from maple that had been whitewashed and then carefully stained. He’d built them the year Wanda took a writing class at the community college and thought she’d become a writer. She had not.
Wanda laid him to rest on a Saturday, the week of Easter, about the same time as Christ had risen from the grave all those years ago. Harrell went down
into the ground as Jesus came up. That’s what she thought that day at the cemetery. She saw it clearly, the rising and falling, like a weight and counterweight, and it made her dizzy.
She asked the driver of the family car – she was alone in it – to drive through Carmen’s Catfish on the way home, and he did, though she could feel his irritation in his outtake of breath, the tightening of his fingers on the steering wheel.
No matter, Wanda thought. She was a stress eater, and now, apparently, a grief eater. It wasn’t as if she’d see the driver again. So she leaned up from the backseat and ordered the Muddy
fiction Marla Cantrell
lOng walk hOme
62 southern lit
D O S O U T H M AG A Z I N E
In the days that followed, Wanda felt as if she was treading water, so far away from shore she could only see it darkly. When she wandered out she drove shakily, her foot tapping the brake too often, and everything seemed to move too fast. And so she stayed home, more or less, for six months, sneaking out at odd hours of the night to buy bread and chocolate, to drive through Taco Bonita.
But fall arrived, her favorite time of year, and she peered out the window and decided to step out into the sunlight. Why she stopped at Beardo’s Buying Emporium she couldn’t quite say. The sign was red and yellow, the door blue, and there was a line of metal lawn chairs out front, all purple. A happy place, she thought. The man behind the counter was indeed bearded, his belly round, his shoulders pulled back as if balancing his girth.
“What can I help you with?” he asked, and Wanda jumped.
“Oh, not a thing,” she said. “Just looking.”
“Looking don’t cost a thing. Just you have at it.”
And so she wandered the aisles where all kinds of things you didn’t need cluttered Formica tabletops, sat on bookshelves whose paint was peeling. In the very back though, next to a case of ancient Dr. Pepper bottles, was an old yearbook from Mountainburg High. 1976. The year Harrell dropped out to marry her. She flipped through it and found Harrell’s picture. His frizzy hair was a bowl around his head, filling the camera lens, and his shoulders were wide. It was too much, and she dropped the book, and slumped to the floor and cried.
“You got troubles, ma’am?” the bearded man asked when he found her, and kneeled down on the floor beside her.
“More than the sea has sand,” Wanda said.
He pulled a hanky from his pocket, unfolded it and handed it over.
“Everybody’s got their troubles, ma’am. Everybody.”
“My husband Harrell is dead,” Wanda said, and leaned into the man. “Got sick and I thought he’d get better, but then he asked if I’d drive him to the Emergency Room and I did and they took him back and I went to the vending machine to get a Coca-Cola and some peanuts and the next thing I knew I was in a chapel no bigger than my own kitchen and a man young enough to be
my own son put his hand on my shoulder and told me Harrell was gone.”
The man held Wanda while she sobbed. “There, there,” he said. “Bless your little heart.”
Wanda pulled away from him, his touch so kind it seemed to burn her skin.
“Anybody you want me to call?” the man asked.
“Nobody to call. It was just me and Harrell. No kids. No nothing.”
“Same here,” the man said. “Just me, Beardo. And this store.”
“I feel like I took a wrong turn somewhere. Like if I found the right road I could get back to my old life, and Harrell would be there waiting.”
“Would that it could be so,” Beardo said.
“Would that it could,” Wanda repeated. “I wept in the Mimi’s Mini Mart one night last week. Scared the clerk half to death.”
“No shame in crying.”
“No glory either.”
“There’s little glory in this mortal life. We’re born, we stumble through. Nobody knows what they’re doing. In the end, we all just keep walking each other home.”
Wanda frowned. She had gotten into a conversation that had turned philosophical, and she couldn’t quite keep up. She looked at herself. Her jeans were straining at the waist. She’d been eating way too much. Her hair was wild, left to its own devices since Harrell passed, and the gray, she knew, covered the crown of her head. Her socks, one blue and one black, came straight from Harrell’s sock drawer. “I should go,” she said, and grabbed a table leg to pull herself up.
“Stop by anytime,” Beardo said. And Wanda decided: she would never go back.
But sorrow clouds a person’s thinking, and after another week she ventured out again, and once again she went to Beardo’s. He was not behind the counter this time. He was sitting at a card table playing dominoes with three old men, each sitting in
southern lit 63
D O S O U T H M AG A Z I N E
a motorized wheelchair.
“I’m back,” Wanda said, her voice a little too high.
“Nice to see you,” Beardo said, and the other three men tipped their caps to her. “Pull up a chair.”
“Oh, I couldn’t,” Wanda said, but when Beardo rose she slipped into his seat.
“Play my hand,” he said, and disappeared into the belly of the store.
The old guys let her win, she was sure of it. The one with the Co-op hat told her about his wife, Lou, who was coming soon to pick him up. She was once a belly dancer who had lived in a commune, who divorced him twice, but always came back. “Couldn’t get enough of old Trellon,” he said, and all but crowed.
It was noon before she knew it, and Beardo ordered in a sack of burgers, a pile of onion rings, Cokes so big it took two hands to hold them. The men ate greedily, this bad food they’d been warned against.
“Can you stay?” Beardo asked Wanda, as soon as lunch was over. “I need to take these fellas back to the home.”
Trellon ducked his head, and Wanda understood that if Lou had ever existed, she wasn’t part of the equation now. “Sure,” she said. “What do I do if a customer comes in?”
Beardo smiled. “Sell ‘em something,” he said.
He was gone for more than an hour, and when he rambled up in his rusty van, she watched him walk up the steps.
“Sell anything?” he asked.
“A set of salt-and-pepper shakers. The ones shaped like poodles.”
“Good for you,” he said. “I should pay commission.”
“You bought lunch, so I’d say we’re even.”
“I’ve been hoping you’d come back,” he said.
“Really?”
“Nobody with a broken heart should suffer alone. I lost my mama when I was twenty-two. Beautiful woman. A red head. Worked cleaning houses most of her life. Saved every cent she could. Bought me a truck when I was sixteen. I didn’t know how much of a sacrifice it was back then.
“When she died, I took off. Ended up in Tallahassee in a honky-tonk talking to a man who looked just like Willie Nelson. He bought me a beer and I told him my story. Cried like a baby, and this guy just listened. When I was finished, he put his arms around me. I thanked him and he said, ‘Nothing you wouldn’t do for somebody as messed up as you seem to be right now. This old world is a lonely piece of sorry dirt. The way I see it, we’re all here so we can keep walking each other home, until we get to our real home way up there in heaven.’
“When you showed up you had that look in your eye. You were just as lost as a little lamb. I didn’t know what had happened, but I knew you needed ole’ Beardo to help.”
Wanda felt the first knitting together of her broken heart. She remembered being fourteen, when she and Harrell fell in love, and how he walked her from the bus stop every day after school, his hand in hers, and how she’d look out the window when she got inside. Most days, he’d still be standing in her pitiful little yard, his hand shading his eyes against the sun, and he’d be smiling.
She imagined him in heaven, his sweet old bones no longer aching, his lungs pulling in air without effort. She hoped he was watching her wade through this new world of hers, cheering her on, waiting for the day he could finally walk her home.
“You come back tomorrow,” Beardo said. “Trellon says you’re a sorry excuse for a domino player.” Beardo smiled. “Can’t have an old man like that beat you at a kid’s game. You come back and I’ll teach you some tricks my own mama taught me. You’ll be beating us all in no time.”
The sun was coming through Beardo’s Buying Emporium. It warmed Wanda’s back, it cast a halo of light around her untamed hair. Beardo, facing the glass, put his hand up and shielded his eyes, and for the first time since Harrell died Wanda believed the world might finally right itself again.
64 southern lit
D O S O U T H M AG A Z I N E
Read Chair Publishing, LLC7030 Taylor Avenue, Suite 5Fort Smith, AR 72916