Do South Magazine: Happy – March 2014

HAPPY

MARCH 2014 DoSouthMagazine.com

CONTENTS 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

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PROOFREADER Charity Chambers PUBLISHER Read Chair Publishing, LLC

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Features

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56 THE EDIBLE NEST Spring into action with these bird nest cupcakes in Mason jars. So easy, so adorable, and such a great way to usher in spring.

DO GOOD When 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.

TARNISHED CHARM After 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.

IRISH WITH A TWIST Give tradition a twist this St. Patrick’s Day with the Twisted Irish. Your friends will be green with envy.

ADVERTISING INFORMATION Catherine Frederick 479 / 782 / 1500 Catherine@DoSouthMagazine.com EDITORIAL INFORMATION Marla Cantrell 479 / 831 / 9116 Marla@DoSouthMagazine.com ©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.

FOLLOW US 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.

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letter from Catherine 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 Bring on spring! Flowers and green grass. Warm temperatures.

out our decorating tips, including a centerpiece made with

Flip flops. I’ll even take the allergies. I just want to walk the dog

fresh flowers and egg shells, and our bunny hop table runner!

without having to wear my thermals. Now, you don’t need to remind me of that statement when I am complaining that it

When you’re through cooking and crafting, check out our story on

is 101 degrees outside. I live in the now. And right now, I am

Steph Gibson who turned turning forty on its ear by performing

starring out my window at the brown earth, save the pine trees

forty acts of kindness. Read “The World’s Greatest Love Story,”

which are bent and broken from the last round of snow and ice.

a tale of two people so in love they seemed invincible. Then read “Tarnished Charm” and find out what happens when you

What I need is some color, some sign of life! I’m ready to lock

stop trying to climb the corporate ladder and do exactly what

away the winter gear and break out the gardening tools. It’s

you love.

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

All this, plus a new twist on corned beef and cabbage, a drink

this year, just going to switch up the plants a little and try my

that's smooth from start to finish, and tips on some of the best

hand at vertical gardening. I know it’s not quite time, but my

things to do in the month of March.

neighbor told me he’s already planted a bazillion onions, and since gardening is a little unspoken competition between us

Me, I’m going to be planning my garden. No way my neighbor’s

every year, I’ve got to get busy. I don’t like to lose.

going to have a bigger, better garden than mine! Even if I do have to take over my own front yard.

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 To reserve this free space for your charitable non-profit organization, email: Editors@DoSouthMagazine.com

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lifestyle

Serenade to Spring WORDS Dee Ann Ritter

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.

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UPCLOSE&PERSONAL

JanetRN,Newman Aesthetic Nurse Basinger Aesthetics Fort Smith, AR 72903 479.484.7100 basingeraesthetics.com

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UPCLOSE&PERSONAL Where is your favorite spot in Arkansas? Anywhere there's a creek and swimming hole.

Just keep swimming, just keep swimming.

— Dori from Finding Nemo

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.

About Basinger Aesthetics

What is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for you? Unconditional love.

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

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.

things that affect our quality of life, such as scarring, leg ulcers, or painful varicose veins. I love the fact

Favorite song from your teen years? Janet Jackson's "Love Will Never Do"

that we never stop learning and always stay in the Last movie you saw? Lone Survivor.

know of the latest treatment available.

Last book you read? My Story by Elizabeth Smart.

Who was your favorite teacher? Mrs. Sheffield at Christ the King.

3 things I can’t do without

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.

My phone

Diet Coke

Botox

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.

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lifestyle

Don’t Feed the Llamas WORDS Stoney Stamper IMAGES courtesy Stoney and April Stamper

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lifestyle

C

hange 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 As we approached the llama area in my brand new truck, they

of Texas, in May.

quickly perked up, looking in our direction, and then all three of It was a traumatic thing, moving them away from their home,

them came hurriedly towards us at a high lope. The girls oohed

their school, their friends and family. And not just for the girls.

and awed over the cute little llamas. “Oh look at them! They're

April had quite a bit of adjusting to do as well. To top it all off, we

so cute! Look at their ears, they’re so big! Look how long their

had just learned that she was pregnant. To say that there was a

eyelashes are! Oh, I’m gonna feed them!"

lot of tension and stress flowing through our little home would I've always been pretty good at doing different, funny voices,

be quite an understatement.

so I began talking the way I thought a llama would, just saying To try and make the move as easy as possible, I was pretty much

silly things that would make the girls laugh. And man, they were

willing to do anything or go anywhere, if I thought they might

laughing. I felt great. They're having such a fun time, I thought.

enjoy it. So when I saw the sign for a nearby safari park, I knew

They're so happy, I thought. Way to go, Stone, I said to myself.

that it was something that all my animal loving girls would like.

As the girls began to feed them, it was easy to see that there So one hot, muggy Saturday afternoon, we made the thirty mile

was definitely an alpha in the pack. He made a funny hissing

drive to this drive-through zoo. I’d been to one of those before,

noise that the girls thought was so cute. He pinned his ears

but not since I was a little kid. And frankly, there were a few

back, and would stick his head through the window to get the

traumatizing events that happened then, too. So, I’m not sure what

food. Having been around horses all my life, I could tell a ticked

it was that made me think that this time would be any different.

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

However, I was so happy that the girls were finally with me in

one listens to me. I’m just their chauffeur. And arm candy.

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

I rolled my window up when he came around to my side,

bag of food for the animals, and we made our merry way into

because I’m smart. Even with their heckling (mainly April’s) I

the happy land of goats, deer, deer, goats, a few cows, some

would not roll it down.“Girls," I said, "he’s not playing. I’m telling

ill-tempered Sicilian donkeys, goats, deer, buffalo, and maybe a

you, he’s getting ready to throw a fit.” To which April replied,

few pigs. And some goats and deer. Seriously, like, it was mostly

“Oh, quit being such a baby!" She paid for that silly remark.

goats and deer. Ok, you get it.

Unfortunately, we all had to pay for it with her.

Anyhoo, there were also some llamas. Some stupid, sorry, no-

This big llama began to butt his head against my closed window,

count llamas. And llamas are jerks, you guys. Huge jerks.

yet still no one heeded my warnings. He went around to April’s

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lifestyle side, and hissed. Then she gave him some food. He took it, and

wanted to cry. But she also knew that this was pretty funny. Her

hissed again. I said “Roll your window up!" To which she replied,

hair was just mangled in this stuff that came out of the llama.

“He’s just playing!"

And the truck looked like a bomb went off inside of it.

And that’s when it happened. He unleashed the most wretched

Well, here was our main problem. We couldn’t get out o! I’ve

combination of bodily functions that have ever been combined

never had to fight the urge to jump out of my truck so bad.

on this earth. It was a massive conglomeration of a gassy,

But we're surrounded by llamas. Ticked off llamas. I began to

belching cough that was filled with puke, and slimy green goo,

drive away, and they followed us. They kept coming and they

and he topped it off with a hair-raising scream at the end. All of

wouldn’t leave us alone. I drove faster. They ran faster. We were

this, no more than three inches from April’s face.

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.

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.

But we finally get rid of them. We were free! I bailed out of

April had her hands over her slime-covered face, and had yet

the truck, wiping this awful mess off of my body. I don’t think I

to make a sound. I blacked out. I do not know what I said, but I

could've felt dirtier if I’d been that guy that fell in the state park

expect it wasn’t PG. I didn’t know if April was laughing, or crying.

port-a-potty, trying to get his wallet. It was awful. The girls were

And frankly, I don’t think she knew.

still laughing. April was still getting her wits about her, trying to decide just exactly how upset she actually was. My new truck

The smell was, simply put, unbearable. This horrible green

had been defiled. And I was already making plans in my head

substance was all over the inside of my windshield, on my dash,

to trade it off.

covering my rear view mirror to the point that you could not see anything in it. My GPS screen, yep, covered. Steering wheel,

So, as we were leaving, we noticed another car pulling into the

check. Sun visors, check. My plaid khaki golf shorts? Slimed. My

llama area. We watched those crazy animals take advantage of

face, my neck, my ears. Everywhere.

another unsuspecting family. And then we laughed and laughed.

It was such a long drive home. The smell was something I’ll

All this time, April had yet to look out from her hands. The girls

never ever get out of my head.

were in the backseat, laughing as if they have just witnessed the funniest thing that has ever happened, and the cab of the

And that's the story of our first Family Day. Starting out, I wanted

truck could not have smelled worse even if the llama had done

a fun, memorable day that the girls would never forget. And I

what he had done inside the cab. April uncovered her face,

promise you, none of us ever will.

and I couldn't really get a grasp of her emotions. She definitely

Stoney Stamper

is 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.

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Rescue a Rescue 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.

M

Poteau Pound Pups is run completely by volunteers and operates solely on public donations.

For more adoption information, please contact one the numbers listed below.

F

Clinton M

M

Rainy

Harley

F

Hogan

M

Pebbles

Bullet PoteauPoundPups.org PoteauPoundPups poteaupoundpups@outlook.com

Angela Meek 479.883.2240

Mitzi Burkhart 479.651.4445

Cheryl Greenmyer 918.471.8514

Donations are always needed and greatly appreciated.

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Why Dogs Chew Words Dr. Rusty Henderson, D.V.M. Eastside Animal Clinic 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.

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 editors@DoSouthMagazine.com.

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.

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entertainment

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Canoe/Kayak Program Saturdays from March 1 - November // Noon – 2 // Free Fort Smith, AR // 479.452.3993 // rivervalleynaturecenter.com 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.

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12th Annual Grape Escapes March 7 // 6PM // $100 Fort Smith, AR // 479.478.5554 // bost.org 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.

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Dancing with the Stars of Northwest Arkansas March 8 // 6:30pm – 11pm // See website for details Rogers, AR // 479.696.9280 // amazeum.org 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.

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Devil’s Den’s School’s Out, Park’s Are In March 21 - 29 // Call for details West Fork, AR // 479.761.3325 // arkansasstateparks.com 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.

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Spring Fling at Heifer Village March 24 - 29 // 10 – 4 // Free Little Rock, AR // 501.907.2697 // heifer.org 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.

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Iron Pig Festival March 22 // See website for details Fayetteville, AR // 479.571.8786 // ironpigfestival.com 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.

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Women’s Backpacking Clinic (Beginners) March 22 - 23 // $40 // See website for details Fayetteville, AR // 479.521.6340 // packratoc.com/events 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.

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6th Annual Fort Smith Heritage Festival April 5 // See website for details Fort Smith, AR // 479.782.5074 // csclearinghouse.org 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.

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$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

Sycamore Row

happy about that, but he’s not prepared to deal with the turmoil and racial hatred that follows. He does have legal help from

By John Grisham Random House : $2895

I

Harry Rex and Lucien, two intelligent drunks whom fans will remember from A Time to Kill.

review Anita Paddock

think most Grisham fans will be delighted with this new

It’s a real page-turner, and one I recommend for the sheer

book by one of the greatest courtroom storytellers in the

pleasure of reading a well-told story of a small town lawyer in

South. Sycamore Row takes place in the same town in

Mississippi who takes on the big city law firms.

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

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entertainment

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

Lennon and Maisy

was filled with vinyl records, and the girls listened to a lot of

iTunes: $2 lennonandmaisy.com 97

Roger Miller and Marty Robbins. It paid off. Just last year, the girls performed at the Grand Ole Opry.

review Marla Cantrell

S

It is going to be fun to see where these two end up. Several TV

inging sensations Lennon and Maisy Stella were born in

critics claim the girls are the highlight of Nashville, and when

Canada, but Nashville is their home. Not just the city, but

they’re allowed to sing you’ll see why. Theirs is a rare talent, so

the ABC drama Nashville as well. It is there the two young

rich, so soulful, it’s hard to forget them.

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

I Rate It

more or less as drumsticks. It is such a pure setup for their immaculate voices, with Lennon singing melody and Maisy DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

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The Edible Nest WORDS Catherine Frederick images Jeromy Price

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.

Method

Preheat 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.

Assembly

Place 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 apricotpineapple 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.

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Eggstraordinarily Beautiful words Catherine Frederick images Jeromy Price

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.

Method

Gather 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.

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Peter Cotton Tail words Catherine Frederick image Jeromy Price

Here 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!

Method

Purchase 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 pompoms 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

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people

S teph G ibson words Marla Cantrell Images Jeromy Price and courtesty Steph Gibson

DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

people On January 28, 2014, Steph Gibson turned forty. Several things

gift cards that she then taped above several speakers, so that

happened in the weeks leading up to her big day. She’d been

people pulling in to order would get a sweet surprise.

on Pinterest, and she’d come across a few posts about random acts of kindness. There were lists of things you could do, simple

There is a man named Stanley who works at Chick-Fil-A, who

things to brighten someone else’s day, and the lists sparked

always has a kind word, and Steph baked him one of her much-

something in Steph. She started thinking about her husband,

loved homemade, giant chocolate chip cookies and took it to

who was likely struggling with a plan to make her birthday

him. She drove to the 188th Fighter Wing, where her husband

spectacular. What pressure, she thought, for this man she loved

works, and stopped at the security station. “They miss a lot

so much.

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

Then she read a novel called Wonder. The book touched her

giant cookies and took it to them.”

deeply, and two of the lines kept coming back to her. Our deeds are our monuments, and Whenever you have the choice of being

Steph found a Redbox machine, and taped a package of

right or being kind, be kind. “And that thought, choose to be kind,

microwave popcorn to it, so that the next person renting a movie

just stayed with me,” Steph says.

would see it. She went to Lin’s Garden Chinese Restaurant and left quarters in the candy machines. She bought lunch for a

So she decided. She would perform forty acts of kindness,

friend; she took more flowers to the hospital and left them at

beginning on her birthday. Instead of expecting flowers and

the nurses’ station, so they could find just the right patient to

gifts, she would touch the lives of forty people, some she knew

give them to. She delivered bouquets to two women from her

and others she’d never met.

church, because Steph said they do so much for others. But the most touching moment came when she arrived at the main

This mother of four couldn’t believe how much fun the planning

branch of the Fort Smith Library for the children’s story hour.

was. She, with the help of her sister, made a list. Steph’s oldest

She carried forty balloons with her, and waited for the librarian

daughter printed labels that read: Today is my fortieth birthday.

to finish reading. She stepped into the room, handed out the

I’m celebrating by making other people smile. With the plan in

balloons, and talked to them about Leslie Creekmore, a twenty-

place, Steph waited impatiently for the day to arrive.

nine-year-old woman who worked at the library, was twenty weeks pregnant, and in January contracted the H1N1 strain of

“When we got up that morning, I put on some really loud dance

the flu that became double pneumonia. Leslie lost the baby,

music and my kids and I were singing and dancing, which wasn’t

and was being treated at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis.

typical for me. And my husband walked in and smiled and shook

Her husband, Chris, never left her side. Sadly, Leslie passed

his head. He said, ‘This is who I married.’ We were all so happy.”

away on February 10.

Her first stop was supposed to be at a construction site near her

But on that day, Steph and thousands of others were praying

Fort Smith, Arkansas home, where she’d seen the workers for

for a miracle, and staying connected through a Facebook page

weeks on end, huddled around a trash barrel turned outdoor

called Love for Leslie. Steph and her children knew Leslie from

fire pit, trying to get warm. She bought donuts and hand

their frequent visits to the library, and wanted to find a way to

warmers they could put inside their gloves. It was before six in

show this young woman how much she was cared about. So,

the morning when she arrived, but the workers had been sent

after handing out the balloons, she asked the kids to remember

to another job.

to pray for her.

It was a small setback. Later in the day, she found another group

As the day rolled on, Steph found more and more people to help.

of construction workers, equally cold, equally hungry, who were

Some of what she did was simple. She started a conversation

awed by Steph’s kindness. She and her sister went to Garrison

with a woman in an elevator, and learned the woman had

Avenue, and dropped quarters in the parking meters in front

cancer, and needed someone to talk to. She opened doors for

of the water department. She went to Sonic and bought $5

people. She found a woman pumping gas and handed her one

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people 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.

of her Sonic gift cards. But there were other things, like making dinner for the firefighters stationed closest to her house that

Each month, DoSouth Magazine will feature the story

took time and planning and effort.

of someone in our community who is making the

Steph thought about her oldest friends, women she’d met when

to nominate for our Do Gooder Award, email editors@

world a better place. If you have someone you’d like

she lived in Michigan, who were now scattered across the U.S.

dosouthmagazine.com.

“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 DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

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Old Fashioned Foods oldfashionedfoods.com

Old Fashioned Foods oldfashionedfoods.com DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

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Half Sour Pickles and Sweet Tomatoes by the Pound

Slate Plant Stand with Folding Base

Tea Light and Oil Burning Lamps

River City Deli 7320 Rogers Avenue, Stonewood Village myrivercitydeli.com

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people

GO GREEN

Eat the Bean words Marcus Coker image courtesy City of Mulberry

DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

people

Everyone knows that oranges come from Florida,

the infrastructure and how efficient everything is in the state.

and apples from Washington. But here’s a question: Where does

Plus, although we don’t have any scientific evidence, we just

the vegetable edamame (pronounced e-də-'mä-mā) come from?

know our Arkansas edamame tastes better. I suspect it may be

If you said, “Mulberry, Arkansas,” you’re on the right track.

most likely been depleted.”

Edamame means “beans on a branch,” and is an immature

With Arkansas being the tenth largest producer of soybeans in

soybean, which means that it’s picked early. For centuries, it’s

the country, AVS had an easy time finding growers for edamame.

been a staple food in Asian countries and was first introduced

Ray says, “All of our growers have very strict guidelines that we

in the United States in Japanese restaurants as a snack food

follow, as all of our products are verified as non-genetically

eaten with Sake or beer. Over the last

modified. Additionally, they are organic, which means only

ten years, it’s grown in popularity in

approved chemicals and pesticides

the United States, with Americans

are used.”

because the land in China has been farmed for centuries, so it’s

consuming 25 to 30 thousand tons of edamame annually. Ninety-eight

The venture has been good for AVS, but

percent of that total is imported,

it’s also been good for Mulberry and

with ninety-five percent coming

its 1,655 residents. When the plant

from China.

first opened, the city hosted a job fair for those interested in employment at don’t

AVS. Initially the company hired forty

Vegetable

employees, but currently has about a

Soybean & Edamame, Inc. (AVS). AVS

hundred. “We only expected twenty-

is an edamame processing plant that

five people to show up, but they were

opened in Mulberry in 2012. The

lined up down the street. There were

plant is unique not only because it’s

150 applicants that day,” says Mayor

processing edamame in the United

Gary Baxter.

Those account

numbers, for

however,

American

States, but also because it’s the only facility in the United States that’s

“The AVS facility cost 11 million

dedicated solely to edamame.

dollars, and that brings a lot of value to the community,” says Mayor Baxter.

AVS is owned and operated by the

“When the company first approached

family of Dr. Gene Chung, who has

us, there was talk about tax breaks

been in the food business for over thirty years and importing

for them to come to Mulberry. But the owners said, ‘We’re not

and distributing edamame from other countries since 2004.

even going to go there. We want to pay the taxes to support

Aware of consumers’ concerns about food safety issues in China

the community and the schools.’ So there are the jobs and the

and their desire to bring jobs back to the United States, Gene

property taxes, but there are also a lot of peripheral benefits,

and his family decided to start growing edamame themselves.

like the products bought locally used in construction and the

Arkansas, which produces 3.2 million acres of soybeans

fuel and water used on a regular basis. It’s all very positive.”

annually, turned out to be the perfect place to do so.

The edamame that AVS produces is planted in spring and “We had met a contact in Arkansas who really helped us think

harvested in summer at the peak of ripening, before hardening

about how to do edamame in the United States. After a while,

time. First, the pods are washed by machine and “de-haired.”

we realized the missing link was having a processing facility,”

Then they are cooked with hot water (194 to 203 degrees

says Ray Chung, Gene’s son and chief financial officer of AVS.

Fahrenheit) for 80 to 100 seconds and sent to a blast freezer

“It’s worked out well, and we’ve been very impressed with

for quick freezing. This process is called blanching. Ray says, “It

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people has to be processed quickly because soybeans have an enzyme

important to many parents with young kids. Plus, we’re bringing

that will break down the product and cause it to spoil. With every

jobs back to the United States, and I love that we can support

hour that passes, the sweetness decreases if you don’t blanch it.”

the community and provide jobs to local residents.”

The final step is that the edamame is packaged for consumption.

It’s no small thing – providing a healthy, organic product that’s

“Our Imperial brand product, which is simply packaged

made in the United States. And just as the individual benefits,

edamame, is sold at Sam’s Club and comes from our Arkansas

so does the community of Mulberry and the state. Because just

crop. AVS also packages our other product, Cruncha Ma-Me, and

like Florida has oranges, and Idaho has potatoes, Arkansas now

we’re making the switch so that it will come from our Arkansas

has edamame, and that’s something not only to eat, but also to

crop as well,” says Ray.

be proud of.

“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

On Saturday, March 29, 2014, the City of Mulberry and

nutrients. Freeze-drying, on the other hand, is a good way of

AVS will be hosting the First Annual Edamame Festival

preserving nutrients and flavor. Think about food for astronauts.

at the Mulberry City Park. The event is free to attend

It’s great for kids because it’s tasty, high in protein, and more

and will last from 10 AM to 5 PM, rain or shine.

portable than regular edamame. It comes in a variety of flavors and can be purchased through Amazon.com.”

The festival will include a variety of vendors, a bounce-around, an antique car show, live music by

Edamame can be eaten by itself as a finger food, but it can also

Bill Rogers and others, a pageant for young children,

be used as an ingredient for soups, salads, or vegetable dishes.

a three-on-three basketball tournament, a disc golf

Similar to large green beans, edamame beans come in a pod,

tournament, and helicopter rides.

which can be snapped open to remove the beans for eating.

Most people add salt to the beans, and AVS packages their

AVS will provide edamame and Cruncha Ma-Me for

products with sea salt packets for those who wish to use them.

sampling, as well as other delights like edamame salsa and edamame guacamole.

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

Mulberry City Park

edamame until I heard that AVS was interested in coming to

419 Mulberry Highway 64 West

Mulberry,” says Mayor Baxter. “Then I tried it as an appetizer at a

Mulberry, Arkansas 72947

restaurant and really liked it. We’ve started calling Mulberry the edamame capital of the United States.”

For more information, including information for new vendors, check out Mulberry City Limits on Facebook,

With AVS planning to expand its already 33,000 square foot

or contact the mayor’s office at 479.997.1321 or

facility by fifty percent, Arkansas is quickly on its way to

mayor@cityofmulberry.org.

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

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We’re all about making life simpler. Try these household tricks to save time and money. You can thank us later.

WORDS Catherine Frederick image Jeromy Price

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.

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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.

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people

The Life and Art of Kay Aclin

A

WORDS Anita Paddock image courtesy Kay Aclin and Jeromy Price

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.

DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

people 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

Kay Aclin

member of the Artist Society of Hot Springs, began drawing as children. “That was fun for us,” Kay says. “We’d sprawl across

work is in permanent collections at the Arkansas Art Center

the front porch with our papers and pencils and crayons and

in Little Rock as well as RAM, the Regional Art Museum in Fort

be perfectly happy. I guess I thought everybody could draw

Smith. Her art has been exhibited in the Governor’s Mansion

because I never felt like I had any kind of special gift,” she

and featured in a book celebrating Arkansas authors.

remembers. “It was just a part of me. I also loved to dance, and I took lessons in ballet.”

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.

After her husband graduated from med school in 1963, he was

They have their own areas to work in, and they are careful to not

stationed with the Air Force in Biloxi, Mississippi. Kay taught at

intrude in their grandmother’s space. In 2005, grandchildren

a local art center. “I taught Folk Art and also sold gift items such

Katherine, Sarah, and William Aclin had their own showings at

as boxes and note cards at gift shops that catered to tourists.

the Center for Art and Education in Van Buren. They prepared

I was happy to sell my artwork, but I always counted myself

their artist statements, with then eight-year-old William saying

blessed that I didn’t have to depend on it as a sole means of

he “loved to see his accidents turn into surprises.” Eleven-year-

support. I’ve been very, very lucky.”

old Katherine said “art was freedom for her imagination,” and Sarah, nine, thought of “art as an adventure.”

At first, Kay painted in both oils and watercolors. “I discovered that I liked watercolors better, and that it was hard to jump back

Kay finds happiness in teaching art, particularly to children,

and forth. I liked the spontaneity of watercolors, its looseness.”

whether it’s on an art excursion to the Janet Huckabee Nature

She likes a variety of subjects, including landscapes and figures.

Center or teaching in a summer art camp. She recently presented

Only recently, Kay has found an interest in abstracts that have

a watercolor portrait to Fort Smith’s Ballman Elementary,

ultimately brought her joy and a new circle of admirers.

depicting schoolchildren sitting in a circle with books in their laps. “It was so much fun,” Kay says, “watching those children

Her work has been hailed as spontaneous and diverse, with

picking out which child looked the most like him or her. I think

exciting contrasts and colors. As a member of the National

it’s essential to introduce children to the arts. The more they

Women in the Arts and Mid-Southern Watercolor Society, her

see, the more they will say, ‘I can do that, too.’”

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people

My personal favorite is the one that hangs over my fireplace,

works of art that were hundreds of years old and had never

depicting a woman in a library surrounded by books. Kay gave

been seen on public display.

me that picture during a sad part of my life, and it has always brought me happiness, which is what art should do.

Kay smiles her biggest, her best. “I was one of those tourists, and the moral to that story is something every artist should

Kay’s favorite quote is one by Einstein that says “Creativity is

heed,” she explains. “Don’t be afraid to get out in the rain.”

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

Kay is the featured artist for March at the Blue Moon

in Italy. It was raining when they arrived at a village church, and

Gallery, located at 718 Central Avenue in Hot Springs.

only four people were willing to risk braving the downpour. The

Visit their website bluemoonartgallery.com.

priest saw them and took them on a special tour up into the floors where tourists had not been allowed. He showed them

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people

Tarnished Charm words Marla Cantrell images courtesy Ivy Hagedorn

DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

people 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.

Ivy Hagedorn

She started making one-of-a-kind necklaces, using pieces of old jewelry, adding pearls at times, and tiny antique light bulbs, old

page. Before long, she was thinking about jewelry all the time.

keys, or pieces of fishing lures. Her friends fell in love with her

Ivy stayed up late, working on designs, crafting new pieces. She

eclectic work. So in the fall she headed to an arts and crafts

kept a notebook by her bed so she could make quick sketches

festival in Neosho, Missouri. Her jewelry was a big hit, and

if an idea struck her in the middle of the night.

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 started adding new lines, like hair clips made from old cuff

she believed she’d eventually go back to the corporate world,

links and screw-back earrings. Ivy scoured antique shops, estate

which seemed like the most responsible thing to do. “I finally

sales and auctions, and started buying vintage rhinestones

decided that life was way too short to always do what you’re

online. She grew to love dress clips that were invented in the

supposed to,” Ivy says.

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 so she came up with a name for her company. She called

and women would wear them, particularly on corners of square

it Tarnished Charm. Ivy set up an Etsy store, and a Facebook

necklines. When dress styles changed, the clips lost favor,

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people 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 although Ivy is still flummoxed as to why, since the pieces were

academics instead, becoming an honors international studies/

so versatile. Women wore them on chains as necklaces, and

political science major. As graduation loomed, she considered

even on hats.

grad school, but the thought of writing paper after paper didn’t appeal to her. She was already working for Cracker Barrel and

Finding dress clips, and all the other pieces that find their way

they offered her a management position that took her to Kansas

into her designs, is not easy, but Ivy thinks it’s worth it. “I don’t

City and on to Kingman.

use reproductions,” Ivy says. “Ever. There are so many things squirreled away in people’s homes, things people are throwing

Her work in the retail shops at the restaurant chain served her

away. Why do we need to buy all these things made in China,

well. She can set up one heck of a display at arts and crafts

when we have all this great stuff here that we can reuse? I buy

shows, she knows how to market, and she’s overcome her

a lot of things that need to be repaired because those pieces

natural shyness in dealing with people.

probably wouldn’t ever get used or appreciated again. Maybe it’s a broach that’s missing some rhinestones, and I have to go

Now that she’s come to this place in her life, all those seemingly

to my collection and refit the missing stones.

unconnected events suddenly look like a well thought out plan. And each step eventually led her right back home, where

“I work on an old watchmaker’s bench from the 1800s, and I

she’s undeniably happy. She’s so glad she took the chance, and

have a table for my metal work. When I go to shows now, I’ll take

that her mother encouraged her to take a break, to just let life

a huge, heavy bag full of stuff I’m working on, and I’ll work at

happen for a little while, at a time when that’s exactly what she

the shows. People have literally bought things off the table, as

needed. Ivy loves that every day she wakes up with a new idea,

soon as I’ve finished. The shows are a lot of physical work, and

a new design, a new way to make a piece of jewelry that will

long days, but there’s nothing like connecting with people, even

bring joy to the person who sees it and decides she just can’t

if they don’t buy. The comments I get from people are almost

live without it.

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

To see more of Ivy’s work, visit Tarnished Charm on

feeling for Ivy. She has many repeat customers who bring their

Facebook and Etsy.

friends to her shows, or send them to shop online. And she has

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people

The World’s Greatest Love Story WORDS Brenda Baskin image courtesy Dorwin Shaddox and Brenda Baskin

E

ighteen-year-old Dorwin Shaddox bought another Heath

The following morning, Dorwin drove his Chevelle down the dirt

bar. He’d gotten one earlier, but gave it to a friend, so

road. “I thought my family was poor until I saw where James

he’d have an excuse to go back to the lobby. The girl

lived,” he recalls. “It was a shack.” Dorwin knocked, and the door

working the concession stand at the Buffalo Movie Theater was

creaked open. There before him stood Patsy, the concession

the prettiest thing he’d ever seen, and he wanted to make sure

stand girl, her blue-green eyes and pink bathrobe brightening

he had a chance to talk to her again. Earlier, she’d mentioned

the drab front porch. Dorwin was dumbstruck. He had no idea

she was dating the projectionist. Dorwin was dating someone

that James had a sister, much less a beautiful one who worked

else too, but there was no harm in standing at that counter, just

at the theater.

long enough to buy candy and look into those sparkling eyes.

A few weeks later, James invited Dorwin to a party at his house.

It was 1968. Dorwin was a “river rat,” born and raised beside

Patsy was there with her boyfriend, but they weren’t getting

the Buffalo in Pruitt, Arkansas, but as he grew older, he worked

along. Dorwin had earlier determined the girl he’d been dating

and socialized in Harrison. The movie theater was there, and so

wasn’t the one he planned to spend his life with. After Patsy’s

were many of his friends. After one late night of fun, his buddy

boyfriend left the party, the two stayed up late into the night,

James worried that he might not be able to get up in time for

talking and getting to know each other. She broke up with the

work the next day. He gave Dorwin directions to his house, and

projectionist soon after.

asked him to come wake him up.

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people 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 Dorwin and Patsy Shaddox

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

It was then doctors discovered a cancerous tumor in his lower

and a small apartment complex on Highway 7 South, and set

back. It rendered him unable to walk or drive, and his vision

up shop in one of the apartment units. It was the beginning of

was severely impaired. Patsy tended to him while running

what would become one of the most respected real estate firms

the household and the business. She’d always said that she’d

in Boone County.

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.

Dorwin attributes their success to Patsy, who was considered the best closing agent around. “She was wholesome and kind,”

Together, they fought Dorwin’s cancer battle, and after two

he says. “People in town called her ‘Honest Abe.’” They won the

years, he won. He and Patsy were eager to get back to business

Realtor of the Year award thirteen times between them—eleven

as usual.

by the Regional Board of Realtors and twice by the state.

In June of 2010, they were hired to auction off a turkey farm.

From day one, Patsy’s desk sat next to Dorwin’s, and they

They rolled up their sleeves and went about cleaning the place

worked side-by-side throughout their entire marriage. In their

up. The mold and feathers made Patsy cough a lot, but after

spare time, they hunted, fished and traveled to almost every

three weeks, the place sparkled.

state in the US. They worked with the Special Olympics and established the annual Garth Shaddox Fishing Derby at Lake

A few days after the auction, Patsy sat beside Dorwin at her

Harrison (now in its seventeenth year), in honor of Dorwin’s

desk, filling out paperwork. She got up to go to the back, but

late brother. “Everything we did, we did together,” Dorwin says.

a moment later, she returned. Gasping for breath, she told

People teased them because they were always holding hands,

Dorwin that something was wrong, then fell to the floor. Dorwin

but over the years, while many of their friends’ marriages ended,

scooped her up and took her to the doctor who examined her

they grew even closer.

and immediately sent them to the hospital.

In 2004, Dorwin’s legs were crushed in a four wheeler accident.

Patsy had a small spot of cancer above one of her lungs, and it

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people 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. had probably been there for a while. Dorwin says that normally, it

After Patsy’s death, Dorwin closed their business and never

would have been slow-growing, and probably treatable, but while

returned. He bought a tractor and some land near his house and

working in the turkey houses, she’d developed histoplasmosis,

spends hours there, clearing brush, digging a pond, thinking.

a fungus of the lungs caused by (among other things) bird

His children visit often, and he spends a lot of time with his

droppings. The disease accelerated the growth of cancer so

grandkids. In 2012, the Arkansas Board of Realtors established

quickly that it was cutting off her oxygen supply. “They gave her

the Shaddox Hearts and Homes Award. It’s given annually to an

three weeks, maximum,” Dorwin says, his voice breaking.

agent whose actions are “compassionate, kind, caring, generous and committed. Engraved in the award is a picture of a couple,

The day she came home from the hospital, fifty friends stopped

standing close together. The first recipient was Dorwin.

by, and they kept coming until the end. Patsy held her husband’s hand. He remembers her instructions. “She said, ‘Dorwin, when

It’s hard to move on, but Dorwin’s trying. Daughter Misty reports

I’m gone, I want you to dance. I know we danced together some,

that finally, he’s dancing again. “He can cut quite a rug,” she

but we didn’t do it enough. I want you to dance more.’”

says and then laughs.

Heartbroken, he prepared for the inevitable. He drove to Pruitt

Still, he knows he’ll never completely get over losing Patsy.

to choose their plot at the Shaddox Cemetery. There he spied

“There was no one like her,” he says. “It was the world’s greatest

a black gum tree, one of the strongest trees on Earth. Two

love story.”

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

Do South readers are invited to visit the Dorwin

memorial service was one of the biggest the city of Harrison

and Patsy Shaddox Bench page on Facebook, where

had ever seen. Between 500 and 700 people crowded into the

everyone’s encouraged to share their own hand-

church to honor the woman who had touched so many lives

holding photos.

with her kindness.

For directions to Shaddox Cemetery and the Mill It took Dorwin seven months to decide on her headstone. If you

Creek Trail, visit trailheadfinder.com and search for

go to the Shaddox Cemetery on the Mill Creek hiking trail, you’ll

Mill Creek Trail.

see it. Its glossy newness stands out among the other markers,

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people

WORDS Marla Cantrell image courtesy Amber Ebbrecht

DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

people 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.

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people

Amber Ebbrecht

One of the nicest things her customers say is that they want

It’s a lot to do, teach fulltime, bake in her off hours, keep up with

to eat the cookies, but taking that first bite is hard to do. They

her family life. But she’s happy to juggle it all. Every step has

want to keep them in tact so they can keep enjoying the little

led here, she says. What she’s learned as an artist plays heavily

masterpieces Amber’s created.

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

Her secret to the buttery, sugary wonders is kept under wraps.

something. I’d find things I didn’t need anymore and set up a

What Amber will say is how much she loves what she does.

table in the driveway and open shop. Once, I painted rocks and

It’s a process that takes a lot of time. She’s come up with her

tried to sell them door to door.” Amber laughs. “I remember that

own recipes, which include pumpkin spice, chocolate hazelnut,

because I dropped one on my dad’s car. I don’t think he’ll ever

poppy seed, and vanilla almond. The cookies require drying

forget it either.”

time, and the Royal Icing, which hardens after applying, takes experience to get just right. Amber makes it in three

She doesn’t know where CeBe’s Cookies will lead, but she

consistencies for different areas, depending on the design. And

would love, one day, to own a combination bakery/art school.

those gorgeous details, like the miniscule roses, are painted on,

She thinks the two things would work beautifully together. She

something she loves to do.

imagines customers coming in, the place filled with cookies and pastries and goodwill. She would be smiling, she says, they

Even the packaging is beautiful. The cookies are wrapped

would be smiling. It would be a happy, happy place.

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 order CeBe’s Custom Cookies, visit Amber’s

to make a mistake, to have a cookie he can eat,” Amber says.

online shop at etsy.com/CebesCookies. Since all her

“And I eat my share. It’s a good thing I like to run, or I might be

products are custom made, plan to order at least two

gaining a lot of weight. I also chew gum when I’m baking, just

weeks early.

so I can avoid any temptation. I think baking is therapeutic, the kneading of the dough. I love every step in the process.”

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taste

RECIPE Burford Distributing image Jeromy Price

1 oz Minsk Vodka 1 oz Coffee Liqueur 1 Splash Coca-Cola Fill with Guinness Stout

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 by Burford Distributing, Fort Smith, Arkansas Please drink responsibly.

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taste

WORDS Catherine Frederick images Catherine Frederick and Jeromy Price

DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

taste

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.

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taste

METHOD Heat 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-byside 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.

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taste

WORDS Catherine Frederick image Jeromy Price

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taste

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?

{ METHOD } 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.

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.

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southern lit

Long Walk Home fiction Marla Cantrell

W

anda 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

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.

DOSOUTHMAGAZINE

southern lit 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.

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.”

“Oh, not a thing,” she said. “Just looking.”

“Would that it could be so,” Beardo said.

“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.

“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.

“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

“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

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southern lit 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.”

“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 honkytonk 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.

“I’ve been hoping you’d come back,” he said.

“Really?”

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