Cousins and Sibs In Time Warp

By mid-day we are with family in the land of Ruby’s birth - also home to Razorbacks.  We begin with food - Tokyo House of Sushi - a nice NW Arkansas surprise - it is good!  Cousins & sibs numbering 8 of us.

Visiting Marilyn & Doug means animal time, too.  Larry, Lorna, Lambert, and Cindy are somewhat civilized.  Larry is expressive.  The armadillo isn’t tame, but likely considers himself appropriately civilized.  You can tell a lot about the photographer, Doug Konishi from the way he captures the personality of his subjects.

At the Brentwood on Saturday nights there is American roots music on stage and on jam in the side room.  It is mostly local musicians, but some bands travel from distant places.  

Our cousins via Mom’s Aunt Josie Ann, James and Richard Gregory, play guitars they make.  Their voices blend in blood harmony, a term we hear Christine Talley use. Chris plays string bass and handles MC duties too.  

The cover charge of $3 is waived if you carry a musical instrument.

We share the weekly routine of Sunday dinner with cousin Richard who promises hobo stew and surprise pie.  His son Rick and Gwen broaden the conversation.  Rick manages dairy farm milk plants around the country and Gwen is a occupational therapist. Richard is the grandson of Josie Ann.  Josie Ann is the sibling closest in age to our grandfather, Miles Monroe Doss.  It was a difficult life for Josie when her darling young husband died while there were still several of their 7 children living at home.  There were times when Mom remembers the kids living with them while Josie sought work enough to keep their home together.  Richard offers us a CD of duets with James and laughs when Alex asks if he will take a credit card.  Richard replies that all he asks is that we enjoy it.  

Super Bowl Sunday finds us at Cousin Karen’s with 3 dogs: Sassy, Sissy, and Saucy.  It’s a fun game to watch and i want to tell son Chris that we are all with the Eagles. Alex teases Sassy “who’s my favorite dog??” It is an adequate fore-shadowing of the barking enthusiasm that will greet us when we return to NW AR on the way home in April.

Note: The time warp disclaimer is this - This travel adventure occurs Feb - April 2018.  Connectivity is rare in rural USA so the blog is chronological, but 3 months overdue by the calendar. At least, in part, because we were into the fun of camper-van travel - and the blog purpose is to display some coolish photos while not torturing you with the entire collection.