RECOVERY FROM SURGERY

 I can now say from personal experience that the New Mexico room at the Retreat is the perfect place for recovery from major surgery! Everything I needed was within reach, with only a few steps to get to the ADA bathroom and walk-in shower. Plug-ins for phone and computers on a nightstand, just the right height so that I didn't have to over-extend my reach. The bed was the perfect height, making it easy to get in and out of. Smart TV with streaming services (and a sleep timer on the remote) provided distraction. A wing chair next to the bed gave me the option to sit comfortably when I wasn't in bed. Plenty of space in the room to park the walker and wheelchair. I had beautiful sunset views from my bed every evening. Once ambulatory, I went out to the covered patio for some fresh air. My caregiver stayed in an adjacent room so she was always nearby. Two weeks post-op, I am ready to take a soak in the air tub!

Summertime and the living is easy - George Gershwin

 May 4 2023 

Musings on a summer night at the Chaparral Retreat:

'I listen to the whippoorwills chirping in the background of the sounds of insects flitting in and out of the luminescence of the patio light while Sadie finishes her survey of the yard and tries to sniff out the presence of other animals daring enough to venture out of the darkness while she is on watch. Not that she would do anything about an intruder other than snarl at it and maybe chase it back into the woods, but she is smart enough to know what her duties are. To warn and to protect. She is, after all, a shepherd, with the instincts of the breed but without a regular herd to manage.'

We are having a somewhat mild beginning of summer, with some rain and daytime high temperatures in the 80's. The grounds are lush, and we are working to remove layers of fallen leaves from the garden areas, trim branches from trees and shrubs, and move around some perennials that have outgrown the spaces they are in.

We have hosted several private events over the past few months, including some art workshops using oils and watercolors. I planned an art curriculum for the Kiwanis Club's summer youth program that runs through June and was happy to have twelve children show up for the first session. They worked on a pop art project and also made cookie-cutter figures out of clay. I have a couple of printmaking projects planned and another clay activity, and we'll do a collaborative painting that I think they'll have fun with.

Hail Storm in April 2023

 Yesterday afternoon we were hit by a massive hail storm! The scene was eerie as steam rose when the frozen hail hit the ground. The outside temperature was 70 degrees when the rain started falling, and it quickly turned to hail. The storm lasted about thirty minutes, starting with pea-sized pellets and ending with almost golf-sized frozen balls. I welcome the moisture but not the destruction of my gardens and all the cleanup work that needs to be done. On the bright side, tomorrow it will be warm enough to go out and hunt mushrooms!!  

Fresh Start - 2023

 April 2, 2023  

Spring is here, and we are in the process of "sprucing up" the property for coming visitors and events. Andy has been working hard: he replaced the fence on the front of the property using cedar boards from trees he cut down from the "way back" of the property. He has been clearing more trails through the woods. The kids planted some fruit trees and though we may not get fruit this year, they have survived and we look forward to future harvests. We have lots of projects to get done this spring!

We spent a lot of 2022 traveling to check out event venues, other lodging options, attending hospitality seminars, and trying to see how other businesses like ours are adapting to meet the changes in travel, entertainment, and hospitality services after three years of living with COVID. Last year we moved toward expanding our "customer base" to offering the Retreat for workshops, business conferences, and art retreats.

The redbuds are in bloom, and if we ever get some rain, we'll go out to hunt morel mushrooms! I will begin writing on this blog more often this year, so please check in to see what's going on out here at our little piece of heaven!

Check out our facebook page for photos and other hyyge commentary. Sending our love out to all . . . / Linda Barrett

 So, 2021 wasn’t quite the year clear of the Coronavirus like we thought (i.e., hoped) it would be back at the end of 2020.  We in our family have all been vaccinated and continue to social distance and wear masks when in public.  Sadly, we’ve experienced through good friends what the virus can do and it looks like the virus is going to be with us for a while so we will continue to take precautions in the near future.  The good news is that we have been able to leave the house and resume some semblance of “normalcy” by getting to go out to eat, travelling, and spending time with friends.  We took a few trips this year: to Bakersfield to visit my sister Becky and her family and to lay our brother Simon to rest at the National Cemetery; a quick overnight trip to Dallas, and a trip to New Mexico to celebrate the retirement of one of Andy’s college buddies.   

Back at the Retreat, things have been quiet for the second year of the COVID pandemic.   We’ve started having guests again but have limited rentals to the New Mexico room which can be directly and easily accessed from its private patio.  We aren’t serving a cooked breakfast, but hopefully we can resume full service in 2022.  We had one House Concert this year and it reminded us of how much fun those shows are; again, we hope to resume having live music next year, if not at our house then at our local winery where we’ve hosted musicians in the past. 

Our son Drew earned his degree in art education from Southwestern Oklahoma State University and almost immediately got a job as a high school art teacher in the town of Yukon.  The commute is long and he and Jenna are looking for a house to buy nearer to his job.  Jenna works from home as a paralegal for a Dallas-based law firm and all of her work is on-line. Their house project on our property has been at a stand-still since Drew went back to school to finish his degree but they still intend to finish it at some point and use it as a studio. Our daughter Alma is still living in Portland, Oregon and is happy there.  I still post updates on goings on around here on Facebook (Chaparral Retreat and Guesthouse) and sometimes write in my blog at chaparralbb.blogspot.com

Fortunately, our family is doing well as this year comes to an end.  We hope this note finds you and yours in good cheer for the holidays and that 2022 brings you LOVE, PEACE, GOOD HEALTH AND HAPPINESS.   

 /Andy and Linda Barrett

NEW MAILING ADDRESS:   4978 S. Hwy 8A, Watonga, OK  73772 (we no longer have our PO Box)"

Summer Celebrations

Aug 2, 2021

 It's 6:00 pm on Monday, third day of my birthday celebration. I made taco salad with grilled and sliced steak for family dinner, after eating out two days in a row with friends who were in town to celebrate an anniversary and my birthday. Being with good friends and family is the key to a happy birthday!

The weekend started with a fun watercolor painting lesson with a new 12-year old student at Watonga ArtWorks. Children are such sponges of information and experiences, and Maddie was a joy to work with.

Teri and John from Broken Arrow arrived in time for happy hour before going to dinner at Foggy Bottom restaurant at Roman Nose State Park Lodge -- excellent food. We were all too full for dessert but sat up and talked, catching up, till the late hour of 10:00 pm. We started up again on Sunday morning with a light breakfast of fruit, crescents, and bacon at the Chaparral Retreat before going on a hike around the property. The outdoor temperature on Sunday and Monday were like early spring and it was a real treat to walk around without getting sweaty or heat stroke!! We took our friends on a car tour of the town, including the new casino property (hotel is not open yet). By the time we finished with a late lunch we were all ready for a nap. We had breakfast at home before they headed off to their next adventure in Kansas. Celebrating their anniversary with them was very apropo since Andy and I attended their wedding which was the first time I met any of Andy's college friends after he and I first met over 40 years ago. I feel so blessed.

Come see us at the Chaparral Retreat again!

 We are having guests again at the Chaparral Retreat, but with some changes in order to take into account the continuing threat of COVID19 and its variants. I will miss cooking breakfast for our guests and spending time visiting with them as we ease back into the new normal. Everyone's safety is our primary concern! The peace and quiet of the Retreat, beautiful sunsets, flowering gardens and trails through the woods are all still here for visitors to enjoy. See the website at www.chaparralbb.com for updated information. I am also keeping up to date on postings to the Chaparral Retreat facebook pages.

With all of the rain we've had, the property has become a jungle. I am working to pull up vinca that is encroaching on paths, and continuing our annual battle with the grasshoppers. The vegetable garden is surviving but we're going to try a different tactic to keep the grasshoppers out since every other method we've tried has proven unsuccessful. I went to Hobby Lobby and bought several yards of a twill netting and intend to make small tents to place over the garden areas that are susceptible to the grasshoppers. They specifically like the basil.

I was walking along the front of the house yesterday, with scissors to cut the vinca that is extending onto the cement path that leads to the New Mexico room. I had not yet met the visitors who were staying in that room, but they were sitting on their patio and saw me, and asked if I was the proprietor. I introduced myself and they asked me some questions about the property and how we came to Watonga. We actually had a nice visit before the sun came out behind the clouds and the humidity shot up. The thing I missed most about shutting down during COVID was visiting with guests. We get to meet some interesting people and they usually end up being long-term friends.

Drew and Jenna have returned from their vacation to visit her parents back east, and they are both busy getting caught up on work and school planning/assignments. Martha was a good traveller but was obviously happy to be home where she can run to her heart's content. I know Sadie missed Martha even though we tried to give all of the animals extra attention while the kids were away.

The summer flowers are starting to bloom: coneflower, phlox, lantana, purple heart, and four o'clocks are putting on color. Our black currant bushes were eaten up by some kind of caterpiller but we did get a small harvest of the berries. We also found a mulberry tree on a friend's property and I collected some berries and made a mulberry jam. I have to say, it came out really good. I'm ready to make another batch after the ground dries up (the trees are in a low spot in a yard near a creek so it is especially muddy right now.

We are looking forward to having friends come to visit this summer, and have one Oklahoma house concert scheduled for September 13. We are going to try and hold the show on the back patio if the weather cooperates.

I hope everyone had a good fourth of July and that everyone is tolerating the heat and humidity of this time of year!

May 2021

 As Andy and I were walking around the property last evening, we saw that all of our crape myrtles died back from the deep freeze we had early this year. But they are putting out new growth from ground level. We have a lot of trimming to do to get rid of the dead and give the plants a fresh start!

The freeze also affected my iris bloom -- I only had one white iris bloom and about eight blooms in other clumps around the property and they are only now (May) opening up!

This week's weather has been perfect -- high 40's-50's overnight and 60 to 75 degrees during the day, with not much wind. I've spent the last week raking leaves off of the garden beds around the house in the hopes of keeping the grasshopper population down this year. Everything is green right now. We lost several entire trees from the ice storm and we have lots of fallen branches that need to be chainsawed into pieces. We'll have to take out a few dead trees completely. WE HAVE LOTS OF CUT-UP WOOD STACKED AND READY FOR PICKUP -- IF INTERESTED, CALL ANDY AT 214-763-3823 TO MAKE ARRANGEMENTS TO COME GET IT. We are located on the road to Roman Nose State Park if you need wood for a campfire!

We are opening up one bedroom in the house for rent (the New Mexico room), and have availability in June. We are still complying with social distancing and other precautions and have changed our breakfast to a "continental" offering: coffee and juice, fruit, muffins and/or bagels, granola, yogurt. see our website: www.chaparralbb.com

We have a house concert scheduled for September 16, with Ian Leath from Chicago, Illinois. Here are links to his bio and music:

facebook.com/ianleith

https://www.reddit.com/u/sockswinger?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share

Instagram / leithalian

Youtube.com/lenhaiti

ianleith.bandcamp.com

I'll be posting an Event on Facebook later in the summer.

Morel hunting a success!

 April 19, 2021

Today was a good day.  It was sunny and around 55 degrees when Andy and I left the house to go to OKC and pick up groceries we had ordered online.  While in Yukon, we went to lunch at one of our favorite Vietnamese restaurants. Not only is the food good but it is never crowded, even before COVID hit.  Though Andy and I have both been vaccinated, we are still careful about social distancing and using hand sanitizer and wearing our mask unless we're eating.   

The semi-annual Roman Nose Hills Trail Ride is being held this weekend. When Andy and I got home from the City we put our boots on and drove to the Midway Cafe site to set up the grills for the Saturday lunch cookout.  It is a beautiful place thick with trees and a fishing lake. Sadie went with us and we walked through a patch of trees looking for mushrooms, with no luck. 

Before going home, we decided to go into the woods at the back of our land via the gravel road instead of hiking, to hunt for morel mushrooms. We got a little rain a couple of days ago and today was plenty warm, so we figured they would be popping up.  Andy had found a couple on Saturday when he was out in the woods along the back road. That day he ran into a neighbor who was out also morel hunting.  Andy only found 4 on Saturday, and Mitch had about a dozen he had found on his property that day.  We were out for about 40 minutes, and I was ready to give up, when Andy spotted a couple of mushrooms.  Then as I was approaching where he stood, I came across a "honey hole" (as they call it here) and found about half a dozen all in the same area.  In the end we gathered just enough to fry up as an appetizer.  We marked the location for future hunting. I still think it is weird that everyone around here is secretive about their hunting spots for morels. Tonight a cold front is coming through central Oklahoma so that will probably be all the mushrooms we get this season. After the rain that is supposed to come through this weekend, we may go out and look for more (it can become an obsession, but at least the hunting season is short). 

 

Time to hunt morel mushrooms

 The weirdness of 2020 has extended into 2021 in more than a few ways.  I've gotten to where I don't even look at the news reports of COVID cases, deaths, the vaccines ,etc; but I can't help but notice that our country seems to be at a standstill in mitigating the pandemic. That is to say, many Americans just can't seem to get it into their heads that the sooner we all mask up the sooner we'll get the pandemic under control.  Andy and I have both been vaccinated and still wear masks when we're in public (not when we're driving in the car.)

But the Oklahoma weather has been just as unpredictable as it always is.  The good thing is that we didn't get a freeze after the currant and redbuds flowered, so we may get a good crop of currants and we definitely has a bright splash of color from the redbuds. We had little rain over the past two months until this week, and the temperatures have been in the 50-60-70's, even as warm as 80 and sunny. I describe these conditions because the time to find morel mushrooms all depends on the temperature and moisture in the woods.  For the past month I've seen hundreds of posts on Facebook about who has found a cache of the coveted fungi and where they are popping up.  The "myth" is that mushrooms pop up when the redbuds are in full bloom, but that doesn't take into consideration the other necessary conditions for fruiting. All of the conditions may come together this Sunday, with the rain we've had the past two days, though the temperature won't be as warm as some people say it must be.  But we're going to go hunting when the temperature gets up to 60 degrees on Sunday instead of waiting until it hits 80 degrees again, cause that's not going to happen for a while. I hope we are successful.

Today some surveyors came out to survey our neighbor's property (the Nelsons) to our north. Evidently it has been sold to a group out of Texas (the Palo Duro Canyon area) called Stephens Brothers Cabins. We don't know what the new owners' intentions are yet - whether they intend to build cabins out in the woods - but we'll just have to be prepared for some changes in the area.  We just hope for good neighbors.

Last weekend Drew slaughtered one of his sheep, so we have a freezer chest full of lamb.  He's going to make some curry for dinner tonight.  He only has two more weeks of student teaching and will graduate from Southwestern OK State University on May 1.  

. . .   

Today's update

 Yesterday was windy and chilly in our area, so I stayed indoors and vegged.  I did get up the energy to prepare dinner at the end of the day, a hearty tomato basil soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.   

Today (4/13/21) was a much better day than yesterday.  The wind was only a breeze; it was sunny and warm enough that the cool breeze felt good while I worked outdoors in a T-shirt.  Andy and I went into town to run some errands - go to the bank, get some groceries, drop off a flat tire to be fixed, picked up prescriptions from the local pharmacy, and stopped in at Jackie's Lawn & Lube/June's Garden Center/distributor of Watonga Cheese.  I bought a few seedlings (eggplant and cherry tomato) for our garden.  June has the best, healthiest plants and a wide variety of not only ornamentals but also vegetables and herbs. 

Speaking of plants and gardening -- I am boycotting Bonnie's plants because they are not an ethical company. A couple of years ago I was at a Lowe's store to pick up some seedlings for the vegetable garden. They had a table with several signs around the table that said "$1.98" for the 3" pots -- what a deal!! When I got to the checkout counter, the cashier rang the plants up at $3.98 each - which was the posted price on the plastic descriptive tag in each pot.  I told the cashier that the sale price was listed on the table at $1.98.  The  cashier followed me outside to the table to confirm what I had told her, and then she explained to me that the sale price did not pertain to the Bonnie brand, even though the table only had Bonnie plants on it.  I asked, then why are the sale signs there, where there are only Bonnie plants.  The cashier told me that Bonnie and their personnel controlled where their plants were set up in stores, and the stores are not allowed to mark the prices down. In fact, she said all Bonnie plants that are not sold are returned to the nursery, actually picked up by a Bonnie nursery representative, no matter what condition they are in. I asked to see a manager, and the manager followed me outside to the "sale" table.  Her explanation was that "some employee" must have put the Bonnie plants on the sale table because the racks Bonnie provided for their merchandise were full.  Well, that's all well and good except for the fact that the employee left the sale price sign on the table, and there were no other plants on the table that were not Bonnie. The employee should have removed the sale signs if they weren't going to sell the plants on the table for the sale price. I told her, in a nice voice, that it was false advertising. The manager said "you can always contact the Bonnie nursery.  We don't have any control over their marketing and plant placement on our premises." I was frustrated and fuming mad, but decided not to spend anymore time on the matter. I walked away from my cart that was full of plants and since then have refused to buy any more Bonnie nursery plants.  Bonnie Nursery seedlings are sold everywhere, from the local grocery store to Tractor Supply and Atwoods (local businesses)  But June Morris here in Watonga gets her seedlings from another nursery. While Bonnie charges $3.98 for a 3-inch seedling, June charges $1.98 for the same plant.  June always culls her supply of damaged or half-dead seedlings, and will sell those for less than the marked price if a person asks.  

End of my rant!  In the afternoon I planted the seedlings I had bought at June's, planted some cilantro, mesclun mix, and parsley seed, and watered the potato bed and lettuces I have in pots.  Then I spent an hour or so pulling up the spreading vinca (periwinkle) that had encroached on and covered up some other plants in the large "wild" area in the front yard.  Jenna and I walked around the property to look at what was blooming and what was budding and what needed to be cut back or trimmed.  Everything is so colorful outdoors right now!  And we're getting some much needed rain today!  

Next project, after the rainy days are over, is to go hunting for morels out in the woods!! 

Life in the Country

 The shroud of winter 2020-2021 has been lifted and I survived. There is so much cleaning work to be done, both indoors and outside.  Andy has been busy moving fallen trees and branches and cutting them up or burning the dead wood.  Drew and Jenna have set out seeds for the vegetable garden and made up a map of the space for complementary planting.  I've prepared a bed for potatoes and gotten  them into the ground, and have also planted some parsley and some lettuces. 

Sadie and Martha both love to run through the woods, and Sadie has to go outside whenever Andy or I are outdoors. This week she has caught two baby rabbits, and today she came out of the woods carrying a larger one, maybe a young adult. I watched her eat the first bunny, and the second one she left for the cats - or maybe she was chased off from the kill by one of the cats. I think she ran off with the young adult and hid it in the woods after the cats approached her on the patio. When Sadie came back to the patio, she was dripping wet:  she had jumped into the pond to cool down. The pond is her private swimming pool, and she loves to swim across it. Between her dashing through the woods and refusing to come to me when I call her, it is very hard to get a photo of her playing outside.

We (the kids) have eight sheep now and are ready to thin the herd; Drew will try to sell three or four before having to go the alternate route. The chickens are producing plenty of eggs and we can hear the rooster crow when we are walking to the garden or along trails in the woods. 

I am regularly asked "have the kids finished their house" and the answer is "No". But they intend to and will use it as a studio instead of their primary living space. Drew's time has been 100% consumed by school since he started back to finish his degree.  He will graduate in May and is already sending out resumes for a teaching job. 

. . .  

April 2021- Almost "Normal"

 Things are looking up at the Retreat.  The local nursery owner in town told me today that "we're over the cold temperatures" when I was in her shop looking at herbs and vegetables for the garden.  The redbud trees  starting budding out about ten days ago and haven't yet hit their peak. The daytime temperatures are now steadily in the 50's 60's and 70's, and if we get some rain in the next week to ten days it will be a good time to go hunting for morel mushrooms out in the woods!  Around the house, colors are starting to pop (mostly redbuds and bulbs).  I haven't seen any buds on any of the irises that are all around the property. I've posted a few pics on our facebook pages (Linda Barrett or Chaparral Retreat and Guesthouse).  

We had a new baby lamb born about a week ago and he is too cute.  We now have eight sheep. The kids are ready to sell off a couple of the rams we have and maybe even a female or two.  We have still not been able to teach Sadie (our mini-Aussie) to herd them -- Sadie would rather run and play in the woods. We have five laying hens and a rooster and they are all healthy and happy.

Drew and Jenna have already planted some vegetables in the garden and started some seedlings in the house for summer veggies.  I finally got our seed potatoes in the ground.  The walk up to the garden is uphill so I get some good exercise going up there to water, weed, and plant new things.  I have lettuces planted in large pots outside of the kitchen and we are able to harvest some for dinner already.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we don't have a bad year for grasshoppers. 

We have gotten our COVID vaccinations and have stayed safe and well over the past fifteen months. We are ready to open one room of the bed & breakfast and see how that goes.  We are getting more and more calls from musicians who want to know if we are going to continue our House Concerts, and we are ready to say "YES!" Check out the Oklahoma House Concerts page for updates on when and where!

. . . 

Spring update

 March 18, 2021

I recently received an email from someone who said she does read our blog!  

The past twelve months have taken us on a long, strange trip.  The day the COVID19 pandemic was announced is etched into my memory. I was probably the only person in the world who, at the time, was grateful for the announcement. In short, here's why:  Last February I received a subpoena from the Los Angeles Superior Court to appear there as a "material witness" in a criminal case involving a person I knew forty years ago. I fought the subpoena in the local court on the grounds that I had not seen that person for forty years, knew nothing about the other parties in the criminal case, and had no information about the case to give to the LA court.  But the only grounds the judge would consider was the fact that a pandemic had been declared and that because of my age, I was in the high risk group who were being advised not to travel. 

No one could have predicted how long the COVID pandemic would last.  For the first six months we took each day one at a time, not being able to plan on anything. Mixed messages from the government wasn't any help in guiding us. In June we closed our doors to guests and canceled house concerts that were on the calendar through December. We had a trip to England planned for June 2020 and we had to cancel all of those plans. The rest of the year played out with us in isolation at home. 

We got through the winter with one bad ice storm in October that not only kept us stuck at home but also caused a multi-day power outage. The ice took down lots of dead wood in the forest but also several live trees and branches from live trees. We have a lot of downed wood that needs to be cut up and/or burned.  Andy has his work cut out for him this spring.  We had another snow event in February but didn't lose power. We're hopeful that we've gotten through the winter and that we got enough moisture for a colorful spring.  The redbuds are starting to put out buds but the quince hasn't bloomed yet. Daffodils and crocus are blooming and iris shoots are popping up all around. 

It is now mid-March and there is light at the end of the pandemic tunnel.  Andy and I have both been vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine, and Drew is eligible for it because he is a teacher.  News reports say that there is plenty of vaccine available, or will soon be available (May 1), for every adult who wants the vaccine to get one.  Though the number of COVID cases have been going down, we may be in for a spike and a resulting delay in controlling the spread because state governments are loosening restrictions for mask use, business openings and large group gatherings (such as sorting events), and getting kids back into schools in spite of warnings by the head epidimiologist Mr. Fauci to slow down for another month. 

 

  

Jan 4, 2021

We've had snow on the ground for the past three days, and it has been beautiful.  Fortunately, we didn't get ice out of this weather and no power outages. We all spent New Years afternoon playing games and the kids put together a puzzle they received as Christmas gifts. The temperature today should reach 50 degrees so the snow may melt away, though the daytime temps over the next few days are going to be in the 40's. 

 

 

 

 

The best "gift" I received this year was a letter  from an old friend I had lost track of and had not been in touch with for almost ten years. My fault -- I had her last known address but had not written because I wasn't sure it was still her address. She doesn't do social media and I didn't have an email.  Getting her letter and knowing that she wants to stay in touch just brightened up my day. 

Focusing on the "bad news" of the year has made me not want to interact with anyone. Being quarantined in the house doesn't help.  Sometimes Andy and I will just get in the car and drive around the countryside in order to get a change of scenery.  I really miss social interaction with people.

2021

 As of right now, our business will remain closed until at least March -- we'll reevaluate in January as we see how things are going with the COVID pandemic.

I read that CNN has a new special on the 1918 Pandemic. It showed that there were groups then who were anti-masking and met to protest the ordinance. Politicians in some cities ignored the virus and held big parades resulting in thousands of cases. According to the report, many authorities outright lied about the seriousness of the pandemic and people were happy to stay in denial. If history repeats itself, we may be in for a longer wait than the first quarter of 2021.  

The Trout Derby at Roman Nose State Park is being planned for the first weekend in February instead of March (a Chamber of Commerce event).  I will be stepping down from the board of the Friends of Roman Nose State Park and won't be involved with the planning of events they put on. There are new people involved and I hope everything works out well for the Trout Derby.  The Cheese Festival is scheduled for the first Fri and Sat in October 2021, and plans are being made by the Chamber of Commerce for that event.  I've made an application to host a traveling Smithsonian exhibition through Oklahoma Humanities and hope to get word in the next week or so whether or not our site is selected as a host community.  It would be ideal to have it during the Cheese Festival in October 2021 but no date is certain as of right now. 

There is no word on the April Roman Nose Hills trail ride yet.  Not much can be planned definitively until we see how things shake out after the first of the year as far as spikes in COVID and distribution of the vaccine, which isn't going very well right now.  Things could speed up with more vaccinations being given but as of right now the U.S. is far behind.  I saw a recent report about vaccinations in Chicago, broken down by specific areas. One area on the southside of Chicago received thousands of doses of vaccine but as of this week only 50 vaccinations in that particular area have been given. That is a frightening report. 

Winter weather is hitting hard here this week, so I'll be spending time indoors, binge-watching movies and series on Netflix!  

 

End of 2020

 Dear friends,  

This post will have to serve as my Christmas and New Year's greeting for 2020.  COVID19 and the Presidential election have made the year almost intolerable.  The Chaparral Retreat has been closed since March and we may not be able to reopen until spring or summer.  We have no house concerts scheduled but hope to have some music at the Watonga ArtWorks center next year.  Right now we are all safe and well, staying quarantined, wearing masks, and missing seeing friends, family, and meeting new people.  

A few  uplifting highlights of the year have been Drew and Jenna's marriage, a good report from my cardiologist this month, getting the ArtWorks building ready for the possibility of hosting a traveling Smithsonian exhibition, and Andy and I celebrating our 40th anniversary this month. We had a pretty severe ice storm earlier this winter but we made it through three days without electricity. We lost several big trees on the property and will have our work cut out for us in the spring, cleaning up the debris left by the event. 

We spent an easy-going Christmas holiday with Drew and Jenna here at home and plan on the same for the New Year celebration. I don't expect any miracles but sure do look forward to the end of this year. With the COVID vaccine being available, we can see light at the end of the long tunnel that was 2020.

We are thankful for all of the people in our lives and for each new day we are able to live through. We send our love to all who love us and wish everyone a safe and sane 2021!  

   

Labor Day Weekend

 This year is the weirdest year I can remember.  I've completely lost track of time, what day it is.  There has been nothing on our calendar for the past five and a half months.  On March 12, we canceled scheduled house concerts through August, hoping things would get back to normal, that the coronavirus would be under control by then and we could resume having guests and live music here.  But that hasn't happened. Now we've had to cancel everything through the end of 2020.  In fact, the numbers of people contracting the virus has gone up continuously and some of the public isn't taking precautions recommended by the medical experts.  Those same people are the ones complaining about having to wear masks, not understanding that the longer they refuse to take precautions the longer it will take our country to get back to any semblance of what we've thought of as 'normal'.  Their refusal to comply with simple preventative measures only serves to lengthen the time we are limited in social interactions, to go without being able to safely attend a sporting event, to have our children go back to something of a regular school schedule.  And the repercussions affect our economy and the ability of businesses to reopen.  Bottom line, people's refusal to take the necessary precautions to stop the spread of the virus now hurts our entire country.  This virus is a public health and safety issue, and we should put the politics of it out of our mind.  If this epidemic were happening at any time other than an election year, reason  would prevail and we would have gotten the epidemic under control much sooner.  

On the bright side, we've gotten to spend time at home and get some cleaning done, things we've put off for the past couple of years.  We've finally unpacked boxes and either given away stuff that's been packed up for 10 years or donated it, from clothes to house decor. 

 I started going to cardio rehab twice a week to work on getting my heart stronger and developing a good exercise regimen for when I finish the 36 week program and am on my own to keep up the cardio exercises.  It's been like having a personal trainer for those sessions and I can really feel a difference in my energy level and my mental function. Even though I still have a little voice at the back of my subconscious reminding me that I have a life-threatening condition, I am not living with the fears I had three months ago.  I haven't fallen unconscious, had to go to the emergency room at the hospital, or had a seizure since last November. I can't wait for my followup appointment with my cardiologist in December!

Andy and the kids are doing fine.  School, sheep, and chickens are keeping the kids busy. Drew did most of the spring and summer semester on-line but has a couple of hands-on art classes on campus he has to go to twice a week so we are all still being extra diligent about wearing masks, social distancing, and disinfecting anything that comes into the house.  

I've been working on a grant application through Oklahoma Humanities to bring a Smithsonian Institution exhibition about rural Oklahoma to our town. The exhibition is going to visit six towns in Oklahoma. The project is going to take lots of volunteers from the community to pull it off, if our town is chosen as one of the host towns. The grant application is quite the challenge, but what else do I have to do?? 

If anyone actually reads this, NOTE that we are no longer using a PO Box!  We finally got a real street address both for 911 service and Google maps.  The "new" address is 4978 S HWY 8A, WATONGA, OK  73772.   AND soon we'll have fiber for our internet!  Lots of things I miss about Texas, but I do love living out in the country far from the maddening crowd!  We'll be open for visitors after the first of the new year.  

  

PLAN YOUR VOTE - NOW!

 MAKE YOUR PLAN TO VOTE NOW! In Oklahoma, you can vote in the general election in person on election day (Tuesday November 3, 2020), or by absentee ballot, or by early voting in person.
You can request an absentee ballot to be mailed to you if you are registered to vote. The deadline to request a ballot through the state’s website is October 27. You can also request a ballot by mail or in person. REQUEST YOUR BALLOT AS SOON AS POSSIBLE to get your ballot in time to fill it out and return it to get your vote counted, due to possible delays caused by the COVID19 epidemic – PLAN AHEAD and allow at least ten to fourteen days for delivery time.

If you are not yet registered to vote, the deadline is October 9. The Oklahoma State Election Board is the administrative agency for the conduct of state elections and the oversight of the state's 77 county election boards. The link to the OK Vote portal is www.ok.gov/elections/. You can contact your County election board for more information. In Blaine County, the election board office is located at the Blaine County Courthouse in Watonga, OK, phone number 580-623-5518.

Bringing a Smithsonian Institution traveling exhibition to Watonga

 

 Phoenix Circle Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit based in Watonga, OK.  Their mission is to promote and support the arts and humanities, educational, environmental, and health and wellness programs in a disadvantaged and underserved rural area of Oklahoma. 

Oklahoma Humanities is currently offering a grant to museums, libraries, and cultural organizations in towns with fewer than 20,000 residents to host a Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibit called  Crossroads: Change in Rural America.  The exhibit will tour six Oklahoma communities from September 2021 to June 2022. 

“Main StreetMoMS is a one-of-a-kind cultural project that combines the prestige of Smithsonian exhibits, the program expertise of Oklahoma Humanities, and the remarkable volunteerism and unique histories of Oklahoma's rural towns. MoMS exhibits are a powerful catalyst – opening doors to a community’s own history, its culture, its people, and to enhanced town pride. When small town cultural organizations host MoMS exhibits, they bring revitalized attention to their communities. These high-caliber exhibits attract visitors from surrounding areas which can stimulate the local economy.” (reprinted from the MoMS website). For more information on the Museum on Main Street (MoMS) Crossroads program, please visit their website at www.okhumanities.org/programs/museum-on-main-street.  NOTE:  this is not a “Main Street” related grant.

Phoenix Circle Foundation is submitting an application to host the exhibit at the Watonga ArtWorks building on Main Street.  The main exhibit will be supplemented by various seminars, workshops, and other presentations at different locations in our area, all of which will be made possible by the grant.  We’d like to highlight all of this area’s historical, cultural, and community attributes, including our State Park, the native American heritage and influence on Watonga’s long history, along with the work of the Civilian Conservation Corps at Roman Nose State Park.  We believe this exhibit can be a strong catalyst to highlight what we have here, look at how we can move forward as a town, and bring the community together as host of a very important art exhibition, not to mention the economic impact it can have on our town and Blaine County.   

One of the selection criteria will be evidence of strong community support.  We are asking for public Letters of Support for this project, which will involve the entire community.  If you would be interested and willing to be a partner in our effort to bring this unique and significant exhibit to our town, please write a letter of support.     

Please take a moment to look at the information about the Smithsonian traveling exhibition on "Change in Rural America" at www.okhumanities.org.  Wouldn't it be great to bring this exhibition to Watonga? 

If you think so, please write a letter of support and send it to PHOENIX CIRCLE FOUNDATION at 111 E. Main St., Watonga, OK 73772. For more information, or to get a sample letter of support, call Linda Barrett at 580-623-4269 or cell: 940-735-1065; or contact us by email at phoenixcir@yahoo.com. THANKS!

Thank you for your help. 

Linda Barrett, Secretary/Program Director, Phoenix Circle Foundation