Seen both Dogwood & Red Cardinals this Week 
Flowering Dogwoods en Route
Is this a Wolf??
Taylor's Sons of the Ozarks in Action Today we drove south from the state of Missouri and entered into Arkansas. It was an overcast, slightly drizzly day, and quite nippy outside. The whole drive was dotted with flowering dogwood trees which are so pretty at this time of year. The Dogwood flower is the state flower of Virginia and North Carolina, and the state tree of Missouri. If I ever lived in the US, I think I would be drawn to Virginia, as the state flower, the dogwood, and the state bird (red cardinal) are my favourites. (If the Blue Jay was a state bird, I might have to think twice).
Getting back to Arkansas... there we were, innocently winding our way through the Ozark mountains leading south into our destination town of Mountain View where we had booked into stay for a week. I was merrily clicking away photos of dogwood trees when I noticed an animal crossing the road ahead. Not a deer, but a wolf. Well, we thought it was a wolf anyway. I'd be happy to hear from someone out there to confirm or deny it. The animal looked very healthy, and on closer examination of the photo, it is wearing a collar. Not sure if it is tagged for research, or is a domesticated wolf. Post Edit: I have it on good authority from two sources that what we saw was a Siberian Husky. I read they are breeding them with wolves as they are the same 'family'.
The reason we decided to stay here for a week is to enjoy the Ozark folk music festival that is held here each spring and autumn. The region is famous for it's pickin' music (including folk, bluegrass, country & fiddle) and olde worlde crafts. People come from all around the USA and other countries to experience this bastion of homegrown folk music.
After we parked our RV in the campground and got settled, Murray went for a wander around the park and on the way he met a nice chap, Mike, from Baton Rouge in Louisiana. He and his wife Cindy drive up with their Airstream trailer every year to enjoy the festival. They met up with another couple from Louisiana, Ben & Diane. The four of them were going out for a pizza before heading on to spend the evening at Taylor's Sons of the Ozarks Music Theatre, and they very kindly invited us to join them.
Taylor's is a family business- they cut the lumber to build the theatre and constructed it themselves on their own property. They have 4 shows a week with the dad and two sons playing guitars, banjos, violins, dobros and mandolin. As soon as the music starts, couples immediately stand up and move to the front and start doing folk/square dancing - mainly a two-step. There were some really great dancers out there. Interestingly the men left their hats on to dance. No dancing was allowed during singing of gospel songs, and each member of the band removed their hats during the gospel song. You will notice by the photo that most band members wear a hat of some sort. During the break, most of the band members came up and said hello which was nice, and afterwards we met the host (& lead) musician John's wife and his mother. It was a really friendly crowd - when folks heard we were from Australia, many came up and had a chat in the break. One lovely lady, Wilma (her husband got up and sang two numbers and was a wonderful singer), told us how they had lived in Memphis for many years, and she was there in Elvis's day, and was actually a staff member at the hospital that he was taken to on his death. All in all we had the most welcoming first day in this lovely city of just over 3000 people.
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