Barbara S. Duncan ABR, CRS, GRI, e-PRO Searcy AR

A few months ago I wrote a blog about our new store coming to town, Harp's Grocery.  I was negligent in that I never went back to take a completed photo of it but it sprang up overnight, seemingly, and it is beautiful.   I've been there a few times and bought lovely things, at high prices for sure because they've got to recoup all the money they've invested in Searcy AR.  What happened yesterday makes me wonder about their integrity.  They lied to me and all their customers about their avocados!

My husband has hinted loudly that he'd like some avocado dip because we have fresh tomatoes now and he thinks I make great avocado/tomato dip.

I know when an avocado is ripe, having all this dip experience, and Harp's avocados were all hard as baseballs.  But some of them had this beautiful orange sign on them saying, "Ripe now!" 

This is the South and lots of people in the South don't know what an avocado is. We don't have avocado trees here!  So if they go in and buy this little hardball and take it home to cut it, they're going to against the avocado for life!!

Now if we talk about tomatoes, the Southern person knows the tomato!  We know vine ripened ones from imported greenhouse ones.  We buy the bad ones because we have no other choice but we drool over ones like the ones shown.  Note the one on top that is certainly not perfect and may have a little decay in the center but the part that you can eat will be scrumptious!  That's the kind we'll put in the avocado dip as soon as I wait a few days for the Harp's avocado to ripen.

You know what!  I'll bet you the store stocker at Harp's is from the South and never knew what an avocado was until he got that job.  He picked out the biggest and prettiest and stuck the little labels on them. 

He is innocent.

Harp's is innocent

We're going to have avocado dip.

And I've written a blog about nothing! 

Except beautiful Home Grown Tomaters!

This is a picture of the old Plaza movie theater which was located directly across Spring Street from the Mayfair Hotel in Searcy Arkansas, White County, about 50 miles from Little Rock.

According to my friend who supplied this picture, it was run by a Mr. K.K. King, who also ran the Rialto Theater which was about two blocks away. This Plaza was mostly for "B" movies, and cheaper to get into. He does not know the date of the picture. I have been in this city for about 41 years and it was a scene that I never saw. When I got here it was the location of a nice dress shop. Perhaps some of my readers can explain its demise and why and how.

Having two movie theaters in such a small town seems strange now, doesn't it. But probably no stranger than having five screen theaters in one building as we do now. Our old Rialto is still running.

This old hotel is still in Searcy AR and still being lived in. I don't believe it is a hotel anymore but more of a permanent home for people and office space for businesses. It is within walking distance to our Spring Park, where people used to go for herbal water treatments.

We had a delightful "Yankee" who came in and bought it many years ago. He made himself a very fancy living area in the hotel. He became loved by everyone in the town despite his accent. When he sold it to someone else he had quite a few collectibles from it which he passed on to people who would appreciate them.

My favorite comment from him was this, "Baabrra (he couldn't say Barbara), your house is about the only one that is so full of junk that I think you'd appreciate this teapot from the Mayfair because you'd display it." I still do. He's gone now but will never be forgotten.

Another picture of the old days in Searcy, White County Arkansas. I really love this one. The ladies all have on hats and are dresssed just as alike as the girls dress today. I can assure you everyone had on some sort of hose. And they had on sensible shoes, no needle pointed spikes that would ruin their feet before they got old. (Well, maybe some were already old in this picture.)

Skirts would have all been the same length. I can remember my mother wondering what skirt length would be in fashion that year. The experts dictated and the ladies followed their orders. No pants were worn by the ladies.

Here's what my friend Don says about the picture. He let me borrow it for this blog.

Searcy Garden Club Breakfast & Hat Show. This fashionable gathering took place in Spring Park in the mid 40s..
Shown are (left to right): Seated on the front row - Mrs. S.J. Allbright, Mrs. Pyatt, Mrs. Hal Minnis, Mrs. Jim Wiseman, Mrs. J.H. Deener, Mrs. Hays,
Mrs. J.T. Cone; Back row - Mrs. Leon Head, (minister's wife), Mrs. W.H. Shaefer, Mrs. H.M. Thompson, Mrs. A.H. Royston, Mrs. Harrah Fisher,
Mrs. May Branch, unidentified, Mrs. C. Norman Guice and Mrs. A.J. Neel. The girl seated in front is unidentified.

Being identified by the husband's name carried on over until at least the late 60's and 70's. I can remember having my own picture in the paper and I was not Barbara Duncan....I was Mrs. Rodger Duncan. I even donated money once to my university and the check was in my name and said nothing about the spouse. Evidently they had to do a little research to find out that I was actually Mrs. Rodger Duncan so they gave Mr. & Mrs. Rodger Duncan credit for the donation!!

All you ActiveRain ladies, aren't you glad we have our own identities now!!! Lots of things have changed for the better!!

Look at these eager children! This is a photo made in front of Searcy High School, the old one that burned down. Once again, correct me in comments if I am wrong. This photo was provided by my friend Anita. Searcy AR is a progressive city of approximately 20,000 residents. I don't know any of the children and don't know the year but I love looking at the clothing worn by the kids. I can almost assure you that none of the jeans were bought with a "worn" look built in. They were probably worn by brothers or sisters and handed down. Fascinating look at the past, isn't it?