Pollen, Leaves and Other Things

Someone suggested I write something positive about Hot Springs Village to post on social media, although I can’t imagine who would be interested…but anyway, here goes. 

My essay is titled:

WHAT I DISLIKE ABOUT HOT SPRINGS VILLAGE

By Melinda Alvord

I could say “Nothing” and make this a very short essay, but that wouldn’t be true.  There are things that bug me so in no particular order, here goes:

1. Pollen
2. Leaves
3. Pokey Drivers
4. Lack of Ice Cream stores
5. Birds
6. Chiggers
7. Restaurants that close at 8 p.m.
8. Rules
9. Too many friends

BUT WAIT, you say, let’s take a closer look:

Pollen

• Pollen means it’s springtime and it also comes with living in a beautiful forest.  I am so excited when the village starts budding out and each day it’s just a little greener.   Power washing can be very satisfying as you watch the transformation from yellow to clean and then it’s all gone until next year!

Leaves

• Leaves means raking and raking means lots of physical exercise so I log a lot of miles on my Fitbit and I’m thankful that the POA lets me put out 25 bags every week and sometimes I even have a few more that they will haul away for me….plus I get to skip the gym for a couple of weeks.

Pokey Drivers

• Pokey Drivers means I’m still driving too and I hope I’ll be able to do that for myself for a very long time.

Ice Cream

• Ice Cream has been a major issue for me.  Can’t even drive home from Walmart or Food Wise fast enough to get a quart into the freezer before it starts melting (see comment above about pokey drivers).  But then I discovered ice cream by the pint/quart at Dollar General (East and West gates) and now joy-of-joys, our new TJ’s Neighborhood Market at Ponce and Desoto has an ice cream counter with real hand-scooped cones and a nice choice of flavors.  Yea!!

Birds

• Birds poop on everything and they insist on building their nests in the most inconvenient places like under my boat or in the garage.  Apparently, they don’t notice all the trees we have – geez! But that’s the price of rural living and those same birds make me smile every day.

Chiggers

• Chiggers – give all Villagers something to jointly grumble about and agree on….there’s nothing much redeeming to be said about them but it’s always interesting to hear peoples’ stories about what they discovered to get rid of them and how to avoid them.  In fact, the positive about them is exactly that – we all bond in our dislike of them!

Restaurants that close early

• Restaurants that close early I’ve come to accept is an Arkansas thing and most definitely a Village thing.  But there are a few that see the benefit of later hours, and we are grateful for them – keep in mind in many other parts of the world dining before 10:00 p.m. is considered uncivilized.

Rules

• Rules – I’m going to get a little “political” here, so get ready with the tar and feathers.  I’d rather have them, than not have them, but when some get bent or ignored, unless it’s life-threatening, I can live with it and choose to get on with whatever I was doing.  It doesn’t require that I immediately post something on Nextdoor or Facebook or write a letter to the Voice.

Friends

• Friends -Since coming to the village I’ve made so many friends, I can’t keep up.  In fact, I’d like to see mandatory name tags at all public gatherings since I’m not so good with remembering names.  I’ve got friends in all shapes and sizes, walks of life, political persuasions, social and cultural backgrounds (most everyone moved here from somewhere else, so that’s the usual ice breaker), and I even have friends on the Board and members of HSV staff.  Doesn’t make me a cheerleader for anything in particular, it just makes me happy to call them all friends.

So that’s what I dislike about Hot Springs Village, but it’s my home and I love it.

by Melinda Alvord

Formatted by Cheryl Dowden

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