Has everyone recuperated from Labor Day yet? Recuperated, I have, but I am still a little pumped from it. And I am enjoying the cooler weather that always seems to follow the Labor Day weekend. As unpredictable as Arkansas weather is, it amazes me that we almost always have that cool down right after Labor Day.

I still have Labor Day goings on to report too. Let me start with Sherry Moseley Moore-Wallace. There! I got her whole name this time. She hasn't been back to Rector very often. She says this is about the 3rd time in 36 years. I am glad to report that she had a marvelous time. "Rector still looks like home," she says.

The parks are beautiful, the streets are lovely. All the festivities were wonderful. (Thank you to all who worked so hard to make this happen). Most of all she loved seeing all those people she hasn't seen in such a long time. "Some were 'fluffy' and some were wrinkled, but they all looked good to me," she said. "Everyone welcomed me home."

She also made her first visit to 'Now and Then' and was quite impressed with what she saw there. Aren't we all? I just love that shop!

Sherry stayed with Gerald and Pearl Lamb. They opened their doors to several visitors over the weekend. Becky and Robert Fortenbery were here from Columbus, MS. Bert Wallace was here too from Dresden, TN. You remember Bert. She used to have the Big Star downtown.

She and Sherry helped to serve the dinner at the Community Center. Sherry says she is so glad to see so many young people volunteering to work the picnic. In fact she says to tell everyone that if they don't volunteer, they should. It is the best way to get to see just everyone!

There was another Meredith in town over the weekend. Marybell's son, Marian visited with his mother and brothers, Bill and Phil and their families. Marian now lives in Memphis. Glad to see you were home for Labor Day.

I had such an enjoyable visit with Ms Pauline Crockett last week. She had a visitor over Labor Day. Ms. Grace Floyd was here visiting with Pauline and Veneeda Vangilder. I hope you remember Ms, Grace. She is a delightful lady who used to live on 2nd street.

Ms. Pauline also wanted to tell me about the passing of another of Rector's sons. You probably saw Joel Abram Taylor, II's obituary in last week's paper. In addition to being descended from one of Rector's founding fathers, he was a close friend of Pauline's when they were growing up and she has many fond memories of him and his accomplishments.

One of the best educated men to come from Rector, Taylor was fluent in 14 languages and lists a number of accomplishments. It is somewhat ironic that the building he built was the site of last week's art exhibit. Apparently, we are still benefiting from his legacy.

Lavon and Betty Milburn had company over Labor Day too. Betty's twin sisters, Marilyn Glasco and Carolyn Swift and her brother, Max Johnson traveled from Michigan with nieces Debbie, Diane and Cathy. Her nephew, Randy Johnson was also here from Michigan and Paul Johnson came from Mississippi. They all attended a family reunion in Paragould the Saturday before Labor Day and then enjoyed a fish fry at Johnny and Susan McDaniel's on Sunday.

I also want to mention that Richard and Jessica Earls had some unexpected company the week before Labor Day. Jessica found out that two young Rabbis from Brooklyn were traveling in the area and she contacted them to invite them to visit. They did! Rabbi Menachem Gold and Rabbi Ari Wilshanski spent an evening with the Earls and Jessica says they were "awesome!"

The two are Hasidic and are traveling around Arkansas to reach out, not only to Jews, but to all of humanity. In this day and age we can't have too much love and spirituality. Rector was blessed to have this visit. Thank you, Jessica for engineering it.

I want to take a moment and do some of my own bragging about a couple of Rector's treasures. Harp's Market has really expanded its merchandise selection. The remodel has given it a fresh new look and I have found that they are often quite agreeable to adding to their line up if an item is requested. Try it. If you don't find it, ask for it.

Down Town Drug is also good to order whatever medical supplies you might need. Again, if you don't find it, ask for it. Someone is always willing to check it out and sometimes the item then ends up on the shelf for others to take advantage of. The prices are really not so far from Walmart's and they honor a number of insurances.

You might have noticed a large wolf-like dog wandering between Hargrave's Corner and Rector. That's Chappy. He isn't a wolf. He is an Akita, you know, an Alaskan sleigh dog. Chappy, I hear is the unofficial mayor of Hargrave's Corner and an unpaid (and possible under-aged) employee of the gin. He wanders all around Hargrave's keeping an eye on everything and visiting with everyone. Every now and then he comes to town to check out things in Rector. Keep an eye out for him. He is friendly and we don't want anything to happen to him.

By the way, did you know you can make comments of your own to this blog and to others as well? You can and should. That is the nature of blogs, to promote interactive communication. Tell us what you think.

Please take a look at the Farewell message from Sandra Roussel that follows this column

Thank you to everyone who contributed to this column. I love hearing from all of you and I always want to hear more. So give me a call or send me an email. My phone number is 595-3173 or you can drop me a note at 514 West 3rd St. My email address is: porchswing@newwavecomm.net. And don't be shy about commenting on those blogs!

A special hello to Chris, Jenna and Christina in San Diego.

I love you!