Sister, sister cousin connection

Everywhere my sisters, cousin and I went during our vacation together, we encountered other women with sister adventure stories. One woman said she and her sisters make funny hats to wear when they pose for pictures during their travels together. A pair of sisters at a garage sale excitedly told us about a quilt tour they have scheduled in Pennsylvania.
We focused on health with spa-like pampering intermixed with tourist activities. The pampering began in Hot Springs with a long soak in the thermal waters of Hot Springs alternated with the hot and dry saunas and a cold waterfall shower. I tolerated about 10 seconds of steam before I dashed out to answer my lungs scream for cooler, oxygen-laden air.
Little sister came with diet books and a traveling card for visiting the women’s-only gym. Our country cousin arrived loaded with information on hypo-thyroid symptoms, diagnosis and treatment. We took our temperatures, blood pressure readings, blood sugar levels and compared weight losses from beginning to the end of a week of eating right and exercising. For those who want to know: Two of us lost weight and two stayed the same. I’m not telling you which I was.
At the beauty school down the road, we watched or had an eyebrow dye job, pedicure, manicure, a hair cut and ear candling. Doesn’t everyone use their ear as a temporary candle holder? For those who want to know, two of us tried candling and I was not one of them.
We crammed an abundance of new experiences into our brief week together.
Museums – it hasn’t been that long since I visited the Museum of Natural Resources in Smackover but WOW! So many new displays, videos and audio taped memories that bring the oil boom to life. In Little Rock, we thought we would take a break at the little gas station across the street from Central High and discovered a museum documenting the tempestuous years of integration.
Shows: Professionalism prevailed at the Maxwell Blade Magic Show in Hot Springs even though the spot light fuse blew at the crucial point in a magic trick and the musical sound track stuck before another trick began. At South Arkansas Arts Center the cast for the children’s opera “Robinson the Cat” adeptly held the attention of rows of fourth-graders. We didn’t stay at the Peabody Hotel, but we did stop by to watch the ducks waddle out of the fountain and down their red carpet to take the elevator to their glass-walled cage on the terrace.
Foods: At the Japanese Hibachi restaurant the chef put on a show – juggling dishes, utensils and the food preparation including a miniature spouting volcano shaped with fresh cut onion rings. Courtesy of the corner deli on the downtown square, my sisters and cousin had their first crawfish crunching experience – followed by a very, large glass of water. We made noodle soup with water from the spigot connected to the thermal water in Hot Springs. I was not the one who refused to consume the soup because it was made from “bath” water.
We each contributed our personal skills on weekend sewing projects. My cousin did all the kitchen work, I helped her some, sewed some and ran errands – while my sisters sewed up a storm.
During sewing breaks, we took my Dad for a spring time picnic at the South Arkansas Arboretum and a taste of spinach pizza at the newest pizza buffet in town. Afterwards my cousin observed, “He still talks with you as if you were still 11 or 12 years-old.”
Little sister, a grandmother thrice over, proved she wasn’t 12 and had her ears pierced without his approval.
We barely had caught up on all our family news when it was time for them to fly home.
Country cousin took home new pillows, newly framed pictures and family updates.
Middle sister carefully packaged the lacy, pink baby quilt we made for her son and his wife.
Little sister left with a new hairdo, highlighted with a red rinse and cut very short to show off her gold earrings.
And what did I get from our Sister-Sister adventures? No need to tell you, if you’ve read this far, you already know.
(Joan Hershberger is a reporter at the News-Times.)