2016 - 2017 Tony LiCausi

To all,

Today at it's first Board Meeting, our new administration changed the name and scope of our Daffodil Project to the Beautification Committee and I was respectfully conjured into chairing same. With a new expanded budget the purpose is to seek out venues in Bella Vista that would benefit from a horticultural facelift. The result being a more pleasant daily experience for Bella-Vistites as they go about their daily activities.

If you are as interested as I am in making Bella Vista even more beautiful, I am looking for committee members to help me in this pursuit.

So contact me; best way, e-mail tonyatthelake@msn.com or call hm.479-876-2121, cell 479-426-9514

Tony LiCausi

May 29, 2017

Here's hoping everyone's had a safe and pleasant Holiday.

Just a reminder that a week from Wednesday we will be having our Spring Luncheon and Installation of Officers for the coming year. I've been told we have any interesting program in store for us.

At this time I would like to remind any and all past committee chairs, that if you have not already done so, please send me your committee reports or bring it with you to the luncheon. The reports are particularly important to the New committee chairs.

On another matter; please check your car's, garden shed's or garage's for any garden tools that have been painted orange. In cleaning up the other day I noticed some missing. If you happen to find any just bring it to the next meeting.

Tony

May 6, 2017

Wow! Wow! Wow! What a sale. Kudo's to all who helped. Starting with the committee Chair Alycyn Culberson and her tireless efforts to all the diggers and potters, labelers, pricers, etc..

I know everyone is waiting to hear that gross plant sales and Ways and Means were fantastic. Again Wow, Wow, Wow, you all did it, take a bow, I'm so proud.

Tony

April 23, 2017

Hope everyone is rested now from the Easter holiday and the monsoons. It is now time to focus on the remaining projects we have now approaching the end of our fiscal year.

First there will be a board meeting prior to the membership meeting at 10 am sharp.

Also don't forget to bring your checkbooks if you need to pay for the field trip. We will also be collecting for the Spring Luncheon, plus dues for next year. We're starting now collecting dues because when we report to AFGC they show we have 83 members and then by the time we get to the end of September we actually have 110 or more.

If anyone has something they would like to add to the board or membership agenda, please let me know by noon Tuesday.

Hope to see everybody Wednesday, April 26th.. Board meets at 10:00 am, social 11:00 am, meeting 11:30 am.

Tony

March 18, 2017

What a wonderful Benefit Card Party we had yesterday. Fabulous table decorations, thanks to all who contributed.

Great food, thanks to all who delivered. And how about that army of volunteers, all focused, all smiling, all busy. I still don't know how Val Coulter recruited. My theory is, she promised them all a trip to Hawaii. Great job Val.

Did I mention we made $2187 for our scholarship fund.

Tony

March 1, 2017

As many of you know yesterday we hosted the First Robin of Spring Workshop featuring Garden Club motivator Robin Pokorski at NWACC. Robin and her husband Gregg came from California for the workshop which was attended by 66 attendees from 12 different garden organizations and 10 Arkansas Cities. Co-host for the event was the Garden Club of Rogers and the Benton County Master Gardeners. Twenty eight of those participating were from our our BVGC. Also in attendance was Rose Knight, our President of Arkansas Federation of Garden Clubs.

The workshop started with coffee and pastries at 8:30 a.m., first presentation at 9:00 a.m., a break for lunch at noon followed by another two and a half session. It is my hope, and the hope of all who contributed, that much was to be brought back, utilized and shared with the individual clubs.

The Bella Vista Garden Club has been, and now even more so, respected among Garden Clubs throughout the State.

None of this would not have been possible without the help of JB Portillo, Geri Hoerner, Barb Templin, Alycyn Culbertson, Cathy Downard, Dorothy Sandoval and Linda Neymeyer from our ranks and Burnie Ott of Garden Club of Rogers.

The world is revolving, if we stand still we're falling behind,

Tony

January 27, 2017

What a great way to start off 2017; nice weather, nice attendance, nice programs and of course wonderful members.

Speaking of members, we signed up 3 new members on Wednesday: Kathy Allen, Priscilla Lodge and Kathy Fourt. At our February meeting be sure to introduce yourself.

Now your club needs: At the meeting Alycyn Culberson asked for someone to take on the job of Pressbook Chairman and Rose Ann Hofer so graciously accepted. We also have two other Committee Chairs requesting a replacement. Mary O'Brian, our Mentor Chair for quite some time and has done a commendable job, would like a reliever to free up additional time for all the other many projects she's working on. If your a people person this could be your calling. Also Linda Neymeyer who has been our Secretary for many years plus a dozen other club interest thinks it important for someone else to take over the Awards Committee. This is all paper work and can easily be done from home with your computer. Give Mary, Linda or myself a call if you have questions on either of these two tasks.

Tony

January 23, 2017

Our first meeting of the new year is this Wednesday. There will be a short board meeting at 10:30 prior. Social time starts at 11:00 and will be a great time for "catching up". Meeting time and program starts at 11:30. Staci Elkings of Birdsong Gardens will speak on "Growing Arkansas Native Plants". The Floral Design Committee will show more techniques on Flower Arranging. And Mary Doyle will be passing on tips from Northwest Arkansas Experienced Gardeners. Also we will be hearing committee reports on all remaining projects between now and July.

See you there,

Tony

January 10, 2017

"Happy Healthy 2017" everybody. By now we should all be back home and fully recovered from traveling, entertaining, decorating, un-decorating and over eating. It's time now to get our calendars out and note these important dates.

First we have our four regular scheduled meetings, January25th, February 22nd, March22nd and April 26th.

Then we need to note there are only 2 fundraisers left this year:

The Benefit Card Party on March 17th - Val Courter is chairing this event. The Spring Plant Sale on May 6th - Alycyn Culbertson is chairing this project.

Both these committee chairs will need as much help as we can give them. If you can only help out for 1 hour I'm sure they can find something for you and will really appreciate the help.

Judy Jeffrey is planning a field trip for us on May 19th and will have more details at our January meeting.

June 7th will be our Spring Luncheon and last meeting of our fiscal year. It will be at the new Bella Vista Lake Point Restaurant. New officers for 2017-18 will be installed at this time. Anyone interested in serving on the new board of directors please contact Linda Neymeyer.

April 17-18 is the AFGC convention in McGehee, AR. This is a resort venue with golf, spa, etc. so you might want to attend with your spouse or a friend. If interested in attending contact me.

Then we have one more exciting event. On March 1st we are co-hosting an event with the Garden Club of Rogers and Benton County Master Gardeners. The ‘First Robin of Spring Workshop’ with Robin Pokorski. Robin is a dynamic National Garden Club motivational speaker. This will be a 6 hour workshop starting at 9 am, lunch and ending at 4 pm at a cost of $25. You will not regret this program. Interested members can contact me and I will forward a registration form to you.

Tony

November 10, 2016

Just a note to let everyone know, our garden shed is now finished at Village Wastewater. If you have anything belonging to the club you wish to get out of your garage or under the house, give me a call and I'll give you the details.

Alycyn is organizing bulb plantings and re-landscaping the bed at Village House, watch for her e-mails and help if you can.

If you love bromeliads, Jay Soule has free ones for you, pots and all. These are mature healthy plant with pups, which you can divide. Give him a call and he'll direct you to his house. 479-855-3613

Also if you haven't reserved you place at our annual Christmas Luncheon, better hurry by contacting Dorothy Sandoval at 479-553-7878.

Hope to see everyone there and that means you too,

Tony

October 30, 2016

For those who may have missed last Wednesday's monthly meeting, you missed a good one. Linda Neymeyer gave an over the top (what else!) demonstration on "Flower Arranging for Your Home". Alycyn Culbertson gave us a beautiful illustration (using our new projector) on how to attract more butterflies in your garden with stunning photo's taken in her own back yard. And it was announced that the Fall Plant Sale most likely broke a Fall Plant Sale record, raking in close to $1,800. In addition to all of that, we had a visit from God, St.Francis and Sister Catherine (not really, just wanna be's). You had to be there.

Anyway there are two things I would like to draw your attention to.

First, if you haven't already done so, Dorothy Sandoval needs your reservations and meal selections for the Christmas Luncheon. The menu selections are on the Home Page of our web-site. Mail RSVP'S and checks payable to BVGC to Dorothy Sandoval, 2 Laceby Lane, Bella Vista, AR 72714-4106.

Secondly, if you have any photo's from any project since our June meeting, please forward those on to our new club Historian, Dory Hammeke, her phone number is 913-209-4623 and her email is dehammeke@gmail.com. Dory is working on a national award winning (I hope) History Book. But without everybody's help, it won't happen.

Hope to see everybody at the Christmas Luncheon,

Tony

October 22, 2016

Just a reminder that this Wednesday, October 26th, is our next monthly meeting. There will no Board Meeting prior as there are no pressing issues. We will have 'Bella Vista' Daffodil bulbs for sale in front of the Church starting at 10:30 for residents as well as members. So tell your friends and neighbors. This is a real deal, we package 6 bulbs to the bag, many of which are doubles. We sell them for $7 to non-members. If purchased on line the cost would be $7.14 plus tax and plus shipping.

The program this month is on Flower Arranging For Your Home, so with the holidays just around the corner, I think you'll find it helpful. Also we will have a presentation on attracting butterfly's to your garden.

So, bring a guest and check book for the Christmas Luncheon on December 7th and find out what my Spring Surprise is that no one knows about yet.

Tony

July 19, 2016

If anyone is interested in attending the Northwest District Meeting in Paris, Arkansas on Thursday October 6th, let me know and I'll send you registration information. This will be a one day down and back trip to the wine country that takes about 2 hrs. 15 min. drive.

If not attending that just leaves more wine for me and hopefully we will all be together for our first membership meeting on Wednesday, September 28th, 11:00 a.m. social 11:30 a.m. meeting starts. There is much news and programs to talk about for the new year, plus the new yearbooks will be available. Our fabulous scholarship recipients will be in attendance in addition to our Mayor who will tell us what the city is doing to help "put the beauty in Bella".

So you don't want to miss this one and plan to stay awhile,

Tony

July 8, 2016

Now that the July 4th weekend has passed, there are just a couple of things to call your attentions to:

1. Dues of $20, if you do not pay them within the next two weeks, chances are you will not be listed in the 2016-2017 Yearbook.

2. If you chaired a committee this past year, please send me your committee reports. This can be as simple as a one page report on your committee's successes and regrets. This will be useful to future committee's chairs.

3. I can't believe that out of 118 members that no one has any idea's for a beautification project for Bella Vista. Hopefully some will come forward for the new board to consider at our first meeting. If not I'll take that as a desire on your part for me to contact my travel agent.

Thanks for your support,

Tony

July 1, 2016

Happy Fourth Everyone. First I have to tell you that Cathy Wayson has just finished the Garden Party Video and made it available on YouTube. You can go to our website and click the link on the home page or just go to youtu.be/5HhhoGet.Vw and be dazzled. It's really terrific. For those who were out of town or were not able to attend the party, after you see this video you'll feel like you were there. You might want to share it with friends who didn't attend also.

O.K. that was the fun part. The fiction is this. No matter how successful the Garden Party was, no matter how much fun everyone had, no matter how many compliments we've received and no matter how many hundreds of hours all of you put in, their is a coo-coo bird running around Bella Vista saying our garden club left the golf course all trashed up. They did not contact me. They did not contact the project chairperson. They contacted four people who had nothing to do with the final clean up. In addition, now they are spreading this untrue word. If you hear these rumors over the holiday weekend or after, I hope you would be quick to dispel them.

I personally was the last person to leave the venue Friday night. I was also the last person to leave the area late Saturday afternoon. Saturday afternoon I and others went over every inch of the grounds multiple times. I said at the time "I don't want anyone to find even the tiniest scrape, we're going to leave the area exactly as we found it." In addition, at 6:30 Sunday morning JB Portillo made one last check. We have since contacted POA and course management and they don't have a clue what coo-coo bird is talking about.

So again if you hear any false comments in the future like others have, if that course was fouled in the days and weeks beyond that Sunday, it was not at the hands of any Garden Club member.

Now go and enjoy that video,

Tony

Prior year's Presidents Messages