A festival of music

I wouldn't want to harp on how much I enjoy music, but this evening concert was just to my liking. The performers are in town for several weeks for the annual music festival. They come from far and wide. Here we enjoyed some amazing harp music.

The evening concert began with the brass ensemble performing at the Ozark Bathhouse and then progressed along bathhouse row after about ten minutes at each venue.

Here we enjoyed the quartet again that we had seen at the Farmers' Market.

The brass ensemble performed beside the Fordyce (now national park visitors' center) in front of what was one a bandstand on the side of the mountain. How appropriate.

The crowd shuttled further north to the next venue. I was quite pleased to see a good attendance which isn't always the case for something new in town. This was the first year for the progressive concert.

We skipped the a couple of venues to get near the front of the line for a brew or two. The Superior Bathhouse will soon become a brewery. Behind the counter are the old lock boxes where bathers could store their valuables while experiencing the hot water.

This was some different kind of music for a brewery I suppose,  but it worked for me! We got there in time for a table but later joined the large crowd outside so that others might sit awhile.

I hope Hot Springs continues to shine when it comes to music. This festival is first class all the way. 

To market, to market ... to listen to music

The newly refurbished farmers' market has become our summer Saturday morning ritual now that one can shop in the shade. There seems to be a lot more produce and the crowds are definitely on the increase.

We not only have music each week, but usually there is music. This day we were entertained by a string quartet that is a part of the music festival happening in town for a couple of weeks. The bassist with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Rick Robinson aka Mr. CutTime, is one of the mentors for the festival. 

And the tomatoes aren't half bad either, small but tasty!

We always try to work in a thirty minute walk so this one led us past the old St. Joseph's Hospital, now the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts. This building will be demolished in the near future as a new dorm has been built behind it.

Across the street is the beautiful, small Presbyterian Church in which I grew up. Oh what a pathetic website they have! I must email someone!

Nearby are the Lanai Towers that adjoin the old Majestic Hotel. In the 1950 when these were built they were quite exciting. Now they sit empty and I presume destined for demolition. Several times I parked around back and escorted myself to the lovely swimming pool on the ground level.

Back at the farmers' market, Max Sestili is singing and playing guitar. He is in charge of stormwater control for the city but this day he was in charge of a pleasant hour for us as we sat down and enjoyed his music.

Fearless

The long awaited biography about Adam Brown, his family, and his sacrifice is finally released. What an inspiring story it is.

A nice crowd showed up for the book signing at Books A Million. It was like having a Lake Hamilton reunion. 

A long line waited to visit with Adam's widow Kelley, his mom Janice, his brother Shawn and sister Manda, his dad Larry (not in photo) and the author of Fearless, Eric Blehm. He announced that it had made it to #7 on the NYT best seller list. 

Hats off to Hot Springs

What a fun and busy weekend we had. My South Carolina brother and his wife came to town so we had an impromptu Friday night dinner in town. Then the four of us had a fun-filled stroll along Central Avenue during gallery walk. We ran into many of his 1954 classmates and sipped wine all the way to the Thompson Building. Here he reminisced about when our great uncle had his law office there and during one of the major floods that have happened more than once in the "valley of the vapors," our uncle climbed out his window onto the ledge to be rescued. Billy remembered much better than I, as he is older, and Uncle Garner died in 1947. This Classic Revival style building was designed by architect George Mann of Arkansas State Capitol fame.

Saturday morning, Leon and I made our weekly visit to the Farmers' Market for some fresh veggies and then had a typical Saturday walkabout in town. We strolled up the promenade behind bathhouse row and sat on the Arlington porch for awhile. I can't remember the last time I have seen so many tourists in town. It was fun to just observe. This old hotel had so much splendor and charm in past years and has been the heart of downtown for decades. It is the 3rd Arlington Hotel and was built in 1924 after the previous one was destroyed by fire in 1923.

I shared with Leon about how the tallest building in Arkansas when it was built in 1929, located across from the Arlington Hotel, was once where all the doctors had their offices.  The ceiling fan in my den is one that we got from the Medical Arts Building in the 1950's when they replaced them with window air conditioners. I notice that those haven't been replaced yet. I hope this old sentinel does not totally deteriorate as it has been empty for years. The 16 story Art Deco structure was built in 1960. 

We stopped for lunch at Fat Jack's, the new oyster bar in town. You just never know what you will see. How about for the motorcycle buff who has everything? Why not be buried in a motorcycle hearse. This man will provide the service! I wonder if he drummed up any business?

The first Hats in Hot Springs festival was held over the weekend and although we did not make it to any of the hat judging events we did enjoy the band while we attended gallery walk on Friday. The free event sponsored bands, various hat judging activities and a Simon Sez game which had a good turnout. I can see where Catherine Wolf deserved the trophy she got for her hat! 

Next year we will see if we can't get Leon to be a little more creative! You had to wear a hat to attend the festival and it was our intention but lunch got in the way! 

Loving summer

Things change a little around here in late spring and summer. It is time to enjoy the outdoors more.  I am not crazy about cooking but just let me cook outside and that changes also. After a recent camping trip, I got all inspired to cook in my dutch oven. I got over it in a hurry but this apple pie sure was delicious.

It is always enjoyable to have family around. We had a good visit while the pork chops soaked up a little bar-b-q sauce. And then there are the tofu chops! 

Next time - 8 oz T-bones!

Bath Tub Races

This is one of my favorite happenings of the year around town. This was begun in honor of a downtown businessman who always had dreamed of such an even. Seven years ago, shortly after he died, it became a reality.

Now who is trying to get points here, the police or Chris?

Each entry must have a tub with so much water in it and this was a chilly day! 

Throughout the race water balloons fly and water guns shoot streams of water. The kids love it! 

The first of several stops had various challenges for the teams. Usually they just get out and run around the tub.

After the race we spotted Chris and Joy on the street below and they joined us at Andrew's, a new cajun restaurant in town, for coffee and beignets.

Martha's Table

Martha's table did not weather too well in the rain and needed throwing away or repairing. Martha was my aunt who taught pottery at Alabama College. She always had a project in the works.  I finally decided it was time. At last I tackled a project that has been waiting for years! After breaking off a portion of the table with tile I realized it would have to remain in tact and be glued!  Then I cleaned it as best I could and reglazed it. I was pleased with the result.

Before

After

Between us girls

Get out of here!  I can't look again! I cannot believe you have blue toes!

Lobster and blues

We enjoy blues music and decided to give some support to the Spa City Blues folks by attending the 3rd annual lobster cookout complete with fun people and good music (CloverBlue from Little Rock) - a winning combination.

Not enough good things can be said about David who does so much to promote the blues in Hot Springs.

Now this is what I am talking about!

The recently upgraded farmers' market is a perfect place to hold an event like this and I hope we will see more going on down near the transportation depot (the old train station) in the future.

With our bellies full and our heads full of music we headed back to Crystal Springs.

Crystal Springs

We were so enjoying the beautiful weather and the camping experience that we decided to move over to Crystal Springs, a Corps of Engineers' campground also on Lake Ouachita. Don went with us - OH! where is Don?

We had a lot of laughs as we always do. 

Don couldn't believe the steep and winding dirt mountain that we were caching our way along until we reached the summit. We did want to share a view of Lake Ouachita with him.

We even convinced Arkekey to come geocache with us one day.

We loved site #53 and our view of the lake filled with plenty of privacy. Most of the campers seemed to be there for turkey season.

We got out the old camping equipment and burned some grilled cheese sandwiches over the fire with the back log.

I even tried my hand at some chicken pot pie in the dutch oven. 

It was still quite chilly at night and we sure enjoyed our fires!