Tour Diary 9

Tour Diary 9.  Tuesday  5.4.11 - A  little cottage on the outskirts of Eureka Springs…

We are in the cutest little cottage just outside of  Eureka Springs, complete with Hot Tub and vast  open space, so that the night sky last night was a revelation.  We so miss that in England because of the intense light pollution, we are lucky if we ever get to see a few stars now and again.

We spent a lovely day on a boat on Beaver Lake. We were taken out onto Beaver Lake in a boat and the weather was gorgeous although windy, with a resulting very choppy ride.  The boat was very small and with an open front, which was a bit disturbing and indeed a few times I got washed out as I was up front, as always, in a boat.  The boats are square at the front, not pointed.  Beaver Lake is beautiful and very big.  It is apparently man-made but in some parts is over 1,200 feet deep, so I cannot imagine what was there before they dammed the lake and it filled.  There are probably some old prospecting towns lying at the bottom of the lake waiting to be discovered again, a bit like Atlantis of the Ozarks!

The man who took us out, Jim,  told us that when he was a small boy of about 6 years of age his granddad told him to take his gun, (which all boys in this area are given at about that age) and go out and ‘Shoot us supper’.   Jim would take himself off in the woods and shoot a few birds, squirrels, rabbits etc.  How mind boggling, if I had given my son Keren a gun at that age, then I wouldn’t be here writing this, nor I suspect would the rest of our family.  Keren turned everything he picked up into a weapon and would fire at you, so a real gun would have been a disaster!!  I bet he would have loved it though, (not killing off his family) but being able to go into the woods and shoot things.

At the airport we were amazed to see that they would take your bottle of water off you as it is potentially a lethal weapon (Yea right!!) but you were able to check in your handgun. 

Something not quite computing in that one I’m afraid…

Eureka Springs is a total delight.  It is listed as a must-do attraction in the top ten attractions of America and I quite agree.  I could live here tomorrow without a doubt.  It is totally full of artists and artisans and utitlises all the deep vibrant colours which Steve and I both use in our art work and throughout our house.  It also has a thing about painting every bit of furniture with bright patterns or murals, just as Steve did when he was re-modelling furniture.  Every wall in shops and restaurants already brightly coloured, are then covered from top to bottom with works of art, it’s amazing.  There is even a copy of my most favourite building in the world – The Flatiron Building in NYC, Eureka has their own version and it has the same name… Every house is so brightly coloured and reminded me of the wonderful colour schemes of San Fransciso.  I think it is wonderful when people are not frightened to use colour in such an exuberant way.. we are so conservative in the UK. 

Ireland however, uses bright colours especially the lovely city of Galway.

So maybe the immigrants bought over the concept of using colours to make their difficult lives energetically, more uplifting…

We tried to walk the length of the street but every time we went into a shop people are soooooooooo friendly and kind, that we took about 15 minutes to get out again and so we did not cover it all. 

Once we started to walk the street, there were some really interesting synchronicities.  We sat down for a coffee in a café (which I fell totally in love with) and the song playing was ‘Me and Mrs Jones’!, Then in a Tee shirt shop I came across a Tee Shirt with huge letters on it saying ‘Can You See Me Now?,’ which is the title of one of Steve’s experiences in his book!

Next we came to a shop which had over the door ‘The Tummy Tickles,’ which again is in the book and is how Steve described the feeling he would get when he was a tiny child and the ET’s were going to come and take him, so we took some video of that too.  Very strange….  We went into the shop to see if there was anything in there with ‘The Tummy Tickles’ written on it as a memento and the lady in the shop had 3 mugs with it written on, only 3 and she insisted that Steve have one without taking any payment.  I am so full of admiration of the kindness of American Strangers to us English.  Steve is still trying to convince everyone that we are not the ones with the ‘strange accent’ but it is they.  He informs them that we gave them the language and they are the ones who have changed it.

So… here we are taking a few days out to regroup our energies and it is nice to be able to cook for ourselves and not have to struggle with huge portions.

Our breakfast however, is delivered to the door by the Cottage owner and after a wonderful meal this morning we spent an hour in the hot tub, so I think by the time the Ozark Conference begins this Friday, we should be well prepared…

The only drawback we have here is the height of the bed!!  It’s that giant thing again, Steve got me into it last night but I was really concerned that if I had to get up in the night I wouldn’t be able to climb back in!!  I managed it, but there was no dignity in it, I kid you not!!   A bit of a … Hop, Skip and Jump!!

Thank goodness he was asleep with the camera switched off, as it was a blackmailable event!!  Steve says it is not the excessive height of the bed; it is just the lack of leg length in my case!! 

Lots of love

Annie

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