Tag Archives: Writers’ Colony At Dairy Hollow

Mar23

A Spring of Dreams

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A Spring of Dreams

Ahhh, spring! Or is it summer?! The weather jumped a season! A few days ago, we captured some early spring by going south about five hours to Nashville, Branson, and Eureka Springs. These towns are some of Dean and I’s favorite places. We didn’t have a whole week in January or February that allowed for us to take off, so we decided early March was a good time as any. We get back and had three days of frigid winter weather, a couple of days of spring, then a couple of days it is summer, and now like the seesaw Missouri weather is, it has changed back to winter!

The trip south kept getting greener as we went. More flowering trees and bushes, too. Spring is so welcomed. The Grand Ole Opry was our first destination, actually the whole reason Dean and I headed to Nashville, Tennessee. Jelly Roll was inducted into the Opry the evening of March 10. What a show! Craig Morgan, Ernst, Lainey Wilson, and Leanne Morgan joined Jelly Roll for his grand celebration. The Country Music Hall of Fame was our second stop while in Nashville. So much to see and experience. It did not disappoint. The special displays of Dolly Parton, Lainey Wilson, and the Muscle Shoals were our favorites. We admired the country stars and their costumes and instruments. So many country music stars’ dreams were a seed as a child. Their diaries and journals spoke their Opry presence into existence.

We travelled from Nashville through western Tennessee, then the bootheel of Missouri, then just north of the Arkansas border westward to Branson. That wandering snake of a highway had my tummy upset. Eating Mexican for lunch didn’t help matters, but we had no idea about the curvy, hilly state highway. By the time we arrived in Branson, nothing sounded good to eat. Another music town with shows and eateries galore. The new season is just getting started, so most places just opened that weekend we were in town. On Friday we headed to Eureka Springs, Arkansas from where my writing call was clearly heard quite some time ago. The Writers’ Colony at Dairy Hollow is a wonderful sanctuary for writers. We stopped in there for a visit. Dean and I caught up with eMerge Magazine publisher, Charles Templeton and his lovely wife, Sandra. Some of my recipes, poems, and short stories have been published with eMerge. Back in Branson we visited with my sister on Saturday and went to Mass on Sunday at the Our Lady of the Lake church before heading home. Now the flowering cherry trees have just burst open. Waiting for our red buds to pop like seen in Tennessee and southern Missouri a few days ago. Those warmer southern dreams eventually bloom here in Missouri, too.

Apr21

April’s Anointing

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April’s Anointing

April’s showers have brought a sparkle to the earth, at least in my neck of the woods. Spring cleaning begins with Mother nature’s cleansing the debris off the trees, fauna, and outbuildings with showers and storms these past few weeks. The rain soakings have brightened the redbud and dogwood trees blossoms in beautiful contrast to the fresh green leaves and various shades of green fields. Tulips and grape hyacinths are just about finished blooming and the buds on the peonies will be opening probably before May. In the Missouri countryside the farm ponds and creek beds are full. A weekend spent in northern Arkansas revealed similar countryside vignettes. Wild violets and buttercups dotted the roadsides with flowering almond bushes and irises flourishing near the farmhouses.

Our cottage home has come by some spring cleaning and sprucing up, too. We added a furniture piece to our living room. My mother’s china hutch came out of storage in our rental house’s garage, wiped down sparkling clean the glass panes and mirrors. With careful selection of items from Dean’s parents’ home, we uncovered boxes of his grandmother’s china and brought those home after our last trip there. We cleaned these circa 1930 pieces and placed in the hutch as well as my grandmother’s china and my mother’s Blue Willow collection. The glistening glass antiques have given an extra touch of warmth and nostalgia in our small abode.

A jot down to Arkansas Ozarks last weekend brought Dean and I to Eureka Springs. I facilitated a culinary and writing workshop at the Writers’ Colony at Dairy Hollow on Saturday afternoon. The Culinary Suite is housed in another cute cottage. I felt right at home making preparations for the culinary lesson on lemon and herbs in the suite’s pristine kitchen space. Five lovely local ladies from town came for the workshop. We all enjoyed making and indulging in lemon herb tea bread in the kitchen then moved onto the front porch to write block-out poems. Porch chatter and lots of laughs to share with the ladies on that sunny spring afternoon after the rains. Life surely is sweet. God’s blessings besmeared on us. April’s anointing.

Green Spaces

I long for green spaces … growth.

Water overflowing into vessels

Streams wash the earth … renew. 

Springtime green comes to stay,

Spring rains shower, drip, drip.

Puddles of water to run through

Soaking each toe … anointing.

I long for green spaces … growth.

Anna Marie Gall ~ March 14, 2018