Well…ok…fine…..I’ll post something. My life is just so damn boring though there is NEVER anything worth writing about.
Larry and I had a romantic getaway weekend in Eureka Springs, Ar. That’s right. Smack dab in the middle of the Ozarks. Yee haw. I was pleasantly surprised though. The little town was actually quite cosmopolitan and eclectic. And gay. Must be all those artists and writers who live there.
For those of you who don’t know about Eureka Springs (and really, why would you?) it’s a little resort town in the Ozarks of northwest Arkansas, known for it’s plethora of healing springs and Victorian architecture. The whole damn town is listed on the National Historic Registry. I’m not a big fan of all that gingerbread Victorian cutesiness but some of the houses are just spectacular. A lot of the architecture is actually quite gothic in appearance given that a lot of the area’s natural limestone was used in the construction of the larger buildings. There are also about 50 natural hot and cold water springs dispersed throughout the town. In fact, the whole town is built into the sides of hills (they call them “mountains”….ha!) and no two streets intersect at a 90 degree angle. It’s all loops and curves and steep hills.
The town also exhibits an odd juxtaposition of traditional Christian elements mingling with the paranormal. One of the area’s better known attractions is a nightly Passion Play which attracts thousands of visitors every year. Towering above the theater area is a gigantic limestone Christ. He’s seven stories high and glistening white. We took to calling him B.J. – short for Big Jesus. He watched over us solemnly, glittering in the setting sunlight, as we enjoyed cocktails from the fourth floor balcony of Dr. Baker’s Lounge at the Crescent Hotel, which leads us to the paranormal happenings in town.
Like any town full of historic buildings, Eureka Springs is rumored to be full of ghosts and poltergeists and is purported to actually be centered on some kind of vortex into the nether world or whatever it’s called. Of all the buildings in town, The Crescent Hotel (www.crescent-hotel.com) is the most haunted. You’ve got to go on the website and look at this building. It’s stunning. And creepy. I loved it. Elegantly Victorian and forebodingly Gothic at the same time. The history of the building is also quite fascinating. It started as one of the grandest hotels of it’s time, served as a girl’s college in the off season and was actually a “cancer” hospital for a short while during The Depression. That’s where “Dr” Norman Baker comes in. A charlatan who claimed he could cure cancer through “natural” remedies, he packed the hotel full of desperate cancer patients who then proceeded to die by the scores within the confines of the building. There are numerous unsubstantiated rumors circulated about what was really going on at the hospital during those days. The mildest of the tales say the patients simply died from their cancers and were incinerated at night so no one would know the Dr. couldn’t really cure cancer. The most horrific tales purport Dr. Baker was actually a psychopathic madman who carried out “scientific” surgical experiments on his patients without anesthesia, leaving them to die long protracted painful deaths. Supposedly, he secreted bodies in the walls of the hotel and left huge jars full of various cancer ridden body parts in the cellar of the building. All extremely fascinating stuff!!! Why hasn’t a movie been made about this guy? Even if the taller tales are bunk, it’s still a fantastic tale that’s somewhat rooted in fact.
We learned all this when we took the Crescent Hotel Ghost tour. The tour itself was kind of boring. We meandered down the halls and wound up in what was actually the hospital morgue during Dr. Baker’s day. One of the autopsy tables was still there and in current use as a workbench. Throughout the tour, we were encouraged to take digital photos as digital cameras seem to have a knack for capturing paranormal entities or “pure energies” as the tour guide called them. In the first two pics we took, you can definitely see orbs of light where there were none visible to the naked eye. I’m not saying these were actual disembodied souls floating in air and I’m not saying they weren’t. I’m just saying we have strange glowing orbs in some of our pictures. In any event, I definitely want to go back and stay the night at the hotel. It’s just a lovely old building, haunted or not, although I would LOVE to have a paranormal experience.
We did other things in town like drink and eat and browse the gift shops. Oh, we also went on a trail ride. I’ll try to post pics later when I’m at home. We enjoyed our stay at the B & B, especially the Jacuzzi tub in our room (wink wink nudge nudge). All in all, a most relaxing and much needed trip.
I know better than to watch the news. It started Monday morning when I turned on Good Morning America, like I always do in the mornings. Apparently, there was some huge hurricane bearing down on New Orleans. That was the first I heard of it. And I’ve been riveted to the media, print and television, ever sense. And ya know what? I feel horrible. Why do I watch? What complete and utter devastation. And those poor people…..their world, as they know it, has ended, and from their perspective it would appear no one cares.
(Here is where I would normally insert a huge anti Bush tirade…..but let’s make this interactive and you just make up your own…)
I got into an argument with someone on my horse discussion board earlier today. They stated, in all sincerity, that Katrina was God expending his wrath on the sinful city of New Orleans. It’s just yet another sign of the impending Rapture (Oh! The glorious Rapture…where I don’t give a crap what happens to the rest of humanity as long as God chooses me to play on his team. Hallelujah!). I countered her statement with a few choice responses but then I just gave up…what’s the point? I’m just another heathen sinner in her eyes…further proof that the wicked walk the earth.
Actually, I wasn’t surprised to encounter this type of thinking, especially on THAT board which is 80% Red State Republican Yahoo. What did take me aback though was the amount of support for Dubya despite how he has colossally failed the people of New Orleans. They were defending him saying “What do you expect him to do about it?” Oh My God ….are you freaking serious? Well, I suppose you are. You REALLY think these people deserve what they got and we shouldn’t waste any federal money trying to help them out. Un-freakin’-believable. My faith in humankind, in AMERICAN humankind, took a nasty fall…..
Until I read on MSN about all the people around the country offering rooms in their homes to the refugees, to complete strangers. To BLACK strangers. My faith got up on one knee and began to look around again.
I’m still thinking about Cait and her family. Our friend, Bryant, heard from some of his family today. About 20 of them made it to the Astrodome. He’s renting two vans and leaving tonight with his brother to pick them and bring them back here. They’re homeless and his house is small but they have nowhere else to go. His dad and two of his uncles are still missing. Larry is organizing a fund raising drive for these people – food, money, clothing – whatever they will need. We won’t know exactly what they’ll need until they get here. Helping, in whatever small way I can, makes me feel less hopeless.
Oh, and I am getting drunk tonight. Damn the hangover.