Apologies for the Long Hiatus

 I wanted to add some sketches to my posts and just never seemed to get them in my computer to post....so I kept putting off posting...but today I must.  It has been just over a year since I hopped in my car and headed off on my epic trip last Labor Day.  Today I am heading to the fair to drop off a few pictures I took on my trip as well as a few paintings my trip inspired.  

Here are the sketches from my sketchbook that I did while on my trip last year.

Sketch from the Delta Blues Museum

Sketch from the Bathhouse Row, Hot Springs NP

Next stop after leaving Hot Springs was Fort Worth, Texas to visit my cousin Karen and her husband Jerry.        

Memories of Fort Worth

                  

Japanese Garden at Fort Worth Botanical Gardens

While in Fort Worth Queen Elizabeth passed away, so that morning I used my cousin's English mug for my tea.  

Jerry and Karen showing me the sights of the area.

JFK Memorial

Downtown Fort Worth

Jerry enjoyed interacting with the statues we saw around town.

Texas flag half mast for Queen Elizabeth

A great BBQ place.  Everman, Texas

This guy was looking for shade at the Botanical Gardens.

Watching squirrels in the back yard.

Ice Cream with blueberries and cinnamon.

A game of Aggravation, one of my Aunt Betty's favorites.

A parting gift.

Hot Springs, Arkansas

I arrived at Gulpha Gorge Campground late and the sun was already well put to bed.  I was able to find my campsite without too much difficulty and proceeded to put my tent up in the dark.  It was a great opportunity for me to pull out my Every Moment Holy book from my homemade portable library and read a Liturgy for People Who Sleep in Tents.  

After a good nights sleep, I packed my tent back up and stowed it all back up in my car and left the quiet of the campground to find a parking spot on a busy street in Hot Springs, Arkansas.  I fed the meter and then walked the promenade behind bathhouse row until the visitors center opened.  The steam rose up in the morning air, where the hot springs were exposed and the heat felt good in the chill of the day.  The water comes out of the ground at 147 degrees and felt quite warm to the touch.  There is no place to soak in the water outside and most of the bathhouses have been converted to other uses, though two of them still function as bathhouses/spas.  I, however, had neither the time or inclination to pay for the experience so I contented myself with trailing my fingers through the water in the display pool and bottling some water to drink on the road.  

Once the visitors center opened, I explored Fordyce Bathhouse which has been restored and is full of history.  You can see the opulence that surrounded the bathers of the day and learn about the different types of treatment that they practiced.  Some that made you raise your eyebrows and say what?!? and others that made me think, oh we kind of doing something like that in therapy.  After I had had my fill of learning, I headed back out in the street and found a place to do a quick sketch before taking a drive up to over look the city and then head back down the road towards Texas.

My morning reading.

Stain glass windows at Fordyce.

A statue in the men's bathing area.

Looking up towards the Grand Promenade behind the Bathhouses.

Steam rising in the morning air.

One of my PT friends said she had never seen such an ornate Hubbard Tub.