An Arkies Musings

I really love Autumn and how much beauty is in Autumn. I also like Fall and the colorful foliage. My oldest granddaughter is named Autumn and she is beautiful! Recently my daughter placed some photos on Facebook that she titled "Autumn (the season)". As beautiful as my granddaughter Autumn is, this post is to showcase the beauty of Autumn (the season). It has been an unusual year. Usually the color is almost gone by this time of year. My wife said "The hills are alive with color. I thought we weren't going to have a very pretty fall this year but God wasn't finished yet". She sure was right. Recently I took some photos of of the Autumn foliage in my town of Mena, Arkansas. I would like to share some of them with you. As I drove to work I photographed some of the places that I drive by every day. God can make even a junkyard beautiful. I took these photos behind my shop where we keep the vehicles that some people consider junk. The Kansas City Sout...

Last weekend we took a trip to Eureka Springs for the Ozark Folk Festival. Eureka Springs is one of our favorite places. We try to go there several times a year as it is a beautiful three and a half hour drive from home. Eureka Springs is a Victorian mountain village that was founded in 1879. Judge J.B. Saunders claimed that his crippling disease was cured by the spring waters. Saunders started promoting Eureka Springs to friends and family members across the State and created a boomtown. Within a period of little more than one year, the city grew from a rural village to a major city of 5,000 people. By 1889 it was the second largest city in Arkansas. With bath house cures falling out of favor, and the depression that hit the nation being particularly bad in Arkansas, Eureka Spring fell into decline during the 30's. With the end of World War II the era of the family car trip began. Businesses and services moved to the highway, rustic tourist courts and air-conditioned motels we...

The Granddaddy of them all - The Ozark Folk Festival in Eureka Springs is the country’s oldest continuously running folk festival. It was in 1947 that this beautiful little town in the Ozarks held its first folk festival. The event was started by local artists and musicians with the purpose of keeping traditional crafts and music alive. They also wanted to bring in the young emerging voices and artists who were giving new energy to Americana music and arts. It began as a small informal celebration, with craftsman pulling their wares out onto the sidewalks and the sound of fiddles and banjos echoing off of the hills. Over the years some of the biggest names in music have performed at the festival. This is the first year that I have been able to attend. I really wanted to go because 3 Penny Acre was opening for Eliza Gilkyson . I had heard 3 Penny Acre when they came to Mena and put on a show at Ouachita Little Theater. I was immediately drawn to their sparse Acoustic/Folk/Roots/...

It is amazing how many official days there are. Every day seems to be the official day of something. Nov 8th is World Orphans Day, it is also Aid and Abet Punsters Day and Cook Something Bold and Pungent Day, but World Orphans Day is much more important. The purpose of World Orphan’s Day is to facilitate public awareness of social issues surrounding orphans and displaced children’s social issues, and to engage community support for the causes. Here are some facts about orphans. 1. It would take 80,000 orphanages with 500 children each to house all the orphans in Sub Sahara Africa left behind by the pandemic of AIDS. 2. Over 60 million orphans go to bed hungry every night. 3. 143 million children are suffering from malnutrition, and 400 thousand of those will die this year. 4. HIV and AIDS is devastating global communities, and millions are facing the horror of war and abuse EVERY day. 5. Nearly 144 million children across the world are orphans. 6. Every 2 seconds, another c...