Celebrate the Colors of Spring

Seven full days of sunshine!

That's all we've had since January 1st!

I'm not saying we haven't seen sunshine

on other days, we have, 

but those days were mostly cloudy or partly cloudy.

Only seven full days of sunshine in over two months . . . .

no wonder my Vitamin D level is low!!

I'm saying that to explain why my sister, sister-in-law and I made the trip to Garvan Woodland Gardens on a misty, overcast day. We wanted to see the daffodils before they were frozen by the way-below-normal-temperatures in the forecast.

There are several paths you can take through the garden. We came for the daffodils, so we headed that way first.

On our way we spotted some pretty red tulips that were just beginning to bloom. We'll need to go back in a few weeks to see all the tulips in full bloom.

On the way to Daffodil Hill we pasted by thousands of hyacinths. I don't remember ever seeing the darker purple ones before.

We ventured down the Camellia Trail to see if there were any blossoms left and there were! Some very pretty ones.

Finally we came to Daffodil Hill! This is only a very small portion of the daffodils scattered across the hill. No matter which way you turn on this small hill, you can see daffodils.

As I mentioned before there are several paths you can take through the garden. We didn't take this one. It looked much to slippery, not to mention very steep. We sure didn't want to chance a fall!

A new addition to the garden this year is the tree house in the Evans Children's Adventure Garden. This pictures doesn't begin to show how large it is. I should have asked my sister and sister-in-law to go up in the tree house and wave at me! The 500 square foot structure is 28 foot tall. Adults can stand on the first two levels with no problem at all! The third level, well we didn't go that far. You have to climb a rope net to the crow's nest. A small area that gives you a bird's-eye view of the woods. Josh Siebert, the architect, describes the idea behind this modern looking tree house by saying "Our concept was a tree house in the woods and amongst the woods. It floats, it's mysterious, but it's also modern." I'll admit when I first saw it, I wasn't impressed. I'm not real keen on modern architecture, but the beauty for me was on the inside.

  

I love the repetition of the yellow pine ribs and the spectacular views. 

As you leave the tree house, there are some really cool mirrors set in the railing. They reminded me of fun house mirrors at carnivals. They each made you look a little different and sometimes silly. I avoided the one that made me look short and rather plump!!

We wandered back to the front of the garden to eat lunch at the Chipmunk Cafe. As we waited for our food, we watched three very friendly, not-scared-of-people peacocks. Or I guess I should say one peacock and two peahens. Last year there was only the peacock. Maybe with the addition of two peahens, little pea chicks may be in the future.

You have to be patient, but they will eventually show off their feathers.

Despite the damp, chilly air we enjoyed our day out. This day was also a celebration for me. I am one year cancer free. It's been a long year, sometimes difficult, but I feel like I've passed a milestone! 

Marylake

My camera is sitting on a shelf collecting dust. I have no desire to pick it up and especially have no desire to be outside. With heat indicies over 100 I'd rather stay inside. I know, that you know, I DO NOT LIKE SUMMERTIME!! Enough said about that! Anyway I was scrolling through some old summertime blog posts trying to get a little inspiration when I discovered a post I'd begun, but never finished. So I thought, why not share it now? I can do that from the coolness of my living room and it's an amazing place with an interesting history!

Nestled in the woods beside a lovely spring-fed lake sits a castle-like rock building built in 1926 as the Shriner Country Club which included a golf course, clubhouse, and swimming beach. During the late 1920's, the country club was popular with wealthy Little Rock residents, who drove 15 miles down a dirt road to attend dances in the ballroom. Although the country club did well for a while, the Shriners struggled to make payments on their construction loan during The Great Depression and were forced to close it.

a postcard view of the side away from the lake

found at http://www.rrmerritt.com/mabelvale/MHS_Brinkley.htm

After the country club closed, the land and the building were sold. That's when the inhabitants of the building gets interesting.

• 1937 - Property was bought by the infamous Dr. John R. Brinkley  who was known as one of the greatest quacks of the 20th Century! He preformed surgical procedures transplanting animal organs into humans. He used the building as a convalescent home for his patients. Needless to say, he was run out of town!

• 1944 - Little Rock's Baptist Hospital bought the property for use as a convalescent home.

• 1947 - Property was sold to R. G. and Evelyn LeTourneau with the stipulation that it be used for "Christian purposes."  The couple opened an interdenominational camp called "Pine Lake Camp" for underprivileged boys.

• 1951 - The property was sold to Carmelite Friars. The clubhouse became Marylake Monastery which serves as the novitiate house of our Province of St. Therese. Here men undergo a year of intense prayer, discernment, and training in the Carmelite life.

Jesus was given honor when the property name "Pine Lake" was changed to "Marylake" after was His mother. The former country club ballroom was converted into a chapel.

This beautiful swinging bridge was built in 1963 by Father Herman Estuan prior at Marylake. Father Herman studied the Golden Gate Bridge to get the proportions correct, and then he designed this suspension bridge, that leads over to the cemetery which was formerly the 9th hole of the golf course.

Even though Marylake is on a fairly busy road, there is a feeling of peace as you stand looking over the fence.

I've been there several times and every time I've seen dragonflies land on the fence posts.

The still lake is perfect for reflections and . . . 

waterlilies!

I hope you enjoyed this little history lesson about the great rock castle in the country. I have this insatiable appetite for information about historical buildings. I want to know when it was built, who built it, and who occupied it. I find if I post the information on my blog, I can remember where it is and revisit it.

Hope you're having a great summer!

Signs Of The Time

Signs how lost we would be without them. I mean that literally, we would be lost. There are signs that let us know the highway we are traveling on. Signs the tell us how fast or slow to drive. Signs that let us know where we can find something to eat. You know what I mean, signs are everywhere. I really don't like modern signs, but I am well aware that we can't get by without them. We'd be in danger of losing our lives without traffic signs, we'd be lost without street signs, and we'd be starving because we wouldn't know which establishment serves food. So, we live with those signs.

As I said, I don't really like modern signs, but I do love unique ones and, of course, vintage ones. That makes me smile, thinking how I like old signs. I wonder in a hundred years or so if someone will find one of our "old" signs and think "how cool is that!" Will our signs even survive the years? Those digital ones, probably not!

The best place to find fascinating signs is traveling through small towns. You can see signs that were hand painted many years ago. I love the font used on the Clickity Clack Toy & Gift Shoppe. I would have certainly entered it's doors in search of the perfect gift!  

If your lucky you might run across an old neon sign. This shoe store was built in 1922. Neon signs were extremely popular in the U.S. from 1920 - 1960.

You can still find old advertising signs that hang from buildings and were lit at night. I especially like the ones with the Coco-Cola advertisements. 

Above you saw the corner sign. Below you can see the sign painted above the front door. I smiled at the wording on the sign. At the Fountain Hill Grocery you can find "goods in endless variety for man or beast."

When I passed this old store it wasn't the corner sign or the sign above the door that made me slam on my brakes (after quickly looking in my rear view mirror) and had me making a fast left turn (after quickly looking ahead for oncoming traffic). It was the ghost signs on the side and back of this Fountain Hill grocery store. My heart does skip a few beats when I see ghost signs. They are quickly disappearing from our landscapes.

My favorite signs in the whole wide world are ghost signs; advertising signs that were painted on walls of buildings. I mentioned liking Coco-Cola signs, but finding a Coco-Cola ghost sign was the highlight of my day. I'll throw in a little tidbit of Coke information here. The first wall sign painted for Coca-Cola was done by a salesman in Carterville, Georgia, in 1894. The early ones said "Drink Coca-Cola." 

It amazes me that some of these signs are still in such good condition. I've read that part of the reason the paint hasn't faded more is that lead-based paints were used. I am in awe of all the skilled craftsmen that painted these signs. They were know as "wall dogs." They traveled the country painting advertising signs on walls.

Sometimes a sign has been repainted attempting to match the color and charm of the original, but that's just not too successful to me.  Someday all the ghost signs will be faded away or the buildings demolished and they'll be completely gone. So if you see one, you might want to stop and take a picture.

Every time I spend a day traveling Arkansas it's a treasure hunt. What will I find today?

historic buildings

beautiful windows

unusual doors

vintage signs

I never know, but I have never been disappointed!

Finally Found It!

Watching the news one night I heard that a decades old sign painted on the side of a building had been uncovered in downtown Little Rock. It took me two trips downtown to find it, but I finally did. I knew it was on 7th street, but I had the wrong intersection. Ironically, I drove up the street looking for the sign, but turned around one block to early. The second trip, armed with the right address, city map, and accompanied by my sister, mom, and dad, we went right to it!  The sign is on the side of the old Dr Pepper bottling plant which operated back in the 20's and 30's. In the 1940's another building was attached to it enclosing the sign between the two walls. During the demolition of the added building the sign was uncovered. The sign has been preserved by the other building for years and reveals the  original color and details.

 

 

(Dr. Pepper sign located at 7th and Cross, Little Rock, AR)

The sign reads: "Drink a bite to eat at 10, 2 and 4 o'clock
Dr. Pepper in bottles Good for Life"

 

Ghost signs, as they are known, were the way products were advertised between the 1870's and the 1950's. The estimated date of this sign is in the 40's according to the soft drink's icons and slogans.  The tail sweeping back from the final "r" in the product's name  came along after 1923 and the period in "Dr." was dropped in the 1950's. During the World War II era the soda was advertised as a good between-meal snack, using the expressions such as the "liquid bite" or "drink a bite to eat."

 

The painters of ghost signs were called "wall dogs." Some say the name came from how hard they worked. Wall dogs were frequently expected to put up a sign a day and they spent many hours high on a building without the benefit of modern scaffolding or safety gear. Experts are pretty certain that this sign was painted by Robert Adair. He did all the Dr Pepper outdoor advertising signs in the1940's and 1950's and also a lot of the Coca-Cola ones in Little Rock. Adair began painted signs in 1923 when he was 12. Members of his family still live and work in Little Rock. I can imagine their excitement in the discovery of this sign.

 

It's sad, the painted sign will probably fade away since it is now exposed to the sun. There are new products available that structurally stabilize both the components of the paint and the masonry, but I don't see that happening here. Maybe the family will try to find a way to preserve it.

 

Linking with Kim Klassen's Friday Finds.

August Break - Day 30

signs
A few of my favorite signs from Hot Springs, Arkansas.

 

 

 

 

The Aristocrat Hotel in Hot Springs, AR was built in 1965. It is now an apartment building for disabled persons and seniors.  It sits right across the street from the Arlington Hotel where Al Capone stayed.

 



Signs, Signs, and More Signs!!

I often wish that I lived in an area where signs were prohibited. I could just enjoy the beauty of our world  without the view being obstructed by signs. They're like power lines that are so annoying when they get in our photographs!! I'm resigned to the fact that we would be "lost" without signs to guide the way and give us information.

One of the definitions of a sign is "a display (as a lettered board or a configuration of neon tubing) used to identify or advertise a place of business or a product"

This sign advertises the Royal Theater in downtown Benton, Arkansas which has been in constant operation since the 1920’s. In the 1950’s, the owners acquired this neon sign.

Signs can tell you where you are and give your interesting information. I especially love to read the history of old buildings.

I found this collection of signs on the side of an old building in Leslie, Arkansas. You can tell by the signs that there's only a few blocks in the business district of Leslie. The bottom sign has the whole town directory of businesses in one place!

Some of my favorite advertising signs are those painted on buildings like this Coca Cola sign that was also in Leslie. I love the texture that the bricks give to the words. The first wall sign appeared in the U.S. in 1894 - a Coca Cola advertisement painted on the Young & Mays drugstore in Cartersville, Georgia: the hometown of Coca Cola inventor Asa Chandler.

 

 

 

You can find signs that are inspirational or informative.

 

I liked this sign that I discovered on a walking trail along the Arkansas River. The message on each side is in a different language. I couldn't tell you if they were all the same message. I only read English!

 

 

 

I'm always glad when I find informational signs as I visit gardens since I'm not real knowledgeable about flowers.

 

 

Another definition of signs is  "a posted command, warning, or direction"

It amazes me that we have to be told to stay off the grass and on the path! 

This sign with it's command thrilled my four grandsons. We were at a train museum in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Trust me, this old train bell rang many, many times.

The signs in this very large cemetery were low to the ground, directing you to the area you want, but not cluttering the otherwise beautiful cemetery.

First, before I show this sign, please understand that I have the deepest respect for cemeteries. They are places of beauty and reverence.  This sign is near the small community of Needmore, Arkansas. I really think maybe they could have named their cemetery a little something different. I just can't help it, every time I see this sign I want to laugh. My husband says I have a weird since of humor!  Do you see the humor here?

I promise this is the last sign! This sign has a story behind it. When our daughter was born in 1976, my best friend brought us dinner a few days after we came home from the hospital. She brought us roast beef sandwiches from the newly opened Arby's in Benton, Arkansas. When I drive by this sign, I think of that day and how good those sandwiches tasted to us!!

I would rather not have signs all around especially the advertising billboards along the highway! Since we can't live without them though, why not enjoy them through photography!!

I'm linking this to Kat Eye Studio's Exploring With A Camera. Visit Kat's site and see her great sign photos and then visit others who've linked to her site.