With a Click of Ruby Slippers: An Island in the Sky

              Rusted vehicles crippled by exposure and neglect lean against abandoned store fronts.  Chicken houses open to the elements, their coverings billowing in the biting wind rise into view. Unremarkable towns, houses, and crumbling shacks populate the area.  It’s old, rural, and poor. Hwy 64 leads to Paris, AR; now, make a turn onto Hwy 309, and experience more of the same. Suddenly, at just the right elevation, Ruby Slippers click.
               Sunlight streams through branches bathing treetops not shadowed by the mountain. Easy curves become switchbacks ascending to Arkansas’ highest point, Mt. Magazine.  Stretching ahead are fields of hardwood, pine, and stone in a rustic landscape.  The Lodge at Mt. Magazine, a luxurious salute to The Natural State, dominates the mountaintop with Cottages in clusters, hidden among the trees. 

               Within the Lodge, an expanse of windows invites majestic views of sunlight and shadows, sunrise and sunset. Three-story Arkansas fieldstone fireplaces dominate the dining room with another in the lobby opening into an inviting sitting area.  The stone and pine interior, accented by tile and bronze hardware, shines. Craftsman-Mission style lighting, with clean lines and motifs of bear, deer, and pine boughs add a golden glow of ambiance.
                         Dominant artwork of flora and fauna seen during spring and summer, depicting wildflowers and butterflies of varying types, line the hallways and common areas. The meadows would be lush then, but now, it’s Thanksgiving Week in late November, and a cold blast has plummeted temperatures, bringing snow flurries to the area.
                           A natural area for all seasons, just a short distance from Mt. Nebo and Petit Jean Mountain, Mt. Magazine State Park and the Lodge do create an Island in the Sky.

The Royal "Boogie on Down"

            Did you once surrender your royal crown to the next “queen?”  Or, did you not ever have a crown in the first place?  Great! Now, you are free to “get your own.”  Get a crown you never relinquish, and, while you’re at it, your own majorette boots! It'll help.
           Jill Conner Brown and her Sweet Potato Queens laughed their way into my life about 10 years ago, and their Zippity-Do-Dah attitude plays well. 

Another fine gaggle of girls takes as their goal “stamping out global boredom.”  The Red-Hat Society gathers as a social club with no philanthropy, no fund-raiser.  No other goal than to have fun together, the majority of these members claims to be above age 60.
          While I am not a card-carrying member of either group, their good humor and wacky-attitude provide sugar for morning coffee. Add Mary Engelbreit's wit and my attitude improves. That will be important, as it's about time to boogie on into the age of Medicare.