grace grits and gardening

ramblings from an arkansas farm girl

  • Home
  • About
  • Media
  • Crafts
  • Farm
  • Food
  • Garden
  • Reading & Books
  • Sunday Letter
  • SHOP!
  • Privacy Policy

What Happens at Dairy Hollow…

October 31, 2012 By Talya Tate Boerner 9 Comments

The following is a guest blog by my new writer friend Tom Sweeney. Tom is from New Hampshire and writes mystery, science fiction and even a bit of romance. He is working on a series of three mystery/crime novels.


It was wine-thirty at the Writers’ Colony at Dairy Hollow--time for our daily afternoon get-together, and we residents were gathered on the deck. Writing is a solitary endeavor, hours spent cooped up in a small room, attempting with varying success to wrest that one telling detail from our resistant brains, the single apt metaphor, the bon mot that will bring our prose off the page and into life.

These gab sessions interacting with other writers are a major reason why the Writers’ Colony works so well for me.

Someone mentioned my roomie, and we all laughed. We don’t have roommates, particularly not roommates of the opposite sex as neither spouses nor visitors are allowed here at the Colony.

Then again, as I retorted, “That’s what they say, but you notice that each studio has a big double bed.” 


Everyone laughed. Someone joked, what happens at Dairy Hollow, stays at Dairy Hollow…

Half a carton of wine later (and only a Diet Dr. Pepper for me), we headed back to our rooms to write. Four hours after that, following a post-dinner impromptu critique session, the two walkers among us decided to see Eureka Springs at night, so we headed downtown.

A half mile from the Colony, we turned a corner of winding Spring Street and saw the gorgeous neon sign of the Palace Hotel and Bath House. The hotel itself was an impressive granite building. We peeked in the window of the lobby and tried to open the door. It was locked, but as we turned to leave a woman appeared from behind the desk to welcome us in.

Her name was Lucretia (perfect Halloween name…) and she was the great-niece of Allen Parmer, who rode with Jesse James. Providing a tour of the hotel, she explained it was the last of many bath houses one time lining Spring Street. The hotel has its original structure and architecture intact, including magnificent woodwork and a finely detailed tile floor.

Tom Sweeney
Writers, both of us, we could not help fall under its spell. Imaging what it must have been like as a Victorian resort, we each drafted a short story in our minds, stories set here at the hotel.

Writers sometimes get lost in their own reveries, though. 

As Lucretia gave us a tour of one of the rooms, complete with king bed and two-person Jacuzzi, my friend turned to me and said, “Honey, we should get this room.”

I was taken by surprise but quickly realized…ah, she’s a fiction writer too…

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Dairy Hollow, Eureka Springs

Wanna receive my monthly Newsletter? Sign up here!

Comments

  1. Colene says

    October 31, 2012 at 7:00 am

    Thanks for sharing. I like “wine-thirty”. Sort of like it is 5:00 somewhere.

    Reply
    • GraceGritsGarden says

      October 31, 2012 at 8:32 am

      I like wine-thirty too:) And beer-thirty…

      Reply
    • Kaa says

      October 31, 2012 at 12:16 pm

      Coke-Zero-thirty doesn’t have quite the same ring.

      Reply
    • GraceGritsGarden says

      October 31, 2012 at 7:18 pm

      Hilarious Kaa.

      Reply
  2. Enjoying the Epiphany says

    October 31, 2012 at 7:51 pm

    Hi there! I’m excited to be your newest follower! I was hoping you’d hop on by my blog and return the favor!

    http://www.enjoyingtheepiphany.com

    Thanks,
    Sarah

    Reply
  3. pittypatter says

    November 1, 2012 at 3:16 am

    Do you mean to tell me this man is the same as the person behind the mask in the writers’ Halloween dinner attire??? Maybe Tom will also write for me. I have a column due by Monday!!! pl

    Reply
    • GraceGritsGarden says

      November 1, 2012 at 3:23 am

      No pick me!

      Reply
    • pittypatter says

      November 1, 2012 at 7:05 am

      OKAY!

      Reply
    • GraceGritsGarden says

      November 1, 2012 at 7:11 am

      Yay!

      Reply

COMMENT: Cancel reply

Talya Tate Boerner


Hi! I'm Talya. Writer, Reader, Arkansas Master Naturalist / Master Gardener, Author of

THE ACCIDENTAL SALVATION OF GRACIE LEE (2016)

GENE, EVERYWHERE: a life-changing visit from my father-in-law (2020)

BERNICE RUNS AWAY (Now Available!)

Click to BUY NOW!

Talya Tate Boerner books
Gene, Everywhere

Never miss a blog post! Subscribe via email:

Receive my Monthly Newsletter?

Most Popular Posts…

  • Chicken Tortilla Soup
  • SHOP!
  • Yum Yum Cake - old southern recipe!
  • Nana's Strawberry Cake (the real one)
  • Sunday Letter: 01.29.23

Most Recent

  • Chicken Tortilla Soup
  • Sunday Letter: 01.29.23
  • Sunday Letter: 01.15.23
  • Sunday Letter: 01.08.23
  • Sunday Letter: 12.18.22

Grace Grits index

Prior Posts

Search Categories

Tags

A to Z April Blog Challenge Autumn BAT Book Reviews childhood Christmas creative writing prompt Dallas Desserts Eureka Springs Fall Fayetteville Food Gracie Lee Halloween Hemingway-Pfeiffer home humor Johnson Family Keiser Lake Norfork Lucy and Annabelle Mississippi County Mississippi Delta moving Munger Place Nana nature Northeast Arkansas Northwest Arkansas Osceola poem Reading Schnauzer simple living simple things spring spring gardening Summer sunday letter Talya Tate Boerner novel The Accidental Salvation of Gracie Lee Thomas Tate Winter Wordless Wednesday
Follow on Bloglovin

Food. Farm. Garden. Life.

THANKS FOR READING!

All content and photos Copyright Grace, Grits and Gardening © 2023 · Web Hosting By StrataByte