grace grits and gardening

ramblings from an arkansas farm girl

O Come, O Come to Thorncrown Chapel

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Thorncrown Chapel

We visited Thorncrown Chapel while the leaves were turning. Nestled in the Ozarks just outside Eureka Springs, Thorncrown Chapel is one of the most stunning and iconic structures in Arkansas. Today, I’m bringing it to you.

Woo-hoo!

Arkansas’s own brilliant architect, E. Fay Jones, designed Thorncrown Chapel using native woodland elements. The 48-foot tall structure consists of 425 windows totaling over 6,000 square feet of glass. So much glass brings the surrounding Ozark forest inside.

Inside your mind and heart.

Thorncrown Chapel

Because of the marvel of the design, Thorncrown Chapel never looks the same inside or out. Hour to hour, day to day, season to season, surrounding nature is an important part of the overall experience. Continue Reading

I’m writing in the woods

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Writing in the woodsFive years ago if someone asked me where I’d be today, I don’t know what I would have said. But I wouldn’t have said writing in the woods. The Writers’ Colony at Dairy Hollow might have been my answer if I played a game of eenie-meenie-miney-moe with multiple choice answers. In my mind, any place with “colony” attached to it was highly sketchy. A colony involved hippie living, pot growing, and Kum Ba Yah singing.

Or lepers.

Lepers lived in colonies, didn’t they?Continue Reading

Eureka Springs to Dallas.

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Eureka Springs to Dallas

Eureka Springs to Dallas may sound like a railroad line, but it’s the most recent route on my book signing adventure. Yesterday, I drove it without benefit of a dining car. Just a quick post to let you know I’m alive and well and waking up in North Texas this morning. I had a blast on Sunday at Books in Bloom in Eureka Springs. I was a speaker at the event, which was a fun thing for me. A few folks even told me, “I only came to hear what you have to say.”

Gulp.
Really?
Yikes.

It all worked out because I chatted about what I think and know and believe to be true about writing. Although my experience is new and very limited, it’s fresh on mind, that’s for sure. There were other author-speakers who’ve written a jillion books. I can’t imagine. I would have liked to sit at their feet and hear their secrets, but I had a booth to man.Continue Reading

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