"The cost per star is nominal..." Ep. 17

Episode 17: Celebrating AZ

Lisa takes us to the sylvan splendor of Castle Hot Springs near Lake Pleasant, and Julie back to the see the Valley from the top of Piestewa Peak.

Mug: Cowgirl

From Arizona Highways, an article about Castle Hot Springs:

by Lisa Schnebly Heidinger

       As soon as you see prim custard-yellow clapboard buildings on five lush gardened acres, you could be guests from the 1930s, who would have gotten off trains in Wickenburg and boarded stagecoaches. The jouncing jostling ride on rough road ended at this almost Adirondack Eden.

       Among Castle Hot Springs’ bona fides, one looms large: this is where Maxfield Parrish created his exquisite Parrish Blue.  The talented artist’s tuberculosis benefitted from Castle Hot Springs, where his paintings “Night in the Desert” and “Desert Without Water” launched the deep glossy cobalt forever known as Parrish Blue.

       Add to the allure of Castle Hot Springs that guests who have seen and admired Parrish’s work “The Canyon” of a young blonde (William Jennings Bryan’s granddaughter Kitty) in rugged terrain can stroll to the exact spot where it was set.

Past becomes a setting for present. Most important are the hot springs themselves, feeding a reflecting pool, and filling discreet open-air tubs on each enclosed patio.

       Then, when guests settle back in the warm waters to gaze in wonder at star-strewn night skies, eras will all merge and meld, edged with wonder and Parrish Blue.

Copyright Arizona Highways, used with permission

Jewelry

by Julie Morrison

On waking, flavoring,

and, surely, savoring,

cupped joe.

For messages, a humoring,

for pages, some murmuring,

with no

lecturing or littering

trying for the lettering—

dunno—

perhaps some sauntering,

even a meandering?

let’s go—

with my dog, some scampering,

cantering and capering,

please, slow—

Chores deserve some bickering,

and, I’ll admit, some dickering,

what next?

calls with their deciphering,

on good days some bantering

at best,

web work so bewildering,

beyond my sad beggaring—

complex—

so, whimpering and simpering,

leave it for a showering

then rest,

except, unslumbering,

soon busy conjecturing

which ring

tomorrow’s mustering,

flittering, and faltering

will bring.

Copyright 2025 Julie Morrison, All rights reserved