grace grits and gardening

ramblings from an arkansas farm girl

  • Home
  • Biography
  • Media
  • Privacy Policy
  • My Thoughts on Publishing
  • SHOP!
  • Garden
  • Food
  • Crafts
  • Farm
  • Reading & Books
  • Sunday Letter

Sunday Letter: 05.07.23

May 4, 2023 By Talya Tate Boerner 10 Comments

Sunday Letter

Dear Sunday Letter friends,

Guess what? Summer arrived yesterday just after lunchtime. That’s how it seemed to me anyway. The afternoon was warm and humid, and we even turned on our air-conditioner. What a great time of year, when blackberry winter thaws and spring fever truly takes root.

No longer concerning myself with late in-the-season frosts frees me up to scout for soon-to-arrive Japanese beetles. There’s always something, right?

Camp Time!

When you were a kid, did you ever experience the magic of summer camp?

Sunday Letter

I never went to one of those super cool camps like the one on The Parent Trap, or my personal favorite, Little Darlings, you know the ones, six weeks of canoeing and archery and bunk-mates who become best friends 4-ever (or long lost twin sisters). But I did go to cheerleader camp at Arkansas State several summers in a row. (Oh, winning that elusive spirit stick was the pinnacle!) I also attended basketball camp at University of Central Arkansas where I learned something right offโ€”basketball success lay in dribbling and shooting. And let’s not forget church camp at Ravenden Springs. If you read The Accidental Salvation of Gracie Lee, just know much of Gracie’s experience matched mine. In other words, there was lot’s of preaching and singing, and yes, Devil’s Bathtub is real.

It’s highly possible my parents sent my sister and me off on a dusty church bus to an un-air-conditioned cabin in the woods mainly to save their own souls. Back then, school didn’t resume until after Labor Day which must have seemed like forever away.

Well guess what? Tomorrow I’m sending myself to camp. And the best partโ€”the camp I’m attending is limited to ten writers.

Even the nameโ€”Story Campโ€”is perfect for me.

I imagine there will be cheering (cheering for other writers is something we writers like to do). Full court suicides will be replaced with optional yoga on the beach. And if it takes a little singing and praying for my muse to join me there, you better believe I’ll sing Kumbayah at sunrise, quietly, as to not disturb the other storytellers.

Sun. Sea. Sand. Nature. Stories.

Yay.

Migration Time!

While I will soon be migrating south for a few days, millions of birds are currently migrating north. And lots of them are stopping over at our feeders. This week, in addition to our regular cardinals, finches, and wrens, we’ve greeted two of my favorites, Rose-Breasted Grosbeaks and American Goldfinches.

Sunday Letter

Sunday Letter

The monarch migration continues too.ย Our monarch caterpillars are getting fatter everyday as they feast on milkweed.
Sunday Letter

Spring is truly becoming my favorite season.

What’s Growing and Blooming This Week?

So, so much! The irises are still going strong. Salvia and coreopsis have exploded. Roses are budding out. My nasturtium is lush, and to quote my neighbor,ย county fair worthy.

You may not remember my Little Pipevine That Could, but he is in full bloom too. (And if you want to read his story, click HERE.)

Sunday Letter

With so much happening in the garden, going to camp is bittersweet for me. Yes, I will worry about my plants while I’m gone even though John will take good care of things. Bottom line, I hate to miss the opening of that first peony bloom after watching the buds grow to the size of large gumballs.

This is one of the curses of being a garden-loving homebody. Still, I remind myself of what’s coming.

Sun. Sea. Sand. Nature. Stories.

 

Sunday Letter

Photo by Jake Hill on Unsplash

Picture me walking on this beach because that’s where I’ll be soon. Of course, I plan to be barefoot.

Things Momma ย Says:

I haven’t been feeling very funny lately.

***

One more thing before I sign off on today’s Sunday Letter. If you aren’t using the Merlin ID Application to identify the birds in your yard, you might want to give it a try. It’s easy to use. Download the app to your smart phone, record the bird sounds in your yard, and the application identifies those birds.

After recording five minutes yesterday, the app picked up the following thirteen birds in our backyard:
*Northern Cardinal
*Carolina Wren
*Blue Jay
*American Robin
*Gray Catbird
*Yellow Warbler
*House Wren
*Northern Mockingbird
*Great Crested Flycatcher
*Eastern Wood-Pewee
*American Crow
*Tennessee Warbler
*American Goldfinch

It’s no wonder we go through birdseed so fast!

Later, Sunday Letter friends. I hope your week is fabulous.

Grace Grits and Gardening
Food. Farm. Garden. Life.

 

 

Filed Under: Sunday Letter Tagged With: birds, migration, Monarch Watch

Wanna receive posts via email? Sign up here!

Comments

  1. Dorothy Johnson says

    May 7, 2023 at 8:29 am

    Iโ€™m curious about your camp destination. Wherever youโ€™ll be, I know youโ€™ll be creating new stories.
    We arrived in Navarre yesterday, and Iโ€™m looking forward to the week here. Weโ€™ve had grosbeaks and orioles at our feeder but no yellow finches yet. Enjoy camp!

    Reply
    • Talya Tate Boerner says

      May 7, 2023 at 10:35 am

      I’m going to St. George Island! Have fun in Navarre (someday I want to go there with you). We’ve not had any orioles yet but I have my grape jelly and oranges out.

      Reply
  2. Colene says

    May 7, 2023 at 8:39 am

    Great letter. We had a Rose-breasted Grosbeak at my jelly feeder last week. Enjoy camp.

    Reply
    • Talya Tate Boerner says

      May 7, 2023 at 10:35 am

      Thank you! And congrats on your granddaughter’s engagement!

      Reply
  3. Edwynne Story says

    May 7, 2023 at 8:41 am

    Wonderful newsletter ! Thank you!! Canโ€™t be beat I donโ€™t think!

    Reply
    • Talya Tate Boerner says

      May 24, 2023 at 7:16 am

      Thank you lady!

      Reply
  4. Julie says

    May 7, 2023 at 11:34 am

    My calendar is peppered with spottings of migrating birds so I can be ready to watch for them. Rose breasted Grosbeals and Baltimore Orioles are listed now and Iโ€™ve seen the Orioles but not the Grosbeaks. Definitely finches and hummingbirds!
    I posted the โ€œsummer has arrivedโ€ to friends yesterday too, and today Iโ€™m planting some pots when if I had done it three days ago, I wouldnโ€™t have been sweating like this.
    Missed you at the Arkansas Pie Festival this year. It grew and kept me busy with volunteering. So busy, I didnโ€™t get to collect my pie samples!
    Have a great camp. (I went to 4H camp in my youth) Julie

    Reply
    • Talya Tate Boerner says

      May 8, 2023 at 1:06 pm

      Oh yes, I had a conflict during the pie festival, but I saw a post about the winning pies. They looked amazing! I was sort of a 4-H dropout…

      Reply
  5. Fay Guinn says

    May 7, 2023 at 1:03 pm

    Only camp I went to was church camp. No frills but fun. Georgia coast sounds wonderful. Might be too distracting for me. When Don and I went to Bar Harbor, Maine, I just wrote nature poems about everything around me๐Ÿ˜„. Are you coming to Hemingway Pfeiffer Writers Retreat this summer? Different week than in past (June 19th). I love to watch hummingbirds at the feeders on my deck. Title of my book refers to hummers, remember? I wrote a minute poem about them and gave it a three line title ๐Ÿ˜„. We are having roof built over our deck next week. Bummer. I wonโ€™t get to finally sit in warm weather to watch them . . . and write. Don is on week long fishing trip to Lake Norfork. Caught a 15 inch bass this morning at 5a.m.๐Ÿ˜ฒ. Do you have a WIP? Iโ€™m working on my second book. Poetry again. Hope to get it out soon. Hope you can come to HPโค๏ธ

    Reply
    • Talya Tate Boerner says

      May 8, 2023 at 1:11 pm

      Hey Fay! The Story Camp I’m going to is a barrier island in Florida called St. George Island. I hope I’m not too distracted to do any writing. I recently wrote a review for your poetry book and posted it on both Amazon and Goodreads. I’m glad you are working on your next one. Yes, I have a WIP although I’ve not had much time to devote to it (which is one of the reasons I am going to Story Camp). I will miss HP this week. Just couldn’t work it into my schedule. Have fun!!

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating





Hi! I'm Talya Tate Boerner. 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!)

Never miss a blog post! Subscribe via email:

Prior Posts

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 Monarch butterflies 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

Books by Talya Boerner / Purchase in Grace Grits SHOP

Talya Tate Boerner books
Gene, Everywhere

What’s Trending?

  • Sunday Letter: 06.04.23
  • Sunday Letter: 05.28.23
  • Sunday Letter: 04.23.23
  • Sunday Letter: 04.16.23
  • Sunday Letter: 04.09.23

Food. Farm. Garden. Life.

THANKS FOR READING!

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