Talya Tate Boerner - grace grits and gardening

Grow with OLLI at University of Arkansas

August 12, 2015 By Talya Tate Boerner

We all know how important it is to never stop learning. The older we get, the easier it becomes to get stuck in the same old routine thinking the same old thoughts and becoming stale stale STALE. My mantra is to try and do something creative everyday. I seek out ways to keep learning and to stimulate my creative juices. I’ve recently found a new wellspring of inspiration through Olli at University of Arkansas.

Olli?

I don’t know about you, but the word “olli” immediately makes me think of the non-sensical saying at the end of Hide-and-Go-Seek. Something like olli olli outs in free? Or oxen free. Or maybe it’s “all ye, all ye” but we (every kid I ever knew) always said “olli olli” because let’s face it, as farm kids from the Mississippi Delta, we sort of had our own language.Continue Reading

cloud nine Banana Bread

August 10, 2015 By Talya Tate Boerner

There’s no way for me to top yesterday’s post so I thought I’d show you the banana bread I made last night. My bananas were about to go bad. I froze a couple for smoothies later and smashed up the others for banana bread. This yummy recipe came from Food.com. They call it Best Banana Bread but I’ve renamed it Cloud Nine Banana Bread because that’s where I was when I baked it. Plus, it’s light as a cloud.

Better name, right?

The batter tasted like banana pudding, and it was all I could do to slide it into the oven.

An hour later, I was glad I did.Continue Reading

I have a publisher!

August 9, 2015 By Talya Tate Boerner

I have the best news! And if it’s possible to truly walk on sunshine, I’m doing it. Yesterday, I signed a publishing contract with SYP Publishing, a Florida press that specializes in southern authors. Someone pinch me. I have a publisher.

I love the way those four little words feel in my mouth and melt on the tip of my tongue like old-fashioned butter mints, the sort served in a crystal compote at baby showers and weddings.

Know the mints I mean?

♫♫ Wonderful feeling, wonderful day! ♪♫

I plan to enjoy the floating-on-cloud-nine-feeling for as long as it lasts. And, yes, the clichés are flowing in this post, but I can’t help myself. The air is light, the sun is bright, and the view is brilliant.

Right this very second, I want to thank every single person who reads my writing (on-line and print) at Grace Grits, Front Porch Magazine, Winthrop Rockefeller Institute Blog, OnlyinArkansas(dot)com and wherever else I am lucky enough to finagle an article. I am especially grateful to those who stop me in Wal-Mart or tell my Momma at church how much they enjoy my writing. This often keeps me going, and having a following, however modest, has helped me obtain a publishing contract. I truly believe this.