grace grits and gardening

ramblings from an arkansas farm girl

Arkansas River – Dreaming from Dorothy’s Ridge

By

(written from Dorothy’s Ridge, Little Rock, Arkansas)

Grace Grits and Gardening, Arkansas River
my view from Dorothy’s Ridge
From my spot high atop Dorothy’s Ridge, the Arkansas River appears calm and unmoving, yet I know her water churns from Rocky Mountain headwaters. Winding across our country’s mid-section, she flows through Kansas and Oklahoma before slipping past me.
Although I can’t see the next bend of the river, I know she empties into the mighty Mississippi River.
Although I don’t know where life will lead, I recognize that’s part of the journey. 
Arkansas River headwaters at Leadville, Colorado

Dream of sunrise high atop a ridge
Overlooking the Arkansas
River. Worries seem faint,
Obscured by a veil of morning mist,
Tranquil and
Hazy.
Yesterday fades. My
Summer wanes.

Reflect on this moment as sunlight casts its
Image of tomorrow and
Daylight brightens,
Growing
Endless.

“A river seems a magic thing. A magic, moving, living part of the very earth itself.” 
― Laura Gilpin

talya

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

Be sure to follow my friend Dorothy’s blog – Reflections from Dorothy’s Ridge. 

Dorothy and Me

Rice Field. Mississippi County, Arkansas

By

Rice Field Mississippi County Arkansas
Rice Field, Tate Farms, Northeast Arkansas

“Why does no one speak of the cultural advantages of the country? For example, is a well groomed, ecologically kept, sustainably fertile farm any less cultural, any less artful, than paintings of fat angels on church ceilings?” 
― Gene Logsdon

Grace Grits & Gardening

The Sonic – Parking on the Cool Side

By

When I was a kid in the 1970s, our Sonic had a cool side and an extraordinarily uncool side. If Momma parked on the uncool side, my sister and I moaned, dunked in the back seat, and laid low until our Frito chili pies arrived. We truly believed our character and reputations could be boosted or ruined during the few minutes it took to wolf down an order of tater tots in a parking spot at the Sonic in Osceola, Arkansas.

When I began driving my own car, the highlight of Saturday night was circling the Sonic until a cool space opened. My best friend and I ordered giant Cokes, emptied them onto the sidewalk and refilled the cups with Boone’s Farm Strawberry Hill. Or sometimes Kountry Kwencher. We thought drinking Boone’s Farm was a cool thing too.
Today I am much older. I realize I was far from hip. Even so, I can’t pull into the Osceola Sonic (now bigger, brighter, and new) without wondering if the coolness factor still exists.

And if so, could someone tell me which side is cool?

Grace Grits & Gardening

Musical Pairing:

Foreigner, Feels Like The First Time

Food. Farm. Garden. Life.

THANKS FOR READING!