Holiday - grace grits and gardening

7 Life Lessons from Charlie Brown

November 18, 2014 By Talya Tate Boerner

There are many life lessons to be learned from Charlie Brown. For starters, Charlie Brown is certain proof that a little chevron goes a long way.

Seriously, am I the only person who thinks we’ve gone a little overboard on the chevron look? Don’t get me wrong, I do have one zig-zag blouse, and I love it.

But…

IT IS EVERYWHERE!

And not only that, do you remember when we called the pattern zig-zag because Chevron was known as a gas station? I do. Because I’m oldish.

The fashion of Charlie Brown is only one such lesson. The Peanuts gang taught us many life lessons. Here are my favorites from A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. We would all do well to remember them.

Mark your calendar! Next week, ABC will air A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving on Wednesday, November 26 at 7:00 Central. Yay.

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

[tweetthis]7 Life Lessons from #CharlieBrown #Thanksgiving. [/tweetthis]

Musical Pairing:

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving – Opening

“In the Book of Life, The answers aren’t in the back.”
― Charles M. Schulz

The Fault in Our Stars Pumpkin

October 28, 2014 By Talya Tate Boerner

I have an announcement. Sunday night, I finally watched The Fault in Our Stars. Am I the last (girl) person to see it? Probably so… Although I read the book months ago, the movie is haunting me. I’ve been thinking about the Shakespearean quote that inspired the title.

Since it’s pumpkin carving time at my house, I decided to do something a bit non-traditional. Instead of carving the typical bright orange pumpkin, I carved one of my gray-green pumpkins. I adore these peculiar pumpkins. They seem moody and broody, and if they could talk I’m certain they would say things like “whatever” while rolling their hollowed out eyes.

These are the teenagers of pumpkins, obnoxious yet with personality plus.

When I saw this star design pumpkin from Reader’s Digest, I knew exactly what I wanted to do—carve the night sky into my green pumpkin. I’d call it The Fault in Our Stars Pumpkin.

I gathered up all my pumpkin carving tools including a few nails, screws and screwdrivers. These would be used to make the star pinpoints.

First step of course was to clean it out. I wasn’t expecting this pale pumpkin to have such a rich, fragrant interior. It smelled more like a watermelon or cantaloupe than pumpkin.

This was truly an experiment in pumpkin carving. I made different sized holes to give the impression of star distances. And I avoided spacing the stars evenly because nature is random.

I extended rays from a few of the larger stars using a knife.

There was a hammer involved too.

The Fault in Our Stars pumpkin isn’t perfect. Like the quote infers, it isn’t meant to be.

can you find the little dipper?

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

Musical Pairing:

Ed Sheeren – All Of The Stars

working on my fall porch decor

October 8, 2014 By Talya Tate Boerner

Fall is the best season for decorating a porch. Think about it. Most anything rustic, scary or harvest related will work. Throw in a few pumpkins, gourds and/or mums and you’ve created an autumn vignette to see you through to Thanksgiving.

We purchased these heavy clay pots years ago at Jackson’s Home and Garden, Dallas’ ultimate one stop shop for anything outdoor and garden related.

For the movers to bring our pots, they had to be empty. Plants cannot cross state lines. Texas plants are not welcome in Oklahoma. Oklahoma plants are not invited to Arkansas, etc. Sad really, but I suppose this is one way to prevent the spread of disease and bugs.

We could only bring so many potted plants in our vehicles, and these were super heavy with gravel in the bottom. After getting over the initial shock of dumping out (or giving away) perfectly good plants, I regrouped. An empty pot provided a fresh start. And what’s fresher and happier than pansies? I always have a difficult time choosing among all the colors, so this year I stuck with the traditional mix.

Lucy helped. Those plastic containers are her nemesis.

Along with the pansies, I planted salvia and ornamental kale.

A fall porch must have pumpkins, right? I love to mix the various shapes and colors.

Gnarly stems are the best.

I placed one warty pumpkin out on the front yard bench. He’s keeping watch.

Although most of my Halloween decor is still in Dallas (yes there are a few things in the Dallas garage), I did pull out this Halloween pillow that pairs perfectly with my vintage wicker rocker (a yard sale find!).

I’ll be doing a little more Halloween porch decorating soon once I find my bats… Stay tuned!

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

“Fall makes me think that if I fail horribly at this art thing, and then fail horribly with this writing thing, I’ll go run a pumpkin patch.”
― Tyler Hojberg

Musical Pairing:

Neil Young, Harvest Moon

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