Holiday - grace grits and gardening

Do you remember making Valentine’s Day boxes?

February 13, 2014 By Talya Tate Boerner

a snippet from my book (coming soon)…

Other than snow days, the only wintertime excitement was our class Valentine’s Day party. In fifth grade, we nearly lost the privilege because we were so bad. At least that’s what Miss Friend threatened each morning before first recess. The thing is, we weren’t any worse than we were in fourth grade. Or third grade. Or any grade. We were always the same, just older and bigger.

The real issue was Miss Friend.

She had no control.

After lunch when Miss Friend was worn to a frazzle, she let us work on our Valentine boxes. This was pretty smart on her part. The girls could sit for hours and hours gluing pink and red pieces of construction paper to the shoeboxes brought from home. Sometimes Miss Friend even brought out the red and silver glitter—an extra special treat.

Even though the boys didn’t care one iota about their Valentine boxes, they were quiet too. They could sit for hours squirting blobs of Elmer’s glue on their fingertips, and then pulling it off like dried skin.

Grace Grits and Gardening

Musical Pairing:

Be My Valentine, Vince Guaraldi Trio

Simple, Perfect Gifts

December 27, 2013 By Talya Tate Boerner

Merry Christmas from my family to yours.

Another Christmas has come and gone. Santa was good to me. Again.

I love Christmastime. All the hustle and bustle and decking of halls stirs memories of holidays spent with family members no longer with us.

But they are with us, especially at Christmastime.

Papa Creecy with his big red sack saying ho, ho, ho! Nana laughing about something. (She was always laughing.) Mammaw Ruby rolling out dumpling dough on her kitchen table. Papa Homer passing out sticks of Juicy Fruit to all the kids.

This year we made a few new memories playing board games, attending church services, cooking together, wrapping presents.

Ah yes, the presents can be stressful. But gifts are part of the fun, especially giving and receiving that perfect simple gift—not expensive or fancy—but chosen from the heart.

Here are a few of my favorite gifts this year.

Journals. Aren’t they gorgeous? A beautiful journal filled with blank pages represents such possibility…

A Zoku slush maker. This is exactly like the slush maker my sister and I had as kids. I am soooooo excited about this. See, it’s in the freezer ready to go.

Look at these adorable Mudpie Glittens (gloves/mittens). I wore them to the Dallas Mavericks game last night. (The Mavs didn’t win, but the family made more fun holiday memories…)

The Flavor Bible. I specifically asked for this. I heard it is life changing.

Of course the best gift of all was time spent with family.

What was your favorite Christmas gift this year?

talya

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

Do you feel what I feel?

December 24, 2013 By Talya Tate Boerner

★
On
a
cold
winter’s
night,I feel
the weary world
rejoicing.❅ O
night divine!
Christmas is here
bringing good cheer.
❅Sweet silver bells
ring high above
glistening treetops
and city sidewalks.
❅ The thrill of hope wrapped
in silver and gold. ❅ Born
on that silent night so
no more may die.✞ Merry
merry, merry, merry
Christmas. ❅ Do you hear what
I hear? Do you see what I see?
Joy.

Merry Christmas!

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

This poem is in the style of cento—work composed from lines or passages from other sources arranged in a new form or order, in this case Christmas carols. This is also an example of a concrete poem – the visual appearance matches the topic, in this case a Christmas tree…

To read another cento I wrote using lyrics from Pink Floyd, Elvis, Sinatra, Creedence Clearwater and others, click HERE.

And HERE’s a concrete poem I wrote about Lake Norfork in the shape of a bikini:)