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Grace Grits Reads: April 2017

April 29, 2017 By Talya Tate Boerner

Here we are at the end of April. I think these monthly book recaps I’ve begun doing make my days fly by even more quickly! Grace Grits Reads for April took me across the Pyrenees and deep into the “Wood Wide Web”. I visited with old Avonlea friends and sat bedside with Lucy Barton. ♬♪ Do you know the Pee-can man? the Pee-can man? the Pee-can man? ♬♪ I predict soon you will.

The Nightingale
by Kristin Hannah

This was the first book I read in April, and it was FANTASTIC. I became so engrossed in this tale of two sisters during French occupation of WWII, I had a difficult time accomplishing much of anything other than reading. This was one of those beautifully written stories I didn’t want to end, all the more powerful because the people and events depicted were inspired by truth. When it did end, I had to sit with it for a while before starting another book.

This book made me: reflect, think, worry, weep at the end. I even lost weight because how could I eat when Isabelle was standing in food lines for pitiful rations? Read it if you haven’t already and ponder, what would you do?

My favorite sentence: “What good is safety if she has to grow up in a world where people disappear without a trace because they pray to a different God?”Continue Reading

Dogbranch School (and the journey of the curved line)

April 26, 2017 By Talya Tate Boerner

I was never much of a math person (sorry Mrs. Meadows, Mr. Mason, Mr. Howard, Bob Irby), yet I do respect the truth of the straight line. Yes, I know the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. But straight lines can be boring. And sometimes the shortest distance doesn’t interest me. Most times, I prefer the more entertaining journey offered by the curved line.

I’m easily entertained.

Point A to Point B nearly always takes me longer than GPS estimates, because GPS has no reasoning skills. We have a sort of love-hate relationship, GPS and me. He can’t see detours into the woods marked by faded hand-lettered signs. He doesn’t notice cows posing roadside waiting to have their picture taken. He can’t feel the tug of history represented by a graveyard or roadside historical marker.

Yes, GPS is a man who never stops for lookout points or wildflowers growing in clumps at abandoned homesites.

His is an obtuse world of right angles painted pitch black or bright white. Right, left, yes, no. Loops exist as u-turns. Mistakes. And even as long as we’ve been together, GPS still doesn’t recognize my craving for the side trip.

Recently I took one such side trip to Dogbranch School (Carroll County, Arkansas). I’d been tempted to veer onto this gravel road before. I pass it each time I drive to Eureka Springs or Mountain Home.Continue Reading

Savoring March

April 2, 2017 By Talya Tate Boerner

Where’d you go March? In like a lion and out lickety split. One of the benefits of keeping a journal is being able to go back and revisit how my days were siphoned off into yesterdays. But seriously, 1Q2017 is over. Did you savor the month as best you could?

I tried even though I was on the go for much of the month. Savoring while “going” takes extra effort and mindfulness, especially for a homebody like me. It’s easy to get frazzled.

Here’s a quick recap of my March 2017.

Savoring FLAVOR…

What can I say? In March, I enjoyed the heck out of my Girl Scout cookies. Thank you Bramell, Party of 5! I ordered quite a few boxes, gave away several, and inhaled a bunch.

When I go back through my food pictures, I realize I cooked lots of egg dishes in March. To balance the Samoas, of course.Continue Reading