Travel - grace grits and gardening

Rusted Ford Trucks (a short story waiting to be written)

June 18, 2016 By Talya Tate Boerner

This rusted Ford truck collection on the side of the road just south of Crawfordville, Florida (Highway 319), is exactly the sort of thing that causes me to stop and spend some time exploring. THIS is what makes a road trip a road trip. Seeing those things you wouldn’t normally see if you, say, hopped on a plane and bypassed the drive itself. Unexpected and out of the way marvels.

Writer friends: need a writing prompt?
Talk about a short story waiting to be written… Apocalyptic farm lit or doomsday swamp tale?

I knew nothing about these Ford trucks when I stopped to take pictures, Continue Reading

Sea Gifts

June 16, 2016 By Talya Tate Boerner

The best part of my recent book tour through Florida had very little to do with my book tour through Florida. It was more about the people I met, the sights I saw, the food I tasted, the things I felt and learned. Time passed at a leisurely pace, my mind felt open and boundless. Sea gifts. A good thing.

The first time I saw the sea I was young and we were in Mexico, on the Pacific side, and I found sand dollars and brought them home. I’ve never forgotten those early impressions—the vastness of the ocean, the salty breeze, palm trees and sandy dunes. The seashore was a place of myths, miracles, history, science, the unexplained and remarkable.

A place for thinking.
A place for not thinking at all.Continue Reading

Yoda’s summer house, I found.

June 10, 2016 By Talya Tate Boerner

Yoda’s summer home, I found. Deep within the remote river swamps of the Apalachicola National Forest, he lives. Magnificent and beautiful, the area called to me, in a dark force sort of way.

Signs warned of alligators and bears. On high alert, I was, watching, mindful ever.

Yoda’s friends, I glimpsed—lizards and swallowtail butterflies. Hidden, alligators and bears stayed away.

Luckily, lost, I didn’t become.