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2013: Top Ten Blog Posts

December 31, 2013 By Talya Tate Boerner

We’ve reached the end of another year…
Do you remember New Year’s Eve 1999?
Remember when we thought all the world’s computers, and thus the entire planet, would crash and burn at the stroke of 2000? At State Bank and Trust (where I worked), we spent months preparing for Y2K only to watch the new year arrive without incident. That was a good thing but honestly a bit anti-climatic.
Year 2000 doesn’t seem that long ago to me. And yes, I’m showing my age.
One of the things I do at year end is look back. 2013 raced by so quickly I can barely remember it, but luckily much of my year is recorded in blog posts. Today I’m looking back at my most popular blog posts (via page views).
In case you missed a few and/or would like to re-read/share/etc, here they are listed in David Letterman’s preferred reverse order. (Click on the number and blog title to be redirected to that post.)
10.
Dallas County Jury Duty Part One
“half the people argued they didn’t possess their own televisions…”
Dallas County Jury Duty

9.
Chocolate Covered Cherry Christmas Mice
“you can trim the tails or not…”

Chocolate Covered Cherry Mice

8. 
Seven Signs You Might Be From Arkansas
“you sort laundry into three piles—whites, darks and razorback red…”

You might be from Arkansas if…

 

7.
Homemade Lavender Peppermint Body Scrub
“made with ingredients from my kitchen and garden…”
How to make Lavender Peppermint Body Scrub

 

6.
Realistically Creepy Halloween Decor
“old is naturally creepy…”
How to decorate for Halloween - realistically creepy decor

 

5.
Flying Bat Project
“duct tape…”
Flying Bat project - great Halloween craft!

 

4.
How to Propagate Rosemary
“make angled cuts to allow more surface area for rooting…”
how to propagate rosemary!

 

3.
Mussels in White Wine Sauce
“Serve with bread to sop up the sauce…”
easy appetizer! mussels in white wine sauce

 

2. 
How to Make Pumpkins from Recycled Books
“the hardest part of the project was selecting which book to use…”
how to make a recycled book pumpkin - so cute!

 

and here we go-
THE most viewed post in 2013…

1.
Not Your Momma’s Cranberry Sauce
“momma loves cranberry sauce that slithers out of the can with a vile sucking sound…”
simple tasty cranberry sauce!

 

The moral of this top ten list…Pinterest drives page views and my Pinterest followers love food, crafting and Halloween:)Seriously, Yay for Pinterest!In 2013 I wrote 328 blog posts (not counting this one).

Three Hundred and Twenty-Eight…Although the ten above were fun projects and delicious recipes, my favorites are those about childhood memories or posts written from creative writing prompts (i.e. not that pin-able.)

Here are a few of my favorites from 2013 (in no particular order).

Cottonwood Corner
“once upon a time there was a race track…”

Cottonwood Corner, Arkansas

 

Another Halloween
“even scarecrows need Pinot…”
Another Halloween

 

The Kitchen Table
“each day began fresh at the kitchen table…”
everything happens at the kitchen table…
Joy!
“wheat harvest, smell of cotton…”
Joy - a poem
The Smallest Things
“he was happy…”
the smallest things…
The Enchanted Forest
“magic I tell you…”
The Enchanted Forest, Goldsmith's, Memphis Tn
R is for Reading
“where have you been lately?…”
Reading - where have you been lately?
Living Outside Herself
“she dared to imagine a different life…”
Living OUtside Herself - dreaming a new life.
Do you have a favorite Grace Grits post from 2013?
And now a VERY BIG THANK YOU to everyone who reads, comments, shares and tells others about Grace Grits and Gardening. I hope you’ll keep it up!
Here’s to a fantastic 2014.
talya
Grace Grits and Gardening
Farm. Food. Garden. Life.
Musical Pairing:What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?  Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordan Levitt

 

Hemingway’s Barn

December 26, 2013 By Talya Tate Boerner

 
Stories that waited for paper now wait for me. 
With so much to say, I search for a worthy beginning. Thoughts that swirled and drifted through dreams, now hide just out of reach.
Inside this barn, I am filled with something greater. I am filled with possible.
Through the windowpane, I gaze into a towering matt of dark green leaves.  Trees inspire and shade and watch over me, the same trees that watched him too.
My thoughts are safe inside this space. I am free to explore, free to wonder and wander. The air is full of potential.
A ray of sunshine splits the canopy and brightens my writing table. 
Dust motes dance. 
In the distance, a train rumbles, then and now.
He said there is nothing to writing.  Just sit down at the typewriter and bleed. 
And so I bleed.
talya
Grace Grits and Gardening
Farm. Food. Garden. Life.
 
Hemingway’s Barn won 2nd place in the 2013 White County Creative Writer’s competition for the category “Favorite Writing Place”. 
 
For information on Hemingway’s Barn and the Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum and Educational Center, click HERE. 

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:)

T.


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Hi! I'm Talya Tate Boerner. Writer, Reader, Arkansas Master Naturalist / Master Gardener, Author of

THE ACCIDENTAL SALVATION OF GRACIE LEE (2016)

GENE, EVERYWHERE: a life-changing visit from my father-in-law (2020)

BERNICE RUNS AWAY (2022)

THE THIRD ACT OF THEO GRUENE (coming 2025)

Recent Ramblings:

  • Sunday Letter: 11.23.25
  • Maggie and Miss Ladybug: My New Children’s Nature Book
  • Sunday Letter: November 9, 2025
  • Sunday Letter: Oct 26, 2025
  • Sunday Letter: Oct 5, 2025

Novels:

Coloring Books:

Fiction-Themed Coloring Books

Backyard Phenology:

Children’s Nature Book:

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