grace grits and gardening

ramblings from an arkansas farm girl

Words Matter.

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words matter

During the past year, I’ve been focusing on words. Individual words. Sentences. Every letter in every word. Words matter when I’m writing a book and hoping to convey a specific mood or thought. Words matter in day-to-day life too. Ours is such a decadent society, doing and saying whatever benefits us in the moment. We demand “transparency” yet use words to disguise and confuse.

It’s called politics.

Remember the saying, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never harm me?”

Hold your horses (another good saying). In time, most bones heal. The sting of words can slice through the toughest armor and stay with us, sometimes forever.

Harmful words affect generations of people.Continue Reading

the trees of New York City

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A Tree Grows in New York

Have you missed me? I’ve been in New York City. I don’t travel to New York very often, and in between trips it’s easy to forget the sheer massiveness of it all, the pulsating energy, the throngs of people, the noise. I wonder what it must be like for New Yorkers, to actually “be” from New York. Where do they go to be impressed by a skyline. Is that even possible? If New Yorkers vacation in the country or at the beach, do they long for all the concrete? Because I get antsy without stars and fresh air and wide open space.

I have lots to share with you about our New York trip—more than one post worth—but as I look back through all the pictures I took, I realize I snapped lots of tree shots. All sorts of New York trees.

I suppose that’s not surprising for anyone who knows me.Continue Reading

All that glitters…

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all that glitters is not gold - sometimes it's frost!

It’s true what Shakespeare, Tolkien and Chaucer said. All that glitters is not gold. It’s not necessarily glitter either. Not the traditional silver and gold and red sort that comes in tiny vials and makes a mess no matter how careful I am. Is that a piece of glitter on my chin? Probably. I used some last February. Oh sure, glitter adds an extra dose of merriment to craft projects. It’s downright holly jolly right until the moment it spills onto the dining room table and magically morphs into a shovelful that somehow floats onto the floor and slips between the floorboards to live for all eternity.

All.Of.Eternity.

I prefer nature’s glitter.Continue Reading

Food. Farm. Garden. Life.

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