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Moving Day!

September 17, 2014 By Talya Tate Boerner 18 Comments

empty cabinets - moving day!

Yesterday our moving company (Bekins) sent a crew over to “prep” for our move. And to pack our kitchen. I decided it would be best to leave our breakables (all those egg dishes) to the professionals. And man alive, THEY WERE AMAZING.

Silly me. I thought they would only pack up dishes. No. They wrapped every single can of beans and tomato sauce individually. I had no idea.

Moving Day! Bekins packing crew. Amazing!

These guys had some mean packing skills.

In the past few days, I’ve packed most everything else. The house echoes the emptiness.

The house is beginning to echo. Moving Day!

Our truck did a drive by yesterday to make sure it could clear the thick canopy of Live Oaks shading Worth Street. Thankfully, it did. And the truck is my favorite color, so there’s that. (It’s the little things.)

Bekins truck clearing the trees on Worth Street

This morning our house is a maze of boxes. The guys and the truck will be back soon to load everything. What a strange feeling. Strange yet exciting.

moving day!

I’ll see you on the other side. The Arkansas side, that is!

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

bubble wrap selfie

bubble wrap selfie

Musical Pairing:

Simple Minds – Don’t You (Forget About Me)

 

The House that Owns Us

September 15, 2014 By Talya Tate Boerner 13 Comments

the house that owns us - vintage doorknob

I’ve come to believe we don’t own a place, a place owns us. Oh sure, legally we make payments and claim ownership even when the mortgage company may share in the title. But as we scrape and paint every corner and memorize each creak of the floorboards, the place becomes part of the fabric of our family, the place where memories are made and held like a family photo album.

Our Worth Street home celebrated her 104th birthday this year. Our twelve years here is only a flash compared to the families who came before us.

Yesterday we had the pleasure of visiting with Mark and Betsy Hults, the prior owners who sold us Worth Street and called this place home for eighteen years. Mark and Betsy did MAJOR renovation to the home. And they prove my point of a place owning us. After they heard the house was on the market, they asked to visit, to see the home one more time. I was thrilled. I needed to talk to someone who once felt the exact angst I am feeling.

the house that owns us

the house that will always own us

 

We walked through each room, shared family memories and tales that come with living in a historic home. Although we don’t know each other that well—communicating only a couple of times since they sold the house to us and moved to Atlanta—our house gives us an instant bond. Both our families love this place and always will. (They raised a son and daughter here too.)

Places touch us. We do the best we can while its ours. We trust the next owner will continue caring for her, maintaining, improving and loving her. She’s part of us.

Visiting with the prior owner of our home.

 

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

Here are a few pictures of our home before and during the Hults’ renovation. 

5119 Worth - back of house

5119 Worth – back of house before renovation (1984)

 

5119 Worth - original kitchen

5119 Worth – original kitchen

 

column restoration - 5119 Worth

column restoration with plaster and horse hair

Musical Pairing:

Boston, More Than a Feeling

 

Does a place have feelings?

August 4, 2014 By Talya Tate Boerner 7 Comments

I wonder if a place has feelings.

Does she know we are leaving soon?

Someone new will walk her creaky floors,

sleep beneath her protective eaves.

Her wood moldings gleam.

Sunlight streams through her stained glass.

She is planted all around with flowers and shrubs,

years of devoted tending. Inside and out.

I hope she is excited.

A new family brings

renewed enthusiasm. Energy.

I wonder if a place has feelings.

Will she remember us when we are gone?

 

stained glass 5119 Worth Street

5119 Worth Street, beautiful stained glass

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

“A place belongs forever to whoever claims it hardest, remembers it most obsessively, wrenches it from itself, shapes it, renders it, loves it so radically that he remakes it in his own image.”
― Joan Didion

Musical Pairing:

Taking You With Me, Daniel Tashian & Mindy Smith


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 (Now Available!)

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