grace grits and gardening

ramblings from an arkansas farm girl

Fall is…

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This post is Day 3 of the BLOGtober Fest challenge with Arkansas Women Bloggers. Theme is Fall Traditions…

Easy peasy…

In our family, we have several fall traditions, but my favorites are …

  • That first eye-rolling-back-in-my-head bite of corn dog from the state fair, hot from the grease and dripping with mustard. A trip to the state fair is always on the agenda. 
  • That first weekend of college football which pairs perfectly with the season’s first bowl of chili. (My husband makes amazing chili…) A house divided, we claim many teams cheering for Arkansas and Arkansas State (always), other SECteams when it benefits Arkansas, and Texas when they play Oklahoma. We almost support LSU when they play Florida. Florida, never. Although it rarely happens since the fall of the Southwest Conference, if Baylor should play Arkansas, I cheer for whichever team has the ball. Yes, I graduated from Baylor and LOVE the Hogs…  Conflicted.
    My handsome Razorback
  • Cotton Harvest! The holiest of times. The fields are transformed into a sea of white, thick enough to walk on. My favorite smell, the smell of cotton. 
can you smell it?

talya
Musical Pairings:

Arkansas Fight Song

Happy un-Birthday!

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When my mother was expecting her first child, her due date was July 4th. But I waited around until July 10. It was the only time I’ve been the slightest bit tardy. And I wasn’t really late, I just needed my own day. I didn’t want to share with the entire nation.
July 10, 1965; 3 yrs old
Nana & Papa Creecy, Staci (3 mos)


My 5th birthday party was in our backyard playhouse. Everyone in attendance (Sara, Martha Ann, Anita, Lesa, Staci) brought their baby dolls for an old fashioned tea party. There were homemade invitations and treats. Momma tied long spiral-shaped pastel colored balloons to the weeping willow tree magically transforming the back yard. The tree was amazing. Life was amazing.
 
There were no spa treatments, italian cream cake balls, or hand painted magic wands. We played pin-the-tail on the donkey instead of riding live unicorns through the cotton field.

It was a simpler time.
 
And our birthday tradition – my sister always received one small gift on my birthday, and I on hers. An un-birthday present. Nana and Papa started this tradition because they could never just give one of us something. Momma often still does this…
 
On my 9th birthday we went to Memphis, ate pizza at Shakey’s, waved at Graceland, and rode the Memphis Queen. For those of you keeping up, this was the trip to the Pink Palace when Momma was nearly arrested for a moon rock incident. Her first run-in with the Memphis po-po.  (Moon rock story….)
Memphis Riverboat
 
Later, most of my birthdays were spent at the lake with candles in a slice of watermelon. We ate it on the dock in the sun with sticky juice dripping down our bathing suits. I’ve always preferred watermelon to most other foods, including cake. The only exception was Nana’s Fresh Strawberry Cake. If she came to the lake, I ate that with my watermelon.
Birthday at the lake 1975

 

I spent my 21st birthday in Tokyo during a Baylor summer abroad program. At a disco. In the Ginza. With new friends. A gift of flowers and chocolate and Kirin and karaoke. I missed my lake and my family and my watermelon…
 
On my 30th birthday, my first husband threw me a surprise birthday party. I don’t much like surprises. ESPECIALLY after having spent the Entire Day wallpapering a friend’s apartment. My friend who was InOnTheWholeThing, mentioned not word one to me… but had no problem letting me wallpaper her apartment before my party.

Would a true friend really allow this to happen???  Allow me to stroll back home completely surprised, to a house crammed full of friends, wearing my painting clothes with wallpaper glue in my hair?
 
I think not.
 
Today is my 50th birthday. I’ve decided my mother is the one who should celebrate. She did all the work, deserves the party. I am more excited on Kelsey’s birthday (December 13) and Tate’s birthday (May 18) than my own. Those are the days I celebrate. I worked especially hard on those birthdays… and the following days…
 
I think I’ll buy my momma a watermelon for her un-birthday. I wonder what Staci will get?
 
talya
 
Musical Pairings:
 
Birthday, The Beatles
 
“There are three hundred and sixty-four days when you might get un-birthday presents … and only one for birthday presents, you know.” — Lewis Carroll, from Through the Looking Glass

I knew this girl once who knew this girl….

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We have a fabulous swimming pool but can only enjoy it between 9 and 10 pm, the small mosquito-less window that seems to occur well after the blistering sun goes down and before I’ve had too much wine to drink. All other times the backyard is either smothered in swarms of mosquitoes and/or it’s simply too hot to breath actual oxygen. Usually both.
Even with my body submerged, mosquitoes bite me on the face.
After a quick plunge into the pool after yoga – in mid day – I noticed a bite on my cheek (face)…. A red welt. Lovely.

A day later… still there.
Two days later….. there.
Three days later… it felt like a hard knot. Maybe it was a zit?
I messed with it. No zit.
And then I saw a spider sunning itself on the sill like it owned the bathroom.
A spider.
What if this bump on my cheek was no mosquito bite at all? What if a spider bit me while I slept and LAID EGGS IN MY FACE!!!
It could happen.
It happened to my college roommate’s sister’s best friend’s cousin in 1983. My roommate was adamant about it, completely freaked out that her sister’s best friend’s cousin had zillions of baby spiders hatch from her face and crawl into her eyes and through her hair. 
When I doubted this story and accidentally rolled my eyes, she became annoyed, insisting it happened. My roomie was sweet and beautiful and gullible. All the boys loved her… wanted to take care of her…. She was a city girl from Dallas. She really thought spiders would lay eggs inside a human….  Like something from Alien.
She also knew someone who knew someone who’s friend’s daughter was snatched from Wal-Mart while her mother stopped to read labels on peanut butter. The kid’s hair was cut and dyed in the dressing room in 2 minutes so they could sneak her out and sell her into slavery….
I was starting to think perhaps I shouldn’t hang with this girl. This girl who knew these other girls who knew people with such bad luck to experienced head dyeing kidnappers.
But today, when I studied this THING on my face, I wondered…
WHAT IF SHE WAS RIGHT?

talya

Musical Pairings:

I’ll Be There For You, Rembrandts

“To lift the spider’s curse, simply recite a Bible verse. Uh… Thou shalt not… Oh, the hell with it.” (Homer, throws a rock at the spider’s head.)  Homer Simpson

Food. Farm. Garden. Life.

THANKS FOR READING!