Fayetteville - grace grits and gardening

Arkansas: My Happy Place

October 21, 2013 By Talya Tate Boerner

Once I cross the state line into Arkansas (from any direction), I can breathe and think as the pace seems to slow just a notch.

I was born there.

I couldn’t get away fast enough.

I hurry back as often as I can.

Arkansas is where I go to relax, recharge, remember.

I’m headed there today.

Hot Springs

Lake Norfork

Dairy Hollow Writer’s Colony, Eureka Springs

Keiser

Hemingway-Pfeiffer, Piggott

Fayetteville

The Farm. Mississippi County

Maya Angelou said the ache for home lives in all of us.

Where’s your happy place?

talya

Grace Grits and Gardening
Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

“Everybody has to leave, everybody has to leave their home and come back so they can love it again for all new reasons.”
― Donald Miller

Musical Pairing:

Los Lonely Boys, Heaven

An unseasonably cool breeze moved the Fayetteville trees. As we stopped to admire a stand of purple blazing star pushing through a crack in the sidewalk, a lady pulled to the curb, rolled down her window and gushed, “You’re that writer, aren’t you? I love your blog. You’re so funny.”

I was stunned.

Beyond stunned.

“And that’s Lucy and Annabelle.” She pointed and seemed excited to meet our Schnauzers too.

John and I chatted with her for a moment as though we were old friends.

I went straight home and kept writing.

talya

“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.”
― Aesop

V is for Vacation

April 25, 2013 By Talya Tate Boerner

I am a homebody.

Sometimes my best vacations are those spent at home. A few days carved out between yesterday and tomorrow spent with a good book and a bottle of wine is more relaxing than a carefully planned, often expensive trip.

Simple is good.

John and I have a tiny place in Arkansas we visit when we want to get away from the busy-ness of Dallas. With only 892 square feet of space, we fill it with things we absolutely love—favorite artwork, vintage plates and crystal, old books, leather club chairs from the antique store around the corner.

Sleeping with screen doors separating us from the wild, we wake to the chirp of songbirds. A neighbor’s rooster crows. When it rains or snows, what a bonus…

Our schnauzers, Lucy and Annabelle, love the expansive yard filled with buried treasures from a previous dog. As I write, bamboo rustles a soothing tune.