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a good sort of chaos

September 25, 2014 By Talya Tate Boerner

Today marks one week since we officially moved to Fayetteville. Even though we’ve only been here one week and things are chaotic, it’s a fun chaos. Stuff is spread everywhere. The whole process is a jigsaw puzzle. What fits where? This house is a bit smaller than Worth Street. Smaller is good.

the chaos of moving

Yes, that’s a cornucopia in the middle of my table…

 

We should have been caterers. Seriously. We have every style and type platter, serving piece, decanter, pitcher, crystal, china, candlestick, mercy… and for every season. Luckily, we have a fantastic pantry. This is my first official pantry ever. There’s great storage for all that china we never use, because in reality we aren’t caterers and probably never will be.

With each unpacked box, the house feels more like home. Especially the book boxes. And even though I was the person who packed the books in Dallas, there are more than I realized. Today I hope to finish the library. Yes, we have an entire room devoted to books. You know I love love love that. (Reveal coming up.)

We’ve carved out time for fun too. Saturday afternoon, we walked to the Razorback game. Being able to walk to the stadium is a huge bonus. No parking worries!

Razorback Game

In fact, we’ve walked to the grocery store, lunch on Dickson Street, post office, farmer’s market, etc. The early fall weather is perfect. Trees are beginning to turn with splotches of bright orange in uppermost branches.

We sleep with the windows open and the attic fan roaring overhead. The sky is painted with stars, yet our neighborhood is dark. Much darker than Dallas. We go to bed exhausted, sleep all night (including Lucy and Annabelle who are typically up and down and up and down) and awake to a chilly forty-nine degrees. Love it!

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

 

yet another post about our move

September 19, 2014 By Talya Tate Boerner

Yes, this is another post about our move. I promise there will come a day (soon) when I will stop with the incessant talk about moving to Arkansas. I will return to blogging about FoodFarmGarden&Life or whatever pops into my head.

Today is not that day.

(I do have a post coming up soon on mayonnaise. See how I worked in a little teaser to keep you hanging?)

Today I’m still blabbing about the move. How can I not? After almost thirty years in Texas, more than half my life, I am headed home to Arkansas. That’s huge. Plus, we’ve been in our Worth Street house twelve years. In twelve years the kids grew up and moved to college. So many meals and parties and conversations occurred around the dining room table. We planted trees and shrubs that now shade the yard.

Yesterday I loaded my car with things the moving truck wouldn’t carry.

Plants.

Plants riding shotgun.

plants riding shotgun

When I pulled from the driveway, I looked at the backyard with a different eye. Soon the Japanese Maples we planted and nurtured will belong to someone else. (sigh)

last look at the backyard

And then I drove away.

Everything I passed took on a different, bittersweet meaning.

leaving Dallas

Other than a traffic jam in Atoka (for real), my drive through Oklahoma was uneventful. (In case you don’t realize, driving from Dallas to Fayetteville is mostly spent in Oklahoma…)

I snapped yet another blurry picture of the Welcome To Arkansas sign through my bug-splattered window, because that’s what I do. This time it felt different.

welcome to arkansas sign

Driving the final stretch into Fayetteville, I watched for turning trees. A hint of fall colored the landscape, but it’s still early.

This year I will see it. Live it. Experience fall from beginning to end.

driving to fayetteville

Look what greeted me at our back door! I planted this coneflower two weeks ago when we closed on the house. It was sad and scraggly and hidden on the clearance rack at Lowe’s. I expected to wait a year to see blooms.

Arkansas coneflowers at my back door.

This pop of color made me dizzy happy. What a perfect ending to my drive.

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

P.S. Fair warning—today the moving truck arrives. I’m sure there will be a blog somewhere in there.

“Reality isn‘t round, it‘s flat. There are edges where you can fall off and this October when I moved to Maine, I fell off one.”
― Carrie Jones, Captivate

Musical Pairing:

Uncle Kracker – Smile

easy like Sunday morning…

August 31, 2014 By Talya Tate Boerner

This Sunday morning I awoke to an easy, pleasant 67 degrees in Fayetteville. Fall sits just over the mountainside, only a few weeks away. Although we haven’t officially moved the bulk of our belongings from Dallas (that will happen in a few weeks too), we have moved enough things that I can settle in and begin enjoying our peaceful new home.

Peaceful in part because we have no television. Yet.

I brought a few plants from my Dallas kitchen windowsill. They seem to love their new sunny spot.

a sunny spot

I’ve met lots of neighbors already including my next door neighbor who drinks wine on her front porch:)

And she gardens.

So far, so good.

Grace Grits and Gardening

Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

Easy Like Sunday Morning, Phil Vassar

 

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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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