Northwest Arkansas - grace grits and gardening

Arkansas in Retrospect – the next day

November 10, 2013 By Talya Tate Boerner

Before you read this, make sure you read part one by clicking HERE… This post won’t mean anything without the first part of the story.

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I programmed my GPS for Eureka Springs, Arkansas via Berryville. Berryville added twenty miles to my route in theory, longer considering I would stop to take pictures of whatever caught my eye along the way. It’s what I do.

I took five tree pictures before even leaving the Fayetteville city limits (confusing the heck out of my GPS woman…recalculating…)

Fayetteville, Ar

A few miles before reaching Berryville, I saw a sign for Farmer Cemetery. How could not stop at Farmer Cemetery?

Farmer Cemetery, Berryville, Ar

I stopped even though a graveside service was just concluding. (Yes, I crashed a funeral…recalculating…) Trying to blend in, I nonchalantly strolled underneath the iron gate and walked straight to the largest tombstone as though I belonged there, as though I visited a great-great-relative.

Ingersoll?

Hmmmm, wasn’t Ingersoll the author of the book I read last night—Arkansas in Retrospect?

The grave belonged to a couple born in the 1800s—not my book’s author—but still, same last name! Chill bumps…

Was Ingersoll a common name? Probably, I told myself.

Back in my car, I pulled the book from my bag and looked again to make sure the spelling was the same.

It was.

Arkansas in Retrospect, William Henry Ingersoll

We are travelers on a cosmic journey… Life is eternal. We have stopped for a moment to encounter each other, to meet, to love, to share. This is a precious moment. It is a little parenthesis in eternity. ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

talya

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

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.