grace grits and gardening

ramblings from an arkansas farm girl

Annabelle is depressed…

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Annabelle misses Arkansas. She moped around all day yesterday and can’t wait to go back to her new, bigger yard.

When can we go back? I left my rooster toy there.

talya & annabelle

Musical Pairings:

Simon & Garfunkle, “Homeward Bound”
John Denver, “Take Me Home, Country Roads”

After One Week

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air mattress bed

After one week in Fayetteville, I think I could be a pretty successful hippie. Like one certain summer during college, I’ve been sleeping on an air mattress with zero furniture other than 4 Target lawn chairs and my yoga mat. Does a yoga mat count as furniture? I think yes. In 900 square feet we have no television, no computer, and no newspaper, but our fridge is stocked with Pabst Blue Ribbon and salsa. And we have chips, coffee and green tea. Even Ted Kacsynski had a typewriter and a platform bed.
After one week of painting and weeding and sanding and trimming and digging and scrubbing, nearly every single thing we brought has been worn at least three times and could likely stand upright unassisted in the corner of the bedroom. Ground-in-filthy…. 

Eager to do laundry, I ran to the nearby IGA grocery store to grab a box of Tide wearing grubby camo shorts, no makeup, a Texas Rangers t-shirt and my crocs. I was confident the shorts would truly conceal me like an invisibility cloak; however, catching a glimpse of myself in produce, the smear of paint on the side of my face and nearly up my nose was a bit startling. Nice. I was starting to favor the Unabomber, but no one even gave me a second look. I love Fayetteville.
  
Every muscle in my body screamed for relief. After soaking my achy body in a scalding hot bath in our deep old porcelain tub and scrubbing the paint from my face (and inside my nose), I was resuscitated enough to wash clothes. Cramming a dusty load into the small stackable washer, I quickly discovered it didn’t work. Naturally. No sound whatsoever. Dead. Or maybe it wasn’t hooked up?  I tested out the dryer. The assaulting noise that broke the Ozark silence was like that of a jet taking off at DFW International Airport. Or a freight train. It shimmied and shook, and if I hadn’t immediately turned it off it would have rocked out the back screen door and tumbled onto the fieldstone patio which is where I plan to drag it very soon on the way to the dump. Like Scarlett O’Hara, I went to bed on my sheets peppered with dirty Schnauzer paw prints and left the dirty laundry for hopeful morning light. I couldn’t believe none of my new neighbor hippies came to check on the terrible noise. 
dirty filthy sheets
tin roof overhang 
Although I miss my nice big Duet washer and dryer sitting in Dallas, I do not miss the sirens and traffic noise that drift in and out of Dallas sleep. With only the screen doors between my blowup bed and nature, I slept soundly and awoke to cool air and rain on the tin roof outside the doors. So Incredibly Peaceful.

Down to one clean pair of gray sweat pants, a clean sports bra, and a semi-clean freebie Baylor t-shirt, which seems totally out of place in Hogland, I loaded my dirty clothes in two pillowcases and headed out to find a Laundromat. Just like college. I quickly decided my sister-in-law’s nice washer/dryer one block over would be a much better scene…
As I washed clothes, my very entertaining brother-in-law Mark, (picture Thomas Hayden Church from Sideways but with a ponytail) was busy feeding the cardinals, chain smoking and checking on the squirrel he just trapped – which he named Steve. He traps squirrels daily in his huge yard and relocates them by evening. He explained to me the rules of relocation – the behavior of the incarcerated squirrel determines the release point. Some go to the old drive-in, some to the forest, etc. The calmer in the cage, the better the new home. He told me Steve was taking visitors, if I would like to see him… In between his daily morning activities, we discussed inflation, the stock market and privatizing the postal service. Classical music played in the background and the breeze from the open doors and windows was refreshing even with the cigarette smoke. Mark always wears a bandana around his neck. It’s his signature fashion accessory. Even with the forest green robe he wore on my laundry day. 
It turned out to be such a nice morning and a much needed break from painting. I had my pick of soft comfy chairs to sit in while typing away on my AirMac for the first time in over a week. And Mark made a fresh pot of coffee for me. It’s the simple things. Ahhhh. Family. What a difference a week makes.

Maybe the Unabomber would have been in better humor had he occasionally washed his sheets?

talya

Musical Pairings:

J. Strauss, “The Blue Danube”
Oliver, “Good Morning Starshine”

It’s raining. It’s pouring.

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Wow. Last night East Dallas was nearly washed away into White Rock Lake in the mammoth storm that seemed to hover above the city. Nearby thunder claps and brilliant flashes of lightning lit up the sky and our bedroom, keeping us awake much of the night. In a drought, we desperately need rain, especially since we all know very soon not a droplet will fall from the heavens until at least football season. But this weather show was a bit extreme, stuck over our house. I imagined the arena in The Hunger Games with acid rain and brutal storms manufactured by the evil Capitol. I was glad to be in my comfy bed instead of a wet cave like Katniss and Peeta. Finally I drifted off to sleep with Lucy and Annabelle curled next to me. The thunder even drowned out John’s soft snoring.


I was jolted awake by another wave of heavy rain and bright lighting, but feeling refreshed, I was already anticipating that first cup of coffee after such a long night. Grabbing my iPhone which doubles as a flashlight, I was shocked to discover it was only 12:03! What time did I go to sleep? Obviously, much too early.

At 1:30 I heard that unmistakable screeching sound on the television – like fingernails on a chalkboard – alerting anyone watching of an impending emergency. A tornado was probably headed our direction on its way to Arkansas, and we were all just lying here about to be swept away. Was Tate upstairs watching television, or did the ghost turn it on in an attempt to protect us? I quickly checked my iPhone weather channel, knocking my glasses to the floor in the process. There were 8 (!) weather watches for Dallas County- flash flood, river, airport and severe weather warnings. But thankfully no tornadoes. At some point I fell back asleep expecting to hear evacuation orders from the street.

And then John’s cell phone rang blasting us awake, again. Disoriented, he groped around on the night stand trying to locate it as the ringing continued. It was now 2:15. Never is good news delivered at 2:15. No one calls at 2:15 to say, “Congrats! You won the HGTV dream home!” Or, “You won the Publisher’s Sweepstakes!” Like that even exists. Immediately I worried about a thousand things in that 30 seconds. Why does bad news only come in the early morning hours, when your brain is stuffed with fuzzy cobwebs? 

“Who was it?” I mumbled still half asleep. John answered, “An automated phone message saying my Tel Aviv flight this morning is delayed”. WHAT? “You’re going to Tel Aviv? I was delirious. Did I hear him correctly? Rolling thunder shook the entire house, perfectly timed to emphasize this odd announcement. The windows rattled above my head. Did we have an earthquake too? Of course now I was fully alert, wondering why John was going to Tel Aviv and without my knowledge. He alleged it was a wrong number. Wrong numbers are totally welcome at 2:15.

Finally, after a bit of restless sleep, it was morning at long last. Although it was still dark and stormy, we no longer had to pretend to sleep, twisting and fighting the covers. John wore jeans to work in case he ends up in rushing water on Stemmons Freeway or is forced to abandon the building during midday. As he left the house, the morning news reported 162 American Airlines flights were cancelled. Someone’s arrival in Tel Aviv will be late tonight. And if its John, he better bring me back something good.


Happy first day of spring!

talya

Musical Pairings:

Maroon 5, “Come Away to the Water”
The Secret Sisters, “Tomorrow will be Kinder”

Food. Farm. Garden. Life.

THANKS FOR READING!