grace grits and gardening

ramblings from an arkansas farm girl

Evolution of a Neighborhood

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 Evolution of a Neighborhood
I walk Lucy and Annabelle several times each day. No matter the weather. They sniff and strain on their leashes, never pulling in the same direction while I study the houses and trees and yards. Munger Place was developed over 100 years ago. We have lived here ten years. In ten years things change. The cute neighbor boy who was kicking around a soccer ball ‘yesterday’ ran down the steps from his front porch this morning and drove off behind the wheel of his dad’s SUV.StoppingMeColdInMyTracks!  In ten years things change.
Trees grow, babies are born, people move, new families settle into the neighborhood. Marian is no longer sitting on the swing with Harry.
Marian Gibson
Kids go off to college in the fall and a collegiate flag proudly pops up in the yard to signify the final choice. LSU, University of Texas, Arkansas, Texas Tech.
Our son was a 3rd grader when we moved into this house. Playing with legos and struggling with spelling words. Now he’s a sophomore Razorback and speaks of change management.
Our daughter was a 7th grader. Now she’s preparing for law school. Preparing to change the world.
In June, a huge hail storm pelted the neighborhood wreaking havoc across landscapes and rooftops and windows. The sound of roofers pounding in the heat has become commonplace, drowning out the city traffic noise. The houses will continue to stand strong.
Soon, children will return back to school wearing matching uniforms. Number 2 pencils were long ago replaced with iPads. Families will be buzzing with fall activities, football, cheerleading, homework.
Munger Place Historic District
The neighborhood continues to evolve. Things change in ten years. Things change in one hundred years. We are only caretakers.

Grace Grits and Gardening

Musical Pairings:

Temporary Home – Carrie Underwood

Don’t buy the house, buy the neighborhood – Russian Proverb

Lake Child

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Momma, Daddy, Me, Staci
at the lake
In our family we count down to the lake much like Christmas. Only its better because there’s no shopping stress. Throw some flip flops, t-shirts and bathings suits in a bag and hit the road. There is nothing better.
Of course bathing suit shopping can be extremely stressful, but I don’t much worry about that any more either…
All the kids in our family were born and bred to be lake rats, just as they were raised to love the Razorbacks, country music and cotton.  It takes a special combination of nature and nurture to fully grow into a lake child.

No more sleeps!!!

talya

Musical Pairings:
Let Your Love Flow, Bellamy Brothers

Zach & Taylor

Kelsey & Tate

I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore. . . .I hear it in the deep heart’s core. – William Butler Yeats

Built by Tom Tate

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In 1954, Daddy built this piece of furniture in high school shop class. Staci and I used it as our night stand for years and then it was Tate’s. Now it’s in our Fayetteville house.
It belongs back in Arkansas.
When I was in 9th grade, I decided to take shop instead of home ec. I thought I might build some furniture too.  Daddy ix-nayed this idea right away, saying you only want to take shop because Craig is in that class… I was forced to go straight to home ec with all the girls. Turned out to be pretty fun other than the sewing debacle. And I still managed to spend plenty of time with Craig…
Craig and Me 2011
That little night stand is sturdy and very well built with dove-tailed joints. He did a great job on it. In the back of the drawer, upside down and hidden, Daddy burned an inscription into the wood, Built By Tom Tate 1954. The inscription is only visible when the drawer is emptied and removed. The inscription itself is a treasure, written in Daddy’s hand.
The little drawer has held all sorts of trinkets beginning in 1962. During the past year, Tate’s room has been empty, but the little drawer still held his things. Things left behind. Some not touched in years. A time capsule from childhood through high school. Plastic ninja toys from Ci-Ci’s Pizza, his Harry Potter Halloween glasses, guitar pics, golf tees, boy scout badges, his lifeguard whistle, a Little People person… 

Now it’s empty and polished and sitting by our bed in Fayetteville. I’m not sure what will end up in it, but I know whenever I go, it’s going with me. Until it can’t.
talya
Musical Pairings:
I Love, Tom T Hall
Craig and Me 1966?

Food. Farm. Garden. Life.

THANKS FOR READING!