grace grits and gardening

ramblings from an arkansas farm girl

autumn fade

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autumn fade - soon it will be christmas…
Autumn disappears.
While I sit at my desk writing and thinking,
brilliant fades to brown.
Russet leaves, once aflame,
float to the sidewalks one by one
like words on the page.
Dry, piled underfoot, leaves crunch as I walk.
Bare branches reveal giant squirrel nests
and clumps of mistletoe—hidden there the whole time.
Frosty mornings and cold nights.
Another Arkansas full moon.
Soon it will be Christmas.
autumn fade - fayetteville, ar

 

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

Miss Suzy

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For six months a squirrel made her home in our eaves, gaining access up the crepe myrtle ladder and through a rotted board. I named her Miss Suzy.  
As Lucy and Annabelle pulled me down the driveway for our daily walks, Miss Suzy often poked her head through the hole watching us from above. Sometimes she spit bits of pink insulation down on us, chattering and yammering, clearly upset we were disturbing her nap. Or trespassing near her stash of nuts.
Finally, we replaced the wood, evicting her before she moved into the spare bedroom.
When I was a little girl, one of my favorite books was Miss Suzy by Miriam Young and Arnold Lobel. If you aren’t familiar with it, Miss Suzy was a gray squirrel who lived in the tip, tip, top of a tall oak tree. She liked to cook, she liked to clean, and she liked to sing while she worked…. 
Her life was fantastic until a band of six red squirrels took over her home, chasing her away. On a stormy night, she moved into the attic of an old house, into a beautiful dollhouse no longer enjoyed as the little girl had grown up and moved away. To Washington DC… (my words).
My mother read this book to me over and over and over every day. I can recite the words today. And, of course, I still have my copy of Miss Suzy (first edition, copyright 1964, Parents’ Magazine Press.) The pictures are art, the pages heavy and matte, significant.
I’m not sure where Texas Miss Suzy is living now – maybe back in the tip, tip, top of a tall live oak tree with her firefly lamps and acorn cups, where she belongs. But I know where she likes to spend her afternoons – in our backyard, her new home base for nut gathering. We catch her digging holes in the potted plants, the plants that have barely survived the summer. She jumps from the trees onto the fence, and runs along beside the swimming pool. Lucy and Annabelle are on full alert. 
Miss Suzy is fat and very busy. Maybe Texas will actually have a winter this year.
talya
Musical Pairings:
…she could see a million stars, the wind blew gently and rocked the tree like a cradle…Miss Suzy was very happy once more.

inside cover, a bit loved:)
can you see above Miss Suzy’s head, the letters BAT written
in pencil, erased, but still there…

Is It Winter Yet?

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Dallas weather is EXTREME. There is no other way to describe it. The temperature often ranges 50 to 60 degrees within a twenty-four hour period. Summer is hellish with weeks and weeks and weeks of 100+ temperatures and terrible humidity. Everyone begins to snap at each other from the heat and bad hair days.  Acres of ranch land ignite and burn. Boats run aground from lack of rainfall. The tap water tastes like algae by Labor Day. Finally, when everyone is at the point of seeking counseling, that first cold snap hits around Halloween and yay, it’s fall, the best season of all, for about 14 days. You dare not blink.

As you begin to let your guard down to recover from the broiling summer, you realize it’s one week before Christmas and the pumpkins are still on the porch.  Overnight, all the trees have gone bare.  When did it become winter?  Does the Earth spin more quickly on its axis now?  Did Al Gore double-check this while inventing global warming? Although super short, Dallas winters do often include bursts of crazy cold from Canada which are brutal to our thin, watery blood unprepared for icy temps.  Combined with Texas winds, the chill is often below zero.

Snow!

Last year we received over a foot of snow one day in January. It happened so quickly the weathermen, who were probably in their inclement weather prayer group, completely missed the forecast. They are still red-faced about this. In contrast, so far this year, we have managed to skip the cold messy weather completely, wearing shorts in December and eating lunch outside on MLK Day. It makes for nice dog walking weather, which Lucy and Annabelle appreciate.  


I want changes of season.  I want to see snow in the winter and sun in the summer. (But a normal amount of each would be preferable.) If I suddenly wake from a coma, I want to be able to look out the window and know what time of year it is based on the color of the leaves on the trees, not because the leaves are burnt to a crisp. I could never live in a place with the same weather month after month – that would be monotonous.  I will not go on a Caribbean cruise for Christmas.  It just doesn’t seem right, plus there is the whole “some people mysteriously don’t come back from cruises” issue. And the “I’d rather have a root canal than wear a swimsuit in December” issue. Ok, so I have issues…

This is the time of year that I start to get antsy.  I’m ready for yard work.  I need to clean the flower beds and trim the bushes and sweat.  It’s cathartic.  I begin to anticipate the tall purple irises that will soon pop up on the blades in the thick groundcover surrounding the fountain.  I thumb through seed catalogs and dream of the day when I will not be limited to my city postage stamp yard and container herb gardening. Winter teaches patience.  I know that underneath the ground, the bulbs and roots are hibernating, warming and waiting until the perfect time to show themselves. 

I think I’ll drink my coffee this morning on the porch and have a little chat with my pansies. They probably have some insight into our crazy Dallas weather.  Yes, I talk to my plants.

Last Spring’s Irises.  
talya

Musical Pairings:
Dean Martin, “Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!”

Food. Farm. Garden. Life.

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