Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner

It's abundance time!  I find that mornings are usually the nicest time harvest out of the garden because it's less stressful on the plants and it's downright beautiful to be amongst the veggies at sunrise.  Very inspiring! 

I picked lettuces, beets, broccoli, and zucchinis this morning and I have to say, it was a great way to start the day!  And the lettuces were so delicate and sumptuous that I had to eat some for breakfast.  Lunch will be more salad and dinner will consist of roasted beets, zucchini, and steamed broccoli.  And let's not forget about the pesto!  I love summer!!

Beachy Keen

It feels like the summer is coming to a close already and there's still so much to pack in!

Bronwyn and I have been planning a trip to the beach for a long time, and finally we took our chance last week.  We spent two lovely days there with friends and I'm already itching to return.  The weather was lovely, the water was cold and fresh, and the sand was warm.

While we were lounging, we saw a little boy and his father flying a butterfly kite. The kite escaped the boy's grip and had several minutes of freedom before the father finally chased it down. I took this photo of it flying free and it gave me a smile.

In two weeks, Bronwyn goes back to school.  The return of regular routine will be lovely, and I do look forward to accomplishing some tasks that have been on the back burner, getting back to my business, and having some time to spend all to myself. But for now, I will enjoy the moments that I have with the tangled rush of time that is called, "Summer."

Summer Time

Well it's official.  It's summer.  And I feel a bit blue.  It has been raining to beat records here and my tomatoes are wondering, "What the heck?".  Today is Bronwyn's final day of school, and I just can't seem to get everything done.  I decided that maybe summer needs a bit more encouragement to make an appearance.  Why not?  So I made a Strawberry Clafouti in the hopes that the season would feel more welcome in my home.  So far, it's still raining, but at least the house smells lovely!

Here's the recipe for this delicious, slightly sweet, creamy custardy treat.

STRAWBERRY CLAFOUTI

8 oz fresh, washed, strawberries, cut in half lengthwise

2 tsp cornstarch

3 large eggs

1 cup milk

2/3 cup flour (I used unbleached white bread flour)

1/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp salt

powdered sugar (for the top)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Butter a shallow 2 quart baking dish (I used a glass pie plate). 

In a bowl toss strawberry halves with the cornstarch until evenly coated, then arrange the berries with cut side down on the bottom of the dish.

In a blender, whirl eggs, milk, flour, sugar, vanilla, and salt until smooth (about 15 seconds).

Pour batter over strawberries.

Bake until puffed, golden brown, and set in the center (about 50 minutes).  Dust with powdered sugar and serve warm.  The fruit rises to the top so you can see it and rests on the custardy filling.

Making Friends

Good morning, Friends! I am not quite finished with my hiatus, but I've been missing you, and needed to check in. Several of you have asked about my progress on becoming a chicken farmer after you read this post. Well, sadly, Brian and I decided not to raise chickens this year. We're big believers in being good pet owners, and it felt like we had too much else going on this spring and summer to really be able to pull it off. But our neighbors got chickens, and so we have been enjoying them very much. Above is Sasha. She's a little tiny Banty hen, of a variety that I cannot remember. But she is just incredibly sweet! She came over for a visit the other day, and I had to capture her beauty for you.

Sasha is still a youngster, and hasn't started laying eggs yet, but I can't wait to see them when she does. The literature says that the color of a hen's eggs matches the color of the flesh on her ear. And Sasha's ears ar a pinkish color! Those will be such beautiful eggs!

Life is busy, and we're harvesting tomatoes, basil, beans, carrots, and onions right now. I'm saving seeds for the first time this year, and so I'm letting my peas dry up on the vines at the moment. Sadly, it has been cloudy and rainy for a week, which makes me worry that my seeds will mold, but gardening is an adventure of trial and error, so we'll just have to see.

And before I forget, I want to thank all of you who voted for me in Etsy's voter contest a couple of weeks ago; I didn't win the BIG PRIZE, but I felt like such a Rock Star for coming in the top 6. And I still got featured in Etsy's Gift Guide and blog, so I've been taking lots of bag orders since then! So thanks for taking the time to cast your vote, it meant a lot to me!

Olivia's Garden Bag

WOW, it has been unbelievably hot this past week, and more soaring temperatures are predicted. We don't have air conditioning in our house, so we have implemented a routine of opening all of the doors and windows in the morning and using fans to try to cool the dwelling down. Then, when the outside is starting to warm, we shut the house up and hope for the best. Our best sleep comes early in the morning, but being creatures of habit, Brian and I wake up around the same time in the morning and get started on our day. Bronwyn has been sleeping in, which is lovely. I am finding time to work in the morning while Bronwyn sleeps and it is such a nice experience! I have a large picture window in my studio, and with the window open, I can hear all of the bird conversations and arguments. Anyhow, I guess my point is that I'm actually managing to get some work done. Here, I'm showing you pictures of a bag that I recently finished for my friend Olivia. I custom made it from fabrics of her choosing. The outside is from Amy Butler, and it is lined with a quilting fabric from Michael Miller. Olivia liked the lining because it has "O's" all over it, so she felt it would be Olivia's Bag, and noone else's!

Giveaway Winner

Hooray Nathalie, you were the winner of my headband/wallet giveaway! You will need to choose two fabrics from my stash for the headband, and two for the wallet. I will send you an e-mail to work out the details.

Thank-You so much, everyone, for giving me your hearts. Even though I didn't win the contest, I feel like a winner!

Now for a little apology: I have been very absent from my posting lately. I'm sorry. It's summer, and I just don't feel that I can always take the time to keep in touch that I would like to. So I'm officially "On Vacation" for now. But that doesn't mean that I'm abandoning you! Don't worry! I will return on a regular basis in September. Until then, I will post on occasion, and will skulk (My Mom's word) around reading your posts when you least expect it. Bronwyn is doing well (she lost another tooth!), and we're all warm from the sunshine and well fed from the garden.

Happy Summer Everyone!

New Outfit

FINALLY, I got my head wrapped around this incredibly simple pattern for a summer outfit for Bronwyn. I love the way it came out, and once I figured out what the pattern was trying to tell me, it was a snap. Patterns should be easy to read, in my opinion, but I think my brain is just wired up differently than some. Apparently, it is easier for me to invent the wheel, than to follow directions. These shorts had two pattern pieces (how easy!), and I tried to follow the directions. I really did. But finally I just said, "Screw this!" and looked at the two pieces and put them together into shorts. When I actually followed the directions, the shorts came out looking like something out of a cartoon!

The fabric that I used for these shorts came from my friend, Flavia, who lives in Brazil. We did a fabric swap a loooong time ago (see one of my first blog posts about it) and I finally found a project that I thought was worthy of cutting it up for. The thread count on this stripe is really high and the hand is very soft. I put Kaffe Fasset's Aboriginal Dots on the cuffs (my addition) because I thought it would be fun.

Summer

It has arrived in its official capacity:

Summer.

I always have mixed feelings about this: Summer is such a beauty in it's chaos: The abundance of the garden, the overtly sexual flowers, the heat, the frantic schedule of fun and the cramming of time. I'm sad because the summer solstice represents the last of the waxing of daylight. And I'm so glad that I don't have to keep this pace all of the time! So I resign myself to just enjoying the moment for what it is.




Here are some shots of my yard that I took just a few minutes ago. The top flower is called "Red Hot Poker" and it is a favorite of the hummingbirds and honeybees right now. The collage represents (from left to right and top to bottom): Ocean Spray (a native), Tiger Lily, and Italian Plum (I need to thin these!).

Happy Solstice, Everyone!

Welcome

My friends and neighbors had their baby today and named her Henrietta Polka-Dot. So sweet. I haven't met her yet, but I wore this peony all day, so it is for her.