Summer Sky: Learning as I go

Wonderful.

Don't forget to participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count this weekend, then post your tally next week at TMG and enter the giveaway to win a Charley Harper poster. Details here.

I just had the best day.

A day spent poking in the corners of dim shops hunting new-to-me treasures, chatting non-stop (okay, maybe that was me), making a new friend, meeting a remarkably sweet and well-behaved babe, and eating a yummy lunch. And that was mostly before noon.

Yesterday I spent the morning and a bit of afternoon with perches.  She kindly showed me around her favorite haunts and I had a marvelous time. She is an incredible person and if you haven't read her blog, you really must. She has done so much in her life, although she doesn't wear it on her sleeve.

And perhaps her greatest accomplishment is being a tender, patient, calm mama to this little guy.

Peekaboo. More photos of our outing here, including vintage puzzle balls (squee!)

Here are my treasures. I've always wanted a little milk glass covered chicken bowl (they are fairly common around here) but I've never found just the right one until today.

The book in the back is The Brownie Handbook (1959). Wooden spool lust? Check this out.

And I love the gold of that small enamel pitcher. I felt (a little) bad because I had spotted it and then made a circuit of the (very big) room. As I came back around to the pitcher, a woman walked up. I don't think she was going for the pitcher, but just in case, I (kind of) swooped in and snapped it up. Forgive me, stranger vintage-hunting lady whom I will never see again.

Oh, and perches gave me a little gift as a thank you for making the drive to her neck of the woods. Look at those little perfect stitches. That's lots of practice, folks. Something to aspire to.

Any thrift store finds (or new friend-making) you'd care to share?

In which I post some link love

 

listening   ::   how to evoke Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody on a ukulele

inspiring   ::   return of the nordic sun after nearly 10(!) weeks of darkness

intriguing   ::   solve puzzles for science on fold.it

knitting    ::   an aviatrix baby hat inspired by Siri

dreaming   ::   of far-away places

swapping   ::   handmade books between girlies

rocking   ::   with The Legwarmers (thanks, Deb & Adam!)

enjoying   ::   my cast-iron skillet (a Christmas gift)

wanting   ::   to make the *ultimate* granola

laughing   ::   (still) at molly's story

reading   ::   the Iliad...& Coop

admiring   ::   this incredible bit of spontaneous patchwork

planning   ::   to see the Crochet Coral Reef at the Smithsonian

valentine-ing   ::   but how to choose?

waiting   ::   for our microbe biosphereto 'bloom'

building   ::   winter with perches

 

 

habit, how I love thee

You know all about habit, right? The collaboration between Emily and Molly that includes monthly guests?  Where they post photos with captions that are 30 words or less about the day, and the captions might, or might not, match the photos?

Almost as good as the photos, and the little insights (or mysteries) of the captions, is the title, 'habit.'  Because habit is mighty, mighty addictive.

I'm late to the party (as usual)--for the month of July, they've created a flickr group and anyone who joins may post their own habit-style photo and caption.  And some of these will be included on the main habit blog.

Of course, I'm about to go computerless for most of next week...so I will be in major withdrawal. But you, my friend, can still get your fix.

Here's mine for today. I had to stand on a bench to get this, but the other mamas humored me!

July 9

While we sat catching up, he found a faucet and made his own mud puddle. I saw the glances and heard an, "oh my!" but I was secretly pleased.

Lucky and grateful.

Thank you for all the birthday wishes and e-mails for little N.  He had a really great birthday; dinner with both sets of grandparents, ice cream cake, and his first two-wheeled bike.

As a surprise, I had bought a birthday crown from Ella for N. I wasn't sure how it would go over; although I wish I could say we've been wearing birthday crowns for years, this is our first. I needn't have wondered; it was a hit with the birthday boy and his pals alike. (It's beautifully made--I promptly set about buying one for E. Shhh!)

But this post isn't about N's birthday (or Mother's Day, which whizzed by this year in a blur of D returning from a long trip to China, yummy breakfast in bed, the baptism of our friends' twin boys, and excursions with grandma and grandpa...yikes!).

No, this is a "don't hate me because I'm lucky" post.  Because I'm not just lucky, I'm deeply grateful.  I am now the proud caretaker (not the owner--just a steward) of a...

eeek! I can hardly believe it, a...

barely used Bernina 910.

It comes with an extension table (great for quilting, if you don't know what that is) and this (!!!):

more presser feet than I could use in a lifetime. I didn't even know all of these existed!

And here's the grand prize of them all:

a walking foot (also great for quilting). Yep.  From the instruction booklet, it was 'new' to the 910 when it was purchased, meaning Bernina had just come out with this presser foot.

To say I'm beside myself with glee and giddiness really doesn't begin to describe what I feel right now. My incredibly generous mother-in-law used this machine--a little--about 25 years ago (or more) and then it quietly sat in its cover, waiting.

So I'm here to give it attention and appreciation.  I'm going to keep my current machine (a super basic bottom-of-the-liner that has made me pull my hair out at times) because D's sister also sews and the day may come that she would like to use her mom's machine.  But until then...fun times!
 
Oh, and yes, I know I'm two days into the Kids Clothes Challenge with nothing to show for it. But I've oiled and cleaned my new 'baby' and she's ready to go.

Corners of their home.

We are back from visiting our good friends M and F in California near Monterey.  I had the chance to take some photos of their beautiful home.  Come take a peek inside.

We'll start in the kitchen.  Don't you love this quaint stove?  

Dinner with M and F is always memorable.  One night, F made vegetarian chili with three or four kinds of beans; another night, M made polenta with tomato sauce as well as roasted kale (which is unbelievably good--despite having read about it here, here, here, here, and here, I had to taste it to believe it). 

Another kitchen angle.  The sailing print reminds me of the weekend that D (my husband), M, F, and I chartered a sailboat on the Chesapeake Bay for a long weekend.  We had so much fun, because each of us knows how to sail. That sounds so glamorous now, like it happened to someone else! I've hardly been sailing since.

 

  

This exquisite mantel is in their dining room / living room. Evocative of 'old California.'

 

Also in their dining room: W's chair. He's almost outgrown it, and then it will belong to little T.

The dining room chandelier from the foyer.  Many of the beautiful light fixtures are original to the house, but they brought this one with them. 

It's a rather compact house, but at the same time very roomy. (Okay, I admit it: I think it's perfect and would move it back to Virginia if I could.)

Here's their living room furniture (which shares the same space as the dining room table). I love the red with the light cadet blue. Love.  And can you believe they've had the same furniture (in the same upholstery) since long before they had children? And they let their kids jump on the sofa. At this point, I'm pea-green with envy.

Here's the foyer.

And this is the playroom:  always bright and cheery, with large bay windows,

and enough cardboard bricks to keep the kids very busy.

Thank you, dear friends, for welcoming us into your lovely home.  We miss you already.

How I know it's August

The largest crepe myrtle tree I've ever seen grows outside E's window.  It is significantly taller than our house.  For a crepe myrtle tree, it is ginormous.  (Ginormous is a real word! Who knew? At least, if you believe Merriam-Webster.)

Perhaps because of its size, it always blooms the very last in our area. I know, because I check every crepe myrtle bush, tree, stick, you name it, just to make sure. Not a single blossom on our tree until the end of the first week in August. Every year.

 

I love these trees because they keep blooming, and blooming, and blooming, all through the waning summer.  E's birthday is in August, and I've come to think of our crepe myrtle tree blooming just for her. I've never told her that. I might tell her this year, that I've always thought that since she was born, now that she's nearly 6.

Favorite things :: hand-made soap

N (my little guy) has been under the weather all day, although his mood is pretty buoyant.  Then D (my husband) came home early to lie down because he's not feeling well, either. *Sigh.*

We were stuck at home instead of at the pool. Later we (E and I) would have eggs and bacon for dinner. But in the meantime, I was trying in vain to clean a messy bookshelf.

It is full of books, but also lots of other things...like a huge jar of change...envelopes of photos to be sorted...treasure boxes painted by the kids (our current count is nine, but I haven't made a sweep of the house, so don't hold me to it)...old National Geographics I can't let go of...D's running journals going back 20 years...a box of oddball electronic things (cords, plugs, an original ipod, old earphones)...when I came across:

 

a forgotten box of scented, handmade soap, purchased at the Waterford Fair. I had chosen Vanilla Bean; Lavender with Goat Milk; Peppermint Citrus; Hyacinth; Violet; and Almond Scrub. Happy Tuesday to me.