bubbles...

   As these days of summer come closer to a close, I just want to hold tight and stay here in sunny days blowing bubbles a while longer. Summer is such a vibrant time here. It seems like once the rain sets in everyone begins a long period of social hibernation until spring. Trying to appreciate these last couple weeks (um, could be a few days, who knows...) of light and lively-ness of spirit.

  Hot apple cider and cozy sweaters (I got this amazing huge Irish wool one the other day) will be fun though! xo m

when it rains it pours...

  Last week ended up being a stressful crazy time. I had the best intentions of making the effort to post everyday but it seems that anytime I set a goal like that things happen that demand so much of my attention that posting is the last thing on my mind.

 On Tuesday we were spending time downtown looking around and when we got home I noticed that our kitty, Tommy seemed a little out of it. A tiny wound that he got over a month (that healed quickly and I watched for 2 weeks) had developed and abscess deep under the surface. A big one, it was terrible. He had to get surgery to remove it and is on a 10 day coarse of antibiotics. The worst part about it is that he has to wear a cone on his neck so he can't get at the stitches. He really hates the cone.

   And then our neighbor decides that (even though we gave him the courtesy of asking him, which we didn't need to do-and we built it legally and followed the coop building laws) he would like us to move our un-movable chicken coop to the middle of our backyard. He's one of those cranky types that has nothing better to do than complain and it's just one thing after another with him and we've never asking anything of him. Big damn headache. And we're not moving it so now we get to have a huge war with him cuz he won't be happy until we jump through his little hoops and do what he wants. Help!

   The Prada shoes (on sale, $169.) that I thankfully didn't splurge on cuz all our money is going to pay for vet bills.

   At least the garden is being easy going and giving us good food and staying pest free.

  And now my little gal and I are sick... Here's to hoping that  this week, a tide change happens and things lighten up...

moonchild

   A little end of summer sale is going on over at my etsy shop. Use coupon code "MOONCHILD" for 35% off anything. Buy yourself something pretty before fall sets in...

 thanks friends! xo m

everything all the time forever...

  The last few days I've felt like I'm sifting through more thoughts in my head than I really process into words.  There has been much tea sipping and journal writing and rosary making (not a real "rosary" but beads and metal joined together rosary style...). Here's the sun room sitting spot where I try to slip away to with my morning tea.

   There was a ho-hum yardsale a couple weeks ago but I scored a ton of awesome cookie cutters (most were super old) for 10 cents each. I was really happy! I really needed a circle one. I got like, 10 circle ones.

   This teeny spade is a favorite.

  Ok, back to bead making and watching really tragic love stories where people die from exposure and prolonged sickness. I'm so romantic. xo m

postive summer love

    Awesome summer times are being had. Spending so much time with our new sweetheart lady friends and doing all sort of lovely summer things...

  I found this little push bike for $2.99 at the thrift store and she LOVES it so much. Tried to get Domino to ride it. Domino was not pleased.

 

*Making these dangerous little no bake cookies (which are pretty much more candy than cookie but dang they are gluten free!) and eating too many.

*spending afternoons foraging for blackberries and rosehips.

*picking green (and yellow) beans and checking the progress of the drying garlic (almost done!)

*going to the library pretty much everyday and loving it. Reading so many new books to the little lady and getting to order cds and dvds from the computer.

*Going to the plants store and bringing home new plant friends every week. 

*watering the garden at sunset and checking on the squash and cucumbers.

*planting seeds for the fall garden and walking around the neighborhood gathering seeds here and there (giant sunflowers, lupines, fennel).

  Enjoying amazing sunsets night after night. In love with these summer days. Tomorrow we're heading out early for one more outing to the blueberry fields. We might actually get sick of blueberries this winter! Hope your weekends is warm and wonderful. xo m

blueberries & blackberries...

   I love berries and I love jam. I've gotten the chance to go berry picking so many times this summer and the jams are stacking up in the pantry (and the freezer is full of so many cups of wonderful fruit). The delicious and elusive boysenberry is still no where to be picked. I may have to break down and just buy a flat from the farmers market. All the places that used to have you-pick boysenberries are either mysteriously not open or closed... hmm...

  There are so many blackberries in our neighborhood so we go on a little berry picking walk daily. I think one last trip to get blueberries this weekend is in order.  I'm off to work on a special project for  friend. I'll post more on this tomorrow. Sweet Dreams! xo m

how does your garden grow??

   So there is sun now. And everything's growing. Really growing and it makes me so happy. I took these pictures a few days ago and already the squash has pretty much overtaken the new bed. Good! We didn't get a spring this year or much sun, this summer was so slow to appear but now... I hope it stays a while.

   Our green beans are so delicious. Steamed with a little salt and some red pepper flakes... mmm.

 the scarlet runner beans look so pretty, They've yet to produce a bean yet so we'll see...

Tomorrow we'll be having more beans and beets too. Our lettuce got mostly munched down to nubs because I forgot to shut the fence and the hens snuck in for about 5 whole minutes and chomped away. They are so quick at destroying plants... How does your garden grow? xo m

summer please stay...

  Summer just got started around here and already I can feel it slipping away! Every evening it gets dark a bit earlier and I feel the chill sneaking in as I go to close the windows before bed...

 

   Trying to make the most of these sunny days. Enjoying the beach and water as much as possible and collecting and making jam out of as many berries as we can find. ooh, gotta get a box of peaches too!! Happy Summering! xo m

Summer Forever SALE

  I'm having a little 25% off sale at my etsy shop... Just enter coupon code "SUMMERFOREVER" at checkout. Head over and buy yourself something sweet (Seattle pals, please convo me and I can make it free shipping if u wanna pick up). Don't forget to check out my new SALE SALE SALE section for super cheap deals... pretty please! xo m

friends!

  My little gal has her first real friend. She's played with kids plenty and has a brother and cousins but no little ones close to her age that she really wanted to see all the time and spoke of as her friend. It's so sweet and makes me so happy to see her exploring the complex feelings of friendship. Not to mention that her friend has an awesome mama (and papa) that I get to hang out with! win win! xo m

garlic!

   I've learned, this summer, that with certain things (potatoes, garlic...), when they start to look ugly and sickly it means they are ready to harvest. Our garlic was looking pretty funky (and I happened to notice that farmama had a garlic post up) so I started carefully digging them up. They were all ready. It was real exciting. We got well over 30 heads of garlic from a little 3x3 patch.

 Here's my gal bringing me the clothespins to hang it up in the shed to dry out. Things are growing. Our new raised bed is looking wonderful. I need to add much more soil and compost to the older beds after summer's over.

  I need to clean the shed. So much to do outside in the summer, none of the cleaning projects are getting done. I think we're off to go berry picking again. Happy Saturday. xo m