Summer Scenes

During winter, when my garden is just flat, brown earth I think about what it looks like in the height of summer and I find myself in a bit of disbelief. 'Did it really look so lush last summer?' I think to myself. And now, here I am on the cusp of the season of abundance. The first tomato turned from green to yellow. The first squash just appeared yesterday. The green beans are blooming, soon to become 1/2" long tiny beans. We've counted 20 marble-sized figs. We've seen more butterflies this summer than ever before. A red dragonfly kept me company while I was watering the front yard earlier this week. I watched the cat doing NOTHING as a squirrel ran off with a big, ripe strawberry.

Summer is such an adjustment. The kids finally settled into a good groove of playing with each other, after three weeks of arguing alternating with complaints of boredom. They played Science Camp, boardgames, Kitty Camp, Camping, and Cafe (which can leave the kitchen quite messy). Gianna has been reading lots and lots of chapter books. It's so fun to see her love of reading develop. She also picked up her knitting needles and asked for help with them. Over the last two years I have tried to teach her to knit, only to discover that she just didn't have the patience yet for it. This time, though, she sat still and knit four rows, and then picked it up again the next morning.

Earlier this month we all switched bedrooms. I packed up my craft studio, Vincent designed and built a new bunk bed, and Gianna moved in. Dean moved into our old room and we moved into the kids' old room. I was sure that one or both of the kids would have sleep regression issues upon changing rooms, but there haven't been any problems. They both really like having their own space. And we love having a bigger room. It's big enough that I have a dresser in there just for my craft projects, so I don't have to keep all of my knitting supplies in the garage. Now I'm going through the annoying task of going though all of those supplies to decide what goes in the dresser, what goes into the garage, and what gets donated.

When our berries started to get mushy I decided it was the perfect excuse to make a cake. I made the Triple Berry Summer Buttermilk Bundt from Smitten Kitchen, although I only used two types of berries. It turned out really well. It's exactly what I want with a cup of tea in the afternoon. It will be gone by the end of the day, so I need to figure out what I'm going to make for this weekend. Maybe banana bread? I've always wanted to make these Raspberry Jam Buns from Small Victories, or basically anything from the brunch book Over Easy by Joy the Baker.