This volunteer plant makes me so happy. But what is it? A melon? Maybe? It's perfectly round and it's fuzzy. It's growing fast and this morning it was about the size of a softball. I've never grown any vining vegetables like this before but I might have to change that because it's so fun to check on it's growth everyday. I feel like I should make a little hammock for it because it's getting so big and it's just holding on by it's little tendrils.
Stay tuned.
Today was the first day of school. Both my girls are now officially in high school. Unfortunately I don't have any photos of them by the door with their backpacks and smiles. At this point they are professional students and nobody wants to commemorate the moment with a photo. That's Okay. I did take Claire and her friends shopping the day before and then we drove by their new school. I got to hear them talking about their classes and planning outfits. A mix of dread and excitement. This morning the traffic was bad when I took Claire and her friend to school and it was a bit stressful thinking they might be late. But then we made it and they dashed off and I was left in the quiet car trying to picture my girls in their classrooms.
So I have a bunch of typical August photos.
My garden is looking full right now. In the back corner where I put some of my compost and planted carrots there is a volunteer squash or cucumber (can't tell what it is yet).
This view shows the crazy tomato plants.
I'm having a good tomato harvest so far and I can't resist admiring the colors and taking photos.
Other than red I ended up with lots of pink in the garden this summer. Pretty!
I've seen lots of swallowtail caterpillars but I think most of them get gobbled up. Maybe this one crawled away to make his chrysalis.
The purple flowers below are wild petunia - I just planted them last summer and I'm pleased that they are filling in. This area used to be filled with pachysandra but it was looking sad and I wanted something that was native.
I read that the wild petunia can be an aggressive spreader and it shoots it's little seeds out at high speed. I'm waiting to see that this fall.
One last photo taken in the garden. Bea has resumed her habit of climbing the house. She likes to surprise me up there. Hmmmm.
We spent a long weekend in Pentwater, Michigan. We got to do all the summer things like swimming at the beach, picking blueberries, eating ice cream and watching the sunset. Bea did some paddleboarding, Brian rode his bike and we all ended the weekend with a walk on the dunes.
When we got home I made a pie.
I just finished my cotton candy pink cardigan.
I think this is my favorite me-made knit project so far. The yarn is merino wool. I recently learned that merino is a kind of sheep. It's incredibly soft and squishy. I used the Ramona Cardigan pattern from Elizabeth Smith and the yarn is Partridge from Purl Soho (discontinued unfortunately).
I can't wait for Fall when I will really enjoy this cozy sweater.
We took a last minute trip to Wisconsin. Brian wanted to ride his bike on some hills, so off we went.
The first day, Brian was supposed to do his big ride but after a couple hours he got a flat that he couldn't fix - so we drove out and picked him up. He got some help fixing his bike and we decided to go for a little walk and explore Madison. Then he went back out on his bike the next day. We had such beautiful perfect summer weather.
We saw a turtle laying her eggs along the side of a path. The eggs were the palest pink color.
The next day, while Brian was back on his bike Claire and I did a little shopping. Including the lovely farmer's market that goes all around the capital building.
The hills just West of Madison are really beautiful. It's the same area where Frank Lloyd Wright built his Taliesen.
Meanwhile, Bea is still somewhere in Germany. I think she's falling in love with biking.
All the typical July things:
Enjoying my garden and harvesting veggies.
Watching The Tour de France
Knitting while watching The Tour de France
I unraveled the sweater above (never liked the fit) and I'm trying a new pattern.
Close to finishing my pink sweater - just needs buttons.
I've been pleat obsessed lately. Working on a reversible skirt.
We're enjoying all the summer fruit. Especially Claire, who will eat about nine apricots in a day.
A little excitement. A crazy squirrel kept climbing on the patio door and then perching on the kitchen window sil and looking inside. It went on for about an hour. I was baking granola - maybe he wanted some.
Celebrating Brian's birthday.
A finished window.
An evening at Ravinia.
And now I'm looking forward to the Paris Olympics starting on Friday.
It's been quiet around here - mostly just Claire and I with nice long summer days. I've been plugging away on my window projects. Here's Claire's window - the jamb and sill needed some work.
Bea is still in Germany and she took a trip to Strasbourg, France over the weekend. She took the TGV (train of great velocity).
EDIT - this is not a photo of the TGV - my wires got crossed - this is a photo of a Japanese fast train that Brian sent. Both Bea and Brian happened to be taking those trains at a similar time. Oops.
She made a nice drawing of the beautiful square and cathedral.
When she told me she was in Strasbourg I said "you've been there before - when you were little". And then I had to look up the blog post from way back in 2013.
Here she is running around that same spot with Claire.
And sitting on the side of the cathedral - with Squank the Penguin of course.
Then I started reading some old blog posts. I look back on those times with rosy glasses. I remember the sweet moments, the smiles, the wonder that little kids bring to experiences. I don't remember the hard parts.
I reflected on how this blog has changed so much. Back then I loved writing about the little moments of my day to day life with my girls. I could write down so many details about how they were growing and changing. life was full. And it's not that they aren't doing fantastic things today. It's just different and sometimes it almost feels like I'm invading their privacy when I write about them.
Anyway, I guess life is all about change isn't it. I'm having that quiet spinning changing feeling lately.
Here is my practically grown up daughter with her new friends. I think she is having the time of her life and my heart is swelling from afar.
With Brian and Bea being gone I've had even more time that usual to do some making.
First up I made... er, grew this flower. It's the first morning glory of the summer.
I've wanted to make a simple top with slits at the sides - our recent warm weather made me get to it. This is the Ashton Top from Helen's Closet.
I've been working steadily on my pink sweater. I even did some knitting while I waited for the fireworks to start on the 4th of July. What a silly thing to do on a hot day - good thing I have a friend who is equally silly.
Another little top that I made. I actually started this one first but I had to put it away because I completely messed up the lining. I couldn't face unpicking everything and I had zero extra fabric. I went back and did bias binding on the arm holes and it turned out OK. It's the same pattern as above but I added little ties to the sides - something I'd seen online and wanted to copy.
The project I've been most excited about is this pretty skirt that Claire let me make for her. She's wanted a long white skirt for a while. An easy pattern - lots of gathering. I think she looks so pretty.
It's made out of simple cotton gauze.
One last homemade thing, a perfect summer dinner made by friends (see above). Yummy homemade fish fry (Wisconsin style) with the best little rye bread and onion sandwiches, potato salad and for dessert, homemade strawberry ice cream and sorbet.
From the Chicago Botanic Garden:
And some photos from my garden - starting with a crazy daisy bouquet. I love this time of year because I can make a bouquet almost everyday.
You're cute but stop eating my favorite plants!
First time I've ever grown Love-in-a-Mist and I love them.
It's green bean season!
This pot is amusing me. I learned the term for the style of composting I do is "cold composting". It's fine and good except seeds don't get killed like they do in hot composting. The result is this pot. I made a dogwood twig trellis (which started to sprout) and I planted sweet peas. The things that I did not plant but are growing are: lettuce, feverfew, a tomato and verbena. I think mostly those seeds came from the compost I used. And even though it looks sort of messy I just let everything grow.
Back to the Chicago Botanic Garden - the prairie is looking tip top.
Half and half.