It’s summer. The days are an endless string of sunny and hot. Both of my children are the kind of brown I used to spend my days being (before we knew better). The Sun Bum I toss in their bag and my admonishments to reapply go ignored as they spend their days at the community pool either playing or working (depending on the child).
Abram is at camp this week. Violet is working. As I’m writing this, I can hear the clock’s pendulum swinging, the birds, a neighbor two houses down mowing. The laundry starts a spin cycle. I once longed for this kind of quiet. Now, I don’t quite know what to do with it. At some point they’ll both be home next week, watching some annoying YouTuber and bickering about who is taking up too much of the couch, and leaving the detritus of teenagerdom (chargers, earbuds, earrings, dirty socks, dishes, spare change) everywhere and I’ll wonder at myself feeling so sentimental. My feelings swing like the clock – just slower and wider.
I go to bed early. I get up early. Jesse and I sit and have coffee on the front porch until the house finches start harping on us that we are too close. I skipped hanging baskets for two years but forgot why. They are why. The baskets are absolutely destroyed. I don’t blame the finches- what a wonderfully safe place to build a nest if the humans are accommodating which, of course, we are.
We’re almost at the end of work without reward garden season. It won’t be much longer before I’ll start harvesting. We did more of fewer this year – tomatoes, green beans, pumpkins, cucumbers. Today, I weeded and thinned some of the green beans (I let them go too long). I smushed squash and cucumber beetles – resented the space I gave the garlic when I planted it last fall. (I can’t help but think of all the things I could be growing.)
I like to be busy with lazy things – reading, knitting, gardening. I organize drawers and sort yarn. I make lists of projects that need to be tackled and slowly, I tackle them. I putter.
Let’s talk things.
Watching: I ended up with a month’s free trial on Prime so had to watch Shiny Happy People. (The Duggar documentary.) Certain parts of it brought back things I grew up with in church that I hadn’t thought about for years. I talked about it with another person who grew up with an Assembly of God/fundie background and one of the things we realized is that our husbands (who did NOT grow up that way) noticed and focused on certain things, and we focused on very different things. I’m curious if there is a big male/female difference or a fundie/non-fundie difference (or both). I want to get to the last season of Mrs. Maisel before the trial expires.
Reading: Ripe by Sarah Rose Etter. It’s coming out in July and it’s very good. Dark. But good. I thought it was a quick read. (I go back and forth on whether the preprints/discount or book conversations are the best part of my job) Others I’ve finished: The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai – one of the best and most beautifully written stories I’ve ever read. Top 5. The Daddy Diaries by Andy Cohen – I love him and I love his books. Last Summer on State Street by Toya Wolfe – Great characters. Good debut novel. Will be interested in reading more from her. Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boullay – This was hard for me to get into but once I did I really enjoyed it. I don’t know if the difficulty was caused by the small amounts of time to read when I first started or if it had been super hyped or if it was just a slow start – but by the middle of the book I was glad I stuck with it. Solid 4 stars. Currently reading: Trust by Domenico Starnone. My next TBR will come from the pile above – any suggestions?
Knitting: Finished Jesse’s socks. Have to get those blocked this week. The picture above is the yarn I received from Wool + Honey’s Sleeping Bear Dune Yarn Club subscription and it’s gorgeous. I keep going back and forth on whether I’m going to make socks with it next or really truly get started on my sheep pillow. (Probably socks.)
So that’s me! What are you currently -ing? Hope you are doing well and enjoying your summer. Look forward to hearing from you!
Hello Kate!
Fantastic photos, as always! I especially love the one of A mid-dive—what a perfect capture!
Doing more of less in the garden is what works for us too, and next year I think I’m going to be taking that even further. This is the second year my cucumbers haven’t germinated, and although my beans came up, something nipped off all the tops. As for the carrot seeds I planted—not a single one came up. Next year I might just plant tomatoes, kale, peas, and maybe squash, as those seem to be the most reliable. I did do a couple of pots with arugula and chard, and those seem to be doing well, which I’m putting down to the more-expensive potting soil I bought. My youngest son and his GF have been tending a large number of strawberry plants that they grew from seeds (in pots they made from cardboard), which has been fun to watch.
Well done on getting Jesse’s socks done. Men’s socks always seem to take forever!
I can *so* relate to paragraph 2, Kate. I’m not sure what to do with this kind of quiet either. My youngest had his last final exam today. Prom and commencement are done. Yesterday he got his university dorm assignment and signed up for a meal plan. In two short months he’ll be on his way, and except for the back-and-forthing of breaks and holidays, my husband and I will be empty-nesters.
My (non-gardening) -ings: I think I mentioned last time that we have a free trial of Apple+. I’ve watched Shrinking as well as all three seasons of Trying, both of which I loved. I’ve been knitting away at socks and am nearly done the cardigan I’ve been working on. The other day I cut up an old stretched-out undershirt and made t-shirt yarn, then knitted it into a dishcloth. It was a good proof-of-concept, although if I make another, I’ll cut the strips thinner—or use the yarn for another purpose. I just finished reading Doughnut Economics by Kate Raworth, which I found really interesting, and now I’m back to Bleak House. I’m about a third of the way through, and so far it’s my least favourite Dickens. I’m hoping to take a page from your book and watch less TV and read more. I have a pile of books that I’m itching to get to once Bleak House is done, so I’m hoping the three-month free trial of Apple+ is over soon! (Sometimes I wish our TV would just break so the decision of whether or not to turn it on was taken out of my hands.)
Wishing you a good week, Kate. 🙂
I’m jealous of your peas this year! I’ve had a couple of really good years with peas, but I think our jump from winter to sweltering summer (and a belated sowing date on my part) did not do well for them. I have my fingers crossed, but I’m not holding my breath and I’m impressed with growing strawberries from seeds. I have dreams of strawberry hanging baskets when we eventually build a wood fence/gate/trellis situation surrounding our raised beds, but my dreams often outpace my funding.
Congrats to your youngest and also – I can only imagine at that transition. Sending so much love!
I hope you’ll send me a picture of your sweater when you finish it. When I reorganized my office, I found bags full of yarn for a sweater I was going to knit. I don’t know what I was thinking, but I must have been a less knowledgable knitter. It’s BLACK. I’m fully psyching myself out. Also – how did you go about making t-shirt yarn (any hints?) That sounds like something I would love to do and I have a whole bag of old white t-shirts that have outlived their usefulness as shirts!
I haven’t seen trying (I think I’ll have to check that out after I finish Maisel) but I loved Shrinking so much.
Good to hear from you, Marian! I always love hearing what you are up to!!
I, too, am impressed with the strawberry plants my kiddo(s) are growing from seeds! They have yet to see their first strawberry, but they seem to be having a great time looking after the plants together. When I was a kid, my parents always grew strawberries in their garden, but I can’t now remember how they did it—plants or seeds (or perhaps they were the wild kind that I’m thinking are perennial? I’ll have to do some research!). FWIW, I envy you your cucumber success! We usually have a bumper crop of cucumbers, but last year we had NONE, and I was so disappointed. I thought it was my less-than-stellar care, but this year I tended those seeds really well, and once again they failed to germinate. Last week I went to a greenhouse to see if they still had any cucumber plants, and they did, so I bought four plants and am hoping I do actually get some cucumbers this year.
The sweater I’m making is Naima by Ankestrick, and it is BLACK!! I was pretty worried, but I really wanted a black cardigan, and it is going well. I just make sure to knit by a window, and mostly during the day. Your eyes are younger than mine, so I imagine you’d be ok with black yarn too.
This is how I made the t-shirt yarn: https://www.instructables.com/How-to-Make-T-Shirt-Yarn-From-an-Old-Tee/
—but I used my Olfa cutter and made the strips only 1/2″ wide. Even this was too wide for the US 13 size needles I used to knit the dishcloth, though, as it turned out a lot thicker than a regular cotton knit dishcloth. (This yarn thickness and needle size would be great, I think, for making a tote bag of some kind.)
Thank you for the love, Kate. Sending some back to you as well. 🙂
I hope you get some cucumbers too! Those are one of my favorite things to get fresh from a garden – those and tomatoes.
Thank you for the yarn making link. I could see how 1/2” might make for a thick dishcloth but for a handy tote. And I’m inspired by your own black sweater. My eyes are definitely not as young as they once were! I realized it tonight as I was stocking books and trying to read small middle grade readers with tiny writing on the side for alphabetical purposes!
You make summer feel so idyllic! Both your photos and your words. I feel just a wee bit envious. I’m such a person of routine and home, and I am without either this summer. Our raspberries are ripening, but my daughter and her husband will have to pick them. Or the squirrels. 🙂
Like Marian, I’ve been watching and enjoying Shrinking. It was one that Cane and I could watch together. I started The Last Thing He Told Her (Apple +), which is OK. I liked the book better. I started Shiny People but didn’t get far before we left. I also started Bunheads, which I’d never seen. Not sure on that one. But, I won’t be watching much of anything until sometime in August.
Beat recent reads: Hamnet (Maggie Farrell) and The Golden State (Lydia Keisling). Farrell’s writing is gorgeous. I think I’d read anything she writes.
As for -ings, we are off first thing to Lowe’s this morning and we begin working on house renovation today. I will be cleaning old old contact paper off the kitchen cupboard shelves. And dreaming about days more like yours.
I know I’ve told you about the magic of cropping. Jesse and I spent a solid afternoon working on our own contact paper project not that long ago too!!
I haven’t watched Last Thing but it’s been on my radar. The book too though I don’t think I’ve read it. Never heard of Bunheads, perhaps I should check that out.
I’ve heard really good things about Hamnet and Maggie Farrell. I keep seeing her stuff at work so I’ll have to add that to my pile too.
I know you have a lot your tackling this summer while perhaps not having the home or routine as you’d like, but I do hope your days are their own kind of wonderful. From what I’m seeing on instagram – they look idyllic in their own way too. ◡̈
I’ve thought about watching Shiny Happy People. I didn’t grow up fundamentalist but knew kids who did so kind of nosy/curious about it. I don’t know why but I lost interest in Mrs. Maisel along the way, but feel like I could give it another go.
We’ve been watching Frankie Drake Mysteries, loved the first 2 seasons but they’ve lost the plot line in season 3 and it’s sad now, having gone from spunky to milquetoast. That’s about all the TV I’ve been watching lately. With summer nights so long now, being outside just being in nature seems to keep me happy. I might be getting old, I sound like my mother!
I didn’t feel really pressed to watch this last season of Maisel until we ended up with the trial. (I think it’s ending well though I agree a couple of the seasons kind of slumped.)
I looked up Frankie Drake Mysteries and now I’m passing that along to my mom. She loves that kind of show. (Though I’m sorry to hear they kind of lost the plot.) And you sound like me (and my mother too), I think being outside in nature instead of inside watching television is the right choice for this time of year.
Oh, your summer sounds lovely. Because of the drought, our plants and flowers are taking their time to bloom. I’m hoping to see flowers soon.
I love the photo of your dirty knees and crocs. You’re my kind of human. ❤️
Your patio is stunning. I’d want to look at it every day.
I took so many ideas from your book stack. I think you will need to write book recommendation posts now that you work at a bookstore.
That Duggar documentary made me so angry. Also, is Amazon Prime a paid service? I tried to watch a movie there the other night but couldn’t use my prime membership. Grr.
I think if you have a prime membership (I usually don’t) you can watch Amazon’s content, but not every movie is free through prime, kind of like Apple some you have to buy or rent.
This is the first week our flowers have really been out and i’m loving it! They’re brightening up my day when the sky is so smoky and hazy.
Good seeing you, Kari!!
I adore the little chicks Kate! At the new construction house there’s mourning doves with their chicks in the tree in the backyard. I’m thrilled.
I had breakfast with a resident here at the facility. Jean is an avid knitter like you but in her 90’s. I am commissioning her to knit a sweater for Yorkie! She asked what color I said yellow, canary yellow or any color variegated. Because I love your variegated colors of yarn. My challenge will be to measure Yorkie. Then she will come up with a price.