So here’s a bit of an update about what’s been keeping me busy of late, what’s coming up next, as well as a few of my favourite things so far this Summer.
I’ve talked before about gardening and cooking both being other creative outlets of mine, and Summer is the season when they both come together for me. I have a big old southwest-facing yard, so there is lots to keep me busy!
Here are some snapshots of recent harvests in the garden:
Not pictured here is also a big pile of basil that I made into pesto (with the last of the garlic from last season!).
The garlic is now curing away, whereas I got to enjoy the raspberries right away–some just snacking as I picked, the rest went into this tart:
This recipe is adapted from the NYT Cooking’s Blueberry Cornmeal Shortbread Tart. I combined blueberries and raspberries in my version, and reduced the sugar some–while I love me some sweets, I must say that American recipes are often a little too much for this Canadian gal!
I enjoyed the last of it just the other day while finishing up a book for the Summer book club I’m doing with the lovely gang in my Makers’ Spark monthly membership. We just had a wonderful discussion about our July book last week–we read Bittersweet by Susan Cain. For a brief synopsis of the book you can check out her TED Talk here.
[In case you’re curious, I scored 8.5/10 on the Bittersweet quiz ]
If you’re more of a fiction reader (as I tend to be), here are a couple favourite reads of late:
The Collected Regrets of Clover by Mikki Brammer was quirky and fun, but with some real soul to it, I thought.
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus is a current book club fave, and I think for good reason. While it wasn’t a full 10/10 for me (the ending was a little too “tidy”), I thought it tackled some difficult and important subjects easily–don’t let the bright pink cover fool you. Oh, and the dog was 100% my favourite character.
Speaking of bright pink…
I am kinda embarrassed to say that I haven’t yet seen the new Barbie movie, starring my celebrity crush RyGos (AKA: Ryan Gosling).
WTF right? Don’t worry, it is about to happen soon, I’ve just been dashing about a bit of late, and don’t live in a town with a big enough theatre to do Ryan’s beautiful abs justice. Or so I’m told. I did, however, fall in love with Ryan all over again when I watched this video of him describing how to find your “Kenergy”.
And in case you think Ryan is just a heartthrob, I challenge you to watch him in Lars and the Real Girl. It’s one of my all-time favourite movies. And he doesn’t even take his top off.
Ok, that’s it for now–I’m off to go finish packing for a trip down to Arrowmont where I’m taking (not teaching!) a workshop all about working with encaustic and paper. I’m both excited and a bit nervous to be a full-blown student again. For real-time info on my adventures there, head on over to my Instagram where I’ll be posting about it in my stories.
"I shall never have the garden I have in my mind, but that for me is the joy of it; certain things can never be realized and so all the more reason to attempt them."– Jamaica Kincaid
