Love this Lia. This week I’ve been adjusting back to being more indoors because of the rain and cloudy weather. It’s been a bit of a shock and I realise I’ve started taking the warm summer days for granted. Hope they’re coming back!
My secretish place is at the beach (west coast of Ireland) and going out into the rocks that jut out into the sea. There is one spot where you can sit and feel like you’re at the end of the earth, leaving all your troubles behind 🌊
I am so honoured to have been featured in such a way Lia 😊😊 made my day! I have been experiencing a few more smultronställe this week as I have been on a field course to the mountain village of Finse, Norway, and it’s very very beautiful here and hardly gets dark. So my three things this week are: Swimming in a Norwegian alpine lake under a apricot sunset at the hour of 11pm when it was still light. The water was very cold but it was truly one of the best things I’ve ever done. Second, seeing the tops of the mountains by the glacier slowly turning a fiery pink as the descends - Alpenglühen in real life! (I mentioned in January how the roofs in winter look like this but now I have seen it in the flesh, and I feel extremely lucky 😌). Third, hundreds of ladies mantle plants crowding the banks of the lake, cupping water in their delicate leaves, like gifts of the most iridescent and delicate pearls. We have also had lots of wet and windy days too - on one of them the soundscape was so vivid I thought how good it would be for the “Found Sound” on As The Seasons Turn
Loving the exposition of the wild strawberry word all over again Lia! I’m searching out those moments myself!
My unique July scent this week is the overpowering smell of utter tomato-i -ness on my fingers after I’ve tended to my plants- pinching out side shoots, feeding and tying in the tops zooming higher up the supporting canes. Lots of baby tomatoes now and many new flowers appearing - it’s my second big gardening thrill after growing sweet peas!
We’ve been enjoying magnificent rainbows too - over the hills and valley opposite our garden in this sunny/ rainy weather- sometimes double ones! Just frames the whole vista so beautifully. Finally loving identifying all the many birds calling, singing and sounding in snd around my gardens using the Merlin App! It’s brilliant - I had no idea what done of the calls were - sometimes as many as 10 species identified !
Fingers stained by picking mountains of raspberries at the garden I work in, seeing so many hover flies in the garden right now, I don’t remember so many in previous years, and being in a dark wood late at night trapping and identifying moths with a moth expert our faces lit up from our head torches with young tawny owls hooting in the trees
I’m vacationing with family/visiting family in Vermont, in the US. We arrived a day before the big rain event that caused catastrophic floods in many parts of the state, but we were spared the experience by the caprices of weather (just a few miles shy of where large amounts of rain fell) and a well-positioned and conditioned dam and reservoir. The days have been gorgeous and green, but right down the road it is mud and water. We are trying to make sense of both seasonal abundance and seasonal climate-related catastrophe.
What a wonderful word smultronställe thanks to Ella for sharing it.
As school is over in France and our time in Paris is coming to an end we’ve been visiting sone of our favourite places including buying a last book at Shakespeare & Co, enjoying a last ice cream from Bertillon (salted caramel and raspberry & rose) and enjoying a glass of wine by the Seine on a warm July evening. All lovely and all bittersweet!
I am so sad you are leaving Paris too! Thank you for all of the wonderful Parisian moments you have shared with us. You’ve transported me so many times x
July is a time for festivals and curious gatherings -one such this week where nettle fibres featured from the mountains of Nepal made from the Himalayan Giant Nettle Girardinia diversifolia known as Allo .I now have some hanks of dyed fibre dipped in black walnut and lichens .
Such humble plants offering us such beauty and through entanglement rich threads for natural textiles of great beauty and finish🙏
Paintings and embroidery became part of this entangled life / threads painted in portraits of the great and good and stitch as a celebration of timeless history of plant tendrils curling through our lives and their rich narratives🍃
I find July quite overwhelming, so far we have had a prom, sports day, concerts, theatre outings - it’s hard to find a moment of calm. I took a moment between rainy days to do some gentle pottering in the garden, which restored my equilibrium (a bit!). I found time to smell the roses (and pineapple weed).
I’m definitely the sort of person who needs to recharge by doing quiet, mindful things, it’s hard when things are so busy to find that space. I hope you manage to find some time for you too.
My smultronstalle this week has been found in several small local museums. The low light and air condition create a nice spot to time travel on these hot summer days at the edge of the Everglades. One small museum is temporary home to some of the most important pre-Columbian artifacts found in North America. Especially enchanting was the 6 inch tall Key Marco Cat beautifully carved out of tropical hardwood. An epiphany of sorts to contemplate the lives of people whose history is rarely told.
A week on the coast for me, so it was - Getting in the sea, that 'it's really cold and I am going to do it' feeling; sniffing the feverfew in the garden of where we were staying and realising I used to have lots in my garden but it has all disappeared; in the sea again, this time with rolling waves and my bodyboard and feeling so ALIVE!
Oooooh I love pineapple weed - magical stuff! Looking forward to seeing your garden bloom in the coming years. Your decking area is gorgeous -a real 'holiday at home' area! I've been particularly dazzled by the courgette flowers this week and the smell of rain!
Oooh good luck! It like compacted ground, so driveways and entrances to fields (where tractors etc have driven a lot) is often a good place to look. The trickiest thing in my experience is finding a quiet spot where dogs are unlikely to have peed time and time again!
Yes actually it was in their book that I first saw it called pineapple weed and made the connection. It’s a jelly they make I think. Would like to do something with some.
I loved the wild strawberry tale and I am searching for the apricot and lemon juice recipe. More fox cubs watching us riding, a friend thinks we are their kids tv channel. And the little boy from upstairs goes out to leave a bowl of food for our car park foxes every evening.
The wild chamomile brought me right back to a printing internship I did at the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Community in Maine when I was in grad school. Such a fragrant plant, and one I had never seen before my visit there. Here in Florida, I heard the first cicada song. One sole insect in the bamboo, doing its cicada thing. It will soon become a chorus and then a wild chorus as more and more cicadas join in for this annual high summer concert.
St. Swithin's Day now... it seems to be there is a link over Swithin between the UK and Florida, for we most likely will have 40 days of thunderstorms on the horizon––it's our rainy season. It's on the Convivio Book of Days for today, if anyone would care to read: https://www.conviviobookworks.com/blog/st-swithin-our-lady-of-mount-carmel/
Thank you, Lia, for the fragrant memory of wild chamomile (and for the name of the plant, which I did not know). –– John
Well I loved the sneak peek into your garden, love that vibe. I feel your pain with the box plants, I’m in that dilemma currently, I won’t use pesticides, love the plants, hoping the box moth caterpillars will just go away, although I fear that’s just wishful thinking.
I don’t see much of that pineapple wild flower around anymore, was definitely loads around when I was a child.
This week, feeling excited anticipation as I counted down to 2 weeks off work. Enjoying perfectly ripe nectarines, trying not to waste a drop of the delicious sweet juice. Made a dinner for friends and served it in the garden, lots of random plates of tasty vegetarian food, and time to try the rhubarb and ginger gin that had been steeping since May, fixing that wonderful summery evening in my memory.
Love this Lia. This week I’ve been adjusting back to being more indoors because of the rain and cloudy weather. It’s been a bit of a shock and I realise I’ve started taking the warm summer days for granted. Hope they’re coming back!
Really hope so…but all refreshed by this rain 🤞🏻
My secretish place is at the beach (west coast of Ireland) and going out into the rocks that jut out into the sea. There is one spot where you can sit and feel like you’re at the end of the earth, leaving all your troubles behind 🌊
Yes that’s a perfect one!
I am so honoured to have been featured in such a way Lia 😊😊 made my day! I have been experiencing a few more smultronställe this week as I have been on a field course to the mountain village of Finse, Norway, and it’s very very beautiful here and hardly gets dark. So my three things this week are: Swimming in a Norwegian alpine lake under a apricot sunset at the hour of 11pm when it was still light. The water was very cold but it was truly one of the best things I’ve ever done. Second, seeing the tops of the mountains by the glacier slowly turning a fiery pink as the descends - Alpenglühen in real life! (I mentioned in January how the roofs in winter look like this but now I have seen it in the flesh, and I feel extremely lucky 😌). Third, hundreds of ladies mantle plants crowding the banks of the lake, cupping water in their delicate leaves, like gifts of the most iridescent and delicate pearls. We have also had lots of wet and windy days too - on one of them the soundscape was so vivid I thought how good it would be for the “Found Sound” on As The Seasons Turn
what beauty! and imagining so many ladies mantles sends shivers down my spine. The one in my garden is a real source of wisdom and healing to me.
Loving the exposition of the wild strawberry word all over again Lia! I’m searching out those moments myself!
My unique July scent this week is the overpowering smell of utter tomato-i -ness on my fingers after I’ve tended to my plants- pinching out side shoots, feeding and tying in the tops zooming higher up the supporting canes. Lots of baby tomatoes now and many new flowers appearing - it’s my second big gardening thrill after growing sweet peas!
We’ve been enjoying magnificent rainbows too - over the hills and valley opposite our garden in this sunny/ rainy weather- sometimes double ones! Just frames the whole vista so beautifully. Finally loving identifying all the many birds calling, singing and sounding in snd around my gardens using the Merlin App! It’s brilliant - I had no idea what done of the calls were - sometimes as many as 10 species identified !
Yes I must get it! Love that tomato foliage stink
Fingers stained by picking mountains of raspberries at the garden I work in, seeing so many hover flies in the garden right now, I don’t remember so many in previous years, and being in a dark wood late at night trapping and identifying moths with a moth expert our faces lit up from our head torches with young tawny owls hooting in the trees
I’m vacationing with family/visiting family in Vermont, in the US. We arrived a day before the big rain event that caused catastrophic floods in many parts of the state, but we were spared the experience by the caprices of weather (just a few miles shy of where large amounts of rain fell) and a well-positioned and conditioned dam and reservoir. The days have been gorgeous and green, but right down the road it is mud and water. We are trying to make sense of both seasonal abundance and seasonal climate-related catastrophe.
Oof. Glad you are safe
What a wonderful word smultronställe thanks to Ella for sharing it.
As school is over in France and our time in Paris is coming to an end we’ve been visiting sone of our favourite places including buying a last book at Shakespeare & Co, enjoying a last ice cream from Bertillon (salted caramel and raspberry & rose) and enjoying a glass of wine by the Seine on a warm July evening. All lovely and all bittersweet!
Those cherries look amazing! Enjoy 😊
I am so sad you are leaving Paris too! Thank you for all of the wonderful Parisian moments you have shared with us. You’ve transported me so many times x
July is a time for festivals and curious gatherings -one such this week where nettle fibres featured from the mountains of Nepal made from the Himalayan Giant Nettle Girardinia diversifolia known as Allo .I now have some hanks of dyed fibre dipped in black walnut and lichens .
Such humble plants offering us such beauty and through entanglement rich threads for natural textiles of great beauty and finish🙏
Paintings and embroidery became part of this entangled life / threads painted in portraits of the great and good and stitch as a celebration of timeless history of plant tendrils curling through our lives and their rich narratives🍃
I find July quite overwhelming, so far we have had a prom, sports day, concerts, theatre outings - it’s hard to find a moment of calm. I took a moment between rainy days to do some gentle pottering in the garden, which restored my equilibrium (a bit!). I found time to smell the roses (and pineapple weed).
Ah well done. Mine has been pretty calm after a hectic June but it’s about to rev up again…
I’m definitely the sort of person who needs to recharge by doing quiet, mindful things, it’s hard when things are so busy to find that space. I hope you manage to find some time for you too.
My smultronstalle this week has been found in several small local museums. The low light and air condition create a nice spot to time travel on these hot summer days at the edge of the Everglades. One small museum is temporary home to some of the most important pre-Columbian artifacts found in North America. Especially enchanting was the 6 inch tall Key Marco Cat beautifully carved out of tropical hardwood. An epiphany of sorts to contemplate the lives of people whose history is rarely told.
Oh how special
A week on the coast for me, so it was - Getting in the sea, that 'it's really cold and I am going to do it' feeling; sniffing the feverfew in the garden of where we were staying and realising I used to have lots in my garden but it has all disappeared; in the sea again, this time with rolling waves and my bodyboard and feeling so ALIVE!
The sea does make you feel SO alive!
YES! and all the more as it's been nearly 5 years since the last time I was well enough to go in the sea. Paying for it a bit now, but well worth it!
Oooooh I love pineapple weed - magical stuff! Looking forward to seeing your garden bloom in the coming years. Your decking area is gorgeous -a real 'holiday at home' area! I've been particularly dazzled by the courgette flowers this week and the smell of rain!
Thank you! It is a gorgeous place to be during summer rain storms funnily enough
I must find pineapple weed! I’m going on a determined hunt today!
Oooh good luck! It like compacted ground, so driveways and entrances to fields (where tractors etc have driven a lot) is often a good place to look. The trickiest thing in my experience is finding a quiet spot where dogs are unlikely to have peed time and time again!
This is exactly where I always found the stuff when I was with the Shakers: growing up in the driveway and at the entrance to the barn.
Those excellent folk at The Ethicurean havea recipe or two with pineapple weed in their book. And I did not know you were a Wimbledon watcher.
Yes actually it was in their book that I first saw it called pineapple weed and made the connection. It’s a jelly they make I think. Would like to do something with some.
I loved the wild strawberry tale and I am searching for the apricot and lemon juice recipe. More fox cubs watching us riding, a friend thinks we are their kids tv channel. And the little boy from upstairs goes out to leave a bowl of food for our car park foxes every evening.
Ah that’s gorgeous, bet they are cuties
The wild chamomile brought me right back to a printing internship I did at the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Community in Maine when I was in grad school. Such a fragrant plant, and one I had never seen before my visit there. Here in Florida, I heard the first cicada song. One sole insect in the bamboo, doing its cicada thing. It will soon become a chorus and then a wild chorus as more and more cicadas join in for this annual high summer concert.
St. Swithin's Day now... it seems to be there is a link over Swithin between the UK and Florida, for we most likely will have 40 days of thunderstorms on the horizon––it's our rainy season. It's on the Convivio Book of Days for today, if anyone would care to read: https://www.conviviobookworks.com/blog/st-swithin-our-lady-of-mount-carmel/
Thank you, Lia, for the fragrant memory of wild chamomile (and for the name of the plant, which I did not know). –– John
Well I loved the sneak peek into your garden, love that vibe. I feel your pain with the box plants, I’m in that dilemma currently, I won’t use pesticides, love the plants, hoping the box moth caterpillars will just go away, although I fear that’s just wishful thinking.
I don’t see much of that pineapple wild flower around anymore, was definitely loads around when I was a child.
This week, feeling excited anticipation as I counted down to 2 weeks off work. Enjoying perfectly ripe nectarines, trying not to waste a drop of the delicious sweet juice. Made a dinner for friends and served it in the garden, lots of random plates of tasty vegetarian food, and time to try the rhubarb and ginger gin that had been steeping since May, fixing that wonderful summery evening in my memory.
Have a magical week ahead everyone. Xxx
That sounds like an amazing meal!
Ahh thank you for saying that xxx