July and/or August

 
 

Summer things I like/love…

  • Gardening: After I drew the Swiss chard the deer ate it all. And the collard greens. And the kale. Oof… But there are pumpkins, so win some, lose some.

  • I sewed this terrific free dress pattern, using an old IKEA duvet cover for fabric. If I could wear it everyday, I would. I made a handful of adjustments (a waistband to lengthen the bodice, gathered skirt instead of pleats and a redrafted round neckline). Overall, it’s a solid workhorse of a pattern.

  • It’s been blisteringly hot, but it always seems to be misty and grey in the Maigret mysteries, so that’s what I’m reading right now.

  • Cooking With Dorothy Sayers

  • Listening to this song on an endless loop.

  • The miniature models Simon Weisse makes for Wes Anderson movies are magical.

 
 

Also, blueberries. So many blueberries. There has been blueberry ice cream, coffee cake, and berries on yogurt. There is blueberry cordial steeping and shrub being made (recipe from this issue of Taproot magazine). It’s beginning to feel like a picture book I remember as a child, revolving around a family and their overwhelmingly prolific fruit tree. I can’t remember the name of the title, but I feel like it involved plums and jam and existential dread. If you remember this delightfully quirky story, I’d be much obliged for the title.