We came back: exhausted, sore, covered in bruises, sunburned in hilarious patterns, and Small Craft Safety certified. I feel proud about it.
I’m glad to be home at my sweet park. I loved the other one, but I missed it here.
The people who have lived here know there’s magic.
The people who haven’t lived here figure it out.
The woods have my heart, but now the water calls me, too.
I’m here for training, right on the bay. It’s lovely.
Reading:
Olive Editions (Harper Collins imprint) did this decorative bunch of titles, the price is $10 each, and I spied a Dorothy Sayers mystery which had been on my wish list for a while. It’s fun, but not my favorite Sayers so far. My favorite so far is The Nine Tailors.
Listening:
Oh, this album. It’s old and a bit strange, but it has been a favorite since my friend played it for me almost 25 years ago. It has a quality of feeling like home while feeling not at all like home. It’s great music for walking in cold darkness, there’s the smell of woodsmoke and decaying leaves, and a wind is kicking up. Yes.
Making:
More Ann Wood ships for the holidays. These are fun to make, and very pretty. You should look at her stuff. It’s inspiring. Here are links so you can find out more:
Template and instructions for boat
Template and instructions for another sort of boat
Link to all the free patterns and templates she has generously shared
A sincere thank you to Ann Wood!
My older son finished high school! He’s been so busy this summer we just got around to celebrating. A few friends came over one Sunday evening and my son wanted pie, so we had pie. Well, also tarts, because I don’t know how to make that many kinds of pie.
Here’s a photo I snapped at the beginning:
We had:
Cherry pie, with the usual canned filling.
Apple pie from Costco, easy enough
A cherry tart with what is, I guess, a frangipane or at least frangipane-esque filling. I’ve been fiddling with the recipe, and I’m still not completely satisfied, but I love the concept so I have three more changes I want to try. It’s a Martha Stewart one from Long Ago:
Tarte composée, this one was cookie crust filled with pastry cream and topped with sliced strawberries. Again, ancient Martha, from the archives:
The cookie crust recipe makes two tart shells, so I needed to fill the second with something. Therefore,
Lemony tart, which was a cookie crust filled with lemon semolina pudding and topped with lemon curd. The pudding recipe is from Jacques Pépin. I think, as a stand-alone food, it’s possibly the best dessert in the world. It performed nicely in the tart, but, truth be told, I still prefer it on its own. Here’s the recipe for the pudding; it’s very rich, something to keep in mind when you’re serving it:
Blueberry galette, just a butter crust with blueberries, sugar, and a little cornstarch to thicken.
Chocolate pie, done in the lazy way with boxed filling, because that’s how the day went.
I’m glad my son had this idea! It was fun, and I’d do it again.
Also, I finished this small boat recently. It’s one of Ann Wood’s templates; you can see this one and others on her website. I copied the colors of her boat because I thought they were so pretty. For the paper mache, I used some recipes for potatoes and lines of Sappho’s, because potatoes are delicious, and who writes more perfectly about love and longing?
Even though I’m not hiding from the world anymore, I don’t think I’ll stop making tiny mice.
Here’s one of the three I did.
The skilled and talented Ann Wood provided a free pattern for them, in case you want to try to make some. Here’s a link: link.
I sent the other two to live with my mother-in-law, a true lover of mice.
I gave all three mice scarves to wear, because it’s cold.
The mice are an easy and fun project. They use small scraps of felt and fabric, and I stuffed mine with the snippets of felt left from cutting out mouse parts, yarn ends I cut from my knitting and crochet, frayed scraps of fabric, that kind of thing.
One more angle:
I hope you’re having a good Friday.
marmalade season 