:: the “tiny horse on the rooftop”-illusion we get to witness almost every night

:: this picture of my summer footware and my dirty feet. I can’t remember why I took it, but it makes me smile every time I see it in my photo folder…

the sunshine

:: inside

:: outside

:: sundown

I don’t like who I am becoming, so I need to remind myself:

slow down,
breathe,
let go,
notice and enjoy the beauty of right now

I have been so focused on sharing everything that has been going on in my vegetable garden that I almost forgot to take pictures of the rest of the garden.

But. My blog. In the summer. And no stream of close ups of flowers? That’s impossible.
So today I bring you: flowers!

I was hoping to show you my new cardigan today, but it’s not finished yet. I ran out of yarn and I had to wait until today to go to the yarn shop. I do hope they have some balls left in the same colorway, or else I’ll have to rip the cardigan and start over. Again. But that story will have to wait.

Three days without knitting was not an option, of course, so on Tuesday night I went through my new little stash to find some matching scraps and cast on for a hat for KAS.

And by completely ignoring my todo list I was able to finish it Wednesday morning.
Oh, I do love quick little knits and instant gratification…

Last week:

This week:

Things are growing so fast now! I moved the corn and I will have to relocate some more seedlings soon.

The endives are doing great and I think I can harvest the first radish this week (yay!).

And maybe the first strawberries too…

I needed a little mental boost last week, so I decided to take pictures of things that made me happy each day. It’s a nice little collection, with some reocurring themes…

june 21: vibrant colored flowers

june 22: knitting

june 23: flowers in front of the house

june 24: lavender

june 25: unexpected blue skies

june 25 – 2:  followed by a spontaneous bbq (and the cat on my lap, that makes me happy too)

june 26 : our house, it’s old and always in need of attention, but it’s home

june 27: knitting with the cat on my lap, two favorite things at once

When I took these pictures yesterday, I was a bit disappointed, thinking not much had changed. But when I looked back to last month’s posts I realized there is a lot more green now (same point of view May 27th en last week).

The radish I sowed last week already grew so much and behind it, some of the cauliflower came up too.

The kale (in the foreground) is still going strong. Maybe this year I will be able to  harvest some? In the back:  sweetcorn and more radish.

In our front garden the plum tree is doing quite well, considering we didn’t have much blossom this spring.

Here’s hoping for a bit more sunshine…

Last week I went thrifting.
I missed that.
A lot.
I used to love thrifting. I admit, it went from buying what I really needed to buying for fun. I did bring in too much stuff and  it was a good call to purge and take a lot of it back.
But lately I often found myself popping in after dropping stuff off and telling myself that it was all clutter and junk and that I’d better get home and do something useful. I was sort of right, but I may have been too harsh on myself. There was something missing in my life. I think it was fun.

Luckily my husband thought so too. He told me that this was clearly something I enjoyed doing, like a hobby, and that I usually really didn’t spend that much, all things considered. So he sent me out on a mission, to find some clocks for our home office. He has business partners in various parts of the world and it would be nice to be able to see in a glance how late it is there.
We needed at least one, but actually three or four would be better. So, after finding just the one above, I really have to go out and visit the thrift stores again very soon.

And yes, some other things came home with me too:

:: two Agatha Christie novels that I didn’t have yet. I have a lot of them (this is a double row) in this edition, but lately they are hard to find. These are actually two different editions, by the way, but they both have the same colorful backs that I like so much.

:: a little mirror to match my grandmothers little cupboard. Since I gave up my sewing space (because of the decluttering and simplifying, and yes, I am regretting it, but we’ll see how that story ends) I took out my sewing notions and filled it with jewelry, hair stuff, make-up, my contact lenses etc. I had a simple frameless mirror standing on top of it, but I like this one so much more.

:: and… yarn. I wasn’t going to build a stash anymore, after finishing every last bit of it last month, but my husband (he’s so wise!) kindly reminded me that I loved making do with (other people’s) scraps. Also it keeps knitting for charity affordable.
So this had to come home with me. The perfect colors for Knit-a-Square. Bright, happy colors for children that have to live in such harsh conditions.
I did constain myself. These were three bags of yarn, I left behind the other three bags. Those were not so bright colors, but oh, the things I could make with it… But I tried to be sensible. I have a cardigan to finish and then I will have fun figuring out what to make with this ‘little’ stash.

This is what I missed. Not the buying itself, but everything that comes with that. Having fun collecting clocks for a “world-time-wall” in the office, smiling at that funny mirror above my beloved little cupboard, making room for just two more books in a slowly growing collection and of course cooking up plans for yarn that I don’t need (still working on that cardigan in the yarn that I got as my birthday gift), but really like.

Yes, it could be considered clutter and unnecessary buying. And I don’t want my house to be full of clutter. But I find I can’t live without it either.
I guess it’s a matter of finding balance. It always is.

This week..

:: we’re so glad we’re done moving 100 bags of dirt

:: we filled two more raised beds (only one more to build)

:: I’m hoping this year I planted enough tomatoes to have some to put by (would love to make soup and sauce for winter, but they always get eaten before I get to it)

:: and watching my lettuce closely. The four plants I bought do well, but the seeds are not coming up – the seedlings in the background are endives – so I sowed some more

:: I love spying tiny, tiny leeks starting to grow

:: and I’m loving these columbine flowers in the front garden