Roses and Honeysuckle scent the air

 

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Early summer has suddenly arrived at the beach.

The air is filled with the scent of roses and honeysuckle wafting off the dunes. 

Actually the air smells like the fumes of a gas powered leafblower, as gardeners tidy the grass nearby. But you get the gist.

I walked out to the dunes where the air was fresh and crisp.

The dunes are both overgrown yet somewhat dormant, not very pretty.

I saw Mr Mockingbird scuttling into this thicket of bayberry, scrub pine, and beach roses--his summer home.

The height of rose season is somewhat passed.

But so fragrant and beautiful, with saucer sized blooms.

The resulting hips are huge, maybe from all the rain? They're the size of lady apples, too bad we have no deer to enjoy this fruit.

But look at these prickles! No wonder they go uneaten.

By the boardwalk, the Prayer shells display has changed. [begun during Covid lockdown2020]

The fun folk-art Dune Duck Brigade is gone and the handmade wish/ prayer shells are mostly replaced with this slick Welcome display. Hmmmmm.

Moon: This was the Strawberry Moon. Traditionally named because it heralds the strawberry season, probably the first fruit/ sweet after a long hard winter since ancient times. Not because the Moon appears pink, though it sometimes does.

It looks like lots of spring Moon dancing was going on that night, so many tiny footprints.

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Working on my scroll. How fun to choose the threads. 

And speaking of moons and scrolls, blog friend Juliann tells me k3n [Kathryn] of clothtales has a moon scroll project on You Tube . HERE Pretty sure mine would be more a Year of/ w/ no feelings**...but I am saving it to watch and learn. Have a look? Kathryn's moons are quite reminiscent of those made by Spirit Cloth / Jude Hill, whom you may be familiar with.

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Mo had bath! He has had a few good days. Maybe he'll wear his luau shirt soon, before it gets too hot.

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PS Last week I forgot to tell you I made Mongolian Ground Beef with jasmine rice. It was so tasty, esp Day 2 and 3, and fast, easy. You could use any ground meat, like chicken or pork. Be sure to use all the small list of ingredients, like ginger and a few red chili flakes, nice spring scallions. I used the white part of the scallions in the beef as I sauteed that.  Low salt soy sauce, and be cautious w the sugar. If you don't like sweet and salty [the rice calms that] it would be a No. But I loved it. recipe HERE

Have a lovely weekend, these are the best days. Oh such memories these June days bring...

sampler screenshot/ @myweatheredhome

love

lizzy

gone to the beach....

*(the header with the gorgeous peach roses is my friend's unexpected volunteer. He says he didn't plant them, only the pink roses in the background. Must have been dormant, revived by his care of his planted roses. They look like David Austin heirlooms, don't they.)

**Moon scroll and feelings clarification. Below is a bit of Quilty 365--one whole year of feelings and memories. I loved making it, put it in the blanket chest and never looked at it again. My emotions just aren't all that interesting, hahahahah,🤷🏼‍♀️ a great big who cares/ man up/ whiners are losers result. I had imagined, "Oh this was your birthday, this day we went for a pumpkin, this was Christmas..." Never again.

***some of the moons in that random set must be from Mel in Kansas, I swear I see a grain silo?

Spring Harvest, Tie Dye, and Is It Cold enough for Flannel Sheets

 

Hello, hello. The fog just rolled in at sunset. Don't you just LOVE the long, long days? But June is such a seesaw month, one day cold, the next day hot. Shorts or parka, flannel sheets or summery percale. It was in the 60s here today, but in the city I think as hot as 86*! I still have my ACs covered, the storm windows are still in place--whatever shall I do if the heat wave comes my way. Rely on the sea breeze and put up the deck umbrella I suppose.

The deck garden is doing well! But first, so excited, one of my bonsai tree seeds has sprouted. This weekend I will pot it up. There are four varieties of seeds. Two are colding off in the freezer til August, Norway spruce and black pine. The warmer climate two are Flame tree and Blue Jacaranda.

And more excitement [in my little mundane world], my foray into veggie growing has been been a success. This is usually the wildflowers pot.

Lettuce is lovely, so sweet and tender.

And I have radishes. Love radishes. The cool aluminum strainer like my gramma had is sidewalk scavenged, scrubbed clean and reused.

These are multicolored, called Easter Egg. Pretty impressive. I pulled out and rinsed maybe half the rads, the rest are tiny still.

Isn't it oh so cute?

Other pots have seedlings doing well. Marigolds. Thin? Transplant?

Mixed zinnies and cosmos.

The sweet peas are still growing. I gave them sticks to climb on. Prob bloom in October,

The green zinnies are the slow pokes but strong and sturdy. 

I must add the Lilliput zinnias' in that bare spot.

I'm so hopeful for a beautiful bright Lizzy's Garden this year.

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Commission projects are keeping me so busy---this is the most gorgeous princess dress, a ballerina costume for a recital. Just needs tiny alterations. It's beautifully made, like a wedding gown, I'm relieved not to have to do much to fix it.

And then the usual June project oof bedazzling the camp tee shirts and sweatshirt. I probably overthink this, it's my third or fourth year doing these. First, alter the tees to fit the child---took me two days and many thread color changes.

Repair the handed down recycled sweatshirt. I'm so impressed that the moms and kids do this, reuse/ make do/ make it work. I did a patch and a smiley face applique.

Alter and fringe a black sports jersey; alter  a basic tee for camp fieldtrips. Then: one day to tie dye, another for drying and curing the dyes.

Tomorrow I'll iron-set the the dyes, then begin the bedazzling. This involves fringing, scrunching, and sewing down an assortment of cute decorative patches and colorful athletic style letters for the child's name. 

These patches should be secure with heat setting, but the mom wants them all stitched too, lots of washing happens. I'm just glad the little girl's name is short, not Hermione or Samantha, or Clementine.

The applique sewing is tedious but the child's face when she saw the patches I'd ordered for her makes it all worthwhile. Just have to pace myself, my back is hurting already from the sink work while dyeing.

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Sunday is Mo's adoption Day! He arrived on a special flight, 11 years ago.

A tiny mite, yet already a big boy, weighed over 7 pounds at age 8 weeks.

If Mo is well enough we will have a little steak to share and Mo's very favorite treat, rice pudding. I got him a new luau shirt, and a Lambie toy.  A snuggle rug for the deck and fancy tiny treats too. He will be baffled but happy. Eleven years. WoW.

Have a great weekend. Probably safe to say, No Snow? Back to my scroll project soon I hope.

from Larisa blog: Stitching Notes HERE

[you may recall I said the scrolls sound fun but useless--Larisa explains!]

Welcome June....

love

lizzy

gone to the beach....