Brian came back from his trip to Singapore (see above) and India on Friday. We had a nice weekend with him – starting with an evening at Ravinia. And then we celebrated his birthday. I made a chocolate icebox cake and Bea decorated it.

Today I made a shirt and I harvested my first beans of the season. Feeling very pleased with myself. Or as they say in the UK – feeling chuffed. It's the Liesl and Company Camp Shirt pattern that I've made a few times before. For fabric I used Robert Kaufman Essex Yarn Dyed Linen Blend…

… and the cicadas are back. Sumer is exhausting. Brian is in Singapore and India for a couple weeks. I finished primer and putty on my latest window. Now I'm taking a little brake while the putty cures. Claire and Bea are super into Stranger Things so we had to go to this experience slash…

It was a powdered sugar doughnut. Can you tell?

I finally got around to taking a walk at the Chicago Botanic Garden this week. Everything looked so beautiful. I didn't realize until I got home and looked through my photos that there were so many pink flowers blooming. I had to zoom in and capture them all.

Last weekend I picked Bea up from her week of camp at Michigan Tech. I had a pleasant drive broken up by some antiquing along the way. Bea had an amazing time at MTU. In fact, she liked it so much she thinks she wants to go to college there. All the way home she…

I'm finding more and more that morning is the best of summer. I get up and go right outside when the day is fresh. I drink my coffee and think and putter in my garden. Later the day is like the whole of summer – too much to handle – too much heat. I've been…

I took Bea up to Michigan Tech this weekend so she could go to to a week long robotics camp. I'm home now and I'm just realizing what an emotion filled weekend it was. We drove up on Saturday morning. Bea drove part of the way – first time driving on the highway even! After…

I made strawberry jam mostly so I could put it in my prized Waechtersbach jam pot. Secondary to aesthetics – it also tastes good. Please don't tell me that I could buy jam and put it into this container. 

Claire found out that a new, fun spot was opening in Chicago and she made sure I got tickets ASAP. I'm so glad she did. It's called Color Factory – the first one opened as a temporary exhibit in San Francisco and now we have a permanent one in the Willis (nee Sears) Tower.  "Color…