Laowai

I just finished my cotton candy pink cardigan.

I think this is my favorite me-made knit project so far. The yarn is merino wool. I recently learned that merino is a kind of sheep. It's incredibly soft and squishy. I used the Ramona Cardigan pattern from Elizabeth Smith and the yarn is Partridge from Purl Soho (discontinued unfortunately).

I can't wait for Fall when I will really enjoy this cozy sweater.

We took a last minute trip to Wisconsin. Brian wanted to ride his bike on some hills, so off we went.

The first day, Brian was supposed to do his big ride but after a couple hours he got a flat that he couldn't fix – so we drove out and picked him up. He got some help fixing his bike and we decided to go for a little walk and explore Madison. Then he went back out on his bike the next day. We had such beautiful perfect summer weather.

We saw a turtle laying her eggs along the side of a path. The eggs were the palest pink color.

The next day, while Brian was back on his bike Claire and I did a little shopping. Including the lovely farmer's market that goes all around the capital building.

The hills just West of Madison are really beautiful. It's the same area where Frank Lloyd Wright built his Taliesen.

Meanwhile, Bea is still somewhere in Germany. I think she's falling in love with biking.

All the typical July things:

Enjoying my garden and harvesting veggies.

Watching The Tour de France

Knitting while watching The Tour de France

I unraveled the sweater above (never liked the fit) and I'm trying a new pattern.

Close to finishing my pink sweater – just needs buttons.

I've been pleat obsessed lately. Working on a reversible skirt.

We're enjoying all the summer fruit. Especially Claire, who will eat about nine apricots in a day.

A little excitement. A crazy squirrel kept climbing on the patio door and then perching on the kitchen window sil and looking inside. It went on for about an hour. I was baking granola – maybe he wanted some.

Celebrating Brian's birthday.

A finished window. 

An evening at Ravinia.

And now I'm looking forward to the Paris Olympics starting on Friday.

It's been quiet around here – mostly just Claire and I with nice long summer days. I've been plugging away on my window projects. Here's Claire's window – the jamb and sill needed some work.

Bea is still in Germany and she took a trip to Strasbourg, France over the weekend. She took the TGV (train of great velocity). 

EDIT – this is not a photo of the TGV – my wires got crossed – this is a photo of a Japanese fast train that Brian sent. Both Bea and Brian happened to be taking those trains at a similar time. Oops.

She made a nice drawing of the beautiful square and cathedral.

When she told me she was in Strasbourg I said "you've been there before – when you were little". And then I had to look up the blog post from way back in 2013.

Here she is running around that same spot with Claire.

And sitting on the side of the cathedral – with Squank the Penguin of course.

Then I started reading some old blog posts. I look back on those times with rosy glasses. I remember the sweet moments, the smiles, the wonder that little kids bring to experiences. I don't remember the hard parts. 

I reflected on how this blog has changed so much. Back then I loved writing about the little moments of my day to day life with my girls. I could write down so many details about how they were growing and changing. life was full. And it's not that they aren't doing fantastic things today. It's just different and sometimes it almost feels like I'm invading their privacy when I write about them. 

Anyway, I guess life is all about change isn't it. I'm having that quiet spinning changing feeling lately.

Here is my practically grown up daughter with her new friends. I think she is having the time of her life and my heart is swelling from afar.

With Brian and Bea being gone I've had even more time that usual to do some making.

First up I made… er, grew this flower. It's the first morning glory of the summer.

I've wanted to make a simple top with slits at the sides – our recent warm weather made me get to it. This is the Ashton Top from Helen's Closet. 

I've been working steadily on my pink sweater. I even did some knitting while I waited for the fireworks to start on the 4th of July. What a silly thing to do on a hot day – good thing I have a friend who is equally silly.

Another little top that I made. I actually started this one first but I had to put it away because I completely messed up the lining. I couldn't face unpicking everything and I had zero extra fabric. I went back and did bias binding on the arm holes and it turned out OK. It's the same pattern as above but I added little ties to the sides – something I'd seen online and wanted to copy.

The project I've been most excited about is this pretty skirt that Claire let me make for her. She's wanted a long white skirt for a while. An easy pattern – lots of gathering. I think she looks so pretty.

It's made out of simple cotton gauze.

One last homemade thing, a perfect summer dinner made by friends (see above). Yummy homemade fish fry (Wisconsin style) with the best little rye bread and onion sandwiches, potato salad and for dessert, homemade strawberry ice cream and sorbet. 

From the Chicago Botanic Garden:

And some photos from my garden – starting with a crazy daisy bouquet. I love this time of year because I can make a bouquet almost everyday.

You're cute but stop eating my favorite plants!

First time I've ever grown Love-in-a-Mist and I love them. 

It's green bean season!

This pot is amusing me. I learned the term for the style of composting I do is "cold composting". It's fine and good except seeds don't get killed like they do in hot composting. The result is this pot. I made a dogwood twig trellis (which started to sprout) and I planted sweet peas. The things that I did not plant but are growing are: lettuce, feverfew, a tomato and verbena. I think mostly those seeds came from the compost I used. And even though it looks sort of messy I just let everything grow.

Back to the Chicago Botanic Garden – the prairie is looking tip top.

Half and half.

Bea has one week off between her German language course sessions. Brian went over to Europe to spend the week with her. They have been visiting Oslo and Stockholm. Here are some photos.

Meanwhile Jennifer and Jenna stopped on their way up to Jenna's student orientation at the University of Wisconsin. We're so excited for Jenna becoming a badger. After orentation they stayed with us for a bit and we had a Scandinavian experience of our own. We went to IKEA (ha ha) to see what Jenna might need for her dorm room. Jenna also wanted to see the Bean and we did a little shopping too.

Lipstick!

Back to Brian and Bea. They've been doing some nice hiking and biking and Bea even had some actual Swedish meatballs when they got to Stockholm.

Bea sent me these two pictures of buildings – she said she thought I would like them. She was correct.

I'm really starting to miss that girl.

Here's the garden update – I don't want to go in it.

I don't want to go in it because of the those annoying cicadas. They're in my flower beds and my vegetable garden they're hanging out in the driveway (dead and alive), they cling to the car tires and to my lawn chairs and the side of the house and of course they're all over the trees making a racket.

And they are not really harmless – here's a photo of what they do to trees. They make slits in the bark of small branches. I think they lay their eggs in there.  Little clumps of leaves and branches are all over the yard broken off the trees because of all those little cuts. The big trees can handle the damage but I think it's hard on the little trees.

The cicadas are supposed to be done at the end of June and I can't wait.

Here are some photos of things that actually make me happy in the garden. Things are blooming and growing fast.

My sweet peas have begun to blossom.

I think my vegie garden is looking great this year. Peas, lettuce, cosmos, green beans, tomatoes and herbs in pots.

I experimented with starting beans early under cloches. A few plants came up and they are producing now. Also, I have way too much lettuce but it actually keeps quite well in the fridge.

It's daisy time. The feverfew has self-seeded all over – and that's fine with me.

Tomatoes are coming along.

I've won one battle with the rabbits – I finally have some Rudbeckia ready to bloom.

I haven't grown cosmos in a really long time – they are so happy!

My hydrangeas are blooming (and drooping). Feels early.

I went to pick strawberries on an unbearably hot day – it was over 90° F!

So I've made shortcake and strawberry milk and jam. And Brian made me a strawberry daiquiri.

Yum!

I've been feeding the fish…

Because Bea flew to Freiburg, Germany over a week ago.

Brian went over with her to get her settled – she's taking German classes for seven weeks.

She seems to be doing great and loving Freiburg. She's meeting people from around the world and also some from the US. I await every text and hang on every word when she calls. A little preview of an (almost) empty nest for me.

Here's her room.

And here's the chocolate that Brian brought back which helps me not miss her quite so much.