Laowai

At our house there is strawberry shortcake. 

At our house there are some new shelves in Claire's closet. I'm proud that I finished making these before our stuff arrived. My dad might not be too proud because they are sort of wonky if you look closely. It makes me think how good and valuable it is to have a skill. I feel confident and expert when I sew. I don't have that same feeling when I do a little woodwork. I can get things done but I have that novice clumsy feeling. Don't look closely – they will function just fine. Thanks to my friend Danea for lending me tools to finish the job. 

At our house Claire has spent a lot of time making her room just right. We talked so much about re-doing her room and now she has done it! I've been happily watching her. More photos to come.

At our house I bought a few house plants. I put up a shelf that rests on the top of the tile in my bathroom – why didn't I think of putting a shelf there before??? And I love the colors of the old pots alongside the color of the tile.

At our house there are pleasing shadows on the wall.

At our house there is a vegetable garden. My garden is an experiment this year. My favorite garden blogger (who lives in the northeast) posted about late season planting. Also, Grandma once told me that you can pick carrots during the winter or the following spring. So I gave it a try with some old seeds. I have radishes, beets, carrots, a summer squash and some peas. Everything looks healthy and happy – I'm just waiting to see if I get anything before the frost comes.

At our house our basement has some issues. Sigh

That's one of our basement windows above – I gave them a good clean the other day. I DO NOT like having to reach my hand out into the window well with all the creepy crawlies. But the windows are not the problem. It's the water issues and the asbestos and the need for a fresh coat of paint. I won't go into it all because it's too annoying. Hopefully our efforts are working and we'll be able to enjoy it by winter because it really is a nice basement.

At our house we have our stuff! Yes, the truck arrived on Saturday. 

At our house there is a bit of chaos. The couch that belongs in the basement is going to live in the living room until the basement issues are sorted out. And there are boxes everywhere!

At our house we found that Bea's loft bed/desk fits nicely in her room. And she was happy to have her big desk back.

At our house I cannot get my sewing machine set up yet because the sewing room is filled with extra furniture and stuff that belongs in the basement.

At our house baking is back! Yay! I have my cookbooks and my kitchenAid mixer and all my other baking tools. I love my baking area. Today I made bread for the first time in a long time.

I crane my neck when I see a goldfinch fly by my window. I want to see more. I love how they perch on a moving cone flower.

And then Lisa Congdon posted this poem by Mary Oliver. Good stuff.

 

INVITATION

Oh do you have time
to linger
for just a little while
out of your busy

and very important day
for the goldfinches
that have gathered
in a field of thistles

for a musical battle,
to see who can sing
the highest note,
or the lowest,

or the most expressive of mirth,
or the most tender?
Their strong, blunt beaks
drink the air

as they strive
melodiously
not for your sake.
and not for mine

and not for the sake of winning
but for sheer delight and gratitude –
believe us, they say,
it is a serious thing

just to be alive
on this fresh morning
in the broken world.
I beg of you,

do not walk by
without pausing
to attend to this
rather ridiculous performance.

It could mean something.
It could mean everything.
It could be what Rilke meant, when he wrote:
You must change your life.

-Mary Oliver

 

Summer is wrapping up and I have mixed feelings about it. I always want a reprieve from hot weather at this time of year. I'm especially looking forward to cooler nights. But I will miss the trips to the beach and walks through the prairie (see below).

My girls start school next Monday. It will be online school for the first week or so. I think it's so hard for kids to be away from normal school – it's like they have no purpose. They feel aimless. And the poor teachers! They have a completely different job these days. I'm just feeling for everyone involved.

Here are some photos from a couple days ago. I had been wanting to go swimming in the evening – after one of our super hot humid days. So we invited a few friends for a pizza picnic and then watched the sunset while we swam. And best of all (don't roll your eyes) I got to use my wagon! It fits in our car and it holds everything we need for a little party. I made Brian drag it through the sand. So useful that husband of mine.

And here are some photos from a little hike that Brian and I took around Volo bog. The big sky and the tangle of prairie plants were beautiful. The humidity was just a tiny bit stifling – but that's OK.

So long August.

Lately Claire gets on the swing after dinner and asks Brian to push her and then Brian sits in a lawn chair and they chat. And I can see them from the kitchen while I do dishes. I like it.

I feel like my grandma Dice has been getting lots of mentions on my blog lately. I've been trying to go through stuff in our house and get rid of things I don't need. Things that I didn't want to take to Switzerland and yet couldn't seem to part with when we moved. And now I'm sorting again and a lot of things make me think "gosh, if I didn't miss it for three years why am I hanging onto it?" And yet… this old quilt! I can't part with it. It's typical of the style of quilt that grandma made. Sort of a freeform block style with lots of random fabrics. And she always tied her quilts with yarn. 

The pieces of the quilt above are in pretty good shape but really the whole quilt is filled with frayed and torn bits of fabric – like below. So it's not a quilt that I want to display on a bed or the back of the sofa because it's looking so shabby and faded. I'm just too sentimental to get rid of it. So for now I'll fold it up and tuck it into a closet. 

I was so happy to be back to the Chicago Botanic Garden earlier this week. Because of the coronavirus they are limiting the number of visitors and you have to reserve an entrance time, but it was really no problem. The flowers and the bees and the butterflies and the sweet goldfinches don't know a thing about the pandemic. They look as lively and as colorful as ever. We went right in the middle of the hot day and took a couple of the girls' friends. 

I can't wait to go back – next time I'll go early when it's cool!

These are the old, bur covered, shoes that I wear in my garden. I've been wearing them a lot lately trying to get my garden pruned back. Next spring I'll see what comes up and focus on making it pretty again. 

Stay tuned.

We're going to call this the before and after even though the real after will be when Claire has her furniture and her things in her room. Our shipment is supposed to arrive right at the beginning of September. I know once our things are delivered things all over the house will be chaos for a while and I probably won't take a moment to photograph her room. So here we are – no more wallpaper, just clean, serene blue walls. Note – the before photos are from when we bought the house and all the furniture is from the previous owners.

There's still a lot of work to do. We want to build shelves in one of her closets. We need to put curtains up and find a not expensive rug. We want to paint the bookshelf and hang some picture shelves. The windows need professional help – ASAP. And Claire and I are shopping for a comfy chair.

For now it's much improved and it feels so nice to have a (sort of) completed project. 

We went for a little walk on Saturday morning. I wanted to explore a park and an old school in Winnetka. The school is called the Crow Island School and it's just few minutes drive from our house. It was opened in 1940/41 and it's significant because it grew out of a new progressive style of education. 

Things like wide hallways, flexible spaces within classrooms and each classroom having access to the surrounding gardens were brand new ideas meant to fulfill the child centered education style. 

Chicago architects Perkins, Wheeler and Will and Finnish modernists Eliel and Eero Saarinen were responsible for the design. The building has an interesting footprint because the classrooms jut out into the garden. And it has playful details like sculptures by Lilian Saarinen that are embedded in it's brick. 

The link above has some charming photos of when the school was new. What a wonderful spot – an inspirational treasure!

And then we went for our little walk at the park next door. I find it sort of laughable (and sad) that the nature we find near us is in such tiny pockets compared to the vast mountains and Swiss path system that I'm used to lately. I mean this was a lovely park with big oak trees and lots of birds flitting around but it was TINY(!). 

Oh well, I got excited about the big beautiful Midwest style plants – prairie plants. So it was a good morning.