Sunday, July 10, 2022

Just Past the Solstice

It's high summer and flowers are a big part of my life right now, so it follows that most of the pictures I take are of flowers. Hopefully at least some of you are here for this thrilling content! The hotter weather led to most of the heat-loving flowers taking off, like sunflowers and zinnias. That same weather likely led to the worst bug season I have yet experienced. My snapdragons got infested with thrips, which I had never seen before, but there are thousands of them and they crawl inside of the flowers where I can't get them out. Having to throw out a whole crop of flowers was pretty demoralizing, but that's what happens when nature is in charge. The Japanese beetles have been terrible this year as well, stripping raspberry and zinnia foliage. There is even a mysterious tiny beetle that has been eating the zinnia flowers as well. 




No real story to the picture below, other than I was sitting in a chair reading and noticed how clean, light and put-together this corner looked.


Because this is the usual state of the living room. 


We went on "vacation" a few weeks ago to a lake in Virginia. The whole family stayed in one house: 8 adults and 7 kids aged from 1-8. The kids were living the dream while the adults took on a rotation of support roles such as accompanying children back and forth to the house to use the bathroom, change clothes, and get food; sunscreen applier; cook; cleaner; and negotiator. 



I went on a few very brief kayak runs and swam for a few minutes, but next time I will work harder to go out early or late to kayak. Fun fact: This lake is man made and exists only for the purpose of cooling a nuclear power plant. It's fine, I guess. I'm pretty sure the government would never lie about that.



Books, lately. I was so excited to read How to Stop Time because I generally love time-travel and immortals. The idea that someone could experience hundreds of years of history is fascinating. The premise of this book is that there are some people who age extraordinarily slowly, allowing them to live up to a thousand years. With that premise, I couldn't imagine this book would be boring, but it was. The main character spends most of the book pining over his first love who died over 300 years ago. I liked The Midnight Library better, and I still want to check out some of Matt Haig's nonfiction.


I had already read several stories in These Precious Days by Ann Patchett, but I still loved it. I have read some of her fiction before, but I think I prefer her non-fiction. I'm in a little bit of a reading slump right now and I found the ticket out to usually be short stories, essays, or short books in general. 


I don't buy a lot of books, and particularly not new books, but for my birthday earlier this year I bought myself The Flower Hunter by Lucy Hunter. This books is GORGEOUS. Lucy Hunter is truly an artist, using flowers as her medium. Every page is beautiful and inspiring. I haven't done too much with flower arranging yet and I'm excited to try.


This post has been sitting in draft for over a week, so it's a tad light, but so be it! For some reason having a full time job and a part time job kind of takes up a lot of time. I hope you all are enjoying the warm weather (if you're in the northern hemisphere) and are spending lots of time outside!

15 comments:

  1. I AM HERE FOR THE FLOWER CONTENT! Although, I am so sorry about your pests. That sounds so discouraging.
    Re: "vacation." Years ago I saw an Onion headline (remember those?) and it was something along the lines of "Mom Spends Beach Vacation Assuming All Household Duties In Closer Proximity To The Ocean" and wow, did that speak to me. Vacation with small children is not a holiday. It's a trip. But the kayaking sounds lovely, on that nuclear power plant cooling lake.
    These Precious Days is one of my favourite things I have ever read. I felt like Ann Patchett and I could be total besties. At the very least, she sounds like an incredibly gracious hostess so maybe if I showed up at her house...okay no, that sounds weird.

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    1. That headline is the most accurate thing I've ever heard! It's also why I have been going on vacation with MY friends after school starts in the fall. One thing that stuck with me about These Precious Days was the story about flying with her husband, and how she is not scared. And yet the situations she describe sound terrifying! I'm just thankful my spouse is not a pilot.

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  2. Wow -- your flowers are amazing! And nothing better than a clean corner :) But pests are so demoralizing. We live in perpetual fear of scale, which took out our jasmine this year. (Jasmine was always a risk for us, but it did really well for a few years, so it was tough to see it go.)

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    1. I had to look up scale... those bugs are disgusting! It's war out there with the bugs and our plants. I'm sorry about your jasmine!

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  3. Beautiful bunches of flowers Sarah. We are picking sweet peas here. My daughter is really pleased as the best ones are in her garden :)
    The children look as though they were having a great time on holiday. I hope you adults enjoyed the time together as well.

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    1. The kids had a blast! It was fun for the adults too, but we all left exhausted. I have tried and failed to grow sweet peas twice now. I think that we just don't have the climate for it - the springs are short and it heats up way too quickly.

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  4. I LOVED Notes on a Nervous Planet by Matt Haig (one of my fav books all year), but have not been a fan of just about anything else he wrote. I did NOT enjoy The Midnight Library, but I feel like I'm the only person to feel that way.
    Yes - let's all put quotations around "vacation." It is a trip with kids and it is wonderful for the remembering self, but sometimes the experiencing self is just plain exhausted. I guess I remember vacations as a kid...from my kid perspective. They were so fun! But I'm assuming my Mom was exhausted and frazzled as I often feel. The kids look like they were having a great time and someday they'll be parents and look back at this time as the poster-child of summer vacationing. Hopefully you'll be there as a grandparent kicking back and enjoying all the commotion on the beach while sipping a coffee?!
    My goal/mantra lately has been to make at least a few enjoyable memories (taken from Laura Vanderkam) and this has really helped me refocus!
    The flowers are absolutely stunning. Stunning.

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    1. I have that book on hold right now and I'm looking forward to reading it even more now! I think his non-fiction is just better in general. I remember lake vacations as a kid too, I had absolutely no awareness of all the work my parents were doing in the background and I have a new appreciation for it.

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  5. The Flower Hunter is totally on my Amazon wish list, along with about 7 other flower farming and flower arranging titles. (Of course, I already own a ridiculous number and haven't even come close to reading them all, so clearly I might have a little bit of a problem!!)

    Sorry about the thrips. I've lucked out on pest pressure so far for the most part, but I'm assuming it's only a matter of time. I mean, I obviously HAVE bugs and am regularly vacuuming/shaking them out of the stems as I arrange them into bouquets, but I haven't dealt with crop loss yet to bugs. (Crop loss for other reasons though? YES.)

    Best of luck with the busiest part of your season :)

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    1. I'm also learning so much this year about bugs and what they like - I will adjust next year accordingly! I have also seen some CRAZY insects that I have never seen before, that apparently have been spreading the word to come on over the house with all the flowers. Vacuuming?? I haven't heard of doing that before but it sounds immensely satisfying!

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  6. Oh that flower book looks beautiful. Hot dry weather here in the UK too and my sweet peas have reached the stage where there are greenfly crawling off of them onto the windowsill. They have been lovely though. Your room is gorgeous by the way, all that light and space, fantastic. xx

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    1. Definitely check out the book if you have a chance! I really need to figure out how to grow sweet peas. I love all the windows in our house, but the downside is that they aren't that well insulated and it gets really cold in the winter. I'll take it, though!

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  7. I'm also here for the flower content! Keep 'em coming :) It looks like your kids had a lot of fun on your vacation - now I hope you get to take some time for yourself!

    That Flower Hunter book looks gorgeous. Oh my!

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    1. The kids absolutely loved it - I dream of a vacation where I can just sit quietly alone reading :) I try to take a trip with my friends every year, so hopefully that happens and I can actually have a break!

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  8. Your flowers are wonderful, so beautiful. I so resonate with the headline Nicole mentions most holidays are not so different to being at home plus there is so much to organise to get out the door before you are even on holiday not to mention the cleaning up afterwards. We need a holiday to get over the holiday! I too love your room, such wonderful light.

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