early september slice of life

September is a beautiful month weather-wise, here in northeast Illinois. The coneflowers and Black-eyed Susan in my butterfly garden are still prolific, which makes my summer heart happy. Beautiful wildflowers dot the roadside. The evening Golden hour casts amazing light on the trees. Sunsets at the neighborhood lake are stunning.

I harvested the last of our rhubarb, cut it into chunks, and put it in the freezer to use later in baked goods. The last of the cherry tomatoes were gathered; plus, I picked up more at the local farm stand. I then slow-roasted the tomatoes with olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper until soft and caramelized. Those were packed into freezer bags to use all fall and winter in soups and chili. 

My cousin and her daughter (I call her my Little Nugget) were in town on Labor Day weekend from Tacoma, Washington. I've always dreamed about having a ladies generational family photo taken, as we have every decade through the 80's represented, except for a teen. I finally got my wish! The only decade missing in our family photo is someone in their 20's. I have two nieces in their 20's, but neither were at this gathering. Sooo...we have in the front, my Little Nugget portraying the childhood years, then from left to right...my second cousin representing 30, my cousin from Tacoma revealing 40, another cousin symbolizing 50, me defining 60, my aunt presenting 70, and my mom reflecting 80. 

More Labor Day weekend family fun...spent the day in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin with my Tacoma sweeties. The area is rather touristy and filled with shops, but we didn't go into a single one. We played on a playground, had lunch, played in the water, and had ice cream.  Everywhere we walked, my Little Nugget held my hand. And wanted us to run ahead of everyone so we'd be first to get to our destination. By the time we took a boat ride around the lake, my Little Nugget was passed out. In the evening when we got back to my house, she spent her time building a playhouse for Clementine. Isn't that precious? It's been so long since I've had a little one in my house, or had a child's hand in mine, or got to stroke the silky hair of a sweet child...I ate it all up. 

Have a beautiful week!

💖

summer in the midwest

We finally, finally got a break in the weather from all the rain and thunderstorms where the sun has been shining every day and the temps have been perfect. It's been glorious to have the windows and doors open and the fans going instead of everything closed up with the air-conditioner running. Of course, this isn't going to last - we'e back up into the 90's tomorrow - but I'm living in the moment. We've been spending lots of time outside doing yard work, forever cleaning up mulberries (poor Brian had to clean them out of the gutters), taking walks down to the lake in the evenings, and visiting with our neighbor-friends down the street. That's their gorgeous bee balm in the fourth photo.

This is the time of year where the Midwest shines. It is so green and lush...the trees look like big stalks of broccoli dotting the landscape, gardens are bursting with color, and wildflowers line the highways. Nothing says summer like driving down a country road past fields of corn, windows down (sometimes with the AC blasting at the same time), radio on, puffy clouds floating above. And then there's sitting out on the porch at night...the heavy, musky humidity hanging like a blanket, glimpses of light still visible, and fireflies flashing their little lights on and off like SOS signals.

We took another day trip this past weekend - this time to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. We're right near the border of Wisconsin, so Lake Geneva is only a 40 minute drive for us. We don't go up there often - it's been over two years. The town is touristy and crowded, especially at this time of year. The shops mainly cater to the tourists and wealthy locals, but it's a charming town to walk around (we put on almost five miles of walking!), dip your feet in the water, and have a bite to eat at a fantastic restaurant.

How's your summer going so far?

full weekend

Ever hear anyone say they were glad it was Monday? Probably not, but that's how I'm feeling today. Granted, I have a busy week ahead of me, but I'm almost glad to be back to my regular routine.

I thought Friday was going to be a good day. We had tree trimmers coming out here to trim our neighbor's trees that overhang both sides of our property. I don't want to get into too many specifics because I don't like to dwell on negative crap, but basically our nasty neighbor to our south had a conniption fit and was threatening both me and the tree trimmers. (We had even sent her a certified letter ahead of time, letting her know what was going to be done - back to her property line. And she signed for the letter, so she knew what was coming.) After the tree trimmers left, I went to the police station and talked to an officer about what was going on, though he said it becomes a civil matter. The whole thing was very stressful.

Enough of that...onto a much better day: Saturday. Brian and I decided to "get the hell out of Dodge" and headed to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. 

We spent a few hours walking around, going in and out of shops, and stopping for lunch. It was cool and windy by the lake in the morning (as evidenced by the waves above and my hair below), but the winds calmed down and the sun came out in the afternoon.

If you walk around on the side streets of the shopping district, you'll find most shops are in beautiful old homes, like this one.

This house wasn't a store - it belongs to the historical society - but I love its cottagey charm.

Look at that porch! I told Brian I want a house in the country like this. 

No. Close. Neighbors. ;-)

We found a new shop where the chalkboard sign outside said, "Like a live etsy shop!" Sounded interesting enough to draw us in. Inside, there were a bunch of different consigned booths. Everything from home decor...

to pottery...

to custom jewelry.

We also wandered into a few antique shops, but most of the stuff was over-priced. We weren't surprised - Lake Geneva is an expensive, touristy town.

I loved this old, hand-stitched double quilt. It was in immaculate condition. The shop owner was kind enough to unfold it for me and let me take photos.

It actually wasn't priced too bad - $145. But I have nowhere to put it. Look at that detail on the underside!

The one thing I ended up purchasing was this hand-crocheted runner. I'll show you the whole thing another time. This is just a teaser photo. Isn't it lovely? The shop was running a 15% off Mother's Day deal, so I got a great price on it.

One of our favorite stores in Lake Geneva was this bookstore - The Breadloaf Bookshop. It used to be in a beautiful old white house on a corner across from the lake. We thought it had gone out of business several years ago, as when we were up there one time, the shop was gone. Imagine our delight when we were walking around and spied this door on the side of a used-to-be church building!

It was smaller than the old store, but still interesting to look around. Though we didn't get much of a chance because the shop owner was way too chatty. Perhaps that's why we were the only ones in there! 

I bought a book just to get the shop owner occupied with a transaction instead of nonstop chatter, though I do like supporting independent bookshops. We were then able to make our hasty exit.

When we'd had enough of Lake Geneva, we got in the car and headed a little further north to check out The Elegant Farmer.

Inside the store, we ended up getting some food items and then we checked out the greenhouse. I wasn't ready to purchase annuals just yet, but we did get some herbs for our herb garden, tomato plants and Kentucky pole bean plants.

Sunday was a gorgeous day. My wonderful husband worked out in the yard for eight hours. He dug out more garden space, dug out invasive plants, dug out weeds, trimmed bushes, and planted a peony bush, Bluebells, and the Celadine Poppy and Bishop's Cap plants I got at the native plant sale last week. Tim weeded the herb garden and planted sage, oregano and parsley. Good thing I have my guys - I still can't crouch all the way down nor kneel just yet. (Still healing from meniscus surgery.)

You can see the peony plant in the foreground; then my clematis (which is so healthy and growing like crazy!) and the newly dug garden space. We'll plant the tomatoes and pole beans there.

Brian got the ladder out of the garage and set it up in its usual spot; then I planted basil and dill in pots and put them on the ladder, along with a pot of pansies and the vintage metal carrier that I got at the antique shop last week.

This isn't the complete look with the ladder, but it's a start.

Bishop's Cap...

Celadine Poppy...

We had a pretty little visitor on the patio, too.

Of course, it was also Mother's Day - one of those holidays I have mixed emotions about, especially with the loss of Phil even more apparent. For dinner,  Brian barbequed bratwurst that we had gotten in Wisconsin, plus a grill basket of mixed veggies. This gift was in the card from Tim. Isn't that great? I can't wait to work with him on a header design for my blog.

The one mishap during the day was when I slammed my pinky toe into the leg of a nightstand. I can't tell you how many times I've smashed my toes on furniture, but this time was different...soon after my klutzy encounter, I noticed the toe was really swollen. I iced it, but a few hours later, it started turning purple on the inside and outside of the toe. I have a feeling I fractured it. 

Happy Monday, indeed! 

summer weekend, autumn monday

 I spent Saturday with my aunt, enjoying the beautiful summer day in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. If you're not familiar with this town, it's 75 miles northwest of Chicago and has been a resort town since the late 1860's when wealthy, famous Chicago families such as Wrigley, Schwinn, Maytag and Sears began building summer estates around the lake.

Little did we know it was Venetian Weekend and the place was mobbed. We drove around for an hour, trying to find a parking spot. We finally got lucky with someone leaving in a school parking lot about 1/2 mile away from the main part of town.

 We walked around to pretty shops...

 fell in love with a pretty bench...

 had lunch at Sprechers, and posed with a hotdog.

 Side note: I'm sporting a new, short haircut. My regular hairdresser is out of commission for awhile with a broken arm and I went to someone new. I did not want my hair this short and at first was quite upset, but I reminded myself that I have two friends battling cancer right now and they don't have any hair, so I need to quit bitching about something that's truly insignificant. I have to admit - it is a lot easier to take care of. And it will grow out.

A simple pleasure that was pure enjoyment and made me smile...we found a quiet park away from the hustle and bustle of the town. There was a shallow, winding creek in the park with the clearest water and a stone bottom. I just had to take off my shoes and go for a walk. I hadn't done that since I was a teenager living in Kentucky. It's very calming and meditative and I felt like a kid again. I highly recommend it if you have a clean creek or stream nearby.

 So now Monday rolls around and we had a high of 69 degrees and strong winds. It truly felt like a September day. I actually made a pot of red lentil soup for lunch. (*Later update: I thought I'd better include the link for the soup recipe. It is so delicious, healthy and easy to make, that I'm making it again tonight! Hubby even requested it again. It's from the web site, The Kitchn - one of my favorite recipe web sites. Anyway, click HERE  for the recipe.) That might not sound surprising to you, but you see, I normally only eat soup in the fall and winter. (Likewise, I can only eat ice cream in the summer.) And then I actually turned on the oven...

and made banana bread! It's a healthy version - no white sugar, no oil, no dairy, and made with whole wheat flour. You can find the recipe here.

 

The good news: it's going to warm up again by this weekend. :-) After all, it is still August and summer is still on for almost another month. I'm in no hurry at all to rush in autumn.