full on summer mode

"We're steeped deep in summer
And everything around me
Seems to indicate it'll never end..."

You would never know by all the photos and talk about fall on Instagram that we still have a month of summer left. It's still August, people! I don't understand this rushing of seasons (OK, winter is excluded in that statement) and holidays. I am soaking up every bit of summer that I can. I went to the local farm stand today and they already had up fall and Halloween decorations! Behind the cash register was a "Happy Halloween" banner. It all looked so out of place with baskets of tomatoes, piles of fresh-picked corn, and bushels of zucchini and cucumbers displayed throughout the store.

Summer seems so short here in northern Illinois. Our winters drag out with never-ending gray skies, bitter cold and snow. And this spring was nothing but rain ~ and even more snow. So I am filled with gratitude for these few short months of warmth and sunshine and have no intentions of rushing them.

"But still I'm spending time
Looking for the subtle signs
Trying to figure out when
We've reached peak summer..."

My butterfly garden is telling me it's late summer...sedum starting to bloom is a sure sign.

 Phlox is looking a little pitiful and bee balm is withered up. 

 But look how beautiful and lush my herb garden is! Yes, I was one of those silly people who planted mint in back of the herb garden many years ago. Everyone told me I'd regret it; that'd I'd have mint all over the place. Honestly, it hasn't been that bad. I pull some out here and there throughout the summer so that it doesn't overtake the other herbs, but it stays contained to this small area. 

Farmers markets this time of year are still filled with summer goodness...

 Last weekend, we came home with a ton of fresh produce and I made a big pot of ratatouille based on Alice Water's recipe. My modifications were roasting the eggplant first, using a combination of onions and shallots, using both green and yellow squash/zucchini, adding more spices and a teeny bit of sugar, throwing in a splash of red wine vinegar, and stirring in some black olives and capers. 

Served over a bed of creamy polenta with a garnish of fresh Parmesan cheese ~ this dish was absolutely delightful!

"When the sun sets a little earlier
And gets a little more noticeable
Each night, night after night

Until you start thinking about

How much daylight you've lost..."

"All of the signs and all of the things

I've been noticing are telling me
That we're right in the midst of
Peak summer and if I'm not careful
It'll be completely over
And I'll have missed it entirely
As the season folds into fall."
(Peak Summer - Eric Nixon)

slice of life ~ late july

July...a month filled with both beauty and heartache.

My son, Philip's birthday was July 21st. He would've been 31 years old. How do you imagine your child being 31 years old when they passed away at the tender, young age of 21? The more time that passes, the harder it is to imagine what he would look like or what he would be doing. But I give thanks for the day he was born. The day I became a mother. One of the greatest gifts of my life.

We celebrated Brian's birthday a few days later. The three of us went out to dinner at a lovely local restaurant on a lake and dined al fresco.

The farm stands finally open in July here and the farmer's markets are also bursting with fresh corn, tomatoes, peppers, radishes, green beans, blueberries, onions, and potatoes. I've been making gazpacho with fresh tomatoes and peppers, and one night we simply had corn, tomatoes and roasted fingerling potatoes for dinner. There is nothing like the taste of fresh produce. It is nothing like the waxy produce in the supermarkets that travels hundreds, or sometimes thousands, of miles to get to us. I hate supermarket tomatoes but will eat a ton of homegrown ones.

My perennial gardens are in their glory right now...coneflowers, phlox, bee balm, black-eyed susan, lilies, lamb's ear, hostas with their long-stemmed purple blooms, joe pye weed...and the herbs are producing like mad. Stepping out my front door and snipping fresh herbs for our meals is a simple pleasure in life that makes me happy.

I've seen quite a few butterflies in my yard this year. Plenty of red admirals and now monarchs (yay!) - most likely due to my neighbor having milkweed growing amongst his six foot tall weeds in front of his house. (Yes, the weeds really are that tall. He refers to the clusters of them on the side and front of his house as his "weed gardens". He's a nice guy and a great neighbor, so we try to overlook his weed jungles.) And last week, I saw a blue and black swallowtail on our garage! I haven't seen one of those around here in a couple of years.

Most every evening, Brian and I walk down to the lake and watch the sunset. Sometimes our neighbor-friends are out in their front yard and wave us over and we sit at their vintage outdoor table nestled in their gorgeous gardens and sit and talk until we realize how late it is and we're being bitten by mosquitoes. We walk home hand-in-hand in the dark, the neighborhood now quiet, crickets chirping and stars overhead. Somehow, it feels like July is perfect.

beautiful weather and a few delicious autumn meals

Yesterday we spent the day in central Illinois with extended relatives and we couldn't have asked for a more lovely day...sun, 70 degrees, hanging out on the patio talking, and playing cornhole/bags (whichever you want to call it) in my cousin's beautiful back yard. Pretty much the entire month of September was perfect, weather-wise. I don't remember a September where the skies were this blue and cloudless every day, though we now desperately need rain. We barely have a color change here yet. Most trees are still green, but the leaves that are falling are brown and crispy.

The sunsets have been amazing every night, too. This one was taken on our evening walk tonight.

Today was back to reality with lots of work around the house and laundry, but that's OK, because we got a lot accomplished. I made a hearty dinner: a sheet pan with apple gouda chicken sausages, potatoes, sweet potatoes and onions - which were roasted in the oven; a pot of quinoa; and fried apples (fried in coconut oil, sprinkled with cinnamon, and sweetened with a drizzle of pure maple syrup).

Speaking of delicious food, I have a few other fall dinner ideas for you.

We're all familiar with spaghetti with meat sauce, but when I came across this simple way of making it, I had to give it a try. (I can't remember what magazine I cut this recipe out of, but I think it was Real Simple.) I was dubious about cooking the noodles right in the sauce, but it turned out perfect! I used brown rice spaghetti noodles and organic, grass-fed beef. If you make this, be aware that it makes a lot. I think we got about 7-8 servings from this dish. And the leftovers thicken after being stored in the fridge, so when I heated up the leftovers in a pot on the stove, I added more water and a little bottled organic marinara sauce.

This is one of our favorite soups. It's simple but yet has deep flavor and is easy to make. I always double this recipe. We had the leftovers for lunch today.

Red Lentil Soup - The Kitchn

Stuffed zucchini is another easy-to-make, yummy and healthy dish. Preheat oven to 350F. Trim ends from zucchini and cut in half lengthwise, then scoop out the pulp and seeds with a spoon. Spray the insides of the zucchini with olive oil cooking spray or brush lightly with olive oil. Bake zucchini shells for 15-20 minutes or until slightly tender. Remove from oven and stuff with filling of your choice. There are so many possibilities, depending on what flavors you're in the mood for. You can basically stuff with any kind of cooked meats (or not) and veggies, sprinkle with shredded cheese (or not), and bake another 20 minutes. This filling was diced cooked chicken with enchilada sauce, corn, and cheese. When it came out of the oven, I topped with chopped fresh tomato and cilantro.

Hope you all had a great weekend and were blessed to also have enough good food to eat and share with loved ones. Even if it was just yourself, you are a loved one, too. Treat yourself as such.

seasons changing

Last week, it was cool enough where I was thinking fall foods ~ chili, soup, squash. Have you ever had delicata squash? It looks like this:

It's simple to prepare, and so delicious. Brian and I ate this entire pan in one sitting. Scrub the squash, then poke holes all over it with a fork, put in the microwave on high for two minutes to soften up enough to slice, then let it cool down. Slice into rings and place on a baking sheet. Some of the rings will have some pulp and seeds, but they're easy to scrape out with a spoon. In a small bowl, combine extra-virgin olive oil, salt, pepper & fresh chopped rosemary. Use a pastry brush to brush the infused oil on top of the squash rings. Bake at 400 degrees F. for about 20 minutes, or until tender. Eat! Yes, you can eat the skin, too. This squash is high in fiber and iron, vitamins A and C, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and a host of other vitamins.

I know my time with fresh tomatoes is limited, so I've been running up to the local farm stand a couple of times a week and buying a ton of tomatoes. I cut them up and roast them with extra-virgin olive oil, salt and pepper, let them cool down, and then put them in food storage bags. Easy-peasy and will be so wonderful to have fresh tomatoes in my homemade soups, stew, chili, and spaghetti sauce this winter.

Now we're back to warm weather. It's been 80+ the past few days and will climb to 91 by Friday. That's how the weather goes here when seasons are changing. The color change has started and driving down the roads I've noticed the landscaping seems to be bathed in a soft golden glow. We desperately need rain though ~ it's so dry. My yard is littered with crunchy leaves.

Sunsets have been anywhere from gentle and soft...

to strong and fiery.

 I know fall doesn't truly start for a couple more days and I hate pushing seasons (except for winter 😛), but I brought the fall stuff out a few days ago and started playing around with decor. Just going for a transitioning look; nothing Autumn Overkill. This is just the emptying of the storage box to see what I had. I didn't use much and even donated some of it.

"By all these lovely tokens September days are here, with summer's best of weather and autumn's best of cheer." ~ Helen Hunt Jackson

spring, new pottery and rug, and knee update

Happy Spring - finally! 

Here in northern Illinois, the signs of spring are subtle at this time of year. Just a few buds on bushes and the green stalks of lilies and daffodils sticking out of the dirt. I took this photo just a few days ago when we still had some snow on the ground. Thank goodness, that's all gone now. I just took a look at our 10-day forecast and it looks like nothing but clouds and rain, which is also sucky. But that's the way March rolls around here - it's very fickle.

I know sunset photos are cliche, but I never get tired of seeing a gorgeous sunset. This was also taken a few days ago, when we were driving home one evening. I made Brian pull over by the lake that's just a few blocks from our house so that I could take this photo. I like how you can see some traces of snow on the shoreline.

This past weekend while out running some errands in a nearby town, we had the chance to pop in at Fox and Finch Antiques and say hello to Ginene. If you're a fan of antiques, check out her blog. And if you're ever in the Richmond, IL area, be sure to stop in and check out her beautiful store. While browsing, I found a piece of pottery to add to my collection. This one's made by Hall China. I think technically it's ceramic, not pottery ~ but I was still drawn to the fabulous colors and design. 

More shopping news...

I've been on the hunt for a new kitchen rug for our kitchen. The previous rug was a solid cream color. It served its purpose for a couple of years, but that's as long as it lasted because it started showing a lot of dirt spots. I really liked the solid, light, neutral color so that I could use whatever colors I wanted as far as tablecloths, napkins, runners and other kitchen decor. We don't have a separate dining room, so this is our only dining space. I looked on every homegoods website that I could think of, plus took a look at the rug section in every store I went to.

We were in Target yesterday, so we took a look at the rugs there. We were thrilled to find a neutral jute rug in the size we needed - and bonus - it was on sale. Once it was on my kitchen floor though, I wasn't too sure. Our floors and cabinets both have red undertones and this rug is definitely more taupe. I wasn't sure if this is too much of a contrast. Brian likes it, but I'm still a little dubious - though I admit, I think it's growing on me. I told Brian I'd post some pictures on my blog and see what you all think.

I left the tags on the rug in case I end up returning it.

My knee continues to improve a slight bit every few days as far as strength and range of motion. I can now walk any store unaided (no cane) - even a big grocery store - though I still have a limp and walk slow because of swelling and tightness. All this is normal. The first week of physical therapy went great - though it's a little brutal and tiring. I also do my exercises at home every day, plus elevate and ice several times a day to help with the swelling. For those of you who were concerned I'm doing too much, too soon...no worries. I talked to the physical therapist and she said as long as I'm not in any pain or having an increase in swelling, it's all good.

Happy Monday ~ have a beautiful week!

starting with a clean slate

 Welcome, 2016! This was the sunset on New Year's Day when we were walking out of Barnes and Noble. We head there at the beginning of every year to get planners, calendars and Christmas cards at 50% off.

That little virus I had after Christmas - the sore throat, headache, and tiredness - was gone in a few days and never progressed into anything where I was truly sick. I hope it was due to using natural remedies as soon as I felt that sore throat coming on. Or maybe it was one of those minor bugs that would've went away quickly on its own anyway. Either way, I'm thankful it passed quickly.

Like many of you, I've been working on putting the house back together after getting all the Christmas stuff packed up and put away. While I like the pretty lights and warmth of Christmas decorations, I enjoy starting January with a fresh, clean look. I got the other two white kitchen chairs from overstock, so now there's finally a complete matching set around the kitchen table. 

Also, that's Clementine sitting by the heater vent. One of her favorite spots in the winter. ;-)

Found those cute rooster oven mitts on winter clearance at Crate and Barrel. Needed new oven mitts anyway, so win-win. And, do you see the middle shelf of the china cabinet...a peek of the red and white cake stand?

That was an impulse Target purchase. (No way...not at Target!) Normally I don't buy cheap, made-in-China stuff like this, but I couldn't resist the red and white, especially since it was only $5.

Changed out the winter snowmen plates on top of the fridge for something lighter. I know I could've kept the snowmen plates out all winter, but again, in the mood for lighter and brighter right now.

Moving into the living room, I brought out some of my milk glass pieces, but notice I did keep one snowman alive and well...

I used more milk glass pieces on the buffet. Digging in my linens storage box, I found this vintage, white, cotton piece that belonged to my grandma. We think its from when they used coverlets over pillows, but we're not completely sure. I have it folded in half on the buffet. Any thoughts as to what this might be, if not the pillow coverlet? It's about five feet long.

No milk glass on the entryway console table, but capturing the colors in the mirror and curtains with other accessories.

 Sunset casting a warm glow tonight in the living room...

And there's Miss Clementine once again by a heating vent. Yawning this time. ;-)

Diffuser going on the little table by the window.

Can you make out Zippo on the blanket on the couch? That's one of his favorite sleeping spots. 

Here's to a clean, fresh start for 2016 - hopefully, in several different ways.

Sharing with Tweak it Tuesday.