When the height of summer is upon us and the days are long and the nights are hot; when the whir of the ceiling fan is a constant drone and the shade outside is lush and damp and throbbing with bugs. When the scents of ripe peaches, sun-warmed strawberries, strident basil and freshly mown grass mingle with the taste of chilled lemonade and the florescent flicker of fireflies, that’s when I long for books that perfectly echo the season.

And there are few better than each and every book written by Frances Mayes.

After reading her descriptive prose, interspersed with informative histories, recipes and travel recommendations I find myself truly inspired to make the most of each fleeting day. 

*Pick up what's fresh at the farmers market. 

*Dine outdoors. 

*Sit under the shaded awning of a coffee shop. 

*Journal. 

*Light some candles and break out the real napkins.

Suddenly these things fill my to-do list. And they seem a lot more easily accomplished than the usual chores and errands.

So if you’re longing to steep like sun-tea in the endless bounty and beauty of summer, do what I do and read and re-read Frances Mayes.

Our one-year open house party...

it was a 4 kinds of cupcakes, 3 kinds of frosting, cotton candy, pizza, pink lemonade, paper straws, gorgeous peonies, house warming gifts, 15 children, wagon rides, dirty feet, sticky faces, late evening shadows, lawn chairs borrowed from the neighbors, the kids are up way too late kind of party. In other words...one of the best.

There are few things better in life than a garden tea party and fairy flower crowns.

A little DIY...

I LOVE peonies. 

In all shapes, sizes, colors and scents. The year we discovered a farm, devoted to nothing but peonies, just a few miles up the road from our condo was the year I thought I had found heaven. I mean, really. Can you imagine anything more breathtaking? My photos just 

DO. NOT. 

do it justice.

But alas, whether it's the 4 small bushes I currently have in my yard, or it's field, upon field, upon field, the lifespan of the peony bloom is tragically, almost cruelly short. 

So this year I decided to remedy that by crafting, out of coffee filters, some peony blooms that would last forever.

I think, that like the real thing, they turned out spectacularly lovely.

And they were easy, too.

I followed the instruction, in the first link I included below, when I dyed them. And the instructions in the second link proved an easier and more secure method of attaching the stems. Though I did use green pipe cleaners in place of the wire and dowel/skewer stick.

Hope you feel inspired to make your own everlasting peonies!

http://www.u-createcrafts.com/2013/05/how-to-make-coffee-filter-flowers-by.html#undefined

http://littlebirdiesecrets.blogspot.com/2012/03/spring-coffee-filter-flowers-tutorial.html

This week...

...was Father's Day bike races and Sugar river canoe trips, swim lessons and strawberry picking, Honey-vanilla biscuits and fireflies, mountains of cupcakes and pink lemonade, celebrating the Summer Solstice and watching the full moon rise...

This week...

...was spontaneous Sunday lunch dates and plant sales, cozy days inside and sunny afternoons outside, the first of my roses opening and the sweet perfume of lavender, a girls-only weekend and our first trip to the farmers market, fledgling baby Robins and raucous games of croquet

A brief study on

The Linden Tree.

Linden Trees are beautiful, large, deciduous trees. (And there are quite a few of them growing in Columbus Circle.) In the British Isles they are know as Lime trees and more commonly, in North America, as Basswoods. Their dark green leaves are shiny and heart-shaped and in the summer months clusters of very sweet, almost honey-smelling flowers appear on the branches, drawing lots of bees. Then the pea-like fruit appears, attached to a lighter green petal which serves to act as a sail, carrying the fruit and it's seeds farther from the parent tree. 

The wood of the Linden Tree is lightweight, strong and easy to work with, making it the wood of choice for window blinds. Also, it has exceptional acoustic properties therefore it is used for both of the bodies of electric and bass guitars, as well as many wind instruments.

Linden flowers are used to brew a sweet, medicinal tea beneficial in the treatment of everything from infections to colds to high blood pressure to insomnia. The flowers are also used to flavor honey and perfume linen water.

I was lucky enough to grow up in a house that had a backyard childhood dreams are made of. And in that backyard was a Mock Orange bush. Every June it flowered; delicate, white, sweet smelling blossoms that appeared by the hundreds and cascaded down the branches, pulling them even lower to the ground and the result was a prefect, nature-made tent. I spent hours beneath it's shelter. And I knew that someday I'd have my very own backyard with it's very own Mock Orange.

Well, fast forward through a bunch of years, marriage, several apartments, a condo and a baby and childhood memories seemed very far away indeed. I didn't exactly forget about the Mock Orange requirement for my someday-house. But it was relegated to a distant, distant back burner. So many other things took precedence. Imagine my complete and utter surprise, therefore, when several weeks after moving in to 1187, as I wandered through the back corner of our yard, behind the garage, actually paying attention to what was there that I should happen upon...? You guessed it! A Mock Orange bush. Everything having been super early last summer the flowers were long gone but still I recognized it. And it was right there. In my new backyard. And I hadn't even known.

I think I might have done a little dance.

And realized all over again that we were meant to live no where else.

Now, after waiting a whole year, through this interminably long, cold, wet Spring it is finally flowering. And the whole yard is filled with it's citrus scent and I have cut branches and brought them in the house and if the current weather ever breaks Elli and I may just have to spread out a blanket under it's shelter and bring everything full circle.

This week...

...was gardening in the rain and afternoon tea, quiet nights in and not so quiet nights out, the smell of Linden trees and unfurling gorgeous white peonies, Memorial Day picnics and one year anniversaries, late nights spent star gazing and so many chats with friends...

Story update...

You remember my whole Tulip battle with the squirrels? And my tongue-in-cheek remarks about renting a falcon? Well, as it turns out I don't have to. Because apparently I was a bit premature and a bit prophetic in my comment. A lovely family of Cooper's Hawks have taken up residence in the tall pine tree next to our driveway (though not a falcon you've got to admit, pretty amazingly close) and needless to say we've seen a whole lot less of those ravenous squirrels as of late. I am so excited. The Robins that built a nest under our back eaves are less so but I don't think there's much they can do about it. Except complain. And that they do.