Posted on 5 Comments

Spring-Summer Saturdays

My corner

I don’t think I will ever tire of waking this way – open windows, sun streaming in, birds chirping.  It’s a late spring / early summer Saturday morning pleasure, and it goes well with a cup of tea, an engaging book, and a few hours of unscheduled bliss.

The annual peony

I had thought I might spend my day in the kitchen, inhaling the long-anticipated fragrance of the annual peony, baking bread, tidying up, and listening to a few good podcasts.  I changed my mind while sitting on my bed, reading.   If I looked down under the edge of the book, I could see my feet, my fun pajama bottoms, and the cozy beach quilt that has come to have temporary residence on my bed.

However, if I happened to gaze over the top of my book, no matter which way I would turn my head, I could see laundry.  Some clean, some dirty, some anybody’s guess.   I came to the conclusion that my time might better be spent vanquishing the laundry piles.

Laundry pile vanquished

That took longer than you might think, and there are still a few loads waiting to be washed, but at least all of the clothes are corralled in baskets.  If I read in bed tomorrow morning, and my gaze drifts above the pages of the book, there is at least one corner of the room that will be laundry-free.  The battle is won, but the war rages on.  That’s progress enough for one day.

Another loaf

I did still manage to make the bread, but I didn’t do anything else in the kitchen.  Honestly, I didn’t even make supper.  We ate bread by the handful like savages.  What can I say?  When the family whittles away the hours grazing on healthy snacks, nobody is particularly enthusiastic about a big supper anyway.  And besides, that bread is darn good.

Cookbook shelves

It’s entirely possible that tomorrow (or maybe tonight, even) I will finish reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.  This event has made me eager to get my hands on some more reading material, and I am particularly looking for two types of book to sink my teeth into.  Maybe you have suggestions?

First, for my reading pleasure, I think I’d enjoy another memoir-type book like this one and A Homemade Life.  I’m looking for recommendations along a similar vein, and although there need not be food involved, it’s all the better if the author is interested in some of the things that interest me – domestic, crafty things.  As I type this, I am remembering a title that had slipped my mind: Made from Scratch.  I’ll be adding that one to my wish list, but I welcome any other suggestions as well.

Secondly, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle has got me all interested in preserving.  I don’t have a garden myself, but I do enjoy the farmers’ markets in the summer.  I want to load up on heirloom tomatoes and serve up a spaghetti sauce that’s to die for, and then I want to save some for later.  I need a good reference, appropriate for total newbies, that will give me practical instructions for safely doing just that.  And for preserving jams.  And maybe some pickles, too.  Any well-loved books you can point me to?

Thanks in advance.  Now I am considering ending the day as I began it.   Just replace the sun with the moon, and the birds with the cricuits, and you get the idea.

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Posted on 5 Comments

5 thoughts on “Spring-Summer Saturdays

  1. You could try The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan… I enjoyed it (which doesn’t necessarily mean you will :)) It’s about a guy (Pollan) who decides to eat 3 different types of meal and trace the food back to source, very interesting, and readable too

    1. Thanks for the recommendation. I grabbed it from the library yesterday 🙂

  2. Animal Vegetable Miracle is one of my fave books of the past few years. And Made From Scratch is quick and fun (I follow her blog, too). Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food is another good read.

    For preserving go to The Ball Blue Book, the Guide to Home Canning and Freezing…I have the 1977 version, it’s been updated many times since then. Put out by the company that makes all the glass jars you see in grocery and hardware stores this time of year.

    Also check out the last chapter in Simple Food for the Good Life, by back to the lander guru Helen Nearing.

    Have you read The Gentle Art of Domesticity? By Jane Brocket. Very pretty.

    1. I’ve had Jane Brocket’s book on my wish list for some time, but haven’t gotten around to picking it up yet. Thanks for the canning book recommendations. I’ll be adding the Ball book to my wish list!

  3. […] my feet wet with an inter-library loan of the Ball Blue Book of Canning (thank you, KarenLR for the recommendation), two quarts of farmers’ market strawberries, and rhubarb from a local farm.  It was an […]

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