“'I do love the beginning of the summer hols,' said Julian.
'They always seem to stretch out ahead for ages and ages.'
'They go so nice and slowly at first,' said Anne, his little sister.
'Then they start to gallop.”
- Enid Blyton, Five Go Off in a Caravan
Summer has been very busy for us this year. One could say that it started out at a brisk trot, only to gallop away in a blur!
Our family undertook the task of renovating and flipping the house of a relative that recently passed away. Due to various factors, this project has been overwhelming at times, however, we have been learning a lot of new skills and techniques as we work together to meet the deadline.
Of course, this means we have been a bit quiet over here! We've had very little time to accomplish day to day tasks, let alone any new projects for the shop.
However, we have enjoyed a few moments of rest here and there, and tried to fill them with some of summer's pleasures.
What We're Reading
Between waiting for paint to dry and our daily commute, we have slipped some good reads in this summer!
“Mitford would simply like to be the pause that refreshes.”
- Jan Karon, At Home in Mitford
Brittany has been enjoying the "Mitford" series. She's finished the first nine books in the series, and has now started on the "Father Tim" series.
There is nothing quite as refreshing as visits to the little, village of Mitford.
“Lord Emsworth had one of those minds capable of accommodating but one thought at a time - if that.”
P.G. Wodehouse, Blandings Castle
She is also continuing to work through the "Blandings Castle" series by P.G. Wodehouse. She's just finished "Pigs Have Wings", and the quagmire and escapades of Blandings never cease to amuse.
“If adventures will not befall a young lady in her own village, she must seek them abroad.”
- Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey
As for my own reading, it has been fairly eclectic. I started off with a couple of regency reads featuring heroines making a foray into London and Bath society - and finding adventures aplenty.
"Summer in Bath" by Meredith Allady follows a book-obsessed heroine in search of libraries and bookstalls. What bibliophile doesn't enjoy that?! I certainly learned a lot about the popular literature for the regency times with this book.
The second read was "Arabella" by Georgette Heyer. A "Cinderella meets Pride and Prejudice" storyline that was a most captivating, witty read.
“I marmaladed a slice of toast with something of a flourish and I don't suppose I have ever come much closer to saying 'Tra la la' as I did the lathering for I was feeling in mid season form this morning.”
- P.G. Wodehouse
On Librivox I listened to "Framely Parsonage" and "The Small House at Allington" by Anthony Trollope, and they have been affording me much humor. You can read my first introduction to this author in this blog post HERE.
As I was reading, "The Small House at Allington" I was intrigued by the character of Lord de Guest and his uncanny resemblance to Lord Emsworth from P. G Wodehouse's "Blandings Castle".
Lord de Guest has an overbearing sister, puttering ways, and a love for his prized bull; this struck me as very similar to Lord Emsworth and his cherished Berkshire sow, the Empress.
I did a little research, wondering if perhaps Wodehouse was inspired by Trollope for this character. I found that, while Wodehouse was a fan of Trollope, he wrote the Blandings series in 1915, which was approximately 30 years prior to when he read his first Trollope novel.
Nonetheless, it makes me happy to know a favorite author of mine enjoyed another of my favorite authors. As Bertie Wooster would say, it's enough to make one's heart go Tra-la-la-llope! 😉
I thought Wodehouse's opinion of Trollope was most interesting, and included his letter discussing him down below:
June 1945
"In one of your letters you asked me if I had ever read anything by Trollope. At that time I hadn’t, but the other day, reading in Edward Marsh’s A Number of People that Barrie had been fascinated by a book of his called Is He Popenjoy? I took it out of the American Library. I found it almost intolerably slow at first, and then suddenly it gripped me, and now I am devouring it. It is rather like listening to somebody who is long-winded telling you a story about real people. The characters live in the most extraordinary way and you feel that the whole thing is true. […] Anyways, I think Trollope is d- good and I mean to read as much of him as I can get hold of."
excerpt taken from this blog HERE
What We're Cooking
With the bumper crop of cherries this year, mom canned up some beautiful cherry jam. The jars look lovely on the shelves, glistening in their ranks up in the cabinet.
Brittany used some of the jam to make cherry jelly-rolls, which were positively scrumptious! Hopefully we can share the recipe for them soon. 😋
Also, our July just wouldn't be complete without celebrating the grand finale of the Tour de France - the World's Greatest Bicycle Race!
Our sister Megan really pulled out all the stops this year by creating these adorable cupcakes and toppers. She designed four different cupcakes, each cupcake corresponding to a
different jersey in the tour. She used all natural flavors and coloring to achieve this and they tasted so yummy!
Her cupcake flavor pairings were:
Lemon frosting on a vanilla cupcake = Yellow Jersey
Her cupcake flavor pairings were:
Lemon frosting on a vanilla cupcake = Yellow Jersey
Vanilla frosting on a chocolate cupcake = White Jersey
Matcha frosting on a chocolate cupcake = Green Jersey
Matcha frosting on a chocolate cupcake = Green Jersey
Vanilla frosting and strawberries on a vanilla cupcake = Polka Dot Jersey
My contribution to the festivities was to create a matching banner to the cupcakes.
Vive Le Tour! We can hardly wait for next year's race!
What We're Painting
It has been a struggle to keep up with our nature journals, however, we've been making an effort and hope to share a post soon. In the meantime, here is a little glimpse of what our brushes have been doing. 🎨
Our sweet chickens started laying eggs and have been keeping us well supplied. We have been so grateful for all of the scrambled, fried, and boiled egg-meals that they have provided for us lately.
As for our darling Freddy Bear, he has been keeping our lives full of entertainment with all of his shenanigans!
He now sports all of his grown-up teeth, and has learned to sit for several haircuts, although you can hardly tell - his hair
grows so fast!
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He is now eight months old, but still as puppy-ish as ever. 💕
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What have you enjoyed this summer?
Do you have any good reads you would like to share with us?
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2 Comments
It looks like it was a wonderful summer! I really enjoyed mine, and tried several newer to me authors. The one that touched me the most in a very comforting way, was Parsifal Rides the Time Wavs. It was about a ten year old boy who loses his dog in an accident and travel back in time with a little creature named Parsifal. There he meets Sir Robert Bruce and his dog. Simple, yet deeply so.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like such a fascinating read, and I do love a good dog book. Brittany recently was reading earlier in the spring “Bob Son of Battle” by Alfred Ollivant, which is a dog read, and she adored it, so I’ll be sure to pass on your recommendation to her as well!! Thank you so much! 🥰 📖 🐕💗
Delete~ Bridget
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