moving days

Someday, I will be done moving. And when that day comes I will be blissfully happy and will have much to share. Until then, I am lost amid a sea of boxes and far too busy carrying large pieces of furniture all over the place to have much time for posting. But I very much hope that you are doing something fun on these sweaty summer days. Something like going to the beach, which is what I will be taking a needed break to do tomorrow. So, until things have calmed down and my internet is turned on, farewell!

fluff update

It's amazing to see how fast fluff can turn to feathers and chicks become birds. The little flock is growing up at an amazing rate, and learning new tricks every day.

In case you couldn't guess, these are more pet birds than livestock. My brother raises the chicks and sells the eggs, but he also names them and socializes them so that the sight of even a grown chicken perching on his shoulder is not an unfamiliar sight. A few have been trained to fly to his arm and some have been known to fly onto his head as a greeting when he steps into the chicken yard. It all starts with the handling they get now, when they're small, so that even the few roosters we've had have been friendly instead of vicious.

It's not exactly hard to spend an evening on the porch getting to know these handfuls of fluff and feathers.

monday music: mark ronson & the business intl

It's surprising how tiring sitting in one place and moving a paintbrush around can be. Not even ten o'clock and I'm already thinking how nice it would be to go to bed. But before I do that, I can at least post this fun video for you lively night owls to look at. It's as fun and full of energy as I wish I was right now.

pickings

I think it's high time I shared some exciting news. After months of highs and lows and much uncertainty, the boy has bought a house. At the end of this month when my lease runs out that is where we'll be living. So much of our free time in these past two weeks has been spent exploring our new home and its surroundings. There is an overwhelming amount of painting to be done before I'm tempted to share pictures of the inside, but our new garden has all sorts of exciting finds. Strawberries, blueberries, and a whole lot of raspberry bushes were a few of the things that made me happy. We've been busy adding our own editions to the garden, so hopefully we'll have something to show for it soon.

I love these growing months.

monday music: arcade fire

It's a good day when you get to wake up and listen to two brand new Arcade Fire tunes. "Month of May" and "The Suburbs" (title track) are off of the band's 4th album, due out in August. You can download the single on the band's website, or you can stream them here.

dreams and flowers

It is late and it is Friday, but I had to do a short post and say how in love I am with the work of Yelena Bryksenkova. Love, love, love. Happy weekend!

(Via Design*Sponge)

rhubarb madness

When it comes to baked goods, I can pretty much be won over by anything that has rhubarb in it. Pies, cakes, muffins, you name it. I love it by itself and even more so when partnered with all manner of fruits.

Over the past week or so I was on the hunt for a good recipe to kick off a rhubarb baking spree, inspired by the gorgeous tarts I spotted on forty-sixth at grace. And while my finished product is nowhere near as dainty, I still think it's a winner.

Allow me to introduce to my rhubarb galette.

Of course, it's not really my galette, it's Martha's. In addition to this recipe I bookmarked a whole bunch more (raspberry-rhubarb tarts anyone?) that I hope to try out before the season is over.

All in all, this was pretty easy to make. The pate brisee was a little tricky for me, but it came out all right in the end. I would suggest rolling it out on the parchment paper to avoid tearing the dough when you find it's impossible to peel off your countertop... just saying. I was a bit worried it might be overly sweet, but the rhubarb definitely triumphs over the sugar and plays off the lemon juice very nicely.

I indulged this morning and had a piece for breakfast, but it would be a lovely dessert with a bit of vanilla ice cream on the side.

all these things

Today was full of all these things and more.

1. Setting our little plants outside to get used to sun and rain before we plant them. The tomatoes are positively leggy at this point, and the basil has just started to look like real plants instead of tiny sprouts. Today some romaine lettuce was added into out garden to be.

2. A rhubarb concoction that I plan to post more about tomorrow. Doesn't it look yummy?

3. A cheeping box arrived at the post office a few days ago. My brother is adding to his flock of chickens, which means that these little fluffballs are currently taking up residence in my parent's living room. They are at their very cutest right now, but they still manage to be just as canny and inquisitive as full grown chickens.