Busy as the bees…

This has turned out to be a very busy summer, and I feel like the bees I see working about me as I work in my garden and walk about this fair city of mine this month. Already we’ve made our new yearly pilgrimage to the mountains to celebrate another year together; wandered among the fairies and flowers out at Summer’s Past Farm; ventured into the heat and dust and local plants down in Old Town Historical Park; trekked to the very tip-top of Cowles Mountain; tried to get over my fear of Zombies by going to see World War Z (it was really good!); ushered in a new era of teaching with a new classroom for the Learned Boy; took a few whacks at an overgrown-but-beloved family backyard; and begun the now-firmly-entrenched-yearly- tradition of The Summer Reading List.
A list!  Let’s make one, shall we?
Mad Hungry Craving by Lucinda Scala Quinn- Love her no nonsense-I’ve-seen-it-all-because-I-feed-boys “voice”, lots of fried, meat centric, basic food.
Blue Eggs and Yellow Tomatoes by Jeanne Kelly- Unfortunately, I picked this one based on the title and the cover picture and was thoroughly disappointed. Not enough pictures inside, pages filled with negative space, formatted into a huge, unwieldy book. Liked the pizza section though.
The Four Season Farm Gardener’s Cookbook by Barbara Damrosch and Eliot Coleman- Love it! Part gardening book, part beautifully inspiring cookbook, it’s a fun, interesting look at practical gardening. Yummy dessert section, too.
River Cottage Everyday; River Cottage Veg; The River Cottage Family Cookbook by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall- these books make me long to visit England and experience the restaurant for myself. And cook Nettles and Ferns and make yogurt and bread all day long…
The Farm by Ian Knauer- So much beautiful food, essays on farming and a bit of foodie-centric recipes made this a fun book to read. Loved the section on pickling and canning. And Sour Cream Ice Cream…
The Homemade Pantry by Alana Chernila is just plain magic. Make your own everything- crackers, ketchup, soda (!!!) and take back control of your food.
Eat Greens by Barbara Scott-Goodman is  a lovely little book arranged by type of vegetable, giving several recipes for each. Loved the section on cooking with herbs- lots of good sauces, marinades and butters. Excellent ideas for summer cooking, too.
Green Market Baking Book by Laura C. Martin- I want this book for my collection. Alternatives for commercial ingredients, farmers market-based recipes, and tons of reasons to go locally organic. I cannot wait to make the Maple Ice Cream this fall…
And last, but never least: Home From the Sea by Mercedes Lackey. Last years entry in her Elemental Masters series, a very moving tale based on the Selkie mythology. With guest appearances by Robin GoodFellow, mystical Indian Warrior companions, coracles, steam engines and assorted old myths and legends from days gone by…
Whew! I didn’t intend to read all of these at once, but the public and county library systems are on it this year, and they all came in the same week. Glad I ordered them though- lots of new ideas, facts, recipes and story ideas are swirling around this old noggin, jumpstarting some exciting new projects for the summer.
Now, if I could just get those Faeries to help out in the garden this summer instead of just making dresses from all the flower blossoms…

skimming the light fantastic. . .

Do you read? Do you have time to read?

I do. And lately, I’ve had even more time on my hands than I have books to read. I’ve been sicker lately than I’ve been in a loong time: I’ve had the flu, a common cold, then sick again from the antibiotics they saw fit to proscribe me when I’d had enough of the coughing/no sleep/throwing up/headaches etc. that have plagued me since Thanksgiving.

But I digress. I have been reading lately. So much time spent just lying in bed, sitting on the couch, struggling to keep my eyes open through one more chapter.

So, what have I been reading?

I read and enjoyed Mercedes Lackey’s new Beauty and the Werewolf- anything that has a fairy godmother, herb women, stillrooms, invisible servants and heroines who would much rather wear plain-and-sturdy-but-pretty-workclothes than frothy dance dresses is a must read for me. Loved it! and the story had some cool plot twists, too.

Seanan Mcguire’s One Salt Sea was completely devoured in a day and a half, it was so good. Her writing style- that familiar tone, dry humour, and clever twists on stereotypical-noir-archetypes-as-mythological-creatures is still just as fresh as her first October Daye novel. Makes me want to head up to San Francisco to find a knowe for myself!

Tanya Huff’s The Wild Ways however- that’s the first fantasy book I’ve given up on in a long time. I really enjoyed The Enchantment Emporium, but not this one- it is built on too much inside information, too many sly references to what, I still can’t say. I liked the characters, the writing is solid, but the storyline is just too full of references that I can’t follow. I’ll return to it later, after I’ve had a chance to do some research into her other books- maybe it’s an offshoot of some other series? hmm. . .

Then there’s the research I've been doing. A little architecture/design school- basically just two books on the Prairie School, but so far I’m not liking what I see about it.One is a very dry book published in the ‘70’s, and the other one is a coffee table book from 2008. But it’s been enough to make me realize that I’m more an Arts & Crafts, William Morris kind of girl at heart. I’ve also been doing lots of research on gardening, in general and also container gardens, patio and balcony gardens, herb gardens- the local librarians are sure there’s a commercial enterprise starting up in the neighborhood somewhere, I’ve ordered so many books! Nothing too special here so far, I just like looking at the pretty pictures and plot schematics . . .

Speaking of Herbs, I’ve been looking at Herbals like Rosemary Gladstone’s Family Herbal, Lesley Tierra’s Kid’s Herb Book, and Raleigh Briggs’ Make Your Place: Affordable & Sustainable Nesting Skills. All of them are lovely to look at and read, lots of good solid information, and are a wonderful choice if your interested in either medicinal use or gardening info.

Yup, it’s been all books, all the time around the ol’ homestead! Let’s see if I can rustle up some sewing projects for next weeks’ post, shall we?