Bread Patchwork

My children and I pieced and sewed together on Sunday morning (I did all of the rotary cutting). We had great fun choosing the fabric and even more fun playing with how the squares of color and pattern would work together and be put together (a mini art lesson). I finished this bread quilt (pattern and instructions here from Blue Yonder). We did not quilt the top yet, but I may go back and hand quilt it. Machine quilting still scares me.

All on her own, my daughter finished one to give to her grandmother. My son is still sewing his, with more than a little help from me, to give to his teddy bear, Sammy. The bread is Portuguese White Bread from our favorite bread machine cookbook. It is the standard recipe that we make several times a week.

My daughter took the first photo, and my son took the second photo.

Green Around the Yard

A Green Anole-- one of hundreds in our yard

Our tomatoes. . .

Our 4 varieties of basil-- sweet, purple ruffle, holy (tall and in the center of the pot), and pesto perpetuo (variegated)

Sidewalk Sunflower

Growing from a crack in the pavement and concrete in back of Thalia Mara Hall in downtown Jackson-- sunflowers! Did the seed drop from a bird who perched above, a wedding send-off from a reception at the next-door Mississippi Museum of Art, or a slipped-away snack from someone coming and going? In any case, it is lovely, and I hope that it doesn't get chopped down before it opens. I hope that the sunflowers we have started from seeds and transplanted will grow as well.

A Summer Friday

A puppet show in the morning. . .

Gardening for lunch. . .

Swimming in the afternoon. . .

A perfect summer day.

gARTening

gardening + art = gARTening!

We've been doing more gardening this year than ever-- at home and at school. I planted an eggplant, cucumber, sunflower, and watermelon plants yesterday afternoon and spent some time weeding the herb bed. We planted a thriving bean plant that my daughter had started from seed for a classroom science lesson during the last weeks of school. I also started a few more seeds in soil where the previous seeds did not germinate. Tomorrow, we meet to kick-off the summer school garden at Casey Elementary. On this rainy and overcast day, the children painted two clay pots for planting a seed in to bring home to raise.

GARTening is my new word to describe the intersections of gardening and art. I thought I might have made up something clever, but a search on Google revealed that the Art Museum at the University of Kentucky and Arboretum in Lexington, Kentucky, is already using this term. Garden in German is also spelled "garten."

Gardening is both a domestic art and a scientific art. Around here, it is providing inspiration for knitting and sewing projects, painted flower pots, journals, drawings, and photographs. Hopefully, these projects will also lead to writing (another art). It also helps with the physical arts of keeping our bodies healthy through exercise, hard work, and delicious, nutritious things to eat.

"The greatest gift of the garden is the restoration of the five senses."
~Hanna Rion

"In my garden there is a large place for sentiment. My garden of flowers is also my garden of thoughts and dreams. The thoughts grow as freely as the flowers, and the dreams are as beautiful."
~Abram L. Urban

Turkey Twilight

I took an early evening walk yesterday as the sun was starting to disappear and filter through the trees at beautiful angles. Dinner was about 20 to 30 minutes away, and as is often the case in summer with the children home, my daily walk doesn't always happen. I laced up my walking shoes and made my exit.

Down the hill and around the bend, the one-footed, neighborhood turkey was out looking for his/her? own dinner. I had seen this turkey once before a few months ago at a similar time of day and heard about it through our neighborhood e-mail list, but I was surprised that she was still around. I raced home to get my camera and the children so that they could see. Turkeys in urban neighborhoods are not that common!

After getting the children to bed, I stepped back outside to see the moon shining through the live oak in our front yard and the lamp light glowing through the front doorway windows. I've always loved walking in the early evening, peering into the glows of other houses from the street to see what people are doing by their own lamp lights. Eating dinner? Watching TV? Sewing at the dining room table? Having a party? Reading a book? Blogging about a turkey?

Tree

Light of June

shining through
leaves of green
with persimmon
and cherry.
My friend
in
summer.