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Secret Gardens by the River

I have been doing a lot of cycling around London. My favorite ride so far has been to cycling west along the river. There are the most delightful gardens next to the Chiswick Eyot. Each one is so sweet. There are neatly trimmed hedges and wooden gates. Enormous weeping willows stand over perfectly groom flower beds. There's always a bench or a humble wooden seat. I can't imagine a better place to have tea. Each one feels like a secret garden.

Finds: for Jon

My friend Jon has become quite the cyclist in the last year. He is regularly doing 25+ mile bike rides and he recently put together his own bike. Love this mug for him.

From ABikeShop in England.

Inspiration: Liz Clark

I guess it's always hard when you are in a new place. You don't have a community yet. You don't have friends to help you laugh and de-stress. I have definitely felt like I have had some pretty depressed moments here in London. But some people make it look really easy. Like this gal, Liz Clark.

She's so inspiring! I stumbled on her blog while looking around at surfing stuff. She is a professional soul surfer who seeks out waves from her sailboat - solo. She sailed around the Pacific and logged stories from her journey along the way in her blog. I spent a couple of hours going through the backlog, and it's well worth it if you need reminding about the infinite possibilities of life.

The idea of sailing anywhere alone is pretty intimidating to me, never mind traveling in a totally foreign place alone. There's just so much to go wrong on a boat. But she doesn't seem fazed.

I have been reading a lot about healthy relationships and realizing that I need and want to be a stronger person. Reading Liz's blog definitely gave me someone to look up to.

Tutorial in progress

I'm working on a new tutorial involving embroidery floss and rhinestones! Stay tuned!

Music: The River

I can't stop listening to this song!

Whenever I am feeling depressed, all I have to do is go visit the river. It's not quite like the Hudson, but it's so calming and peaceful. My favorite is to bike along it until the city fades away.

Finds: for Lauren

My friend, Lauren, would look amazing in this vintage, cotton dress I found on Etsy today. 

From the shop GoGo Vintage.

Travel: Eastbourne, UK

I visited my cousin in Eastbourne this weekend. After a few rainy days in London, the sunshine and warm sea breeze were most welcome. The town is pretty small and easily walkable. The beach is pretty uncomfortable. It's made of large stones which aren't great for sitting, but the view is pretty great. There was a sailboat race on while we ate our fish and chips on the beach.

I'm always impressed with the color of the sea in England. Sometimes it looks down right tropical!

Garden Update: Blooming!

 My little borage plant sprung its first flower!!

Also been admiring these guys in the garden. They were a surprise, blossoming out of a pot that I thought was empty!

I fixed my bicycle!

I fixed my bicycle with the help of Sam from Micycle this weekend, and I have ridden it every day since then!

Garden Update: The lettuce is safe.

Even with all these pests eating the kale, beans, and strawberries, they've left all the lettuce alone. I don't understand it at all and it makes me wonder if the lettuce is no good to eat.

There's not a single hole in the lettuce leaves!

Finds: for Jenn

Jenn is an adventurous lady. She gave me a bear-claw shaped stone as a parting-from-NY gift. Saw these gold-dipped shark teeth necklaces on Etsy today and it reminded me of her!

From the shop TalaStone in California.

Garden Update: It's not snails.

So the egg shells did not work. I moved the strongest pot of kale inside in the hopes that whatever was munching through the leaves was an occasional visitor that would no longer be able to eat a free lunch with the plants inside.

 

Well, sadly I was wrong. Seems the lunchers have actually taken up residence  on the underside of the leaves. Most of the bugs are a slivery, white color, but this guy had spots.

 

I washed all of the bugs off when I discovered them, but alas, they seem to have come back in even great numbers! 

After a bit of internet research, it appears these are aphids. This article suggests sprtizing the leaves with a water/soap (like Dr. Bronner's) solution. That will be the next thing to try!

Garden Update: We've got holes.

 Someone or something is eating all my plants! It's really bumming me out because the bugs seem to enjoy all my favorite vegetables as much as I do.

They have already destroyed the three giant white bean plants I had going and now they have started into the Kale. I was advised if it was slugs, I should put crushed up egg shells around the plants. The shells are too pointy for the slugs to walk on, so they won't cross the barrier.

Lets hope it works!

Garden Update: It's been a hot July.

Well July has been a very hot month in the UK. Since I was in the US, I relied on my flatmates to water the plants. Unfortunately the heat still go to most of my plants. Including the lovely strawberries my aunt gave me for my birthday.

I've been nursing the roots back and this one shows signs of life! But something is eating it too. UGH.

Maine!

So I took a lil break from the blog to spend a week in Maine with the man.

We spent a couple of days at a great lil cabin on a lake near Farmington, ME.

The porch was literally on the water and had a rope swing.  We spent several glorious days, swimming in the clear, cool water of the lake, eating amazing food lovingly prepared by friends, and doing lots of laughing.

On day 4, we left the lake and headed to the coast while our friends headed home. We camped out in Acadia for a few days, hiking and sailing around the area. We even got to sail on the oldest Friendship sloop still sailing.

Our cruise was captained by a pleasant, relaxed fellow, tan from head to toe with brown hair baking to blonde. We shared it with the two oldest guys in Maine and a couple from North Carolina who have been chewing nicotine gum for 11 years after "quitting cigarettes." It was a colorful trip to say the least.

It started raining on Desert Island after 3 days there, so we headed south with no particular plan, but learned en route from a terrific radio station that one of our favorite bands, Father John Misty, was playing in Portland. We bought tickets and drove down. The show was great - he has an incredible voice - though he seems tired of touring and singing the same songs.

After the show, we sat outside on a giant concrete planter, bemoaning our inevitable fate of staying at a Super 8 or other somesuch, when out of nowhere the man recognized an old sailing buddy riding his bicycle down the street. After a quick catch up, it was clear we had found a place to stay and a fabulous host.

After a terrific evening, we extended our vacation by several days to hang out with our host and his friends as they showed us all around Portland. We ate lots of good food and swam in the ocean.

Could not have asked for a better trip!

Climb to Indian Head

The man and I went hiking up Indian Head mountain this weekend. It was about a five mile hike. It took us all afternoon to climb the 1500'+ up and then down. We saw some beautiful sites. Like this lovely view of the Catskills.

Yeah, we did get rained on a little.

We also saw three snakes. Including this guy.

I nearly stepped on his friend when we came upon a sunny rock over looking the mountains. We wanted to stop and eat our lunch there, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw a snake slither into the bushes, which prompted us to look around a little and that's when we saw this fellow. I believe this and the other snake are both harmless garter snakes, but we weren't sure at the time. Plus that first snake ended up coming right back out of the bushes to check us out, so we felt like we were encroaching on their territory. 

We saw another snake at the next vista, which I think was probably a ribbon snake because it had yellow stripes. But any way you cut it, these snakes really messed up our lunch plans. We had to stop in the woods on a damp, shady rock. 

She swims!

My at home screenprinting screen has dried and today I printed this lil tote bag with my mermaid screen!

A few details got left out and I had to paint them on by hand, so I think in the long run, she is too detailed to make a great at-home screen. Plus, don't her hands look a little weird?

I think next is trying out the leaf design!

At home screenprinting

 I've been reading tutorials around the interwebs and in books about at home screen printing and decided to try my hand at the embroidery hoop + mod podge method.

I've read this method is great for a quick and easy screen, but not so good for fine details. I drew out two designs. One is of a mermaid and one is a set of leaves (which I think will make a nice repeating pattern). The mermaid is drying now. Can't wait to see if she will print well!

Lights, camera...

Here she is in action, on set! OMG - my stuff is Hollywood now!!