The Amazing Mr. Finch

Oh, Mr. Finch.  How do I love thee?  There are so, so many ways...

...for the meticulously hand-sewn gills on the undersides of your mushrooms...

...for your dead-gorgeous spider with crooked legs of wire and teeny shell-buttoned posterior...

...for your sweetly macabre hand-painted trophy-mount rabbit torsos...

...for your way with the creepy and crawly, making it so utterly frighteningly lovely...

...for your hand-sized moths stitched from odd bits of upholstery and velvet...

...for your barn owl under a glass cloche with black kohl eyes...

...and for your beautiful vintage tapestry, rainy-water-stained butterflies (and your artful ways with a photo prop)...

These are but a few of the creatures the genius Mr. Finch brings into being from his self-described "rainy fairy-tale mind."  Mr. Finch is a British textile-artist, who stitches away to the sound of rain, in the companionship of his cats, whilst drinking cups of tea.  I wish I could find a corner of his studio in which to crouch and watch him stitch away for all the hours of a gray and dreamy afternoon.

You can see more of Mr. Finch's creations here, learn more about him and his creations at his blog, and peruse his fantastic creations (or buy your own!) in his Etsy shop.  Enjoy!

A Glut of Tomatoes

Our tomatoes around here have been a little lazy about getting around to ripening, but suddenly we have heirloom tomatoes stacking up on the window sills and tumbling out of overly full bowls on the counter.  Each day is another day to find a way to use fresh tomatoes in whatever we are cooking--this morning, it was in my most favorite ever omelette.  What we do not eat, I am slow-roasting and freezing for later, less seasonable enjoyment (honestly, one of of the loveliest ways to save tomatoes--sort of like sun-dried, but less chewy, and sweeter--read more about it here).  

What are your favorite things to do with a crazy glut of tomatoes?

9 Projects: Back-to-School-ish Things to Make

First day of school for Beeper here in Minneapolis, and I am feeling a little blah that it is already the end of summer.  How did that happen?  I kind of want to have a little tantrum--lay down and kick my feet and demand another vanilla vodka lemonade and a swim in the lake--know what I mean?  But, I am yanking up my boot straps and trying to get myself some back-to-school-ish inspiration.  How about that lovely vintage book as a retro-fitted drawing caddy?Or those pencils remade with washi-tape (hello 10-minute-project)?  Or those clever fruit stickers for a brown bag lunch-time surprise?  Or a couple of blanket-stitched felt hearts to tuck in a pocket for a bit of love throughout the day? Or those charming animal face barrettes for some elementary-school-day style?  Pretty, colorful, cool--right?  

Here are all the project links for you to get your own back-to-blah, I mean -school, groove on:

Project Links (clockwise from top left): DIY Activity Book by Cosmo Cricket; Map of the USA Jigsaw Puzzle by Mr Printables; Fruit Stickers by Oh Happy Day; Washi Tape Decorative Pencils by The Confetti Sunshine Blog; First-Day-of-School Pocket Hearts by Curly Birds; Scrappy Felt iPad Cover by My Poppet; Healthy Breakfast Cookies by Blueberry Girl; Sweet Animal Barrettes by Gingermelon Dolls;  No Sew Colored Pencil Roll from Small & Friendly

Eat This: Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Last summer, when we visited Madeline Island, we had the pleasure of meeting a friend's 11-year-old niece, Lily.  She was a caring baby sitter, a fearless cliff jumper (evidence here, 3rd photo from the bottom), and a happy baker of this bread--which she made from memory.  We were quite smitten with her, as well as this chocolate zucchini bread.  We ate it for breakfast, mid-afternoon snacks with tea, and for dessert--we ate so much of it, we actually had to ask her if she would kindly bake a second batch.  Then we asked for the recipe.  

So, here it is--for all of you.  Because it is high zucchini season and gives you something delicious to do with a glut of zucchini--or with that enormous foot long zucchini you see at the farmer's market for $1.  

You can whip the batter together in 15 minutes--grating the zucchini is the hardest part, although, really--how hard is it to grate a zucchini?  Exactly. (You should know that you can grate your zucchini and freeze it for use later in the year for this bread too--it will seem watery when you thaw it out but throw it all in and it will work just as well as freshly grated zucchini).

I admit I did add an extra tablespoon of cocoa powder and an extra 1/2 tsp of vanilla to her recipe--just because it makes the flavor a little deeper.  Oh, okay--I also added an extra 1/4 cup of chocolate chips--no need to get technical. (my modifications are included in the recipe)

I made one large loaf of this bread--as opposed to dividing it between a couple of pans.  If you make one large loaf, you will have to watch the baking time and stick it with a skewer to check that it is cooked through--mine took about 1 hour and 15 minutes but I think I could have given it another 5-10 minutes because it was just a little gooey in a small spot in the center.

We brought this on a picnic and served it up for dessert topped with whipped cream and fresh strawberries.  Then we ate the remainders straight up for breakfast.  Don't tell anyone I said so, but it is also really good with store bought chocolate frosting slathered on top--and just think, because it has all that zucchini in it, you can still count it as a serving of vegetables.

DOWNLOAD CHOCOLATE ZUCCHINI BREAD RECIPE

Read This: The Ledgerbook of Thomas Blue Eagle

This is the most beautiful story book I have ever owned or seen--anywhere--ever--full stop.  When I picked it up in a gift shop in South Dakota and opened it, the world around me got a little quieter and the colors in the illustrations poured in through my eyes and caught in my throat.   Beginning to read the story itself, I was instantly captured.  It is The Ledgerbook of Thomas Blue Eagle by Gay Matthaei and Jewel Grutman, with illustrations by Adam Cvijanovic.  Let me tell you a little bit about it.

First of all, you should know that the story is fictious, but is based around actual historical events (historical fiction for kids!).  Arthur Amiotte, a respected elder in the Sioux tribe, a historian and an educator, was a direct consultant to this book.  The story itself is told via the journals of Thomas Blue Eagle.  He tells of his beloved horse (Two Painted Horse), and describes his life in the Sioux tribe (learning to shoot his bow, hunting buffalo, seeing a white man for the first time and thinking he was sick because he was so pale), all told in vibrant pictographic illustrations, much like the images once painted on skins by Plains Indians to preserve stories of historical events.

You learn of the great vision Thomas has while hiding in a tree during a Crow raid on his people, and how Thomas earns his name "Blue Eagle."  Eventually, as foretold by an elder, white settlers begin to arrive which creates many hardships for the Sioux.  The buffalo upon which they are dependent begin to disappear, and their tribe is moved to a reservation.  Treaties are made and broken, and war breaks out.

After a soldier approaches his family, Thomas Blue Eagle is moved the Carlisle School in Pennsylvania.  There Thomas is taught the white man's ways, but he also continues to preserve a connection to his native life through his journals and drawings--and also through his friendships with other Native American students from other tribes. Eventually, Thomas Blue Eagle returns home, and to the way of life he is most connected.

Perhaps you can see that everything about this book suggests that it is an actual journal-it is lined like a ledger book, the text appears hand-written, and the pages are yellowed and aging.  The book's blue covers are cloth-bound with a beautiful stamped border, and rounded corners.  The book looks authentic, and if you are familiar with early U.S. history, you will recognize certain events--making this so much more than just a child's storybook. Find a copy at your local library, buy your own here--or whatever works for you--but I hope you will just have a look, because it is amazing.

Is It Really July Already?

On the Way to South Dakota

Cathedral Spire Formations in the Black Hills

Mule Deer at Custer

Sylvan Lake in Custer

Wild Burro Greeting at the Car Window

Beeper Moment at Mount Rushmore

Mountain Meadow in the Rockies

Rocky Mountain Overlook

Elk in the Mountains

Hike to The Loch

The Loch

Hi.  Here I am.  Back again with my fully functioning camera--see?   Is it really already mid-July?  I feel like I fell into a very humid, very hot hole over here in this place we call summer in Minnesota.  I missed you, dear blog and lovely blog-readers, but it has just been curiously difficult to find my way back here.  Want to know what I have been doing all this time?  Well, we painted almost the whole of our downstairs in various shades of slate and heavy-cream, put chalkboard paint all over the ugly half-bathroom door to encourage bathroom-stall style graffiti, framed some prints that have been lurking in their poster tubes for months (years?), planted some veggies (chard, couple kinds of melon, and all the other usual suspects of tomatoes, peppers, zucchini), got real cozy with my iPad, and then headed out for a 10-day summer road trip to The Rocky Mountains via the Black Hills.

I really, really fell hard for Custer State Park--the free-range wild life everywhere (buffalo shuffling through our camp site during the night, burros greeting us at out car window, stopping for pronghorn lazily crossing back into waving prairie grass), swimming in the breath-takingly gigantic boulder strewn lakes, the various resorts that put me in mind of 1950's-style summer camps.  Then we drove onto the larger-than-life Rockies where we hiked, swam, ate homemade ice cream, slept, then did it again the next day.  You can see more photos of the Black Hills, here, and the Rockies, here (including my Instagram photos which I uploaded to my Flickr--I have become very sweet on the immediacy of whipping out your phone to grab a photo out the car window of the passing landscape and the snappy photo editing all right there).

I tell myself that my plan is to ease into blogging this month--sort of like how you slither down into a really hot bath.  But who knows, maybe I will just take a running jump off the dock, right into the deep end....it does feel good to be here again.  Little bit like coming home.

Camera (and blog): Temporarily Out of Order

Here's the story: One day last week I was taking photos of some candies I was making for Easter--recipes to be shared here--and my shutter just quit working after I snapped off about two photos.  I am told by the camera experts this is not good news--at all.  I am told to expect camera repair bills upwards of $200.  I am told my camera may be out of commission for 6-8 weeks while it is being repaired.  

So, I guess that leaves me to tell all of you that I will not be around here the next few weeks while I await the repair of my beloved camera.  I am taking this as an opportunity to finally do some of that work around my house I have been meaning to do--painting, repairing cracks in plaster, making some new roman blinds for our bedroom...without the happy distraction of this blog and my camera sidekick.

I have lots of blogging plans though for the summer--some new toy designs, new tutorials already in the works...so, really, please consider this an extended spring break.  Me and my camera--once recovered--will return.  See you in early June and enjoy your spring.