Summer in Brooklyn has been relatively mild, but this week is shaping up to be one of the stickiest yet. We had a busy, but quick weekend that ended up being kind of amazingly domestic (we don’t always work around here, although…).
We took advantage of the really amazing variety of produce that is coming to the greenmarket now (in addition to our CSA share) and picked up a bunch of tiny cucumbers for making pickles. We have to let these guys sit for 8 weeks, but may have to make some refrigerator pickles in the meantime so we have at least a little preview!
I also managed to get a few of those blueberries taken care of from our weekend in Providence, although there are still a few pounds to tackle. On Saturday, I made 6 pints of blueberry jam. Since pectin is scarce in Brooklyn, I tried using grated apple peel in place of the powdered pectin…it helped, but let’s just say we have a very nice blueberry sauce/syrup on our hands, rather than thick jam.
We also tackled one of the first of a few apartment improvement projects and painted the largest wall in our living room – nothing drastic, just a sandy color so that it’s not plain white, but it makes a huge difference and makes the whole room feel a little calmer and more put together. Let’s just say a nesting instinct is definitely kicking in.
Finally, I did take a little time last Friday to print up a few new cards. My mom mentioned (again!) how much she likes the handwriting cards I first did in January. I had several cards left from that run earlier in the year that were just printed with “congratulations”, “thank you”, and “you’re amazing” without images yet and decided to print that new little octopus on some of them. I also did a few octopi with dark blue “oceans of love” text. My great grandmother used to sign her letters to my mom, “Oceans of love!”…what can I say, we’re an enthusiastic bunch!
New cards & mixing colors…and a few of the new cards are up on Etsy, with more coming soon!
And, because my Grandfather Bud would have been 86 today, a little Robert Service, whose poems he loved.
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