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Hummers

The summer heat is waning a little bit here in Atlanta. I can wake up in the early morning and enjoy some temps in the mid-seventies before we wind up at a full heat blast in the afternoon. The slightly cooler temps have brought the smallest of local birds to my yard. These are all ruby-throated hummingbirds. There are four in my yard, and they’re all very feisty. They spend their day guzzling sugar water and then dive bombing each other. It’s great.

They are one of the small joys in my day. A blip in my periphery that brings an outsized amount of joy for what little time and space they take up. :)

August 17, 2020

Art

John Lewis

Death has a way of refocusing the attention on the span of someone’s life and John Lewis has a timeline for the history books. He knew progress is built on one another’s shoulders, and never lost sight of the fact that the burdens of progress are best carried by strong community.

‘I say to people today, ‘You must be prepared if you believe in something. If you believe in something, you have to go for it. As individuals, we may not live to see the end.’

I drew his portrait today while I thought about his legacy. Thank you Rep Lewis, Rest in Power.

July 19, 2020

Art

Drawing

I’ve been working on my tablet drawing skills in Procreate! I started at the beginning of quarantine, and I feel like I’ve come a long way in being comfortable in the medium. My flower garden is inspring me to draw and I made this pretty pattern today. :)

I’m thinking maybe I’ll order some things from Spoonflower with some of my work and decorate my home that way! I love personal things. We’ll see!

July 5, 2020

Photography

Succulents

Another component in my garden is the collection of succulents I have. There are several living under my covered patio enjoying the Georgia summer heat.

Their soft pastels are easy on the eyes – and their symmetry is pleasing. They’re also not needy at all and a spritz from the mist setting on my hose keeps them happy.

I think I might try propagating a few of the succulent petals towards the end of the summer – which would mean I’d have entire families of echeveria — my favorite plant of this type.

Growing anything in your garden?

June 30, 2020

Photography

Cosmos & Zinnia

This year we built two garden beds and I filled them with Cosmos, Zinnia, and Sunflowers. The Cosmos and Zinnia flowers are from my childhood – a memory of a garden between my parents’ and my aunt’s home in 90’s Roswell, GA.

The gardens have done really well – and I am blessed with abundant blooms from the cosmos! Going a little slower but looking super-promising, the Zinnia have popped a few pretty colors.

Something I really like about this garden is that it attracts tons of insects — bees, grasshoppers, beetles, and ants. They all find something beneficial in this miniature ecosystem – and take it to enrich the greater natural world in a little way.

Also it super helps that the cosmos is an endless supply of cut flowers to bring inside the home.

I feel the cosmos is going to be a yearly staple in this backyard. :)

June 28, 2020

Photography

Pie

Jeremy’s straight up gotten into Pie’s and he kinda skipped the beginner phase? Two dog themed pies for some good friends went out yesterday!

Anyway – I love his baked goods but I think I’ve put on a couple lbs out of the ordinary since this has become a habit. It’s been a joy to photograph them too – I love putting my little sprinkle of love for him into the photographs of his passions.
We are pulling all the good we can out of the days this year. Counting our blessings, and baking a few too.

June 26, 2020

Life

Looking Up

A few things have happened lately that has me smiling.

First, my husband has turned into an amazing baker. Jeremy’s always had a great cooking skill and passion within him but the recent extension into baking has been pretty great. Two things he’s made lately that are delicious and also a hit with friends are the Cinnamon Star and a Chocolate Babka. In fact, we’ve opened up a little ordering business – @thebakingstone – and I am hoping we can fill orders for our friends and loved ones.

Second, I am no longer furloughed. Although it’s meant that I’ve found a job somewhere else, I am ready to feel a sense of productivity and structure again. I’ll post more about this great new position soon, once I’ve started. :)

May 29, 2020

Travel

Missing Travel

Travel was a big part of our lives. We were just getting ramped up to attempt to hit a major destination every 3 months. We’d both worked our careers to get to the right amounts of time off and worked on our finances so it was going to be a consistent pattern through the remainder of our 30’s. Then came the unexpected pandemic, my furlough, travel bans and quarantines. But.. I am thankful we got to go to Hawaii the couple of weeks before the pandemic really shut down travel. It was a lucky break… but now, after two additional trips we had planned have been cancelled, I can’t help but feel a sense of loss.

I can’t wait until I can hop into a seat on an airplane, again.

May 21, 2020

Entertainment

Animal Crossing

I’ve been having a lot of fun playing Animal Crossing. It’s an unassuming game with no real time constraints and loads of community interaction. You design and setup your own island, complete with neighbors and plenty to build. Visiting other friends’ and strangers islands also provides enriching gameplay with builders recipes to collect and island after island of customized layouts to explore. I’ve really enjoyed it. At first I tried playing it like an economy game – planting money making trees everywhere and fishing, catching bugs, and digging up everything that could net me a few “bells” – the in game currency. I have taken it down a notch and now play it a little more like it’s intended – slowly and intentionally. Here’s a few scenes from my gameplay!