Hi kids!

Back from another car-free weekend with my honey. The more we do these weekends, the easier it is. I'm getting used to using my bicycling muscles (bit by bit) although C is in much better condition to do the more strenuous rides (a more strenuous but well worth it round trip 10.5 miles to get the best free range eggs in town).

Between the 2 of us, we have more crap than Sanford and Son, so this weekend was dedicated to house cleaning. In our spare time we cooked up a storm, rode our bikes to the grocery store and video store.
(Beer bread, clafoutis, roasted vegetables, roasted beet soup, poached eggs, zucchini fritters. . .)

With time left over for wild blackberry harvesting. If you've never had a blackberry, soft and fragile, bursting with dark purple juice, you need to walk. Walk til you find that wild patch, and lose yourself in searching for one of the sweetest treasures of summer. Stain your hands with the juices as it dribbles. Let it remind you of the time invested in finding it, of the moments savoring them . Wild blackberries, fresh and simple, are a true food experience.

In between baking, I spent my minutes dredging up the drawing monster. Well, not so much dredging, the only difficulty of drawing is sitting still.

But even then, I discovered something. Gastropods are more gorgeous than I'd ever realized. Slugs and snails, with their slimy trails and propensity for my garden fresh veggies, warrant little desire in me. Until I think about how amazing they are in their simple, but complex, structures. It amazes me every time I start researching a new poster the crazy colors and forms found in nature. Nudibranchs in particular. No, despite the name, if you Google them you shouldn't come up with anything naughty. So if you haven't hugged a gastropod lately, let me tell you, there is something there worthy of embracing.

*links*to*love*

MayaMade's barn redo (via Design*Sponge)

Saga Living's Marimekko Summer Sale!