Perfectly Summer

A cool breeze and sunny skies. It's my perfect day.

Watched: Shroud for a Nightingale by PD James with Roy Marsden. It's got a solid cast, but was shot on cheap video stock with the annoying glare factor. Marsden's Dalgliesh is very dry and clipped in this effort. It feels like it must be one of the earlier ones they shot of the novels.

Read: A Mortal Curiosity by Ann Granger. The two narrators are slightly annoying, but I love the image of the two Victorian maiden aunts who dress in matching gowns.

In the dye pot: Green tea was a bust, but at least it will have helped mordant the fabric. I boiled up some elecampane heads, but the color was brackish yellow/brown so what the heck, I added oregon grape berry juice and the color on cotton came out a lovely lavender grey. I've put some silk in a jar with this dye. One of the bundles was wrapped around a burdock root which definitely gave off a yellow hue.

Craving: Ever since the tequila shots at the Blim opening on Friday I am craving margueritas. So today I brewed some lemon verbena tea and squeezed in lime juice sweetened with a bit of agave nectar and poured over sparkling water. Very refreshing. The food on Friday was incredible. I'll have to post the menu. I'm also craving salad with a Vietnamese dressing and that Hawaiian raw fish salad Michael made on Friday. Awesome.

Cloudy with a Chance of Sunshine

Another overcast July morning, but I'm okay with that. As long as the sun makes an appearance for an hour or two to prevent that mouldy thing from happening on my leaves. Ack, I've aphasia-ed on the name of that condition.

Summer reading: All the Colours of Darkness by Peter Robinson who is perhaps my favourite Canadian mystery writer.

Mangia: Panna Cotta from Commissaire with fresh Hungarian sour cherries.

In the dye pot: cotton simmered in green tea powder--no, not matcha, but that's the colour I want to achieve. I had some old green tea powder in my kitchen and the colour is a muddy green, but it will work as an underdye, j'espere.

Muggy with Sunshine

Reading: Dark Road to Darjeeling by Deanna Raybourne: A historical romance mystery. I'm just in it for the tea.

Just finished a book by Norwegian mystery author Karin Fossum: Bad Intentions. This is a good summer read with deftly drawn characters. It always irks me when authors don't tell us what the characters look like and Fossum paints a picture.

I also just got out copious books on dyes and Catherine lent me a couple of lovely books, one on Russian fabrics and on by Wade Davis, an ethnobotanist.

Watching: Dalziel and Pascoe, Season 1

Dye Pot: Madder (from Maiwa) with cotton mordanted with tannin and alum

Dye jars: mordanted cotton with viola ice dye.

Craving: Sour cherries

Making: A chocolate mango ice cream cake for Ules' b-day.

Rainy Summer Days

Read this week: The Seance by John Harwood, a good novel if you are in the mood for a Victorian tale within a tale. I love the paper cut illustration on the cover by Niroot Puttapipat. Here's a link to an image of the paper cut used for the cover. Here's a link to the image on the cover.

Watching: Monk: Season Five--Tony Shaloub is one of the great comedians of our age. He's so much fun to watch.

In the dye jar: cotton in black currant juice--some cloth mordanted with alum, some with tannin.

In the oven: Sour cherry rustic tart made with Hungarian sour cherries purchased at UBC Farm from an orchard near Oyama. I wish I'd bought more as they are the most delicious cherries I have ever tasted.

What I've been reading: Midnight Fugue, by Reginald Hill
A nice, tight novel-- I grow more and more fond of Dalziel over the years. Pascoe needs to lighten up, though and could be much more than just a foil to the big guy.

Crime Machine by Giles Blunt: The novel was very twisted tale set in Northern Ontario in winter with an exploration of the fur industry. Blunt and Louise Penny are two of my favorite Canadian mystery writers. No surprise there.

What I've been watching: The 39 Steps, by Alfred Hitchcock. This spy movie is one of his earlier films, with an interesting documentary on the disc about how Hitchcock was influenced by German cinema and his Jesuit upbringing. I love the physical comedy he throws in to chase scenes, for instance when the two fugitives are locked together with handcuffs and they get tangled in a fence.

What's in the dye pot: Cotton and linen wrapped around rose leaves, lupin leaves, and black tea leaves in a tannin mordant. (Boiled today.)

What's curing: Eucalyptus leaves, false indigo leaves and pods, rusty nails, copper wire, wrapped in cotton and cotton blend with an alum mordant. (Steamed two days ago.)

My New Obsession

Tonight I started my first eco-print experiments based on India Flint's technique. I had such fun poking through the bits of rusty metal I've dug out of the garden over the years. (I knew I saved those for a reason!) Our work party got rained out this morning, but I puttered around the MOP and brought back a couple of plants to experiment with. I bought a big old dye pot at the Salvation Army and steamed some wrapped cotton bundles in an alum mordent. I'm so excited! My beloved says "I'm glad you've found a new obsession." Me too.

The Hammer

One of my friends wryly calls me "The Hammer", which is quite appropriate these days because I am hammering flowers in my backyard. Yes, it sounds a bit mad, but it is a way of making flower prints on paper and fabric as I learned from India Flint's book.

Yesterday I said I was back to normal and rested, but today I reverted back to feeling my art lag. I spent most of the day researching garden blogs online. This is a whole new world that has opened up to me and I am searching for a blog list of kindred spirits, particularly in the Pacific Northwest.

Monday often goes either high or low energy for me, there is no inbetween. Mondays and Tuesdays are usually prep days for me and today I got materials ready for a workshop I'm teaching at Moberly on Wednesday for the summer camp. I'm really looking forward to getting into the herb garden and working with the kids.

Thursday is a work party at MOP. I'll let you folks know the details if you want to come out and pull weeds with us. In the meantime I am spending many hours watering the four gardens I am responsible for helping out with this summer. A happy task.

Shetland Mysteries

I've just read Anne Cleeves's new mystery, Blue Lightening. I thought it wasn't as good as her other books. The main murder victim especially seemed cardboard and two dimensional. I like the setting of her novels on the Shetlands and found the references to the birding culture very engaging, but the characters weren't up to scratch.

I also read Shadow, by Karin Alvtegen, a Swedish mystery quite different from the rest of the Scandi pack. This is not my favorite kind of mystery, heavy on soap opera with characters you don't really care about because they are so self-involved. There are so many people trapped in unhappy lives in this novel it lacks a grounded character, and it makes for depressing summer reading with a melodramatic climax. The ending is somewhat predictable because you get a sense of what the novel is building towards long before it happens.

I watched Broken Flowers by Jim Jarmusch. Not much there to see folks, except good performances by the women in between long stretches of very dull scenes with Bill Murry and his friend Winston. Ho. Hum.

I am feeling more like myself after a week off, and had a great time at a garden work party yesterday. I love the feeling of community, working outdoors, sharing knowledge, and making things grow.

Today's Happiness Is

A grilled cheese sandwich, glass of dry French rosé and a Henning Mankell novel: The Man Who Smiled. The weather has turned cool(er) and drizzly which is a relief after the yesterday's heat. Peter baked the potatoes I bought at the market yesterday and I scarfed them with salmon and creme fraîche. I spent hours on cleaning house today and finally feel as though I'm close to catching up on it. Although I am on a week off, I end up spending a lot of time on e-mails fielding volunteer requests.

James Bond and Co.

I watched Quantum of Solace last night and in a bizarre way I really enjoyed the fast-paced action thriller. I don't like the car chases and carnage, but I like the plot, the jet-setting and the S. E. X. Daniel Craig is too sexy.

I have also been watching Hitchcock: Rebecca, which has acting that dates it, but the lovely influence of Hitch, who is an incredible visual storyteller. I am also watching episodes of "Hitchcock Presents." It's so fun to see famous actors in their youth--Chloris Leachman et al.

I'm desperately seeking summer novels. Action and plot, people, I need movement!