We spent a sunny morning biking around the carriage trails in Acadia National Park, making a loop from Jordan Pond up to Eagle Lake, then Bubble Pond, then back down to the Jordan Pond House just in time for lunch. We got to sit on the lawn overlooking the lake having their famous popovers and tea. Really was a perfect day, even though the kids were not so much into the biking at first. Eventually, they did warm up and have a good time, but I'll be honest, the first hour there was lots of walking the bikes up hills and lots pleading and begging and cheerleading on our parts to just try riding the bike, please!! Well, no one promised family vacations would be easy and all's well that ends well, I say. A bit more on Maine tomorrow.

Also: Justine from Designskool featured our gray house on her blog this week. I love her take on it!

And: I'm thrilled to have my red stripe tote bag included in the Poppytalk Lookbook for July!

I've been away in Maine for the last couple of days vacationing on Mount Desert Island. We stayed in Acadia National Park, camping for a couple of nights. The weather started out as torrential rain for our six hour drive north, then tapered off to drizzle and fog for the next day. The last two days were sunny and glorious. But honestly, it was nice to see the island in both rain and shine. It's gorgeous either way. I'm feeling a tiny bit blue to be back in the city, and I think I will need another nature hit very soon! More Maine photos tomorrow....

I spent yesterday afternoon making jam. It took about a hour, maybe two tops. I didn't use a recipe with pectin or do the whole sterilizing/sealing jars thing figuring I'd only be making about 3 jars and they will be eaten in the next month or so...we used half of the first jar this morning if that's any indication!

I used a recipe from my favorite Gourmet cookbook (the huge one with the yellow cover if you're wondering), which is also available on-line here.

And then my favorite easy biscuits. So good with jam, but also can be used for strawberry shortcake. Similar recipe is here.

Yesterday my work was featured on Poppytalk! Thank you, Jan and Earl!

We went strawberry picking for father's day. Now we have enough berries to make some jam and some strawberry shortcake. If this isn't a sure sign of summer, I don't know what is!

And speaking of summer, Poppytalk's summer themed market "Here Comes the Sun" opens today! I have a table there, and I took a quick browse and spotted some really fun summer stuff I'd like to point out to you all.

Great summer pint glasses from Vital Industries
Gorgeous ocean themed soft sculpture from Fog + Swell
Fun summery stationery from Pink Bathtub
Camp journal from Lazaflair (I just ordered one for my daughter!)
Beautiful bracelets from Be Charmed Designs (My birthday is coming up!)
Clever soft sculpture from Timo Handmade
Pretty artwork from Sarah Ahearn who I also know from the Squam Art Fair (Hi Sarah!)

Do have a look, there are so many great vendors there besides the ones listed here too!

Summer breakfast with fresh strawberries from the farmer's market. Local strawberry season is so fleeting! As are the peonies, they are just about gone from my garden, only a few stragglers left. First bloom of roses is just about over too, there are the petals on my sidewalk. But the roses will bloom all summer, just have to wait a week or two for the next batch to bloom. And school is almost out, next week. I need to make a summer list of things I want to do, otherwise it does just slip away....

Just added some cheery red stripe grainsack pillows to my shop. I like how they look with the subtle red stripe pillows too. They feel very summery to me. Come on summer! It's 60 degrees and cloudy in Cambridge today.

This year we've fully embraced plastic on our top porch. Plastic adirondack chairs, plastic watering can, plastic works for now. I used to be snobby about plastic, but I just don't care anymore. Lucy's bedroom overlooks the porch. It's a beautiful sunny day, but she'd rather be in her room listening to her favorite songs (or same song, played over and over). Almost a teenager...

The indoor plants are liking their new outdoors environment, just have to remind myself to water them more often.

It's really summer here, although the kids are still in school for two more weeks. I'm trying to get into summer cooking mode. The farmer's market near our house has started up, so that helps. I'm not much of a summer cook though, summer makes me lazy in the kitchen.

Hope you have a sunny weekend!

The flowers in the garden are exploding right now: roses, peonies, lady's mantle. Hostas are out of control. The irises and lilacs have gone by. The spirea will bloom in a week or so and the hydrangea and clematis will come a bit later. It all looks like a garden gone wild, in a good way, I think, maybe my neighbors think it's a bit crazy, I don't really know.

I moved most of my indoor plants up to our second story porch (mostly because I thought they would look cool on my new table). Someone had left the table out on trash day last fall and I dragged it home. It really was ugly, but two coats of blue impervo outdoor paint later, and I think I really love it.

Will drew these flowers in school. He usually draws airplanes and I don't think drawing the flowers was his choice, but I love them all the same.

I've just added these lavender pillows to my shop! Made with vintage French fabrics they are great for stuffing in drawers, cupboards, suitcases, even under your pillow. I usually put away my winter sweaters this time of year and will tuck some of these into the storage container for sweet smelling clothes in the fall.

I meant to blog more this week, but it was so busy, catching up on work and getting ready for the Squam Art Fair, which is tomorrow! Anyway, over the long weekend I went to New Orleans and it was fabulous. Good times, good food, good music, good company, and hot, hot weather. My northern self was melting in the heat. But the only photos I took were with my iphone and sadly, none are worthy to go up here. I mean they are REALLY bad pictures. So these photos (taken with my iphone at home) kind of remind me of the good times we had in New Orleans.

Have a good weekend, and I hope to be back to blogging next week with decent photos. Cheers!