windowsill light

A few more corners from around my parents house. Have a happy weekend!

up north

My aunt and uncle and lots of my cousins live way up in northern New Hampshire, in the White Mountains. When my brother and I were little, we used to spend at least two weeks every summer visiting our cousins. It was idyllic, swimming in the ponds, exploring the woods, walking up the mountain paths, playing in the streams. My aunt and uncle always had lots of animals too: chickens, pigs, a few cows, and best of all, big old draft horses that were willing to let us sit on their backs while they plodded along grazing on the summer grass.

Now, my cousin and his wife have built this amazing house themselves and live here with their two children. I love the view from their living room: just pure wildflowers.

in new hampshire

This is the house I grew up in, where my parents live. It's peaceful and green here, a place to think and dream. I chose the flowered wallpaper for my bedroom when I was 7 and I still love it.

Currently:
It's raining
I'm drinking coffee (well, decaf)
Reading: Half of a Yellow Sun
Just Ordered: The Kitchen Diaries
Rediscovered and cooking from tonight: Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone

more montreal

Hello! I'm back from a nice couple of weeks of visiting family and friends. I'm so looking forward to catching up with you all! Above are my last few pictures of our trip to Montreal: a visit to the Botanical Gardens and two great restaurants. More tomorrow!

swimming

This is the lake down the road from my parent's house in New Hampshire. It's where I learned to swim and now my children are swimming there too. That makes me happy! I will be back online in the beginning of August. I hope you all enjoy the rest of July and I'm looking forward to catching up when I get back!

p.s. special thanks to Anu and Ester, who both gave me awards this week. I'm going to wait to pass them along when I'm back in August.

montreal

Here are some snapshots of urban inspiration from Montreal. Also, I want to give a big thank you to Abbey of Abbey goes design scouting and Jan of Poppytalk. Abbey gave me a lovely mention here and Jan featured me in Something Special here! I hope you all are enjoying the weekend.

six things

Tanja tagged me to list six things I like about today. Here it goes:
1. The delicious cup of Darjeeling tea I had at breakfast. Should I have another?
2. Catching up with my friend Irene on the phone.
3. Flea market painting.
4. The fact that tomorrow is my 40th birthday and I will be celebrating it in Montreal.
5. Knowing that I will be eating this lettuce from my mom's organic garden tonight at dinner.
6. Children in trees

I'm tagging Anu and Karina.

I'm going to be taking a blogging break for the next couple of weeks, although if I can, I will post sporadically. We're going north until the end of July. First to Montreal, then to New Hampshire. We'll be visiting my family and I can't wait! And I promise lots of pictures when I return.