After breastfeeding in the car on a very, very hot summer day.

Summer Solstice

Our summer solstice was nothing fancy, but still very nice. And the weather is great these days. To me, the summer solstice marks the beginning of summer. So I try my best not to pay attention to the fact that days will grow shorter and nights longer from now on.


We collected seven different kids of flowers and put them under our pillow. Seven or nine different kinds of flowers under the pillow on midsummer night is said to make you dream of your future spouse.


We did our very first attempt on making fairy houses. This one is for the forest fairies.


And this is one for the garden fairies. - Or angels as T. call them. We’ll make more of these. And T. is checking regularly for signs of anyone moving in or staying over. Maybe we’ll make a fairy bed and breakfast? I wonder what fairies like to eat… (something sweet maybe, like honey?)


And in the evening we went to a lake nearby. Not to take a bath (too cold yet – about 15 degrees celcius/60 degrees F). Too cold for me anyway…) T. was just testing the water… And (of course) she fell and got all her clothes soaking wet.


So she got her first bath of the year anyway, and was totally thrilled about it.


And baby V. was happy in the wrap with daddy.

IRL

JardarMama (beautiful blog!) had a blogpost about the good life a while back. - And about not having/taking the time to blog about it regularly. I can relate.

But here are a few things from my good life.


A new diaper soaker is in the making. This time in some crazy purple sock yarn.


More yarn goodness: Mirasol Hacho. This is serious eyecandy; hand dyed multi coloured merino (so beautiful that I considered just placing it in a bowl or something for decoration…), and so soft and luscious. By buying it you can support The Mirasol Project.

"The philosophy behind the Mirasol Project is very simple, the Mirasol Project supports local communities in Peru through the sales of the Mirasol Yarn Collection.

Peru’s heritage and culture of textile artistry is rich and ancient. The Mirasol Yarn Collection includes yarn made from the animals tended by these communities for generations in the Peruvian highlands. Without them we would not have this beautiful yarn."


Fresh flowers almost every day from my 5yo… These are one of my favourites – lily of the valley.


And some “knitting” in progress also by the 5yo… Rumour has it that this is becoming a sweater for her baby sister. I cannot wait.

Loving right now..

It's June!


Having the time and energy to make healthy and delicious food.


Summer reading. Elizabeth Gilbert: Eat, Pray, Love.


New shoes for T. from Goodwill.


And a new skirt for mama. From Goodwill.

Wishing for an Indian Summer

From our midsummer nature table.

It's raining. And it's raining even more. Where did summer go? What happened to those "too-hot-to-get-some-sleep" nights and lazy days in the garden chasing the largest shadows around with a blanket and a book? What happened to ice cream tasting contests and children running through the garden sprinkler to cool off?

Something happened and I didn't pay attention.

It's turning. Slowly, but it's turning. We're heading towards autumn. I love autumn, but I don't know if I'm ready for it quite yet. I need a few more sunny days. Not the hot sunny days, but the light, airy, insect-buzzing, flower-budding, freedom-feeling, going-to-the-lake days...

So now I am wondering about doing some weather magic and asking the Gods for an Indian Summer.

Our new residents

This is Kasper Kanin (Kasper The Rabbit) - nibbling on a branch from our apple tree. He is about 7-8 weeks or something now and is a mix of flemish giant and some french lop rex (not sure about the translation to English here - the Norwegian names of the breeds are "belgisk kjempe" and "fransk vedder" rex). Three rabbits came to live with us a few weeks ago - this is Kasper and his mother Marte enjoying the newly built rabbit pasture/grazing enclosure...






Marte is "on vacation"... well, not quite - she's staying with us for awhile, and will hopefully have a litter or two to help us along with our breeding. Marte belongs to Kristin over at the Blomsterbarna blog. Thank you so much Kristin :)






And this is Idunn (flemish giant) and our daughter chilling out in the sun...

The verdict

Eagerly preparing the tasting of our rose petal jam. Properly dressed for the occasion of course.

Main course; Wooden fish head and sausages (with velcro).




And then this monstrous thing for dessert; just a plain slice of bread with whipped cream and rose petal jam... or sauce as it turned out. I've found lots of different variations on the rose petal jam recipe and most of them says that you should tear the petals into large(ish) pieces, put the petals or the finished jam in a blender or remove the petals altogether (for jelly - got to try it). Our recipe said nothing about that, so when the jam was ready I got the old "feeling a bit sick" about all thing roses again... Not good. It certainly didn't look like anything I'd like to eat. So I put it in the blender and got a thick rose petal sauce.



I couldn't finish this, but it was great! Nothing like potpourri, I promise. It was a very delicate, sweet and even child-friendly. I kept thinking of weddings, overly romantic "chick-flick" movies and the hot flashes and dizziness of falling in love. Don't know what came over me :)

I'm going to buy some good quality vanilla ice cream and serve it with lukewarm rose petal sauce. Decorating with some rosebuds, lemon verbena leaves or lemon balm...

Mid-summer luxury in a jar. Recipe:

Rose petal sauce/jam

750ml water
500g sugar
250g rose petals
Juice of two lemons

(I made half this)

Remove the white heels and a little of the though part at the bottom of the petals. (If you don't the jam will be quite bitter). Put them in a blender and pulsate for just a few seconds or tear them to smaller pieces. Mix in half the sugar. Leave overnight in the fridge. Dissolve the rest of the sugar in a pan with water and lemon juice. Add the petals and sugar mix and simmer for about 20 mins or until you get the consistency you want. Pour into clean jars and seal.

I have no idea how long this will keep in the fridge, but I guess the safest thing would be to put small portions in plastic bags, yogurt jars, ice trays or something and put in the freezer.

The view

Just got to show you the view... Not from our house, but a few kilometers downhill from where we live. Nice?











Yes... I know... photos taken from the car. To my defense - I was standing still (yes really), and I was going somewhere... not just driving down there to show you the beautiful view :P

Rose petal jam

We're trying out something new and different - rose petal jam. At the moment the rose petals are in the fridge soaking in sugar... Didn't read the whole recipe and suddenly discovered that I had to let them sit in the fridge overnight... Oh well. But here they are in all their velvety, sweet-smelling loveliness...



I've just recently discovered the opportunity of using rose petals and rosewater in cooking. I used to think that roses in food smelled like really cheap soap or potpourri no matter what kind of fancy recipe. I didn't like the smell of it - not even the essential oil or the actual rose itself - it all made me feel a bit sick. But something has changed - I don't really know what. Maybe it all started with buying some Turkish (ehm.. Greek) delight while I was in Crete this spring. I just fell in love.



I was skimming through some books the other day, looking for ideas and inspiration for some mid-summery crafts and activities and stumbled across a recipe. My rose bushes (rosa rugosa) are in full bloom, and instead of just picking the petals and drying them for "something" - I thought I'd try this out. So now I have lots of ideas... homemade rosewater, jam, jelly, sauce, sugar, Turkish delight, other kinds of candy, different kinds of creams and beauty products, sachets for the bath tub, used in incense recipes, dream pillows, potpourri, dried and used to make art, put in a herbarium... The sad thing is that we removed a lot of the rose bushes this spring because they stung, took a lot of space, invaded the garden, looked... well, a bit sad... (Cut back hard and they will come back up looking as healthy and luscious as ever before). The good thing is that they will probably continue their invasion, and I will have even more petals for future projects. And rosehip tea and soup in the fall! I'm in love.

Recipe and verdict still to come.