Summer Rennaisance

Hello! Sorry for the big gaps in posts lately. Summer is just, well, summer; we've been busy living it instead of documenting it. I do hope that some of these snippets will turn into more complete posts, as we have more photos, stories, recipes, and such to go with each. Let us know if you want more details! We would also love to hear about all your summer adventures!
We've been having a bit of a musical renaissance in our home. The kids have a wonderful new drum and a resurgence in interest in the piano. All the excitement has inspired the adults in the house to revisit our love for music as well.The birthday house we made for Ezra has been continuing to see lots of play. I do hope I get a chance to show pictures of the beautiful artwork Gibbie has made all over it in the last week. It's pretty great. These things stick around until they fall apart, you know. We'll be taking bets on when the birthday house bites the big one and lands in the recycling bin.
A vignette from our kitchen table. Gibbie has begun to love picking flowers. Recently he told me, "You can't like flowers. Just me. I like to pick flowers." He makes lovely bouquets of uprooted plants, flowers, and weeds, as well as being a charming helper when picking tomatoes from the garden.

If anyone else is disappointed in their garden yields, we're in the same boat. I'm just not very experienced at the whole garden thing, and keep making very basic mistakes, like not planting tomatoes in full sunshine, or not pruning. Due to recent heavy rains, the bulk of the crop is finally ripening, and all bursting their skins from the excess water. Not to worry, we're picking and using them anyway!

We are supplementing with beautiful produce from our lovely farmers' markets, and have really actually overdosed on fresh fruits and vegetables recently.
This is a little garden fantasy of mine: a willow withe house. I read somewhere that willow is really easy to propagate; you just stick cut ends in the ground. Sounds too good to be true to me, but we found a fairytale-perfect willow house at the farm where we picked our blueberries, Rush River. The willow wands compose the frame, and the lovely leaves grow in thicker every year.

In our own garden, I have moonflower growing all over a big, rainbow-shaped frame. It's finally covered in lush greens! Maybe soon spread a quilt underneath and read a pile of books in our little bower. I'm still hoping for flowers before it gets too cold! Moonflowers are big, white, beautifully fragrant, and open up at night.