May and June

It's been so long since I last wrote that I thought I'd break things up into months to let you know what we've been up to!

May was all about the end of the school year for Daniel and me working on commissions, some of which I can't show yet. 

However, Lola growing up was a big part of our summer. We all graduated from puppy school (and by now have forgotten much of what we learned). Lola is such a good dog - she loves to play with her toys, she doesn't chew on anything she isn't supposed to and she is the snuggliest dog we've ever had.

By now, she and Winslow are best buddies and love to hang out together. We have to make sure she doesn't get too wild with old Winslow, but other than that they get along wonderfully!

Other than that, May was all about the garden being at its most beautiful! 

Our fruit trees were coming along nicely as well. The kumquat tree has been blooming all summer and is full of fruit that will be ripe in the winter. 

Our quince tree, which had two quince last year, is full of slowly ripening fruit. We are looking forward to the winter when we can hopefully make a good bit of quince jam.

Which brings me to our fig tree and the month of June. 

In June, the figs started to ripen and we picked several pounds of figs every day, which had to be processed immediately. Luckily, they don't all get ripe at once!

We dried many pounds of them and made jam to last all year. My favorite jam from this batch was with added orange blossom water. So good! The dried figs we use in Muesli and a rye sourdough bread I make that is amazing!

We also gave many figs to friends and I baked a few of these gorgeous fig frangipani tarts. By the end of the month - and about 90 pounds of figs later - we were glad it would be a whole year before the next harvest!

And of course, there has to be some art in my post. These were two commissioned paintings I finished and sent off to France at the end of June.

I'm working on one more large one for this client, which should be done in the next few days. 

I hope you have all been well this summer and have enjoyed a slower pace, the joys of longer days and maybe a vacation. I visited Germany in July and will tell you all about that in my next post!

❧ Silke

Life keeps on moving...

I'm not sure anyone even looks at my blog anymore - it's been so neglected! I was going to post all the photos from the cruise, but it seems so long ago. Life just keeps on moving at great speed, doesn't it?

In the meantime, I finished another dog portrait using watercolor pencils, colored pencils and soft pastels. I'm very pleased with the way it turned out!

Lola keeps growing at warp speed. Just six weeks ago she was still a tiny puppy.

Now she's at least twice the size and is starting to lose her very sharp puppy teeth, which we are grateful for! 

Also, my sister, her husband and their two fantastic boys (12 and 13 years old) came to visit during their spring break. We had so much fun together and it was wonderful to spend so much quality time with all of them. When we visit them in Germany, our time is always so limited because we are trying to see everyone, so when they visit here it's quite different!

It's been a strange spring - much cooler than normal, which we are grateful for. The cats (peabody in this picture) are happy though that its finally warming up some. They love to just lounge around in the garden.

So now that taxes are behind me and my time is my own again, I am hoping to spend much more time in my studio again (if Lola lets me...). I have several commissioned paintings and drawings to work on and hope to show you progress as I go along. I hope you are all doing well!! 

❧ Silke

Winter in Savannah

Last Wednesday, something happened that was a first for us in Savannah. It snowed and the snow didn't melt right away!

Winlsow was in his element. He loved the snow! 

 I got to wear some of my knitted winter accessories! That also doesn't happen very often here... Can you see our cat Tucker in the background? He loves to go on walks with us, but he wasn't so sure about the snow...

Before it snowed, we had freezing rain which left beautiful icicle designs everywhere.  It also left most of the roads with a dangerous layer of ice, which closed down most bridges and some major roads in our area for a couple of days. 

And because everything (flowers in our yard and oranges on our neighbor's tree) was frozen, the Baltimore oriole came to our feeder instead. It stayed for a long time and showed off all it's beautiful color.

It took five days for the snow and ice to melt (this is unheard of for us) and temperatures to return to normal for our area. Now that it's milder again, we put all our more delicate plants outside again. The Christmas cacti in particular are happy and in full bloom!

I hope this was the last of really cold temperatures for us. Much of our yard froze back, but we are hoping everything will come back in the spring.

❧ Silke

Love Languages

Last week, I had an epiphany of sorts! It's amazing to me that I can be almost 50 and am still getting to know what makes me the way I am. I've been thinking about this all week and have to write this down, mostly for myself, which is why I am posting some beautiful garden photos for you to enjoy while I ramble on.

I always love when the amaryllis bloom on the side of the house.
They were one of my mother's favorite flowers and always seem to bloom on Mother's Day. 

Last week, Andrea Scher (you can find her Superhero Life Blog here) mentioned on Facebook how she is really bad at giving gifts and that it's not one of her love languages. What?! Love languages? How had I not heard about those.

Our jasmine in full fragrant bloom! 

I could so relate because I am absolutely horrible with gift giving. Always have been (I think most everyone in my family is challenged that way). The finding of something appropriate, the feeling good about what I've chosen or made, the wrapping of it, the sending it off on time if I have to mail it, the card that should be included - it is and has been a super stressful thing for me my whole life.

The oak leaf hydrangeas are magnificent right now. 

Not that I don't like to give gifts or receive them, it just doesn't come easily to me. That's why my favorite holiday is Thanksgiving - all the joys of cooking and getting together with family and friends and NO GIFTS! It is the only holiday I feel completely relaxed about.

A new hibiscus. 

So, when Andrea mentioned Love Languages, I took the test (you can find it here).  And guess what "receiving gifts" (and the flip side of that: giving gifts) is at the very bottom of the list of what's important to me. It is not one of my love languages. No wonder I have never felt like I knew what I was doing when it comes to giving gifts. It is not a language I speak well at all.

The gardenias are starting to flower. They smell so wonderful! 

What was first on my list? Acts of Service! And isn't that the truth?

The other morning, I walked into the bedroom to make the bed and came to find that Daniel has already done that for me. To me, that spells love! Or he'll clean the kitchen for me while I am at the store to get groceries. No gift would mean as much to me as that.

Last week, we were visited by a rare albino raccoon - it was amazing to watch!

Almost as high on my list was "Quality Time." And again, that rings so true.

And here a "regular" raccoon moving around in one of our trees. 

I love nothing more than to spend time with Daniel. Of all the people I know, he's the one I most love to be with. It was that way when we met 30 years ago and it is that way now.

That, too, is more important to me than any gift he could give me.

I'm knitting a summer top for myself with some stretchy yarn and a fun pattern. 

Somehow knowing about my love languages has brought me great relief! And it has made me truly aware that we all don't speak the same language when it comes to expressing love and affection. It's also wonderful to know that there are others who are terrible at the whole gift giving thing. That said, I do have friends and family where I suspect that giving (and receiving) gifts is one of their main love languages, which means I'll always keep trying hard when it comes to gifting because they are important to me.

A favorite moment from last Sunday - one of those that was just perfect in every way! 

With lots of LOVE,

❧ Silke