Le champagne des fées
Elderflowers are in bloom so we decided to try making a naturally bubbly–aka lightly fermented–French limonade called Le champagne des fées (Fairy Champagne). My son sat at the kitchen counter patiently pulling the tiny elderflowers (¼ inch each) off of 15 umbel heads. It took an hour for about 2 cups of flowers. The resulting ivory-colored pile was one of the prettiest things I have seen in a while. I had no idea that each teeny tiny flower was itself perfection.
St-Germain is an artisanal French liqueur made from fresh, hand-picked elderflower blossoms. On the bottle it says “made from a thousand flowers”. I always thought this was hyperbole, But now I understand.
Beauty x 1000
elderflowers (Sambucus canadensis)
the gift that keeps on giving
The blue flag iris stems I photographed five days ago have been siting on my kitchen counter ikebana-style in a shallow pasta bowl with water and flower frogs. I thought the whole arrangement would last a day, maybe two. But here we are, five days later and it is still looks great. All the original blooms have faded, but hidden behind each of them was another bud just waiting for it’s chance to shine. And what elegant buds they are…like a Japanese tanuki hair brush dipped in purple paint ready to make marks on a fresh sheet of washi paper. Swoon.
blue flag iris– flower and bud (Iris versicolor)
-
Look at all that exquisite veining on them (nectar guides for the pollinators)! And two more buds waiting in the wings for your future admiration. The curved stem ain’t bad either :) Well done, as always!
reply
It was fun while it lasted
Happy Summer Solstice! This is is the aftermath of the daisies I photographed nine days ago. It is weirdly evocative, isn’t it? Being busy has unexpected advantages–subjects that hang around long enough to have a second chance at being commemorated as STILL subjects.
Spent roadside daisies
-
At 78 I feel like these daisies. Not quite dead yet, but heading in that direction. Your book is a joy, and I am going to consume it in the same way you created it; one day, one photo at a time. Because my eyesight is failing, I need to look long and hard at everything. Your book is perfect for that. And it would appear, so is this blog. Thank you for both.
reply
something a little different
I am finding it interesting that the black background does not motivate me to do flat-lay photos in the same way the white background did. On white, flat-lays felt natural–almost scientific. But on black, without the soft shadows on the background, it feels a little…well, flat.
driftwood pieces from the south shore of Lake Superior
another day on the dock
Steve and I behaving like we are 20 years younger than wee are–waist deep in waiters repairing our boardwalk one 8-foot section at a time. It is backbreaking, a little foolish, and as a result kind of fun. It’s such a janky old dock that it is one of those things that is easier to do yourself–no matter how difficult–than to try and explain to someone else what to do. Someday soon, the whole thing will have to be rebuilt–probably right on top of the old one. Until we win the lottery, or some A24 director buys the movie rights to Stevie’s book, we will keep patching the old one ourselves.
American water lily (Nymphaea odorata)
