Late Spring in Omaha

I spotted this Great Blue Heron at where else...Heron Haven. Strangely enough, this was the first time I've seen a heron there! It was such a beautiful evening, we decided to take a detour on the way to the market to have a short walk along the trails. I love this time of year when there's more hours of sunlight, but the evenings are still cool enough to enjoy a walk.

The garden is doing well. We had fresh strawberries for breakfast last weekend and it was a true delight. The first borage flowers bloomed and the bees are spending their days gathering pollen. Over the past few years the borage has blown through the neighbourhood re-seeding itself, and I was pleased to see people leaving it. The dianthus are happy as well.

 The summer wardrobe is getting worn. This Marimekko set isn't a playsuit, but rather shorts and a matching top I bought at Target last year during their designer collaboration. The pattern is supposed to look like orange slices. Very, very underripe orange slices! The macrame shoulderbag was made in Iowa in the 70's. I have several of these bags, and they've become indispensable summer bags for me. As a bonus, they're washable which makes them the perfect tote for days at the park.

 I've been busy perfecting my pie baking skills in time for the State Fair. Today, I baked a peach and nectarine pie, though in hindsight, a few raspberries would have been welcome. I'm keeping tasting notes from everyone I'm forcing pie on-so far no one is complaining they're sick of pie. The fair isn't until September, so I have plenty of time to practise.

I spotted this over Mr. ETB's shoulder. He was supposed to be checking the local library website for a few Canadian titles I want to use for class next year-but he was obviously sidetracked. The internet didn't have an opinion, but cultural generalisations don't occur in a vacuum so yeah, they probably are polite. You can be characterised as worse things than polite-take it from an American 😁

 Okie dokie,. moving along then..,.

 This top had an inaugural wear. I can't decide if I like it. The shoulders make my posture look worse than it already is, and the open lacework makes it challenging to find just the right bra. Maybe I'm lazy, but that just seems like more complicated than a summer blouse ought to be. I'll move it to the, "Maybe" pile and give it another wear before deciding, but I'm leaning towards, "Discard."

I'm keeping the celluloid necklace though-that was a lucky find.

Thrifting is hard work! It was nice of the Goodwill to put these headless mannequins out to lean on. Prudish American that I am, I was tempted to put some clothes on it.  You can't just leave an undressed mannequin in the window-that's positively scandalous. We had a housekeeper that was very religious and would get upset if my dolls were unclothed. She didn't like posters where the eyes followed her around either, but she might have just been suspicious of Jimi Hendrix. Anyway, Goodwill, put some damn clothes on your mannequins before they catch their death from cold!

 This is my, "Holly Hobbie" dress. I haven't worn it in nearly three years! The barkcloth fabric gets uncomfortably hot, so most years by the time I can wear a summer dress, it is already too warm. This year, the weather behaved and I hurried to unpack and wear the dress before it gets too hot. It will get too hot-Friday is expected to be 90 degrees F. The pool opened today though, so I know where I'll be!

I'm off to replace my pastry cutter as you can't make a lattice crust without a fluted edge. I don't know where they keep disappearing to. Probably ran off with the odd socks.