Haven’t done one of these Word-less Wednesdays in a long while — I searched: here’s one from 2017 and another from 2016, although the latter is less wordy in original intention only. And then Waaaay Back, when we were still on the island, this post and this one (oh, those island views make me homesick, very nostalgic) and this one (I used to wear heels! It’s true!).
And since my last post was word (and perhaps also concept/idea) heavy, and there have been a few of those recently . . . Time for some balance, I think. So not quite wordless, but I’m aiming at Fewer (less, to commit a grammar faux pas deliberately) Words today, as we head back into Heat here on the West Coast.
In place of words, I give you a Turtle. . .
All dressed up and ready to catch a flight to Rome bright and early Monday morning. No vaccinations nor negative molecular tests required, and I doubt this turtle will be observing any quarantine on arrival. We had hoped for a few weeks that the Birthday Girl to whom this turtle is en route would be flying here with her parent, and I could have made the introductions in person. But while this is now technically possible, the flaming hoops required are still too much to leap through during a reasonable time. So Nana and Granddad are now plotting, hoping perhaps by October we will be able to see, in person, how Ragazzina and Tartaruga are getting along. Incrociamo le dita. We’re crossing our fingers.
If we manage to get there in October, I won’t be packing this dress. It’s too voluminous to fit in my carry-on, even if it might well still be warm enough in Rome. But I’ve loved wearing it this summer when I want an easy way to ramp up my look a bit.
And look! Coloured buttons all down the back!
Turtles are not the only gifts I’ve knit and sent off in the mail recently. I’ve fallen behind on my project of knitting socks for each sibling through 202 (I have so many siblings!) — but now only two pairs to go since I got these “boot socks” wrapped and posted today. (Of course, the two pairs I have left to knit are men’s socks, so many more stitches for those bigger feet!)
And one more splash of colour before I go. . . .
So many squash plants have volunteered themselves out on the terrace that I’ve got a bumper crop of blossoms to harvest for stuffing and frying and also for adding to salads and pastas. . . .
And just to lift spirits from the kitchen counter. . .
I didn’t really manage Wordless, did I? But I hope you enjoyed the variety, the lightness of the content, and especially the colour as we move toward the last weeks of summer. As always, I love reading your feedback in the comments below.
xo,
f
I’m so pleased I clicked on this post immediately – lovely photos and energy. I am also a knitter, but I have never knitted a tartaruga. It is fabulous. I am also at the moment considering a trip to Italy in October to where my partner is in Florence, but we’re waiting a little bit to decide on the timing. Fingers crossed for all of us!
What a gorgeous dress. The button detail is great. I am sewing a dress at the the moment, but it’s floral and a little bit out of my (normally discrete, classic) comfort zone. Gianni tolerates my ricocheting from one fashion extreme to the other with a smile. He assumes that the desire for colour and pattern has something to do with eight months of winter…”like the Swedish and their colourful houses.” My grandmother was born in Newfoundland, so…fair point.
I envy you the zucchini blossoms for frying. Delicious! My partner’s mother also used to make a pasta dish with them, but I am afraid I have never learned exactly how it is done. This is not entirely my fault, as she was always reluctant to teach me how to cook anything, ostensibly because I was too boorish from a food perspective to be able to understand. I honestly think that she liked to have a monopoly on these things. I have learned to not mind that she and Gianni’s sisters will never teach me their recipes, because it means that they do all of the cooking at Christmas and I get to sit at the table with the men and chat. Not a bad exchange!
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Thanks, Stephanie! I’d never knit a turtle before either, nor any animals at all before this year. Grazie, Covid-19!
There’s something about floral dresses that I think we should all make room for in our wardrobes, really. I don’t have one at the moment, but I miss that romance. . .
Ha! I recognize your mother-in-law’s possessiveness over her recipes, but I’d happily share my few with my daughter-in-law — just get touchy when my husband tries to make any his. He already does most of the cooking (not much baking, though), and I want a few “claims to fame” of my own. I think you’ve found a great compensation, but it’s too bad your partner’s mother and sisters won’t share her recipes. It could be such a bond, were they more open (and their son/brother would surely benefit as well).
The turtle is great. Thanks to COVID-19 for something, anyway. I am sure your recipient will love it!
I think I bought the yellow floral just because it was so cheerful (it’s probably more bold than romantic). After a year like this, my reserved blues and greys are not looking as exciting.
The food situation is not as dire as I have stated. The mother-in-law indeed would make a clicking sound and shake her head “no” whenever Gianni proposed she teach me one of her recipes (although she admired my knitting and I knitted many shawls for her over the years, so I was deemed OK in that domain). The one sister is very generous but under- or over-cooks everything as she tends to get nervous and forgetful when she cooks, while the other sister lives with a French husband in another country and so is more of an expert in French cuisine. This means that Gianni and I are probably the better Italian cooks anyway! 😉
I know what you mean about everyone wanting to have a “claim to fame.” I just laugh and smile. My mother is a great cook and I learned from her, and while I was never a passionate cook (too busy doing other things), I at least know how to cook well. The pandemic has afforded more opportunities to practice (thank you again, COVID-19).
I love the tweedy look of the socks you are knitting. Would you share what yarn you used? The green yarn looks a bit like felted tweed, but I imagine it is something else.
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Just a quick response on the fly. . . to say that you’ve got a good eye! The yarn is indeed Rowan’s Felted Tweed, both the green and the indigo. I have an abundant supply left over from some projects last winter.
Nice. Thank you! I made a pair of socks I loved in Felted Tweed a couple of summers ago, while flying to PEI with my mom, and then I accidentally must have washed them on hot and they well and truly became felted. I love the colours in that Rowan range. I made a vest with a fish motif I designed a coup of years ago and the “fish vest” is among my favourite knitted things (with a taste for the eccentric, obviously).
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I’ve wondered how much more this yarn would felt . . . the vest sounds fun!
Thanks for this. You got me to pull the socks out of the drawer! I realized that I haven’t been wearing them as one foot got caught on something and a hole now need mending. The felting is in fact a positive feature in the sense that the socks are warmer now (versus being a bit slouchier before). I’ll have to mend them before winter. I hope your recipients enjoy the socks!
Love!!
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Thanks! 😉
Love your knitting projects! Whimsey in character and color! Is your summer dress made of linen? I like the colorful buttons…great accent! I remember another similar style of yours during one of your trips. Was it Italy? I seem to remember a pose near a dark entrance of some sort. I loved that dress on you, too!
I need to get back to some creative pursuits. I have purchased a new set of watercolors curated by a YouTube watercolor-ist I follow. I’ve worked on the range of possibilities on the color wheel. Need to put brush to paint and paper for a more creative expression. A pair of dinosaur shorts, fabric selected by a five year old granddaughter, are waiting to be sewn together. And my homegrown tomatoes, basil, and squashes are being consumed with gusto in various fresh ways. Caprese salads are so delicious! Working on my veggie patch to extend the production into our mild fall.
Love how you pursue creativity each day! It’s inspiring!
Charlene H
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That dress is indeed linen, Charlene (the wrinkles are a dead giveaway, right? 😉
I’m not sure which other dress you might be thinking of — I don’t have any others quite this roomy, but I do like a dress that floats away a bit and that’s below the knees. I do have a blue linen one I’ve travelled with a bit. Maybe that one?
Lots of creativity in your life already, it seems to me. Sewing, Gardening, Making meals. Like you, I’d like to get back to doing more with paint and paper — it takes some organization, doesn’t it?!
Thank you for fewer. Reminds me….how can I have more if I haven’t had any. !
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Ha! Yes, we pay daily for our sensitivity to language, don’t we?!
What a lovely jolly post , full of sunflowers , sunny dress , sunny squash flowers & turtles . I really hope the dots join up & you get to your Italian family later in the year .
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Aw, thanks Wendy! Glad you enjoyed the photos.
Fingers crossed that you will get to visit the Ragazzina and Tartaruga as planned. I just peeked at Italy’s vaccination rate- they’re at around 56.5%, so things should be very good on that score by October. If Italy is anything like Portugal, it feels pretty safe — everyone masks and distances, especially indoors, and there is of course lots of opportunity for outdoor dining and amusements.
I love your squash blossoms – besides their cheeriness they make me think of delicious versions I’ve had over the years….
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Thanks for that reassurance, Carol. We’ve had our vaccinations and our daughter and son-in-law in Italy have been (double) vaccinated for weeks and weeks now. And they’ve introduced the Green Pass (Euro-digital passport?) which we’ll try to get a traveller’s version of. . . so that’s all good. We’re not getting any younger here, and neither is that little girl, so I think we’ll just “go for it”! 😉
As for the squash blossoms, so many metaphors come to mind. . . the way they’re so ephemeral yet so versatile, so able to contain other elements. . . and so very of the moment yet, as you say, transcending time by reminding us of “delicious versions we’ve had over the years.” xo
safe travels to the little turtle! Such a happy post. I am a bit envious that your garden is producing such abundance. Mine is a disaster this year. at least the basil is is productive, everything else seems to have suddenly been overtaken by weeds and the thyme seems to be hosting some form of bee, not the good kind. I am already thinking about next year. And I hope you will be able to travel again soon.
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Thanks Darby!
Our garden’s been challenging this year as well (remember I’m usually wanting to show the happy bit! 😉
The extreme heat stopped many plants in their tracks, but we’re lucky that it’s a small enough space that we’ve been able to keep it watered enough during this prolonged drought.
Hope you get your thyme situation sorted — I didn’t know there were bad kinds of bees. . .
Love the recurring green theme in your photos…all the various shades. Probably unintentional, but serendipitous.
I’m headed over the Pond in October (🤞). A good friend is having a solo art exhibition in Scotland (was supposed to happen last year) and I simply don’t want to miss it. Like you, not getting any younger as I am already into my eighth decade and not taking my current mobility for granted since I travel solo. Will take all the usual precautions–already booked all three of my Covid tests (one to leave US, day 2 UK arrival, and one to return US). Have travel insurance and all bookings are refundable, so not a big step on the wild side. But one that is keeping me happy at the moment. Very much hope your October trip works out for you.
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Exciting plans, Mary. Your reasoning makes very good sense to me. Can’t pretend I’m not a bit anxious about the travel itself and apprehensive about the extra administrative/bureaucratic steps involved with documentation, etc. But as you say, not such a big step onto the wild side, at least not as things seem right now.
I too love the recurring green in the photos, and the complexity of color and texture. I also love the squash blossoms, usually my primary reason for growing squash, not so much for the fruit as the blossoms, but alas not this year. I am hoping to be able to get some travel in by November or December, depending on so many things at this point. Love this post. Full of joy.
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I hadn’t recognized that recurring green until you and Mary pointed it out — thanks!
Our squash are mostly volunteers and only a few produced any fruit but they’re enthusiastically floriferous! I’ve been stuffing the blooms and also just throwing them into salads or even pasta dishes.
I hope you’re able to fit a bit more travel in this year — I’m impressed that you managed some already, considering what you’ve been contending with. xo
Catching up on blogs I missed while spending the past two weeks with grandchildren. What a blessing! We were hoping to visit the two in Vancouver in September, but the way Covid numbers are going in our two provinces, I’m not holding my breath.
I love the coloured buttons up the back of your dress!
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How wonderful that you’ve had two weeks with your grandchildren, Elaine! But it’s true that there’s nothing to be sure of for upcoming visits given numbers rising again.
I hope you get to see your Vancouver crew soon.