Off Skenoh Island on my first 2026 paddle

I love summer! The ease of shorts and flip flops, fresh veggies from my garden, outdoor concerts, kayak paddles, grilling outside, green, green, green… I love it all! Except perhaps the weeds that made my garden a jungle in a single weekend this month. Alas. I know too well that weeds will always win, so I they do little to mar my enjoyment of summer. I simply stop pretending I’ll tame the jungle and blur my vision to focus on bright blooms among the weeds. I’d wave a wand to rid my garden of weeds if I could. Since that wand has not yet proven itself an effective weed control strategy, my aim instead is to control where my eyes land – and how I crop the photos in which I capture the beauty of summer.

Maybe weeds bother you more than they do me. Or maybe you find other annoyances to interfere with your enjoyment of summer? How might you blur whatever pesky nuisances get between you and the joys of summer? I urge you to try. Whatever we focus on amplifies. Do you want to amplify weeds and annoyance, or beauty and joy?

Making Stuff

I love thinking about a customer wearing one of my creations – especially a scarf I liked as much as the blue spacey one I sold early in June. I hope she’ll bask in compliments as she wears it all year long. And now I get to make another with a similar intergalactic theme. Not identical, of course. What would be the fun of copying something I’d already made? Nope. Can’t do it! Won’t ever! But the universe is enormous, right? So many stars, so many planets to play with. If space is your thing, keep checking Flair Wearable Arts to see what I come up with next.

Or, if you tend more to a summery floral, look now to see my Peony Pleasures scarf for four-season enjoyment. Most of my scarves are felted on silk – sheer and lightweight enough for summer evenings, amply sized for full shawl coverage in fall and spring, or to wrap close about your neck and shoulders on the coldest days to make your winter coat look amazing!

I’m having fun with ice-dying again. And inventing some new beaded jewelry designs. Summertime and the experimental life is easy… Stay posted for new offerings at https://flairwearablearts.etsy.com!

Making Stuff Up

Progress continues on my novel-in-progress. Five more chapters revised in June, maybe as many as eight in July?

I’m playing with titles too. What do you think of Searching for Terroir? Or just Terroir? If you like or have read about wine, you’ll know that terroir has no precise definition. Rather it’s a somewhat hazy description of a myriad of influences – soil, climate, terrain, humans, etc. – that affect one’s experience with a wine. Terroir is sometimes called the ‘taste of a place.’ My protagonist Brie, feels placeless in my story. She’s not yet found where she fits in the world – her terroir. What do you think? Would you want to read a novel titled Terroir or some variation that includes the term? Or is terroir too obscure to have wide appeal? Please tell me. I need your help here!

Reading Stuff Other Authors Make Up

If you’re into a steamy series involving hunky brothers, you might like this. I’m not generally a series reader, and though I liked Sadler’s characters and suspect this is a solid example of the genre, I won’t be reading more. But, hey. That’s me. It’s an easy read and not without fun – including a visit to the Christmas town of Yuletide, where Sadler set another series. I’m fairly certain I got both these books for free, so I’m not complaining. I’d call this a candy read, but not my favorite kind of candy. You might love it, and Sadler appears to be prolific, so you’d have hours of reading ahead.

Here’s a meaty tale about the lasting impacts of a teenager’s bad judgment on himself and his whole family. Years later, his sisters return for Thanksgiving at the once-posh Victorian steps from a Long Island beach and confront how their brother’s suicide shaped their lives. I liked a lot about this story, though I found the family rather precious. Did none of them realize their immense privilege? The ending also seemed a tad too over-hopeful and pat. To me. Still, a four-star read.

At first glance, the Victorian- era women in this book are also ultra-privileged. And then we meet the men who control them – even to the extent of restricting what wives and daughters are allowed to read, with threats to have them jailed as hysterical if they dare to disobey. Hence the ‘secret society’ that meets in Lady Duxbury’s library under the guise of society-enhancing afternoon tea. It’s no surprise women had little power and were often pushed into marriage against their wishes. Nor is it surprising that some of those marriages were abusive. But to take away books? And send women to mental institutions – true horrors – for asserting such a basic right as reading? Shocking – no matter if it happened to one or a hundred women.

He’s a ghost of Christmas past assigned to show Harriet the error of her ways – except she’s a better person than Scrooge. Instead, she sets about to free Nolan from two hundred years of ghosthood. This is a fairly fluffy rom-com that I nonetheless enjoyed. Could fluff be more palatable in audio versus print? I think so. I can listen with one ear while working out, felting, or doing something else with another part of my brain. I don’t need to pay attention as closely to audio to enjoy.

For the four days I read Follett’s book of six hundred pages, I didn’t want to do much else. I liked it that much. Like his other historical novels, I found this tale about the building of Stonehenge entirely plausible – despite the mystery associated with the place. More, I got caught up in the human stories Follett wove, the people he credited with the inspiration, creative thinking, and pure guts to create such a marvel. It was a big cast from 2500 years ago, with names that did not easily trip off my tongue, and yet, I felt like I knew and cared about the fate of each one. I doubt anyone other than Follett could have pulled the story off so well. And thought I read fast, wanting to know what would happen next, I hated to see it the book end. A terrific story.

What fun this was! Imagine a failed actor, a curmudgeonly former moll to the mob, a renegade knitter, and a recently orphaned dog walk into a senior citizen social club, where mild-mannered, middle-aged Lydia attempts to ride herd. Characters too old to care about what people think, thrown together with a desperately needed child care program in a building that’s scheduled for demolition – unless the kids and elders find a way to raise big bucks – made for a story that had me laughing out loud.

If you’re a foodie who craves access to a big garden, you’ll probably like this story about a city woman who returns to her estranged aunt’s farm. Maggie’s a single mom working too hard and a wanna-be chef who has no time to cook. Enter Alice whom she barely remembers but misses more than she knew, and who invites her to the farm for a visit. There she meets a guy who also happens to be a chef. And they cook. A lot. For fun. I confess, I couldn’t relate. There’s a sweet romance with a delicate sprinkle of spice, and a throw-back story about WWII Land Girls in Wisconsin. But food prep, which I find too far habitual in my life, takes center stage. I didn’t hate it. Nor did I find it to my taste. Too much cooking, too bland a story. For my taste.

Jess has a fine life. Good husband, two teen-aged kids, adorable dog, a part-time job. She should be happy. So why does she long to run away? Alone. She can’t, of course. Her family needs her. Not that they notice all she does. Or are at all grateful. She wallows in her misery – then snaps. It’s law school, she decides. Even if it kills her – and totally alienates her family. Whether or not the law is her adult self wants. I liked a lot about this story – its breezy style, a woman going after what she wants, a fun cast of flawed characters. The happy ending? A little too happy and pat, I thought. But the rest was fun with useful messages for people-pleaser women everywhere. Be sure your people know that your needs and wants matter too.

Am I a romantasy reader now? I guess so – because I keep finding the genre available from Libby. And I keep having fun with it. Characters and what they do in these fantastically dramatic circumstances are what pull me in. McEwan’s society is a classic power vs oppressed but rebelling situation that’s written in a compelling style. We mostly know who to hate and who to root for – except when we don’t. Fair warning. Volume one here, ends with no resolution. Volume two comes out next month.

That’s all for June, dear readers. My top recommendation this month? Circle of Days by a mile. Don’t be put off by its length. The story’s so good, you won’t care how long it is.

My other recommendation – savor your summer and squeeze out every drop of juice you can at this precious time of year! As always, click below to see between-Salutations updates.

PS. Click on a cover below to find and/or review one (or all three) of my novels, and I’ll never stop appreciating you!