Summer

This is what I love about summer!

And this...

I just finished How to Live or A Life of Montaigne, by Sarah Bakewell.  It was excellent! (and went well with A Distant Mirror, by Barbara Tuchman, which is on my mp3 player).

I think we went through half a gallon of bubble stuff, and I taught Speedy to keep his own ice pop pushed up the top of the plastic (a real accomplishment for him!).

Also...

my vanilla extract looks this dark, after one (or maybe two) months!  Real vanilla!  I put off making it for a year after my sweet mom bought me vanilla beans because all the pictures on the internet of homemade vanilla extract showed it in charming little vintage bottles and I kept thinking the right sort of bottles would materialize in my cupboards (and I tease Speedy for magical thinking!).  You can see what I finally did.  Not decorative, but very effective!

And, finally, Emma.

It is a wonder she can still get up on the chairs!