Even with summer solstice half a month away, we definitely feel like summer is here. We’ve been under an excessive heat warning with temperatures up to 105 in our area, so we hunkered down inside with box fans, popsicles, and the blinds drawn against the sun.

This season is always a bit of a struggle for me. It’s easy to feel trapped in the dark house because of the extreme heat: outdoor playtime is usually only possible between 7 am and 11 am, and the house gets too warm if we leave the blinds up to let light in. Cooking is also difficult: we avoid using our oven as much as possible, so I get pretty creative with salads and one pot Instant Pot meals.

I’ve found ways to fight the summer blues though: I knit with lighter fibers and brighter colors, I sew clothes I love and enjoy wearing that are cool and soft, I relax our screen time rules, and I make gallons upon gallons of mint iced tea for us all to enjoy.

Jake’s paternity leave ended at the beginning of June. I’m beyond grateful for the twelve weeks he had with us helping our family adjust to Beatrice’s arrival. Now I’m learning to juggle household tasks and my sanity with two hooligans who need me: a three month old who’s teething and a two year old who’s…well, two.

I’ve been doing some rearranging to hopefully keep Michael entertained while we’re cooped up inside. We now have a small craft corner in our living room where we can color together and do other crafts. I have only had to confiscate the crayons twice so far: let’s see how long it lasts.

We now have a small lawn! Friends of my grandparents’ had leftover sod from their landscaping project, and the extra was headed for the landfill — Jake dedicated his entire day to preparing and laying the sod remnants so it wouldn’t go to waste. It’s small, a drought tolerant variety, and perfect for what we want: a place for summer picnics and running barefoot without getting goathead thorns in our feet.

I always associate cherries with summertime: I have many childhood memories of fingers stained with cherry juice, and warm cherry cobbler fresh from the oven. The orchard next door was harvested earlier this month, so I gleaned some of the leftover cherries and put up eight pints of whole cherries. They’ll be delicious in cobblers or pies later this year. I’m hoping to get two more baskets: one for jam, and another for cherries canned in liquor for cocktail garnishes.

Michael absolutely loved helping pit the cherries (and ate almost as many as he pitted).

I wanted to see if I could do something with the pits, and I found out you can make cherry syrup from them! So I macerated the pits in a mason jar and strained the syrup out for cocktails or desserts.

I don’t have a picture of the end product, but it’s a beautiful dark syrup with a strong flavor. I’m a big fan.

Our sweet Bea turned three months old last week. She is so, so precious: she loves grinning and showing off her dimples, and just a few days ago rolled over for the first time! She’s become quite vocal: she’s learned to screech and coo, and often does so in chorus with her big brother. She has the brightest eyes and the cutest laugh. She especially loves watching me at my spinning wheel.

I know I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I’m so blessed to be her mother.

I’ve still been working away at my knitting and spinning in the in-between moments. I’m making a pair of socks for Jake as a Father’s Day present: they’re a self-striping colorway inspired by Star Wars (Boba Fett to be precise). That’s my current project with a deadline, so it’s been dominating my free time.

I finished a cowl I’d been working on for a while: this is a fully handspun yarn I made myself: a two ply worsted weight yarn from a colorway called “Forage”. I ran out of yarn five rows before the end of the pattern, unfortunately — but I bound it off and it still works! It’s just a bit more asymmetrical than intended.

I’m also spinning whenever I have the chance: still working on my big (12 oz) combo spin on my wheel. Someday I’ll finish it and actually cast on the shawl.

When I travel, I usually bring a spindle — on our trip to SoCal, I brought my dealgan. A dealgan (pronounced jal-a-gen) is a whorl-less Scottish spindle that’s quite sturdy and hefty. I love traveling with it because I’m not afraid of it snapping or breaking in transit. For me, spindle spinning is always slow and mindless. I’m not spinning for any project in particular with this: just to practice techniques, to enjoy the process of making yarn, and just for the love of it all.

Especially in this warm season when it’s so easy for me to sink into a type of seasonal depression, I fight to prioritize things I can do “for the love” of it. I bring Michael (and now Bea) alongside me in my creative ventures: doing watercolors together, or preserving food together, or knitting while snuggling a toddler and bouncing a baby in her bouncer. Not only is it essential for my own mental health, but I think it’s important for my children to see me doing things I love: hopefully it will teach them to see the good in doing things just for the love of them.