If I close my eyes, I'm on vacation
It's a holiday in my mind: embracing boredom, easy summer recipes on my list, the books that have renewed my love of reading (and plenty more)
The sun is so blazing hot here in Texas that I’ve taken to keeping the window shades down all afternoon to keep the house cool. The light still seeps through the borders, so the room is illuminated, but the effect is cozy and cocoon like. On Saturday, after returning home from midday errands, I curled up in the darkness to read, eat snacks and lounge in the struggling air-conditioning. I got caught up in my book. There were no tasks I was planning to complete (too hot). At one point, I even just sat still on the couch doing nothing and felt a twinge of boredom.
It felt like childhood summers.
Boredom is one of those wonderful fixtures of youth that suddenly disappears from life. It’s near-impossible to capture in adulthood, at least for most of the year. But there’s something really magical about the too-hot summer days and the exhaustion that comes with triple-digit weather. It renders the mind and body a little droopy and, thus, a little bored. There is nothing, really nothing, to do when it’s this hot out.
José and I have taken to lounging on the sofas after dinner. Sometimes talking, other times just sitting in companionable silence. It feels impossibly old-world, like something from a bygone era where memes and on-demand movies didn’t yet exist.
The heat incinerates all of my ambition. It’s not a problem, though, because for only a few short weeks I’m a slower version of myself. It’s been good for my mind to quiet down, to droop, to accept the fate of the hot summer and to fill those too-warm, languishing hours with simple things — or with nothing at all.
We’ve no vacations planned for the glorious, lazy summer weeks ahead. Instead, I’m leaning into my impulses — reading way too late into the night, going for ice cream multiple times a week, laying on the floor and staring at the ceiling fan, puttering around the house — and horsing around a little bit, too. Happy Fourth of July! I hope you have a restful (and maybe even boring) long weekend.
READING LIST
Books that brought back the joy of reading
I’ve had a slew of wonderful books lately and it’s reinvigorated my love of reading. For a few years there, I couldn’t find the focus to finish a book. Here are the ones I’ve loved.
“The Tenant of Wildfell Hall” by Anne Brontë
“Rebecca” by Daphne du Maurier
“Far From the Madding Crowd” by Thomas Hardy
“Portrait of a Lady” by Henry James
TASK LIST
Things to occupy time
Summertime boredom always spurred me onto little tasks as a child: cleaning, tidying, rearranging the furniture. Here are the ones I have in mind for the next weeks:
Cleaning out all the closets (especially the closet of doom)
Making an inventory of kitchen tools, appliances and pantry items
Rearranging the guest room because it’s still not making sense
COOKING LIST
What to make when it’s too hot to think
I rely heavily on our Instant Pot in the summer because, miraculously, it does not turn the whole house into an even hotter oven-like temperature when in use. The grill, too, if I can convince José to stand out in the heat, is wonderful this time of year. This time of years, I like tacos topped with fresh salsa and or pico de gallo, salads with all sorts of fixings and pasta salad. Here are the recipes I have on the list for the coming weeks:
Carne asada tacos with pico de gallo (this marinade is great)
We love these easy salsa verde steak bowls
I’m making this chopped chipotle chicken salad recipe for dinner tonight
When in doubt, we always make aglio e olio with maroulosalata
Ina Garten’s chocolate cake recipe may be the one thing to convince me to turn on the oven
RED, WHITE AND BLUE
An Americana dream
“Ecailles Rimski” by Décors Barbares
A vitrine table with blue intaglios as seen in Steven Gambrel’s book “Time and Place”
How pretty are these rosette badges? (source unknown)
A vintage Polo ad
Two perfectly summer materials, checked fabric and rattan
“Menerbes Stripe” by Carolina Irving Textiles
Martha Stewart, the queen of July 4th.
FLIGHTS OF FANCY
Internet curiosities, curated
One of the great beautiful things of the internet is the way it connects us to artists and makers around the world. Lately, I’ve loved stumbling upon creative people who found their niche and embraced it — and then decided to share their work with the world. What courage it takes, I think, to treasure your creative works, to pore over them and practice them for years, and to share them with the world.
Here are four creatives who have inspired me lately:
Marianne Seiman in Estonia crochets beautiful, candy-colored seashells (and many other things). She even paints them in glitter. If you know how to crochet, she sells the PDF pattern on Etsy.
How charming are these ceramic sardines by British artist Diana Tonnison? Her work is largely inspired by fresh markets around the world and often bears motifs of clustered-together ingredients, like the fish above, boxes of tomatoes and other fare.
Admittedly, I’ve never completed a photo album for myself and I really ought to — we still haven’t put our wedding photos into an album, four years later. I’ve come to love the charm of old-school albums, the kind you have to print photos for and tape them in. I like the way you can mark them up with your handwriting and arrange things simply, instead of loading them into a digital platform to be printed later. This beautiful album by illustrator Clementina de Monte Rubello would be a great place to start.
How beautiful are these cookies from The Rounds bakery in New York City? It would be so fun to learn how to decorate cookies this way, but if that’s not in the cards, you can order them online.
SNACK TIME
For picnics, poolside and la playa
Indulge in the simple but oh-so-thrilling pleasure of new snacks with these three ideas: cute, canned margaritas to keep chilled in the fridge for emergencies, smoked salmon to pair with bagels or make into a salmon burger and the ultimate tin of potato chips from Spain (because is there anything more summery than eating potato chips by the handful when you get out of the pool?).
GOOD CHOICE
A fun new TV show
I watched the new show “My Lady Jane” over the weekend and loved it. It’s a retelling of the story of Lady Jane Grey, the nine days queen of England and it was fun. The show is a blend of historical drama, fantasy, comedy and romance — and lots of girl power. If you liked Sofia Coppola’s “Marie Antoinette,” I think you’ll like this.
All the best (and happy Fourth!),
Mary Grace