New in my Etsy shop - Magic of Creation, II Print

Magic of Creation, II, originally uploaded by lepiaf.geo.

Find it here.

New in my Etsy shop - Morning solitude - Print

Morning solitude, originally uploaded by lepiaf.geo.

Find it here.

“Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them.”Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Here, you have one that didn't fall into that predictable trap. One that still values morning of beach combing over any respectable company of adults, one who rejoices in every shell picked from the sand, even if just to put it back again...
Hand at work, at leisure, at play.

Grown and consumed in my backyard :)

Dannie, do not lick the screen ;), originally uploaded by lepiaf.geo.

Made with the cherries my kids picked yesterday in our garden. Does eating get any more local than that? ;)

Here is the recipe I translated from Serbian Cafe:
One bowl Cherry Cake (Serves ~ 10)

1 lb (or up to 2) cherries, berries etc.
2 eggs
400 ml sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
200 ml oil
300 ml milk
800 ml flour
1 baking powder

note: 100 ml~ 2 oz volume

This is what you do:
Preheat the oven, 350 F.
In big mixing bowl mix well eggs with sugar. When light yellow and fluffy, add vanilla. Stir in milk and oil. Add flour mixed with baking powder. Stir with spatula till you get mass without lumps. Oil/butter the baking pan, dust lightly with flour. Pour in the batter. Sprinkle frozen berries on top. They will sink in as the cake bakes.
Put in preheated oven and bake for 40-45 minutes, until the tester inserted in cake comes out clean. Let rest for till your patience runs out and dive in :)
Share with your next door neighbor.

And then, there were fireworks!!!!

51st annual Firework's display! One of the world's largest fireworks displays! Detroit, Michigan, USA and Windsor, Ontario, Canada jointly celebrate the multi-day festival the last week of June which draws about 3.5 million visitors in order to commemorate each country's respective National holiday - (US Independence Day on July 4 and Canada Day on July 1). Over 10,000 pyrotechnic effects lighting up the skyline of Detroit and Windsor!

The way summer smells

The way summer smells, originally uploaded by lepiaf.geo.

We were kids and Z. was our big brother. (The gap and awe between ages 10 and 18 are of gigantic proportions)
He would spend summers in villages along the Adriatic coast, working on the islands (Hvar? Brac? not so sure anymore) during lavender harvest. I imagined huge barrels, and him at the bottom, while from the top they were filling the barrel up with freshly picked lavender. He would keep walking on it, compressing it, like they do with grape harvest when they make vino. Is that how it really was, no one can confirm my memories anymore....
He would return home at the end of the summer, copper tanned, lean and strong, and every pore of his body would evaporate lavender scent and sea salt. His travel bag, his clothes, books - they all smelled of sweet, hot summers we (little girls) were not allowed to have yet. The scent would linger on, for the rest of the year, amongst books in the armoire, mixing with tobacco smell into a signature scent of my early pre-teens.
It is still, by far, the most desired and safest scent known to me.


So there.
A little story for a little Tuesday.

Could I interest you in a spot of tea, perchance?

Could I interest you in a spot of tea, perchance?, originally uploaded by lepiaf.geo.

Wishing you a delightful weekend :)

New in my Etsy shop - Magic of creation

Find it here.
I would love to do the whole series to express my awe and infatuation by artists and craftsmen and human hands that create and make us what we are.