After sewing a few dresses for Iris, I decided to try making a long-sleeve linen shirt to keep the summer sun off of Akiva’s precious pudge. He is a bit more difficult for me to photograph, as he does not take direction so well as his sister, & I get impatient at my inability to put him in a position I like & then I forget to focus on the lighting and whatnot. Y’all will just have to suffer, looking at this photo. Suffer like you’re getting your photo taken in a new shirt your mama made you and you really just don’t care.

A person can go FAST FAST FAST!

—or stop a lot along the way.

They both work.

It just depends on the person and the day.

I made another dress for Iris! It is my favorite so far.

Ari came to visit, so we went for a good walk. (No evidence of Ari here.) The trail goes in from the Val-Estrie property, after you cross through the field. Then you go through the games and such. You take a left at the river overlook. Pass by the island overlook, then continue onto the horse trails. Follow the horse trails to the big long bridge. Cross the big long bridge then, instead of taking a left down by the river and going up the back trails, just go straight because some kiddos are tired. Pass by the logging project to photograph a man on a stump. Continue on out the gate, into town, take a right and cross the river on the car bridge. Take a right at the intersection to home.

Akivs climbs up to ye ol’ piano to play some tunes.

He hammers on the strings with a detached key.

He loves all pianos. Love is blind.

While he plays, Iris collects a few of the felt rings that pad the pins to which the keys were once somehow attached.

She sneaks off with three of them as if they are contraband.

Similar to washers, they are for her washer collection.

She has also found, hidden in the piano amongst the leaf littler, one very old real silver quarter.

There are some very tall tall swings on the Val-Estrie property.

They make Akiva nervous.

Another dress! This one is butterflies and ferns.

I made sure to pay attention to where the butterflies land.

I spend hours deciding which fabrics go together.

I calculate the proportions of the dress according to the amounts of different fabrics I have.

The batik of the skirt portion has a pattern that echos the ferns among the butterflies.

The ruffle and the straps are watery.

We go down to the water, the blue-green water.

We walk along the stream.

leap

little girl

wet

mud

toss!

smash!

fling!

wing!

whip!

dash!

yip!

splash!

jump!

splat—

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AKIVA!!!