Abundance

Field Notes

Living in a bungalow has a few cosy perks. Our bedroom adjoins the conservatory, which means in summer we sleep with the doors open, curtains wide, waking each morning to birdsong and the scent of lavender. There is one particularly loud wren who sings every morning (not complaining), and although I’m not usually an early bird myself, it’s beautiful rising with the sun and listening to the garden wake up from within the supine depths of my duvet.

Last night we heard rain falling on the conservatory roof and it was lovely. The earth is parched at the moment, so to step out and see raindrops oozing their way down the pumpkin leaves was a treat. Despite the generally dry weather, there is still a sense of abundance in the air as we roll through the summer months. The pumpkin plants have taken over the garden and, now the post-No-Mow-May strimmers have had their fun (losers), the wildflowers are returning to the edges again. The poppies! So divine.

My schedule is currently a bit nuts in the lead up to my big deadline in September, so I’m really trying to take mental and physical breaks through the day so I don’t get completely swamped by thoughts of work. This week I found the first sloes forming on the blackthorn, although most were still green so they were easy to miss. I promise I’m not wishing the season away, but there’s something about the idea of plump sloes plopping into gin that makes me reach for a cardigan and a murder mystery…

Something I Made: The Lunar Satsuma Womens Boxy Tee

Thank you all so much for the love you’ve given my new t-shirt collection Papaver! Since launching last week, there has been a clear bestseller and it’s this Lunar Satsuma tee, which isn’t a surprise as it’s based on one of my most popular print designs when my Etsy shop was still open. It’ll be opening again this summer with a brand new range of stuff, so keep an eye in your inbox for more updates. I’ll also be working on the autumn designs for Papaver in the next few weeks. We got pumpkins, we got moths, we got spooky hares.

Something I’m Reading: Venomous Lumpsucker by Ned Beauman

I got this from the library a few weeks ago and it is so good! Not exactly a page-turner - I’ve already had to renew it once - but it’s very funny in a dark, depressing way. The topic is destruction rather than abundance. Set in a future world where extinction has been turned into a business model, it’s about two people in the industry trying to salvage a catastrophe for two very different reasons. Highly recommend.