Blood Harmony Vol. 53: Cascade Baby!

Hello Blood Harmonists!

We’re nearly at the end of the school year here in NC and there’s a real “limping to the finish line” energy in my home. So that’s fun.

Music

Miley has a new album out! It’s good and also weird! I really like “Easy Lover” and “Every Girl You’ve Ever Loved”.

Lately I’ve been living my best life by sitting on my front porch and reading during my son’s TV time¹. I like to put on the porch fan and listen to music on a portable speaker. If you have the occasion to do the same, this is the perfect soundtrack.

Screens

And Just Like That… is back and WOW. What a terrible show! But it is also SO FUN² to watch it and complain about how bad it is afterwards on various text chains.

I saw Jane Austen Wrecked My Life this week. It’s a French/British/romance/comedy/drama with a literary bent. It was very romantic and soulful. The protagonist works at Shakespeare & Company!³

I also finally watched Moonlight for a class I’m taking. I think I’d always avoided it because it seemed like it was going to be devastating. It was devastating. But it was also beautiful and probably one of the best films I’ve ever seen. So, strong recommendation!

Cartoons

In this vein, Wirecutter ALSO loves Cascade powder.

Recs

I loved this piece by Liz Plank for

Airplane Mode with Liz Plank

.

How to Be Okay When Everything Is Not

And this incredible piece about Dale Earnhardt’s style by

Em Seely-Katz

.

Dale Earnhardt's Grief Dressing

Baking

I made the pickle juice bread! It turned out really well. It filled about half of my Pullman loaf pan so I think if you wanted a true sandwich-size bread loaf, you’d have to double the recipe. This bread really called to my Eastern European roots: the aforementioned pickle juice, caraway seeds, dill seed and mustard seeds. It is a gentle flavor explosion!

Skin Stuff

I keep thinking about this great episode of The Dream on skincare. When Jane Marie asks her guest

Charlotte Palermino

why Korean beauty products are so awesome, Charlotte simply says, “crushing beauty standards.” Incredible honesty.

Books

Over on

The TL;DR by What Maddie Read

, Maddie made this insanely gorgeous and comprehensive summer reading guide (complete with page-flipping sounds!).

I finished Crush by Ada Calhoun. It was good. I could have done with fewer quotes from other writers in the text but I know why they were there⁴ and I found the overall story to be quite compelling.⁵ I finally got

Jo Piazza

’s novel from the library and I’m really enjoying the mix of travelogue, mystery and finding oneself-ness.

Photos from Bopping Around Town⁶

The abandoned lots in my neighborhood are so lush.

Plants

Things are not flourishing in my garden so far this year⁷ but the echinacea plants are looking good. I’ve decided to dry some out (and some calendula) and make an oxymel. I find the vinegar/honey combo more exciting than the straight-ahead tincture. Will report back.

I like to dry my plants on parchment paper.

Power Broker Audiobook Update: 44 hours, 33 minutes left

Thanks for reading! I’m so glad you’re here!

For more music, please check out my B sides playlist which is ever-expanding and now clocks in at 24+ hours in length.

1. Seen one Youtuber Fortnite video, seen them all is what I say.

2. Except for the phone sex scene with Aidan. That was just awful. I never want to think about it again.

3. The first place I would go if I went to Paris.

4. The main character and her love interest are both writers.

5. The character’s ex was such a jackass though.

6. Lovely light courtesy of the Canadian wildfires :(

7. Damn you cute, hungry bunnies!