July Home Improvements

After days of an apocalyptic red sun ball that hung menacingly in the sky, closely chased by a torrent of downpours, a perfect string of midsummer days has descended on the Hudson valley —high seventies, sunny, no humidity, clear blue skies. A gentle generosity of weather. Days where the front yard becomes the best room in the house.

For this month’s free post, I’m sharing stuff we’ve been doing in our outside space: low lift parenting, a day of building community, some quality play, good cooking, and enthusiastic communing with nature’s bounty.

But first, here’s a look back on Closer to Home in July:

I wrote about my thoughts on raising kids who love to read (yes audiobooks count, yes graphic novels count, re-reading is encouraged, enjoyment, after all, is the goal).

I shared how I apply lessons learned studying creative writing to designing a home (rearranging, adding, cutting, filling a space with specific well-chosen details, and scene over summary).

I celebrated annual family traditions and the accruing magic of returning to the same place every year, and encouraged you to cultivate your own.

And, on her Substack, Studio Notes, Amanda Jane Jones shared an interview I did a few years ago for her book Mother / Founder that didn’t make it in. We talk about motherhood and creating a business and many lessons I learned the hard way (is there another way to learn, BTW? I think I’m ready to try it!)

Without further ado, 5 ways big and small we’ve been living life in the front yard this month.

1. A Neighborhood Yard Sale

This is my favorite new summer tradition: one beautiful sunny Saturday we joined forces with our next door neighbors to either side of us and hosted a yard sale on our front lawn.

So many reasons to adore this: I love to declutter and purge stuff (CDs! Youth sized soccer jerseys! A tent! A Solo Stove!); we made a few hundred bucks; best of all we spent the day sitting on lawn chairs, eating hotdogs, and enjoying the company of our neighbors, and the wider community who stopped by to browse. Call it a garage sale, call it a stoop sale, call it a rummage sale. Whatever your geography and regional nomenclature, I highly recommend this as a summertime gathering with multiple clear, and delightful purposes.

2. A Medley of Lawn Games

I included this on my Summer Maxxing checklist and we did indeed buy the combo volleyball/badminton set for our youngest’s 13th birthday this month and have been enjoying playing badminton since. (Badly, on my part. Why is the racket such a tiny pin head, and the birdie so feathery slight?)

There’s a lesson in the virtue of proximity in design here. We installed the net on our front lawn, where a few weeks back the Yard Sale was held, and we walk by it whenever we enter or leave the house. Storing the croquet set in a closet may not result in anyone actually playing croquet; the having to think of it, retrieve and arrange it too prohibitive. When it’s there on the lawn in patient wait you’ve no excuse. So it is with the Magna-Tiles, or the deck of cards, or the other inside stuff—if they’re on the table, they’ll be played with. In the cabinet, they will likely there remain.

As if volleyball and badminton were not enough, my husband and son have invented a third game for this setup, a hybrid soccer tennis / volleyball game, where the ball can bounce, you get three touches, and you can use any part of your body to get the ball back over the net. They call it Body Ball.

Oh, how I love an invented game! When my family is whimsical, creative, active, and humorous, all in one fell swoop resulting from a gift I have procured, I feel like an absolute genius.

3. Celebrating the Blackberries

Celebrating the blackberries is a metaphor, and also not at all a metaphor. Throughout May, I took nightly photos of our blackberry bushes in bloom—I was so enamored by the sweet little blossoms (I want to make a blackberry blossom wallpaper print) before a big moody sky. I took many photos of many blossoms, blossoms that promised to be a bountiful blackberry harvest, and this month they’ve delivered on that promise. I try to practice sky before screen in the mornings, and popping outside to pick a pint of blackberries first thing is easily a better way to start the day than scrolling. Our mini-Australian shepherd Mango has learned, by watching me, how to pick the berries with her teeth, too. Honestly she should be managing the household. As I write I am sipping homemade Blackberry Lime Seltzer. And my husband is making Blackberry Sorbetto. It’s a blackberry bonanza over here.

My evening ritual of observing and photographing the flowering bushes in a dusky sky and my morning ritual of picking the fruit remind me that appreciating the nature right around you is a rewarding way to tap into a deeper connection with place. If you have no fruit to pick, I highly recommend the photo-a-day project. Photograph the same lovely spot just outside your front door every day for a few weeks. See what is revealed.

4. Siting Around and Chatting by the Hoop

I think frequently about ways to build connection with my two teenaged boys. Strong relationships with the adults in their life are shown to be a key to keeping teenagers safe. I think of every moment of connection as money in the bank; you can save up for the inevitable rainy day of adolescence.

One of the best ways I’ve found to do this, is to sit around near them with a generally cheerful disposition, while they do something they like doing. That’s it. That’s the parenting advice. During June and July, I spent a lot of time sitting around near them on our sofa watching the World Cup. Not a bad way to spend a summer. Could we do it again next year? I’ve also spent a lot of time this summer sitting outside in a lawn chair near them while they shoot on the basketball hoop in our driveway, or juggle the soccer ball. They are both athletes, and I am not, so while occasionally I jump in and play beside them, I mostly appreciate them and sit quietly. We chat. Sometimes they say, Mom! Watch this! like they did when they were little. The sweetness of these simple moments overwhelms me. Nothing purchased, nothing scheduled. The only requirement is presence.

5. Grilling, with Matt’s Quick and Easy Fish Recipe

One thing that happens much more frequently in summer in our house is grilling fish for dinner. The grill, as it happens, is also in the front yard, on a little side patio outside my study, well situated to take in a game of Body Ball.

My husband Matt and I cook together often, shoulder to shoulder, usually with him in charge of the main and me on the sides. Matt is the more serious, better, and bossier cook. So this arrangement of collaboration on the whole with sovereignty over our individual parts works well.

We love the Steelhead Trout fillets from Hudson Valley Fisheries and cook them once a week in summer (they’re thin and cook in ten minutes). The following “recipe” also works with Salmon fillets or Branzino or your favorite rather delicate fish:

Make a file folder out of tin foil. Two if you are cooking two fish fillets. Pour olive oil on the bottom, then lay your fish inside. Turn the grill on. Don’t dress the fish until you are ready to cook; you don’t want it to cure.

In a small bowl, combine chopped herbs (parsley or basil or dill), olive oil, and alliums with lemon zest, salt and pepper. Tender alliums such as garlic or garlic scapes can be grated and spread on top of the fish; heartier scallions, onions, or leeks are best finely chopped and laid as a bed under the fish. Spread the mixture on top or under the fish fillet, as appropriate. Crimp the two sides of the foil together to seal the top, and fold in the ends for a tidy package. Put the entire foil packet directly on the grill and cook over medium high heat for ten minutes (perhaps more for a thicker fillet, all the while observing the motto: Dare to Undercook).

Remove the foil packet, and head to the table (could that be in the front yard, too? It could! In fact, I might move one out there today…) Serve with Scandinavian potato salad, heirloom tomatoes with a dash of balsamic, and a good crusty bread. Blackberry Sorbetto makes a fine late July dessert. Enjoy!

Thanks for being here. I’ll see you in August!

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