WELCOME to our monthly collection. This space is our online equivalent of a commonplace book. Here is where we offer links and ideas for you to explore, and things we might want to revisit or remember. Brew yourself a cup of tea and savor a quiet moment while you read. Be inspired to live with equal parts industry and creativity.

This first one is just a picture that I liked. Balamand University is in Lebanon.

If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need. –Marcus Tullius Cicero.

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I love the idea of a sunflower fort! It would be the perfect hideout to let book take you to far away places.

There is a garden in every childhood, an enchanted place where colors are brighter, the air is fresher, the days are longer. –Frances Hodgson Burnett

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Read all about Books by the Foot. This is a place for diyers or interior designers to find books to fill shelves and at the same time finding homes for rejected books. There are many categories and options within the categories, from modern to vintage to subject to color. For example, the vintage books can be ordered by type or color (with color names like enchanted forest or nightfall) and varying degrees of distressing. Prices range from $10 to over $100 per foot. I have so many mixed feelings about buying books in this manner. It’s nice to save books from the landfill, but a book that’s (likely) never read is still a bit sad. The instant gratification of a full and beautiful bookshelf is tempting. Yet I like to think my books are more than decor. Would you buy books like this just to give your shelves the right aesthetic?

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Here’s a theme for summer travel:

I have a new kitchen and it is all ‘nailed down’. I love it. Yet I keep thinking about this article: Rethinking the Modern Kitchen. It might be worth a read if you are on a kitchen remodel journey.

And this article describes the ups and downs of May better than I could. So read it and save me the trouble of trying to sort out my thoughts. It’s called Merry Maycember! at A Thought from a Carrot Top

A New Word – sidetrackery: n. the skill of diverting attention from something tempting but unwanted to something right or good. If you are caught in mindless eating, go to the other side of the house and do something. If you are ruminating on something you have no control over, turn your mind to things you can do something about. Where sidetracked means you lose focus, (a negative thing), sidetrackery brings you back to the right focus. My friend taught me this and says she learned it from Flylady.

Rhubarb Preserves takes me down memory lane. It is possibly the first canning project I attempted.Here’s how: Cut up rhubarb to make five cups and put into a large pot. Add 4 cups sugar. Cook and stir for 12 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in one box raspberry jello. The recipe in the Christian Home Cookbook, page 226, says to put parrafin on the top. I water bath the jars instead. Makes 3 pints. This is a rhubarb/raspberry flavor that tastes unique, gourmet and complex. Good on bread, yogurt and icecream.

…or maybe the place you really want to visit is dreamland:

I have been eating very local asparagus, watering newly planted evergreens, picking chamomile blossoms, and hanging sheets on the line. I spent quite a bit of time sanding and staining boards for trimming house windows, and wrapping up the school library tasks for summer. I have had some lovely naps lately, too.

But this is not all my life consists of. Moments ago I had a completely different paragraph than the one above, one that spoke of troubles, inadequacies and conundrums. Since both perspectives are equally true, I decided to go with the positive. It’s called romancing your life. And now I feel as silly as Don Quixote, which I just started reading as my long book for summer gardening. He is the ultimate in romancing a life!

I’m off to pick some rhubarb. Have a lovely day.

–Liz

Read also: The May Collection: Gateway to Summer