If ever there were a spring day so perfect

The Looby List: Early bird sign ups for marshmallow bunnies, rainbow interiors, lighthouses, video games, birthday cake, and a new summer playlist.

Hello hello,

These lovely late spring days are some of my favourites of the year: golden evenings and lush green gardens. We are still too early for the sweltering heat, water shortages and wasps, but there is a certain feeling setting as school winds down and the lakes warm up. I found this poem that I just love. It captures the feeling perfectly.

Today

By Billy Collins

If ever there were a spring day so perfect,
so uplifted by a warm intermittent breeze

that it made you want to throw
open all the windows in the house

and unlatch the door to the canary's cage,
indeed, rip the little door from its jamb,

a day when the cool brick paths
and the garden bursting with peonies

seemed so etched in sunlight
that you felt like taking

a hammer to the glass paperweight
on the living room end table,

releasing the inhabitants
from their snow-covered cottage

so they could walk out,
holding hands and squinting

into this larger dome of blue and white,
well, today is just that kind of day.

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Here’s this week’s list:

Making

I am about to start slowly stitching a few Marshmallow Bunnies - which will be available for a small summer sale. I have a few sitting half-finished, and they need some new homes. Upgrade to the paid mailing list for early bird preview purchases in the next few weeks.

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Shameless Housey

A flat full of beauty belonging to a photographer is up for sale in London. It’s the place of dreams. The colours take my breathe away. Of choosing daring colours, the current owner, Jamie Hawkesworth, says, “You can be too precious when it comes to decoration; I’m more interested in seeing what works and what doesn’t. I like to play around and make mistakes – maybe it will lead to something beautiful.”

Two other colourful interiors: this rainbow house in Seattle (with over 100 different coloured paints used) and this sweet apartment in Manhattan belonging to two artists.

And of course - don’t forget to revisit Kristin Nicholas’s vibrant 1751 farmhouse. So much colour!

I need to find the courage to paint over some of my perfectly neutral “moonlight white” walls.

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Reading

Juliette by Camille Jourdy (Drawn & Quarterly). I adore the illustrative work of Camille Jourdy. Her comic Juliette is the story of a young woman’s return trip to the French countryside to visit her family. The pages are infused with light and beauty, while the story is sad and tinged with lost innocence and family secrets. There is so much detail in every panel of this story. Definitely a treasure. (Available July 17th)

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Watching

I have been spending a bit of time watching various family members play Ragnarok: God of War on the PlayStation. I don’t feel compelled to play it myself, as slaying monsters has never really appealed to me as part of gameplay, but the design is incredible, immersive and luscious. I wish someone would design an Animal Crossing-style game set in a beautiful, fantastical open world like this. 

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Escaping

Want to get out of the city during the hot, hot summer? How about buying an old Lighthouse as a seaside escape? Starting this June, the US government is selling off four historic (and needing a lot of renovation) lighthouses at auction. The Stratford Shoal Lighthouse in Connecticut, built in 1837 (above), is my favourite, as it looks like Wes Anderson or Jean-Pierre Jeunet may have located a movie there. Bids for this particular lighthouse begin at $50,000. I think some production company should buy this and create a 9-season series called Escape to the Lighthouse, like a cross between the DIY renovation tv show Escape to the Chateau and Robert Eggers' drama/horror The Lighthouse.

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Listening

I have made a playlist for the summer - it will be ever-growing and changing. Listen along if you like soft, moody, indie girls or fun vintage tunes (and anything else that I happen to be enjoying in the moment).

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Podcasting

I really enjoyed Louis Theroux’s BBC podcast Grounded, which came out during Covid, so I’m looking forward to his new one, The Louis Theroux Podcast. 

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Craving

Instagram birthday cake baking accounts! My favourites range from weird and wonderful to elegant and indulgent, but all are beautiful and inspired.

1. Love’s Galettes - Salt Spring Island

2. YUNGKOMBUCHA - New York City

3. Mali Bakes - Melbourne

4. The Salty Whisk - Salt Spring Island

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Crone Cooking: Birthday Cake

In an effort to cook 52 essential recipes by the time I turn 52 (March 2024), I have started a little list, and this week was dish number eleven: Birthday Cake!

A little spanner was thrown in my plans to make a birthday cake for my youngest kid, who turns 17 on the 18th. I thought it was brilliant to have a reason to make a cake (I would usually buy one, tbh) and check it off my 52 things list. But the request came in for a birthday pavlova. “Don’t you want a cake? I have to make one for my newsletter!” to which the kid replied, “No, I don’t even like cake. No cake.” No arguing there. So I will make a pavlova next week… and this week, I made a birthday cake trial run for some unknown birthday in the future. I used this recipe for the vanilla cake from Recipe Tin Eats and made this chocolate buttercream frosting. It was honestly a bit fussy for a novice, but the results (while looking pretty rough and ready) were tasty. Next time I will go back to my mum’s classic chocolate cake recipe. It is a lot easier. Anyone want a slice of cake? There’s a lot.

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Also, happy Pride Month! Open your hearts and love love love. 

I found this footage from one of the first Pride Marches, in New York City, on June 28th, 1970, the first anniversary of the Stonewall Riots:

Thanks for reading, see you next week.

xo,

Claire

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