Three recipes worth making, three books for the garden and beyond, and everything else I found this week
Finally. After what felt like weeks of rain, the sun came out and with it a crew, a pile of stone, and actual progress on the circle. They laid the new border, planted everything, and made a little path. It looks beautiful, a little bare but in a good way. After all I can’t have a full grown garden by snapping my fingers. Once everything grows up it will be fabulous.
The tree is still an open question. One arrived but Bill is not sold on it. It is smaller than we expected and we are not sure we want to wait until fall for a different one. In the meantime, the battle to keep the deer at bay has begun. We may go broke trying every deterrent anyone has ever suggested.
I have a lot to share this week so let us get to it.
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Friday Food
Big Classic Greek Salad from Once Upon a Chef. Crisp vegetables, briny feta, good olives, and a dressing worth making from scratch. The one you will want on repeat all summer.
Greek Pasta Salad from Baker by Nature. All the best things about a Greek salad, with pasta. Chickpeas, Kalamata olives, feta, and fresh vegetables. The perfect summer side, and you can add chicken if you want to make it a meal.
Layered Greek Dip from Joy Food Sunshine. Fifteen minutes, feeds a crowd, and exactly right for cocktail hour on a warm Saturday evening. Serve with pita chips and vegetables.
Something Sweet
Blueberry crumb bars, browned butter shortbread cookie crust filled with fresh blueberry jam topped with butter crumbs.
Read, Watch, Listen
The Best Movies From the 2026 Cannes Film Festival
8 Hobbies Neuroscientists Recommend to Keep Your Brain Sharp
15 of the best places in the world for food right now
Pope Leo warns AI is fueling conflict, urges world to slow advances
‘My body carried me,’ Elizabeth Smart says. Now she’s celebrating it
The ‘fibermaxxing’ trend has health benefits worth the hype
The 6 Bad Habits That Are Destroying Your Nonstick Pans
Golf ball-sized octopus discovered near the Galápagos Islands
On the Nightstand & The Wishlist
The Three Graces of Pearl Street. Three generations of women, all named Grace, living together again in their working-class New York neighborhood. A ninety-six-year-old former nun running the parish food kitchen. Her daughter, a psychology professor whose composed life is coming quietly undone. Her granddaughter, brilliant but lost, looking for somewhere to belong. Exquisitely written and full of characters you will not forget.
A Gentle Plea for Chaos by Mirabel Osler. A gardener who let her garden take over her life, and is not sorry about it. She argues against the stamped-collector mentality in gardening, for following nature rather than fighting it, and for the particular beauty of the English cottage garden left slightly to its own devices. Frequently funny, always worth reading, and very timely given what is happening in our circle.
The Brother Gardeners by Andrea Wulf. The story of how six men, starting with a colonial farmer shipping two boxes of American plants to London in 1733, created the modern garden. Carl Linnaeus, Philip Miller, Joseph Banks, Captain Cook’s botanists. The garden revolution that began in America and changed the horticultural world. If you love gardens and history together, this one is for you.
Looking for more books? Everything I have recommended can be found on My Bookshop. Most are also available from Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, and on Libby from your local library.
Outfit of the Week
It’s summer, time to pull out the shorts. Bermuda shorts, which are my favorite style are “in” this summer. I paired a white pair with a yellow stripe shirt, blue espadrilles and a fun tote. You can wear this casual outfit all day, in the house, to do errands, for first Friday music in the park, etc.
Outfit Details Below
I hope you have a wonderful weekend. What you are planting, or what you are reading this weekend. Share in the comments.
I hope you enjoyed this week’s Friday Favorites. Don’t forget to join us tomorrow for Weekend Meanderings!
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