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A French-Inspired Garden and Home by Judith Stringham

Summer Cherries, Patriotic Dates, and Email News

Friday, May 29, 2015


Summer days are here  

which means... 

summer vacations, swimming in the pool, 
relaxed schedules, longer daylight hours, 
patriotic holidays, and having meals alfresco.  


Fresh summer fruit is perfect for meals 
on a picnic, by the pool, or on the backyard deck. 

So many delicious summer fruit choices ~ 
It is hard for me to pick my absolute FAVORITE. 


I love all of these.  
watermelon 
strawberries 
peaches 
cantaloupe 
raspberries 
blueberries 
honeydew melon 
and 
C H E R R I E S ! 



Cherries were in the grocery store this past weekend, 
and looked so good that I had to buy some. 
I gathered some of the summer cherries 
for a quick snack on the back deck. 

The weather is still cool enough to eat outside, 
the rains have slacked off, and the sun peeks out more each day. 
Just sitting outside looking at all the green trees, 
listening to the birds sing and call to each other, 
and watching butterflies, bees, and dragonflies 
is relaxing and renews my energy. 



Eating outside doesn't have to be planned in advance, 
or an elaborate barbecue, or a multi-course meal.
A white wicker tray makes carrying everything outside so easy 
that any quick snack can be enjoyed in the adirondack chairs. 



Lining the wicker tray with a red and white cherry kitchen towel 
is a quick, easy way to dress up the simple snack. 

Presentation is another thing that renews my energy. 
When things look pretty, I feel better. 



The 100% cotton kitchen towel is from France 
which also perks me up! 
Eating outdoors is oh, so, français
Living in the moment and savoring life today. 



Cherries are a great outdoor food. 
Cherries have their own handles, do not need to peeled, and 
can be a small one-bite portion. 
Eat as many or as few as you want. 
The remaining ones easily can be saved for another day. 
Just watch out for the pits! 



Cherry red glasses and a pitcher of fresh mint for iced tea 
add just the right accent color and flavor to the summer cherries. 

The tray of cherries, red glasses, and blue pitcher of mint 
also add just the right combination of colors for a patriotic display 
for any of the upcoming summer holidays. 
June 6 ~ D-Day 
June 14 ~ Flag Day 
July 4 ~ Independence Day 
July 14 ~ Bastille Day 
my French connection :)
September 7 ~ Labor Day 



Two blue checked bowls are for sharing the berries with a friend. 
Come on over, and sit a while on the deck.  

What is your favorite summer fruit? 

See the following articles for nutritional information about summer fruits. 

Great news for Botanic Bleu email subscribers! 
Well, mostly great news, 
or some great news, some not-so-great news. 

The Great News 
FeedBurner is now working and delivering Botanic Bleu 
by email to those who subscribed after May 25, 2015. 
As of May 27, there were 3 subscribers. 
Thank you, and welcome new subscribers.


The Not-So-Great News 
For those who subscribed before May 25, 2015, 
your subscription was lost in the FeedBurner fix. 
Please sign up again to have Botanic Bleu 
delivered straight to your email.  

In reality, your subscription was lost by FeedBurner 
long before May 25, but that is the date when  
a new feed from my blog went live.  

After working for months and months trying to fix 
the FeedBurner link to my blog, 
I finally deleted it completely and started over. 
It is part of me never to give up, 
but whatever the problem was just would not get resolved. 

The new email feed works. 
Fingers crossed that it continues to work. 
 I subscribed myself and received my first 
new post directly to my personal email. 
What an exciting day finally to see 
the email feed work again. 


~~~~❦~~~~
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