Links that may or may not be related to gardens, food, travel, nature, or heterotopias and liminal spaces but probably are. Sources in parentheses.
map: The World’s 100 Largest Islands, Side by Side (David Garcia/Vivid Maps). Also, a sortable list of the islands.
essay: Blue Notes #19: Is my marriage weird? An investigation (Mari Andrew/Out of the Blue).
I’m sorry, this is another paid newsletter subscription and if you don’t also have a paid subscription to it, you won’t be able to read much (do a one-month subscription for $5 to try it out!). But I just love her writing, her ideas, her phrases, her words, so can’t stop won’t stop sharing.
On her “con” list for marriage: “Someone’s always in your house.” YES. That can be very trying. But in fact, it’s also sometimes/often a “pro,” if that someone enjoys doing their own thing elsewhere in the house at times. As is true for Mari, it’s true for me that “solitude is still my most comfortable state,” and I’m lucky the person I live with seems to have a similar leaning. Also this, below the fold: “Intimacy with another person is very much like a big hefty book that can grab you in the first sentence and leave you frustrated by Chapter 2, OR keep you enticed enough to struggle through that confusing middle section where you forgot which aunt was the bad one and you’ve really had enough descriptions of that river, thanks. If you’ve ever cracked open an imposing Russian novel, you know what I’m talking about: You have to designate time, get a specific companion guide, watch the movie, learn a bit of the culture and language. This is tough stuff. But isn’t the tough stuff so rewarding?” Sometimes it is.
recipes: Elderflower gin and elderflower cocktails (Mark Diacono/Garden To Table). Infusing gin with fresh elderflowers, making an elderflower cordial and a martini.
plant guide with photos: Connecticut Native Meadow Seedling & Plant Identification Guide (UConn Extension). 16-page PDF. List of about 20 perennial plants native to northeastern U.S., hardy in at least USDA zones 5b to 7a, with their flowering times, pollinators supported, leaf characteristics for ID purposes, and photos and detailed info on each plant.
photo essay: Colour of Etna: Discovering a roadside superbloom in Sicily (Jack Wallington/Wild Way). Just enjoy. Giant fennel, elderflower, yellow broom, red valerian + “Verbascum, euphorbia, poppies, chamomile, hawkbit, reseda; none of these plants are strangers to the UK and yet I haven’t seen them grown like this, as they like to grow in the wild.”
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