Dear friend,

I have these friends in Chattanooga who are all sweetness and light. All eight of them, the whole family, blonde, long-legged, and full of pure bohemian charm. Walking into their home is like walking into a storybook. Actually, I've blogged about them before, here. The wax-dipped ginkgo leaves, I forgot about those! Manley and I got to spend a whirlwind of a time with them last night and this morning. Not even a 24-hour trip, but like honey to my soul all the same. Sarah has been my very dear friend since we were sixteen. Sixteen and as silly as they come.

It appears that somebody had chocolate for breakfast. Everybody needs chocolate for breakfast now and then. When and if (hopefully) I ever get to be a mom, I am going to let my children have chocolate for breakfast sometimes. And I'm going to have it too.

Now, you may have to look closely, but that pewter cheese serving set has three little mice on the knife handle, and a big mama mouse that sits on top of the cheese. EEEEEK! It was passed down to Sarah from her grandmother, but my Ebay search is on! Have any of you ever seen a similar set? I will pay you a finder's fee! Not even kidding!

Moonrise Kingdom opens tonight in Nashville and we are anxiously awaiting, tickets in hand. I'm nervous and excited because my expectations are so high, and I get unreasonably sad when films seem disappointing to me. In fact, that's why I don't watch many.  Isn't that silly? Yikesies!

Love,

Rebekka

Dear friend,

I love this one, so especially much, because it reminds me of one of my favorite Randy Newman songs: *Sing a song, of long ago  * When things were green, and movin' slow * People'd stop to say hello * They'd say hi to you * Would you like to come over for tea? * With the missus and me? * It's a real nice way to spend a day in Dayton, Ohio * On a lazy Sunday afternoon in 1903*   The melody splits my heart right down the middle. 

Alas, this house is in Milan and not Dayton but I can just imagine it back in 1903 with a sweet couple sipping tea on the front porch. Adorable.

Love,

Rebekka

Dear friend,

Last night, on the Solstice, my friend Colleen cooked me supper and I snapped this photo. Her home...her little second-story kitchen...is exactly where you want to be on a muggy Southern summer night, quietly collecting your thoughts as the steam rises from the street below. Drinking icy white wine from cut crystal glasses and watching the sunset outside her windows melt into star-speckled darkness.

In south Alabama, where I grew up, stepping outside between June and September is pretty much the equivalent of taking a hot bath, but I love it. It's not that different here. It's messy and unbearable, but also pure magic if you can find the mystery and romance in it all. And there are fireflies.

What is summer like where you live?

Love,

Rebekka