Good things

... mostly

Jakob Koganowski (1874-1926), Farmhouse in Summer Light. I’m going to restart my Sunday morning picture posts soon

Good morning! Before we start, here’s a useful Note.

And here are some things I liked this week. There’s a personal update at the bottom of this post.

My house

I loved talking to Kate Watson-Smyth about decorating country houses, as mine is for sale:

A house tour with India Knight

And Helen C Stark saw the sales particulars and was inspired to sketch this! Coming across it on Notes made my day.

Photo: Helen C Stark

And then Rebecca Lowrey Boyd wrote a nice thing about it on Wee Birdy.

Friday Finds: Indie anthems, tabletop treasures, floral how-tos, Nigella's favourite Sydney dessert + India Knight's house

Paper plants

Georgia Doherty of Plants for Shade is moving her studio and so having a sale of her beautiful potted paper geraniums this weekend. Sometimes she does nasturtiums too.

It’s online this Sunday 6 July at 12 noon UK time (be quick - they go really fast). You get an extra 10% off with the code ‘moving’.

Advice

I liked this from Philippa Perry (who is now on Substack rather than in The Observer) about the therapeutic usefulness of writing letters, whether you send them or not.

My Parents dump their misery onto me

War

Sophie from That Final Scene being brilliant again, this time on war, cinema and Alex Garland’s films.

What we're witnessing isn't just another Middle Eastern proxy war. It's the entire war machine—economic, intellectual, and cultural—operating at peak efficiency to transform public opinion from "war is tragic" to "this war is good"

Doing the washing up

I always love Debora Robertson, but I especially loved this one because I also hover in a silent, fretful state of ‘really nice of you but you’re doing it wrong’ around people who are helping with the washing up. Nothing makes me feel more foreign than the British thing of not rinsing the dishes. YOUR PAN TASTES OF FAIRY LIQUID!

The delegation struggle is real

Ballymaloe

The hotel rather than the cookery school, image from The Irish Stew

Ballymaloe, the OG of country house hotels, is one of my favourite places on God’s green earth, and one day I will be organised enough to enrol on one of their cookery courses (I used to think Bread, but now I think one taught by Rory O’Connell, due to my reliance this book). So I liked this from Sally and John McKenna.

Capturing the Essence of Ballymaloe House

Yes

Zoe Williams interviewed Bridget Christie in The Guardian back in March - no idea why the app only showed it to me this week - and I loved the whole thing, including this payoff.

YES! Thank you! More of this please, instead of tired old chestnuts about how it’s all a never-ending nightmare. According to the NHS and the British Menopause Society, approximately a quarter of women in the UK experience severe menopausal symptoms. But that leaves 75% who do not - and who find their wings.

Design ideas

Image: A Tiny Apt.

Such satisfying ideas and visuals from Christene Barberich.

9 Low-Lift Design Ideas To Try

Midnight pasta

I approve the sentiment behind this recipe.

Lunch this weekend