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Summer has officially come and gone, and without a doubt, it was a good one. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for the disaster called my garden. It’s overgrown, neglected, and under watered, and it’s ALL. MY. FAULT. I feel guilty about it, but I’m trying to redeem myself by focusing on two good things that came out of this year's gardening season: my front yard transformation and my dinner plate dahlias.

Since we moved in, the front yard was made up of holly bushes (foundation plantings) and sad looking grass. See the picture below (and please pardon the used bike and carriage lot on the porch). The grass never did that well due to lack of sun and poor soil, making it basically a dirt patch. So, this spring I decided to dig it up, replace the soil, and plant shade perennials in hopes of creating something more visually pleasing.

I transplanted hostas from the back yard, snagged some creeping jenny from my mother-in-law (thank you, Gigi!), and bought a few vinca plants. The result is below. It’s still filling in, but it’s a big improvement and I’m hopeful that it will continue to do well. Our neighbors are enthusiastic too! 

Since I’ve become interested in gardening, dahlias have always been a favorite. They require full sun, which I don't have, but I grow them anyway just to say hello every year and harvest whatever blooms decide to show their face. Despite my incessant neglect, my dinner plate dahlias are very happy (dinner plate refers to the large bloom size—in this case 8” diameter). The blooms are enormous bursts of magenta awesomeness, and I love bringing each and every one of them into the house for display.

You’d think given the state of my garden that I might actually throw in the towel (it’s that pathetic). I’m not giving up, but perhaps I will to set more realistic expectations for next year. For now, though, as the air becomes crisp and the days become shorter, I will greet my front garden with a smile and relish every last dahlia bloom.

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This summer Clayton and I started a podcast called Good Talk. The premise is simple: we chat about things we're interested in. Despite some technical issues (we still haven’t quite figured out all of the little knobs and dials on the mixing board!), we're having a blast. It's surprisingly easy to start a podcast—you simply choose a topic, record an episode, find a hosting site (we chose libsyn.com) and then share your podcast with the world! Getting your podcast on iTunes is just as easy—just submit your show information and wait a couple of days for approval. And, if you're as lucky as me and Clayton, you'll have a super talented friend write and record a theme song (thanks, Nathan!). 

(image: Nathan and Clayton in a serious editing session of Good Talk).

Since we started Good Talk I've become a huge podcast fan, listening to fun and fascinating podcasts every day on my commute or while I'm cooking. Here are several podcasts that Nathan and I highly recommend tuning into. Prepare to get hooked!

DEAR SUGAR (Sarah)
What started as an advice column on The Rumpus is now Dear Sugar Radio, a weekly podcast hosted by authors Cheryl Strayed (best known for her book Wild) and Steve Almond (who also gives advice here). The Sugars dispense advice on love, family, friendship, work and more. They don’t shy away from difficult topics and often mine their own personal histories to answer listeners’ questions. The Sugars are, without a doubt, an awesome duo and a treat to listen to every week.

THE MEMORY PALACE (Nathan)
My all-time favorite podcast, the Memory Palace integrates the lost art of storytelling with a love of history. Its creator Nate DiMeo is naturally gifted at the art of the story but roots them in fact. He brings us back to a specific place, person, or moment in our collective memory and recounts the circumstances and the world of the time. Think if Bill and Ted created a podcast and brought characters from the past to recount exactly what they saw. My favorite episode might be the one about Jenny Lind, the “Swedish Nightingale.” It tells of a time before recorded sound, when thousands of fans lined the docks in New York to catch a glimpse of her first trip to the U.S. When, around the country, small music halls and churches were packed with those hoping to hear her legendary voice, for one moment.

MYSTERY SHOW (Sarah)
How did a neighborhood video store disappear seemingly overnight? Who owned an ornate belt buckle found on the side of the road over 20 years ago? Host and detective Starlee Kine takes seemingly uninteresting mysteries and turns them into first rate radio theater. My one complaint is that there were only 6 episodes! I'm already looking forward to the second season. Favorite episode: Case #3 Belt Buckle.

RADIOLAB (Nathan)
Whenever I think I have a grasp of the world, Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich explore a topic on Radiolab that absolutely astounds me and blows my mind. It's best to just dive in and discover the wondrous reporting and sound editing that is the show, but if you need some teasers, did you know in 1944 and 1945 mysterious balloon-like objects were seen descending from the skies and detonating in fields and near small towns from Alaska, to Oregon, to Nebraska and Colorado? Or that in the 1960's the CIA had a clandestine operation to convert cats into eavesdropping devices? Or that prairie dogs have vocabulary sophisticated enough to chatter 'Here comes the tall human in blue!' and 'Here comes the short human in yellow!' I didn’t think so.

YOU'RE THE EXPERT (Sarah)
Sabrina suggested I listen to this one and I'm so glad she did! This podcast pairs a panelist of comedians with a mystery guest. The comedians attempt to guess the guest’s field of study and the ensuing Q and A is both hilarious and informative! My favorite episodes: Poisonous Toads (June 18, 2014) and Fish Noises (March 19, 2014)

BENJAMIN WALKER'S THEORY OF EVERYTHING (Nathan)
If you consider yourself a hopeless romantic, prefer handwritten letters over email, need to turn actual pages of a bound book, or just feel a little lost in our new digital reality, know you are not alone. Benjamin Walker has been "personally connecting the dots" for us for the past decade. He looks back with a mix of romantic nostalgia and acceptance, continuously trying to make sense of where we are amidst the noise.

THE WRITER'S ALMANAC (Sarah)
Do you love Garrison Keillor as much as I do? If so, The Writer’s Almanac is a must. The short daily podcast features Keillor recounting tidbits of “on this day in history” followed by a poem. This is the first thing I listen to every morning and I have to admit, the sound of Keillor’s dulcet tones are a great way to start the day!

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I recently embarked on a mini-adventure I hadn't been on since the 7th grade. The adventure: screen printing t-shirts. Required: some time, some patience, and a trusty instructor to take me through it step-by-step (thanks, Clayton!).

The background: My siblings and their kids join my family in Maine to soak up the last weekend of summer. It's essentially end-of-summer cousin camp for the kids. This year, I decided to commemorate the gathering with screen printed t-shirts for all. Like usual, the project took place extremely last minute but luckily, Clayton was game to stay after work to help me out.

The end result: Success! The screen printing was fun (with additional help from my husband and my girls), and the process took about 3 hours for 25 t-shirts (not counting the time Clayton put in ahead to prepare the screen). But the true test? The kids loved them! Even all the adults wore their shirts at some point.

Here are the things you will need:

Photo emulsion solution
Photo emulsion activator
Transparency
250 watt light bulb
Screen printing screen
Squeegee
Screen printing ink
Masking tape
Push pins
Dark room
A container that the screen can fit inside of
T-shirt
Board that can be slid inside of t-shirt

PHASE 1: PREPARING THE SCREEN (by Clayton)

Mix the photo emulsion according to its instructions. It usually consists of mixing a tiny 2 fluid ounce activation bottle with 3/4 water. Shake well. Add this tiny bottle to the 24 fluid ounce photo emulsion container to activate the components. Stir well with a disposable stick until the mixture turns green. Let sit until bubbles disperse.

Meanwhile, prepare the screen for photo emulsion application. Make sure the screen is free of dust. Mask off the sides of the screen to fit the dimensions of your transparency sheet on the concave part of the screen. Place a push pin on each corner of the flat side of the screen to keep it elevated off the table during photo emulsion application process.

Place a linear dollop of photo emulsion on one side of the screen. Squeegee from one end to the other to coat the screen. Make multiple passes if necessary to cover the screen. Flip screen over and squeegee the other side. Basically, try and achieve a smooth layer of emulsion on either side of the screen.

Place horizontal with push pin side down in a dark box or location that will not be exposed to light. We found a UPS box was the perfect size. Let dry. Try overnight or 24 hours for best results.

Your screen is now ready to be burned.

PHASE 2: BURNING THE SCREEN

Rig a 250 watt bulb so that it is level and 15 inches from the surface where you will place the screen. I used a portable work light (found at Home Depot for $10), a chair set on its side, a couple of pieces of wood and some string to tie the wood to the chair and the light to the wood. These were all materials I found around our studio. Be creative, you can set up your light using any materials you can find that will work. As you can see from the photo, it doesn’t need to look pretty! The important thing is to keep the light level and 15 inches from the table.

Print your design in black on a transparency. Remember whatever is printed in black should be the image you want to print.

Create a dark room. If your room has a window, block out any light with dark paper or cardboard and tape. Before turning out the lights, you might want to orient yourself. For instance, I had to figure out where the screen needed to sit underneath the bulb and where the transparency needed to sit on the screen. It's helpful if you can match the corner of your image with the corner of the screen, that way your image will be square on the screen. If you happen to have a darkroom safe light or want to purchase one, you'll have a much easier time finding your way around!

Once you're fully oriented, now you are ready to expose your image. 

• Turn off the lights.
• Pull the screen out of the dark box, place on the table under the 250 watt bulb (which is NOT yet on), and place your transparency on the screen. Cover the transparency with a piece of glass.
• Turn on the bulb and set your timer for 15 minutes. Note: if you have a bulb with more or less wattage, look online for how long to expose the image.
• When the timer dings, turn off the bulb, wrap your screen in paper and head to the sink.

PHASE 3: CLEANING THE SCREEN

The emulsion will wash away where your screen was masked by your image. Run water over the screen until the image is exposed. You might need to use a toothbrush to help this process along. Let the screen dry completely.

PHASE 4: PRINTING

Slide the board inside your t-shirt. I found a piece of veneered plywood laying around.

Place your screen on top of the shirt. Then add a linear dollop of screen printing ink at the top of the screen and squeegee from one end to the other. Redo a couple of times until you achieve a desired ink saturation. This took a little practice, and the t-shirts I printed towards the end looked much better than the first ones. I would recommend printing on a few old t-shirts to start (which I didn't do).

Let t-shirts dry for a while (about an hour or so), and then set the ink by ironing the image with a warm iron.

Disclaimer: The point of this blog post was to demonstrate that you shouldn't be scared to take on a screen printing project of your own! On the other hand, I hope I did not offend any true screen printing expert who will likely catch any novice mistakes I made.

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My love affair with the city of Nashville began roughly five years ago.

I had made the trip, along with my sister, to run the Nashville Country Music Marathon (that's us the day before the race!). We felt the presence of old country legends at the Grand Ole Opry, strolled up and down Broadway, and enjoyed the country twang and rock blasting from everywhere. I could have spent days in the iconic letterpress shop Hatch Show Print, admiring every single beautiful poster. As if we weren’t already in heaven, we found out that Sheryl Crow was running that weekend too!

When the TV show Nashville debuted a year later, I was hooked and I luckily found a fellow tribe here at Smudge Ink—ahem, Sarah and Kate. Our fandom extended to the Nashville Live in Concert Tour, which was making its way to Boston. With tickets in hand, I made it my mission to get autographs for my sister who was getting married the following week. What else do you do for the one who wants to dance “A Life That’s Good” (hands down the most sentimental country song from the show) on her wedding day?

Sarah and her roommate Kobe joined me under the high-vaulted ceilings at the Citibank Theater. As Aubrey Peeples (Layla Grant) graciously entered the stage to a thunder of applause, I texted a photo (shown above) to my sister in California. Her response: “I’m so jealous.” Needless to say, the concert was full of wonderful sets and surprises. It would be wrong (criminal even!) of me not to leave you with highlights.

Welcomed by a cheer of screams and whistles, Chris Carmack (Will Lexington) joined Peeples on stage to perform their duet, “If Your Heart Can Handle It.” A hush came over the audience as sisters Lennon and Maisy Stella (Maddy and Daphne Conrad) tackled melodic harmonies, demonstrating their wiser-beyond-years musical prowess. They introduced their onscreen dad, Charles Esten (Deacon Claybourne), the ultimate showman with an “aw shucks” smile—and also my sister’s and Kate’s TV crush.

The crowd roared when a nymph-like Clare Bowen (Scarlett O'Connor) announced she would be singing her bewitchingly beautiful performance of the song, “Black Roses.” Three words sung, the drop of one D Minor, and everyone immediately silenced. Chills. CHILLS. Then all of a sudden, she called out Sam Palladio (Gunnar Scott) who hadn’t been advertised during ticket sales. With one stride of his boots, Gunner mania had ignited. Bowen and Palladio sang their duet, “Fade Into You.” If you had not wrapped your arm around your sweetheart by then, you had really missed your opportunity to do so. The show ended as the whole cast stood up on stage for their encore number, appropriately none other than “A Life That’s Good.”

Not forgetting my mission, we gathered to a side door where an impromptu meeting with the cast might occur. Seeing the barricade of fans, the possibility of a failed autograph outcome was making me quite anxious. And then Lennon and Maisy came out! Not the elbowing type, I quickly passed my Sharpie and poster to someone closer. Though overwhelmed by the crowd, the two stars actually looked for me to learn about the poster and sign it. I am so grateful that they did. In fact, three out of the four cast members that sing “A Life That’s Good” left their autographs (see photo above). Connie Britton, if you’re out there, can I send you my sister’s poster to have you sign it?!

Feeling emboldened by my success, Sarah bravely asked for the Deacon Clayborne for his autograph, explaining it was for her boss Kate who couldn’t be there because she was celebrating her mother’s 70th birthday. Let's just call it mission accomplished (see video below)!

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One of my favorite parts of going to the Stationery Show is not only meeting our customers but also getting to know the other companies that make the stationery industry so great. This year, I stumbled on the charming and mighty Felix Doolittle. The exquisite watercolor display lured me in, and then as I reached out my hand to introduce myself I saw “Newton, MA” on Loren’s badge. Wait, you’re in Boston? How have we not met before?! And so began our friendship with Felix and Loren and their Doolittle team.

On a record-breaking hot day last week, we hopped on the Pike and made our way to visit their studio. We were greeted by a cottage-like building covered in vines and boasting a sunny yellow door that instantly made you happy. Once inside, Felix joked that the tour lasted about 5 minutes given the small space but he would try to stretch it out. It wasn’t that hard to fill up an entire afternoon!

(image: pretty address labels in the midst of packaging) 

We met the rest of their team, arduously at work printing, proofing, trimming, packing and getting orders out the door. You could tell everything was handled with care and precision, a characteristic that clearly stems from Felix’s artwork. A quick look at any his illustrations and the amount of detail is remarkable, creating a world in itself. We were stunned to learn that the large pieces on their gallery wall were actually replicates as Felix’s originals are always so tiny—postage stamp tiny at times. It’s a gift he’s had ever since he was doodling as a child and didn’t want his teachers to reprimand him for not paying attention in class.

(image: a selection of Felix's sketches at different stages)

(image: from left to right, Loren, Kate, Felix, and Deb)

 A big thanks to Loren, Jenny, and Felix for the warm invitation and treating us to some local ice cream!. We had a lovely time and hope to be back soon (with gummy bears in hand!).

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