Happy Solstice! One of the things I love best about the advent of summer is all the delicious fresh fruit. You can take your pasta, meat, bread and sweets; if I had to live on only one kind of food for the rest of my life, it would be fruit. There is a series of photos of me at age three, up in a tree in our Southern California backyard, stark naked, blissfully eating apricot after apricot right off the branch.

My idea of paradise still involves lots of fruit trees and berry vines. A few years ago, my husband spent a backbreaking summer planting over thirty fruit trees on our land. Visions of strolling out into our yard to harvest fresh cherries, plums, and nectarines have since given way to the sad reality: our area just isn’t sunny and warm enough for such trees to thrive. What little fruit they produce is discovered first by the birds and raccoons.

Luckily for us, there is a lively farmer’s market on the Arcata Plaza every Saturday. Live music, an array of jugglers and hula hoopers, and half a dozen booths of fresh-baked treats complement the rows of organic farm stands. These days we are gorging ourselves on the tiny, deep red strawberries we find there, each one packed with more flavor and sweetness than an industrially grown version ten times the size.

I am savoring the strawberries and peaches of the season every way I can think of: as an oatmeal topping; sliced onto toasted bread slathered with almond butter or mascarpone cheese; in salads with blue cheese crumbles; combined with Greek yogurt and drizzled with chopped nuts and honey; or eaten whole with a few squares of good dark chocolate.

Hello, summer.

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“summer solstice” is 5" x 7", painted with sumi ink and Japanese gansai paint on paper.

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Makino Studios News

Summer Art Show: For the months of July and August, I will have an exhibit at Persimmons Garden Gallery, located at 1055 Redway Drive in Redway, California. There will be an opening Friday, July 5 from 6-9 p.m. with live music by the SoHum Girls and the Fabulous Resinaires.

North Coast Open Studios: Thanks to everyone who came out to visit the five of us at the Samoa Women's Club June 1 and 2! The event was very well-attended and it was great fun to share our work and techniques with visitors.

MikkiMoves Living Room Gallery: I have a piece in a group show at MikkiMoves' Living Room Gallery, located at 805 7th Street in Eureka, California. The show runs through June.

Makino Studios Gallery: There are several new pieces in the gallery secti0n, including some I painted in Mexico this past spring.