Author: Frances

Happy 4th of July! Praying for peace, for compassion, and for all who fight to defend the rights of ALL of us. ⁠ Photo Andrew Ruiz

Summer is all about casual entertaining, and here (she said modestly) is the perfect summer supper. Crowd-pleasing (although we don’t have much of those these days), minimal prep and cooking time, surf and turf. Did I have you at hello, or what? Ladies and gentlemen, all the way from the South Carolina Lowcountry, I give you Frogmore Stew.⁠ ⁠ You may be relieved to know that Frogmore Stew is 100% frog-free, and not really a stew. More a boil, as it is known by its other name, Lowcountry Shrimp Boil. Ready for the perfect #fourthofjuly feast? Recipe in my #linkinbio⁠ ⁠ Photo @jenniferdavick for @coastalliving ⁠ ⁠

Can you even believe this rose?! A lovely memory from a recent visit with my friends @rosestoryfarm …. Wishing you all a happy and safe Holiday weekend.

Nothing says holiday weekend more than gathering family and friends for a bit of sun, sand and food of course! BUT with everything going on in the world, I know most of us are opting to keep it small and keep it HOME. So, how do you keep it easy and entertaining? My friends @flowermag are showing us how to do just that with easy recipes, table decor….and my rich butterscotch banana pudding from my book California Cooking and Southern Style. Get ready to kick back on the 4th via my #linkinbio!

As we end one month and begin a new one, so we can do with habits and limiting beliefs that do not serve us. A treasured new friend sent me this card and I love the art and design of it by Ana Victoria Calderon as much as I love the message, a quote from Rumi. Let your heart be your compass and your soul your guide. Earlier this summer I read “Steering by Starlight” by Martha Beck, which I highly recommend to all you seekers out there. . #anamariacalderon #wordstoliveby #rumi #marthabeck

This small “palette painting” from a series by Rhinebeck NY artist Rudy VavraI caught my eye. I love the movement and texture of it, oh, and the green! One thing Ive enjoyed during lockdown is exploring the work of artists both known and new to me. I am missing the museums and galleries but websites are the next best thing. Find Rudy’s “visual candy” shop at Rudyvavra.com. And hey, that dress or pair of shoes you didn’t buy…? Let’s support our artists of all stripes, visual and performing, as best we can! They need us now more than ever, almost as much as we need them. . . #rudyvavra #supportartists #green #paletteknifepainting

One of the greatest effort-to-satisfaction ratios EVER has to be pancakes. Flour here, egg there, bit of milk, spot of other, and voilà! A stack of warm, moist, buttery, syrupy goodness that is as much good, heart-singing, soul-filling, tummy-yumming fun as you can have with your bathrobe on. These banana-hazelnut pancakes by @heartofabaker are just what I’m jonesing for on a mellow Sunday morning. Grab the maple syrup and join His Grace and me, recipe in #linkinbio

⁠ Heaven help me I love a picnic, and I keep thinking I’ll write a picnic book one of these days… Is there anything more romantic than a glass of wine under the stars….minus the bugs of course, which we are blessedly scarce of in California. Then there is the planning and schlepping, which sometimes sends me back to the porch. But when the stars align and the spirit is willin’, picnic it is, and it’s always a fond memory. Dreamy summer picnic setup by @_foodstories_

This ginormous (hard to tell from the painting so you have to trust me on this) was a souvenir of my delightful brief visit with dear friend Dani Hahn @rosestoryfarm One nice thing about all these phone and Zoom meetings is that you can doodle with impunity. I wonder if drawing while listening actually helps you listen better? It seems to. Anyone have any studies to report on that? . . . #rosehip #rosestoryfarm #watercolor #watercolorsketch #francesschultzart #francesschultzpaintings

I looooove a bunk bed. I love the coziness of them and the clever use of small space. This one by @murphydeesign⁠ in this month’s @housebeautiful is a chic, grown-up, and slightly madcap guestroom. Look at the wallpaper on the ceiling (cool idea) and the oriental rug “headboard.” And the color! Brava Dee! Photo @jessicasample⁠ ⁠

Wisteria is always wistfully beautiful, and nowhere more so than on this London townhouse I came upon on @pinterest. First brought out of China in the 13th century by Marco Polo, wisteria’s charms may be at their best when disciplined as they clearly are here. Left un-checked, wisteria grows rampant and will take over whatever world it inhabits. Hmm, but maybe that’s not all bad. ⁠ Photography unknown