End of August Beginning of September

 The last two weeks have been full, as usual. Look at this beautiful collection of spices! My neighbor who grew up in India has been teaching me some of her recipes and these were the spices (some of them) needed to make Biryani this past week. 

I took Michael's mom over to visit my mom for lunch this week. All this outdoor entertaining is wonderful and it was the perfect weather.

My mom's flowers are just stunning, and they went with the tea cozy!

David and Laura picked out pumpkins from the patch they helped Grandma plant. Earlier in the summer they spent quite a few days helping with garden work. 

The pumpkin patch grows in a big field. 

Of course we had to say hello to Job the donkey and his attentive care-giver.

Mom keeps busy taking care of her people and bringing them lots of joy and love and good food! 

I took care of myself this week by scheduling a kayak time to my secret point. I enjoyed studying, planning, reading, and painting, not to mention watching all the wildlife and doing some plain old thinking.

I spent some time creating flat lay pictures for my nature blog -- do you know about that? It's where I blog about nature! And soon I'll be sharing some of my favorite nature books!

It's dahlia season and on the weekends my sister orders lots to put up for sale. They are just too pretty!

Sometimes my morning walk is extra special. What a gift.

Since I last wrote we had a son turn 18! Congrats Drew! We decorated by finding a whole bunch of things one can legally do when one is 18 and hanging those ideas from the bunting. Finally Drew can buy spray paint and actually get a job without having to get a work permit.

I've worked at the flower shop quite a bit lately -- lots of weddings and extra orders. This was an anniversary bouquet made to look similar to the original wedding bouquet. Those types of orders are fun to fulfill.

One Sunday afternoon we met at the park to celebrate Drew and cousin John's birthdays. 

The cousins enjoyed seeing each other -- we all enjoyed being in nature!

One weekend we had a lot of social engagements and I made A LOT of pies. 

This one was rhubarb:

This was a peach tart:

Once in awhile I get a chance to paint the flowers at work.

My online nature journaling classes started this week! I am very excited about them -- can't wait to "meet" everyone I don't know in person. My mind is bursting with ideas for the next five weeks.

One last picture of flowers.

Our Labor Day fun plan was cancelled due to rain so we are now working on house organization and the to-do list. Wondering if our evening meal will be rained out too! 

Book Review: Alternative Baker

I found a new gluten-free cookbook I am all excited about. Alternative Baker by Alanna Taylor-Tobin is filled with delectable desserts of just the sort that my family loves to enjoy. The best part is, the recipes are created using flours other than just the plain old rice or coconut or almond flours one typically uses in the gluten-free world. Oh, those flours make their appearance, but they come as an add-on here and there rather than being the main focus.

The book includes more than 100 recipes for cakes, pies, tarts, scones, muffins, oven pancakes, skillet cakes, and hand pies with titles like Maple Teff Apple Pie, Chai-Spiced Nectarine Skillet Cake, Blackberry Cream Scones, and Maple Bourbon Peach Cobbler.

Here is a blueberry version of the blackberry scones:

What makes these creations so toothsome is the absence of the gritty, white rice flour. These scones use millet flour, oat flour, and sweet rice flour. It makes me so happy to have something more nutritious than white rice flour in my baked goods.

I was also very excited to try a new, gluten-free pie crust:

This crust incorporates the three flours in the scones plus ground chia seeds, arrowroot, and tapioca flour. I just love its nutty flavor.

The book is not refined-sugar free, nor dairy free. However, it is fairly simple to replace refined sugars with honey or maple syrup or maple sugar. Some dairy substitutions could be made as well.

If you do a lot of gluten-free baking, check this book out! It's nice to have some new ideas to add to one's repertoire!

Please note this post contains affiliate links.

Cherry Picking

We went cherry picking today -- spur of the moment. It was a delightful activity for children, filled with tree climbing, tractor sitting, and ladder standing. And after all that fun, we have some fruit to enjoy too!

The hot weather has arrived. It's now mostly in the upper 80's and low 90's. The humidity is present as well. But, we braved the weather for the cherries.

Then there were kittens to play with.

What child can resist a kitten?

The best part was being invited inside a cool house for lemonade and a slice of cherry pie. Fresh cherry pie is SO good.

So now I'm trying to decide: pie or jam? The jam might be winning, but the pie is pretty persuading.