The Last of the Berries

Last week we went to get the last of the black raspberries.
Even Grandma came to help!
The berries are so beautiful and so delicious! I think we've managed to collect 10-12 cups over the past few weeks -- maybe enough for a little jam.
It's amazing how the prospect of berries can make me face the HOT sun with apparent ease.
Here's our loot:
And some loot we didn't count on was chigger bites. Yes, between Andrew and myself we came home with nearly 60 bites. Yikes! The bites don't actually appear right away -- the show up 24-48 hours later and they itch like crazy. I was certain we'd been invaded by some nasty spiders and made sure to change sheets, bathe children, etc. But, that didn't help, and it didn't explain why the others were not bitten. After more than a week, our bites are beginning to calm down, and I'm beginning to think "blueberries".

PS: For my foreign friends -- black raspberries are indeed different from blackberries. They are smaller than a red raspberry, but have that characteristic hole when you pull them off the stem. Their little fruits (I think each nodule is a separate fruit) are smaller than a blackberry. Their taste is quite different from a blackberry. Black raspberries are more intense, perfumey in a way. Blackberries are definately bigger in size and have a bit of a different taste and moisture to them (I am using my blackberry experience in Scotland to compare to). Black raspberries are "round" whereas blackberries tend to be "elongated." Boysenberries are a cross between a blackberry, a red raspberry, and one other berry, so they are also different from black raspberries and tend to be pinker in color I believe.

The Farmer's Market

My sisters have been telling me about a local farmer's market for the past year. Saturday was my chance to get there myself!

I took my new market basket, recently gleaned (and subsequently cleaned) from a neighbor's trash):

Despite the rain, there were still quite a few vendors:

The soft fruits were so tempting:
As were all the displays of vegetables:

The stall of flowers was gorgeous. You can't see them all here, but there was another table beside this one with bunch after bunch of zinnias. It's Emily's favorite.

I could not resist a few of these stunning eggplants:

Isn't it all so beautiful!
Here's what I ended up with: 2 cucumbers, 3 zucchinis, 1 pint of tomatoes, a pile of greenbeans, 2 eggplants and a bag of sugar snap peas. It cost $9.50 which I thought was good for a farmer's market, maybe a bit steep for Walmart. However, the beans tasted SO much better than those from the supermarket.
On the way home, driving behind this, I said to myself:
"Heather, you really do live with one foot in the country." Although we live in a new housing development, we are mostly surrounded by cornfields, wildflowers and barns. I often thank the Lord for the blessing of living close to this kind of beauty. And, it is also a blessing to be close enough to a large city to enjoy its benefits as well. You would think I'd be perfectly content and never find myself wishing for more of one or the other. :)

Now that I've been to the market once, I'm eager to go again. My calendar says this won't be possible for quite awhile, but there's always hope. :)

Cow Appreciation Day

While reading my morning blogs yesterday, I noticed it was Cow Appreciation Day at Chikfila (a fast-food chain that serves only chicken and tries to be somewhat healthier). This meant that if we went to Chikfila dressed as cows we would get free meals. Designing cow costumes seemed to be a good project to fill our morning. The kids thought so too.

We painted faces and colored spots on paper bags. Rachel made cow tails with white yarn attached to black yarn tassels -- very cute! I wore a sign that said, "I'm the MOO-ther", which entitled me to a free entree.

Here we are, mooing, before we left for lunch:
Chikfila was abuzz with cow spirit (the cow is their company mascot)! Balloons were flying and cow bells were ringing. Here we are enjoying our lunch:
I think the kids were awed by our experience. They rarely eat out and I don't think they'd ever been to Chik-fil-a before.
There were two live calves outside which we went to visit. David thought it was great fun to pet the calf:
And then tried to see just where is that calves mouth?
All in all, it turned out to be a terrific event for the kids. They had so much fun and I think we'll have to remember this for next year.

Fourth of July

I'm a little late, but here are pictures of our Fourth of July celebration. We were so excited to introduce our Scottish friends to an American Fourth and they were "happy to join in anything to spite the English" (typical, typical!)

David and Joel had matching t-shirts and looked like twins all day. Here is everyone waiting for the parade to start:

Our favorite part of the parade was the Rottweiler who rode by:

The children just loved the parade, especially catching all the candy!

We tried hard to convince our visitors that the Fourth of July is not usually in the lower 60's. Really, it's usually in the 90's. I'm not sure they really believed us. It was a struggle to stay warm.

Little Joel, whom we had never met before. He was so sweet!

Rachel and Emily together again after 2 1/2 years!

We had a wonderful cookout at my sister's in-laws after the parade:

Eating outside:
Tea was a necessity. Fortunately, my sister has indoctrinated her husband and his family very well!
The men headed up to the roof to discuss repairs to the house:
Then we all headed to the local park for a bit of fun:

We watched the Lemon Shake-ups and the Elephant Ears being made:
And the girls had their faces painted:
Then it was time for dessert, which included this incredible flourless chocolate cake:

And homemade iceream -- another first for our visitors:
By the time dinner rolled around we were all ready to head for home and a dinner of homemade soup. I guess I was proven wrong -- soup on the Fourth of July actually fit with the weather!

One Year

Today is the one year anniversary of the beginnings of Blackberry Rambles.


I had no idea just where blogging would take me when I began, but I have to say it's been a wonderful adventure and a very real blessing.

It all began last year with a blog called "Eyes of Wonder" written by a lovely lady named Jewels. I was so inspired by her blog that I began one of my own. Jewels is no longer writing, but several of the blogs I found through hers are still ones I read daily:

A Little Bunny
Coffee Tea Books And Me
Contemplating Change

And of course I found more blogs through those blogs. :) As the year went on my mom and sister even started a blog!

When I began this blog, I had no idea that my health was going to go even farther down hill and leave me bedridden for three months and house-ridden beyond that. Once I was well enough to be on the computer, it became my only connection with the outside world and my friends. Blogging was definately a gift from God at just the right time in my life. Nearly all of my friends at church write blogs too, and so I was able to keep up with them even though I wasn't seeing them in person.

I would never have believed that my health would recover to the point I am now, and yet I still find the blogging world a wonderful place of inspiration, friendship, and encouragement even though I can now go out of the house.

Thank you to all of you that share your blogs with me, and for the encouragement you have been in the past year. And thanks to all my readers for your lovely comments and inspiration.


PS: I did post the Roasted Veg Summer Pasta recipe for those that were asking.

Food, Color, and Company

I often find myself amazed at the COLOR that shows up in the kitchen. We are blessed to live in a country with an abundance and variety of food which we can enjoy on a daily basis. What an amazing thing the creation is!


Papaya is one of my favorite exotic fruits. They were on sale recently and we enjoyed several of them. They are so good with a squeeze of lime on top:

Lemons are a must have in my kitchen and we are very rarely without at least one for use in salad dressing, a pie, a glass of ice water, or for baking.

My favorite grilled vegetable dish consists of red onions and zucchini. It is so, so good!

While cutting up cabbage for coleslaw recently I just couldn't help but stop and marvel at the beauty of the red cabbage. Incredibly artistic with its purple and white twists and turns!

And the black rasberries we harvested last week. They are so good! We popped these into the freezer until we can decide what to do with them. With all the rain last night and this morning I've been imagining the destruction of the rest of the crop. :(

Don't you just love the colors on this baking sheet: red, yellow, orange, white and purple!

The roasted veggies were mixed with cooked pasta (wholegrain) and a bunch of mini-mozzarella balls and a handful of fresh basil. So delicious!!

We made good progress yesterday with our food shopping and the start of the food preparation: cutting up meat, browning sausage, cooking taco meat, soaking beans for soup, making pancake and scone mixes, and trying to fit everything into our fridge!

Now we are ready to hit the cleaning and the rest of the cooking. The rain outside makes for a good day to stay inside!

Happy 4th of July to all of you Americans! I hope you have a wonderful day with family and friends!

A Day Out

Yesterday I spent the day with my friend Carla exploring a town nearby that has some lovely little shops. Carla knew that I had been wanting to pay a visit to this town ever since we moved home 2 1/2 years ago. She finally decided she would just have to make it happen.

So, with Grandma here to occupy the children, I set off for Carla's house. Our first stop was the little village where Stitches and Scones is located, which is where my sister Christina works. I had never been to the shop, but had always wanted to go.

The shop was much bigger than I expected. There was yarn everywhere, so many different kinds, and so many beautiful colors! No wonder the employees have a hard time not spending all their money in the shop!
I got to meet several of Christina's co-workers (who all raved about Christina's wonderful patterns) and saw several of the patterns on display throughout the shop:

After our visit to the yarn shop, we stopped just down the street at a marvelous restaurant called "Keltie's":
The interior was elegant and relaxing,
and the food was FABULOUS! Here is my foccacia sandwich with goat cheese and sundried tomatoes with sauteed onions and peppers and provolone cheese, with accompanying fruit:

Carla had Keltie's famous hot chicken salad in a puff pastry parcel. This has been written up in numerous places around the city and we both agreed it deserved all the praise it has received:

We did not have dessert, but insisted on seeing the desserts anyway. Apparently, their bread pudding is famous. There was no doubt that we would be returning in the future.

Then we drove over to the beautiful, historic town center that I had been wanting to visit. We walked through a few antique and gift stores, admiring all the beautiful things:
I took this picture to show the children what Auntie Helen used to wash her clothes!

I came upon this teacup in one antique store and decided to buy it. My mom has one just like it, with Japan stamped on the bottom. For 6.50, I thought it was worth bringing home as a lovely reminder of the day:

The town had flower pots everywhere:
This picture gives an idea of the architecture around the town square:
And here is the beautiful building in the center of the town square:

After our shopping, we stopped at a very nice coffee and tea shop for some afternoon refreshment:
There was a whole room just for teas:
We decided on our drinks and sat outside to enjoy the perfect weather. Carla had a chocolate chai which tasted really, really good. I settled for a decaf latte. We sat and talked about all kinds of things, including the blogs we read -- we read many of the same ones (Brenda, Lovella, the Thrifty blogs, etc.)
After tea, we headed back to Carla's where we went out back for some mulberry picking. Carla has a wonderful tree, and has already put up quite a few jars of mulberry jam this year. And then it was time to say goodbye and head back to reality.

A quick stop at Carla's Goodwill, on the way home, revealed a few more treasures: some fabric swatches, 3 mugs to match my kitchen, 2 needed creamers for Michael's tea, and a silver platter for serving cheese and crackers or other goodies. I was pleased to pay less for all of this than I had paid for the teacup!

And now I am gearing up for 5 days of company. We are expecting dear friends from Scotland whom we haven't seen since we left. We hope to introduce them to a really spectacular 4th of July! So, it's off to the supermarket for me!