Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Monday, July 20, 2009

Gleaning


Many years ago I was playing Scattagories with friends. The letter was "G" and one of the catagories was hobbies. I put Gleaning down as a hobby. No one else choose that word and my friend Michelle teased me and said something like "yeah, that is a hobby you see a lot of people doing these days".
I have to say that it has become my hobby. I check out the free section on Craigslist and e-mails from freecycle to see if anyone is giving fruit from their trees away. I picked cherries a couple of weeks ago and today we picked pairs. I will make jam and go through my cookbooks for other plum recipes. I have the basket full of blueberries. I wonder how a plum-blueberry pie would taste. My family would be more than willing to test it out.
If anyone has a peach or walnut tree, let me know, they are on my wish list.

Blueberry picking and a layout


We went blueberry picking yesterday with David's parents who are visiting. I think the photo above says everything there is to say about taking kids berry picking.

Here is a layout I did with some other photos...

Credits: Template - Scollopini by Hillary Heidelberg, Papers - Salvaged Cardboard by Rachel Young, Elements & Alpha - Sweet Escape and Glee by Rachel Young

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Summer Mini Album



Credits: Summer 09 Template Album (20 pages0 by Hillary Heidelberg
Joe Six Pack by Tracey Monette and Saxon Holt
Art 101 by Lindsay Jane Designs
Wheelies by Lindsay Jane Designs
Another Day in Paradise by Lindsay Jane Designs
Pool Party by Lindsay Jane Designs
Icing on the Cake by Lindsay Jane Designs
Summer Sweetness by Rachel Young
All Organic by Chris Wasielewski
Organic Girl by Kristin from the Digi Files
Summer Sorbet by Zoe Pearn from the Digi Files
Mid Summer's Night Dream by MGL Scraps from the Digi Files
Rhapsody by Gina Miller from the Digi Files
IO Travel add-on from the Digi Files
Pretty Picnic by Sugar Plum from the Digi Files

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

My new camera has arrived


I have been wanting to upgrade to a digital SLR for a long time. Today after much waiting, my camera arrived. I bought a Cannon Rebel. It is technically my 40th birthday present, but my birthday is not until early August.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Summertime Goodness



Today, I continued working with all the fruit from yesturday. I made some more freezer jam, a mixed fruit pie and blueberry jam. The blueberry jam is really special since it is the first time I have made cooked jam since 2002. I dug out a canning cookbook the I bought years ago and have never used. I used a recipe from the book today. I will be using it more in the future.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Watch out berries here we come!





We picked about 8 pounds of marionberries today. I think the boys also ate another 10 or 15 pounds of berries while we were picking.
Marionberries are a berry that was developed here in Oregon. I looked it up on Wikipedia and it says that it is a cross between the Chehalem and Ollalie (sure) It is named after Marion County, which is the county that our state capitol is in. I am not sure what the other one is. They are very yummy. I already have made three batches of freezer jam.

First Sunflowers


When we arrived home from our camping trip we were delighted to find a couple of sunflowers in bloom.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009


Here is a slide show from our weekend camping trip to Central Oregon.