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Alex is nearly four, so I’m encouraging some new behaviors. [...]]]> I just completed a massive update of Wordpress on Raspberry World. I have a new template and everything. If you see this on a reader, click through and check me out. I’ve joined the 21st century. Still configuring the widgets, but I’m very happy so far.

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Alex is nearly four, so I’m encouraging some new behaviors. Like not yelling at Charlie to “be quiet!” And taking a shower instead of a bath. Tonight he was in the shower and water was dripping down his face. He told me, “Grabity! Grabity will grab it down, right?”

When I agreed that gravity would do the trick, he explained further: “Grabity has a hand to pull things down!”

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Behold: Charlie’s birthday cupcakes. The “greenish-blue” icing color was chosen by Alex. The cake was King Arthur Flour’s “Guaranteed” Golden Vanilla Cake recipe. They were delicious. Next up is Alex’s birthday… then we are all done with birthday season until November. Whew!

I hosted my holiday cookie swap yesterday. The photo features just a few of the cookies (the leftovers). It was a great time. More pictures from the party (and from all month) are in the December set on Flickr.

I made pecan tassies this year. I had planned to make a butter pecan cookie recipe from [...]]]>

I hosted my holiday cookie swap yesterday. The photo features just a few of the cookies (the leftovers). It was a great time. More pictures from the party (and from all month) are in the December set on Flickr.

I made pecan tassies this year. I had planned to make a butter pecan cookie recipe from King Arthur flour – even bought some special ingredients for it – but when I did a trial run a couple of weeks before the party, I didn’t like the cookies at all. I was shocked, to be honest. I mean, read the blog. I really expected to love them.

I still needed to use a pecan recipe since I have many pounds of gorgeous Georgia pecans right now (thanks, Mom), so I decided to go old school with pecan tassies. You can’t go wrong with a classic southern recipe. They made a nice addition to the holiday table.

I don’t remember being this exhausted after last year’s swap, though. I do have 2 kids this time, which is the only major difference, but last year I was almost nine months pregnant. I must be coming down with a cold or something. Yeah, that’s it…

Little gardener

Originally uploaded by Raspberry World. Alex and I have been having a great time this month. We are seeing a lot of our friends and spending a lot of time outdoors. He’s quite a little expert at picking red tomatoes (and not picking the green ones). He’s also interested in how our pumpkin plants will [...]]]>

Little gardener

Originally uploaded by Raspberry World.

Alex and I have been having a great time this month. We are seeing a lot of our friends and spending a lot of time outdoors. He’s quite a little expert at picking red tomatoes (and not picking the green ones). He’s also interested in how our pumpkin plants will turn those flowers into pumpkins later this fall.

We have continued to harvest the berries here on our property. I thought we had a lot of strawberries back in June – they were nothing compared to the blackberries we’re getting now. I have picked at least 12 cups of blackberries, probably more. Most have gone into variations on the berry crumble I posted last month, although we do eat them in our cereal as well. Now that I have a sense of our yield, I may make some jam with next year’s crop. We’ll see. I’m not a big fan of canning anything, but I suspect I would do okay with jam.

Other August fun has included a trip to the pond/beach, and our friend Julia’s third birthday party. I think Alex is loving vacation. I am, too!

Life in raspberry world

Originally uploaded by Raspberry World.

Summer is rolling along. Today we have storms and rain, but it’s been very hot and dry recently. I’m taking advantage of the (slightly) cooler temperature today to make a crock pot soup and do some other cooking.

In our garden right now, we have ripe raspberries, blackberries, and [...]]]>

Life in raspberry world

Originally uploaded by Raspberry World.

Summer is rolling along. Today we have storms and rain, but it’s been very hot and dry recently. I’m taking advantage of the (slightly) cooler temperature today to make a crock pot soup and do some other cooking.

In our garden right now, we have ripe raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries. I am so happy that the previous owners planted all these berries — what a treat for us this year! Check out what I made today.

There’s still so much that I need to figure out what to do with in the yard. Our lot is partially wooded, so that part is easy – we just leave it alone. But around the house, there are some areas where I’m not really sure what it’s supposed to be… ground cover? Grass? Mostly it is weeds. Now they are very tall weeds.

Marty built a compost bin this weekend and we have gotten started with that. It feels great not to have to throw veggie scraps away in the trash anymore. Baby steps!