Raspberries

I love raspberries. We all do in this house. The boys give me stiff competition in the consumption department.

When I was a kid we lived in what had been an old farm house in north Jersey on a good sized piece of real estate. We had a big veggie garden, a rhubarb patch and a huge stand of blackberries in the backyard. My Dad got me my own raspberry bushes to go with them. Our second house in Virginia had a sunny yard so I got a second chance to grow my own berries.

When we moved here I transplanted some of the raspberries from my patch at the old house.

The original bushes came from Aunt Mary and Uncle Len's NJ garden. Len was tearing some of them out when PFS stopped by for a visit. He collected a bunch to bring to Virginia. They grow like weeds, but the good kind.


Between the two houses we picked 80 pints this spring, minus what the kids ate off the bushes everyday.


A Frisbee makes a great picking basket, shallow so berries aren't crushed and they hold three pints each.


I put some berries in a silent auction for The Scholarship Fund of Alexandria every year. And we eat them everyday.


This year I froze some and made jam. Jam was always my Mom's thing, I'd never attempted jam.


I looked up some recipes and decided it wasn't rocket science. Basically anywhere from a 1:1 to a 4:1 ratio of berries to sugar. I used 4 pints of berries to one pint of sugar.


I cooked them down, slightly crushed, and skimmed the foam.


Messily (woulda'/coulda'/shoulda' ... a wide mouth funnel is a good thing ... next time) put the sticky goo in clean, sterilized jars and processed for 20 minutes in a deep pot of water. Since I didn't have a rack I improvised.


Voila c'est jam. Looked good, tasted great.


Can't have enough of these beautiful berries in the house.


We have a fall crop just coming in. We've been picking 2-3 pints a day since mid-August.

Be sure to visit Julia's Hooked on Friday blog party at Hooked on Houses — A Fun Place to Get Your House Fix .

Living Room

To get back to the house...

Here's the living room. We haven't painted. I've used a similar pale pink color in my old house. The little sofa I got to use in my son's room when he was born. The white chair is a Darryl Carter I acquired at a silent auction. The rug was from the same auction. The big lamp is Restoration Hardware (on sale), the small one is one of a pair I bought from the previous owner.


The side board is from my MIL. The mirror is a later story.


The former owner had a chair with the same blue upholstery in the same spot. My chair came from a home my folks bought semi-furnished. The little Chinese table and china cabinet are from my MIL.


All the Victorian side tables and chairs are from my Mom.


The tilt top table is from PFS's Aunt Martha. The lamp is Target (after the kids/dog broke the good one that was there!) The artwork and prints are about the only other things in this room that I bought.


That's Kitty, my great grandmother. This was her sofa. She took a nap on it every afternoon.

I read the NY Sunday Times there.

Art Festival

This weekend the local Art Festival filled the streets. Some 200 artists spread over six blocks to display paintings, jewelery, sculpture and photography.
Woodworkers and some wonderful door knockers....
... in the fiber area these bags were most inventive.

There was music for the crowds of onlookers.

The local restaurants' sidewalk tables were full.

It was a beautiful Sunday after the iffy weather on Saturday.

Chair Makeover

This is a curbside shop find. It has been in the garage waiting for its day in the sun.

We went to the July DC Flea (couldn't wait for Eddie Ross's September tour). I found two pieces of material for a total of $5.00. (Plus a cute mirror and some dirt cheap Rose Medallion dinner plates to add to the family collection. We actually do eat off the Rose Medallion on holidays.) It pays to shop a flea on Sunday at 4:55.

The chair legs had been painted brown. Love the foam stripper. Just used my fav "Restore" stuff on them afterward.



Pinned on the fabric, stitched it up and stapled it on.



Tucked it in tight.


I had just enough fabric to make some cording and cover the top of the cushion.


Here it is in the sitting room.


Curbside shopping rules.

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

I like my hair long because I'm basically lazy and cheap. No bother to put it up, it is cool and out of the way and no hair appointments. When I do cut it, often before I hit the beach, I try to have enough left to still be able to pull it back. I need at least eight inches to donate to cancer patients. Well, its been a year plus and we were getting ready for the beach. T took this picture of me last month.

I took this one of him...


and his brother E. It was time for school cuts as well.


Here is the new short hair look for second grade...

...well mine is not too short.
The leftovers look like this and are on their way to Pantene / Beautiful Lengths / 511 Wisconsin Drive / New Richmond, WI 54017-2613.


It's good to give.