Cute Painting

Orion painted this dude the other day.
He was declared to have a party hat on. Woohoo!

A New Animal Has Entered Akasha's Vocabulary

Well, we are finally past everything being a "boof". For a couple days, she has been saying "keeka" (short "a"). I wasn't really sure what it was until I saw her holding a card with some cats and saying it. Oh, kitty cat! I don't think I say it that way, but somehow that is what she picked up. She also says "meow". So cute! The hilarious thing, now everything is getting called keeka, even dogs sometimes LOL. Also quite humorous is the fact Orion is convinced she is saying Kit Kat.

New House!

Finally getting some pictures of the new place up.

And here it is... the house that wins the "most looks like a trailer" award!
Hmmm, what to plant here?
Look what the owner left us. She seems really sweet, even though she said no chickens. Grrr.
Kitchen is a decent size considering how small the place is. And the cupboards are GREAT. It has those cool custom corner ones that are angled at the top and pull out at the bottom.
Dining area and sneak peak to the backyard.
Looking back toward the front door.
Bathroom is nice and spacious as well.
And tada! The backyard! That whole back corner is solid blackberries, and they are LOADED!
View toward the other corner.
Akasha checking out a bedroom.
And wondering what this red thing does. Hmm, I know brother was doing something with it.
Who me?
Like I said, LOADED! Mmmmm

Family Heirloom

Well, of sorts anyway. I was going through an old trunk in my parents garage and found two whole sections of original newspaper for the day Kennedy was shot! It was in fairly fragile condition, and I wasn't really sure what to do with it, so I asked around, and an old friend from high school really wanted it. Cool, almost feels like it stayed in the family. So I thought I should take a few pictures before sending it off, but cannot believe I forgot to get the front page!!!!! I thought I had - oh well.

It did have this famous photo in the insert:
And lots of other weird "signs of the time" type stuff.
Is this just creepy or what?
And what a gem this is.
There was also this great article about a psychic in LA that predicted the whole thing! I didn't get a good enough shot of that one though.

Also loved all the old ads. It was the holiday season after all. Consumerism must march on.

Don't forget them guns for the hard to shop for person on your list!

The Elusive Boysenberry

We went to Union Gardens again yesterday. I was after boysenberries as they are one of Ron's favorites, and I like them alot too. After a few years in Portland, I am getting to know my berries. Some are definitely easier picking than others, but so far, I would rate the boysenberry as one of the hardest to pick, or at least to pick well. More on that below. Orion stayed home with Ron this time, and I had Akasha on my back in the Ergo, so it was a peaceful time, and I had a chance to think about the whole berry picking experience in general. I started to think it would be fun to come up with a list of suggestions.

In general:

Watch where you are stepping. Most places I have picked are not like super groomed gardens. There are usually other plants growing, often of the poky variety. There is also often clover, which means bees. One place I picked also sells honey, and the aisles were full of clover, probably on purpose. It was a neat use of space; luckily, I like bees.

Keep your hand under the berry! I have lost so many perfect berries coming at them from the side. The best ones fall right off, so if your hand isn't in the right place, and they fall down into the bush, you are probably out of luck.

Do lots and lots of tasting. :) How else are you going to find out which are the perfect berries or each type?

Pay attention to the weather. If it is a really sunny day, take a hat. It gets hot quickly. And bring water!

If the berries seem sparse, go to the end of the row (wherever is farthest away from the entrance).

If you want to get a large amount of berries, it is probably better to use the flats than the pails so the bottom ones don't end up all squished. Yes, it is much easier to carry the pail, so your choice. I was planning on jam anyway, so wasn' t that important to me.

Did I mention to eat lots of berries, to keep your strength up... yeah.

About the boysenberry:

Ah, where to start. See, the raspberry is easy picking. If it comes off easily, chances are it is going to be yummy. There are some that are overripe and starting to get a little funky, but those are usually easy to spot. The boysenberry, on the other hand, seems to have a very small window of being yummy. The underripe ones are quite tart, and the overripe ones lose their flavor very quickly. But oh, the perfect boysenberry is worth looking for. They are so bursting with their own distinctive flavor when you get it just right!

The basic things to look for are really dark color, plump and shiny.

First off, the berry should be really dark. If there are hints of red around the top, it probably isn't ready. Of course, if you like tart berries, these are great!

They can be all the way black and plump but not shiny, and those are usually not so good. Raspberries have a matte appearance all the time, so this was something new to learn (after much tasting of course.)

There is also the sligtly deflated look, which indicates past ripe. These I thought were also not so good.

I would rather be on the slightly red and plump side of underripe than the dull side of overripe. These have a sligtly tart but still full flavor versus the dull flavor of the overripe

The pull test isn't always right! If it looks like the perfect boysenberry based on all the above, it probably is. (Also discovered by lots of tasting LOL.)

The haul!
And yes I speak from experience when I say the bottom berries can get kindof squished.

My friend's daughter. Would you just look at all that berry covered cuteness!!!
Her older daughter took this one. Sweet little sweaty headed girl.

Daily Groove: Invisible Abundance

An older Daily Groove that Scott sent out. If I read this one before, I don't remember it. Or maybe it just spoke to me now because I have been really thinking about the whole abundance frame of mind lately. Now, if I could just LIVE it....

Invisible Abundance

by Scott Noelle

Belief in abundance is crucial to the transformation of your daily grind into a joyful groove, because virtually all suffering derives from belief in scarcity.

When you believe there is PLENTY of good stuff — time, energy, and especially LOVE — most problems simply dissolve.

For example, you wouldn't worry about your children's behavior if you believed that there's plenty of time for them to find their way, plenty of energy (including money and material goods) to empower them on their paths, and so much love that no amount of "misbehavior" could render them (or you) unlovable.

"But how can I believe in abundance when I see so much physical evidence of scarcity?"

If you paid more attention to your Inner Knowing, you'd "see" much more abundance than your eyes reveal.

Scientists have recently discovered compelling evidence that 95% of all matter and energy is invisible to our physical senses and our finest instruments. That means there's 20 times more "stuff" than we previously "knew" existed!

Today, make a point of noticing whether your thoughts and statements are based on belief in scarcity... or abundance. Which way feels better?

Meeting Albert

Sounds like it should be the name of some movie LOL.

And here he is, in all his celery eating glory!
What a sweet boy he is! We had some extra celery on hand we brought over as a gift to win his affection. It seemed to work. :) Orion was smitten! He was just so engaged and gentle with the little fellow in a way I never imagined.

This picture does not do justice to the intricacy of petal trails that were evident in this set up. There is always something fascinating happening in the mind of Eva!

Munching on a purple carrot. Turns out they are still orange inside. Who knew? Albert, apparently.
Adoring fans.
And all the while, Akasha is on the sidelines, plotting to take over the world.
Note the berry stains around her mouth. It wouldn't be a visit to Jessica's in the summer without a flat of berries on the counter. :)

My other grand plan for the day! Melting chocolate chips to dip berries in!
I was excited she had some golden raspberries. I love them! Also notice the beginnings of a berry sandwich at the bottom that was Orion's creation. It is like a smore, only with raspberry instead of marshmellow! It needs a name! Berrymore? LOL

Orion wanted me to take a picture of his finished sandwich, and I just happened to catch a phantom hand going in for a bit more chocolate. :)
Ah, it was a great afternoon. Orion was really involved with Albert and Eva for most of it, and Samuel seemed so cutely taken with Akasha. On the way home, Orion sighed heavily and said, "I wish we could live there, so we could have a guinea pig and three kids." I asked, "What about sister?!" (I guess babies don't count.) He thought about that a minute and said, "I have a great idea! I can be Samuel's and sister can be Eva's!" I asked for some clarification, and indeed he meant like a whole playing house scenario with S and A as the mother and father. I mean really, who needs adults?

I gave this post a "cooking" tag, although the only real cooking we did was melting chocolate chips haha! Maybe I should have a tag that is "food and cooking". I wonder if there is a function to change the name of an existing tag....