More Pictures of Those Raspberries

We have a bumper crop this year:

Big berries so sweet and ripe they pull away from the stems:

Had to hurry the picking this morning to rescue them from the grackles. Sydney "helped" and ate every one that he picked. We still had two cookie sheets full to put in the freezer. Oh the heaven in the middle of winter when we can't even get to the raspberry patch, we can pull some out of the freezer and be in summer again.

Burgers at Grandma's

My kids gathered to "burn a burger" last night, our term for grilling them. The three little ones had so much fun together and the food was great. The little ones invaded my raspberry patch. We had to follow them so they would only eat the ripe ones-didn't want any tummyaches!

Sam went after them with a vengeance.

Happy smile!

Gotta get the ones underneath.

Not too full of raspberries to eat a good supper.

We finished off with my homemade strawberry ice cream. From my own patch, of course!

In other news, the school pants are finished and safely in Gracie's hands. She really loved the hot pink ones.

Decision

Tomorrow, my youngest son has to make a huge decision, one that will affect many people. I know he will stick to his guns and do what is right, but my heart bleeds for him, knowing he will go through pain that Mom can't take away from him. Pray for his 5 year old son, too, especially for his safety.

My New Blog

I'm so excited! I finally started my cooking blog. I've been wanting to have a place to chronicle my quest to eat allergy-free, so here it is:

http://mrsclauscooks.blogspot.com/

Pop on over and take a look. I'll be thrilled to compare notes, share recipes, and hear your allergy stories.

They're Ready!

The raspberries are ready-Stan picked a handful a while ago. What a perfect berry!

Then I ate it!

Finally Did It!

Our local food co-op has been around, in one form or another, since the early 70's. Finally yesterday I joined. Nothing slow about me! I really am looking forward to finding a few more foods that I can eat, just by the fact that fewer ingredients means lower odds of having an allergen in the product.

They serve meals there and have a divine salad bar. I can eat the honey-mustard dressing they make because they stay away from high fructose corn syrup. This will be great for when I need lunch on errand days. I have eaten the chicken they prepare and haven't tasted anything that good since the "olden days" when I was a kid and nobody added hormones or antibiotics to their poultry.

They were so gracious, too, making sure I had all my questions answered and telling me how pleased they are that I belong. The price was right, too.

Yes, I see a long, happy relationship.

Going Fishing!

Grandpa decided to take the kids fishing, one at a time. Sydney is staying with us for some spoiling so he's the first in line. I had to pack his own cooler, he couldn't share with Grandpa, and we had to have the string cheese and Nutella sandwich. Some crackers, a can of pop and a carton of chocolate milk and he's ready to go.

After the truck was packed, Sydney said, "Now what do we do?" "Now we get in the truck and drive to the lake," was Grandpa's reply.

Not a problem, "why isn't Grandpa in yet?"

"Okay, now we can go, don't forget to shut off my airbag, Grandpa!"

"Bye, Syd, catch some fish!" "I'll try, Grandma!"