Blueberry Picking???

We have had blueberry picking on our agenda since Tuesday. As always life seems to intervene and we have not made it, yet. Tuesday, my SIL called because they had our nephew (from DH's other sister) visiting and wanted to go swimming. So, that is what we did. Then yesterday I called the blueberry farm to find out their picking conditions to find out that they had been picked over on Tuesday. I figured it wasn't worth the 45 minute drive for the limited amount of berries we could get. I did some research and have found another place, even closer, that allows picking on Tuesday and Thursday. Hopefully, this late in the season I can still get enough to fill the freezer.

Since we didn't go anywhere yesterday I took the opportunity to keep working on my decluttering of the house. I concentrated on the kitchen; sorted through old food stores and reorganized all the cans, boxes and bags. It is funny that when it is all disorganized and scattered I sometimes feel as though the pantry is all but empty. But once it is straightened up I can see all that we actually have. The stockpile is still going strong, especially since this time of year I am rarely touching it. I feel very fortunate about our food supplies for this coming winter.

I'll take this opportunity to whine about my garden. I am going to have to move it to the other side of the house next year. As the trees in the yard have leafed out more and more with each passing year, my hours of direct sunlight have decreased to such a point that we no longer get much yield at all. I'll keep this garden patch for winter/spring crops which always do well over there, and create a new raised bed on the north side of the house for summer/fall crops. That will have to be my job this fall. Since it will have to be inside the fence, I'm going to have to come up with some way to keep the dogs and kids out of it.


We had a fun night last night. After our daily, evening severe thunderstorm moved through we lost power. Thankfully, I had just finished putting together the mac 'n cheese that was the kids' dinners. DH and I had planned on finishing the leftovers from earlier in the week. We had dinner by lamp light, listened to classical music on the radio and just chilled out. The power stayed off for almost three hours (coming on just in time for me to catch the first of a three-part documentary I wanted to watch). The kids played hide n seek, the darkness adding a certain level of difficulty to it. Mary found some craft projects that she could do by lamp light. I turned the heel on my sock and then put it away so I could read some more in the library book that is due tomorrow. Everyone enjoys it when we 'lose power'. Of course I warned them that we may find ourselves doing this more and more as electricity prices keep climbing.

As my t-shirt says: Life is Good

Peace,
Amy