Blackberry Smoothie Recipes

Did you know blackberries cover up the green of kale or spinach in a smoothie?  It tinges the whole smoothie a dark purple.  Pretty handy as we try to increase veggies in the boys' diet.


Blackberry Yogurt Smoothie (lighter color)

1 c. blackberries

1-2 bananas

1 c. any yogurt

1/2 c. rice milk

2 small pieces of kale with stems removed

Dairy Free Blackberry Smoothie (darker color)

1 c. blackberries

1 banana

1 c. rice milk

1 small piece of kale with stem removed

Put in a high powered blender and blend.  If you don't have a high powered blender you can use a regular one, it just may not be as smooth.

Blackberry Picking

The boys are awesome berry pickers!

Luckily, there is a blackberry farm down the street, and every year we go pick our own blackberries.  While the kids eat some berries raw, the berries also make great smoothies and jam.  Blackberries grow wild around here, but those have thorns on them.  

Homemade contraption the farmer made to hold  the bucket using hose and hanger wire

We've gotten a break from the temps in the 100s and it was beautiful weather for picking blackberries.  Although my youngest was not fond of the bugs, he was able to entertain himself by taking some pictures.  (The good news is that the blackberry farm doesn't spray their blackberries...the bad news is the bugs know this.)  There were kids whining a few aisles over, and it made me even prouder of my boys and the great picking they did.

Day 1: We ate up the berries in the box on the left

100% Plant Based Diet

summer bonanza of local fruit and veggies

No doubt spurred on because he has breast cancer and knows he is fighting for his life, my husband has made the monumental decision to entirely change the way he eats.  Starting immediately.  Frankly, I had never thought it possible that Mr. Frozen Pizza and Ice Cream would become...Mr. 100% Plant Based Diet. 


Some people may call this way of eating vegetarian or vegan, but my husband prefers to proudly state he is on a "100% plant based diet".  Last week we watched a video called "Eating" that does an excellent job outlining the ill effects of an animal based diet, and the power of a plant based diet to rebuild the immune system.  Since then we've also watched a surprisingly uplifting film on Netflix called "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead", too.  


Our dinner that first night was oatmeal.  Not very well rounded, but hey, at least he wasn't putting toxins in his body.  I quickly scrounged up a lunch for him for the next day...I believe it was a lettuce and tomato salad with Italian dressing along with Wasa crackers and PB for a snack.

Our new breakfast of choice

For five years, I've been on a low-fat diet because of my MS like symptoms, and so we do regularly eat vegetarian meals each week.  Also, for one year we've been doing dairy free for my middle son who has asthma.  His Naturopathic Physician gave us many great dairy free alternatives and that helped with that transition a lot.  So we've had some experience changing the way we eat, but this definitely notches it up a level, or two, or three...  

Bye bye junk food cereal...

Our whole family is going 100% plant based for our health.  My husband, Shawn, needs to heal from cancer, I need to heal from MS-like stuff, ds1 has bad eczema and dyslexia, ds2 asthma, and ds3 is developing allergies.   ALL of these things can be affected by diet.  Wow.  And wouldn't it be nice to lose some weight and not get sick all the time.   

The Hidden Blessing

Playing "Conquest of the Empire"

I'm a firm believer every situation brings an opportunity for good.  It doesn't make the situation good by any means, but life "is what it is" and if you make the most of it...well, at a minimum it's more endurable.  

Each person has their own "Caesar" and empire to build

While Shawn recovered from surgery he played several board games with the boys to regain his stamina.  This was a blessing for the boys, as well as Shawn,  who all enjoy playing strategy games.  


These games also expose the boys to geography and history.  My 7yo ds can't wait to begin our studies of Ancient History this fall.  He already loves Ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome because of the games he's played, books he's read, and documentaries he's watched. 

Tolstroy and the Purple Chair

I never read Tolstroy, but I have read "Tolstroy and the Purple Chair" by Nina Sankovitch.  This counts as high culture, right?  By chance, I even read the book while sitting on my own purple fold-up chair at a swim meet.  It didn't occur to me until I returned to my chair from watching ds race and saw my copy of "Tolstroy and the Purple Chair" sitting on MY purple chair. 

Purple Chair #1

Already a blogger on her website, readallday.org, Nina made a commitment to read an entire book everyday for a year.  She also blogged about each book daily.  Gotta love that tenacity.  As the mother of three boys myself, I also really appreciated the time dedication this required.

As I read this book, I was trying to take my mind off my husband's possible breast cancer.  I didn't know it when I first picked up the book, but the author was grieving the loss of her sister to cancer throughout the book.  While this didn't help me take my mind off dh, it did assure me the comfort of "escaping" into a good book.  He does have breast cancer, but we're both reading a lot of books this summer while he's recovering from surgery. Right now, I'm waiting for a book on health and healing to come in from Amazon.

Purple Chair #2

On a lighter note - can you believe I have TWO purple chairs?  My childhood rocking chair is also painted purple.  Honestly, I think the purple chair is what attracted me to the book in the first place.  

Framed Crystals?

Mom and I teamed up to create these...suncatchers?  light catchers?  Framed amulets or hanging crystals?  Please comment and let me know what you think they should be called.  We're starting to add them to my etsy shop...but we still don't know what to call them.

Several years ago my mom started embellishing crystal prisms with well selected additional crystal, stone, and glass beads.  For example, the one on the bottom is the "Purple Bears" one she gifted me with featuring little purple bear beads.  It's lovely, but it would seem to get overlooked in of my house. That's when I decided to frame it, and the combo really is breathtaking if I do say so myself.  I took it in to show Mom at work, and her co-workers all stopped to stare as well.  

First one posted on etsy...called a framed amulet?

"It" is the perfect combo of her amulets and my stained glass.  Of course, it could be called a suncatcher, but it's not the traditional type at all.  So how to convey the difference the open space and hanging crystals in the middle makes?

Morning Surprise

It's not often I go out and sit down in my front garden, but it's a good place to take pictures of my crosses for Etsy.  So while I was out there this morning taking pictures, I looked up and really "saw" my catmint, echinacea, and daisies towering over me.  Wow!  From down there they are looking good.  

From the street, the daisies are too tall since I split them last year and apparently did not put them in the ground as low as they were before.  Now I'll need to split the echinacea, and raise them up, or lower the daisies.  Luckily, neither can be done in this heat.  So I can sit back and enjoy.