Raspberry Picking

I can’t tell you enough how much I love having raspberry bushes in our backyard.  They’re not huge.  They’re not many in number.  But they produce generously.  During the late summer and early fall we can pick some nearly every day.  We love fresh raspberry muffins and raspberry-peach pie.  But raspberries are at there best right off the bush.  I sent Averi and Paul outside this morning to get out of my hair to get some fresh air.  It had been a while since I harvested raspberries, and the bushes must have been too appealing, because Averi decided she was going to eat harvest them for me.  And since she looked adorable in her rain jacket and striped tights, I had to grab the camera.     Do you love her Frankenstein tattoo bracelet?  That thing has been on there forever!  I promise I do give her baths. When Paul realized I wasn’t getting after them for eating all of Mom’s raspberries (yes, they’re MINE, and I choose to share them at my pleasure), he started shoveling them in so fast he nearly choked. Notice the juice running down his chin.  You have to eat a lot of raspberries to get that to happen. In the spring I planted some wildflower seeds in an empty corner of the yard, and we had a few blooms throughout the season, but nothing too impressive.  Then the cosmos burst into bloom in September and provided a refreshing splash of color in the garden, since all the other flowers were going to bed for the winter.  Definitely planting those again!     Averi’s version of stopping and smelling the cosmos.   I love Paul’s expression in the last three pictures.  They are so him. And this is why I plant a garden.