blueberries and raspberry sorbet and...

We have such bountiful blueberry bushes. The neighbor told me they were at least 30 years old. I just picked another two pints easily out there among the chickadees and finches and scrub jays. There are several more to go, even after several chickadee meals. So sweet to hear the little babies almost grown calling back and forth. Chickadees take little nibbles of the blueberries and sometimes bite them off whole and nibble that way. This explains all of the blueberries on the ground. Scrub jays take them off whole and fly away to eat them on the roof. When I went out to pick I was reluctant to scare them away. Lucky for me they came back after I was there for a while.

We have so many birds in our yard thanks to the many different types of berries and seeds and the garden and trees and of course the bird feeder. The most abundant right now are the chickadees. There is a whole passel of them living nearby and they call back and forth in kind of a raspy dee dee dee. There are almost as many of them as the bushtits, who have recently shown up again for suet. We have some finches but not as many as at our last place. There are scrub jays and towhees (who I even saw doing an elaborate mating ritual in the spring!) and ravens. The raven babies have been a lot of fun to watch and listen to. They make such a fuss and are so loud that many is the time I walk out to the yard to see if they are ok. I want to offer them something to tide them over until mom or dad gets back. The cawing and clucking stops momentarily as food is literally shoved down their throats. Oh and of course the Northern Flickers are around. I have seen hawks circling over our yard but not actually in it, although at the last place there was an American Kestral who came and sat on the fence to watch the bird feeder. This gave me pause for thought.

Jack is not always keen on the different birds visiting the yard. He has a reputation to uphold and the ravens in particular are not to be trusted. He charges past me to clear the yard of squirrels, ravens, scrub jays... Yesterday he and I heard a call that I can't quite identify. I saw the little guy and know he is a wren but whether he is a Bewicks wren or another type I couldn't say today. At the time it seems like I could never forget that musical trill but after listening to eight different wren calls on e-nature, I am not quite sure. The wren made such a fuss in the bushes that Jack charged out to see what was up. We never did find out what it was all about. Funny to see Jack all puffed up over the little wren call. He was probably scolding Maxwell or Magoo. I wish we could tell the little guy that Magoo can barely see him, much less catch him.

Aunt Ellen went on vacation to the wilds of Wisconsin and left us her wonderful ice cream/ sorbet maker to borrow. We made some raspberry sorbet with some of our delectable u-pick raspberries and it was amazing! Eva said she wanted to eat more of the sorbet so her tongue could say YUM. I liked it so much I dreamed of different kinds of sorbet all night. I woke up excited to try peach sorbet, cherry sorbet, blackberry sorbet... And it was easy. For the skeptics out there, clean up was easy too! Almost effortless! Can't you just hear my enthusiasm! Just don't touch the cold part with wet hands because your hand can get stuck on it! It looks like I may be asking Santa for an ice cream/ sorbet maker for Christmas. What I loved about it too was that it was one more fun thing to do with fruit and sugar. If you cook it, you get jam. If you freeze it, you get sorbet! Thank you Aunt Ellen!

Autumn is definitely on the way. The geese have been flying since the end of July. Leaves are starting to change. The blueberry bushes have blueberries and also have little red leaves starting up. The birds are flocking more often. The sun here has a different angle characteristic of autumn and is already setting earlier. Longer shadows. I love autumn. I love its action and changes and movement. The swallows and gold finches will leave and the juncos will arrive. We will pick apples and pears instead of raspberries. Although we still have to pick some fall raspberries! And tomatoes! I am busy now knitting in an attempt to have at least one of the sweaters I have started ready to wear in the fall. I would like another hat and a sweater for Eva and now Samuel wants one and some gloves and...

We registered for a couple of classes at Village Home, a homeschooling resource here in Beaverton. Samuel is going to take a drama class and an invention class. Eva is excited to go to Little Villagers, a playtime/art time with other four-ish year olds. She says she will only talk to people that she knows but I see she is excited to make new friends as well. The classes don't start until the second week in September and we are excited. We are finishing up our art class next week as well.