I love raspberries. I have since I was a child. We lived upstairs from my grandparents and we had a decent sized yard that my grandfather took pride in. In the back corner of our yard was a raspberry bush - the source of my love of raspberries. Raspberry season in NJ is very brief and having only one bush doesn't provide many berries so lucky was the person who remembered to go check the berry bush. Fresh, warm berries were a delight. Store-bough raspberries were very, as my grandmother would say "dear". And for many years I considered them an extravagance and usually passed the fresh berries up in the supermarket, opting for less expensive frozen ones. But raspberries have become more reasonably priced for the last few years enabling me to partake almost daily. Sometimes they have no taste though. And sometimes they are very tasty. And I love when I get some that taste exactly like those berries from the bush in my grandfather's back yard.
They say that our senses help with memories. We have smell memory and taste memory and each of those can be good or bad. It's our way of knowing/remembering what to eat and what not to eat, what we like and what will make us sick.
I was reminded of that raspberry bush eating breakfast this week when the berries tasted just like those berries from long ago. And I was brought back to our yard again and the sweet smell of roses blooming when a parent brought in these sweet tussy-mussy's for us during this last week of school.
The roses gave me the inspiration for this card that I made for my office co-worker who is being transferred this summer. I know that she will have no problem acclimating to her new job and I hope that my new co-worker and I will quickly find a rhythm together. She has not worked in a busy school office before and will have a lot to take in before school starts back up in September.
At home we're still not quite done with the stamp cave renovation and I'm still sorting things out. One of my goals I think I've mentioned is to use up scraps this summer whether it be on cards, or in journals or what not. So here is another card that has a bunch of scrap elements on it for no particular occasion.
Today was the last day with staff and students and I have two more days this week and then I'm off for 10 glorious days which I hope to use both relaxing and finishing this room project. Keeping my fingers crossed it will all work out.
Oh yes, and I'm so far behind on my Christmas cards that I don't know if I'll ever catch up, but I'll have to make a dent in that too!
Love the cards . . . especially that little owl. I also love raspberries. My dad had a bush that just came up by on it's own near his garden. I loved when he would bring them in . . . warm like you remembered them and I would eat them on vanilla ice cream. Enjoy your glorious 10 days off!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful cards and flowers! I am a "berry" lover too, and gave fond memories of all th different berries my father grew when I was a child! I recently saw some raspberry bushes at the garden center, and they even had yellow/orange coloured raspberries! They all looked delicious!
ReplyDeleteLove your ICAD cards too! Well done!
Sunshine, New Zealand
www.ihearttostamp.blogspot.com
What gorgeous looking little posies.
ReplyDeleteI agree on the raspberries, I think they are far nicer than almost all strawberries. We used to have several rows of canes in the garden when we were small, but better yet the principal of the small (3 teacher) local grade school lived down the road and had a HUGE fruit garden which he and his wife often invited us to come and pick from. My aunt has some of the yellow ones, but they don't fruit as well as her reds. It's a bit horrifying to think that a few years ago I got some for a treat in February, cooking for a friend over from Chicago. Even though mine were American imports, they were still cheaper for me to buy here than they would have been for her had she been at home. Something wrong there...