Blueberries are the first fruit to ripen at the orchards in the early summer. Have you tried a homemade smoothie? They are delicious, very easy to make and relatively inexpensive. Give the kids one for breakfast. You can’t have too many anti-oxidant rich foods.

Blueberry and Yogurt Smoothie Recipe

Blueberry and Yogurt Smoothie Recipe Ingredients:

1/2 cup of wild blueberries
1/2 cup of blueberry yogurt
1/2 a banana
1/2 cup of ice

Directions:

Blend the the banana, ice and yogurt together until the banana is well blended. Add the blueberries and blend on low speed for 30 seconds. Adding the blueberries at the end leaves the blueberry flavor at the top.

What about blue flowers? We have made the blue iris famous. Here it is growing in the garden out back near the gift store. This flower became our signature pattern, and has been painted on all our pottery from the first day until now. Do you own a piece of Emerson Creek Pottery with an iris on it?

Even the mountains are blue around here-

We are very attached to the Blue Ridge… we even paint them on the dishes.
This is the famous Peaks of Otter. We can see this gentleman off in the distance.

This is a tray we painted to honor our “Peaks”.
Virginia, USA
Home.

Snow seems to be the big buzz word around our neck of the woods lately. Every morning at the local gas station, you can hear comments such as “I’m so tired of shoveling.” or “I can’t believe were getting hit again!” Yes, snow can be a nuisance and I am also guilty as charged for throwing the complaints out on the issue. Then I recalled something my Grandfather use to say, “Rebecca, you need to take time to stop and smell the Roses.” OK, I know there are no Roses out now (or anything else for that matter) but it was the thought to….stop. Stop complaining about the predicament but embrace and enjoy it. Instead of smelling the Roses I built a snow man. I have to admit that some (ok most) would consider me to old to be playing in the snow, but boy did I enjoy it. For the whole hour I was out there, not once did I think of a bill to be paid or what was going to be for dinner. So for now, when it snows, I’m going to do my best to stop complaining and “Smell the Roses”.