Author: Julia

I am a retired software solutions architect. I have been married to my husband, Bruce, for over forty years. We went full-time RVing for 3.5 years and saw much of the United States. After deciding to stop RVing, we bought a ranch house halfway up a hill on five acres. After Bruce and I talked about names for our five acres, we settled on Blackberry Homestead as a homage to the wild blackberries on the hill. We are working on creating our homestead. I love cooking and enjoy sharing recipes. I am also an artist, and I’ll share my current projects. Gardening and reading are my favorite hobbies.

Flower of the Day with Bee Bum

June 24, 2024 In taking Nox out for a walk, Bruce and I noticed this bee on a thistle flower. This bee does not look like the European honeybee to me. The abdomen doesn’t look right; it is too wide and not yellow enough. The yellow strips are so light they are almost white. I […]

Walking West on the Clear Creek Trail from Golden, CO

June 20, 2024 Earlier this week, a friend asked if we’d like to have breakfast and go walking beside Clear Creek on Thursday. That sounded like fun to me, so we agreed to meet at the Bridgewater Grill in downtown Golden at 8:30 AM. This morning, Bruce drove to Golden and parked at the welcome […]

Lunch in Golden, CO at the Sherpa House Restaurant and Cultural Center

June 20, 2024 On Sunday (June 16), we went out to lunch in Golden, Colorado at the Sherpa House Restaurant and Cultural Center. One the way, we passed a new mural at Coors. The restaurant had a buffet and we enjoyed the meal. After eating, we walked around the beautiful garden that was designed to […]

Update on Hail Damage Repair to the Truck

June 20, 2024 Bruce called the body shop today to get an update on the truck. The hood has been replaced and the truck roof has arrived. Some of the hail stones cracked the paint in the dents, so pointless dent repair (pdr) won’t work. This means more work to repair the damage, including painting. […]

Happy Father’s Day

June 16, 2024 Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers out there!

More on Hail Damage to RV

June 16, 2024 We’ve been working with the Riverstone factory to get scheduled to repair the RV. We now have a date in September. The factory is saying it will take three days to repair. A few days ago, we had a thunderstorm with heavy rain. Rain came in from the patched kitchen fan. The […]

Fresh Blackberries with Flaky Pie Crust Flowers

This recipe is a something I tossed together for a quick dessert. I had cut leftover pie crust from my slab pie into 1 1/2 inch flower shapes and baked them. The little flower shapes were buttery, crisp and crunchy which made them a delicious topping for fresh berries. Serves 2

Blueberry, Mango and Lemon Slab Pie

I decided to make a slab pie for a party I am going to tomorrow. I started with King Arthur Baking Company’s Blueberry Hand Pies and made a lot of modifications. I had blueberries in the freezer as well as mango chunks. I decided they would taste good together. I did some research to see […]

What a Paint Job on This RV

June 14, 2024 As Bruce, Nox and I were walking around the RV park a few days ago, Bruce and I noticed an amazing paint job on an RV. It is clearly someone’s Base Camp for climbing mountains!

Lady Bug and a Wasp

June 14, 2024 I was walking Nox on the dog walk at the bottom of the ridge at Dakota Ridge RV Park. I took some pictures of flowers blooming along the path. I felt something crawling on my the back of my neck. I quickly knocked it off and looked to see what it was. […]