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.

Pictures from Dry Creek Water Park in Mt Olive, Mississippi

March 23, 2024 Dry Creek Water Park is a beautiful pine wooded park, with butterflies flitting underneath the pine trees. We saw a few dragonflies and moths as well. We even spotted one firefly. At sunset, the fish would jump up from the lake, splashing down into the water reflecting the pinks, purples, oranges, and […]

Visiting Family While at Dry Creek Water Park in Mt Olive, Mississippi

March 23, 2024 We had a lovely time visiting with my family while staying at Dry Creek Water Park. It is only a few miles from my youngest sister’s home. She stopped by with her husband, her oldest son (my nephew) and his son (my great-nephew, who is six, about to be seven in a […]

Really, Mom!

March 20, 2024 Nox’s paw is much better. It still hasn’t healed completely. I took this series of pictures.

A Walk Around Downtown Quincy, Florida

March 20, 2024 This post is out of order, as it is about our day in historic downtown Quincy, Florida on March 12. We decided to try out a restaurant that mostly got rave reviews in downtown Quincy, Big Papa’s Chop House. We rode the motorcycle to downtown Quincy and parked across the street from […]

Through Stop and Go Traffic, Over Flooded Rivers, Through Pouring Rain to Mississippi We Go

March 19, 2024 We did most of prep for leaving on March 14 (Thursday) and we were able to pull out of Flat Creek Family Campground and RV Park on Friday (March 15) at 9:30 am. The drive started out pleasant enough. We pulled into a rest area on I-10 to for a bio break […]

Cooking with a Campfire

March 17, 2024 While in Flat Creek Family Campground and RV Park, we had a couple of campfires. The first campfire, we roasted hotdogs and marshmallows over it. The second campfire, I placed an aluminum foil packet of a sliced onion and red bell pepper with Berber spice mix and a drizzle of olive oil […]

White Rose

March 15, 2024 There were white roses climbing in the trees at the edge of the forest at Flat Creek Family Campground and RV a park.

Rotating RV Tires

March 14, 2024 Last week, Bruce rotated the tire on the utility side of the RV. He moved the front tire to the middle position, the former middle tire to the rear position and the rear tire to the front position. While he had the tires off, he inspected the suspension and brake lines. All […]

Shrimp and Sausage Jambalaya

I had some sweet Georgia shrimp in the freezer that I felt I should use up. After looking in my pantry, I decided I would make Jambalaya. I did some searching online to see if I could find a good sounding recipe. The Shrimp and Sausage Jambalaya recipe on the Food Network site sounded good. […]

Arayes (Pan Fried Beef Filled Pita)

The other day, I was wondering what to make with a pound and a quarter of ground beef I had. Bruce was talking hamburgers, but I wasn’t that interested in burgers. I wanted to make something similar to hamburgers for Bruce and yet different enough for me. I also had homemade pita bread in the […]