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Huckleberry

Prepare For Pumpkins And Comfort Food!

September 17, 2021 By Kimberly A. Cook 4 Comments

Gala apples in full beautiful bounty at Packer Orchards and Bakery. Harvest time!

Dashed up the Columbia River Gorge for a pre-harvest comfort food haul before Labor Day. What to my wondering eyes appeared but a pile of mini pies at my favorite bakery and fruit stand, Packer Orchards. With the first of much needed rains coming in tonight to help drown our forest fires and clean the air, I am secure in the knowledge that tucked in my freezer are two huckleberry and peach mini pies. Plus a bunch of huckleberry empanadas. Emergency rations for the coming winter.

This is the time of year I’d like to gather a fuzzy blanket, a pumpkin pie, a can of whip cream and head for my overstuffed chair with a pile of books. Not only does the coming cold wet weather give me a chance to snuggle in and read, but the eats are amazing. Which is why I also have an electric treadmill. Actually using it seems to be an issue. But even my stretch jeans have limits.

Tower of mini pies! Heaven on earth.

Its been a summer of three months of August, according to my temperature chart. I find one month of August quite enough, but the three we had this year kept everyone confused. And holding our breath. At this time last year we were coming off fire evacuation alerts and trying to breathe in a smoke inversion which outdid Beijing, China, on their worst day. Hoping we can all take a deep breath and relax after this weekend. We are supposed to get a couple inches of rain. The trees will be so happy. And the wildland fire fighters. I may frolic in the drops myself.

This has been a summer, a year, and a couple years of crazy for everyone. For me, I’ve learned to really appreciate the little things and keep life simple. My decluttering work goes on, so maybe by next year I can find my carpet and the garage floor. Gives me something to do when it rains.

Monday is the Harvest Moon and Fall officially starts on the twenty-second. The Halloween candy in the stores is getting picked over and I just bought my new Christmas gnome decorations at Dollar Tree. Tis time to shop for the seasons. Or hoard mini pies.

Enjoy these waning days of summer and the glory of the changing leaves. We’ve been through a lot lately, my fellow earthlings. But we’re made of tougher stock than we realize.

Spring will come again. And boy howdy, do I have some pent up adventures to take. Make your travel list now.

A day trip to anywhere counts. Including the backyard or a city park.

Cans of whip cream and holiday cookies count too. COOKIES!

Fall Ho!

P.S. Filbert at the Oregon Zoo shows the exact attitude that makes him our state animal. His work is never done on that blasted dam and he has to cut and haul major snacks back to his den. I appreciate his commitment. We snack seriously here in Oregon. He illustrates me getting food ready for the NFL football season! Did you SEE the RAIDER game Monday night? Good times!

 

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Filed Under: Food Tagged With: apples, Columbia River Gorge, comfort food, Filbert the beaver, harvest, Hood River, Huckleberry, military, military romance author, military romance fiction, Oregon, Oregon Zoo, Packer Orchards, Pie, Prepare For Pumpkin And Comfort Food!, romance books, romance novels, romance readers, seasoned romances

The Old Trunk Or Creative Jewel?

May 1, 2018 By Kimberly A. Cook Leave a Comment

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Here is a fun spot in Hood River, Oregon. Make sure to take your camera to search for all kinds of treasures. Bring money for the ice cream!

by Kimberly A. Cook

Creativity is a muscle that needs to be exercised. One of my favorite ways to get the imagination train moving is shopping antique stores and flea marts. Not only is it a photographer’s paradise, it is so much fun finding treasures hiding in plain sight.

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The vinyl mother lode! Actually, I have a cabinet full of vinyl myself, so feels like home. Notice the vintage radios and album carrying cases on top. I have one of those too.

Last week on our road trip we stopped at The Old Trunk in Hood River. This killer combo of antiques and soda fountain, plus fruit later in the year is a fun jaunt. I’ll admit we were lured in by the promise of huckleberry ice cream on their website; I’d go just about anywhere for huckleberries. Ice cream too.

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These are cameras before the one in your phone.  Upper left? No batteries, ran on person power.  Viewfinder in the middle with the round disks? Video games for Boomers. Bottom left, Polaroid camera only known to the young people now due to Taylor Swift. Round canisters in the middle? Real film! No digits! Vintage rules.

With the trusty camera along, my creativity gets inspired and things jog my memory or I marvel at items combined in a different way. Of course, seeing all books a buck about sent me into a buying spree. I controlled myself; my bookshelves are overflowing.

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Soda fountain! That red contraption in the middle is the soft serve ice cream machine. They mix Tillamook vanilla ice cream with fresh huckleberries, or other berries, and heaven happens.

But that doesn’t mean you can’t buy ice cream! One of the owners described the crowds they are seeing now and how crazy it will get as the season gets warmer. We lucked in between the crowds late in the day at 4 p.m. for a high ice cream, instead of high tea.

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Soft serve huckleberry ice cream. Fabuwonderfulfantabulous! Trust me.

Simple pleasures, good friends, good weather and ice cream. Living the dream!

Whether you wander on purpose or journey to a destination, take your camera along and prepare to experience some whimsy.

Exercise your creativity muscles!

 

https://www.oldtrunkhr.com/

 

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Filed Under: Creativity Tagged With: adventure, antiques, authors, Columbia River Gorge, creativity, Hood River, Hood River Oregon, Huckleberry, Kimberly A Cook, muse, Oregon, photography, refresh, The Old Trunk, The Old Trunk Or Creative Jewel, travel, Warrior Tales, Writing

Seen Huck The Roof Dog?

May 19, 2017 By Kimberly A. Cook 2 Comments

by Kimberly A. Cook                   (Twitter@  WarriorTales)

Huckleberry knows what he’s doing. It’s the humans who are driving his mom and dad nuts. Seems this lively pooch figured out how to get on the roof as a young pup and he loves the height advantage. But every human who comes by thinks they don’t know about Huckleberry’s roof job.

His parents have posted a sign. So don’t knock, but do wave at Huckleberry! He’s a social media top dog now. #hucktheroofdog  Of course.

Have a great weekend and Happy Quirky Friday!

 

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Filed Under: Quirky Fridays Tagged With: animals, Austin, dog, dogs, golden retriever, goldens, guard dog, Huckleberry, humor, Kimberly A Cook, pets, roof dog, sentry, Texas, Warrior Tales

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