A Magical Evening Walk

Yes, I've already posted today, but I simply had to share. We had one of those delightfully magical family evenings that come around but rarely. Sure, we have fun evenings, and we have nice evenings, but this is one that will always remain in our memories. :o)

We decided to take a walk after dinner to see if we could stretch out B's leg muscles and maybe pull some tension off his knee--his knee has been giving him trouble the past few days. :o(

We took the nature trail around the pond and were enjoying the unseasonable cool-ish (only low-80s!), low-humidity evening. While the girls ran ahead exploring this and that (the woods are really fun, y'all!), a butterfly fluttered over in Brien's face and mine and then fluttered away. She came back again. And, yet again, the final time hanging out on B's leg for a moment. :o)

We came to the looooong bridge that crosses the wetlands and found this scene stretching way into the distance and as far as the eye could see.

How about a close-up?

Yes, those are blackberries. Lots of them.

Thousands of them.

Just beyond our reach. Drat it all.

Then, we found one close by the bridge. Then another. And, a few more, just enough to be little energy pellets to propel the girls towards home.

And, that's when the magic happened.

You see, the vines are well down below the bridge, hard for the deer to reach. Hard for the humans to reach as well. (Not the birds, though! There was *ahem* evidence of their meals all over the top board/rail, just sayin'...)

Well, we humans decided not to let a trifling thing like out of reach blackberries get in our way.

We just hunkered down and started stretching and picking.

We all got in on the action, B and I pulling vines over close to where we could reach, not minding the thorns because we knew we'd have a wonderful treat.

(Sorry it's sideways...)

Before long, I had a handful!

And, we kept picking! (Can you see that boardwalk goes on forever? Let me tell you how long that sucker is when you're running...!)

Before too long we had too many berries for my hand and I had to improvise.

And still we kept picking.

Every once in awhile you'd hear an "OW!" or "Oof! That hurt!" or, "Yeow! It's got my nailbed!" (Alas, poor B!).

The girls got scritched and scratched, B and I were wounded, and yet, we couldn't seem to stop ourselves.

We finally finished the long bridge and then found more berries crossing the smaller bridge.

And, still more at the mouth of the path to our neighborhood. Look how teeny those are! B and I have this theory that the smaller berries and fruits and veggies pack a more intense flavor punch. Imagine there are a finite number of flavor molecules per berry--the larger berries will find those molecules spread over a larger area than the smaller ones, hence the more intense flavor. :o)

My hat runneth over by the time we were finished.

I smile looking at those stains because I know that every time I wear it, I'll remember this glorious evening of fun and delight and wonder.

People may even ask and I'll get to share our evening with them. :o)

I've rinsed them and popped them in the fridge for the evening. Tomorrow they'll be made into a cobbler to be served with vanilla ice cream--the kind that comes in five quart buckets so I'll have a bucket for berry picking next week. ;o)

Next time we'll plan to wear long pants and boots and we can better access the berries. But, tonight...tonight was such a delightful surprise and has left me feeling so good. There's no other word for it.

A beautiful, exciting evening spent with my family...what more could I ask for?

Oh, yeah, there were views too...

...see?

And, anyone know what kind of tree this is?

Here's a close-up of the fruit. I'm utterly clueless.

And, just because he's so stinkin' cute, Finny had to have a haircut today. He had a ton of mats that needed working out and this was the easiest thing to do. I used the trimmed hair to put around the Indian Hawthorn bushes out front in an effort to keep the deer away. They're eating them again, drat them, and the daylilies too!!! ARGH!