Another gorgeous morning; the sunrise was just beautiful. A picture hardly does it justice but I’ll post it anyway.
Cats on my porch chair.
And Squirrel 1 (2?) was busy enjoying his breakfast. I’m kind of amazed at how entertaining these little rodents are. Thanks Grandpa!
Dad went to Uncle Jerry’s early, then back to pick up Jesse at 7:00 so he was to Uncle Randy’s by 7:30. Levi and I went to Dr. Luce for a 7:45 appointment. Two weeks ago he reacted to a weed while fencing, and this past week his back, chest, arms, and legs have been more and more irritating to him. It looks awful besides. Dr. Luce put him on a steroid; hopefully this will kick it or we’ll be seeing a dermatologist. We were home again by 8:15; I picked up Kate and headed back to Walmart to get Levi’s prescription and be home again before 10:00 when he went to CIT. We made it, and so he got his first dose of med. before he went to work. Back home, I read to littles; there were also jobs to do and a fussy babe to care for. We got everything done in time to go swimming at Uncle Jerry’s after Dad was home for a brief lunch. After swimming, I walked solo while little girls rested (slept) and bigger kids did chores.
“On a day in August when the blackberries are ripe, we will take the berry pails and go to the clearing at the edge of the woods. When we come to the place where God’s sunshine and God’s rain have helped the blackberries grow, we will eat some of the black, shiny berries and then pick, pick, pick from the tangled, prickly branches. After awhile our fingers will be stained purple, but we will not mind. When our pails are full, we will go home.” [excerpt from Berries Berries Berries by Beverly S. Gordon]
Wrong month, but same scenario…kind of.
Jacob was very excitedly telling me about the hundreds-- no, THOUSANDS! of blackberry bushes down at the South Grove. He shared a few blackberries with me, and they were pretty tasty. So he, Ben, and I whipped down there on the four-wheeler, and I was amazed. What a treasure trove of blackberries...well, they were actually black raspberries. I still don’t quite understand why no one has ever told me about these before, except that this is the first year Jacob has spent serious time down there planting trees and mowing. At any rate, Jacob started blazing (stomping) trails through the brambles, picking as he went, and Ben and I started picking too. We had 3 tiny yogurt cups, which were filled in no time. Somewhere along then, Levi finished chores and brought the dirt bike to help…he quickly decided a machete was in order and made a trip back to get it. Tori and Kate were working on kitchen jobs, and Kate could hardly finish fast enough to come help. She ended up running the whole way, bucket in hand, and joined the picking crew too. And then Jesse showed up to help too…what is it about enthusiasm that makes it so contagious that everybody chooses to come pick berries in the sweltering heat, tromping through thorny weedy buggy (poison ivy? poison oak?!!) brambles to have ‘fun’ with everyone else? I didn’t think Tori would want to miss out, so I went back home for more buckets and to send her in my place, but she was content to stay in the air-conditioned house and finish the snack mix squares she was making. Smart girl! So…I headed back to the patch and picked some more. Jesse was going to grill steaks for supper, but when it was time, he didn’t want to go back – no one did! We all ended up staying until 5:45 (!!!) when we raced back home, showered (all 7 of us!), threw the steaks on the grill, got the rest of the meal ready, and were ready to eat when Dad got home a little after 6:00. What a crew!
Machete action.
Beautiful berries.
Lots to come yet…
We ended up with almost a gallon of berries…and oh, the fun of picking them (and eating them). We’ll see if any of us get poison ivy from our adventure…although Levi said it was everywhere, we were pretty careful not to get close to it. And we all showered right when we got back home and threw all our clothes into the laundry, so we’ll see what happens. We’re all pretty determined to get some Round Up and improve our trails so we can more easily pick the delicious berries.
After supper and dishes we loaded up and drove to Pekin (by the prison there) to check out a hayfield. The drive was beautiful.
Home to beds.
“Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to thee. How great thou art, how great thou art. Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to thee. How great thou art, how great thou art.”
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