are so happy

Blueberry picking.

This is what we did last weekend, before the heat wave hit. We always go to the same place (here, for you locals) and try to get there early to beat the heat. This time around we stayed about 30 minutes or so and were able to pick ten pounds of berries. Bunny and Birdie are both extremely industrious pickers, and love it. I hardly managed to pick a thing because I was slinging Bee and, you know, taking photographs. Like these:

My husband and Bunny, headed out to the ripest row.

Happily picking away.

Kuplink, kuplank, kuplunk. I can’t be the only one whose mind sings this as the berries begin to hit the bottom of the bucket.

Some for the basket, and some for the mouth.

Bunny was sure that Birdie needed some in her pockets, as well.

Yum.

I loved this.

Whew. It was already getting pretty warm by the time we got out of there.

Our haul. Pretty good!

Quotable Sunday

Every person is an artist. Art is not about painting a picture which sells for millions but about expressing the images alive in the soul. It is about finding the spirit in all its beauty embedded and embodied in material things. Our house and home, our garden, our environment is the canvas on which homemakers express their art. Creativity is imaginative thoughts and feelings offered to the glorious world for ourselves and others to perceive and enjoy.

Veronika Van Duin, Homemaking and Personal Development: Meditative Practice for Homemakers

Blackberry picking.

I love the month of August. I love knowing that the frenzy of summer is drawing to a close, and that cooler weather and many festivals that I love dearly are in store. All of this begins, here, with blackberries, wild and sweet. I admit, I was a little early (they’ll be much better next week), but once I began to see some ripening, I couldn’t resist. My favorite herald of the changing of the seasons.