Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Berry Season on the Climb


Berry season is here!!!  This morning I ate at least one of each of the following berries: thimbleberries, sugarplums, raspberries, blueberries and bilberries.  And on my way to work, I can eat a couple cherries.

What blows my mind the most is the thimbleberries.  Now, they are really not ready for the most part, but I have seen a couple here and there.  So I eat them.  I pop one in my mouth and press my tongue up to the roof to squish out all the goodness.  They don’t need chewing.  Oh, so juicy.

And this morning, while I ate all those miraculous flavors, I was armed with two buckets tied around my waist and a backpack full of ziploc bags.  I picked darn near a gallon of bilberries in about an hour -- just along the path to Fort Wilkins!  I have never picked industrially there before.  I like to save those for the tourists, but when I pedaled by so many times, they were just screaming “Pick me!  Pick me!”  So I did.

An attempt to capture my purple-stained fingers

Another reason I picked there is because my other spots, higher up on the ridges, still looked a little sparse.  How do I know this?  Because I took a mountain bike ride yesterday up past my favorite patches.  A mountain bike ride!  It’s been a month since I’ve been on the singletrack trails.  Oh, my.  That was a healing experience for my mind, metabolism and confidence.  I am so grateful to be back in the saddle.

We survived the Fourth of July, but I think the rest of the summer is going to be just as busy.  There are no slow nights for me at the Harbor Haus in the foreseeable future until October.  Luckily, though, I feel ready for the season!

Life is good up here in da Harbor.  Make sure you say hello if you are up for a visit!


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