Blueberries & Beaches

August 28, 2011

It's the weekend friends, and we are living summer to its fullest.

Anticipating the tail end of Irene hitting the Canadian Maritimes sometime tomorrow we made the most of a gorgeous day outdoors. A morning of berry picking followed by an afternoon at the beach.

Berry picking is in my blood. I've inherited it along with my curly hair and Scottish thrift.

My grandparents took my parents berry picking. My parents took me, sometimes kicking and screaming (or rather sulking like only teenagers know how). And I've been picking berries with my kids since Brienne could barely toddle between the rows.

We go berry picking to stock the freezer with summer's goodness. But we also go for fun. And we're kind of compulsive about it too, "oh, just one more bush before we go".

This morning's berry picking was, in Laurent's words, "the funnest berry picking ever". Parents and grandparents telling stories from their past, happy banter between the rows, the incessant hum of bees and crickets - it was magical. For me, it felt like living my family history, in the here and now.

Making new memories and telling old stories while enjoying the bounty of summer.

A morning of "work" deserves an afternoon of play so I took the kids to the beach after lunch. They frolicked and I did some planning for the coming school year. A type of play for an organizing freak like myself.