a berry good evening

We went to the Bacon's for dinner last night! And the Bacons have gigantic raspberry bushes! Jeremy and Amanda have a freezer full of raspberries that have come from these bushes this summer and invited us to come over and pick some of the last for the season. The pictures don't show it, but that clear bowl I am holding was completely full by the end of the evening. I was able to pack several bags full of raspberries into our freezer and dreamed of the evenings we'd pull them out again-- evenings that also included vanilla ice cream.

I thought a lot about Blueberries for Sal as picked berries last night. Charlotte has always loved the story about little Sal picking berries with her mother, so they could have berries through the winter. In the story, there is also a little bear and out with his mother, eating berries so they can sleep through the winter. Little Sal and little bear end up getting separated from their mommas while sitting in blueberry bushes and each end up following the other's momma around Blueberry Hill. Charlotte has always loved the "kuplink, kuplank, kuplunk" sound the berries make as they fall into Little Sal's empty bucket (empty because Little Sal eats more berries than she puts into her pail). Sadly, Charlotte wasn't as into picking berries as I'd hoped she would be, but Liam was very into picking those juicy red berries! Liam was my little Sal last night-- he ate far more berries than he put into the bowl! Liam's hands were stained red at the end of the evening and because we stayed so late over at the Bacon's, we put Charlotte and Liam, who had fallen asleep on the drive home, straight into bed with dirt stained feet and berry stained fingers! We had a lovely evening with dear friends!
This is Amanda with Liam and Jeremy with Ashley. Ashley asked Jeremy all kinds of raspberry questions so we can start our own bushes next summer!