BERRY PICKING TIME.

Doug and Jose have a yearly ritual of picking wild blackberries. They pick enough for pies, jam, and some for best friends, as well. Doug is the pro and leads the pack. His banner year was 57 quarts when the berries cooperated. Doug is washing his pick while Norma is picking thorns out of her husband’s arms.

Grandson Stewart picked for the first time this year, as well has my son Ken, who hasn’t lived in the county since his last year of high school.

Ken showed his pick.

And his scars. Doug decided Ken deserved his berry picking medal.

They picked three huge thorns out of his head, too. (Mom’s hint: WEAR LONG PANTS, LONG SLEEVES AND A HAT.)

Antony said, I picked some of those, too. He has the stains on his shirt to prove it. He picked into small containers and dumped into the bigger bowls. He is only six but likes to be like the big guys.

Everyone went to the flume to cool off after picking. Ken’s legs got rinsed and cooled.

Norma, who has never picked before,  decided this was the year. Abby fell asleep in the car after a short dunk in the flume. She’s only four.

Everyone snacked and listened to berry tales of derring-do. Stewart is a skeptic.

Laurie and Stewart played Cribbage, and Stewart beat his mom. Mason claims he doesn’t play because he always wins and it’s boring. (The challenge has been hurtled, Mason.)

I can’t figure out why Doug likes to barbeque in the heat. Laurie brought a Mexican coleslaw with black beans, peppers and fresh corn. Norma brought Enchiladas that we could warm in the microwave. The chicken and ribs were delish along with some marinated carnitas Norma brought, just for us to taste.

The guys went out for a second round of picking in the late afternoon when it had cooled a bit. Norma and I stayed inside. She brought me two big Aloe Vera plants and potted them and arranged them in my greenhouse. When Doug was seriously burned, about fifteen years ago, he was able to avoid skin grafts by squeezing fresh aloe vera juice on his burns. When his partner bought the aloe vera salve in a tube, it didn’t have the same effect. It was a long, painful experience. He couldn’t wear a shoe on his foot and he was out of work for nine months. It ended well because of aloe vera. Norma claims she peels it into thin filets and puts it in a blender with milk and other fruits and it retards pain. She has a neuropathy in her foot that is very painful.

I’m looking forward to trying her smoothie idea.

FRIENDS AND FAMILY REUNION-DAY 3

Marathon fun is what we like about our family and friends reunion. Not everyone likes to flume, however.  Brothers Bill,

and Clark,

and Clark’s fiancee Theresa, stay away from the flume. The kids thought it was cool when we requested that they squirt us with their squirt guns to help us keep cool.

Ted ended up the undisputed champion at horseshoes.  I saw the pros play in Texas and I tried to show them how it was really done, but they declined to listen.

The gang likes to get in a game or two of  hearts. Others played solitaire and cribbage.

As the day ended, even the adults got silly with balloons and glow glasses.

Theo put the balloons to another use and things got even sillier.

We decided against fireworks and at the end of the day, the kids were happy with S’mores prepared around a small barbeque pit. Several of us decided to take a walk and ran into my neighbors Cameron Stewart and Bob Snowdon at  my driveway entrance with rifles. They were chasing a herd of five feral pigs roaming the neighborhood and wrecking gardens and ornamental plantings.  On down the road, we ran into three more hunters. We decided we’d better get out of gun range. I learned later they managed to kill two of them.  They are a new menace in Murphys.  The pigs normally range  in and around  Wilseyville and Railroad Flat.

The next morning, everyone pitched in for clean-up. The tents removed, garbage picked up, ice chests drained and leaves swept up, and life returned to normal. Sort of.