The Joy(?) of berry picking

So the little one came home from her adventure yesterday saying:

"It was great, but it was awefull!"

First came the rain. With lightning. So they postponed while going out to eat. During a break in the storm, they headed back out only to find someone had beaten them to the first place. So they went in search of more bushes, walking through soaking wet grass. They did find some good spots and spent some time picking a few gallons of berries. DD found a pile of fragrant bear "poo", and for once my dad didn't step in it (another tradition). The day ended abruptly when DD was stung by a bee. She is not quite enough of an outdoor-person to shake off something as earth-shaking as a bee sting. Still, she was very excited to have spent the day with Grandpa and his mother out in the woods. Of course, she forgot to bring her binoculars and camera actually INTO the woods with her, so no pictures or stories of beautiful birds. Oh, well.

DD has a new passion. Cooking magazines. She sits in the backseat of the car with one on her lap and reads me the recipes she thinks looks good. When asked if she plans to actually cook any of them, though, she just looks at me like I have lost my mind.

More tomatoes from the garden, and I am getting so tired of the smell of them! DD is still eating an average of 4 a day, though, so I can't really complain. I much prefer she eats those than some sugary snack. We don't really cook with tomatoes at our place, but I am thinking of drying some, since I do like dried tomatoes in sauces over pasta.

The rest of my cabbages are ready to pick, and the squash are getting large. I think we will pull the beans out soon. They have become stressed from the lack of rain and I have as many frozen as I can reasonably expect to use. The broccoli and cauliflower have sent out their secondary shoots, but we sent most of them up to a friend who lost his garden due to long illness during the spring. I sent him tons of zukes as well, just to get rid of them. I am already starting my list for next years garden, a sure sign of an addict. DH laughs at me, but it fills the long hours at work with nothing to do and everyone asleep.

Maybe next year my garden will be weed free and beautiful....yeah, right.