Minton's Woods: Adventure

A blog has been playing around in my brain with the title, "Minton's Yard: Mini-Dramas," but today's adventure in the woods has to come to the fore and find its place before I can take the time to write of the mini-dramas that have run their course in our yard.

The adventure of the day began when Thomas and I decided to take a walk through the woods. It began as most walks begin--peaceful, quiet, sun coming through the leaves in some areas, deep shade in others. Today we had not gone far until we discovered a couple of ripe blackberries. I plucked them, ate them and walked on down the path.

A bit farther down the trail we discovered another bush with several blackberries--and then another and another! They were sort of few and far between, but by the time I had harvested those I had a handful. That's when we decided we needed a container in case we found others. So Thomas hurried back to the house for something to hold our harvest, trusting we would find more.

The rest of the walk was slower than usual. We scanned both sides of the trail for berries and the slightest hint meant closer inspection. Red berries held promise because on each branch there were usually berries in all stages of maturation, green, red, and deep purplish black. The ripe blackberries glistened in the sun. Thomas compared them to jewels and I thought they looked like patent leather.

Some of the bushes were near the trail, others were farther into the underbrush and to reach those we had to fight the brambles and thorns. After my first battle with the brambles I left the rest of the deep woods exploration to Thomas. (His overalls were thicker than my pants.)

To make a long story short, we did gather enough berries to have blackberries for dessert--sweetened with Splenda, mixed with sour cream and slathered in real whipped cream. It wasn't Mama Brown's blackberry cobbler, but it was a very satisfying dessert--and a very enjoyable adventure. (Perhaps we have reached the age where we are easily entertained.)