80 pounds of berries

My sister called me on Friday nite and invited me to go blueberry picking on Saturday morning, early. Now I had just returned from vacation and I had a long “to do” list full of stuff that pretty much equated to cleaning bathrooms all day. My knee jerk reaction, especially knowing that this would be a day long excursion, was to say no. But then I remembered my favorite montra ” Never give up joy to clean a bathroom” and asked what time I needed to be ready.

Betsy picked me up at 7am and we drove to Rush River Produce south of Red Wing on the Wisconsin side of the river. Driving down along the river and Lake Pepin we both feel our heart rates slowing down. Once in the blueberry patch we quickly got into the rhythm of picking, something that we both enjoy having grown up spending long hours picking in our family’s gardens. The bushes were heavy with berries, it was a beautiful cool morning, the vistas from the top of the bluff were incredible and at the end of 3 hours we had 80 pounds of blueberries between us.

The joy was not only the boxes of blue in the back of her car, but it was the time we spent with each other. Precious time sharing stories from our summer, making plans for Shady Sister’s upcoming sale, laughing about the adventures of our kids, and most of all just enjoying time together. Lives are so busy these days and there’s never enough time to get it all done. Even tho my gardens are still full of weeds and the laundry baskets are overflowing, I count my blessings and my deep joy at having spent the day picking blueberries with my sister.