Where Was I?

I've been slack for far too long, neglecting this little postcard from the edges, but today is a good day to pick up the electronic pen.

Yesterday we went to some friends place for a berry picking party. The berries are blackberries, that grow wild everywhere around here but are not from here originally. I'm still working on the origins but we can thank the birds for propagating plenty of them. 

This is just one area of glorious berries.
We each had our own picking and saving style,
some stayed in one area,
I rambled around the yard,
eating picking eating picking some more.

But this wasn't side of the road gathering, this was in the magical yard of soft grasses, surrounded by blackberry bushes that have been trimmed back year after year for the generations our friend Tim's family has owned this beautiful property. This year in particular, with a lot of rain, and the right temperatures was just about perfect for a bumper crop. We dove in.

While we picked, Woody grilled fresh from the bay tuna, with kabobs made up of their garden goodies, broccoli, tomatoes and summer squash. A blackberry pie waited and berry ice cream churned. A local feast with good friends is pretty high on my summer list, even as it winds to a close. 

After we said our farewells, we decided to see if the second day of the Whale Gulch fire department fundraiser had anything still going on. The first day is the big one, I didn't even know there was a second day! But when we got there, only a few clean up stragglers were left. Since one of them was our friend Dave, we hung around, talking and for me, meeting a few new people. 

I need my flag book!!

One of the roads leading out of the Gulch.
I'm not unhappy to NOT be here in winter.

It's a sign!

Another family friend, a man I'd met before but only briefly, invited us back to the home he shares with his now pregnant wife, one of those California homes in the mountains you glimpse driving down dirt roads but visitors like me rarely get to see. It was almost sunset and the Pacific was clear of fog, hugely beautiful. It was was just cool enough that a heavy sweatshirt was enough.

It was so clear that I thought it might be a green flash night. I wasn't disappointed, this one so tiny and so fast I couldn't catch it on my phone camera. The sunset colors continued, the sliver of light that was the new moon standing out against a blue darkening sky, oranges and reds riding the horizon. 

A very fine view

Hello, moon!

Tumbling back into vehicles we headed home, full of good food and the warmth of being around good people. 

Now where are those blackberries?

Have a maximum Monday. Do something memory making.