I had a stressful day. We're putting together an art show composed of about a dozen highly unorganized people and I had to design and print the catalog for it today after spending all night hanging things. Plus, I have a webpage to get done by tomorrow night that's giving me fits.
I was all busy being self-occupied and cranky, when someone in the family suggested the idea of going on a hike. (This was 8:30 at night, mind you.) So, my mom and I loaded up the three small children and gave them each a basket and drove the few miles to our favorite trailhead at Kootenai Creek.
It was dusk and the other hikers were all leaving as we pulled in, but we hiked in a good 20 minutes to the huckleberry spot, up and down hills on a narrow, rocky trail. It was hard finding the bushes with ripe berries - this is a very popular trail and the season is really short. Just yesterday, my mom saw that there were a lot of green berries but none really ripe.
Well, we poked around on the sides of the trail for a half-hour or so and did quite well, scouring the 6-inch plants and getting probably three cups of the miniature berries altogether.
As we walked back down to the trailhead in the dark, all the frogs were out, apparently heading down to the creek. We sang obnoxious camp songs and church songs and Mamas & Papas songs as loud as we could.
I feel 800 percent better and though I now have to stay up and wrestle with computery things, I can at least do so with obnoxious camp songs stuck in my head. Posted by fallow (Member # 6268) on :
did it speak?
Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
the huckleberry?
Posted by fallow (Member # 6268) on :
aye, the bush.
Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
No, it just erupted in flames.
Posted by fallow (Member # 6268) on :
before or after the berry-gathering? (got pictures?)
Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
right after I took off my shoes.
... to make huckleberry wine, of course.
Posted by fallow (Member # 6268) on :
and nary a word from the bush? not even an involuntary snort at the odor?
Posted by Elizabeth (Member # 5218) on :
Fallow, the bush was communicating nonverbally. It burst into flame upon smelling the feet.
Annie, you have inspired me to get off my beehind and take the kids for a hike today. Every summer, the time dwindles away, and I miss out on all these free things we can do.
Posted by Shan (Member # 4550) on :
![[Smile]](smile.gif)