On Raspberries...

...and other things.

I've been in a particularly pensive mood over the past few days.  Partly because of the specific national events of the last weekend, but also on a more personal level.  It has been a year since I broke my finger and faced two months of enforced slowing down on a professional level.  It has been a year since I have worked under a contract, and the "negotiation" process to get a new one has taken its toll on everyone involved.  My kids went back to school last week.  Summer is almost over, and it's time for raspberries.

Last week I went with the kids and our friend and picked some berries, but 3 days of rain had left them squishy and it was hard to find good ones.  We picked what we could and I made a big crisp.  Which was yummy.  Today I went back for a larger bucketful so I could make another batch of seedless jam.

I won't bore you with the details, but I have 8.5 cups of jam and the food mill caused no trouble today.  That's not the important part.  The important part was that I spent over an hour in the sun, methodically picking berries and thinking about life, family, friends and what matters most.  That the opportunity to pause, reflect, and appreciate the natural world around me is a gift to be cherished.  That ants, and the flock of sparrows in the canes, and bees, and spiders are to be celebrated, not feared.  That I need to spend less time worrying and more time living.