(more pics will be added when I get them)
Friday was all planned out. It was supposed to be a day in Vermont. That didn't happen so I made a rapid adjustment to my plans (used to be completely out of character for me...not so anymore!) and came up with Plan B.
I called my friend Carol and asked her if she'd like to go pick blueberries with me. She happily agreed and within a short period of time we were on our way. I was sorry not to make it to Vermont but Vermont will always be there for another day...the blueberries are seasonal. I've been berry picking a few times already this season. The first time I took Kaylee which turned out to be less than perfect. She'd been berry picking with me a few times last year so I figured a brief reminder to look for the biggest and darkest berries would be enough. My first clue should have been that I kept hearing a little voice buried in the bushes saying "that one was spicy gramma!". I laughed and told her it was tart but she never stopped calling them spicy. It wasn't until we were ready to leave that I realized she was eating more than she was picking and the ones she was picking were a whole lot of spicy ones!
On the way to the berry patch with Carol she informed me that she had never picked blueberries before. (flashbacks of Kaylee's berry picking skills started filtering in) I laughed and told her that makes her a Blueberry Virgin!
It was a hot day...hotter than I thought it would be. It wasn't long before we were both complaining about how much we were sweating. (Another flashback of my days working tobacco when I was 14 yrs old.). We both stuck to it..picking our hearts out; wishing a breeze would come our way; stuffing berries in our mouths "just to make sure they were good ones"; laughing and joking between the rows; and most importantly of all avoiding the bees! We were warned there may be some bees. That's when I found out Carol was afraid of bees. And boy were there a lot of bees in some places! Carol spent most of the time yelling at them to leave her alone or trying to convince them to go somewhere else. She had me wondering who the hell she was talking to down at the other end of the row. Eventually she progressed to letting out little screams when they came too close to her. (I started laughing with a mouth full of berries at that point)
Once we had enough (filled our 3lb containers) we headed back out to pay for them. On the way we passed through some of the apples that were still ripening. I took a picture of an apple with a large hole in it that some bug is probably using as a condo. And there was two large apples on what looked to be not much more than a branch of an apple tree...certainly far from a full tree. I wondered how they could get huge apples to grow on such a small amount of tree. Somebody certainly knows what they are doing at this place.
Check out was easy and quick thankfully because not only were we both uncomfortably hot and sweaty (apparently ladies do more than just glisten), but I caught Carol eating the biggest berries out of my bucket! And she kept doing it while saying "but yours are better than mine...you got some really bigs ones here." ..as if that justified the theft!
After taking time to clean up we decided to head to Jimmy's for a late lunch. I was starving by this time. I hadn't eaten as many berries as Carol. We ordered our food and Carol got hers first. I had to wait for mine and it really wasn't the way I had ordered it but I was too hungry to complain. I would have eaten sawdust by this point.
We decided to stay awhile after eating. Some people were filtering in and it gave us some time to catch up with some friends we hadn't seen in awhile. Some guys were playing pool and I commented "nice shot" when one of them sunk the eight ball perfectly. Well a little while later that same guy came up and told Carol that he liked her barrette. But the music was a little too loud so neither one of us heard him right. Carol had him repeat it three times before she heard him correctly. She smiled and thanked him and he went back to his game. Then she looked at me and said "I thought he said he liked my breasts!" We roared with laughter at that one. No wonder she had such a look on her face!
Some time later that same guy must have gotten his courage up because he came up to me, introduced himself, asked my name, told me I was gorgeous and kissed my hand! Wow! The evening is looking up...that was quite an unexpected ego boost! He went back to finish his game of pool but eventually we did talk for a little while. He was intelligent; charming and seemed quite sincere. We had a nice chat and before I left with Carol a little while later, he gave me a note. His note said he was pleasantly surprised to meet such a beautiful woman and he'd love to hear from me again...with his name and number. Well this evening certainly took a different turn from what I had expected. And to think I only stopped for a late lunch and to see some old friends!
