There is nothing....and I mean nothing in the food category that I love more than freshly picked Ontario strawberries. Yesterday was the first day of summer and today I decided to celebrate the new season. I have a favorite farm I will drive a few miles to several times each summer just because I enjoy wandering around looking at their wares. They have two dollar perennials and three dollar lilies and beautiful hanging pots and garden stuff and bird things and water features and pies and eggs and STRAWBERRIES!!! I have not tasted better than at this farm...and they top up the flat for you with juicy, luscious, mouth watering, heavenly berries. (Not those crunchy, sour berries we put up with through the winter!) I purchase one flat initially for 'freezing'. Of course they never quite get to the freezer. I will admit my gluttonous tendencies....I eat as many of these berries as I possibly can while they are fresh. I mean the strawberry season is usually only about 3-4 weeks out of the whole year. And they're loaded with vitamin C...and fiber, so it's important to eat a lot, right? I will go back for another flat (or two) within the next week or so.
Having the day off work on this perfect summer afternoon, I popped my newly purchased bumbleberry pie in the oven, filled the bird feeders, then brought my tea, reading material, and camera, and plopped my tummy full of strawberries onto the porch swing cushions to sit by my garden and listen to the water splash into the pond. As I lounged, my eyes kept leaving the printed page to watch chipmunks darting behind my swing, birds bathing and eating, baby bunny munching, squirrels scampering, fish swimming, and toad basking.
Yes, this to me is summer. I have no yearning for a visit to a cottage or a vacation away from home. Give me a day off work with some shade on a warm sunny day, an iced tea, a good book (which might never get read for the distractions), my camera, my swing on the front porch, and a large bowl of STRAWBERRIES...and as far as I'm concerned....I'm on summer holidays!!
"All God's creatures got a place in the choir,
Some sing low, some sing higher;
Some sing loud on the telephone wire,
Some just clap their hands, their paws or anything they got now!"
A Place In The Choir, by Bill Staines
No comments:
Post a Comment