Fruit Hunters

While I was in Washington State visiting my mom and dad, I spent a lot of time hunting.

For fruit, that is!

My parents’ cherry tree was absolutely laden with perfectly ripe cherries. Cherries are one of my very favorite fruits, and I could hardly pass up this opportunity to collect free food from nature (do you know how expensive cherries are in Texas? It’s crazy!). So I climbed the tree to get at the cherries that were out of arms’ reach. I’m 52 years old and shimmied up a tree. I did not fall. My rock climbing skills are paying off!

I’d like to add that I was very calm about dealing with all the honeybees that were in this tree. They were way more interested in the rotten cherries than they were in me, so as long as I didn’t flat-out touch one, they left me alone. I’m still afraid of stinging flying insects, but this was a step in the right direction.

Check out the giant bucket of cherries we ended up with. I ate probably half that bucket during my time there.

Mom also has wild blackberry vines growing all over the property. These are the tiny wild variety, not the big ones you find in grocery stores, and they have a very specific taste. We picked multiple quarts while I was there I made a cobbler one day, and then managed to successfully get a ziploc of berries home in my carry-on luggage so I could make another cobbler at home.