Berry Zen,

I went berry picking last evening. We have blackberries everywhere on our place and it is still a novelty to go out and pick fresh berries for breakfast or desert. Usually I am by myself with only the dogs for company. There is something meditative about the process of picking berries. First you start out looking over the whole bush, find a good starting place and get going. Very quickly your focus narrows to just the berries around you, looking under the leaves, thru the vines, looking for that next beautiful berry to put in the basket. Of course some end up in your mouth, hopefully minus the beetles crawling around. The focus shifts to the praying mantis crawling on the vine next to you,I wonder if this was the same one I saw as a little bitty guy a couple of weeks ago. The bees and beetles buzzing around have their own music and I am really hoping they don't decide to land on me! A family of armadillos waddle to the other side of the bush, they are having breakfast with me. During the evenings I watch the bats in their aerial dance for their dinner. Seeing the sunset in the evening( I am never up early enough for the sunrise) is such a fitting ending to the mediation. Berry picking has become a favorite hobby of mine, possibly because it lasts such a short time. I plan on planting a large berry patch in straighter lines with all kinds of berries----minus the thorns!