A paddle and berries

Di and Miles (the puppy)







This morning I set off on a 4-wheeler ride with Di to the river, where we jumped in kayaks and paddled out to a good berry picking field. Lots of blueberries now! The salmon berries are ending, but there are a few left, and the cranberries are here, but they are very small yet. That's OK, the blueberries are my favorite anyway! It was nice to have a chance to get out on the water again...I sure do miss my kayak, even though I didn't have it for very long.
The bugs were pretty bad out there, but I had a bug-net I wore for awhile. They tend to drive me battier than the bugs, though, so after about an hour I took mine off and just dealt with the bugs. They mostly just bite me on my lower back- in between my pants and shirt....for some reason I just can't get shirts to stay over my beltline when I am berry-picking. I could have tied my sweatshirt around my waist, and it was warm enough to, but I discovered the bugs could easily bite through my thin long-sleeved shirt I had on underneath, so I wore it even though it was warm.
Paddling on the way back to the 4-wheeler, the tide had started to go out a little bit, so we hit one spot that was pretty shallow, but overall, the river was great for paddling- and there was a beautiful view, with the mountains in the distance. Getting back to shore, I had a little mishap getting out of the boat- as I had one foot still int he kayak and it started to get caught by the current. Determined not to let the boat go, I kept my one foot in it and the other on shore and tried to swing the boat back to shore more, but if anyone knows how well I balance, they can already guess what happened next. I toppled over...one of those slow motion falls you can really see coming. The water was warm though (and surprisingly salty). Luckily, I had brought that waterproof box with me for my camera, and it was not in my pocket. See?- I KNEW that would be a good investment! I really don't need to buy a fifth camera this year! Now I am home and heading over to a friends for supper. I baked a pie to take with- one of my "creations". We will see how it turns out. I didn't use a recipe at all, not even for the crust, so we will see. It LOOKS good, and smells good....... It is sort of a blueberry (and other mixed berries I picked) and banana pie. I put brown sugar and cinnamin in it, so it should be alright....I'll let you know.