Blueberries for Madeline

This morning I stepped out on the porch to feel sunshine on my face and a cool breeze in the air.  It was the beautiful weather I've been waiting for...

"Ah-ha!  Today will be the day we go cherry picking!"  I declared to myself.

Except when we got the orchards, it turned out blueberries were open for picking, and a lot less expensive than cherries.  Also, it was a shorter walk to the blueberry fields.

"Ah-ha!  Today we will be the day we go blueberry picking!"  I declared to Madeline.  She looked bored and replied, "I want lunch."

When Madeline picked her first blueberry, she popped it in her mouth and rolled it around with her tongue a few times before spitting it back out on the ground.  Then she picked up the fallen blueberry and added it to our bucket.  Gross.  I wasn't really surprised because spitting out blueberries is a common thing around our house, but I was hoping she'd enjoy the freshly picked ones enough to actually eat them.

When she popped a second blueberry into her mouth, I reminded her to bite it.  Miraculously, she actually listened to me, and before I could say, "Blueberry Pie Man," she had eaten about five more.

We made our way down the row, carefully plucking the ripe ones from the vines.  I filled our bucket, and Madeline filled her mouth.  She munched, munched, munched her way through all the lower branches.

I could hear children laughing and screeching in the rows beyond us.  I overheard a woman explaining the Couch to 5K program to her friend, and briefly entertained the concept of working out.  Then I started thinking about blueberry muffin, tart, and pie recipes.  Madeline was unusually quiet.  Too busy munching.

After we'd returned home and sat down for lunch, Madeline added some more blueberries to her cheese sandwich.  I eyed her concoction suspiciously, but she ate it...which is good, because now we have about three pounds of blueberries to get through.  Better keep munching.