These preceding weeks are full of warnings why not to eat the green berries. To wait just a liitttttllle bit longer. Classic tug-of-war of wills. Sagely picking my battles, I choose to lose this by one or two berries. Some lessons better learned through experience, this he gets from me.

Then slowly it starts to hit, with the sun-soaked berries first and then suddenly, all of them. Pockets of black gold everywhere. The park next to me suddenly becomes a little frenzied along the edges. Mostly it's families, friends taking a break from swimming and high school lovers. Gaël and I make an odd pair, a combination of short arms and enthusiasm (only half of the berries picked make it to the bucket - as it should be) with cagey experience. 

A few years ago someone shared with me "the secret" and I'll pass it on to you. It's simply this: a sheet of plywood or a piece of wood.

Plop it down on the bush and just walk anywhere you want. The bush is not a sacred object to be preserved or respected. It is a pernicious weed that has invaded the northwest. Regardless of the burning, spraying, tilling it will be back. 

So as the monkey grabs the rock to smash the nut, I encourage you to find your plywood sheet (maybe leftover from the last protest in your city?) and join us in blackberry enlightenment. My preferred way to consume them is in a crisp over greek yogurt. 

De rein. Blackberry nirvana is a better place with you in it. 

Gaël is good. With basically everything cancelled he's been bouncing back and forth from the Boys and Girls club and the YMCA. Despite the general lack of structure and pandemic related concerns, he's been resilient. Overall happy, eager and curious. I'm grateful that the weather has opened up the city for us and we still have an opportunity to bike, swim and hang a hammock up between trees. I'm have high aspirations of turning our apartment floor into a youtube jiu jitsu studio, but that hasn't gone so well so far.

The current thing that seems to be most on his mind is superheroes. He is hungry to read and I'm going to try to help make this happen, I'm digging around for age appropriate comics.

Me? I'm fine thanks for asking. Mostly enjoying this this groundhog day experience. Missing the gym, missing bantering around the office, missing seeing people, missing summer potlucks and picnics. BUT - excited for an upcoming trip (a few miles off trail in the Sierras), starting to test the dating waters again (frigid, but I have high hopes of tepid) and settled gratefully into my own skin (which means accepting a little bit less and this is ok).