What Autumn Brings

I have been waiting to hear when the fall raspberries are ready for picking, and it was announced earlier this week. I decided that this was a perfect weekend to go to Knapps on Greenbluff to pick raspberries.

On Thursday evening, I was watching Grey's Anatomy with Rose (she has the cable - I still do not) and we saw a preview of the evening news cast. The image on the screen was a car that was wrapped up like a package - the announcer said, "Later, we will show you why it is dangerous to drive on the roads in our area this time of the year."

I went home after Grey's Anatomy(Christine has finally met her match was my conclusion after this premiere), and checked out the news station. A man collided with a moose on I-90. Apparently it is breeding season, and the equivalent of a night club in this animal's world is highways.

So, when I set out on Friday, I paid extra attention to the road. About 11 kilometres from home, there was a moose standing in the middle of the highway.

I do a lot of driving on this highway and I have never seen a moose before. I have even travelled during breeding season, and never saw a moose before. What is a bit curious is that, moose was on my mind. And there it was. I wonder how that happens. You think of a friend, and then they call. You mention a person's name in a conversation, and then the next day you see them.

I drove home from Spokane today, and encountered another traveller.....



This fellow ran parallel to me on the other side of the road as I drove slowly down the highway - while I was fishing out the camera. Then he decided that he would cross the road. He went and hid in the forest. That was it - two moose - both Canadians, I might add. And none, I am delighted to say, had any encounters with my car.

Yesterday, Al and I picked raspberries - they were heavily picked by the time we got there so we worked hard to get our harvest. But we got a generous amount....



The sun was warm, the sky clear, and I could wear sandals. Perfect. Many of the raspberries were not ripe yet, in fact there were quite a few still in bloom. It is a wild idea, to think of raspberries not being ripe enough on September 27th.

Greenbluff is an inspiring place to be - wide open spaces, with lots of trees and plants, and mountains in the background - here is a view from a raspberry patch: