Get him! Hold his legs! Don’t let go!

His feet! Grab his feet!

Yes! We got him!

Wah!

Hold up, guys. That’s enough.

It’s all fun and games until someone (in this case, The Baby Nickel) gets hurt.

The End.

This is my two year old’s version of cleaning up.

As long as it’s off the floor, I’ve done my job, he thinks.

I have yet to point out the error of his ways, because, the toys are, after all, off the floor.

And he is only two years old.

We skipped church (gasp!) on Sunday. Mr. Handsome puttsed around the house getting ready for Monday’s house inspection (everything passed), and I popped the girls in the car and drove several miles to the property where some friends are building their house. They have a long-ish driveway that meanders down into a little valley and then up again, through trees and shrubby meadows; the whole place is pretty much covered with blackberry and wineberry bushes.

I parked the van, and we tumbled out. The girls ran off and I set to picking blackberries. Some of the berries were small and dry and others were large and juicy. It was sweltering hot and it didn’t help any that I was in sweats and one of Mr. Handsome’s old flannel shirts. Actually, it did help that I was in those clothes because those brambles were downright nasty. Next time I’ll wear jeans, I think.

I only picked a couple quarts because it was getting on towards lunchtime and I was hot and the girls were fussy. When I got home I immediately went into the kitchen and whipped up a blackberry cobbler.

I highly recommend that you go follow my example. Not the skipping church part, necessarily, though there is something refreshing about meandering through bramble bushes on a hot, sticky day instead of sitting on cushioned chairs in an air-conditioned sanctuary, but the acquiring of blackberries part, and the making of the cobbler part. It would be wise to have vanilla ice cream on hand, too.

Blackberry Cobbler
Adapted from Sarah Beam’s blog, Postmodern Feeding

Note: this recipe was also posted here.

1 quart blackberries
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 large egg, beaten
1 cup sugar
1 cup flour
6 tablespoons butter, melted

Grease an 8×8 pan and dump the berries into it. Sprinkle the lemon juice over the berries.

In a medium-sized bowl, stir the flour and sugar together. Add the beaten egg and stir together. The mixture will be crumbly.

Sprinkle the topping over the berries and drizzled the butter over all.

Bake at 375 degrees for about 35 minutes.

Serve hot. But not too hot, because you will burn your tongue. So scoop it into bowls and set before the fan to speed up the cooling-down process.