blackberry picking

Our friend Paula came to visit from Austin, where blackberries do not grow on the side of highways and up telephone poles. Milo, Lucy and I took her to the river, near Autzen Footbridge, where blackberries have taken over the riverbank. Even without appropriate footwear (flip flops are not ideal for stepping into thorny blackberry patches, it turns out), or protective gloves, we managed to get a bucketful. And the sweet scent of hot blackberries ripening in the sunshine was worth every scratch.