If I could pause time, I’d pick June in Oregon. It’s so perfect this time of year. I’ve been planting and pruning and swimming in the river, and of course picking berries. Salmon berry season is over, and the blackberries are just now in bloom, but we picked 26 pounds of strawberries the other day and made jelly. I had no idea three kids could pick strawberries so quickly! The blueberries are getting ripe now too. I also planted yellow raspberries this year, and I’m really excited to see how they produce.

I was pretty proud when my son tried a new kind of popsicle a while back and said, “This tastes like salmon berries!” It was one of those moments when I thought, I’m doing this parenting thing right when he knows the flavor of a local wild berry.

In case you haven’t gone into a shady gully to pick salmon berries, they’re a yummy sherbet orange berry that’s lightly sweet. They’re mild like a raspberry. And they’re a bit like a treasure because you have to fight the stinging nettles to pick them.

Summer is magical not just because we get to run around in shorts and play outside, but because families get together so often this time of year. We gather together during the holidays, but there must be a different kind of special about summer gatherings. Because when you think of family time from your childhood, isn’t it the summer cookouts, camping trips and vacations? It’s hardly May each year when my youngest starts asking, “When are going camping?”

I could write all day about how much I love summer here, but it’s hot and sunny outside. It’s time to play!