strawberry fields forever

i planted strawberries the first year we moved in ... a couple of little alpine strawberry plants with pink flowers, and twenty-five june-bearers from Stark Brothers ... i thought it would be nice to have some fresh strawberries in late spring ... the alpine berries did okay the first couple of years and then they disappeared ... the other plants sent out some runners and i moved them around a few times ...... not too many strawberries made it onto the table because the birds and Ebony ate them before i could get to them ...... i think that birds have a rough life ... they do get to fly and that is pretty cool ... but they also have to eat bugs and worms ... and they don't have hands to work with ... so i'm okay with the robins that like to nest in one of the backyard trees eating most of the strawberries ...... what i don't like is the poop ... bird poop from strawberries is disgusting...
...we've had a really weird spring ... it has been uncommonly cool and wet ... lots of rain showers and big billowy clouds ... the strawberry plants love it...

that is the camera strap hanging down and my fingertips holding back the leaves - we had to stretch to reach those berries!
...lots and lots of strawberries for the robins and for the other birds, too ... so many strawberries that the entire drive and all of the walks are covered with strawberry bird poop ... it's been raining every other day, so it gets washed off ... but, still - it's gross ...... anywho, we were looking out the living room window and saw some red amongst the green in the wall garden ... most of the flowers in the wall garden are pastels - there's not supposed to be any red ... so we investigated and found that the birds haven't been keeping up with the strawberries ... there were some for us for a change ... so we went out with a gathering basket and started picking...
i weawy wike stwabewwies
me, too
i wuv strawbewwies
me, too and i want some
i want some strawberries
i asked first
... i looked up and saw that the neighborhood kids had collected and we were surrounded...
...i sent them off to ask their parents if they were allergic and they all came back in record time to say that no, none of them have allergies and it was okay with all of their parents if they ate some strawberries...
...so i gave each of them a strawberry...
...and then another and another...
...they started to get a bit demanding...
...i put on my stern nonna face and said i haven't heard a please or a thank you from any of you...
there was a chorus of please!
and a refrain of thank you!
and then a plaintive wail of i said "puh-leeese"!!!
they each received another round of berries
and then one of the little stinkers said
my d-d-dad told me ... m-m-my daddy told me to t-t-tell you that he l-l-likes strawberries, too!
okay, here's a big fat one for your daddy ... and tell him that i said he's welcome
thank you!
and she took one, two, three, four, five steps down the drive before i saw the strawberry head for her mouth ...
are you eating your daddy's strawberry?!?
n-n-no! well, y-y-yes ... thank you?

it was fun to see a bunch of little faces with red juice dripping down their chins and staining their little lips ... and knowing that it meant that much less bird poop on the drive ... we still had plenty for dessert...
i shall sit on a cushion
And sew a fine seam,
And feast upon strawberries,
sugar, and cream.