Temptation: Thy Name Is Strawberry

At approximately 2:30 pm today, I purchased six containers of locally grown, ripe, ruby red strawberries. Oh, the plans I had for them. Shortcake layered with whipped cream, fruit salad with dessert wine dressing, perhaps a dip in some dreamy chocolate. *Sigh* I need a moment. There. Now I can continue.

As with the best temptation scenarios, it started innocently enough. A covert nibble here, a stolen bite there. By the time we arrived home, all pretense of control was gone.

By approximately 5:30 pm today, this is all that remained of my strawberries. *Sob* Those little urchlings of mine, and yes, that includes hubby man, fell prey to temptation. I, of course, remained angelic like and resisted ... yeh, right, but, well, you know how it is. There would be no shortcake with whipped cream, no salad drizzled with wine dressing, no chocolate .... I need another moment.

The girls were the first to fall hard for the lure of the strawberries. My littlest actually asked me to put them out of her reach because she couldn't control herself. My older girl couldn't shovel them in her mouth fast enough. That leaves son and hubby man. It's stunning how quickly they consume food. Plague fast. At that point, I threw in the towel and told them to just have at it.


Can you blame them? Temptation is a powerful thing. Just look at these babies. No wonder everyone fell under their spell. They are red throughout, small but full of summer sweetness, and downright irresistible. Just compare a store bought strawberry to the one's I bought via a local farmer. Sure the store bought one is bigger, but I'd pass it up any day for one of these locally grown, just picked this morning babies.


Today's strawberry rapture was complicated by the fact that my son had to be rushed to the hospital ER this afternoon for an allergic reaction to who knows what (not the strawberries). Something got in his eye (while I was buying the strawberries) and by the time we got home, his right eye was swollen shut and looked like he had just gone ten rounds in the boxing ring. Poor kid. He takes anti-seizure meds, so he can't take over the counter antihistamines, so it was off the ER where they cleaned his gunky eyeball, prescribed something that won't react with his regular meds, and 2.5 hours later, sent him home. He still looks like he should be standing on the ropes of the boxing ring shouting out "A-d-r-i-a-n"!!! I told him that he should tell everyone that he was defending his sister's honor, but he told me ... "Nah, everyone knows I'm too nice to hit anyone". His sisters were properly put out at his comment, but only for a moment. They are well aware how much their brother looks out for them ... that's why they saved some strawberries just for him. Stuff like that makes me forget all about temptations and strawberry plans.