It’s strawberry season!  I don’t know if that’s true in the rest of the country (or world for that matter) but here in California the little roadside stands that have stood closed for months are now open to sell their poor-traveling  wares to a grateful public.  In between work and home I passed by a stand and practically caused an accident as I careened into the little dirt parking lot and skidded to a stop.  A few minutes later I was walking back to my car with a half flat of these beauties.

Now, as big as they are these are not your store bought berries with as much flavor as the plastic packaging they come in.  These have FLAVOR.  These are sweet.  These are what Spring is all about.  Happily thinking about how I can use them (topping home made pound cake, in salads, building a temple to the strawberry goddess) I drove home.

Once home the strawberries were the first things to come in, the other purchases I made that day would just have to wait until the berries were safe!  Setting them on the table I made several trips to retrieve the rest of my goods.  Coming in from one of those trips I found a single strawberry sitting on the couch, a good six feet away from its fellows who were all still safely in the box.

Knowing that strawberries are among the least migratory of all popular fruits, my suspicions quickly turned to the mammals of the house, and to one mammal in particular: Marsha.  Poor Marsha in her days before she was truly mine (read the epic tale here) learned to eat what she was given, and steal what wasn’t. So this wasn’t the first time food items had gone missing (the blob of chocolate chip cookie dough gave me a bit of a scare!), and I’m sure it won’t be the last.

I gave her a mild and indulgent scolding, took the mandatory Dog Shaming picture with her and her intended victim, and set the berry aside to give to her later.  She likes some fruit and is the only one in the house who comes running when I slice up a banana.

This morning I was cutting up some berries for the pound cake I made (yes, I was serious about that!) and decided it was time for her to eat her intended prey.  She didn’t want it!  I offered it to her twice and both times she took it and left it on the floor.  Just for good measure I offered it to the other dogs and they didn’t want it either.  So now the berry sits forlorn and abandoned on the kitchen floor, it’s final destination the compost heap as soon as I post this.

Shame on you Marsha, the Strawberry Goddess will be most displeased.