My dad, thoughtful guy that he is, came home from a bike ride yesterday with a sketch of our neighborhood, outlining a route to the exact locations of four nearby mulberry trees, which he knew to be heavily laden with berries. Proudly presenting us with his treasure map, he invited us to embark on a fun, impromptu mission, combining our love of cycling and eating. We were thrilled!

Riding off, map in hand, we soon found the trees right where the treasure map said they'd be, thin "X"s marking their locations. The polkadotted sidewalk and purple berries smooshed under our tires were dead giveaways we were in the right place. We leaned our bikes up against the tree, and got to work.

It didn't seem like anyone else had been there to forage, and there were berries aplenty, both on the tree, and fallen to the ground, going to waste. I wonder if anyone else knows that these fruits are edible? We picked a big bagful of the plump berries, eating way too many, and dying our fingers a dark eggplant color in the process.

I was going to make jam or a tart out of them, but we wound up eating them all instead. Oops.

Thank you for the treasure hunt, dad!