Berry Pickin'

Summer brings so many memories, too many to even talk about.  Some of the really special ones are the fresh vegetables and BERRIES, just picked from the mountains surrounding our little town of Holly Grove.  It was a family chore to go blackberry or huckleberry [better know as wild blueberries] pickin'.  My mother always made biscuits for breakfast.  I can't ever remember having toast.  Anyway, there isn't anything better than hot berries over hot buttered biscuits in the morning. 

This brings me to something that happened to me while Richard and I were living at Brentwood in Elkhart, a few years ago.  The apartment there was facing a wooded area.  We had a big picture window with sliding side windows that we could open.  We had bird houses and feeders outside.  Squirrels would eat off the window sills where we would put cracked corn out for them.  The deer would come up and eat out of our hands.  We had to go out and around the side of the building to take care of these things.  There was a pathway,not too wide, to walk then it was steep over sort of an embankment. In the spring I noticed berry blooms, no idea what kind.  Well they turned out to be BLACK RASPBERRIES, my very favorites.  I knew I shouldn't try to get to them, but the memory was too much.  At Brentwood we were only given one meal a day, dinner Monday thru Friday, lunch Saturday and Sunday.  I always cooked breakfast. I couldn't resist -- I took along a cane so I could watch for snakes and steady myself to keep from falling over the bank.  I got by with it a couple of times 'til one evening there I was with my 2 quart Tupperware bowl with a handle, probably a quart of berries when Richard came around on his scooter to check on me. He noticed a leaf or something on my back and reached to pick it off and his scooter turned over.  I've heard how your life passes before you when something like this happens.  Well,in a split second my mind went in so many directions.  I can't remember in what order.  Richard is going to be hurt; how long will we lay here before someone finds us; the berries are going in all directions; this time I hope somebody is watching; I'll never be able to retrieve the berries.  Most of them were under me anyway.  I guess I must have broken Richards fall because he ended up on top of me.  He managed to get up right away and turned the scooter upright and was able to help me to my feet as I held on to the empty tupperware bowl.  My clothes were a nice shade of purple and my back was a little irritated from all the brier sticks.  It's a funny story to tell but we were very lucky that we survived the "roll in the rasberries" without any injuries other than our pride. 

Needless to say, I didn't pick any more berries unless I could reach them from the path.

emailed from Aunt Lois on June 28, 2012