Indepencence Day 2008

The day dawned hot and clammy.
Much too hot for the jeans, long sleeved shirts, hats, boots, and gloves we were wearing.
Briers, snakes, and chiggers, you know.
With buckets and snippers, we climbed into the old pickup truck and headed for our mountains.
Our steaming thermos of coffee brightened our spirits,
but did nothing for the rising temperatures.

The sun peaked over the ridge as we topped the mountain and pulled onto the side of the narrow road.
Blackberries!
Sweet mountain blackberries!
Not those awful bitter things that farmers grow and sell in town.
These are the blackberries that granny's pies were made of!
They are tiny and require lots of leaning and bending to find the best ones.
Ah, we have found the briers and chiggers, but thank Heaven,
no snakes as yet.
Soon the juice is streaming down our arms and our faces
for who could resist just one more mouthful of God's goodness.
We have filled our buckets and moved from the hot coffee to mugs of sweet iced tea.
The valley is in a light haze.
That beautiful lacey haze that comes when the cool earth begins to give up its moisture to the first rays of warm morning sunlight.
Time to head back down the mountain to the waiting pancakes and bacon.
The berries are rinsed as soon as we get home - the chiggers again!
The are refrigerated in preparation for the afternoon's party with black berry pie and ice cream!