Strawberries in the Rain
Have you ever picked strawberries while dancing in the rain? This memory takes me back to Indiana where I picked my first berries, blue, black and red. Mother Nature made a growl that day as we plucked one for the bucket and one for our mouths. "Not supposed to be here" kept echoing sing song from my baby sister April. So racing against time to both that seemed a bottomless pit, we laughed and ate to our hearts content. Slurping rain and berry juice off our chins we realized that you can only get wet once, so we stayed there in the puddles of our youth till darkness and Mom beckoned us home. Today I taste those wet and wild strawberries in every shortcake I make. Strawberry fields forever.
posted by Lenore Nolan-Ryan @ 4:07 PM
5 Comments:
an amazing piece! am looking forward for more. :)
This journal entry is a delight to read on many levels. It is vividly evocative and deeply visual, a poetic painting of memories. You are as creative at the computer keyboard as you are in the kitchen, a true artist. Keep posting. It's a pleasure to read what comes out of your head.
Your charming mini-essay reminded me of my poem about picking berries in my youth. It was published in "Appalachian Heritage" last year.
Gretchen
THE BERRY PICKERS
We carried aluminum saucepans
across barbed-wire fences
and pushed aside
fuzzy leaves hiding
prickled stems
that scratched us
berry pickers
in self-defense, trying
to protect future generations
of berry bushes
encased in red and black clusters
that ended up in Mother’s pies,
the seeds stuck in our teeth
behind bruise-blue lips.
To punish us
for our ravishment
the berry bushes etched
indelible scratches
onto the young skin
of our memory.
I also remember those wonderful days of my childhood when blackberry picking was always on the agenda for the 4th of July. It was wonderful to pick (and eat) the berries and then later enjoy that marvelous berry cobbler that my Mom could whip up so well. Thanks for reminding me of those wonderful days.
Connie at the Chamber
Dear Lenore,
I enjoyed your newsletter and your website. I guess I'm posting a responce to an incorrect article, but you haven't mentioned the news letter in your Web Log. Keep up the good work.
Bill Davis
Chamber of Commerce
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