Remember When...Remember Then: Just A Pickin'

Many, many moons ago when I was a child, I would disappear into the woods and thickets surrounding my home. I was fearless! Nothing delighted me more than being outside by myself. Those glorious August days when the wild blackberries and dewberries were ripe was nothing short of miraculous to me! The scratching of the thorns did not bother me at all. And in that wild patch of heaven those berries were as big as my thumb! With all those wonderful memories available to me, I decided I'd share that bit of my childhood with my daughter, Gracie!

Now, this 7 year old daughter of mine is a girly-girl through and through! Luckily, blackberries grow in abundance all over our town of Issaquah, Washington. So we wouldn't be battling our way through a never-ending thicket of thorns! You can't walk more than half a block without seeing blackberry bushes along the sidewalk! In Washington state these Himalayan and Evergreen blackberries have been declared a noxious weed! They were originally introduced from Europe for fruit production, but have

naturalized. Because of Washington's mild climate and plentiful rain these bushes have taken over!

But I will admit that it is wondrous to me to walk down a city sidewalk and to be able to gather a basket of berries! Be still my heart!

Gracie started out very excited about what we were doing, but my girly-girl didn't like the thought of spiders and webs! Oh , don't get me wrong! She picked and picked, but first she had to knock the spiders and webs away with my cane! and of course she ate as many as she put in the basket!