Clematis

Why Blueberries?

I only came here to read a friend's blog and got trapped! We'll see how this goes.... it's late and I was having a very hard time figuring out what to call myself, as I left a comment, and an even harder time figuring out what to call (gulp) a BLOG once I decided to take the plunge.

Blueberry picking(low bush) was my first "real" job outside of babysitting. I did this the summer I was 13. My dad would drop a friend and I off at the "plains" every morning around 7:30, we'd check in along with the other (mostly migrant) workers, get our 5 gallon bucket and rake, and wait to be assigned the 3' x 15' plot that we were to pick clean. Each bucket weighed about 25 lbs when full. We were paid $1.25/bucket. When you were done - you got a hole punched in your berry picking card (kind of like a time card!). I could pick about one bucket per hour....we worked 8 hour days with a short lunch break, for about 6 - 8 weeks.

This was formative for me - in that it helped me understand the value of a higher education! It also put into perspective the fact that I was fortunate enough to have the option to pursue higher education later on in life.

Other prominent blueberries in my life:

A cherished picture of me with my grandfather after blueberry picking (the wild kind) in NH.

The photograph of blueberry buckets and rake my mom bought me for my birthday this year.

The blueberry fabric bordered family 9 square quilt that has been a work of loving (on & off) progress since 2000 (the nine other women on my husbands side of the family have finished theirs!) It was embroidering those 10 names (in blue and purple) that has taken the longest so far!

Blueberry yogurt.

The best ever blueberry cake that was made at a little shop in Sandwich MA where we went to stay in a cabin by the beach a few times when I was between 6 - 8. A few years ago, I went on a search for recipes that came close to this - and the closest was one from my mom.

My blue(black)berry - which thanks to limited T-mobile coverage area - never seems to get reception when I am on vacation.

Memories of my mom taking me (high bush) blueberry picking (after my work experience) - thought I'd died and gone to heaven - and wondered why I didn't get a job there!

Violet Beauregard.

Blue Man Group - not sure if that counts - but my son just called over and asked me if we could go to see them when they are in town. They kind of look like blueberries.

Getting sleepy.......will sign off for now.......