Strawberries and More Strawberries

"Doubtless God could have made a better berry (than the strawberry), but doubtless God never did." William Allen Butler

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I hate to say that I'm tired of strawberries. And I can't say that I'm tired of eating them. Just picking them. It's been a good year down here on the farm for strawberries. A very good year. We don't have a big patch but one day I picked three gallons. And they aren't those apple size strawberries you can sometimes get at Kroger. No, these are small and sweet, but it takes a lot of picking to fill your bucket. Especially when you're having to play the twister game to get them picked because you couldn't bear to plow or chop or pull any of those new strawberry plant runners. And now you certainly don't want to step on those luscious ripe berries. Seems like every time my foot slips it's always the nicest berry in the patch that ends up smashed underfoot.

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These berries were hard coming. We used to keep a strawberry patch going all the time, but then it got weedy and my husband decided to burn out the weeds. He discovered strawberry plants don't like fire any better than weeds. So after a few years of no strawberries we were ready to try again. First we put them in a raised bed. They were beautiful, lush and green, that first year. You don't really have berries until the second year. One night in late September after they'd eaten all the apples off our apple trees and were still hungry, the deer ate every leaf on those strawberry plants. The next morning we had stems. But we don't give up easy. The next year we put the strawberries in the garden. Again green and lush plants. Again hungry deer. This was after I spent a good number of hours weeding all summer. They say third time's charm. But a fence to compare to the kind they build around prisons maybe did more than the charm. I weeded another year and said if the deer got through the fence and ate them off to the ground again, I was giving up on strawberries. But the fence worked. The first year wasn't too good for strawberries. Got a handful or two. Last year picked a bunch. This year abundance is the word. And I'm about ready for them to be through bearing. Then I can start picking the raspberries. On a farm, there's always something to be sure you get plenty of sunshine and exercise.

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An interesting side note is that the character in my work in progress has been picking strawberries in my Shaker village. The Shakers made a lot of strawberry jam and what they didn't eat, they sold to the "world." So I'm figuring they had some big strawberry patches and that my character is probably even more tired of picking as I am.

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Wish you were here. I'd bake us some of those old fashioned sugar cookies like my mama used to make and we'd have strawberry shortcake. Yum yum.

Kindergarten Smiles

Any of the rest of you on dinosaur dial-up internet? I live out in the boonies and so unless I want to go satellite, this is my only choice. But the dinosaur is moving slow tonight. He must be in deep water or maybe those tar pits they talk about on the movies. It's taken me fifteen minutes to even get to this screen to begin.

Maybe my biggest problem is that I'm feeling rushed for time right now with my book not finished and everything else needing to be done. Or at least a lot of everythings. My problem is now and has always been that I think I should be able to do it all. Write books, keep the house shoveled out and the laundry done, build new rooms, paint walls, pick strawberries and cherries, bake strawberry shortcakes and cherry pies, take care of the grandbabies and share in and enjoy all their special events, go hear Darrell's group sing, help my mom, do church stuff, take walks, play with the dogs, and blog. And that's just some of the things I don't want to give up doing. You notice I didn't mention sleep. I'm trying not to give that up, but the nights are getting shorter. And I'm getting sleepier. Plus, I've read that sleeping helps you lose weight, so the opposite is probably true. Not enough sleep helps put the pounds on. So does that mean more walking or less making strawberry shortcake?

I do finally have strawberries this year after three years of the deer eating the plants off to the ground in the fall and spoiling the next spring's crop. Strawberries right out of the patch, full of sunshine, can make a person practically float off the ground with their sweet goodness. Go pick you some if you get a chance and enjoy.

But I didn't really intend to go on and on about my totally out of control list of "gotta do's." What I wanted to talk about is kindergarten smiles. I went to my granddaughter's kindergarten graduation in WV last night. She was so proud and so cute. One of the teachers or maybe the principal said that there is no way you can look at a kindergarten kid and not smile. At least not when they're on their good behavior. These kids wore blue caps and gowns and got diplomas. They also each got a reward for doing something the best. Ashley got the kindest and friendliest award. Her dad was wondering if her little sister would have voted on that one, but it's great that she is considered such a sweetheart in her class. Other kids got awards for things like most energetic, sunshine attitude, best improved, most artistic, and then the math and phonics stuff too. But the teachers came up with a special and unique award for each kid. What a great pat on the back for those kids who left feeling appreciated and good about themselves! And all us moms and dads, grandmoms and pops, aunts and uncles left smiling. Because the principal was right. You couldn't look at those fifty kids in their caps and gowns marching in to receive their kindergarten diploma and not smile. And take pictures. The kids probably still have spots in front of their eyes from all the camera flashes.

Now back to work on the book. I know where I want to go. I just need a trail of words to take me there.

Hope you have lots of reasons to smile this week. By the way, last chance to get in on this month's book giveaway if you haven't already sent me an e-mail or commented here.