Blueberries

I went to pick some blue berries today for our dinner. Blueberry pancakes are one of Dad's favorites.
As I was picking them I remembered picking blueberries as a child with my Nana. My grandparents owned a camp. I loved that camp. We picked blueberries, cranberries, blackberries and whatever we could find.
We made pies and cakes and muffins. We made these together and baked them in a big wood stove. Kind of like an Aga but much larger.
In retrospect I am amazed at her ability to master that stove. It also could take oil and heated the whole place.

I spent a lot of time at the camp with my grandparents. I was one of five children .....oh yes you guessed it I am the middle child...oh oh oh wait...
******** I heard a joke the other day:
"hey did you know yesterday was middle child day? You didn't? It's ok no one else noticed either!"
Thank you ladies and gentleman, I will be here all week!

I helped my grandfather strip cedar logs to make a fence. I cooked with Nana, went to the beach, planted flowers and gardened. We also had a sprinkler with a Popeye head. We have lots of pictures of us running under it. We slept in the old beds listening to the whoosh of the tall white pines. When it rained the sound on the roof was a rhythmic lullaby. I miss that sound.
On July 20th 1969, on an old black and white tv, while my dad made popcorn, we watched a man walk on the moon. We were huddled together on the couch not being able to grasp the reality of it. I still can't today.

My grandparents sold the camp many years later. I cried. Today it is a mess. I don't know what happened but it is run down. I will never go there again.

I thought of all this as I was picking the berries. Sweet memories of an innocent time...... All before computers, cell phones and digital cameras. I love the old pictures. You know the instamatics, the Polaroids or whatever the camera of the year was. I guess photography runs in my family. They are a bit blurry and colors are washed out. There wasn't a lot of extra money but there were always pictures, .....red and white striped petunias, and beach balls.....................I could go on... But I will close my eyes and smile instead...
Goodnight to the north and g'day to down under!