Wrapping Up One Trip Before Beginning Another

When I looked for that Spearfish Canyon snow picture for the Blackberry Winter post, I realized I never did finish getting us home from our Oregon trip last fall. I left us somewhere in western Montana in my November 13 blog, 'Following the North Route Home'.
In some of the tourist literature I had read about Scenic Byway Route 1 between Missoula and Butte. The trail left the interstate and ran south along the Flint River and then hooked back into the interstate sixty-two miles later. The area was settled by miners looking for silver and sapphires. You can mine for your own gems at several places along the route or in the town of Philipsburg.

The middle store in this photo is 'The Sapphire Gallery' where you could purchase loose stones or ones already made into gorgeous pieces of jewelry. The restored buildings are beautiful. The town was once voted among the Prettiest Painted Places in America.
The same day we were there, the actress, Scarlett Johansson secretly married French journalist Romain Dauriac, at the nearby Ranch at Rock Creek Resort. (Something I just recently learned.)

We had lunch in the Doe Brothers Soda Fountain.

It was a good thing we ate before crossing the street to The Sweet Palace.

I have never seen so much candy and so many different candies in one place in my whole life. You could take a container and just walk around the perimeter of the store and load it with whatever you wanted. I think the price was around eight dollars a pound. The center glass displays held all the different kinds of fudge, pralines, caramels, etc. Those were priced by the piece - three and four dollars if I remember correctly. I resisted it all except the piece of huckleberry taffy I was offered as we looked around. But boy, is my sweet tooth humming right now just thinking about all that candy!

This sign explains the dangers of 19th Century mining in the area. Bud wanted to take these two photos for our friend 'Jonesie' back home.

The sculpture garden on a corner of main street depicting James Jones (also our friend's name) escaping the Nez Perce Indians.

Old homestead between Philipsburg and Anaconda. The scenery really was spectacular.

The town of Anaconda was founded when a smelter was built to process copper ore. The smelter was closed in 1980 after almost a century of mineral processing. Clean-up of hazardous waste materials began. This area is now the Anaconda Smelter Stack State Park.

From Montana to Wyoming. Cattle grazing along the Crazy Woman Creek. Bud and I both had our theories about the creek's name.

After overnighting in Spearfish, SD, we took an early morning drive through Spearfish Canyon - a favorite drive from a trip in the area several years ago. Then we traversed south to north. This time we would be going north to south.

We had barely entered the canyon when I called a stop to take pictures of Spearfish Creek and look at rocks. If I were still 'collecting' here are a couple that would have come home with me:

This photo was for the little blue forget-me-not growing between the rocks.

Bridal Veil Falls. One of several waterfalls in the canyon.

Roughlock Falls near the ghost town of Savoy. By this time we were seeing quite a bit of wet snow.

Trying to get Bud's attention.

Leaving the canyon. Heading home. One more night on the road. If you are ever in the area, Spearfish Canyon is one of the loveliest drives I ever been on.

Almost home. Adair county wind turbines.

There may have been snow in the Black Hills, but there was still some green in the soybean fields of southwest Iowa.

The one rock I did bring home. It is palm size and did not require Bud's help to get it into the car.

Sunset over the pond. It is great to travel and we had such a good time with Kari & Ken but it is always good to be back home. Now we're looking forward to this fall when we go east to see Mark and Juliet. No promises about how long it takes me to post pictures of that trip!

Chokecherry Dreams

When I took the photo used in the previous post of the cold front moving in Sunday night I actually went out to take this picture of the chokecherry tree which is in bloom.

When I saw it blooming the first spring we lived here I was so excited - I could pick the cherries in the fall and make my all-time favorite jelly. Fall came, the berries blackened. Alas, when I went to pick them the birds had gotten them all.

I do not remember why or how I first became aware of chokecherries as anything other than a volunteer tree my Mom taught me to identify when I was a child. I do remember her telling us not to eat the berries because they were poisonous.

It was probably in the 70's when I subscribed to publications like Mother Earth News and Organic Gardening and Farming that I learned about  gathering and using wild plants - like elderberries, wild blackberries and chokecherries.

I definitely remember the first time I gathered chokecherries for a batch of jelly. There was a big old tree along the road on the west side of Lake Binder. I couldn't reach the fruit-laden limbs from the ground so I parked my car under the tree and stood on the car roof - and dented the roof in! Ah well, the damage was done so I kept gathering berries. (Where are the photos of that little yellow Duster I loved so much?)

Without Mom's help that batch of jelly would never have gotten made - I'd never made jelly in my life and we didn't have a recipe for chokecherry jelly. So we followed the instructions for cherry jelly and improvised.

Truth is I was most likely drawn to the idea of using chokecherries because of the danger. First, they were a forbidden fruit of my youth, second, they contain cyanide. Digestion of chokecherry seeds, leaves, twigs and bark by enzymes in the stomach releases prussic acid (hydrocyanic). Unless we ground up the seeds and used them in the jelly, we would be okay.

The taste of chokecherry jelly is less sweet, more tart than most jellies. It is just right for me. I had dreams of making more jelly with Mom when we moved to the farm in '95. The last time I picked chokecherries, granddaughter Alyssa helped me. We didn't get enough to make a batch of jelly so we put them in Mom's freezer. They were still there when we cleaned out the freezer after she died.

Now, whenever I go to a farmers' market, I look at the jams and jellies, hoping for a jar of the elusive chokecherry. The closest I have come to it is a jar of blackberry jam with honey and thyme I bought at the Marianna Farmers' Market when we visited Christine and Dale in Florida a year ago. The woman selling it said it was a flavor you either loved or hated. I loved it because it had that same acerbic taste of chokecherry jelly.

I know I can order chokecherry jelly online. Perhaps someday I will do that. And even if the birds didn't eat all the berries off that tree and I got enough to make a batch of jelly, it wouldn't be the same...my chokecherry dreams include Mom.

Is This Our Blackberry Winter?

That front off there in the distance is the one that brought a tornado to Lake City and cooler, no, cold, temperatures to our area Sunday night. I went in search of sayings about cold weather in May and happened across this: "Almost any farmer can describe the blackberry winter. It's that cold spell that comes in May, about three weeks after Spring fever*. It comes when blackberries are in bloom." (Rachel Peden)

The Farmers' Almanac says it is called Blackberry Winter because it takes a few days of cold weather to stimulate blackberry canes to start growing.
Having been reared on the farm and considering myself knowledgeable in the ways of nature, I have to admit I did not know what a blackberry winter was - Indian Summer, yes. Blackberry winter, no. I had grown up with the admonition that you didn't plant until May10-15 when all danger of frost was past.
Blackberry winter has such a romantic sound to it. How could I have not known the term? Apparently it is one my mother never used. Otherwise I would have learned it!

This front brought only cool temps to us - night time lows back in the 40's and day time highs only in the 50's & 60's. The temperature and strong north wind yesterday had me running the furnace again. At least we did not have the snow.

When we came home from Oregon early last October, we were treated to our first snow of the season in Spearfish Canyon in the Black Hills of South Dakota. That same area had two feet of snow Sunday!

Today the sun is shining. The furnace is off. It is to be 65° today, 72° tomorrow and in the 80's by the weekend - from winter to summer. (At least that is how it will feel to me.)

Robert Frost may have been writing about a blackberry winter when he penned "Two Tramps In Mud Time":
"The sun was warm but the wind was chill.
You know how it is with an April day.
When the sun is out and the wind is still,
You're one month on in the middle of May.
But if you so much as dare to speak,
A cloud comes over the sunlit arch,
And wind comes off a frozen peak,
And you're two months back in the middle of March!"

Exactly what it felt like yesterday - "the cold spell that comes in May about three weeks after spring fever."
And just in case you don't know what *spring fever is, here is Mark Twain's explanation:
"It's spring fever....you don't quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!"

I've always known what blackberry blossoms looked like, from now on I will understand what a Blackberry Winter is.

The Week in Words and Pictures 5-3/5-9

Sunday - The catkins on the oak tree seem so pretty to me this year. I had to take some photos:

"Careless upon the wind the catkins swing;
They lay a golden spell upon the morning.
From their soft glee, how many trees will spring?" (Mary Webb)

Monday - A rainy, cool day. Brought in the first little bouquet of Lily of the Valley - May's birth month flower. It symbolizes sweetness and humility. "You've made my life complete" is its hidden message. That must be the reason this flower makes me so happy. (Really, I think it is its fragrance that does that.)

I liked the reflection in the window of the little bells.

May's Full Flower Moon. Note the catkins on the tree. So many of my full moon photos are now taken early in the morning because of our westerly view.

Tuesday - More rain. Now a total of 1/2" in the gauge. Supposed to have about 2" total by the end of the week. Hearing the orioles, but still haven't seen them!

Pretty pink sunrise reflecting in the rain clouds.

Wednesday - Bud decided it was time to try to shift the deck back in place.

So he bought a jack and jacked the deck up off the blocks it sets on. He and I could 'rock' it, but not quite move it. So he got a neighbor to come over and help him push it back into place.

Then underneath he went to put shims where needed. It feels much more solid again. Bums me out that I'm not able to do more to help.

Thursday - I may not have done much yesterday, but I could sure feel it today! Pretty worn out. More rain overnight. Now 90/100's of an inch in the gauge.

As the sun came up, it turned the tops of the trees golden. It almost looks like fall. Shortly after I took this photo, the sun disappeared into the clouds. The day became overcast, gray.

Friday - Finally! Saw an Oriole! He flew before I got a picture, but....

Here is the picture I took of one three years ago when they built their nest right above our deck.

We finally decided the Rose of Sharon bush we've enjoyed since moving here is completely dead.

It looks so different now with that bush gone.

Saturday - Obviously a very good year for tree seeds. The maple is so loaded with those little helicopter spinners. The deck is littered.

Just look at all the seeds yet to come down!

These two iris are all I have left after the 2012-14 winter. I lost so many of my flowers to the extreme cold.

More of the Lily of the Valley are blooming. These plants are ones I dug from both my grandmother's flower beds years ago. The columbine is from my sister-in-law, Ruthie's flower beds. These all came with me when we moved. The hostas were here. Technically very little of the space on the north side of the house is 'ours' to plant on, so this side gets a little ignored. I do most of my planting on the south.

Our total rain for the week ended up being the aforementioned 90/100's of an inch.

Just noticed that this is my 800th blog post! 

And this is the week that was......

The Month of May and Muguet

"It was the month of May, the month when the foliage of herbs and trees is most freshly green, when buds ripened and blossoms appear in their fragrance and loveliness. And the month when lovers, subject to the same force which reawakens the plants, feel their hearts open again, recall past trysts and past vows, and moments of tenderness, and yearn for a renewal of the magical awareness which is love." (Sir Thomas Malory, 'La Morte d' Arthur')

Muguet, Lily of the Valley, is the flower of May Day. It has always been one of my favorites. Its scent is heavenly. I can remember giving my mother Coty's Muguet des Bois cologne for Mother's Day one year. She loved the scent, too.

May is such a busy month with Mother's Day, graduations and in our family birthdays and anniversaries. When I learned I was to have a baby due on Mother's Day in 1969, I was very happy. In those days you didn't know ahead of time whether you were having a boy or girl. I wanted a boy. I got a girl.

Kari, pictured with her Great-grandmother Mary Schulte Underberg (Aug. 20, 1883-Jan. 9, 1974), waited until the last day of May to make her appearance. Great-grandma Underberg also had a May baby, Kari & Preston's Grandmother Clara Anna Underberg Fleming (May 4, 1918-Sept. 4, 2007).

"Who first beholds the light of day in Spring's sweet flowery month of May, and wears an emerald all her life, shall be a loved and happy wife." (Anon.)

I don't remember my Grandmother wearing emeralds, but she was also a May baby - Delphia Verda Means Ridnour (May 10, 1896-Aug. 15, 1991)

Other female family members with birthdays this month are my granddaughter-in-law, April James on May 2 (twenty-one this year), my sister-in-law Susan on May 29 (she does wear emeralds) and my grand-niece, Keira Calise Lynam who will be one on May 31.

My son Preston Fleming wed in May (May 2, 1992) to Shalea Cain Dickson. (Pictured with his Grandmother Ruth Lynam .)

As did I when I married Preston & Kari's dad, Dennis, on May 11, 1968. "Marry in the month of May, and you'll surely rue the day." (We also divorced in May.)

Kari & Ken's 15th anniversary was yesterday, May 6, even though the state of Oregon says they were 'officially' married July 20, 2012.

Other May birthdays include my grandson, Brock Garrett, May 23, 1981

---shown here with Great Grandparents, Betty and Chuck Botkin.

Coincidentally, Bud and I both had fathers who were born in May and died in May. Bud's father, LaVerne Dean (Jocko) Schaffer, Sr. was born May 10, 1922 and died the day before his birthday in 1979.
My father, Louis Lavern Lynam was born May 6, 1917 and died May 24, 1978.

There was one other birth and death in our family in May, 1923:

Dad's little sister, Evelyn Lois Lynam, born May 8, two days after his sixth birthday and died four days later.

"Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And Summer's lease hath all too short a date."
(Shakespeare; Sonnet XVIII)