Random Midnight Thoughts

I made a mulberry pie tonight. For those who don't know, mulberries are kind of like blackberries but they grow on a tree. They aren't as round as blackberries, more of an oval shape. Very sweet, not as seedy as blackberries. Anyway, I have a tree by my front door, and whether because of the cats or their own generosity, the birds are leaving the mulberries for me this year. My son and I have been eating them, but at last there were enough ripe to make a cobbler (the easy way, what I call cuppa cuppa cuppa.) It was sooo good.

Obviously this isn't political. But mulberries are a memory of my youth. When I was a child my mother worked, and we didn't go to daycare but one summer. (I hated it). The rest of the time we had babysitters. One summer the teenage daughter of our babysitter introduced me to solitaire, soap operas and mulberries. It was a great summer.

Later, when I was a divorced mother of two attending Clemson, a friend and I ate mulberries from a tree on campus. The four years I was there, I eagerly awaited the arrival of the sweet fruits, and I introduced friends to the tree.

I never eat them now without thinking of these two most peaceful times in my life. I am so lucky to have this tree in my yard-it met me when I came, but I didn't know what it was until the spring, and some springs I am lucky enough to get a few berries. The pie this year has been an unexpected blessing.