Meta tags:

Headings (most frequently used words):

urban, forager, july, 2006, the, saturday, 12, 2008, wednesday, 26, tuesday, 18, about, me, subscribe, to, previous, posts, archives, weary, blues, from, waiting, part, are, you, ready, for, country, berry, grail, how, became, an,

Text of the page (most frequently used words):
the (290), and (145), that (72), was (57), for (43), with (43), but (35), from (30), were (29), not (29), had (26), you (23), all (22), their (21), about (17), some (17), into (17), they (17), them (17), old (17), this (16), there (16), when (16), out (16), time (16), berries (15), little (15), car (15), blackberries (14), just (14), day (14), more (13), fruit (12), have (12), its (12), can (12), like (12), cobbler (12), his (12), howard (12), are (11), one (11), what (11), been (11), urban (10), after (10), back (10), call (10), forager (9), good (9), because (9), kellie (9), redberry (9), phone (9), would (8), who (8), where (8), each (8), pool (8), july (7), berry (7), how (7), blackberry (7), along (7), than (7), summer (7), off (7), then (7), dough (7), twana (7), waiting (6), philadelphia (6), bit (6), few (6), our (6), didn (6), timey (6), raspberries (6), even (6), couple (6), road (6), those (6), red (6), other (6), sort (6), which (6), pete (6), music (6), get (6), much (6), while (6), mixture (6), very (6), make (6), said (6), has (6), better (6), end (6), cell (6), her (6), many (5), name (5), perhaps (5), once (5), fresh (5), until (5), street (5), city (5), myself (5), through (5), place (5), could (5), see (5), two (5), really (5), began (5), now (5), way (5), any (5), over (5), long (5), baking (5), first (5), sugar (5), cobblers (5), walt (5), butter (5), put (5), locked (5), keys (5), became (4), your (4), view (4), often (4), location (4), find (4), ripe (4), easily (4), hand (4), never (4), well (4), down (4), wasn (4), stand (4), morning (4), every (4), later (4), makes (4), held (4), reached (4), left (4), sweat (4), less (4), these (4), miles (4), only (4), weekend (4), course (4), think (4), playing (4), tunes (4), keep (4), made (4), buttermilk (4), especially (4), emergency (4), wild (4), season (4), drive (4), she (4), best (4), pretty (4), able (4), away (4), finally (4), peaches (4), clare (4), cream (4), together (4), park (4), swimming (4), triple (4), dispatcher (4), voice (4), 2006 (3), grail (3), occasional (3), comments (3), posted (3), labels (3), clearing (3), canes (3), will (3), tennessee (3), look (3), hard (3), reason (3), couldn (3), most (3), high (3), order (3), raspberry (3), found (3), ground (3), tree (3), eye (3), trees (3), sun (3), god (3), mouth (3), color (3), needed (3), year (3), although (3), path (3), deep (3), similar (3), next (3), environment (3), did (3), harvested (3), cup (3), without (3), farm (3), underbrush (3), people (3), such (3), though (3), against (3), took (3), covered (3), woods (3), effort (3), post (3), last (3), does (3), fact (3), briefly (3), came (3), style (3), skillet (3), pork (3), cooler (3), highway (3), situation (3), bearing (3), hours (3), hope (3), property (3), right (3), ones (3), hour (3), heard (3), feel (3), wait (3), learned (3), returned (3), got (3), three (3), cups (3), decided (3), corn (3), sign (3), being (3), around (3), five (3), juice (3), ice (3), creamery (3), emerged (3), onto (3), paper (3), nothing (3), here (3), flour (3), tablespoons (3), want (3), should (3), half (3), realized (3), june (3), freedom (3), handed (3), another (3), holding (3), officer (3), again (3), door (3), bag (3), 911 (3), 2008 (2), ready (2), country (2), weary (2), blues (2), part (2), previous (2), posts (2), feedburner (2), address (2), hillbilly (2), night (2), woman (2), cycling (2), risk (2), scratches (2), further (2), whose (2), fat (2), brambles (2), fence (2), row (2), childhood (2), expensive (2), smoked (2), saw (2), profusion (2), harvest (2), felt (2), hundred (2), dollar (2), bike (2), spent (2), point (2), nearly (2), roughly (2), concealed (2), flavor (2), perfectly (2), bright (2), infinitely (2), desire (2), discover (2), looking (2), shoulder (2), same (2), thing (2), knowledge (2), landscape (2), middle (2), hesitated (2), rarely (2), whether (2), eat (2), looked (2), center (2), among (2), antique (2), bought (2), horse (2), riding (2), eyes (2), picking (2), birthday (2), burst (2), generally (2), cast (2), iron (2), minor (2), offered (2), brush (2), cherry (2), places (2), shoulders (2), grew (2), second (2), already (2), scene (2), whole (2), resembles (2), pastoral (2), flow (2), why (2), friends (2), musicians (2), new (2), might (2), say (2), folk (2), mostly (2), origin (2), before (2), 1925 (2), events (2), present (2), musician (2), played (2), biscuits (2), greasy (2), cooked (2), food (2), pulled (2), barbecue (2), chopped (2), used (2), mellow (2), golden (2), cornbread (2), kitchen (2), seasoned (2), don (2), mine (2), full (2), beer (2), seen (2), flash (2), roadside (2), median (2), stretch (2), sight (2), state (2), cops (2), word (2), figure (2), gallons (2), forage (2), actually (2), using (2), convinced (2), least (2), redberries (2), missed (2), above (2), garden (2), sleeved (2), started (2), weather (2), share (2), small (2), hairs (2), barely (2), larger (2), gotten (2), turn (2), grabbed (2), light (2), beneath (2), air (2), local (2), also (2), cherries (2), spied (2), likely (2), too (2), biscuit (2), set (2), large (2), easy (2), water (2), skins (2), ate (2), lemon (2), bowl (2), pat (2), oven (2), crowd (2), sure (2), named (2), chits (2), take (2), saturday (2), nor (2), house (2), broke (2), tested (2), fiddle (2), wrote (2), let (2), home (2), teaspoon (2), filling (2), sized (2), ingredients (2), necessary (2), fridge (2), pour (2), surface (2), pieces (2), orpheus (2), supertones (2), described (2), spot (2), enthusiasm (2), relieved (2), recently (2), acquired (2), nostalgia (2), technology (2), immediately (2), words (2), having (2), years (2), haven (2), write (2), trust (2), followed (2), odors (2), lifeguard (2), children (2), marked (2), none (2), triggered (2), minutes (2), service (2), under (2), yards (2), read (2), pine (2), human (2), membership (2), memorial (2), hall (2), philadelphian (2), choices (2), menu (2), dialed (2), ear (2), hear (2), speak (2), shouted (2), electronic (2), request (2), explained (2), officers (2), cars (2), lock (2), stumblebum (2), camera (2), passenger (2), tried (2), archives, feed, delivered, enter, email, subscribe, complete, profile, transplanted, rube, italian, polish, extraction, lie, awake, contemplating, menus, lush, fruits, hidden, plain, fascinating, adore, cats, degree, consider, pathological, pennsylvania, united, states, serendipity, trespassing, citation, boggy, misstep, stings, poison, ivy, west, nile, virus, lyme, disease, promising, copse, steps, sunny, edges, crowded, hitherto, untouched, unregarded, yield, clusters, intoxicating, sweetly, destiny, give, quest, volunteered, backyard, everywhere, seem, town, school, supermarkets, sophisticated, delicacy, oysters, champagne, professional, ballet, plump, juicy, bill, lying, buy, weeks, discovered, trail, steamy, collecting, mosquito, bites, ticks, lined, northwestern, reaches, overgrown, driveway, caught, braved, muddy, ruts, moderate, herbaceous, barrier, penetrate, abutting, railroad, tracks, underpass, brightly, lit, semicircular, space, border, shrubs, dappled, noonday, lousy, collected, gallon, honest, blessed, instinct, exploded, matched, startling, gratifying, guess, wouldn, gobble, return, days, girlfriend, bucket, infinite, month, something, menace, approximate, effect, itself, precisely, gem, picked, contemplated, popping, between, disused, tobacco, fields, liminal, bridging, hospitable, genus, accurate, characterize, contemplation, scarcely, catastrophically, indecisive, arenas, plagued, diffidence, comes, question, rubus, thinking, gingerly, plucked, jumped, hollow, tiny, core, orangeish, truncated, cone, smeary, bull, sit, pointy, sepals, cartoon, star, okay, brighter, translucent, dusty, bloom, stained, glass, sueded, silk, form, somewhere, recesses, subconscious, memory, ancestral, hills, older, cousin, thoroughly, lathered, foam, guiltily, given, reddened, irritated, kept, dripping, hands, free, wipe, foreheads, speckles, ruby, birthstone, appearing, cyclists, dream, interrupting, training, examine, trailside, svelte, bikes, handcrafted, miracle, alloy, marries, sturdiness, weight, meringue, tech, apparel, swathes, bodies, bereft, poor, calves, appear, flayed, gristly, contour, immodestly, revealed, untroubled, athletic, ambition, drives, leisure, slow, halt, trusty, overalls, sodden, protected, legs, insults, closer, springs, bicycle, riverside, generously, provided, maintained, adopted, stretched, national, historic, site, suburbs, trips, progressively, length, threw, pink, confetti, callow, chartreuse, sedate, green, traversed, cleared, regular, prevent, claiming, tuesday, betraying, foraged, qualify, quaintly, bucolic, county, ideal, golf, excellent, impulse, escape, probably, passionate, devotees, chose, live, fourth, hosted, multi, event, legitimately, characterized, hootenanny, locales, ranging, england, texas, indulge, excess, taste, appalachian, written, traces, sonic, rigorously, excluded, newfangled, bluegrass, hearing, dissident, names, cluck, hen, listened, appropriately, beef, brisket, hickory, vinegary, pepper, slaw, relish, traditionally, accompanies, granny, big, mess, greens, piquant, turnip, mustard, collard, ham, hock, batches, appalled, learn, beforehand, hosts, lacked, required, gonna, yourselves, demanded, brought, processor, powerful, handy, forgot, stuff, trip, traveled, enticing, scarlet, four, lane, pull, carefully, patrolled, stopping, prohibited, except, case, understanding, embraces, catching, delicious, distressingly, short, guessing, construe, narrowly, pondered, drop, come, retrieve, alas, variety, pick, properly, termed, wineberry, reasons, explain, flashes, unripe, coming, told, unlikely, tell, repeated, catch, details, ominous, sky, abandon, plan, getting, wet, sake, during, thunderstorm, limited, fortified, breakfast, bacon, scrambled, eggs, enlivened, chives, toast, jam, contributed, hunt, lawyering, reviewed, mail, latest, forums, sleeving, unpleasant, typical, offers, protection, arms, need, unlike, aren, genial, breathlessly, eager, precious, seems, nature, ambush, practically, jumps, takes, tugging, plant, bother, crush, cane, purplish, delicate, spines, versions, avoided, punishing, defense, merely, coy, means, thorns, unyielding, viciously, sharp, cunningly, undersides, leaves, thorn, hold, loose, either, torn, cotton, flesh, wore, shirt, denim, veritable, sauna, poaching, salmon, suspect, gills, sweated, pint, gathered, injuries, scouted, perimeter, remaining, hunkered, low, thicket, situations, illuminating, liberally, acoustic, salty, language, conditioned, resented, hell, won, haul, thought, going, shallow, extend, operated, anabaptists, amish, mennonites, hutterites, tend, confused, shopping, foray, led, extravagant, overpurchasing, beautiful, produce, apricots, tomatoes, sweet, drove, pig, roast, today, roasting, done, wood, weaving, smoky, aromatic, net, capture, pound, tenderer, pastry, refrigerator, prepared, diminutive, choice, following, washing, dishes, dirtied, downside, perspective, dipped, boiling, seconds, loosen, peeled, seeded, love, fuzziness, regret, peeling, rinsing, draining, added, cornstarch, needs, dressing, always, pleasure, counter, pure, polished, granite, still, gig, contracted, entertain, patrons, dairy, loaded, sheet, wax, hied, reduced, rain, maybe, thin, start, oppressive, humidity, fiddlers, bandmates, banjo, lawyer, shel, fledgling, fiddler, jessica, occasions, neglected, collect, joy, prodded, due, complements, repaired, gather, regularly, claim, encyclopedic, confers, status, transgress, sorts, boundaries, impunity, marinated, grilled, wonderful, shrimp, kebabs, redolent, freshly, garlic, stacked, cordwood, front, porch, piles, heaps, buckets, pair, gas, burners, boiled, heat, rolled, heads, moans, issued, everyone, must, admit, straight, raw, quite, tart, deeper, ironically, proper, winier, complex, amiable, doctrinaire, authentic, timiness, transcribed, catalogued, thousands, traditional, parts, tune, clarify, kind, indulgence, earn, storm, brewed, windows, song, transformed, magic, brilliant, musicianship, forgave, hardly, ripening, disclosure, gone, photo, reproduced, batch, pictured, spirit, conscientious, bloggery, photographed, teaspoons, powder, soda, tablespoon, salt, diced, frozen, yogurt, mixed, milk, starch, preheat, 425, degrees, dry, whisk, sift, easier, cut, texture, coarse, cornmeal, flaky, topping, bits, peas, purpose, fluffy, requires, manipulation, finish, job, fingers, mix, stir, holds, thickness, inch, handling, possible, dish, tear, fit, jigsaw, puzzle, top, sprinkle, bake, southern, cuisine, peach, nom, silicon, wednesday, guy, idea, chair, fire, stereo, watch, party, perch, eaten, envy, patch, claimed, spectatorship, visual, access, entertained, endured, sunday, far, painful, ennui, ipod, shuffle, novel, reading, pools, kindness, strangers, communications, phones, trouble, boredom, writing, entry, non, faltered, racked, 700, guys, alone, jelly, finishing, motivated, story, someday, blogger, note, arose, chlorine, compounds, since, outdoor, spend, eight, adolescence, teaching, lifeguarding, tower, strength, protector, hapless, voracious, turquoise, unaware, own, glamor, evenly, distributed, pigment, across, supple, young, pelt, painting, uniform, hue, troublesome, blotchy, concentrations, nowadays, dredge, unwelcome, melanoma, idle, vocabulary, nine, loved, christmas, meant, awareness, upon, waking, honeysuckle, mown, grass, hot, asphalt, lighter, fluid, charcoal, smoke, citronella, candles, savored, deepest, perfumes, notice, permeated, olfactory, classroom, seemed, natural, unremarkable, routine, rose, consciousness, anticipatory, settled, trying, embrace, son, cheery, animated, recounted, recent, celebration, chuck, cheese, apparently, nice, daughters, approached, percussively, shaking, beaded, braids, towels, swim, robes, donned, boxes, conferred, via, telephone, wife, families, planning, observed, bad, shade, sat, companionable, silence, watched, action, slipped, lost, territory, heartland, sorry, cried, appeared, unperturbed, yours, produced, try, confirmation, truck, sent, arrive, within, fed, computer, period, ensued, affectionately, toweling, handsome, lashed, boy, rather, solemn, demeanor, planted, armchair, created, massive, roots, line, fade, nothingness, exhausted, power, supply, several, cordless, nevertheless, tether, worry, wandering, law, enforcement, 175, 0987, calculated, walking, running, gmaps, pedometer, surely, encountered, tenacious, grip, number, wallet, card, everything, else, records, attack, problem, fixing, anyone, familiar, streets, instance, driver, works, identify, kelly, behind, knows, software, cross, distance, oriented, skew, angle, require, walk, making, throwing, darts, blindfolded, landing, queue, callers, vacation, plans, hung, information, midway, audible, simply, placed, speaker, close, aha, telecommunication, happening, adept, attempt, disembodied, recited, frantically, stabbed, pointing, arrow, volume, control, damn, frustrating, know, zero, chance, understood, machine, guilty, peremptory, tone, pressing, thumb, unoccupied, moved, spirited, reverberating, clamor, misadventures, rights, enormous, strain, betrayed, iota, suspicion, irritation, drained, disappeared, uniformed, arrived, blossom, crushed, business, shack, duty, carrying, tools, break, anymore, reportedly, sued, damaging, opened, injured, efforts, reach, mechanism, inside, side, generosity, man, stranger, willing, portray, himself, speed, police, response, continued, area, assistance, slim, jim, laughed, gaping, lucky, asked, him, embarrassed, passivity, variously, aged, enjoying, aquatic, afternoon, both, responded, appeal, utmost, sympathy, confessed, whom, advised, moment, sheepish, characterizing, heinous, crimes, doubt, committed, sighed, mentally, ripped, list, thousand, trudging, lightly, wooded, toward, ruckus, sounded, empty, crumpled, bills, help, parking, lot, beside, public, hottest, yet, aswarm, activity, spotted, seated, lawn, chairs, magisterial, outside, gates, cruising, fairmount, dead, ends, entrance, botanical, seeking, triumph, halted, abruptly, generous, ignition, hastily, brown, bounded, buoyant, almost, deflated, key, chain, custodian, ring, neglecting, prune, souvenirs, apartments, past, jangling, peered, window, mocked, seat, toothy, metallic, grin, panicked, brief, bloomed, died, breast, failed, open, hatchback, play, funky, peterson, field, guide, edible, plants, eastern, central, north, america, nuts, bonanzas, dweller,

Text of the page (random words):
up pointing arrow that i took for a volume control i can t hear a damn thing it was frustrating to know that there was zero chance of my request s being understood by the machine on the other end on the other hand there was no reason to feel guilty about my peremptory tone of voice pressing my thumb against my unoccupied ear i moved away from the pool and its high spirited reverberating clamor in this situation making choices from the menu was more or less like throwing darts blindfolded and i missed landing in a queue of callers who were waiting to make vacation plans i hung up and dialed information again midway through that call i realized that the voice on the other end became perfectly audible if i simply placed the little speaker close to my ear aha now telecommunication was happening having only recently acquired my first cell phone i m not especially adept at the technology now the holding began i held and held and held that day surely the triple a has never encountered a more tenacious grip than mine when i finally reached a human voice i didn t have my membership number of course the wallet with the membership card was locked in the car with everything else but they were able to find my records using my name and address and we began to attack the problem of fixing my location to anyone familiar with the streets of philadelphia such as for instance any emergency service driver who works here my location was easy to identify the kelly pool behind memorial hall any philadelphian knows where memorial hall is but the triple a dispatcher was not a philadelphian nor was her software she needed the name of a street and a cross street a street sign some distance away was oriented at a skew angle that would require me to walk right up to it in order to be able to read it i was already several yards from twana and howard twana s cell phone was of course cordless but i nevertheless felt it as a tether i didn t want them to worry that i was just wandering off with it especially in view of the fact that howard was a law enforcement officer but what was i to do the point from which i was able to read the sign was about 175 yards 0987 miles away from their spot under the pine tree as calculated by the gmaps pedometer i started walking and no one came running after me the dispatcher fed my location into her computer and another period of holding ensued i returned to the little haven under the tree where howard was now affectionately toweling off a handsome long lashed five year old boy of rather solemn demeanor and planted myself in the armchair created by a couple of massive roots finally the dispatcher came back on the line only to fade into nothingness i had exhausted the phone s power supply i m so sorry i cried but twana appeared unperturbed she said howard where s yours and howard produced his cell phone from his car another try more holding at last i got confirmation that a service truck had been sent and should arrive within an hour and a half i settled into the wait trying my best to embrace it howard s little son grew cheery and animated as he recounted his recent birthday celebration at chuck e cheese which apparently is very nice daughters approached percussively shaking the water from their beaded braids towels and after swim robes were donned juice boxes were handed around howard conferred via telephone with his wife about the barbecue that the two families were planning we observed that the weather wasn t so bad there in the shade we sat for a few minutes in companionable silence and watched the action at the pool and i slipped briefly into a lost territory the heartland of summer at nine years old i d loved june better than christmas june meant the fresh awareness upon waking each morning of freedom the honeysuckle of june the mown grass the hot asphalt the lighter fluid and charcoal smoke the beer and citronella candles and end of the day sweat these were the odors of freedom i d savored them most each year when they were new but summer s deepest perfumes were those i didn t notice the ones that permeated my olfactory environment when freedom from the classroom seemed natural unremarkable routine once they rose to consciousness they triggered anticipatory nostalgia one of those odors arose from chlorine compounds how long has it been since i was in a swimming pool especially an outdoor pool i used to spend at least eight hours a day at oa pool every summer of my adolescence but one teaching swimming and lifeguarding i was a tower of strength up there on the lifeguard stand the protector of hapless children from the voracious turquoise god of the deep end and mostly unaware of my own glamor who really marked then how evenly the sun distributed pigment across one s supple young pelt painting it a uniform golden hue with none of the troublesome blotchy concentrations that nowadays dredge up unwelcome words like melanoma from one s idle vocabulary blogger s note i began writing this entry immediately after the non events described took place i faltered when i realized that i had racked up 1 700 words without having reached even the first of two triple a guys let alone the fruit i harvested and the jelly i made from it two years later i haven t gotten around to finishing it so i ve decided that i ll just post what i ve got perhaps i ll be motivated to write through to the end of the story someday but trust me what followed was nothing to write home about labels boredom car trouble cell phones communications technology kindness of strangers nostalgia philadelphia summer swimming pools wild cherries posted by urban forager at 9 48 am 3 comments wednesday july 26 2006 are you ready for the country it s only my second post and already i m betraying my nom de silicon the place where i foraged for cobbler last weekend does not in any way qualify as urban in fact the scene there is so quaintly bucolic that the whole county resembles that ideal pastoral landscape the golf course which by the way is an excellent place to look for berries the pastoral impulse the desire to escape briefly from the flow of time is probably why my friends kellie and pete passionate devotees of old time music chose to live there on the fourth of july weekend kellie and pete hosted a multi day old time music event that can i think legitimately be characterized as a hootenanny about a hundred musicians came from locales ranging from new england to texas to indulge some might say to excess their taste for playing folk music mostly of appalachian origin written before 1925 at these events all traces of the sonic present are rigorously excluded rarely does a style as newfangled as bluegrass get a hearing although the occasional dissident will risk it i m not much of an old time musician so while they played antique tunes with names like cluck old hen how many biscuits can you eat this morning and keep my skillet good and greasy all the time i listened and cooked appropriately old timey hillbilly food i smoked two pork shoulders and a beef brisket over hickory for tennessee style vinegary pulled pork barbecue and i chopped up the pepper slaw really more of a relish that traditionally accompanies it i cooked what granny used to call a big mess of greens piquant turnip and mustard and collard to mellow the mixture with a ham hock for a good long time i made buttermilk biscuits each morning i was there and a couple of batches of golden cornbread i was appalled to learn beforehand that my hosts kitchen lacked the seasoned cast iron skillet required for baking cornbread how you gonna call yourselves old timey when you don t even have a skillet to keep good and greasy all the time i demanded so i brought mine with me and my food processor not very old timey but powerful handy and a cooler full of beer and i forgot about all of that stuff when i left which is why i had to go back last weekend on my first trip as i traveled down from the city i had seen flash after enticing flash of scarlet in the underbrush at the roadside and especially in the median of the four lane highway but you can t just pull your car over in a situation like that on a carefully patrolled stretch of road where stopping is prohibited except in case of emergency my understanding of emergency embraces catching sight of a profusion of delicious wild berries with a distressingly short bearing season but i m guessing the state cops construe the word more narrowly i pondered those berries all weekend but i didn t figure out how to get at them until i was back in philadelphia kellie could drive me out to the highway and drop me off after a couple of hours she d come back and retrieve me along with gallons and gallons of the very best forage there is alas the redberry season actually the variety of wild raspberry i pick is properly termed wineberry but i am not using that name for reasons i hope to explain in a later post was pretty much over by the time i was able to make it back by then i had convinced myself that at least some of the flashes of red i had seen in the median were not redberries at all but unripe blackberries that would just about now be coming into season kellie told me that blackberries were bearing on their property so it was not unlikely that those a few miles away would have reached a similar state right but i couldn t tell as i repeated the drive whether there were any ripe blackberries to be had blackberries don t catch the eye the way red ones do and details are easily missed at 60 miles an hour finally the ominous sky convinced me to abandon my plan not that i m above getting a little wet for the sake of berries but i ve heard it said that the middle of a highway without a car is not a good place to be during a thunderstorm so i limited myself to the berries on their property fortified by a breakfast of bacon scrambled eggs enlivened by fresh chives from their garden and toast with redberry jam that i contributed i sleeved myself up and started the hunt while kellie did a little lawyering and pete reviewed his e mail and the latest posts to the old timey forums the sleeving up though unpleasant in the weather typical of berry season offers some protection for the arms you need that because the fact is that blackberry canes unlike redberries just aren t all that genial where the redberry makes me feel as if it has been waiting breathlessly for me to discover it and is eager to share its precious fruit the blackberry s wait seems more in the nature of an ambush the redberry practically jumps into your hand but it takes some tugging to get blackberries off the plant i ve learned not to bother with very small blackberries because i ll often crush the whole fruit in the effort to harvest it the redberry cane is covered by purplish hairs and its delicate little spines are barely more than larger versions of these hairs easily avoided and not very punishing but if the redberry s defense is merely coy no means no for the blackberry its thorns are hard and unyielding and viciously sharp and they are often cunningly concealed in places like the undersides of the leaves once a blackberry thorn has gotten hold of you it does not like to turn you loose either until it has torn a little bit of what it has grabbed better cotton than flesh i figure so i wore a long sleeved shirt of light denim out into a veritable sauna of a day the sort of day when you feel pretty much like a poaching salmon and suspect that you might do better with gills i sweated out about a pint i think and gathered my share of minor injuries while i scouted the perimeter of the property picking blackberries and the occasional remaining redberry i hunkered down low at each thicket as in so many situations the view from beneath is generally more illuminating than that from above i liberally seasoned the acoustic environment with some good old timey salty language and by the time i returned to the air conditioned kitchen i resented the hell out of those hard won blackberries i got about three cups not much of a haul for the effort i thought and it was going to make a pretty shallow cobbler so i decided to extend it with some peaches just down the road was a farm stand operated by anabaptists amish mennonites hutterites i tend to get them confused a shopping foray led to extravagant overpurchasing of beautiful local produce i returned with not only peaches but also apricots cherries tomatoes and sweet corn and when i drove up to the stand i spied a sign that said pig roast today the roasting was being done over wood weaving a smoky aromatic net of the sort most likely to capture me i bought a pound of pork too i made the cobbler dough which is just biscuit dough with a little sugar in it with buttermilk because i think it makes for a tenderer pastry and then i set it in the refrigerator while i prepared the fruit i had decided to make a diminutive cobbler of each fruit and then a large one of the mixture this was an easy choice to make because kellie was following me around washing the dishes as i dirtied them so there wasn t any downside from my perspective i dipped five peaches in boiling water for about 30 seconds each to loosen the skins and then i peeled seeded and chopped them i ate some of the skins because i actually love their fuzziness and sort of regret the peeling after rinsing and draining the blackberries i added sugar cornstarch and a bit of lemon juice to each bowl of fruit that s all ripe summer fruit needs little dressing up it s always a pleasure to pat out biscuit dough on kellie and pete s counter because it s made of pure polished granite the cobblers were still in the oven when kellie and pete left for a gig they had contracted to entertain the patrons of a local dairy farm s ice creamery when the cobblers emerged i loaded them onto a baking sheet covered them with wax paper and hied me to the creamery where the crowd had been reduced by a burst of rain or maybe it had been thin to start with because of the oppressive humidity i can t say for sure kellie and pete were with the fiddlers walt and clare who are their bandmates in the orpheus supertones and a banjo playing lawyer named shel and a fledgling fiddler named jessica they were playing i learned for ice cream chits on previous occasions they had neglected to collect their chits at the end of the day because really they were just playing for the joy of it but i prodded them to take their due after all what complements cobbler better than ice cream and i had a cooler in my car from the creamery we repaired to walt and clare s where old time musicians gather regularly for tunes of a saturday night as i have said i am not much of an old time musician nor can i claim the encyclopedic knowledge of folk tunes that also confers status among this crowd but a woman bearing a fresh cobbler can transgress all sorts of boundaries with impunity clare marinated and walt grilled wonderful shrimp kebabs redolent of the freshly harvested garlic ...