S'more on the 4th

What would the 4th of July be without good ole s'mores? It's a family tradition on my (Brandy's) side of the family. It's changed a bit in that we've gone from flaming marshmallows over glowing charcoal to roasting over the gas grill, but it's just about the same. The smoky, (sometimes burnt) sugary taste of gooey sticky stuff is still there. And unfortunately, so are those pesky mosquitoes. I guess it really wouldn't be s'mores without a few extra bug bites on the neck and legs.

Here's SM trying his hand at toasting, but not roasting, his marshmallows.


Our family doesn't eat a lot of sweets, so I discovered tonight that one s'more--if they eat the whole thing--is enough for most of them. Even I can't eat much more than one without feeling ill.

It's probably a good thing. The kids were zinging half the night from that small bit of sugar. Well... the two who were really zinging had more like six marshmallows each. I told SM that every time he jumped I could see marshmallow coming out. He gave me a strange look and checked his body for white ooze.

While SM was tending his treat, I chucked some gooey sticks into the woods on the right side of the grill where a huge lump of poison berry bushes are. This morning I decided I'd better start chopping them down in a few days because their berry flowers are beginning to form. I happened to look down. This lovely berry stared back at me. A black raspberry!

I was elated because berry picking is something my family did a lot of when I was growing up. I always wanted bushes of my own--raspberries, black raspberries, and blackberries--and now we have some!

Here's the poison berry bush--photo from last September.

It amazes me that this small black raspberry bush was growing in the middle of the huge poison berry bush and that we never saw it last year. And that I saw them just before mass hacking that lot of foliage. You want my opinion? I think God let me see them so when I took out the pruning shears, I would be careful only the bad and leave the good. (There's a lesson here, I know it! Sounds like a recipe for all of us.)

I looked around for more good berries, and sure enough. These white/pink berries mean more are on the way. (I like to eat them sometimes when they are still red, but boy are they sour. Don't even try them when they are this color.)

On the other side of the grill I found these green berries that will ripen later in the season to luscious blackberries. Usually red raspberries come very early in spring, black raspberries follow closely behind, and then black berries. The corresponding colors indicate things are as they should be. I got my first taste of black raspberries tonight. The nice thing is that so far not many critters have gotten to these, so the berries are in excellent condition.

Here's the beginning of a blackberry jackpot!

After my berry discovery, we went in and spent the rest of the evening playing Uno Attack with Grandpa. It was so much fun that we forgot about the sparklers boxes sitting on our counter. Eh, what's a few shining things compared to good, hearty laughter with loved ones. I wouldn't have had it any other way.

It's the best 4th of July we've had in a long time. Peaceful, easy, joyous, and with family. And the freedom to share it with you all. What gifts.