GRAND Magazine - July/August 2013 - (Page 50-51)

grand memories & moments Picking berries with Granddad By CArolINe M. GrANt At home in San Francisco, I am a miser with berries. But every summer I’ve taken my sons to visit my parents’ home in the Connecticut woods, where they can eat all the berries they like. Last year, we arrived in late August, between the two raspberry crops, but my dad had stashed a couple quarts in the freezer for the boys to eat, thawed, on their breakfast cereal. Ben picked blueberries from bushes transplanted from my grandfather’s garden. He paraphrased Blueberries for Sal—“Kerplink! Kerplank! Kerplunk!”—as he dropped the gray-blue fruit into his bucket. Eli waded into the blackberry patch, toughing out the sharp thorns, and then proudly showed off his harvest to everyone in the house. When the boys crowded into the kitchen asking for a snack, I’d say, “How about some berries?” and fill their bowls. Last spring, Dad let them each choose a new tree to add to the orchard. They pored over the catalogue, Caroline M. Grant is editor-inchief of Literary Mama and coeditor, with lisa harper, of The Cassoulet Saved Our Marriage: True Tales of Food, Family, and How We Learn to Eat. 50 GRAND MAY JUNE 2013 heads bent over the pictures, discussing their favorites: an apple for Eli, a nectarine for Ben. When the trees arrived, the boys were unimpressed. “They’re just sticks!” said Eli. “Well, you didn’t look like much when you first arrived, either,” Dad teased. He showed them how to dig the hole just a bit deeper than the root ball, tamp down the dirt around the tree’s base, water and wait, then water again. We didn’t know these trees would grow up without Dad’s care or our eager harvest. But the sprawling orchard, garden, meadow, woods, and house have all become too much, and now my parents are moving to San Francisco, close to us. “Can’t we move the trees, too?” asked Ben. I explained about growing zones and fruit varietals and California’s strict agricultural laws. “We’ll plant new trees with Granddad here,” I offered. “It won’t be the same,” Eli sighed. No, it won’t. The moving truck full of my parents’ things is making its way across country, and Mom and Dad will arrive soon. Their new apartment is a short walk away. Walking there one day to check on a furniture delivery, the boys and I cross an empty lot. Ben brushed his arm against a thorn: “Ouch!” It’s a patch of blackberries, just starting to flower. It feels like an offering and a promise: We will still pick berries with Granddad. Enjoy this slideshow of a grand day in the orchard! MAY JUNE 2013 GRAND 51 http://www.literarymama.com/ http://www.amazon.com/Cassoulet-Saved-Our-Marriage-Family/dp/1611800145/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1369959255&sr=1-1&keywords=the+cassoulet+saved+our+marriage http://www.amazon.com/Cassoulet-Saved-Our-Marriage-Family/dp/1611800145/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1369959255&sr=1-1&keywords=the+cassoulet+saved+our+marriage

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of GRAND Magazine - July/August 2013

GRAND Magazine - July/August 2013
Contents
Transforming Retirement
The Thrill Is Gone. Not.
Falling in Lust Again
Nana-to-Be Showers
Is Baby’s Wee Bed Safe?
When Harry Meets Baby
10 Steps to a Child-Proof House
Confessions of a Slightly Controlling, Madly in Love Nana
All About Baby!
Smart Ways to Save for Your Grandchildren’s College
The Low-Down on Five Stand-Out Vehicles
Let the Games Begin!
Hot Toys for Cool Kids!
Picking Berries with Granddad
Fun in the Sun!
Picking Up Where We Left Off
A Bond So Deep

GRAND Magazine - July/August 2013